“I can’t believe this shit!’

The man cursing was Chief Justice Vilger, also known as Count Milray Vilger of Grey Ridges.

We were rushing through the corridors of the Blue Palace, home of the Judicial wing of the Kingdom’s government.

“Counterintelligence my ass! Nutjobs all of them! Taking kids from the gods damned streets!”

It was only a few minutes ago when we had met him by chance while heading toward his office with a signed missive from Archbishop Kin Mericcia. Up until that moment, it had eluded me that the same man with whom I had fought side by side during the battle for Khaln Fortress had since taken the role of Chief Justice.

After delivering him the missive, we explained the situation to him. The more we told him, the stranger the shade of red and eventually purple he had turned. Not out of embarrassment, but of pure rage. Evidently, the story had struck something in him and he was now on a warpath.

“Thank you Vilger. Your help is tremendously appreciated.”

I managed to slip between two of his outbursts of anger.

He nodded while continuing to forge ahead. He gave whatever paperwork he was still carrying to a passing knight, who dared not argue with the new charge before turning his head toward me.

“You have to forgive me Marshall. This shouldn’t have happened. They are supposed to be under my supervision, but so is half this forsaken kingdom! I swear, when I get those lunatics…”

We reached the barrack and Vilger picked up a sword from the weapon stand. He examined it for a moment before looking satisfied and sliding it inside a sheath that he then tied around his waist.

“Isn’t that a bit excessive?”

Bishop Feldor asked.

The trip to the Blue Palace had been a lengthy one and the girl, Coleen had fallen asleep. Dalien had then stayed back in the carriage with her until our return while Feldor accompanied me to give credibility to our missive.

Vilger snorted at the Bishops question.

“You may want to stay here then, your excellency. These men are the very definition of paranoia. They are just as likely to pull a sword on their own as they are at actually pulling it on the enemy. Professional deformation if you take their word for it… Insanity if you take mine.”

He offered us swords as well. Feldor declined, but I accepted. The dagger currently tucked in my belt wouldn't do me much good against trained soldiers if it came down to it. We headed out through the back door and reached the stables.

As we walked toward the horses, Vilger gave a few words to a coach boy before sending him on his way toward the palace.

We entered the cabin startling the sleeping pair awake.

“Where are we heading?”

I asked Vilger.

“Calvas garrison.”

He said loudly enough for the driver to hear.

“...can't wait to see their faces when they hear their headquarters location has been leaked.”

He mumbled as the carriage departed.

“I apologies for the disrespect, but I must ask: are we absolutely sure that this is where Silika is held?”

Feldor questioned.

It was an unfortunate doubt, but he was right. Although the man looked sure of himself, the information we had come to Vilger with was at best circumstantial and at worst half-baked conjectures. His certainty was nothing short of surprising.

“I guess that would be confusing to civilians, wouldn’t it? Well, lets put it this way, I’ve now been chief judge for the kingdom for 4 years. In that time, many cases have crossed my table and so, there are normally three possible culprits for this sort of kidnapping.”

He lifted a finger

“One, slavers or brigands. Prey on isolated victims. Young kids are not a prime target unless they are nobles…”

I felt Delian twitch at my side.

Odd...

I should ask him about it later.

“...Or a special order for clients with… Unusual tastes.”

Coleen looked around confused, but no one in the coach dared meet her inquisitive stares.

“Broad daylight and crowds is not their modus operandi. A guard outfit would be a bold choice of disguise, but they would get caught at the next checkpoint. So, possible, but unlikely”

He lifted a second finger.

“Two, by the book arrest. If she was suspected of a crime…”

“We didn’t do anything bad!”

Coleen exclaimed.

Vilger simply smiled at the outburst.

“I know sweetheart, I’m speaking of theoretical… I mean ‘what if’ scenarios.”

That was surprisingly smooth. Did Vilger have children himself? It would explain why the situation angered him so.

He cleared his throat once more.

“As I was saying, this could have been a case of a simple arrest, but then her guardian would have been informed in the quickest delay.”

He looked half-hazardly between Delian and I.

“I wasn’t told anything.”

Delian simply said as he shook his head.

Vilger lifted a third and last finger.

“And this brings us to the last option. The counterintelligence squad. They are the kingdom’s invisible line of defence and the prime reason why this kingdom has survived the test of time for over two millennia. They would even be praise worthy if they weren’t complete sociopaths.”

He rubbed his temples.

“Due to the importance of their task, they answer directly to the king. They can make unsanctioned arrests if they have any reasonable suspicion that the person is acting against the nation. Emphasis on reasonable. As I’ve mentioned, they are the very definition of paranoia. If they could have one of their men standing in every house, in every room of every house of every city in Firsland, they would. As I, or any of my predecessors, would never allow for it, they instead use a tremendously unreliable network of informants…”

He finally looked up before leaning back on his seat.

“Which brings it to how ‘I know’ they are responsible. It’s simple really. Although they can make any arrest they deem necessary, they have to act in tandem with the local garrison and the local garrison will only answer to me. I was aware of an operation meant to be held in the lower district today, but I wasn’t told the details… And now they’ve gone and crossed a line.”

As he finished his sentence, the coach came to a stop.

“Alright we’re here. Ashbrook, with me. The rest wait for us outside.”

I nodded and we exited the carriage, but Delian followed in our footsteps.

“I’m coming as well.”

He announced decisively.

“It might be dangerous in there. You should wait here and…”

I tried to explain but he cut me off.

“Neither of you know how to handle Silika. If she sees you alone she might panic, it could be dangerous…”

There was something in his voice, a strange lack of emphasis on who would be in danger.

“I’ll be coming as well then.”

The Bishop announced as he stood from the coach silently followed by the girl who probably didn’t want to be left alone in the cart.

“Well invite the whole damn royal family, why don’t you!”

Vilger said in an exasperated voice.

“Alright. Ashbrook; stick close to me, as for the rest; stay ten paces behind us.”

He turned toward the door once more.

“Let's go.”

Vilger pushed the door open and a startled clerk stood up.

“I’’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave this is a….”

“I know gods damned well what this is.”

Vilger cut the man off before pulling something from his breast pocket and showing it to the man. It was a coat of arms adorned with the symbols of the kingdom’s royal council.

“See this thing here?”

The clerk stood up from his chair.

“My lord! I didn’t know we should be expecting your visit!”

“Of course you wouldn’t! That’s why you’re part of the *counter*-intelligence squad not the intelligence squad!”

The man had a confused look on his face.

“Don’t try to get this one, son. You’ll burn whatever’s still hanging between your ears. I need directions. Need to relieve someone from your custody”

“Of course, my lord. If you could take a seat while I…”

“Did I ask for you to get me something? I asked for directions.”

He cut again dryly. Vilger looked at me, expecting me to say something which I could easily guess at this point.

“We’re looking for a young girl, around 5 or 6. Pink hair and golden eyes.”

The clerk sat down defeated. He looked through his manifest.

“Yes we had an arrival matching this description, but sir I must insist that…”

“Where?”

The clerk let out another defeated sigh.

“Down the hall. Take the stairs and turn left…”

“Good boy! I’m sure your master will give you a bone.”

Vilger walked off without another word. As we left the entrance, I could hear the whimpers of the clerk.

“I hope I don’t get court martialed for this…”

We started down the stairs but as we rounded the corner, we heard a loud howling sound echoing through the hallway.

“It’s Silika! Quick!”

Dalien yelled from behind me.

We ran down the stairs and toward the screaming sound. It didn’t take much effort to find the door. The screaming was so loud that even the door was shaking on its hinges.

“Open the door! We have to stop her before she hurts herself!”

The Bishop yelled above the noise.

Confused, but understanding the gravity of the situation, Vilger kicked the door in. On the other side a woman and a man were bickering around a table while a guard lamented as he held his head.

“Shut her up! Shut her up!”

The guard yelled while leaning on the bars of a prison cell.

“Shut your mouth I need to find it! It has to be somewhere in here…”

The woman screamed as she dug through something on the table.

The Silver-haired man beside her noticed us as he tried to cover his ears.

“Hersia!”

“What do YOU want n….”

As his partner turned toward him, she also noticed and faced us. Her face was deformed by a pained rictus as she tried to withstand the deafening noise of the screams. In her hand was a torn up bunny doll. It was the same Silika had had in her arms this very morning. She drew a dagger from her belt, but I instinctively struck and disarmed her by slicing the back of her hand. She fell to the ground screaming, holding her injured limb.

At that moment I noticed something on the table. A pool of blood.

I had seen many of them before, but this time it felt…

My knees felt weak for a moment. Images of bloodied sheets and Lilica’s tearful face surfaced in my mind. I caught a glimpse at my own sword stained with blood and dropped it in fear. I almost fell to the ground, but luckily Vilger was there to catch me as he held his ear with his other hand.

Delian looked in my direction worried for a second before looking beyou the table.

“Sh… She’s here!”

I looked up.

Silika was there.

Screaming, howling.

Her eyes were wide open, but staring off to nowhere. Tears streamed down her face as horrible and painful screams escaped her unnaturally wide open mouth.

“Move!”

The Bishop pushed his way through the crowd and kneeled down in front of SIlika. He placed his hand on her face and started mumbling something. I couldn’t hear the words, but I guessed it was some kind of prayer. After a few seconds, the screaming finally stopped.

“Silika!”

Coleen rushed past us and went to check on her friend. Silika had been rendered unconscious in Feldor’s arms.

“What was that?”

I asked Feldor who was now carrying Silika in his arms. She looked very peaceful, asleep in his arms. She looked completely unharmed to my relief. The blood on the table mustn’t have been hers… But looking at the scarlet pool still made me feel sick.

“It’s her blessing.”

Delian mentioned as the Bishop check over the girl, placing his hand over her forehead. He looked up at me.

“Silika’s blessing is unstable. Because of her condition, she hasn’t learnt how to regulate the connection between her emotions and the blessing and can’t regulate it. Her inability to distinguish reality from her imagination causes her fear and anger to go out of control which causes those flare ups.”

Bishop Feldor explained.

“That’s nice and all, but who the hell are you people and how did you get in?!”

It was the grey-haired knight who had finally recovered from his stupor. The woman, on the other hand, was still moaning in pain as the guard laboriously wrapped her injury in bandages.

“Oh! Forgive me.”

Vilger scoffed before turning toward him.

“I must have forgotten to introduce myself. I am Count Milray Vilger, Ch…”

“Chief Justice. Yes. OF course. No one else would be able to barge in here that way. You know, despite your responsibility as head judge of the kingdom; it doesn’t give you a right to police it.”

Someone said from the doorway.

I turned around in time to notice a dark green haired man. Dark circles highlighted his pink eyes and his mouth looked like a slit along his face giving him a strange snake-like appearance. His uniform was similar to the other two knights, but he wore a gold-trimmed cape and several insignia on his collar.

“Always good to see you, Vilger.”

The man continued, to which Vilger only responded with an annoyed grunt.

The man’s eyes turned toward Silika, still in Feldor’s arms. They then shifted to the knight who was now standing engarde at his superior’s arrival.

“I assume this is the girl from the report I received earlier?”

The strange man asked.

“Yes My lord! My informant told me that…”

“Your informant?”

The man said, staring unblinking at his underling.

“You don’t have informants. I have informants. You have acquaintances. Remember that before you make a decision or there won’t be a next time.”

The knight bit his lip, humiliated.

“Yes, Sir.”

The man’s eyes shifted toward me. He examined me. Evaluated me. I suddenly noticed that his head had neve moved once. HIs eyes moved around the room like a snake considering his preys.

“Baron Marshall Ashbrook. A pleasure. I was informed of your intention to take a ward. MY apologies for this… Inconvenience.”

The blood froze in my vein. He knew? Only members of my household would have possibly known that. Vilger was right, these people were dangerous… And they were everywhere. But something stuck to me. If he knew I wanted to take a ward, was it too far-fetched to say he would know whom? Was that the extent of his knowledge, or was the fact voluntarily ignored? Most troublingly, if the mission landed on Vilger’s desk, it must have meant this man approved of it. What did this man want with a deaf girl? Surely he knew better than this.

“Can I assume this whole ordeal is an unfortunate misunderstanding then?”

Vilger asked sarcastically.

“Not quite.”

The man finally broke eye contact with me and approached the cell on the right of the room and leaned against the iron bars.

“See this specimen?”

I looked into the prison cell and realised it wasn’t empty. A motionless man laid face down on the ground.

“MIster Calvian?!”

Delian exclaimed, seemingly recognising the man.

Things were coming together in my head.

“Indeed. Or atleast, that is the identity you know him under. His real name is Ai’Vec Neiman. A Moreti spy. He made a name for himself as a fur merchant who did business with the East. A convenient alibi to justify his impromptu disappearances.”

He turned his eyes to Delian.

“Your orphanage, amongst a few other organisations, provided a perfect opportunity to garner goodwill from the affluent of our society. After all…”

His eyes shifted to me once more.

“Only those with the means have enough time to spend on charity.”

I felt my blood boil at his jab, but before I could say anything his eyes shifted once more to Delian.

“Using these connections, he left a paper trai. A red herring if you will, alluding to a child he used to gather and move information.”

He then turned toward the table where a yellow satchel laid. It was familiar somehow.

“He allegedly gave the child a special bag which had a special pocket to hide information, but, as is now pretty obvious, there are no such pockets and there was not a single bag given, but instead a total of 17 throughout the city to children aged 6 to 16. If any of the kids were to be taken in, he would know we were unto him and he hoped the confusion created would allow him enough time to escape the country, but he was wrong.”

He pushed himself off the cage and went to stand by the door.

“We nabbed him three days ago as he tried to flee the city, but somehow, it eluded our two soon-to-be-suspended-knights that once we had the spy, that a simple interrogation on terrain would have been more than enough for dealing with so many young suspects. The only saving grace in all this is that they only had the time to bring in this girl and not all 17 children.”

The man concluded with a shrug before looking spitefully at the knight on the floor whose monas had now turned to pitiful whimpers.

I suddenly regretted not having cut her hand clean off instead, but the very thought made me feel woozy so I cleared the thought.

“So. Can we leave?”

I asked the man.

His lips parted into a stiff smile and he moved aside to indicate the door.

I let Feldor, still holding Silika, leave first, closely followed by coleen who was holding her unconscious friend’s hand. Delian picked up the remains of the plush. Perhaps he thought he could salvage it. Vilger didn’t say a word, but gave a meaningful glare to the man.

After having let everyone out, I tried leaving myself but the man extended his hand, stopping me from leaving.

“I would suggest that you hasten your pace. The clock is ticking and your time is almost up. Who knows what else might come between you and your ‘precious daughter’?”

I looked into the snake’s eyes. This man knew a lot. He knew that there was more to my decision, more than I would ever be willing to admit, but at the same time he knew nothing. He saw people as cogs in a machine. Animals with selfish needs.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He squinted his eyes, probably to make his smile look more genuine before lifting his arm. I crossed the threshold and was about to leaved, but he called out to me once more.

“Oh, forgive me, I must have forgotten to introduce myself.”

He said in a whistling tone.

I turned to him. He stood there, hand extended and frozen expression. I reluctantly took his hand.

“Aarvis Paranam. A pleasure Lord Ashbrook.”

I Felt my eye twitch.

I knew the name. In fact, most people in the kingdom and beyond knew the name. He was the hero of the boiling sea, the general of the battle for the Khaln Fortress, and now he was the peeping eye of Firsland.

Aarvis Paranam, Marquess of Heed and the brother of the Queen.