Next page on June 3rd

Longer break, I know. I'm sorry. Need the time, though. I'll try to have a steady schedule of pages for you when I come back, though. Thanks for reading, as always.

Page 4101

Bartholomew looked over their small party another time. "Prince David Lumenbel, yes?"

Aha. So he did already know. "That's right," said Hector.

"I can help to arrange safe transport for you and him out of the city," said the captain.

Hector blinked, having expected more pushback. "That would be incredible."

Roman stepped in again. "There's a catch."

Bartholomew eyed him briefly. "No catch. Just time. There is a lot going on, and such arrangements would be necessarily delayed." Then he settled on Hector again. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but if that was so, then he was deciding against it.

"What is going on, exactly?" said Roman. "This 'lockdown' you called it? What's it for? Is the city under attack?"

"You could say that," said Bartholomew. And he pointed at the silent stranger that they'd been trying to talk to earlier. "That man there is an Abolish infiltrator. Hence why I wanted you not to rouse him."

Oh shit, Hector thought. But that did prompt another question. "Why is he not in custody, then?"

"We were hoping to use him as bait," said the captain. "But that does not seem to be panning out, so he will now be taken prisoner, instead."

Ah. Bait. And Hector had just "taken" it, more or less.

Fortunately, the Vanguard seemed to already know that he wasn't with Abolish.

Perhaps Carl Rondel's reports hadn't all been bad. Or maybe he had the Magician of Light to thank.

"Everyone's heard about the attack on Livingston," said Hector. "But that was a while ago, wasn't it? And this all seems more... recent, somehow."

The young captain took another moment to think, perhaps debating how much he wanted to share. "It's Jercash's doing. He's been sending subversives into the city, trying to stir up unrest and cause a mass panic for weeks."

Hector gave a slow nod. "I see. So your response was to just... calm everyone down. Literally."

"Is that disapproval I hear in your tone?"

"No. But I wouldn't say I'm comfortable with it, either."

"That is fair. Truthfully, I've had my own reservations about it as well, but the results are difficult to argue with. Zero lives have been lost since it began."

Impressive, but he wondered if that was really true. "This can't be easy. How long do you guys plan on keeping this up for?"

"At least until all the civilians have been moved to more defensible locations."

Page 4100

That might make sense, he supposed. If aura was the culmination of one's entire self, then having a very different body would probably create a very different aura.

He could imagine that coming in handy against certain psychic or aura-sensitive individuals. Throwing them off their game, perhaps. Hmm.

Moreover, he'd heard that Harper Norez was among the most powerful servants in the Vanguard. Supposedly one of the top thirty-eight strongest. And while he certainly still respected Mr. Norez's abilities--having gotten the chance to see them quite up close and personal--Hector also couldn't help harboring a few doubts about that figure, these days.

The more he'd learned about the Vanguard, especially about Sparrows and psychics, the more likely it seemed to him that there was a very powerful hidden side to the organization. A side that probably wanted certain people to be pushed to the forefront while they worked behind-the-scenes.

Harper was strong, sure, but there was at least one nest of Sparrows working for the Vanguard. And their entire existence was a secret, so they wouldn't be factored into any outward power calculations going on. And Hector had a feeling that there was a lot more at play than just Sparrows, too. There were bound to be human psychics, as well, he figured. Hell, maybe they even had some Hun'Sho working for them.

Not to mention, there were other figures in his memories. The Candle's memories. Figures that he didn't know what to make of.

The intervening silence didn't last that long, even though Hector's racing thoughts made it feel like it did.

"What exactly has brought you here to Andeyal?" said Bartholomew.

"We've come to ensure the safety of our prince," said Hector, feeling like the young captain had probably known the answer to that already and was still just testing the conversational waters.

"You have a funny way of going about that. Unless my eyes deceive me, I see no princes here."

"We're still just trying to get a grasp on the situation," said Hector. "Clearly, something very odd is going on around here, and we'd rather not walk into a trap."

"I see. So you're just wandering innocently around in the middle of a city-wide lockdown, are you?"

Hector folded his armored arms. "I never said we were wandering. But... if we're inadvertently getting in the way of your operation, then I apologize. We just want to get our prince home safe and sound."