Before she knew it, Brie found herself outside the Cerulean city gates, standing in a field of dirt usually occupied by merchants storing their wagons of goods. Now, there wasn't a single wagon in sight. Instead, a lone wyvern ruffled its wings, clearly impatient to return to the air. Beside it stood a Cockatrice, looking just as absurd as the illustrations she'd seen in books. The creature seemed even more ridiculous next to the towering woman, Rosa, who wore a bow strapped to her back that was nearly as tall as Brie.

"Are you certain it's safe to fly at night, Sir Dramas?" Brie asked, glancing up at the darkening sky. "Aren't there sky creatures lurking?"

Sir Dramas waved away her concerns with a cheesy grin that Brie wasn't quite sure how to interpret. "Just Boyle is fine, my lady. We're, more or less, of equal station. As for your inquiry, it falls under the 'issues' our friendly Huntress here will address as necessary."

Rosa only grunted as she tightened the straps on her Cockatrice’s saddle. Brie noticed that the saddle was equipped with an array of massive weapons she doubted she could ever lift in a million years.

I thought she was a huntress, Brie mused, tightening her grip on her backpack strap. Why does she need a battle axe? And a bastard sword? Or a mace?

Boyle noticed her staring at the weapons and chuckled. "Aye, I too was taken aback at first by the array of weapons. But trust me, she can use them all with unparalleled skill, whether individually or together. It’s incredible to witness, though I hope you won’t have to tonight."

Brie moved to grasp the wyvern’s harness, preparing to lift herself up. Given Boyle’s noble bearing, she expected he might offer a hand to help her. Instead, he simply grabbed her by the waist and lifted her effortlessly, allowing her to swing her leg over and settle into the saddle.

If that wasn't embarrassing enough, both Rosa and Boyle mounted their steeds with such fluid motions that Brie had the sudden urge to pinch herself to make sure it was real.

Her father and brother stood a few feet away, watching with conflicted expressions.

"Is this truly necessary?" her father asked again, this time with most of the family’s guards looking on in shared anxiety. "Shouldn't at least a few of our knights accompany her? This is highly inappropriate."

"Once again, Baron Ballenci, you're welcome to send your knights—if you have a way to transport them," Boyle replied, his tone terse. Brie couldn't blame him; this was the fifth time her father had asked the same question.

"Brie, I’ll send a small platoon of knights to Sealrite as fast as they can travel!" her father exclaimed. "Do not leave there before they arrive. Tell Lady Silverwater to send a letter immediately afterward; I’ll raise a complaint with the king if she does not." Even as the wyvern’s wings began to beat, he continued yelling. In a way, Brie felt a tug at her heartstrings. She knew this was how her father showed his love. "Oh, and don’t forget to find a husband. If you do, perhaps your mother won’t murder me in my sleep. And you should—"

The rest was lost to the roar of wind as the three of them soared into the skies. The air whipped through her hair almost painfully, and she buried her face against Boyle’s golden armor to shield herself from the sharp chill. The wyvern’s wings flapped powerfully before straightening out into a smooth glide. The wind subsided somewhat, but Brie kept her face hidden behind the armor nonetheless. Alone with only the sound of rushing wind, a serene feeling settled into her muscles and bones, despite how tightly she clung to the knight.

"So," Boyle began, his voice resonating as if it were being carried directly to her ear by some unseen force. Brie jumped in surprise, almost slipping off the wyvern in her flailing. The knight laughed, his large arms reaching back to stabilize her. "Hold on tighter to my waist, or you really might fall off. Anyway, you all didn’t seem all that surprised when I mentioned the duke’s passing. How did you know about it so quickly? I left almost immediately."

Brie shrugged, not particularly wanting to share her trade secrets with a practical stranger. "News travels pretty fast in Lysoria when it involves a duke—especially when it’s about his death in battle against a country we were supposed to have a treaty with."

Boyle didn’t seem to buy her rather weak excuse. "The Duke knew that House Ballenci had spies, or at least informants, in nearly every facet of his jurisdiction. I always felt like he knew more about the Ballenci information network than he let on."

"Perhaps," Brie said. Silence followed for a few minutes before a thought occurred to her. "I can’t tell you our method of communication over long distances, but I can tell you how we received news of the Duke’s death. But only if you tell me how you’re projecting your voice into my ear as if you’re right next to me and there’s no wind."

"A trade, then," Boyle confirmed after a moment of thought. Or perhaps he was just trying to make her think he was debating it. Either way, she wanted to know, and there was no real loss in sharing the information she would give him.

"Gentlemen first," Brie insisted, and Boyle chuckled.

"It goes by many names. The Duke called it 'sound transmission.' There’s not much use for it in the duchy since our House Coin provides similar utility, but it’s still useful with outsiders."

"Outsiders?"

"Those not linked to the House Alistar Coin."

Her eyes widened. "Wow. I wonder if other ducal House Coins have properties like that too. What other properties does the House Co—"

Boyle shrugged, likely forgetting she was leaning on his shoulder. The sudden movement jolted her, causing her to bite her lip. Brie yelped in surprise as the sharp pain brought an iron taste to her mouth, and Boyle unleashed a flood of apologies faster than she’d thought he could even speak.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"It’s alright, Sir Dramas—excuse me, Boyle."

The knight shot her a sheepish look over his shoulder before continuing. "As I was saying, most call it 'sound communication.' I’ve heard it called other names in foreign territories; I believe the Cael nobles refer to it as 'whisper transmission.'"

"That’s odd," she said. "We’re not whispering, though."

He chuckled again. "Indeed we’re not. The Cael do many strange things that are difficult to fathom."

"How does it work?" Brie asked, closing her eyes against the back of Boyle’s armor as he whipped the reins, and the wyvern surged forward with an ear-deafening screech.

"Do you have a heart core? Or a magic core?"

Brie shook her head, then, realizing he couldn’t see her, felt her face flush. "No, I don’t. I have two rings, though."

"That should still work," he said. "I don’t know the specifics of the technique’s intricacies, but I was taught to create a sort of tubed link between my mouth and the ears of whoever I want to speak to, and to connect their mouth to my ears the same way. Again, I’m not a scholar, so I don’t know the exact mechanics of it." He paused before continuing. "I do remember the Duke mentioning how the Pandorian Empire performs the technique differently. Something about sound being carried across distances by controlled wind."

"Fascinating," Brie said, wondering how, despite her vast information network, she’d never heard of this technique before. But then again, there were likely many energy and magic techniques she didn’t know, and many others she might never discover, no matter how expansive her network was. Some secrets were simply too well-guarded.

"Your turn."

“Oh, sure. It was simple, really. There are two-way enchanted scrolls where you can write a message on one, and it gets written on the paired scroll instantly, without even a second of delay. The two documents are connected in a way that makes them share all imprinting on their surface,” Brie explained, getting straight to the point. “We knew the same day.”

“By Aedonia’s great ti… By the gods,” Boyle exclaimed in a sudden burst of sound, causing Brie to flinch with another yelp. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like the knight had noticed. “Do you sell those by any chance? Her Grace would most certainly wish to purchase a great amount for her endeavors.”

“Her endeavors?” Brie asked, releasing a bit of her heart energy to examine the tube-like existence Boyle’s energy had created. It was becoming increasingly difficult to see anything in the dimming light, especially as they kept flying through clouds of fog and moisture. Boyle didn’t seem worried, however, so Brie tried to come to terms with the feeling of being discombobulated.

“Ah, apologies, Lady Ballenci. Her Grace will explain that to you when we get to Sealrite. I am not at liberty to discuss her future plans.”

After that, the two of them fell into a silence that wasn’t exactly awkward, but Brie definitely wouldn’t have called it comfortable either. And the longer she waited to say something, the more awkward it became. Hours passed like that, with them in that serene silence, accompanied only by the howling wind and the occasional roar of wild beasts.

Just when she’d finally mustered the courage to break through the blanket of silence between them, a giant chicken bumbled next to them with a loud squawk. It took her a second to realize it was Rosa on the cockatrice, and she screamed. If Boyle heard her over the wind, he didn’t react.

Brie hadn’t had time to recover even a bit of her dignity when a low voice with a barely feminine timbre carried directly to her ears. “There’s an issue. We’re being trailed.”

The huntress was already holding her bow and drew an arrow. With a powerful twang that Brie heard even over the wind, Rosa loosed an arrow into the darkness behind them. Brie glanced over her shoulder and squinted, trying to see what Rosa had shot at but spotted nothing.

But she most definitely heard the roar that came from that direction a few seconds later as Rosa released a volley of arrows into the same spot.

Then another. And another.

“Holy Gods,” Brie screamed, clinging tighter to Boyle. “What was that?”

“Wyverns,” he responded, his tone gruff even through the energy connection.

“Wyverns?” she exclaimed in a panic, consciously remembering not to let go of the knight. “Why in the Gods’ names are there wild wyverns here?”

The low, almost whispery voice of Rosa answered her question. “They are not wild. They fly with colors of emerald and gold.”

Brie felt all the blood drain from her face as her stomach dropped. “The… the Goldenhearts?”

No one answered her this time. Boyle whipped the reins hard, and the wyvern jolted forward, causing her face to smash into Boyle’s back. She kept it there, ignoring the cold pain of her bruising flesh, and began to pray to Aedonia.

Please. Please. Please let me live. Just let me live. I haven’t even told Victor that I love hi—

Her thoughts were cut off when the wyvern nosedived, and she released a scream so bloodcurdling it scared her into screaming even louder.

I’m going to die. I’m definitely going to die.

A giant blaze of red-hot lava burst inches above her head, eliciting another shriek of pure terror from Brie. Neither the wyvern nor Boyle seemed much affected, as they easily dodged it despite the darkness of the night, somehow knowing exactly where to go. Experience? Training?

For the first time in her relatively short life of three decades, Brie solemnly wished she’d done more physical training. Or training of any kind, really.

The wyvern didn’t stop when they neared the tops of a forest, instead choosing to fly into the thicket and the shadows. The winged creature nimbly dodged and tucked through branches and bushes, always staying high enough from the ground to maneuver but never breaking the cover of the forest.

“I’ve sent an emergency signal to Her Grace,” Boyle said, not a small amount of edge in his voice. “Rosa says there’s more than she originally thought. At least a dozen.”

“By Aedonia, will she be alright?”

Boyle didn’t answer, and a moment later, the death cry of a cockatrice filled the night, echoing throughout the forest. She had never heard such a sound before, but somehow, she instantly recognized it as the last, desperate scream of a beast.

Brie feared the worst, but Boyle shook his head. “I don’t believe that was her; otherwise, the sound of battle would have faded. She’s much stronger than that. They might overpower her eventually, but it’ll take them a while. They’ll send a good number after us, since it’s you they want, no doubt.”

“What?” she almost screamed again. “Me? Why me? What did I do?”

“It’s not about what you did. It’s about what you’re doing right now. Do you really think the Goldenhearts want Lilliana Silverwater to succeed Duke Collin Alistar?”

Brie did think about it. She had thought about it. It still didn’t make any sense to her that they would try to kill her. “That doesn’t mean they need to kill me!”

“You are Her Grace’s access to a large information network that will allow her to expand her influence and status. You may not be aware, but the Goldenhearts are relatives of House Silverwater, to which Lilliana also has successor rights through Baroness Silverwater's adoption of her. Do you understand what that means?”

Brie gulped hard as realization finally dawned on her. “She’ll have the legal right to succeed two duchies and a barony. That’s…”

She couldn’t see him nod, but she was certain he did by the way his shoulder blades shifted. “If Her Grace succeeds all three, that would give her enough authority and territory to demand the title of Grand Duchess, thereby lifting her status to be on par with the Royal family. So, you must live, Lady Ballenci, and both Rosa and I will make sure you reach Lady Lilliana, no matter the cost to us.”