Chapter 1.22

Somewhere in the northeastern part of the northern prairie, not far from the coast. Anastasia de Graaf arrived here with her small party in search of the last escaped traitor from the Ministry of Foreign Intelligence. This one is the one Michael de Graaf missed. And it only took Anastasia two days to get on his trail. And then this morning, they caught up with them.

Her party was very small. Besides her, there were only three others in it. Kai de Graaf was tall, with an athletic build, and dark-skinned. He and Anastasia had grown up together. And it just so happens that he continued to stay with her. He was a rank eighth in magical powers. Batunkhan was tall, and muscular, with a bald head and gray skin. He once had the misfortune to ask Anastasia to be his wife and not the first one at that. Anastasia laughed for a long time and then broke his arm and a few ribs. Since then, Batunkhan follows her around like a boy in love. He is a rank seven power. Antonio di Santo comes from the Light Empire, slightly shorter than the other two, rather thin, with light skin and long silvery hair. Anastasia had once bought him off as a lifelong criminal slave. What had attracted her to him at the time, she never said. Now he also followed her, but no longer as a criminal slave, but as a free citizen. He is a rank seven power.

All three stood on a small hill near the road and watched the battle below. The group they were pursuing numbered 15 riders. A friendly conversation with them didn't work out, of course. And how could it work if the traitor would face the death penalty in the dark empire? When the battle began, Anastasia rushed to deal with them first. It was as usual.

Kai cringed at what he saw below, and Antonio turned his head away.

"Oh, she ripped his arm off," Batunkhan commented on what he saw. "How spectacular."

"And those two flew pretty far away," Kai commented a little later on another episode of the battle. "They won't get up again," he sighed.

Beneath their feet, the ground suddenly trembled. Antonio turned his head briefly to see what had happened and immediately regretted it.

"Wow, she totally stomped his head," Batunkhan said. " I hope that wasn't our target. It will be hard to identify him now."

"How barbaric," Antonio whispered quietly.

"You should be used to it by now," Kai turned to him. "It's not the first year you've followed her."

"Oh!" exclaimed Batunkhan. "One tries to escape on horseback."

"That's a mistake," Antonio hastened to turn away.

Seconds later, all three felt a surge of magical energy. Two three-meter walls grew on either side of the unlucky rider, and then they abruptly closed in on each other. There was a loud thud. Blood and body fragments from the horse and rider splattered between the two walls.

"There won't be anything to identify here at all."

"I hope that wasn't our target either."

"Our target is still alive," Kai assured the others. "Not dead yet."

"I'll get her a change of clothes," Antonio told them.

They watched for a few more minutes as Anastasia "played" with her victim, the last remaining member of the group.

Suddenly the amulet on Anastasia's neck became warm and lightly vibrated. She even stopped in surprise. The victim took advantage of the sudden pause to try to get as far away from the demoness that had attacked them as possible. Anastasia squinted her eyes as she looked at the retreating victim.

"She ripped his head off," Batunkhan said. "How unexpected."

"That doesn't sound like her," Kai worried. "Looks like something happened, let's go."

As they hurried toward her, Anastasia pulled out the amulet that hung around her neck and looked at it. The amulet was a small round crystal, five centimeters in diameter and less than a centimeter thick. The amulet bore the inscription " Come back to the capital immediately." Its energy signature belonged to Theodor de Graaf.

"That old hag," Anastasia stomped her foot in anger. The ground nearby shook.

At this point, all three of her companions approached. What appeared before their eyes can be described in one word, "horrible."

Anastasia was short, about Batunkhan's chest height, a frail young girl with dark skin and shoulder-length short dark hair. She wearing dark leather shorts and a short leather top that exposed her navel. She could not boast of lush forms; rather the opposite. Many times are mistaken for a young girl, even a teenager, though she was already 170 years old.

When she was a teenager, everyone in the clan considered her a genius. At 18, she had already reached the fifth rank of power, and at 20, she was in the sixth rank. Catherine was furious with her for getting too carried away with her power. And if she continued like this, she would not have children. Anastasia did not listen. At 25, she was already with the seventh rank of magical power. And now she possessed three basic elements, rank ten metal, rank nine earth, and rank nine air.

Anastasia's appearance was awful. Her clothes were practically intact, with only a couple of cuts, exposing the skin underneath. She covering in blood and body debris, and there was plenty of dirt on top of that. Especially her hands, which were practically up to her elbows in blood, not hers, of course, and dust. On the parts of her body where you could see the skin, it had a dark silvery sheen to it. Anastasia was very fond of using "Steel Skin," as she did this time.

"Is something wrong Asya?" Kai was the first to ask her.

She looked up and then showed him the amulet.

"We're going back to the capital," she answered him.

Anastasia looked at the decapitated body lying nearby and suddenly kicked it hard with her foot. There was first a " whack", then a crunch and the body flew away twenty meters. By sheer coincidence, it didn't stain anyone present, except for Anastasia herself.

Antonio handed her a towel he had thoughtfully brought with him. She took it and wiped her face. Then she looked around until she noticed a head lying alone a few meters away. She headed toward it, and her three companions followed her. The head lay on its side, eyes widened with surprise. Anastasia crouched next to the head and asked.

"Is that him?"

"Yes, mistress," Antonio answered her. "Don't you recognize him?"

"No," she replied. "I hadn't thought of that at all."

Batunkhan's jaw dropped in surprise, and Kai sighed and covered his eyes with his hand while shaking his head. They got pretty lucky this time.

"We'll take it with us," she said, standing up and pointing to the head with her hand. "As a gift for the old hag."

Anastasia looked around, then looked at her body, and then deactivated the Steel Skin.

"I need a bath," she said and headed toward a patch of land she saw that please her on the hillside. When she stopped, she bent down and placed her hand on the ground. A surge of energy and a circle of earth five meters in diameter were cleared of rocks and vegetation. Throwing them outside the circle. The next surge of energy followed, and in the center, there was a circular hole three meters in diameter and almost a meter deep. Its walls and bottom gleamed with polished stone.

"Water," she turned to ask Batunkhan.

"Yes, Mistress," the latter replied with a slight bow.

Batunkhan raised his hands in the air. Concentrating, he began to gather the surrounding moisture from the air and ground in two streams of water. One larger stream into an improvised basin, and a second stream onto Anastasia to wash away the clinging blood and dirt, at least a little. The streams of water he additionally heated with fire magic.

"Thank you, dear," she said as the first trickle of water fell on her.

Quickly washing off most of the dirt, she threw off the rest of her clothes. Not the least bit embarrassed of her companions, she jumped into the water, which was already quite full. She sat down near the wall, with only her head protruding above the hot water.

"It feels good," she said, closing her eyes and tilting her head back.

Tirel de Graaf was sitting in Colonel Timothy de Rogan's office. A secretary came in and placed a freshly brewed tea in front of them.

"I honestly did not expect to see you so soon," Colonel Timothy de Rogan told him. "We were just preparing two requests sending to you to the Ministry and the Clan."

"What kind of requests? May I inquire?" Colonel Tirel asked him.

"I don't know if you've heard or not. There was an incident in the town on the fifteenth evening. As a result, a lieutenant of the city's guard was killed."

"No, I haven't heard about it."

"We arrested the murderer straight away."

"Identified him?" Colonel Tirel became a little worried.

"He had no identification on him, unfortunately."

"And how can I help you?" Tirel asked hopefully.

"The prisoner claims to be Michael de Graaf."

"What? Really?" Tirel wondered. "You're not joking?"

"No joking at all."

"I know Michael personally and can attest to his identity in writing if it's him."

"You would be providing us with an invaluable service, colleague," grinned Colonel Timothy. "I'll escort you to him immediately."

Mike was sitting on the bunk and continuing to meditate when footsteps were heard outside the door, and he had to interrupt his meditation. A window opened on the door and a guard looked in.

"Stand up, face the wall," he commanded. Mike rose from the bunk and stood facing the wall.

"You recognize him," Mike heard in an unfamiliar voice.

"Will you let me have a private word with him in the cell," Mike heard the familiar voice next and was very surprised to hear it.

"That is not permitted, Mr. Colonel."

"On my responsibility," Tirel began to coax him. It was his voice. "Nothing's going to happen, he's all cuffed up."

Colonel Timothy thought for a moment, then said.

"All right, I agree. But under your responsibility," then he turned to the guard. "Open the cell door."

The guard obeyed and opened the cell door.

"When you're finished talking, knock on the iron door, and we'll let you out."

"Okay," Tirel said and went into the cell.

The colonel waited until the cell door closed and the sound of departing footsteps died down. Then he turned and looked at Mike, who returned and sat down on the bunk.

"Hello, Michael," the colonel said to him.

"I didn't expect to see you here so soon Colonel."

Colonel Tirel did not sit down next to him on the bunk but leaned his back against the wall across from Mike.

"How did you get to this point," Tirel finally asked him. " Handbag stealing, murdering the town guard."

"Do you believe that?"

"I've seen your file, it's very clear."

"Don't you want to hear my version?"

"Do you have any evidence to support it?"

"No, I don't."

"There you go."

"At least there's no direct evidence. But there are quite obvious inconsistencies in this case. You must have seen them too," Mike told him.

"All those inconsistencies, you're going to be the one to tell the court."

"You won't get me out of here?" wondered Mike.

"It's not that simple, my dear Michael," chuckled Tirel.

With Colonel Tirel's appearance, Mike hoped, that he would go out of this cell and the fabricated case against him would be closed. But now he was not so sure. The Colonel wanted something very badly from Mike, and knowing the Colonel, it could only be one thing: money.

"All right. And what do you want, Colonel?" Mike asked him.

"What makes you think I need anything from you?"

"Otherwise, you wouldn't be standing here alone with me," Mike answered him.