PreCursive

  I wasn’t a total moron, of course. I didn’t trust this woman as far as I could throw her. Even if…that robably farther than I would expect, if I engaged Sylvan Vigor at full strength.

  Moving on.

  The point being, I wasn’t going to walk into a meeting with a Herztalian/awr noblewoman with unknown iioirely alone. I’d gotten Hook’s approval to recruit some backup for my little impromptu operation involving Rhiannon. I wasn’t going to involve Renauld any further in this situation, as I genuinely didn’t want to put him under any further scrutiny. Thankfully, I beloo an anization purpose built for this kind of thing.

  Obviously, I tapped Sylvia as part of my backup, as one of the people I trusted the most in my life. I didn’t think that was enough, though, so I went looking for anyone free in our dockside temporary base of operations. My first choice would have been Dusk, but she wasn’t around. Still out on her own infiltration mission, whatever the hell that was. Instead, I found Crook and Wisp doing their best to rex together in the small, fishy break room we’d fashioned out of a tool shed.

  They had tea and everything.

  Wisp was more than willing to assist when I expihe situation to the two of them, thanks to the passing friendship I’d struck up with the older woman. Crook was…a little harder to vince, but after a bit of cajoling from Wisp, agreed to tag along.

  Which brought us to now.

  It was very te at night by this point, as the meeting time that had been specified was three hours past midnight. Not only that, but it was an unusually dark night, as the normally bright silver illumination provided by Elys was absent. It was a new moon tonight, and the shadow of Vereden was cast upon the celestial body, bathing the world below in a deeper, darker night.

  The hustle and bustle that was normally ever-present oreets of Elderwyck had long since died down by now, and there were only a few stragglers on the road. Mostly rebellious teenagers, drunks, and packs of guards and soldiers. But they were few and far between, as most normal people actually liked to sleep.

  The four of us were crouched together on top of a roof, cealed by the shadows of an above us. As we were actually attempting true stealth tonight, and didn’t wish to be identified or associated with the Order, none of us were wearing our normal mission armor. Instead, we were all weariively non-descript clothing under dark, cealing cloaks. However, my backup were still wearing their masks. I, unfortunately, didn’t have that prote.

  Withi of us was the meeting spot that Rhiannon had apparently set in the message veyed through Renauld. That of a small, local garden teo by the people of Elderwyck. It reminded me somewhat of a park from ba Earth, but the parison wasn’t pletely accurate. During the day, it ur local gathering pce for the city, plete with a small pza. Usually, it acked with people and vendors hawking street food from dawn till dusk. As it was after dusk, it was barren and still.

  We’d been here for some time now, watg the meeting pone of us could be certain that this wasn’t a trap of some kind, and so we had wao observe it just in case. But we’d seen nothing, despite the general feeling of unease I could feel in my gut. At first, I hadn’t realized what it was that uled me about Rhiannon. From the way she had ied with me and simply from how she had spoken, something about her set my teeth on edge. It was as if she redator that didn’t take anyone seriously, and expected all of us to go along with whatever game she ying at the moment. But eventually, I’d realized what had put me so off-kilter about her, what had made me so intensely distrustful of Bleddyn’s kin.

  She reminded me of Magnus.

  I don’t even think it was just that she was a noble. Something in her eyes…there was an utter disregard for people that lurked in those burgundy depths that reminded me of him.

  Even with Ringed Mind, enough of my portioned brain was distracted by thoughts of my former ‘owhat I lost tray observation. I was knocked out of my near seething by an elbow to the ribs. Following it, I found a bck mask speckled with white dots staring at me almost disapprovingly.

  I suppressed my instinctual embarrassment. “What is it?” I asked Crook in a whisper.

  Instead of answering, she just jerked her head slightly in the dire of the park. Squinting in that dire, I tried to see what had caught her attention. With how dark it was out here, I nearly couldn't make it out. But when I did, my heart rate picked up slightly.

  Sitting on a wooden ben the darkened garden pza far across from our position was a shadowed figure. Due to the ck of light, it was difficult to make out maures about them. Only a few things really stood out to me about the silhouette.

  It was as if they had just appeared out of nowhere, from one moment to the .

  They were tall, and they were maybe wearing a dress. It could just as easily be a hooded cloak, though, or even both. I think? I think I could see some strands of long hair esg a hood.

  That was it. That was the limit of what my Perception score could interpret.

  I cursed, wishing that I had a far-eye on me. Sadly, they weren’t quite as ubiquitous as I had hoped they were. They were really only only used by Naval forces, and were hard to e by for everyone else. Even destine Agents like us didn’t normally get assigned ohe only people that I knew who always had one on their person were Grey, Dusk, and Bel.

  I knew I should have stolen Bel’s when I had the ce.

  I turned my head back to look at my panions to see that they were all iing the distant figure as best as they could as well. “Does anyone have a high enough Perception to make out aail?” I whispered hopefully. I was greeted by a round of head shaking at my question. I sighed. “Damn. I’m going to have to go down there, aren’t I?”

  Wisp patted me on the back softly. “It’ll be fine,” She said soothingly before thumbing the string of the bow slung over her back. “I’ll keep overwat you from up here.”

  Crook nodded slightly as well, before turning to face Sylvia. “Whisper, when Hangman goes down there, we’ll circle around the meeting point. You go left, I’ll ght.” My partner nodded slightly at the and, her mask trailing away from the pza to settle on me

  I took a deep breath and the away from the edge of the building we were hiding on. Once I was out of sight, I stood up in order to jump down to street level to approach the shrouded figure. I was stopped, though, by the feeling of a hand grabbing my own. Turning around, I was surprised to see that Sylvia had followed me and tilted her mask up high enough to reveal her undisguised, Mithril face.

  Before I could ask her what was wrong, her lips closed in on mine in a kiss. Her arms closed around my back.

  A measure of tension escaped my body, as I ed my arms around her aurhe embrace. After a moment, we separated. Sylvia leaned her forehead against mine. “Be careful,” She murmured, only inches away.

  I nodded slightly. “I will,” I promised her in a whisper. Over her shoulder I could see Wisp fake swooning as she started to set up a firing station, while Crook was standing not far from us and looking on in near disapproval.

  I know it was inappropriate to be ag like this before a mission. But, well.

  I didn’t care.

  I separated from Sylvia, and then turned and jumped down into the alleyway below. Moments ter, I heard Whisper and Crook follow behind me. But they didn’t follow, as I stepped in the darkness of the streets.

  I raised the hood of my cloak and started walking towards the garden pza.

  As I wandered into the shadowed greenery, it felt like there were a thousand eyes on me, spying from behind every brand leaf. It could just be my paranoia ag up. It could just be my instincts as a. I couldn’t know. All I could do was tamp down my fear with my middle ring and keep walking.

  From one moment to the , I stepped out of the cealment of the garden and into the pza where the figure, presumably Rhiannon, was waiting for me.

  Across the stone of the court, they sat motionlessly on a wooden bench, their back turned my way. I watched them for a moment, unnerved. I didn’t realize why until I noticed they weren’t moving.

  At all. I didn’t evehe rise and fall of steady breathing, ing from the figure.

  The hairs on the bay neck stood on end.

  Something…something was wrong here. I could feel it in my gut.

  For a moment, I was extremely tempted to turn around and just walk away. But…this could potentially be an unpreted opportunity for the Division. If we gained an informant highly positioned in the Duke's court, who knew how much easier our operations in Elderwyck could be? It could save lives. Besides, it's not like I was alohere was a certain level of risk associated with this profession, and sometimes you had to take the proverbial shot. I couldn't back dowime there was the slightest indication of danger.

  I tamped down on my fears and my instincts and took a step forward into the pza. I deliberately scuffed the stoh the bottom of my boot, making an audible noise.

  That got a rea. The hooded head of the figure turned slightly, but not fully around. They didn’t staher.

  I kept walking until I was standing only a few feet away from the sitting figure. Still, nothing. My eyes narrowed, and then I started cirg around the bentil I was standing before the seated figure. They…were definitely a woman, I could see that much. It was too dark to make out the color, but they had a dress on underh their cloak, cealing a feminine figure.

  But their head was lowered, casting their fa shadow. I couldn’t make it out.

  After a moment where I stood in deepening silence, I broke it. “Rhiannon?” I asked warily, my voice eg out across the stone of the pza.

  The figure stirred once more, and their cloaked head began to rise.

  I could finally see their face.

  Horror crawled down my back at the sight of it. If…you could even call it a face.

  Because they didn’t have one.

  In pce of normal human facial features, this…person had a vast expanse of crawling, shifting, swirling darkness. It was as if a pool of unduting oil had grown to cover every inch of skin that this thing had for a face. Within the depths of that crude, I swear I could see the agonized faces of people moaning and g, begging to be set free.

  I…I…

  What was this?

  It couldn’t be a human.

  And it certainly wasn’t Rhiannon.

  As struck with horror as my surface, outer ring was at the sight, luckily my inner rings were less so. My hand sprang the handle of my cealed daggers at the small of my back. At the same time, I pulsed Sylvan Vigor to max strength and attempted t away from whatever the hell this thing was.

  But it was too te.

  As if from nowhere, a pool of unduting shadoeared underh me. From inside of it, dozens of inky bck tentacles erupted and ed themselves around my body, restraining me. I strained against them with all of my might, but they didn't budge an ino matter how hard I tried.

  I grit my teeth in frustration.

  I was trapped, but not enough that I couldn’t turn my head. The figure still seated on the bench before me hadn’t moved an in order to cast whatever Skill or Spell was holding me in pce. I twisted my head to look behind me.

  I cursed under my breath at what I found.

  Standing behind me, having appeared silently as if from nowhere, were four cloaked figures simir to the one on the bench. Their bodies were fully cealed, while they each had the same disquieting effect obsg their faces. One of them had their arm outstretched in my dire, their fingers outstretched in a cw position. A thick strand of nearly liquid darkness was ected between their palm and the pool at my feet.

  The figure in front of me on the bench finally spoke. “Hans Schefel,” They said in a disturbing voice, sounding almost as if it had been synthesized. I could just barely make out a femie hidden within. “We have questions for you.”

  They didn’t know my hen. Only my cover.

  I remained silent. This didn’t escape the notice of the figure. They finally stood up from the bench they’d been sitting at all this time, speaking again. “I advise you to coop-”

  They didn’t get the ce to finish their sentence.

  Because a glowing silver crest of Ki erupted from the treeline of the pza, and severed the strand of darkness holdiill. I had never let go of Sylvan Vigor, and so I immediately took the ce t towards the source of it. Sylvia stepped out of the tree lio my left as I touched down, her drawn short sword still glowing slightly from the attack she had freed me with. At the same time, Crook dropped down from the trees above us, to nd in a three-point crouy left. She had already drawn her bat stave shaped like a shepherd's crook, and was holding it prepared behind her. I finally got the ce to draw my own ons, getting into a defeah both Oninite daggers.

  Across the pza from us, the group of shadowy figures had gathered together and were staring at us. The lead figure, the one who had been waiting on the bench, spoke first. “Noes,” They said ftly. The cloaks of the figures shifted, almost as if they were reag for ons.

  Crook straightened up from her crouch. “SED,” She nearly snarled in response, griping tightening oave. I te the word.

  Despite what I had thought after first sight of them, these people weren’t monsters.

  They were our terparts among the Loyalists, instead.

  The lead figure raised one arm to point a leather-cd fi us. “Take them.”

  The SED Agents sprang at us, fully drawing their ons as they did.

  We met them in their charge.