The inside of the Kampfergilde featured a large circular room. Large wooden pillars reinforced with wrought iron braces followed the shape of the room. Men of all kinds sat around a large table, which was covered with many dishes and a variety of food. Some of the men sat on benches dotted around the large room. The air was filled with many smells, from fresh bread to the roaring flames in the fire pit situated in a large hole in the center of the table.

In the midst of the many men scattered around, there was a burly man who towered over the rest, talking and laughing boisterously with his comrades. His long hair flowed like a wave of gold down his back, and was matched by his equally long beard. He noticed Johannes entering the hall, and jumped out of his seat by the table to greet him with a bear hug. He spoke with great joy, and loud enough to be heard halfway across the world.

Aela did her best to translate for Lucullus, but even she struggled to keep up with the man’s energetic speech. She was able to determine that it was Johannes’s boss, but not much else.

Johannes turned to Lucullus and said, “This is Alaric, the leader of the Kampfergilde. He’s the one I spoke highly of.” After Alaric spoke further, Johannes turned back to Lucullus and Aela, saying, “He is pleased to meet two skilled fighters.”

Alaric held out his hand toward Lucullus, and the two men shook hands.

Johannes spoke with enthusiasm as he continued talking with Alaric. And after some time of the two discussing things, Johannes told them, “The boss and I need to talk alone. You two can wait out here.”

Lucullus nodded. “Okay, then.”

“Feel free to eat from what you see on the table. We’ll let the men know to welcome you as honored guests.”

Cicero stood by Titus’s side as the Magister read out the Death Rite of Mors. The body of the King’s wife laid lifeless in a decorated coffin, her face drained of all color. None of the doctors or Magisters could determine a cause of death. Titus knew it wasn’t the plague which claimed almost all of his children, but that did little to ease his mind. In fact, it only stirred worse thoughts in his mind. His first thought was to ask Cicero, but in some way, he didn’t want to know the cause. The more he looked at his wife’s lifeless body, the more he thought of Olivia.

After the five days of public mourning, Titus retreated to his private chamber on the afternoon of the sixth day; Cicero in as well. Titus looked over as he saw Cicero come in. “Did you need something, Cicero?”

“I’m somewhat concerned for how you’re holding up. It isn’t easy to suffer as much as you have.”

“Don’t worry about me. Worry instead about that young man we sent to find Olivia; and also worry for her sake.”

Cicero sat beside him on the bed. “I pray for their safe return whenever I have a free moment. Constant prayer finds favor with the Savra.”

“Sometimes, I wish I had never been crowned,” he sighed.

“My liege, you have done as well as a king could do in these troubling times. It is easy to say what should’ve been done after the consequences have passed, but constant dwelling on past mistakes won’t help you, constant prayer will.”

Titus gave a weak smile. “Cicero, do you know why I kept you as my top advisor, though somewhat in secret, for so long?”

“Probably because I know many languages, if I had to guess.”

He chuckled. “That is certainly helpful, but it goes much further than that.” He glanced over to his wife’s writing table. “You’ve been a good friend to me, and your piety has helped me to make better decisions than I perhaps would have.”

“I appreciate the praise, but it is not me who gives you this strength, but the Savra.”

“It’s exactly that part which I wanted to draw your attention to. You see that writing table over there?”

“How can I not?”

He pointed to the many rolls of paper strewn about the desk. “Most of the stuff she kept in the open was just official business, but in the bottom drawer,” he pulled out a key and gave it to Cicero, “there’s something I think you’ll find very interesting. I just wish I wasn’t so late to discovering it…”

Cicero walked over to the desk, and unlocked the drawer to find many rolls of parchment. He took one and opened it. After reading through it, he looked back at Titus. “You never told me she was a Savronite…”

“It’s something she wanted to keep a secret. She knew if news spread of this, it could tear Lucium apart. But that’s not the biggest secret.”

“What do you mean?”

He held up a roll of parchment. “It seems she was trying to enlist the help of the Kyrios to relieve tensions between Emporikos and Lucium.”

Cicero felt his heart skip a beat. “This is a lot to take in.”

“It was for me.” He laid the parchment on the bed. “I don’t know how many of her letters made it to the Kyrios, or whether he agreed to anything.”

“It’s likely that a Chaodite killed her.”

“What? How? Captain Amadeus has excellent men guarding the whole palace. No one could’ve come in without their notice.”

“A Chaodite, even a novice, is a deadly foe. A master has many tricks to kill without even being in the same room. If he knows where his target is, he can kill them without anyone realizing what happened. That’s why neither the doctors nor the Magisters could find anything. The Magisters have some good tricks, but they have no real power. They know the more obvious signs, but a master among the Chaodites can only be detected by a Mystic, for they are chiefly masters in deception. And I know the doctors can’t find anything because they only look for natural causes.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Did you detect a master?”

“I could feel the twisted energy left on her body by the spell. It was sickening once I felt its presence.”

Titus slouched. “They will surely kill me next, then.”

“I doubt it,” Cicero assured him as he returned to the bed.

“Why do you say that?”

“Olivia.”

A tear rolled down Titus’s cheek as he squeezed his eyes shut. “Why the gods have placed such a curse upon me, I don’t know.”

“Do not place your trust in them,” Cicero corrected, shaking his head. “Trust in the Savra. Pray unceasingly to them for their help. It is only through them that you can overcome this shadow of death that has darkened Lucium’s skies.”

“Then,” he hesitated, taking a moment to calm the storm of emotions raging within him, “Will you join me in prayer? We can do it by that statue in your chamber.”

“Of course, my liege. I would never deny an opportunity for prayer.” He gave Titus a pat on the back as they exited the royal chamber.

The inside of the Kampfergilde, despite its somewhat noisy and lively nature, was relaxing. Many members tried talking with Aela and Lucullus to help them feel welcome, per their instructions from their superiors, but the conversations quickly waned as Aela struggled to keep up with translating. It wasn’t long before the two decided on moving to a cozy bench, far away from all the excitement, and settled in while they waited for whatever Johannes and Alaric were discussing to be concluded. Lucullus thought he might pray to keep down the growing headache he felt, but even with them being far from the action, it was still too loud for him to concentrate the way he wanted.

“Did the college ever have anything like this?” Lucullus asked, hoping it would make the time pass faster.

Aela gave him a confused look, then shook her head sighed. “What could you possibly mean by ‘this’?”

“I meant parties, or just having lively feasts like those men are having.”

“At the college, we prioritized the acquisition of knowledge. Any celebrations were held during festivals within the cities and villages, some of which we were allowed to attend, but nothing of the sort was tolerated within the college.”

“Surely some fun was had.”

“The spells we practiced required that everyone maintained rigid discipline, otherwise you might be struck by lightning because of some drunken fool.”

“Sounds like some kind of military lifestyle.”

She shrugged. “If it works. It’s no different than giving large men equally large axes to freely swing. Danger is present, thus discipline must be more strictly enforced.”

A few minutes later, they saw Johannes coming to them with a slight smile on his face. “The boss has agreed to help you two, but only after you help us eliminate the Diebstahl.”

Lucullus sighed. “I’m guessing they’re some group of brigands.”

“Not just any brigands,” Aela added.

Johannes nodded. “They are the worst band of thieves and liars to ever come upon Immergrun. Indeed, they are a most dangerous sort. Not to say that anyone could compare to the power of Chaodites, but they are just as crafty. They might not have the spells, but their power is undeniable.”

“So, you want us to destroy them?”

“We’re planning a big assault on their base of operations, which we know is somewhere in Inselhauptstadt or near its surrounding villages. We’re still trying to get an exact location, but we’re closer than ever to taking it.”

“Are we supposed to just sit here until you get that location?”

He shook his head and chuckled. “I intend to make better use of that time. You two have been placed under my wing while you’re here. And with that being the case, I think it would be prudent for us to see how we are in combat before going on such an important mission.”

“You want us to spar?” Lucullus joked.

Johannes laughed. “Perhaps another time, if you would like. But I had something else in mind.”

Aela sighed. “What?”

“All the time, our men are assigned to protect various caravans that travel along the main island’s roads. Since you two are under my responsibility, I see this as an opportunity to let us get used to fighting along side each other.”

“I’m not sure if I made it clear, but time is not on our side,” Lucullus explained. “I have no doubt that our element of surprise is becoming more imaginary as time goes on.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t have you traveling the whole island. I’ll be taking you two with me to guard a caravan going to Inselhauptstadt, so it should be a somewhat familiar journey. It works out well for me, too.”

“But we were just there a few days ago,” Aela objected. “Why didn’t you just take care of business when you were there?”

“I simply need to follow up with Queen Gertrude. She told me she would have an update in about a week for our search for the Diebstahl’s leader.”

“I suppose that’s convenient,” Aela retorted.

“Protecting a caravan means our travel time going in will be potentially double of our return trip.”

“Are we not protecting it going back?”

He shook his head. “We’re simply escorting these people to the capital. If they require an escort for any other trips, they will call upon us. We only do what they ask us to do.”

“Fair enough,” Lucullus replied. “When do we depart?”

“Dawn. Tomorrow.” He smiled. “I look forward to seeing what you two can do.” He motioned for them to follow. “I’ll show you where you can stay for the night.”

They followed Johannes out from the main room and into a long hallway. Many little hallways branched out from it, and were dotted with doors that led to different lodging chambers for the men of the Kampfergilde. He brought them into a room with many single beds, which apparently had no other occupants.

Johannes explained, “We have a lot of our men on assignments, and they’re not due to return for quite a while. I figured you two weren’t the social types, so you’ll get a room to yourselves for the night.” He chuckled. “But if you stay longer, you might have some new friends moving in.” He waved farewell as he left the room.

Lucullus laid his gear by the foot of a bed. “I guess we just pick any bed.”

Aela shrugged, and picked one of the beds adjacent to Lucullus. “It’s good to know we’re only staying a night.”

“Agreed. The longer we take to get to Olivia, the greater the chance of her being moved elsewhere.” He rolled out some of his maps and other documents onto his bed. “Seeing that we have some time to ourselves, I think I’ll look over what we took from that Chaodite cave.”

“I shall do the same. The kind of documents we found in there would make a great addition to the college’s library.”

“I’m more interested in figuring out where they might take Olivia next. I seriously doubt they’ll keep her wherever she’s at forever, but I don’t think they have a reason to kill her, yet.” He studied over the maps of the trafficking routes through Emporikos and Lucium, and looked back to the Chaodite letters.

Aela opened a thick book full of blank pages. Her ink was running low, but she wrote as much as she could with it, chronicling her discoveries. She filled many pages before her ink ran out, and let out a satisfied sigh as she reclined back on her bed.

“If you need more ink, I might have some,” Lucullus offered.

“I think that’s enough for one day.”

“I’ll be finished in a few minutes with these maps. If you want to do some prayers, I’ll pray with you.”

As if a fire was lit under her, she jumped out of her bed. “I’m ready to pray whenever you want.”