No good deed

The De Vonder concentrated on looking for as many eggs as possible. One morning, a girl appeared in the mansion of the De Vonder. She didn't try to enter or talk to the guards; she only stood near the main gate, holding a huge egg.

'The Lider of the Vonder family wishes to see you,' said Seron, ordering the guards to open the door.

The girl entered the mansion, guided by Seron, and was taken to Xavier's office.

'Welcome, miss,' said Xavier. 'If you have a dragon egg and stand at our door, I suppose you know we're looking for them.'

The girl nodded, looking at Temma from time to time and blushing.

'How much do you want for the egg?'

'It's not money that I'm looking for.'

'Oh! What can we help you with then?' asked Temma.

'I come from a fallen noble family; I need work; I know how to read, write, and count; I can do the cleaning and other tasks too. I will give your honor the egg if you let me work in the mansion.'

Xavier laughed.

'Can I?' asked Temma, pointing to the egg.

'Yes, of course,' the girl said, handing the egg to Temma, who smiled while holding it.

It was all a relief. With the help of Habdlan and the prince, they had managed to get fifteen eggs, but only five remained alive. With this, they had six viable eggs. Temma drew the egg closer to the fire. The girl turned around again to look at Temma. Xavier was able to see that she was missing an ear.

'What family do you come from?' asked Xavier.

'The Exels. We used to be a noble family; my mother was murdered by the troops of the Veldat kingdom during the invasion, and my father died in the Dragon War shortly thereafter,' replied the girl.

"It's her," Xavier thought. 'I have heard that the present lord of Humol is Efrir's brother. Shouldn't you be with your uncle?'

The girl showed a panicked face; her eyes began to tear up.

'I understand. Forget what I said. You're hired. Seron will teach you everything you need to know,' Xavier said with a smile.

The girl showed a genuine gesture of relief and joy. 'I assure you that you will not regret it, my lord.'

Xavier nodded and rose from his seat to accompany her to the door. "After so much death, I managed to do something good."

A month had passed. The Vonders focused on finding the remaining eggs with little success. Even with the help of the prince, their progress was very slow. One day, while Xavier was alone in his office, someone knocked on the door.

'Come in,' authorized Xavier without taking sight off the documents on his desk. He began to get used to the paperwork of the nobility, at least in a superficial way; he was far from being a decent administrator, but the progress was noticeable.

The light steps made him raise his eyes. The young Natasha was smiling while bringing tea.

'Good morning, my lord.'

'Good morning, Natasha.'

As usual, the girl served the tea and took a sip first. Xavier never drank anything that wasnt tasted by others first.

'Where is Master Temma?' asked the young woman.

'He is out, doing a subjugation mission for the prince.'

'Oh!' said the disappointed girl, making Xavier laugh.

'What are you working on?' asked the girl.

'I'm trying to organize the accounting of the domain; it's a headache.'

The girl placed herself on Xavier's right, trying to see what she was working on. Out of habit, Xavier couldn't concentrate on what he was doing. There had been so many attempts on his life that he couldn't relax near anyone. A sensation of cramp rushed through his neck as the hairs on his skin rose. A gray halo covered the girl. A dagger rushed towards Xavier's chest, which he tried to block. The dagger clung to his right arm.

The girl pulled out the dagger and tried to attack again. Despite the pain, Xavier held up the girl's thin arms and fell to the ground alongside her. The enchanted clothes that the girl wore made her stronger than he was, and her dagger approached his chest slowly. Out of choice, Xavier used his fire magic. A painful burning feeling filled his chest, making it hard to breathe. Xavier withstood the pain and directed his magic to his hands.

The girl shouted as the skin on her arms burned. She dropped the dagger and, by instinct, moved away from Xavier. The office door opened, and Seron entered the room. The girl's screams caught her attention as she passed through the hallway.

As he came in, he saw the girl with her arms burned and Xavier kneeling on the ground, coughing blood as he tried to breathe.

'Seron, stop her,' cried Xavier with difficulty.

Seron looked at the girl, grabbed a nearby jar, and struck her in the head. Natasha lost consciousness. When she woke up, she was naked, tied up, and in a room she didn't know. It was in the most remote part of the mansion. Xavier and Temma were by her side.'You can yell if you want. Nobody's going to hear you, but I'd rather you don't; I don' t like the noise. If you answer my questions, I promise you that I will let you go,′ said Xavier.

'Why should I believe you?' There was no fear in Natasha's eyes.

'This is not the first time I have saved your life,' said Xavier, pointing to the girl's ear. 'I suppose you already know what happened in the past. That night, the Marea mercenary group assigned targets to each member of the team. I asked for the children's room. I couldn't kill you, so I just cut off one of your ears as proof that I had done my job. I didn't want to kill you then, and I don't want to kill you now. I'll ask you again. Who sent you?'

The girl didn't answer.

Xavier took out a small bag full of instruments, pins, needles, and knives. 'Please don't make me do this; we both know you're not loyal to anything or anyone; I know, we're both murderers.'

'Very Well. Although you already know the answer, the most dangerous ones are the closest ones.'

'Let me guess. Habdlan and the prince?' asked Temma.

'You know your enemies,' Natasha smiled.

'Who else knows about this? Who is involved?' Xavier asked.

'My uncle, the current leader of the Exel family, and Sven Van Ferra,' replied the girl.

'Well, I didn't expect that last name,' said Xavier. 'She is all yours,,' Tema smiled, showing her his sharp teeth and licking his lips.

'You promised to let me go,' cried the girl.

'I did,' replied Xavier. 'He didn't.'

'If you kill me, you won't know what poison I used,' cried the girl with a smile as Temma approached.

'I see, that was your real bargain, but I know what poison you used,' said Xavier, licking the dagger that the girl had used.

'We know the giant spider poison from memory,' replied Temma.

Xavier came out of the room while the girl was still screaming. "In the end, I have never been able to save anyone; no one is innocent, not even the children."

Half an hour later, Temma joined Xavier in the office. 'What shall we do now?'

'We will give the prince what he wants. The opportunity to reach the throne,' replied Xavier, smiling as he wrote a letter to Habdlan and the Prince.

Both presented themselves at the house of the Vonder in the afternoon. Xavier told them how that girl had tried to murder him in the daylight.

'Unthinkable,' replied Habdlan and the prince, looking into each other's eyes and pretending to be surprised. "In the end, she was only a girl," thought the prince.

'I don't know who's behind my head, but... ' Habdlan and the prince looked at Xavier inquisitively.

'Your Majesty, forgive me, but I believe that your sister is my enemy,' said Xavier.

The prince's eyes opened in surprise; his face seemed frozen, while he actually hid a smile.

'My dear Xavier, I do not like the fact that you are so formal; we are friends. I understand your suspicions, but do you have any evidence?'

'I'm sorry, Seigmur, but it seemed wrong to me to treat you so closely as I accused your sister of being after my life.' Seigmor nodded as a sign that he understood. Xavier continued with his explanation. 'I have no definitive proof, but the first one to try to kill me was Tamalor, who apparently had secret affairs with Heigdal. After his plot was discovered, the princess made sure to eliminate him. Probably, so he doesn't talk. Now she sent me a girl who pretended to be a noble who fell into misfortune and was looking for a job and who was actually a murderer, although I'm surprised she was so young.'

The Prince and Habdlan looked at each other.

'There are rumors that the princess has her own squadron of murderers to do her dirty work; they are part of the court and work as her bodyguards; sometimes they use children as killers,' Habdlan commented.

'Xavier, what do you know about the first prince?' asked Seigmur.

'It is a tragedy what happened in your family, but sometimes ambition makes a man lose control of himself and turn into a monster.'

'What you know is a half-truth,' assured the prince.

Xavier and Temma looked at him with curiosity.

Then the prince continued his lie. 'You and I are in the same situation. You're not the only one my sister has tried to kill; my head has been at stake more than once. My sister is a soulless harpy. She managed to kill my brother, but she has not been so lucky with me. You've done well staying away from the royalty and the academies. Your relationship with me must be the reason you're a target for my sister. But everything has a solution.' assured Seigmur. "This went out better than I expected; you will bear all the blame, dear sister."

'What are you talking about, Seigmur?' asked Temma.

Habdlan and Seigmur looked at each other again and nodded.

'My sister will not stop until we are all dead. I would prefer not to do this, but I have no choice. I have the support of many nobles, a part of the army, and several of the masters of the smaller academies. But I can't stand up to the titled masters,' the prince said, getting up from his seat. 'As a prince... no, as a friend, I'll ask you a big favor. Would the Vonder family help me fight for the throne?'

Xavier stood up. 'My friend, your enemy is my enemy; the de Vonder family will support you,' said Xavier, extending his hand to the prince.

The prince stretched Xavier's hand and then looked at Temma, who smiled. 'I was still looking for an excuse to fight that supposed fire-titled magician anyway. Uruk will jump around out of joy when he hears that he will finally be able to beat the clown of the winds' Temma began to laugh like a maniac.

"They sure are brothers," everyone thought. Temma's laughter at this time was similar to that of Uruk.

'I will request a hearing with Heigdal; that way, no one will suspect our presence in the royal city. By the moment the masters of the tower arrive in the royal city, we will be ready to face them, and the throne will have already fallen into your hands,' commented Xavier.

The four men clarified a few details and then decided on a specific date.

'In a month,' decided the prince at last.

Everyone agreed.

'But before anything else happens, we must get rid of those involved. It would be very strange if there were no retaliation after an assassination attempt.' The prince recommended.

'I can take care of it, Your Majesty. I will find out who planned this, and I will make sure that they do not see the sunlight again,' Habdlan offered.

'We know that the girl comes from the Exel family, so it is almost certain that they are involved,' replied Xavier.

The prince and Habdlan departed from the mansion of the Vonder. Temma traveled to the jungle of Morr and informed Moger and Uruk of what had happened.

'Xavier wants you to close the business at Orphen.'

Moger cried.

'Any luck with the eggs of Veldat and Orphen?' asked Uruk, who spent most of his time by the cave.

'Nothing. I only found two, but they were dead. Only the army of the dynasty survived the war, so most of the smuggling is here,' Moger replied.

'As far as I've been able to find out, it is unlikely that there will be more eggs left.' A few days later, the house of Exel was attacked by a gang of criminals. There were no survivors. Sven died in agony a few days later, poisoned.

The princess was amazed when she heard the news that Heigdal was bringing; at last, the Vonderes showed some preference in her favor. The days passed without further news, until the day agreed by the prince and those of Vonder came.