Ghost drew his sword. With the kind of precision he had mastered over a lifetime of being a harbinger of death, the assassin slipped around Tiuri’s table just as the fence tried to flee. Ghost drove his sword into Tiuri’s back, and used his foot as leverage as he yanked it back out. Tiuri spilled forward, some of his wares falling on top of him.

Ghost swiveled back to the Baronblade trainees.

“You… you…” Tiuri tried to move, but shifting to the side only brought him more pain. The fence moaned as Ghost moved around his table, sword at his side.

“Shut the fuck up,” he barked at Tiuri, this focus now on the two trainees. “You will suffer the same fate,” Ghost told the first Baronblade trainee, a woman just a few inches taller than him.

She bristled, steeled herself, and charged toward Ghost with an ax.

He jumped left just as she swiped it at him. Ghost moved on the attack again, both hands on the hilt of his weapon as he slashed at the woman with his usual precision. Her ax hit the ground and Ghost ran his sword directly through her stomach. He pulled up on the hilt, twisted, and kept it there.

“I warned you,” he said as he held her for a moment, shock on the woman’s masked face.

Ghost removed his sword and the woman fell.

The second Baronblade trainee looked from the fence to his partner and took off running. Aware that this could prove troublesome, Ghost charged after him. They reached the following chamber, where the man pushed some crates onto the ground as a few people got out of the way. Ghost jumped over the first one, but didn’t manage to clear the following crate.

“Dammit,” he whispered as he felt a strange disturbance. It was as if something inside him was shifting, coming awake. He knew exactly what it was as an influence washed over him, Ghost whisked back into Alistair’s mind.

“What the hell?” Alistair asked as he got to his feet, the young mage glancing to Ghost’s sword, which had blood on it. Tiuri’s moans came from the other room. “What the shit did you do?”

Ghost: No time to explain. The Baronblade is getting away. If you let him leave, Felix will know!

Still confused, Alistair glanced ahead to see more crates falling as the Baronblade neared the exit. He touched his chest and summoned Noctarii.

“Hey—oh!” the fae said with a quick look around as he formed into existence. “For fuck’s sake, what do you need me to do?”

“Stop him,” Alistair said as he also summoned Ziggy. “Bring Ziggy.”

“You got it!” Noctarii shouted as he blazed forward.

Squish? Squish! The slime slingshotted himself toward the exit, Ziggy just behind the shadow fae.

Alistair got to his feet. He took a quick look around and noticed several faces staring back at him. He touched the back of his head and realized his hood had fallen, revealing his face to them.

Ghost: I know you don’t want to hear this, but we’re going to have to kill them all. Everyone in this room. This is my fault. I should have worn our mask.

Alistair: You’re not serious. I don’t even know who these people are!

Ghost: They have witnessed us here. Word will get to Felix.

Alistair: This is the worst possible thing to wake up to.

Ghost: I can do it. Let me take over. It won’t be hard.

Alistair hesitated as he caught a few of their frightened stares.

Alistair: They haven’t done anything to us. I don’t think we should kill them.

Ghost: Dammit, Alistair. They’ve seen you. This is about you, not me. Summon Lionel. He’ll handle them.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A muffled cry from the following chamber drew his attention. It sounded like Ziggy had done what needed to be done.

Alistair touched his chest again.

Ghost: You’d better be calling Lionel, or I’m taking over.

Instead of listening to the assassin, Alistair counted the number of people in the chamber. There were nine in total, and two of them younger than him. While some looked like hardened criminals, it seemed clear to them based on Alistair’s sword and the fact he could summon creatures that they were completely terrified. Three even had their hands up.

“Everyone, move here,” Alistair said as he motioned to an open spot on a threadbare carpet. “Right here. I mean it.”

Ghost: What the hell are you doing?

Alistair: Let me handle this.

Ghost: Alistair—

“I’m serious,” he told Ghost as the people all gathered together.

“Please don’t kill us,” an older woman in an eye patch said.

A man nearly as large as Goran stood behind her whimpering. “Please, Your Lordship,” he said in a blubbery voice. “We won’t tell no one. Honest.”

“Just be quiet and stand still,” Alistair told them all.

Squish! Ziggy announced himself as he returned to the room.

Noctarii followed after the slime. “That guy back there is done for.” One of the children let out a yelp upon hearing this. The fae turned to her. “What’s this about?”

“Ziggy,” Alistair said as he patted his shoulder.

Squish? Squish! The slime hopped up to Alistair’s shoulder and took his favorite perch as Alistair moved to return Noctarii to his chest.

“Wait! Don’t bring me back. I want to see this,” Noctarii said. “Whatever this is, I’m part of it now.”

“Keep to the shadows, then,” Alistair said as he brought out the Card of Rumors, Ghost immediately protesting in his head.

[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.]

“I heard that everyone standing before me, and anyone they know who lives in the catacombs beneath Solaria, all drank the same bad wine tonight,” Alistair said with as much conviction as he could muster. “They all hallucinated, and all any of them can remember was a teenage girl with pink hair killing two Baronblade trainees and a fence. No one knows who she is, no one can remember any other details, no one remembers seeing anyone else other than her, and everyone thinks it is just an isolated incident. All they know is that the girl with pink hair was looking for Felix Bancroft. Apple.”

The Card of Rumors shattered.

The pieces flew forward, where they scattered over the small group of people, several pieces rushing into the chambers beyond. Alistair turned. He pulled his hood back over his head and moved to the next part of the catacombs, where he found the Baronblade trainee that Noctarii and Ziggy had handled.

“Lead me to the exit,” he told the fae just as Ghost took over.

“Actually,” Ghost said, “there’s a horse we borrowed that we’ll use. I’ll lead us to the exit. Noctarii, make sure no one is in our path.”

“You’ve got it,” the fae said.

“And Alistair?”

Alistair: Yes?

“We’ll talk about your little show back there once we get out of here.” Ghost moved quickly, the path ahead always clear due to Noctarii’s intervention. “But… ugh. Later. We’ll talk later”

Ghost reached the exit, where he found the horse.

Squish? Ziggy asked as the slime examined the horse.

“Keep on my shoulder,” Ghost told the slime.

Squish!

Ghost mounted up without a word. He leaned forward and took off, heading toward the western side of the city with the slime on his shoulders, the assassin aimed at a series of pubs and inns near the road that led to Marrowstone. It would be the perfect place to appear later that week when they needed to travel across the border.

Ghost dismounted. He approached the horse and placed a hand on its snout. “You did good.”

Alistair: You’re just going to leave the stolen horse here?

“Yes. We need to set your portal. Also, what you did back there. Didn’t you hear me? You did good.”

Alistair: That was for me? I thought you were complimenting the horse.

“For both of you, then.”

Alistair: I know, you wanted to use the Card of Rumors in a different way.

“It’s fine, that’s what I wanted to tell you back there,” Ghost said as he eyed a way to reach the top of one of the inns, a space that was covered by the shadows of a taller building next to it. “You saved a lot of lives by thinking on your feet. But you also just gave an untold number of people access to Cards of Rumors, so that should be interesting.”

“You think that’s what will happen?”

Squish? Ziggy asked. Alistair placed his hand on the slime, patted him, and returned him to his chest.

Ghost regained control. “Since the rumor was about what all of them saw, yes, I do think they’ll all have access to the card’s powers. Or maybe it will be divided in some way. That would be a question for one of your professors, one that you probably shouldn’t ask. Point is. You made a smart choice and no innocent person had to die.”

Alistair: You really mean that?

“I do,” Ghost said as he reached the rooftop. “Now, bring Noctarii back, set your portal, and let’s get the living hell out of here. We still have calisthenics in the morning.”