Rhen wasted no time getting to the Welsh cluster, using tremor blast jumps and swift twitch to speed him on his way. Aki held tight to Rhen’s shoulders, unable to keep up in the river beside him. They passed Derk and Tsu’me along the way. The Sephine had shriek in terror, thinking perhaps Rhen had come to enact some vengeance on her. When they passed by without even a second glance, the indignant bard taunted after him, something like, “Good luck,” and a string of curses in her native tongue.

He didn’t need luck. He had fury.

They passed the white waiting tree and went south-east to the Welsh cluster. The farther out they went, the more sparse and dead the forest became. It was apparent Welsh had done considerable damage to the landscape to prop up his dungeon cluster. The path was well-worn, and wide enough for large machinery… it was too bad the cluster was dry.

Rhen slowed to a respectable pace when he heard the telltale sounds of vehicles, and Aki managed to find a stream to replenish his body with. The water was a bit dirty, but it was all there was.

The forest was completely cleared away around the primary dungeon entrance for at least three hundred feet. There was a two-story inn that looked more like a prison, and weary delvers meandering around the side tending to a large food plot. They had a stable of horses, three coops for chickens, and a tiny playground with four little children playing chase. There were a few more log-cabin structures that looked like they may have been individual homes, but several of them were in such ill repair, Rhen couldn’t imagine anyone living there.

But enough of that. He had lies to reveal.

Rhen took a deep breath and focused his anima on his stomach, visualizing the recording device strapped to his waist. He channeled his anima into it with a short burst, then peeked down the neck of his shirt to see if it’d activated. There was a small blinking light on the top, and Rhen took that as a good sign.

The approached the inn, Rhen donning his finest smile. “Where might I find Mr. Welsh?” he asked the woman watching the children on the playground.

Her skin was a sickly tallow color, and there were deep circles under her hollow eyes. She wordlessly pointed toward a structure built into the opening of the dungeon. It was three stories tall, with a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree view of the dungeon opening. It was a watchtower. Goons paced by in the windows, some of them casting scrupulous glances at Rhen and Aki.

“Thank you.” Rhen gave a little bow to the woman and turned away from her.

The state of the people working for Welsh made his heart hammer with injustice. He’d seen bad situations in Desedra, but not like this.

Welsh had enslaved them.

Rhen marched up to the heavy wood door of the watchtower and bang three times. No one answered, so he banged again, and again. Finally, a slat at the center of the door opened.

A pair of angry orange eyes glared back at him and a gruff woman replied. “What?”

“I’m here to see Welsh.”

She scowled. “An’ who da fluff are you?”

Rhen held up the damage report to the eye-slat. “Rhen Zephitz, here to help investigate the burning of Zephitz Inn by order of the Guild.”

That last little bit was a teeny tiny lie, but Rhen hoped it’d fly with enough confidence. He pulled the sheet away to see the woman’s brow had gone from a wrinkled scowl to wide-eyed surprise.

“He’s currently indisposed,” she said, the anger in her voice waning to fear.

Aki sloshed forward. “You may tell him to make himself available, now.”

The woman jumped back from the slat and ran up the stairs.

“Did you just mind-control her?” Rhen whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

“No, but I fear I made her stomach upset with the volume of my speech. I was trying to be confident.”

Rhen smiled. “You did good.”

They only had to wait a few minutes for the woman to return and unlock the door. She was wearing typical bruiser gear; steel-toed boots, leather pants with iron shin-guards, chainmail shirt, and iron pauldrons. She had a shield on her back, and a short sword at her side.

The bruiser showed them up the winding stairs of the tower to the very top—of course. Rhen could hear two male voices on the other side of the door, one of them definitely Welsh, and the other was… oddly familiar.

Their escort knocked gently.

“Bring them in,” Welsh said pompously.

She opened the door to the bright room. It had a massive window spanning the entire back wall that overlooked the settlement. Two goons stood on either side of the huge wooden desk, polished to a high shine, that sat in front of the window. Behind the desk was a gargantuan fluffer sitting on what was practically a throne of velvet and steel. There was another man, short with dark hair, sitting in the chair opposite him. He turned, and Rhen’s stomach did a little drop.

It was Sen Desedra.

His six goons flanked the door. Rhen gave them all a courteous nod as he passed, trying to maintain his cool composure. He was grateful for his steady hands as he approached the desk and held up the paperwork once more.

“We need to talk,” Rhen said, his voice stern.

Welsh simpered. “Little boy come to threaten me. It shows just how scared you are of losing your dungeon. It is going to happen.”

Aki floated up next to Sen. “You may leave, now.”

The weasel of a man shrank a bit, then leered at Rhen. “You’ve got your trouble now, don’t you?”

Rhen stared back, unflinching. “The Guild has sent me here to review Welsh’s possible interference with the destruction of Zephitz Inn. If you’d like to stay and add testimony of your own, I’d be more than welcome to have my Prelusk friend document everything.”

Sen stared back, a twitch in his smile, waiting to see if Rhen was bluffing.

“This little shit thinks he is tough enough to take on Desedra, is what he’s thinking right now.” Aki reported.

Sen rolled his eyes. “This is boring. I’m sick of this backwater dump. Let’s roll, boys.”

He shoved back his chair and pushed past Rhen. Childish…

Welsh leaned back, chuckling. “Talk soon, Sen.”

When the room was mostly cleared, save for his two goons, Rhen took a seat on the edge of his desk. “What happened to the Faust family?”

“I don’t have to answer your questions.” Welsh pulled a cigar from a fancy box and prepared it.

“Those stupid fools were easier to coerce than I’d thought,” Aki said.

Welsh scowled. “The Prelusk have a non-interference agreement with the Imperial Kingdoms. Your words are of no consequence to any investigation the Guild would run.”

Rhen nodded. “So, you coerced them into burning down my inn. For what? A ticket out of Yu?”

Welsh’s face was getting red. “I will not endure this. This must be illegal!”

“They are far from here now,” Aki said.

“I have to wonder, did you kill them?” Rhen asked, smiling through his anger.

Welsh stood. There was sweat beading on his brow. “Get out!”

Rhen smiled, feeling the confidence of the upper hand. “You could have your warrant to review the state of the dungeon revoked if you don’t comply with questioning.”

He had no idea if this was true, but it sounded true enough.

Welsh panted through gritted teeth. “The alien freak has to leave.”

Rhen sighed at Aki. “If it’s the only way…”

Aki gave Rhen a slight bow and headed for the door. He wrapped his tentacles over the handle and twisted the knob, but it slipped with a wet slrrrfffp. He tried several more times to turn the knob with similar, hilarious sounds accompanying his failure.

Rhen glared at Welsh expectantly until he snapped twice at the goon over his left shoulder and then pointed to the door. The goon stomped over and opened it for Aki with a sickly look on his face. He shook his hand off several times before returning to the desk.

Welsh’s goons were even more squeamish than Sen’s. Pitiful.

“What happened to the Faust family? They were in your employ all the way up to joining my dungeon, and four days later my inn was burned to the ground, and they were gone. Their mail hasn’t been collected, nor have they been seen in Yu since that day.”

Welsh settled back into his chair and lit his cigar. “I don’t see how any information I have on the Faust family is going to help with your investigation. They were unhappy, they left. That’s all I know.”

Rhen rested his ankle on his knee and leaned back. “If I asked around, that’s the story I’d get?”

“I don’t know. The delvers talk about their own business together. Perhaps someone knows more than me, or perhaps they would say anything to get the favor of the new dungeon owner with a realm node. Either way, I doubt anyone else would have illuminating evidence.

“Here’s my best guess for you, son.” Welsh ashed his cigar with a smile, then took a long puff. “They burned the inn to cover the tracks of what they stole and disappeared.”

Rhen nodded. “Interesting theory, but nothing had been stolen. The coffers were locked in the dungeon.”

“Well, I can’t help you with anything else. There’s the door.” He turned his chair to face the window.

Rhen felt the scales changing sides. He was running out of exposing questions to throw at him. Maybe if he just went for the throat…

“You think Sen is going to help you get my dungeon? You’re a pawn to him, one he’ll discard when his family has my dungeon, and the Desedra’s don’t leave as much evidence as I’m sure you have.”

Welsh slowly turned back, laughing. “You’re so out of your league. You’ve never played this game before. I have for decades.”

“And you’re still shit at it.”

He ashed again, shaking his head with an amused smile.

“I’m not sure if you understand how Prelusk communicate. I wasn’t at first, either. What an uncomfortable notion that all your thoughts lay bare to them.”

A furrow knit Welsh’s brow.

“You see, my friend Aki let me know that Sen has you where he wants you. He knows you sent the Faust family to burn down the inn, and he’s going to reveal that to the guild once you’ve secured my dungeon… you know what happens when a dungeon owner loses their license, right?

Ash dropped off Welsh’s cigar onto his nice table.

“Let me remind you, then. The dungeon passes to the next closest, capable owner for auction before going on the market.”

“Desedra,” Welsh mumbled, though Rhen wasn’t certain he meant to.

Rhen let the last word hang in the air for a tense, uncomfortable moment, and then he stood. “We didn’t have to be enemies, Welsh. Know that you’ve done this to yourself.”

Rhen turned away and strode for the door.

Come on, fluffer, just blurt any stupid thing out I can use against you.

“They won’t talk,” Welsh growled.

“Your delvers?” Rhen half-turned.

“Yeah, that’s right, my delvers. They’ve got proper respect for me. They do what I tell’em, and they know the consequences of breakin’ my law.” He’d fallen out of his proper accent, and into the more casual lingo of Yu. Rhen was getting to him. He had to push him further.

“The delvers don’t respect you; they don’t even fear you. They detest you. You’re pathetic.”

Welsh stood in a blink and flipped the table toward Rhen. Rhen activated swift twitch and shoved his chair back to the ground, then rolled out of it. He bound up to his feet, and Welsh was right in front of him.

The burly man grabbed Rhen’s shirt collar and yanked him in. Rhen pulled his crescent blade from its holster and held it to Welsh’s throat. The door split behind them and water rushed through. Aki snared the goons in place and projected a pink aura round Welsh.

Welsh smirked. “You gonna kill me in my own dungeon? The guild’ll surely have your ass for that.”

“What happened to the Faust family?” Rhen tried one more time, praying that Aki’s suggestion aura would work.

“They got what they earned.”

Welsh’s smile faded to a grimace, then he glared at Aki.

“See you tomorrow for my dungeon inspection.” He shoved Rhen away.

Rhen holstered his weapon and fixed his shirt with a smile. “Maybe not.”

They strode out of Welsh’s tower, cool and dignified. Rhen hadn’t gotten as much as he wanted, but he hoped it’d be enough for a real D.O.G. investigation of Welsh—which would undoubtedly spook Sen enough to cease his contact.

But removing Sen’s pawn from the game wouldn’t stop him from playing… it would just make him more creative in his moves.

He’d be looking for dirt on Rhen next, and it was out there to find for whoever looked close enough. At least with Welsh’s ineptitude and proclivity for rash violence, Rhen’s secret was safe. Perhaps leaving the pawn in play was a better course of action…

Yet with a full investigation taking place against Welsh, the delvers would be free to come work for Rhen. He’d have the forces he needed to get his projects done on time and keep everyone else’s dirty claws off his realm.

Whatever he did, one thing was certain.

The Desedras wanted Rhen’s dungeon.