It was a terrible day for Talarof, though it had started nicely enough.

  It was a nice clear warm morning and Gerolf had gone with the archpriest into the city. Then Aria Taravyna had commandeered a wagon with three butterflies to pull it, which was less concerning than her order to not have any soldiers follow her. Then there was an explosion that broke his glass window and set all the fowl and children screaming, which made his people concerned when he refused to send soldiers to check on the situation, since that he was ordered to was a slight comfort to the concerned people.

  Then Gerolf had come back with the guards and no archpriest, saying that Taramo had ordered they leave him be to fight an arachne necromancer, so all the people were armed and the children were gathered in the temple in case they had sent soldiers after Gerolf.

  And now a long time had passed since then and the cooks had gone back to work on supper. The priest was begging to let the children out of the temple because they were playing with the divine's statues and one had spilt the potted plant still in the room.

  And so when they were returning with a second wagon (had she taken two?) and with the arachne prisoner he was elated. Sending one of the Slavers to the royal Aurika clan would make Gerolf's ascendance absolutely certain.

  "I have found my apprentice." and now he would be lucky not to be executed for treason.

  The plans for expansion had to be upped in the timetable since nobody was going to rest well with one of the spiders in their midst. He'd have to phrase it well enough for Aria Taravyna. They weren't sending her off, they were giving her the space to pursue her own studies. With the new settlers arriving in the next week they'd have to have the arachne out as soon as possible and hopefully Naki- Niki- Nikalia, that was it. Hopefully she would be equally desiring to be out of the way.

  But if they were to do that it would be nearly impossible to get enough manpower to secure another block, they'd need to anyways with the new arrivals and he still needed to find something for the archpriest to-

  That's how he'd do it. If the archpriest could clear and secure a block he'd have the space for new arrivals and he should be able to get another spot for the arachne, and maybe Aria Taravyna as well. Having the children live next door to their god would probably engender too much familiarity with authority. And he'd want her to take over only once he was able to take over the barony that 'owned' the city as well as the port city where he fled after the Silver Chain decided to move in.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Okay, he needed to order his priorities.

  First he has to survive and not be executed for treason or heresy.

  Second was finding the goddess and freeing her from her prison. It was done without his help.

  Then his son needs to do a great work to justify being crowned king regnant. Taking the port city of Kalinivo from that dratted empire should be enough. It wouldn't be as big as saving a goddess but he'd have to make do.

  Next he needs to kick the Silver Chain out. It will matter less once he has more soldiers but they will be a knife at his back.

  Anything besides that will have to be less important. He'd love to deal with the arachne and all the other leftovers that drift around the city but they're not as important right now.

  He also had to get enough treasure to entice one of the ladies from the court. Since he was kicked out of the position of prince consort he'd be expected to produce some heirs to the clan instead of the royals. He loved the queen, but that didn't mean he wanted to give all his history and future to the royal family to discard at their whim. His plan to get the third daughter of the Ashmar clan and apprentice to the Queen's favored cook was out of the running since the great archpriest had managed

  He received a knock at the door of his office.

  "Come in" He stretched and felt his back pop in a pleasurable way. He'd need to get to sleep sometime soon.

  His assassin Kyvan walked in. He was dressed as a stableboy which was his cover story. He'd get replaced by the real stableboys once work was needed there. His appearing almost human, except some marks on his belly, made him a perfect spy for the human empire.

  "You asked for me, sir."

  "Yes. What did you find out about the Silver Chain?"

  "They're sticking to their fort. I heard that one of the captains in their army had their class status revoked. Completely removed. The little people think that they'll be fighting with the priest and the empire, but I heard myself that it was the encounter with the goddess that removed it."

  "Taravyna can remove someone from the Empire's Class System? I thought that was impossible"

  "The priest couldn't recover his status but he was able to rejoin the system. the priest also agreed to serve the Silver Chain if they dealt with whoever broke the system."

  "Bad news if they find out we're keeping them."

  "Not yet. The soldiers can hardly leave their beds for fear that their bogey man will steal their system gains. They're really pathetic without them. And what did I hear about an arachne. Do you have a proper job for me?"

  "No. Taravyna is protecting her so if we dealt with her we'd lose our reason to take over the city. And our lives as well, if their power is anything like the rumors say."

  "A shame. But if you change your mind ask me first. I'd like to have an arachne under my belt."

  "I wouldn't dare to steal that accomplishment from you. But I think I will go to bed soon. Goodnight."

  " 'Night" and the killer was out of the room in a blink.

  Outside the window a probing vine receded.

  He behaves as expected. I don't think the time is right to remove him yet.