IX

It just hadn’t made sense to Yoreno. The first murder was out of pure necessity, surely? It seemed the killer had to sustain some form of physical contact to change his form. A castle guard wouldn’t just as well stand there while his identity was stolen.

This idea of his did not explain the reason why the killer had been feasting on the neck of the dead guard. What made the least sense, was why he had decided to attack Yoreno and Cypia.

Did this man—this killer—have some motive for attacking them specifically?

Wrong or not, Yoreno had devised a plan. Now he walked with Sir Cedryk, the captain of the castle guard, inspecting the guard stations they had set up all around the castle. The guards had been instructed to remain very casual with visitors and to not inadvertently imply that a situation was on going.

Personally, Yoreno hated it. If it was up to him, he would have stopped everything. So far, two castle guards and Cypia had been killed—Cypia being the only noble of higher stations so far. Every man in the Castle Guard was a knight of Aevalin.

Surely more deaths would come if this situation was prolonged. Yoreno was not the king. He did not know why His Majesty chose not to take the obvious action.

Sir Cedryk and Yoreno stopped at a group of guards who were standing at attention. As instructed, they were allowed to speak among themselves, to lessen their formal aspect, despite not allowing anyone to pass through the cordon.

Beyond was a wide corridor filled with paintings, glow rocks and high windows looking out into the forested courtyard. It led to the main ballroom.

After seeing that everything seemed orderly, Yoreno and Sir Cedryk continued on. “Are we not supposed to remain in groups larger than two?”

“How else to draw this creature out?” Yoreno asked quietly. “Should he attack us, surely one of us can kill him, or at the very least, perhaps wound him?”

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“It seems desperate.”

“It’s all we have, short of tearing the castle apart looking for him.”

“I suppose you are right.”

What the captain didn’t know was that they would have no need to defend themselves. Not if the plan went accordingly. Even now, Yorinius, a top-tier adventurer, was tracking Yoreno.

Keeping out of sight, he was to intervene if the killer approached them while they went on patrol. It was a gross waste of the tracking potion if it turned out that his idea was to be fruitless.

But even so, the potion would last several hours at least.

They went up the stairs, patrolling the other corridors. Most of the guards had been removed, stationed at various checkpoints. Some had been stationed outside the doors of a few chambers where the noble occupants had refused to leave their guest quarters.

The audacity and arrogance of some of the guests almost made Yoreno wonder if a grand consensus on the king’s new Age of Readventure was even possible.

Time would tell.

“In all my years,” Sir Cedrik said, “I have never encountered such a dangerous situation. I feel that this failing is on me.”

“How so?”

“It is my responsibility to keep the castle guarded, to keep out intruders or potential assassins.”

“But how could you know?”

Shrugging, they left the corridor and went into one of the libraries. Sir Cedryk held up his lamp. It wasn’t a fire lamp, but a glow rock lamp that reflected bright light outward through the ingenious use of multiple mirrors called a prism or some such thing.

Almost barbaric to magickers, Yoreno thought, but still, it was an impressive feat of invention.

“It’s not your fault,” he said.

Sir Cedryk said nothing.

“Truly,” Yoreno added. “You are only human. There is only so much you can do.”

The man nodded.

“You sound like your mistress.”

He did, didn’t he?

“I only just realized this,” he said, smiling to himself. “You’re a very lucky lad, you know?”

“What?”

“Most knights would kill to be her protégé, son.” He nodded to himself. “The famous Lady Dantera Brennovo, heir of the legend Arlian Brennovo. I would go on about him, but I am certain you’ve heard it all.”

Yoreno quirked a wry smile.

“The library is empty,” he said. “Let’s finish up this round of inspections.”

Yoreno sighed.

No killer. He had wished the man would attack them. But surely he wouldn’t get wind of them on the very first round they made, surely?

Nodding, they began to head back to their makeshift headquarters.