“At least you weren’t the headmaster” I say under my breath. Claire hears it and giggles.

“Claire, it was nice meeting you, but can I have your boyfriend for a bit?” Thu’ane asks with a smile.

I give him a death glare which only makes him laugh. Claire let’s go and walks past him. Before closing the door she gives me one last look, and I feel something I haven’t felt in a long time, a warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest.

Thu’ane slaps me on the back and says,” I leave you alone to go investigate, and come back to you relaxing with a cute girl?”

“It’s complicated….” I say.

He loses his smile and gets serious.” Still hurting from her?”

I nod and say,” I’m trying not to get Claire’s hopes up about me, I don’t know if I can be the man she wants me to be.”

He sighs and scratches his neck.” Well you should be happy to know I’ve acquired the name of the group who did it.”

I perk up and say,” Really! That’s excellent news. What is their name?”

“You’re not going to like it. It’s a pretty messed up group.” He says then pauses.” Their name is The Mad King’s Shadow.”

“Are you serious?” I ask

He nods and keeps going.” The original purpose for the King’s Shadow was to protect stability in favor of the king and to protect the king Himself. Which we do by taking up contracts against His enemies. We were targeted for a reason, it wasn’t just some bandits or goblins.”

I scratch my chin and notice my facial hair is slightly coming back.” I kind of figured it wasn’t bandits, they could’ve handled bandits.” I start to think and I realize something, maybe this is all connected.

As if reading my mind Thu’ane says.” You being here has gotta be some kind of coincidence because my investigation brought me here. I followed a trail that lead me to believe they’ll attack this school.”

It makes sense now, this must be the group Arthur was afraid about. If that’s true what does Claire have to do with this?,” I was contracted to protect that girl just now, do you think this is why?”

He nods,” I talked to Arthur and he says he believes this is the group that is targeting her.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Wait, you know Arthur?” I ask.

He smiles and says,” Why do you think I found you in the first place? My first assignment with my master was to find you.”

I think back to right after leaving the Winston family. It was a really dark time, I was a thief in a neighboring city. I did all I could to survive and met many other street rats who helped me. Then one day a man came and rounded us up saying he’d help us. In reality, we were forced into slavery and were branded. Luckily for me, Thu’ane and his master showed up after a month to set the slaves free.

I touch the brand on my left shoulder and can still feel the scar.” I’m glad Arthur cared about me so much, I would’ve died a slave. I’m also thankful you helped the other slaves and not just me.”

He smiles again and says,” When my master saw the treatment, he went into a berserker's rage and slaughtered the slave traders. He himself was a slave too when he was young.” His smile fades and I know he’s thinking back to old memories.

“We’ve got to find this group, for the sake of our comrades.” I say

He nods and then says,” Your friend Ryan, why is his name so….Human?”

“He says his father was never around to name him, so his mother named him. I was shocked when I first heard his name too.” I say

“I wish my name was more human….” He says.

“We all have our problems I guess….” I say

He shakes his head and keeps going,” Well he was talking about the investigation you’ve barely been participating in. He seemed to only be focused on that and nothing else. That cat girl Beth though, she was more concerned with your behavior.”

“They’re dating.” I say and see his fantasy crumble.” They don’t seem like it but they are.”

He sighs and says,” I figured, he got all defensive when I started playing with her tail.”

“Can we get back to the topic at hand?” I ask

“Oh yeah, well I think I can help a bit. When I was talking to the headmaster earlier, she gave me a tour and told me about a certain statue.” he says.” She said it was made by the founder of the school.”

“I know which one you’re talking about, and I’ve checked it up and down with nothing being found.” I say

“Well yeah, but the school’s opening anniversary coincides with a certain date.” He says trying to lead me on.

“Did Rivers tell you to be so cryptic about this?” I ask coldly.

“No, but it’s more fun to lead you on and let you figure it out.” He says almost pouting.

I sigh and say,” Let me guess, the anniversary coincides with the Mad King’s Fall, right?”

“Correct! How did you figure?” He asks

I shrug and say,” It was only logical since you were talking about the Mad King’s Shadow. Also let me guess, they’re planning on making their move on the eve of the holiday celebration.”

“Correct again, I’m glad you’re smarter than my colleagues.” He says.

“So we should be expecting an attack on the night of the annual ball?” I ask,

He nods and says,” But that’s also when I believe the statue will reveal something to us.”

“Of course it will.” I say.” We’ve got one month to prepare. Hopefully that’s enough time to come up with a plan.”