47th of Season of Air, 80th year of the 32nd cycle

  Newt watched round after brutal round until the only ones left were the Swordpeak royal family’s strongest group and Dandelion. Sleek and Northstar narrated the competition, the former trying to make poor jokes, the latter offering many odd and useless tidbits, but also important information, such as placement calculation. Between its two teams, Explorer’s Gate had taken the twenty-first place, a decent, if a bit disappointing, result for Newt.

  While his brain processed the various placements, his eyes remained glued to the magical broadcast, an unyielding team and a casual individual fighting for the first place. Dandelion looked like he didn’t even take the event seriously, chasing and wiping out the saurians without even struggling for breath.

  The final placement was naturally already decided. Since a team’s spot was decided by average results of all groups making a team. And nobody could beat a team of one, even if the one in question won the second place. Not that Newt thought Dandelion would place second.

  During the next wave, the royal family lost three of its members, which over two more rounds of frenzied running and plugging holes cascaded into breached walls and annihilated civilians inside their fortress. Dandelion was the victor of the second event. For the first time ever, an independent mageknight had won an event. And in the first one, he had placed second.

  “Let’s go celebrate!” Dandelion shouted like a real airhead, completely ignoring the announcer as she screamed about the unprecedented situation.

  Newt bit his lip before making his way to Dandelion. His gatemaster had given him a suggestion, and suggestions from exalts were no different from orders.

  “Do you mind if we take the rest of my order with us?”

  Dandelion raised an eyebrow. “Ah, I see, now that you’re not paying the bill, you want to bring more people?”

  “Me too!” Maelstrom chirped in with a grin. “I want to bleed you dry of manarium.”

  Dandelion rolled his eyes. “Kids these days. Fine. Send someone to invite the Everfrost Order and Highpeak Pavilion.”

  Newt enjoyed the second visit to the tavern much more than the first. Dandelion commanded everyone’s full focus, and unlike last time, nobody really paid attention to Newt. Nobody except Maelstrom.

  “So, you had to watch three lanes on your own, and even managed four for a while.” She smiled, perfectly sober. “You need to get yourself a better order, perhaps royal patronage. Your talent is wasted at anything below leading a ducal house.”

  “I am happy where I am.” Newt recognized a poaching attempt when he heard one. “The order has invested in me. They saved my life more than once, and I am indebted to them. Morally.”

  Newt found it crucial to state that he was solvent.

  “You would be better positioned to return that favor as a royal family’s chief of guards.” Maelstrom bluntly pushed the matter through Newt’s rejection.

  “Thank you, I’m not interested, really.”

  Maelstrom nodded. “Good. I promised our chaperone I would try to talk you into changing roofs and see where you stand. While it would be interesting to have a pumpkin join the Tidebreaker household, I believe loyalty counts for something. Explorer’s Gate isn’t a destitute force. They can afford to raise you to the tenth realm, even if their effort would take longer than we would have taken.”

  Maelstrom said her piece, but instead of leaving, she lounged next to Newt, sipping on a cup of wine, glancing towards Dandelion every other minute.

  “Are you waiting for something?” Newt asked, feeling like Maelstrom was using him as a cover for her spying.

  “I am, and it should begin soon.”

  Whatever it was Maelstrom that was waiting for, it did not start soon. Newt ravaged the spread delicacies and drank tea for half an hour before the hostess approached Dandelion and whispered in his ear.

  The man smiled cordially and nodded before standing up. With some smooth words, he excused himself from his audience and headed towards the rear part of the restaurant.

  “So it begins.” Maelstrom covered her lips with the cup while saying the words.

  “What?”

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  “The recruitment offers. Everyone has witnessed his prowess. Now those with power have completed their investigations and know his full potential.” She placed the cup on the table, the click lost in the room’s drone. “I extended an offer back when we first met, years ago, but he refused without hesitation. Sadly, things will change for him after the tournament. If he rejects all ten royals, someone will have him assassinated. Probably multiple someones.”

  Maelstrom looked Newt in the eye. “He holds you in high regard. Could you speak with him? Tell him about the danger. He just laughed it off when I warned him. I’m not sure what he thinks, but he can neither escape nor survive an eighth-realmer’s assault. Tidebreaker can declare him a friend, but it won’t deter the others from eliminating such a powerful free agent. And Grandfather won’t start a war over an outsider, no matter how highly either one of us thinks of him. Dandelion’s only options are to join a royal household or to enter imperial service, which is even more restrictive than joining us.”

  Newt’s skin crawled as Maelstrom spoke. His big brother was in danger, and there was nothing he could do to help him.

  “What if he joined Explorer’s Gate?”

  Maelstrom shook her head. “Too weak a force, and if he enters, some royal’s vassal would declare war on you once your imperial grace ends and have him killed in the field. No, not even the dukes have the power to keep Dandelion safe.”

  Dandelion returned to his seat, his smiling face unreadable as he picked up the conversation where he had stopped. He looked in Newt’s direction and winked at him and Maelstrom.

  “But he’s a respected member of multiple guilds, surely the royals wouldn’t dare do anything to him. Don’t they fear censorship?”

  Maelstrom looked at Newt as if he were a child spouting nonsense. “Dandelion will just disappear without a trace. Nobody will find a clue, nor know who had done the deed. Especially considering there will be multiple forces working on his demise. The only thing keeping him safe now is his status, the imperial observers, and the fact that all ten are still trying to recruit him. He can dance about the invitations and avoid them for a moon or two, but anything past that would see him dead. Even in an imperial city.”

  Newt’s jaw dropped, then the hostess approached Dandelion again, and he followed her with a serene expression.

  “Talk to him. He admires you and thinks very highly of you even though you’re a kid.”

  “And you’re so much older than me?” For some reason, being called a kid over and over again by a girl who looked not a day older than him grated at Newt’s nerves more than the compliment soothed him.

  “How old are you?”

  “Soon to be thirty-eight!” He didn’t look a day older than sixteen, while Maelstrom looked a year younger and acted her physical age.

  “I’m forty-one, you’re a kid.” Despite her words, Maelstrom’s voice was free of condescendingness. In fact, it turned gentler. “You know nothing about larger politics, what the powerful are willing to do or sacrifice to stay in power. Even I only have an inkling of it, despite my status.”

  Newt caught a hint of sorrow in Maelstrom’s eyes, and she no longer seemed like a hellion, as Dandelion called her, but a vulnerable young woman disappointed with the world.

  The conversation died down, and Maelstrom sat next to Newt, sharing a comfortable silence as they watched Dandelion return to his seat only for the hostess to call him again after ten to fifteen minutes over and over again.

  “They could’ve had the decency to come all at once and let Big Brother enjoy his evening.”

  Maelstrom chortled, her face slightly flush from all the wine she had in the past two hours.

  “That should be the last one. My family won’t approach him.”

  “You’re not interested?”

  “We are, but instead of an unfamiliar master or grandmaster, I’ll talk to him. I know he will refuse, but I still have to talk to him and warn him about the consequences of his refusal.”

  “Which one do you think he should join?”

  “Swordpeaks or Diamondsouls. They can protect him from anyone short of imperials coming to attack him. Even if you disregard his combat prowess, Swordpeaks would welcome a young blacksmith at Dandelion’s level. Diamondsouls should be an obvious pick, but I’m afraid. Underneath his easygoing manner, Dandelion is a hard, unyielding man. Stubborn. He might refuse all of them and to hell with the consequences.”

  Dandelion once more entered the room, but instead of heading to his seat he approached Newt and Maelstrom.

  “Well,” he said, “it’s about time you gave me your offer, Your Royal Majesty.”

  There wasn’t a hint of mockery or resignation, and the cheeriness made Newt think Dandelion liked Maelstrom more than the girl deserved. Then again, he could say the same about himself. He was unworthy of Dandelion’s friendship and all the favor he had bestowed him.

  “Tidebreaker offers you access to resources on par with those granted to ninth realm grandmasters, and a stipend three realms beyond your current needs until you reach the sixth realm, after which we would renegotiate the terms, based on your results.” Maelstrom looked at Dandelion with teary eyes. “Please, accept any offer. You have no idea what would happen if you rejected them all.”

  “If I reject Firesahun while dancing around finding a backer, they would assassinate me three days after the tournament. Diamondsouls would kill me on the fifth day.” He speared Maelstrom with a gaze of steel. “Tidebreaker would have me killed on the seventh day.”

  “I would never—” Maelstrom started, but Dandelion raised his hand.

  “I know you wouldn’t, child, but what matters is what your grandfather and his ministers would do. And you know the answer to that question.”

  “You have the sight,” Maelstrom mumbled, her head dropping. Then she nodded. She knew Dandelion’s words were true.

  “Is there anything I can do to help, Big Brother?”

  Dandelion shook his head. “No, but I appreciate the sentiment, and Mel, I know you would never hurt me, but politics and the needs of the powerful trample the common man, their love, and their gratitude. Don’t worry yourself, I am aware of how grateful you are.”

  Maelstrom looked up, a wretched teen at the verge of tears.

  “You should commit this moment to heart, and recall it one day, in the distant future, when your own child or grandchild is in your shoes.”