Summer arrived with word from the capital: King Degron Goldmane had passed away peacefully during the night.

Alum grieved his father’s death alone. It occurred a full week before we heard about it, and even without considering the instability of Trent, it would take at least another week for Alum to reach Hollowhold for a funeral which is traditionally held ten days after a royal death. Therefore, he stayed in Trackford with me, though he temporarily became more isolated, taking to idly wandering the city and imbibing an extra glass of wine in the evenings. I understood his feelings only too well and left him well enough alone.

There were no rumours of assassination concerning Degron’s death. It was impossible to know for sure at this distance, but I believed them. Degron had been kept in a drug-induced haze for years so I couldn’t really see why anyone would want to kill him. Sure, Prince Milos would be King in three days’ time, but that merely secured a rule that had been his in practise for years.

It also occurred to me that my husband was now the crown prince, at least for a few more months before Milos’s child was born of Allisia. There still was a chance that I would be a Queen of Halivaara if things went awry for the royal family during these warmer months.

Over the next couple of weeks, we began to hear reports from the Borderlands that Milos had used his newfound authority and legitimacy to withdraw all Halivaaran men from their conflict with the desert nomads. Most of the soldiers were being pulled back all the way to the Mountain Duchy, though some would remain in Mattrath, ceding the less defensible portions of the Duchy but reinforcing the remainder. This came as a surprise to the more military-minded men like Timoth, who was constantly to-and-fro between Haelling Cove and Trackford but insisted that there was no reason to station so many active soldiers away from the front lines. We sent an emissary to the capital requesting that some of these withdrawn soldiers be sent to Ebonreach and even Trent but received no response. Knowing what we did about the Vizonian Order and Milos’s marital and political attachment to it, I wondered what schemes were hatching in the capital.

Tadruk met me in the street one day, appearing directly before me despite the fact I was on an impromptu walk to the market hall accompanied by only two housecarls. I suppose that was to be expected of a professional assassin.

‘Countess, I understand that you wish to speak with me,’ he said while I was still gathering my senses.

‘Ah, Timoth found you,’ I replied, but Tadruk shook his head.

‘I heard that you were looking for me, and frankly I’d be grateful if you stopped. My old comrades don’t need any help.’

‘Now that you are here, there is no need to continue the search,’ I said. ‘But the street is not a good place to speak. Meet me in my chambers after supper tonight. You will be granted entrance.’

‘I will see you there,’ he said, and vanished into an alley as though he’d never been there. My guards, who’d been standing warily with their hands on the hilts of their swords, looked very confused.

In the evening, Tadruk met me and Alum in our meeting room. It stank of cheap ale and rotting clothes from the men I’d invited to stay there, but since they’d moved on (albeit one of them to my changing room) I had no qualms with using the space once the windows had been cracked open.

We sat down at the table after Alum cleared it of refuse, and I spoke to the assassin.

‘I have a mission for you,’ I began.

‘I need no employment,’ Tadruk interrupted. ‘I am happiest left alone.’

‘You tried to kill me!’ Alum shouted. ‘You’re lucky we don’t have your head on a platter! You owe us.’

I put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. ‘You would be paid for your services.’

‘Who do you want me to kill? Don’t tell me it’s the new King,’ he replied with a sardonic laugh.

‘The mission isn’t an assassination, it’s a theft,’ I replied. ‘I need you to steal an artefact from the capital.’

‘What sort of artefact?’ Tadruk asked. ‘Going back to Hollowhold is dangerous for me. The Vizonian Order is strong there. They’ll be looking for me.’

‘It’s called the Ashwood Blade.’

Tadruk’s eyes lit up. He recognised the name at least.

‘That’s not in Hollowhold,’ he said.

‘You know the Ashwood Blade?’ Alum asked.

‘I certainly do - I stood guard before it every day for years!’ he exclaimed with another laugh, this one more genuine. ‘Only, you’d wish it was in Hollowhold. You can’t get to it where it’s at now.’

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‘Where is the Ashwood Blade now?’ I asked irritably.

‘I told you before, in the dungeon,’ Tadruk replied. ‘I used to guard the Vizonian archives. The Ashwood Blade isn’t in Halivaara, it’s in Vizonia.’

I looked at Alum blankly. The news was a shock. I was at a loss. If we were to turn the Dreadwood Forest from a detrimental detour for trade into a source of military manpower we needed that blade.

‘What do we do?’ I asked him.

‘We have two choices: give up on the faeries, or steal it from Vizonia.’

Tadruk rudely cleared his throat. ‘You have one choice. No one goes into Vizonia and returns without Highfather Ioran’s permission.’

‘No one knows of Vizonia’s schemes other than us, so no one will have tried except emaciated slaves,’ I replied. ‘Besides, we have a secret weapon. We have you.’

Tadruk’s eyes widened with fear and he stood up from the table. ‘No… no, no! I’m not going back there. They’ll kill me. Worse!’

‘We should have killed you already,’ Alum repeated. ‘The way I see it, if we pay you for this mission, you come out ahead. You won’t owe us anything.’

‘Not if I don’t survive!’

‘Relax, we’ll plan it out before we go,’ I reassured him. ‘We’ll send you with our best men. They’ll keep you safe.’

‘You don’t know the… things… they have in Vizonia. Besides, none of your men could pass as Vizonian. They’re too regional. Most free Vizonians are from the Mountain Duchy or eastern Trent, but your men-at-arms don’t know anything about those places.’

‘Sounds like I’ll have to go with you then,’ Alum said. ‘I meet all of those criteria and I’m the best swordfighter in the Kingdom.’

‘You’re not going alone. Timoth is your equal with the sword and lived in Hollowhold for two years. He had theological lessons too,’ I said. I had an ulterior motive in pushing for Timoth’s involvement, but Alum had to accept it for it to work.

‘Fair enough. Gentleman Fraedwin can oversee most of his duties in the short-term. I’d be glad of the extra sword at my side, especially if I’m supposed to be keeping a leash on our informant,’ he replied, gesturing at Tadruk.

‘Good, it’s settled then. You two, Timoth, and me will all go to Vizonia and steal the Ashwood Blade,’ I declared.

They both looked at me like I was insane.

‘You can’t go!’ cried Alum. ‘I didn’t agree to that, only Timoth.’

‘But you did - you said that Timoth was sufficiently educated and had lived in Hollowhold long enough. He and I did all those things together.’

‘I also said he was a fearsome sight with sword in hand,’ protested Alum. ‘You may have killed before, but you’re not built for proper combat.’

‘And you’re not built for sweet talking, or for seduction. This is an undercover mission - you need every weapon you can fit into your arsenal,’ I argued.

There was no way I was going to miss out on this mission, especially not if both of the men I loved were on it. I’d faced danger before. Besides, we hoped to avoid combat. I might very well be more of an asset to the party than Alum or Timoth.

‘It’s too dangerous!’ Alum continued. ‘You can’t be leading missions into enemy territory. You’re the ruler of the Ebonreach, for Cha’s sake!’

‘It is for precisely that reason that I can lead missions into enemy territory. I make the decisions, and this one is final. Regeda will come with us also, if she is willing. She is of Hollowhold and we’ll be expected to be supported by some form of attendant. Our party will number five. Besides, the danger is minimal. If we run into any sort of trouble, we can just summon our portals and escape right back into this room.’

‘Even if we escape, if we’re recognised, Vizonia will strike us again. We’ve already defied them with our marriage and I was lucky to survive.’

‘That’s an unavoidable risk. Besides, we’ve taken plenty of precautions. Our door is guarded, our food is tasted, and our lands emptied of Vizonians. We can’t afford to let this opportunity to ally with the faeries slip from our grasp. I know not their number, but they must be worth at least a few hundred men. That would make our military larger than Trent’s after the attrition of Entregwa’s rebellion. We’d be a force to be reckoned with. You have suggested that I should invade Trent to secure more land and men, but this is a surer way, and the ire it will incur is less. By your own logic, you should accept this.’

Alum slumped in his chair, moping silently. Occasionally, he shook his head and gazed out the window. He knew I was right, and that even if it was foolish to risk all three of us on the same mission, we were also the best people for the job.

‘I think you’re both fools,’ Tadruk said. He exhaled loudly. ‘The coin had better be good.’

‘It will be. I might even be able to find you some land,’ I told him. ‘Depending on the extent of your contribution.’

‘We will need Vizonian robes. My portal will take us to the outskirts of the main Vizonian city, so be prepared for some walking. No one important travels at night in Vizonia because they return home to Hollowhold, so we’ll set out in the morning. We’ll pose as high-ranking monks from Trent because the Hollowhold community is fairly insular. The archives are a publicly accessible museum, so we should just avoid contact with anyone, get to the Ashwood Blade exhibit, grab it, and leap into our portals. It might be prudent to have medical staff and soldiers waiting at our exit point in case we run into any unexpected… conflicts.’

‘It will be arranged,’ I said. ‘We will set out at dawn tomorrow from these very chambers; the sooner we do this the less time there will be to brood on it, or for some event to occur which forces us to remain in Ebonreach.’

I called for the guardsman at the top of the stairs and sent him to summon Timoth. He appeared in a matter of minutes as he was staying in the same building as us. I told him to find some Vizonian robes in one of the Vizonian buildings we’d repossessed and informed him of the mission. He was keen, and though he protested at my inclusion, it was a far more mild outburst than Alum’s. I think that he’d seen enough action with me at his side to trust my judgment on this.

There was only one person left to talk to. Regeda.