"Well, I don't think he's from the Church," a woman's voice said this time.
Luca shot a glance at her. He could see well enough under the dim light of the glowing orb the first speaker created.
"Who are you? How did you find out about this place?" another asked, this one a man's voice.
Luca answered neither question. Instead, he took stock of the six other people in the room.
The orb of light cast ghastly shadows since it wasn't bright enough to dispel them. The first person he observed was, of course, the woman in his arms.
She was shorter than he was, dressed in red robes decorated with embroidered stars. Long dark hair flowed from her head, but her face was covered by a painted wooden mask.
Then he moved onto the man who cast the spell. His appearance was the most surprising of all because he didn't cover his face.
He was a large man who fit the appearance of a knight rather than a mage.
This man was tall, taller than Luca himself, with heavy-set muscles that covered his entire body in a subtle but imposing manner. He had dark red hair with a thick beard of the same color, though a white streak passed through both, as well as blue eyes that tied everything together.
He was also dressed like a knight in leather armor, with an axe strapped to his back.
"A Thuleman?" Luca muttered unconsciously, breaking the silence.
Although Hesperians had gradually started looking like Thulemen over the last few centuries, it was hard to truly mimic the appearance of one.
And this strange mage in front of him looked exactly like the warriors his father described so long ago.
"That's correct, lad." The man grinned, showing off his pearly white teeth.
He continued, "Now can you put Miss Raven down for us? It'd be a shame if she died like this."
Luca didn't take the knife off yet.
"Why did you attack me? What type of jokes do you like playing?"
"The funny kind. And I admit, it was more of a test. This place is invite only, you see. So when we saw someone we didnt recognize heading in our direction, well, you know the rest."
It made sense. Slightly. They were definitely mages, but he didn't want to let his guard down just yet.
"Why did she ask if I was from the Church?" he said, nodding in the direction of the woman who spoke earlier.
She was taller than the woman he held hostage and nearly as tall as Luca himself.
However, she dressed very differently, in brown commoner's rags and barefoot. Short brown hair reached her neck, an unconventional hairstyle. Her face was also covered by a wooden bird mask.
"The Inquisition has been trying to get us for months now. Miss Raven saw you approaching, so at first we figured it had to be people from the Church. But we didn't flee immediately because you looked nothing like someone from the Church."
The explanation checked out. Truthfully, he would have died if they wanted him to earlier. They had no reason to leave him alive otherwise.
Finally, he relaxed his grip on the dagger and let Miss Raven go.
"Good lad. Now that it's sorted, we still need you to explain how you knew there were so many of us here," the Thuleman said once more.
Luca's mind spun into overdrive at once, but the lie came easily after years of practice.
"I was passing by Carinthia and sensed a few mana signatures concentrated in a particular area, which happened to be here."
The other mages went silent with thought. Two key facts stood out: he said he was passing by and sensed their signatures, but they couldn't sense his.
Which could only mean one thing.
He was far stronger than them.
'A senior-ranked mage?'
They all came to the same conclusion, unaware of how wrong they truly were.
Luca only said that because he didn't want them to know he was from Carinthia. Then he wouldn't be able to explain so many things, such as how he knew where this was two days after Count D'escoli died.
"Ah, senior, is there anything we can do for you?" Raven said, her attitude flipping instantly.
'Senior? What is she on about? Surely this doesn't make me look old!'
Luca felt confused, but after a brief second realized where the mix-up was. He didn't intend to correct them.
"Introduce yourselves," he said simply.
Right now, the best thing to do would be to act the part as well as possible, so he chose each word carefully.
And so she started diligently.
In a minute Luca knew. For whatever reason, the Count didn't mention the names in his journal unless they were very important people. For people at the gatherings, he spoke of them without going into specifics.
There were four men and two women in the group. The first woman was Raven, whom he held hostage, and the second was the strange woman who answered his earlier question; she was called Hush.
She gave him a strange feeling, as though he'd met her before, but he couldn't recall anyone that looked like her.
For the men, the Thuleman was Bjorn, which was his actual name. It was a Thule name, that was certain.
The others were Cipher, a very short man; Moth, a thin man; and finally Smoke, who looked around anxiously every few seconds. He almost behaved like smoke itself, never staying in one place.
All wore masks as well. But one thing was for certain: they were almost certainly all nobles.
Except Hush.
'How suspicious…'
"Any chance we could know your name, sir?"
Luca thought for a few seconds and couldn't help but smirk.
"Call me Burning Man." He said simply "How does your gathering work?" he asked, still trying to sound as regal as he could.
It didn't take much convincing. Clearly his outfit and previous display were enough to support the lie for now.
Bjorn nodded.
"Right, how bouts we get on with this now. We have some important business to discuss, as it appears one of us has gone missing."