I gritted my teeth, my mind reeling through the possibilities. It was obviously a decoy, possibly to frame us. Whatever their plan was, I had to get my elves to safety.

“You get out of here as soon as possible,” I said to the group, pointing at the guard’s room next to the main gate. “They’ll be here. It’s best if you exit the city as soon as possible. And don’t let anyone see what or who you are.

“Tactician,” Zyra whispered in the dark, dragging the dead soldier into the cubicle.

It was a bit of a shock to hear her address me with that title.

“Take care,” she said softly.

I nodded. “Get in contact with Vinara and the other half of our group. Quick! We don’t want them to find you. I’ll catch up soon.”

They nodded, Nidar and his group scrambling through the door, with Ina moving too slow for her own good. But Lariel remained standing, looking at me like a lost puppy, her hand tight over her bow.

“Connor,” she said softly. “What are you planning to do?”

“Find out what they’re after,” I replied.

“Please,” she whispered, moving toward me and crouching, gently reaching for my hand. “Let me come with you and guard your back. I’m as stealthy as a mouse. And, you know my skills.”

I smiled. I knew I couldn’t send her off. Instead I nodded, just as our comrades shut the doors behind us.

Behind us, I saw soldiers through the trees rekindling the lights behind a section of trimmed trees.

I sighed in frustration. “We’ll be at risk and probably will disrupt the peace we wanted to keep. But I have a feeling we must do this.”

Just as we started moving, groups of guards began marching toward the gates. They’d find that something was wrong and locate their dead comrade in no time. I skimmed through the grid, signaling my elven lover to move in between the trees. We made our way toward the palace proper.

“Wait,” I said, lifting my hand, the grid shifting forward in my mind. What was happening? Aria was prompting me to look into the palace.

I looked for the fake elves Nidar had warned me about, but all I saw were guards… No… There were two, dressed in traditional elven silks, golden and green, and were walking toward the throne room, passing through, noblemen turning and facing them with narrowed eyes, all except for Virna and Larendo. Their eyes gave away that they had expected this very thing to happen.

And those elves… despite the accurate silks, the elven ears and the long hair, there was something wrong with them—an uncanny valley kind of effect, a dark, unnatural aura, their shapes faintly twisting and shimmering. Aria could cut through the illusion, at least partly, to remind me of what they were. They weren’t elves; their magical signatures, foul and jagged, made my skin crawl.

These were Hath-Aman’s sorcerers.

“Lariel,” I said. “There are sorcerers in the king’s chambers.”

She gasped.

It could only mean one thing.

They were decoys.

But how? Probably not all the soldiers were onto the plan. They’d probably come in, disguised as soldiers destined, to relieve the current troops. And then morphed into elves.

To one end. The guards on the royal hall must have been swapped as well. Laredo must be behind them.

I inched closer, a heavy feeling in my heart.

And then, it was too late. I saw with my own eyes how the fake elves knelt before the king and the princess. Their hands then shifted forward, knives flying from their sleeves, landing precisely on the royal’s hearts.

“No!” I shouted.

The young king gasped, hand on his chest, the courtiers shrieking in outrage. Guards shifted forward trying to defend the royals. Magic flared under the feet of the fake elves, smoke and light bursting out, whirling around the room and shielding the eyes of the witnesses.

Chaos ensued.

Back in the gardens, I stumbled forward, but Lariel held onto my arms.

"Lariel," I hissed sharply. "This is bad."

Visions of the upper hall flashed in my mind, the dark mist of the sorcerer’s power whirling around the former king, chaos, whistles and horns blowing across the palace, beacons being lit outside. Orders being issued.

"My nephews! Oh my dear nephews!" shouted Larendo on the hallway, his hands up in the air. "Please, please, do not die on me, my dear ones!"

The noblewomen fainted in shock. The men scrambled out, shouting, a few unsheathing blades to defend the honor of the dead royals. But the elves had disappeared.

Two guards moved the bodies of the king and the princess, going on their knees, hand feeling for pulse and breathing. Bullshit. I could see their images fading. Those two were not the same guards as before, their images whirled strangely when seen through Aria's grid. I could guess they had been elves a minute ago, the same who had attacked. Now, they lifted the bodies of the two royals onto their shoulders.

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"Make way." They bellowed, moving them behind the throne, toward a brightly lit room. “We’ll take them to the infirmary.”

"Fuck!" I cursed. "It cannot be."

It really couldn't.

CONNOR: Everybody. Please get the hell out of the city. If you can, find a way to disguise yourselves. It’s open season on elves tonight.

ZYRA: What happened, Connor?

CONNOR: The king and queen are dead, killed by sorcerers disguised as elves.

ZYRA:...

NIDAR: Shit.

Lariel rested her hand on my shoulder.

I couldn't keep my eyes away from the scene. That poor young man, who was trying to do the best for his people, to be the best, had been betrayed in cold blood. Was it all because Virna and Larendo couldn't keep their lies forever? Was it because they themselves coveted the throne? Was it because they suspected the elves would sway the king to our side?

Whatever it was, Larendo and Virna were making a show. Virna had unsheathed his sword as dozens of guards had entered the room, all of them armed to the teeth.

"Find those damn elves!" Virna ordered. "And execute them on sight!"

I scanned through the hallways. It would be easy to see. We had outsmarted them in a way, at first, but we hadn't seen this coming. They were really there, having killed our only hope. What was next? Was the kingdom about to be obliterated and given to one of those lying bastards?

Whatever happened, we’d have to keep fighting.

"We must go back," I said to Lariel, watching groups of soldiers take different routes. “It’s over. We must regroup and get to safety. Maybe find allies in the north or other tribes, or plan to fund rebels. Alabenia is lost.”

Across the grid, I could already see soldiers moving into our rooms and finding them empty. One of them found the guy I'd knocked out. The lower rooms were buzzing with activity and soldiers started marching across the garden circling the perimeter.

And I felt Aria prompting me to look back into the grand hall. No, not even the palace hall. There was another room behind. What could I find there? The fake soldiers were taking the dead king and princess down the stairs. But... The prince's eyes shifted. He was still alive. What about the princess?

The second guard carried her on his shoulder, across a dark section that led down, perhaps into a storage. And then, I saw the princess gasp, lifting her head, her purple hair a ruffled mess. With a sudden shriek, she started shifting, trying to get away from the grasp of her captor.

The man reacted by slapping her face.

I felt my blood boil.

I didn't care that a group of six soldiers passed right by me. I had to save them. I had to.

What were they even planning?

"We've gotta save them!" I hissed at Lariel.

"Them? But you said they were..."

"They're alive. They're gagging them at this very moment, and kicking them. They're not even guards from the actual palace. They're sorcerers."

Lariel gasped.

CONNOR: They’re alive. I’ll be back soon.

ZYRA: Be careful, tactician.

I narrowed my eyes as I saw the kidnappers extract ropes and cloth, covering the heads and bodies, as if they were dead bodies. They placed them again over their shoulders, carrying them out through another small door.

And then, they disappeared from view. They were too far away for me to reach across the grid.

"We have to move forward," I said, my heart beating fast as I scanned the groups of soldiers that moved around us. Torches blazed in their hands, trailing threads of smoke, more groups moved across the garden, some moving directly toward us.

"Then, let's do it now!" Lariel exclaimed, making her way forward, tiptoeing across the section of trees and advancing toward the sides of the main palace building. I did the same, following her through, toward the corner, where at this very moment, there were no soldiers crossing through. Then, we continued our way, we had to reach the other end of the building, toward the spot where the shapeshifters had taken the royals. I could see soldiers posted on the back end, and others patrolling to our right, dividing us into other sections.

My instincts prickled at me as I saw a large commotion around the gate. They'd found the body of their fallen comrade, and they were absolutely gonna close the perimeter of the city and look for our crew.

CONNOR: Heads up, they just found the dead guy in the cubicle. Get the hell out of the city as soon as possible.

ZYRA: We're onto that.

And in that very moment, a sharp voice took us out of our stupor.

"There you are! You disgusting scum of the earth!"

Two soldiers pointed at us, spears forward. Lariel moved, readying her bow and nocking an arrow.

But in a second, those two turned into six soldiers, all aiming at us. I had my sword in hand, but this wouldn't be too wise.

Or would it? There was no other way. I was relatively proficient, but Lariel was an expert.

CONNOR: Let's do it.

She shot an arrow, striking right into the head of the one to our left.

Then we began to run.

As expected, an arrow buzzed past my ear, thrown from one of the towers overhead, and soldiers began to surround us from the opposite side.

And all of them charged at us like we were some kind of animal, like a little forest boar being hunted or something. One lurched at me with his spear. I dodged, slipping then swinging my blade at him. I did little damage due to my enemy's sturdy armor, but I managed to close in, grab him by the arm, slide my foot under his kneecap and throw him.

Then, it was much easier to stab him through the neck.

[EXP + 06]

[EXP: 06/20]

Lariel was a whirlwind, shooting arrows left and right, piercing necks, eyes and all the vital and important points in our enemies. But still, more of them kept coming. Another soldier charged at me. I stepped back, locking eyes on him, then dodged a speartip by a millimeter. Another approached me from behind, I had to whirl to defend, parrying successfully, but noticing one more, managing to stab me in the left arm, pulling sharply, causing a jolt of pain and a thread of blood to spill.

It was getting ugly. By my side, Lariel was already swinging her blade instead of shooting her bow, parrying and protecting. My heart skipped a bit the moment I saw a speartip pierce into her leg.

We were in real trouble.

I saw a face of pure hatred in front of me, a guard whose youthful features were disfigured by his anger, teeth clenched and blue eyes almost turning red. He thrust his spear forward, with the full intention of piercing through me.

The moment I thought I'd turn into a meat skewer, a pink light flared around me. The thing bumped out of me, and my eyes shot open.

An arrow buzzed from behind me, emerging from the very same soldier's trachea, followed by another.

I looked over at the wall, but I needed help from the grid to close up. Two familiar figures waved at me from above, crawling in between the battlements. One was my beautiful barbarian archer, Alynna, and the other was Ina, with her perpetual face of boredom.

They had saved my life again.

I watched as Alynna's relentless arrows cleared a path before me and Lariel.

ALYNNA: I'm back for my future husband!

CONNOR: Glad to see you two. But be careful! They’re already going for you.

We raced across the field, and I frantically reached for a view of the grid.

I could see a side behind the walls, a secret exit accessible only from inside, whereas outside, the entire wall was guarded by soldiers.

The view from the grid wasn’t promising—guards filled nearly every corner outside the wall, more emerging from the palace than I could count. Even if I managed to vault the wall, there’d be no escaping that way without an army on our heels. But the idea of slipping into the palace from within, through one of its weak points, clicked into place. I glanced at Lariel; her hand was pressed to her leg where the spear had struck, blood staining her fingers. She caught my gaze and gave a firm nod.

There was no other way.

“Change of plans,” I hissed. “We're going back in.”