Spymaster (9)

When we went outside, we were met by the cold breeze of the night. The moon was hanging high in the sky, surrounded by various stars. The streets were empty, there were no street lights like those back inside the walls. The buildings were also dark, their windows were closed, and their doors shut tight.

Despite my warm clothes, I was still feeling the cold wind brushing and touching my skin, which made me shiver. Yohan and Sera were fine however. The girl had no protection against the cold, and yet she was standing still like it was nothing.

"So, what're we doing now?" I asked Yohan, who was scanning the empty streets.

"we're going back now, of course!" Yohan seemed happy, I guess that was the feeling you get when you finally have a child. "Via the tunnels" he added.

"Wait…through the tunnels?! NO! I'm not going there again!"

He smirked "bad luck your highness, I suppose you would want one of the city guards to find us here? Then report you to your father? It'll be quite the scandal, and bad luck for both of us…"

"Surely there are other routes into the castle, I thought you know everything streetwise Yohan"

"You flatter me, your highness, but no, there aren't any other routes that I know of" He said.

That tunnel had awoken my fear of tight space, I felt trapped there, my senses were expecting the tunnels to collapse at any second.

Grunting, I followed him as we walked through the empty road. The atmosphere here was the complete opposite compared to when we arrived at noon. There were no crowds, no shouting, no stinky smell,it was as if we were transported into another world.

We walked past the market that we had stayed for a couple hours back during the day. It looked like it was abandoned. Empty stalls were lined on both sides of the street and wastes of various kinds were left on the street, but mostly it was food wastes.

"PLEASE Help!!!"

Suddenly, a frail-looking man came running towards us. He was running as if he was getting away from something. His panting shattered the chill atmosphere that enveloped the lower city. Yohan catched his shoulder which made him stop on his track.

"PLEASE SIR! You gotta help me!!"

He dressed like a beggar, nothing more.

"Calm down sir, tell me, what is it"

The old man didn't calm down, as if he was forcing himself to panic.

"A-a killer, sir!! Killer!!"

Yohan peeked behind him, there was no one.

"You sure sir? There's no one here besides us"

"No sir! I saw a killer! You gotta believe me!"

"Really? Let me see it"

Sera was hiding behind me, she was scared when she heard the man scream about a killer.

I followed the two men closely from behind, while leading Sera by tugging her arm. Yohan was unfazed, while the man was showing dread on his face.

"There sir! There!" He pointed at a secluded alley between two tall buildings. Yohan stepped inside, without thinking twice. I hesitated, this was suspicious, but being separated would be worse, so I followed him.

Beyond the small alley was a courtyard. It was clean, there was no one here.

We looked back, the man was nowhere to be seen. Worst of all, the way out was blocked. A large cart was suddenly put on the entrance, preventing us from escaping.

Shadows began emerging from the run down houses that surrounded the yard. They all had weapons, blunt and sharp, clubs and knives. All of them had a smirk on their face.

"Didn't knew it was that easy to trick 'em! HAHA!" Shouted one of the men.

Then, a big man walked in front of them. It was the extortionist from back at the market. The wounds Yohan inflicted were still present on his skin. The man was gripping a large makeshift wooden bat, which was the same size as me.

"Shit!" I cursed while instinctively reaching to my waist, yet there's nothing there, I left Strumnir back at the castle.

Sera was scared, she had a fearful face on her as she tugged closely to me. Yohan back and mine both touched each other as the men encircled us, they wanted revenge.

Yet, Yohan was calm.

"Huh, so this is where you've been hiding"

"Yer trapped ol man! Ye gonna PAY for what ye did tew us!"

Yohan crept a smile on him, then he chuckled like a villain. "I'm not trapped in here, you guys are"

Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw dark figures coming out of the shadows and began attacking the gang members that were surrounding us. The bandits were all confused as their comrades were falling one by one, stabbed and killed. Blood painted the dirt that we were surrounding. Sera gripped my hand tightly, she was shivering.

Then, an arrow head whipped past me and hit directly on the big man's face, killing him instantly.

The figures in the dark made quick work of the gangs, wiping them out and taking their bodies with them. Yohan nodded to them, they nodded back. I didn't think he would have contact with a league of assassins.

He noticed my confused face. "Those people had terrorized these parts long enough. They were never restrained to begin with, no law had ever been placed on the lower city, the city guards never bothered to look beyond the walls. So, we took matters into our own hands"

I stay silent, shocked. There are a lot of questions I wanted to ask him.

But before I could say it, Sera was shivering beside me. Her body trembled as if she was holding it from going on pure instinct.

"Guess the smell of blood was just too enticing for her" Yohan clicked his finger and one of the assassins brought one of the thugs to us. He was healthy, and he didn't have any wounds on him, he was just knocked out.

Yohan then presented the poor fellow's hand to Sera. "You hadn't had dinner yet, Sera?" For the first time Yohan said her name.

"What are you doing Yohan?!" I said, but I was ignored by both the father and his new daughter.

Sera hesitated, but her guard was slowly falling apart.

"C'mon, you'll need this to survive my daughter"

Sera's mouth opened to reveal two pairs of fangs on the lower and upper teeth. She couldn't hold it anymore. Her fangs found its mark on the man's wrist as she started munching it, sucking his blood.

"By the moon…" A vampire, he just adopted a vampire.

Yohan looked at me as he was holding the man's hand so that Sera could feed on it. "Don't worry your highness, I'll keep her at bay, you won't need to worry about her going uncontrolled" He glanced at his daughter for a second before looking back at me. "She is like this because it is the first time she's feeding from someone thoroughly"

I looked at him, blank face.

"Did you plan this?"

"Maybe I did"

"You know she's a vampire! How?"

"Hunting them for a lifetime sharpened my sense to their aura. And this one-" Yohan gazed at Sera, she wasn't listening, only focused on satisfying her hunger. "Her aura is strong and uncontrolled"

"You're a vampire hunter"

"in a previous life, yes"

"What else?" I chuckled, I was out of my mind as my image of the simple gardener faded away.

"Well, I dealt with problems your father never wanted to deal with"

"You spy, kill and torture people" I translated it to a more direct description.

"If it needs to be done" he nodded.

Servants of Calenon Castle often gossip about the Realm's spy Master. They told me that Calenon had no instability whatsoever due to the spy master's effort. Someone who operated and lived in the shadow. It was some sort of a myth, something to keep the people at bay from doing anything illegal, it worked.

No one knows their identity, perhaps only my father held that knowledge. But now, I also knew about it.

"You're proving your loyal to me"

"Sharp as ever, your majesty"

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why me? Why not him instead?" That's the big question, why did Yohan trusted a child and-as far as he knew, a non-magic talented heir over the mage that had experienced ruling a realm? "I'm just a child, and you're swearing your loyalty to me?"

"Don't sell yourself short, your highness. I know the moon chooses you"

He knew?!

He could read my face. "Of course I know, Telùris ran around the temple shouting your name along with the goddess. He was drunk most of the time, but goddamn,

his faith is stronger than anyone I know"

"That fucking priest" I slapped my forehead. Drunkard shouting my name, that could've landed him a spot in the dungeon.

"Crazily enough, a lot of people believed him. We included" Yohan bowed his body to me, all the assassins followed suit.

Sera fell asleep after she had done drinking the man dry. Yohan carried her as we depart quickly from the crime scene. We followed the assassins inside the city. They had set up a rope that was hanging from the wall. The section had no one guarding it, so we had no worry about being spotted. We climbed it and dropped down safely inside Calenon city proper.

The city, even at night still had a lot of activities going on. I saw several night merchants selling various kinds of wares. The temple was still bustling with pilgrims and worshippers praying to the moon. The streets were light up using candles so we had no trouble seeing where we were going, unlike in the lower city.

Bypassing the castle walls were as trivial as last time. The assassins had setup a rope for us to climb, and we entered the castle ground no problem.

"Our talk hasn't finished yet, Yohan"

"I'll answer every question you had, your majesty. But…" he looked at Sera who he had carried the entire length of our journey back. She had fallen asleep soundly. "Not tonight"

I nodded. Satisfied at seeing my first pawn against Runford. This will only be the beginning.

Yohan took a very sleepy Sera back with him to his hut in the garden while I sneaked back to my bedroom in the castle. Luckily, the was empty, my personal servants were probably wondering where I was, but that could wait. My eyelids were starting to get heavy. I dispose the black robe Yohan had given me and fell down instantly on my bed.