“You didn’t tell me we would kidnap someone.”

My heart pounded in my chest as I stood in the throne room of the Rebel King. Deep underground in a harska fortress, there was no getting in or out unless they wanted you to. Gunner, king of the harska, stared down at me with his yellow eyes. His pupils were dilated, his tail quivering from excitement. Had I stood closer to him, I was sure I could have heard him purr.

Our mission to Orten had always been to capture the blacksmith. I wasn’t supposed to know about it until it was too late. My musical performance would have been a distraction for the harska in my group. They would sneak attack the blacksmith, then carry him out of town in a sack. If everything had gone to plan, the townsfolk wouldn’t know until it was too late. As I learned in Xalir and Kent’s Crossing, it never went to plan. But they always obtained their prize.

The journey back to the mountain had been difficult for me. As the only human in the group, I was naturally seen as a source of hope for the blacksmith. Damian later told me he was worried I would try and free the blacksmith, but I couldn’t. Nia, Greenspring, Henry, and Arienne needed me. Either they found a way to escape on their own, or I helped Gunner until he let them go free. There were no other options.

But that didn’t stop me from complaining.

“How can you expect me to be a leader when you don’t tell me the plan?” I asked. The two guards standing on either side of me stepped closer. No doubt their way of telling me to calm down.

Gunner laughed. “If I had told you, would you have fully committed to the mission? This is an exercise in trust, and you have exceeded my expectations. Not once did you try and free the objective. Is he worth less to you than your friends?”

Provocations would have worked on me before, but now I focused on my goal: kill Gunner.

“In the future,” I said, turning to leave. “Don’t leave any details out.”

Gunner’s smile faded for an instant before returning just as quickly. “I see now that I don’t need to. You can be trusted, at least a little. But before you go, I have something to give you.”

I watched as his guards pulled out a burlap sack, about the size of a harska, from behind the throne. It shook, but no noise came from it. Gunner gestured to his guards, causing them to open the sack and dump the contents out onto the floor. A small girl tumbled out of the bag.

Her hair was tangled, and her skin was covered in dirt, but I knew who it was. Tears welled in my eyes. She shook her head, then glanced around the room. Big brown eyes, much like my own, met mine. Her hands were bound behind her back. A piece of cloth was stuck in her mouth, making it hard for her to speak, but I knew it was Arienne.

“Here is your daughter. Continue to be good, and you will receive more rewards from your king.”

After that, we were escorted out by the guards. Arienne clung to my arm, making it hard to walk through the tight halls. Even though I was thrilled to see her, I still was worried about my brother. How many people would I have to doom to servitude to save him? What about Nia, Tamara, or Greenspring. Sunday’s leaf was still in my pocket, calling for the druid Greenspring. There was still some hope, as small as it was.

As another reward for my ‘good work,’ they gifted me a larger room. The walls were still roughly carved out of stone, but they were larger than my cell. Instead of straw on the floor, I had a real mattress with a bed frame made of wood. A wooden dresser was pushed against the wall close to the bed. My belongings, clothes and the like, were nicely sorted into the dresser.

Along the ceiling were three vents leading to the outside. They were too small for any human or harska to fit through. Even if they could, they would most likely have bars at the top to prevent small animals from coming through. Even though I was deep underneath the mountain, I could feel cool air coming from the vents.

Once the guards had left, I untied Arienne’s bindings and undid her gag. “Poppy!” she cried, wrapping her arms around me.

“It’s okay,” I said, holding her close. “Everything’s going to be alright.”

“Uncle Henry told me to be brave. He said you were coming. The others didn’t think so, but he never stopped believing.”

Pulling back, I wiped some of the dirt off her face. “Others?”

She nodded. “People like Uncle Henry. They’ve been working for those cats.”

“Where are they?”

Arienne couldn’t hold back her tears. “I don’t know.”

Anger surged through me. Gunner would pay. If I had to fight every other harska in the fortress to get to him, I would do it. I sighed. That was what I wanted to do, but I knew I couldn’t. I wasn’t strong enough. With nothing more than my knife, they would kill me before I even left the room. Arienne didn’t deserve that.

She continued to cry until she collapsed from exhaustion. I tried to ask her what she had been doing, but she was too distraught to answer. Once she was asleep, I tucked her into the bed and fell asleep next to her.

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

“I did it, Beth. I found our little dandelion,” I whispered to myself.

Gunner didn’t fully trust me, but I did gain some other advantages for completing the mission. I could now leave my room, though I needed a guard with me at all times. This meant I could bathe in the bathhouse, more of a room than a house, and eat in the mess hall. Arienne was forced to stay in the room, but I was able to take her to the bathhouse once a week. I asked if I could speak with Nia or Greenspring, but Gunner didn’t give me a straight answer. More trust would have to be earned. More missions completed. More lives ruined.

The next few months of my life passed by quickly. I went on two more missions with Damian and his group. Arienne stayed in the room. She promised to watch my stuff, keeping it safe from the nasty harska. As the days passed, she became more like her old self. Though she was way too thin for comfort. I made sure to give her extra helpings of food whenever I could help it.

Gunner was pleased with my work and had asked me to help with more ‘recon’ missions. Spending time outside the mountain was great, but what I was doing made me sick. I never told Arienne where I went or what I was doing. She didn’t need to worry about that.

Sometimes I resisted. I warned the guards about the harska or helped the blacksmiths we captured escape. It was all pointless. The harska always accomplished their goals. Each time I tried to help, it only lead to more suffering. My hope of returning home with my family dwindled day by day. I was a shell of my former self, made to follow Gunner’s every order without fail. All so I could see my brother.

At the back of the dresser, I hid Sunday’s leaf. It never dried nor lost color. Whatever magic was cast upon the leaf kept it alive. Every night in my room, I pulled it out and thought about Sunday. If only I could use the leaf, but sadly I didn’t know how it worked. I needed to talk to Greenspring or Nia and see if we could make a plan.

When I slept, I heard Greenspring’s voice in my dreams, but it was incomprehensible. Why his magic wasn’t working, I didn’t know. During the day, I would whisper messages to him, but I didn’t know if he heard them. I hoped he wasn’t mad at me for helping Gunner.

My next mission with the harska involved us sneaking into the mining town of Ghinville. I was able to convince the locals to let them in after a few days of performing in the local tavern. A clean look and an instrument strung across your back did a lot for gaining people’s trust.

I used to love performing in front of a crowd, but now it made me sick. Their smiling faces, their laughter, all fueled by a lie. If Piopus knew what I was doing, would he hate me for it? After a week of staying in Ghinville, Damian snuck into the mine and stole three sacks of raw iron. Or at least that’s what we all assumed it was. None of us were miners.

After that, we went to Eveyork. Filled with thieves and drug runners, Eveyork was abandoned by the kingdom long ago. Gunner told us to go there and capture one of the higher-ups in the drug-running business: Barry Slouch. Damian and Bagheera managed to secure him without any problems. However, we were followed for some time after leaving Eveyork. As far as I know, Barry was being kept somewhere underground.

Instead of going by Norman, I changed my identity for each town we visited. Changing my appearance would have been preferred too, but it was too difficult. I wasn’t skilled with makeup and never learned the spells for illusions like that. A new name was more than enough. Better than tarnishing my own name.

The rest of my time was spent trying to get closer to the other harska. They still treated me like an outsider. To gain Gunner’s trust, I had to gain their trust as well. Singing songs and cracking jokes weren’t enough. They saw through my persona and kept their distance. Arienne would have been able to break through that barrier, but she was as trapped as the rest of the humans.

Maybe that was all part of Gunner’s plan.

After a few weeks without a mission, Gunner called me into his throne room. “Here’s you’re next mission. Assassinate the mayor of Freeriver, Louis Korpi.”

“Assassinate? Why?” Every other mission we had done before had been about retrieving an item or person. Killing wasn’t forbidden, but Gunner had told us to keep it to a minimum. The less they suspected anything, the easier it was to get back.

“Freeriver is an important town for us. For the past couple of years, we’ve had an agreement with the captain of the guard, Lady Iris. Lady Iris would give us food and raw construction materials, and we would offer her our labor. It wasn’t the greatest exchange, but without a way to produce goods of our own, it was necessary.

“The mayor wasn’t aware of this until recently. Something about missing food in the town logs. Once it was discovered, Lady Iris was imprisoned. Thankfully, they returned my brothers and sisters. While I am glad they are home, we will die of starvation without this exchange. As such, Lady Iris must be set free, and the town put under her control.

“The only way to do this is to kill Louis Korpi. Once he is dead, Lady Iris can take the town and our deal will be permanent. Until I decide to change the terms of our agreement, of course. This is not a mission to take lightly. Harska lives depend on this. You’ve been good to me so far, Norman. Consider this your final test.”

My heart sank. Could I kill a person? I wanted to kill Gunner, but part of me knew I never could. But to take a life... I took a deep breath. “I feel like such a mission shouldn’t be given to an outsider as a test.”

Gunner nodded. “If I had other options, I would take them. Louis Korpi is paranoid, any harska that gets close will be killed before they can act. You, on the other hand, have the charisma to get as close as you like. Plus…”

Reaching into a bag beside his throne, Gunner pulled out a small brown book. “You’re a magician. Learning new magic shouldn’t be difficult for you.”

“What kind of magic?”

“Illusion magic. You’ll disguise yourself and your allies to gain entry to his manor. Kill him inside there. No witnesses.”

Piopus had tried to teach me illusion magic when I was younger, but the lessons never seemed to stick. If I had time, I could learn a couple of spells, but disguising myself and others would be advanced magic. It would take more time to learn. Did I have much time?

What was I thinking? I couldn’t kill someone! Even though I had thought about killing Gunner, who I hated above all others, I didn’t think I could go through with it. Could I?

“This time, I instructed my brothers and sisters to obey your commands. You’ll be a real leader. If you give them a command that will cause them harm, or they feel it will ruin the mission, they will not follow it.”

Whether they would follow my orders or not, I didn’t care. This mission was a stepping stone to my goal. “As if I would disobey you, Gunner. After all, I’ve been good.”

Gunner looked down at me, his brow furrowed. “You have been useful to me, Norman. And I reward usefulness. If everything goes well during the mission, I’ll give you your friends, Nia and Greenspring.”