“You set me up!” Hestrin spat as they walked through the doorway of the barracks.

Of the five men, the innkeeper was the only one foolish enough to spew venom and vitriol in their direction the entire way back to Snake Town. The rest were smarter and followed in silence, allowing him the honour of tying the noose around his own neck, in the hopes that it would spare theirs.

“You set yourself up. I warned you to leave the girl alone, that someone was coming for her, but you just couldn’t help yourself. Mum said your obsession with that cabin would be your end,” Naetin replied.

“You’re just jealous she left me the inn,” Hestrin sneered angrily.

“I never wanted the inn, you idiot. That’s why I joined the Knight’s Guild.”

“Aye and came back a failure anyway. And she still wouldn’t stop singing your praises.”

“There’s just no winning with you, is there?” Naetin sighed. This seemed a tiresome fight to him. One he has had with Hestrin repeatedly throughout their lives.

“Had you not been such a disappointment time and time again, she might have thrown some your way, but I’ll be damned before I let you drag her legacy down into your criminal enterprises. Trafficking, Hestrin! What were you thinking?”

Caeden balled his fist and shoved the frustration bubbling to the surface back to the dark recesses of his mind. This was not a conversation he wanted to hear or deal with.

“I think there might be a slight misunderstanding of the situation at hand, Your Grace,” the bandit leader finally spoke up.

“Yer Grace?” Hestrin blurted, his eyes widening in shock.

“Yes, Hestrin, Yer Grace! Why d’ya think there are Knights here? Just shut it.” Naetin shook his brother’s collar in frustration.

“Oh?” Caeden raised an eyebrow. The leader cut an intriguing figure, especially now that his manner of speech changed from what he had heard in the forest. Caeden twirled the golden ring in his hand. They had found it stashed away in the leader's inner pocket.

He pondered whether he should indulge in this dance. Ah well, what could it hurt? Let us see if he can make it to the end without stepping on my toes. He pocketed the ring and took a seat at the table before him, indicating for the man to sit at the opposite end. Ser Morley pushed the man toward the seat and shoved him down into it.

“Untie him if you will, Knight-Commander.”

Ser Morley drew a dagger and severed the ties binding the man’s hands. The man rubbed at the places where the rope cut into his wrists. He then interlocked his fingers on the table and leaned forward. The stance of a nobleman ready to ‘negotiate’. Excellent.

“Please do clarify,” Caeden prompted.

“We were only attempting to help the young lady down from the tree, Prince Caeden. She unfortunately had been stuck up there all night and had called for help,” the man stated.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Ava visibly stiffen and bunch her fists. But she seemed to have enough sense not to interrupt. Caeden had to admit that the charlatan was a good actor and sounded earnest. No doubt the honourable nobleman act worked on those easily intimidated by his assumed status, but he was not dealing with a witless imbecile. He would have to try harder than that.

“The young woman seems to have a different recounting of the night’s events. Be that as it may,” Caeden waved away the discussion. “You seem to have me at a disadvantage. You know who I am, but you are?”

“Evan Peresburgh, Your Grace. My men and I are humble businessmen who facilitate the transport of goods between villages,” he introduced with a hand flourish and a tip of his head.

“Smuggling illicit goods, no doubt,” Naetin scoffed. “Been trying to root out your syndicate for years!”

“I am offended, Guard-Captain. Our business operations are all perfectly legal, I have the guild paperwork stored in my room at the inn,” Evan added smugly.

“Peresburgh,” Caeden rubbed his lips pensively and retrieved the ring, staring at the crest etched on the face. “Well, Evan. Can you tell me why we found the signet ring of the disgraced noble house Gueterath on your person? If I recall correctly, the head was a man called Evan as well. Or was it, Ivan?”

The flare of Evan’s nostrils told him that the man did not expect him to recognize or remember the crest and name of a minor noble house. They were usually beneath the notice of the emperor and his imperial Family. But this noble house’s ambitious machinations had irked the emperor greatly.

Their head had orchestrated an ill-conceived plan to smuggle dwarven firearms to the Casimir Empire in the vain hope of currying favour from the emperor and raising his house’s status. The ordeal had caused a diplomatic incident with Haalfkinguit, damaging the alliance between the two lands and ultimately sabotaging and prematurely ending any plans the Empire had to negotiate for the arms.

His father initially sentenced Ivan to death, but the ever-gracious Queen of Elwood managed to convince the emperor that an exile punishment would suffice. As a show of gratitude for her efforts, however, Ivan slipped from her grasp soon after, leaving her to look like a weak-willed and incompetent fool among her peers.

“I am unsure who wants your head more, Emperor Hayden or Queen Lernae?” Caeden smirked.

“I suspect His Majesty, The Emperor, would be more concerned about his son cavorting with a hybrid than worrying himself overly much with an old irritation. I heard you had a bit of a lover’s spat when you arrived. I understand the appeal, she is quite comely, is she not?” Ivan smiled, flicking his head toward Ava.

Scandal. Of course, this would be the recourse he takes. It was one of the few weapons these noblemen had to leverage against the Imperial Family if given the opportunity. Ivan was resolved to either take Caeden’s royal reputation down with him or use it to squirm out of the situation he landed himself in.

Caeden did not find either of those options appealing. He unsheathed Ava’s dagger and jammed it down into the back of Ivan’s hand, pinning it to the table. The action was so quick that blood pooled on the table before Ivan unleashed a blood-curdling scream. Panicked, he grasped his wrist and then the dagger’s grip, abandoning the idea when he discovered that he needed to wiggle it to successfully dislodge it from the table.

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“I do believe you are right, Ivan Gueterath. I have grown quite fond of Ava and have taken it upon myself to ensure her safety and well-being. She is my charge, my cause, and my responsibility. In a sense, she belongs to me!”

He leaned toward the cowering man and caught Kama scratching his furry chin pensively. His cat eyes darted to Ava and then back to the interrogation. Caeden stored that away, he will assess it in greater depth later. He rested his elbows on the table and interlaced his fingers before his mouth, allowing the full display of his impatience and anger through the movement of his hands. They will know my wrath.

“You can imagine how displeasing it was to find her harassed and threatened by some lower-born trafficker and his band of scoundrels.”

“Now, I ain’t with them, Yer Grace,” Hestrin pleaded.

“You seem to want to insult my hearing and intelligence as well, innkeeper.” Caeden’s words were cold and his eyes icy. Hestrin paled in the face of it. “I want names and locations. Every connection you have to the Marketplace, I want it all. Ser Morley?” Caeden indicated to Ivan’s pinned hand.

The Knight-Commander reached over and retched the dagger from the table. Ivan tried and failed to stifle another scream.

“Curse you, bastard prince. I will give you nothing,” Ivan muttered, nursing his bleeding hand.

“The Marketplace is an odd cause to die for. But, since you have made up your mind, I will graciously oblige. Ser Morley if you will escort Ivan Gueterath and his cohorts below. If they refuse to provide any useful information, I will be satisfied with having their fingers and toes instead.

“And start with the nobleman, I am curious to see how many he is willing to lose for his enterprise,” Caeden commanded cheerily.

As the Knight-Commander and the guards led the bandits to the brig, Caeden picked up the dagger and wiped the blood from its blade with a handkerchief. The serrated weapon was as dangerous as it looked. The nobleman was bound to lose some functioning in his hand even if he managed to keep all his fingers. Orc blades do not make clean wounds. He pushed to stand and sheathed the weapon.

“You are quite frightening, my prince,” Kama exclaimed, breathlessly. The cheeteng expression belied his words. In place of fear, his eyes glimmered with admiration and awe.

“I am – sorry you had to see that,” Caeden said to Ava.

She was eerily quiet through the worst of the interrogation, and he worried that he may have scared her. It was a side he usually never showed to civilians or ladies. But to keep the people of the Casimir Empire safe, he would use any means necessary.

The Marketplace had been an ongoing problem for years and every investigation had always resulted in a surface-level eradication of its infestation. Caeden hoped Gueterath would be the card they needed to topple the criminal enterprise in its entirety. A nobleman, even a disgraced one, would not settle on being some small-time lackey. He must know something of great import they could use.

“No, you did what was necessary. I thought you might need my testimony. Minervin told me – It does not matter. I cannot linger here any longer, but I need my weapons back,” Ava indicated to the dagger at his hip.

“What?” Caeden blurted.

“My weapons! I need to protect myself. You need not be responsible for me any longer. This is my mission and my business,” she argued.

“This does not involve you alone,” he whispered harshly.

This was not the place to have this argument, he needed to explain the situation properly to her elsewhere. He took her arm gently to guide her outside, but she instantly tried to rip away from him, and his grip tightened as a result.

“Leave me!” she yelled. But she stopped suddenly, all fight lost as her colouring paled and her eyes glazed over with white frost.

She swayed on her feet and Caeden steadied her. She moaned and her breath clouded the air between them. He felt the atmosphere chill and the ground vibrate before growing into a violent rumble. A strong gust of icy wind threw him back.

Furniture flew around him as Caeden struggled to regain his balance against the two forces. He knelt and braced against them. Kama scurried along the floor and took cover behind a doorway. Caeden could hear Knight-Commander Morley calling to him through the whistling of the wind. Its pushing force seemed to prevent him from re-entering the room.

The woman of frost and wind floated before Ava, reaching out to grasp her head. Frost crystals formed along her skin and hair where the icy fingers ended.

“You are becoming a hindrance, mortal,” Ava said. Her voice echoed with a ghostly resonance.

Ava croaked something incomprehensible, her hands moved to the Spirit’s arm but jolted to her sides against her will. A tear ran down her cheek and froze in place.

Caeden scowled and ground his jaw. He pushed against the wind and cold, his hand going to Ava’s sword. The leather of his gloves stuck to the frosty hilt.

The Frost Spirit bellowed angrily. “Arrogance! Insolence! Your purpose is done, leave us be.”

“She cannot do this alone!” Caeden bit out. The room grew colder and the tips of his ears stung.

“She is not alone. She has the beast,” it said.

“You are a fool if you think that will be enough!” he spat as he took another bracing step forward on the shaky ground.

“Do not test me! You have no authority over the will of the Spirits, I will not warn you again!” it said and lifted its hand toward him.

Caeden was not certain what he was doing. The Spirit could destroy him with a flick of a finger, but he knew he had to get Ava away from it. The wind picked up and frost coated the metal of his armour, biting through his gambeson to the flesh beneath. Caeden groaned against the discomfort.

“Great Spirit, I am an envoy of The Mother. I beg you to commune with her and consider the young prince’s words before deciding the keeper’s course.”

Kama moved unsteadily to Caeden’s side and knelt with his forehead to the floor, never once gazing at the spirit directly.

The Spirit floated silently amid the chaos of her power. The ground steadied and the rumbling died down. After a hesitant moment she looked down at Caeden and said, “I will hear you.”

Caeden assumed ‘The Mother’ had managed to placate the Fire Spirit, but the Frost Spirit needed more convincing. He looked at Kama, uncertain as to how to navigate this fickle creature, and the cheeteng nodded him forward.

“The Spirits only see the greater tapestry and the threads necessary to achieve it. Help her reach her goal better, not faster,” he explained.

Caeden breathed in and sent a prayer to the gods in hopes that they would help him. “The Spirits are a part of each land, each culture. They have been so since the beginning of this Age. Whether you like it or not, you spirits belong to its people!” Caeden began, and the frosty face glowered at him.

“If Ava marches up to The Wyvern’s Jaw and plucks the Fire Spirit from its maw, she will turn the Casimir Empire against her. Every spirit she steals will turn minds and nations against her. They will see only a hybrid sowing chaos. Borders will close to her entry. Mercenaries, hunters, knights and assassins will stalk her to the ends of Archaicron. She cannot do this alone. She needs official backing. She needs a people.”

“You do it. Your people understand the Spirits,” the Frost Spirit indicated to Kama.

Kama huffed an awkward chuckle, discomforted by the suggestion, “It was our plan, Great Spirit. The prince, however, has claimed her and we cannot interfere unless he releases her to us.

“Loathe am I to admit it, the Cheeteng are a small people with little influence over other lands. The keeper would fare better if backed by the Empire. But, the Empire will not be alone in this. The beastkin has proclaimed that The Motherland’s borders will always be open to the keeper. She is The Mother’s chosen, and we will fight on her behalf. With the Empire or against it if it chooses its path poorly.”

Caeden scowled at Kama’s threat but was glad for it all the same. Blasts of windy frustration blew from the Frost Spirit. It was not the answer she was looking for, but it stopped after a few angry bursts.

“Very well. I will go along with your plan for now, mortal. But your destiny is not yet set, and you have several threads before you. Do not think I will hesitate to destroy you should you choose the incorrect one.”

It transformed into a crystal and floated into Ava’s satchel.

Ava breathed out heavily and fell to her knees, still dazed. Caeden rushed to her and untied his cape, wrapping it around her cold body.