Baronblades swarmed around the three Fledglings as soon as they reached the estate. The three-story affair was like a garrison, surrounded by an enormous wall covered in vines, the wallwalk wide enough for guards to stand with crossbows, all of which were now pointed at Alistair, Juno, and Zola.

“I need to speak to Felix,” Ghost announced, brazen as ever.

He remained completely in charge, and Alistair was glad for this fact. Even if Alistair was getting better at speaking to authority, he didn’t think he’d be able to really lead the three of them at the moment. But Ghost could.

“Bold to address him in that way,” said a man wearing a dark mask, the hulking swordsman surrounded by a trio of what Ghost assumed were Baronblade trainees.

Ghost barely batted an eye. “Bold of you to continue to stand there and not do as I ask. I’ve dined with Felix numerous times. I come here with information regarding his niece, and to offer information from Juno Stonewind. That name should ring the bell.” Ghost motioned to the other boy.

“That’s right,” Juno said. “I have something to say.”

“You can tell me,” the Baronblade said.

“I’d rather fucking not. Pass the message to Felix that we are here and see what he says,” Ghost told the man.

“You… you can’t speak to me this way!” The lead Baronblade placed his hand on the health of his sword. “This is your last warning, dumbass battledeck student or not.”

Ghost: Ready Mistmeld. Once you’ve done that, hit the three in front of us with Shimmer. Tell Juno and Zola to be prepared to move backward. Tell Juno to use his Thickened Skin power.

An arrow with a silk scarf attached to it landed off to the right.

“Wait,” Ghost hissed at Alistair as the lead Baronblade turned to it.

Alistair: What is it?

Ghost: A message from Felix, I believe.

The lead Baronblade glared at the three once again. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you…” The big man swallowed his pride with a grunt. “You have been permitted passage.” He swept his short black cape aside and stepped to his right and the trainees with him did the same.

“Is this a fatal funnel?” Juno asked, no longer using his Wraith voice. The appearance of the arrow with the scarf tied to had clearly startled him.

“It’s worse,” Ghost told him quickly, “stay calm.”

They passed in front of the guards, who took their positions behind the three Fledglings as the big iron gates creaked opened onto a courtyard, one overlooked by an intricately carved balcony. Above, Felix stood at the balcony the same turquoise clothing Alistair had seen him in back in Ruminara, only now his clothing was disheveled, his normally slicked back hair a mess, his face puffy with the patchy starts of a beard.

It was clear he wanted to say something, yet Felix just remained motionless for a moment, his eyes twitching as he glared down at them.

Nearly a minute passed.

Ghost: He looks like shit. This is good. It worked. What I have been planning all along worked. He’s losing it. This is what we wanted.

Alistair: Shouldn’t we be worried? If he’s lost his mind, he might be capable of anything.

Ghost: Not with Noctarii and Lionel currently summoned and hiding in the shadows. This is our moment, Alistair, and while revenge will likely get messy, it will be sweet. Make sure that everyone is ready. Just as planned.

Alistair quickly fired off messages to the other two as a wicked smile formed on Felix’s face. He lifted a wine glass with a shaky hand and toasted them. “I was wondering when you would come here, Ghost.”

Juno looked back at whom he assumed was Alistair. “He knows your nickname? How the fuck is that possible?”

“How, Alistair?” Zola said through gritted teeth.

Ghost never replied. Instead, he withdrew his presence, allowing Alistair to take full control so Ghost could instruct the boy. “I’m here with information regarding Kanda,” Alistair said, repeating the assassin’s words.

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“Oh? And what information is that?” Felix spat.

“Kanda was hoping to make a run at you so she could take your organization. We made sure that she couldn’t.”

“You would do that… for me?” Felix asked, his voice slurring to some degree.

“I would.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s incapacitated at the moment,” Alistair said, repeating Ghost’s words. “In a catacomb entrance off the alley near the candle shop marked by a red scarf.”

Felix hesitated. He finally motioned one of his guards over. He whispered something into the masked woman’s ear. She nodded and left.

Ghost: Tell Zola it’s time, but keep the pressure up first.

Alistair quickly sent a message to Zola and then spoke to Felix again. “I’m also here with Juno Stonewind.”

“That’s me,” Juno said.

Felix continued to glare down at them as a few more guards appeared, preparing to flank them. “I know who you are, boy. What information do you have?”

Zapp! Zapp!

Just as they had planned, Zola fired two quick shots at the Baronblades closest to Felix. As Alistair triggered Mistmeld, and Noctarii and Lionel surged into action, Zola summoned a pair of Kodama Wight soldiers, who immediately lunged at the nearest Baronblades.

Alistair hit the Baronblade who had let them in with Overture, which tossed the swordsman backward and into another guard.

Ba-da-da-dum!

Juno moved on the attack by summoning Desolara and Piglet, and Alistair went ahead and called Ziggy. Ghost took over from there, the assassin surging toward the immediate left, aimed at the nearest pathway that would lead up to the second story.

Squish! The slime leaped onto his shoulder as Alistair used Lightning Storm, mainly for show. The sudden bolts of electricity that morphed into fire had a way of cutting through the mist and causing even more confusion.

He relinquished control to Ghost, who took over with force as he often did.

“Lionel!” Ghost barked as he rushed toward a door that he hoped would lead him to Felix. Both Lionel and Noctarii had been instructed not to kill Felix, the shadow fae given further instructions to track Felix if he tried to flee.

Lionel, who had been busy on the wallwalk, melded down to Ghost, where he produced the assassin’s sword. “Anything else?”

“Cover me.”

“As you wish,” Lionel said as he flooded into the ground beside Ghost.

While Juno and Zola dealt with the Baronblades, Ghost rushed into Felix’s home and immediately ran into a Baronblade woman with a curved sword and numerous blades sheathed at her waste. He moved on her quickly, Ghost actually appreciating the size difference between Alistair and the woman.

It was something he hadn’t thought about before, the leverage it would give him to be able to attack from a different center of gravity. She was tall, with broad shoulders, clearly trained, perhaps even his captain of the guard. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that bounced as she charged toward Ghost, the woman all poise, all business, and ultimately, Ghost’s next victim.

Keeping low, the assassin exploded toward her at just the right moment. She managed to block his attack, yet he put so much force in his attack that it staggered the woman. She swung her sword again and struck a vase as Ghost dove to the right.

The ground shook, which told Ghost that Juno had likely used his seismic card outside. The assassin wasn’t worried about the two students, but he knew that Alistair would be. Ghost knew he needed to hurry this up.

With this in mind, he jumped toward the woman, right past her swinging sword, which took her off guard as she stepped backward into a portal conjured by Lionel. The Abyssal summon closed the portal quickly and snapped her legs. Ghost used his sword to finish what Lionel started.

“I don’t need to keep her legs, do I?” Lionel asked the woman dropped to the side, her legs missing from the knee down.

“Not necessary.”

The legs fired out of a portal, hit a wall, and left a blood streak.

Squish! Ziggy, who had been on Ghost’s soldier, tossed himself toward a Baronblade who came charging out of a room connecting to the foyer. The man thought he had killed Ziggy by slicing the slime in half with his sword. The guard even paused for a moment, looked down at his blade, his handiwork, and turned his focus to Ghost, his mask lifting as he sneered at the assassin.

But then Ziggy came alive behind him, the slime traveling up each of the man’s arms and reuniting around his face into a tight clasp. The man tried to fight back, but he was soon suffocated.

“Good, Ziggy,” Ghost said as the slime returned to his shoulder.

Squish!

“Alistair, prepare for Rain of Blades when we switch.” Ghost showed Alistair the wand, which he currently held in his free hand. “We head up, we find Felix, we end this quickly and then go help your friends. This isn’t the end game, but we’re closer. Noctarii?”

“Yes?” the shadow fae asked, a bit breathless as if he had raced down the stairs. “I must say, Ghost, this is getting out of—”

“Is he up there?”

“Ah, yes, him. He is. Waiting for you.”

“How do you know?”

“He kept saying your name. He’s pacing back-and-forth in a long dining room repeating your name over and over again. Tables have been turned over. He’s ready. There are two with him.”

“Two?”

“Battledeck mages.”

Alistair forcibly took over. “Really? What now?”

“Same plan as before,” Ghost said. “Move as quickly as possible, Lionel, do your worst. Ziggy?”

Squish? the slime asked Ghost.

“Same. We have our target and that’s all that matters.”