PreCursive

  I cmbered up the old, aree I had picked out for my purpose with ease. Once I had reached the apex, shrouded in my Thorn Cloak, I took out the far-eye I had received from Maria in her 'care-package'. Extending it, I looked out in the dire of Elderwyck proper.

  While I had been busy ht, the Army of the Uprising had arrived.

  The massed troops of the rebellion were pig through the ruins of the Stacks and dismantling it, to my surprise. From what I could see, there wasn’t much resistance from the few remaining residents of the shanty-town. In those remains, the Army was rapidly setting up an encampment. Among those soldiers, I was easily able to make out the bd silver of the Order of the Eclipsed Dawn.

  They stood out pretty well.

  The Army was also flooding into the city itself, in staggering numbers. That was a bit of a relief, to be ho. The beleaguered people of Elderwyeeded the help, and I was happy that the remaining Loyalist forces weren’t trying to raise a stink over the Uprising presence.

  I sighed at the sight of them, a bit flicted. I knew what I should be doing now, but I was relut to do so. If I wao keep my word to Liora, it was time for me to rendezvous with the rest of the Order forces.

  I was just…relut to do so.

  It retty obvious why.

  But goddamnit, I wao be there when Sylvia woke up. I didn’t know how long it would take Grey to fix or heal her or whatever, but I o head in now if that was going to happen.

  Fuck it. Man up, Hart.

  I spped my cheeks, shook my head, and then hopped down from the top of the tree. I had grown strong enough that I barely felt the impact as I nded in a crou the forest floor. I barely wasted a minute before sprinting bay campsite to collect the horses.

  I wasn’t going to leave them behind, after all.

  ………………………………………….

  I was fully armored, masked, and hooded as I rode Marquis up to the checkpoint the Order had set up at the main gate into Elderwyck. Behind me on leads trotted the trastingly small and rge forms of Charlie and Poppy.

  I was a bit fused at the rea I was getting from the Uprising forces as I rode through them.

  They were ag in near awe at my presence, gawking and pointing my way.

  I had no idea why. The only identifying mark I had on me was my mask. It wasn’t even painted, as Maria had given me a bnk that I hadn’t bothered to decorate. The persona of Hangman was dead, as far as I was ed.

  But the Uprising forces didn’t seem to care about that. They parted before me uioningly, clearing a path to trot down. The oddity didn’t even ge once I reached the gate and entered Order members. They just saluted immediately and waved me through the checkpoint without even askio firm my identity.

  Seemed a bit sloppy to me. I mean, what if I had taken this gear from the body of a dead man?

  I shook my head slightly at the thought. Momentarily, I stopped at the stable the Order had andeered he gate. There, I dropped off my horses and prepared to leave, fully intending to keep a better eye on them now that they were ihe city walls. When I turned around, though, I stopped in pce.

  Across the street was the form of someone I hadn’t seen in quite a while. I…should have expected they would seek me out, but the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.

  Sparrow.

  The cloaked Noe Divisio was standing across the thhfare crowded with soldiers. He had a rge red-feathered hawk sitting on his right shoulder, and they were both staring straight at me, eerily still.

  Ah.

  Time to report in.

  I crossed the street, weaving iween soldiers as I did so, to e to a rest before the senient.

  We were silent for a moment, simply taking in the sight of each other.

  Sparrow eventually jerked his head in a motion for me to follow him. I did so quietly.

  He never spoke a word to me.

  The avian themed Agent guided me for lohan I was expeg, in total silence. We wound our way through a myriad of back alleys for minutes, before eventually ing to a stop at a familiar location. It robably the st existing safe house the Division had in Elderwyck.

  A healer’s i the poorer area of the city. This…was where we had taken Baldric, after his injury in the mausoleum.

  Sparrow led me inside, and there I entered a surprise.

  There were some very ued people ihe small ic, beyond the older, -smoking older woman of a Healer that owhe pce. Said Healer was off to the side, puffing on her pipe and watg the people who had andeered her workpce with a glower on her aged features.

  Because the leadership was here.

  Prince Oskar was sitting unfortably at a small table in the ter of the ic, while the massively crimson armored form of Leopold sat stone-faext to him with his arms folded. Surprisingly, Woodrick was here as well, the charismatic wooden Sculpted looking pletely at ease around the round table. Honoka was here as well, dressed in her own Healer’s robes and looking a bit exhausted.

  Leaning against the far wall I spotted Liora, but it was the st two people that caught my attention.

  Grey…

  And Sylvia.

  My mentor was crouched o a bed where his daughter was resting upon, holding out a glowing hand above her. Stelrum and Erux y discarded upon the floor o him, as he visibly trated on the Sculpted woman.

  He didn’t turn to look at me wheered the room.

  But everyone else sure as hell did. Once upon a time, I would have fidgeted uhe attention of all these powerful people.

  Now, I just met their gazes unflingly.

  After Rhazal and Nerexxa, it would take more than social pressure to cause me to flinch again.

  I stepped into the room, removing my mask as did so. At the same time, I lowered my hood, causing Oskar to hiss at the sight of my ears. I let my glowing eyes rest on him for a minute, before visibly dismissing the Prince. Instead, I met the gazes of the two men at the table that I was likely here to brief ohing.

  Leopold, and Woodrick.

  “Marshal. ander,” I said, nodding to them. I know my actual position within the Order was nebulous since I had been assigo the Noe Division. But I still stood at attention heless, uheir assessing eyes.

  Leopold me in aowledgment, while Woodrick was the oo actually speak. “Nathan,” He said, a small smile crossing his wooden lips. “Take a seat. There’s no need for formalities at this time. Honoka,” He said, nodding to the white-haired woman. “Has filled us in on the broad strokes of what happened here in Elderwyck. But we o hear it from someone who was on the ground, and arently instrumental to ending the threat of the…well. The Camity.”

  I didn’t bme him for the note of disbelief in his voice. Hell, if I had been told someone of my strength had killed a super-monster, I wouldn’t have believed them either.

  I nodded shallowly and approached the table, pulling out a chair and sitting in it. I very carefully set both of my hands oable face down to indicate I wasn't a threat.

  I had now idea how I erceived after my ges. This would be a good ce to prove I hadn't been ged mentally, even if I had been physically.

  Grey still hadn’t looked up from his intense iion of Sylvia. I’m not sure the man was even aware that I was here.

  I tore my gaze away from him to look back at the two leaders of the Uprising. “And Hook isn’t around anymore to ask for his at,” I said, unflingly. Leopold closed his eyes briefly at my words, while Woodrick’s face affected a pained nature. “As you will. This is an at of the Elderwy campaign as best as I recollect it, from the start of our infiltration to the eventual siege of the city by 'divine' forces.”

  And so I spoke to the table about everything I had seen and done. I went into much more detail than I had with Honoka, doing my best to retain my posure through the more difficult moments. Each of the people in the room, including the focused Grey, and Sparrow who had followed me into the room and leaned against the wall, all had their own particur reas to my words.

  Leopold, for example, audibly growled whenever I spoke about the as of General Longstripe. He sounded very strongly like a furious lion when he did so.

  Woodrick almost seemed weary whehe massacres that had been caused by Nerexxa were eborated upon. For all of his charisma, I had always found that the Sculpted man had a surprising well of empathy within his structed frame.

  Prince Oskar, well.

  He had a particur explosive rea, to my surprise.

  When I spoke about SED and their involvement in the campaign, he very suddenly started paying rapt attention, to my surprise. Surely someone had told him about their involvement?

  Did he…not know about Isolde?

  When I actually named ‘Number 33’ in our frontation with SED in that garden, he jumped to his feet and smmed his hands onto the table with wild eyes. “Did you kill her, Hart?!” He said furiously. “Did you kill my sister?”!

  The room fell silent at the accusation, as I felt a scowl grow on my face. More spurious accusations from this…child.

  Was this really the person we were propping up to take the ?

  I met Honoka’s eyes before I answered him, my eyebrow raised. I had told her about Isolde before I left, I know I had. To the best of my knowledge, the presumed ‘Princess’ was very politely locked up in a secure ambassadors room at the Elderwy guard headquarters.

  A guilty expression crossed Honoka’s face, as she winced.

  Ah.

  That told me all I o know.

  I looked away from her to meet the eyes of the Prince. “I did not kill the Princess Isolde, no,” I said evenly, causing the boy to take a deep breath. “With the death of the SED forces from Nerexxa’s puppet Order, she even assisted us against the vampire. To the best of my knowledge, she’s being guarded in a secure position at the headquarters of the Elderwy guard-”

  Prince Oskar didn’t wait for me to finish speaking, nor did he apologize for his accusation. Instead, he immediately raced out of the room, barging past Sparrow as he did so.

  I rolled my eyes at the emotional rea from the Prince, as a brief awkward silence desded upon the room after his outburst.

  Leopold broke it, ung. “I’m particurly troubled by the presence of forces from the Order of Solstice’s Fme,” He rumbled with a frown, starting to drum his crimson armored fingers oable. The loud rhythmic thump echoed through the room. “For all of our differences, it’s unlike Grand Marshall Shacklock to support such a vile cause as this ‘Nerexxa’s.”

  “To be fair, Marshall,” I said, ining my head to the enormous man. “Nerexxa ht admitted to having ensorcelled the Solstice cssers. It’s…possible that their Order was entirely unaware of ‘Rhiannon’s’ true nature. He could have simply been providing forces to a funary that was supposedly uhe direct employ of Duke Olsen.”

  “Gods, I hope so,” Woodrick breathed. “Maybe now that a near mastermind has been unveiled behind the war, we bring this eravesty to an end.”

  “I wouldn’t t on it,” A weary voice broke in, its owner speaking for the first time.

  Grey.

  He stood up from his position crouched over Sylvia, crag his back with a groan as he did so. Wheurned around to face us, I was shocked at the weariness I could see on his face. Despite my fears, he met my eyes from across the room with ation.

  A small smile crossed his wrinkled lips, as I almost instinctually rose from my chair at his regard.

  “Grey…I…”

  Words failed me. How did I possibly expin my failure to protect the girl we both cared about? I hadn’t fotten Honoka’s accusations. Over the st few days, I had been dreading the possibility that my mentor would echo her recriminations. I…don’t know what I would do, if Grey tossed me aside for my failure. I had trouble keeping my own on his bd silver eyes.

  I have worried.

  Before I could say anything else, Grey crossed the room swiftly in broad strides. I was shocked when the older man ed me in a massive, full hug, right there in the middle of the room and before the eyes of everyone else.

  He didn’t care a bit.

  Grey let out a shuddering sigh in my ear, for the first time since I’d met him soundiears. “Thank you, Nathan. Thank you for saving her life…”

  Very real tears of my own welled up in my eyes as I returhe hug, leaning nearly my full weight against Grey’s paratively smaller form.

  Grey didn’t bme me.

  God…

  Thank you.