Harlan had handed over the coded messages written in the books to the Unseen, and they worked with Balor’s people to figure out what or if they had meaning.

For all they knew, it really would just be transcribing errors.

The Unseen had never felt it was the right call to bring Balor’s people in, cutthroat rogues and back alley assassins who lacked the grace of the Unseen blades which served the royal family.

It was made worse that they frequently found themselves being outpaced by them.

“WOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAH, THOSE GOLD PIECES ARE MINE.”

The others tapped their blade for a moment before banishing the thought

Balor was many things, but forgiving of kinslaying was not one of them.

He had crushed many gangs and syndicates that worked by killing the person above you in rank and taking over, and he made it clear that such things were not going to happen anymore.

If you killed your fellow employee, you were betraying the organization as a whole.

The hierarchies that he put in place were more focused on the ability for each to get their job done, and if they failed, they were moved back in rank, but the days of killing anyone who doesn’t meet the expectation of their bosses, of short lived gangs run by psychopaths who simply enjoyed cruelty, those were over.

Balor came to Castle Fomoria through one of his own gate mages.

“Honey, it’s been so long.”

“Sorry, Mom. But this isn’t a social visit. Is Harlan in?”

“You didn’t call before you got here?”

“We had a… spat, last we met. No matter how I see it, I don’t want to speak with him through a communicator before I speak with him in person again.”

“Check with Adina, but I haven’t seen him in a few days.”

“Thank you. Sorry that I don’t have time to talk, but once this is over-”

“Don’t. I’ve heard Harlan say the same thing more than enough times, when this is over, when that is over, but it never is. You will find another fight, I know you will, and It’s taken a long time, but I’ve accepted that.

Dinner, maybe in a week, how does that sound?”

“I can get a reservation, you, dad, and me. Finest restaurant in the capital.”

“That sounds nice.”

She hugged him goodbye, and Balor understood more about what turned Harlan into himself.

It was one thing to hear the pain in her voice, it was another to feel it.

Inside, he found Fomoria with Adina and Vivi.

“Ah, greetings.”

“Are you here for him as well?”

“Yes. We… had some differences last we met.”

“The same can be said for me. Is this about Nulson?”

“We’ve also found evidence that a man named Magruder is alive.”

Both of them felt fury and disgust rise in Adina.

“I think I’ve heard the name. Who is he?”

“That fucking bastard-”

“Fucking bastard.”

“Vivi, please don’t say what mommy just said.”

“Bastards.”

Fomoria pointed his finger at Viviane and took a commanding tone, yet didn’t raise his voice.

“Listen to your mother.”

Viviane began to tear up.

“Give her to me.”

“No. You’ve already upset her.”

“Adina, please.”

She didn’t want to, but she did trust Fomoria.

Viviane fought to stay with her mother, but she was still just a toddler despite her rapid growth.

Fomoria held her gently, but firmly, and put on a softer voice.

“Feel that? I’m not mad at you, you don’t need to be afraid. It’s alright.”

Vivi calmed.

“You’re scary.”

“Your mother is trying to protect her, that is her job. When she tells you to do something, you don’t need to know why, you just need to listen, because she would never let anything hurt you.”

“Ok… I want mommy.”

Fomoria handed her back.

“That was really good, I think.”

“Viviane might only be a year old, but her mind is going to grow faster than her body, at least, I assume, and she can understand far more than you might expect.”

“I heard a little about your son, Darrath-”

“From who?”

“Amber. She said that he was growing up quickly, something about being a Pixie and being born physically mature. Is that why you know how to do this?”

“That and he is empathic, though not quite the same way as Vivi. Whenever you tell her to do something, hold her hand, let her feel that you are just worried for her, that you are just afraid for her. Words are good, but she will understand feelings more clearly.”

“Thank you, I’ll try that. Anyway, Harlan is in the North helping Sepul with something, but that is going to take a few hours. I’ll call him back now.”

“Good.”

Balor didn’t feel like waiting, but it would be a chance to spend some time with his niece.

“No, we can go to him.”

“It’s not a good idea to-”

“Too late.”

“No it-”

Fomoria dragged Balor through a gate.

Harlan had been asked to help bring a city under heel, but not through violence, the Northerners did not take well to threats.

Sepul was a master healer, the greatest in the world, his skill on certain subjects greater than Marigold, who spread her skills out across many more fields than him. And while he could heal everyone, he and Rosewell felt it best that Harlan join him, so that he could build a greater reputation with them.

When Balor and Fomoria stepped through the gate, things began tense due to the soldier of Ragne still technically being under orders to arrest and kill him; Fomoria was always easy to pick out of a crowd.

Naturally, they instead went to get the highest ranking and strongest soldier in the city, Dawn.

“Dawn, it’s been a long time.”

“It has. Is your Dawn still alive?”

“Yes, and she is doing just fine as a grandmother.”

“Perhaps someday, I can visit, see both her and my other grandchild.”

“Perhaps. So, are you going to try your hand at arresting me? Because I’m telling you now, it isn’t going to work.”

“You, put cuffs on him.”

Fomoria let the man get within a few feet, then punched him.

The man flew no distance, and his armor was unharmed, but he still fell to the ground, dead.

“What did you just do to him? Because if you can’t take it back, I might actually need to arrest you.”

Fomoria revealed a small orb in his hand, an illusion really, but it was easier than finding a way to give everyone around him soul sight.

“I punched the soul out of his body.”

He put it back, and the man screamed at the top of his lungs, so Fomoria put a veil over the man.

“It isn’t pleasant, but there will be no lasting damage.”

“IF ANYONE ELSE WANTS TO TRY ARRESTING HIM, GO FOR IT, BUT I’M NOT DOING IT.”

Everyone was in agreement that even if they all rushed at once, it wouldn’t change a thing, so they just reported that he was there and then left him alone.

Halfway across the city, there were two stalls set up.

One for Harlan, one for Sepul.

Anyone could just walk right up, and they would heal them without any cost or question.

“Balor, what’s the issue?”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“The code was broken, we are just gathering information now. I wanted to tell you in person, and apologize for-”

“No, you were right, and I know you are only apologizing because you don’t want any strife between us.”

Harlan didn’t even need to look at the people, he could touch them to scan and heal whatever they had, rarely requiring that he actually pay any real attention.

“When did you get so mature?”

“When I needed to be. Why is that man here?”

“You could just ask me.”

Harlan refused eye contact with Fomoria.

“I actually never asked. Fomoria, what do you want with Harlan?”

“To apologize. For the record, I’m also not sorry. But now that I see what you are doing, I have a wyvern that could heal this entire city in a matter of minutes.”

Sepul nearly burst a blood vessel at the suggestion, and the people of the city looked ready to attack Fomoria for what they hoped was a joke.

“I’ve heard, Rekur. I might have the power of mercy, but I would still kill that thing.”

“I have known her for months, and she has never been anything but a gentle giant. She doesn’t pretend that she is better than she is, she knows that every single day it is a struggle to keep control of herself, to be the person she wants to be even if her nature tells her to be a monster.”

“And you lost that struggle already.”

“I am in control of myself, I chose my path. I gave in to no urge to kill, I just did what I felt was right, I am living according to the same truth that you hold in your heart.”

“You are wrath, I am mercy.”

“I’m glad that you can fly, falling from such a high horse would be dangerous otherwise.”

“Don’t act like you are justified in-”

“Don’t act like you wouldn’t do everything I have done and worse. When Viviane is in danger, how will you react? How merciful will you be then? And when that day comes, I will still be here, waiting for you.”

Fomoria left by void gate.

“He seemed so good with Vivi, I thought-”

Harlan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, one that when let out became white fire.

“Why was he at my home?”

“He was asking Adina where-”

“Bullshit. He wants to find me, he can just divine my position as easily as I can divine his, he can track me through the Crossroads, he can do it a hundred other ways that don’t involve him with my daughter.”

“Calm down.”

“Not while he-”

Sepul moved from his booth.

“Calm down. We will speak when we are done for the day.”

Balor rented a room for the day so he could have his privacy while calling.

“You are sure that it was made in error?”

“I brought in your accounting department, and they say that the money and supplies were still there, but logged incorrectly.”

“Alright. Let him go, but take a finger which he will not be allowed to heal for a month. Let him know that this is a light punishment, and if we hadn’t found the missing items, he would be in a shallow grave.”

“Of course, Mr.Shade.”

For the next hour, Balor made calls until he found what he was looking for, then he got Harlan.

“We need to go.”

“Where?”

“I will explain after you bring me to this location.”

It wasn’t a name, just a latitude and longitude.

They came out of the gate in a dark room, and only after he closed the gate did Balor turn on the lights.

“Is this your armory?”

“Yes. I told you before that I took up the name, The Shade, and in doing so, when I must make appearances I need to maintain that certain aura. Put this on.”

Balor handed him an intentionally ragged rough black cloak, and when he put it on all of his features fell away into darkness; Balor put his own on as well.

Any skin that was exposed turned black as void, and though his eyes could be seen, they became white slits.

“You look like Coronach in this thing.”

“He was the inspiration, and in turn, I believe that some depictions of death are based on him.

Most people in the business use a great deal of their coin on their clothes, this ragged cloak makes it seem as if I don’t care about the wealth.”

“Do you?”

“Wealth is an expression of power.”

“You already know my thoughts on claiming power beyond the personal.”

“I know that you or Fomoria could kill me in an instant, but with what I have, my men are nearly as well equipped as royal guards, lacking only the secrets that are held by the royal forgemasters;

half of what they have right now comes from you anyway. My spies and assassins are operating on the same level, sometimes even surpassing them due to the difference in connections. I control nearly the entire underworld of Ragne, and I’ve been expanding into Confederate states along with Reino. I-”

“What is this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you trying to convince me that you have power, or are you trying to convince yourself?”

Harlan’s face couldn’t be seen, but Balor felt his emotions.

“Are you happy doing this?”

“I’m good at it. Everyone needs that, a place to use their talents.”

“But are you happy?”

“I’ve implemented a code of honor across a majority of the underworld that was once spread out, I have improved things greatly for everyone involved.”

“But are you happy?”

“When we get to the second location, you are never to reveal yourself, and if asked, say you are The Shade, but don’t speak unless it is absolutely required.

You aren’t going to like this place, but you will need to hold back until this is over.”

Balor and Harlan stepped out behind a dilapidated building and met two women.

They wore cloaks like Balor and Harlan, but in much finer condition and under a set of golem armor.

“Jas? Kelly?”

“Harlan?”

“Are you all fools? Never use real names when working. These are shadelings. They aren’t the strongest people under my command, but I never have to worry for a second about them betraying me.”

“You two are still working for him? I hoped you would settle down and live normal lives at some point.”

“Normal and us are at odds. Besides, The Shade treats us well, keeps us safe, well armored, and trains us with the best. We’re going to be taking a year course at the academy.”

“So long as you are happy.”

“I get to work with my sister, and everyone respects us, I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing.”

“Alright. What are we doing here?”

“We are going to attend a slave auction, and I’m going to buy a large number of them. Once I’m done, I am going to ask the organizer if I could be directly sourced. If we are right, this is the person who supplied the target with his test subjects.”

“How did you find this place?”

“I put the word out that I might be interested in the slavetrade, and dozens reached out to me, then I just needed to find which auction to attend based on the coded messages.

This isn’t going to be pleasant for any of us, but you can’t act, the moment you say anything, they will know how much you hate what you see, so you will shut your mouth.”

“I-”

“Not, a, word.”

The auction took place in an underground theater built far away from anything else.

Each client was granted a private booth, but only about half of them were filled on this night.

It was a silent affair, with everyone being given a sign to hold up when they wished to bid.

The booths were comfortable, a couch, a complementary bar, one could even order food from a kitchen;

all of it made Harlan’s stomach churn.

Over two hundred slaves were brought out, most young women, some too young.

“Hold yourself together. If I wanted a bloodbath I would’ve called Fomoria instead of you. Each and every person here, remember their minds, and then we can find them later.”

The mention of his other half was sobering to Harlan, he refused to be him, so he had to stay together, just for the night.

When the auction was over a slightly overweight man in fine clothes with two rings at least for each finger came to see him.

“Mr.Shade, it has been an honor to have you attend one of my auctions.”

“It is.”

Balor’s voice was raspy and distant, but clear, as if he was echoing it from elsewhere.

“But, I wonder, do you have more? I care not for their appearance, I have other needs for warm bodies.”

He let out a dry chuckle, the sinister tone causing the owner to gulp.

“We-well… I don’t normally offer this, but you’ve become a preferred customer, in just a night you bought half of the slaves for sale, and if you don’t care what they are, I do have a supplier.

Provided of course that you accept my finders fee on all future transactions with him, I would be willing to put you in contact with him.”

“Can he handle a thousand slaves by the end of the month? Age, beauty, strength, race, none of it matters.”

“That… might be difficult. Slavery isn’t an easy business, you need to bribe guards and mayors and nobles and arrange transport where they won’t be seen.”

“I control the flow of drugs and women across nearly every county. I am aware of these issues, and I just consider them operating costs. Give me a quote, how many could be done by the end of the month, and what is the cost of bulk buying?”

“Five, maybe as many as six hundred. 10 a head.”

“10 gold… I could arrange it.”

Balor tossed the man a bag.

“300 gold, a downpayment.”

“Th-thank you, sir. Let me take you to your slaves. I hope you had arranged transport beforehand.”

“I can handle such trivial worries.”

Balor didn’t wait for the man to get out of his way, he pushed past him on the way out along with his companions.

Balor didn’t want to spend as much as he had, but he found that he couldn’t let others have them.

Yet when his funds on hand started to get low, he had to let some of them pass, trying to focus on buying the youngest of the girls.

It was harder than it should’ve been, he should’ve acted more rationally, he knew that they would save them later, but when he could feel their fear in his head, he couldn’t just do nothing.

After Harlan used a gate to get the slaves out of there and to a secluded village under Balor’s command, he pulled him aside for a talk in his office.

“No.”

“No what?”

“I’m not happy. Every time since I’ve come back from the Fomorian village and I’ve had to be The Shade, it feels like I’m killing something inside of myself. It is no wonder that you can hardly contain yourself, I nearly dug the eyeballs out of that man’s head.”

“I know how you feel. But we are getting something from this, right? Was it worth it?”

“Was it worth it?”

Balor gripped his head.

“Slavery may have been legally wiped out in the form which we have seen tonight, but I’m going to destroy the illegal slavers. Before I let them be because there was no profit and no sense in picking a fight, but I’m strong enough and I found motivation for it. Yes, tonight was worth it. I just need to find a way to justify it to my gangs.”

“You are already planning to crack down on the slavers legally. Just tell your people that the intensified scrutiny is putting your other businesses at risk, so it is best that you make sure Ragne doesn’t have any reason to dig deeper.”

“Yes, that just might work.”

Balor sat down in his large chair.

“I’m going to bring Fomoria in on this. I want muscle for some of this, and he is the strongest I can easily call on.”

“I’m not weak, I can-”

“This work is not suited for you. I wanted you to know from me before he came, so that you can accept that, and you don’t feel like I’ve been hiding it from you.”

“You don’t need to use him.”

“I’m not going to use him, I’m going to work with him. I want to know how things are outside of the veil, I want to know if I can expand my enterprise.”

----------------------------------------

A week after the end of the auction, Balor found the man who owned the building and ran it.

Fomoria broke through his defenses in broad daylight and stole the man from his home before leaving through a void gate.

Fomoria did not hide his involvement, he did not pretend to be someone else, he wanted it known that inside or outside the veil, slavers were not welcome.

The man was forced to his knees by Shadelings.

“Don’t cry, it’s pathetic listening to a grown man cry.”

“I HAVE MONEY, I CAN-”

Fomoria grabbed the man by the mouth, using fleshsculpting to seal his lips together.

“You have money gained from selling people. In time, the willing slaves will be freed, even though they are most often treated fine enough under the laws of Ragne. But you stole people from their homes, bought them after bandit raids, separated families, killed, raped, and so on. Even if you never laid a hand on them yourself, you facilitated all of this.”

Fomoria pulled back his hand to cut the man’s head off, but Balor grabbed him.

“Emperor Fomoria, while I know you find it unseemly, I am not going to give him a quick death.

You send messages with the number of dead and the efficient brutality of it all, but I send mine through pain that can only come from an artist.”

The man tried to scream, but Fomoria’s hand was still over his mouth.

“What are you going to do?”

“I am going to have him whipped to death, then I will carve the word slaver in his chest and fill it with gold, finally, I will harden his body by turning his blood to crystal and display his body in a public square. Importantly, I will also be leaving him all of his finery, so that it is clearer that my killing of him was not from greed.”

“Then I am not needed anymore, and I will return to my business.”

“Speaking of business, I would like to-”

“I do not allow an underworld to exist in my empire. I root it out at every chance, my crackdowns on them are, as you said, brutal and efficient. Your work here is your work here, and when the day comes that I take Ragne, you will either fall in line or we will have a problem with one another.”

Fomoria stepped through a void gate before Balor could reply.

“What in the fuck is his problem?”

“Emperor Fomoria is… Girls, get to work. I don’t pay you to pontificate about foreign leaders.”