PreCursive

  “It is my belief you have been pced here, at this specific point and time by the Lord of House Savoy.” The Prince said heavily. “It is well known how callous the dwarf is, and few would disbelieve him of this capability. It would not be out of character for him to have an uncooperative heir assassinated with help from another family member, in order to ena extravagant plot. Said plot would involve the iion of his nephew and a humaive into my new court, at the moment of my alig with the Uprising. For urpose I do not know, but that be determier. In short, ‘Mr. Hart’, I believe you to be Anguis’s creature.”

  I blinked slowly at the odd pseudo-rant that the Prince had unloaded on me. Even with the stranglehold on my emotions I had using my middle ring, I couldn’t stop the rea his words caused in me.

  I started ughing.

  Hard.

  In fact, I started ughing so hard at the thought of me of all people being a willing sve for the Savoy that I started g a little. I would have doubled over in my hirity, but Augustiill had an iron grip on my arms.

  “I-I ’t b-believe,” I mao get out, before howling again.

  This didn’t stop for a few mihe thought just kept making me ugh more.

  Eventually, though, I did settle down. When I raised my head again, I could see that the Prince had an almost dumbfounded look on his young face. That nearly seo hysterics again, but I mao keep a hold of myself. I shook my head. “No, yhness. I assure you that I am decidedly not a Savoy spy. Piss on the Savoy. As far as I’m ed, everyone in that family but Azarus die in a fug fire.”

  The Prince frowned down at me. “All we have is your word that you are not a spy. And I’m afraid that is not suffit, Mr. Hart.”

  I shook my head up at him. “No, actually. There are at least two pieces of evidehat speak to me not being one. First,” I said before the Prince could speak over me. “Is the fact that…do you really think it would be that easy to get one rey like that? Do you really, really think that someone like Grey, who, let’s be ho here, used to be a pirate. Would not be able to sniff out a mole? Much less someoook as his personal apprentice?”

  “He’s still just a man. The Headmaster is not infallible.” The Prince pointed out. Still, I could see a mote of doubt on his face.

  “Two,” I tinued. “In the pouch at the small of my back, you find an example of the device that I created to break the Sve Bond. Ask yourself, why would Anguis allow su item to be devised? Its very existehreatens the foundations of his empire.”

  The Prince frowned but looked away from me to nod to Augustine over my head. The knight grumbled but released me from his grip. I wao rub my flesh arm as blood started flowing again, but I refrained. Instead, I slowly reached behind me, aware of the knight still looming over my head, and withdrew the Bond Breaker I had on me.

  Never went anywhere without ohese days.

  Bringing it forward, I hahe oversized fork to the Prince. He took it from me warily, looking down at it. Slowly turning the breaker over and over in his hands, I saw the Prince adopt a sidering look on his face.

  “Of te,” He started slowly. “There have been strange rumors ing from the Principality. My agents tell me that a Human man and his cohorts assaulted a pntation on the edge of Savoy nds, sughtering the sve masters. It is said that their goal was to not only liberate the sves held there, but to free them from their Bonds. This man apparently broke those Sve Bonds, using a Mystical Bident of some kind.” The Prince raised his head to look me in the eye again. “I had not put much sto those rumors until this moment. Was that perhaps your doing?”

  My eyes lit up at the Prince's story.

  That had to be Bleddyn!

  God, it was good to get any news about my old friend. Even just hearing that he arently stig to his words and freeing sves was a relief.

  I took aed step toward the Prince, uo help myself. I was stopped from getting too close to him by an armored hand falling on my shoulder, though. I didn’t care. “Do you know anything else?! Anything at all?!”

  The Prince looked taken aback at my enthusiasm. “Ah, I’m afraid not. I’m guessing you know the perpetrator of this attack?”

  “Hell yes I do,” I said, not even b to be formal anymore. “It has to be Bleddyn. He was another sve held at Addersfield. He helped free everyo Addersfield, and when we were leaving, he and a rge group of other sves elected to stay behind. Bleddyn nning a full-on sve revolt in the Principality, when I st saw him. I left him with my inal Bond Breaker and the means to make more, because I wanted him to succeed.”

  The Prince blinked rapidly. “A full-on sve revolt? If that is what this…Bleddyn intends, it has yet to begin. As of now, his presence is being dismissed as a sve folk tale by Principality authorities.” He paused for a moment. “Bleddyn…that name is…familiar somehow…” His eyes widened, grip on the Breaker almost slipping in surprise. “Tell me, is this Bleddyn from the Hill Tribes?”

  My own eyebrows rose. “Uh, yeah. He told me he was from Thunderheart.”

  “ Thunderheart’s Heir was captured as a sve, even if only briefly?” The Prince questioned in shock. I jerked ba my own surprise.

  Bleddyn was some kind of Heir? He old me anything about that.

  Man, why did it seem like everyone I met was some kind of big important somebody? Heirs, and children of Headmasters, and disgraobles. Sometimes it felt like I was living in a drama.

  What’s , Renauld was going to turn out to be the son of the Throng leader? Maybe Fade was secretly the King of the Spirit Wolves?

  The tension in the air was rapidly defting at the evidehat was mounting against the Prince’s sve story. The kid was starting to look a little awkward as the silen the room grew longer.

  I cleared my throat. “Well…is that enough you for, yhness?”

  “Ahhh,” The Prince said in an embarrassed tone of voice. “I…believe so. You have my deepest apologies for the misuanding, Mr. Hart. But if I may ask…whatever could you have been doing in Rhoscara at that time? sidering the timing, you must have still been ensved and uhe ownership of House Savoy.”

  Hey. Look.

  While I wasn’t incredibly pissed about this whole thing, I still wasn’t happy. I wasn’t sure if I could trust this guy anymore, after he’d apparently waited for a moment where I was aloo ambush and interrogate me.

  I wasn’t going to tell him all of my secrets.

  “I’m afraid that the specifiy petition have to do with the uniqueness of my Path and training,” I said firmly. “If you really want to know more, you’ll have to ask Grey-, ah, the Headmaster.”

  Now it was really awkward in here.

  The Prince sighed, but nodded heless. “I uand,” He said tiredly, as Augustine walked around from behind me. For ohe massive knight wasn’t looking at me like I was scum from the bottom of one of his greaves. It just looked like he’d pletely disregarded my entire existenstead.

  Was this what all that had been about?

  “If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be on our-”

  The Prince was cut off.

  Not by me, or even Augustine.

  But by the sound of faint screaming eg from the hall, just outside of the practi. The Prind I jerked in surprise, while Augustine rounded on the door, one hand on the broadsword sheathed at his waist.

  A ve excuse to get out of this awkward situation, if I ever heard one.

  I hurriedly bent down to pick up my dropped Oninite bdes, and sheathed them in the holsters at either side of my waist. With a slightly insincere apologetic smile aimed at the Prince, I raced for the door and threw it open.

  Oher side, I could see other people opening doors around us and poking their heads out in fusion. In the hall, there were some people standing around, fag the dire of the screaming with shocked looks on their faces. I followed their gaze.

  Damn. That didn’t look good.

  Just down the hall, there was what looked like an incredibly distressed maid. She ale from what might be shod pointing a finger behiowards a staircase that led further down into the depths of the Citadel.

  She was covered in blood. She didn’t look like she was injured, so…

  It had to be from somebody else.

  I felt my lips ftten, as the Prind Sir Augustine appeared at my elbow. As they were reag in surprise at the sight of the bloodied maid, I raced down the hall. Several other merying to attend to the maid when I got there, only to step back when they saw my bd silver-. I’d made a habit of wearing my Order uniform around the Citadel for situations just like this, where I didn’t want to be questioned.

  I them as I approached the maid. “Miss,” I said quietly, taking her jittery free hand in my own. I did my best to catch her shaky gaze with my own. “What happened?”

  “M-m-m,” She tried to get out, before finally succeeding. “Murder! I-in the dungeons!” She wailed, colpsing to her knees.

  I cursed, as the stiffening of the meo me sighe arrival of the Prind his bodyguard. He had obviously heard the woman as well, from the pissed-off look on his face.

  I think we’d both realized what that probably meant.

  Our eyes met as the Prince spoke. “The dungeons are where we were keeping Duke Graden. If you don’t mind apanying me, Mr. Hart, I’d like a representative from the Order present as we firm my suspis.”

  I the Prind fell in step with him. I may be a bit irritated with the little shit, but now wasn’t the time. I could piss and moan about the ambush to Grey ter. Before I did anything else, though, I made sure to speak quietly to one of the soldiers standing around and ask them to keep an eye on the maid.

  We couldn't be sure she wasn't party to whatever had happened down there.

  The Prince, Augustine, and I fast walked away from the se with the maid, trusting the soldiers and onlookers with her well-being. Taking the steps several at a time as we desded into the dungeons, I uzzled at what I heard eg up at me.

  It sounded like…cheering?

  And was that singing?

  As we hit the ground floor of the dungeons, I was a little…weirded out.

  Yup, all the prisoners held in the cells around us were cheering, hooting, and h ihey werely being subtle about for what, either.

  “Death to Graden!”

  “Fucker’s finally carked it!”

  “Yeahhhhhhhh! Fuck him!”

  Down the hall, I could see an individual wooden cell door lying open. On the ground in front of the open door was a smear and trail of blood, that led up the stairs that roup had just rushed down. Possibly from the maid.

  I took a deep breath. Well.

  I guess the cheering was fraden, then. Still, we had to firm things with our own eyes.

  The visibly furious Prind his bodyguard stalked down the hallway, while I trailed behind him. More than one prisoner was waving and cheering at the sight of us, as we passed their cell. One even wi me and gave me a thumbs-up.

  I’m guessing Grey had been uating things when he said the people of Helstein didn’t like Duke Graden.

  Just a tad.

  As roached the open cell, the singing that I had heard ing dowairs grew clearer, until I could make out the words. It was ing from the cell o the open one, as well as the sound of a basic beat being pyed oone walls inside.

  “Oh Duke Graden, yn’s now gone,

  Helstein’s joy will sing at dawn.

  In dungeon’s deep, your end we see,

  Freedom’s chorus, loud and free.”

  A bit morbid, my man.

  At st, the Prince, Augustine and I came to stand in front of the open cell. And inside…

  Yup, that was Duke Graden.

  Dead.

  Very, very dead.

  His throat had been slit so deeply that his head was hanging on by only the barest sinew. It didn’t look like the death had bee, though. He ale to the extent that he was a little blue, and I’m not sure there was a drop of blood left in his body. And the blood that ooling oone of his cell was dark and coaguted.

  Oddly, the dead Duke had a surprised look on his face.

  I sighed. Yeah, Grey wasn’t going to be happy about this.

  There went his information source about the other lords who had plotted his capture.

  As the Prince glowered at the se, the bard in the cell door tinued his song.

  “Good riddao a tyrant’s name,

  Helstein’s folk, no loame.

  Raise your voices, let them ring,

  For Duke Graden, the end we sing.”