VII

After the meal they met Lord Wynet in a separated chamber. He had a group of men with him and one woman. “I have your billets here,” he said. “Signed and sealed by King Laderan himself.” He gestured to the table.

Yoreno moved forward, glancing at the other men in the room. Between their different armors and weapon styles, he suspected two were knights while the other two were adventurers.

Yoreno passed them out according to their names, then slid his billet into his breast plate. “And these will give us access to—“

“Anything,” Lord Wynet said. “Not that you need them, as I will be accompanying you on your journey.”

“And these friends of yours are?” Dantera asked.

“This is Andaloo,” he said. “An adventurer that knows a thing or two of magic. We also have Sir Jerrin with us, an able swordsmen and a hells of a good fighter. We also have Sir Wexel.”

“Hello,” the knight said, nodding. He was short and had am ample paunch with a thick mustache covering most of his face that could rival Kylen’s at the Roaming Lions.

Yoreno missed that gruff and tough old adventurer. He was a good man, a good leader and a trusted friend.

“And finally we have Liora,” Wynet said. “Another adventurer. Archer, no?”

She nodded. “I can hit an apple off of your heads at fifty paces.”

Yoreno raised a brow, hoping she wasn’t boasting. He thought Andaloo and Sir Jerrin looked impressive, but Sir Wexel was a concern, which made him wonder about Liora.

But it didn’t matter. The Emblazoned Party, such as it was without Delwyn and Lev, was a force to me reckoned with. “Thank you,” Yoreno said. “We need all the help we can get.”

Wynet nodded. “I am not the leader of this party,” he intoned. “That being said, the king has given me leave to supersede your commands if I feel there is a need.”

“Understandable,” Sorika said. “This is your kingdom after all.”

“Indeed.”

Mai walked over to Andaloo and asked him some questions about his capabilities in the magical arts, but Yoreno wasn’t listening.

Instead, he glanced at the other knights and adventurers. “I am glad you are joining up with us. We are all mid-tier adventurers, and Dame Brennovo is a top-tier. What are your statuses?”

Liora looked at him for a moment. “Dunno.”

“You don’t know?” Dantera asked, her tone somewhat filled with surprise and challenge.

“Never saw much use in classifying myself when I might be wrong.”

Except there was a way to get an aptitude classification. It was a relatively strenuous affair that involved guild officials, moneys, and of course an adventurer’s time. That she had not gone to the trouble meant she either did not care to, or she was avoiding the classification for some other reason.

“All right,” Yoreno said with a nod. “That’s fine. And Andaloo?” What is your classification? Mid-tier?”

Nodding, he said, “Yes. I was classed not two months ago at the Trident.”

“Trident?” Yoreno asked the blonde-haired man. He was tall and well groomed.

“It’s a guild to the west of here in the Merman Reef Islands.”

“Very well,” Yoreno said. “Welcome to the party.”

“Thank you,” Andaloo said. “But you must know, that my mid-tier classification is my overall ability status. My fighting skills are just below mid-tier and my magical arts are even less impressive than that.”

“That’s fine,” Yoreno said. “I just want to know what my party members are capable of.” His eyes found Sir Wexel and he said nothing. Neither did Yoreno. Turning back the Lord Wynet, Yoreno asked. “Where would you suggest we begin?”

He sighed. “Anywhere.”

“Are you truly so overwhelmed?” Dantera asked.

“Indeed,” Wynet said. “Our best adventurers and knights are off fighting on the frontiers, tracking cultists, killing goblins and trying to keep a handle on everything all at once. We have knights and soldiers stationed all through the kingdom, but alas—far too thinly.”

“Very well,” Yoreno said. “But if you had to choose a starting point?”

Wynet breathed in deeply, obviously thinking.

“Why not in the north?” Andaloo said. “There are reports of mercenary adventurers there working with some of the goblins in the area. We could start there?”

“That’s not a bad idea, son,” Wynet said.

Yoreno looked at them. “Are you two…”

“Not related,” Wynet said.

Yoreno nodded. “What of the Black Guard that preceded us here? What are they doing to assist the Kindom?”

“They’ve set out with some of our knights in a similar party,” Wynet said. He glanced at the room. “They seemed less interested in helping us than they did finding Rynoria.”

“Really?” Dantera asked. “And… do you think they will find her?”

“No,” Wynet said. “The only way we can find her is when she reveals herself.”

“I see.”

“Lord Brendara,” Wynet said. “When do you want to set out?”

“It’s early evening,” Yoreno said. “We should all rest and head out just before dawn.”

“Good idea.”

“I must remind you,” Yoreno said. “We sent two of our party back to Aevalin. I have bid them to return with reinforcements from our guild, the Roaming Lions.”

“That’s fine,” Wynet said. “We need any and all help.”

“Can I request you send a scout to Shunavar with instructions to find our people when they arrive so that they know where to find us?”

He looked at Yoreno and paused. It was clear he was apprehensive about sending a man off to sit around and do nothing. With as much trouble in the Kingdom of the Blue Dragon as there was, Yoreno understood his hesitancy.

But finally he nodded. “Yes. Yes, of course.”

Yoreno returned the gesture. “We will retire and then meet you in the courtyard overlooking the lake in the morning.”

“Very good,” Wynet said. “I will have your horses brought out at sunrise. “Also, your weapons have been returned to you. They’re in your chambers.”

“Thank you,” Dantera said.

The party dissolved, Wynet heading in one direction with the new knights and adventurers leaving out another passage separate from the way Yoreno and his party exited from.

Their chambers were warm and the rains outside were letting up. Yoreno hoped the next day would be one of bright sun and warm weather.

“That was a lot of talking,” Sorika said.

“I know you’re not usually a part of those kinds of talks, but it’s a good experience to have.”

She rubbed her face and layed down on the sofa.

“I for one am excited,” Mai said. “And ready for Rynoria. You forget she put a knife in me.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Yoreno said.

“Yes,” Dantera added. “We need to be very cautious. This is no carefree adventure of laughs and loot.”

“We’re going to find her,” Yoreno said, intending for Dantera to understand that he meant Rynoria, the leader of the Nai’ Sha’el. Dead or alive, they would take her back to Aevalin and Dantera would be restored.

His eyes went to her rapier Ito Farralia on the table lying next to the other weapons. He went to the table and looked at it, picked up the blade.

Glancing back, Dantera turned from him.

“You should use your sword.”

“No.”

“Dantera.”

“I am not worthy of that blade, Yoreno. It is a weapon of my house, a house that has fallen so low.”

“I don’t think Lev would appreciate that statement,” Sorika said.

But Dantera ignored her jest.

“This isn’t about your feelings,” Yoreno said. “We have a job to do and we need you performing at your best.”

“Yoreno—“

“No!” he said, perhaps too sternly. “You are our most powerful party member. Take the sword.”

She stepped back.

“I command you to take the sword.”

She paused, sighed and then stepped forward, her demeanor one of frustration and annoyance. “Yes, my lord.”

Yoreno nodded as she snatched the blade from him.Then he glanced over at the sofa where Sorika was sitting, her chin resting on the backing as she watched them, Mai behind her sitting in a chair to the right of the hearth.

“What?” he asked.

Mai shook her head and Sorika shrugged. “Just watching the spat.”

“There is no ‘spat’!” Dantera said.

“Mmhm,” Sorika noised.

“I would tell you to behave yourself, Lady Cranelia,” Yoreno began, “but seeing as how we’re the same rank…”

“But you are the leader of the Roaming Lions,” Mai said. “And remember, we don’t do ranks in the guild?”

“Perhaps Yoreno is turning over a new leaf, hmm?” Dantera asked, her tone somewhat testy. She didn’t like being a knight under the command of Yoreno, that much was certain.

It hadn’t seemed to upset her before, but now that he had commanded her to do something she did not want to do—her true feelings were revealing themselves.

But she would not test him.

Dantera was a rogue in her own way, but she was respectful of authority. She had not argued with Queen Neslyn about edict concerning Lady Brennovo’s fate. She simply accepted it.

He wanted to help her.

He would help her. And if the Black Guard killed Rynoria first?

Yoreno wasn’t certain what he could do, then. Dantera would live the rest of her days outside of Aevalin as a knight errant—assuming the queen did not strip that from her as well.

The thought and sudden realization made his heart jump with fright.

“You two go on to bed,” Yoreno said as he regarded Sorika and Mai. “I want to speak to Dantera alone.”

Sorika didn’t say a word. She got up off the sofa and left with Mai trailing her. As their mage passed him by, she put a hand on Yoreno’s shoulder and gave him a somber look—not concerning him and Dantera, but concerning their quest to kill Rynoria, to help the Kingdom of the Blue Dragon and restore Dantera to her rightful position.

After Mai closed the door, Yoreno looked at Dantera. She said nothing, simply stood with one hand on her hip. “Sit?” he suggested.

She regarded at him for a moment, but then finally nodded and went to the sofa. He sat on the other end, keeping a respectful distance between them. He looked at her, the room quiet save for the gentle popping and crackling of the fire. The light in the room was soft from the candles. For some reason Ferelli castle didn’t have glow rocks. Probably because they were expensive, that expense better served on the army and wartime provisions.

“What?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

Dantera narrowed her eyes. “You did not send them to bed to stare at me, yes?”

“This isn’t going to be a problem, is it?”

“What?”

“You taking orders from me.”

She shrugged. “Of course not.”

“I don’t want to make you do things that you don’t want to do, Dantera. Especially if I’m being unfair. But I’m thinking of the party—of this quest. If we succeed, you will be given your title back.”

“At the expense of what, my honor?”

“Does it damage your honor to use a sword of all things?”

She didn’t say anything. Whether that meant she had no answer, Yoreno didn’t know. “We’re going back to Aevalin,” Yoreno said. “With or without Rynoria.”

Dantera arched an eyebrow and her demeanor lightened. “You are so sure of tourself, but don’t forget, you are my protégé.” She said the words with a grin. Then she jerked her chin up. “How?”

“We will think of something. I am certain.”

“Hmph,” she scoffed. “You are an optimist, I see.”

“Are you not?”

“I try to be.”

Yoreno looked at her, regarding her golden braided hair, her blue eyes. Gods, she was beautiful.

“What are you looking at?”

Saying nothing, he lifted a hand and touched her cheek.

Did didn’t move—just looked at him. Then she swallowed. He felt nervous too. Ever since he had become her protégé, Yoreno had sensed something between them. It was subtle, but always there.

Especially after completing his trials on the Isle of Morr by defeating the regenerative monster known as Herokelus.

Reaching up, she took his wrist in her hand. Then she yanked him toward her and put her arms around his neck. Their lips met.

The kiss they shared was far sweeter than he had imagined, though he hadn’t imagined that very often. Him? And Dantera? It was shocking—even to Yoreno.

But the sweet embrace of her arms around him and her moist lips on his were intoxicating. He didn’t care if this was shocking or unexpected.

It had been there all along, lying in wait.

He pulled back and gasped for air to find her breathing heavily and looking up at him with a smile on her face. Dantera held him close, their foreheads touching. “I’ve wanted…” she whispered. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time, Yoreno.”

“Truly?”

“Yes,” she breathed and kissed him, smiled and kissed him again. With a short giggle, she glanced toward the other chambers where Sorika and Mai had retired. “I’m glad your friend Levrin isn’t here.”

Yoreno chuckled, then leaned in and kissed her on the lips. “So am I.”

“But…” she said.

“What?”

That creaking sound came back and listening, Yoreno realized it was the window. He glanced up and saw a figure standing in the room with them.

His heart shot into his mouth.

“GET DOWN!”

He rolled off of Dantera and something shot past them over the sofa and landed solidly into the wall. Yoreno jumped, landed on his forearms and scrabbled toward the table as Dantera snarled and threw something toward the window.

It shattered as Yoreno reached for his sword on the table.

Had it not been for the intruder’s feet tapping across the tiles, Yoreno wouldn’t have known he was being rushed.

He raised his sword and blocked the other man’s strike, his blade impossible to see. But Yoreno was a practiced and experienced duelist. He didn’t need to see the other man’s sword to know how to react based on the movements of his opponent’s shoulders and arms.

Dantera scrambled away as Yoreno slashed at his opponent, his blade stopping on the assassin’s guard. The black-cloaked figure thrust his head foreward and Yoreno jerked back from the sudden pain in his forehead. Slightly stunned, he stepped back. His foot hit something and he fell.

The assassin came over him with an overhanded strike, but his attack was stopped when Dantera put Ito Farralia in the path of his blade.

The assassin tuned to her, his blade flashed darkly in the room as the other chamber door slammed open.

Head swiveling, the assassin turned, deflected the dagger Sorika through and then grunted, his body convulsing as he froze. His eyes moved to the side as he tried to look at Dantera who pulled her rapier out of his back.

Yoreno rolled to his feet and grabbed the assassin’s wrist just in case he had the strength for one final attack.But he slumped to his knees as blood dribbled out of his mouth and over his chin. He fell over, dead.

Dantera said nothing as she went to the door. “GUARDS! GUARDS! TO ARMS! INTRUDERS IN THE CASTLE!”

Sorika stalked to the window and glanced at. Yoreno, breathing hard from his sudden surprise, noticed how she did not lean out of the window in case the assassin had accomplices.

The guards came running—two armed and armored knights. When they saw the dead assassin they glanced from Yoreno to the girls in their shifts.

Sorika closed and latched the window.

“I will fetch the captain of the guard,” one man said. “And wake the castellan.”

“Quickly!” Yoreno hissed.

The guard ran while the other moved about the room in search of other intruders. Yoreno picked up the attacker’s sword and walked over toward the light of the fire. “This is why I couldn’t see his blade.”

Dantera came over. “What is that?”

“I don’t know. Some kind of black metal.”

The castle guard came over and looked at the sword. “We’ve seen these before. Its obsidian metal.”

“Obsidian metal?” Dantera asked.

“A form of magical metallurgy that combines obsidian crystals with steel. These swords never need sharpened and the metal is light in weight.”

The room lit when Mai casted a ward over the window.

“Are they destructible?” Yoreno asked.

“Yes,” the guard said. “That is if they’re not otherwise enchanted with such a status effect as to keep it from breaking. We don’t see many indestructible statuses in these parts, though.”

“The window is guarded,” Mai added.

Sorika nodded, ran to the other rooms in search of anything out of place. Yoreno was secretly impressed with the efficiency of their movements. But he—and they—had all let their guards down when they came to the castle, thinking they were safe here.

They obviously were not.

Dantera glanced down at her sword. Ito Farralia had pierced the assassin’s heart, with her hand on the hilt. The blade was still covered in blood.

“Are you all right?” Yoreno asked.

She looked up at him. “I am fine,” Yoreno.

Mai came forward. She had put a thicker robe on over her shift. She looked at the blade. “Wow,” she said. “This almost makes me want to change my class. Sor”—she bechoned the other girl forth—“come look at this.”

She came out of the chamber also wearing a robe now. The rogue took the blade, looked at it and then swung it about. It was short, slightly wider near the end before tapering like a leaf. The cross guard was short. “I like it,” she said. Then to the guard she added, “Will this weapon hold up against steel weapons?”

He nodded. “The material is extremely strong, but when it breaks, it will shatter. Strong, but brittle are the words that can describe obsidian steel.”

“I’m keeping this,” she said to Yoreno.

He shrugged. “That’s fine.”

“Thanks.”

A group of knights arrived along with the castellan and the head of the castle guard. Sir Wyent also came. Since he was higher up in the king’s sphere of trusted men, it made sense that he was notified.

Wynet bent down with the castellan. “Yes,” he said, lifting the sleeve of the dead assassin. “The tattoo of the goat.”

“What’s that?” Yoreno asked.

Dantera looked at it. “This is similar to the markings on the killer we stopped in Aevalin castle, Yoreno.”

“Yes,” Wynet said. “It makes sense. This signifies the Order of Saineshal.”

“Saineshal?” Yoreno asked. He looked at the marking on the assassin’s wrist again. It was a symbol of a goat, its horns long and curved. There was certainly something dark and mysterious about the way the goat was depicted.

“Indeed,” Wynet said. “It’s the highest order of the Schuarist cults in these lands.”

“This is concerning,” the castellan said. He was a slender man of middling height, his head somewhat balding.

Wynet nodded.

“Why is this a concern?” Yoreno asked. “You have cultists running around all over the place from what the king tells me.”

“Not the Saineshal,” Wynet said. “This means they’re involved in what’s to come—even if Nai She’el is the primary driving force.”

“This is the same marking on a killer we stopped in the castle just before the Nai Sha’el attacked Aevalin castle and killed our king.”

Wynet nodded. “I would surmise that whoever that man was, he was leading the assassination.”

“I’m going triple the castle guard and put more guards within and without the king’s chambers,” the castellan said.

Lord Wynet nodded. “Go, John.”

The castellan left with the captain of the castle guard.

“I will have guards stationed in the corridors and outside in the turrets to watch your windows while you sleep.”

“You think we’re getting any sleep after this?” Sorika asked.

Wynet shrugged. “My apologies. Things like this are almost a common occurrence here. I assure you, with the added guard, you will be safe. Guards,” he commanded, “remove this body and send up the maids to clean the blood stains.” He glanced at Yoreno and the others. “Let’s move you to another chamber so you can try to get some rest. We have a long day of adventuring tomorrow.”

Yoreno nodded. “Thank you, Lord Wynet.”

“Call me ‘sir,’” he said. “A knight of the Kingdom of the Blue Dragon is what I am first.”

“Very well,” Yoreno said.

In their new chambers, with the guards outside their doors and the windows latched and watched via the turrets, Yoreno and the others sat around the dining table, talking.

Mai sighed heavily. “We could have been killed.”

“We need to be more vigilant, yes?” Dantera added sardonically.

Yoreno nodded.

“I’m surprised Yoreno heard the assassin first,” Sorika said.

Dantera frowned. “How do you know that?”

“I heard him scream.”

Dantera had the good sense to look just a little bit sheepish. Yoreno cleared his throat. “Nevertheless, we all need to be more vigilant.”

“I wish Dell and Lev were here,” Mai said.

Yoreno nodded as he glanced at everyone across the table. “As do I.”

“Do not worry about that,” Dantera said, her fingers grasping the scabbard of Ito Farralia lying across the table. “Soon we will have reinforcements from the Roaming Lions. Yoreno, did you request that Yorinius come back with them?”

“No,” Yoreno said. “I wanted to, but I feel he is the best choice to lead the Lions while we’re away.”

She nodded. “He is an excellent choice.”

Sorika sighed.

“Now,” Dantera added. “We should do as Sir Wynet suggested and get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow, followed with many more after that.”

She was right—as she ever was.

“Yes,” Yoreno said, making eye contact with Dantera. He tried not to smile or look at her too long. This was a dangerous situation—a dangerous place they were in.

There was no time for…

For what was between them. Yoreno was not entirely certain what it was. He knew there was attraction there, on both of their parts. And he respected Dantera. Did that mean—

“Yoreno?” Dantera asked.

“Yes?”

“Less thinking.”

“Sorry,” he said and got up from the table. He lifted his sword and took it to bed with him. Sorika glanced his way, but she kept her face straight.

For the most part.