The Shadow Warbler.

Fae mothers told this to their little fae children. Daniel's nanny had to fill that role for him, as after his birth his mother had seen fit to interact with him but a few scant times. A child's humantale.

The stories about the Shadow Warbler often started like 'Born of malice and kindness, flesh given form to nightmares. The terrible consequence of a human wishing to never die, and having that wish granted'. There were many versions, but the moral of the story was 'be careful what you wish for', and 'don't make deals when you don't know the cost'. Little Elswith had heard several different versions, of course.

In the stories, sometimes the brave little fae children escaped and regained their stolen power.

Some versions, the shadow warbler was destroyed and the little children learned a lesson of lending power means you may never see it back again.

And then the darkest versions, the one that all fae parents and nannies alike told the most: where the little fae children were not clever enough, and were dragged into the darkness of the human realms while the warbler lived on, dark human mind forever embraced in the stolen power of children.

Fictional. Completely fictional. No literary scholars ever agreed that the shadow warbler had any origin as such as that. There was much disagreement about how the shadow warbler came to be, but the old entities were so few and far between that there was little need to understand its emergence. Many hypothesized that they were a form of plant, or from the Underside of the world, or merely a forgotten spell.

However scary the humantales where, they were a small comparison to the truth. That the shadow warbler in the stories was a pale comparison to the real danger. The Shadow Warble was a monster. Most dangerous should it ever free its muzzled mouth. They were locked and chained away. And should they become free, should they regain their voice, it would take a high fae to ever recapture it.

Daniel had let one out, but he hadn't freed it. Even now he saw that a small silver rope still gagged its mouth.

It would also take at least a Lord's power to free it completely.

But the trap was open, and the shadow warbler wasted no time in lashing out at the first thing it saw.

Which was the golem.

Despite being gagged, there was still the voice that Daniel had heard last time. "What is this? What is this? Do we kill it? Do we keep it? What is this."

The room rattled, there was a muffled sound, then the shadow warbler raised its ilky arm, a simple challenge, toward the golem. The limb was being increasingly weaponlike.

The golem, for its part, choose to ignore it. Its heavy momentum had carried it forward, and its massive frame smashed against the wall as it turned around in search of Daniel. The floor was pocked and broken now from the golem's chase around the room and the thrown projectiles. The old stones had not been designed to support such weight, and massive chunks of the ancient wall of this wide hall were in ruins. The ceiling itself seemed to be sagging. This ancient passage, older than most fae still alive, may collapse should the golem's rampage continue.

The dust and debris in the air had done nothing to improve the clarity of the field of conflict, clouding the air like mist. This field would aid Daniel, as the Warbler was more sight dependent, somehow. But the golem was a different story. Hiding was never an option with a golem in the long term, especially if they were synced to a specific target.

The red eyes burned brightly as it found him under the table with the redhaired maid.

The golem roared, stealing more material to replace the damaged pieces, and charged toward them.

Shelby panicked, starting to grab at Daniel's clothes and shuffle out from under the table to run away. Daniel remained calm and did not allow her to pull him.

The golem made a grinding noise, as it started to gather speed.

The redhead was not stupid, and stopped her efforts. She crouched behind Daniel, clearly ready to run away, but waiting. She had an uncanny ability to read the room and ignore common sense, Daniel decided, even if only partially. She was watching Daniel and mirroring him.

The golem ignored the confidence of Daniel, however, and raised an off colored marbled club hand at Daniel.

The golem really should have watched the shadow warbler.

Shelby gasped behind Daniel, because as fast as a blink the golem's club arm was sliced off. The limb fell to the ground with a rattle and bang. The golem moved its burning eyes from Daniel at last to look at its missing appendage.

"What is this?" the shadow warbler said, without moving its mouth. "It is weak. It burns with rage, like a candle in a storm. The flames reach high, but it dies and dies. What is it?"

The shadow warbler was so much smaller than the golem. It was about the size of a full grown seelie fae, which put it much below the golems impressive height and girth.

The golem charged the shadow warbler, new focus, new fear.

And Daniel felt the first trickle of power coming to him.

The golem was unbeatable by Daniel. It had been a losing battle. And yet, Daniel had lured it to a trap that it could not overcome.

So every loss it suffered at the hands of the shadow warbler, would be a victory for the Servant Branch.

The golem threw a hasty gathered rock, ripping the stones free then hurled it at the shadow warbler.

The warbler flowed through it, the missive which would have shattered Daniels body ignored. Like a stone thrown into a pool, the hurled stone no more inconvenienced the shadow warbler. Physical attacks had little power there.

The voice echoed in the hall, mindless words and unanswerable questions. "Where? Where? What is it? What is this place? Hello. Hello. Do we kill it? Do we eat it? Hello hello. Is anybody in there?"

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Crouching away, Daniel took Shelby's elbow in a gentle grasp, because the maid was entirely too focused on the shadow warbler for his comfort.

He mouthed 'time to go.'

She followed him with a nod, albeit more carefree than he cared.

They crept along the shadows and dust, as Daniel headed to a side door he remembered well. Shelby kept glancing back, relaxed and carefully carefree.

The O'Tells estate guards that had been chasing the golem had long scattered, and the Surmount Butler was no where to be found.

They opened the door. Daniel felt the directive of the Law of Fae, calling for Enforcers to arrive. Best to get out of sight before they arrived. Daniel closed the door carefully.

The outside air was so clear and clean after the being in the enclosed space. The night sky sparkled with brilliant stars.

Daniel felt another wave of power come to him. The shadow warbler liked to play with its prey.

It was wonderful. He had so many wildcards thrown at him, but al last he felt ahead. Soon, he would have another assassination attempt, then another. One would undoubtedly come from an unexpected direction. But from power gained from the dungeon, winning over the fake assassin, and now this...He could do it. He could win.

His good mood was destroyed when he spotted Jasper outside in the foliage around the base of the estate, peering through a window at the carnage inside.

It was further ruined when Shelby smiled warmly and proclaimed their position. "Jasper! Hi! I thought I saw you hiding."

Daniel sighed.

Jasper frowned when he saw them too.

To stop the maid from yelling, Daniel walked toward his partner, leaving the path from this side door and entering the thick foliage of bushes and other tall herbs. glancing at the windows. He wanted to be away and avoid the Surmount Butler, at least until tomorrow. But he also didn't want to leave until everything was over.

Jasper fumed. "What is to become of the O'Tells estate?" He accused, his face more red with anger than looked natural on a Glasbin fae "Are you set to destroy everything?"

"Nah, he has a plan." said the redhaired maid. "He is playing the aloof nobleman with a secret heart of gold. If this were a tv show, he'd be the guy that seemed like a jerk but it turned out he was actually one of the good guys all along."

Daniel felt oddly exposed to have his carefully crafted mystique pulled into question like that. Of course, he had done good things, and not always for immediate political gain. And he had believed in fair play....

Was he such a pathetic character after all? As foolish as the children in the humantales regarding the shadow warbler?

"What is that thing?" Jasper asked, jaws tight and clinched.

"Which thing?" Daniel said, point to the dim image from the window. "That big stone thing is a golem."

"I know what a golem is! But...how is there a monster in the walls?"

"Do you like humantales?"

"I am no longer a child." Jasper said, haughtily. Then he frowned. "Which humantale?"

"The Shadow Warbler in the Dark." Daniel said. He quoted the most famous lines, that seemed consistent in every version.

"Where do you go?

Where do you come?

The man in the shadows asked again

In the darkness and in the gloom,

when all seems to call to doom?

Jasper's face went pale. That was line right before everything goes wrong in the humantale. "We are all going to die. Are there any High Fae around...Why...would you let something like that out?"

Shelby interjected again. "It's not out. This is its first form. It's still bound."

Daniel wondered how she knew that. She couldn't be someone's spy, could she? Perhaps she was gifted in some ill understood talent. It often felt as though she saw through the cracks of things others never noticed. Which made Daniel uncomfortable.

Through the thick old window, they saw the shadow warbler idly slice off the golem's ankle. The rush of power Daniel gathered was beyond his hopes. For the first time in weeks, he felt like he was no longer dying of thirst, dried out and powerless.

"You call that bound? What will it do when it finished the golem?" Jasper said.

Daniel was under no obligation to answer them. But he was cheerful with his good fortune. Soon it would be counted that he had survived this assassination attempt. Two more to go. So he answered. "The shadow warbler is chained. So long as no one goes in there, it will prowl around but it can't leave. Eventually the King's enforcers will arrive, and they are powerful enough to trap it back into the wall again."

Another chunk of the golem went flying.

There was a sound of a company of Fae arriving. Daniel ducked, and the ever watching redhead did as well. She pulled Jasper down, like some kind of big sister. "We're hiding," she told the Glasbin fae.

A squad of Enforcers arrived, no doubt following the call of the Law of Fae.

Daniel and his unlikely companions were not observed.

Jasper looked shocked. Served him right.

"See, that's the enforcers now. Give the shadow warbler another few minutes, and the golem will be handled. Then the King's enforcers will act." Daniel had seen the king's enforcers work before, and knew of their excellent strategies, ability to adapt, and tight teamwork. They would be able to deal with an opponent almost immune to physical attacks.

But the sound of their steps was wrong.

It was not the tightly ordered march of a highly trained unit, each piece a polished cog in a greater whole.

It was sloppy and disorderly, and worst of all: hesitant.

Daniel closed his eyes and strained his ears to listen.

Nothing for several heartbeats, except Shelby telling Jasper to 'close your eyes too', and some muffled communication from the approaching enforcers.

Then Daniel heard a voice.

A rather desperate voice.

"Please, great Lord. Lead us into victory!" said the voice. "Let us see how wonderful and powerful you really are!" The words were positive, but tone said instead 'please don't leave us here to die'.

It was not the powerful voice of a Lord-level enforcer, but the whimper of a Midling fae.

"No." Said a terrible and arrogant voice. "I have matters to attend to. You are the sub-commander, act like it. I'll be back later."

Opening his eyes, Daniel crouched forward silently through the bushes, using his years of time in the field to aid him. Careful to not make a noise, he drew to the edge of the bushes and peered through until he saw the enforcers.

This was not the King's enforcers. These were not highly skilled fae, midling and above.

These were the dredges, a rich kid's play thing, mostly lowlings and a few midlings. Their uniforms were dirty and they marched in no discernable rank and file.

Daniel had to move several feet to the left, carefully moving with the branches of the foliage, until he spied to the two fae holding this conversation. There was a familiar middling fae that Daniel had previously served tea in a punch bowl, clutching his green hat nervously. Marrin, son of...someone or other. Daniel didn't know him beyond dueling with him that day, but the fae had had guts.

And there was Lordling Fredar. Lord Fredar, Daniel reminded himself. The Lord looked impatient and angry, still too skinny for how tall he was, the armor made too large in poor compensation. He was dressed to attend a gala, from his garb. Daniel no longer knew which parties where being held, but he knew enough about the popular dressing habits to know this must be an important meeting for Lord Fredar.

"Sir, the report said rampaging golem. The lads are trained more for support. Please sir." Marrin said.

Lord Fredar sneered. "Are you saying the Sky Court's own enforcer branch is less capable than the King's."

The Law of Fae was fast there, and poor Marrin had not the good sense to avoid the trap. "Yes?"

The Law of Fae agreed with Marrin, but Lord Fredar did not.

There was a sound of a smack. The full fury of a Lord could have killed the midling. But the blow was softened muchly by the Law of Fae, so the green hatted fae merely was slammed against the closest wall.

"I have matters to attend to. Go and take care of it. The King's enforcers will be coming in 10 minutes. If you don't handle this by then..."

Lord Fredar of the Sky Court left.

Had this been only a golem, the Sky Court's enforcers would have a sure victory. Well, they had even odds for a victory. Well, they would not have died. They would have run around at worst until the King's Enforcers arrived.

But there was no way they could survive the shadow warbler.

They would walk into their death.

And Daniel had released it.