Page 12 of Immortals and Ink

"I had thought I was powerful."

"You are powerful," Alexis said truthfully.

"Compared to you, I'm an amateur alchemist, a librarian with a good memory and a trick for unlocking and warding doors."

"Arslan, when you become thousands of years old, you will also learn how to occupy yourself. Considering you have been on your own all this time, you are doing incredibly well," Alexis replied and shook his head with a soft laugh. "I honestly don't know how you haven't lost your mind completely. I know I would have if it hadn't been for my family. As obnoxious and frustrating as they can be. You have many more abilities than opening doors and hoarding books, too, I suspect."

Arslan tried and failed to look innocent. "What makes you say that?"

"Anubis, the lord of the Sacred Lands, the Counter of Hearts and the Master of Secrets would not greet you in the Duat and then send you back to the land of the living for no good reason," Alexis said, putting his hands on his hips. "And I very much doubt it was because you know how to make excellent tea."

Arslan considered for a moment before relenting. "Well, you did share some of your secrets, so I suppose I can do the same. I see a person's ka, Alexis. Whether they are of the light, of the darkness, or of the balance. I know when they are lying to me, not because I can read their minds, but because a person's ka flutters when they lie."

When Alexis didn't respond with surprise or alarm to that, Arslan took a breath and continued, like a floodgate finally opening.

He could close a door so it would not open again until he chose, and the trick extended beyond literal doors. A window was a door. A mouth was a door. A mind was a door. He could brew another ancient alchemical draft that would heal most wounds if the wounded man drank it within the hour. He couldn't raise the dead, though he knew full well if he tried, Anubis might allow it.

He was stronger than an ordinary man. He was faster. He did not age. He was not easily wounded and wasn't sure if he could die unless his head was cut off and his heart destroyed.

He could speak with animals, he said, though only dogs were really worth talking to.

"Cats can be occasionally," Arslan added.

Alexis snorted. "Cats are usually rude, but the good ones are worth the time. And?"

"And what?"

"You're leaving something out."

"I can call my god," Arslan said quietly after a moment's pause. "Not to ask favors. Anubis is not that kind of god. I call him when the balance is in genuine danger, and he sometimes answers. I have only been desperate enough to do it three times in my whole life. It's not a trick to be deployed. It is a last resort."

Alexis nodded slowly. "I can only imagine. I'll do my best to make sure you don't need to call on him while I'm in the city."

"Trust me, you wouldn't ever want to be in the same country when I do."

They stood in the storeroom for another beat, and an unspoken understanding between them clicked into place.

"All right," Alexis said and glanced about the room. "We do Hercules tonight."

Arslan rested his thumb against his chin, his other fingers curled loosely. "But tonight is less than six hours away."

"Tonight is also when the workmen who are supposed to be guarding the Hercules will be drunk, because the wine merchant in the next street will have sold them, at a steep discount, a cask of very expensive wine intended for a wedding that has been called off."

Arslan tilted his head. "And when exactly were you planning on making this arrangement with the wine merchant?"

"While I was walking from the docks to get my breakfast at the tavern," Alexis replied.

Arslan's eye narrowed. "You already had a list, and you let me write one anyway?"

"Well, you seemed very excited about it." Alexis picked at a loose thread on his cloak. "It would have been rude to dampen your enthusiasm."

"Lists help me think!"

"I have no doubt, after seeing you write one out in three different languages."

Arslan threw up his hands in defeat. "Okay, you have a plan already. Tell me what you are going to need."

"A cart. Two mules. Four strong men who can be paid, who won't ask questions, and who will forget what they saw within a day. I can handle the forgetting myself, but it is easier if the men are naturally forgetful to begin with."