The One Who Watches and Waits had his attention divided several ways.

His Anima was powerful enough to occupy a dozen Corpi at a time, but each Corpus he occupied reduced his overall power. Most of the time, those bodies were built to stay unseen, undetected, and observant. Very few of his bodies were for battle, although, with his powerful Anima and connection with the Chaos Sea, it was a matter of minutes to convert an observer Corpus into one for war.

The core of his being was always inside the Telurian Court’s Fysalli but a greater part of it was currently latched on to the Cauldron. Varied Anima and bodies blended and boiled within, and after a while, a small spherical pill would emerge from the Cauldron Realm, ejected into the Chaos Sea to go to seed and sprout.

And another focus was latched onto the Rumiga plane’s Gemheart. The corrupted one.

He couldn’t help but smirk when he espied the Empire’s Knight Dominus with the artefact’s core matrix. She thought that she had him contained!

The grin widened as he beheld his matrix, which enveloped the entirety of the Gemheart core matrix as it existed within the dreamscape. His taint was only connected to the core matrix’s interior at one spot, but the rest of it was gloriously embedded in the outer rim. The inky tendrils slowly wormed into the crystalline facets, careful not to give themselves away to the occupant. Soon. It will be soon. And then, the next step in his plan could proceed.

How long before he could be bestowed with a new Sobriquet? The latter part of his current one was already fraying. Like the skin of a snake, he would moult it soon, and in the process, become greater.

Soon.

_____________

As soon as Yuriko saw the marauders menacing the farmers, her hand darted to the hilt of her arming sword. The weapon was strapped on her belt but was also under her poncho. Before she could discard her poncho and jump to attack, Sheamus grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.

“Oh. Right,” she muttered while frowning. She mustn’t expose herself.

The hamlet was down the dirt road, which had grown wider and had deep grooves from wagons and carts. The road sloped gently downwards and they just crested a short ridge. The hamlet was surrounded by empty fields, though she could see herds of goats and some kind of fowl on the other side. Ducks?

The farm fowl were honking in distress as the marauders, clad in dark grey cloaks and ponchos, caught a few of the birds while the herder boy at the pasture’s edge bit his lips and trembled in fear.

There were about two dozen of the marauders in sight, but she was sure there were more on the hamlet’s far side. The farmers had been gathered at the central square, and she could see most were trembling but didn’t dare protest.

“Let’s pull back out of sight,” a voice whispered in her ear. Asami.

Yuriko glanced at the others. They were waiting for her lead. She nodded, and they rushed back down the ridge. The terrain nearby was mostly empty. No groves or anything of the sort. Ah, but there were irrigation canals around the fields, which divided the land into patches. A canal was roughly a pace deep, and it was currently dry.

Apparently, Asami also saw it as a potential hiding place as she led them towards one west of the hamlet. They dropped into the canal, but Yuriko thought that they had already been made out by the marauders. A few of them were gesturing towards their direction.

“Do we run or fight?” she heard Asami ask her. “I’ll relay your words to the others in a whisper,” she added.

Fighting meant exposing themselves here and now. Running meant they could avoid a fight, and it could also lead their pursuers away from the farmers. That meant no witnesses.

“Run,” she answered, “but try to keep hidden first. Lead the way, Asami.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They hurried down the canal, running while in a crouch. Yuriko glanced back every now and then, checking if the marauders went after them. Brief thoughts of going back and fighting to save the farmers crossed her mind.

They were relatively innocent in this fight, right? They lived on the wrong side of the border, but other than the dissimilar architecture, they looked much like any other farmer near Faron’s Crossing.

She was also sure the marauders weren’t Imperials, though that was more a gut instinct than from any overt reason. Perhaps it was their weapons which were an assortment of blades, crossbows, and short bows. Imperials didn’t use bows or crossbows. They used Plasma Casters and Lancets.

Hmm, although their current group didn’t bear the signature weapons. So, were they Imperial agents operating across the border, too? She shouldn’t rush to kill them if they pursued, in that case. Faron’s Crossing wasn’t an intelligence hub after all.

They ran for several minutes, and the fact that there was no movement towards them probably meant that the marauders weren’t interested in pursuing a few refugees. They settled nearly a longstride away, still within easy sight, though all of them except for Yuriko and Sheamus kept their heads below the canal’s lip.

Enhanced Sight gave her enough acuity to observe the group. A bunch of the black-cloaked warriors finished herding a few dozen ducks into crates. They loaded a wagon with their loot and harnessed it to a cow. The poor animal looked to be a milk cow and mooed loud enough to be audible from the canal.

They also gathered up some of the farmers, half a dozen young men and women, probably around Yuriko’s age or so, and dragged them off. Gwendith grabbed Yuriko’s hand and squeezed hard as she peeked.

“Are they…?” Gwendith’s voice was rough and angry.

Yuriko prepared herself to leap up and to the Abyss with subtlety and stealth. But, what both of them feared didn’t come to pass. The captives who had been forced to enter a building emerged carrying sacks of produce. In fact, the marauders were forcing the farmers to go into their homes and come out with valuables and food.

Gwendith’s sigh was heavy and she leaned against Yuriko’s shoulder.

By mid-afternoon, the marauders had left. They took with them all the hamlet’s carts and wagons, as well as their oxen. About half of the flock of ducks and a similar number of goats were dragged along. The remaining goats were about a couple of dozen, and they bleated loudly while pulling on their leashes. The farmers had sour looks on their faces, and who could blame them after being robbed of half their wealth? At least they hadn’t been killed, beaten, or abused.

Still, Yuriko felt an itchy sensation in her Anima. Logically, she had done the right thing by not interfering, but the part of her that walked the Ancient’s Way told her that doing that had been a mistake. It was an insult to her dignity to see others acting in such a way.

The unpleasant feeling persisted until she swore to herself that she wouldn’t stand aside like that again. Only then did it recede, though a sliver of it remained. She knew what to do though.

“I need to go after them,” she muttered to her group.

Her statement was not received well.

“It’s a foolish risk!” Asami insisted. However, Gwendith only looked into Yuriko’s eyes and nodded.

“You want to kill them?” Heron asked nonchalantly. His had drifted onto his weapon and grasped it firmly.

Yuriko shook her head, “No. They didn’t kill anyone there. I just want to know why they did what they did.”

“Then, young mistress,” Saki interrupted, “allow me to capture one of them for you to question. Less chance of getting exposed that way.”

“Hmm, what do you intend to do afterwards?” Yuriko asked.

“Well, several things, you can turn him into your thrall, or I can use my Facet on him. He’d be confused for a few days. Ah, that does mean it's better; the less he knows...”

“Him?” Gwendith asked. “You intend to capture a man?”

“Of course. The young mistress’ Mien would work better against a straight man.” Saki shrugged. “Faster to get information from someone smitten with you than having to interrogate or torture.”

“Ehehe,” Yuriko chuckled uncomfortably, suddenly not quite sure about the entire thing. But, she needed to know, and so did the Empire for that matter. For all they knew, the Federation was doing this to foment hatred. That would mean the following armies to march up north would be filled with righteous indignation and anger. Such strong emotions would affect the ambient Chaos around them and empower their Animus techniques. And, most obviously, she was plain curious.

“Go,” Yuriko said.

Saki bowed, then the shadows around her rose up and engulfed her, leaving nothing in its wake.

“Do you ever get the feeling that Knight Saki peeps?” Heron muttered while shaking his head.

“Why?” Yuriko asked curiously.

“Hmm, I sometimes feel the hair at the back of my neck crawl,” he muttered. “When she disappeared just now, I felt it again, but it goes away after a moment.”

“Must be your imagination,” Yuriko said offhandedly.

“Could be,” he muttered.

The rest of them took a detour around the hamlet and continued on their way. By evening, they’d put up camp, and Saki had returned with an unconscious youth hanging like a sack under her arm.

They moved to be a bit more secluded, then Yuriko’s attendant slapped the boy awake.

“Huh? Wha-?” he gasped. Saki didn’t bind his limbs so he shot up to his feet, only for Yuriko’s kinesis to press him back down.

Saki knelt on his back, grabbed his hair and pulled his head back painfully. Yuriko knelt down in front of him and pulled her hood back enough so that her face and eyes were revealed. Then…she focused on the boy. Her Mien stirred, and less than a blink of an eye later snapped out and touched the youth’s Anima.

The boy’s eyes, swimming in confusion, snapped towards Yuriko’s face. His pupils dilated and his jaw grew slack. Yuriko could feel his pulse start to race and his suntanned face grew flushed.

“...beautiful…”

Yuriko grimaced and the young man flinched. She felt dirty, all of a sudden.

“Mistress…” he said in a hiss, “I will do anything for you…”

She sighed. Continuing this was distasteful and she fully intended to sever the bonds her Mien created afterwards, but she knew that the boy would be affected for the rest of his natural life. Still…

“Who are you?”

“David Muckley.” His eyes shone with joy at being able to fulfil Yuriko’s request.

“Your group?”

“The 21st Special Squadron.”

“Purpose?”

“Supplies requisition and enticement. The peasants should come to the city.”

“To what end?”

“They didn’t tell us.”

“What do you think?”

He shrugged. “I follow orders. I don’t need to know what command wants.”

“Were you ordered to impersonate Imperials?”

“No. But it was implied.”

Yuriko sighed and looked at Saki, and behind her, the rest of her group. It was as they suspected.

Sheamus ran a thumb across his throat and raised a questioning eyebrow. Yuriko shook her head.

“Sleep now. And forget about me.”

The man looked aghast. “I cannot, mistress! Please! Command me! I’ll do anything you want!”

Feeling even more sick to her stomach, Yuriko shook her head. “Sleep.”

“Yes!”

And just like that, he closed his eyes. Even though Saki had eased up on the pressure on his back, his position wasn’t the most comfortable yet he was fast asleep in seconds.

Saki sighed and lowered the boy’s head. Shadowy Animus gathered on her fingers.

“What are you doing?” Yuriko asked.

“Wiping his memory of the past few minutes,” Saki answered. “He might be a bit slow later on, but better than dying.” She tilted her head. “Unless you want to keep him?”

“NO!” Yuriko yelled.

She closed her eyes and envisioned the dreamscape. She pulled at the chains her Mien created between herself and David until they unravelled. As she half expected, some of the chain links remained entangled within the boy’s Anima.

When she opened her eyes, drool was dripping out of his mouth.

“Er, do we just leave him here?” she asked.

“No, I’ll dump him near the road,” Saki said with a laugh. She gave Yuriko a wide grin, “Congratulations, young mistress.”

Yuriko could only shake her head.