Page 11 of I Ran Away to Evil #3
Preferably Unalive
Julian
Breakfast was his mother reminding him, again, about his tasks for the day.
“… there are three categories of finalists. There’s the junior division, with Rocco the fire mage against Sandy Moor the summoner.
Then, in the newcomer tourney, we have Candace Stannard, the giantess, against Cimor the Monk.
A bad matchup, but that just means if Cimor wins, anyone who bet on her is walking away with a heavy purse—”
Julian cut her off. “You bet on her, didn’t you.”
“Of course.” Grand Duchess Calisto smirked. “Now, the finalists for the main Summer Solstice Tourney were both unexpected rising stars: We have a mouse named Vance Underwood, and Kenji Toriyama from Peldeep, both high-level sword arts users.”
“Is Vance a mousekin or a beastman who can shift into a mouse?” Julian questioned idly.
Mouse was small for a shifter, but he didn’t want to automatically assume they were the unchanging mousekin.
There were many different kinds of kin, from ratkin to lizardkin to catkin and everything in between.
They always kept the same form, unlike beastfolk, who could shift from everyday folk to full-on beast.
“Neither,” his mother surprised him. “Vance is a knowing mouse who immigrated here from the Dark Enchanted Forest. He’s very reputable and known for guarding merchant caravans.”
“Huh.” Julian stabbed a bit of scrambled egg. They were sitting at the breakfast table, the summer sunrise not an hour gone and already the world was bright and ready for the day. Birds were chirping in the trees, and the city was just starting to wake up.
Julian was used to getting up early, but he wasn’t used to tossing and turning all night thinking about a mysterious troll.
And there he was, thinking about her again .
He shoved her out of his mind and refocused on the conversation at hand.
“… and that is why you’ll be overseeing the bout. We don’t want any interference .” There was steel in Calisto’s voice, which instantly made Julian glance up and regret that he’d missed the first part while his thoughts had wandered.
“Interferences?” he broached.
“The Blackfog spies.” His mother’s hand tapped with irritation. One finger at a time fell with a soft tik as her sharp, manicured nails, painted purple, hit the breakfast table. “We haven’t found any yet, but that just makes me all the more nervous.”
Julian tilted his head. “Madame Potts didn’t say that the Blackfog spies were going to attack. She just said there were going to be fireworks.”
His mother’s eyes shot up. “The fireworks in Peldeep were from Their Royal Highness Rowen fighting the spies during an illegal assassination attempt on their person. They burned down half of the Emerald Palace.”
“Ah.”
“And I like both halves of my palace, thank you very much!”
“Morning.” Julia walked in, yawning, with a bright smile on her face.
His sister was tall, just shy of six feet, and built like a knight.
Her black skin was the color of the midnight sky, just like their mother’s, though she had a red undertone that burned her cheeks whenever she was angry. Or embarrassed.
Neither had their mother’s dark-red hair, but they’d both been born with the duchess’s gray eyes.
Julia’s eyes even shone silver when she used her powers as the Paladin of Light.
And where Julian’s locks were the same color as their father’s—a rich purple—Julia’s hair was the same straight black as their maternal grandmother. She kept it cut shoulder length.
“Still no word on the spies, then?” Julia asked, spooning some scrambled eggs and two slices of fried flying pig meat onto her plate. She grabbed a freshly baked bun and lathered markleberry spread on top.
“No,” Calisto sighed. “Which you would have known if you’d come to breakfast on time. Now that you’re finally here, I have something to show you both.” Calisto waved her hand, and a piece of paper materialized in the air in front of her. She caught it and handed it to Julian first.
MADAME POTTS
Their Royal Highness Rowen of Peldeep
Earl Oakley of Sumbria
Countess Oakley of Sumbria
Lord Geoffrey of Oakley
Commander Carsen Jules
Nera of Servalt
Joseph of Servalt
Princess Contessa la Rouche of Ildsfeld
Knight Commander Havork of Drendil
Grand Duchess Calisto von Slyke
Countess Julia von Slyke
Necromancer Chloe Watercress
Commander General Rufus Triever
General Knolith of Nilheim
Gerda the Bridge Troll
Chikli of Nilheim
Sithli of Nilheim
Milith of Nilheim
Tulith of Nilheim
Lilith of Nilheim
…
The list continued with over fifty names jotted down. The first one, Madame Potts, was the only one in all capital letters. Julian frowned when he saw his mother and sister on the list, and his eyes lingered on Gerda’s name before he handed it over to Julia.
“What is this?” he asked.
“In the last few altercations,” Calisto explained, “the leaders of the spies carried a list of targets. Different operatives carried different names, and these are all of the names that have been collected so far.”
“Targets?” Julia demanded, slamming the list onto the table. “For what purpose?”
Calisto tapped her fingers on the table again.
“We’ve only begun to piece it together. The leaders were told only as much as they needed to know, but people talk.
Some of them had lists ordering permadeath, with my name included.
So was Rowen’s and Havork’s, and everyone from Nilheim—” Julia sucked in a breath, but Calisto added, “ except Chloe.”
His sister frowned. “What about the other names?”
“They were to be secured ,” Calisto said. “Preferably unalive.”
At least that was reversible with a Revive or Resurrect potion. Permanent death was just that, permanent .
“What else did we learn?” Julian did his best to memorize the list of names.
“That the group has been around for decades , if not longer, but they’ve only started getting seriously involved in international affairs now.
The Spring Ball was the turning point, and the lists were distributed right after.
” His mother looked each of them in the eye.
“A lot of Blackfog members were simple information brokers before that, and the rest are recent hires.”
“What changed?”
“Duke Lector made a contract with the leader of the Blackfog spies. He seemed to think he was in control of them, and they would come to his rescue when we took him into custody.” Calisto leaned back in her chair and folded her hands in front of her on the table. “No such help ever came.”
“Why?” Julian asked, knowing there might not be an answer.
“If I could guess …” His mother frowned. “Any contract he had with them might have ended upon his death. Or they decided he was too much of a liability and didn’t have a use for him any longer.”
“Who are ‘they’?” And why did it feel like he wouldn’t be getting any of this information if he didn’t ask for it?
Calisto shrugged. “So far, there are two lead suspects. A woman with blonde hair and pink teleportation magic—”
“The one who keeps messing with Madame Potts?” Julia cut in.
“The same,” Calisto affirmed. “And the other suspect is currently unalive in our dungeon.”
“Ah, I suppose that narrows the list, then,” Julia said brightly.
There was a moment’s pause, then Julian spoke quietly. “If the Blackfog think they can get away with harming either of you … then they’re in for a surprise.”
Calisto nodded, approving his anger. His mother looked ready to burn something down herself.
“And if they think they can mess up my wedding”—Julia crossed her arms as her eyes shone with a silver light—“then they’d better have made peace with their patrons. How is security?”
Their mother smiled. “Excellent.”
Between his mother’s inventions, their trained guards, and Julian’s own team, they should have enough on their side to overcome anything thrown at them.
Julian asked, “Who else knows?”
“Rowen handed over the list to the ruler or representative of each nation last night. They didn’t want to wait for the official Continental Council meeting, as you can imagine,” Calisto said.
The meeting wasn’t scheduled until the end of the festival, and by then, it would be too late.
“So I need you to keep your eyes open at the tourney today. Which, need I remind you, starts in less than an hour?”
Julian sighed but rose to go and perform his duty.