Mattiew had always hated Gozari styles. The metal bracers and rings around his arms pinched his flesh. The patterned robes that wrapped his torso and legs were restrictive, yet far too windy for his nethers. Not to mention gaudy. Why couldn’t nobles just wear pants like the Saryngols?

But he was already in this mess, and there was no use whining now.

As Mattiew started braiding his thick black hair, a pair of footsteps brought a newcomer into his stone chambers.

“Matty. We’ve got everything ready to go.”

Mattiew met Dakkar’s gaze through a mirror. He too dressed himself in fancy clothes, though not nearly as extravagant as Mattiew’s.

“You found a way around the escape route problem?” Mattiew asked.

“Dreya found out they were building an aqueduct system underground. Runs right through the slave pens. Our escape is covered.”

Mattiew ended his braid with a bronze hair bead and stood from the chamber’s desk, “You have Sedis’s brew?”

“Ladona’s version of it, but yes.” Dakkar handed Mattiew a small clay jar.

“Oh good. Now it’ll taste like yeast instead of mud.” Mattiew scoffed. He cracked the clay seal over top of it and recoiled from the scent that spilled out.

“I think I’d rather chug that jar of garbage than go to this party.”

“And yet, I must do both.” Mattiew said. “You should at least keep me company. Don’t want you dying alone and all.”

“The crew, I can handle. The meek, I can bear. But all these socialites and violet-wrapped pigs? I’d rather die.”

Mattiew squeezed his eyes shut and gulped down the foul-tasting concoction as fast as he could without gagging, and slammed the jar down once he emptied it.

Strands of ambient mana revealed themselves, wisps of golden energy flowing through every inch of air.

“It still boggles my mind that stuff makes you able to see leylines. It’s just herbs, isn’t it? I’d call it bullshit if it didn’t smell so bad.” Dakkar waved at the air in front of his nose.

“Mana’s weird. Everything having to do with sorcery is weird.”

“Even your damsel in distress?” Dakkar raised an eyebrow.

“Yep,” Mattiew chuckled, “But she’s a good weird. And she’s hardly in distress. She wouldn’t need our help in three or four months from now. But I think we all can understand her impatience.”

“Hm. I think she could do well enough on her own now. Those Callione curses are some dastardly things.” Dakkar muttered, “You ready?”

Mattiew nodded, “Let’s finish this job.”

“See you on the field, captain.” Dakkar said as he slipped out of the room.

Mattiew worked a crack out of his neck before leaving his chambers. He cleared his throat and muttered, “Greetings. I am Veras Kilamek, high emissary of Gozark.” His accent was decent enough.

Veras Kilamek and his diplomatic escort were supposed to be taken into the estate of House Callione. He was supposed to attend a large banquet tonight where relations between the kingdoms of Acerno, Gozark, and Alazar were supposed to come to an agreement over who led an expansion mission into the Western Wildlands.

Mattiew had already done a third of his job by forfeiting Gozark’s claim to this expedition and allowing the Alazarite diplomats to take over. The other two-thirds involved financially crippling Acerno’s slave market and taking a girl far, far away from her parents.

As Mattiew descended to the first floor, he found the carpeted stone floors covered in flower petals, along with a distinct scent of incense mixed with good cooking and bodily fluids. Acerno’s natural perfume: Debauchery.

“Veras!”

Mattiew’s gaze moved to the source of the voice as Andar Callione hobbled towards him.

“Veras, my wife and I are sad to see you go. We hope everything tonight will be to your liking.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to go this far for me, Lord Callione.”

“Please, I insist you call me Andar.” Callione said.

Dreya really worked magic with this geezer. Mattiew only had a couple of conversations with him.

“Your scholar Juni has been such a help in my more, er...personal projects.” Callione said.

Such as organizing his Nightborn slave rings. Well, organizing them for a mass prison break.

It was nice to have some moral motivation in his jobs.

“My escort and I invaded your home, Andar. It was the least we could do to repay you.” Mattiew said.

“And my daughter has told me how diligent you are in helping her with her studies.”

The diligence part was true. But the only studying being done was that of one another’s bodies.

“Though it is a shame you didn’t achieve your goals here.”

“Worry not,” Mattiew put on a false smile, “My king would want none of us to enter the arena for an expedition. Our nation has enough territory.”

“Then I expect you to enjoy yourself to the fullest tonight, Veras.”

“I will,” Mattiew promised. “By the way, where is Adriana? I ought to impart a word of farewell to her.”

“Oh...that girl ought to be around here somewhere. She vanishes like a shade, I tell you.” Andar muttered, “I must take my leave now, but be sure to come see me before you leave in the morning. I have a gift for you.”

As Andar disappeared into the crowd of partygoers, Mattiew felt two delicate arms wrap around his neck and pull him backwards to the side of the common room.

Mattiew spun around to face Adriana, her silky black hair curled around her shoulder and a wry grin curling her painted lips. She brushed porcelain fingers across his lips before she made the move to kiss him.

He put a finger between them.

“Adriana, perhaps it would benefit you to be a tad more discreet when we’re surrounded by about fifty of your father’s friends.”

“Sorry. I’m just excited.” Adriana’s voice was the melody to a song no other person could hope to recreate, “Besides, it’s not like everyone here doesn’t know we’re seeing one another.” She winked at him with all the subtlety of a brick.

“Seriously? They know?”

“Well, not mother and father. I think.” Adriana said, “I had their agents threaten some deals, pull some strings, make some bribes. The others will be silent tonight. Besides, I’m sure if you were who you said you were, Father would have no issue marrying me off to you.”

“Was that supposed to be comforting?” Mattiew chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“Was it not?” Adriana frowned.

“I don’t want our relationship to be sanctioned by your slaver of a father.”

Adriana raised an eyebrow, “I know you’ve sold slaves before.”

“Those people attacked our ship and lost the fight. That was their own fault. Your father abducts random Nightborn off the streets. Those are two very different scenarios.” Mattiew said.

“If you say so, my love.” Adriana pecked him on the cheek, eliciting a tinge of warmth on Mattiew’s face. “So, when are we leaving?”

Mattiew glanced around and brought Adriana out into the pavilion in the courtyard, where orange torchlight lit up the dark night sky.

“Jakyr has been whispering in the ear of our client who wanted us to sabotage Gozar for a few days. Olemar has been doing the same with the Acernic diplomat.”

“Playing them against each other. Less direct than your usual style.” Adriana smiled.

“This entire job has differed from my usual style. I’ve been aching to stab something lately.”

“Really? Because you’ve been able to use your sword plenty lately.” Adriana whispered in a sultry hiss.

Mattiew scoffed. “You must’ve been a horny old man in a past life. Tonight, the Acernics and Alazarites should be gnashing their teeth for a duel. They’ve both been talking about it. But Acerno’s got a rookie duelist with them, so they’ve been hesitant. Once the fight starts, everyone heads to the arena. You, me, and my crew head to the slave pens and free all of your father’s ‘contraband’.”

Adriana scoffed, “And my father calls you a barbarian.”

“He what?” Mattiew frowned.

“If he’s being nice to you, then you know he’s talking about you behind your back.”

Mattiew huffed, “Nobles…no offense.”

“I’ve had enough, Djaf!” a voice exclaimed from the common room of the house. “We won’t put up with your manipulations! You want to settle this in the arena? Fine!”

“And so it begins.” Mattiew whispered as several Acernic diplomats pushed through the crowd, “Let’s get moving.”

He grabbed Adriana by the hand and led her away as the partygoers followed the diplomats out to the estate’s duelist ring.

The house was soon rendered empty as everyone went out to watch the duel.

Mattiew and Adriana slipped into the door that led to the cellar and dungeon. The further they descended, the louder the commotion got. The sound of hushed voices and the clattering of chains echoed around them.

The slave pens were little more than tunnels and holes dug into the dirt and stone, with iron bars marking cells where the slaves were kept.

The Scourgers unlocked cages and freed the Nightborn slaves from their bonds. The vast majority of them were women and children.

Dakkar ran up to Mattiew. “Captain.”

“There a problem?” Mattiew asked as Dakkar tossed him a spear.

“No, sir. The slave curses are a bitch and a half to break, but we can handle them.C 0ame to let you know that we’re just about finished up here. Dreya’s exit to the aqueduct is down that tunnel,” Dakkar pointed to the left, “And you, miss. I hope you’ll enjoy your time with us in the near future.”

Adriana nodded, her eyes dancing around with nervous energy. “Let’s get out of here first.”

Mattiew frowned at her. “Something wrong?”

“I thought you could feel it…” Adriana gulped, “Mana.”

Mattiew looked around himself. The concentration of ambient gold strands of energy was far more intense than usual.

“Well, yeah. Pretty much everything down here oozes mana.” Mattiew said.

“I won’t know if they come after us.” Adriana’s eyes flicked upwards.

“We have scouts on patrol.” Mattiew placed a hand on her shoulder, locking her gaze in with his. “Anything happens, they’ll yell and we’ll know.”

Adriana chewed on her lip, “Alright...”

“Let’s not waste time.”

“Everyone!” Dakkar shouted at the Nightborn, “We’re heading north! Follow us and we’ll protect you until we get to our fleet! Stay orderly, please and thank you!”

Mattiew and Adriana headed the entourage of pirates and slaves through the tunnels as they made their way to the aqueduct.

The labyrinth seemed endless in the dim torchlight, but they continued onward.

The aqueduct was halfway across Rosalia, so it would be awhile before they encountered anything besides endless shadows.

Adriana kept her presence small to the slaves behind her. One rightfully angry but stupid Nightborn could fuck up everything by just noticing her face.

A good ten minutes into their trek, Mattiew came to a halt, eliciting a wave of murmurs from those behind him. He gave a quick hand signal, ordering his men to be silent and on guard.

The vagabond’s eyes narrowed in on a faint glow of violet in the darkness. The surrounding mana had warped.

“You see it too?” Adriana said, more stating a fact than asking a question.

Mattiew gripped on his spear with both hands and aimed it at the glow, “Who’s there?”

A figure stepped into the range of their torchlight, and Mattiew dropped his guard slightly.

The figure was dressed in rags, like the rest of the slaves. It had a thin, willowy build with grey skin that seemed to flake away from it like ash. It only had eyes on its head, revealing concentrated blue energy beneath the layer of grey. The violet crest of a slave curse displayed brightly on its chest.

“You’re that...Arcane Elemental father keeps around.” Adriana muttered.

“We’re escaping. Do you wanna come with us?” Mattiew asked, “We have someone who can break the curse.”

“I-” the creature started before vibrant azure light enveloped its body, causing it to writhe and unleash an unearthly screech.

Mana rushed into the Nightborn like a void. The creature made a motion with its hands, but before Mattiew could warn his people, an electrifying force caused him to lurch forward and collapse to his knees.

Sorcerers like Adriana had fallen over and started going pale.

Mattiew, panicked, looked for signs among the mana in the air. The creature had a powerful curse on it that intensified its power. And it was quickly draining all the life and mana out of himself and his followers.

Mattiew reached for his fallen spear and stood, using the weapon as a crutch.

Then two more figures emerged from the shadows.

The Lord and Lady Callione.

They wore the dress clothes they had on at the party, but now had armor strapped around it.

“Veras, Veras, Veras.” Andar Callione chuckled, “I have mixed emotions. Truly, I do. I was fine with you sleeping with my daughter. She can toy with whom she likes. But I see that it made you brazen. And now you try to sabotage my business as well? I admire the audacity, but I mustn’t condone such foolish, foolish actions.”

“Mistress...I’m-” the creature groaned weakly. There were whole patches of its grey skin flaking away now, though they quickly regenerated..

“You will continue using that parasitic touch of yours until I tell you to stop, creature.” Reina Callione commanded.

“Y-yes, mistress.” the creature croaked.

“Veras...or rather Mattiew Nikoliades, Witch Hunter of Diodes. Heir to the Black Tongue. I want three things from you right now.” Andar said in a cold, calm voice, “One, my slaves back where they belong. Two, the names of the people who hired you to do this act of treachery. Three, my beloved daughter.”

Mattiew’s eyes flicked to Adriana.

One of Mattiew’s few sorcerer followers slapped the ground, creating a brief wall of flames to erupt between his Scourgers and the Calliones.

The creature’s magic vanished and everyone on Mattiew’s side of the wall gasped with relief. But the creature’s power began to siphon the flames of the wall.

“Mattiew, come here.” Adriana said weakly. As Mattiew knelt down next to her, she bit her thumb and drew with the blood on his back, “I’m cursing you. Don’t waste it.”

Before the others could recover, the creature’s being consumed the wall of flames and released that power back into its draining spell.

Everyone save for Mattiew. Adriana slumped down again, but his skin arced with red strands of energy. Her curse worked.

Lady Callione hissed, “Andar. She gave him her curse.”

Andar glared at Mattiew. “No matter. Just wear him down.”

Lady Callione began performing some kind of spell, so Mattiew acted.

He flipped his spear in his hand and threw it like a javelin at the creature. The weapon passed through it as though it were made of clouds, but the creature still stumbled back.

Mattiew leapt to put a dent in the old man’s skull, but Lady Callione’s hand grazed him in midair. The weight of an anvil dragged him to the ground.

No matter how much strength Mattiew pumped into his arms, it wasn’t enough to lift his own body.

“Reina. The traps.” Andar said.

Lady Callione made a gesture, a sound from behind Mattiew following. He craned his neck under the extra weight to find that nets made of strands of light had fallen upon his bandits and the slaves.

“Mother!” Adriana’s voice echoed through the tunnel, “Let them go. Let me go.”

“Imprudent child.” Reina Callione sneered.

“Your Arcane Elemental is out.” Adriana said, “You can’t defeat me in a casting battle. And you know I won’t hold back. I’m not afraid to bring this cavern down on all of us. I’ll kill us all and destroy the foundations of Rosalia itself.”

Andar and Reina looked at each other.

“Fine.” Andar growled, “You want to go off and play peasant with these bunch of ruffians, fine. But when you come crawling back to us, after they’ve used you every way they can, without a shred of your dignity left, I will ensure you never taste another speck of freedom. I’ll toss you into the slave pens with the rest of this trash until I can find a husband to be your keeper!”

With that, the Calliones vanished in a whirlwind of smoke.

Mattiew gasped, as Reina finally relieved the weight from his back.

“Mattiew!” Adriana rushed over to him, cupping his head in her hands. “Are you alright?”

“I’m...what was that? Are they really going to let us…”

“We’re free to go.” Adriana smiled, “Come on! No time to waste, child of the Survivor!”

Mattiew blinked as Adriana’s eyes glowed with silver light.

“Your fate is at hand! Take command of it from the Scale!”

***

Mattiew jolted up from an unfamiliar bed, soaked in cold sweat.

“What the fuck…Was...was it all a...a nightmare?”

“I wish.”

Mattiew glanced up at Kalai, who sat on a chaise lounge in this yellowed stone chamber. It wasn’t his and Adriana’s room at the Callione house. Irkalla, this place didn’t even look like it was part of the Callione House.

“I...what happened?” he asked.

“The Trial stopped the moment you shot that arrow.” Kalai said. “They put everyone under a sleep spell to prevent further casualties. After that, I moved you to an inn. Just to be safe.”

“So then...All that happened? It really happened?”

Kalai nodded solemnly.

“Fuck...Fuck, fuck, fuck my life!” Mattiew held his face in his hands. “Dakkar…Dakkar’s dead?”

He got a nod.

“Ancient Kings…” His voice quivered. “My Scourgers...they know?”

“I assume so.” Kalai said. “If you remember it being revealed, they probably do too.”

“The Prince. Is he…?”

“Dead.” Kalai said. “The court of Veyshtar has expressed wanting to charge you with murder, but it’s suspended so long as you’re in the tournament.”

“Where’s Adriana?” Mattiew gulped. “I...I need her.”

“I don’t know.”

Mattiew frowned. “What do you mean you don’t know? You haven’t seen her? She didn’t come with us?”

Kalai remained silent.

“Where’s my wife, damnit?” Mattiew snapped.

“Gone.” Kalai muttered. “Gone, somewhere. Along with everyone else in the house. I don’t know where they went. Or when they left. But all the guards, the serving staff, and the Calliones fled. I didn’t think you needed another thing to be worried about.”

Mattiew didn’t know what else to do, aside from letting his shoulders sag.

“They left this for you. I can’t read this language, but I assume you can.” Kalai tossed Mattiew a small square of papyrus.

He opened the square and read the note. “Until you bring me the crown, we will confine Adriana to her quarters in Rosalia and keep her on the brink of death. You have until two weeks after the last Trial to bring it to Acerno. —Andar Callione”

“They...sailed back to their home. They took Adriana with them.”

He was tired. So, so tired. He didn’t want to do anything anymore except be in Adriana’s presence.

He wanted to sleep, wrapping his arms around her perfect body. And feel safe having hers wrapped around him. He wanted to hear her musical voice whisper sweet nothings into his ear. He wanted to be with her.

But now he had no one. They stole Adriana from him and everyone else hated him. And there was nothing he could do about it.

He was nothing…

Nothing but a dog sorely missing its mistress.

Unable to decide without hurting someone. Never given the chance to right his wrongs. Never given the chance to do right in the first place. He was worse than a villain. He was a puppet and a scapegoat.

“So...what will you do?” Kalai asked.

Mattiew stared off, focusing on the abyss of helplessness that was his life.

What would he do? How could he do anything?

“Sleep…” Mattiew muttered. He laid back down and pulled the covers over him.

He was so tired…

“Sleep?” Kalai scoffed.

Mattiew had had it with her. He sat up and glared at the King Cleaver. “I’ve gone through Irkalla this past week and a half. I’ve suffered in ways I never thought possible. And all I get for it is more pain and more death. Is it too much to ask for a fucking nap? And stop talking like you know what bad is. I’d trade places with you any day.”

Pain rose in Mattiew’s throat, egging him on to just break.

“And what?” Kalai raised her eyebrow condescendingly. “You have been through Irkalla. But now you expect destiny to give you a reward for being a good little boy while you take your beatings? The world doesn’t give anyone, especially humans, moral desserts.”

“I’m just trying to say…” Mattiew took a breath to compose himself. He just wanted to be alone at this point. Because that seemed to be all the universe had planned for him. “Is that I can’t catch a fucking break. Not even from you, it seems. Now get out.”

Kalai sighed and stood up. “Fine. I don’t want to hear you bitch and moan, anyway. Especially after you give up.” She spat those last words, but Mattiew paid it no mind.

The Queen of Conquerors left the room.

Now he was truly alone.