Warsinger by James Baldwin (most important books of all time txt) 📕

their hand because they didn't know how to play the intimidation game, but they'd always intended to give Rutha to us. Baldr didn't really care if she woke up or not. If she didn't, he knew it would piss me off. But if she did wake up, he predicted that she'd tell us everything she knew.”

“He spent all that time feeding her false information?” Rin covered her mouth with her hand. “It's so obvious... we should have seen this coming.”

I massaged my forehead as piece after piece of Baldr's behavior connected like a jigsaw puzzle. “I'd wondered why he sent Lucien and Violetta, of all fucking people. Lucien is everything you don’t want in an officer. He's stupid, he's vain, he's a certified coward, and he's hard to control. Violetta is competent, but she's unimaginative and mentally unstable after... whatever happened to her. But it makes perfect sense if he's trying to manipulate us. Because Lucien is stupid and Violetta un-creative, we're predisposed to treat Baldr as if he's less smart and creative than he actually is. 'Oh, Baldr's sending THESE losers to fight us? He must be dumber than they are'.”

“Even if we know, intellectually, that Baldr is smarter than he seems,” Suri said.

“I wouldn’t underestimate Lucien and Violetta, either,” Istvan added. “They may also be smarter than they appear.”

Rin worried one of her fingernails. “Yeah… even Ignas fell for it.”

“Violetta. She's shit-scared of Baldr; she hates his guts. So him sending her to deal with us carries another message as well: a message to be afraid of what he could do to us,” I said. “How can something be so obvious and so subtle at the same time?”

Karalti rumbled and muttered in her throat. “That’s why the name for the Drachan in our language is ‘Trauvin’. The Deceivers.”

“The problem is, we haven't been deceiving him back,” I said. “The War for Myszno was one big intel-gathering exercise for him. You notice that neither Lucien and Violetta respawned in Myszno to continue fighting?”

Suri frowned, looking to Istvan. He and Vash listened on in grave silence.

“Now that you mention it...” Rin said. “They didn't save spawn-points here, even though they're strong enough they probably could have come back and kicked our butts.”

“Exactly. And it's because they probably had orders to go home and report to Baldr if or when they died,” I said. “Specifically, to report on how we fought, what techniques and tactics we used in the battle against the Demon, and how we worked together as a team. So now he knows a whole lot about us, and we know almost nothing about him or what he's really capable of. The only thing we know is that his lieutenants are not representative of his own ability.”

Suri sat back in her seat, gazing out the window. “Well, I dunno about you guys, but I'm starting to feel like I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.”

“That is also part of his manipulation,” Vash said. “Don't let him get any further into your mind.”

“He’s right,” I said. “Because the fact is, we figured something out now instead of later. That tactic is useless from this point into the future. What we have to do now is understand his strategy and figure out what other tactics he leans on to get what he wants.”

“The best and most believable lies always contain a grain of the truth,” Istvan said. “I wouldn't dismiss everything Rutha saw and reported on out of hand.”

“Indeed.” Vash grunted, struggling to sit up more. “The question is, what do we do now? We have to take action.”

“YOU have to stay in bed,” Istvan said primly.

Vash sneered and rolled his eyes. “Rot in here, more like it.”

Rin’s eyes flicked to him. “I… I think we should pick up Ebisa and go to Taltos, because Ignas is absolutely going to recall her. Then you guys follow your plan, go to Dakhdir, and find that Warsinger. We’re learning things from Nocturne Lament, but there’s just no way we can restore a machine that’s so badly damaged. The worst thing that happens is you find another non-functioning Warsinger that we can scrap for parts.”

“The worst thing that happens is we get linked into a long quest chain and don’t find a Warsinger at all,” Suri said. “I don’t know if I should be doing something that might be personal to me when we need to go support Revala.”

“It’s a risk we have to take,” I replied. “Rin’s right. We get enough sleep to be able to function, and then we leave for Dalim.”

“By airship, from Taltos,” Istvan said. “Karalti will not be able to go unless she is as she is now.”

Karalti flashed him a look of affront. “Why not?”

“Dragons are revered in Vlachia,” he said. “They are held to be evil in Dakhdir. The embodiment of violence, avarice, and sin.”

“Oh. Great.” I rubbed my eyes. We had progressed to ‘Extreme Sleep Deprivation’ now. Minus five to all stats, unable to recharge adrenaline points or stamina unless I got some rest. “Sounds like a plan. We leave tomorrow.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Suri said wryly. “Sleep first.”

“Yeah.” I could barely keep my eyes open. It was the first time I’d ever been this tired in Archemi… but then again, it had been almost two days since I’d really had time to crash. “Let’s give it five hours, and meet up in the courtyard.”

Rin jumped up from her chair in excitement. “That should be long enough for me to attach Vash’s new arm!”

There was a pregnant pause.

“My dearest child.” Vash fluttered his eyelashes. “I am… not sure whether you know that in human society, it’s typical that you ask for permission before telling someone you plan to affix your experiments to their body.”

“Oh! No! I-I mean, yes! I didn’t mean it like that!” Rin’s silvery cheeks turned bright blue. “It’s, I-”

“It’s okay, Rin.” I clapped her on the shoulder. “Try again.”

“It’s okay!” She echoed me unconsciously. “I-I mean, here. I, um, spent the night disassembling