Chapter 22
“You would have made an excellent spy in the clan, you know,” a familiar female voice said, approaching from behind. The speaker was a four-tailed fox with a similar build to Fara, and a face that suggested they were sisters.
That was because they were. Nia had white tails however, like everyone else in Fara’s family. Only Fara had black tails, which was fitting for the black sheep.
Fara didn’t turn to face her sister. Instead, she stared down at the river fort below them. Both foxes stood atop a hill near one of Avolar’s larger rivers and the supply depot below was key to Avolar’s logistics. Their frontier fortress of Torm Ridge relied on the convoys that passed over the bridge that this fort protected.
As they watched, a convoy entered from the north. It consisted of dozens of wagons and hundreds of soldiers from the capital. Their equipment looked crude.
The Kinadain prided themselves on their smithing ability, but this armor looked like something bashed together by apprentices. Fara questioned the quality of the iron it was forged from. It certainly wasn’t steel.
The surroundings appeared bleak despite being in the early stages of fall. The city of Avolar was nestled deep in the mountains, and many of the dains were high in the foothills. This far north in the archipelago, snow fell all year round at this altitude.
The weather was what attracted the foxes to the region to begin with. The luxurious white fur of Garrote Clan foxes could only be found in high altitudes, and preferably in colder climates.
Rys hadn’t stopped bitching about the cold, but Fara adored it. Not that she minded his dislike of the cold. It gave her plenty of excuses to drag him into that hot spring he had built beneath the castle.
“I mean it,” Nia said, pushing Fara for a response. “Black tails or not, if you came back to the clan, you’d make an excellent spy.”
“But I have black tails, and we both know that I have no future in the Garrote Clan except as an enforcer,” Fara said.
Their clan specialized in intelligence, and it had numerous branches within it for foxes to specialize. The spy, assassin, and command branches were the most well-known, especially as handlers, adjutants, and the upper crust of the clan almost exclusively came from those branches. Messengers also existed, although they were seen as a stepping stone or a cushy job.
But no clan could survive without brute force, and sometimes the subtleties of assassination weren’t enough. Bodyguards protected VIPs all across Pharos from within the shadows. And the enforcer branch provided the grunts that enforced order within the clan or responded to major incidents.
Like every clan, the Garrote Clan had a chief enforcer and trained elite enforcers known as knights. But they were extremely few.
A clan that specialized in working from the shadows didn’t need many thugs and warriors.
“You’ve been away from Pharos for nearly a century,” Nia pressed. “Things have changed since Liorne returned.”
Fara frowned. “It’s hard to believe that given what just happened.”
Her sister winced and looked away, her blue eyes glaring at the setting sun. “True. But that’s politics. My point is that the clan is different. Our chief enforcer has black tails, just like you. He even served in the Imperial Court and trained alongside the Pride Clan.”
That did sound like a huge change in the clan, but Fara was past caring about Alliance politics. She only understood a little of it due to her time working as a monster slayer with the Pride Clan. They were the warrior clan of the alliance, and she had worked with the son of their Chief Enforcer for years.
“We’ve already had this discussion, Nia,” she said quietly.
A sigh came from her sister.
“If you were anyone but my sister, I’d question you more,” Nia said. “Are you sure he’s worth it?”
“I’m happier than I’ve been for longer than I care to remember.”
“Despite everything he is and does?”
Fara gave Nia a sharp look, which was returned with a resolute glare.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Fara hissed.
“I’ve had plenty of free time to look into your King Talarys lately, between spying on behalf of Mina.” Nia raised an eyebrow. “She doesn’t seriously think I haven’t realized that she’s also jumped ship?”
Fara giggled. “She might be in denial. Ariko seemed keen to have her baby girl back, given both her daughters have lived in Pharos for decades now. Plus, I think Mina likes the idea that the village is in the dark about her new employer.”
“I don’t think Ariko has ever looked past her own overgrown tits to see what’s going on around her,” Nia drawled. “That’s a low bar. But you took Mina to that king of yours, and she asked me about Avolar the next time we spoke. She’s a talented girl, but should have known better than to prod me. When she claimed to be interested in a new handler, I kept my ear to the ground to see if she had approached any others—and when she didn’t, it gave her away.”
“I’ll let her know her mistake. She’s gaining a lot of experience lately,” Fara said. “Or maybe I’ll let Rys tell her. She’s like a puppy around him.”
Nia frowned at that. “And that brings us back to him. Are you sure? Because I don’t hear good things about him.”
“Him, or the power he has?” Fara asked, her tone flat.
Silence fell.
“Mostly the latter. Nobody knows a thing about him. Everything I hear is fantasy, or close enough. That tells me he’s dangerous. The sort of person that we shouldn’t be moving the village closer to.” Nia’s eyes flashed. “I can veto that, Fara.”
“I know.” Fara shrugged. “I don’t think he’s any worse than anyone in the Imperial Court could be.”
“Given Imira is in the Imperial Court, that doesn’t mean much,” Nia said.
“I was thinking of this new Shadow Empress that controls all of Pharos.”
“Ah.” Nia chewed on her lip and stared at the fortress below them.
They said nothing for several minutes. The convoy had unloaded into the warehouses and the soldiers shuffled into various barracks. Slowly, the sun descended past the horizon. Torches lit up the walls.
Avolar still used old-fashioned methods in most of their territory. The torches were lit by hand, and needed replacing as they burned out. Fara had long since become used to lights lit by magic users, or even the growing trend of magitech torches.
Vallis had been tearing her hair out due to Rys and Grigor’s desire for more magitech, given how obscenely expensive the generators were. Once Rys conquered the Malus League and had magitech coming out of his ears, Fara imagined that he would be a very happy man.
“That doesn’t make me feel much better,” Nia said. “But I trust you.”
Why? Fara wanted to ask. But she kept her peace. Her and Nia had argued like this countless times since her ambitious sister had followed her and Ariko across the ocean.
One day, Fara might find out why Nia had damaged her career prospects in the clan for the sake of living in this tiny little village in the boonies. The least she could do is be kind.
Below them, the changing of the guard took place. As was typical when security was lax, this was when there were fewer guards and almost nobody doing check-ins.
Fara gestured at the fort, then leaped forward. Her tails whirred behind her, channeling magic as she cast a pair of empowerment arrays. She glided over the barren ground. Nia caught up to her moments later, then the two of them sped up.
An observer would see a black and white blur shimmering within the night. Or they would, if Nia hadn’t thrown an illusion over them to create a mirage effect. In the darkness, only a mage or keen-eyed guard would suspect anything was wrong.
Neither spotted them. They reached the palisade and vaulted over it. The guards didn’t even stir as the foxes leaped over their heads.
Then they shot through the darkness behind the buildings and depots. Nia stuck close to Fara.
Soon, Fara found the building that part of the convoy had unloaded into. It was built simply, like a huge barn with a gable roof and two gaping holes at either end. The doors were closed, but when open they could fit two wagons abreast.
“Sound,” Fara said.
Nia obliged and cast another illusion. This one was aural and prevented the door from generating any noise.
The door wasn’t barred or locked. Fara simply pushed it open and slipped through.
“Huh?” a voice uttered from inside.
Four men looked up from a card game in the center of the warehouse. They sat on overturned boxes around a makeshift round table. Their eyes focused on Fara, who was lit up by the torch on the inside of the door.
Before they could even scream in surprise, she was on them. Her tails snapped off a quick force blast and one collapsed to the ground without a jaw and with his windpipe caved in.
Another tried to rise, his hands reaching for the spear leaning by his side. Fara grabbed him by the arm while pinning his leg down, then hurled him over his shoulder. His body twisted in the motion, crushing his bones and organs. He was dead before he hit the ground.
The other two were too far away for Fara to quickly reach. She bit back a curse and prepared for them to raise the alarm.
Then Nia shattered the skull of one with a snap kick as she appeared next to them, before dropping the other to the ground with a sweep. A moment later, she finished him off with a quick stomp of her foot.
The two foxes paused afterward, their ears pricking up. Both of them looked around for others, their eyes glowing as they used magic to scan the darkness around them.
“Clear,” Nia said.
“Yes,” Fara agreed. Then she began to stalk off to where she had sensed a magical signature.
Nia called out to her, “We should burn their bodies. We don’t want to leave evidence.”
Fara gave her a look. “It’s not going to matter. Avolar can’t do anything just because four guards dropped dead.”
“Let’s make it clean,” the other fox insisted. “Burn the bodies, steal some valuables, and leave no other traces. It will look like they deserted. The officers will write this off without investigating. I’m betting you’re looking into something for Mina, and do you think she wants you to be sloppy?”
Damn Nia for bringing Mina into this. Fara had intended to remain behind with Rys, but when Mina had said she was heading north, it had attracted her.
How much was she capable of supporting Rys just by hanging around the palace? Vallis and the duchesses ran the kingdom. Grigor built his army. Even Mina had started being more helpful than Fara.
But without anyone to fight, Fara felt useless. Especially as she didn’t feel ready to ask Rys about her crazy idea yet. As much as she enjoyed her newfound freedom, her lazy days ate away at her thoughts.
“Fine,” Fara said.
The two of them incinerated the four bodies and equipment with their spiritual flames, leaving behind no traces. Fara then left Nia behind to grab some valuable things from nearby.
Meanwhile, she hunted down the real prize.
A half-dozen steel lockboxes sat in a discreet corner of the warehouse, tucked behind firewood. All of them exuded magic and a single rune glowed on the lock securing them.
Fara disrupted the magic keeping one shut with a pair of arrays, then shattered the lock with a snap of her wrist.
“You’re not doing a great job of convincing me that you’re a bad spy,” Nia commented as she approached. “I’ve worked with veterans sloppier than you. How did you even track these into here so easily?”
“Practice,” Fara said. “You spend a lot of time staring at things in Hellgate. We used to make a game of tracking objects in merchant caravans. Observational training, but with other prizes involved.”
Fara opened the box she had unlocked, then grimaced. It was exactly what Mina had feared.
The box was full of crystals, jars full of powders, and various valuable rocks.
“I don’t get it,” Nia said. “These are magical catalysts, right? Don’t armies use these all the time?”
“Avolar doesn’t have the trained mages to need this many.”
“Don’t their Kinadain knights use evocation?” Nia asked.
“When’s the last time you saw a wolfkin knight use a proper spellcasting ritual?” Fara gave her sister a look. “Catalysts aren’t used for ordinary spells. They’re for rituals. Mages get together and cast huge barriers or bombard entire armies with fireballs. Avolar has a handful of Sages and mages. These are for someone else.”
“The Malus League.”
Fara nodded.
If Avolar was transporting magical catalysts to the front line, that meant they had military support from the League. Rys and Grigor would need to make preparations for a much rougher war than they had likely expected.
“I just wish I knew how they got these up here,” Fara muttered as she closed the box. “This many boxes could probably be smuggled using a crude method, but the League planned to move many more artifacts in the future.”
Nia grimaced. “I have a bad feeling I know the answer to that. Let’s take this box and leave.”
They left as quietly as they had arrived. The only evidence of their intrusion were the missing guards and supplies. Avolar wouldn’t know what had happened.
Hours passed as both of them ran across the bleak foothills, back to the village.
They stopped short of the mountains themselves as they spotted a figure in the distance. As both of them prepared arrays, they recognized who was approaching them.
“Mina. Of course.” Nia sighed. “We have a few minutes before she reaches us.”
Fara frowned. It was now or never, she realized.
“Nia, I’ve been thinking about something,” she said.
“That’s a tone that suggests you shouldn’t be. Thinking, that is.”
“Cute. But you know the rough history of Imira, don’t you?” Fara pushed.
Nia shot her a look that told her to drop this topic. Fara didn’t.
“You compared me to Liorne earlier, but that only made me think of the more obvious comparison,” Fara said, staring into the distance as Mina approached. “Imira was a mystic fox from the Garrote Clan once. An enforcer, even. She vanished for almost a century, and now serves the Imperial Court as an Archon. Despite being clanless, she’s the most powerful fox alive.”
“I wouldn’t call her a fox,” Nia snapped, the hairs on her ears and tails rising. She grimaced and looked away. “Fara, I said that I trust you, and I always will love you as a sister, but… please. Whatever you’re thinking, step away from this abyss. There is a reason that havoc foxes are not welcome in the Alliance.”
“I didn’t say I was going that far,” Fara said quietly. “But I am going to be clanless soon, and in the service of a power other than the Six-Star Alliance. It helps to look to others for guidance. Imira might be a havoc fox, but nobody can deny her strength.”
Nia refused to look at Fara.
Slowly, Mina got closer. They could make out her face and white ears and tails.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Nia said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
A pause.
“I never told the clan about your refusal to return.”
Fara stared at her sister.
Nia smiled bitterly. “The village is in convalescence. That includes orders for you, as far as I’m concerned. By the time this is all resolved, maybe it won’t matter.”
“What won’t matter?” Mina chirped as she stopped in front of them. Her ears drooped as she took in the serious expressions of her aunts. “Uh…”
“It’s nothing, Mina,” Fara said, shaking her head. “We’ve confirmed that Avolar is transporting magical catalysts to the front line. We should assume the worst. Nia, what was your suspicion earlier about how they’re smuggling things in?”
Nia nodded. “You’ve been assuming the handler in Avolar is Gold Clan, haven’t you?”
Mina’s eyes practically popped out of her skull as Fara and Nia openly discussed intelligence affairs for Rys. The two older foxes ignored her.
Fara narrowed her eyes at Nia, then gestured for her to continue.
“Neither of you know much about the politics in the Alliance, so that’s a normal assumption. But the answer is likely found in the smuggling network. The archipelago is rife with different intelligence networks: Gorgria, the Federation, us, and the Gold Clan,” Nia explained. “But we’re the best. After all, we need to supply an entire village without being noticed and have been here for nearly a century.”
“You’re saying that the handler is one of us?” Mina blurted out.
Nia nodded. “That would fit the Gold Clan’s MO. If they’re caught, then the blame falls on us. Somebody in the Garrote Clan is probably selling us out and trying to buy influence elsewhere in the alliance.”
“Then I guess we have a traitorous fox to root out,” Fara said coldly.
Nia gave her a sidelong look, while Mina nodded grimly.
Whatever happened, Fara knew that this wouldn’t be the end of Pharosian politics. Rys needed to prepare himself for increased interest from mystic foxes in the future.