As much as Ivo hated to admit it, he needed Jakob. He had thought hard and long about it, and he hated it even more, Melisa was injured, and he had another assignment for her, Ethan was smart but useless in a battle and Ida was riding with Edric and a thousand men to defend the castle in the north against an army of hundreds of thousands in an impossible warfare.

But only Ivo knew the real danger and how strong the snow crawlers were in winter, and how he was rather weak as he could be, ironpeak wasn't just called that because the founders though t it sounds cool. The fairhaven had built a fortress city in the mountains that had been unhackable since the walls stood.

It had taken him two weeks and some days to get here from the capital and another three days to find a way into the city without breaking identification system that they had in place, nobody wanted to trade their tags no matter the gold he offered.

Impossible to infiltrate, especially with everyone here who looked different. Finding one with Silver hair here was like finding flee on a wide dog's back. Ivo had dyed his hair white, he already had the pale skin for it, but the weather—the sun burned brightly.

The author had said something about the city having its own weather cycle, but that just worsened it, as Ivo had packed most winter wears.

Getting into the city was easy, this made Ivo think about the really impenetrable security thing, his hair was rough and uncut, he was growing a beard which he was honestly surprised about, but he was still as handsome as ever.

It was easy to convince the master of kitchens, a chubby woman in her late sixties that smelled like ham, to take him in, she had high hopes of having him in her bed so she gave him a job of cutting onions in the kitchen. Ivo was good at many things, but cooking was not one of them.

He could have sworn he didn't know how he didn't lose a finger, but he pitied whatever lord that would eat the onion in their supper. The pressure was telling on the woman, and she would rather not send him away, so she made a deal with the stable master, double the food portions to let Ivo work as a stable boy.

So tending horses was easier than chopping onions, he wasn't good at it, but he wasn't bad at it either. He just had to remain in the castle for as long as possible.

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His target, Jakob fairhaven, was rather a peculiar individual, but Ivo would just straight up call him crazy, he did mostly nothing during the time expect compose songs about Ida and sword training or ripple dancing as he called it.

Ivo swore that if he heard another song about Ida, he would give himself up to the guards. He had been studying Jakob's daily schedule—ivo felt like a spy for this.

He hadn't made contact with him (Jakob) yet, but he has been watching his activities and his biggest concern was the skinny guard that followed him around Rivera. Ivo didn't know how first name, but he knew one thing, the only black hair that could freely roam the ironpeak without suspicion was a Rivera. Trained sword masters that acted like guards to the fairhaven.

Ivo knew his strength, he was no sword master. He was excellent with unarmed combat, but swords were not his thing…yet. But right now, he knew there was no way he was going to get close to the singing Buffalo with the walking Terminator around him.

So Ivo had to watch his schedule, Jakob was alone only twice in the day when he composed his music in the garden at the warm afternoon or when he had his bath at the evenings. Kidnapping him…convincing him to come with Ivo in the afternoon was far too dangerous, but in the evening was a different case.

Time was running out and Ivo felt like if he stayed here any much longer, Mrs. kitchen goblin will run out of patience, she had become more provocative of late leaving her underwear in his room and even asking him to help her shower—in as much as she had decided to take a bathe and improve her hygiene he would rather not be raped by a lady twice or three times his size that smelled like smoke and ham so it had to tonight.

He climbed the castle walls as quickly and quietly as possible. It was made from rolled brick so it was easy to climb, Ivo was really starting to question the security of the city.

He wasn't a creep, but Jakob's room was at the far end of the castle, it was the room with the light still on and singers playing. He could hear Jakob singing like a kitten being strangled, if not that he needed his strength he would have given up there cause his voice was terrible.

Soon he was in front of the window, the room smelled like fresh flowers, and it was neat and organized with a bed, some furniture, a library of books and castles at a table stand. Ivo hid as he had to wait for the bell when the singers finally stopped and Jakob could finally be alone.

It was thirty minutes before that, so Ivo had to bear thirty minutes of torture from Jakob voice, he lost count how many times the buffalo had gone off beat and when the bell tolled. Ivo was actually grateful to the gods for the first time, or he would have thrown himself from the castle walls.

He sighed as he could hear Rivera knocking on the door and Jakob instructing the singers to pack up and return tomorrow.

Sorry but you won't be practicing tomorrow Ivo thought as he could hear water being poured into the tub and then the door being shut, Jakob thanked the maid.

Let's go kidnap a prince Ivo thought.