The Dreamer's Fall

Chapter 23 - Agelian Spy

The skinny man started to sweat as he backed into the carriage building. "Y-you can't touch me. The lord and lady will have your head if you do!"

Arthur covered his mouth with his good hand. "Pfft—Do you really think my father even knows you exist? And if he did, would he even care whether you lived or died?"

Foster drew the slim sword from his waist and slowly approached, causing the man to trip over himself. "L-lady Elyria will! She w-won't let you get away with this!"

"Wrong again!" Arthur cheered. "Do you really think Elyria will admit to playing a part in the abduction of a noble's guard to save some stableboy?

"You'd have a better chance of my father knowing the names of each and every family member you've just sentenced to death... You tell me the likelihood of that, considering we've already established that he doesn't even know you exist?"

Arthur waited a moment for the man to stew in his thoughts. "Foster, kill him. I'm sure one of the other stable boys will know where his family lives. We'll go take care of them next."

"W-wait! WAIT!" The man screamed as Foster raised the sword.

Arthur raised his good hand and stopped him. "I'm only going to ask this once. So be really sure of your answer before you speak. Who took my guard, and where was he taken to?"

Arthur was already ninety-nine percent sure Elyria was behind it, but he needed to make sure either way. It would also benefit him if he could get the stableboy's confession, as it would make freeing Harkon that much easier.

"It wasn't me, lord! I swear!" The man pleaded as he twisted his body into a kowtow.

"Of course, it wasn't you. Harkon may be young, but he's a fourth-circle mage, and you're just a stableboy." Arthur sucked air through his teeth and shook his head before lowering his hand. "Unfortunately, that wasn't what I asked."

As Foster raised the slim sword again, the skinny man cried out in a hurry. "Wait! It was Merin! It was Merin!"

Arthur raised his hand again and urged the man to continue. "Keep talking."

"S-she gave me a list of names this morning and said that if any came by to accuse them of trying to steal a ruik. I swear, lord! That's all I did, I swear!"

Arthur's eyes lit up at the mention of the familiar name. "Give it to me."

"H-here it is, lord." The man handed Arthur a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket before hastily returning to a kowtow. "Please spare my life."

"I'll go recheck the manor's dungeon." Kyren announced before flying off.

Arthur nodded to Kyren before looking over the list of names. He wasn't surprised to see the twelve personal guards he had been assigned, but even Senna's name was on the list.

Rage boiled within him as Arthur's eyes fell upon her name. As if killing his mother wasn't enough, they were going after his surrogate mother now, too. That crossed his bottom line.

He had been kind enough to let them live a few years longer while he grew, but since Merin wanted to die so badly, he was more than happy to oblige her.

Arthur handed the note to Foster. "Give me the sword, then wait a few minutes before taking him to my father's office. I'll meet you there."

Foster hesitated. "Young master, are you sure?"

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Arthur assured him as he removed the hidden blades from his sleeves. "Throw those in my room before you go."

Removing them caused the wound on his left arm to reopen, resulting in fresh blood trickling down his hand. He didn't cover it up; instead, he let it bleed openly as he made his to the manor's main entrance.