Oliver–no, Olivia, she firmly reminded herself–frowned in frustration. She didn’t want to parley with the damned bandit anymore than she had wanted to let the lesser bandits go in their last fight. Her frustration wasn’t solely moral, either. With the recent fights, Olivia’s gift of the vanguard was hovering so close to Apprentice that she could practically taste it.

  The squire grimaced. That wasn’t right, though. She wouldn’t push for the fight just because she wanted to level up, no matter how badly she wanted it to happen.

  “Put the claws away,” she shouted at Egin, still keeping her runeblade ready.

  Part of her hoped that the bandit leader would argue and give her an excuse to keep fighting, but Egin disappointed her. The bandit leader stood up straight, shaking his body a little. His wings and paws began to glow with a wild white light, tinted green. Olivia watched warily as the transformed body parts began to fade away, dwindling away and leaving behind the man himself.

  Only once Egin was fully returned to normal did Olivia sheathe her sword–and even then, she kept one hand resting idly on its hilt, ready to draw it at a moment’s notice.

  The man’s eyes flicked down to Olivia’s hand, noting its position with disapproval, but he didn’t comment. That motion made Olivia realize that he hadn’t quite returned all the way to normal.

  “Your face,” she called out. “What’s wrong with it?”

  Egin grimaced. “It’s just like this now,” he told her, his words slurred by the way his fangs filled his otherwise human mouth. His eyes were similarly still the bright, wary amber of a bird of prey, and his hair was still clumpy, as if it couldn’t decide whether it was lustrous black, dun brown, or tawny and glossy.

  “Is it a side effect of having two totem gifts?” Caden asked, his voice sounding genuinely interested.

  “In a way,” the man growled. “The authority of the chimera is not always pleasant.”

  Authority, Olivia thought. What does that mean?

  “I’ve never heard of that,” Caden said, still clearly intrigued.

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “Caden,” she hissed, “focus!”

  “I’m not here to be your teacher,” Egin told them. “I’ve told you more than I should’ve already.”

  “Fine,” Caden replied. Was he pouting a little? “You asked for the parley. Say your piece.”

  “My men. If you found me, are they dead?”

  “Garret is,” Olivia told him. “Aton, we captured back at the caravan. He set us on the path we needed, but by now, he’ll be in Jellis’s jail, awaiting judgment.”

  “The rest of them we let go,” Caden said. “We didn’t have any way to take them all prisoner.”

  Egin nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. “Aton… I knew that bitch couldn’t be trusted.”

  Olivia’s hand tightened on her sword. “Watch your mouth.”

  The bandit leader’s eyes shot to her, piercing and deadly. “Oh?”

  Olivia felt her cheeks heating up from the way he looked at her, hard and still as the full moon, as if he had guessed more than he should’ve from that single threat.

  Thankfully, Caden jumped in and got them back on course. “As my partner said, let’s stay focused. You don’t seem like the type to avoid a fight just to find out how his minions are faring.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.” Olivia flinched–there were those words again. She was starting to dislike this man even more than she already did. “You say you let the rest of them go free–can I earn the same clemency?”

  Caden huffed a little breath, half a chuckle. “Really? I thought the boss would have a little more backbone.”

  “What can I say? I’m a survivor.”

  “More like a coward.”

  “Six of one, half dozen of another.”

  Were they seriously bantering!? Olivia felt her own lips lift in a snarl. “We let them go because they were just following your lead. You’re the one behind all of this, and you want us to just let you go!?”

  Egin snorted, the sound carrying an odd whistling tone to it. “You think I’m the one behind all of this?”

  “You are!”

  “If Aton told you that, she lied. And I’d think you should know better, by now.”

  Olivia’s eyes went wide, but Caden put a hand on her shoulder before she could respond.

  She turned to look at the celestial, and found his eyes as serious as she had ever seen him. “Your turn, Olivia,” the boy said quietly. “Focus.”

  Olivia felt an eye twitch–but she listened to him. Not least because continuing her outburst in the face of that reminder would only make her seem more childish.

  “Aton did mention that you were working with others,” Caden admitted. “But he was unclear as to if it was a partnership, or if you were following their lead.”

  The man gave another derisive snort. “My way of saving face,” he told them. “You look weak in front of a bunch of bandits, you don’t stay in charge for long. But I was following orders, I’ll tell you that much.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Olivia couldn’t help herself, “Were you following orders when you tried to kill our friend?”

  The man shrugged. “If you’re talking about that big girl, not directly. I was just told to attack any caravans that didn’t have the strength to defend themselves. I needed to distract that healer, so I shot up her friend. I didn't think she was dead when I left, though. Seemed like the resilient type, so I figured she’d pull through–but that she wouldn’t be likely to try me again.”

  “Olivia!” Caden’s hiss shocked the squire, and only then did she realize that her sword had slid an inch from its sheath. “This isn’t helping anything!”

  “He might’ve killed Beryl, Caden! I’m not doing this anymore!” Olivia told her, not even trying to disguise her anger.

  “Yes you are! Get a hold of yourself!” The celestial’s blue eyes were wide, intent, almost pleading. “If he’s telling the truth, we need to know more!”

  Olivia met the boy’s eyes for a long moment, her thoughts a tumult. She wanted to fight Egin, to kill him! She wanted to get revenge for Beryl, she wanted to level up, she wanted to make Rose proud, she wanted to make sure this scum never killed anyone else! She wanted to make him–

  Oli! Adeline’s voice snapped in her head. The knight wasn’t there, of course, but Olivia could see a shadow of her same righteous fury reflected in Caden’s eyes, and she knew what Adeline would tell her. You want to be a knight? Well, this isn’t how knights behave! Knights don’t break a parley because they’re angry! Knights don’t kill their enemies just because they want to! How many more people will die if you don’t find out who is actually behind all of this?

  Olivia tensed, every fiber of her wanting to fight–but Caden was right. Olivia knew that the celestial had lied when he claimed to be a silver squire, but at the moment, he was acting much more like a knight than Olivia was.

  The girl slid her sword away, and turned away from the man. “Fine. Go ahead,” she told Caden, taking a step back. “I’ll stay out of it.”

  Caden nodded, and he seemed to relax a little. He turned back to the bandit leader–and swore under his breath when he saw that the man’s wings and claws had returned. “Adventurer’s sack… Turn back, Egin! We’re not breaking parley!”

  “You sure about that? Your friend doesn't seem to share that opinion.”

  “Which is why you’re talking to me. Turn. Back.”

  Olivia looked over her shoulder, watching the bandit leader, with clear reluctance on his face, return his paws to normal–but conspicuously, he kept his wings manifested.

  “You can’t blame me for wanting a quick escape ready,” Egin told Caden, apparently responding to some look on the boy’s face. “They’re not weapons.”

  “Fine,” Caden said, exasperated. “Let’s get this over with. You tell us who you’re working for and where to find them, then we’ll let you go. Deal?”

  There was a long moment of silence, then Egin finally agreed. “It’s a deal. The man you’re looking for is a necromancer, name of Xythen.”

  “Xythen? Really?”

  Egin snorted, the sound still carrying that odd whistling. “I doubt it's his real name, if that helps. He seems to have certain ideas about necromancers–he’s like a storybook villain, that one.”

  Stones in glass houses, Olivia thought.

  “So he gave you the specters?”

  “He gave them to me, yeah. But I don’t think he made them.”

  “What?”

  “The bastard hinted he had some other backer who gave them to him. His boss. An outsider.”

  An outsider. Olivier had suspected that when they first encountered the specter–Noble’s name, she had suspected it when was first told about this mission, nearly two months before, in Correntry. The bandits had driven the theory out of her head, but it appeared she had been right to fear that outcome.

  That made things complicated.

  “Where can we find this Xythen?” Caden asked, staying on topic.

  “He holed up in these ruins, a town he destroyed a year back. Culles.”

  “Does he have anyone else like you? Any other bandits working for them?”

  “Maybe,” Egin admitted. “Probably, even. I only knew a couple others though, and they both turned up dead over the past few months.” The man’s crooked smile was only more twisted by his inhuman fangs. “Part of the reason I was making plans to cut out soon anyways.”

  Caden stared at the bandit leader for a moment, eyes narrowed. Olivia could guess what he was thinking–could they trust any of this information? They were right back where they had been not so long ago with Aton, but Egin was even less trustworthy. He could be sending them right into a trap, or he could be completely honest, trying to let them cut the loose ends for him so he could make a break for it.

  There was no way to know for sure, and eventually Caden must’ve come to the same conclusion.

  “Fine,” he said. “You can go. But this is the only time–if we meet again, there won’t be another parley, got it?”

  Egin tipped his head. Behind him, his massive wings flexed, giving a single powerful flap. “Heard and heard, lad. Have fun with them–I’ll dream of Xythen ripping your bones out tonight!”

  “Just go.” Caden’s voice was flat.

  “Sure, sure. Lemme just grab a couple possessions from my cave there, and I’ll be on my way.” Egin turned towards the cave even as he spoke.

  “No,” Caden said, surprising Olivia. “That wasn’t part of the deal. Go, now.”

  Egin turned to the celestial, his face surprised–but it was a bad act. Olivia could see the anger smoldering in those glassy eyes. “Nah, lad. I need my–”

  “We don’t care,” Olivia told him, hand returning to her blade. “A deal is a deal. You answered our questions, and we’re letting you go. We didn’t say anything about your stolen goods.”

  Egin’s lips twitched, another snarl forcing its way out of his bestial mouth. His fingers flexed, and Olivia jumped a hair–she saw the skin of his arms actually ripple.

  Caden pulled his own sword and hatchet, keeping his eyes on the bandit. “We had an agreement, Egin. Go on your way. Now.”

  Olivia followed his lead, her own sword coming free.

  Egin eyes flicked from them, to the cave, then back. “Just one item. That’s all I need. A box, so long.” He his hands a foot or so apart. “You can even go get it. Then I’ll take to the wind. You’ll never see me again.”

  “We’ve compromised enough,” Olivia insisted, lifting her sword into a ready stance, pointed right at him. “Go.”

  The man’s whole body slowly, almost reluctantly, turned away from the cave to face the two of them down. He slowly looked up, towards the bright blue sky overhead. The clearing in front of the cave was wide enough that there was no foliage to block his way.

  “Fine.” He flapped his wings once, then twice, lifting himself off the ground, and both youths began to relax–at least, until he called down, “We’ll meet again–if Xythen doesn’t kill you first!”