Return of the Runebound Professor

“Help! There’s a pervert thief! Stop him!” The seamstress sprinted out the door, a pair of scissors raised in her hand like a weapon. She skidded to a stop as the subject of her pursuit – a stark naked, lanky man with bright red hair – dashed into an alleyway.

Several stunned seconds passed before a burly merchant stepped away from his vegetable cart and nodded in the direction that the man had run off in. “That guy?”

“Yeah, him! He stole almost a hundred gold worth of clothing!”

“I’ll get him, Miss Viya. Don’t you worry. There’s nowhere to go in that alley. It’s a dead end. Go get the guards.” He cracked his knuckles and stepped into the darkness in pursuit of the thief.

The seamstress did as the merchant had suggested, turning and running off to find a guard.

Lee watched from the top of the roof as she pulled her new clothes on, suppressing a snicker as the large merchant reached the end of the alleyway and found nothing waiting for him. He turned in a circle, baffled, but there was nothing to be found.

Nobody would have expected the tall man could move far, far faster than he let on – and they certainly didn’t expect him to climb the trees and transform into a woman. Lee rolled her shoulders, testing out the feel of her new robe.

What’s the big deal with being naked, anyway? Clothes are just armor. People make it so weird.

Lee leapt over to the next building over, then dropped to the ground and stepped out into the street. She strode straight past the seamstress and the guard that accompanied her as they ran back to the burglarized shop.

By the time the seamstress realized that the clothes on Lee’s body looked strikingly familiar and turned around, Lee was gone.

She wove through the dark alleys, Moxie’s instructions still ringing loud in her mind. Time was of the essence. There wasn’t any room for mistakes or delays. If the plan was going to work out, Noah and Moxie needed her to succeed.

The gourd hanging from her waist felt like a thousand-pound rock. Noah had tossed it into an alley that she’d been waiting in as he and Moxie had passed on their way toward Evergreen. Lee swallowed. Noah’s life was quite literally strapped to her side. She didn’t know what would happen if it got damaged, and she had absolutely no plans of finding out.

Lee used the buildings as reference, searching out one in particular – a tall mansion at the south side of the city. It didn’t take her long to find it and set a course, her speed allowing her to arrive in just minutes.

The mansion’s beautiful mahogany exterior barely even drew her attention for more than a second. The front entrance was grand, two expertly carved doors barring off the manor’s interior. There were several guards stationed at it, and none of them looked like slackers. A tall fence ringed the mansion, leaving the only entrance as the path to the front.

Lee sank into a shadow, rising back up on the other side of the fence and beside a window. Her nose twitched as she examined it. The points of her fingers sharpened and Lee hopped, digging her claws into the wood and scaling up the side of the manor toward the second floor, where a window was open.

She drew up alongside it, then examined the window. Delicate Imbuements were concealed in the swirling border around the glass. Lee didn’t know what most of them did, but it didn’t take a genius to guess. If the windows were broken, people would know.

Thus, Lee didn’t break the window. She just cut a hole out of the wood beside it with a sharpened claw. Her hand sliced through the wall easily and she pulled a small chunk free, squeezing herself through and popping out into a green-carpeted hallway.

She pulled the chunk of wood back into place behind her, then stood up and brushed herself off before setting off down the hall, her hair turning a pure silver as she walked. Lee passed a servant, but they took one glance at her hair and turned away, not saying anything.

Lee came up to a fork in the hall and stopped to sniff the air before taking the right path. She continued deeper into the mansion, moving with purpose. There were a lot of scents in the mansion, but one was stronger than all the others – the scent of power.

The skin on her face rippled and turned to brown bark as a wooden mask formed, covering her features. Two horns curled up at its sides. Aside from holes for her to see and breath through, it was featureless.

Her nose led her up to a large wooden door. Just behind it was the source of the scent that she’d been following. A silver-haired guard leaned against the wall beside it, a halberd braced against his shoulder.

Unlike the servant, his eyes narrowed and he straightened when he saw Lee.

“Name and purpose?” the guard demanded. “I was unaware we had visitors.”

“I’m here to speak with Magus Rinella.”

“Who are you?” the guard repeated, lowering the halberd. “Take off the mask.”

“My name doesn’t matter,” Lee replied. “Tell Rinella I’m here to speak with her. She’ll want to see me.”

The guard drew in a breath, preparing to call out. He wasn’t as fast as Lee, though. Her hand slammed into his forehead, driving the back of his skull into the wall behind him. He let out a strangled grunt and crumpled to the ground, the halberd clattering from his grip as he fell unconscious.

Lee eased him to the ground, then tried the doors. They were locked. Her nose scrunched behind the mask in irritation. There wasn’t time to find the key, so she’d have to turn to more intelligent methods to break in.

She reared back and drove her fist into the door. Wood splintered with a loud crash, spraying across the ground on the ground of the room beyond. She ducked under the splintered door and stepped into the room.

A woman sat in a wooden throne, an elderly man kneeling on the ground before her. Six guards clad in more of the beautiful wooden armor stood around the hall, their eyes going wide at the intrusion.

They burst into motion, charging for Lee without so much as a word. She supposed that was probably the proper procedure to deal with a violent intruder, but she didn’t have time for that right now either.

Lee sank into a shadow on the ground, vanishing just as the first of the guards arrived at her side. She rose back up in the kneeling man’s shadow, then promptly shoved him out of the way.

He fell with an undignified yelp, then scrambled away. The woman sitting in the throne looked down at Lee, her expression unreadable. Her features were middle aged, and shimmering silver hair fell around her face.

Like her guards, the woman was clad in Imbued wood armor that looked like it had seen its fair share of battle. Power radiated off her, but she made no moves to rise.

“Are you Magus Rinella?” Lee asked the woman. A guard lunged, their halberd sweeping down for Lee’s neck. Lee vanished, then reappeared in the shadow of the throne beside the woman.

“Yes, I am. Are you an assassin? You’re a bit weak for one. Someone sent you to die.” The woman’s voice matched her face perfectly – cold and authoritative, without even a hint of worry or fear.

I guess she doesn’t have much to fear from a Rank 3. That’s what we’re counting on, though.

“No, I’m not an assassin. If I was, would I be talking to you?” Lee asked. The ground beneath her feet cracked as wooden tendrils shot up to bind her legs, but Lee disappeared once more. She emerged behind one of the guards closest to Rinella. “I’m here for an audience, but the guard at your door was too slow, so I just came in.”

“You killed him?” Rinella tone sharpened, her eyes flashing with anger.

“Nope. Just knocked him out.”

Lee disappeared once more, this time returning to the throne’s shadow. She pushed the guard that had lunged for her over with such speed that he went sprawling in a slew of curses.

“Could we talk? It’s important.”

Rinella raised a hand. The guards froze in place. She snapped her fingers, then nodded to the broken door. One of the guards spun and jogged outside. He poked his head back in a few moments later.

“Jayden is alive, Magus Rinella. Just unconscious.”

Rinella turned her cold eyes to Lee, studying her quietly. “Very well. You have my interest. Why do you impersonate a Torrin? You are not from my family.”

Lee raised a finger. “Could we speak privately? It’s about something you aren’t going to want getting out.”

Rinella’s head tilted to the side. “Why would I indulge such a request?”

“Because I’m Rank 3, and you’re one of the leaders of the Torrin main branch. There’s no way I could ever pose a threat to you, but the information I have can if it gets out.”

Seconds passed. Rinella crossed her arms in front of her chest. “My guards are utterly loyal.”

“To the Torrins. Not to you. Moxie said you’d care about this, but if you don’t mind me sharing it out loud, then I will. It’s your fault, though.”

“Moxie? Evergreen’s lapdog?” Rinella’s brow furrowed. A flicker of interest flashed across her features and she flicked her hand. “Everyone out.”

“Magus Rinella, please!” the old man that Lee had pushed over stood, holding his hands out, palms up. “We still haven’t finished discussing–”

One of the guards grabbed the man by the back of his shirt, then dragged him out. The others fell in behind them, not even uttering a single word of dissent. They obeyed Rinella’s orders perfectly.

Behind them, the wood from the damaged door slid across the ground and rose up, sliding back into place until the hole was completely gone. Rinella leaned forward. “There. Now we are alone. Speak, intruder, and pray that your message was actually worth my time. If not, you will regret it.”

“There’s an Archdemon in Blancwood.”

Rinella froze. “What?”

“There’s an Archdemon,” Lee repeated. “He’s taken the form of a man from the Linwick family. Moxie is bringing him to an audience with Evergreen tonight.”

Rinella’s eyes darted along Lee’s face, but there was nothing to read. The mask made her completely expressionless.

“What a fool thing to report to me,” Rinella said. “Evergreen is the head of the Torrin family. Why would I not interfere immediately?”

“Because you’ve been waiting for a moment to overthrow Evergreen for years. Even though you’re not quite Rank 6, you’re nearly there. The Archdemon won’t be killing Evergreen himself. The contract was only enough for aid, not for it to finish the job.”

Rinella leaned back. Her hands tightened on the armrests of her throne and she pressed her lips thin. “An Archdemon could not kill Evergreen if it didn’t use its full strength.”

“You’re right, but Moxie didn’t have much leeway in the deal she made. That’s her problem to deal with. What matters for you is that Evergreen will be weakened.”

“Evergreen would never let a demon within such close proximity to her. She would know immediately.”

Smoldering ash swam through the air at Lee’s shoulders and formed into a flowing cloak. Energy swirled at her arms and Rinella expression froze in place.

“Are you sure?” Lee asked, tilting her head to the side. Her voice deepened and her tone turned sultry. “You didn’t, Rinella. Why would she?”

Just as quickly as the flame had appeared, it vanished. Rinella watched Lee warily, a spike of wood twisting at her feet like a viper poised to strike.

“Who are you?” Rinella asked. “What’s your goal here?”

“That hardly matters. The choice is yours, Magus.” Lee’s voice returned to normal. “I don’t care one way or another what you do. This is all just part of the deal. Take advantage of it or not. If Moxie fails, it’s no skin off my back. The deal has been struck. It’s up to you on if you want to capitalize on it.”

Lee slipped into a shadow, sliding beneath the door and rising up on the hall on the other side amidst the guards. Before they could react, she sank into another shadow, reappearing once more beside a window and using it to jump to another shadow outside.

Then she was gone, the mansion receding at her back.

Thanks for the help, Azel. It was really convincing.

Don’t get used to it. You repeatedly do everything in your power to get yourself killed, and I am not a babysitter.

You need to learn how to be appreciative. That’s no way to respond to a thank you.

Azel’s irritation faded away as Lee felt his presence depart, returning to Noah and leaving her alone once more. She stopped at the top of a building to scan the city before spotting her next target – another, smaller mansion at the opposite corner of her city.

Lee blurred, slipping from shadow to shadow in a dash across Blancwood. The first part of her job had gone well, but there were still more pieces that had to be laid before her work was done.

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