“What is the meaning of this?” Excelerate bellowed, his voice a hoarse rattle.

“Jorge…” Bloodhound said, blinking in utter shock. “You shouldn’t be awake. Good Doctor said…”

“Said I wouldn’t walk again? Yeah, I know. Yet, here I am.”

Kiren hurried out of his chair so that Excelerate could sit. He slowly inched into the seat with the help of both Kiren and Lace and sighed with relief once the weight was taken off his legs. He stretched them out tentatively with a loud squeal from the braces.

“This is a private hearing,” Conversia said curtly. “You have no business here, Router.”

“You know I don’t go by that name, Nyssa,” Excelerate spat. “Besides, I have every right to be here. Kiren is my apprentice, after all.”

Conversia opened her mouth to protest further, but Bloodhound held up his hand, causing her to shut it just as quick.

“Very well. I’ll tell you what I just told your apprentice. Due to the crimes he has committed and the fact that he is likely a spy sent by the Dark Eye, he will spend the next thirty years at Wailing Hill prison.”

“A spy?” Excelerate asked with a joyless grin that was just as much a grimace. “Whatever made you conclude that?”

“His previous involvement with that organization, for one. His failure to disclose this upon his admittance to the Guild, for another. His recent criminal streak, for a third.”

There was a long silence.

Excelerate yawned.

“Are you expecting me to be surprised?” he asked. “I knew of his past before I took him on. He is clean. Well, clean is an overstatement, but he obviously cut ties with the Dark Eye when he was a child and hasn’t contacted or been contacted by them since. He is a criminal, yes. What else is an orphaned boy, fresh out of prison, in a city he doesn’t know, to do? Would you have hired him? Would anyone?”

“That doesn’t excuse…”

“No, Bloodhound. You listen to me.” Excelerate jabbed a finger in front of the Guild Leader’s broad nose. “Kiren took on Hulda Ludenhaas of his own volition. For what? He had nothing to gain. If his true allegiances lay with the Dark Eye, his main goal would be to stay beneath notice, not challenge one of the city’s, no, the empire’s most prominent political figures, an A-Rank Hero, to a duel. Does that strike you as the work of a spy?”

“Unimportant!” Bloodhound snapped back. “Regardless of your knowledge of his actions, that doesn’t excuse them. It only serves to implicate you. All these justifications do not change the fact that this should have gone through proper channels. As it stands, justice was perverted. Regardless of Hulda's guilt, what Kiren did was an act of villainy. If you stand behind his decision, then you accept shared responsibility for his actions.”

“Expel me, then. I’ve grown rather attached to my little helpers. I will not be parted from them.”

“You know I would,” Bloodhound said. “It’s always been on the table with you. The only reason we ever tolerated your impudence is that you were useful. Now…” He motioned to Excelerate’s ruined legs. “That has clearly come to its end.”

The white-haired old man became a blur of motion. The chair clattered to the floor behind him. When he stopped he was leaned across the desk, the point of a knife a fraction of a centimeter from the Guild Leader’s left eyeball.

“Old dogs still bite,” Excelerate said. “You should know that, mutt.”

Bloodhound remained quiet. He guided the knife away with an index finger, and Excelerate stuck it back inside the folds of his improvised clothing.

“So, what’ll it be? Expel me, and I’ll be the second A-Rank you lose in two days. Or let me keep my apprentice, who made the right choice in bringing a corrupt woman to justice, instead of the easy or convenient one.”

“Keep him, then,” Bloodhound growled.

Kiren couldn’t hold back a grin.

Lace let out a muted squeal.

The Guild Leader held up a furry finger. “On one condition.”

“Anything within reason,” Excelerate said with a shrug.

“As a show of his commitment to the Guild, he will be responsible for bringing in the two most dangerous criminals who escaped capture—Hyena and Snapjaw—without direct intervention from any Hero. If he fails to complete this task within seven days, he will be permanently expelled from the Heroes’ Guild.”

“Agreed,” Excelerate said.

The two shook hands, and Kiren and Lace helped Excelerate out of the room. All the while, Conversia stared as if she had just seen the Unmaker herself run into the room buck naked, doing handstands.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Excelerate’s legs buckled and he collapsed on the floor. Kiren almost went down with him, and only remained standing by catching himself against a wall.

“Master!” Lace exclaimed, getting on her knees and rolling him onto his back.

“Fucking kids…” Excelerate muttered between clenched teeth. “The things I do for you.”

“Help me get him up,” Lace said to Kiren. “We need to get him back to the House of Healing.”

“No,” Excelerate grunted. “My room. Can’t stand another fucking moment being doted on.

“Besides, we need to talk.”

*****

“You two are the most disobedient, bull-headed apprentices I’ve ever reared,” Excelerate said, settling into the bed with a long sigh.

“Not completely unlike yourself, if I may say so, Master,” Lace said. She held herself in a straight-backed posture, arms behind her back.

I’m the one to blame for all this, she thought. I will accept whatever punishment he gives me.

“You may not. If I were you, I would be very careful with my next words.”

“You’re not going to throw us away,” Kiren said confidently. He leaned against one crutch, the other discarded.

Excelerate’s eyebrow rose, the other hidden behind the bandages. “Oh? What makes you say that?”

“You fought Hulda for our sake. Just now, you did the same with Bloodhound.”

“Perhaps I just wanted the privilege of dealing with you myself,” he said with a ghastly grin.

“You don’t need to pretend with us, Master,” Lace interjected. “Good Doctor told us your prognosis. There won’t be time for you to wait another year and recruit new apprentices. You need us, now.”

“I need apprentices who won’t throw their lives away for nothing!” Excelerate roared, his pale face suddenly gone bright red. “Apprentices who have more sense than to disobey their master and go at each other’s throats! If that is the alternative, I’d rather wait until I’m on my fucking death bed to take on new apprentices.”

He hissed, clutching one of his legs, and fell back onto the pillow.

Lace blinked, taken aback. It was the most emotion she had ever seen him show.

“It won’t happen again,” Kiren said. “We hashed it out. No bad blood.”

“From now on, we will heed your word,” Lace added.

Excelerate shook his head. At that moment, he looked small and frail. Just an old man, riddled with wounds, clinging to life by the barest thread.

Kiren and Lace shared a look. She felt as though they both knew what it meant.

We have to tell him.

Lace took a deep breath.

“Don’t tell us we’re crazy, but… we think Ender is still alive.” She licked her lips.

“Actually, we know he is,” Kiren added.

There was a long moment of silence.

Suddenly, Excelerate was grinning. He chuckled to himself.

“Oh, you kids,” he said. “Why do you think I recruited you?”

Lace was stunned into silence.

His voice dropped to a whisper. “You are the ones who’ll kill him for me.”

*****

Hulda’s trial was held at Sunpeak Square. All the market stalls had been cleared aside for the day, and a giant wooden platform erected in the middle of the square.

The Heroes had handed her over to the Ludenhaas family to pass the sentence. After Wordsmith had fully deciphered the book, four highly positioned members had been implicated in the trade of Angel’s Kiss.

The square was jam packed, hundreds of people attending from every corner of Goldbrand and even beyond. The Heroes had a slice carved out, all the common folk giving them a wide berth. Most of the Heroes who had been able to spare the time were present, including the Guild Leader. This was one of their own, after all.

Representatives of the five noble families were also making an appearance, having all rolled up in carriages with pomp and circumstance to observe the event, hidden behind heavy curtains.

The four accused knelt atop the platform, hands bound behind their backs. Hulda, Ren, Sana, and Croit Ludenhaas.

Even in this humiliating position they still held their noses in the air, as though they were above anyone present.

Ludenhaas guards circled the platform, and a tall, stately man stood behind the four accused. A long, curved sword rested on his hip in a simple loop, made from shining silver.

Lace shuddered at the sight of it. Now she knew what a Ludenhaas spirit weapon could truly do.

The man had black hair, greying at the temples, and a salt-and-pepper beard. His weathered face bore the earnestness of a kind uncle or a friendly neighbor. He carried himself with a firm, straight-backed posture, but not so much to appear snobby. It simply radiated… strength.

Don’t trust it, Lace thought. I’d bet money he’s just like the others in his family.

She wished it could be anyone else passing Hulda’s sentence, but of course that wasn’t possible. If the Guild hadn’t handed her over, it would have been a political disaster.

A balding, robed priest stood beside him to officiate the sentence. It wasn’t technically necessary, but having the blessing of Wiseman’s Temple would ease the people’s minds about any fraud on the part of the Ludenhaas.

That would have to be enough.

Lace looked over at Kiren, who was wriggling like an eel in his doublet. She took his hand in hers for reassurance. Her nerves were racing out of control.

He tolerated it for nearly a minute before slipping his hand from her grip.

“All people of Goldbrand gathered here today!” the man atop the platform shouted. His voice barely carried over the bustle of hundreds of voices, but everyone quieted down once he started speaking. “We shall begin. Today we pass sentence on these four souls for crimes committed against the empire, and you, its people.”

He counted out the four names, walking behind each person as he did so.

“My name is Oren Ludenhaas, seventh son, patriarch of the Ludenhaas family. Hulda is my mother.”

Audible gasps rippled through the crowd. Lace fought not to do the same.

“Great,” Kiren muttered. “Another asshole to worry about.”

“Your apprehension is understandable!” Oren continued. “However, you should know that my duties are first to the empire, and my family second. Even so, my mother’s crimes have broken every letter of the family code. I will not show leniency.”

There was utter sincerity in his voice as he frowned out over the people of Goldbrand.

Hulda had sounded sincere, too.

He walked around in front of the four kneeling figures, arms clasped behind his back.

“Mother, you stand accused of knowingly organizing the shipment of prohibited substances into the city, then overseeing their sale. You also stand accused of perverting the course of justice in your role as a Hero.”

He turned to the next in line, a shorter man with a large nose and a potbelly. “Ren. Uncle. You stand accused of aiding in this conspiracy by knowingly stockpiling shipments of these substances within your holdings and coordinating trades with smaller distributors.”

Oren continued down the line, reading out the accused and their charges from memory.

“Do any of you have anything to say in your defense?” he concluded.

“I do,” Hulda said, her voice brimming with bitterness. She looked up at her son. “You do not have the right to judge me.”

“Oh? Why is that, Mother?”

“Because you are beneath me! Not just you, but all of you. Weak-willed, groveling worms. All I did, I did for the name of Ludenhaas.”

“All you did, you did to satisfy your own inflated ego,” Oren corrected. “Your schemes have been revealed. We know it all.”

Hulda chuckled to herself, shaking her head. “Oh, son of mine. You know more than you will admit. You did not complain about the influx of coin that poured into our failing trade ventures in Setho and Centucia. You came to me to supply the capital for your grand gesture of diplomacy to Hasathaden, in the process lifting sanctions which saved our family from financial ruin. You did not ask then, where I got that money. You turned the other cheek. And yet now, you dare to pass judgment upon me?” She spat. “I will not acknowledge it. Throw me in the darkest dungeon you have on offer—I will be a free woman until the day I die.”

Oren remained quiet, glancing around the square as murmurs bubbled to the surface.

“Enough!”

A sudden wash of light drowned the square, bright and hot. Lace covered her face with her hands, eyes burning. Trails of washed-out colors sliced her vision.

The light narrowed, taking the form of a woman hovering high in the air with a rainbow gloria about her head, slowly lowering herself from the sky with effortless grace. Her body was splendid in every way, a perfect archetype of feminine beauty, marred only by the absence of her right arm.

Paragon.

She touched down on the platform. She approached Hulda and Oren scrambled out of the way, covering his eyes while he bowed.

“Hulda Ludenhaas,” Paragon said. “You do not consider your son an apt judge. Perhaps you would prefer my judgment.”

She spoke in a collected, almost conversational tone, and yet it carried to every corner of Sunpeak Square.

Lace could hardly make out the kneeling woman against the luminous splendor of Aribel’s queen.

“I-I…” Hulda stammered.

“Your crimes are undeniable fact,” Paragon interrupted. “You will spend your life in Wailing Hill, without possibility of reprieve. There, you will assist the guard staff in cleaning the chamber pots and scrubbing the floors. Hopefully, it will teach you some humility before your soul is to pass on. For the others, you will serve thirty years, and all your lands and titles will be stripped away.”

She turned to face her people, and her light multiplied tenfold, enveloping Lace in a warmth as gentle and personal as a mother’s embrace.

“Remember this day,” Paragon spoke. “Take it as a lesson. High or low, none is above my justice, or below my notice. This woman and her accomplices thought to speak in my stead, and in so doing perverted my vision for their own ends.

“Now they are paying for those actions.”

With that, the queen’s light faded, and within seconds there was no trace of her apart from the lingering warmth of her presence.

“What the…” Kiren said, trailing off as he stared at the spot where Paragon had just been.

“Fuck,” Lace finished.