“You see, I told you that you’d be able to get results quickly. But I have to admit, I would never have predicted you’d make him so cooperative. It’s truly impressive.” Oliver smiled as he leaned back into his office chair.

  “Well, we got lucky.” Alter admitted. “If we hadn’t managed to blindly dig out this partner of his then it would’ve been a much rougher process. I did have to make a lot of promises to secure that information, mind.”

  “You certainly took some liberties on how we handle prisoners, yes. But given the results I’m more than happy to make an exception. I’m also happy to accept your recommendations for force assignments. I’ll order the Silver Wolves to stake out the binders, there is indeed work being done on my father’s collection so that’s a good sign that he was telling the truth. Are you sure you don’t want us to pick up this lady Fieldwatch is partnered up with? There’s always a chance that they grab her before we can confirm what he’s told us.”

  Alter felt the corners of his mouth tighten at the sour thought, but there was a good reason for leaving her alone.

  “The moment we spirit her away is the moment our enemy realises that Richard is, or was, alive and in our custody. Also, it confirms that he started talking. I doubt they would risk their remaining operations by staying in the locations they knew that he knew. Her vulnerability is a risk we’re going to have to take.”

  Oliver sighed and shook his head gently. “It doesn’t sit right with me to just leave her, but if you insist then I have no reason to overrule you.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  “Oh, don’t start on that official nonsense, I get enough of it from the city hall mob. Moving forward, I’m going to put out some feelers to try and figure out which farm these agents have been coming from. Once we’ve narrowed it down to a small enough number of possibilities, I’ll have you head out there and take care of business. Unfortunately, almost every farm in the nearby area keeps large animals, so it’ll likely take a good amount of time to reach that point. Until then, you are to remain within the city on standby, let’s not give them any clues that we may have discovered something. Understood?”

  “Of course, we’ll keep our noses clean until the order arrives.”

  “Excellent. Oh, and I have to warn you, we’ll soon be entertaining guests from Auserre. Lucille is coming.” Oliver’s expression turned unexpectedly concerned.

  “Why a warning? Isn’t her return a good thing?” Alter asked, confused.

  “Typically, yes. Absolutely. But the problem is that her brother may well decide that she needs an escort, and if that is the case then naturally he will choose himself. It’s happened before.” Oliver shuddered.

  “Victor might come here?” Alter scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly. “Then I see why that could become a problem. I imagine what happened to his sister back in the Adderbites will still be fresh in his mind.”

  Oliver nodded. “Plus, my uncle would doubtless attempt to drive that wedge deeper if he gets the chance. If Victor does show up then we’ll need to make sure the city is as much in our control as possible. The Four know he’ll be looking for any excuse to deem it unsafe here before dragging Lucille back to their lands again.”

  “Surely he wouldn’t kick up that much of a fuss.” Alter began. “I mean, actually, yeah that sounds like something he would be quite willing to do.”

  “If only you knew the half of it. Anyway, was there anything else you needed to discuss? If not, I have a myriad of mind-numbing duties to wade through.”

  “Nothing immediately comes to mind, I’ll let you get on.” Alter saluted and promptly made his escape, leaving the young lord to his small horde of headaches.

  The main house of the Masserlind estate never ceased to both amaze and hurt his eyes every time he passed through its lavish halls. He side-eyed the furnishings as he moved, marvelling at the intricacies in the carved wooden cabinets and other furniture while simultaneously rueing the sheer, unnecessary volume of objects shoved into every available corner. Maids, butlers and guards, all in their pristine uniforms were almost always in view, either fixated on their work, fixated on the empty space in front of them, or fixated on whichever room they were heading toward. Other than slight nods and quick glances, he was ignored as he descended one of the smaller stairwells on route to his usual side door. Stepping out into the late afternoon sunlight, a set of deeper, gruffer voices caused his attention to shift. Standing in a small group nearby were soldiers with yellow accents on their uniforms. Lord Betrand’s personal guards, which meant the man himself wasn’t far away. According to Oliver, he made regular trips to visit his brother, the true duke of Masserlind, who was tucked away somewhere within the house. What he did in that master suite turned life-support ward, he had no clue, but surely it wasn’t for the scintillating conversation. He hurried through the grounds and back to Osprey Hall, where he was met in the entrance by Pavejack and a newly risen Vangroover who were heading in the opposite direction.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “Hello you two.” Alter said as he stepped through the door. “Good to see you up and about, Eight. How’s your body feeling?”

  “Not too bad, thanks.” Vangroover smiled, though Alter couldn’t help but notice his voice still maintained its scratchiness. “We were about to go and get some fresh air, I want to make sure my legs haven’t weakened after all that time in bed.”

  “That’s a great idea. But, just be careful out there, okay? Bertrand’s guards are out and about at the moment, make sure you don’t get cornered or something.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye out.” Pavejack reassured him. “Hey, you just saw Oliver, is there any news on the next mission? Is it soon?”

  “Getting impatient, are you? Relax, it’ll be a bit of a wait before we’re called to action once again.” Alter chuckled.

  “Fair enough. Hey, you wanna come with us? We were thinking of heading to that big marketplace near the temples.”

  Alter paused and considered the offer for a moment before nodding. “You know what, sure I’ll come along. That won’t make it awkward, will it?”

  “Of course not, let’s go.”

  The three men chattered aimlessly as they wandered through the gardens and out into Jestriff’s busy streets. The city’s many industries were just closing down for the day, but the shops and street vendors were getting ready for a busy evening of trade. Eventually they reached the central market square, its rows of stalls already flooded with workers, housewives, and gaggles of children. They spent a comfortable hour wandering the lines, critiquing the various artist pieces for sale, and devouring some of the meat skewers Whim had purchased during their initial visit. Eventually, they ran out of stalls to visit and found themselves standing in the shadows of the temples.

  “Want to check any of the other temples out? We’ve only been to Kalaton's, after all.” Vangroover suggested.

  “I don’t know.” Alter hummed, observing the busy street. “It looks like they’re about to have an evening sermon or something. Probably best to leave that for another day. Although speaking of which, I wouldn’t mind sticking my head into Kalaton’s place, see if the big man has anything to say.”

  “Sounds good to me, I could use a sit down.” Pavejack agreed and they set off towards their new destination.

  True to their previous experiences, the temple was empty of visitors as they quietly stepped into the building’s cool interior. The rows of benches remained undisturbed, the twin plates still sat staring at them from the altar, although they noticed that a small basket of fresh flowers had been left at the top of the steps leading up to it. Knowing the score, Alter moved forwards and sat before the plates, slowing his breathing and forcing his body to relax. Perhaps a little uncertain, the others joined him, sitting awkwardly alongside and casting perplexed glances towards both him and the altar. Suddenly, there was a distant, otherworldly thud, followed by a strange creak, as if a door the size of a mountain was slowly being opened. The invisible eyes flickered and focussed, and for a brief moment Alter was certain there was a full mile between his head and his shoulders. There was a brief sensation of freefall, before the world settled back into place and the text began to appear.

  MISSION STATUS // 8Hkio4374”@dfEE0 / UNDEFINED / ONGOING

  CURRENT LOCATION // 2843 3857 / CITY OF JESTRIFF / NORTHERN RILLESTIA

  CURRENT OBJECTIVES //

  -Secure the Masserlind Succession

  -?????

  WELCOME TO SITE-17 // INACTIVE / AWAKENING

  BASIC REQUESTS // AVAILABLE

  Alter glances towards the others, but neither seemed to be reacting to what was happening, nor did they seem to be feeling any effects of Kalaton’s unique attention. Slowly, he realised he had never offered the god any basic greetings.

  “Hello, Kalaton.” He offered.

  The other men’s heads whipped around as he suddenly broke the chamber’s silence, but he kept his head forward and his eyes focussed solely on the plates.

  GREETING // ACKNOWEDGED / RECIPROCATION

  Alter smiled subconsciously as the god almost awkwardly answered him. Perhaps they could have a more normal conversation after all.