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“Marius Julian Herrera Menendez, at your service.” He bowed from the waist but didn’t take the hand the Columbian offered. “Do I have the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Roy Harper, the Giant Killer?”

A twitch of annoyance pulled at the other man’s lips, vanishing almost as soon as it appeared, and he pulled his hand back, instead using it to offer Marius a chair. “That’s me. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Senor Menendez. What brings you to Oakheart Manor? From what I’ve heard you don’t exactly need the services of a professional firespinner.”

“Oh, such things depend as much on circumstance as anything else, as I’m sure you understand.” Marius’ eyes darted around the room. Oakheart Manor was built as a very defensible structure, which didn’t surprise him, and Harper had made the predictable decision to place them in the front room. It was little more than a pinewood box with a window overlooking the front path, a table and two simple, wooden chairs. The similarities between it and a coffin were not lost on Marius. He returned his attention to the man seated across the table from him. “However if you’re curious whether I need your skills or not then I will be forthright. I don’t. My business is of another nature.”

“Then you are here on business?”

“I am.” He reached into the inside pocket of his short jacket, pulled out a sack heavy with silver, and set it on the table between them with a heavy noise. In the process he also drew a thin ceramic tile from the pocket and palmed it. As the silver hit the table he tapped it down on the wood under his other hand. After a brief pause it vibrated softly then went still. “You have something I wish to buy.”

“No.” Harper’s face was blank yet Marius still got the sense that the answer was final.

“I haven’t even told you what I want to buy yet.”

“It’s not a hard thing to guess, Senor Menendez, and you’re not the first one to come to me with that offer in the last seven years.” Harper leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “You have the opportunity to leave peaceably, just like they did.”

There had been the possibility that other interested parties would come for the prize, in fact Menendez had taken it as a given. Having the confirmation was nice, although it did make things more difficult. He picked up the pouch of silver and tossed it meaningfully in one hand, letting the coins jingle as he snatched it out of the air. “Well, if one of them left peaceably with the item in hand I could discuss the matter with them. Although I could offer a commission if you could put us in touch?”

The only hint to Harper’s mindset was a tiny narrowing of the eyes. Frustration? Anger? Cynical analysis? Marius couldn’t begin to guess so he figured it best to wait. Let the man show his hand. After several seconds of tense silence Harper finally said, “We’re in the same line of work so I’ll do you the courtesy of telling you I haven’t sold it and I don’t intend to.”

“I see.” It felt like a probe and Marius responded in kind. “Are you even aware of what the thing is intended to do?”

This time Harper’s riposte came immediately. “I broke it out of the fingers of the last person to hold it so yes, I think I have a fairly good notion.”

Marius winced internally, able to picture what Harper had done all too well. “Of course. I’m sure you’re also well aware what kind of people generally seek out the item question.”

“I would say I’m familiar with them, yes.”

“Then you know they are not going to stop looking for it and sooner or later there will be enough of them to take what they want. One way or another, they’ll get around you.” Harper didn’t reply so Marius pushed him a little bit harder. “A lone man in the middle of the Columbian West is hardly the safest way to keep one of the most wicked artifacts of ancient Tetzlan safe. My employer is ready to return it to Mayati. The Iberian government there has built a much stronger, better guarded vault for it this time around. It will be safer… and so will you.”

The other man stared at him with cold, distant eyes. “That’s not very reassuring, Senor Menendez, especially given how little success the Iberian Government has had keeping it under control in the past. Might I remind you that I have it now because it wasn’t kept safe.”

“That’s so,” Marius admitted. “Yet I wouldn’t call you the best guardian, either. You’re not here half the time, more so if all the stories people tell about you are true. Who guards it then? The woman I met outside was with a child younger than ten. Are they safe with such a wicked thing in the house? There’s a town and a sky train station less than an hour’s walk from here and it would make quite a mess there, should it fall into the wrong hands. What about the safety of Winchester County? Does that bear no consideration?”

That thrust hit home. “Your patrons left the coalstoking thing in the hands of a literal blood cult for almost a year. How can anyone be safe when such dangerous things are left to the care of irresponsible men?”

Marius pressed his lips together in a tight line. He hadn’t really expected he’d come to an understanding with Harper. If the stories about the Summer of Snow were true he wasn’t the type to give up on a task he’d undertaken, whether he was getting paid for it or not. At the same time, Harper seemed to lack a certain self awareness that was quite worrying.

“Very well, Mr. Harper. I suppose that’s the end of the matter for now.” Marius scooped a few coins out of the bag and scattered them on the table in front of him, using the noise to cover a second rap of the tile. “Can I at least commission you to notify me if anyone else comes looking for the artifact?”

“No.” Although his voice remained flat Marius could tell that Harper was getting more and more annoyed with him.

Not that it mattered. Marius could feel the tile gently tugging in the direction of the elemental he’d sent burrowing under the house. He palmed the tile again as he scooped the coins back into the pouch then put the silver in his pocket. He kept hold of the tile. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“The only shock was that you bothered with the offer,” Harper said, getting to his feet and gesturing to the door. “Now, I believe we’re done here.”

Marius also stood up and took a single step back from the table. “I suppose we are. I wish we had reached a better conclusion.”

“Don’t come back, Senor Menendez. I’d hate to have to kill you.” His voice had a forced lightness to it but his eyes burned with sincerity.

“I’m sure you would.” Marius performed another bow, angling slightly so his off hand nudged his rapier hilt down slightly. The tile in his hand jerked violently but he hid his surprise. As he straightened he said, “Let’s hope such dark times don’t come over us.”

“Georg.” Harper’s servant poked his head in the door. “Show Senor Menendez out.”

A muffled yell came from somewhere under the floorboards then something heavy thudded against them. All eyes focused on the ground by instinct. Marius hissed under his breath, annoyed. The big man who’d ridden up from town with Harper hadn’t been in evidence so far and Marius had suspected the stranger was on guard in the manor’s basement. Not that he was happy to be proven right.

The elemental had gone into motion before Marius even approached the house and he’d been prepared for it to encounter trouble before he left. It still took him a moment to respond to the sudden noise. Even with that slight delay he was in motion before the other two, driving his shoulder into the gardener’s chest, knocking him down and stepping over him. He burst out of the tiny front room and into the manor’s entrance hallway.

He’d scouted the house as thoroughly as he could in the half day before he made contact but Marius still hadn’t figured out how to get into the basement. All he knew was the small earth elementals that finally answered his summons told him there was a basement. They didn’t report a cellar door so there must be a stair or trap door in the house. In Tetzlan such things were typically in kitchens or store rooms, which were kept towards the back of buildings. So that was the way he went.

Harper was only a few steps behind him, leaping over his downed servant while barking, “Catch up!”

Marius dimly heard the fallen man call, “Coming!” as he crashed through the door at the end of the hallway and into a kitchen. He took the barest details, noting the back wall of the building in front and a door to either side. A large stove sat against the outside wall and a table in the middle of the room held a knife block and other cooking utensils. It was the knives that interested him.

Snatching one up in his off hand, using his dominant hand to slam the door behind him, Marius drove the thin paring blade into the door on the side with the hinges. When Harper tried to shove the door open a second later it blocked the swing. Marius shoved a second, more substantial knife into the gap to be on the safe side then quickly crossed the kitchen to check the lefthand door.

It opened into the dining room. Through that Marius caught a glimpse of what looked like a sitting room. As he was pulling his head out of the dining room Roy burst into it from the hallway, forcing Marius to spend a few more precious seconds jamming that door with knives from the block as well. Then he dashed over to the other door and yanked it open.

There was another door directly across a short hallway. It was built into a staircase going up to the building’s second floor and when Marius opened it he was gratified to discover it led down into the basement.

He was less gratified when the boulder body of his elemental crashed into the top of the stairs. It tore the boards off the top few steps, splintered the doorframe and nearly broke his leg as it careened past. The only warning the creature was coming was the sudden, violent shaking of the tile in Marius’ hand. Fortunately that was enough for him to dance back before it struck him. Annoyed, he tapped the tile and barked a word in chthonic. Then he looked down the stairs.

A living tree looked back up at him, a bronze headed hammer in two branches.

Not quite what he’d been expecting but at this point it was better to press forward than back off. Marius jumped over the broken steps and charged down the stairs, rapier point held in front of him, his bound elemental rollinging close behind. The tree tossed the hammer aside and prepared to meet them.