[DAY TWO…]

  Will

  He met the lord's small retinue outside the military compound—Handsome, Griff, four Level 9 guards, and Brimstone himself—and accompanied them through the city. They were all afoot, since Brimstone never rode. He did not trust any animal enough to put himself on its back.

  The guards wore heavy scale armor, two with greatbows and two with halberds, the latter carried upright and affixed with fluttering black-and-red pennants to declare to the population that the lord himself was among them.

  Griff was in his Sunday best, clanking along in a suit of full Enchanted plate. Rendering the image somewhat anachronous was the shotgun he cradled like a beloved babe in the crook of his bare left arm.

  Will had fetched his rifle from Joe's place, carrying it free of its case on a strap over his shoulder, and had Anathema hanging from his hip. He had nothing else by way of weaponry except his throwing knives and whatever was in his medicine bag.

  Handsome, like his master, carried no weapons at all. The two of them walked at the head of the pack, lord in his beggar's robe and advisor in his ruffles and frills.

  The usually well-trafficked streets of Topside were unnaturally empty as Brimstone made his way through, folk that saw them suddenly remembering that they had somewhere else to be very urgently. Of the ones that did not flee, many stood frozen, staring after the retinue with pale faces and tight lips.

  Will focused on keeping his breathing even as he trailed behind Brimstone at a respectful distance. He was ready to make himself scarce at a moment's notice, to fling himself over the rooftops with a Dash if things took an accusatory turn, and to counter-Cancel any attempt to ground him. He suspected the advisor was the type of man to spec into that sort of skill.

  "Sleep well, assassin?" Griff asked as he ambled alongside Will in his ridiculous metal suit, wearing the most joyous expression he had ever seen the man produce.

  "Oh, very," Will replied, doing a fair job at sounding unconcerned. In fact, he had spent most of his night in a room at The Rosy Drake, staring at the door with the sword in his arms. He'd dozed off for maybe an hour or two somewhere in the small hours of the morning. "And you? How's the nightlife for Sheerhome's most ineligible bachelor?"

  "Go fuck yourself with the broad end of a shovel."

  "That sounds very painful, so I think I'll pass, but I appreciate you wanting to share your interests with me."

  "Make all the jokes you like." Griff took out a small metal tin and angrily stuffed himself a wad of pungent shit-colored tobacco that went beneath his upper lip. "I'll be the one laughing when I finally get to part your head from your shoulders in about an hour or so."

  "We'll see," Will replied with a bland smile, shrugging the rifle higher on his shoulder.

  "Indeed we will," the guard captain growled, and they settled back into silent animosity.

  Brimstone did not speak nor even glance in Will's direction until they were well out of the city. Walking through the flat farmlands north of Sheerhome with their swaying fields of gold, Handsome looked back and called him forward with a wave.

  Will did as he was bid, and he suddenly found himself in the unenviable and hair-raising position of walking nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with the lord, who still had his gaze fixed on the path ahead and the line of guard towers that were still just little brown dots on the horizon.

  "You've had an eventful few days, it seems," Brimstone observed, no inflection in his voice at all.

  You said you wanted to be my friend, Handsome, Will mused. Let's put that to the test. He was fairly certain that the advisor had been covering for him for some time already.

  "You could say that, my lord," Will said in reply to the lord's question.

  "You appear to have made a bit of a stink at the fighting pits, then absconded the city before curfew was lifted with a man and a woman. The man, as I understand it, was your business associate, while the woman was the unexpected winner of the tournament. After this, you disappeared and could not be found. Handsome's Messages to you went unanswered. I am having a hard time understanding the meaning of all this, so would you mind explaining it to me?"

  Will had not received any Messages at all from Handsome, which left another thing to wonder about, but he did not see fit to mention it. He took a deep breath, steadying himself, and began his rehearsed tale. "Yes, it's a rather sordid and involved affair."

  "How so?"

  "The woman's name is Sam Darling. She washed up in Sheerhome quite recently."

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "I see." Brimstone nodded as though he was hearing this information for the first time, but Will was certain that he knew all the basics already, and was most likely gauging Will's truthfulness by seeing how much he would reveal of his own accord. "She is a Laborer, I hear," he added after some time, "but she did not submit herself to my militia. Why is that?"

  "The truth is that I was keeping her secret from you."

  Brimstone arched a bald eyebrow at that. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he said nothing. The crystals on his arm glinted dangerously. Twenty-four of them, Will realized. He had gone up a level since Will had seen him last.

  "The reason for this, my lord, is that I was in love with her," Will explained. "I was hoping to keep her out of Sheerhome politics for as long as possible."

  Handsome, walking at Brimstone's other shoulder, leaned in and whispered something. The lord nodded, then turned his attention back to Will. "I see. You were in love with this Sam Darling. And then…?"

  Brimstone did not give the name any particular weight. It might have been play acting on his part, but Will suspected that he really wasn't familiar with its significance. Which suggested that Handsome had been acting alone when sending men after Sam specifically.

  "Then she and my friend betrayed my trust," Will said with a shrug. "They entered her into this pit fighting tournament without my knowledge or permission, and even stole a large portion of my own funds to bet on these matches.

  "What they had intended to use this money for, I cannot guess. I suspect it would not have gone toward anything reputable, and I now have reason to believe that they would eventually have acted against you, my lord, to which end those funds might have been used.

  "Once I found out about the tournament, I traveled there immediately and fought some men in self-defense who meant to kill Sam Darling. I took both her and my associate back to my farm outside the city and gave them a chance to explain themselves. I didn't like their answers. Their treachery and stupidity left me with no choice but to get rid of them."

  Again Handsome whispered something to Brimstone, and again the burned man nodded. "Yes. I was concerned for your safety, so I sent some men to your home to search for you, but they found the place deserted and with signs of a recent struggle. Then…?"

  "I suspect you know the answer already. I cut Sam Darling's skull open and spilled her blood all over the floor. She proved quite resilient, however, and was able to escape with my associate. I was extremely weak from skill fatigue then, and lost track of them at one point. It took me some time to find them again, but I eventually tracked them down and dealt with them, and here I am now." Will spread his arms. "There you have it, my lord."

  Handsome whispered, and Brimstone said: "I see. I'm sad to hear that you've suffered such betrayal. I know its sting intimately. Has this event left you emotionally compromised?"

  Will offered a shallow bow. "Not at all, my lord."

  "Good. In that case, I'm glad to have you returned to me, my Misfortune." He gave Will's shoulder a hearty clap, his touch oddly cold through Will's clothing. "There is much work to be done."

  "Thank you," Will said. "I apologize if I caused you much worry, with the war against Lady Winter looming over your head."

  Brimstone gave a joyless laugh. "Think no more of it. I'm sorry I forced you to divulge details of your love life—it's a sensitive topic, I know."

  "My lord!" Griff called from the back, outraged. "You can't seriously believe this nonsense!"

  Everyone stopped to look at the armored Laborer. Handsome's expression was as unreadable as always, while Brimstone looked vaguely annoyed. "And why is that, captain?" the latter asked.

  "He's obviously a traitor! Murdering women is hardly proof of honest conduct." He pointed a gloved finger at Will. "Swear, assassin! Swear that you are loyal to the lord, or brand yourself a traitor."

  Evidently, Griff was aware of the advisor's secret.

  Brimstone still looked mildly displeased, like a parent embarrassed at his child throwing a tantrum in public, but he did not contradict the guard captain. Slowly, his wet, bloodshot eyes swung onto Will. He waited, expectant.

  Will had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but he had prepared for the eventuality, and did not miss a beat as he bowed low and said: "Of course I am loyal to you, Lord Brimstone. Your success is my success."

  It was the first outright lie he had told since the start of the conversation, and a pretty big one, too. He was confident that Handsome had been covering for him up to this point. His cover hinged wholly on his suspicion that Handsome could bend his vow very far when needed.

  Handsome said nothing for a few moments, staring blankly at Will. Then he blinked rapidly, and seemed confused for a moment, frowning. "I'm sorry, Master One-Eye," he said, "would you mind repeating that one more time?"

  "Of course I am loyal to you, Lord Brimstone," Will said.

  Handsome nodded. "I believe he is telling the truth, lord," he announced for all to hear.

  Brimstone gave a firm, definitive nod. "Of course," he said. "I never doubted you, my friend." The long look he gave the guard captain was not threatening, exactly. But then, even a light frown from Lord Brimstone was as good as a knife against your throat. "Captain, you know I value your input, but I would appreciate it if you don't interrupt me in conversation again. Is that all right?" His voice was mild, almost friendly.

  "Of course, my lord," Griff spluttered out, bowing as low as his armor would permit. But the moment the lord turned away, his intense glare found Will once more, flitting back between him and Handsome as though he suspected the two of colluding.

  Will was not sure if they were or not, but at the moment he was quite grateful to have such an honest liar watching his back.

  'Did you break your vow?' Will signed to Handsome as they walked on, behind the lord and with their backs blocking the guard captain's view.

  'No,' Handsome replied with a light, unknowable smile.

  'Then how did you lie?'

  The ugly man's smile widened just a hair, his deep-set eyes glittering. 'I didn't lie,' he signed. 'You are a convincing man, Master One-Eye. In that moment, I believed you.'

  'I understand.'

  In actuality, he did not understand at all. Handsome should have been able to detect his lie easily, so how could he have convinced himself to believe that Will was telling the truth?

  He could not puzzle it out, and the advisor clearly was not about to reveal his secrets. He did notice, however, that the advisor had one more AP missing than before, meaning there had to be a skill involved.

  The more he learned about Handsome, the less he knew. And the less he knew, the more frightening the man appeared. Will was beginning to think that Handsome might prove almost as great an obstacle as Brimstone himself, somewhere down the line.