As Rina made her way back she was unsure of how to deal with this situation and wanted to discuss it with Ross but felt like her brother needed his sleep. Besides she was feeling quite drained herself after entering the trancelike stealth. Thus she chose to go to bed and discuss it in the morning. She was only a bit concerned however as she unfortunately knows her father rather well. So it was thinking of her both strict and incredibly doting father that she fell asleep with the determination to find a way out of this with her brother and friends without relying on outside help.

As the sun rose Rina woke up and after dressing she left the room she shared with Mary-Ann and to her surprise she found Ross already up waiting outside the room the boy’s shared.

“Morning sis, wanna grab some early breakfast?” Ross said in a jovial tone having apparently spelt well.

“You could have slept longer, you know?” Rina said as she stifled a yawn.

“As if, getting up at dawn becomes a habit.” Ross snorted.

“Ture especially when you get cold water dumped all over you if you oversleep…” Rina sighed, not even angry about the treatment she had received when she overslept anymore.

Ross wore a sour expression that mirrored Rina’s own expression to a tee. They shared a moment where they once again cursed Mistress Cormora in their heads before smiling and walking down to the inn’s common room for some food.

To the pair's surprise their driver was already up and eating a hearty breakfast with the dark-skinned Kiala. The dark-skinned woman looked to be fuming on the inside as she attacked her innocent breakfast. Rina looked over at Ross and gestured at the table suggesting they should join the pair. Ross raised his eyebrows at this but did not argue.

The driver and Kiala gave the two cold looks as they took their seats by the table. Before the coach driver could swallow his food Rina spoke in a rather clam and offhanded tone.

“So it seems like Aeron is dipping his fingers in more than one honey pot.” Rina spoke as she waved to the serving girl.

The driver looked up confused but Kiala’s assault on the now misshapen sausage stopped and she gave Rina a sharp look. She did not say anything however and Rina calmly ordered food for herself and Ross before turning to the diver with a furious expression.

“You hired some rather unsavoury guards for this journey without your employer’s consent.” She did not even have to feign her anger as she spoke in a low voice that was unfitting for a girl her age.

The driver gaped at her, food forgotten before looking over at Kiala that was still glaring at Rina.

“What do you mean?” The driver said, smiling uncomfortably as he paled.

“I’m telling you that you not only invited along people with the intent to harm me and my friends but you even paid them.” She said this and smiled, her words full of implication.

“I’m sure there has to be some kind of misunderstanding!” The driver half shouted as he looked between Rina and Kiala now sweating. “And even if this is true I have nothing to do with it!” He added while swallowing hard. “I would never wish harm to befall any of my clients!” He said and pounded his chest.

“Your intent is not very important.” Ross said with a dry chuckle as he joined the conversation. “Even being only loosely related in an incident involving not only students of the Academy but family members of the low and high nobility along with an Imperial VIP is enough to have you hung.” Ross shrugged and the driver grew even paler before snapping to Kiala.

“They are mistaken right?! I employed you in good faith, you wouldn’t hurt your contractors right?!” His voice was loud enough that had anyone been seated at the adjacent table they would have heard every word he said without any effort.

There were a few moments of silence as the three looked at Kiala who slowly put down her cutlery and took a swig of water that she swirled around her mouth before swallowing with a bitter expression.

“I have already made it clear that I will take no part in his damned schemes.” Kiala spat. “I told him to leave me behind in Academy town if he wanted to insist on his foolishness.” She growled and stabbed a misshapen piece of sausage, shoving it into her mouth.

“You are joking…” The driver said as he slumped over looking like his life had left him.

“I’m afraid that is not good enough.” Rina said and smiled at the serving girl that returned slowly with the food.

The girl looked at the group and with a nervous expression sat down the plates before beating a hasty retreat. Only once the girl was out of earshot did Rina turned to Kiala.

“As Aeron has made his choice he will reap what he has sown.” Rina said in a bright voice that sharply contrasted with her heavy threat.

Kiala grimaced but Rina ignored her and began to eat her leftover stew with the freshly baked bread she had ordered. Ross looked over at his sister and sighed a bit annoyed. As he had not been informed of what had happened last night and he had to simply play by ear as he guessed at his sister’s goals. Luckily that had been together for all but three years since birth.

“You two can either gamble on Aeron and hope that he manages to complete his task without anyone finding out about it or…” Ross trailed of and gave the pale driver and angry Kiala meaningful looks.

“Or we can do as you say and hope that we don’t become pray along with you.” Kiala said with a sneer.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that.” Rina said dismissively as she dipped a piece of bread in her soup. “There is absolutely no way that Aeron could succeed.” She said dismissively.

“And why is that?” Kiala asked in a flat voice.

“Because Papa is a worrywart.” Rina said with a smile that did not fit the mood of the conversation and Ross unconsciously nodded his head.

Kiala looked at the two as if they were stupid. “How could these naïve children possibly have found out Aeron’s stupid plan?” She thought incredulously before she snapped around and looked behind her.

Her breath caught in her throat and she broke out in cold sweat and she kept staring at the empty corner of the room where IT had been. Her experiences as a Delver where she had come face to face with death countless times had screamed at her. Every fibre of her being had reacted to the pure bloodcurdling bloodlust she had felt behind her for but the briefest of moments. Like all those times in the past she had in this moment felt her life hanging in the balance and regardless of how brief that moment had been she knew her life had been spared.

Her heart pounded and she felt cold sweat on her back as she drew a deep ragged breath as if she had just been running full tilt.

“See?” Rina said sweetly and Kiala turned to her slowly.

The driver looked between the two bewildered, making it clear that the cold and overwhelming bloodlust had been directed at her and her alone. This made it all the more terrifying. Anyone could generate bloodlust as a natural side-effect of their will to harm another being so bloodlust in itself was not something unknown to Kiala. But to direct such overwhelming bloodlust at only a single person and to then vanish into thin air once more, made whoever it belonged to a true monster.

Rina sighed in frustration. She had been unable to figure out a way to solve this without relying on outside help. But if it had come to a fight with the four “guards” it would in truth not have even been a contest. Even if she had managed to persuade Kiala they were still likely to lose. So maybe it had been impossible to begin with.

“Well…” Rina said with a sigh as she looked at Kiala. “From what I have understood this is not the first time your group have undertaken such unsavoury tasks.” She observed Kiala and was a bit impressed when the dark-skinned woman who gave away nothing. “Thus you will probably be found guilty of some crime or another, but…” She looked over at Ross and then back to the expressionless Kiala. “If you help us I’m sure we can make some kind of arrangement.”

“An arrangement she says.” Kiala said with a scoff. “I have no intention of getting involved.” She said flatly leaning back.

“You misunderstand.” Rina smiled sweetly. “The fact that you are part of a group that intends to harm the nobility, you along with your friends will be subject to interrogation under a truth spell.” Kiala stiffened at that. “So unless you have never committed a crime in the empire…” Rina left the rest unsaid.

Kiala glared at Rina who for her part started eating her breakfast with a good appetite. The silence that reigned over the four was only interrupted by the sound of the twins eating for quite some time until the driver spoke in a nervous voice.

“What about me?” He looked between Rina and Ross.

“Just do your job.” Ross said with a shrug.

“However, next time you should probably inform your clients that you intend to hire guards.” Rina took another bite and after chewing she added. “Also if you intend to hire delvers you should do so through one of the guilds.” She glanced over at Kiala.

Kiala did not say anything and just sat there deep in thought as the twins ate their food. She was not happy about the situation she found herself in. Not only had Aeron taken another risky job due to his greed but he had even underestimated his targets and been completely outmanoeuvred by two children. Sadly she knew that Imperial law had three instances where the otherwise heavily restricted truth spells could be used. The first was on a convicted felon, the second was for capital crimes such as treason and the last was if the witnesses were of the nobility. Ironically the third exception which put her in such a difficult position was made to protect the commoners from oppressive nobles.

As she gritted her teeth and tried to figure out her next move the door to the inn swung open and Aeron entered and brushed off the snow of his cloak. Where she sat Kiala had the back to the wall and immediately saw when Aeron entered unlike the twins who had their backs to him. Thus she noticed that the familiar confident smile had returned to Aeron’s face and she knew that her choice had been made for her. Aeron saw the group of for and with a raised eyebrow strode over to them.

“Such early risers, how admirable. “ He said to the twins.

Rina looked at him with narrowed eyes full of distrust and Ross wore a flat expression giving a short greeting. Aeron looked over at Kiala who looked at him with the same annoyance as the day before and her massacred breakfast spoke volumes of her irritation. “Well she is probably going to get even more annoyed with me later.” Aeron thought with a slight smirk as he gave her a wink that made her scowl.

“It looks like it’s going to snow heavily today so we should leave as early as possible, right Brun?” He said pleasantly as he turned to the pale driver. “Brun?” He was surprised by how pale the sharp-tongued driver was.

“Our driver is contemplating his manners.” Rina said haughtily as she leaned back and half glared at Brun the driver. “I’ll go and wake up our friends so we can get moving.” Rina stood leaving half her breakfast. “Brother, mind ordering something for the others?” Ross nodded and Rina walked up the stairs to rouse Mary-Ann and the boys.

Aeron’s smile did not slip even as he internally laughed. “Maybe Brun won’t actually be an obstacle.” His smile widened as he too left to wake the rest of his party up. He did not even glance over at Brun as his thoughts turned to his coming plans. Hence he did not notice the very nervous expression that Brun wore and thus he did not realize that he plan was already going awry.

“So, what do you want me to do?” Kiala made no attempt at hiding her displeasure as looked at Ross.

“Just do your job.” Ross said with a slight smile.

“What?...” Kiala looked at him dubiously. “You’re not going to call the guards or something to capture them?”

“Well, no…” Ross sighed. “You see, even if we capture Aeron right now he’ll most likely only be given a rather manageable punishment.”

Ross frowned at his food for a moment before waving the serving lady over. After he had ordered some food for his friends and she left he looked back at Kiala who had narrowed her eyes dangerously.

“You see just planning to attack a noble is a rather substantial crime, one that allows the judge to put the offender under a truth spell. However as you have probably already surmised, under such a spell you can simply keep quiet and only crimes that are already known will be confirmed.” Ross chuckled at Kiala’s displeased expression, he seemed to have hit the nail on the head with that one. “You’re assumption is almost correct, but you see.” He paused and leaned in closer, his pale grey blue eyes glittering. “If anyone actually harms or try to harm said nobles the rules change.” He smiled and leaned back casually. “If you are successful or even stopped in the attempt the judge can not only place the attackers under a truths spell but under a compulsion spell as well.” He spoke in a light tone but for the first time he could see the dark-skinned woman pale.

Compulsion spells were foul things that forced the target to act as the caster chooses. Their practice has been banned since the founding of the Empire and only a handful of carefully selected and monitored mages are taught such spells in the Empire. They are trained to protect the empire from spies and other threats that would not break or yield under the most extraneous of torture and questioning. However the punishment for using such spells without authorisation for anyone in the empire be it foreigner, native or even one of the handful is summary execution. Because the heavy restrictions and harsh punishment such spells are rarely used and are therefore not commonly known. However a change in the law some fifty years ago made it so that a person caught attacking a noble and is also suspected to have committed similar crimes in the past can have compulsion spells cast on them. This was almost never implemented but in this instance that change was very relevant.

“So…” Ross said with a sweep of the hand. “It is preferable to catch Aeron and his friends in the act. Even if it is a bit risky.” Ross said with a resolute smile.

Kiala chewed on her lip. She was not sure what Aeron had planned but, she was rather certain that he had not counted on her to aid him. Yet he was very confident when he returned this morning which gave her pause. He might have set up a trap that even with the help of that monster bodyguard they might not be able to win. She looked down at her massacred food. “Which side will win?” She thought as she imagined the bloodstained snow. She had been with Aeron for almost two years and they had from time to time done rather questionable contracts for both nobles and the lower guild. Yet she felt no deep sense of loyalty towards Aeron nor did she hate him or wish him harm but right now she had to take a side.

As Kiala was deep in thought the students came down the stairs and she looked up and saw the dark-skinned Marith. “I guess I never had a choice in the first place…” She thought, as she glared at the boy that made this so much harder. “Razalana protect me…” She offered a silent prayer that almost startled her.

Kiala stood as the group approached and when Ross raised his eyebrows at her she gave him a slight and very reluctant nod before heading off. The others gave Kiala some rather confused looks as her expression was incredibly irritated.

After finishing their food they made their way over to the coach that already had the team hitched and the driver seated in his spot. Unlike the previous days the driver was silent and the group boarded without his grumbling. Not long after the guards arrived, but unlike yesterday only the large man and Kiala entered the couch with Gilla climbing on top of the roof and Aeron taking a seat next to the driver. Both of them were also holding crossbows today that had been absent yesterday.

“Where did you keep those crossbows?” Mary-Ann asked surprised when she noticed them.

“We normally don’t use them so we store them in our bottomless bag.” The large man said, patting an inscribed medium sized leather bag that hung by his left hip. “We found it while delving.” He added as he noted the surprise of the students.

Bottomless bags were wondrous items that came in the form of anything from a travel chest to a coin pouch. They were enchanted with magic that made the inside significantly larger than the outside, some even reduced the weight of anything put into them. Bottomless bags were very rare and thus extremely expensive so the students' reaction was understandable. The price of such an item would be anything from several handfuls of gold for a small money pouch that could only hold a few stacks of coins to the largest traveling bags that could cost thousands upon thousands of gold. Since the largest bags could hold an entire household's worth of stuff the price was hardly surprising.

The trip was rather uneventful until sometime after lunch when Gilla banged on the ceiling of the coach. The coach slowed and before it had fully stopped the back door opened and Gilla swung in from the roof and landed nimbly. She shut the door and wore a half smile as she spoke.

“Bandits have blocked the road.” She looked over at the students as most of them stiffened. “It might be dangerous inside the coach so we are going to stop so that you can take cover by an outcropping of rocks nearby.”

“Why would it be dangerous in the coach?” Louie said suspiciously.

“Aeron thinks they have at least one decent mage with them.” She said with a shrug and the coach stopped. “Anyway we can’t really put our charges in danger so our plan is to have you hide here and the four of us will proceed so we can figure out if we should fight or flee.” She still wore her usual half-smile and looked over the students with an appraising smile.

“Alright.” Ross said standing as Marith was about to say something. “Lead the way.” His voice held a hint of nervousness that tugged at Gilla’s smile.

The Students followed Gilla out into the snowy landscape and off to a rather large set of jagged rock that jutted out of the otherwise empty landscape. Their short trek through the knee deep snow made the group realize how little they were able to see in the heavy snowing. Luckily the outcropping provided cover for both the gentle wind and the natural overhang protected them from the snowing.

“I’ll be back with the others when we figure out our next move.” Gilla said and walked off, fading into the landscape.

After a few moments of silence Louie frowned and spoke in a suspicious voice.

- “If the visibility is this bad, is there any reason for us to leave the coach?” He looked around at the others. “I doubt bandits have a good enough mage that they can attack us without being able to see us.” He sounded more and more unnerved as he spoke.

No one answered, as they all found this entire situation rather strange. When Louie opened his mouth to speak again a grating voice they did not recognize spoke.

“It is obviously to make things easier for me!” The voice male spoke in a tone that made the skin crawl and students pulled their weapons and sought the speaker.

They found him crouched on top of one of the less jagged outcroppings looking down at the group with a sickly smile that would put any one off. The man’s bald head was covered in complex tattoos and his eyes held the light of madness as he gestured at the group with his fur clad arms.

“Looks like we have quite the catch this time!” He cackled madly. “Wait…” He said looking down confused. “…were there not supposed to be more of you?” He looked around the group.

The Students glanced over at one another and felt like they were indeed missing someone but as they were focusing on the bald man they could not put their finger on whom. Instead they glared up at the man with weapons drawn. He was about four meters above the four of them and they could all feel a sense of wrongness from the man that demanded their attention. The man kept looking around confused before grunting a shrugging to himself.

“No matter.” He said and started smiling down at the students once more. “I’ll just have you tell me where the last one went!” He nodded, seeming pleased with his reasoning.

Saying this, the man stood making it clear that even though he was dressed in patched together furs of various beasts and monsters he was very tall and thin. As he reached his full height he spread his arms and his dark eyes and his tattoos pulsed with a sickly green light.

“COMPULSION!” Marith shouted as he and Ross shot forwards jumping between the many broken rocks to try and make their way to the man before his magic could activate.

“Too late!” The man shouted as he cackled madly.

As the sickly green light began surrounding his body he smiled, grew wide enough to split his face and revealed a mouth full of missing or discoloured teeth. As their hearts sank the man screamed and clutched his neck as he staggered to the side and swiped behind him sending the mana surrounding him away from the group and towards Rina who had appeared behind him.

Rina threw herself away, trying and failing to avoid the mana and she convulsed as the mana struck her. Rina screamed in agony and the man snarled. The man took a step forward, blood seeping through his hand as he stared murderously towards his convulsing attacker.

The man raised his hand and more sickly green mana began building around him and opened his mouth to speak with fury in his eyes. Regrettably for the man Rina was not his only attacker. Ross had not stopped moving even for a second, even when it looked impossible to reach the man before he would finish the compulsion spell. He had scaled the jagged rocks with feline grace and he made one last jump and landed nimbly behind the man, the way he moved was almost mesmerizing and his landing was without sound as if Ross weighed nothing at all. Ross’s mind replayed his harsh training both at home and by Mistress Cormora and his body had felt light and his steps had been sure. Even on the snowy and unsteady footing of the rocks Ross had still moved with confident ease. Standing behind the man his almost distant mind recalled the words of his first Master ‘Brain and heart’.

Ross’s body moved with a fluid ease and speed that came from almost autonomous motion. He aimed one of his slightly curved and thin swords just left of the man’s spine under the shoulder blade angled slightly upward. The other he aimed at the base of the skull making sure to avoid the spine.

The man’s voice turned into a choked cry as Ross stabbed him with all his might, the only thought in his mind was words of his old Master echoing through his mind over and over, ‘Brian and heart’, ‘Brain and heart.’. Ross felt resistance to both blades for but a moment before the man collapsed. Ross did as he had been taught and twisted his blades as he pulled them out allowing the man to fall to the ground in a crumpled heap.

His mind felt so heavy and slow as if his head had been filled with mud as he looked down on the bald man that was barely twitching as his blood soaked the snow. The sound of Marith making his way up shook him from his stunned state and dropping his bloody swords, he rushed to his sister that lay motionless in the snow.

“SIS!” He screamed as he threw himself to his knees and pulled Rina close to himself. “SIS!” He shouted once more and much to his relief he felt her stir in his arms.

“… My head” She groaned softly as she cradled her head.

“Thank the gods…” Ross said with tears flowing down his face.

Ross almost collapsed there on the ground as relief flooded him but he held on with an effort. He vaguely recalled hearing that compulsion magic could not outlive the caster but he was far too flustered to think straight.

“You two alright?!” Marith shouted as his eyes shifted between the man and the twins.

Ross just gave him a tired wave and helped his sister into a more comfortable seated position. Marith wearily eyed the bald man as he made his way over to the twins and they were soon joined by Louie and Mary-Ann who both had made their way around the rock. Mary-Ann rushed towards Rina with a distraught expression but Rina just waved her off as she gently rubbed her temples.

“How did you do that?” Marith asked after a few moments when Rina opened her eyes and stopped rubbing her temples.

“Yeah that’s what I would like to know.” Said a very deep and very angry voice.

The group stiffened and turned to the voice, those who still had them readied their weapons. What they saw made them freeze in place. Standing only a handful of paces away from them was a man over two meters tall. His broad shoulders were draped in the fur of a massive beast and thick arms and legs made him look almost monstrous himself. His thick mane of dark hair was tied back and his unkempt beard had streaks of grey in it. What was most frightening to the students however was the pure fury in his dark eyes.

The man glared at the bald man and the pool of blood that soaked the snow around him. He ground his teeth loudly enough that the students could hear it at this distance.

“Do you little shits understand how hard it is to find and train a compulsion spell caster?” His voice was a low growl that vibrated in their chests.

As he swept his eyes over the students they were unable to move due to the sheer fury and strength his eyes held. This man was clearly anything but ordinary and as he glared at them more shapes appeared out of the snow and mist and as the shapes drew closer they could see that they belonged to savage looking men that eyed them with amusement and glee. One of the men was dragging the dark-skinned Kiala by the hair and was humming a merry tune.

The students gulped and were soon surrounded, unable to move due to the immense pressure of the huge man. The group was fifteen strong and armed with weapons that clearly set them apart from common bandits. Once they had surrounded the students the first to speak was a hooded man who crouched next to the big man while playing with his knives.

“Such resourceful little brats!” He said with a very amused smile as he looked from the students to the bald man.

“You were supposed to keep an eye on him.” The large man growled.

“Sorry, sorry!” The man said, making placating gestures at the large man. “I didn’t think he would go alone, and I most certainly didn’t think that he’d be stupid enough to get himself killed!” He said, sounding both a bit offended and exasperated.

“…” The large man stared down at him and the hooded man bowed his head apologetically. “You will take responsibility for this.” The large man said and waited for the hooded man to nod before turning to the student and continuing to speak. “Besides you heard from the snake that two of them might be trained by the Head Hunter.” He spat.

“But they are first years surely…” The hooded man shut his mouth and swallowed as the large man glared intently at him.

The students were sweating bullets at this point, they were surrounded by bandits that not only outnumbered them but none of them believed that they could beat or even escape the large man. The situation looked beyond grim. It was at this moment an almost ephemeral voice echoed through the snowy landscape.

“You would do well to leave this place.” The voice seemingly came from everywhere at once, as if the very snow and the mist that had gathered in the area had spoken.

The bandits that were leering at the students were suddenly on high alert with their weapons ready and heads swivelling about to find the source of the voice. The Large man frowned and looked around with narrowed eyes as he tried to look through the mist. After a few moments he looked at a particular spot and grinned smugly.

“Oh? And why would we do that girl?” He said in a condescending voice.

Someone clicked their tongue and the mist thickened making the encircling bandits appear like nothing more than vague shapes even at the short distance. The Large man was still clearly visible as if the mist somehow was unable to form close to him.

“This is the last chance.” The voice was cold and threatening.

The large man laughed as the other bandits faded completely into the mist and their alarmed voices grew distant until they could not be heard at all. Even the large man started to appear further away as he laughed and slowly his shape became indistinct.

“HAHA!” The large man’s laughter echoed and as he was about to fade he spoke in a voice that was clearly excited. “I will find you girl! I WILL find you!” He shouted, voice filled with excitement as his form disappeared.