Arrival of the Entourage

In the several days that followed, Katherine laid low. The most she did were walks through the courtyards whenever she couldn't stand her dark and cramped room anymore. To Lady Brandon, she disclosed that the courtyards were hardly any better. What she wanted was a real garden. Something green in all this grey and black. After a few days, she almost anticipated the time when the entourage would arrive. At least it would bring them out of this prison of stone and iron.

Then, the entourage reached the wall. Yet it was different from what Katherine expected.

"Lady Balder", the soldier announcing the arrival said as soon as Katherine opened the door, "Your cousin has arrived."

Katherine's heart jumped in her chest, her face instantly draining of blood. "Cou-cousin?!"

She never expected the Duke of Sleipnir to personally come all the way to fetch her. Before the soldier could repeat his words, Lady Brandon pulled Katherine back and banged the door shut in his face.

"Calm down", she shout-whispered and took Katherine's hands. They were cold and trembled like twigs in a storm, the wide eyes alternating between the door and the high-up window. Lady Brandon almost felt like she faced an anxious little ghost instead of her usually courageous friend. It was a very strange experience. "Katherine! Get a grip of yourself!"

"Why is he here?" Katherine's small voice was close to a whimper. She pulled back her hands and cramped them in front of her belly. "What if he knows? Ella, what if he knows of it? He will kill it, he surely will! What can I do?"

"Katherine." Ella's voice was soothing like that of a mother when she held her friend's shoulders. "He doesn't know. Nobody knows besides us and the doctor. The entourage was already on its way here when you were examined. The reason he is here can't have anything to do with the child."

"But why else?" Restless, Katherine's hands wandered up to embrace herself. "Why would he come to me? He already destroyed everything I had once, will he take it again?"

"He can't." Looking deeply into the confused and pained violet eyes, Lady Brandon formed a wild smile that was laced with determination. At this moment she resembled a wolf showing its teeth, shedding the skin of the noble Lady. Suddenly, Katherine could imagine her as the pirate princess she had heard she was. Slowly, Lady Brandon spoke, as if he wanted to crave the words into Katherine's brain. "He can't. You are a princess. The future Queen of the Icelands. You told me yourself that you want him dead, his blood on your hands. With who you are now, you are more than capable to stand up against him. And I know you won't let him take anything ever again. Not your child, not your life, and not even the tiniest bit of your courage. The time to fight has come, will you shy away?"

"No!" The answer was instant. Anger sprang to life in Katherine's eyes. Her spirit returned, and with it came vigor, came hate, and the burning need for vengeance. Her hands balled into fists. "I won't let him take anything ever again. The time to fight has come!"

"Indeed it has." Lady Brandon's smile widened as if to say: 'this is how it should be'.

.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel had assembled his people on this side of the border. They weren't many, and their connection to the main branch had been cut off due to the blocked passage of the wall. However, they were experienced in combat and spying technics like every one of his men, one even proficient in magic. The latter was the leader, a disowned sprout of a dragsean noble house called Dellinger, and he bore even deeper hate against the organization than Nathaniel. He had no qualms about being a tool, as long as it would lead to the downfall of Loki in both the Icelands as well as his homeland, Dragsa. He was also the one who confirmed that Katherine's intel was still correct.

Obviously, the Duke of Sleipnir didn't bother changing the location of his experimental subjects. It was not arrogance though.

Thanks to his connection to the organization, what was once a secret hideout had now turned into a legalized orphanage for 'special' magicians. Mutated magicians. Poor children who awakened through torturous science. Actually, the awakening always took place after the new child arrived, not before.

Secretly watching the big house patrolled by guards from the shadows of the trees, Nathaniel wondered if the building was only for the means of research... or if the children were turned into mindless killing machines here. New soldiers for a war that wasn't far off. And the second question: how many more such institutions were sprinkled all over the country? How about the Icelands? How many children were corrupted without means of salvation?

The depressing thoughts turned the silent group of attackers even quieter. Lowering the binoculars, Nathaniel sighed. Despite the dark veins on one of his arms creeping up to his neck, he looked way better than before, with all his exhaustion gone for good. Sam's sleeping medicine had worked wonders when he was finally left with no option but to take it.

He was sure that this 'orphanage' was way beyond the scope of nine children, but how should he recognize the nine that Katherine knew? And even if he could, he couldn't leave the others here for good. They were children after all.

"Dellinger", he said and braced himself for another dozen deaths falling under his name, "We'll start at nightfall. Your flame will be the light, my darkness the shadow. Divert the guards' attention, but don't burn the whole forest into the ground. Best you make it look like a normal fire at first."

"Always with a handicap", the other man murmured, and a smile crossed his face that rivaled Christine in craziness. Inspecting the position of the guards for a second time, he finally bowed to Nathaniel nonetheless. "It will be my pleasure. Will you take everyone else with you?"

"The brainwashed ones might not want to leave at first, and there are many."

"I take that as a yes", the disowned noble said, and smiled even brighter. "Good."

Everyone but Nathaniel shuddered at the sight, one even whispering under his breath that the psycho was turning wild again. The group's view of their leader had always been on the darker side between fear and admiration. Now that their real master was here, they'd actually hoped he'd tighten the leash. Instead, he loosened it further.

It didn't take long for the fire to spread enough to alarm the guards. It came from the front side, where the forest was the closest to the house. While most of the guards tried to keep the fire at bay with buckets over buckets of water, everyone in the house was evacuated to the barren field in the back, which had some eerily burned and broken training equipment. That was what Nathaniel had expected. Covered by the shadow of the night, his magic was nearly invisible, striking the people in uniforms of guards and doctors without a sound. But the real trouble was not the watchers of this place, it was the children. Powers of different colors lit up everywhere on the barren field, engulfing the young magicians.