The kitchens of the Stygian Caste were considered to have autonomy from the rest of the castle. Other than Lord Emile, no one was allowed to enter them without the permission of the senior chefs. Few dare to break these rules as offending the people who make your food is among the most foolish thing you could do. But few do dare. If an observer stood outside the main kitchen, they would hear a massive commotion inside and if they were smart they would leave pronto.
The door to the kitchen burst open and the disciples and goblins ran out of the kitchen being chased by a burly orc wearing an apron. “You brats, what have I told you about being in the kitchen? Mark my words, not even your master will stop me from dealing with you today.”
Amaya didn’t have the energy to run for long, so she stopped and heaved deeply trying to get her breath. The orc and the rest continue running without stopping and to the gang’s horror the orc was catching up to them.
Amaya sat down watched the chase zoom around the corner, and still trying to catch her breath when an old woman came up to her. The woman reminded Amaya of the elders from her town, with smile lines next to her eyes and a kind expression. She was holding a glass of juice in one hand and a plate with a sandwich in the other.
“Hello dear, Sir Renard informed me of your circumstance and told me to prepare a healthy snack for you. Are you a non-meat eater?”
Amaya started at the sandwich so intensely that she nearly missed what the lady said. “Erm sorry, no I’m not. Sorry, I mean I do eat meat.”
The old lady smiled at her stammer “It's no worry dear, but that’s good because I have the perfect sandwich to stem your hunger. Everything about this sandwich is grown on this island and I can vouch for its quality.”
She gave the sandwich to Amaya and the glass of juice. Amaya first took a sip from the juice and nearly drank the glass in one gulp. She had never had such a refreshing drink, it had the tangy taste of orange juice but the smooth consistency of mango. It was so cool that it quenched her thirst in one gulp.
Amaya took another sip to finish the glass but was sad that the wonder juice was gone, before she even asked for another glass, the old lady handed her a new glass. When or where she got the second glass, Amaya didn’t because she only had one before and her hand had the sandwich.
“It's refreshing isn’t it dear, but before you fill your stomach with only fluids, you should try the sandwich.” The old lady smiled reassuringly while taking the empty glass of Amaya. Amaya smiled back at her and took a bit from the sandwich. The burst of flavours that hit almost made her moan out loud.
The difference in texture between the hot chicken breast and the cold lecture was perfectly balanced. What else was great was the sauce on the chicken, a sharp, acidic tang without too much heat. Amaya felt like she was in heaven.
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Meanwhile, 4 children felt like they were in hell, as they were being chased by an enraged orc. They burst into a random garden with the orc close at their heels. Toma pointed to a tall tree and shouted “There! We need to get out of reach and he can’t climb. He is too fat and will ruin the tree, which he is too scared to do.”
Hearing this the orc tripped over and fell on his face, as he got he roared “Damn you rascals, I’m not fat. I’m actually below the average for my kind.”
Taking the opportunity, Raban and Resna grabbed the other two and blinked to the top of the tree. The orc stopped at the foot of the tree and stared at them off.
“Get down here you brats, I swear to the glorious gods that I’ll camp on this garden if I have to.”
Toma stuck his tongue out. “Give it up Gordon, we know you don’t have the time for that.”
Gordon gave a sinister and took out a rectangular piece of glass. “I’ve accumulated weeks’ worth of holiday and I’ve no problem using them up for this.”
The kids’ faces paled as they realised that he was very serious. They looked at each other and began to strategize about how they could get away. Their master was currently busy and he would probably not help them anyway. Lizenna was also busy and Margaret had been them sneak into the kitchen so they couldn’t rely on her.
As the kids were discussing their exit plan and Gordon was shouting at them, no one noticed a new figure enter the garden. It was a black goat that was ambling in as if it owned the garden. Ignoring the mess that was happening on the other side of the garden, it lazily strolled in and began to eat some grass.
The first person to notice this goat was Resna and she nearly fell out of the tree in shock. Fortunately. she caught a branch before she got within range of Gordon. Her brother and the kids looked at her in confusion, and her only response was a shaking finger at the goat.
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They followed the finger and Gordon did as well, and they all froze when they saw the goat. No one moved a muscle as they held their breath, waiting for the goat to leave. When Gordon started to slowly move towards the exit, the goat looked up and pinned him with its golden eyes. Gordon froze mid-step and it went back to eating grass.
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“What do you collect and deliver? Does he think I’m a courier?” Emile couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“No, of course not! Well…, actually it’s a bit more complicated than that.” Mia rushed to reassure Emile.
Sanzinel came to her rescue “How about you start from the beginning Mia, and explain what is going on.”
Mia thanked Sanzinel and cleared her throat. “Yes erm, where was I? Oh yes, Midarian has high standards for his disciple and though we didn’t know it before he has revealed what the conditions are. The disciple has to be an elf, who hasn’t awakened their magic or had any training in the sword arts and they must have a special constitution.”
Mia swiped at the board and the image changed to a silhouette of an elf. “While the Oracle was able to predict where the most suitable candidate is, they couldn’t conjure an image of how they look like. They were however able to give us some details to help us narrow down the search.”
Next to the silhouette appeared a list of bullet points. “They, and now us, know that the candidate is an elf male of around 12-14 years old, he is an orphan and he has a flower pattern in his eyes.”
“We also know that they last detected him at Bastion Hill, one of the cities under the control of Black Plain Bandits.”
Emile raised his hand as he could see that Mia was getting in a lecturing mode. “That’s all good but you didn’t answer my question. Why is this task pushed to me? Doesn’t he have subordinates who could do this?”
Mia scowled at the interruption and was about to chastise him, but then she realised who she was talking to. Ignoring the board she went back to the table and took a seat.
“Normally, that would be the best but there is a grim reason for this. Before I said that the Midarian doesn’t have any true disciples, and while that is true that hasn’t always been the case.”
“A long time ago, when Midarian settled and became the protector of the Mother Tree, he had three disciples that he gathered through his travels. He treated them as his children and thought the world of them.”
“However, they all tragically died within a short space of time and their deaths were very suspicious. Each death was investigated by the royal court and the elder council, the result was that no foul play was found.”
Mia stopped to take a sip from a glass of water, and Sanzinel spoke up. “I remember that time, Midarian didn’t believe that all of his disciples died without malicious play. When his last disciple died, Midarian renounced his family name and informed the world that he would go into seclusion. Other than protecting the Mother Tree and teaching a few students every generation, he had closed himself off to the world.”
“Fallonar fell into panic as one of their greatest pride and essentially the progenitor of their swordsmen had forsaken them. To make it worse, the only ruling monarch was able to meet him and if anyone else approached his home, they would be cut down.”
“Eventually after restructuring their programs for teaching sword art, Fallonar were able to stabilise that situation. That’s how more than a millennium passed and the legend of Midarian disappeared. But Midarian hadn’t truly closed himself, and through his students and trusted allies, he investigated the deaths of his displaces himself. When he finally found the culprits, he didn’t go out and slaughter them. Instead, he sharpened his sword and laid a trap for them.”
“He found out that the reason that disciples were killed was because certain nobles didn’t want to strengthen the royal faction. So when the current High Elf Queen’s great-grandfather abdicated the throne and certain influential nobles tried to throw a coup, he was ready.”
“That night is still called Crimson Waterfall for the number of elves that died that night.”
Mia shivered as she recounted the images that she found when she investigated Midarian’s past. “You are correct Lord Sanzinel and that is the reason why Midarian has come to us.”
“The death of his disciples has left a deep scar of distrust with Fallonar’s institutions. He still doesn’t trust anyone in Fallonar to safely get the potential disciple. His oath also stops him from leaving the capital.”
Lizenna spoke up “So why would he trust us?”
Mia said “There are two reasons. The first is that we don’t have any reason to prevent him from getting a disciple. The alliance between Avalyn and Fallonar actually means that strengthening Fallonar would be beneficial for us.”
Mia grimaced for a second but continued “The second reason is that if we betray his trust, he will have no qualms attacking us. The only reason he didn’t attack Fallonar when his last disciple died is because he holds sentimental feelings for his homeland. Those feelings don’t exist for us.”
Now that the situation was more clear, Emile stopped scowling and started to look at the board more closely. The genesis of a plan began to formulate but he still had one question.
“Why now?”
Mia turned to face him. “Sorry, what was that?
“Why is he hurrying us up, what is so urgent that I need to leave now?”
Mia went back to board and said “Remember how I said that the oracle knew that the candidate was in Bastion Hill. Well, earlier today they lost track of him and Midarian is worried that his enemies have somehow found out and taken him.”
“Fortunately, the oracle confirmed that he is still alive but you have to find him before Midarian goes berserk”
Emile rubbed his chin and looked at Renard. “Isn’t Bastion Hill ruled by Harold Hanthra?”
“Yes, my lord. He became mayor after ousting the previous ruler. The leadership of Black Plain Bandits don’t care about transfers of power as long as they are quick and clean.”
Emile then got up and walked up to the board. “Mia and Renard, I need everything you have on Harold, Bastion Hill and the Black Plain Bandits. Oh, and Renard call Astar.”
Renard who was already leaving stopped in his tracks “Astar?”
Still looking at the board, Emile answered “Yes, call Astar and tell him that the opportunity to pay his blood debt has come.”
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As Amaya was eating her third sandwich, Margaret wondered what happened to Gordon and the kids. “That’s odd, Gordon should be back now, even if he didn’t catch them. I wonder what happened.”