The orders came at night.A sealed map scroll, a brief set of instructions, and one line in Vaeryn's elegant handwriting:
"Bring back the ledger. No witnesses."
The map led them to an outpost built into the base of a jagged cliff, far from the main roads. According to Vaeryn, it was a supply depot controlled by a minor Elven noble sympathetic to the Queen — a place where coin and contraband passed hands without ever touching official ledgers.
Or at least, that was the story Vaeryn told.
They moved under moonlight, the air sharp with the scent of pine and frost. Ezra led, every step near-silent. Skyling moved at the middle of the formation, her manacles hidden under wrappings. Caleb kept to the rear, scanning the treeline like every shadow had teeth.
"This is too clean," Caleb muttered after the third empty trail. "No scouts, no patrols. We're walking into something."
Eliakim glanced at him but didn't answer. His mind was on the ledger — if it even existed — and on Vaeryn's expression when he'd handed over the mission. There had been a flicker there. Anticipation? Calculation?
They reached the outpost just before the moon dipped behind the ridge. A single lantern burned above the main door, swaying in the wind. No guards in sight.
"That's wrong," Ezra whispered. "Places like this always have eyes."
Skyling peered through the shadows. "Maybe they're inside?"
Caleb gave a humorless chuckle. "Or maybe they already know we're coming."
Eliakim's jaw tightened. Vaeryn had insisted on no extra intel — "Too many details make men slow," he'd said. Now, standing here in the dark, it felt less like strategy and more like a leash.
They slipped inside through a side door.The place was quiet, too quiet — shelves of goods stacked high, crates half-open, the smell of dried herbs and oil.
Ezra crouched by a door at the back. "Vault room. Probably where they'd keep records."
"Then we move fast," Eliakim said.
But when they pushed it open, the "vault" wasn't filled with ledgers or gold. It was filled with bound figures — three men, gagged, wearing the colors of the Legion.
Skyling's eyes went wide. "These aren't Queen's men. These are—"
"—prisoners," Caleb finished grimly. "And now we're the ones who found them."
Eliakim scanned the room, mind racing.If they freed these men, the Legion would see them as allies.If they left them, the Queen's side would think they'd carried out an execution.Either way, Vaeryn would get to watch which choice they made.
"This is a setup," Caleb growled.
Ezra's gaze was sharp. "More than that. This is a test. He wants to see which way we lean when no one's watching."
"Except someone is watching," Eliakim murmured, eyes flicking to the faint glint of a spyglass lens in the rafters.
The silence was heavy.Three prisoners bound in the dark.A phantom ledger that might not exist.And Vaeryn — somewhere in the shadows — deciding whether they were pawns, partners, or prey.
"What's the call?" Caleb asked.
Eliakim hesitated only a second before answering. "We don't play his game straight. Not tonight."
Ezra's brow rose. "Then we improvise?"
Eliakim's eyes hardened. "We make our own board."