Lord Galt Wellan, chancellor of Ceraun, was concerned.

His daughter, Maeve, the blooming flower of his life, had visited home unannounced less than an hour ago. Her story of political maneuvers and new friends worried him as much as it gave him hope for her future. Many pieces had fallen together, clearing up mysteries long worried over as she spoke. Now, he found himself waiting outside the Mistwater Lanterns dungeon.

It was for the best that he doted on Maeve. He didn’t ask enough questions but came at her insistence. A trusting father following his heir’s wishes. Galt might not have if he’d known who else would be here.

Another chancellor of Odrana and a conniving shrew of a woman stood across from him in the blocky building that housed the entrance to the dungeon. Lady Oyinlola Tonsa. One of the wealthiest persons in Odrana and the member of the council he struggled with the most.

Ceraun supplied the majority of food to the rest of the country and beyond to Dey. Some of their farms even sent vast convoys of food to trade with the more civilized city-states within Veskar. While the Sanerris family in Mistlight controlled the trade routes and shipping lanes, setting export taxes, and stipulating prices, Goldenhall was the Odranan treasurer. Money that could be used to upgrade equipment and personnel, expand food production, and minimize causalities and injuries was instead spent on expansion efforts or wasted lining the pockets of the already wealthy. Galt was a simple man who would rather spend time helping his ranch hands calm a rampaging Delkabeast than argue in a closed council session. Lady Tonsa rarely agreed to half his budgeting requirements.

The Wellan family was one of the two remaining original families to forge the wild lands into the blooming country of Odrana. Families fell through the years due to sickness, marriage, or bad investments. The Ibarra family that ruled in Goldenhall before the first Lady Tonsa rose to power had been invested in bringing the standard of living up for everyone in the country. Galt’s father and mother spoke kindly of them even after their family’s fall from grace. Lady Tonsa’s use of indentured prisoners serving reduced sentences in her mines was a sore subject during their council meetings as well. The Wellan family outlawed slavery in their lands since the founding of Odrana and championed the dismantling of the orc slave camps with the Ibarra family. While that may have played a small part in their loss of ruling Goldenhall, few of the Ibarra family regretted what they’d done. As much as Tonsa stymied his flow of investment for his agricultural needs, Galt kept her attempts at reinstituting widespread slavery to a minimum. He couldn’t stop the slave trade completely, with both Sanerris and Palmer invested in the market, but he could keep slavery illegal in his own lands. The Madvarr family in Ronden also held anti-slavery views. Goldenhall was surrounded on all sides by Ronden, Ceraun, and the sea. Slaves would have to travel through their lands to reach Goldenhall. Neither would let that happen. Unless Goldenhall started enslaving their own people, slavery was dead in the northeast.

Or so Galt had thought.

The current Lady Tonsa instituted rehabilitation reform for prisoners. What at first had seemed like a small and altruistic venture had turned into a way for Goldenhall to supply their mines with free labor. Convicts would receive reduced sentences if they agreed to be moved to Goldenhall for hard labor. It wasn’t until years passed that Galt learned of the minor infraction punishments that increased the jail time of even a simple pickpocket to multiple years.

When he’d complained, Lady Tonsa pointed out that prisoners were released per the agreed-upon terms and moving prisoners through the land was not the same as transporting slaves. He’d been outvoted, with even Lord Madvarr not getting involved.

Galt cursed himself for the third time for not bringing along guards. Tonsa stood next to her son, each with a bodyguard standing close behind. Maeve’s request for speed and secrecy afforded him no time to summon his own trusted men. He smiled sadly at her innocence.

At least Professor Wren is here as well, or I might be dead. Galt thought with a shake of his head.

“Iona, Orrin said an hour, correct?” Maeve asked the Tonsa boy’s bodyguard as she crossed the open expanse between the two parties, Wren standing between them. “They’re late.”

Galt studied Rhys’s bodyguard, not realizing it was the same girl that had played with his daughter years ago.

Maeve and Tonsa’s son, Rhys, played together from time to time during meetings of the rulers of their country over the years. He was younger then and his innocent demeanor at the time helped Maeve connect with him. Now, Galt could recall the other girl playing along with them. Maeve rarely connected well with others after her mother’s death.

The pain stabbed Galt’s heart, as it always did when he thought of his wife.

You’d be so proud of our daughter, my dear. She has your heart.

“Wellan, what information have you received from your daughter? Are our children truly in danger?” Lady Tonsa spoke for the first time. She’d simply nodded at him upon entering the dungeon’s entrance facility and dismissing the guards stationed there. “If this is a ruse, I will be most displeased.”

“Never mind, I hear them coming now,” Maeve said, turning her back to the Tonsas and skipping back toward her father. She grabbed his hand. “Come meet Orrin. He’s powerful but kind.”

Two men and a boy who had to be younger than Rhys came through the doors. Finley Madvarr was easily recognizable. Galt smiled. The young man was coming into his own and filling in for his father on the council from time to time.

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The other man’s beard added age to his face but once closer, Galt reassessed. He was young as well. The sword on his back was massive but there was a draw to the warrior’s aura that made the chancellor step in front of his daughter.

Dangerous. The word flew through his mind.

“Don’t get in my way, Dad,” Maeve said as she pushed him. “Orrin, is this your friend?”

Galt watched his daughter run up and stop a few feet from the young boy. She kept her hands behind her back. The boy’s hair was light and his smile at seeing Maeve brought up Galt’s estimation immediately. He noticed the way his eyes traveled around the room as well, assessing.

Also dangerous but not to Maeve.

The boy’s next words made Galt’s smile twitch and die on his face.

“Lord Sanerris wants to kill your children.”

Orrin waited for a response. His read of the room when he entered boiled down to one word. Tense.

“Who are you?” The dark-skinned woman standing next to Rhys asked. “I was told that the [Hero] of Dey would be here or was I misinformed?”

Orrin didn’t like the way that Rhys’s mom looked at Iona as she said the last few words.

“I’m a member of his party but if I’m not good enough to talk to you, let me introduce… all the way from Dey… the one and only [Hero]… Daniel Kayson, Kayson, Kayson,” Orrin repeated his friend’s last name in a declining hush, as he bowed and gestured with both hands at Daniel.

Daniel hit him in the back of the head.

“I’m sorry about him,” Daniel stepped forward. “Thank you for coming. We have a lot to discuss.”

Daniel spoke succinctly, telling Rhys’s mom and Maeve’s dad about what had been going on with a few key elements held back. Orrin watched their reactions, doing exactly as Madi had suggested. Lady Tonsa valued cunning and intelligence.

Be your normal idiot self at first but then let her see it’s an act. Madi’s words played over in Orrin’s head.

“I’m not an idiot,” Orrin muttered.

“You’re not,” Maeve whispered, making him jump. She’d quietly moved near him.

Ignoring Maeve for now, Orrin kept his eyes on her father instead. The man was wearing normal clothing, with no weapons or armor showing. He wore shoes, unlike his daughter. Other than being in the same room as Lady Tonsa, Orrin would never have picked him out of a lineup as a leader of Odrana.

He looks like a suburban dad who would rather be mowing his lawn.

Lady Tonsa stood tall in a robe of rich umber. Red lines marked the wrists, waist, and bottom of the cloth, swaying centimeters above the ground. Her eyes left Daniel as he spoke and caught Orrin staring before he turned away.

Rhys was whispering something to Iona, both still paying attention to the information that Daniel was delivering. Professor Wren stood closer to the Tonsa family but had the nervous twitchy presentation of a rabbit about to take flight.

The last person in the room was an unknown guard standing behind Lady Tonsa. The man wore heavy plate armor on his chest and shoulders, with chainmail hanging down to his knees. Laced-up sandals covered his ankles and continued upwards under the chain. It made for an odd look that Orrin hadn’t seen but he ignored it as another class quirk.

“… want to keep your families and your country safe, then I suggest you get rid of Lord Sanerris as the leader of Mistlight. I believe that Finley was given the right to vote by his father,” Daniel finished, suggesting stage one of his plan.

“What proof do you?” Lord Wellan asked. “Beyond your word. Maeve told me she was attacked but there is no evidence that Arvin was behind it.”

Lady Tonsa raised a hand to stop Daniel before he answered. “I can confirm large amounts of gold have moved from the Sanerris accounts recently with no reason given. The timing suggests the assassination attempts on my son and your daughter were perpetrated by Lord Sanerris.”

“To what end?” Maeve’s father ran his fingers through his hair and stomped back and forth as he paced. “We helped put him in power. I’ve never gone against him directly on an issue he feels is important. Sure, I argued against further encroachment on elven lands but his and Palmer’s reports of their attacks were enough to change my mind.”

“Those are lies, by the way,” Finley stepped forward. “The elves don’t leave their forest. The entire attack has been a land grab by Lord Palmer and some sort of personal vendetta for Lord Sanerris. I’ve spent the last week there and every soldier I talked to said the same. Palmer wanted to kill me when I suggested we stand down.”

“He wastes our money on an unneeded war?” Lady Tonsa hissed. “What about this Veskar assassin sent to kill my son? I could find no money in her accounts to account for her attack.”

“I can answer that one,” Orrin stepped up, explaining how Sloane was alive when they left the dungeon. “They killed her for a convenient alibi. I think the other member of our party knew something was going to happen but was also killed.”

Lady Tonsa stared at him long enough to make him uncomfortable. He kept his head high and didn’t turn away.

“In my father’s name, I move to strip Lord Sanerris of his power as chancellor of Mistlight,” Finley stated with authority. “Does anyone second my motion?”

His ring took a dim glow as he held it toward the other two members of the Odranan council.

With a nod from his daughter, Lord Wellan raised a closed fist. His ring shone a dull green as he spoke. “I second.”

Lady Tonsa stepped forward. “Who would we put in his place? Lady Sanerris? She would take revenge on us or Arvin would convince each of you to put him back in power within the year.”

She turned from her fellow chancellors and asked Daniel directly. “What is your plan? Finley will have told you that four are required to name a new chancellor. Palmer won’t agree to deposing the entire Sanerris family. What is your next step?”

Orrin’s alarm bells went off. This was not what they’d thought would happen. He was supposed to convince her of this path alone. Finley and Madi agreed that Maeve’s dad was not a good actor and they had to convince Lord Palmer to vote. They had to sow chaos.

Orrin’s mind raced. Maeve reached out and touched his shoulder. The gentle reminder that he had allies here helped him.

“The next step is easy. We get all of you in a room and tell the entire story. Both Arvin and Anabella have been playing with your kids’ lives and trying to start wars to keep themselves on top. Put them in a room together and let them fight. If they don’t, we can come in and stir up a little more trouble. The [Demon Lord] is almost to the Pass.”

Lord Wellan chuckled.

Lady Tonsa waived her hand in disregard. “Those are rumors and unfounded. I’ve had no concrete proof that demons are attacking Dey in numbers beyond normal. Certainly nothing to suggest…”

She stopped talking and blanched. Her eyes stared at something straight ahead. Maeve’s father’s laughter turned into choking.

“Does that convince you?” Daniel growled. “I’m here for a reason and it isn’t to fuck around with politics.”

“What is he talking about?” Maeve asked Orrin.

“I think he just shared a Quest with them.”

“A Quest? I’ve never had a Quest before. What kind?”

“To stop the [Demon Lord].”