Interlude: Liam

Liam stood in the throne room, kneeling in front of the King as he received his orders.

“I have an important mission,” the King began. “You are to retrieve a boy. His name is Trevor, an orphan from Dunhearth.”

This all sounded too easy to Liam, and he did not understand why all the leaders of the guard were present, nor why nearly eighty men had been called to head out immediately.

“You are not to use force, and that needs to be made very clear to all your men. I need you all to approach carefully. Intimidation and force will not work. It will instead likely lead to countless deaths.”

The King then took his seat back on the throne, where his senior adviser, Gerald, took over.

“We have received now three credible messages that this boy will have several companions—one being a unique fire elemental, the other an incredibly powerful beast, a Shadow Cat. In addition, there have been several reports that he is speaking with, or protected by, at least a single dragon—one that fought and defeated the Tempest Dragon in Boltron,” Gerald explained.

Liam couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he was in absolutely no position to argue with the King or his adviser, so he kept his head low and listened as Gerald continued.

“Before anyone approaches this boy, I need you all to do your research. Start at Dunhearth and branch out from there. No one is to approach him unless it is one of the captains in this room. Is that clear?”

There was a chorus of, “Yes, Your Grace.”

“Lastly, you are to get the boy to return to the capital and meet with us. I’ll repeat: nobody is to intimidate or antagonise this boy. If it doesn’t get you killed directly, you will be punished for disobeying the King’s direct orders,” the adviser said.

Again, a chorus of, “Yes, Your Grace.”

And with that, they were sent to their task—a full mobilisation of the guard, all for a boy.

***

Arriving at Dunhearth, The guards broke off into smaller groups: one heading north to Elarith Vale, another heading south towards Grey Rock, and the final group heading in the direction of Boltron, visiting every village and town along the way, as that was the direction the boy had initially travelled.

When Liam arrived at the Lord’s manor in Dunhearth, the reception was not ideal. Speaking with the butler of the house, who introduced himself as Leo, Liam couldn’t help but feel he was being intentionally stalled.

Sitting in a waiting room, he kept hearing a lot of movement in the room next to him.

Eventually, he had had enough. Heading into the room he had seen Leo enter—which he believed to be the Lord’s study—the sight before him shocked him.

Both Leo and an older gentleman were actively burning paperwork, throwing it into the fire stacks at a time.

These were not the actions of an innocent man.

“Halt your actions immediately,” Liam announced, and when both men attempted to throw more papers in the fire, it confirmed his suspicions.

His training kicking in, he dashed into the room, striking the butler fairly gently with his gauntlet and sending him to the ground. The man he suspected to be the Lord followed suit.

Now, Liam turned his attention to the paper in the fire. Most had not caught yet due to the smothered flames, so he carefully retrieved what he could.

***

After a brief investigation and some interrogation of the butler, it turned out that Lord Falcone was engaged in many fraudulent activities, with most of his own staff having fabricated servitude contracts.

There was also countless gold stolen from taxes—both from the Crown and the people of Dunhearth. Then, when Liam finally tried to find the information on the orphans in this town, he discovered that too had been destroyed, making him suspect foul play there as well.

With a sigh, Liam returned to the temporary holding cell he had made for the butler, Leo. He didn’t bother going to the Lord—the man had been a stubborn old goat and told him nothing—but the butler required very little persuasion.

“Leo, I have further questions,” Liam said as he entered the room, and the man winced at hearing his voice.

“If you answer honestly, you have nothing to fear. Why did you burn the information about the orphans in Dunhearth?” he asked.

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Leo hesitated, looking around…

“Please don’t lie to me. The truth will come out in the capital, and a lie now could mean a harsher sentence later,” Liam calmly explained.

Leo gulped. “Well, we… erm… Lord Falcone recently tried to secure the employment of an orphan.”

Liam shook his head. “By ‘secure employment’ you mean you wished to place him under a fabricated indentured servitude contract, like the others?”

Leo shook his head. “No, sir! Of cour—”

Liam stopped him. “Save the excuses for the capital when you face judgement. You didn’t succeed in burning anywhere near as much as you thought you did. What was the name of the orphan you attempted to enslave?”

Leo looked shocked. “Enslave! We’d neve—”

Again, Liam cut him off. “Enough. What was his name?”

“He was just a cook from a local inn, no one special,” Leo said, waving his hands.

“Name,” Liam said firmly.

“Trevor, sir,” Leo finally said.

“And what exactly did you do to Trevor? Again, I need to emphasise this—do not lie to me,” Liam said with a tone so firm that Leo’s eyes widened in fear.