"Max. You still haven’t told us how you know all this. How you know where we are." Luna said as Max drove them through the city.

"Hell, everyone knows where you two are, well, everyone that matters." Max sped up as he narrowly avoided people crossing the street. "You have no idea how big the mess you two started has become. First, brace yourselves. Ablan is gone."

"Yeah, we know already." Baldric said as he prepared their weapons.

"What?! How?!" Max looked at him and Luna had to snap him to look back at the road.

"Asar, the damn GEA traitor, told us before he sent his entire army of himself down on us." Luna answered.

"What? Asar?! A traitor?!" Max looked at her surprised. "No! no."

"Max, he was the one who helped Treese and Silvus from the inside! He practically gloated it all over us!" Baldric said.

"What? No! Baldric it was the contenders and the freelancers! Remember the power struggle that Alexander’s watchers have been warning us about for months?! It was them. Damn extremists have made their move and we were blindsided."

"How could Alexander not know?" Luna said.

"Simple, half his guild joined the attack as well. They sabotaged all the intelligence, fed Silvus all the weak points of Llomeryn, and when the day of the attack came, them and all the other extremists pretty much destroyed all our defenses."

"How does this relate to us and Elizabeth getting poisoned?"

"That’s the best part. Ablan is now under Silvus occupation, right? Treese’s side or the Extremists are licking Silvus's boots so they can rule Ablan for them. Our spies told us Asterion gave them a condition: kill you two and bring Elizabeth to him, and then he will grant them full control of Ablan as Silvus’s Vassal."

They were stuck in some traffic, so Max had to go in reverse and find another way.

"Alexander’s side or the Loyalists don’t want that, obviously. Also, they believe you two are the best chance to barter support from other nations. If you two with the princess make it across the sea, Alexander is banking on support from Braenarim or Aspana, or at least letting refugees into their borders. You did not find it strange that you only encountered novice hunters ever since you guys surfaced from the under empire?

Treese, along with Silvus, were sending guilds and companies against you, while Alexander and the other shadows were sending their own men to hide your tracks. But the game changer is the syndicate. I don’t know why, but they sided with the extremists and Silvus. So much for Solomon’s policy of being neutral.

Anyway, we had spies in the other faction and we only just got word of their plan days ago. They had been following magic traces you were leaving behind, but with us blocking them, they couldn’t get close enough. So they upped their game and started dragging and killing civilians to lure you out. They knew that you couldn’t help yourself from being a hero, especially when children are involved. I’m guessing they were right." Max looked at Luna, who rubbed her face in frustration.

"The goal was to corner you in, but when nothing worked, they contracted a huntsman to take you two down. Our spies told us that he and Eric was the one who came up with the plan to poison the child and force you two to surrender her."

"Wait. I thought Asterion wanted Elizabeth alive." Baldric asked.

"He does. That is why they were depending on you two running out of options and handing over the child before the poison actually kills her. And if she did die under you, then Treese and the extremists would use that as a rallying cry that you two and the loyalists murdered the princess of Aspana and Braenarim and completely surrender Ablan to Silvus.

They were sure that you would not let the princess die and that you would go to Gairton because it was the closest city with a hospital. Alexander ordered everyone to wait and hide; luckily, we intercepted the guy who was supposed to deliver the ransom note for the antidote.

There was actually a massive fight on the border of the city when we jumped them. The fire you passed by? Yeah, that was us. Also here is the note." Max handed Luna a rolled-up message from his pocket. It said:

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Go to the Sterling construction yard if you want the princess to live.

"I’m going to guess that whoever is behind the poisoning has the antidote with him because Elizabeth will be useless to them dead, and that’s where we are."

"What about this huntsman? Who is he?" Luna said as she crushed the note.

"Richard Xalo. This guy is known as “the crocodile." He is a real piece of work. Incredibly dangerous too. He is one of the huntsmen enforcers who is known to use excessive force. His walker is the real problem; it’s a gladiator class walker."

"Any weaknesses?" Baldric prepared some grenades.

"None. His walker is armed to the teeth and the only strategy I can see is to get him out and keep him out of his walker. He also brought a lot of his own men to the site. Normally I would be happy to fight them all, but we need to get the antidote to Elizabeth quickly. I say we sneak in, get the antidote, get out and avoid fighting as much as possible. The crocodile thrives on long, sustained fights, something that you can’t do." Max looked at Luna.

They arrived at the construction site of a towering skyscraper in the middle of the city. As the three of them surveyed the building from the rooftops, they discovered that it was covered with soldiers, automatons, enforcers, and there were even gattling and flame cannons strategically placed to ensure that every blind spot in the structure was covered.

“Right what’s the plan?” Max said as he handed Baldric his telescope.

“You’re still asking us?”

“Of course, you two always have the patented best laid plans after all.” Max looked at both of them.

=0o0=

Inside, every floor of the construction site was guarded by bounty hunters and Gairton enforcers who were easily paid off. Every floor had at least a dozen men that were armed with flamethrowers and rifles, but one floor had the least amount of protection.

In the middle of the building was one floor that only had an ork who was having dinner and a parked walker.

Walkers, or war mechs, are massive mechanical giants built like tanks but with more reliability. While tanks can take massive amounts of firepower, walkers are meant to serve as shock units that can take gattling and flame cannons for front line infantry. But in times of peace, they are used for a variety of purposes, like agriculture, logistics, or construction, but the walker in the room is built for more gladiatorial combat.

The walker was plated and armed with spikes. Its head, arms, and body were designed so that it looked like a crocodile standing upright. It had long arms and numerous weapons. But the walker's most notable and formidable weapon is a giant curved mechanical saw with large sharp spikes at both ends.

The ork who was eating near the walker had ashen grey skin and wore a black suit that made him look eerily dignified. He looked at his pocket watch that was carefully placed beside a vial of blue liquid on the table when an enforcer came from behind him and gave him a salute.

"Sir, there are still no signs of them."

The ork played with his knife and continued to eat his dinner. He felt a gust of wind from the large exposed windows and smiled.

"Double the guards and pair up in threes. Don’t let them pick you off one by one."

"Yes sir." The enforcer saluted and left.

As he continued his meal, he looked again at the pocket watch on the table.

=0o0=

Ten minutes passed, and he realized that the enforcer hadn’t come back. He reached for the vial of blue liquid and played with it in his fingers. The ork then stood up and placed the vial inside his walker, then returned to his meal. As he sat down, he felt another gust of wind.

"They weren’t kidding when they said you work fast." The ork cut his steak. "The poison was made by a good friend of yours. Eric said he filled it with love." He laughed, and bits of meat flew out. Still, only the howling wind answered.

"Tell me, is the princess dying yet? Once the eyes go yellow, she is pretty much dead."

As he took a bite, Luna came out of the dark.

Her hat, coat, and even gloves had blood smeared on them. She dragged with her a bloodied and unconscious enforcer as she walked towards the ork.

"Where is the cure, Richard?" Luna dropped the man and looked him in the eyes as her hands shook and twitched beyond her control.

"Tell me, did you kill any of them? Or did you just beat them to a pulp?" Richard smiled at her, but Luna’s face remained concealed and emotionless, with her ghostly grey eyes the only thing visible beneath her large hat.

"Where is the cure?"

"Right there." Richard pointed toward his walker where the vial sat on the pilot's chair. Max came from the side with his rapier in hand. He approached the walker quickly but right before he could grab the vial, it suddenly swung its curved axe and the cockpit closed. As the walker began to come to life, its body hissed jets of steam and let out a mechanical roar.

"Can't make it too simple, right?" Richard wiped his lips as the walker charged, swinging wildly, and Luna dodged just in time. The walker fired the rockets on its shoulders, forcing them to find cover while Baldric opened fired with his rifle from above. The walker shielded the ork from his shots as he entered the seat inside.

"Ah, much better." Richard said before the cockpit closed and the mechanical giant roared again. Its loud screech, echoed throughout the building.

"Three of you?!" His voice came out of the walker. "I have taken on far more!"

"Last chance, Richard!" Luna came out of the shadows with her staff in hand. "Hand over the cure! Now!"

"You want it? Pry it from my corpse!"

The walker roared as its large axe began to sputter and the blades started to spin violently.