“Void soaked bollocks.”

I stared blankly at Tain for a moment, both because I was not expecting that response and because I wanted to reach across the paper-strewn desk and shake the indescribably annoying man. My teeth itched to bite him, which was not a sensation I was used to.

“With flat curiosity, what do you mean, Blood Marshall? We have spoken nothing but the truth since our arrival.”

And we had; We had laid out the entire situation with the Risen Throne – leaving out the whole ‘mad Apex’ thing – and our suspicions. Tain’s face had not changed as the three of us spoke, each cutting in to add details the others had forgotten, though at least Reff had been reasonably polite about it.

“I mean it’s all clearly fucking nonsense, you TIME WASTING PIECES OF SHIT!”

Tain’s voice started reasonably calm, especially for him, but by the end he was red in the face and shouting, his fist held high above the desk like he wanted to pound on it, but did not want to send his papers flying.

“We are not lying you blind, goat-mounting, Void-lapping imbecile! You’re even more of an idiot than him!”

With the last, Darina pointed at me, her finger stabbing out like a dagger. I winced at the interjection, fairly well unappreciative of either of their comments. I was having a very hard time keeping my cool, and the shouting and name calling was not helping. Ignoring the diminutive apprentice with an effort of will, I spoke, doing my best to keep my voice as calm as possible.

“If we were making it up, why did we have an Apex with us? Surely that counts for something?”

“You said he didn’t find anything! You morons are basing all of this on second hand information and half-brained assumptions; your only source of actual information is from the woman who runs your inn! And you got it by pure fucking coincidence! So, I can either trust the Apex of the fucking Crystal Drake, or some innkeeper! Out of the two of them, who should I fucking believe, you bunch of absolute garbage-tier bullshit cultivators?!”

When he put it like that, it did seem like there was a possibility that we were making a mountain out of a molehill, or at least that it could seem that way from his perspective. We had not actually checked out Loneth’s information, and I was not even sure that it was possible to check out her information, given that it would mean visiting a sect and just hoping a member of the Risen Throne showed up. Now, with the perk I had purchased from Xiournal that made me abnormally lucky, that was not outside the realms of possibility, but my luck seemed to be going slightly wrong recently.

“With growing irritation, so you will not even investigate this possibility?”

“I have enough trouble without chasing fucking baseless fucking rumours. Now get out before I fucking do end up tearing your stupid fucking limbs off!”

“But we don’t know the way out, it’s literally a maze.”

Tain’s eyes widened and I could see his hands twitching, as if trying to reach for us. After a moment, he seemed to calm himself however, and without another word stood and walked to the door before unlocking it via a mechanism to the side, opening it and leaning out.

“RILL! Show these Void-fucked shitters out!”

The Marshall shouted loudly into the hall before turning back to us, pointing at us with his entire open hand.

“And you... do not come back to bother me with this shit unless you have some seriously compelling evidence. If you waste my time again... don’t. I don’t want to be pissing off any Apexes that might come looking for you.”

Left implicit in that last line was the fact that even though he might not want to piss an Apex off, he would if he had to.

“Who’m I showin-oh. Come with me.”

Rill it turned out was an elf – or at least looked like one in the same way the ones I had met on Lucas’s world had. She did not seem to be festooned with parts of dead animals, or singing, so at least it seemed like she wasn’t a Devourer, at least.

With a final frustrated glance at Badan Tain, I walked to the door, flanked by my equally unhappy looking friends.

“This way.”

We followed the elfin woman through the door, which snapped shut behind us with a boom that sent a shiver through the walls.

“He liked you, that’s pretty rare.”

The remark was so unexpected from the elf that I did not think she was talking to us at first; I looked around, but seeing nobody leaned forward slightly to see if she had some kind of communication device under her hair. I could see nothing, and did my best to look less nosy as she glanced back at us with a frown.

“The Marshall I mean. It’s rare to see non-Guards leave his office without an injury.”

“That’s liking us? What does he do to his enemies, wipe their families out to three generations and salt the land they were born on?”

Rill looked at Darina, her frown deepening as she guided us around blind corners.

“Of course not, that would be petty. Who even salts land anymore?”

I looked at Darina, expecting a sharp reply, but only saw her blinking as she walked. Rill was ahead of us, so I could not see her face to check whether she was joking. I hoped she was joking. Maybe, I thought, it had not been meant the way it had sounded, and wiping out generations was not common practice in this part of the world.

“Just so we’re sure, what’s a good standard for evidence? I... don’t want to come back without something that works.”

“Well, I don’t know what you’re trying to report, but a witness would be good, or signed documents, or a confession. Really, anything solid will warrant an investigation; we try not to let crime fester.”

“What about the sects?”

“What about them?”

“Don’t - aren’t -they causing a lot of trouble?”

“So? Should we attack all of them for the crimes of a handful? If you have proof that an entire organisation is involved, please hand it over and I’ll take it back to the Marshall right away.”

I did not say anything; while we had our suspicions – and more, with Loneth’s testimony – that there was involvement between the Risen Throne and the sects, Tain had ultimately been right; we had no proof that they were instigating the disturbances, or even if they were involved at a larger level with the sects, rather than with individuals.

A short time later, we stepped out of the stone building and then between the layered gates as they cracked open just ahead of us. Standing outside of the whole structure, a short distance from the plate-clad guards who were studiously ignoring us, the three of were silent for a minute or two, each of us contemplating the events of the last hour.

“At least he didn’t tear our limbs off and beat us with them?”

“... Or kill our relatives for generations.”

“With grim amusement, I would be glad to see him make the attempt. I do not think my brother would look kindly upon such action.”

Both Darina and I snorted a laugh; I pictured Tain trying to kill Raaf and just being smashed flat by a giant stone hand.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’d get very far with any of us, actually. Your brother is an Apex, I... have no living relatives, and as far as we know, neither does Dee.”

“My Master is the... closest thing to family I have. And I doubt either she, or your own master would stand for us being killed without cause.”

I shrugged; I had no idea how involved in general law keeping the Apexes became. From what I knew, they interfered only at the level where a single group or individual was abusing their power at a grand scale. While Walker would probably be upset if I died, and Sonja would certainly be upset if Darina did, I did not know whether them seeking revenge would be seen as abuse of their own power. I really knew very little about the self-imposed rules that governed them, and to a point, I considered that to be on purpose. Not knowing how for an Apex would go, and for what reason probably served to prevent a lot of abuse on its own, even amongst those that did not truly know the extent of their abilities, like the Shooty Fire sect on my first day.

We lapsed back into silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts as we considered the situation, the gallows humour fading before the constant pressure of the city and the potential issues we were facing.

“What do we do now? We don’t have any proof, but we’re pretty certain something is going on.”

“What can we do? That idiot isn’t willing to listen, and there aren’t enough of us to cover an entire city.”

“With resigned contemplation, perhaps we need to seek evidence? From what Loneth said, the Earthen Sky sect is located outside of the city; perhaps it also lies outside of this... influence. It might be a chance to both seek the proof we require, and as respite from this pervading irritation.”

“I think that’s a good idea, in theory, Reff. But will they just... let us in to investigate? And if they are involved with the Risen Throne, it could be a trap. I’m also not sure leaving the aura and coming back is a good thing, necessarily. We’re sort of getting used to it.”

I studiously did not look at Darina, knowing that even a glance her way would probably result in a few choice words. But despite my caution, it was true. Despite some things provoking uncharacteristic responses from us, we were snapping at each other less already, and I did not want to undo that.

“In reluctant agreement, you may be right, Hunter. But if we cannot leave, how can we proceed if we are to investigate?”

“Well, we should confirm that the sect bases are actually outside of the aura or not; if they’re not, then that part of the issue isn’t one. The prospect of a trap though... I don’t know. If Jorl was still here, I’d say we just go for it, but without him as backup, things are more difficult. Maybe I should go alone; if I go all out, I’m as fast as a half-step Pinnacle, and while I can’t be that fast for long, it should be long enough to escape most traps... provided I’m at capacity.”

“Don’t be more of an idiot than you are normally, Hunter. The last time you went off to scout because, ‘I’m sooo faaast’, you almost died. Also, you’re too much a fool to be left to investigate anything on your own, even if it’s not a trap, you’d probably end up drinking with the Risen Throne without realising.”

“Hey, I didn’t almost die from the scouting, that was from V.”

“Did you, or did you not come very close to getting killed or captured by somebody who throws knives and a stationary target that makes windows?”

“... they weren’t windows. They were invisible, frictionless barriers.”

“Sounds like a window to me. You need supervision; whenever you’re on your own you almost die.”

“I’m not a child-"

“With wearied interjection, this does not seem to be either the time nor place for a discussion like this. Going alone would be foolish, Hunter. While we may risk whatever equanimity we have found in this place by leaving, it is far less of a risk than venturing into potential enemy territory alone might be. While I am the sole Foundation stage in our group, none of us are weak, and are in fact powerful for our levels of cultivation. We should go as one.”

“I don’t like it; all it would take is a single Pinnacle showing up and we’d all be done for.”

“And if you went alone and he captured you, or killed you? We’d be in the exact same position, but without our annoying trouble magnet. Think, idiot.”

They were making good points, and while I still thought it a bad idea for all of us to face that same danger at the same time, if we were going to actually prevent more trouble, rather than just reacting to it, it did make more sense for all of us to go.

“Fine. You guys win. Let’s head back to the inn and see if Toria is awake yet.”

The others said nothing at my capitulation, but both the diminutive apprentice and Reff looked about as smug as I have ever seen them.