Ghost pulled Alistair into the shore of his own mind. This was to protect him, even if Alistair wouldn’t see it that way. As Ghost had predicted, physically knocking Alistair out in the real world meant he was knocked out here too, the boy with his eyes clenched shut, his body limp.

“I will explain later,” Ghost told him as he patted Alistair on the head. “Trust me.”

After Alistair was settled, Ghost sat and focused on what he hoped would happen next.

He had to be ready.

If this didn’t go the way that he planned, Ghost needed to immediately move on the attack. Even worse, he wouldn’t have his swords with him. That would be evidence, and he truly wanted this to look like an ambush. It needed to work this way for the rumor to have maximum impact.

As he suspected, Kanda was the first to stir.

The dark-haired girl stumbled over to Alistair, and was just moving to slap his cheek to wake him when Ghost took over.

“Get down, next to me,” he told her.

“What? Ghost?” she hissed.

“Goran is dead.”

“Yeah, I can see that. You… cut off his fucking head?” Kanda looked like she was going to be sick until she didn’t.

“Listen to me, now. Get down. We have to be discovered this way. No,” he said as an even better plan came to him. “Scratch that. Let’s do this: I’ll keep Alistair down for now. You stumble ahead, act injured, cry like a little baby, do whatever you have to do to bring the Baronblades. Let them know we’ve been ambushed. You were struck first. You woke up to this carnage. All that is true. It is hardly a lie. Don’t let Felix suspect that it is.”

Kanda hesitated. “Is Alistair okay?”

“Don’t worry about Alistair. I’m protecting him.”

“What if Kang and the others have arrived? Felix said they were coming.”

Ghost didn’t skip a beat. “Then this will work even better. Go.” He relinquished control over Alistair’s body, Ghost back in the void of Alistair’s mind.

Kanda moved on.

Ghost sat there patiently for what felt like hours. In that time, he thought about how everything had played out. He hadn’t planned to decapitate Goran, yet Ghost was hardly fazed by the gruesome scene. But his interests were piqued by something Goran had said earlier. Did Felix actually know? Was Ghost, through his quest for revenge, being manipulated? If so, what could he do to regain control?

Ghost vowed right then and there that he would not be manipulated. Felix wouldn’t get the best of him. Then what? How to steer this in the way that he wanted?

Ghost kept coming to the same conclusion. “The Card of Rumors,” he whispered to himself. “Start the rumor that Felix had Goran killed. Turn everyone against him. Fuck him for good.”

It made sense to pin it on Felix, which would lead to further paranoia the likes of which Ghost could hardly imagine. Now was the time. Ghost was certain of it, and he was certain the rumor would help turn an already fucked situation into a full-on calamity. Let the madness play out from there.

They had an escape route with the portal.

All Ghost needed to do was make sure Renez died before he left the estate…

Maybe he would even get a shot at Kang, although he suspected this wouldn’t be the case.

“No, he will escape with Felix. But the damage will be done. And I know exactly where Kang will run after.”

Ghost paced for another minute in Alistair’s mind. He stepped over the boy’s body, and looked down at him. Ghost knew he was hard on Alistair, but that was only because the world was hard on Ghost. He didn’t want Alistair to suffer, so he pushed him harder than ever.

But all this would end soon. Ghost wanted Alistair to have a chance.

Now wasn’t the time to tell him this. He would never be able to tell Alistair what he really thought of the boy’s future, not until the final moment. And even then, he didn’t know how he would put it into words. Until that time came, Ghost would need to push Alistair to become the man he needed to be with the world Alistair would be going into. And when they reached that great nexus, Ghost knew what he was going to do, as risky as it was.

A sudden rush of footsteps onto the scene told Ghost that Kanda had done exactly as he had instructed. The Baronblades had arrived. After checking the area, One of them lifted Alistair over his shoulder and carried him back to the mansion, to his guest room.

It was here, once he was in the bed, once they were briefly alone, that Ghost woke Alistair.

“Where?” Alistair asked as he looked around. He pressed himself up, only to realize he wasn’t fully awake. “I’m in my own mind.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Yes, you are.”

“What the hell happened? Wait, you had Lionel attack us. What—”

“Listen carefully, because I don’t want to repeat myself,” Ghost said as he crouched before Alistair. “We are approaching one of those moments that we have been building up to. Felix will be here any moment, and after he leaves, we need to start the rumor that Felix killed Goran. But there is one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“We need to make sure that Kang and the other assassins have arrived. So, here’s what I want you to do.” Ghost quickly explained his plan. “Easy, right?”

“You seriously want mutiny, don’t you?”

“A well-timed mutiny is an assassin’s greatest weapon. Don’t groan. That one was actually pretty good. As to what happened, just so stories lined up. We were ambushed. Kanda was hit first. You didn’t see who it was. You were knocked out, and you don’t know what happened to Goran. Act surprised when you find out he has been decapitated. Say something about not knowing that was even possible with how big he is.”

“That was so fucked up.” A frown formed on his face. “You… cut his head off.”

“And it wasn’t easy, either. Try it right now.”

“Try it?”

“Ugh.” Ghost tried for an impression of Felix’s voice: “Goran was decapitated.”

“That’s a terrible impression.”

“Dammit, that’s not the point, Alistair! Show me your surprise. I’ll do it again: Goran was decapitated. He’s dead.”

“Really?” Alistair asked.

“You can do better than that.”

Alistair tried again, this time quivering his voice: “Really? How? How is that even possible?”

“Good. That’s better. Remember: you didn’t see anything. You were knocked out. Kanda was knocked out. You woke up in this room. That’s it. Keep the story straight, don’t deviate, don’t add anything. Don’t complicate this. Once Felix is gone, and once we have confirmation that the other assassins are here, we release the rumor. And tomorrow, perhaps sometime late tonight, we watch all hell break loose.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. And we make sure that Renez the Twin Daggered dies in the bloodbath to follow.”

****

Alistair re-took possession of his body. He lay in the room for a moment, and tried to swallow the sudden rush of pain that came to him.

Ghost: Noctarii.

Alistair touched his chest and summoned the shadow fae, who appeared in a flash, his wings beating rapidly as Noctarii buzzed closer to him. “You look like shit. What happened?”

“It’s a long, fucked up story. I need to know if the other assassins have arrived,” Alistair said as Ghost took over. “Hey—!”

“You need to be extra careful,” the assassin told Noctarii. “They may be able to track your presence. I don’t need to do anything, or gather any information other than what I’m asking for. I just need to know if they are here, and that there is a woman with them who has a pair of short swords.”

“What about what you said earlier? You said you had two missions for me. Is this the other mission?”

“Things have changed. I don’t think that will be necessary any longer.”

“Care to clue me in?”

“No. Go. Time is of the essence here.”

“As you wish, but I expect a full report when I get back.” Noctarii faded into the shadows just as Kanda came into the room, her face puffy from crying.

“Alistair! You’re up,” she said as she rushed to his bedside and hugged him tightly. She pushed away, locked eyes with him, and sent a quick message through Spectral Text.

Kanda: Play along.

Alistair: Ghost wants me to use the Card of Rumors after this to convince the assassins that it was Felix who killed Goran.

Kanda: Fine by me.

Alistair: We need to be ready to escape.

Kanda: Also fine by me. Now play along.

Kanda focused again and began to sob. “There’s been a murder,” she said just as Felix came into the room. One of his Baronblades kept close, the woman with her hand on the hilt of her sheathed blade.

“Yes, there has,” Felix said. “Imagine that. Imagine something like that happening in a time like this. What happened?”

“I don’t know,” Alistair said as he trembled his voice again in the way he had practiced. “How did he…? How is this even…?” He rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t see anyone. I just came around and everything went black.”

Ghost: Don’t oversell it.

Alistair: I’m doing a good job here!

Ghost: So you think.

“I didn’t even see Alistair,” Kanda said. “It was that fast. Then I woke up to…” She placed a hand over her mouth like she was going to vomit.

“That fast, huh?” Felix glared just past Alistair’s head for a moment. “Whoever it was, they were able to cut the head off a literal—well, not literal, we are told not to use that word in that way—giant. You know what I mean. It took a lot of strength to do that.”

Alistair tried not to look down at his own arms. He hadn’t thought of it that way. Ghost was the culprit in more ways than one, yet Alistair had exhibited enough strength to remove a man’s head from his neck.

And he didn’t know how he felt about this. He had reached a plateau of trauma that Alistair hoped he would be able to get down from some day.

“Well, this retreat is fucked. Everything is fucked,” Felix lamented. “But I had a feeling all along it would turn out like this. Alistair, you will remain in your room here tonight. I will put a guard out front. You are not to leave. Kanda, same.”

“Ugh. You can’t imprison us here, Uncle!”

“I can do whatever the hell I’d like. Enough of this madness. To your room, Kanda. And Alistair, I advise you to stay put. I will get to the bottom of this.” Felix stormed out of the room and Kanda followed after him, complaining.

Alistair waited until he was certain they weren’t coming back before accessing the Card of Rumors. “Here goes,” he told Ghost. “Do you want to do it, or should I?”

Ghost: I’ll tell you what to say.

“Okay.” Alistair gripped the card as golden words appeared before him read in a mysterious, whispery tone.

[What rumor would you like to start? To start your rumor, use the phrase “I heard,” then, explain what the rumor is in as great of detail as you would like. Once you have finished, say the word “apple” to initiate the spell.]

Alistair waited for Ghost to tell him what to say. He grimaced, and repeated the assassin’s words verbatim: “I heard Felix had Goran brutally murdered so he could consolidate power. He has brought the best assassins of Solaria here to kill many of them as well. They should be prepared for Felix to use everything at his disposal to make sure none of them leave here alive. Apple.”

[1/3 rumors remain.]