《Knights, Witches, and Fighter Jets - Rewrite》 Chapter 1: Circus Act "Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on the marvelous, the stupendous, the world-famous FLYING MAN!" The spotlights focused on the other wooden tower at the far end of the field, revealing Seth strapped to a giant wing constructed of wood and cloth. The audience gasped when the gas lamps on the ground activated, illuminating a steam-powered prop made from foam and cloth which created the convincing illusion of spinning saw blades. Quinn''s hands shook as he grasped the release lever, waiting for his brother to give the signal. Seth secured the clasp on his fur-lined leather helmet, lowered brass-rimmed glass goggles over his eyes, and reached out to grasp the grips on the leading edges of the wings. Finally, he stomped one foot three times. Quinn suppressed his fear just long enough to pull the lever. The sack of stones, which had previously been secured at the end of a wooden crane, began to plummet down from Quinn''s tower. The cable attached to the apex of Seth''s craft snapped taught and yanked him away. The wings caught the air and billowed slightly as Seth leapt off the platform and took flight. At first he flew straight forward along the path of the cable, but with practiced timing Seth released the cable just before the weight struck the field. In that instant, he was moving without any force pulling him. Please don''t nose dive, Quinn thought. Don''t nose dive! Don''t nose dive! Don''t nose dive! The kite featured weights fixed to the tail of the central boom. This had the effect of causing the tail to sink, which in turn caused the nose to rise just above the horizon. Seth''s arms shook violently as the wooden frame buckled, causing the kite to rock gently. Quinn could see the strain etched on his brother''s face. Ladies in the crowd screamed as Seth just barely cleared the fake saw blades. He pitched up to slow down before his legs impacted the ground. "For the first time in history," the showman proclaimed, "Man has conquered the sky at the risk of certain doom! History has been made, and you are all witnesses!" The crowd cheered. Quinn breathed a sigh of relief. Strictly speaking, the showman''s claims were untrue. Seth frequently practiced the act during the day. He had also performed the act on several nights as the circus straddled the small towns on the north coast of the Theocracy. Neither Quinn nor Seth could explain why the kite sometimes decided to dive straight into the ground. The weights on the tail seemed to help, but it was something that Quinn could never quite feel comfortable with. We need to ask an engineer, he thought. He removed the cloth cover from his lantern and began to descend his tower''s ladder. Below, the spotlights followed Seth as he trotted across the field toward the stadium bleachers. The men in the crowd poured over the barrier and dropped into the field. They sized Seth and raised him over their heads, cheering and singing, offering small bills in the local currency. Quinn avoided the mob and escaped backstage. It was much darker, lit only by flickering lamps at the top of small wooden towers. Gantries, ropes, props and cages were scattered haphazardly. Men and even a few women walked around mostly in their smallclothes, some of them hastily preparing their costumes for the next act. He lingered until the circus staff carried the giant wooden wing backstage. He inspected it, carefully tracing every rope and piece of cloth under the lamplight, looking for damage. The cloth was attached to the wooden frame with sailor''s knots, each ending in a loop and a spiral around itself, slathered in dry glue. The rigging held fast as Quinn tugged at it. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Quinn was still inspecting the craft when Seth arrived, puffing on his pipe. "Hey Quinn, guess what?" he said dryly. "Yeah?" "The ladies are going to line up for us tonight! Haha!" "For you maybe," Quinn said. "You were the one everyone saw risking your neck up on that thing. How was it? Was it easier to control tonight?" "I''m afraid not," Seth replied. He sat down on a bench by a spool of rope and took a flask out of his jacket. "It required all my strength to control it. The nose tends to want to sink. For now, we should celebrate, yeah?" He took a swig and handed it to Quinn. The stuff tasted like vanilla and oak. They passed the flask back and forth a few times before the showman arrived. As always, the pot-bellied man was wearing an expensive suit and a wide-brimmed black hat. "Good show my boy!" he said. "Brilliant! Brilliant!" "Do you need something?" Seth asked. "Quinn, my boy, that was an excellent performance tonight, but we need to think bigger. Audiences are not going to line up to see this act forever. We need twists, turns, loops, maybe even a ship''s propeller attached to the thing." Seth grunted but said nothing. "Right now that is impossible," Quinn said. "There is something fundamental that needs to change. I think we will need more resources. Academic resources, specifically." "Nonsense," the showman said. "Hear me out," Quinn insisted. "Maybe it would be possible to attach a propeller to the thing, but under no circumstance could we attach a steam engine and still remain in control. Sir, have you heard about the University up in White Chasm? I hear it''s the only school in the world that trains commoners like me and my brother. If we enrolled there..." "You don''t have auras," the showman observed. "We can lease them from the bank," Quinn offered. "That would cost a fortune every month," the showman said. "What the entire circus earns in a year, a hundred times over, every month, just to lease the smallest aura the banks offer." "Maybe we can go to one of the Heritors." The showman snatched the flask from Seth and drank deeply, then stalked off without returning it. "I don''t want to hear either of you mention the Heritors ever again." For a moment it looked like Seth was going to lose control. When the showman was out of earshot, he said: "I don''t know about White Chasm, but I''m ready to leave this circus. That bastard isn''t willing to risk his own skin, but he''s happy to risk ours. He doesn''t deserve us." "I agree," Quinn said. "Maybe we could get involved with the military? I heard that some Heritor kidnapped some other Heritor." "The Blue Wolf," Seth said. "Right, that Blue Wolf woman," Quinn agreed. "Some Heritor family marches through the Theocracy, trying to get her back. It''s only a matter of time before the Theocracy sends an army to contest their advance. Armies need information. Enemy army movements, supply line locations. If we could just demonstrate the potential of a flying machine for scouting, it could completely change warfare as we know it." Seth nodded. "I like the idea. Military men are real risk takers, gambling with their lives. And girls want more than words, they want real sacrifices. Speaking of girls, let''s head into town and try to pick up girlfriends, yeah?" Quinn sighed. "Even if we do manage to slip away, there is no way we would be able to bring the kite with us. I''m going to head to the workshop and make copies of our diagrams." "Suit yourself," Seth said as he turned and walked away. Quinn hoisted the kite off the ground and began to walk back to the workshop. As he was making his first step he realized the lamplight was casting a shadow. A human shadow. He looked up. The silhouette of a female figure stood above him on the wooden scaffolding. Her body was shrouded in total darkness, but her eyes were glowing purple, and her face was scarred by glowing teal fractures radiating away from those purple eyes. She rotated slightly and he saw her face reflecting the light. She had a knowing smirk on a youthful face framed by dark blue hair. "Excuse me, can I help you?" he asked, loud enough for her to hear. But she did not reply. She turned away and vanished into the darkness beyond the lamps. Who was that? he wondered. And those eyes... An oculomancer, he realized. Quinn frowned. How did she get backstage? The showman didn''t have any oculomancers on staff. Why was that woman here? And how much had she heard? Chapter 2: In the Mountains Quinn found Seth at a tavern in the nearby village, and instead of returning to the circus, they plotted to sneak away in the night. Seth had always been the better talker, and after a few candid conversations with the locals, they decided to hitch a ride on one of the many cargo trains that passed through the region. Sharp switchbacks in the rail line forced the trains to slow down east of the town. Armed with a lantern, two bedrolls, a fresh change of clothes, and some dry bread and cheese, the two brothers set off into the knee-high ferns of the forest in search of the switchbacks. When they came upon the empty tracks, they crouched in the ferns to avoid being seen and doused the lantern. Some time later, a steam engine slowly but dutifully chugged by. Quinn could see the silhouettes of the fireman and the engineer against the yellow light of the engine''s cabin. Bravely, Seth raced forward and leapt up onto the ladder leading to the gantry on the second boxcar behind the engine. With significantly less bravery, Quinn followed. Once inside the car, they set out their bedrolls and slept. It was sometime in the night that Quinn knew something was wrong. The time between each clank clank of the train''s wheels was slowly dilating. The churning hiss of the steam engine was gone, replaced by the grinding metallic screech of the train''s wheels. In his bones he felt the seeping cold which came from sleeping outside at night. "Brother," he said. "Brother! Wake up. Something''s wrong." Seth groaned. "It''s cold." Quinn scrambled to his feet in the darkness and felt for the latch to the forward boxcar door. It was so dark outside that he could not see the snowflakes that blasted his face as soon as the door was open. We must be high in the mountains, he realized. Seth struck a match and lit their lantern, which created enough light to reveal the steel walkway leading to the door to the next car. "We need to get out of here," Quinn said. "Without the engine, we could freeze to death." "I''ll go talk to the engineer," Seth announced. "No!" Quinn protested, but it was too late. Seth marched forward and started beating the ice off the latch to the next door. The lantern illuminated the closest of the snow-clad trees, which faded like ghosts into the fog as the train screeched down the track. Hastily, Quinn chased his brother into the next car, through the narrow gaps between stacks of lumber. Blessed warmth radiated from the steam engine when they arrived at the front of the train. The windows to the forward cabin were illuminated from within, and the shadow of a man danced on the trees. Seth began ascending the ladder. "This is a bad idea," Quinn cried. Seth began pounding on the door, and he continued pounding until it creaked open. An old man with a lantern stepped out and said: "Who the hell are you?" He saw Quinn attempting to ascend the ladder and he scowled. "Bah. Children! Get inside before you freeze to death." Once inside the cabin, Seth asked: "Why did you stop the train?" Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. "I didn''t stop the train," the old man replied. "It''s the fireman''s fault." He pointed to a second man at the front of the cabin, standing near the brass-rimmed steam gauges and controls above the boiler backhead. While the old man, who Quinn assumed to be the engineer, wore dark overalls and an oil-stained stained shirt, the fireman wore pitch black robes ornamented with silvery red filigree. "Stowaways?" the fireman asked. "Stowaways," the engineer agreed. "From Lyn, by the looks of it. What are you kids doing here? Where are you going?" "The Theocracy," Quinn answered. "Or the Empire. I don''t think it matters. We were working in a circus. Now we''re trying to find an army." The engineer looked completely dumbfounded by this response. "You didn''t answer my question," Seth said. "The engine stopped working because my ethermancy stopped working," the fireman said flatly. "Ridiculous," the engineer said. "I''ve been working in this business for longer than you''ve been alive, child. Trains don''t stop because ethermancy stops working." "Calm down sir," the fireman said. "How do you think I feel? The Aden family trusted me to use this aura to help run their railroad. When I get back to White Chasm, the Adens are going to make me stand before an oculomancer and explain why I lost their train in the forest." "You''re from White Chasm?" Quinn asked, suddenly excited. "That''s enough," the engineer snapped. "We answered your question, now you''ll both keep quiet and wait for the engine to get started again." "The only reason I can think of," the fireman continued, "is that there is another Heritor nearby, one with a very big aura." Seth and Quinn both slid down to the floor by the door and waited. The engineer, to his credit, was very diligent in his investigation of the various steam gauges and dials. Quinn took the opportunity to study the fireman. Black and red are the colors of House Aden, he thought. For as long as anyone could remember, the Aden clan had always lorded over the nation of Lyn from their Hanging Throne in the city of White Chasm. His excitement about meeting a man from White Chasm quickly faded when he reasoned it out. All steam engines in the entire world were operated by a fireman with an aura. He estimated that it might be economical to lease an aura from the bank in order to operate a railroad. But the Adens were Heritors, and they no doubt had dozens of small auras to dole out to their business partners. It was not unreasonable to expect to find a White Chasm aura operating a train so close to Lyn. His contemplations were interrupted by shouts and whistles from outside. They both stood to peer out the window at the commotion. A small army of mounted soldiers swarmed around the steam engine, illuminating the forest with their torches. They all wore dark blue uniforms and shining brass helmets. The commanding officer began shouting, using a voice worthy of a ship''s captain in a thunderstorm: "By the order of Princess Lucia Aden of Lyn, ownership of this transport is hereby transferred to the armies of King Sullivan Blaine of Cloudsea. The fireman operating this transport is hereby ordered to report to Princess Lucia immediately." "Problem solved," the fireman mused. Not wanting to be left behind when the engine was abandoned, they followed the fireman down to the forest floor. Many of the soldiers trotted off to search for supplies amongst the boxcars, leaving behind a single woman riding a horse and some northerners with a cart. The lone woman wore hooded black robes with purple epaulets. Quinn froze when her gaze shifted toward them. Her eyes glowed bright purple even through the dense fog. "Honored oculomancer," the old engineer said. "I would like to report a crime. These young men are stowaways." "You are not a Heritor," the oculomancer snapped. "Take your complaints to the local constabulary if you must. Young men, I can tell from your bloodline that you are from eastern Lyn. You are invited to serve your princess." She pointed to the cart. "Make yourself useful in the camp and perhaps you will be paid enough to buy new coats. Or freeze to death, it is of no consequence to me." Chapter 3: The Mender Burdened with rations taken from the train, the little wooden cart struggled down the rutted switchbacks of the trail leading out of the forest. It was too dark to see anything, even without the fog. There were extra blankets in the cart, so Seth and Quinn were both protected from the elements, and by the time they broke out of the forest the night''s chill had fled. They came upon a field of pale stones, barely visible in the darkness. Distant sounds were muffled by the light snowfall. The wind smelled of death. As the darkness lifted Quinn made the unfortunate discovery that the field was covered not in pale stones, but in corpses. Mud mixed with blood and bile in huge puddles that consumed the path, forcing the little cart to veer off onto the banks on either side. A sudden break in the clouds overhead revealed, for just a few moments, a frigid blue sky. A shaft of golden sunlight burned away the fog toward the west, illuminating a white tent nestled in the frosted grass at the apex of a nearby hill. Pairs of young men carried stretchers up and down that hill. The oculomancer trotted up alongside the cart on her horse. "The tent hasn''t moved," she muttered. Then, louder, she said: "Young men, Heritor Kiera resides at the top of that hill. She has a kind heart, and she will pay well for every one of her father''s soldiers brought to her for healing. You won''t find better pay anywhere in the camp, I promise." "I thought ethermancy didn''t work," Quinn said. "Maybe she isn''t using ethermancy?" Seth offered. The oculomancer said nothing. She kicked her horse into a canter and left the cart behind. Seth hopped off the cart and tumbled in the grass. Quinn tossed their bedroll packs down, and Seth caught them both effortlessly without looking. Unlike his brother, Quinn carefully clambered off the back of the cart. Even before they reached the top of the hill, they came close enough to hear the screaming within the tent. As they approached the top, a pair of young men carrying a stretcher intercepted them. They were about the same age as Seth and Quinn. The unconscious soldier between them had been eviscerated. His belly had been opened like a huge bloody smile, his bowels tumbled out across his bloody stumps for legs, and what remained of his lower legs was stuffed into his armpits. "I think it''s over for that fellow," Seth whispered. When they reached the threshold of the tent the two boys rushed through and dumped the man onto a shining brass table. There was so much blood in the tent that Quinn mistook it for some type of sacrificial altar. A blonde woman stood in the center of the room, her once-white hospital uniform so soaked with blood that it had nearly turned black. With a face filled with determination, her hands began to glow with shimmering green light. For a fraction of a second, Quinn saw the ethermancy at work. It looked like faint cyan fog, floating lazily, filling every corner of the tent. Suddenly it was sucked toward the blonde woman, where it passed through her heart and vanished. Green light burst from her hands, enveloping the broken soldier with a green haze. As if they had a life of their own, the man''s bowels began to rearrange themselves within the empty cavity of his belly. His lower legs slowly floated down, reorienting themselves, the bones and muscles and tendons regrowing, reattaching. With a brilliant flash of green light the man convulsed and then gasped for breath. Immediately he released a terrified, blood-curdling scream. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Seth and Quinn stood just outside the doorway of the tent, completely dumbfounded by what they had just witnessed. After a few moments the man seemed to calm down, and after a few gasps for breath, he rasped: "My princess. My princess. Thank you." And then he broke down and began sobbing. A pair of plump nurses plucked him off the table and carried him away. "Astonishing, isn''t it?" a kindly voice asked. It was a graying man with narrow eyes and a warm smile. He wore dark blue robes, darker even than the soldiers'' uniforms, which Quinn found somewhat familiar. "I was certain he was doomed," Seth admitted. "The Princess Kiera is an exceptional mender," the man replied. "By the grace of Mother Summer, the Princess has discovered the strength to perform such miracles. Forgive me. I serve Princess Kiera as the chief of her personal staff. Are you both Lucia''s men?" "We are now," Seth said vaguely. "We''ve come to help out. With the injured soldiers, I mean." "I will add you to the rotation. It takes three or four teams to carry a single soldier all the way from the front lines. We also rotate each pair of runners to prevent any one pair from spending too much time close to the front line." "Everyone is exposed to the same risk," Seth said happily. The old man took their names and sent them on their way. As they were walking down the hill, Quinn whispered: "Brother, there was a Heritor in that tent." "I saw her," Seth said. "However, I am absolutely certain that she would not be interested in our flying machine." "What makes you say that?" "Please try and empathize with her, brother. She is a mender, not a soldier. If we gave her the designs for our flying machine, she would correctly assume that we are trying to make a new weapon." "Maybe we could come up with a flying machine that could be used to transport injured soldiers?" Quinn insisted. "That would need to come later, I think. I was the one who flew our kite. I was the one who took that risk. Can we both agree that, even if we succeed in inventing a flying machine, it would be very dangerous, potentially for many years? That level of risk is something that soldiers on the front line could tolerate, but not injured soldiers in need of a mender." "But there is a Heritor, right there, at the top of that hill. Can''t we at least try?" "No," Seth said firmly. "Don''t mention that poor woman again. We found our army. I''m sure that there will be plenty of other Heritors lurking around here. Maybe we can find one that doesn''t spend all day soaked in the blood of screaming soldiers." As they descended the grassy hill, a handful of soldiers approached from the opposite direction. The lead soldier had hair the color of burned coral, and he wore a full set of shining plate armor. His spear, which was easily a head taller than the man himself, appeared to be crafted from a swirling blend of metallic blue and crystalline red. Three Blaine family soldiers marched behind the man with their rifles held across their breasts. Together, the three soldiers dragged a fourth man bound in thick steel chains. When he slipped on the muddy grass they yanked hard, causing him to scream. His hair was very dark green in places, but mostly oily and bloody brown. His robes resembled the ones worn by the fireman on the train, except instead of being black and red, they were white and dark green. His face and his fine robes were both completely soaked in blood. "I''m a Heritor!" the young man cried. "I have rights! I HAVE RIGHTS!" This provoked the tall man with the spear to spin around and smash his face in. Bloody teeth scattered across the grassy hill. His eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness, his mouth drooping open to release a waterfall of blood. "Collect those teeth," the man with the spear bellowed, pointing at Seth and Quinn. "Yes, YOU. Kiera will want them. Stop looking at me like that, you idiots. DO AS I COMMAND." Chapter 4: The Blue Wolf The two young men from Lyn complied. They had that look common to Lucia''s men: dark brown hair and bright green eyes. They both wore overalls and thin jackets in drab colors. Commoners, obviously, probably brothers, and most likely loyal to their princess and willing to work. Indeed, the two boys sauntered off to search for the bloody teeth, while Zachary continued up the hill to Kiera''s tent. When they arrived at the tent, Old King Sullivan''s men dragged the unconscious form of Maxius the Younger, by his chains, up onto Kiera''s operating table. Lucia''s men dashed in and set the bloody teeth on the table, before vanishing as silent as master servants. Kiera glanced at them with some curiosity, but then dutifully began healing Maxius in the usual way. "You did this to him," Kiera observed. "I did," Zachary admitted. If she had wanted to chastise him, she refrained from doing so. It only took a few seconds before life was restored to the ravaged Heritor on the table. When he opened his eyes and saw Kiera he started laughing. "Kiera, is that you?" Maxius asked. "You always did have a kind heart." Two plump nurses rushed in to fetch the patient. "Get him cleaned up," Zachary said. "Cut off his robes and dress him in furs. Shave all the hair off his head." "I have rights!" Maxius insisted. "Do not follow his instructions," Zachary continued. "Do not believe his claims. You are free to gag him if he makes too much noise." "Yes Sir Zachary," one of the nurses said. They both curtsied and then plucked the Heritor off the operating table amidst a litany of protests and complaints. Two of Kiera''s haulers sprinted into the room and dumped another screaming victim on the table. "I''ll leave you to your work," Zachary said. Then he left. He summoned a horse and rode to the east toward Castle Noxus. Kiera''s hauler teams served as brief and silent companions on his journey. The front lines were unchanged when he arrived, bathed in the light of a blue sky but otherwise ominous because of the blood and broken bodies. Old King Sullivan''s men, gleaming blue under navy banners, were holding the line against the Noxus family soldiers in dark green uniforms. The Noxus soldiers were still attempting to siege the castle, but King Sullivan himself had smashed the siege and was busy setting up an encampment just outside the castle gates. The local garrison was missing from the walls, most likely to avoid the ample rifle fire that filled the air. King Sullivan looked resplendent in his immaculate military uniform, firm and defiant in spite of his advanced age. He was flanked by his top general officers. Lucia Aden sulked nearby under layers and layers of red robes. The Eyes of Empire, wearing hooded black robes with purple epaulets, loomed over the gathering atop her fine mare. Zachary''s own horse became ornery upon seeing the mare, so he turned the beast over into the care of the nearby soldiers and stalked into the gathering on foot. "Sir Zachary," King Sullivan said. "Did you find him?" "Yes sir," Zachary reported. "I found Maxius the Younger hiding among the Noxus soldiers to the south of the castle." "Was he able to use ethermancy?" the King asked. "He did not possess an aura," Zachary replied. "Like our own ethermancers, the Noxus family ethermancers were unable to use their abilities. Either that or I killed them too quickly." "Where is he?" Lucia demanded. She removed the layers of red hood to reveal her face. Lucia Aden was, in Zachary''s estimation, a somewhat ugly young woman. Her face was too narrow. Her front teeth were too large, and when she spoke or smiled she gave the impression of being somewhat stupid. Like all the Heritors of House Aden, her hair was the color of midnight, tinged with a blueish sheen in the correct light. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. "I took him to Princess Kiera''s tent. Her nurses are cleaning him up right now." "I''ll geld him," Lucia announced. "I''ll get Kiera to heal him and then I''ll geld him again." "You will do no such thing," the Eyes of Empire said. "Petty quarrels between Heritors are not forbidden, however sustained, punitive torture violates the Heritor Precepts." While Lucia continued her argument with the Eyes of Empire, the castle gates creaked open and a small group of mounted castle soldiers poured through. The representatives of the castle garrison, mostly high-ranking officers, were obviously intimidated by the small gaggle of Heritors that awaited them. They were led by an old man in shining plate armor, who Zachary did not doubt was a proper knight. The round of introductions was mercifully short. Feeling belligerent, Zachary asked: "What caused you to betray your own lord? How do we know you won''t betray us?" "We swore oaths to protect the people," the old knight replied. "I knew that Good King Sullivan here would extract proper vengeance on the people of Castle Noxus when the gates fell. Therefore, in order to protect them, I approached the Blue Wolf with terms of surrender." "He is mostly telling the truth," the Eyes of Empire reported. With the Eyes of Empire as witness, the castle guards denounced all forms of treachery, which satisfied King Sullivan. This was the opening act of what would soon become a heated negotiation. The fool woman had promised all the officers land and cottages in the Empire, a fact which the oculomancer reported as being completely truthful and factual. To his credit, King Sullivan was a shrewd negotiator, and he was able to haggle the size and value of the properties down to a more reasonable level. Once everyone was in agreement, they set off toward the gates of Castle Noxus, riding fresh mares in the wake of the local garrison. When they reached the throne room, they found Imperial Princess Alyesha Varelion, the Blue Wolf of Nydia, lounging on the lord''s throne sipping cherry wine. The fireplace was ablaze, so her burned coral hair seemed to glow gold at the fringes. Nearby, Lord Noxus was dressed in motley and chained to the stone wall above a pool of his own urine. "Sasha," Zachary said with a slight bow. "My beloved niece. You have been very busy." "The castle guard saw the way the wind was blowing," Sasha replied absently. Lucia Aden continued across the room without speaking and, responding to an inviting gesture, plopped down into Sasha''s waiting embrace. They immediately began whispering. Plotting, Zachary knew, a method of negotiating the logistics of forbidden love. Blane family soldiers arrived dragging Maxius the Younger by his chains. Somebody had gagged him at some point, and the nurses had done a poor job of shaving because his head was still covered in a very thin layer of stiff green stubble. "Heritor Maxius," Sasha said gravely. "Did you order my kidnapping?" "Don''t answer that," the Eyes of Empire said. She marched forward to stand between Sasha and Maxius. "Heritor Alyesha, I have just received a message from Spire Annatiki, sent through emergency channels. Heritor Maxius is not to be questioned, by any means, and for any purpose. This order comes from the Elder Saint herself." "Why the hell not?" "Because," the oculomancer replied calmly, "he obviously knows something that nobody else in this room is qualified to know." "Including you?" Sasha asked. "Including me," the oculomancer agreed. Zachary let out a low whistle. Sasha waved her hand dismissively and said: "Everyone please leave. I shall retire to my quarters to enjoy the company of Heritor Lucia. Under no circumstances am I to be disturbed." Her eyes drifted to Zachary, and in a single flash of emotion, a private message between niece and uncle, he knew that he had not been dismissed like the others. King Sullivan left, accompanied by Maxius the Younger and the Eyes of Empire. Zachary lingered until Sasha and Lucia had left, then he followed them through the oppressive halls of the castle to the lord''s private quarters. The door to the lord''s chamber was open, and both women were seated at a small table by the door. A manservant stood at the ready, holding a platter of glass flutes filled with cherry wine. Zachary snatched a glass and sucked down the blood-colored contents before dismissing the servant. It was horribly sweet. Once the door to the chamber had been sealed, the Blue Wolf said: "Sir Zachary, I invite you to kneel." Zachary dropped to one knee and bowed his head. "My princess," he said. "I am yours to command." "Sir Zachary," she began, "on behalf of my brother Corrin Varelion, the Emperor of Nydia, I hereby order you to investigate the method Maxius the Younger used to kidnap me. I want to know how he was able to sneak past the oculomancers." "I will find out how," Zachary promised. "Sir Zachary, nothing is forbidden to you. You have full access to all imperial resources. You are above the law." "I understand." "Now go." And he went. Chapter 5: Absence "Hey girl," Seth said in his most charming voice. "Me and my brother are having some trouble with those boys over there. Do you think you could help us out?" "Certainly," the camp girl replied. "What do you need?" "Those boys are trying to scam us, but I''ll bet they would give a fair price to a pretty girl like you. I''ll give you the gold they were asking for. All you need to do is buy my brother a pair of gloves and you can keep the difference." The girl snatched the gold and sauntered off with a giggle. They had only been working as a hauler for Kiera Blaine for a day and a half, but they had accumulated so much money that they needed to buy proper wallets to hold it. Quinn had never owned a wallet before, and now they both owned fancy leather pouches that could be chained inside a jacket to prevent theft. Seth had managed to snare a new pair of boots, and they both sported brand new fur-lined leather jackets. Quinn could not suppress the lingering feeling that the good times were destined to end. Eventually, the fighting stopped and the haulers were dismissed. Rumors around the camp differed. Some insisted that the Theocracy soldiers were fighting each other when King Sullivan arrived. Others claimed that the troops garrisoned in the nearby castle were secretly loyal to House Blaine all along. Everyone seemed to be in agreement on one thing, however: the Blue Wolf of Nydia had been recovered and her kidnappers had been captured. With their long chase ended, the Blaine family soldiers were packing up for the journey north to Cloudsea. "Brother," Quinn said. "We need to find a Heritor soon." "Perhaps," Seth said. "We don''t know what the future will be like. For now, we should take advantage of our good fortune and prepare for bad times ahead." The girl returned with a pair of gloves for Quinn. She gave Seth a thankful smile and glided off. "I normally would not contradict that way of thinking," Quinn said guardedly. "But we can buy supplies at any market in any town. What are the chances we''ll find a bunch of Heritors all camped together?" "We don''t even know how many Heritors are here." "Now we know the next problem we need to solve." They began asking around, but Quinn did not trust the diversity of the answers. Bravely, Seth approached one of the camp oculomancers. "Honored oculomancer," he said, obviously copying the words and tone used by the engineer on that steam engine in the mountains. She regarded him with some degree of anticipation. "How many Heritors can be found here in the camp?" "You''re one of Lucia''s men," the oculomancer said flatly. It was an observation that they had heard many times since joining the camp. "Heritor Lucia, of course. Heritor Sullivan, Blade of Empire and King of Cloudsea. His daughter, Heritor Kiera the Mender. Heritor Zachary the Knight of Summer. Heritor Alyesha, also known as Imperial Princess Sasha and the Blue Wolf of Nydia. Oh, and Heritor Maxius the Younger, who was taken prisoner in combat by Heritor Zachary." A prisoner, Quinn thought. If they could just get close, he reasoned, they could talk his ear off and he would be forced to listen. Suddenly excited, he asked: "Where is Heritor Maxius now?" "Heritor Maxius is imprisoned on a field to the south-east." "Can we talk to him?" "Absolutely," the oculomancer replied. "By the orders of Heritor Zachary, anyone in the camp is free to communicate with Heritor Maxius." They found the Heritor''s prison to the south-east, a sturdy wooden cage at the top of a grassy knoll overlooking a field of rotting enemy corpses. Thankfully, the wind was blowing toward the east so they were spared the smell of death. Two oculomancers stood guard on the path leading to the cage. Once the two women were satisfied that neither Seth nor Quinn intended to free the Heritor, they were allowed to pass. Heritor Maxius the Younger was clad in thick furs, shivering against the wind. His dark green hair had mostly been shaved away, and his scalp was streaked with dried blood. He stirred as they approached, and then his eyes went wide with shock. "You shouldn''t be here!" Maxius said. "This is a trap. Sir Zachary is fishing for spies." "We are not spies," Quinn said. "We came to talk." "No, no, no no no no no!" Maxius insisted. "No talking. Don''t fill my mind with words." If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Do you think he''s gone mad?" Seth whispered, clearly astonished by this response. Quinn shrugged. "No words!" Maxius continued. "If you fill my brain with words, then the oculomancers will find them. They know truth and lies. They can discover all the words with just a few questions. No, no words! What I need in my brain is absence. By the grace of the Lawgiver, absence will be my lord and my master. Absence will be my salvation." "Who?" Seth asked. "Who did this to you?" "You!" Maxius screamed accusingly. "You seek to fill my head with words, but you must accept the absence as I have. I am Heritor. My family is very rich. You boys. You are both commoners. I can make you rich. More money than you can possibly imagine. But you must follow my instructions exactly." "What kind of instructions?" Quinn asked suspiciously. "Exactly," Maxius repeated. "EXACTLY EXACTLY EXACTLY." "I don''t think this is a good idea," Seth said. "Wait," Quinn said. "Please tell us what you want us to do." Maxius staggered forward and reached feebly through the bars of his cage, an act that was ultimately unsuccessful on account of the chains binding his hands together. He began whispering: "Inside Castle Noxus town, you will find The Tumbling Dice, a tavern and gambling house. In the cellar, you will find a leather handbag resting on an ale barrel. You must take the bag to a safe place and open it. Inside, you will find a single free sheet of paper and a sealed package. You must read the first (and only the first) instruction on the free sheet of paper. Then, you must follow the instruction exactly. Exactly exactly exactly exactly..." "This is a waste of time," Seth insisted. "We understand," Quinn said. "If we find this tavern of yours, we will read the instructions and decide for ourselves." "Exactly exactly exactly exactly..." As they passed the oculomancers on the path, Seth asked: "Is something wrong with that man?" "Probably," one of the women replied. "Sir Zachary probably punched the poor man a few too many times," the other woman added. They made their way east, to the gates of Castle Noxus. Among the foothills, the Blaine family soldiers were busy piling the corpses of their own soldiers onto huge funeral pyres. By contrast, the fallen Noxus soldiers were left to rot. The roads were mostly clean, but ponds and lakes of pure blood could be found just a few paces away on either side. Quinn slipped his face into his jacket in an attempt to avoid breathing the foul air. "I feel like it''s not worth it," Seth complained. "We''ll grab the package and then go upwind immediately," Quinn said. "It shouldn''t take long." It did not take very long at all to find the tavern. It was one of the most popular taverns in the castle town, and when Seth and Quinn clambered inside, they found it completely packed. Thankfully, it also smelled nice, and Seth''s mood quickly improved when he saw the serving girls. "You can go ahead without me," Seth said. "I''m going to hang out here." Quinn made an effort to act nonchalant as he explored the tavern, but he was unable to divine the location of the cellar. Seth intervened and asked one of the serving girls. She was extremely helpful and gave Quinn detailed instructions on how to reach the cellar door. Nobody working in the back paid any attention to him as he passed through. It must be a relatively common request, Quinn thought. Perhaps it is very common for people to come through looking for these packages. He found the leather pack not on an ale barrel, but on a wine rack. Brimming with curiosity, he did not bother to take it to a safe place before opening it. Trembling, he held the single free sheet in his hands and read the first instruction: Open the sealed pack. Take the two dice from the pack, and roll both dice a single time. Select the corresponding instruction from the below list. Quinn opened the pack and found it packed full of folded cards, each marked on the outside with a random sequence of letters and numbers. The two dice had sunk to the bottom. He rolled the dice on a nearby barrel and found the corresponding instruction on the free sheet. Open card 7A4J6 and follow the instructions on that card exactly. He found the indicated card and opened it. It read: Travel east of Cow Street and find a cat. Remain in the area until a cat is found. Pet the cat. Depending on the color of the cat, select the corresponding instruction from the below list. Quinn went upstairs and negotiated a meeting time and place with Seth. Then, he set off into the city in search of a cat. The next instruction asked him to cut a tomato and count the number of seeds. The instruction after that asked him to read a thermometer. One after another, each instruction appeared to depend on something completely random. Even after several hours of wandering around the city, Quinn refused to give up. If there is a tiny chance that this helps me make a flying machine, then it will be worth it. Any chance at all. One of the instructions directed him to a false tree stump which contained yet another sealed package. The following instruction read: This instruction regards the individual who informed the reader of the existence of the initial package. The reader is instructed to check in on said individual and ensure that they are still alive. Then, open card G34KH and follow the instructions there exactly. It was almost dusk when Quinn returned to the path leading to the Heritor''s prison. One of the oculomancers accosted him. "For what purpose have you returned?" "I just want to check to see if he is still alive," Quinn said truthfully. "Do you intend to free him?" "No." The oculomancer waved him onward. Maxius was waiting for him in his cage at the top of the hill. "Did you follow the instructions?" Maxius asked. "Yes," Quinn replied. "The instructions did not tell you to answer my question, idiot." Maxius hissed. "I said you must follow the instructions exactly, without any other thought. Your mind must have absence." "Fine," Quinn said. He opened card G34KH and read the instructions: Take the sealed package from the false tree stump and give it to said individual. Quinn slipped the package out of his pack and through the bars of the Heritor''s cage. Maxius seemed to ignore it. The next card asked him to return to the city in search of another cat. Quinn sighed, and left. As he sulked down the path toward the castle he caught a glimpse of that tall knight with a spear, Sir Zackary, sitting on a high rock, watching him with interest. Chapter 6: Secrets As her father''s armies began the march to the north, Kiera Blaine remained in her tent and continued to heal all in need. But when her father discovered that she was lingering behind, he issued a direct royal decree, summoning her to his side. She was forced to turn away a handful of elderly locals when the honor guard arrived to escort her away. It was dusk when she arrived at her father''s tent. Her father was busy debating the logistics of the army with his generals. As such he refused to see her and the honor guard abandoned her to her own whims. There was a Founder''s Tomb directly to the north, and, like all Founder''s Tombs, it featured an altar dedicated to Mother Summer and Father Winter, housed within a stone shrine. Those lost souls of the east, in the Theocracy of the Lawgiver, proclaimed eternal enmity with her ancient gods, but even they would never deface such a shrine. To do so would draw the ire of the Elder Saint. Kiera commanded her servants to set up camp on the hill overlooking the Founder''s Tomb. Within the privacy of her tent, her handmaidens set up a bath using a sawed-off wooden wine cask. Finally clean and smelling of scented oils, and garbed in a humble dark dress common to worshippers, she made her way into the shrine. The Eyes of Empire stood guard outside. The chamber was dominated by two stone statues standing side-by-side. To Kiera''s left stood the statue of Mother Summer, a young woman in a flowing dress holding a basket filled with fruits. By contrast, the fearsome Father Winter stood to the right. In one hand he held a rifle, and in the other a lantern. His trusty hunting hounds lounged lazily at his feet. Mother Summer was the goddess of fertility, kindness, empathy, and health. It was Mother Summer who founded the great Festival of Love, a gathering of young people from distant lands, so that they might get married and have healthy children. By contrast, Father Winter was a hateful demon who left his own children to the wolves if they were blind or deaf or their bodies were deformed. All the men in the world (the fools) worshiped Father Winter, who gave them the strength to endure the horrors of the battlefield. All the women in the world worshiped Mother Summer, so that they might endure the pain of childbirth and in so doing fill their lives with love. All the women in the world, except Sasha Varelion. The Blue Wolf was clad in the famed armor of Varelion, the matron of her bloodline. It was constructed entirely of tightly-interlocking ethersteel scales, which were so old that they were coated in a thin sheen of verdigris. In the correct light, this gave the armor a blue-green color, iridescent like the shell of an insect or the feathers of a male bird. The armor fit her perfectly, revealing every curve of her feminine form. The scandal! Lucia Aden knelt on the left, praying silently to Mother Summer, as was proper. Sasha was, as always, kneeling before the statue of Father Winter, and her prayers were anything but silent. "I will crush them!" Sasha announced. "I will crush this false religion." Kiera shuffled between them and knelt before the statue of Mother Summer. Thank you, she prayed silently. Thank you, Mother Summer, for giving me the strength to heal my father''s men. Never before in my life have I seen such strength, and perhaps never again shall I witness it. I know that this strength was given to me by you, Mother Summer. Thank you. "Father Winter," Sasha continued, "if you are real. If you are not just an ancient hoax, then you will give me the strength I need to smash their armies. You will give me the strength to rid this world of that abomination of a religion." She often said such heretical things. "Father Winter," Kiera said, "will not respond or even acknowledge a challenge so rooted in false faith." "We shall see," Sasha replied. "I knew that I would find you here, Kiera, if I waited." She ascended the shallow steps, spun around to face Lucia and Kiera, and plopped her bottom right on top of the altar itself. Kiera gasped. The sacrilege! Then Sasha said: "I will now reveal to you both one of the cherished family secrets that has been passed down in my family since before the time of the Charlatan King. I will speak of the secret history of House Renna." "True knowledge of the world before the war is very rare," Lucia said suspiciously. "The oculomancers wanted us to forget, and they were mostly successful in their efforts. My family remembers nothing. How do you know your information is accurate?" "Lucia, my love, I would never lie to you. I heard this story from my great grandfather while he was alive, and he heard this story from his great grandmother, Varelion herself." Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. "If that is true," Lucia said guardedly, "then what you offer us is priceless." Sasha nodded. "Renna the Witch, also known as Renna the Scientist, was a remarkably curious woman. One day, she became deeply curious about the true nature of religions. She asked her followers to fabricate one hundred unique Holy Books. Each one was complete with mythologies about how the world was created, answers to questions about the immortal soul and life after death, and other trappings of the religions of that time. "Renna built one hundred walled cities, large and self-sufficient, with glass gardens to grow food in locations with access to a healthy water table. These became the Hundred Walled Cities of Renna. Each city was assigned a single Holy Book. Each city was designed to be impossible to leave. The cities were populated with enslaved people, who continued to reproduce for many generations, while being forced to convert to the religion in their Holy Book. After hundreds of years, these cities were overflowing with religious zealots, ready for the next phase of the experiment. "Renna demolished the walls with explosives, causing them to collapse outward. The trapped people inside those cities were then free to leave. Thousands of fanatical believers flooded out of each city, and quickly discovered their equally-fanatical neighbors. Thus, the great Tournament of Religions began. Renna made a prediction about which religion would win this tournament. She predicted that one god, a fearsome omen of war, would be the final victor. But she was wrong. "It took two hundred years for the war to end. The number of people who died during the war measured in the hundreds of millions. To Renna''s surprise, the Church of the Lawgiver won the Tournament of Religions. Renna discovered why. The Lawgiver demanded a certain amount of time spent gambling with real money, at all ages. From early childhood, children strengthen the risk-taking muscle. This experience gives them a skill that they can use for their entire life, an intuitive understanding of when to gamble, and when to play it safe. The Church of the Lawgiver developed new technologies rapidly, while also having the standard trappings of religion, such as a class of warriors as well as the subjugation of women. "Renna converted to the religion, and her son became the Primarch. The large population of devoted followers was the primary differentiating factor between Renna and her peers. It is why she was so successful during the war with the Charlatan King." Kiera was so transfixed with the story that she did not notice Sir Zachary standing beside her until after Sasha finished speaking. "My beloved niece, must you freely share valuable family secrets with the other Heritors?" "Hello uncle," Sasha replied with a perfectly innocent smile. "If I remember correctly, I ordered you to uncover some new valuable family secrets. Have you come to report your success?" "I have," Zachary said. "Princess Kiera, Princess Lucia, might I be given a moment of privacy with my niece?" "No," Sasha said. "Whatever you have to say, I want them to hear it as well." "Not even the Eyes of Empire would dare listen to what I have to say," Zachary insisted. "On behalf of my brother Corrin Varelion, the Emperor of Nydia, I command you to speak." "As you like. First, I must report that I have allowed Heritor Maxius to escape." "A tragedy," Sasha said dryly. "I am surprised that the Elder Saint has allowed so many auras to be clustered in the same place for so long," Zachary continued. "Maxius escaped with the help of two of Lucia''s men." "Which ones?" Lucia demanded. "What are their names?" "Seth and Quinn." "I don''t have anyone on my staff named Seth or Quinn," Lucia snapped. "Peace, Lucia," Sasha said. "Me and Kiera both know that you would never help that creep." "Perhaps I made a shallow assumption," Zachary admitted. "Two young men from eastern Lyn, named Seth and Quinn, were seen speaking with Maxius before he escaped. As far as I can tell, they were not spies. I followed the younger brother Quinn as he roamed around Castle Noxus. He was exhibiting some extremely strange behavior. At one point he was desperately attempting to catch a cat. He also frequently consulted with what appeared to be one-time cards encoded with sets of instructions. Later, he acquired what must have been a lockpicking kit. He gave this kit to Maxius and left, however, the oculomancers were not able to detect any intent to help Maxius before he did so." "Did you figure out how?" Sasha asked excitedly. "It is only a theory, but I was able to observe several of the instruction cards and I have very high confidence that my theory is correct. The instruction cards are designed to make people forget their long-term goals by subjecting them to completely meaningless and randomized tasks. The choice of which instruction to follow is entirely random, but some architect, skilled in probabilities, designed the cards such as to maximize the probability that some long-term goal will be achieved. The agent following the instructions never learns what that long-term goal is until after it has been accomplished, so the oculomancers will be unable to detect their intent." "Damn!" Sasha said. "I should have guessed that those compulsive gamblers would concoct such a scheme. How foul!" "My niece," Zachary said. "I have followed your command. Unless you have further orders, I shall return King Sullivan." "You are free to go." The Knight of Summer bowed and left. "Kiera," Sasha said. "Now that you have heard my secret, it is my wish that you will join me in my quest. The Church of the Lawgiver must be destroyed." "I don''t know," Kiera said. "Perhaps I will be able to help later. Right now, I need to figure out why the bank gave me such a big aura." "I agree," Lucia said. "I haven''t been able to use ethermancy since Kiera started healing. Her aura could be the size of the whole damn continent for all we know." "Will you at least accompany me to the bank in Grael Nydia?" Sasha asked. "I would love to," Kiera said. "I have never seen the capital before." "Excellent," Sasha said. "Our time together at the Eight Color Monastery was too brief. I very much will enjoy your company, Kiera. We shall leave in the morning."