“Hey Arksi!”
Verlais’s voice echoed down the line. There was always something about Vrekan telecommunication that made their voices sound like that.
“How you doing?”
Arksi grunted. He had been in the middle of washing the dishes and wasn’t in the mood for any more interruptions. One dish in particular, everything had been baked on, and Nenth had left it to soak for two days now. Couldn’t even remember what they’d had for dinner.
“I’m alright.”
“You don’t sound alright.”
“Bad day at work. Don’t really want to talk about it. Why are you calling, Verlais?”
“Oh I just wanted to ask a few things… Are you busy right now?”
Arksi stared at the unwashed dishes, then sighed. The chores could wait. Nenth wasn’t even coming home this evening, he had to accompany the Keeper in some sort of diplomatic charity thing. Arksi needed the company. Or at least a distraction.
“No. I’m not busy. What do you want to talk about?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just things. Wanted to see how my favourite fellow Kronaron was.”
The little Rethan threw himself onto the sofa, not really caring. “Same old, same old. Working as always. That’s what a Ksa does. You?”
“I’ve been taking time off. Enjoying myself. Vrekans consider me a hero and send money my way, I turned away most of it but when the King himself offers you a pay rise and holiday, you can’t say no, right?”
The way Verlais was talking, Arksi could tell there was something specific he wanted to talk about.
“I guess. What else is bothering you?”
“Am I that obvious?”
“Yes.”
Whether Verlais was amused or annoyed at how obvious he was, Arksi couldn’t tell from the bad connection. Either way, Verlais proceeded to tell him what his problem was.
“Did you receive a mysterious package containing several knives?”
“You mean…” Arksi paused. He was about to be surprised, but he quickly realised that if he had received an expensive blade with connections to Time itself, then chances are his fellow time-based friends may have received one too. “Does the blade have your name on it?”
“I think so. But not spelled right… Wait, is BEP, an A with no line in it, AI and some weird bent E shape, is that my name written in a different language?”
“Yes. Apparently it’s an ancient Thanatoforic language, according to the Keeper.
Verlais fell silent, realising he’d said something stupid. Arksi could hear the sound of blades clicking together. Verlais was playing with the blade as they chatted on the phone.
“Do you have the blade right now?”
“Yeah, both of them. One for each hand, clearly! Whoever sent them knew that I liked to use dual daggers. Most Vrekans do.”
“You have two of them?” Arksi gasped. Enough was enough, he needed to tell Verlais about these blades. “You do realise what those blades are, right?”
“Uh, no. They just arrived through my letterbox this morning. Don’t know who sent them. But they’re super nice.”
Arksi took a deep breath, then explained, slowly so that Verlais would understand. “These are Tickton Drake Blades. They’re extremely valuable. The singular blade kept within the Great Library is worth several billion Evra on its own, and it’s not even in great condition. That’s why my day was shitty, the Keepr thought I’d stolen and vandalized the blade in the Rethan government’s possession when in fact someone had sent one of these blades to me.”
“You think Kairos, the Whenvern, sent them?” Verlais suddenly interrupted. “The time dragon we saved?”
“Well, uh, um… possibly?” Arksi sighed. “I don’t know.”
“Tell you what, I’ll call Ct’Era and Kindyna, see how they’re doing. Maybe we can do another meetup and see what’s going on?”
“Yeah, sure…” Arksi was tired. “I’ve got to get some stuff done, arrange with the others and I’ll work something out.”
“Will do!” Verlais beamed. “Have a nice day!”
“You too.”
Verlais rang off, leaving Arksi alone with his thoughts. Who the hell was sending billion-Evra knives to people? Like the washing up, it was a problem for another time.