‘Scril?’ the soldier asked Val, who was wearing the borrowed face. ‘Ain’t realise you came back. You got your uniform sorted, then?’

There was a very brief moment of hesitation from Val, which I hoped that the two soldiers hadn’t notice. There was no sign that they did. ‘No thanks to you two,’ Val replied. ‘One of you, was it?’

The male soldier, from what I could see through the key hole, looked genuinely upset by this accusation. ‘Us? You know we’d never, Scril. Probably Myrc; you know he’s got a thing for you. Doesn’t know how to express it, I reckon.’

The other soldier, the woman walked back into my view. ‘Yeah, well, he better know she’s all ours.’

‘You try telling Myrc that. It’ll be Calton Street all over again.’

Val snorted knowingly, even though she definitely didn’t know what they were talking about; she was easing into the role. Maybe it’s worth me recommending she work on getting the Performance skill—might do her some good in these situations.

‘Wait,’ the female soldier said. ‘Myrc’s gone, anyway, ain’t he? Went up north with Amira.’

The other soldier shrugged. ‘Well, I dunno then. Maybe just the servants doing their usual standard of work—missed you. By accident, like.’

‘You gonna teach ‘em a lesson, Soll, or am I?’

‘I don’t think we gotta be hurting people for a simple mistake like that,’ Val tried, maybe saying a little more than she should, considering how risky it was.

‘You’ve changed your tune,’ Soll said, laughing. ‘I’ve seen you cut off a merchant’s thumb cos you thought he short-changed you.’

‘And he hadn’t!’ the other guard added.

Val laughed along, but said nothing, apparently having realised she’d gambled a little too much with that last remark.

Arzak very slowly pulled a cramped leg out from the corner of the wardrobe, managing to succeed without making any substantial noise. I shot her a glare—we were both uncomfortable, wedged in here!—which she ignored. I turned my attention back to the key hole, hoping that Val would wrap up this conversation soon and see these last two guards on their way.

‘Hey, speaking of,’ Soll said, ‘Ela got a letter from the guys up north.’ He flicked his head to the other soldier. ‘You tell her?’

‘Nah, not yet. Only just got it last night.’ The soldier known as Ela raised her eyebrows enticingly at Val. ‘You wanna know what it says?’

‘Well, you know me,’ Val said, then trailed off without finishing that sentence; it was up to the other two to decide whether Scril would normally want to know.

‘Yeah, little gossip, ain’t you?’ Ela replied with a toothy grin, and my heart sunk. We were going to be in here for a while, then. Arzak, apparently realising the same thing, started to adjust her leg once more, but a glare from me brought that to a stop.

‘Says they’s killed a lord’s husband,’ Ela continued. ‘A lord’s husband! Don’t get that kinda action in Auricia, do you?’

Val, for her part, nodding along encouragingly, not quite sure where Scril would stand on this whole murder thing.

Soll shook his head. ‘When it’s our turn, we gotta do ‘em one better.’

‘What’s better than a lord’s husband?’

‘Err, I dunno, a lord, maybe? Or a duchess, or something, I dunno.’

‘And, erm…’ Val started, voice hesitant. I knew exactly where she was going with this, cos I had the same follow-up question for these murder-happy soldiers as well—but now really wasn’t the time. ‘Why are we killing lords’ families, again? We aren’t… We ain’t at war, are we?’

Soll’s eyes flicked to Ela, and he paused for a moment longer than Val’s hesitation earlier. ‘You feeling alright, Scril?’

But Ela waved the question down. ‘She’s just daft sometimes, ain’t she? That’s why we love her.’ She turned back to “Scril”. ‘They ain’t up there as Goldmarch soldiers, remember? Ain’t think Queenie would like us killing lords and little lordlings while wearing gold. They’re up there as bandits.’

Val gulped down any sign that this was news to her. ‘Oh, yeah. Course. One of them mornings, I reckon. Don’t know my arse from my tit.’

‘Could show you, if you like,’ Soll responded.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

‘Anyway, there’s always next time, ain’t there? Amira’ll need more bandits soon, I reckon, cos rumour is it ain’t moving fast enough. So we get up there, put some pressure on them prissy local lords, get some killing in, and queenie gets her way. Gets these Tundran folk to let her soldiers in. Everyone’s a winner.’

I glanced at Arzak, whose eyes were narrowing. She mouthed an outraged question at me, but what with her fangs and slightly different syntax, I couldn’t work out what it was. After the third try of mouthing it, the orc gave up.

‘Oh, and, er…’ Val was saying.

It occurred to me then, a moment later, that we had faced bandits in the Tundras. In the southwest of the Tundras, in fact, in the area nearest to the Goldmarch. The roads had been full of them around Aptleed, and we’d almost not been able to add Tokas to our party because so many bandits had attacked us—not that that would have been a bad thing, necessarily, considering what we’d learned later.

And there had been soldiers there, too. Goldmarch soldiers, wearing their mustard—definitely not gold, no matter what they told you—surcoats, and saying they were under strict instructions not to intervene with the bandits unless the local leader gave the order.

Queen Amira was manipulating the disparate powers of the Gentle Tundras, but to what end? These soldiers said they were not at war, but were they sure? This seemed like a conquest of sorts, one so insipid that I wasn’t sure the Tundrans even knew they were being invaded. But then, if the mighty power of the Goldmarch was going to conquer anywhere, why the Tundras? There was nothing there of note, lots of the land barely workable, and no real industry beyond the basics. Surely, if the Goldmarch wanted to expand their territory, they’d look south, to the realms of the Sundorn families, or to the Dawnwoods, or to the Beached Armada in the west. Not the Tundras. Nobody ever wanted the Tundras, not since the fall of the old empire.

‘You alright, mate?’ the soldier known as Ela asked Val. ‘You been acting weird all morning. Not yourself, like.’

‘Sick of the pranks, is all,’ the witch gambled—one that seemed to pay off.

Soll looked to Scril again, then sighed. ‘Come on,’ he said, gesturing for the door. ‘Guess we better get to breakfast. Gonna be oats for us, as late as we’ll be. But if we leave it much longer we ain’t even gonna have that, are we?’

Scril snickered. ‘Speak for yourself. I got a hookup with the cook. Thinks there’s something between us. Don’t worry, I ain’t adding anyone to what we got going on.’

But Soll didn’t respond, instead moving to the door. I waited eagerly for them to pass through it, desperate by now to stretch my cramped legs. I could only imagine Arzak was feeling that temptation much, much more than me, considering her size, and I forgave her for her earlier fidgeting.

‘Say,’ the soldier finally said, pausing halfway to the door. He turned to Val. ‘Remember that last guy we added in. That was your idea, wasn’t it, Scril?’

Ela opened her mouth to answer for the other soldier, but Val—who had a problem with keeping her mouth shut even in situations like these—was quicker. ‘Yeah, that was me. I—’

Soll drew his blade, Ela quickly catching on and following suit.’

In the wardrobe, I sighed, still making an effort to keep it quiet; I had stealth on my side at the moment, after all.

‘You ain’t Scril,’ Soll said. ‘You ain’t her.’

‘I…’ Val started, then sighed when she realised the jig was up. ‘What was it that gave it away?’

‘There weren’t no other guy,’ Ela answered.

I pulled my eye away from the wardrobe’s keyhole, and looked at Arzak. ‘Guess we’re fighting,’ I whispered. ‘You ready?’

"Styk"

Level 12 Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 28

Intelligence — 124

Dexterity — 52

Strength — 54

Wisdom — 35

Charisma — 21

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 30

Knifework — Level 23

Identification — Level 10

Stealth — Level 10

Needlework — Level 9

Abilities:

Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Stab II — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 20%.

Execution II — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.

Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Mana-Fuelled — Passive. Optionally, use mana in place of stamina to activate Knifework abilities.

Execution II — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.

Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.

Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.

Tamed Portals — Passive. Increased efficiency of portal magicks means that your portal glow is reduced by 50%, making them less likely to be detected by enemies.

Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.

Shrill Perimeter — Create a perimeter wall of 20 foot radius, invisible to all but those adept in magicks. If an enemy crosses this perimeter, this spell releases the shriek of a banshee.

Warped Shield — Passive. If an enemy strikes you with a low-level melee weapon, Warp Shield automatically activates to open a portal that deflects this attack. You must not have any portals currently active. Uses mana on activation.

Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

In Plain Sight — When activated, you have a heightened abilitiy to hide in plain sight, and are able to spot opportunities to break from combat at a higher rate. Scales on [WIS].

Stitch — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].

Basic Cloth Armour — Craft basic cloth armour, quality dependent on materials, time and skill level.

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +900%