The Horizonguard materializes from her ribbons, which spin and unfurl around nothing until she’s completely there. Standing a few feet away from me, her arms crossed, and her head tilted to the side. I push down the urge to instantly make excuses, quietly swallow around the lump in my throat, and nudge Illumisia with the side of my foot.

“If she attempts to attack you, I will be ready.” She assures me. “Do whatever you can to steer this situation in a direction that benefits us.”

Knowing Illumisia’s got my back is a huge weight off my chest, but it’s not enough. The Horizonguard still hasn’t said a word or moved an inch since she got here. Like she’s waiting for me to start. Depending on how much Rouge said was true… this could turn very bloody very fast.

So I might as well come out swinging. “If a Class trial tells someone to murder another person, is that legal?”

Stillness wracks the air and my mind. It feels like a thousand years pass between my question and the smack of lips that starts the Horizonguard’s answer.

“Unfortunately, yes. The system gives out quests, and as long as the Class-bearer sticks to the word of the quest, it is perfectly legal.” The Horizonguard says easily. “In all technicality, what that woman told you was perfectly true. Except for one glaring hole in her logic; anyone going for a class is not guaranteed to succeed. If a mage couldn’t cast a spell, would you arrest the spell for not being cast? Or what if a defender failed to contain a dust explosion? For the scout on your Painted Dane, you were her explosion. Sure, you stopped her from getting her class, but that just means she failed.”

The Horizonguard walks up to me and gently traces her fingers over my neck. My awareness reacts, but for some reason, I don’t feel any danger in it at all. Nor any affection. Just… idle motions, like someone tapping their foot as they think or clicking a pen over and over.

“Personally, I’m against anyone who accepts a trial that involves murdering anybody. So I keep an eye on who gets what. As long as they’re within Palastia’s walls, I can watch them as sure as they breathe.” She moves away, trailing one finger that seems to hold a thin strand of glittering magic. “When I saw the target was you, I thought it would be interesting to see how you reacted. But then you started talking about other things, and led me right to something that’s been bugging me for years now. Too bad my colleague runs it, so I can’t really do anything about it.”

I tense up as she casually tosses the strand to the side. “A Horizonguard runs Stonestep Solutions?”

She nods. “Of course. How else would they operate right under my nose so easily?”

“That’s… shit.” I hiss as Illumisia bristles. “That means I’m beyond screwed.”

“What? No, no, you’ve got this all wrong.” She laughs and waves of my worry. “He’s my colleague, which means we’re on equal footing. Do you think he actually accepts every request that gets sent to him while also working full-time as a horizonguard? It’s one of his lackeys, and he’ll throw him out a hundred story building before he ever admits to Stonestep Solutions being bent. So you might want to find them before that happens. Oh, and let me take these two off your hands.”

The Horizonguard snaps her fingers, and the two guards instantly dissolve into thousands of tiny ribbons. They try to flow away on the wind, but they just smack and batter helplessly against my shields.

“Could you drop them?”

I nod and call off my shields. The ribbons flutter away, leaving trails of magic through the sky as they go. The horizonguard pays them absolutely no heed; her mask’s still locked on me. Absolutely and completely.

“Your friend and Stolutions are both looking into the same thing. There’s a chance the order to eliminate you came from that angle, and not whatever else you’re thinking of. Or maybe not. I’m not watching everywhere at the same time.” Her armor clinks as she shrugs, and the stone under her feet brightens ever so slightly. “If you can get into the group for the quest when it becomes available, I’d say that’s your best bet at getting real answers. My colleague will probably be joining, too, but I can guarantee you you’ll be safe from him.”

That’s one hell of a guarantee that I don’t trust. “How the hell can you guarantee that? And what’s a ‘Stolutions’?”

“Stolutions. First three letters of the first word, all the letters of the second. ‘Stolutions’. As for the guarantee, all I can tell you is that he won’t get his own hands dirty. His workers might not feel the same, but he won’t. Simply put, you’re not worth it yet; he’s got Stonesteps in every city and you’re just a neat little anomaly who hasn’t proven herself yet.”

“Hey, I’ve…” I trail off as I come to the realization that I haven’t done jack shit in this world. That has to change soon.

She seems to mistake my silence as agreement. Which, I mean, isn’t technically wrong. Her magic whirls around her legs, transforming everything from the middle of her thighs down into fluttering ribbons, and she floats a dozen feet into the air.

“That’s all the time I have for now. Personally, I’d recommend pushing your Paindne friend a little harder to do his thing. The quest starts in two days, and he isn’t quite there yet, but he’s extremely close. If he keeps digging, he might make it with barely any time to spare. Or help him out and guarantee it–do whatever you want.”

I frown up at her and shield my eyes from the sun. “How do you know when the quest’s going to start?”

“Because my colleague already has access to it, and I’ve been spying on him. Good luck! I’m cheering for you!”

Before I can say anything, the rest of her turns into ribbons and flutters away. I grimace and look down at Illumisia, who returns the look with slightly less confusion than I feel. A groan from the would-be assassin on her back puts a stop to whatever conversation might’ve been there before it began, and I motion in the direction we’re supposed to go to meet Clutter.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Without a word, Illumisia turns and starts walking. Something rises from her fur, like a mist of shimmering silver vapor, and the woman goes limp once more. I look around as I take a deep breath, not quite sure what to make of what just happened. Someone hired Stonestep Solutions to kill me. They’re also going after the same quest Clutter’s apparently on the heels of. And, for some reason, Illumisia’s contact already worked for them–or at least worked with them. We still don’t know where they are, either, or if they’re even part of this.

Was all this just some massive string of coincidences? Do these people even know that the system has a grudge against me? Hell, Clutter could be the source of all this, and we’re just collateral damage.

The thought is… weirdly comforting. I can deal with people having their own agendas; it’s the all-powerful world spanning system that I’m worried about. The system hasn’t tried to screw with me since I got here–maybe it needs to wait for something. And a quest that was already in place since before I got here could possibly be the safest place for me to get stronger.

“We need to protect Clutter.”

Illumisia looks back at me. “Of course we do. We employed him, and if we let him die, his death would be on our hands.”

“Well, yeah, but for other reasons.” I say and walk up next to her, scratching her head as I walk by. “Depending on what happens, we might need to protect Nib too. Hopefully not, but who knows? The system might do something to her to get at me.”

Pearl shakes her head. “I doubt it–Nib is just a researcher. The system would put a stop to whoever’s making the forgeries of our tech before it goes after her.”

I agree with everything she just said. But I also don’t want to count anything out that might lead to someone getting pointlessly hurt. A quiet whimper barely hits my ears, and I turn with a raised eyebrow to see the two Ogean men barely peeking over their table. Honestly, I completely forgot about them.

“Sorry about the show.” I offer them a closed-mouth smile and a wave. “But hey, at least the asshole got put in her place, right?”

One of them chuckles weakly, and the other smacks him on the back of the head with a hiss of warning. They both duck back under the table, and a small amused smile pulls at my lips at their fear. It’s just so… human. Almost makes this place feel like a second home, not some world filled with adventure and endless possibility.

Before I can get comfortable, the heavy scent of blood digs deep into my nostris. Illumisia whips around and stares at something over my shoulder, the corner of her mouth rising in a growl as her eyes trace a pattern to follow something. Slowly and cautiously I turn my head, and in the breeze, blood red ribbons dance on the breeze.

“Did the Horizonguard..?” I trail off in disbelief.

A voice brushes against my ear. “Of course not. These are for your Painted Dane; tell her to watch out for these scents. They are your enemies.”

The ribbons gently swirl around me, dancing like they aren’t made of blood and magic, then converge to a single point inches from my chest. They fall into my hands like bloody party streamers, and I almost instinctively throw them away. But Illumisia hops up, grabs them in her mouth, and swallows before I can do anything.

I stare at her as she licks her lips. “That’s disgusting.”

“It was, for a moment. Now it is done.” She states and turns away. “Let us leave. I will inform you if any one of the owners of these scents comes close to us.”

“Yuck.” Pearl murmurs. “Sometimes she makes me wonder if she actually has taste buds. But I’ve seen her send back food she didn’t like… so… I don’t really know.”

“Neither do I. And I don’t really think I want to find out.”

----------------------------------------

It takes about half an hour to get to Whitestone Porch. Illumisia has to knock out our prisoner multiple times over the course of said half hour, and with every disturbed look we get, I wonder if it’s worth keeping her out of it. I field the suggestion to just let her wake up and walk her like a normal person, but Illumisia shoots me down every time. She thinks the would-be assassin has another trick up her sleeve.

So, since our opinions are totally equal, Pearl becomes the deciding vote. She votes against me in a second, but won’t tell me why she agrees with Illumisia. I’m starting to think the woman has, like, a suicide pill on her that everyone but me can sense. Or a teleportation scroll. Which we could just take from her, but no. Apparently she needs to stay knocked out.

Another hour passes at Whitestone Porch. Nothing important comes from the conversation, which I don’t really take part in because the place is so much busier than the one Rouge took me to. Can’t be seen talking to myself while Pearl and Illumisia use my brain as their own private phone line.

Just as I’m about to try and develop telepathy of my own with sheer force of will, my awareness latches onto something invisible a few dozen feet out. I barely have to take a glance to see that it’s Clutter, carefully maneuvering around everyone so he doesn’t bump into them. Not like Rouge, who just walked straight through people. He must be a lot weaker than she is if that’s one of their class specialties.

Before he even sits down, I lock eyes with where my awareness tells me his are and offer him a toothy grin. “About time you showed up.”

He twitches, and his invisibility completely fades away. “How did you know I was here?”

“Same way I do pretty much everything; magic.” I waggle my fingers for effect, then lean back in my chair. “So, we just had a run-in with someone who thinks you’re dead. Did you get ambushed recently?”

“Yes. Twice, I think?” He purses his lips in thought as he sits across from me. “There was yesterday, almost a month ago, and… does the thing that happened a week and a half ago count? I don’t know; it was either two or three times. But I think I finally managed to fool them yesterday.”

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “What happened last night?”

“Oh, it was nothing. I just woke up with a knife to my throat.” He mimes putting a knife to his throat, then slashes it with a wet squelch. “Luckily I had a few spells ready for just this kind of thing, so they thought I died. I guess it won’t last very long, since I’m out here talking and walking in public.”

“…Alright. You’re a little too okay with this, but alright. You know who tried to do it?”

He nods his head vigorously. “Stonestep Solutions. The same people who tried to kill me almost two weeks ago, but not the ones from a month ago. At least I don’t think they were–maybe they were? Sorry, I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry about it, I…” I watch with a sigh as Clutter tenses up and nearly shrinks into himself. “Clutter, you need to get a little self confidence. Hell, I need you to get some self confidence, because apparently the quest you’re looking into is tied to all this. So let’s hear the details.”

The mention of the quest perks him right back up–almost like his cowardice is completely forgotten now. He pulls something out of his inventory, slaps it on the table, and proudly preens as I stare at the chunk of writing plastic that looks like it’s trying to kill itself. Sure, it’s bigger than what he showed me before, but it doesn’t look like progress to me.

“Explain.”