One peaceful night.

James nodded to Mary, she left, shutting the door on her way. He forced a smile on his visage, though he wanted nothing more than to throw her out. It seemed she had something of a past with James.

"Did Emily send you?" he asked.

"Don't speak her highness' name so casually. Despite the rumours, I have it on good authority the king is yet to make mention of any thing concerning a betrothal."

"Then why are you here, my lady?" He got up from his seat to pour a glass of juice.

She refused it with a shake of the head, so he set the glass down on his table.

"Setting cups down directly on the table spoils them, did you know?"

"Why are you here, Gertrude?"

"Why haven't you been to the palace?" she asked instead.

"I had no reason to go to the palace yet, did I?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" she said in a kind of picturesque pose. "There has been a tourney running for the last week or so. I thought boys were interested in this sort of thing?"

"Well I'm not. I don't like to fight. Why don't you take a seat?"

She shifted her pose, one hand tucked below her chin, the other on an outstretched hip. What was she even trying to achieve?

"The Halden Duchy is the only one not represented in the whole tournament, you know. I noticed the distinct lack of knights on the premises. So it is true you traveled without accompanying knights? You, the son of a Duke!"

"What is this? An investigation? Why don't you take a seat?"

"And you think you can marry her? Someone like you!" she sneered.

James smirked. Now that was a truthful expression and fitting. And she wasn't trying to strike a pose now, though she still had one hand on her hip, and the other hip thrust forward, and her second hand pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"Is that why she sent you then?" he asked.

"No one sent me here. But it will be good for your Duchy if you at least make an appearance at the king's hunt tomorrow and at the final day of the tourney before the prince's gathering."

Having said her peace, she strutted to the door, her hips swaying professionally with her silk dress. She looked back one last time before she slammed the door shut.

The princess was planning something. The third prince was most certainly planning something for these next few days as well. If he wanted to make an appearance at court, he had to be ready for a multitude of drama.

That evening, he had Hans only do his sword drills and warm up. He didn't want any unforeseen problems preventing him from taking part in the raid. Him, for the most part, he just stuck to his new routine. His muscles had bulged that first night, but now they were deflating, and the soreness was lifting.

This time he shot a few arrows off. He wasn't yet as accurate as he'd wanted, but he could pass for a half decent archer. His aim aside, he had to work on his speed. Speed of nocking, drawing. Even shooting multiple arrows at once. And that was only if he wished to catch up with Aric.

A maid knocked to inform him he had guests again. This time he had them wait in the antechamber with a few snacks while he and Hans went to freshen up. He wasn't surprised by who the guests turned out to be.

Six people squeezed into his tiny office. Hans was there too, so that made for a kind of awkward reunion.

"Well, isn't this a surprise? You guys came back a lot sooner than I expected."

"Wipe that stupid grin off your face, won't you? You do know we are your enemies now?"

Six sets of hitched breaths. All the mercenaries were staring at their leader like she'd lost her mind. Hans looked seconds away from going for his own sword.

"I can tell you that tomorrow I might be going on a hunt with the king. I'm not entirely sure about it though. Lots of high ranking noble's will be there. That's all I'm willing to say for now, though."

"Appreciated," said Talia with a little nod.

"So, um, what's going on, boss?" Rob asked uncertainly.

"The lordling guessed something of the sort would happen. He's probably the only reason we're all still alive right now."

Another collective gasp, but James wasn't paying attention anymore. A small crystal beside his papers was glowing. He fumbled until he grabbed it, cursed whoever was trying to use the communication crystal. He didn't have a wind mage present.

"How did I just conveniently forget I needed a wind mage for this?!" he cursed.

He was going to be forced to rely on Jonas. He opened his mouth to state as much, but then the crystal whirled to life without his needing to say so. He might have noticed a black wind but then the shadows were shifting as well. That kind of power, control. He had his suspicions, but they were unrealistic.

Mary stepped from somewhere behind his desk, probably the only window in the room. He doubted any of the people present would recognize her alter ego though. The crystal whirled to life, and the broken image from the crystal's edges showed just a hint of blue hair.

"We are in position."

"Understood. I'll send the others as well."

He nodded towards Hans, and without another word the man joined Mary at the window and they were gone.

"And what is it you have been up to, lordling?"

He smiled at her. "I'd rather not say. I'm sure your bosses will understand why you didn't give them any information about this even if they suspect I had something to do with it."

"But at least tell me what they are doing?"

James walked over to his window and looked out over the peaceful noble quarters. He could still hear the noise of the merchant's quarter and the lower district if he tried hard enough. He didn't hear the cries of dismay, but he imagined the smoke he saw was from the exposed houses.

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

This was a rare opportunity for him to use his powers at their fullest for the first time since he'd come to this world. Jason Kon felt light on the ground, bouncing up and down and releasing bolts of blue death. He felt like he'd been born to rule this world. His power filled him, drove him forward, and people died.

The girl James Halden called a princess wasn't half bad either, but the warrior was something else entirely. He had the kind of skill that was beautiful to see, and he seemed to have been trained for the spot light.

But he killed with brutal efficiency this night, offering his opponents beautiful death. And he wasn't a sword master yet. He couldn't use aura.

'Don't let them know who you are? We still have quite a few events to shut down before they start being cautious of us,' James had told them.

There was a fourth member. The one who'd told them about the four other hide outs and about Halden's last instruction.

He'd said to expose the ones where they were hiding human children. To make as much noise so that even their friends the guards on the City watch couldn't hide this. The ones where they were hiding none humans, however, were to be raided in secret. Jason had wondered at that, but he'd done it anyway.

It was strange. He'd always thought of himself as the strongest in this world, or at least on the road to being such. He'd wanted nothing to tie him down. He'd wanted independence.

Yet taking orders hadn't bothered him one bit. James had wanted him in the capital, this much he now knew. He'd sent him to the Kens knowing this would happen.

'I definitely meant what I said about you not owing us anything, Jason. But help me this one time. Then there will be nothing between the two of us.'

Those words had hurt Jason, though he hadn't known why. Now his blade shone blue as he sheared a man clean through, using his mana to launch a few long range slashes in place of aura.

Hansworth didn't even give him the briefest of attention, focusing on the task of moving forward, ever forward. That guy would stay by Halden's side. Jason didn't know why that thought filled him with such fire.

The fourth companion, the one who had only joined them that night, led them through the dark alleys of the lower city. They had a troop of more than fifty kids to transport, and they didn't need any attention on them at the time.

There were elves and wolves, perhaps even a whale shifter. They had to be very careful. It was a good thing the warehouse the young master had purchased for this occasion was in the lower district. They were only three blocks away by Jason's estimation when he sensed the approaching mana.

He signalled to the shadow dweller.

"I guess we need to distract that person until the children are safely hidden," Hansworth commented after his report.

"Huh! We could totally take him. I could defeat any spell caster no problem."

"If you think you can, then go ahead. I'll back you up. The two of you," Hansworth pointed at the women in the crew, "should take the children. If they finish their mission before us, we'll withdraw, understood?"

"Yeah." Jason leaked his lips.

This approaching enemy seemed strong. Strong enough even to give him a decent fight. They went out hunting.

The man sensed it when Jason let his mana spike. He wanted to draw his attention away from the fleeing children. The lower city smelled of smoke and other, now less pronounced smells.

The smell of sulfur and sizzling sound announced the attack, and Jason's yelled instruction to scatter was entirely unnecessary.

It was one versus two though, and Hansworth once again showed Jason up by his quick recovery, jumping in to cut the man's chest. The man shot into the sky, released two earth lances towards the warrior who never changed his course.

Hansworth parried the first then the second, demonstrating monstrous power to stay on his feet despite the punishment.

Jason snapped himself out of it. He needed to take care of things.

He imbued his sword with his favourite electricity spell, reduced the amount of gravity around him and launched himself at the floating mage.

The man's eyes rose fractionally, then the lightning sword was descending to cut his body up. Jason was just starting to feel smug when the sword impacted something, and his magic recoiled and sent him shooting towards the earth like a meteor.