Liam stood in the throne room, kneeling in front of the King as he received his orders.

  “I have an important mission,” the King began. “You are to retrieve a boy. His name is Trevor, an orphan from Dunhearth.”

  This all sounded too easy to Liam, and he did not understand why all the leaders of the guard were present, nor why nearly eighty men had been called to head out immediately.

  “You are not to use force, and that needs to be made very clear to all your men. I need you all to approach carefully. Intimidation and force will not work. It will instead likely lead to countless deaths.”

  The King then took his seat back on the throne, where his senior adviser, Gerald, took over.

  “We have received now three credible messages that this boy will have several companions—one being a unique fire elemental, the other an incredibly powerful beast, a Shadow Cat. In addition, there have been several reports that he is speaking with, or protected by, at least a single dragon—one that fought and defeated the Tempest Dragon in Boltron,” Gerald explained.

  Liam couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he was in absolutely no position to argue with the King or his adviser, so he kept his head low and listened as Gerald continued.

  “Before anyone approaches this boy, I need you all to do your research. Start at Dunhearth and branch out from there. No one is to approach him unless it is one of the captains in this room. Is that clear?”

  There was a chorus of, “Yes, Your Grace.”

  “Lastly, you are to get the boy to return to the capital and meet with us. I’ll repeat: nobody is to intimidate or antagonise this boy. If it doesn’t get you killed directly, you will be punished for disobeying the King’s direct orders,” the adviser said.

  Again, a chorus of, “Yes, Your Grace.”

  And with that, they were sent to their task—a full mobilisation of the guard, all for a boy.

  ***

  Arriving at Dunhearth, The guards broke off into smaller groups: one heading north to Elarith Vale, another heading south towards Grey Rock, and the final group heading in the direction of Boltron, visiting every village and town along the way, as that was the direction the boy had initially travelled.

  When Liam arrived at the Lord’s manor in Dunhearth, the reception was not ideal. Speaking with the butler of the house, who introduced himself as Leo, Liam couldn’t help but feel he was being intentionally stalled.

  Sitting in a waiting room, he kept hearing a lot of movement in the room next to him.

  Eventually, he had had enough. Heading into the room he had seen Leo enter—which he believed to be the Lord’s study—the sight before him shocked him.

  Both Leo and an older gentleman were actively burning paperwork, throwing it into the fire stacks at a time.

  These were not the actions of an innocent man.

  “Halt your actions immediately,” Liam announced, and when both men attempted to throw more papers in the fire, it confirmed his suspicions.

  His training kicking in, he dashed into the room, striking the butler fairly gently with his gauntlet and sending him to the ground. The man he suspected to be the Lord followed suit.

  Now, Liam turned his attention to the paper in the fire. Most had not caught yet due to the smothered flames, so he carefully retrieved what he could.

  ***

  After a brief investigation and some interrogation of the butler, it turned out that Lord Falcone was engaged in many fraudulent activities, with most of his own staff having fabricated servitude contracts.

  There was also countless gold stolen from taxes—both from the Crown and the people of Dunhearth. Then, when Liam finally tried to find the information on the orphans in this town, he discovered that too had been destroyed, making him suspect foul play there as well.

  With a sigh, Liam returned to the temporary holding cell he had made for the butler, Leo. He didn’t bother going to the Lord—the man had been a stubborn old goat and told him nothing—but the butler required very little persuasion.

  “Leo, I have further questions,” Liam said as he entered the room, and the man winced at hearing his voice.

  “If you answer honestly, you have nothing to fear. Why did you burn the information about the orphans in Dunhearth?” he asked.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Leo hesitated, looking around…

  “Please don’t lie to me. The truth will come out in the capital, and a lie now could mean a harsher sentence later,” Liam calmly explained.

  Leo gulped. “Well, we… erm… Lord Falcone recently tried to secure the employment of an orphan.”

  Liam shook his head. “By ‘secure employment’ you mean you wished to place him under a fabricated indentured servitude contract, like the others?”

  Leo shook his head. “No, sir! Of cour—”

  Liam stopped him. “Save the excuses for the capital when you face judgement. You didn’t succeed in burning anywhere near as much as you thought you did. What was the name of the orphan you attempted to enslave?”

  Leo looked shocked. “Enslave! We’d neve—”

  Again, Liam cut him off. “Enough. What was his name?”

  “He was just a cook from a local inn, no one special,” Leo said, waving his hands.

  “Name,” Liam said firmly.

  “Trevor, sir,” Leo finally said.

  “And what exactly did you do to Trevor? Again, I need to emphasise this—do not lie to me,” Liam said with a tone so firm that Leo’s eyes widened in fear.

  “Well… Lord Falcone sent one of his men after him with debt paperwork, and told him to retrieve him,” Leo answered in a shaky voice.

  Liam just shook his head. This was getting worse by the second. “And where is this man now?”

  “He has not returned,” Leo said, his head down.

  Liam left the room annoyed. This would complicate the job immensely. It would mean the boy would almost certainly be distrustful of anyone in a higher position—if he wasn’t already outright hostile.

  ***

  The next bit of news came a couple of days later. They had already organised transport for Emanual Falcone and his butler, Leo, to be taken to the capital to obtain further information on his misdeeds and to face judgement from the King.

  With the news that they had possibly greatly complicated the task of getting the boy to come willingly to the capital due to their actions, Liam didn’t like their chances of a lenient sentence.

  A messenger arrived in the hall—one of Victor’s men. Apparently, they had run into a group of adventurers who matched the group rumoured to be travelling with Trevor. They also had a merchant and two guards and were heading north. But to really complicate matters, they had alerted Victor to a capital crime occurring in Portland.

  Dozens of young boys and girls had apparently been killed in a death march of the orphans. Victor and his men had rushed to Portland to investigate the validity of the claims, which turned out to be true.

  As such, he would need to assume command there until a full investigation could occur, and could not follow the group.

  “Fuck,” Liam muttered. “Is everyone out here corrupt and incompetent?”

  The King would not be happy to hear all this—and, more to the point, what were his advisers telling him? Or not telling him?

  Liam decided to write a note immediately and, using the same messenger, sent him to the capital to deliver a message to the King on this very topic, emphasising it was for the King’s hand only.

  ***

  The first bit of good news arrived when word came from the guards on the gate that a group had passed through into Dunhearth matching everything they were looking for. There was a fire elemental companion. The adventurer group called the Polite Company—who even introduced themselves as such at the gate.

  It also confirmed Victor’s comments, as they arrived with a wagon, two guards and a merchant.

  They didn’t appear too suspicious at the gate and arrived at a local inn called the Roaring Inn. He wondered why the proprietor didn’t call it the Roar’Inn, but alas.

  Liam set out that afternoon and watched as the boy they suspected to be Trevor made the rounds through the city: first visiting the medical pavilion, then the temple, before going to the market.

  He thought they might have become suspicious at the market when he was watching them closely, but they carried on all the same. There was no sign of the Shadow Cat that was claimed to accompany him so far, but those were notoriously difficult to spot unless they wanted to be.

  It was early evening when he planned to show up at the inn and scope the place out. He intended to go alone so they wouldn’t feel too on edge, but when he showed up the inn was locked.

  The owner told him it was a private event. That confirmed some things: Trevor was there, and these must have been the people he was close to. That was useful to know.

  After trying to pass on the message, he headed towards the manor. He would try to approach the inn owner tomorrow, explain his side, and explain that they were coming peacefully—maybe get an in that way.

  He hadn’t even taken ten steps into the main hall when the emergency alarms sounded.

  Rapidly, he pulled out his helmet and shield, racing out of the manor as the sky lit up bright orange.

  Looking up, he saw an absolutely massive fireball—no, not a fireball…

  His breath caught in his throat as he realised it was the phoenix. A literal mythical creature was flying directly over the town.

  Not just any mythical creature either—the one revered by the royal family for blessing them with long life. The very creature seen as most sacred outside of the gods themselves.

  Then the pressure hit—two of them—and the phoenix was not flying over the city at all. It was flying towards it. No—diving towards it.

  Liam heard panic in the streets as everything was lit up like daylight while the phoenix—surely the size of the town itself—dived down, shrinking in size only at the last minute before the night sky went dark.

  Where did it go?

  Liam headed in the direction the phoenix appeared to land and was intercepted by an out-of-breath guard.

  “Sir… Phoen… phoenix, sir. It went inside the Roaring Inn.”

  Trevor has such powerful friends… he invited the phoenix for a get-together?!

  What was going on? Who exactly was this boy?

  Liam jogged towards the inn. He knew he’d need to be the one to approach, but saw it was already surrounded by his own guards and dozens of terribly prepared adventurers. He spoke to his men:

  “Nobody approaches that inn under any circumstances. Is that clear?”

  Everyone saluted, forming a perimeter and ensuring no one moved forward.

  With a gulp, Liam approached the door of the inn. With every step had his senses screamed danger, but this was his job—he had to do it.

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