Here it is, finally on time. I really struggled to get it in time and done but I was able to do it so now I'm not sure this is a good thing since I was able to keep my promise or a bad thing since you will all know I can do it and get used to me keeping up. In any case, I think I really enjoyed neglecting my school work to finish this for you so I'll probably be doing it more often. Also, I will be having a break now so I hope I can at least get more than two chapters out of the way in the following weeks.

Also, I have to thank FarmersDaughter for giving me some ideas and for being such a loyal reader and to everyone else who has been following or just started reading. Thank you so much.

Finally,

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER HAS SOME DISTURBING SECTIONS WHICH ARE ENCLOSED BY [] AND {}. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.

The scenes are not super gross but if you are really squeamish you will probably think so. In my opinion they are not too bad however in consideration for all my readers I have marked the sections I think are strange and even if you don't read them you can still get the whole idea and purpose of the story. Please don't be discouraged by this, I promise I will make this an exception to my writing but sometimes while I'm typing away I get carried over and when I go back it's hard to take stuff away without taking the feelings out.

Apologies for the long ramble. Enjoy.

piggybank

xi.

Rodney thought for a second. It seemed to him the girl had learned how to wrap everyone around her finger so she got what she wanted just by saying it would give them information. Up until then she had proven trustworthy but it still wasn't enough for him to believe she would be any different than her two other countrymen—or women, rather. If they were as sneaky as Rangers—and by the looks of it they could even topple Halt's own trickery—then the deaths of two of them was probably some kind of plan to get Maiah to infiltrate Redmont. She had already won the Baron and, most importantly, the Rangers, Halt! There had to be someone who kept his brains around here and be able to question what she did. How would they know the two buried bodies didn't fake their own death and now the girl was going to dig them out and take them all by surprise? He hated to overthink her every move but considered himself the only sane person at the time.

Nevertheless, when he turned to see the pleading green eyes he couldn't help but wonder if he had just been brainwashing himself. "They didn't take any weapons to the grave." He answered to try her reaction even though his hostility had dissipated.

"They took the vials. We need to get them before we lose them."

"What…"

"I just need to do it. Trust me on it, please."

"Well, I…I am not exactly sure where this was done. I am not in charge of disposing of the bodies." Rodney replied softening a little as he realized the girl didn't seem to be hiding anything.

"I am sure we'll find our way." Halt put in aware of the fact that the knights had given her a hard time and it was enough. Without further discussion, he led the group—with Rodney and Morton still grumbling against it—to the outskirts of the forest where he recalled the Seers had been taken.

Once out in the woods it was obvious where the woman had been set, as the dirt had been turned and the grass removed and mixed in. Maiah paced around it as if looking for a way to do the task with the least required work; finally, she settled, knowing there was no nice way of digging out her guardian, and removed the dirt with the short spade they had found on their way out. Although she didn't complain, she did notice none of the men around her volunteered to do the work for her and realized either they had overestimated her abilities or saw themselves above grave-digging. Whichever it was, she shrugged it off as she concentrated on the task at hand and hurried to get to the body.

In truth, Maiah had been wrong in both assumptions at least regarding the Rangers. Halt became aware of the increasing struggle the girl was going through though knew she would do it without help and if anyone of them helped her, judging by her culture, she would be offended by them thinking she couldn't do it. however, when she dropped the shovel and began digging with her hands he was proud to see both his former apprentices bent down and helped her. At the same time, he forced himself to hide a smile when Will yelped as his hands scraped the cold face underground.

[The smell had begun to settle even over that of fresh dirt and wet grass. Maiah tried hard not to gag as her hands wiped the dirt off the body and felt around for what she was looking for. Usually, they were taught to keep the vial on a small sewn pocket above the hipbone to ensure it wouldn't prevent mobility in combat and yet be relatively easy to take out in case the information was at risk. Looking through the corpse, however, Maiah couldn't find the object in any of the robes.]

"Wouldn't this bring the evil spirits?" Morton asked sarcastically, remembering some of the savage tribes of the north were truly superstitious and easily fooled.

"Perhaps." Maiah answered not really listening to what he had said. She had gotten the main idea in his tone, but knew Morton was just trying her and attempting to show she was a superstitious pagan.

"Well, won't they haunt us?" he continued, earning himself a glare from Rodney and Halt.

"Sir Morton, with all due respect, I would appreciate you worrying about your own part in this and leave the devilish spirits of the shadows to me. Thank you very much."

Maiah turned back to her work and tried to suppress the smile that came to her face when she saw Morton gaping and trying to find words to answer. She knew anyone else in Mazoniria did indeed believe in the spirits haunting those who disturbed the dead; however, something in her simply did not allow for her to believe in such superstitions; perhaps it was the fact that Prowessa herself had never really put emphasis on their religion and popular beliefs or the idea that she had overheard a few years back the queen speaking to some of the Seers about ways through which they could control the masses using the old legends. More so, she had a feeling it mostly had to do with the fact that many commoners in Mazoniria saw her as a spectrum because of her pale skin and hair and, being that she knew she was quite human, concluded it was nothing but trivialities of the uneducated lower classes. In any case, she knew the only way to get the plans was to "disturb" Prowessa and therefore, spirits or not, she had to do it to save Araluen.

[She felt through every fold in the robes of the corpse with no success and began to worry as her failure to get them the vials would surely destroy any trust they had placed on her until then. Thus she was relieved when, as her hands traveled down Prowessa's body, she felt a slight bump close to the right hipbone. As she frantically looked through the clothes however, she realized there was nothing there yet the bump remained where she had felt it and as realization dawned on her she felt her stomach lurch and a sudden need to get as far away from the remnants of the wicked woman as she possibly could. Nevertheless, she proceeded to unsheathe her small knife from her side and made a cut down the clothing of a few inches; enough to reveal the smooth skin that the dirt-filled garments had hidden a few seconds before. The sickening feeling only worsened as she felt around the woman's bare skin and finally got to a smoother surface located just inside the hipbone and horizontally made. The pinkish scar—of just a few months judging by the color and feel—lay across the exact spot where the pocket of the robes was located giving a clear explanation as to where the vial had been hidden. Prowessa had indeed been out of her mind and after so many years of serving lost any sense of self-preservation when it came to saving the empire. Taking a deep breath—and regretting so when the stench of death filled her lungs—Maiah pressed the tip of her blade to the cold flesh and opened it just over the scar. There was not incessant gushing of blood as most of it had clotted or lost through the cut in Prowessa's throat by then but that it didn't take away the nausea that was present every second since she had realized what she would have to do.

By then Gilan and Will had retreated knowing there was nothing they could do to help her with except perhaps do it themselves; however, if they didn't know what exactly it was they were looking for then they had no hope of getting it right and therefore decided to simply let her finish the job quickly and get done with it. Which was the very same thought Maiah had as she inserted her fingers into the cut wishing with all her heart the vial was close to the surface. But none of the gods she prayed to listened to any of her wishes and soon enough found herself inserting her whole hand into her mentor's guts searching for anything that wasn't squishy or had the feel of human tissue. Usually the vials they used were made out of some congealed tree sap making them smooth like glass though flexible enough for combat; however, no matter how hard she searched she couldn't find anything that resembled the texture. ]

{Had there not been a corpse between them, Will would have laughed at the variety of squeamish faces Maiah pulled as she searched the body. The stench had spread by then and, like Gilan, Halt and the knights, he covered his nose with a corner of his robes though couldn't help feeling sorry for the girl as she seemed to be about to throw up into the grave. Judging by the looks the others were giving her, he realized he wasn't the only one aware of the fact yet recognized in the knights' faces a new expression of recognition—if not admiration—towards the brave little thing in front of them.}

[Finally, after almost fifteen minutes of searching, Maiah took out the ghastly thing covered in dark clots and easily mistaken by a kidney or liver had she not been feeling the hard, smooth surface of it. With a piece of Prowessa's sleeve she wiped the fluids and chunks of whatever matter had stuck as best as she could and did a quick check up on what she had retrieved. ]

Then, glad to be done—at least with half of her job—she stood and kicked the dirt back into the hole making sure to flatten it out when she was done. There was a high probability of the wolves and foxes digging her back out when they began searching for food at night but honestly, she did not care in the least, and her feelings were reinforced when she reminded herself Prowessa wouldn't touch her heart if their parts were reversed. Thus, she turned to Halt and held out the vial though when he flinched back she decided to simply keep it in her pocket while they set to look for their next task. She really had no choice when it came to the second part of her job, which was perhaps a little worse than having to look through Prowessa's body. In fact, it was worse than having to get her hands into her; Cleo had been dead for a longer time and thus would be in even worse condition. There was no true way of putting the next phase in a pretty way; all they hoped for was that the beasts in the forest had kept her in one piece so that they wouldn't have to scramble around searching for the different possible body parts where the vial was hidden.

Searching Cleo wasn't as bad as she had thought although as they had predicted, the corpse was in a more advanced stage of decomposition. Nevertheless, the task went way faster since Cleo kept her vial where she was supposed to and it was only a few minutes between the time they removed the dirt and when they set it back over. Having accomplished what they could outdoors, they returned to Rodney's office a little less concerned though even more confused than when they had departed earlier that day. None of the Aralueans could figure out what the vials contained—other than the quick response of "information"—or why she had hurried to gather them, or what she had seen in the blades of the Seers' knives that told her to dig out the dead.

"Would you care to explain what all this is about?" Morton said, almost whining, once they were back at the academy's main building.

However, it wasn't until they had closed the door to Rodney's office and Maiah had rinsed off her hands and the vials in a vase with water that she finally turned to looked at the confused lot and with a sigh she realized she had been acting without revealing any of her purposes and decided it would be in everyone's best interest to tell them what it all was about.

"I'll try and do a quick summary so that I can get down to business but you can still ask questions." She began and immediately regretted adding the last part as Morton quickly opened his mouth to deliver yet another complaint.

"You don't seriously think we will have enough with a quick summary? Everything you have been doing has been the strangest things anyone would have ever thought of and especially with you being a girl and—"

"Sir Morton," Rodney interrupted without looking at the man next to him and rolling his eyes in exasperation. "I think what she will be saying is rather important for the welfare of Redmont; why don't you go and get Baron Arald so that he can listen to this. I would really appreciate it if you would. Oh, and on your way there, would you mind checking how Sir Bernard is doing with those first years serving kitchen duty?"

"I was thinking the same thing myself, Sir Rodney." Morton replied almost too proud of his train of thought. "Arald better come and have a listen at this. And don't you worry about it, sir, I'll make sure to fill him in with the details as we come back so to save us some time in the explaining."

"That would be wonderfully lovely." Halt said taking a deep breath to hold himself back from sending the vexing knight flying out the window. "You go do that now. And remember to check on the kitchen staff."

"of course, of course, Halt."

"Ow, get out now!" Halt growled scaring the man out of the room. There was a short silence as the remaining five listened to the steps dying in the distance before anyone spoke again.

"He's quite something." Rodney finally said looking after the man.

Halt grumbled something too low for anyone to hear though Gilan and Will couldn't help showing a smile as their friend cursed under his breath.

"In any case, in Mazoniria, Seers carry these small bottles in our robes—or inside us, apparently—to transport information safely. No one really knows about this except for other Seers or the royal family so it is quite probable that when one of us dies the information is still safe but not lost like if we only kept it in our memories; this way, as it happened today, other Seers can retrieve this information in case one of us perishes and continue the job or return the vial back to the sender or owner of the information."

"Does that mean you are like messengers?"

"well, I guess you could say we are the private messengers of the royal family but that usually isn't the case since the information we carry is more for the use of the Seers and not some letter we have to deliver. Besides, it can't be just any information since in order to get it out of the vial one has to completely destroy the current one and having to make one every day really would be a pain."

"So it is not glass. Hm." Halt mumbled under his breath as he closely looked at one of the darkish bottles sitting on the desk.

"And why the hurry to get them?" Will asked giving up in trying to decipher anything that was happening.

"There are two reasons though the main one is due to the fact that if the vial is exposed to certain chemicals—whether gases or liquids—especially when there is humidity about, it begins to corrode and reveals the message inside the pouch or in Prowessa's case…. Secondly, because if there is any other Seer in the vicinity they would have rushed to save the information and could have arrived before us."

"Do you think there is another one of yours around?"

"Not really. I think Cleo had been sent to watch over Prowessa in case something like this happened or Prowessa could have gotten Cleo's but I don't believe Prowessa learned of Cleo's death and therefore died thinking someone would retrieve her information or it would just disintegrate inside her. I would hypothesize that is the main reason why she hid it where she did. Eventually it would have been lost had we waited much longer."

In that moment, Halt looked up realizing what it had all been about. He shared a quick glance with Will and Gilan as the Rangers realized Prowessa would have surely allowed Halt to defeat her so that Cleo could retrieve the information and take it away from Redmont. She hadn't known by the time the duel ended there was no one left to take her vial back to wherever it was they had to go to. Even if this was not the main reason for Prowessa giving up, it was at least an important factor in why she had decided for it. She thought her information was safe and even if Maiah got to figuring it out, but the time they mobilized Cleo would have been a good half day's distance away from Redmont.

"So how do you see what is inside them, then?" Rodney asked somewhat frustrated. Unlike the Rangers, he wasn't concerned in learning the ways of the foreigners; he didn't give a stinking pea about what they did or how they did it, it was just a matter of getting what he needed for the moment and not what he could learn now to use in the future. He realized that was why he was not a Ranger and why there was a difference between these and knights.

Without a word, Maiah took Prowessa's lamniatti and holding it with the blade pointing to the ground fumbled with the hilt for a second before extracting a thin bottle whose stopper was the small ruby that had adorned the hilt before. Inside it was a clear liquid which Maiah carefully poured into the basin filled with water and stirred it a couple of times with the tip of her blade. When she was done she carefully took the first vial by the neck and submerged the bottom into the basin avoiding the water from touching her fingers. The four others around her craned their necks to see what was happening though wouldn't dare ask out loud or get any closer fearing they would be getting into private business.

After a minute Maiah pulled out from the water and set the vial on top of some old rags Rodney had set to protect the wood of his desk. The vial was almost unrecognizable as it had almost melted from the section that had been underwater. Searching into her belt, she produced a short, flat, blade though it didn't look sharp as its edges had been skillfully rounded and stood without tapering. With it she smoothly cut through the melted vial and carefully retrieved a small piece of parchment which she set aside.

Halt couldn't believe the secrecy and, far more, the dexterity with which Maiah had performed the task at hand. She seemed to be an expert at it and he wouldn't have been surprised if she had done it blind folded though he guessed there was a reason why she carefully watched her moves around the water and the melted vial. At the same time, he stepped closer to see her unrolling the paper she had retrieved and what it hid inside the multiple folds. As it spread before them they realized it wasn't just one piece of paper but several stacked on top of each other and folded and rolled to fit through the neck of the vial. And to think that for a second they had doubted she was leading them to any valuable information.