“A clever name hides nothing, ‘Stanton’,” Aldwin said, emphasizing the man’s stolen name. “I am no fool. I know all too well what your kind is used for, and an inkling of the all of blood that has been shed in shadows over the years.”
“Then you should be all too happy that the Queen has directed me to Aldford on your behalf,” the man replied. “Because we have reason to believe that the other Houses have sent some of their agents to infiltrate Aldford…assuming, of course, that they hadn’t already placed some in the original group of settlers.”
“Wait,” I interrupted, still trying to wrap my mind around the unexpected turn this meeting had taken. “You’re telling us now that we could have spies in the town?”
“We believe there is a very strong chance,” Stanton admitted. “Nearly a month ago we lost sight of a handful of known agents belonging to House Amberwain and House Phineas, last seen leaving Coldscar in an westbound direction. Furthermore, on our journey here, I made one House Wynbrandt agent as well, though…fortuitously perhaps, he fell prey to the bandits during the raid.”
“Those other Agents never made it here,” Sierra said casting a hard glance at Stanton as she spoke. “You and the other settlers are the first arrivals to Aldford in weeks. Either they went somewhere else, or they ran into the bandits ahead of you and were killed.”
“Or perhaps they organized the bandits in the first place, attempting to cut Aldford off from Eberia,” Stanton countered, drawing surprised stares from everyone at the table.
“They would do that?” Halcyon asked in a sharp tone. “The settlers are your own people! What could they possibly gain from killing your own countrymen?”
“To isolate us,” I said, looking at the bandits we had killed in a new light.
I had assumed that they had set up shop near Aldford hoping to catch travelers unaware as they either left the town or were about to arrive, being motivated by greed. But if what Stanton is saying is true, and greed wasn’t the only factor…
‘If’ being the key word.
“I will remind you all that, all of this is conjecture at best—” Stanton continued to explain before my voice cut him off.
“How do yours and Veronia’s plan to depose Aldwin and annex Aldford fit into this?” I asked, seeing everyone’s head snap towards me as the words left my mouth, and then back towards Stanton after I finished. Lazarus’s eyes were especially wide when he looked at me, but the angry expression on his face told me that he wanted to know just as much as I did. “Because right now, that’s a more pressing concern than wherever these agents may be. Of course, assuming there are any agents in the first place.”
Despite having everyone’s eyes on him, Stanton appeared completely unfazed by my statement, giving me a slow nod as he clasped his hands in front of him.
“Very well, I suppose we can jump ahead to there if you are so impatient for me to explain my motivations,” Stanton said with a slight sigh of frustration. “The plan to annex Aldford was my attempt to get any agents within Aldford to reveal themselves, namely by giving them an avenue to make contact with Lazarus or his companions. I had hoped to use their dissatisfaction with being pressed into my service as being a motivator. Unfortunately, no doubt due to your rather dramatic rescue of the caravan from the bandits, he chose to make contact with your guild. Something I hadn’t anticipated when I had first laid the groundwork for the plan, nor something that I could easily counter once it was in motion.”
“You knew I was listening?” Lazarus asked in disbelief. “You set all of this up just to see who we’d contact?
“Of course,” Stanton stated. “In fact, I went through great pains to ensure that you would be. I have also been meaning to tell you that you aren’t as stealthy as you think you are. How you even managed to survive as a thief is beyond me.”
“God damn you, Stanton!” Lazarus snarled from his seat. “All we’ve been trying to do is keep you from getting killed, while you play your games and manipulate everyone around you!”
“Again, that is my job, and I won’t apologize for using you as the blunt tools that you are,” the agent replied, annoyance finally entering his voice. “And while I appreciate the sentiment of your protection, I assure you, I am quite capable of taking care of myself.”
“This is fucking bullshit!” I exclaimed as I saw Lazarus open his mouth to yell at Stanton, the frustration around the table starting to build to unbearable levels. “I can’t believe a thing that you’re saying anymore, Stanton! Do you have a shred of proof to back up any of this?!”
“Of course, I do,” Stanton answered, his hand reaching to his robe and pulling free a folded length of paper with a heavy wax seal, offering it to Aldwin. “We didn’t know under what circumstances I may have had to reveal myself to Fredric, and as such, the Queen prepared a letter of introduction for me.”
“Oh, come the fuck on!” Constantine exclaimed from my side. “You expect us to fall for that? Letters can be easily forged!”
“Not one from the Queen,” Stanton said idly. “She has sealed it with magic, and Fredric is the only one here that can open it. Should anyone other than him break the seal on it, the letter will simply go up in flames.”
“I left all this behind for a reason, Adrian,” Aldwin growled, clearly familiar with the type of protections that Stanton was talking about as he reached to snatch the letter roughly from the agent’s hand. “I wanted to be free of Eberian politics for once in my life. To finally be away from the constant secrets and intrigues that plague the kingdom.”
“I am sorry, Fredric, but that is simply just not possible,” he replied, shaking his head. “Ignore it at your own peril, but Eberia’s politics have begun reaching out to Aldford and refusing to play the game is no different to conceding.”
Aldwin didn’t reply as he turned the letter over his in hand, then broke the wax seal with one smooth motion of his finger. No sooner was the seal broken, did a tiny spark of magic flash in the air, vanishing as quickly as it appeared. Reading the letter intently, Aldwin’s face turned into a scowl as his eyes darted from line to line, shifting into anger and finally outright surprise.
“The gods must laugh and laugh as they witness my life,” he said with resignation, passing the letter onto Sierra and Halcyon. “There is no doubt that this letter is from her…”
It didn’t take long for my friends to finish reading the letter before sliding it down the table towards me, leaving me staring down at a page with long and flowing handwriting.
To Sir Fredric Aldwin, from the hand of The Dowager Queen and Matriarch of House Denarius,
Fredric,
If you are reading this letter, then chances are that either you or my agent have irrevocably screwed something up and are in need of my words to either verify his mission or to keep you from killing him. Perhaps both.
In either case, I am disappointed in the both of you.
I had hoped that his mission would proceed with a minimal amount of exposure, but unfortunately, I must assume my agent had good cause to reveal himself. To that effect, I will reiterate what he should have told you: we believe that the other Houses have taken notice of Aldford, either having detected the presence of the Ley Line themselves and seek to claim it or have finally decided to pursue a personal vendetta against you.
However, with the political situation of Eberia having become what it is, I cannot afford to publicly rebuke them or continue to retain any formal ties with Aldford, or with you.
I am certain you rejoice at this prospect as much as I do.
To that effect, I am hereby absolving you of any debts you may owe to my House, with the understanding that you will follow through with the mission that my agent brought to you in regard to the Ley Line. Eberia needs it restored if we are to put up a good show against the Ascendancy.
As a parting gift and insurance against any foolishness on your part, I am assigning you my agent for a term not to exceed six months before you are to send him back to Eberi
a, war or not. He should be able to assist you in ensuring that your settlement is free of any of the other Houses’ agents while providing training on how to avoid any future political entanglements.
Do with it what you will, Fredric, but it is my advice that you find yourself powerful allies to surround yourself with. Perhaps a legion or two of Adventurers if you can find enough of suitable temperament. Regardless to say, Eberia will not be coming to your aid should something befall your settlement.
It is my sincere wish that we never meet again, in this life or the next, though I doubt the Gods will be gracious enough to honor that request.
Yours truly,
-Matriarch Emilia Denarius
“Satisfied?” Stanton asked me as I finished reading the letter and passed it over to Constantine.
“The Queen has a rather particular way with words,” I said slowly, still trying to process what I had just read and the future implications that it would have for Aldford. “But I still don’t understand why the hell you went through all this trouble; you should have told us earlier!”
“As I said before, I didn’t trust you earlier,” Stanton replied. “Until I was sure that you yourselves hadn’t been suborned by one of the other Houses, I couldn’t take the chance. It wasn’t until you banned us from accessing the ruins that I was confident you were working alone and that your loyalty lay exclusively with Aldford.
“Had you been working with another House, you would have likely continued to keep us close to determine the fullest extent of what I knew, then likely attempted to arrange an ‘accident’ somewhere in the ruins.”
“Is that what you would have done?” Constantine asked, having finished reading the Queen’s letter.
“No,” Stanton replied shaking his head at the rogue. “Accidents like that are hard to prove.
“I would have done it during the chaos of a bandit raid with no one else the wiser.”
Chapter 24
“Rah!” I slammed Razor into the head of the giant beetle before me, the burning anger behind my attack cracking the tough chitin that comprised the creature’s face. Dodging around a pair of snapping mandibles, I hefted Razor back again in the air and brought it down onto the creature’s head a second time, a loud crunch sounding over the plains as the weakened chitin finally gave way in a spray of ichor.
Working itself up into a frenzy from the pain, the creature launched its large bulk forward to knock me off my feet, only to sweep through the empty space where I had just been standing. I had long since become familiar with these creature’s tactics and fighting them had become a mechanical series of moves and counter moves.
Leaving me with all too much time to dwell on anger and frustration that I was carrying.
I caught a clawed leg on Razor’s edge, gritting my teeth as the anger within bubbled to the surface, causing me to shove hard against the creature’s limb. My anger driven sword, easily slicing straight through the chitinous leg at the same moment a burning dagger appeared in my free hand. Stepping past the beetle’s now shortened guard as it spun to face me, I slammed the dagger into the creature’s head, aiming for the very spot that I had weakened with my earlier blows.
Already cracked and bleeding, the beetle’s natural armor was no match for my attack as the flaming dagger pierced straight through its exoskeleton and turned its brain to ash. Hesitating, the creature’s mandibles twitched as it slowly registered what had just happened, its body then falling to the ground with heavy crash.
You have slain a [Giant Plains Beetle]!
You have gained Experience!
Congratulations! You have reached Level 14!
The prospect of having finally gained a new level did nothing to soothe my foul mood as I shook the blood off Razor’s edge and looked around the battlefield for any more beetles in my immediate vicinity, hoping that there was still something to take my anger out on. My eyes scanned over the fallen corpses of five other beetles, already barely remembering fighting them.
“Thanks.” She breathed heavily, glancing between us as the bodies began to dissipate. “There was no way I could have survived that—hey, you’re that guild leader guy from Aldford aren’t you? I’ve seen you before in town.”
“No problem, and yeah, that’s me,” I replied, no longer surprised that I was noticeable enough for people to recognize. “Do you have a group out here? You look a bit lost, and these plains aren’t safe enough to travel alone.”
“Not all who wander are lost,” the Adventurer said philosophically, causing me to look back toward her with a blank expression. “…but I sure am.”
“By yourself?” I asked for a second time.
“Yeah,” she admitted with a deep sigh. “And I really have no idea where Aldford is anymore.”
“Well, you’re pretty far away from it,” I said, motioning towards the South-East. “How long exactly have you been wandering out here?”
“Uh, well…” the woman replied hesitantly, clearly embarrassed. “Since Wednesday? I didn’t think I went that far…but when I started to head back, I ended up coming across a lake, which I knew I never passed by before. Then when I climbed a rock to try and get my bearings, I ended up disturbing a bunch of lions and had to run away from them...at least until I fell into some sort of bug colony and was captured by some sort of ant—”
“I think I get the picture,” I said holding a hand up to stop the Adventurer, unable to keep a chuckle from escaping my body, which had the fortunate side effect of dampening the anger that I had been holding onto. “Well, we’re not headed back to Aldford just yet, but I have a group nearby that you can travel with for the day. We should be back in Aldford later on tonight.”
“That would be perfect!” the woman exclaimed, relief crossing her features. “My name is Edanea by the way.”
“I’m Lyrian,” I replied before offering her the loot from the beetles that Amaranth and I had killed. I figured with the way her luck had been running, she could definitely use something to show for her efforts.
Shifting away from the battle scene, I turned back towards the south-west, relying on my Party Sense to guide me in the direction of my group, and by extension the rest of the guild as they slowly made their way towards the Tower. The meeting with ‘Stanton’ earlier this morning had taken up well over an hour before we all decided to take a break for the day and give ourselves a chance to digest everything that he had revealed to us.
That and to give Lazarus and his friends the time that they needed to yell at the agent in private since none of them were thrilled at the prospect of spending the next six months away from Eberia, nor happy with just how much he had hidden from them.
Something that I can’t help but sympathize with, I thought, staring at the ground as I walked, feeling the distant anger and frustration still raging deep in the core of my being. Stanton’s revelation had gone far to shatter any sense of control and understanding that I had begun to feel in handling him or understanding Eberian politics, causing me to berate myself for my naïveté. Everything had seemed so much simpler this morning when I had woken up having to only worry about finishing the next longhouse and hoping that Léandre logged back in.
Now, after Stanton’s revelation, I couldn’t help but look at everyone in Aldford suspiciously, wondering if they could be a double agent or there on behalf of one of Eberia’s Noble Houses. What would I do if it turned out that Shelia, Jenkins or Ritt turned out to be a spy? Or any of th
e other founding settlers? Finding out that there was a spy within the town would destroy morale permanently, if not turn everyone on one another. Even the barest rumor could result in a witch-hunt that could end up hurting, if not killing someone who could otherwise be innocent.
And that didn’t even include the bandits that we had killed several days ago. It was entirely possible that they may try to make their way back up towards Aldford for a shot at revenge. In addition, if one of the other Houses did send an agent in one of the caravans that had been destroyed by the bandits, they could very well assume that it was us that had killed them and decide to retaliate somehow.
God, I hate politics, I scowled before shifting my attention towards my character sheet in hopes of distracting myself, remembering that I had gained a level after the fight with the beetles. Scanning through it to take note of any changes, I then mentally added my five free attribute points to agility, instantly feeling my body become ever so slightly more limber.
Lyrian Rastler – Level 14 Spellsword
Statistics:
HP: 792/792
Stamina: 720/720
Mana: 790/790
Experience to next level: 43/29400
Attributes:
Strength: 54 (68)
Agility: 49 (65)
Constitution: 43 (44)
Intelligence: 51
Willpower: 19
Skills:
Magic:
Evocation – Level 13 – 96%
Alteration – Level 13 – 98%
Legacy of the Fallen Page 30
