The man who sometimes called himself Judah the Warblade walked silently down a long underground passage away from the most important dungeon in the world.

Well. Most important in the available world. There was one other, but that would come later. Probably not for years. But Judah understood the importance of patience. The secrets of this world had waited for hundreds of years; they could wait a few more.

He arrived at his destination, an unmarked and hardly noteworthy door, which opened into a dark room. Judah snapped his fingers absently and a cold blue light appeared above his hand, illuminating the room.

“Uvlan, come here.”

The soulbinder woke with a groan. He stood reluctantly, blinking and holding his arm to shield his face from the light, but he came.

“Yes?” he demanded, as petulant as ever.

Judah gave no indication of his relief. Far too much had been slipping away from his grasp of late. Even Domitius was beginning to push against his designs. But so long as the soulbinder remained his, nothing else truly mattered. They were all distractions, diversions, means to an end that could be achieved with anyone and by anyone. Only Uvlan was truly irreplaceable.

“Report.”

Uvlan closed his eyes and grumbled something under his breath. “What’s there to tell? Little liars running around everywhere.”

“Specifically, please.”

Uvlan rolled his neck and one shoulder, frowning. “Hythraeya the Unseen, and before her, Urg the Mage. Hythraeya will be no further trouble. She claimed someone called Emma was casting aspersions upon my skills. I assured her quite firmly that my capabilities are without reproach. She will remember nothing about me and go out of her way to avoid coming here or leading anyone else here. A simple enough binding, her will was weak and she hardly cared.”

Judah did not miss the way Uvlan went into great detail about only one of the two visitors. “And Urg?”

Uvlan made a strangled growling sound, which he often made when he did not wish to speak.

Judah waited.

A few seconds passed, then Uvlan broke the silence. “Urg bore a mark of truth on xir soul and could not be bound. And the echoes of my own touch, though to my knowledge we had never met.”

“Describe this Urg for me.”

“A harpy with dark iridescent feathers, like scales. Xe had no interest in me or my work, only curiosity, and left without incident.”

“And what is the mark of truth?”

Uvlan growled wordlessly for a longer time, moments dragging on as he tried to resist his oath, then gasped, “A gift, of the Oracle. To protect a soul from external influences like mine.”

Judah frowned. He knew little of the other pantheons, but this seemed an odd, insignificant thing for Uvlan to try so hard to hide from him.

“Thank you. Now, I believe it is time to renew your binding.”

Uvlan activated his soulbinding circle, and obediently stood within it. Judah felt nothing as the power built, but his logging software began a steady beep as code was exchanged between himself and the soulbinder.

“I am ready,” Uvlan said reluctantly.

“Then begin. You know the words.”

Judah kept a close eye on the logs, just in case Uvlan tried to slip something by him or subvert the intention of his oaths in some way, but he needn’t have worried. Any defiance Uvlan once exhibited had been ruthlessly suppressed beneath the layers of vows that held him too tightly to ever wriggle free.

The blue circle flared one final time, and Uvlan sighed regretfully as the soulbinding finished and sealed itself. “I keep hoping you’ll miss a renewal day one of these months.”

Judah chuckled softly. “You are the most essential piece in my entire purpose here. I could forgo everything else, and I would still never forget.” He turned and strode to the door.

“Until your purpose is accomplished," Uvlan reminded him. "Then I will be released.”

Judah smiled, but did not reply. He slipped back out into the tunnel and continued on toward the leypillar at its end. Uvlan was not the only person to require his attention today, only the most essential.

He could probably rely on Domitius for now, but the man spent too much energy on appeasing his followers and ensuring his popularity. Rominian had the right idea, but few others were as dedicated to the cause.

For a moment, he considered trying to recruit some of Domitius’s soulbound tricksters. They were a powerful, if erratic, force. If he could harness that power to his own ends …

But no. One trickster was more than enough. It would be a pointless risk to bring any others into it.

He reached the leypillar and gently placed a hand on its obsidian surface. He did not select a destination at once, taking time to ponder his next move. A great deal of preparation remained before his great work could reach fruition, but for now that could all wait. He had plenty of time before any of his plans became urgent.

But Uvlan’s odd resistance, that was significant. The soulbinder knew full well he could not deny Judah anything, and yet he’d tried so very hard.

Before anything else, he needed to investigate this Oracle. Anything that posed a threat to his plans needed to be accounted for, and deific interference would certainly qualify as a potential threat.

Kalyx City.

The leypillar pulsed once with energy, and the man known as Judah the Warblade disappeared.