Shadowguard

Once he was out of earshot, Leah sighed. "He is very difficult to deal with sometimes."

"You make it look easy," Everna said. She released aching her wrist and climbed to her feet. "He respects you enough to listen. I tell him anything and it turns into an argument."

"Yes, well, it wouldn't be wise to upset the one who stitches your bones back together," Leah chuckled. "Though, I would argue he likes you more than you realize."

Everna snorted. "He has an odd way of showing it."

Leah pulled a face and shook her head. "Unfortunately, with him, relatively harmless harassment is usually the first sign, and he likes to make things...difficult, shall we say? He has a horribly askew concept of social boundaries, though it is quite amusing to watch."

"Perhaps if you're not on the receiving end of it."

Leah raised a brow, a sly grin turning her lips. "Yet you aren't exactly showing signs of being too put off by it. I would even argue that you—"

"He threatened to kill me at least twice." Yet, even as those words left her lips, they felt more like a flimsy excuse.

"Occupational hazard," Leah said. "As I've said before, we weren't sure if you were truly a victim or not. Your resistance, though understandable, was a cause for concern. Perhaps, in terms you'd better understand, your hesitance to cooperate would be the same as hesitating to answer a potentially incriminating question when dealing with the Inquisitors. One would think if you were innocent, you'd do whatever you could to prove it."

She supposed Leah had a point. From their perspective, it might have seemed as if she were trying to impede the investigation rather than assist it. She'd have arrived at the same conclusion if she were in their position.

"Wil was also far more patient than you than he normally would be," Leah added, an accusatory note to her voice. "From what I understand, you promised cooperation and didn't quite hold to your word."

"I said I'd cooperate," Everna pointed out. "I didn’t say that I’d trust him or do everything he said without question.”

With a flourish of her sleeve, Leah waved her off. "That matter aside, it seems Osain believes you're ready for your first assignment."

That gave her pause. "I thought I was supposed to stay here?"

"Osain has his reasons, which I'm sure he'll explain, in some capacity," Leah said, muttering the last part. "He wants to see you in his office."

With another wave of her hand, she beckoned her to follow.

. . .

Before Shadowguard took it over, the safe house served as a lodge for the hunters and travelers who braved the Wildlands. They repurposed the wine cellar into something akin to a training facility and the guest rooms became temporary dwellings for Shadowguard agents and their associates. Everna fell under the latter; she wasn't an official agent, but a temporary addition per her circumstances.

A fact Vina, the snobbish brunette, reminded her of when possible.

Worn wooden stairs connected the wine cellar to the main room, which served as both a taproom and a gathering place. Open and spacious, the taproom was two stories tall. A wide balcony, which stretched to cover a third of the overhead space, comprised the second floor. A haphazard mess of tables and chairs littered both floors.

Everna rarely found anyone in the main room during the day. The handful of agents currently stationed at the safe house — which was significantly less than usual, Leah had told her — were out on assignments, many of which were in town. Only Leah and Vina remained behind. Osain kept to his upstairs office, and Wil handled the more minor affairs in his stead.

Said office was located directly across the hall from her room. The door sat ajar, offering a clear glimpse of the room beyond. Nearly four times the size of the guest rooms, Osain's office dominated the eastern corner of the upper floor. Massive shelves rose from the floor and stopped short inches of the ceiling, stuffed with books and tomes, took up most of the walls. An ornate rug, patterned with swirling lines that resembled a mess of delicate vines and large flowers, covered the floor. It was a popular style in the Kingdom of Anwell; art déco, they called it — a style presumably stolen from a kingdom in Indaria, which they paraded as their own.

The wall behind the desk sported an array of trophies, mounted weapons, and trinkets. Plain curtains, decorated with strings of colored beads and shiny scales, framed the window. A pair of odd talismans hung from the curtain rod.

Vina sat in a plush armchair in front of the desk, her back stiff as a rod and nose turned to the sky. She glared at Everna from the corners of her eyes, her lips pulled back in a sneer. A slightly blonde occupied the chair beside her, her hands folded so tightly in her lap that her knuckles bled white. Lisette seemed no more pleased than Vina with her arrival, though, she was far less vocal about it.

When she wasn't speaking with her brother behind closed doors, that was.

From his seat behind the desk, Osain released a heavy sigh. "Finally. Now I can get this shit show over with."

"Apologies, Osain," Leah said, "I would have brought her sooner, but I had to placate Wil's temper first."

Osain waved her off. "He can complain all he wants as long as he does what he's told."

With a soft hum and a shrug of her shoulders, Leah retreated into the hall once more; the door clicking shut behind her.

"Now," Osain said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "The three of you—"

"I am not—" A frigid glare from Osain stopped Vina short.

"You're going to do what I tell you to do," he snapped. His hand hit the desk, the assortment of glass trinkets rattling. "You've been overstepping your boundaries lately, Vina, and unlike your previous handlers, I won't tolerate it. You can either get over yourself or get out."

The barest hint of a sigh escaped Lisette.

Vina's cheeks flared with indignation, but she remained silent.

Once he was certain there would be no more protest, he tossed a small map onto the desk and pointed at a location some miles west of the Nivfell Forest. "That is Windhollow. One of our informants in Anwell recently came into vital information regarding Shroud. Last I heard, they had several agents on his tail. He's desperate to pass off the information before they catch up with him. You're to meet with him, collect the information, and come straight back."

After a pregnant pause, Lisette asked, "With all due respect, Osain, are you truly trusting someone who isn't one of our own with sensitive information?"

Osain's expression darkened and for a moment, she swore she felt the temperature of the room drop several degrees. The shadows drew longer, more menacing, almost as if encroaching upon the dim candlelight that illuminated the office. Vina and Lissette likely noticed it as well, the both of them stiff with apprehension.

Everna, who often dealt with her mother's temperamental outbursts, merely pressed her lips into a thin line. Osain had given her the impression of someone far more dangerous than he appeared, and this only confirmed her suspicions. Either he was more bark than bite, or Lisette wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

She suspected it was a bit of both.

"I'm only going to say this one more time." Osain s propped his elbows on the desk, his fingers steepled. "This 'one of our own' shit needs to stop. Now. Shadowguard regularly works with people outside of the organization and many of them in Everna's position. The next time this becomes an issue, I'll strip you of your badges and send you straight to Alund for retraining, since you clearly weren't paying attention the first time."

Lisette's shoulders tensed, her head dipping low as color flooded her face.

Osain made a noise at the back of his throat. "And the brass wonders why I hate working with rookies. You leave at first light tomorrow. Vina, Lisette, you're dismissed. Go get ready and keep the complaints to a minimum. Everna, stay here."

With a dramatic flare that an actress would envy, Vina shot out of her seat and stalked for the door.

"Don't think you're anything special," she hissed. "Filthy common rat."

Lisette left with far more grace, though Everna didn't miss the slight narrowing of her eyes as she passed.

Once the door shut, Osain relaxed. "If those two give you any trouble, you're more than welcome to knock some respect into them."

"Don't tempt me," Everna grumbled.

"Oh, I wasn't tempting you. I'm telling you to.” He motioned to the empty chairs. "Lisette means well, and being guarded isn't necessarily a bad thing in this line of work, but she takes it too far. And Vina? That brat could use a few blows to the head. Might actually fix something."

Everna took the seat Lisette vacated, sinking into the plush lining. "Vina, I won't argue with, though I don't think there's enough upstairs to bother." At that, Osain cracked a smile. "Lisette, however, has a point. Even more so considering I'm not an agent, and I thought I was to remain here at the safe house."

"I have my reasons for sending you, and that's all that needs to be said. This matter involves you anyway. Allegedly, this informant has the answer to one of our more pertinent questions: why Shroud wants you dead."

Everna's brows rose.

"Whatever threat you pose to them is so great that rumors are flying about even the lower ranks. It may be just that, a rumor, but it's better than nothing."

She released a sigh. Though she still hadn't a clue what an organization like Shroud could fear from her, the prospect of finally receiving an answer left her with a sliver of hope in an otherwise bleak situation. She may not like what she learned, and it might not help her legal situation, but it was an answer.

Those were in short supply these days.

"Normally we wouldn't have to go this route," he continued. "We have ways of relaying information quickly, but there are risks associated with them. The informant insisted we do it the old-fashioned way. Get the information, burn the evidence, and leave Shroud none the wiser."

Everna peered at the map once more. Judging distance on paper was difficult, especially without a legend. The dot representing Windhollow lay several inches from the tree line, but to her, that meant nothing.

"How long is this going to take?"

"Five days at the most, if all goes well," Osain shrugged. "Windhollow's only a day and a half west of here, but the roads through the Wildlands aren't safe. You'll undoubtedly run into a complication or three along the way."

She'd never heard of a civilized settlement in the Wildlands. Most remained within the individual kingdoms scattered throughout the region, where local authorities defended the lands from the orc tribes, goblin hordes, bandits, and other dangers that plagued the unclaimed parts of Trellan. Pendel saw glimpses of those issues from time to time, but the Guard ensured it never spilled too far over the border.

Though, she supposed she couldn't know what lay in the Wildlands. Beyond her three years in the capital, and her brief trip back nearly a month ago now, Everna had never left Pendel. The night she arrived at the safe house was the first time she'd ever crossed Inverness's borders.

"Is there anything else I should know?"

Osain considered her for a moment, his gaze calculating. "Wil tells me you're both extraordinarily preceptive and exceptionally intuitive. Trust your instincts and don't let Vina and Lisette convince you otherwise."

"Somehow I doubt he said that."

A snort of amusement escaped Osain. "His exact words were 'she could spot a gnat on a pile of shit' and 'she has an annoying habit of knowing what's going to happen before it does'."

Everna couldn't help but roll her eyes. "He has such a way with words."

"You get used to it," Osain said, shrugging once more. "And I hope you've been paying attention to what he says. Out there, you'll need it. Now go on. Leah will help you prepare."

She rose from her chair, but no sooner than she reached the door, Osain called after her.

"And Everna? Just know whatever happens out there, it's meant to happen."

With that cryptic warning, Osain dismissed her.