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    Kax moved through the streets of Fyrie like a ghost. He’d borrowed a new cloak and wore it with the hood up, keeping his face hidden in the shadows. Perhaps it was unnecessary, as he saw plenty of other humans roaming the streets. They didn''t look particularly scared, hurt, or malnourished, and didn''t even flinch when enemy patrols of rhinn walked past. From the look of things, the humans were being treated well enough, though that made no difference to him or his mission.


    He looked up at the keep, far in the distance. For a brief moment, Kax thought about heading to the academy instead, to see their old stomping grounds and relive some easier times. But no, he couldn’t.


    Landé told him that if he found the king, he was to kill the man, including any other nobles in the keep. He wasn''t sure he could do it. Much less Goslin’s father and brothers. Landé emphasized that it was for the cause and the betterment of Eldsprak. Kax didn’t buy into the cause, no matter how much Landé pressed him. And, ever since acquiring his new powers, he didn''t much mind the killing either. However, Goslin might not be pleased.


    Lately, the only humans he killed were pyromancers, but there were plenty of people who needed to die. He felt it deep down in his bones, that it was his task to see to their ends. Very few deserved to live.


    He spotted a pyromancer in her red robes, stitched with gold patterns marking out to be one of the firemagi. Kax slipped into the side street and followed her and her bodyguards. A moment later, he stepped back out, more lives weighing down on his conscience.


    The newly dead joined the others in the back of his mind—a silent theater filled with those he had slain, now sitting there, judging him in silence. Kax carried each of them with him. Their strength added to his own, and he walked a little lighter.


    Once he returned to the rebel camp, he would need to check his skin again to mark his condition’s progression. Would the black stain show on his face, the last part of his body that was truly still his? Would the world finally see what he was becoming? Kax had his suspicions on how this would all end for him. If Kax ever met Sarien again, he would have to give thanks for transforming him into the man he was meant to be, for the strength and power that the white and black flames bestowed upon him.


    A deep cut on his arm from a lucky strike, dealt to him by one of the rhinn bodyguards, healed in seconds. It radiated darkness before the skin closed. He’d felt no pain, and below his skin there had only been more of the obsidian black. Kax didn’t feel any different, but he knew he wasn’t the same.


    As he crept closer to the keep, he wondered what the best method would be to gain entry. Would the main gate be closed? If not, would they allow a human in? Perhaps it would be for the best if he just rampaged his way through. He didn''t enjoy sneaking. Then again, you can''t learn much from a dead body. Landé did ask him to bring back information. Goslin wouldn’t like it if he didn’t do at least that much.


    With that in mind, Kax turned down another side street, moving away from the main entrance and toward one of the many side entrances into the keep.


    Unfortunately, the side gates were locked. Kax easily dispatched the rhinn guards. They joined the crowd of silent observers in Kax''s mind. Neither of the guards carried a key that he could find after rummaging through their clothes. It was a setback, but only a minor one. Kax cut through the lock with his trusty companion, Bandit.


    He slipped inside and closed the gate behind him. No alarms were raised. He hid the dead guards inside an empty warehouse just outside the keep walls. Those he killed in the city would be found eventually. He didn''t have time to hide everyone he killed, but at least the enemy wouldn''t know he was heading into the keep itself.


    Kax knew the keep grounds, as he’d spent a lot of his youth running around inside these very walls with Goslin and Hart. The high stone walls surrounded a significant area, not just one structure.


    The rhinn were more plentiful once inside, but still not as numerous as he’d expected. Most of their army was stationed outside the walls, not even the enormous capital of Eldsprak was able to hold their massive numbers. Also, Kax assumed, they didn’t need to remain in close proximity when they could easily open a gateway and travel to wherever they wished.


    Traveling was handy. Perhaps he could capture another traveler now that Landé confiscated the one he brought earlier. It would take time to break one to the point where he no longer needed to force the traveler to open a gate. Then again, he’d done it once, he could do it again.


    The thought lifted his spirits as he walked into the shadows. He saw no other humans, but he was certain they were close by. The pyromancers were never far.


    Thankfully, he didn’t need to kill anyone else on the way to the main structure, as no one stopped to question him. He could handle himself in a fight, now more than ever, but they could overwhelm him by their sheer numbers alone. Then again, he hadn’t pushed himself particularly hard yet. He was tempted to raise the alarm himself just to test his capabilities.


    The keep proper had a kitchen on the bottom floor. It was run by an incredibly rotund woman who disciplined her staff by striking their backs with a large wooden spoon whenever she was displeased. The woman, however, adored Goslin and would ply them with treats when they were children.


    Kax wondered if she still worked there as he climbed in through a low window. They''d broken the latch as children so that they could easily sneak into the pantry for sweets, and it appeared that no one ever bothered to fix it.


    The place was dark and quiet, and a wave of nostalgia struck Kax as he slid down with considerably more grace than he had as a child. Everything looked the same as it had then. The same, but smaller.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    He could find his way to the king’s room with his eyes closed, because Verien, Goslin’s father, kept rooms next door, and he’d visited Goslin there hundreds of times in the past. The one difference with this trip was that a number of rhinn patrolled the entire keep. It was a pain in the ass to slip past them, but the only other alternative was to kill everyone in sight. Tempting, but futile to his purposes.


    Halfway to the rooms where Kax thought he would find the rhinn Emperor, or at least some of his close confidants, he stopped, remembering the other part of his mission. He needed to eliminate King Druk and Goslin’s father first. He found a stairwell that would lead directly up to the cells. He was working on the assumption that they would keep the king close at hand and not imprisoned in any of the outbuildings.


    He''d find out soon enough.


    The stairs spiraled down. Kax didn’t hear anyone coming up the stairs or following after from above. Then, heavy footsteps drifted up from below. He debated whether or not to just kill them but decided against it. His swords would taste blood again soon enough. There was no need to rush.


    Kax exited the stairwell at the nearest landing and hid in a dark corner, letting the person pass him on her way up. Even in the relative darkness, he saw it was a human woman. She wore a staff uniform, which meant that the servants were still working. He wasn’t sure what that meant.


    From what he’d seen in Tyralien, in the city proper of Fyrie, and now here in the keep, the rhinn really didn’t seem interested in harming or abusing the general population. They were without mercy against enemy combatants, but both humans and rhinn seemed to share common ground in their tolerance toward those who could not defend themselves. The world could do with a little more mercy. Not from himself, of course, but in general.


    He reached the cells and found five rhinn guards in the small antechamber, all heavily armed and with a look of danger about them.


    "Would you mind letting me pass?" Kax asked, his hands out in front of him to show them he meant no harm.


    "Go back to your duties, human," one of them spat. He carried a spear with a red tassel at the end of the haft. Kax wondered if that was a mark of rank or skill, or perhaps this rhinn just liked pretty things.


    Kax took a step forward. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”


    Four spears were leveled at his chest and the last soldier drew his sword.


    The heavily guarded gate meant valuable hostages inside. There was no going back now.


    "Very well then," Kax said, as he materialized Darkbrand in his hand. It was the second sword gifted to him by Sarien, named on a fateful night in Tyralien, when he bathed in the blood of rhinn travelers and pyromancers alike.


    He dodged their first thrusts. An upward slash parted the nearest rhinn’s head in two, and his face landed on the floor with a wet thud. Kax ducked under a swing meant for his head and thrust forward with his free hand. Bandit, Kax’s short sword, appeared and bit into the second rhinn’s gut, burning the life out of the opponent.


    Two of the remaining three spear wielders stopped taking him lightly and attacked together, one striking low and the other high. Kax cut through the spear aimed at his head and decapitated its wielder with the flick of his wrist. The second spear struck Kax’s left thigh, and the rhinn gave a celebratory hoot before realizing Kax hadn’t even flinched. Kax sliced through the offending rhinn''s torso.


    A muted throb was all Kax registered and even that disappeared the instant he pulled the weapon out of his leg. The wound closed instantly. The last rhinn guard looked at Kax with fear.


    "Please," the rhinn begged. It was his last word.


    Kax entered the dungeon, his swords disappearing from his hands. When his weapons didn’t reappear in their sheaths, he materialized them in his hands again, then willed them away. He didn’t know where they went, but it wasn’t to his sheaths, not anymore. Kax unbuckled the sheaths and let them fall to the floor.


    The dungeon itself wasn’t much to look at. Bare stone walls with lanterns spaced evenly provided a modicum of light. A rickety table and a low stool were the only pieces of furniture. Three thick wooden doors lined the wall. Each of them was built with a small, rectangular opening at eye level, and a hatch at the bottom to slide in trays of food.


    Kax walked up to the door in the middle, then grumbled and doubled back for the stool. He clambered up to stand on it and peered through the opening. It was pitch black inside.


    "Hello? Your majesty?" Kax asked. He couldn''t see anything, but the stench told him that there were captives within.


    "There is no king here," a voice said. From the accent, the speaker wasn’t human.


    A rhinn approached the opening in the door and the light from outside the cell streamed in just enough to make out a pair of huge eyes and a wide mouth. "What are you doing here, human?"


    Kax saw no reason to lie. "I’m here for the king of Eldsprak. Is he dead?"


    Hollow laughter from numerous prisoners echoed in the cell.


    "A political prisoner, I’m sure," the rhinn answered, scratching at his bald head. "He would be kept in luxury, not down here with the dogs."


    That made sense, Kax figured. The king and the others might still be alive then, and the place to find him would be in the man’s own rooms. "And who are you to be incarcerated so cruelly?" Kax asked.


    "Why should we speak with you, human?"


    Kax sighed. Why did everyone have to be so difficult? "I can let you out, if you want."


    "Of course, you can," the rhinn by the door said, clearing his throat and spitting at the wall inside the cell.


    "Hey!" a voice inside whined.


    Kax brought forth Bandit and nudged the tip of the blade in the lock, careful not to push too far and injure the prisoners within. Leaping off the stool, he opened the heavy door, pushing the chair aside. Eight men blinked against the light, all of them dirty and in various states of undress.


    "There, you’re free. Some dead guards on the other side of this door," he pointed behind himself, "have weapons for you. Now tell me why you’re in here."


    The one he spoke to stepped out first, breathing in deep. "All of us in here are soldiers. Were soldiers. We spoke out against what the rhinn are doing in your world and the reason for the invasion. They locked us up for spreading dissension. One of the priests told us that if we did not raise our arms in fight against humans, we will then serve the Emperor as sacrifices on Wyndemir''s altar."


    "We’re not even believers," one of the others grunted as he made his way to the opposite door to peek out. "The guards are dead."


    "Told you," Kax said. "So, what, you’re part of the resistance? And for that they want to use you for human sacrifice? Sorry, rhinn sacrifice."


    "We’re not part of any resistance," the first one said. He pointed to the remaining locked doors. "Can you release the others?"


    Kax opened the other two doors and checked inside to make sure there weren’t any humans within. There weren’t.


    "Well, good luck," he said. "I’ll be going now."


    "Thank you, human. Know that not all rhinn want to see you dead and your essence consumed by the god of chaos and corruption."


    "Great," Kax replied, not sure what else to say. He left them behind in the dungeon. It wasn’t his task to see them to safety. His assignment was the Emperor and the king of Eldsprak, and he had yet to decide if anyone’s safety was his concern.