“Yes” The room turned to chaos for a few moments before the king activated an array to silence all but him and Harlan.

“Now why did you answer like that?”

“It’s a trick question right? If I said no then you would call me a liar and have me killed, but this way I get to see the faces of everyone here twist in shock first.”

The king let out a booming laugh.

“And if you were to kill me, would you be willing to sacrifice your family? Your friends? To be a known kingslayer? The theocracy would have you killed in an instant for your tinkering of souls, there would be nowhere to run.”

“No… not if it hurt my family.”

“You are hereby free, you shall be transported to the Redwall mansion tomorrow evening by a gate, they will be expecting you.”

The king let the room fall into Chaos with a smile on his face, after a few minutes he silenced them again and let Harlan speak.

“Why?”

“If you would sacrifice nothing then you are no threat, you are a child throwing a tantrum. You lack the heart and will to do what needs to be done. In time you may come to even be thankful of what you have been given. Or do you think that most of even my own children wouldn’t kill me to be king? Let alone nobles.” He scanned the room, locking eyes slightly longer on a few people.

“A king will always be hated by those who want power or feel they have been wronged, but if you do more good for my kingdom, then I have nothing to fear from you. By the time you get close to having the chance to kill me without sacrificing anything I will be long dead. And those who hated me will either be dead or they will still hate me, they are nothing. Now, clear the room, I have other business to take care of. And there will be no second trial.”

Rosewell and Cynthia followed him back to his room.

“HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?”

“Of course not, but it worked out, right? Cynthia, why are you here?”

“Oh, I wanted to see how Rosewell would react.”

“DO NOT ENCOURAGE HIM.”

“But it’s so much more fun that way!”

Rosewell paced back and forth muttering to herself for a minute. There was a knock on the door, Safira.

“The king asks that you write a letter of introduction for Sir Fomoria to Count Redwall. And to have it delivered no later than this evening.”

She then stepped away and closed the door.

“Sir Fomoria… I… That’s weird to everyone else right?”

”No sir, Sir Fomoria sir, I believe it’s a wonderful name sir.” Cynthia was having the time of her life seeing Rosewell’s eye twitch with anger.

“Harlan, do you want to help me with writing the letter, are there any requests that you want? Food, drinks, which way your windows face?”

“Just ask if they will get the rest of my family there, I don’t want anything else. And what about Relly? She is going to be alone again.”

“Relly is going to be alright, with your soulspeak training we have learned a lot about how her ability works, I bet she will be out in another year or 2. And she still has me.”

“Can I see her today?”

“I can work out some time tomorrow, you will need to be debriefed today though. she is helping transcribe words into soulspeak right now… dinner with the 3 of us then?”

“Sounds good. Her Highness 7th Princess Rosewell. I don’t think I’ll miss the rest of this, but I might miss you and Cynthia.”

“Would you have included me in that heartfelt goodbye if I wasn’t standing here?“

“No.” Harlan and Cynthia both laughed, she had taught him the joy of saying the right thing to get a rise out of people.

He hadn’t seen her much since she was married, but he still liked her. It wasn’t proper to give her a hug, she knew that.

But if she started it then it was fine.

“I might see you again some day, so no goodbyes, just a see you later. And maybe you can teach my children how to play with souls, it’s very interesting, but I’ll keep working with my plants.”

“By the time they are ready to learn, I am sure to have a pricing scheme set up, but I’ll book them first. I’ll see you then.”

And with that Cynthia walked out of the room.

Then Harlan was debriefed, which amounted to telling him each individual thing he couldn’t talk about and with whom.

Which as it turned out was everything that wasn’t already public knowledge, to anybody, even the royal family unless they produced a seal directly from the king.

Dinner was hard, Relly didn’t take the news well.

“You said you wouldn’t leave…”

“I’m sorry… But I’ll still be around, you remember where I am right? My family? Rosewell said it probably won’t be more than 2 years, I’ll still be in the academy then, and if you do well you could get in.”

“Speaking of the academy and your family. Zella lived with them for a time before heading off to academy, you will be 2 years under her by the time you get in school. My spies say she got along very well with your family.”

“You have people spying on my family?” Harlan barely kept the anger out of his voice.

“Of course, you have people who would harm you and yours, if I didn’t have spies anyone could wander right into them. I will be keeping them around to guard them by the way, I will not be talked out of this.”

Harlan deflated, Rosewell had treated him well all things considered, he didn’t like lashing out at people, but he was having a hard time not doing it. He thought about the stress of just being here, worrying about them all the time, the little pinpricks of doubt that he would be ok, they never stopped building up.

”Yes… Thank you Rosewell. I’m sorry.”

“I know you are, that is why I’m not upset. You can grow out of that rage in your chest. And I am sure being back with your family is going to help. But enough about that, our food will get cold if it sits any longer.”

The next day Harlan felt… hollow in a sense, he had been working nearly every day for 3 year, to see the sunrise, finish breakfast and then just… Not work, it felt wrong to him.

But that feeling went to the back of his mind, eventually.

He didn’t do much for the rest of his morning, Rosewell had him and Relly gated to a forest.

They sat and ate and played until it was time to leave, Harlan carried her as she cried. Eventually having to let go. He was supposed to design a crest for his theoretical at the time noble house.

And so he entered a room with Rosewell, the royal designer, and… Cynthia?

“This… puts a dampener on our last heartfelt goodbye.”

“Yep, thats the plan. You should expect to see me anywhere at any time, I’m not really gone that way. And crest making is a fun little game.”

Eventually a design was settled on, with only 30 minutes until he had to leave he would need a set of clothes with the crest sewn into it, and a ring made for proof of who he was.

Most of the time had been spent with Rosewell and Cynthia talking him out of a crest that was a skull with vertical flaming swords in its eye sockets.

“Come on, I was born with mana sight so the eyes, I have a base fire alignment so the fire, and I can do necromancy, the design is perfect.”

“This is not a small matter, getting a crest changed is a huge affair, this makes you look like a mercenary band, not a noble.”

“I think it’s very interesting, think of the reactions people will have!”

“Cynthia I will remove you if you poison his mind like this more.”

Eventually he was talked into a new design, a shield with 2 swords crossed on it, and a small skull with a fire on its forehead above the swords.

Harlan wanted the entire skull on fire, but was talked down to just the forehead, to represent his bright mind and soul Cynthia said.

And then it was done, the clothes were easy enough after that, red with black and white trim.

The ring would be delivered later, a signet ring for a noble was not just a simple piece of metal, it had to be able to resonate with other rings to prove it was real, and to help focus for small geas like what Autumn had received.

And he was off, another less heartfelt and more cheeky goodbye was given to Cynthia. Harlan didn’t do anything extra for Rosewell, he felt the goodbye he gave yesterday was good enough.

He was taken to the gate room by a royal guard, it seemed strong silent types were common since they never tried to talk with him, under all that armor he couldn’t even tell if it was a man or not.

He eventually reached the room, the gate was already being prepared, in seconds it was finished.

He saw on the other side his family, other than Redmond and Amber. The academy could’ve had her sent through a series of gates, but the cost of such a thing was beyond her.

He saw that everyone looked older, that Autumn was about to give birth, that everyone teared up, his vision clouded, for a moment he thought it was an attack before he realized that he was also crying.

They all stood around hugging him, crying, asking questions, checking him for any marks or other signs of abuse.

Eventually they headed inside, to have a nice dinner and for him to answer a lot of questions.