Adam, the guard that had been kneed in the groin started to move to escape by waddling past the carriage but was stopped by a heavy armor wearing soldier. The man turned and went to run into the café’s backdoor that was about to receive a delivery when they assaulted the girl that caught their Lord’s fancy. He made it a step and a half when his world flipped from a crushing uppercut to his chin. Blood and tooth chippings filled his mouth while he laid on the ground. Then his manhood was crushed under the vengeful foot of the boy. He recognized the boy, of course. The girls constantly talked about him, his portrait was hung in the current scion’s room, and the guard was even present the first time the Forrester House was visited.

He would not get out of this scandal alive. The Lady Quoro would have him dead by nightfall to protect the dignity of the House. Once upon a time, he had even been involved in such acts. If the ties of family couldn’t protect the Mistresses own brother from her, what chance did a thug paid to do their dirty work stand? He was a loose end. Luckily, due to the pain in his mouth and manhood, he at least had trouble contemplating how he was going to die soon.

“Kasumi, restrain them. Renee, Marigold, please see to the woman. She hit her head very hard on the ground. I don’t care if we spot the bill for a healer. You…” The boy turned his gaze towards a trembling Beyeth, his voice turning dark. Adam could barely see from his swimming vision, but he could tell that the Quoro’s plan to ingratiate the Forrester House had just failed. As if the plan would ever work when they had to do so with such worthless daughters. The guards weren’t just allowed to mistreat the daughters, they were told to. ‘Treat them like trash, but never touch them’ the Mistress had told him and many other members of the staff. Even if they felt uncomfortable at first, everyone eventually followed the first rule. As for the second one? ‘If you touch them, I will personally castrate you and see you choke to death on your own shriveled organ.’ The Mistress would do it too.

“We’re not done with this yet.” The Forrester kid then puked all over the side of the road and power walked away. Adam just closed his eyes and tried to await his fate, the pain unfortunately subsiding in his face, bringing all the attention to below the belt.

* * * * *

Syron shut himself in his room back at the estate. Several of the staff attempted to greet him, but shied away when they saw the blood on his clothes and the frightened look on his face. He was still carrying the utility dagger he had stolen from one of the Quoro family guards, his fist clenched tightly around the handle as he tried to stop the shaking.

He started to feel sick again when the stench of blood started to settle around him, but he still hadn’t eaten anything. He wished the smell would just go away because he wasn’t sure he could make it to the bath at the moment. As it started to quickly subside, he thanked whatever deity was listening to him for acclimating his nose. He started breathing heavily, knowing he was going into shock. In frustration, he started punching a nearby pillow as the tears started to fall. The tremors continued for an hour before they finally subsided, Syron’s whole body aching painfully from the strain. He sent his subdued voice through the house, asking for a bath to be prepared and for someone to come take his uniform to be washed. He wasn’t sure what room to communicate with to get his message across, so he just blasted the whole mansion.

He waited a few more minutes where he sat against a wall, holding his knees, then stood and got undressed. He didn’t know where a towel might be located, so he just made himself invisible and started walking to the bath house. The staff was frantically moving about the mansion in a way he had never before seen, though perhaps they were always this way and only acted with decorum when he was present. He desperately didn’t want anyone to come down whatever hallway he was walking in, and fortunately the maids always seemed to go the other way when they came to an intersecting hallway. He let himself into the baths and started scrubbing the dried blood off of his body and hair. Then he just soaked… for as long as he could stand it.

* * * * *

“Yes, my Lady. He has shut himself in the bathhouse for several hours. There have been loud noises and strange music coming from there ever since.” Marigold said into the small communication stone she took from the Young Master’s bloody pockets.

“My boy is too kind for this world. He is so sweet he hurts himself as much as his opponents. If you recall, he even went into shock from punishing his own kidnappers. I am not even there to help him through it this time! Any clues as to why he symbolically ended the Quoro guard’s bloodlines?” Patricia Forrester’s voice asked through the gemstone.

“The first could be a matter of opportunity. It is my opinion that he hit the man where it would hurt so he could more easily over power him. The second was just a vicious strike to a man that was already incapacitated. It is possible he was seeking revenge.”

“Revenge? For what reason would my child have for taking revenge?”

“The girl that was being assaulted could have been involved in a case of ‘love at first sight’. The Knights and I had all witnessed him leering at her earlier in the day.”

“My baby boy did not leer, Marigold. I would prefer you did not propagate such ludicrous rumors.”

“He leered and he even drooled, my Lady. He looked like a creepy old pervert.”

“My sweet baby is not interested in such things, nor will he ever be. He will remain pure and dignified until the day I die. Only then is he allowed to be, ahem, a creepy old pervert.”

“Of course, my Lady.” Patricia could not see Marigold, but she knew that she was bowing her head down.

“What of the Quoro girl?”

“She followed him to the Academy under her mother’s orders, just like my Lady had anticipated.”

“Anything else to report?”

“The Young Master has missed classes twice in a row. He did wound the third prince in a duel and has since struck up a strange partnership.”

“See to it that he attends tomorrow. The Forresters are not truants. They are powerful and dignified…” A blast of negatively suddenly washed over Marigold. She blinked twice as she waited for the aura to end.

“Are you okay, my Lady?”

“Ah, yes, my apologies Marigold. There was a fly in my office.”

“Of course, my Lady.”

“Oh, and Marigold? Investigate those bakers. Keep any strange women away from my boy.”

“As you command, my Lady.”

* * * * *

“What do you mean they are gone!?” Korfus bellowed at his adjutant, his barrier expanding and pressing the man into the wall of the throne room. The man tried to answer, but his Majesty the King’s barrier was pressing into his chest with enough force to expel the air from his lungs.

“Two Guardians do not simply vanish! My son was abandoned and left to fend for himself for hours before anyone noticed he was unprotected? You tell me he was even injured in a duel? With whom!?” Korfus allowed his barrier to collapse back to covering just his body, allowing the freed minister to breathe again.

“According to my sources, it was the Forrester heir. Prince Rue took offense to the way he was being treated and demanded a duel.” The minister was about to comment on how it was decided a one sided fight when another barrier formed around a nearby vase and it was crushed into dust.

“Gods (omitted) (omitted) (omitted) and feathers (omitted)! It just had to be him! I told Rue to stay away when I heard that Syron would be attending the Academy! Of course he would lose to the Forrester. Rue is a traditional fighter with an aptitude for summoning a few armaments. Syron is a future monster of perception magic. Ah… (omitted), you did not see it Krehm. The kid has got some serious potential. I do not want anyone else messing with him until we can get him on our side! Find out what happened to Rue’s Guardian detail, and get him a new one. No son of mine is wandering the streets without protection. I nearly lost him once already, I will not be doing so again.”

“Your Majesty, though the Third Prince was not attacked, there is a chance his Guardians were killed. Shall I call for Prizrak?” The adjutant asked as he straightened his garments, pretending like he was not just nearly murdered by Korfus.

“Yeah. Call for him. Bring the stone too. I want to watch.” Korfus agreed, sending off Krehm. When he returned a few minutes later, he was followed by a haggard old man with sunken eyes and a wooden cane.

“Yesterday, two Guardians assigned to my son vanished without a trace. I want to know if they are dead. If so, I want to know how.”

“Of course, your Majesty. The minister has already sent off for some of their possessions. I shall get started when they arrive.” The elderly man intoned with a smile that crumpled his whole face into wrinkles. A box arrived a few minutes later with a scarf and a pair of sparring gloves.

“A scarf! You didn’t say it was Raymond that vanished!” Korfus yelled at Krehm. Krehm stayed silent and opened a small ornate box, removing a red gem wrapped in silk.

“I shall get started immediately.” The old man took the gemstone and unwrapped it, clutching in tightly in his fist. In his other hand, he grabbed the scarf. Closing his eyes, the old man started swaying side to side ever so slightly. Skilled practitioners could feel the reverberations of magic echoing through the throne room.

“Yes… I am sorry to inform you that I have received a vision.” The old man said monotone as he focused on continuing his cycles. The minister winced and the King frowned.

“These are his last moments.”

Projecting from the stone clutched in his hand, a scrying window a half of a meter across appeared. Within, a man could be seen crouching behind a stone wall atop the Academy’s class building. He gestured directly at the scrying window and pointed down towards the walkway. The hands and arms of the scarf’s owner appeared and grabbed onto the wall, lifting the perspective slightly to look down. Down below, an enraged Rue is following behind an apathetic Syron while yelling and pointing. Korfus winces slightly at the sight, but otherwise the room is silent. When Syron suddenly turns and… presses his face against Rue’s… both guardians stand up and prepare to jump down. As Raymond is spinning his cycle to prepare to leap, he is distracted by something hitting his foot. He looks down and sees his companion’s head. The vision ends a moment later.

The old man lets out a pained groan and falls to his knees, a pillow placed before hand cushioning the fall. He drops the stone and scarf, his hands no long strong enough to hold on. He places his hands to his head and lets out another whine.

“It seems both Guardians were killed atop the Academy, but it was not to attack my son. Send an investigator to the rooftops and see if you can find any evidence. Maybe even their bodies are still there, waiting to be found. I… do not like the thought that there is someone skilled enough to take down two Royal Guardians just wandering about the Academy. They were not even seen by the victim… when Prizrak is feeling better, have him try the gloves and see if we can get a visual on the assassin from the other Guadian’s perspective. Since his power can only be used once per ghost… just… make sure you do not miss anything.