Chapter Three: The Empty Princess

Once upon a time, there was an orphaned princess who lived in a castle. She didn't have any friends, just a constant stream of nannies, tutors, servants, and Council members telling her how to live her life. Well, there had been other children. Sons and daughters of prominent nobles were occasionally brought over for playdates, but for some reason those never went over well. The other children never liked the princess very much. They cried and said she was "weird" or "different" or even "scary".

This didn't bother the princess. She found the other children inane, which was a word she had learned from one of her books. The books were her true friends. Characters in books had endlessly more adventurous lives than her, and lived in worlds so much more exciting than her own. Sometimes she wrote her own stories, which was more fun than playing with other children. She could do whatever she wanted to these people and nobody got her in trouble for it.

The princess grew up. She learned from books and from tutors how to fit in. She learned how to pretend she cared so that she wouldn't get in trouble, and she learned that presenting herself as sweet and naïve meant nobody would suspect she was anything but. She still wrote stories as she grew up, but the older she got, the less satisfying it was. Sure, there were no consequences for the things she did to fictional people, but there were no real rewards either. The lives of other people were as big a concern to her as the lives of her fictional people, so it seemed to her that she should be able to manipulate real people if she wanted to as well. It was just a matter of getting away with it.

A bit under three years before the Adephagos appeared, Princess Estellise was walking back to her room from the library. It had been another boring day in the boring castle, and since she'd read every book in the library already she desperately longed for something else to do to take her mind off how dull this place was.

That was when she bumped into him.

"Oh! Please excuse me," the young man said. "I didn't see you coming around the corner."

Estellise laughed. "It's quite alright," she said. By now the mask of sweet innocent was second nature to her.

The young man gasped. "You're Princess Estellise!" He bowed, so quickly it was a rather clumsy attempt. "Forgive me for not recognizing you right away, Your Highness."

"Please, you don't have to act like that," she said.

He straightened up with a smile. "It's an honour to meet you, Your Highness. But, um… I'm sorry to bother you, but do you think you could point me in the direction of the Knight barracks? I seem to have gotten a little lost…"

"You must have," Estellise said. "You need to go back down to the first floor and cross the courtyard to the east wing."

He snapped his fingers. "Right. I knew I needed to go east."

"Are you new to the castle?" she asked. What good was a guard if they got lost in the castle?

He nodded. "That's right. My name is Serg… Lieutenant Flynn Scifo. I've just been transferred here." He stood up a little straighter and beamed at her, clearly as proud of being transferred to the castle and his promotion as the sun was of shining.

"Then it's nice to meet you, Flynn. I'll look forward to your service in the castle."

She hadn't thought it was possible for his smile to widen, but Flynn proved her wrong. Could he even see? "You flatter me, Your Highness. Well, I should be going. Sorry to bother you."

"No, it was my pleasure. I hope to see you around."

He nodded in parting and marched off down the hall. Estellise watched him go, wondering if it was physically possible to shove more keenness into one body. In just their brief conversation, she'd realized he was one of her least favourite type of people. He was the sort who was so eager to help and please others for no reason other than that he wanted to. It was the kind of personality Estellise couldn't understand if she tried, and the eager, bouncy enthusiasm that often came with it chewed at her nerves. Sometimes she made people like that characters in her stories because she found it satisfying to crush their spirits.

Actually… that gave her an idea of a way to relieve her boredom.

Fifteen minutes later, she stood in Alexei's office. Alexei was one of the few people who didn't irritate her, mostly because he at least partially understood her.

"Good morning, Your Highness," he said, putting his pen down.

"What are you working on?" she asked, sitting in front of his desk.

"Actually, I was working on the Zaude problem."

"Oh?" A smile slipped across her face. Zaude… now there was something to alleviate boredom. When she read in the library that there existed an ancient super weapon hidden beneath the sea, she'd instantly been intrigued. That was the kind of weapon that would stir up the world, maybe raise a few wars. Just imagining the chaos it would bring to this dull world made her feel giddy, and the project of working to raise it gave her something to do and focus on.

"Yes, I think we will need to deal with apatheia in addition to your power. Do you know about them?"

She shook her head. "No, I haven't come across them in my reading. Tell me later. I wanted to ask you about a new lieutenant who just got transferred here."

"Who is that?" Alexei asked, opening a drawer.

"His name is Flynn Scifo."

"Scifo…" Alexei thumbed through the drawer and then pulled out the file. "Ah, yes, him. He was supposed to arrive this morning. Is there a problem with him?"

"I find him… interesting," Estellise said, leaning forward on the desk. "He seems rather keen."

"Yes, it says so here in his report." Alexei pointed at a paragraph, but Estellise didn't bother reading it. "According to his captain, he displays remarkable dedication to lawfulness and chivalry. He is loyal to his comrades and goes above and beyond the call of duty to protect civilians from even the most minor threats. His dedication to justice and doing right by his fellow man is, or so it says, unmatched." Alexei folded his hands and smirked. "What an eager young man. I can see why he got promoted."

"Which brigade is he assigned to?" Estellise asked.

"None at the moment," Alexei said. "He was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to the capital to join a brigade more suiting his abilities, but he hasn't been placed yet. He'll likely be put under Schwann."

"Hm… no," Estellise said. "I want him for a… personal project."

Alexei raised an eyebrow. "What sort of project?"

"An experiment, I suppose you could say. I'll be needing your assistance to make this work. Nothing too difficult; just a few guards who can do a dirty job and won't blab about it and a prison cell away from prying eyes."

"Of course I can arrange that, Your Highness. What is the aim of this project?"

"If it works, he'll be quite useful to us."

"And if it doesn't?"

Estellise shrugged. "He'll probably end up catatonic, but at least he won't be obnoxiously overeager anymore."

In the present, Estelle sat in the infirmary. Flynn still hadn't woken up, but his condition was stable. It was the morning after the attack, and Estelle was irritated. Knights had scoured the city for Yuri last night in the biggest manhunt the empire had seen in years, but there was no sign of him. There was no sign of Judith, Karol, or Repede, and Ba'ul was no longer outside the city, so it wasn't hard to guess where he'd gone. They had probably taken off for Dahngrest, but Ioder wouldn't let Sodia charge into Dahngrest looking for him and risk breaking the peace treaty. It was annoying. Estelle had hoped to keep Yuri from telling the others the truth, but that hope was dashed. This was going to make things complicated.

Well, maybe it would be fun. The Zaude thing hadn't worked out; how was she supposed to have known a world-destroying abomination lurked behind it? It would be boring if everyone died. The adventure had been the most entertainment she'd had in her life, and she wasn't thrilled with the idea of sitting around the castle again. Dealing with Brave Vesperia would give her something to do, at least.

The door creaked open and Rita entered. Estelle smiled at her when she looked up. Estelle sorted most people into the world into one of three groups: useless people to be ignored, obnoxious people to be gotten rid of, and useful people to be manipulated and disposed of when she was done with them. Most of the group she'd travelled with fell under the third category, but then there was Rita.

"Morning, Estelle," Rita said, rubbing her eyes. "Have you been here all night?"

"Yes," Estelle said, looking down at Flynn with weary eyes. It would look bad if she'd gone back to her room and slept soundly after what happened to Flynn, so she'd slept in the bed next to Flynn's.

"How's Flynn?" Rita asked, crossing the room.

"He'll be ok," Estelle said. Rita dragged a chair over and sat next to her. Despite all knowledge that forming attachments to people was a weakness, Estelle liked Rita. She enjoyed her company and found talking to her engaging. Rita was useful due to her knowledge of blastia, but Estelle still wanted her around even if she couldn't contribute simply for her company, and she'd never felt that way about anyone before.

"I can't believe Yuri would so such a thing," Rita said, staring at Flynn. "I know he's hot-headed, but he's still Yuri."

"I know," Estelle said, folding her hands on her lap. "I really thought we knew him."

"I'm gonna pound that guy when I see him again," Rita said, clenching her fists. "Even if you consider that he and Flynn were always at each other's throats, I can't imagine what would come over him to go after you like that." She looked at Estelle worriedly and said, "You're sure he didn't hurt you, right?"

Estelle nodded. "Yes, I'm fine, really. Flynn's the one you should be concerned about."

"Do you think Karol and Judith know what Yuri did?" Rita asked.

Estelle shrugged. "I don't know. I hope not. I'd like to think that if they knew the truth they wouldn't side with him." She stared down at her knees and, barely above a whisper, said, "Maybe they find it as impossible to believe as we do."

"Do you think Yuri is sick?" Rita said. "Or maybe he was drunk?"

Estelle shrugged. "He seemed sober, but I guess it's possible."

"I mean, it doesn't excuse his actions, but it at least explains them."

"I suppose so."

Rita sighed, staring at Flynn for a few moments. She frowned, and then got to her feet. "I'm hungry. Do you want to get breakfast?"

Estelle shook her head. "I don't feel like I could eat anything right now. You go ahead."

"Alright… I'll bring you back a muffin, just in case."

She smiled. "Thank you, Rita."

"I'll be back soon."

Rita left, and Estelle let her smile drop. Sometimes it was tiring being so friendly. She yawned and leaned back in her chair, trying to decide what to do about Yuri and the others. Now that they knew the truth they would of course have to be killed. It was a matter of how she should kill them without it looking suspicious.

Before she got too deep into these thoughts, Flynn moaned. Estelle sat upright again and looked to him with interest. He turned his face to her and gazed with confusion through half-lidded eyes.

"Yuri…" he mumbled.

"Yuri is not here," Estelle said. "Yuri is the one who nearly killed you, remember?"

Flynn's fists bunched up the white sheets as his brow furrowed in confusion. "He… he was helping… what have I…" His eyes were scared and panicked, with steadily growing horror as the memories came back to him.

Estelle frowned slightly in annoyance. In general, she was quite pleased with the way Flynn turned out. Still, it wasn't perfect and sometimes he slipped. She glanced to the door to make sure it was closed, and then reached a gentle hand to the raised red mark on his chest. She'd closed the wound, but there were limits to healing and an injury that serious would take a while to fully go away. As such, when she dug her fingers into Flynn's skin his muscles contorted and his eyes flashed open. His damaged lung left him gasping for breath, unable to get enough air for a proper scream, but the tears building up in his eyes told her he would if he could.

"Yuri is the one who did this to you, remember?" Estelle said gently, easing off the wound. "As soon as Yuri found out you didn't share his ideals, he attacked you and tried to kill you. Yuri is not your friend." She moved her hand to his head and gently cupped the side of his face. "I'm your only friend, Flynn," she said softly. "Remember? I'm the one you can trust."

The spark of horror dimmed as he stared into her eyes. "Yes…" he murmured. "I… trust you."

"You let me down, Flynn," she said. "You let Yuri get away."

"I'm sorry." He still looked scared, but now he was afraid of her. Not of her, exactly, because Flynn worshipped the ground she walked on, but he was terrified of the idea of displeasing her. Good, that was how it should be.

"It's alright," she said soothingly, taking his other hand in hers and rubbing her thumb on the back of his hand. "All the pain you feel is your punishment for your failure. I told you, didn't I? That you wouldn't be in pain anymore if you listened to me and did as you were told? This is proof that I was right. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Confidence in her settled back into his eyes and Estelle leaned back in satisfaction.

"When Yuri came to your office," Estelle said, "he came ranting about me being a bitch for stringing him along and then not putting out. When he told you I went as far as to shove him away when he tried to kiss me, you got angry and started arguing. The argument turned violent, and became a sword fight. Yuri overpowered you and then left. Understood?"

Flynn nodded. "Yes, Lady Estellise. I'll tell people that."

"Good."

A minute later, Rita came back with a half-eaten bagel sandwich and a blueberry muffin. "Mm," Rita said with a mouth full of bagel and egg, "'ou're upf."

"Rita," Estelle said with an admonishing frown, "you shouldn't talk with your mouth full."

Rita swallowed heavily and plopped back down in her chair next to Estelle. "Yeah, sure. Here, blueberry is your favourite, right?"

Estelle smiled as she took the muffin. "That's right! Thank you for remembering."

Rita shrugged and went back to her bagel.

"You're so sweet, Rita," Estelle gushed, smiling cheerfully.

Yuri woke up from a horrible nightmare. He'd dreamed that Estelle was evil and Flynn attacked him and that he'd left Flynn dying on the floor. Wow, what had he eaten yesterday to inspire –

He was staring at the bottom of the upper bunk on the Fiertia and he felt sore all over. It wasn't a dream. That had really all happened. He covered his face in his hands. "Shit." The reality of it overwhelmed him, like it was physically weighing him down. He didn't feel strong enough to push past it to get out of bed.

What was the point? He'd lost Flynn, and found out he'd never really had Estelle. It would be better if they had simply died, because at least that way he wouldn't have also lost the fond memories. The two people he cared about above all others had been suddenly and cruelly ripped out of his life, and no one would expect him to get out of bed if he'd just had his legs torn off, right? It was practically the same thing.

Repede growled and nudged his elbow. Yuri pulled it away. Repede bit the edge of the blanket and shook his head to pull it off.

"Hey," Yuri said, lowering his hands and grabbing the blanket. "Give that back."

Repede snarled and dug his teeth into the fabric, yanking back. Yuri had to let go or risk being dragged to the floor. Repede clearly intended to get him out of bed, but Yuri didn't feel up to it yet. He rolled over to face the wall of the ship and closed his eyes to try to go back to sleep.

As soon as he closed his eyes, a vivid image of Flynn's agonized face as Yuri's sword sunk into his chest filled his mind. Yuri flashed his eyes open and grabbed his head, curling his legs up. "Fuck," he whispered.

It was a new day, but he didn't feel any better. In fact, he felt worse. He was able to think clearly now, and all he could think was that there must have been another way out of that situation. Surely killing Flynn wasn't the only solution. Why had he resorted to that? Why, dammit? Did some part of him always want to kill Flynn?

No, he shot that down immediately. He'd spent a good portion of his life irritated with Flynn for one reason or another, but to want him dead? Never. So why had he done it? Had he been so frazzled from the revelation about Estelle that he wasn't thinking and lashed out? In the end, though, did it really matter? Either way, Flynn was dead and he'd killed him.

Yuri dug his teeth into his knuckles to keep from screaming. He had never hated every fibre of his being more than he did in this moment. He wished he could go back in time and tell Duke not to bother saving him at Zaude, because dying there would surely be preferable to dealing with the soul-crushing pain of what he'd learned about Estelle and done to Flynn.

He hadn't even noticed Repede leave, but then the dog returned and brought someone with him.

"Repede tells me you're up," Judith said. "Would you rather go back to sleep?"

"I can't," he said, staring at the wall. "I can't stop thinking about it. I – I killed him, Judy."

"Yuri, listen to me because this is important." She sat on the edge of the bed and rested her hand on his arm. "You did not kill Flynn."

"But I-"

"It was the front page of the newspapers this morning. Flynn is alive, Yuri. He survived your attack."

Yuri froze, unable to believe it at first. Flynn was… alive? He wasn't sure how to deal with good news when every emotion in his brain was tuned to misery. He felt relieved, but at the same time he felt guilty about being relieved. There was a reason he'd tried to kill Flynn, after all. He'd made the decision to cut down anyone who would abuse their power, and both Flynn and Estelle fit that description. He'd told himself killing Ragou and Cumore wasn't personal and that he'd do it to anybody who deserved it, but now he found himself relieved that Flynn was alive even though he was almost as guilty about Mantaic as Cumore was. Maybe Yuri really was a hypocrite.

"What do the papers say happened?" Yuri asked, finally turned from the wall. He lay on his back and looked up at Judy. When she frowned and looked away, he got the feeling he wasn't going to like this.

"Are the details really important right now? I know you have enough on your plate at the moment."

"Judy. What is it?"

She bit her lip and then said, "The official story is that you, overcome with lust, assaulted the princess in her bedroom."

"I what?" He knew he wasn't going to like this. This was all really, horribly, happening. He'd half-hoped that everything Estelle had said in her room was a delusion, but if Estelle was coming out with lies like this about him, she really was a villain.

"She fought you off, and you then ran to Flynn's office to vent your frustrations to him. It turned into an argument and you initiated a sword fight that ended with Flynn being critically wounded."

Yuri sighed heavily. Great. Fucking great. That was one thing about being close friends (or so he'd thought) with the princess and commandant: when his shitty luck inevitably ended up condemning him for crimes he was only partially guilty of, it made the front page.

"Karol and I are suspected of harbouring you."

"What about Rita?" Yuri asked, suddenly remembering she was still in Zaphias. Less than twenty-four hours ago, the idea of worrying if Rita was safe alone with Estelle would have seemed absurd. Now, he felt guilty for not thinking of her when they made their escape last night.

"The paper mentions that she refused to give an interview," Judith said. "She was probably told Estelle's side of the story and is just as horrified about you as we are about Estelle."

"Yeah, probably," he said glumly.

"Karol has explained the situation to Raven and Harry Whitehorse. We're currently just outside Dahngrest, but Harry has offered us a place to stay at Altosk for as long as we need it. He was shocked to hear the news about Estelle, but he believes us and says he'll give us asylum from the empire for as long as we need it."

"What time is it?"

"Almost noon," she said. "We arrived in Dahngrest a bit before dawn, but we thought you could use the rest."

"Oh. Thanks, I guess."

"Yuri… are you alright?"

Yuri stared at her, not sure what to say. Saying he was totally fine was such a laughable lie he didn't even think he could do it, but he felt like shit enough without complaining about how bad he felt and dumping it on Judith. Luckily for him, Judith read the look in his eyes and nodded slowly.

"That's what I figured. You can stay in bed as long as you need to. We all understand you've gone through a serious shock."

"No," Yuri said, shaking his head. Now that she'd directly given him the option, he felt the need to rise against it. "I'm not gonna lie here feeling sorry for myself." He pushed himself up, accompanied by a wave of aches and pains. Ugh, he'd gotten used to having a healer around. He hadn't felt this shitty after a fight since those weeks when Estelle had been kidnapped… no, those weeks when Estelle voluntarily left their party. It only reminded him how much more pain Flynn must be in, and he felt guilty for even thinking about it. He swung his legs off the bed and stood up straight. "Let's go. We need to figure out what our next move will be."

After a walk through the city accompanied by nervous stares from everyone who had seen his picture in the paper, they arrived at Altosk. They walked in silence through the halls. Yuri couldn't even imagine carelessly chatting when all he could think of was the fact that everything they thought they knew about Estelle was a lie.

Judith led him to a room, and inside they found Karol, Raven, Harry, and Kaufman sitting around a table. They looked up with matching solemn expressions, and no one felt the need for cheerful hellos.

Yuri slumped into a chair next to Karol. Judith sat next to him and said, "What's the situation?"

"We're discussing how the Union is going to react to this," Kaufman said. "Estelle and Flynn are both very high up in the government. Only Ioder outranks them."

Harry nodded. "With that much power, someone with ill intentions could easily cause huge problems for the world."

"The trouble is," Raven said, "how do we get them out of power without sparkin' a war? We can hardly walk up to Ioder and say 'yo, Estelle and Flynn are evil'. She'll have destroyed all the evidence by now."

"And if we remove them from power by force," Harry said, "coming from the Union, that would be tantamount to a declaration of war."

"The only evidence we have that Estelle is anything other than who she says is Yuri's word," Kaufman said. She looked to Yuri and said, "I trust you, but one man's word against the princess and the commandant are hardly going to sway many minds."

Yuri nodded silently. He couldn't think of anything to contribute and he feared that all this talk about Flynn and Estelle was going to set him off into a shaking mess again. That was the last thing he wanted to happen in front of Harry and Kaufman, so he kept his mouth shut.

"Uh, actually…" Karol said, holding up his hand slightly. "I was thinking about something."

"What is it, Karol?" Harry said. "You don't have to be shy. You're just as much of a guild boss as Kaufman and I."

"Er… right," Karol said nervously. He looked to Yuri and said, "Yuri, you told us that it seemed like Estelle had done something to Flynn, probably during the years you were apart. I mean, you don't think Flynn was always like this, right?"

Yuri nodded slowly.

"So… so it seems to be like Estelle brainwashed him or something. She did something to him at least."

"Brainwashing, huh?" Raven said, rubbing his chin. "Sounds kinda like somethin' outta a book."

"I know it sounds weird," Karol said, looking around the group, "but it seems like the only option, right? If he was a good guy when Yuri knew him, and then he spent time with Estelle and came out utterly loyal to her and with screwed up morals, she must have done something to his head, like with magic or something."

"That seems like a possibility," Judith said. "But how does that help us? However Flynn ended up where he is, the reality is that he's dangerous."

"Well, because… I don't know if it's really possible, but it seems to me that if you can brainwash somebody, you should also be able to un-brainwash them."

Yuri's frown, which had been etched into his face since he confronted Estelle yesterday, slipped away as he stared at Karol. "You… you really think so?"

"I don't know for sure," Karol said quickly, holding up his hands. "In fact, I don't know at all. I'm just guessing. But, I think Estelle probably did something to him to control him. If she's doing something, then we should be able to break whatever hold she has on him, right?"

Yuri nodded eagerly, ready to grab this possibility like a drowning man grabs a life preserver. "At the last second, right before I stabbed him, I saw a flash of himself in his eyes. He's got to be in there, buried under whatever crap Estelle piled into his head."

"If we can snap Flynn out of whatever Estelle's done to him," Kaufman said, "he would be a perfect witness to incriminate Estelle. He knows better than anyone else the depths she's gone to, and being the commandant gives him a lot of political credit. Ioder and the Council will listen to him."

Yuri didn't even care about that stuff. If bringing Flynn back could prevent a war, great. Ordinarily he'd be thrilled, but any possible good news paled in comparison to the hope that they'd be able to bring Flynn back. Please let this work, because the hope that they'd be able to remove whatever Estelle had done to him was the only ray of light in this dark and confusing world.

"I agree, but how are we going to do this?" Harry said. "How can we reverse a process if we don't even know what the process was?"

"We're going to have to do some research," Karol said, sounding more sure of himself now that the others agreed with him. "Someone must have done research into brainwashing methods. Estelle would have had to learn from somewhere, right?"

"Dahngrest has a huge public library," Raven said. "There might be somethin' there."

"The more difficult thing is that we'll need to get Flynn," Judith said. "We can't do anything to help him if he's still in Estelle's grasp at the castle, and I don't think he'll come with us willingly."

Yuri crossed his arms. "We don't have much choice. We'll have to abduct him and bring him back here."

"And how are you going to do that?" Kaufman said. "Abducting the commandant out of the castle isn't like picking up bread at the market, you know."

"Given the severity of his injuries," Judith said, "he's probably in the infirmary. That might make him easier to get to."

"Need I remind all ya," Raven said, "Estelle will have every knight in Zaphias on high alert looking for all of us. How exactly are ya proposin' we sneak inta the castle? She knows about the secret entrance through the sewers."

"I'll help," Kaufman said. "She won't have the knights looking for me."

"Once you've got him," Harry said, "you can bring him back here. I'll give you space to work with him and you can have any supplies you need."

"Thank you," Judith said.

"Getting Flynn back to his proper self and able to condemn Estelle is in the world's interest. There's no need to thank me."

"Besides," Raven said, "there's no need ta throw around thanks before we even know if it's gonna work."

"Right," Judith said. "Plotting a kidnapping isn't exactly something we have a lot of experience with."

"Well…" Raven said, glancing awkward to the ceiling and fiddling his thumbs.

"That's right, Old Man," Yuri said. "You're the only one here who's kidnapped someone before. Any tips?"

Raven shrugged. "Not really. It was actually pretty easy. 'Course, in retrospect I guess that'd be because she planned it from the beginnin'."

"What happened, anyway?" Karol asked. "Did she just go with you willingly?"

"I told her I wanted to talk and if she would go for a walk with me," Raven said. He folded his hands and looked down at the table. He'd never talked about exactly what had gone on during the abduction, and from the way his forehead creased and his lips tightened, Yuri assumed it was because he was ashamed. "I just led her toward the old teleporters at the entrance of the village. I'd activated one before I talked to her. When we were close enough, I grabbed her and pulled her on. She didn't put up much of a fight. I thought it was weird at the time, but I guess it makes sense."

Yuri stiffened. "And you didn't think of mentioning that?"

"What? Why would I? It's not like I knew ta be lookin' for signs she was evil." He rubbed his scratchy chin and added, "Now that I think about it, whenever she or Alexei didn't know I was watching, she always became a lot less frightened."

Yuri slammed his fist on the table. "How could you not have realized?!" The raw shout hurt his throat. He demanded the question of himself as much as Raven.

The others stared at him for a few seconds after his outburst, and then Yuri's muscles slacked and he pulled his arm back. "Sorry," he muttered.

"It's alright," Raven said glumly. "I get it. We're all pretty shaken up by this."

"In any event," Kaufman said, "I doubt Flynn will be that easy to kidnap."

"I hear ya," Raven said. "There're a lot of details we need ta hammer out first."

Hammering out the details took the greater part of the afternoon. There were a lot of considerations to make, but by the end they had worked out a plan to break into the castle, abduct Flynn, and drag him against his will to Dahngrest where they would imprison him. It was the most ludicrous thing Yuri had ever been part of planning, and yet it was the only thing he had left to hope for.