Twig had kept the black mantle on after they had passed the gate. The hood covered up his appearance very well and he would prefer not to arouse too much suspicion. The sixteen armed guards that just never dropped their weapons, constantly ready to act did not exactly help to keep a low profile. Luckily the city was not too large. All in all there would be approximately ten thousand people living here, mostly in two story houses. They were built mainly of wood, only the more expensive looking ones had been constructed with stone.

The wall did not look much better, only one or two meters of height were constructed with stone, from there on up it was always wood. Twig would never tolerate such weak defenses for himself, but he would just summon hundreds of monster do work tirelessly so he could not really compare that. Humans had other priorities. Which appeared to mostly be hunting in the woods for food. He also found farmers but they were much less common. But that was expected considering that the city was surrounded by nothing but swamps and forest.

About twenty minutes of quick walking, they reached the town hall. For city standards this would be called huge and Twig would wholeheartedly agree, had he not seen the glory of Antalia. No building would even compare easily to the royal military academy, and certainly not the royal palace. For this town however it could be called large. Four stories high, massive stone walls up to the third floor and various defenses put in place.

Alone the entry was a decent defense, considering that it was only a small metal gate in a wall of stone. No windows on the first floor either. Twig would most likely attack something like this from above. There was just no way to get through that entry easily without lots and lots of bloodshed. Shaking his head slightly he put the thoughts of conquest aside. He just could not help himself sometimes.

“What is it master?”, Daz asked with a frown. “Do we need to worry?” Twig shook his head again, this time with more effort. “No, I was just thinking of something. I hope we get to see the prince quickly.” He shifted his gaze towards the leader of the guards. “It’s a urgent message, you better hurry up.” The guard however just shrugged. “We will have to wait until they let us in. We don’t just let everyone walk into the heart of our city just like that monster, so shut it.”

Marcella conjured a flaming dagger out of thin air and took a step towards the guard. “Care to repeat that, dipshit?” Daz stepped in and held her back. “Let it go, Marcy.”, Daz said, now taking a step towards the guard. “And you. Better be careful what you say, it’s not like I am strong enough to stop her from murdering all of you small fries. Not that I care.” Immediately all the guards took another step back, raising their weapons defensively. Twig liked the effort with which his disciples stood in for him and each other. Apparently the bond between Marcella, Mira and Daz had been improving rapidly over these last three days.

He really needed to find out how to bind them closer to himself. He wanted them to be happy if they worked for him. They would perform better and more effortly and Twigs standing with Teiming was sure to improve with him gaining strong allies. Not to mention the fact that he could lead a military force in the future, if his master allowed for it. But all that was still overshadowed by the soulbond. And Twig intended to get rid of it. Either directly through Teiming, or Matah Naht. But that all still stood in the stars.

After a guard had informed the Town Hall of who arrived, they needed to wait another ten minutes before they came to get them. This time it was a well clothed man that greeted them. “Hello. I have been ordered to bring you to his majesty, please follow me.” He was not the least bit nervous and Twig was able to sense quite the power. This man was certainly not a normal human being. It felt as if the air itself was afraid to hold on to him. Instinctively Daz and Jorak had assumed battle ready stances while Mira and Marcella grit their teeth.

He was wearing gentle robes, with firm, expensive looking stitching and had a small scar running across his cheek that disappeared towards his ears, hidden behind long silver white hair. “Very friendly of you. Please, go ahead. We will follow”, Twig said, signaling his group to calm down. “Is his highness currently busy? Or do we come at a good time?” The man smiled before turning. “Twig, you are pretty well mannered. His highness has talked a lot about you since we had left the mansion. He is in a meeting for another hour or so, I am not quite sure. They tend to talk… long.”

Twig raised his nonexistent eyebrows and his scale shifted in a way they usually did not. “Ah, you are one of the soldiers stationed at the village, that escorted Teiming when he left the mansion? Nice to meet you.” The man laughed slightly. “How is training the youngsters going? You have only had a few days, I hope they did not trouble you. His highness had initially planned for me to train them, but he insisted that you do it.” Twig chuckled. “They are very special to me. Thank you for letting me handle them.”

Quickly the group transcended up the stairs towards a large meeting room, able to fit about thirty people. The silver white haired man took a chair and sat down, pointing invitingly at the remaining ones. Twig was relieved to finally be inside and away from all those gazes of potential enemies. He summoned a few fire elemental crystals to decrease his already full mana pool. It had been for quite a while, but he had deemed it dangerous to use it in front of the swampfolk. He handed them to Marcella, she had had the most success cultivating with their help.

Then Twig turned again to the curious looking man. “Thank you.”, he said before taking a seat on the table. “I am sorry, I did not catch your name before… Who are you?” The man raised his eyebrows. “It would be impolite to ask direkty like this, you should have waited for me to tell you. The lead up to the question was perfect though. Just in case you want to study etiquette, Twig.” Twig smiled, revealing his needle like teeth. “Noted. Still, I would like to know.”

The man grinned, revealing a broken tooth on his lower set of teeth. “My name is Marquis de la Rove. The Rove Family is my family and I usually serve as diplomat and officer in this remote part of the civilized world. At least that’s what I like to say, it is a rather dull place and it’s awfully boring.” Since Twig had no idea who exactly the Rove Family was, he just ignored that part of the explanation. A military officer. Which meant Twig could order him around after he acquired him for his group!

He made a mental note to keep track of this guy for the future. Maybe Teiming would give that one to him too? But for now Twig had some questions. “I would like to know, if you know melee combat or magic techniques that I can teach to my students. I am afraid I can’t guide them much aside from my secret techniques and sparring.” Marquis stared at him curiously. “What secret techniques do you have?”

But since Twig did not reply to his question he continued. “Nevermind. I can teach them some. I will explain them to you and how to train them. But mastering that is mostly hard work, it can’t really be taught. And I am have not talent for magic.”, he raised his arm showing the black symbol. “See?” Twig nodded. “Please. Tell us.”

It took over one and a half hour to explain the training method and elaborate the whole process and while he did so, Twig ordered his disciples to meditate. Which they luckily understood as a hint to cultivate. Mira was still by far the worst, having little to no talent. He would need to find a sorcerer that could teach her some spells, otherwise she would feel left out and become weak in comparison to his other students.

Just when Marquis moved on to another training method for swordfighting, the prince arrived. Twigs claws clenched into the table wood slightly. He felt wrath boiling inside and it was difficult to keep calm. This man, that he had trusted so much. The man that brought him into this world. His father even. He had betrayed him and taken his freedom. Just for the sake of controlling him.

“Ah, how nice. Twig, I see you have tagged along with the messenger. Good that nothing happened to you, I was worried when I heard you traveled all the way up here by yourself.” The prince looked around the room. “I see, you are the messenger, I presume?” Jorak stuttered slightly when he answered. “Y-Yes. Shall I report right away, or do you want-” Twig interrupted him, fueled by wrath. He did not want the scout to take control of the situation. “I will tell my master, be quiet.”

His voice was a little harsh, but it was really hard to keep himself from his emotions. Teiming nodded and took a seat as well. “Tell me.” Twig breathed in to relax and continued. “Jorak, the messenger here, was working as a spy for some sort of information agency. They have their office in Antalia and work together with the royal palace. After him selling the information to his guild he decided to travel here and sell it once more to you.” Jorak looked at the table, apparently ashamed.

“Then this information has to be weeks old?” Twig shook his head and exclaimed: “No. He traveled by teleportation, apparently he knew someone in the royal palace. Anyway, twenty nine days ago, he was stationed inside the Kingdom of Markan. There he was observing troop movement between cities at the border. To summarize here, he spotted over two hundred trolls being transported and controlled by sorcerers alongside other troops towards a large border city.”

Marquis and Teiming both frowned. “Trolls? And two hundred?” Jorak stood up from his seat. “I apologize for interrupting, but I saw five hundred and eighty two. And they were Northern War Trolls. A larger species.” Teiming frowned a lot more and scratched his chin, where a beard had started to form. “Nearly six hundred. That is indeed a big threat. How many officers and high military men did you spot? Where there mages that looked important? Troops with special indication?”

Jorak hurriedly answered all the questions. “No, no one special. There was a scouting party, exactly forty seven members that was sent ahead of them. One hundred and twenty six mages all wearing the same cloth. White, no indication of rank whatsoever. And three thousand five hundred men, mostly armed with halberds. A few had lances and shields however.” Teiming did not seem happy on that remark. “Hm. Marquis, go inform the council here. I will make a brief announcement in a while. Tell them to gather up. We have no time to waste.”

Twig was confused. Announcement? “Master, what is it?” Teiming looked rather worried. “Well, considering that there were nearly six hundred war trolls and they had no official overseeing that transport, we can only assume that this was a small unit transfer. Which means there will be more. We just have not received proper reports on that yet. We will return to the capital, I have to talk to my father. If we are lucky we get to strike them before the war starts to spark early.”

Twig nodded. “I see. May I have a moment before we get into all that?” Teiming looked at him curiously, but understanding. “Alone? Very well. Children, please leave. Guard the door outside. Do not let anyone hear our conversation.” After all of Twigs disciples had left, he was finally able to talk to his master.

And he had many questions.