It took an hour of hard riding to reach the estate. Sybil dismounted by the stables and ran immediately to the garden. If Oyster chose to run away again, that was on him. She had someone that she needed to meet and he was waiting for her on a bench in the garden.

“You bastard!”

Sybil lunged at him with a kick. The prince let out a surprised yelp as he rolled off the back of the bench. She jumped on it and swung her shin at his temple. He blocked by crossing his arms in front of him.

“There isn’t a need to be like this!” Duxton cried out.

“You cheating pervert!” Sybil exclaimed. She spun around, shifted into the mist, and reappeared behind him in a near instant. Her elbow slammed into Duxton’s ribs.

He inhaled sharply. Duxton took a step back as a sly grin crept across his face. “Now, when you say it like that…”

Sybil’s face flushed red. “I d-didn’t… I meant cheating as in… ARGH!!!” She lunged at him again with her knee.

Duxton guarded by lifting up his own leg, wincing when her knee made contact with his thigh. He then looked around. Shaw was nowhere to be seen. The paladin had retreated into the estate, where Veximarl was currently resting.

“I don’t recall breaking any sort of rule,” he muttered.

Sybil growled under her breath. “It doesn’t matter what you think. You can’t hide from me outdoors. Magic feathers won’t give me away this time.”

She had a point. Duxton could use his magic to figure out where Sybil was going to appear, however, she could use the wind to disguise her mist movements. Nonetheless, Duxton’s smile didn’t waver.

“Then we will have to bring this indoors,” he said with a grin. A box of his magic appeared around the pair. While Sybil looked around wildly, he slapped her shoulder. “Tag!” His magic wavered behind him, allowing him to pass through the wall before it sealed up once more.

“Duxton!” Sybil ran forward and began to bang at the wall. It felt as solid as metal but slightly warm to the touch. “Let me out!” … Nothing. “I said, let me out!”

The walls evaporated around her, and she caught a glimpse of Duxton disappearing into the hedge maze. She dashed off after him, making wild turns left and right as she navigated the labyrinth. It was only once it was too late that she realized that she should have been a bit calmer in her hunt. Sybil had no idea where she or Duxton was.

Sybil sat down in the grass. All around her was green, green, and more green. Even the air had a green scent to it… She hated it. Even in Carapace, a city of stone, green wasn’t a common color. Being here, far from her home, it made her feel ill.

She buried her face into her knees and ignored the sound of approaching footsteps. Duxton sat on his heels and stared at her for a long moment. Sybil didn’t move. All she wanted right now was to be rid of this place.

“... You do realize that this is a maze meant to entertain children?”

“Shut up.” She twitched as he flicked the top of her head. “... I want to go home.”

Duxton furrowed his brows and frowned. He pitied her. “You have no home to return to.”

“Of course I do,” she blurted back without lifting her head.

“It’s a world full of traitors that do not have your best interests in mind,” he replied. Sybil shook her head. “They claim to be your friends, but so few of them understand you. As much as you struggle to hide it, you’re still a girl from a hole. You heard that the world is big and cruel but you had no way to comprehend how much it would scar you once you entered it.

There are those at the barracks who are plotting against you. Powerful people who are using your so-called friends to manipulate your every move. You cannot trust anyone.”

“You’ve threatened my friends in order to control me,” she growled back.

“At least I’ve been open and direct with you,” muttered Duxton with a frown. “Someone is doing it from the shadows. All the signs are there. Take the time to think about it.”

Sybil lifted her head, if only to glare at him with a deathly stare. “My friends would never do anything to hurt me.”

“Yes, they do put on a show to make it seem like they care, don’t they? Though they also hurt you,” he said with a smile. “Alton hurt you. He betrayed your trust… And the others sided with him. They even promoted him to your commander with that failure of a captain as his second in command.” Sybil gritted her teeth. “Vex is the one who put you on this mission. Your misery is his fault.”

“Says the man who forced his way onto this mission without Vex knowing about it,” she growled back.

Duxton let out a laugh. “That was my doing and mine alone. However, someone put it into Veximarl’s head that you going on this mission was a good idea. Someone put a lot of planning into having you here. Your ‘last minute’ transfer was always part of their plan. They needed to isolate you here…

And I understand that my words paint me in a horrible light. Rest assured, you know me. I am open with my manipulations. I have always been direct with you. There would have been no reason for me to arrange all of this if I wanted us to spend some time together.”

Sybil clamped her hand over the back of her neck. The slave mark. That was always what this was about. But Duxton had a point. He had enough power over his situation without having to resort to tricks. She didn’t know what to believe anymore, but none of this seemed like something Duxton would do.

“No biting words for me?” Duxton asked.

“I simply want you gone from my presence,” she muttered back.

Duxton stood up. “Someday, the world is going to turn against you. You are prideful. You believe that you can handle so much on your own without involving anyone else. At the end of the day, we have that in common. But my pride comes with the power I have. You have nothing.

The day will come when everyone will turn on you. You will have no one to trust. When that day comes, you will need me. You won’t be able to deny the truth. I have the strength to solve all of your problems. So when that day comes, when, not if, run to me. And be quick about it… I hate waiting.”

He stood up and began to weave his way through the maze. Sybil followed five steps behind him until they were out. Shaw and Veximarl were waiting near the bench where Duxton had been. Veximarl had summoned his draft horse and was putting a travel pack on his back.

“Sybil!” Veximarl stopped what he was doing and ran towards her. Shaw was forced to catch the pack before it slipped off of Ale’s back.

“Hello, Vex,” she muttered. Sybil then winced as Veximarl clasped onto the back of her neck. “... I’m fine.”

Veximarl cursed at himself. If only he had his mother’s talent with blood iron… He could barely sense it within the tattoo itself, but he wasn’t able to remove any of it. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Duxton narrowed his eyes at the pair. “What are you two on about?”

“It’s nothing,” spat back Sybil. “Let’s go, Vex. I’m ready.”

“They put a slave mark on her,” replied Veximarl.

Duxton’s face flashed with rage for the briefest of moments. “... Take her back to the barracks.” Veximarl frowned at him. “Now!”

Veximarl scowled at him. He then bowed forward. Erskine’s pendant slipped out of his shirt and dangled in front of him. Duxton’s eyes focused on it for a moment as Veximarl straightened back up. With disgust, the prince turned away and began to walk towards the estate.

“Let us be off, Sybil,” whispered Veximarl. She nodded in agreement and they both mounted Ale. Though she would have loved to bring Oyster with her, traveling by summoned beast was fastest.

They didn’t ride far. Only until the estate was out of sight, and the roads were clear any travels. Veximarl pulled out a compass from his pocket and checked it. He quietly muttered to himself as he debated his choices.

“How did the fighting go?” Sybil buried her head between his shoulder blades. She didn’t mind that she was forced to cling to him as they rode. It brought her a great deal of comfort.

Veximarl shook her head. “The dead keep no secrets from me,” he replied. “However, it was difficult to interrogate them around the members of the militia. I was only able to retrieve so much. I do know that the mind mage and the elementalist escaped.”

“Do you think they’ll come to the barracks?”

“I don’t know,” replied Veximarl. He checked his compass again. “I believe that we should head west. Macestar Squad will shelter us, and you will have Zaniyah.”

Now Sybil was the one shaking her head. “I don’t want to put anyone in danger there.”

“Which is why we will only speak to them briefly before making our way into the Clay Region,” replied Veximarl. “No one will be anticipating us to do so. We will be able to forge allies who are unconnected to this incident, and wait for our allies to act upon the information I have given on them.”

Sybil clutched onto the back of her neck. “... I need to speak to Lady Blu.”

“If we head back to the barracks, there is little chance that Lady Till will allow you to leave until this incident is resolved,” argued Veximarl.

“Lady Blu gave me a series of journals. They were written by herself, Dalkirk, and my mother… I’ve read through them all a number of times and I know that Lady Blu had a mark like this applied to her. She didn’t write all that much about it, but it seemed like it frightened her a great deal. I need to know how dangerous this mark is. She might know of a way to fix this, or at least tell me how it works… Information is all we have, Vex. We need as much of it as possible.”

Veximarl let out a long sigh. He put the compass back into his pocket. “So be it,” he said before they started to head north again.

It was late into the night by the time they made it back to the barracks. Both of them headed to the infirmary, where Veximarl immediately passed out due to exhaustion. Blu ushered Sybil into her office so that they could speak without waking him up.

“This truly is a tragedy,” whispered Blu.

Sybil sulked in her chair. “... What exactly is a slave mark? You never specified what it was in your journal.”

Blu hesitated for a moment. She then showed Sybil her arm, where a thin scar was. “It’s a woman,” she whispered. “For every one of these marks that they give, they must murder a priestess of Eatha.”

“... What?” Sybil clutched onto the back of her neck.

“They process their blood iron in a special way and force their victim to consume it. Once it has absorbed fully into the victim’s nervous system, they apply a tattoo. It allows someone with a control ring to manipulate the victim’s actions and emotions. Unfortunately, the ring will work even if I remove the tattoo.”

Sybil felt numb. She clutched onto the back of her neck again. “What can I do about it?”

“Unless we get that ring, there is little we can do,” replied Blu. She felt dismayed at the sight of Sybil sinking further into depression. “I will work on a plan with Lady Till to keep you safe. We will find out who was behind this, and we will bring them to justice.”

Sybil stood up. She opened her mouth to say something but words failed her.

“I can remove your tattoo,” said Blu.

“Leave it,” spat out Sybil. “There’s no point in removing it now.”

“... As you wish,” replied Blu.

Sybil exited Blu’s office and was greeted by the sight of Chickadee interrogating Veximarl. Chickadee had gotten word that he had returned with Sybil, and had forcibly woken him up to find out what was going on. Veximarl, though bleary-eyed and half-asleep, was muttering to him.

Tears welled up in Sybil’s eyes. She made her way to the pair and hugged them both tightly. They grasped onto her as well, and held her all the tighter as she began to bawl loudly against them. Veximarl was right. Duxton was right as well. Her foolishness had lead to her downfall, and now everything was falling into ruin.