Edited by: Flubbykin

Jason moved quickly through the hidden passage in the royal castle. The quest that King gave him forced the photomancer to partake in quite a journey. From city to city, from bar to bar – but, what was simply the most agonizing part of his duty was staying sober. Since he escaped with Zariel and the rest of the “merry group” from the Inquisition's prison he made drinking his favorite hobby. He was addicted, nothing could hide it. His hands were shaking pretty much all the time when he wasn’t at least slightly buzzed.

All this time when he visited bars and inns he was playing a very dangerous game with his own desires. He had to drink, just a little, in order not to tremble with the need of another dose, yet not enough to completely lose control. And damn it if it was a simple task!

Yet, this nightmare was about to end. He finished his job. Fulfilled his end of the bargain. He had information and proof.

Eventually, he reached the end of the corridor, checked if the king was alone before knocking from the other side in a previously agreed pattern.

“Come on in, Mr. Jasny.” Said the king in a calm tone.

Arthur the Grey, called Wise, was very often acting childishly – encouraging nobles into saying few too many words to one another and thus forcing little conflicts. You could easily forget, that during his reign the Kingdom of Neira bloomed. Even if he had to pay for this progress with reduction of his own influence in favor for mages and noble houses. Arthur the Grey was openly thought to be a senile, childish man, too old for his position… only because he himself allowed such rumors to spread. This way he could act from the shadows compensating the loss of direct control over some fields.

… Very few, those who actually knew the dirty truth about the Neira Kingdom, were risking statements that it is not coincidence that the defeated and broken Syndicate found a haven in the capital of Neira – so very close to the King.

Jason swallowed some saliva. The old man sitting behind a desk was no longer a cheerful old man that gave him this quest. This man looked somewhat older, more exhausted, yet his eyes were sharp and focused. Only after blinking twice same, honest, a warm smile bloomed on the King’s face.

“I am sorry, Jason, forgive this old man his grumpy behavior. Lately, the problems keep piling up, and my daughter is still too naïve and inexperienced to let her carry the burden of the crown… do you have kids, Jason?” “No, my lord.” “Don’t me here! I have had enough of butt lickers!... Anyway, if you would want to make a family one day, make the decision sooner rather than later. Trust me, once you are as old as me raising kids is a rather exhausting task. You won’t have enough time nor energy to teach them everything that is needed…” “My wife was a witch, inquisition burned her on the pyre. Since that day I gave up on having a family… My lord.”

This time Jason put lots of accent on the last part of the sentence.

“This old man once again said something he was not supposed to…” Arthur addressed himself in the third person “… I am sorry, child. My condolences. Sit down.”

Eventually, King just showed the chair on the opposite side of the desk while picking up a bottle of extremely expensive whiskey from under it, together with two glasses

“I couldn’t not notice, that as a King with a legal child your queen is not present either.” Photomancer said quietly while taking one of the glasses with gratitude. He also tried taking a bottle – it was a courtesy for a person with a lower rank to pour the alcohol, yet Arthur just weaved his hand with irritation and poured the amber-colored liquid. “She died while giving birth. Or, should I say – soon after, she still managed to take the kid in her arms, name her and hug her… Before leaving both of us behind.”

This particular blend of whiskey was supposed to be tasted, savored, drunk with small, shallow gulps. None of the men had nerves to just taste it though, they bottomed it down in a jiffy. “What did you learn? Were my fears justified? Are the Red Feathers to be blamed?” “You will not like my answer. Yes and no. It’s much more twisted and complicated.” “Fucking nobles…” king hissed “…they just have to make everything unnecessarily complex. They can’t even backstab you without a fucking ritual and ending speech. Don’t they know that doing less means more!?”

This outburst caught Jason off guard. After a moment of consternation, he smiled with the corners of his lips. “They are indeed having connections with the Holy Kingdom, they are trading with them very… exotic goods. But, there is also one additional track. Hieronymus van Kleir. He is trading his researches with other scholars from holies.” “Why should I care about the academical passion of old Kleir?” There was no anger nor irritation in king’s tone. He knew that Jason didn’t mention it , he was just asking his spy to elaborate the topic. “Because of his specialization. He is the greatest mind when it comes to magical monsters. Lately, his papers are mentioning one specific monster – Chimera Cellesitale.” “Divine chimera. Zariel.” “Same Zariel that was kidnapped by the Holy Kingdom soon after they started trading papers. The problem is, that none of the documents I saw clearly stated Kleir’s ill intentions so…” “… So we can’t be sure if he betrayed us, or was merely used. What about other information.” “Yeah. Also, you may like to be informed that Mister Red Feather is fond to take a pure version of moon dust. Imported. Refined.” “My-my, so that’s what you meant while mentioning goods. Let me guess. That specific brand of drug can be made only in the Holy Kingdom?” “But of course, it’s used by authorities.” “Authorities of Holy Kingdom are taking drugs?” “Taking? No? Using. Yes. It’s a very common tool during interrogations.” “Could it be that… they are blackmailing him?” “You will be spying on your own kingdom and then we will keep sending more drugs. A dose of dust for paper of data. It is very likely… But being a junky and traitor are not the only Feather’s sins. Take a look at the rest of the documents.”

Jason flipped his bag making dozens of papers fall on the desk. Arthur picked the document closest to himself and started reading. “… By the… By the… By the three… Eric, what did you do…” King was speechless. He tossed document aside and picked another, and another one, and yet another. They were mostly documents of purchase and ownership. “This is… this is…” King was awestruck “…slavery is not prohibited… but… but… why does he need so many of them? Every month thirty new slaves? And these.. and these torturing tools… What does he need them for.” “Let me just point out that tools were delivered together with slaves… doesn’t he have dungeons under his palace?”

If you were to patch up all this information regarding constant need of new slaves, torture tools and the fact that every noble had a “small” prison under their palaces (usually for interrogating other families spies) you could easily find out what kind of pleasures patron of Red Feathers was into, besides the drugs…

Not only that.

They were paying bandits – when some village was delaying paying taxes a group of raiders would appear in the vicinity. Because taxes weren’t paid, the noble didn’t have to protect villagers. And that would cause a few huts to be set on fire, few women being kidnapped, animals being killed… “But… but why. I can understand his twisted sense of pleasure, even if it disgusts me… but why is he burning villages that are his properties?” “That’s only my speculation… but care seeing where are all those attacked villages located? When a local lord refuses to take action against bandits, what is happening?” “Either adventurers are sent or… the Army.” “Lately bandits became a plague on the east, because of that a whole garrison has been relocated in the vicinity of those villages. And thanks to this the part of the border is left without protection.”

Jason kept showing points on the map in front of the king. “By relocating the garrison, we gave Holy Kingdom a perfect path for invasion. Bah, in place of old garrison they could make their operational base – the logistic knot located on Neira’s land.” “But… the path is difficult! It would take them almost twice as long to lead their army!” “This is why we would never expect them to attack in this particular spot. And this is why you signed the garrison relocation order. Nobody sane would lead the invasion through this path, because after finally arriving at the destination the army would be exhausted. Possible fight right after landing would cause huge casualties… unless…” “…No army would be present in this region, and they could take all the time needed to set a base and prepare for further expansion.” King once again became quiet “… a very, very risky strategy.” “Not necessarily. The law of fortification – to perform a siege you should have at least three times as many soldiers as a defender. All they had to do was to send a small group which would quickly erect simple fortification, then they would give a report to the main army, that everything is ready. The landing of a few hundred soldiers in this region would be fatal. Let’s say five hundreds – you would need at least fifteen hundred to deal with them, that’s a thousand soldiers that could be defending other outposts. If this particular landing would fail, they would send the main army via other routes. Your army would already be destabilized by chaos.”

Numbers for dummies – Neira was a rather small country. They had barely 8000 regular soldiers, and around 2000 that could be recruited from reserve. 1500 soldiers was over 18% of their main forces.

At the same time the army of the Holy Kingdom was over four times as big, much better trained and equipped. The only advantage they had over Holies was that they were constantly raided by small groups of demons and the fact that they were separated by a forest of dread. Order of Light would have casualties just by merely crossing the forest.

It makes no sense!

…unless… they have found a safer path.

A path they have checked while kidnapping Zariel. Was he the reason, or merely an excuse?

It didn’t matter. What matters is the fact that they started acting.

Arthur shut his eyes and lowered his head, resting it on his hands. Once again, for a split of a second, he looked like an old man too tired to keep carrying his burden.

And then he raised his head.

“Jason, son, you must excuse me. I am afraid that I won’t be able to be your drinking partner tonight. Take the bottle and disappear. You did well, money for your mission will be sent to you tomorrow. For now… it would be better if no one would see you here.”

Photomancer nodded, with gratitude picked a bottle.

“Mind telling me what would happen now?”

Unshaved man turned around before leaving via secret door. “Now? I have a garrison to relocate, and a noble to face a trial for treason. And who knows, maybe I will be able to gain an advantage over the Senate…. But not just yet. We have to be 100% sure about Mr. Kleir intentions.”