The moment I stepped out of the fort, binder stuffed with papers and info about the patrols in Exarch’s Bend, I felt a flood of fresh regret sweeping over me. I’d just signed up for a nearly impossible challenge. Tracking down and killing Lord Forester – the man who was responsible for half of the bad things that had happened to me over the past several months. Even someone with little interest in noble politics would have heard his name once or twice. He was a classic glory hound. The only thing he was concerned with was furthering his own reputation amongst his peers.

He was always eager to be seen as the one ‘doing something’ versus the others. His name and face were plastered on front pages, newsletters and bills in major towns and cities. He donated large amounts of money to Sull’s institutions to get favourable press and favours. He was single-mindedly focused on being remembered, for what that was worth. It became problematic for the Federation because he was also one of the few talented military minds that Sull had left. He’d leveraged his connections with the Inquisition to assist in taking and holding territory from them.

In order to do the job, we would need to sneak through enemy lines, make our way to Blackwake, locate him, gain access to him and then somehow kill him without being caught. There would undoubtedly be dozens of minor and major complications between those points. We returned to the hotel to prepare, but I was the only one who really understood how tough this was going to be. Cali had snatched the purse from my belt and was counting the bars at the table. Tahar seemed more than a little lost about what was going on.

The documents were confidential, and Xerces had asked me to burn them after I was done reading. It was a myriad of different handwritten reports and maps that divulged the exact locations, movements and patrol patterns of Forester’s troops in the bend. My familiarity with the area came in handy now that I was forced to memorise so much essential information so quickly.

Stigma joined the party by leaning against the wall beside me, “Finally, a job worthy of your superior form, Master. A herd of lambs to the slaughter.”

I sighed and turned over the page. I did not share her boundless and bloodthirsty optimism. Sure, I’d power levelled my way up the ranks recently – but the Inquisitors were some hard ass bastards. They were drilled to be experts in a multitude of weapon disciplines, and worked in teams to quickly and efficiently dispatch incoming threats. The gap in weapon skill was already harsh, they were also usually highly levelled themselves. A three-person party didn’t stand much of a chance against them. They were a professional military organisation.

“It’s not going to be that easy,” I murmured.

“I have full confidence that you will show them the true meaning of fear.”

I committed the current page into memory and slipped it back onto the discard pile. “I think now is the time for some more honesty from you,” I sneered.

She closed her eyes, “I am being honest. Like a puzzle, I am handed more pieces of my own memories – yet without more I am unable to understand their full context or purpose. There is no connective tissue between them.”

“Not that – about how you work. Why am I infected with whatever this stuff is?” I explained, holding up my arm.

“That… I do not know.”

She had to be messing with me, “Seriously?”

“The only thing I can recall is that this sword has a history that precedes me becoming its resident trapped spirit. If you will, the infection is a feature of the legendary blade from before it was cursed.”

“If it has nothing to do with you, why did consuming one of your ‘sisters’ cause it to get worse?”

Stigma took a moment to compose a satisfactory answer, “This is an educated guess, but I believe that the power of the sword has been limited in some way. Making me stronger will also return the blade to its original form and function.”

“Stigma…”

She cut me off, “I swear, that is the only explanation I can think of. And just to display how earnest I am being, I will not demand that you consume the dagger we retrieved as of this moment. It will not provide any further insight into this matter.”

“What will it do?”

She giggled, “Hurt. It will also increase your stat multiplier all over again.”

Now that was useful information. I looked to the top of the wardrobe where the box lay in wait for me. If things went down badly, I had a way of evening the playing field a little. Tahar waved her claws in front of my face, “Who Ren speak to?”

Oh, Tahar didn’t know the full story yet.

“His sword is possessed by a cursed spirit,” Cali said before I could break the news, “He has many explosive arguments with her on important matters.”

“Explosive?” I objected, “I’d hardly call that explosive.”

Tahar blinked, “Ren okay?”

“I’m fine! I’m fine. She just likes to hit the brakes on my body sometimes without permission.”

Stigma shrugged at the accusation. Good to see that she held no contrition for doing that to me. I needed to get my own back somehow. Easier said than done when she didn’t have a real body for me to take it out on.

“It’s irrelevant to what’s going on. Xerces wants us to find and eliminate a target in the Kingdom of Sull.”

“Like hunt?”

“I guess, but for a person, instead of an animal.”

Tahar was put off by the job from the offset. I wasn’t counting on her to jump right in and slaughter some men for me. She had intentionally fired a warning shot at Vincent instead of hitting him. Her tracking skills would still be invaluable in helping us get through the swamps unscathed. I wasn’t going to ask her to do something severe for my sake.

“I did not expect you to accept this job,” Cali revealed, “You have always been one to err on the side of caution in times like these. Was it the money?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I don’t work for free. The amount of cash she’s offering based on your word alone is already crazy. And I’d have to be crazy to turn down a shot at making this much in one go.”

I was just hiding behind a wall of bravado. I was extremely nervous. All I could do was believe in my own abilities as a rogue – and hope that Tahar and Cali could assist me in meaningful ways. I took the maps that Xerces had provided me and started to sketch out a route using one of Cali’s quills. We’d need to move just as the light was beginning to fade in the evening to catch the change in shifts between the day and night guard.

That opened a window for us through Demeter’s Bog, a swampy marsh just to the north of Exarch’s Bend itself. It was terrible territory to fight on – so most armies would avoid marching through it. There was a skeleton crew of scouts and soldiers located there to keep an eye on things. We could sneak through the trees and avoid most of the trouble.

From there we’d come out into the Eastern Tangle, a thick jungle of winding trees and roots that made normal traversal impossible. Many a man had attempted to tame the wilds and build a road through there, all of them had failed in much the same manner. That was the easy bit. After that point the defences would become more sophisticated for a time.

The bulk of Forester’s force was camped out in the thinner forests of Western Blackwake. You could find enough clearings and well-maintained roads to supply an army there. It was where he was basing his operations. With control of the main road through Exarch’s Bend, he could launch an attack at any time. I had to hope that he wouldn’t, because the man himself would desire to be there on the frontlines to get his word in.

As for Forester himself, his HQ was in Blackwake. Things had evolved quickly over the past few months while I was away. The outer edge of the city now hosted dozens of camps, big and small, for the troops stationed there. Xerces’ spies had whittled his location down to a boarding house just inside of the city walls. They must have paid the owner to take over and use it as an officer’s barracks. The rapid remilitarization of the city was unpopular; a lot of the intelligence was gathered from disgruntled residents who wanted Forester gone.

Ask and you shall receive, I suppose.

If Forester was living inside of a city house, that was all the better for me. Breaking and entering into buildings like that was my forte. The cramped quarters were challenging, but much more fertile ground for murder than a military camp plopped down into a wide-open space. As a noble, Forester wouldn’t want to be around the disorderly and rowdy soldiers he commanded.

The information she had provided me only went so far. Scouts in this world could only send what they saw, and what they saw would inevitably be out of date by the time it landed in the hands of Xerces or the other Feddie leaders. I’d need to confirm the reports when I arrived in Blackwake to make a plan of attack.

“So, what do you make of this?” I asked.

Cali was plain, “It sounds dangerous. I like it.”

Tahar was more hesitant, “If this is what mate desires… I will try to help.”

This was why I didn’t want to bring her over from Versia. Tahar had to depend on us for guidance and assistance. She didn’t have a choice in the matter really. I didn’t like manoeuvring people into these kinds of positions. “You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to, Tahar. Hunting animals is easier than hunting men.”

“No. Will come. Repay Ren for kindness and valour.” She seemed set on that much. I did want her to come with us – at least so that we could keep an eye on her while we did the job.

“When are we departing?” Cali inquired.

I counted the days in my head and came up with a rough figure. We’d need some supplies to make it comfortable. Shoes, food, water. We could pack lighter with Tahar here. Hunting animals in the Bend wasn’t a realistic prospect though.

 “It’s a long walk, ideally as soon as we’re ready.”

Cali reached out for her halberd, “Very well. Let us prepare and be away then.”

DWS

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