"As you can see… Rembrant is guilty of a crime, the crime of succumbing to his fatigue. A lord as busy as him, and with the events that had happened? My good friends, it should come as no surprise that a boy as suspicious as Faris somehow slipped from the grasp of the law!" Rembrant sat in his defense booth, his lawyer waxed poetic to his defense over how the responsibilities of his fiefdom and section of the city kept him from paying attention to one simple boy. He also had the men show falsified evidence to Faris's involvement to the kidnappings.

The judge, a minor noble known for his integrity, looked upon Rembrant with an understanding nod. Most nobles dealt with many tasks at the same time, and it was impossible for any one person to keep tabs on everything at once. The fact Faris disappeared in a prison would normally be looked on as a break out, not investigations into corruption. "Thank you, would the prosecution like to begin its case?"

A young man in his early twenties stepped forward. Rembrant rolled his eyes, the man's attire and mannerisms reeked of common birth, and while he seemed cordial enough, he wasn't a man Rembrant would pay any real attention to. "Yes, thank you." The young man stepped forward. "Who is Faris Ser? A prodigy mage? A powerful and dangerous individual? Mass murderer?" He turned to the crowd of citizens, who had gathered to watch this case. "Before any of these? I ask the Jury to remember that Faris was a 10-year-old boy, in fact, he had reached his eleventh year on the second day of his prison sentence. If he was simply a disturbed child such actions would have been observed by the students around him, yet almost everyone we interviewed, even the ones he had defeated through the school sanctioned training events would often say that he was relatively nonconfrontational, only fighting if struck first." The crowd murmured uneasily to themselves. "Our investigations found some disturbing facts surrounding this entire incident."

As he said that, men began walking into the room, they carried several items on top of a flat mat, placing it on a table a crystal ball hovered down, a large mirror projecting the items began to float upwards, giving the citizens and nobles attending a good view of the items. The first items of note were several documents, many of which had pictures and notes on them. The man turned to one of the men who came in, the same bespectacled commissioner who arrested Faris, Gaudier, who stepped up, voice amplified by magic. "I am Commissioner Gaudier; I oversaw and led the investigation into the incident within the North-West 18th District."

"Thank you for introducing yourself. You are the one who arrested Faris in the first place correct?"

"Yes." The crowd looked on, intrigued.

"Please describe Faris's condition when you arrived."

"He was extremely injured, the hospital he was in described that he had received several chest lacerations that had proven most difficult to heal."

"Chest lacerations? Do you have a fairth of that that we may show the panel?" One was presented, causing many to look on in shock. Faris, who to many of them was simply a rogue mage who had committed a heinous crime was revealed to them for the first time. Now they saw he was a small child, not even an adolescent, struggling against horrific injuries. Many parents began to feel slightly self-conscious at their readiness to condemn the child. "Please describe what the doctors had said about the severity of his wounds."

"Yes, there had been a vigil of 9 Protectors of Life Mages situated at him at all times, each group slowly became exhausted. The wounds were never fully healed, only kept from growing, as it seemed as if his body itself was tearing itself apart. The doctors required aid from a third party to end up completely healing him."

"How would you describe his condition when you came to arrest him?"

Gaudier paused, as if trying to find the correct words, "He was in terrible shape, it was made no secret to most of us that he was already known for having below average magical stamina, so such an ordeal would have been likely taxing on his person. My orders though were to arrest him and have him booked in penitentiary until the case was completed."

"Who ordered his arrest?"

Gaudier looked at Rembrant, "It was Lord Rembrant, he had stated some men of his while checking the area were alerted to an incident taking place in an abandoned soldier garrison. And that the incident may have been related to Faris Ser."

"What did you discover in the garrison?"

"The corpses of about 30 individuals all burned to death, as well as over 150 graves outside, a few of them marked."

"What was in the graves?"

"The bones of children, it seems a partition of dirt was blocked off, wood cannibalized from the warehouse used to make coffins." Pictures of the graves and coffins within were shown.

"Please describe the coffins."

Gaudier smiles lightly, "While the wood was taken from the warehouse, it was smooth, and several enchantments were found, minor ones not requiring too much energy, they preserved the bones and corpses within, and prevented maggots from destroying the coffins. The coffins themselves could only have been fashioned with a mix of craft and magic."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because of the number of coffins, and the freshness of the graves, someone had taken the time to dig and bury the graves for the children only recently, based on our investigation mages' findings the spells used to kill the 30 corpses and the spells used to remove and turn the wood into usable coffins came from the same person."

"How can you tell that?"

"Magic comes with its own unique signature and residue that changes depending on the individual who casts it, as distinct per individual as a fingerprint is."

"Did you discover who the magic belongs to?"

"Yes, Faris Ser cast the magic." The audience gasped.

"So, he is the murderer!" One shouted, which caused the crowd to become riled up.

"Order in the court NOW!" The judge roared, pounding his gavel, "Hurry though please, you are beginning to draw out the court's patience."

The lawyer looked slightly flustered, "I apologize your honor I-"

"Just get on with it."

He breathed in and out, returning to Gaudier. "So Faris both cast the magic immolating the 30 individuals, and also cast the magic creating the graves?"

"Yes, our autopsy report shows that while all the corpses in the graves were below the ages of 13, the immolated corpses were all at least 25 years of age."

"Did Faris's magic residue leave off the children?"

"Yes"

"Is it connected to their deaths?"

"No, the children suffered blunt force trauma from several different sources, magic had no part in their deaths, and unlike the 30 Faris immolated, the children had been dead for several months to even several years, with the oldest being 9 years and 8 months deceased, and with the freshest corpse being 7 months old."

"7 months old? Do you know when Faris arrived in the capital?"

"About 5 months ago when we arrested him, which would have been a week after we began the investigation." The crowd murmured words of shock, if the children were killed before Faris's arrival, then he had nothing to do with their deaths. The 30 though were still in question, but the case no longer seemed as open and shut anymore.

"Thank you for your time Sir. Gaudier, before I call you off, what are the chances that given the information your team collected Faris killed those 150 children?"

"Virtually none, Faris's arrived too late to be part of the children's disappearances or deaths, and during the freshest corpse's date of decease he would have still been home in his village, with statements from both villagers and his parents corroborating the information. In fact, documents show his first utilization of spell casting took place 6 months ago, under the tutelage of a state mage on their way to the city, where they apprehended a group of Black Hand remnants attempting to kidnap the two children heading into the city. It also makes little sense that if Faris killed the 30 men through immolation, he would take the time to kill the 150 children without magical means, and it is impossible for the corpses to be in their level of decay if they were killed only over a month ago and were not tampered with through magic."

"No further questions your honor." The lawyer took a seat.

"Would the defense like to cross-examine the witness?"

The defense lawyer stood up.

"How accurate is this magic?" He asked.

"It is accurate over 99% of the time."

"Does that mean there's a chance for inaccuracy? However slight?"

"No and yes."

"What do you mean no and yes?"

"The inaccuracies come not from the spell itself, but from the wording and user, we have a dozen different mages search and analyze, we then check for any outliers and question them precisely on what they did, then we have mages replicate that method and others replicate the original method. Over this time, we've discovered a few inaccuracies here and there, but at this point for the past two years, our investigation spells can find out the age of decease of a several year decayed corpses down to the week. Which for this case is more than accurate enough to fulfill our needs, as it normally takes a year before the date of expiration becomes difficult to pin down to the day. My point still stands."

The lawyer looked like he was going to say something, but turned to sit.

"Any further questions?" The judge asked.

"No, your honor." Rembrant was taken aback, the evidence found was impossibly precise, he hadn't imagined the capabilities of magic to look into such detail. He looked angrily at his lawyer; their entire case had rested on decrying Faris's character. The fact he still murdered should have been enough, but given the fact he wasn't responsible for the deaths of the children, and had taken the time to bury them…

"I'd like to call my second witness, Martha Hannasdaughter." The crowd looked on curiously as a pretty if tired looking blond woman walked unto the podium. Rembrant's eyes nearly popped from his sockets, his men had told him she had died before them. Be that as it were, he believed he needed not worry, at best she was a character witness, nothing more. The lawyer walked up to her. "Are you feeling tired miss Martha?"

She smiled, "Yes, I have had a trying few months."

"I apologize for the inconvenience then, tell me, when did you meet Faris?"

"About 2 months ago, he had been seeking me out and found my son."

"Your son?"

"Yes, he was playing with other friends at the time, I had told him to go, I didn't want him staying home fretting over me."

"Over you ma'am? What would cause him to fret over you?"

"Objection!" Rembrant's lawyer yelled. "He is leading the witness!"

"Overruled, he has not made specifics, but only asked if an event had occurred."

"Thank you, again, what would cause him to worry about you?"

Martha smiled painfully, "I had been fighting against Murk."

The crowd gasped, Murk was a disease that was guaranteed to kill anyone over 20 who hadn't already received it, even noblemen could be killed by it if not treated in time, and even then the best they could do was wait for the person to fight off the disease, which was normally a costly procedure, by all respects she should be a dead woman, and her child motherless.

"Murk, how long had you been suffering under the affliction?"

"I had been feeling under the weather for 2 weeks before, but then it overcame me and I collapsed, my son barely dragged me to bed and I had been there until Faris and his friends had come to see me."

"Did you notice anything about Faris when he arrived?"

"Yes… he was tender and polite, and the youngest amongst them, my son told me he had shared food with him and the other children he was playing with, enough that they could take some with their families. He also came to tell me something."

"What did he come to tell you?" Martha paused, her breath catching as tears welled in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm sure it must be difficult, please, tell us what he came to tell you."

"He told me, my husband died, he was a coach driver for the state mages, and he had been hired to take the three that had come to Faris's village to take him and another to the city. Faris told me he had died during the attack done by the Black Hand, but that they had been stopped. He then gave me his ring, a locket belonging to him, and several hundred gold to help me."

"Was that all he did?"

"No, he and his friends healed me."

"Healed you? And you are certain that is correct?"

"Yes." The lawyer turned to the evidence, showing two documents, one was a medical record showing Martha had just been diagnosed with Murk, and that she could not afford care, and was ferried back home, for all accounts she would have been dead if not for Faris's supposed intervention.

"Did Faris do anything else after that?"

"He had defended against some thugs in our slums."

"Can you describe the thugs?"

Martha frowned, "Cruel bastards they were, they would demand money for our 'protection' but it was merely tribute to avoid being beaten. If people couldn't pay up, they'd take children as collateral. They had been targeting me and my son, perhaps the fever made me delirious but that day I had forgotten the danger, I merely wanted my son to have fun with his friends and not worry about his dying mother. I know there were at least a few dozen of them, the ones who targeted us were scarred all over, and one of them had a green tinted dagger, like it was poisonous or something."

The lawyer presented a dagger with a burnt hilt, "Does this match the dagger you describe?"

Martha nodded. "It's the exact same one, even has that scratch down the middle."

"What happened after you recovered?"

"Faris would visit often, he quickly became friendly with the children, he was only barely older than a few of them, most of the older kids stayed and helped their parents. And the food he brought was helpful to all the families. In fact, many people went to him to heal them and such."

"Did they not know he was a student mage? And him using magic was unauthorized?"

Martha scowls, "I doubt anyone's taken the time to come down to our slums and so much as spit on us. He was the first boy to pay attention and try to help, and he saved so many lives over the two months I think its folly to even consider what he did bad. If he had stuck to the rules, I would have been dead in an hour after meeting him." She looks at the crowd, "And lord knows no one can afford a mage in the slums." A few of the nobles shifted uncomfortably as many in the crowd murmured angry assent. Faris was beginning to look less like a thug and more like a hero.

"How would you describe Faris's relationship with the children?"

"He was so tender and kind, like a big brother, even though he wasn't related, and he looked so different from us all, he felt like family."

"No further questions your honor."

"The defense would like to cross-examine the witness." Rembrant's lawyer walked over to Martha. "Ms. Martha, had the slums always been your home?"

"No, when I had received no word about my husband for months, I had to look for work, even though I found time as a scullery maid it was not enough, I could not afford the amenities and was forced into the slums in order to afford food for Dustin and I."

"Dustin being?"

"My son."

"Yes, now, when Faris arrived, was he alone?"

"No."

"Who was he with?"

"Friends I believe, all children a few years older than him."

"Did they merely watch as he used his magic?"

"No, they helped as well, two used their magic to keep me alive as the others went to gather ingredients, and two were outside keeping the thugs from entering and harassing me."

"Oh? They used their magic?"

"Yes."

"Can you describe the ones who used magic on you?"

"Yes, one was a brown-haired girl with soft blue eyes, she was the older of the two, the other had fiery red hair, and green eyes, she was such a beautiful young girl, they both were."

"So, he led multiple students to using magic against school rules?"

"To save my life."

"Did he, or did he not, cast magic without authorization?"

"Do you have a child sir?"

The lawyer was taken aback. "It is highly inappropriate to be asking me personal questions."

"It isn't personal then for me to assume that like everyone else in this room, you have a mother." Martha asked evenly. This was followed by several chuckles that echoed through the room. Martha.

"No further questions." The lawyer glowered at the woman and returned to his station.

Rembrant was fuming, his lawyer was at a loss, and was public sentiment was clearly on Faris's side. Martha's story had touched a cord, and the idea that the men Faris killed were the same men kidnapping the children was beginning to cement itself in people's psyche. Rembrant was getting angry, not only was the case putting Faris in a good light and defeating his Prosecution's work, it also would likely mean the original trial would be weakened. As it was, there was nothing he could do but wait and see how to recover from this debacle. Hopefully in a few years' time he would regain face.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Jury, over the past day the defense had done their very best to portray Rembrant's innocence by claiming he was too busy to look after Faris. And they had attempted to destroy Faris's name by citing the crime he was involved in. I have attempted to show that the crime was more nuanced that first thought, and that Faris has been needlessly straw manned in order for Rembrant to escape scrutiny. But over the course of the investigation we had made a startling discovery. Rembrant wasn't just corrupt. I will now call upon our third witness."

A city guard entered the witness stance. Rembrant was confused, he had no idea how this man played into the situation.

"What is your name?"

"Duncan sir."

"Thank you, Duncan, what is your occupation?"

"City guard sir, I normally take the night shift."

"Where were you 3 days ago?"

"I was outside the city walls, doing a routine outdoor patrol, sometimes poachers and bandits liked to set up camp close to the city walls in order to avoid animals, we send troops out to find and question any suspicious persons."

"Who did you find that night?"

"We found an escaping convict. An individual by the name Uron Barkley."

"What crime had Uron Barkley committed?"

"He had murdered a colleague and his family, as well as burned down their house, he had also resisted arrest, severely injuring a guard attempting to arrest him."

"What prison had he been in?"

"The Old Refurbished one in the Northwest."

"Who owns that prison?"

"Lord Rembrant does." Rembrant was fuming, the man was an idiot, he was one of the fresh-faced fools who had taken for granted the greatness of Jahat, deciding to nearly ruin an operation because of jealousy over a friend. He had wanted the man to rot in jail where he'd do nothing.

"Did you find anything on Uron?"

"Yes, a map of the city plans, including guard shifts, as well as several documents."

"Who did these documents belong to?" The lawyer began to show the documents to the citizens and Rembrant's face began to pale. He was about to stand but felt as if someone was glaring at him, glancing up he saw Queen Nasuada, behind her stood Trianna, and to her side were Lord Jahat, and Magister Farooq.

"These documents all are marked with the signature of Lord Rembrant, as well as his noble stamp. If you see in these documents, they show that 165 children had disappeared under his watch, and that someone had discovered and sabotaged his collection team." The lawyer showed the picture of the injured Faris, "That person was Faris Ser! The document highlights that Faris had been becoming an obstacle, and that he had lost his best servant because of the boy. Conveniently one of Rembrant's servants had been tried for attempting to assassinate Faris. Faris had not escaped the prison, he had been taken, taken for torture and experimentation all for the reviving of the Black Hand!"

The crowd erupted, even Noble men began shouting, the anti-mage faction the loudest of them all, Rembrant had been a major part of their movement, the fact evidence proved he was a member of the Black Hand weakened them politically, and since it was revealed in such a public venue, they would lose power immeasurably.

Lord Jaya smiled. "Check"

"ORDER!" The judge proclaimed, voice amplified by magic to an extreme degree, to which it felt as if the room shook with his reverberations. "This is quite the evidence, whilst that is his seal, what proof is there that it is his documentation?" Rembrant smiled. While the judge was seemingly neutral; he had already paid him off, if not for Nasuada's presence in the courtroom the Judge would have merely thrown out the case. As it were even with this evidence brought before him, even if the jury tried him as guilty the judge would likely order the least punishing choice, then it was just a matter of being situated in a prison under his control, even if they seized his assets, he still had enough of them under his mercy to smuggle himself out. They didn't yet know about-

"I have two pieces of documentation then to show to the public." The prosecution's lawyer presented a first document. Rembrant blanched, it was his tax documentation, the forged document. "I call on Magistrate Methuselah." An old man in regal uniform strode into the courtroom, he looked ancient, wrinkles knotting every part of his face, short silver hair, and impressive straight silver beard, groomed well enough to impress even a dwarf. The old man walked slowly but with dignity, his age shown in his stride, but merely adding to the aura of wisdom he seemed to exude. Everyone stopped to look, Magistrate Methuselah was well known, being part of Galbatorix's political circle, and in charge of the treasury due to his meticulous and by the book nature. Money did not interest him, but he prided himself on keeping fair accounts. "Sir Mathias Methuselah, is that your name?" The Lawyer began.

"Well we'd be in an awkward situation if that wasn't my name." Methuselah's tone was somber and straight forward, showing no hint of humor or sarcasm. The lawyer swallowed nervously.

"I apologize, just following procedure, may I present you this document?" He hands the forged tax document to Methuselah. "Do you know what this document is?"

"Yes, this is the tax documentation submitted by Lord Rembrant to account for his spending for the past year."

"How can you tell that?"

"It has his signature, and his house seal stamped on it, in the top right corner, like on all his documents."

"May I show you this document?" The lawyer hands him a second document. "Can you tell me what this document is?"

Methuselah frowns, "These are Lord Rembrant's real tax documents for the past year, as well as his real documents the 7 years prior, a total of 8 years of falsified documents."

"Objection he's stating opinion!" Rembrant's lawyer yelled. The prosecution's lawyer was about to yell in retort when the judge shouted.

"Sustained! He cannot make any such opinions, merely only state what is fact."

"Your honor, he is making a claim, not opinion, he did not state what he thought, but what they were."

"Are you countering my-"

"Judge…" The room turned cold as all heads turned to the woman who spoke just now. Nasuada had been silent throughout the entire case, she attended most high-profile cases when she had the opportunity to do so, but she rarely, if ever, spoke. Everyone standing immediately bowed as she rose to stand.

"My queen." The judge did his best to hide the panic in his voice.

"I do not remember where it was stated in the law that a statement from a witness could be a matter of opinion when not phrased as one. Forgive my lack of insight, but did the prosecution lead the witness with the question?"

"…No…"

"Thank you, now, is the witness's statement seemingly opinionated in its tone?"

"…Perhaps?" Many people looked in surprise, the judge was attempting to question Nasuada? But for the judge, it was a matter of saving face and protecting his family. His son had roped in with the wrong people, committed vile promiscuity with an unwitting young woman, who he later killed, and had gotten into debt to great for him to pay off. Faced with the shame of it being revealed to the public he would have despaired had Rembrant not paid the debt in full, with extra to silence his son's debtor's. With threat of his son's disgrace being ousted to the public he had no choice but to look favorably on Rembrant no matter what the court found.

"Perhaps?" Nasuada smiled. "I see, to you the witness's statement seemed opinionated, alright, carry on then." She sat down.

After a bit of uncomfortable silence, the lawyer spoke again. "These documents, which may or may not be Rembrant's real tax documents. They have a signature and seal on correct?"

"Yes." Methuselah rolled his eyes.

"And the signature and seal resemble the signature and seal on Rembrant's established, legally verified document correct?"

"Yes, yes it does."

"Thank you, and is this a real document?"

"Yes, it is verifiably real, only an idiot would believe these 8 documents to be fake." Methuselah turned to look at the judge, "An idiot or a liar." The judge merely stared ahead, attempting to look as neutral as possible.

"Erm… well, why do you believe these documents are real?"

Methuselah grinned widely, "What? Are you all fools as well?" Methuselah shows the forged tax document to the crystal, projecting it to the crowd, "At the end of last year, Rembrant hosted a ball, that very much is established truth, any idiot would remember that. He normally hosts these end-of-the-year-balls, and he had been doing so for the past 10 years. Last year in particular was quite extravagant, he even hired an opera house, a special opera house."

"Special? how so?"

"I'm sure you know of Garden in the Sun?" Many people nodded along. "They are a very expensive troop, they charge 1000 gold per hour for private events during the holiday, due to the fact their members would normally be home with family, with 500 gold for each additional play other than the first 2 they bring. Attendees all account for there being 6 plays, and the ball lasting for 6 hours, that is 9000 gold, and that is just the cost of the group. Yet for the noted expenses in the document only a fool would think is true, the total cost for the ball amounts to 5000. And to double check I had taken an account of the troop's earnings and expenditure, they account for every single venue they take, and Rembrant's end of the year ball is the last mark on their earnings statement, where they received a substantial 10000 gold. You can't even argue that Rembrant put the payment under another name, because his fake document does not even have an expenditure that reaches 10000. But his purchases are reflected off the true documents." The forgery was shown, missing the payment, followed by the opera house's documents, noting the payment, and Rembrant's true documentation."

"These documents were found with the missives written that claim Rembrant's traitorous actions. They note several things, compared to the forgeries, Rembrant taxes his citizens much higher than the norm, under his rule more than half the number of citizens were driven into slums. A large sum of gold had been ferried to and from, labelled 'samples'. And the dates of several of these transfers match the weeks children had gone missing. And of course, the document itself claims that 165 children had been lost already due to Rembrant's actions. The documents also reveal that Rembrant hired the same men who harassed Martha. These men had been on and off acting on his behalf for the past 8 years, right when the disappearances began, the past quarter's tax statement, the real one, reveals that Rembrant had lent several hundred gold to his servant, who was arrested and executed for his attempted assassination on Faris Ser." The lawyer looked around, "Rembrant and his group have spent the last few months trying to paint Faris as a bad person, doing their best to keep it sensational in order to keep any attention off his neglect. We find out that the reason he acted as such was because he had something to hide. Faris did kill those men, but those men were undoubtedly responsible for the deaths of over fifty-and-one-hundred children. Faris was said to visit the slums quite a bit. And witness statements revealed he was friends to the citizens there, friendly with the children, cordial with the adults. More than likely the brigands brought him to their warehouse, believing he was a suitable child to match whatever despicable criteria Rembrant had in store. Unfortunately for them, Faris likely witnessed the several corpses which had likely been stored in unsanitary conditions and left to rot. Such a scene would traumatize any normal person, and galvanize many to act. Faris did wrong in killing yes, he should have arrested those men, if he had, perhaps Rembrant would have been caught sooner, but this document shows that he had not done it to silence them either, that Rembrant found his actions against his interest, and that Faris was an issue to him. Faris had no reason to suspect a greater threat, because he was not privy to that, he was just a kind child, exposed to man's ugliness, but given the power to burn it away." The lawyer smiled sadly, "But he was thrown in prison, labeled a monster for avenging children, and now he's gone, another child fallen victim to Rembrant, who from the looks of things plan for the rest of us to follow soon after."

Lord Rembrant fumed, all his hopes, ruined, because… he looked at the picture of Faris. "That stupid boy!" He screamed, "Fine then! Yes! I'm part of the black hand!" He took out his ring. "But unfortunately for you all! I will destroy you! You were fools allowing me to get this close! He began to laugh maniacally as light began to gather around him, the people began to panic as the building began to shake, running to flee only for a flash of light to erupt, followed by the sound of the explosion, but nothing was destroyed.

Rembrant looked around in shock, he in a barren rocky area, the only real thing being a chair, his orb was about to explode killing him with it. As he looked around, he dropped it, attempting to run, he fell as an arrow hit his leg, looking up he saw his son in the distance trembling.

"Son! Help your father he-" He paused; his son was holding a bow. "You! Ungrateful wretch! You dare raise your hand against your father?!" He had exhausted himself concentrating into the orb, and could not get away in time, resigning himself to his fate he at least held the satisfaction he would kill his bastard of a son alongside him.

"Actually…" Rembrant turned, seeing Lord Jaya casually walking over to Yacob. "I believe your son is quite selfless, protecting the rest of his family and assets in exchange for one traitor's life." He smiles, "And eternal loyalty to me, it seems you are the ungrateful wretch. You let your senseless devotion get the better of you. And soon Faris will be found, and you'll be a distant memory."

"How! How did I think I was there?!"

Jaya winked, "A magician never reveals all his secrets, and don't worry, they think you were there too." Jaya took Yacob by the shoulder, the boy looked shaken, dropping his bow in fear and disgust as Jaya led him away. "Oh… and Rembrant?"

"What the hell do you want?" Rembrant was done, defeated, Lord Jaya had beaten him, if he had those documents, he likely knew who all the traitors were, and he had cemented the strength of the pro-mage faction. Faris now served as a martyr, a boy who had used his magic to save lives and avenge hundreds of children that he as an anti-mage supporter mercilessly allowed to be murdered. He had become the perfect villain for their story, his temper allowed him to play into their plan, if he had known Lord Jaya had pulled some trick, at the least he'd be alive. The orb began to glow bright white, it was going to explode, killing him in a few short seconds.

"Never mind, no piece of advice would stick anyway, though try not to splatter too much…" Jaya teleported out, Yacob in tow, they arrived in Nasuada's war chamber, Nasuada and Trianna, as well as several mages and warriors were already waiting for them.

"How went it?" Nasuada asked.

Lord Jaya smiled, "Yacob proved more loyal to the crown and honor than to his father." He patted Yacob on the shoulder. "You can leave boy." He didn't say anything after, Yacob didn't need to hear it either, he immediately ran out of the room, doing his best to keep his composure. Lord Jaya watched him go, a half smile on his face, he turned to face the room. "What? His mother and sister are alive and waiting for him, I merely had them tour my garden."

"Any idea on Faris's location?" Nasuada asked sharply.

"Yes, I had already sent a squad out to catch him and apprehend the enemy, they should be on site and beginning their mission anytime now."

"Are you certain you sent enough?" Trianna asked, "The black hand is mostly gone, but the few who survived were all frightfully skilled, their secrets could have easily passed down to impressionable fanatics."

"I sent three members of the counsel, as well as two triples. As well as a squadron of elite anti-mage warriors and 2 warmage units, any larger and our forces within the castle would suffer too greatly."

The others nodded to his logic. Nasuada smiled grimly, "It seems you've won this round."

Jaya smiled, "I merely wish for the best for humans, same as you all, my views and methods may differ, but we aren't enemies."

"In that respect I must say I need to thank you, hearing it straight from the horse's mouth allowed us the undeniable ability to use the documents you had stolen to find more members of the black hand infiltrating. Two of them had already made moves to leave the city and were apprehended, one of them dying while attempting a suicide attack like Rembrant's, the others are quiet, but we are positioning our forces in good position. They will be captured soon."

Lord Jaya smiled, "All that's left then is waiting for news of the Faris recovery team…"