12th month, 26th day, 967

  Victor

  I was too worried to wait until the next day to make a decision about the prisoners. The existence of these mutated fighters was troubling, but I had no hard evidence that this had anything to do with the Black Order - no, of course it does, in an indirect way at least. If they had guys spreading the word about a possible civil war in Galin, the other lords of the Green Reach would have enough foreknowledge to take preparations. I could certainly see the Overchief, Maera’s old man, having received intelligence from the Black Order - but as to whether the man in the Black Cloak had anything to do with it I had zero evidence.

  We were all standing with a cluster of important townsfolk around the cage where we had our four captives. They were waiting for me to make a decision - I sighed. I don’t even know the laws of this land, let alone how to pass a sentence that made sense; not a long-term one anyway. I didn’t just wanna cut them loose and say “go and sin no more” but nor did I wanna sentence them to death personally; if the law was functioning around here, they’d probably hang but because they’d surrendered to us, they were our responsibility. Taking lives in the heat of battle is one thing but this? This’d be easier if they were serial killers or something, but…

  “Listen folks. My friends and I are on a time-critical quest. I’ll come back for these guys later,” I said. “In the meantime, put them to work. Let them prove they’re over the bandit life by doing some honest labor. Hard labor.”

  “Hard labor?” the one I roped, Berrinder, I think, said. “That’s awful lenient, isn’t it?”

  Mal said, dramatically, “Careful, don’t tempt him or he might do something far more terrible.” He put the back of his hand on his forehead, really amping up the theatrics. “Like sentencing you to join his adventuring party!”

  Everyone who wasn’t one of the prisoners had a laugh at that. The townsfolk began to discuss whom the prisoners would be working for, and I started to head back to the Cadillac. The others followed me - three humans, one beautiful elvish princess, and a calico cat with aquamarine eyes. Maera was already in the car with her hands and feet bound; the cat jumped on her lap and settled in, then Rayna sat on her right and Illiana sat on the left, while Mal and Guy sat in the front. Just as I was about to sit down, I had an epiphany, and I whistled back at the crowd.

  “Hey one more thing,” I called. “If any of you sees a black dreadrunner, leave her alone.”

  The people nodded. I got in the car, started up the engine, and we were off. According to the map, the next place we’d pass through were the Counties of Veron and Baralio; by which I mean places ruled by an actual Count, not county in the modern sense. They used to be a part of a larger kingdom that splintered years ago.

  The scowling Maera said, “What exactly is going on here?”

  I said, “We’re going to Rivercrown city; we’ll be keeping an eye on you while we take care of business.”

  She sighed, “I meant,” she cast her gaze down. “Why is there a cat in my lap?”

  “Insurance,” I said. “Allow me to introduce Princess Sylfaena Ardenalia tael Anaura, party mage of Red Lightning. She has a spell that allows her to assume that form.”

  Through the rearview I saw her turn pale and sweat dripped down her brow, “I see… so if I step out of line, you’ll have your witch cast some unpleasant spell on me?”

  I shook my head, “Nope. You’ve been catted - everyone knows that you can’t move until the cat jumps off.” Everyone chuckled at that, except Maera, obviously. “But seriously. The car only seats six, and out of all of us she’s the only one who can make herself smaller so…”

  She clicked her tongue. “Very well. I suppose ‘tis more pleasant than chains of iron. I’d half expected to be sold to the fleshmarket on the spot.”

  Illiana said, “Sir Victor would never do that - not to his worst enemy.”

  Damn right, “My original homeland outlawed slavery long ago. To hell with that noise.” My home is by Illiana’s side, wherever we may roam, but I’m still an American at heart.

  Just what were we supposed to do with this girl anyway? I’ve never had a prisoner of war before. Do we just send her back home or what? She is clearly too young to have been leading a bunch of sweaty raiders into battle. Selafyn and her look like they wouldn’t be outta place at a freshman frat party back in Chico, but, I dunno, it feels like she’s that young for real - whereas Selafyn’s a dozen years older than I am and I can kind of tell he’s had life experience. Then again, they’re the only two half-elves I’ve ever met in my life so I don’t really have much of a basis of comparison.

  I stopped overthinking, because I suddenly felt Illiana’s warm hands on the side of my cheek; ah, she could tell I was a bit stressed - thank you darling. Anyway, we drove about four hours more through various terrains. We crossed a long river known as the Great Derecho, swung south at a somewhat large forest, and into another great floodplain with mountains off in the distance; we made for those. When we got close enough I saw that there was a river issuing from the mountains by way of a great roaring waterfall.

  So up we went by way of a well-cut switchback, until we crested a high cliff and rounded back to the river - that’s when I saw it. On a large island in the middle of the river was a majestic city surrounded by a wall of stone. It was even bigger than Caer Caradon, with, dare I call it, gothic architecture? As we drew closer to the riverbank we drove past various farms and other smaller settlements - boy it was dour here. The people were tense, fearful even; of course, they’d just lost their king and there was a war on the horizon.

  That said, I thought that the city itself would be relatively safe from an invading army given its location - hopefully the people living out here could shelter inside its walls. Anyway, we stopped to ask for directions to the nearest bridge and we were directed inside the city - these were some tall buildings…excellent stone work, someone went to a lot of trouble to make this place as elaborate as possible. Oh sure, it wasn’t as massive as Anaura but come on - I didn’t reckon any city was gonna top that.

  We found an inn with a carriage house somewhat easily: the Iron Wyvern, a fitting place to stash an iron horse. It was decided that Illiana and I would to go seek out our contact while the others stayed at the inn to watch over Maera. In the case that anyone else needed to do something in town, at least two or three of us would be there to guard her at all times in no particular configuration as a precaution. Additionally - strict buddy system, nobody goes out alone.

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  I was checking Hanzo’s documents as we walked purposefully through a near empty market district; the distinct lack of bustle was eerie, especially combined with the gothic-style architecture - there was even one of those old bells going off in the background. Sarian was stated to keep office in a two-story house, under the sign of the Falcon’s Eye, three buildings down from the large beech tree across the street from the Easson Blacksmith and - good grief, you people need to develop an address system. After asking some passing folks, city guard included, we finally found the place: there was a blue sign with bright gold lettering and a picture of a falcon’s head in profile, highly stylized.

  Upon knocking on the door we were greeted by an old woman, who let us into a parlor and offered us tea. I didn’t have time to wonder what the tea trade routes looked like, because the master of the house arrived just a few moments later. He was a handsome elf with blonde hair and a distinctive gem-like luster in his eyes, sharply dressed in what I can only assume to be the current fashion for the well-to-do city folk.

  “Good afternoon,” he said, sitting down and weaving his fingers together in a lattice. “I am Sarian Elyod, consulting detective. Pray, state your case quickly, for if it fails to catch mine interest I shan’t bother.”

  Wait, this is a detective agency? Hanzo’s info didn’t say anything about this. No matter -

  “Sarian will be operating undercover,” Hanzo had said, “You will need to tell him the pass phrase.”

  Running a detective agency as a cover for being a spy? Clever - or foolish. Wasn’t this guy supposed to be wearing a face-concealing cowl? I’ll ask later.

  I said, “I’m Victor, and this is my fiancee Illiana. We were wondering if you could help us find the wild roses we’d been looking for.”

  His eyes flashed and he leaned in to whisper. “Lord Hanzorian sent you? But how? I only sent that letter a matter of days ago!”

  I nodded, “Hanzo figured you might react that way,” I produced a sealed package and presented them to him.

  He opened the envelope and began to thumb through the documents, “This is indeed Lord Hanzorian’s writing - to think that he would deduce that aught was amiss here enough to send someone months in advance, ah he never ceases to-” He became visibly flustered. “Wait, the dates on these documents, how-” He froze, and turned to the other chair, “One moment…if you’re from Lord Hanzorian, and her name is Illiana…wasn’t Illiana the name given to-” He immediately plopped to the floor and bowed. “Y-you must be the new princess! Forgive me your highness, for not realizing!”

  Illiana said, “Please, right now I’m just an adventurer on a quest - I’m not here in any official royal capacity.”

  She never said it out loud but, I reckoned she really hated when people grovelled at her feet. Come to think of it, Val didn’t like being treated like royalty either; I guess she kinda takes after him in that way.

  I scratched the back of my head. “New? Good grief, how long have you been out here?”

  “Since the beginning,” Sarian said. “I was among Lord Hanzorian’s first trainees, and one of three assigned to the Greenreach - I know not what has become of the other two. I have been away from Anaura since her highness was a child.”

  Illiana said, “‘tis a pleasure to finally meet you, Master Elyod. But pray, don't be so formal.”

  “Thank you, your - I mean Miss Illiana. A moment, I must needs read the rest of these.”

  We gave the man more than a moment, he seemed to be speed-reading and going back and forth between papers to check things, nodding. This guy’s been through the ringer; ah I think I get it.

  “Got real boring out here, huh?”

  He nodded, “Aye, that’s why I opened the agency. I saw how they handled criminal investigations in this country and I was desperate for something interesting to occupy my time…” He sighed. “It is as Lord Hanzorian feared. The king is dead, and now both factions are prepared for war. To think that there was a secret cabal behind the scenes orchestrating it all…”

  “Which is why we’re here,” I said, “We were hoping you could tell us anything useful.”

  “I can tell you a fair deal, actually.” He said, smugly. “For I was allowed to investigate the scene of the murder myself - I’ve garnered quite a reputation in Rivercrown and I was among the first people they called to have a look.”

  I leaned in, focused. “What did you find?”

  “It was a brutal scene, brutal but efficient. Whoever did in the king and queen was a trained killer. Each had perished of a single precise cut. Though I think that her majesty surprised her killer before she died, for she managed to wound him with a hairpin.”

  Damn, they got the queen too? Actually wait…

  ”Did they save that hairpin?”

  He nodded, “That hairpin is a priceless royal heirloom, I believe it had been purchased in the Dragon Sea somewhere - as I recall it was the king’s very own great-grandmother who first wore it. Whoever prepared her majesty to lie in state arranged her hair the way she used to wear it, and secured it with the pin.”

  “I’m gonna need to gain access to that pin,” I said.

  Of course he was confused - so I gave him a crash course in genetics. Naturally, he was keenly interested in learning more. This led to explaining my otherworldly origins, which was also a shocker. Once I told him my idea, he assured us that he would try to help us get close to it - with a trustworthy official present of course. Then he explained to us about how, in the weeks leading up to the murder, rumors about Prince Ramon being a bastard had come up; he’d personally interrogated the man who claimed to have had an affair with the queen.

  “First of all, he looked nothing like his highness apart from the entirely superficial fact of their hair and eye color being the same and that seems to be all the humans see - but I’ve noticed things, from living here for the better part of two centuries. For instance, the fact that the man and the queen possess earlobes attached to their faces and both the king and Prince Ramon’s earlobes dangle freely. Never once in all my years dwelling among humans have I seen two tethered ears produce a swinging ear!” He scratched his head. “So, this pattern that dwelleth within all our bloodstreams is the reason for all this - it all makes sense. But the problem is how to make the people understand…”

  I thumbed my sternum, “Leave that to me.”

  Sarian nodded, seeming to have confidence in me. Then he told me some other interesting things about the crime scenes - things that will be elaborated on later. Additionally, he was able to give us a good idea of where Prince Ramon’s army was heading:

  “Count Bruno threw in his lot with Prince Marco from the very beginning, they’d been childhood friends. His lands are northwest of here. If he’s anywhere, he’s there.”

  “That’s a good start,” I said, “But with how fast I can travel I reckon if he went some other direction we’ll find him real quick.”

  Sarian said, “Oh, yes, I’d been meaning to ask - precisely how did you get here so quickly?”

  I grinned - time for a joyride.

  Misty

  Where is my human? I don’t understand! That nice male, who called me a clever girl, whose mate healed my human, offered me food - but it had a weird smell, like one of those plants that prey hate! Those poor people didn’t have fresh meat, so I went hunting. But by the time I came back with a big tasty goat, everyone was gone. Uh-oh. Other humans came, but they stayed back.

  I had to find my human, so I tried to catch her scent. There it was, but then it mingled with some other weird smell. Oh, oh! I know this! This was that shiny thing that ran around us and scared the ugly pigs. It was so loud, I was scared too - my human fell off my back, I was sad. But find it I must! It left big furrows in the ground, long tracks, and it smelled like strange smoke - big smell, easy to follow.

  So follow, I did!

  I Wound up liking Sarian more than I figured I would. Should I keep using him?