Setting the stage.

Talia of the claws was not happy, but she was glad, if only just a little. It was going exactly like that fool had said so far. They'd had trouble finding rooms for the night, but they'd managed.

Talia had just retired to her room with Mania when the knock came. Two more knocks told her the other four were being roused as well, by hooded people, gender untraceable, faces unrecognizable.

They didn't say anything. Merely stared at them for a long time, then turned and started to walk. Rob was the first to follow after a shrug. They'd moved through to almost the edge of the merchant district, and that's where the inn was.

Talia was on guard the moment she saw the fat man, the proprietor of the dining swan, where they got their orders most of the time. The man looked at her with a steady expression, but there was something about the set of his shoulders, the look in his eyes that told her he himself was in some state of panic.

The blonde man next to him smiled, and Talia felt primal fear. She noticed, somehow the dozens of eyes set on them. One misstep and half this inn would be poised to attack them. It was just as he'd said, damnit, they intended to do her and her crew in.

"Report!" barked the blonde man, and in the corner of her vision she saw a big man, hiding what appeared to be a mace in the shadows of his table.

************

In a cave very far to the North, North of the great rain forest and mountains that bordered Mareth and past a great empire and many human kingdoms, there stood a man.

Or what appeared to be a man. His eyes were red though, and on his cheeks were scale like projections, and his ears were almost as sharp as an elf's. He chanted in an ancient tongue, one that the writhing mass of black had never heard before.

"I will finish the unbinding process now. Are you ready?"

'I don't want to disappear!'

"You won't disappear if you still have a reason to stay on this side."

And then as he traced a very complicated, almost eleven leveled spell form, he continued his chant, and the hunk of stone stinking up the cave continued to disintegrate.

*****************

Talia reported everything with military efficiency. At least everything that she thought they already knew. She hoped her companions would play along, if only just to survive. Things didn't always go as planned.

"I see that you've decided to keep a few of his secrets to yourself."

"What do you mean?" Talia asked, praying to all the gods her instincts were wrong.

"Aric and Mania seem to be in disagreement with your report thus far."

Jonas swore. "Aric, you idiot, what are you doing?!"

"He is building an army!" Aric said, "and he knows —"

"Yes, he knows of the revolution, though if he really knows how far in we are involved, he never said," Talia interrupted.

Both Mania and Aric growled in malcontent. The blonde man looked toward them to speak.

"He—" Mania started to say, but Rob interrupted her.

"They are just kids he saved, no connection to the revolution at all."

"What?!" the blonde man stood from his chair. "So he truly has the two fox tribe children? Why didn't your report include this?" he directed towards Talia.

"Because they are innocent children. Even during the battle he didn't send them out."

She would have slapped her palm to her mouth then, because she'd spoken up without thinking. She'd let her true feelings show.

'...suggest the idea before they do...'

Something stirred in the air. Killing intent as hooded faces oriented on them. She'd miscalculated, she knew.

"Besides, I'd wanted to show you why the boy is more of a threat to us than you're assigning to him."

A moment of quiet as the man studied her mask.

Then, "go on," said he, a smile in the words.

"I propose we refrain from trying to kill him at the moment. I've come to understand he is facing a succession dispute at his home. So—"

"It isn't us that want him dead, believe it or not. We would have tried to recruit him after that village incident. Alas, it is another group that wants him dead. And when that group targets someone," he shrugged, running his finger across his neck.

"Then before he dies, if indeed his fate is sealed, we can use him."

"How so?" he looked genuinely interested.

"He had his doubts about us, but after we saved his life at that battle, he trusts us. He is a high ranking noble. We could get close to the court, plot its fall from within."

She stared into the man's eyes, let him see her resolve. She could feel all her companions staring at her in confusion now.

"They said you were a fanatic. A believer in only the right way. Could they have misjudged you so?"

Talia didn't let her internal wince show. From somewhere deep, she heard the words as if they were being spoken by a stranger.

"Any means necessary!"

The man shook his head with a proud smile.

"Good. You will be on probation for the next four days. Don't let him interfere with our plans."

As they walked back to their inn, all she could think of was the fact that he had been right about everything. For some reason they all six gathered in her room. She went to stand by the window, looking out over the brilliant city night life.

Jonas broke the quiet with a curse so vulgar, but Talia didn't react to it.

"What were you thinking, Aric? I've supported you thus far because that accident was partly my fault, but you put children in danger."

"They already know about the children," Rob said. "If anything, I feel like they might be working with the kidnappers for some depraved reason."

"Yeah," Talia turned from the distracting view. It was kind of depressing to see people being happy just then. "Aric only intended to reveal the fact that James knew exactly who we are. Him and Mania both."

"Yeah, so the revolution can deal with him. He is dangerous."

"No, Aric, you are," she said, shaking her head sadly.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Aric cried.

"That your unthinking actions almost caused our deaths, you fool," Jonas snapped. "They had us surrounded. There was a fifth-tier mage. Assassins, and you went and almost made us useless to the revolution which we just recently found out does go through questionable means to achieve their goals."

"But —" he looked to Mania for support.

"That is why we always let the boss do the reporting, you idiots!" Talon screamed. "I don't care what you thought in the moment. You almost had the team killed. What say you boss?"

"Aric, after this affair with James Halden is taken care of, you'll leave the claws."

************

The woman, madam Vi, never showed her face. A bird shaped mask covered the upper half, terminating in a beak shaped nose. She had a pipe in her mouth, and her body shape was hidden in elaborately heavy cloth.

She went to take her pipe from her mouth, but James had run out of patience by then. He didn't have the patience for a verbal spur just then.

"There was an assassination on a noble today. I need information."

She pouted. "You're no fan. I thought we could play for a while."

"Not in the mood. In return though, I could tell you about the revolution's operation in the city in more detail."

"I guess that's good. But you said assassination attempt. I take it the young noble lives?"

"I can't answer to that until I have something in return."

"You don't want to play this game with me, boy. For one thing, you're not good at it. You already good as told me he lives."

James shrugged. "You don't know his condition, nor that of the assassin."

"But your request is too ambiguous. So any and all information I give you will count."

James shrugged. "I will take just the identity of the contractors then, if you don't mind. In return I'll tell you a lot of my master's secrets."

"I'm curious whether the boy is intelligent or not. Having a servant like you proves he isn't all that, yet I can't ignore his recent achievements."

'Achievements?' But James listened avidly as she told him about two men in hooded cloaks, who'd been tracked to a certain building in the lower district.

"So you don't know their identity?"

"Their base of operations has been very hard to infiltrate. Occasionally though, there are sounds of howling reported."

James didn't let her see the moment realisation sunk into his features. Then the woman's face grew tense and whiter and whiter as he told his tale.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"What can I do to aid your master?"

"What do you mean?"

"It is obvious why he gave me this information. He intends to make an ally of the lower city."

"What?!"

"Its obvious. He knows if he buys us, then he won't have to worry about assassins from this city attacking him. How does the boy know of our shadow government?"

James decided to play along. "The young master knows a lot of things."

Hansworth nodded seriously from beside him.

"I see," the woman said, and removed her mask from her face.

A surprisingly young face, not past twenty five and not overly adorned, but beautiful in its own way. Intelligent eyes studied James, then the girl kneeling behind him. The woman startled.

"Don't tell me that boy has connections in this district too? He had the whole kingdom fooled since he was a child. I will do it."

"Do what?"

"Assist your lord in taking over the city. I will take your prodigy in," James looked at Ariane, who wore a stony mask to cement the illusion, "then I'll help you with dealing with the contractors. And I'll look into our contacts for some trustworthy people to send to the house so our lord can start preparations. Did he give you the preliminary instructions?"

"Preliminary? Ah, forget it. Don't reach out to people you trust. Just purchase a few items the master will tell you to via courier tomorrow. Also, do you have pen and paper. The master will have a message delivered to a young man in the city. And I want information on a certain woman's movements sent to the young master tomorrow."

James didn't know what had happened as he walked home. It seemed like he'd just been played like a fiddle, but he didn't quite know how it had happened.