Lynx

Lionsgate was great. Even if you compared it to other human settlements in this kingdom this city was a virtual hive of intrigue, crime, and loose tongues. Sure, it was not as bad as some other human kingdoms where cities were controlled by crime syndicates in their entirety, but it was enough to make Lynx feel some semblance of warmth in his chest.

Following the messenger had proven to be less interesting than Lynx had hoped, even though the messenger had held a brisk pace, he didn’t seem very concerned about anyone stalking him. At least that confirmed that the man had no recollection of the little chat Lynx had had with him.

The Faceless was now sitting on the top of a roof again, a place he so often took.

Roofs really are one of the greatest inventions ever made for my kind, he mused while watching the contact of the messenger enter the royal palace. Lynx wasn’t surprised that someone in the palace was the recipient of the slander that they called letters.

Lynx stared at the walls of the palace with contempt. He wouldn’t be able to enter it without drawing attention. Not because these humans were more alert or more prepared than the ones he had dealt with before, but because of ancient runes etched into the walls that they probably didn’t even know about. The moment he, as a magical creature, crossed the threshold of the walls he would be marked by a strong mana which would make hiding nearly impossible to anyone with even the faintest of mana senses.

It would take him quite some time to analyze the defenses, and even more to find a flaw, which this one should have due to its age. He could also try to get through one of the gates as these runes generally weren’t placed there to not mark every legitimate magical visitor that came through but that would also take some preparations. Of course, all that meant that the contact would be long gone before Lynx had any chance to enter the palace himself.

Lynx shook his head and returned to his little sketch of the man who had received the letters, he didn’t need it, his memory was near infallible, he would send this one to his master.

He sighed, got up from his spot on the roof after finishing his drawing, and turned to leave. Traversing human cities was always a treat in comparison with many other races, they built their buildings so close together that one could reach nearly every point in the city without ever touching the ground.

As Lynx jumped from roof to roof a scream reached his senses and he stopped. Looking down from the gap he had just traversed he saw a group of three bulky men standing around a young woman, screaming at her with a couple of kicks for good measure. She was clutching something tightly in her hands while pressing them against her chest, using her body to protect it from the thugs.

“Give it, you dumb cow,” the largest of the men yelled with an ugly accent and gave her another kick but she refused.

Lynx turned around and began walking away, this scene was nothing out of the ordinary in the back alleys of any large human city and he wouldn’t get involved.

Then he stopped and thought about it for a few moments. The radiant soul would disapprove of this, he was a creature of compassion and wouldn’t agree to Lynx leaving this defenseless human to her fate. It might not be Lynx’s own conviction but following the core of his master’s wishes was more important than following the words and he had nothing better to do, to be honest. He raised his hand in front of his mask and the air began to glimmer, hiding the mask behind it as he stepped toward the edge. It wouldn’t do if stories of a lynx-masked stranger saving people started appearing.

Lynx dropped down into the alley like a whirlwind, he landed in a crouching position and his knife cut through the back of the large man’s knee. Before the man even recognized what was happening, Lynx was already on the move, dashing forward while standing up. He rammed the knife into the neck of a second man before letting go of it, whirling around him, grabbing the knife with his other hand, and throwing it at the last of the thugs in one fluid motion.

Now realigned to face the large man who had fallen to his knees, Lynx jumped at him with his foot first and snapped his head back with an audible crunch. The man dropped to the ground with a broken neck, the second one was trying to get the blood out of his airway, and the third was leaning against the wall lifelessly with the knife firmly lodged into his eye socket. The whole attack had taken not even five seconds and Lynx was satisfied.

Some would call this brutal; Lynx didn’t give them a chance to run or to explain their actions, they might even have been justified but these kinds of morality didn’t matter to the faceless, he had chosen a side to support and that was that.

Lynx grabbed the knife and pulled it out of the head of the man with a wet sound, cleaned it off on his tunic, and turned to leave when the young woman called out to him, “Wait!” She scrambled to get to her feet, but Lynx heard her fall back down.

He ignored her and reached for a wall to pull himself up when she called out again, “Please take me under your wing.”

Lynx stopped and turned halfway back to her. She noticed and doubled down quickly while trying to get at least into a kneeling position, “I will do anything, just please take me with you and out of this shit hole. I can clean, I can cook, I can steal, I can learn!”

Lynx stayed quiet and inspected the girl. She was young, maybe fifteen or sixteen, her body was covered in bruises, she had a black eye, and her nose must have been broken at least once before. He didn’t care much for her appearance though, he looked deeper until he saw the light of her soul emanating through her eyes. It was strong, for a human, even if her body was broken, she had kept her soul intact, and the soul was the most important indicator of a person’s worth in the eyes of the faceless. Of course, she was comparable to the radiant soul, but no human Lynx had met for hundreds of years had been.

He was interested in her proposal and stepped over to her, looking down as she tried to make a good impression.

“The path you want to take is gonna take you to places much worse than this,” Lynx said with his cold inhuman voice and the girl winced for a moment.

“It doesn’t matter, I am dead if I stay here. These guys were Gunnar’s men once he finds out they are dead he will hunt me down. You took them out without even breaking a sweat, I want that kind of strength.” Lynx was convinced of her determination but that wasn’t the only thing that someone in his line of work needed.

“Give me what you are cradling in your hands,” he said and held out his hand. She stared at him with distrust before looking down into her hand. She ever so slowly raised her hand as if she was fighting against a force dragging it down until she finally dropped a small metal ring into his extended hand.

It was thin and made from silver, a very simple thing and the only worth was the price someone would pay for the silver.

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“It is the only thing I have left of my mother,” she said quietly, “I hid it but I couldn’t pay Gunnar’s tax anymore, so they came to shake me down.”

Lynx put the ring in a pocket at looked at the girl, he would return it later, but he wanted to see if she could accept losing the ring just because he said so.

“I will take this ring as payment,” he said, reaching out his hand to her. “If you take my hand then you will become my subordinate. You will do anything that I tell you and we will work for the benefit of our master. There is no quitting once you have accepted my offer, it is a deal made with your life.”

She looked scared but managed to keep her voice calm, “Who is our master?”

“You will find out if you survive,” Lynx answered dryly.

After a moment of deliberation, the girl slowly took his hand and Lynx pulled her to her feet with an internal smile.

A little earlier than I had planned, but I knew all along that the radiant soul is too ambitious of a man to be served by just one.

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Michael

The sun was standing high in the sky when their caravan finally reached the royal palace in Lionsgate. The view of the tall walls and the palace buildings behind gave Michael mixed feelings. He was happy to be here, seeing his friends again and all the memories he had here were strong but even though his anger had blunted significantly on the way here it was still present in the back of his mind.

He leaned out of the carriage window to get a better look at the plaza in front of the main building and saw that a great gathering was waiting for them, no doubt a show of respect for Duke Wallsten much rather than for Michael himself.

Rows of guards transitioned into knights until they circled the large fountain to see an assortment of nobles lining the path. Zen and Mira were waiting together with Duke Wulfen and the high priest of Idas at the top of the steps. Michael could see Theodore standing with his father a little bit off to the side.

Zen’s mother was also present, still wearing black grieving attire and standing a little bit to the side, her face covered in a black veil.

The silver-clad king’s guard was arrayed in front of the stairs in a neat line, staring at anyone who even gave a suspicious look in the direction of their monarch.

The carriage finally stopped in front of them, and Michael exited first and the duke right after. They stepped forward and simultaneously fell to one knee, bowing to their king.

“Rise,” Zen ordered, and they both got up. Zen had changed visibly in the months that Michael hadn’t seen him. He looked stressed but his aura of determination had grown stronger. Mira smiled at Michael, but he could see concern in her eyes that she tried to hide.

Zen signaled them to approach, and they did, walking through the opening between the king’s guard, Michael caught a glance from Sir Strom and nodded respectfully.

“I welcome you, Duke Wallsten and Count Rowan. I am glad that you heeded my summons,” Zen continued after Michael and the duke had reached him.

“When you call then we will always answer, Your Majesty,” Duke Wallsten said with a small bow that Michael mimicked.

“I am blessed to have vassals such as you,” Zen said with a nod and then turned to Michael. “I am sorry for your family, Michael. I wanted to come down to Reen myself for the funeral, but things have been tense here and to be quite frank, they still are.”

“I don’t hold it against you, Your Majesty,” Michael replied with a sad smile, “I know that the death of my father hasn’t just turned my world upside down but also affected the whole kingdom. I am grateful for your words though.”

“I still feel like I have failed you as a friend.”

“Even if I value our friendship very highly, I don’t expect you to shrink on your duties because of our friendship,” Michael answered and the expression on Zen’s face lightened up a little bit.

“You have always been a paragon of duty,” the king said with a warm smile which made him look more like the boy that Michael had met several years ago. The other dignitaries exchanged a couple of words with Duke Wallsten and Michael before the king spoke up again.

“Uriel will show you to your rooms, your journey has been long, and I don’t want to keep you. Rest for now and we will have dinner together later,” Zen said with a smile which Michael and Duke Wallsten answered with a deep bow.

The lengths that the royal court went to just to greet them amused Michael, all these guards and knights had to stand ready in their finest armor, the nobles had dressed up for the occasion, and even the royal family was present just for them to share a few sentences.

Mira suddenly appeared next to Michael as they followed the servant through the richly decorated corridors of the castle, “Heya.”

“Huh, where did you come from,” Michael said with a surprised expression.

“I am silent like a shadow,” she said with a smirk, which quickly changed into uneasiness. Describing someone with anything to do with darkness or shadows was seen as an insult by zealous followers of Idas so it was rarely done in circles that had to deal with them.

“How is training going,” Michael asked quickly changing the subject and Mira gladly jumped at the opportunity.

“Finding places to train without anyone seeing me is such a paaaain, I feel like a spy in my own home,” she complained theatrically causing Michael to chuckle.

“I am sure we can find some time in my stay here to get some practice in,” he said, and she glowed up with a huge grin.

“You mean that?”

"Sure, at least something good has to come from this trip,” he said while glancing over the richly decorated hallways. If Zen sold this stuff then he would make more money than he could with the mines in a year.

“At least I warned you beforehand,” Mira said proudly, “So, what is the plan to turn this back on Duke Wulfen.” She looked at Michael expectantly but only got a confused look in return.

“What do you mean you warned me?”

“I send you letters,” she answered her smile fading slowly. “Didn’t you read them?”

Michael stopped, causing the group consisting of Mira, Michael, Solon, the duke, and their guards to stop and look at them.

“Mira, I didn’t get a letter from you in weeks. Not since you returned to the capital,” he said with a frown. The servant had now also noticed that everyone had stopped and was walking back to them.

“But I...,” Mira began saying but was quietly interrupted by Duke Wallsten. “Your Highness, maybe you should discuss this behind closed doors. There are many ears in this palace.”

She got red for a moment and then nodded quickly.

The four of them were sitting alone in Michael’s room a few minutes later, Duke Wallsten and Solon had offered to leave them alone, but Michael asked them to stay.

“So, you send me a letter telling me about what is happening now?”

“Two actually,” she said and nodded vehemently, “I overheard Duke Wulfen and another man talking about you and the mountains and that the south can’t be allowed to gain in strength. The other man suggested that they could turn the disgruntled nobles against you to plunge you into political trouble, but Duke Wulfen wanted to try something else to turn the situation to their advantage first. Later I asked Zen about it and wrote you what he told me.”

Michael leaned back and looked over to Duke Wallsten who seemed very interested in what the princess was saying.

“Well, these letters never reached me. Someone must have intercepted them,” Michael said, and the duke nodded. Solon was leaning back in his chair with a thoughtful expression.

“There is no doubt. This situation is already dangerous not only for us but also for Duke Wulfen but if we had claimed the mountains before which we would have done with the information in the letters then it would have been hopeless for him.”

“We should tell Zen about it! Stealing royal letters must be illegal,” Mira shouted angrily and stood up.

“Not so quickly, Milady,” Solon stopped her with a warm smile. “We have no proof and even if the king believes us there is nothing for him to do here, he can’t risk losing Duke Wulfen’s support without any proof. The important thing is that our adversaries know that the princess is on our side and that she knows more than she should.”

“I wrote everything in code,” Mira interrupted him with a huge grin, “They can’t read it!”

Michael shared a confused look with Duke Wallsten before Mira elaborated, “I learned a code from Master Solon when I was in Reen for fun and used that to write the letters.”

“Could they have broken that code,” Duke Wallsten asked Solon with a stern expression.

The dwarf shook his head and replied, “I doubt it, the code is based on a dwarven poem, and without it, the code is nearly unbreakable.”

“You made a code with a poem? Doesn’t that have way too few words for that,” Michael asked incredulously.

“Dwarven poems are very very long,” Solon smirked.

“That is good, so they don’t know how much we know,” Michael said but after a moment of contemplation exchanged a careful glance with Solon who seemingly had the same thought as him. If they couldn’t read them, how did they know to intercept the letters?

“What are we gonna do about it,” Michael asked, putting that thought off for now.

The duke tapped onto the table with a thoughtful expression. “For now, we need to know everything you have discovered, Milady.”