Tim jerked awake, his heart pounding. For a moment, he was disoriented, his mind reflexively reaching out to the psychic link and his heart aching when he failed to find it. That happened more often than not, these days, although it had been getting a little better.

  He lay still, breathing regularly, unsure what had woken him. Something was different. Underground, it was hard to get a sense of time passing, but he was still too tired to have been asleep for long. It was silent. He concentrated on the breaths he took and tried to parse the scents they carried, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Dust, a faint tang of metal, perhaps echoes of water and the everpresent moss in tunnel systems like these.

  Tim opened his eyes just a little bit. It was still dark. He wasn’t even sure why he was being so cautious, by all accounts everything should be fine. It wouldn’t be the first time he simply slept badly. And yet something, some instinct, warned him that something was up. He turned his head slightly, trying to make out shapes in the darkness.

  That was when he realized. His vision was good, even if it still needed light, and usually, he should have been able to at least see the silhouettes of his companions, sleeping in the camp with him. At least in most hours of the night. Their human and even elven party members didn’t have eyesight quite as good, so they usually kept at least a small magical candle or something burning on watch to provide a little light. But right now, he could barely see anything. It should have been their shift, though; Ash had been on watch when he’d gone to bed and their two dark elves had been active in the day and were again tomorrow, so they hadn’t been scheduled for shifts this night, which meant there should have been at least one human or surface elf, regardless of which shift it was.

  And it was very quiet. Maybe just a little too quiet.

  Tim breathed out evenly, then felt for the dagger he’d stowed in the folds of his bedroll, carefully tugging it out a little. He made sure there was nothing in his immediate vicinity, then quickly straightened up, drawing in air and straining his ears. Nothing moved right away.

  Frowning, he got to his feet, turning in a slow circle. He cursed the fact it was this dark. Closing his eyes, he focused on his other senses. He didn’t need his eyes. Carefully, he moved a few steps, recalling the layout of the camp and moving towards the center, glad no one had put their bedroll too close to his, trying not to wake him during shift changes.

  Still, the guards on duty should have noticed him moving. There was no scent of blood in the air, at least … and even straining his ears, he couldn’t hear anything beyond the slow, even breaths of the others sleeping. No faster breaths indicating someone awake. Should I sound the alert? he considered. It might alert the intruder if there was one. But he couldn’t leave his companions defenseless, either.

  Compromising, he gently kicked the two closest sleeping forms, twice, hoping that Anuis and Ash would be good enough to stay quiet. Then he took another step forward, straining his senses to try and pick up where the problem was.

  There. Just the slightest swish of air to his left. That was where the party had left their supplies. At least it meant no one was in immediate reach. Tim padded over as quietly as he could, but whatever he’d felt previously didn’t repeat.

  “Light, now!” he called.

  Anuis, at least, must have been awake and alert, and a moment later the light of a magical everburning candle shone from her position. Tim didn’t turn to look at it to preserve his night vision.

  Instead, he caught a dark shadow darting away from the supplies. “There!” he called again, clutching his dagger tightly and hurrying after it.

  The light got dimmer as he moved away, broken by the piles of scrap metal, until several other lights suddenly sprang to life, including a Firebolt held in Ed’s hand. It gave Tim enough light to see what he was chasing towards the distant rocky wall of the cavern. Ash had darted around the side and was now coming up on it from a sharp angle. Together, they herded it against the wall.

  It looked vaguely person-shaped, but more of a shadow than anything substantial. It moved to press against the rocky wall, then seemed to compact a little, as if it was cowering. Tim carefully poked one of his blade-arms towards it, but the shadow gave no reaction. He stepped closer and stabbed again, this time in actual range. But before his blade-arm made contact, the shadow vanished.

  “What was that?” Tim asked tightly.

  “Some kind of construct, I’d wager,” Anuis answered promptly. “I’ve seen the kind before, although they’re rare.”

  “It felt like one, not like a person,” Nucme agreed, but unlike her, he stayed at their camp. “It’s gone now, you won’t find anything.”

  Tim turned around. “Check the camp, and the cavern,” he ordered. “I need to know if it left anything behind or took anything.”

  Then he went to look for the missing guards. Luckily, he didn’t have far to go. Alvol was already dragging both of them over to the camp. They’d been leaning against another metal pile, asleep but clearly still alive. Now they were stirring weakly.

  “Some kind of Ability effect, probably inherent to the construct,” Nucme diagnosed. “We have some antidotes, but they should be fine.”

  Tim nodded. He wasn’t particularly close to the two humans, a Delver and a veteran soldier, they were part of the quieter part of the group, who didn’t speak up much. But it was good to know they’d be alright.

  “Our supplies are disturbed, but there’s nothing missing,” Anuis reported a minute later. “Also, your bedroll looks to be disturbed, but I’m guessing that’s fine.”

  Tim wandered over back to her. “It must have been a scout,” he said. We’re lucky no one was hurt.

  The others nodded. “Well, at least some people definitely know we’re here now,” Ash offered.

  Tim sighed, glancing at the others in his party. He knew they couldn’t remain here undiscovered forever. They had probably been discovered already before this. We can’t just keep sitting here and waiting.

  “It’s time to set out, I think,” Anuis said softly, clearly thinking the same thing. “They will be coming, we can’t simply wait. We need to act.”

  “Where would we go?” Ash asked.

  Tim breathed out. “Iliucin,” he said. “If they really are under Veragles’ influence, we’re at least more likely to find a positive reception there than when it comes to other options. We should be able to get some pointers, perhaps even hire some reinforcements, I suppose. It’s also the northernmost city around here, so it’s closest to the Empire, and the obvious destination for any reinforcements to come through.”

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  “Makes sense. Should we try to coordinate with Galatea first?”

  “I don’t think we can afford to wait for her,” Tim shook his head. He would have preferred not to leave until he had an update on the status of their reinforcements from her, but he didn’t know when Galatea would show up again. He suspected it was taxing even for her to keep jetting between the Empire and the southern lands, and being underground meant she had trouble scrying them.

  “Then who’s coming with you?” Anuis asked.

  No one tried to question that Tim himself was leaving. It was obvious. He glanced around, then started naming people who would stay or go. He needed to bring enough people, but also leave enough of them here to guard the site. In the end, Anuis stayed, as the one unofficially in charge, along with Ed as the Imperial and Delver representative. Tirias would accompany him along with most of the others. Of the dark elves, Nucme would come and Alvol stay. Tim had been tempted to leave Ash behind, but he trusted Anuis enough for this, and his talents were better used on the trip. Tim also decided to take both of the local adventurers with him, he just felt better being able to keep a personal eye on them. At least Tony was happy they were visiting his city.

  When everything had been sorted out and they finally got to leave, Tim set a fast pace. He only faltered slightly when they finally left the underground complex, through the entrance from the vehicle bay, and stepped out into the open. It had been a few days since he’d seen the sun. Not that he could see it right now, since it was still night, just starting to brighten in the gray of pre-dawn. It still felt very bright. He glanced at the others to check they were okay, then kept walking.

  Luckily, while there was no proper road from the base, obviously, it wasn’t too difficult to traverse the terrain. It was mostly just meadows and the occasional copses of trees. Iliam guided them on a path that led them to a proper trail after a while, and then a real road a few hours later. It wasn’t as well paved as those in the Empire, but it would suffice. Luckily, even the dirt path was already secure enough to allow for faster travel.

  Everyone in their group had decent Con stats, and they’d been well-rested the last few days, at least in terms of physical exertion. Therefore, when Tim started a forced march, too fast to keep up for regular humans, no one complained. It helped that they could also use Class Skills and the Haste Spell to speed their travel, though they could only keep that up sporadically and for a short period given the size of their group.

  Their trip took several hours, well into the day, with only short rest breaks. It was a reasonable distance but not out of the question for a day’s forced march for a proper military force, and even less time for his group. It helped that they were already past the city they’d tried to avoid, Iliyan, and after reaching a proper road, it took them straight to their destination.

  That city was probably where their current enemies were coming from, he suspected. They were closest, so they’d have the most chance of stumbling on the old Hivekind base. He wasn’t sure if their government was involved and they’d simply managed to keep it very secret, or if it was some other group. He didn’t even know much about the city or how it was run, it hadn’t seemed that important before and Iliam or Tony still didn’t have detailed information.

  At least he knew a little more about Iliucin, since both of them had actually been there. As the city’s walls started appearing on the horizon, Tim tried to find some comfort in the thought. He had several goals in coming here and he’d like to accomplish at least most of them.

  Unfortunately, his tentative plans started crumbling as soon as they arrived. From up close, the architectural style reminded him of Veragles, although the city wall looked to be a newer addition; the city must have been growing lately. The gate was thrown open and several guards were standing by it in polished armor. As usual, the arrival of Tim’s group caused quite the stir among the people trying to enter the city, though it wasn’t a very thick crowd right now. He’d tried to be unobtrusive, but that was only so feasible given their races, especially since Hivekind were unknown here. However, the guards reacted quickly. At first, he thought they might be coming to detain them, but instead the pushed the crowd back and opened a path for Tim and the others through the gate.

  As they passed it, a man in a fancier helmet and with a higher level met them, clearly the captain. He straightened up in a semblance of attention and bowed deeply. “Most honored guests, the lords of Iliucin are delighted by your arrival. If you would deign to follow me, you will be received in the rose palace.”

  “Were you expecting us?” Tim asked, but gestured at the others to come with and fell into step beside the officer.

  “In a sense, Your Excellence, the high council was hoping you would visit soon and has been anticipating your arrival. They were quite pleased to receive word from the north.”

  Tim nodded but decided to wait with more questions until he met the city’s leaders. At least this was a nice welcome. He glanced around, noting the people on the streets, the rows of buildings unfolding across the city with colorful designs painted on the brickwork in a local style. It was hard to say if they were readying themselves for war, but the city at least didn’t seem too tense.

  The rose palace was easy to identify, considering the rose garden surrounding it on three sides. A short path led to the entrance. There were several people drawn up at regular intervals lining it, probably guards, though they wore no armor. He wasn’t familiar enough with cultural cues to tell if they had other roles.

  Then they passed through the doors into a short entrance hall. A man in some kind of livery met them outside the double doors leading further in, presumably into some kind of great hall. He lowered himself to briefly touch his knee to the floor before standing upright. “The lords are preparing to receive our most esteemed guests, please give them a brief while before you enter,” he said.

  Tim inclined his head in acknowledgment. “We are grateful to be received by the high council.”

  “Thank you, Your Excellence, the city of Iliucin welcomes you.”

  The servant, if that’s what he was, hesitated before slipping in through a smaller door Tim only now noticed was set beside the larger double doors. He heard the start of some whispered conversation before it closed and muffled it too much to make out even for his ears. Tim frowned. The other voice sounded familiar.

  He didn’t have long to wait and wonder. After only a minute, the doors opened and they entered to be announced. As this seemed to be a formal audience, he let the others go first, since Tony had been able to tell them it was generally the order of things for the highest-ranking to go last here. Tim was too distracted to pay particular attention, though, since now that the doors were open he saw the man who was now crossing to stand beside their group. He looked more adventurous than usual in reinforced trousers and jacket instead of traditional mage robes, but he immediately recognized Derrek Zephyr, the Cernlian Thaumaturge. So he’s made it here already. I guess it’s not that surprising if Mother sent him.

  Then Tim stepped inside and his attention was immediately captured by the announcer’s words. “His Imperial Highness, Prince Tim of House Woltan, Champion of the Central European Empire.”

  He almost faltered and had to force himself to keep moving until he stood beside Zephyr.

  “But I’m not a prince,” he hissed out of the corner of his mouth.

  “You are now, my Prince,” Zephyr hissed back without moving his lips at all; maybe he was using air magic.

  Before he could respond, the humans sitting on a half-circle of four throne-like chairs on a dais at the end of the room rose and welcomed him, taking it in turns to offer what sounded like formal phrases and diplomatic welcomes. Tim smiled and nodded, but he did manage to throw Zephyr a questioning look in the first break between speakers.

  “Yourself and your brother Max were given the title of ‘prince’ by the Empress just before I departed,” Zephyr explained quietly. “I imagine she’s given the royal title to your sisters Mia and Tia too, but I was too far gone to receive the official confirmation. I am uncertain about any potential others later.”

  Tim resisted the urge to shake his head. There wouldn’t be any others, at least not for a long time, if ever. He’d never wanted a royal title, and he knew Max would want it even less. None of them really would, although they wouldn’t complain. But Tim could see why Regina thought it was a good idea; it should definitely help his standing for diplomatic efforts. He was fine with that. He’d use all the help he could get for this mission.

  “We have heard much of you from our friends in Veragles, Prince Tim,” one of the lords said, finally moving on from the formal phrases. “It is our hope that we can build a similar bond of friendship and alliance. I am certain we can help each other.”

  With what? he wondered. Do they know about the reason for our interest in the region?

  Once it was clear they were done talking, Tim smiled at them, inclining his head slightly. “I am honored by your warm welcome, My Lords. In the name of my mother, Empress Regina, I gladly accept your sentiments as well as the hand of friendship you have reached out to us. I am sure closer ties may come in time, and I am as eager to see it as you.”

  They all smiled, and Tim realized that he was not going to be done with this quickly.