Page 11 of Immortals and Ink

The storeroom was behind a door in the wall of the cistern that hadn't been there the first time Alexis looked at the wall. Arslan laid his hand flat against the stone, in a place that was not marked, and whispered a spell in Arabic.

The stone moved aside, and behind it was a low, wide chamber lit by more golden lanterns.

Alexis stood in the doorway and let out a slow breath. He had been ready to be impressed by something modest, and what he was looking at was something else entirely.

Rolls of canvas, lengths of rope, sacks of grain, and amphoras of wine and oil stood amongst neatly labeled crates. There was a wall of cedar chests, some of medical supplies, and others that hummed faintly with the shimmer of a preservation ward. Clothing hung on hooks, in different cuts and disguises, including a Venetian merchant's robe, a priest's cassock, and the brown wool of a laborer whom no one would look at twice. A rack of weapons was fixed against a wall, and none of them were dusty.

"You seem to have been preparing for something," Alexis commented, a surprised, breathy laugh escaping him.

"I have been preparing for everything. There's a difference."

"For how long?"

"I don't take notes on my own paranoia, Alexis. It only embarrasses me." Arslan gestured around him. "I knew something was coming, but I didn't know what. This city is volatile at the best of times, and I never wanted to be unprepared."

Alexis stared around him. "No chance of that."

"I'm not the one who turned up in a city by myself and hoped to make it out again before an army arrives. No offense, Alexis, but of the two of us, I think you are the maddest."

"Oh, without a doubt," Alexis admitted truthfully. "I approve of your foresight."

"I appreciate the compliment." Arslan walked into the storeroom and laid his hand on one of the cedar chests. The preservation ward flickered on and off in acknowledgment of his touch, like a dog opening one eye to confirm a familiar voice before going back to sleep. He suddenly looked like a man who had been alone for a long time and was tired of it.

Alexis swallowed down the grief that rose unbidden in his throat. He sometimes despaired under the weight of his immortality, but he had never been alone like Arslan.

Nereus, he thought. You knew I had to find him before he tried to destroy himself, didn't you?

"Have you never used the alchemical potion you found on another?" Alexis asked, wondering why he had no companions like him.

Arslan shook his head. "No. I recruit humans occasionally, but I haven't for some time. I got tired of watching them die."

"I understand that, but maybe one day, if you find someone worthy, you should try the potion again."

"I don't know if that would be a good idea. I know where I went wrong with the potion I drank, but to risk another's life… I don't know if it would work the same way."

Alexis nodded, understanding the weight that would come with that particular death.

"Perhaps one day, you will find someone who is already dying and who is also worthy. It's not good for immortals like us to be alone, Arslan. You might feel old, but you are so very young as one of the undying. It is when you are always alone that you go crazy, my friend, and people with magic like you? They become the very thing they fear when they do."

"I will think on it, but now I know you exist, I'm not exactly alone, am I?" Arslan said, but he still looked thoughtful.

"You aren't, but there will come a time when you will need others to help you. As much as I hate to admit it, the Templars have the right ideas about brotherhoods," Alexis said, holding up a hand when Arslan opened his mouth to object. "Just think about it."

"Fine, I will. For now, I want to know what you can do, magic-wise, that is going to help us," Arslan smoothly changed the subject. "You must be able to do something worthwhile to come to do this heist alone."

Alexis told him about the wind-bearing spell, the shifting of weight through space when he had the right anchor points, and the portaling of objects and occasionally people. He spoke of the illusions that would hold for hours, the unseen walking through a crowd that hadn't been told to expect him, and the calming of an animal at twenty paces.

He explained how he could defend a building against fire for about three hours, which was long enough to empty most buildings. He couldn't stop a sword once it was swung, but he could turn the arm of the man swinging it, if he had a clear line of sight, and he could call up a storm that would stop anyone from pursuing him.

Alexis stopped there because those were the things that would be useful, and if he got talking about all the magic he could do, they could be there for years.

Arslan's head tilted curiously. "How many languages can you speak?"

Alexis adjusted his rings before confessing, "More than I need to know. I can read just about any language that has ever been written down that I've come across so far. Plus a few that no longer exist or do in very few places."

"Do you understand how thoroughly I dislike you in this moment?" Arslan said with a dramatic sigh.

"I have an inkling."