by Candy Crum
Samuel shivered. "I saw ‘er in the bar one night. That ain't weird, except why she goes. She either sits at the bar or in the corner and stares. She just watches. Even with that cloak of hers, I know ‘er when I see ‘er. That's a woman who stands out."
Arryn sighed, smile spreading on her face. "It feels so good to finally have someone listen. Anyway, when I ran into Jackson, he was acting weird. Kind of defensive over her office. He told me that she was gone to help her mom or something like that, but then he made sure I walked away before he went downstairs. What he didn't realize was that I waited for him to get all the way down before I went to the office anyway. He left her a note. That's why I'm freaking out."
Cathillian’s brows furrowed as he crossed his arms. A note. He couldn't help but be curious to know what was inside. "What did it say?"
"It said something about him doing what she told him to. He said that he's enrolled in my class. I didn't know that, but I do remember Amelia mentioning that I was getting another student. It has to be him. He also talked about you."
"Me?" Cathillian asked. "What about me?"
"He didn't say your name specifically, but he mentioned the druid. He told her to let him know if she found out anything useful from the druid, and then he was so worried about the two of you that he also warned her not to get too close. As disturbing as that was, for many reasons, what was most disturbing was the end of the letter. He said, ‘you take care of us,’ then said, ’we need to take care of you.'"
Samuel groaned as he nodded. "Sounds to me like there ain’t just one person to worry about. Seems like there's a lot more. Better watch yer back, lass. She has it out for ye."
Cathillian swallowed hard, unable to believe what he was hearing. Not only had Arryn been right and he so very wrong, but he'd allowed Arryn to be placed in danger because of his refusal to trust her.
His own powers had failed him. He hadn’t even sensed anything wrong with her.
The day Talia had come over she’d used him as an instrument against Arryn. She knew that her very presence would cause conflict between them. At that moment, Cathillian became pissed off. It far surpassed anger or even rage.
Taking another step forward, his expression revealing just how much hatred he felt, Cathillian said, "How do we take this bitch down?"
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Over the next several days, Samuel and Cathillian set out to find guardsmen who wanted to learn extra skills. They'd started by going into the barracks, taking Arryn with them.
Amelia had given them free reign, so they wanted to see what they were working with.
With twenty men in that room alone, they decided to take their point—that the Guard was in no way, shape or form capable of protecting the city the way that it needed to be—and shove it right up their asses.
But with flair, as was their style.
They'd snuck in and triggered the magitech lighting, immediately alerting the men in the room that someone was with them.
It didn’t take long for them to jump up and into action, doing their best to fight off the druids and rearick—but it didn’t go well.
Arryn was easily able to breeze through them with her staff, tripping them and then hitting them in the stomach hard enough to force them into a ball, but not hard enough to actually hurt them.
Cathillian was a blur as he ducked and swung, avoiding faces as much as possible, but still finding ways to take them down to the ground.
Samuel was the funniest of them because he was the shortest. Nearly a foot shorter than most the men in the barracks, Samuel was able to move through with his hammer, using it to shove the men down to the ground while they tried to strategize attacking a man his size.
Within only moments, they were able to take down all twenty of them, though they were careful not to leave any lasting damage—only minor bumps and bruises.
Once it was over, Arryn had walked to the front, no fear on her face as she stared down the men who were supposed to be protecting her city.
Squaring her shoulders, she told them, "You are the ones responsible for keeping the city safe, and we were able to take you down easily. Your training is going slowly, and you’re even slower. If you want real warrior training and the chance to learn how to use real weapons, and not just those magitech pieces of shit, then you'll find us at Lord Girard's house. We'll meet there at dawn before going to the training grounds."
Cathillian had stepped forward then. "In other words, if you want to be the ass-kickers instead of getting your asses kicked, then you need better training. We have the blessing of the Chancellor, so if you wanna learn, we are here to teach."
“Well…” Arryn started, “she knows we’re teaching them. She just doesn’t know we’re ripping them out of their first session with their commanding officer to do it.”
Cathillian turned back to the men on the floor. “Yeah! So, if she comes for us, Arryn here will be happy to take the fall for it.”
She elbowed him in the side as Samuel stepped forward, taking the lead before they began to argue in front of their new recruits.
"We have a feelin’ the city ain't done needin’ ta be protected," Samuel had chimed in. “Especially with everythin’ goin’ on. So, get yer asses out there and get some skills actually worth learnin’.”
When the fallen recruits began looking at one another and whispering amongst themselves, the trio had left them to their thoughts, hoping they would come to them. Because now more than ever, Arryn was certain Talia was the bad person Adrien had planted, and Cathillian and Samuel were right on board.
Today Arryn, Cathillian, and Samuel all stood outside the city wall on the eastern side near where Cathillian had been training the cadre in his nature magic. It was where he and Arryn trained every morning, and now it was where they would begin training the new Guard.
Cathillian and Samuel went to work with half the men, pairing them off and teaching them the stricter forms of close-quarter combat. It was obvious that Guard training had focused mostly on running and endurance with a secondary emphasis on magitech weapons.
The idea that these men couldn't even throw a knife properly didn't set well with Cathillian, while the fact that they couldn't even line their arms up correctly for a proper punch got under Samuel’s skin.
All in all, it was as if their training was only beginning, when in reality, they had been training for weeks.
For the past few days Arryn and Cathillian had spent some time in the evening crafting bows. With nature magic on their side, it was quite an easy task, especially with Arryn being able to use her physical magic to heat the wood to curve them. Arryn had just finished passing out the newly crafted bows to her ten students when she heard a familiar voice.
"Well, good morning!" Amelia called, smiling as she casually strolled up to Arryn. Amelia didn't make eye contact as she scanned the new training ground. "This is quite the turnout."
Arryn's eyes were wide as she stared at Amelia, wondering just how pissed the Chancellor was that they had yanked the recruits away from their regularly scheduled exercises with the Guard.
Arryn sighed and decided to fully face her fate, crossing her arms defiantly as she turned. "I'm not sure if I should greet you or run for my life. While I'm pretty confident in my skills, you remind me a lot of Elysia. In other words, you’re not someone I want to piss off."
Amelia laughed as she turned to face Arryn. "At first, I was a little annoyed, but the moment we finished talking about setting all this in motion, I knew damn good and well that you had no plans to wait—or follow schedules. I figured you’d get your men one way or another. After what happened to Cathillian and how easily those four guards at the gate were taken down, I realized whatever you guys had planned would be a good route to go.” Amelia took a deep breath as she looked around again and smiled. "You definitely didn't disappoint."
That was news to Arryn. Good news, to be sure. It made her happy to know that Amelia now believed in her and wanted to let her help beyon
d just teaching students how to grow flowers.
Arryn pointed to Cathillian and Samuel in the distance, who were now sparring. Given there was two feet difference in height between them, it looked comical, but it was also quite impressive. What Samuel lacked in height he more than made up for in skill and fury.
"They’re training in close-quarter combat. We snuck into the barracks the other night and beat the shit out of the Guard. You should've seen it. It was so easy that it was scary—and kind of hilarious. I don't know what they’re training for down there, but I promise you it isn't fighting. If we train these guys hard enough, they’ll get good really fast. Rotating groups would work best."
Amelia nodded. "I like that idea. It seems like you have the full barracks here. Give these men two weeks with you and then rotate. Have them go back and train an entirely different group while I send you more. At that rate, I think that we could train quite a lot of people in a short amount of time. What are you in charge of?"
Arryn smiled and held up the bow that Elysia had crafted for her. "What I do best. I'm teaching these men how to hunt their enemy with deadly accuracy."
Just at that moment, an arrow cut through the air toward them. Amelia lifted her hand, sending the arrow flying in a different direction when it nearly hit her, but other than that simple movement, neither she nor Arryn flinched.
The arrow hit the ground a few feet away, and the man responsible screamed his apologies, but Arryn's eyes stayed focused and unblinking on Amelia's, both women’s faces blank as Arryn said, "Some additional training may be required."
Amelia nodded, clearly fighting back a smile. "May?"
Arryn shrugged. "I did say they were deadly."
With a laugh, Amelia rolled her eyes and waved at the man, who still stared at them with horror in his eyes. He was clearly terrified that he had nearly killed the Chancellor with a stray arrow, though he relaxed when Amelia waved him off.
"I'm glad things are going so well here, near-death experience aside. But…"
Arryn narrowed her eyes as she studied Amelia. All amusement drained from her face as she looked at her with concern.
"But what? You seem hesitant to talk," Arryn stated. "You should know by now that you should just blurt things out with me. It's easiest."
"I talked to Elon. It's been almost a week, and I should've come to you sooner, but with everything that happened to Cathillian, and with the dead guards, and more missing students, it took me a while to get around to it."
“More missing students?” Arryn asked.
Amelia sighed. “Yeah. It was a student named Dallas. He was a jerk from what I could tell. Hung out with a group of other Boulevard students. Dallas was one of the group involved in beating the hell out of Jackson.”
Arryn nodded, realization on her face. “Oooh. Okay. I know who you’re talking about now. I see them walking around together all the time. Always in a pack.”
“Yep, but not anymore. Dallas was found with his throat slit. It looks exactly like Amos’ death. Blood drained and everything.” Amelia sighed as she shook her head.
“Why didn’t you come to get me?” Arryn asked. “I might have been able to help.”
“It’s not your problem,” Amelia replied, a sad smile on her face. “Besides, with all this and everything else on your plate, you have enough to deal with. I’m handling it. No worries about that. I’ll get all this figured out. But I didn’t bring that up to worry you over it. I wanted to tell you about my conversation with Elon.”
Amelia had talked to Elon…
Arryn's mind was swimming with possibilities. It bothered her that Amelia hadn’t come to her sooner, but she understood. She wasn't sure if it was good or bad news, but if it wasn't what she expected to hear, with Cathillian down and Arryn struggling to take care of him, teach at the Academy, and dig up dirt on Talia, it would've been difficult to process. Arryn swallowed hard, preparing herself to receive what could be the end of whatever hope she had left when it came to finding her father.
Arryn gave a simple nod, signaling to Amelia that she was ready to hear whatever it was she had to say.
Amelia cautiously glanced at the group to make sure that no other stray arrows would come their way before turning back to Arryn. "It turns out that Elon was much easier to talk to than I thought he would be. He was best friends with your father."
Arryn's eyes widened, her brain automatically trying to search her memories for anything that might tell her who he was. "I'm trying to remember, but… I don't know. I can't seem to remember anything."
"He said that you were probably too young to remember him, but you might remember his son, Gregory."
Arryn gasped, her eyes widening as she nodded. "Yes! I remember Gregory! We used to play together when we were little. His mom was a piece of work, but his dad didn't seem so bad, though I barely remember anything about him."
Amelia nodded. "Elon said that by the time you were old enough to remember anything about him, he was already wedged up Adrien's ass, so he was gone all the time."
Arryn took a nervous step forward, excitement filling her, even though she knew Elon wasn't a good person. He couldn't have been, since he was close to Adrien, and now he sat in the prison, both for his involvement with Adrien and for nearly killing his son. The name hadn't been familiar to her when Amelia first told her about him, but now everything was clicking together, and she felt terrible for her old friend Gregory.
"Your father went to Elon for help. Elon was very close to Adrien, and Christopher thought that he could sort things out. Unfortunately, Elon got scared. He knew that Adrien was on the hunt for someone, but he had no idea who. Adrien knew someone was planning to take him down, and Elon didn't want to see anything bad happen to your parents. He thought that if Adrien knew that people misunderstood him, he might be able to change their opinion."
"So, he ratted my parents out? He was the one who basically sentenced us to that fate? You're telling me that the man who caused all of this is sitting in prison right now?" Arryn asked. Before she'd spoken, she’d felt confused. But by the end of her questions, Arryn was furious. She wanted Elon just as bad as she wanted Adrien.
"He did, yes. But from what I can tell, his action was born from good intentions. Obviously, he had a selfish reason for it—he was worried that if Christopher got caught the old-fashioned way, Elon, being his best friend, would be suspect, too. At least, that's the way that I see it, and he didn't do much to dissuade me. But all in all, I think he really believed he was trying to help your parents."
Arryn closed her eyes, silently shaking her head as she did her best to calm her rage. "So, what happened to him? What happened my father?"
"He said that your father was taken and held prisoner. He was questioned for quite some time to try to get any kind of information out of him they could. They didn't believe that he was working alone, and Elon knew it, too, but after everything that had happened, he was smart enough not to tell Adrien that. Elon said that once Adrien believed Christopher wouldn't give anything up willingly, Christopher was let go."
Arryn's eyes widened, her jaw opening in disbelief. "What? He was let go? Why didn't he come for me?"
Amelia nodded as she continued, "Yes, he was let go. Adrien believed he would get comfortable and lead him to whoever his accomplices were; he thought he would catch more of his enemies by allowing one of them to live. He figured your father, having lost everything, would run to them for comfort. Unfortunately, that plan didn't work out very well."
Amelia took a deep breath, pausing for a moment. Arryn wanted to shake the woman for not talking faster, but instead she used that moment to process everything that had been said so far.
"Elon said that it's been a long time, and he can't remember exactly when it happened, but a month or two after you fled from the city and your father was released, someone came for him."
"An ally? One of the people he was conspiring with?" Arryn asked, but was quickly met by a shake of Amelia’s head.
No...
That didn't seem right to her at all. Who would've come for her father? Of all the people in the city, why in the hell would they have come for him?
Amelia continued, "I was in the Academy all the time, so I have no way of proving this or disproving it, but Elon said that the reports were that someone killed the guards at the gate and came through the city. The thing is, no one saw them coming. There was only a path of dead bodies on the way. It was like they hunted him down, but they definitely came from outside of the city."
Arryn's brows furrowed, her eyes narrowing as she thought hard about what could've happened.
"What the hell does that even mean?" Arryn asked. "Who would've even known about my father being in trouble?"
"If Samuel hadn't told me the specifics of what happened to Cathillian when I crossed paths with him the other day, I never would've put the two together."
Oh, that didn't sound good. Bile was rising in her throat.
"You can't be serious. Are you saying there was a similarity with what happened to Cathillian?" Arryn asked.
Amelia nodded. "The guards who were killed throughout the city that night had no wounds. There were no bruises, and their weapons were still holstered. There was no evidence of any kind that anything had happened to them; it was like they had just dropped dead. When he told me about it, all I could think was, ‘damn… It would take one hell of a subtle warrior to float through a city like the guards didn't exist and kill so quickly and easily that no one saw them coming.’ No one heard them. And there was no evidence how it was done."
"You think the dark druids did this. Is that what you're saying?" Arryn asked.
"I know! It sounded crazy to me too, but think about it. They were able to kill in a way that left no marks. That dark druid did that to Cathillian and to the guards at the gate. There were no marks on any of them. Don't you think that that's too big of a coincidence?"
Arryn thought for a moment, putting together all the pieces that Amelia had given her, but then she realized that there had to be more. This had happened a month or two after Arryn had fled the city. Something else had happened along that timeline as well.