PreCursive

  Grey sighed, rubbing his brow. “plication after plication.”

  After finding the murdered Duke with Prince Oskar, I had stuck around for a bit to try and figure out how it had happehat had involved some gentle questioning of the housekeeping staff and the guards that saw to the prison block.

  Acc to them, he had been alive and crotchety as early as this m when they did their rounds. The st time he had been checked up on was when he’d gotten his breakfast. It had been around midday, roughly two iernoohe screaming maid had discovered his corpse. So, somewhere in a-hour period of time an assassin had slipped right into the heart of the Citadel and siles former master in cold blood, without ao the wiser. The surrounding prisoners hadn’t even known that Graden had carked it until the screeg of the maid had alerted them.

  That took no small amount of skill, the part of the assassin. Frankly, I didn’t see how they had do. None of the prisoners eveed seeing anybody ast their cell in that time frame, which possibly ruled out a disguised infiltrator.

  For now, it was going to have to remain a mystery how the assassin had so skillfully infiltrated our defenses.

  We o deal with the fallout, now.

  After gathering what information I could, I had exged some strained goodbyes with the Prind his attack dog, ao find Grey. He had andeered a modest office for his own use in the upper reaches of the Citadel, and it was just the two of us in here right now.

  He hadn’t been very happy to hear about either the assassination or my impromptu royal interrogation.

  “No doubt Prince Arid his ckeys have beeed to the capture of Helstein by now,” Grey said irritably, drumming his fingers on his desk. “This was likely a plot by his ko deprive us of any intelligehat could have beeracted from the former Duke.”

  “But I thought you had already been w on Graden? You know, before he carked it?” I pointed out, rexing in the surprisingly fy chair seated in front of Grey’s desk. I was helping myself to a gss of liquor that Grey had broken out when I had informed him of the day's events, and feeling marginally better. The stress that both matters had py shoulders was melting away from the taste of expensive booze, pilfered from the ets of a now-deceased Duke.

  Grey sighed agaiing down his own gss and standing up. He walked over to settle in front of the rge window in his office with his hands behind his back. “I was, yes,” He said, not turning to face me. “However, I was hesitant to employ more…brutal questionihods. Not only have I found them to be mostly useless, but distasteful as well. As a result, my now cluded ongoing interrogation of the Duke was slow going. The man was only willing to give up small, mostly useless parcels of information until he was afforded some, shall we say, signifit cessions.”

  I snorted, swirling the booze in my gss. “Let me guess,” I said sarcastically. “He wahe Citadel back.”

  Grey nodded, staring out over the city of Helstein. “At the very least. He was unwilling to budge on that matter, even if he could not retain his title. As, it was all for naught now. If I wish to discover who exactly was the perpetrator of the plot to brahen we’ll simply have to tinue our campaign.” He shook his head in disappoi, turning around and walking back over to flop into his impressively high-backed chair. He picked up his own gss of liquor and smmed it back before p himself another.

  He was really pretty set on this whole revehing, huh. I didn’t bme him, I suppose. I didn’t have a leg to stand o came to deg vengeance.

  I’d gotten mine months ago now. I really don’t knoould have reacted if Magnus had mao escape me.

  Probably poorly.

  “And Oskar?” I said, restarting the versation after a moment's sileween us. “I have to say, I wasn’t expeg an interrogation today. Especially not from some snot-nosed Prince.”

  I didn’t have a ive view of the Prinow at all. Not me, no sirree.

  Grey groaned aloud, reag up to massage his brow as if to stave off a headache. “I’ll have a talk with him ter. Irospect, I see how some of the as we’ve takehe st half a year have been suspect, and how one could jump to ehe wrong clusion. Still, I’m sorry to say that it’s not a high priority right now. By your own word, Prince Oskar has already apologized for his ambush. There really isn’t much that be done, Nathan.” He smiled at me apologetically.

  I waved him off, ung about any possible sequence. Instead, I was caught up in something else Grey had said.

  Half a year.

  It had been half a year now since I’d been stranded on Vereden. God…it really didn’t feel that long. We’d been so busy, for so long, and under such stressful ditions that time had slipped by me. It had been te spring when I’d materialized in that forest clearing, and I’d spent most of summer in a sve colr. Fall had beerekking across the breadth of the ti and its seas to save political prisoners. Now, with the ing of wihe Herztalian Civil War had kicked back off in ear.

  The timing was almost poeti y of blood and violence was soon to begin in these days, uhe pall of the season of the dead.

  It promised to be a hard campaign. In the meetings that I had sat through with Grey, more than one officer had suggested waiting until spring came again to resume the war effort and strike out from their new headquarters here at Helstein.

  Grey and Leopold had shot down those ideas. They’d pointed out how this romising to not only be a retively mild winter, but how the climate of the south ged matters. To the north of Helstein and past this desert, they were likely already experieng snowfall. Hollow Hill robably already buried is of frozen white. But the south had a much milder climate. The tral mountains arouein blocked that cold air from moving south, and thus they had weak winters. The most the army could expect would be some cold weather, and none of the debilitating snow that would have made a more northerly campaign dht impossible.

  No, the Uprising’s supply lines and support had been solidified by both our capture of Helstein and the freeing of the political prisoners.

  Both a date and a location for the resumption of the war effort had been decided upon.

  It just hadn’t been announced yet.

  “Leave will be celed tomorrow,” Grey told me, much more rexed after a few csses of high-quality booze. “And in a few days, we’ll be setting off. We won’t be abandoniein, of course. A sizable force, anded by Woodrick, will be staying behind in order to defend the city and the north. As agreed, our arget will be the twin cities of Elderwyd Ttec. This will be…a tough nut to crack, and I truly don’t expect to take Elderwyck without a fight. Not like Helstein.”

  “And…we’re not going to be doing anything to ‘Ttec’?” I asked curiously. “Because that would piss off the Orcs?” I'd heard something about how this Ttec beloo them, which was a bit odd.

  “Gods no,” Grey shook his head vigorously. “We ot afford to antagohe Orcish Dominion. The nexus of Elderwyd Ttec is where the only remaining funal Portal Stone resides. Many, many years ago an agreement was iated with Orcish officials for the sale of the nd that Ttec resides on. It wholly belongs to the Dominion now. Assaulting the only Orcish encve on the face of Vereden would be tantamount to deg war on the Dominion itself. And make no mistake, Nathan. They would crush us.”

  “So, why are we risking attag Elderwyck then?”

  Grey smiled helplessly at me. “Unfortunately, Elderwyck is by far the rgest trading hub of Herztal. The Loyalists sought to attack the Uprising where it was most vulnerable by abdug the prisoners we freed at Caer Drarrow. We must now do the same, and make an attempt to starve the Loyalists of a rge portion of their funding. tally, it is also the home of another one of the main backers of the Loyalist fa. Duke Olsen.” Grey’s smile took a vicious edge then, as the man visibly pted his revenge once more.

  Hmm.

  All right then.

  Grey calmed down theing down his gss. In fact, he was looking dht serious as he met my eyes. “Which…brings me to another point that I wish to discuss with you. Some time ago, you alluded to something Nathan. Your, shall we say, explosive growth. To my uanding, you’re over level sixty. Which is…unusual to see, in someone who has only possessed a Status for a mere six months.”

  Oh boy.

  I took a slow, deep breath, and the out just as slowly. Maybe it was just the booze in me, but I wasn’t quite as anxious about this particur point as I used to be.

  I guess it was finally time to let the cat out of the bag. I may have dodged it for a while, but…

  After all that Grey had done for me, I wasn’t going to ht lie to him about this.

  Still, I should be sober for this.

  I sat up in my chair, using my middle ring to speed up my metabolism. I’d seen Azarus do something simir to this plenty of times by burning the booze out of his system and had decided to do my best to recreate it. With Ringed Mind, urging my body to process the alcohol quicker was the best I could do. I’d be feeling it ter, though.

  “Yeah,” I said finally, already feeling more clear-headed. “There’s a reason for that.”

  For the few minutes, while Grey listened patiently, I id out how I’d been growing so fast.

  That is, how I was able to absorb a full portion of level Aether from people that I killed. And…my insistent absorption of Skills from people.

  “The thing is,” I said somberly, staring down into a gss I wasn’t drinking out of anymore. “I don’t actually know how ter it. It’s happewiow. Oh Magnus, and oh a knight I fought back at Caer Drarrow. It doesn’t seem to be something I active at will.”

  “Nathan…please, look at me,” I heard Grey say. Dragging my eyes away from my drink, I met his owe the irrational fears that I’d had about Grey rejeg me upon disc I could gain levels from murder, there wasn’t disdain on his face.

  It was a relieving mix of passion, bewilderment, and holy a bit of exasperation.

  “I , somewhat, uand why you’ve ed to mention this before now,” Grey said. “But…it truly isn’t the social disaster you’ve built up in your mind. Iy, if this ability to gain levels and skills from others was more widely known, you would be the envy of the Csser unity.”

  I furrowed my brow. “But…I remember you and Azarus agreeing that if people could get levels from killing each other, that it would be a ‘shit-show’.’ I said, making air quotes with my fingers.

  Grey barked a shh. “Oh, it would be, of that I have no doubt. If everyone else could simply gain levels from waging war against and sughtering each other, I frankly doubt Vereden would have ever emerged from the chaos of the Initialization Wars. I shudder to imagihe dystopian mire we would have beerenched into.” He shuddered dramatically in his seat, before sighing. “No…this is a boon for you, and you shouldn’t be scared of sharing it with trusted panions. Thank you for telling me, Nathan.”

  I nodded quietly, feeling a little embarrassed. I cleared my throat. “And the Skill stealing?”

  Grey shrugged. “I have absolutely no idea,” He said cheerfully. “Toints are far too few to e to any clusions. Inform me if it happens again, and perhaps we work towards uanding this mystery.”

  Ah…all right. I guess it was too much to hope that Grey would have all the answers. Despite ing to the wrong clusion about me, that little shit Oscar was right about ohing.

  Grey was only human, in the end. He wasn’t omnist.

  “However,” Grey tinued. “This only reinforces a decision I’ve e to. I’ve noticed a trend emerging in your chosen specialization, Nathan. I don’t think that I have to spell it out for you, do I?”

  I shook my head. “No,” I said quietly. “You don’t. I’m…being an assassin.”

  “You are,” Grey nodded slowly. “Your chosen first Css appears to have the archetype of the mystic assassin. Thornbde Acolyte, yes?” At my nod, Grey tinued. “Well then. In that case, it’s my job as your mentor to facilitate yrowth. To that end, I’ve decided to remove you from the main host of the Uprising.”

  I sat up straighter in my chair, mouth falling open iher surprise or protest. I wasn’t quite sure which.

  “While an assassin hold their own in open battle,” Grey kept speaking over any possible protest I could have. “That is not where they’re best utilized. To that end, I’d like to assign you to the Noe Division within the Order.”

  I settled down, furrowing my brow. “Which would mean...what, in practice?”

  Grey smiled at me calmly. “The Noe Division is both the intelligence arm of the Order, and where our more…destine operatives reside and are trained.”

  I took a deep breath. “In other words, assassins.”

  Grey ined his head at me slightly. “Among other things. I believe that you would be from the more specialized training you would undergo uheir and. I won’t pel you, of course. If you truly wish to remain as part of the main bat force, you are free to do so. I simply think this is the better path for your tinued growth. However…if you agree, I will see to it that the master of the Noe Division personally sees to your training and ht. Someone who I trust implicitly, and who ultimately reports to me in all things.”

  I was silent for a moment. This…

  I…

  I see.

  I’d been flicted for a while now, at the thought of how I was being an assassin. It was hard to shake my modern upbringing that screamed about how I was a monster for killing so many people, even if it was in battle.

  And here I was, being offered the opportunity to bee an actual, official assassin.

  But…

  “It’s probably a good idea,” I said quietly, meeting Grey’s eyes. “Like I said, I get more than most out of killing other people. I…” I grew quiet again for a moment, as through the window I could see dusk give way to darkness. As the curtain of night settled over the city of Helstein, casting Grey’s offi shadow, I nodded slightly. “I’ll do it.”

  “I’ll bee an assassin.”