King August sat in the royal carriage as it rolled down the streets of Academy City. At his side sat his daughter, the princess Betany, her small, pampered pooch Fluffkin in her lap. Opposite the pair sat Harn, briefing them on the missive he'd just received, while the court wizard sat beside him, watching the view out the window while stroking his long, grey beard in thought.

"In short," Harn concluded, "the young girl has had a remarkable reversal of fortune since our last discussion."

Remarkable wasn't the right word for it, the king reflected. Stumbling upon a hidden chamber holding numerous treasures, including what was easily the largest Ruby Rose ever found? That was nothing short of miraculous. That, combined with being deeded to inherit the title of Countess was going to make her a significant figure in the kingdom soon... although for good or ill, he could not say yet. He did voice one concern aloud, asking, "Any indications that this was anything other than mere luck?"

The Shorn dwarf chuckled in good humor, a surprising act for him, then admitted, "I don't blame you for asking, your majesty, despite you knowing full well how much of a stickler I can be for confirming anything before it reaches your ears. I will admit, I am as surprised as you are, and had everything triple-checked on top of the normal steps I have our agents take. However, everything clears without any sign of deception or outside influence. If it were a plot by the Stoneclutch, I sincerely doubt they would have risked such a highly valuable item fall out of their hands."

"They could teach a dwarven mine-lord a thing or two about being misers, that lot."

"Still and all, everything checks out: The lass has been well-known to make expeditions into the dungeons, ah, sorry, you humans call them labyrinths, once a week. She usually comes out with mana crystals or low-rank healing potions. Every once in awhile, she comes back with something a little better, but nothing worth crowing about. This time, she came out with a massive prize."

Harn chuckled, then shrugged and admitted, "Maybe she found it a lot sooner, and is only revealing it now so she can present it all directly to your majesty? It would be a cunning move to make, presenting such prizes to you directly, rather than simply telling the adventurer's guild. This way, she can make the biggest possible impact at a moment where not only the students and faculty are watching, but also numerous members of the aristocracy and the common folk. I doubt she's trying to turn herself into a symbol of revolution, but maybe she's wanting to send a message to the students that they can't keep her down or hold her back."

The king, rubbing his chin in thought, admitted, "I don't see the problem with that. In fact, it's something we can use to help improve the royal image amongst the populace while sending an admonishment to the aristocracy. A commoner being able to rise to inherit the rank of a countess through her own hard work, determination, and her willingness to risk her own safety, all at the age of fifteen? She's the embodiment of everything I've been trying to push forward, and proof that nobility comes from greatness, rather than the aristocratic view that greatness comes from nobility."

"I think it's a terrible idea," the princess stated, idly stroking her dog. "A commoner trying to rise through the nobility? She should be reminded of her place, not rewarded."

The king suppressed the urge to sigh, roll his eyes, or put his palm to his face. She spent far too much time with 'friends' who were little more than parasites looking to raise their station while whispering pro-noble propaganda in her ears. While she had three brothers between her and the throne, voicing those kinds of opinions out loud could do a great deal of harm. The king needed to admonish his daughter, but he wasn't sure how best to do so. The young woman wasn't terribly bright...

"Fluffkin is a wonderful little dog," Corfax, the court wizard mentioned, gently reaching out to scratch the fluffy creature under the chin. "Tell me, how did you raise him to be so obedient?"

Smiling beatifically, the princess beamed and said, "Plenty of love and affection. Every time he does well, make sure he knows how proud I am, and reward him for a job well done. If he misbehaves, I spank him a little so he knows not to do it again."

The dog was her pride and joy, a cute little ball of fluff that performed tricks on command and always behaved. Even the king, who was normally not fond of the tiny canines that noblewomen found fashionable, found he liked Fluffkin.

Nodding sagely, the elderly wizard asked, "So, you don't beat him just to put him in his place?"

Shocked, Princess Betany gasped, and said, "No, never! Why would I..." Suddenly, the penny dropped, giving a little, "Oh."

With a small chuckle, the wise wizard said, "Exactly. Your friends in the aristocracy fail to understand how best to keep order. You reward a dog if it does well. You spank them if they misbehave. By the same measure, you reward commoners for doing good deeds that benefit the kingdom, and you punish them when they go against the laws of the realm. You don't simply beat a dog to remind them that they are a dog, and you don't bring misery to the lives of commoners just to remind them they are commoners."

"Senselessly beating a dog will only make the dog hate you, and a dog that hates you will try to bite you and run away. Senselessly doing harm to the commonfolk will only create a population of commoners that hates their rulers and is likely to rise up and overthrow them. The attitude of the nobles, that 'commoners need to be put in their place', will only end in an uprising or revolution. I think your father can testify to the veracity of that statement."

The king nodded in gratitude to his court wizard, then turned to his daughter and said, "When I was only a little older than you are now, my grandfather and I went to visit the de Mortegard family. In those days, they were far more conservative than they are today, and they treated the commoners they oversaw with the harshest cruelty and taxed them into the deepest poverty. My grandfather, being conservative himself, fully approved, and endorsed such actions."

"Unfortunately for him, the day he visited was the day that the baron's subjects had decided they'd had enough. While riding in carriages to the nearby woods for a hunt, we were attacked by a mob of angry peasants."

The princess giggled and said, "I imagine that the knights of the royal guard made short work of them."

The king, sternly, corrected her, stating, "At twenty to one odds? It wasn't just one or two commoners, but over three hundred of the peasants from within the de Montegards' borders, near starving and finally fed up with the baron's conduct. All of them were armed with scythes, pitchforks, and cleavers. My grandfather and the baron had only brought a modest honor guard since they were in 'friendly' territory, and half their number had ridden ahead to set up a campsite. The knights were almost immediately overwhelmed."

"Pitchforks and scythes wounded their horses, causing the beasts to throw their riders or roll over to pin the knights underneath. Afterward, the peasants fell on the knights and quickly hacked them to pieces. Not hyperbole. They did the same to the baron's retainers, then dragged out the baron and his son from their carriage. The baron's armsmen, being of commoner stock themselves picked from among the baron's own citizenry, aided their friends and family, rather than defend their liege lord."

"I later learned that those same armsmen had worked together with the peasants to orchestrate the attack. When the mob was done, the remains of the baron and his son no longer even looked human. Having tasted blood, the mob did not hesitate to turn on the king as well, and while my father tried to fend them off with his sword, there's little even an expert swordsman can do when three hundred people attack you at once. He was quite literally torn apart by the mob, and if the advance party sent ahead by the royal guard not returned when it did, I've little doubt that I'd have shared the same fate."

He shook his head sadly, and concluded, stating, "I could not even fault the mob for its actions. They weren't revolutionaries or traitors, they were just men and women who'd been pushed to starvation by a noble more intent on lining his own pockets than he was in seeing to his duties to his subjects, and lashing out at a system that had failed to fulfill its duty to its citizens. While I shed no tears when they were put to death, it was still a tragedy that could easily have been avoided."

"To continue the canine analogy, a starving dog will always turn its teeth towards a cruel master," Corfax chimed in.

Harn chuckled at the shocked and sickened expression of the princess, and said, "The aristocracy often forgets just how vastly outnumbered they are, compared to the common folk. More importantly, they're everywhere: Commoners grow your crops, they make every stitch of clothing you wear, they sweep your floors, and they cook your food. More than one noble has tucked into a delicious meal, only to drop dead because someone added a special mushroom to the stew."

"You don't realize it, but there are far more commoners in the royal palace than soldiers, and even the royal army is largely made up of commoners. If there is a general uprising, there will be little to prevent the monarchy and the aristocracy from being executed in the capital square."

"Case in point, young lady: The previous king, your father's father, decided the best way to punish 'the upstart commoners' for the incident your father described was a massive increase in taxes. Less than a week later, he was found with his throat slit in the bath, one of the common-born attendants having decided that going to the gallows or headsman's block was worth killing the ruler who'd put his family in the poorhouse."

"Being a king or noble will not protect you if someone wants you dead enough," King August concluded, " and a peasant's knife can cut even a king's flesh as easily as their own. That is why we are working so hard to assuage the grudges and hatred between the commoners and the aristocracy."

"That is also why we do not ever talk about 'putting the commoners in their place', even in private. In the current climate, such talk could easily have terrible consequences. If a full revolution occurs, then all of our heads will no doubt be adorning pikes outside the palace walls, yours included." Fixing his daughter with a stony gaze, he asked, "Understand?"

His daughter, thoroughly chastised, could only nod emphatically.

The king relaxed a little, and said, "Good." Turning back to Harn, he asked, "How are the preparations for the celebration tomorrow night?"

The dwarf, using the code that the four had secretly agreed on, stated, "All of the guests are confirmed to have RSVP'd. The catering has been seen to, and the party games have been planned out. We're expecting a few party tricks, a few acrobats, and a visit from the dowager aunt. Party favors have been handed out."

Translation: He'd confirmed that the Stoneclutch was planning an assault during the tournament. The royal forces needed to repel the attack were on alert and in position. The attacking forces included enemy warlocks, vampires, and the dreaded Midnight Witch herself. Equipment necessary to deal with those threats had been distributed.

The king and Harn had suspected that the royal study was compromised, some manner of eavesdropping spell giving the Stoneclutch the ability to hear every word spoken between the king and his spymaster, along with any other guest admitted within. After Corfax had confirmed it, they'd agreed that they'd act as though they were unaware, but would continuously feed misinformation and only discuss operations in code for the duration.

So far, it seemed to have worked, as the agents of the dark organization were moving forward with their plans without any sign they suspected anything.

"I look forward to seeing some dear friends at my old Alma Mater," Corfax threw in. Translation: He'd called upon thirty of the strongest wizards on the continent who could be trusted, and confirmed that they'd be hidden amongst the crowd and ready to act.

Hopefully, that would be enough to deal with both the warlocks and the Midnight Witch. That, at least, would be extremely risky. It was possible, but unlikely, that they'd be able to actually kill the feared witch, as she'd proven extremely canny and rarely stayed to fight if the odds were not in her favor. Under other circumstances, they might have thrown everything they had into killing the deadliest witch on the continent. However, the night of a new moon meant she was at the height of her power, so the best that they could hope for was to scare her off.

"It's a shame that we can't invite more guests," the princess added. Translation: She was still upset that the students or staff at the academy could not be given advanced warning of the attack. Some of them were friends of hers, and she didn't like the idea of them getting caught in the crossfire.

"You can't invite too many people to a surprise party, or it will ruin the surprise," the king said, shaking a finger in admonishment. Translation: The risk was too great that someone may give away the plan, and the opportunity to take out the Stoneclutch was worth the potential loss of life, even if it was amongst the peerage.

They had one chance to devastate the Stoneclutch enough that they would be broken for decades, perhaps even generations. If they missed this chance, there was no guarantee that they could catch their adversaries off-guard ever again and the criminal organization would be free to spread chaos throughout the kingdom.

Harn added, a small grin on his face, threw in, "I received a letter from Sir Reginald. He regrets being unable to attend, but he has reached his cottage in the woods and is looking forward to his holiday." Translation: He'd received word that the soldiers and vampire hunters secretly dispatched to the known bases of the Stoneclutch were in position and would begin their assault at sunset tomorrow. Everything was in place.

King August nodded and said, "Well, I hope we all have a splendid time tomorrow night and our guests enjoy themselves." Translation: Everything is ready then, and our plans are in motion. Let's put every last one of those bastards in the ground.