“Thern,” Gaius called. “Thern, can you hear me?”

Slowly, Thern opened his eyes. Gaius stood over him, his face a mask of worry. Thern wished it had all been a bad dream. That Hena never died. That he was never recruited into the Paladins. That his life had never turned upside down. Even after all that time in the cell to reaffirm that this was reality, he still woke up hoping this time would be different. Even waking up to the pastel-colored walls of the examination room instead of the cold stone of the cell, he sighed defeatedly.

The fox let out a relieved sigh when Thern looked at him. “You made it. Congratulations, you have officially become one of us.”

“Not yet,” Bayli said. The vixen appeared and grabbed his head before shining a light in his eyes. He groaned in pain and struggled, but she only tightened her grip. The light was eventually turned off and she removed the mouth guard.

Thern flexed his jaw before asking, “What was that for?”

“Shut up.” She pried his mouth open and pointed the light at him again. He wanted to nip at her fingers but being tied to a table made him question that decision. Instead he looked at Gaius. Something about his expression seemed off. He was on guard as if expecting something, and his paw never left the hilt of the weapon at his side.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Thern.”

“Good.” She pointed to Gaius. “Now who’s that?”

“Gaius, the canid who I’m questioning choosing to follow.” He turned to Bayli. “And you’re Bayli, the heartless cunt who delights in torturing the recruits.”

She showed no reaction to the insult and instead placed a stethoscope on his chest. “His memory seems intact. Take a deep breath.”

The moment he inhaled, she stuck a finger in her mouth then shoved it into his ear before slapping him. He twisted against his bindings and glared at her. “What the fuck is the matter with you?”

She studied his face for a moment, then shrugged and turned away. “He’s clean. Now he’s your problem.”

She snapped her fingers and the bindings released Thern from captivity. He quickly hopped up from the table in case it activated again. Now that the pressure was off, he became aware of how much his wrists and ankles hurt from fighting the restraints.

“Apologies,” Gaius said, handing him a shirt to put on. “But we needed to be sure you hadn’t become an Afflicted.”

Thern rubbed the sore appendages as he checked the rest of his body for any changes. Nothing seemed different. “You mean, I could’ve turned into one of those things?”

“Yes, and we would have been forced to put you down. The first and most obvious sign is an uncontrollable temper. That you restrained yourself is a good sign.”

He glared at the back of Bayli’s head as he finally took the shirt being offered. “I doubt I’ll hold back next time.”

“I would refrain from threatening her. She holds grudges and as our team’s doctor, you two will be spending a lot of time together.”

Thern rolled his eyes and quickly dressed. The sooner he got out of there, the better. When he finished dressing, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror on the wall. A flash of white made him take another look before rushing over. A large patch of white fur had appeared on his face, covering his left ear and most of his left eye. “What is this?”

“A side effect of the initiation process,” Gaius explained. He removed his top to reveal a patch covering his right shoulder and most of his arm. Bayli pointed to a spot on her right thigh.

Thern swallowed, remembering the trademark feature of Afflicted was snow-white fur. “Am I going to turn into one of those things?”

“No,” Gaius replied as he redressed. “You are in some ways but in others, you are not. Like them, you are now resistant to the effects of aether sickness, but unlike them, you have retained your senses and your original form. You do not need to fear being a threat or anyone, or mutating into something twisted.”

He recalled the rumors that Paladins were transformed into monsters or lost their feelings but chose not to bring it up.

“It’s your best defense when facing Afflicted,” Gaius added. “While immune to the aether sickness, Afflicted are quite good at spreading it. You should count yourself lucky that we recruited you when we did. Once you progress too far, the process becomes irreversible.”

“Can you explain all of that somewhere else?” Bayli asked, nettled. “I need to clean up and get ready for my next arrival.”

Thern didn’t need telling twice. If they stayed any longer, he might lose his temper and say something regretful. Just being around Bayli made his tail curl. He had been around plenty of hardcore canids who were about as cheerful as tooth removal, but she took the top prize. Once they were back in the hall, Gaius spoke, “I hope you can forgive Bayli. I understand she is quite crass, but it’s not without good reason.”

“Please, everyone’s had it rough at some point. That doesn’t make it okay to take it out on other folks.”

“No, I mean, she does it to protect herself.”

Thern’s ears rose. “Protect herself from what?”

“I’m sorry, but it is not my place to say. It is very common for us to have a past we do not wish to discuss. My apologies.”

“No, I get it. I was raised in New Moon. We know better than to mind someone else’s business.”

“Thank you for your understanding,” Gaius said. “Now follow me, please. We must fill out the necessary forms to complete your initiation and get you outfitted.”

“Actually, could we wait until Liam comes out? I think we should do this together.”

Gaius stopped long enough to nod to his request. “Very well, but I would rather not loiter in the hall.”

Thern started to follow when a large coyote entered the hall. His size was impressive, matching Thern in height and even wider. It came as no surprise when Gaius immediately stood at attention in the yote’s presence.

“Knight-Commander, I didn’t know you were coming,” Gaius said.

Thern didn’t know what the ranking meant but he assumed that the canid in front of them was important so he stood at attention as well.

The Knight-Commander studied Thern with a rigid gaze. “So this is the new recruit, is it? The one from the Royal Guard?”

“Yes, sir,” Gaius replied. “This is one of them, we are awaiting the other.”

“Well, that’s fine.” The large yote offered his paw which Thern shook. “Dismesha Olsen. I’m the big fish here.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, sir,” Thern said.

“Just ‘Olsen’ is fine. So long as you respect the chain of command, I don’t stress the formalities.” He looked at Giaus and sighed. “Something this one still struggles with.”

“I prefer to show the proper respect,” Gauis said.

“That’s good because I have news for you. You’re off the case.”

Gaius impressively maintained his posture but his tail stiffened. “I don’t understand. Has something happened?”

“I’ve been informed that the Royal Guard is still officially investigating and our newest recruits are on their suspect list. As a form of professional courtesy, I won’t send them to strut about the Royal Palace and investigate the very crime they’re being accused of. We pissed them off enough as is. Besides, this is a high-profile case and I would rather not leave it up to initiates.”

Thern tightened his jaw but left it alone. Logically, it made sense. There was no point in rubbing shoulders with the Royal Guard, and it would jeopardize the investigation. And despite his training and qualifications, he was new here. No noteworthy organization would entrust such an important case to newbies.

But this was Hena. Someone who was a dear friend to him. Not to mention protecting her was his duty. It should be him making it right.

“Is there something you want to say, initiate?” Olsen asked.

There was no hint of aggression in his tone, but Thern felt his response shouldn’t change. When his former captain would ask that question, it was always rhetorical.

“No, sir,” he said, fighting to keep all traces of anger and annoyance out of his voice.

Olsen studied his face for a moment as if searching for any weakness. When he finally spoke, it was like being removed from the spotlight. “All right, then. Gaius, I want you to head back to the royal palace immediately and regroup with Cecili—”

“Actually, sir, I wish to make a request,” Gaius interjected.

The coyote’s ears rose but he folded his arms across his chest and let Gaius continue.

“I ask you to assign Thern and the initiate Liam to my command.”

“Oh? You do understand that means you’ll be stuck with their reputation as well?”

“I fully understand.”

Thern’s ears rose as he turned to the fox.

“That’s not like you,” Olsen said, stroking his chin. “Why the change of heart?”

“Simply put, Thern and Liam are strangers here and already word of their reason for being here has spread. I think it would best if they had friendly, familiar faces to assist them in transitioning.”

The yote was silent for a moment as if mulling it over. “Fair enough. They’re all yours.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Thern waited until the Knight-Commander left before addressing Gaius. “Uh, thanks? But why?”

“I believed I had explained myself quite clearly. Life as a paladin can be…difficult to adjust to.  On top of everything else, I believe having a familiar face around will make things much easier. Also, I am the one who recruited you, so that makes you my responsibility.”

“I get that but why do you care so much what happens to us? I mean, you didn’t need to recruit us or any of this other stuff.”

“Think of it as my way of balancing the world.”

Thern had no idea what that meant but he suspected the vague wording was meant as a hint not to pry any further. The wait for Liam was silent but short.  Thern suspected the worst when Auriel emerged first, but the hound followed quickly after. To further prove he survived the initiation, Liam now sported a swath of white fur from his chin to the base of his neck.

Liam took one look at Thern and smirked. “Glad to see I ain’t the only one stuck with one of these damn birthmarks.”

“You have some options to hide yours. I can’t do anything with this,” Thern replied, motioning to the eyepatch.

“I’m glad to see you survived the initiation,” Auriel said. “Now I must get going. I wish you both luck on your recovery.”

Gaius quickly began to explain as Liam and Thern tilted their heads. “Your bodies must adjust to the changes you have undergone. It shouldn’t take more than a few days, but I will not lie to you. There are moments when it will be…unpleasant.”

“So even if we wanted to head out into the field, we couldn’t anyway?” Thern asked.

“Absolutely not. To send you into the field now would be no better than signing your death certificates.”

“In that case, is there a mess hall in this place?” Liam asked. “I don’t know about you but I’m starving.”

Thern said nothing. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a decent meal. But even that realization didn’t distract from his lack of appetite.

That changed when they entered the mess hall. It turned out the Citadel had a mess hall and several trained chefs making meals for everyone. The smells alone made Thern’s mouth water, especially when Gaius informed them that they were free to eat their fill.

It was hard to choose things in moderation. The food looked just as good as what they ate back at the Royal Palace.

Thern and Liam filled their plates with as much as they could carry and found an empty table at the far end of the mess hall. It was only made better when Gaius joined them with three full mugs of beer. No one spoke mostly due to having their mouths full of good food but good times were had all around.

The good feelings didn’t last long. Once their base needs had been met, Thern’s thoughts turned to their current predicament. Every time he looked up and saw the strip of white on Liam’s neck, it drove home that he was responsible for their current status.

After their plates were emptied and they had started on their second round of drinks, Thern decided now was a good time to clear the air.

Before he could speak, Liam interjected with, “So do we live here now or do we have to find our own place?”

“You may find a place for yourself or you may stay here. There are plenty of rooms,” Gaius said. “But you are required to clean up after yourself and be a courteous neighbor.”

“So we even get free room and board?” He set his fork down and leaned on the table. “All right. What’s the catch? Free room and board, better food than most high-borns, and even having your record expunged. So what did we sign for?”

Gaius took a moment to swallow the food in his mouth and take a sip from his cup before answering. Thern felt the fox took his sweet time on purpose.

“My apologies, I did not explain the exact terms to you when I initially recruited you. As the two of you were already facing execution, I was preoccupied.” He clasped his paws together and sat up straighter. Thern’s tail ducked under his seat. “The truth is, you are no longer citizens of Lunaris. You forfeit any claims to land, title, or fortune. We also used to ban marriage, but that has been overturned. However, relationships don’t last long in our line of work. And as we mentioned before, you are both infertile, so you may no longer have pups of your own.

“In return, you are expected to give yourself in mind and body to the Order. Facing Afflicted is nasty business. Very few Paladins live to retire.”

Gaius fell silent as if to let his words sink in. Thern said nothing. It wasn’t much different from joining the Royal Glaives, although, they were still allowed to have families.

“So that’s it? We can never leave?” Liam asked.

Gaius shook his head and took another sip of his beer. “You may leave, but you’ll find employment for ex-paladins to be quite lacking. Again, my apologies for not explaining this in full detail, but time was of the essence. If your infection had been allowed to spread any further, the damage may have become irreversible.”

Thern still wasn’t sure how to react. Even after hearing the terms, he knew his response would not have changed. What difference did it make now? He wasn’t seeing the outside of that cell otherwise and they would have been forced to put him down. At least now, he was in a position to make up for his mistakes.

Liam, however, looked livid. His fur stood on end and his tail curled as he glared at the fox. “So that’s it? We just signed over our lives and have to serve the cause until we die?”

“Is it truly that different from joining the force? Or the glaives for that matter?”

“Of course it is!” Liam cried, slamming a fist on the table. Several of the surrounding canids took notice. “At least with them, there’s the option of leaving! They could have lives outside of the job! Instead we’re just…we’re…”

Thern rose and placed a paw on the hound’s shoulder. Liam slowly slumped in his seat, his ears flat. “I’m sorry. I just…my family’s legacy is shattered because of this. I had plans and dreams, and now you’re telling me I have to give them up. No, I already gave them up, and now I just have to accept it. Look, before you say it, I know I didn’t actually have a choice. Either way, I was dead.”

“It’s quite all right. Take all the time you need to process,” Gaius said.

That seemed to defuse the situation. The canids eavesdropping turned back to their respective tables. But Thern still couldn’t shake the knotted feeling of guilt in his gut.

Before he knew it, the words were already spilling out of him. “Liam, I’m so sorry.”

Liam frowned. “Whoa now. I told you before, it wasn’t your fault.”

“Actually, it was.”

He couldn’t maintain eye contact anymore so he stared at his blurry reflection in the half-drunken beer.

“About two years ago, Andres—the king came to me with a request.”

“Perhaps I should give you two your space,” Gaius said, rising from his seat.

“No, it’s fine,” Thern quickly added. “Besides, you should probably hear this anyway since we’re working together.”

The fox nodded solemnly and sat down again.

Thern took a deep breath and continued, still squeezing his mug. “The king and I are close friends. I knew him even before he took the throne. We spent a lot of time together. He’s always trusted me with…well…everything. And I’ve always trusted him.”

“Well, Thern, I can tell you right now, no one is questioning your loyalty,” Liam said.

“It’s not that. It’s”—he took another breath—“Andres can’t…‘perform’. So he asked me to…you know…take his place.”

He continued to stare into the cup, letting the words sink in. He had just revealed his friend’s biggest secret, something he swore to take to the grave. But the situation had changed now. This was Liam’s mess now, too.

“And you said yes,” Liam said, his voice firm.

“This wasn’t their first option or even their second,” Thern said. “I can’t even begin to imagine how tormented he felt coming to me with this. But that he had, told me just how desperate he had become. I couldn’t just turn him down.”

Liam scoffed, causing Thern to raise his head. “Oh, come on,” the hound said. “There are other ways to satisfy your wife.”

“You would be surprised how easily you took something for granted when you can no longer do it,” Gaius said.

Thern’s ears rose. He hadn’t expected Gaius to come to his defense.

“Yeah, well, I still don’t like it,” Liam replied.

“I don’t need you to like it,” Thern said, holding back his anger. “I just need you to understand. Besides, it’s already done, so what does it matter now?”

Liam looked as if he had more to say on the subject, but he just shook his head and swirled the beer in his mug. “Just tell me one thing. The night she died, did you two--?”

“No,” Thern replied quickly. “We weren’t supposed to do anything that night. I had actually decided to call it off.”

Liam and Gaius’ ears rose.

“You did?” Liam asked. “Why?”

“We were getting too comfortable with the arrangement. It didn’t feel right. It should’ve been him, not me.”

“I see why he asked you,” Liam said. “I know a lot of guys who would’ve said yes without hesitating and bragged to everyone they knew.”

“You are truly an admirable friend, Thern,” Gaius said. “I can see why the king puts so much faith in you. However, this does present an interesting dilemma.”

Thern scratched his ear, utterly confused. “How so?”

“You said your…‘meeting’ with the queen was not scheduled for that night, then how would her assassins know that she would be in the lower levels at that time?”

“Thinking on the fly?” Liam asked.

“That doesn’t explain where the Afflicted came from,” Thern said.

“Exactly,” Gaius said. “Afflicted are unpredictable and unreliable. At best, they would be useful for a distraction, nothing more.” His ears rose and his eyes widened as he looked between Thern and Liam.

It took Thern a moment to realize as well what had just been revealed. “Hena’s death was an accident,” he said softly. “Those Afflicted were there for a different reason.”

Liam was already rising from his seat. “We need to warn the palace, now. Shit! All this time, they’ve been operating under the perfect smokescreen! We have to go there directly. We can’t risk sending a message that will be intercepted.” He turned to Gaius. “You’re not gonna try to stop us are you?”

“We would lose precious time going through the proper channels,” Gaius said. “At least this way I can monitor your condition. We’ll retrieve your equipment on the way out.”

****

“We have our orders,” the guard said. Unkept milk chocolate fur poked out of the neck and sleeves of his uniform. He had to be new because Thern didn’t recognize him. Even not knowing all of the guards personally, he had to have seen him at some point.

It was hard to tell if the guard was being a hard-ass because of who Thern was or if he really cared that much about following orders. Either way, it was a problem they didn’t have time for. The other hound standing next to him definitely knew who he was because she refused to look his way and the only time she did notice him, she wore a scowl on her face.

“We have an urgent message for the king,” Gaius said. “It’s imperative that we see him immediately.”

“Why don’t you tell us the message, and we’ll decide if it’s urgent or not,” the guard said.

“Look, can you just get Sarl, then?” Liam asked, his voice rising. “He’s the only one we can trust with this.”

The other guard regarded Liam with the same disgusted look she had given Thern moments before.  “We don’t take orders from you.”

“Orders will be the least of your worries if you refuse to step aside,” Gaius said. “You interfering with Paladin business. I’m sure your commander told you to cooperate with us.”

The guard rubbed his ear and turned to his partner. “No, I don’t remember getting that order, do you?”

“Not ringing a bell,” his partner replied, shrugging.

Thern growled and contemplated forcing his way in when the doors opened. Any joy at the possibility of things moving forward was quickly dashed upon seeing his former glaive members come pouring out. Each one of them had their weapon drawn.

The last to emerge was Rala. Thern swore under his breath. They had never gotten along. The wolf strutted to the front of the group. Unlike the two guards, her grey fur was as neat as her uniform. Not a single strand poked out of place.

“Wow, you’re even bolder than I thought,” Rala said. “Or stupid. But I can believe both. Now let’s get straight to the point: you and your ‘friends’ are under arrest for treason. Take ‘em.”

Gaius immediately drew his arcblade. The glaives raised their weapons. The combined blue glow of everyone’s arcblade at once hurt Thern’s eyes.

“Treason?” Gaius asked. “On what grounds?”

“I don’t have to explain anything to you,” Rala replied calmly. “Now lower your weapon. I would rather bring you in alive.”

Thern drew his weapon next. “So you can have the honor of torturing us yourself? No thanks. Once in a cell was enough.”

“You should’ve never been set free to begin with.”

“Wait, hold on!” Liam cried. “ We came here to warn you! Someone planned all this! We have reason to believe that--”

“I know someone planned it ‘cause I’m looking at him!” She drew her arcblade. It’s glow joined the others. “Liam, I can believe you’re only trying to protect your partner, but you’re on the wrong side. Stand down, and I promise you’ll get fair treatment.”

“Will you just give us a chance to explain?”

“Lower your weapons then, and I’m all ears.”

“I lower this sword and I’m as good as dead,” Thern said.

“Where’s Cecili?” Gaius asked.

Rala tilted her head then her expression shifted, acknowledging her understanding. “You seem to be under the impression that this is a conversation. Last chance. Lower. Your. Weapons.”

Gaius shrugged and then dragged his arcblade along the ground. A wall of blue flames sprouted up between them and the glaives. Their would-be captors leaped back and began shouting commands to one another.

Gaius spun and ran. Liam and Thern followed immediately. Thern didn’t need to look back to know that the glaives had found a way around the fire wall and were in pursuit.

He hoped the fox knew where they were going because he had no clue. Gaius weaved through the crowd and leaped over incoming obstacles with ease. The surprised screams and demands to get out of the way saved him from looking back to see if they were being pursued.

Eventually, Gaius took a sharp left into a narrow alley. Thern and Liam just managed to slip inside when the fox seized both of them by the collar. Before Thern could process what was happening, the world dissolved into a whirlwind of colors. All sound vanished and it was hard to breathe.

Suddenly Thern felt solid ground under his feet again but he couldn’t catch his balance in time and stumbled into a nearby chair. All his senses activated at once, overwhelming him, and he felt a sudden urge to vomit.

As if on cue, a bucket slid into view. Thern fell to his knees and emptied his stomach. The sounds of Liam doing the same joined his echoing retches.

“Forgvie me,” Gaius said. “There was no time to warn you ahead of time that we were about to attempt teleportation.”

Thern lifted his head from the bucket long enough to see Gaius remove a blackened stone from his pocket. He dropped it as if it burned him. It fell to the floor with a heavy thud, smoke rising from its charred surface.

“To answer your question, we are in one of our safehouses,” Gaius continued. “We have many stationed all over the city in the event of a quick getaway or to station patrols.”

“Great,” Liam said. He leaned back from his bucket and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “So how long before our old friends find this place?”

“I doubt they’ll find us as the locations of these sanctuaries are not shared outside of the Order. To be safe, however, I did choose the one at the furthest distance we could reach safely.”

It seemed Thern’s stomach had relaxed so he sat on his rump and leaned against the chair.

“You two focus on recovering. I must send word to the Order. I doubt the glaives will stop hunting for us.”

Thern didn’t care. His mind was focused on other things. They were branded traitors, one of the worst offenses. Every Cerberus agent would know their names and faces before the week’s end. How could Andres let this happen? What changed in the time that they left?

He punched the floor, cursing that his friend was suffering and he could do nothing to help. Going anywhere near the palace now was out of the question.

A tap on the shoulder snapped him out of his ruminations.

“Do you think our mystery assassin had something to do with this?” Liam asked.

Realizing his face was wet, he turned away to wipe the tears. “I don’t know. I still can’t imagine what happened that we’re public enemy number one.”

“Someone has had it out for us for a while now. First the queen’s death and now this? It can’t just be a coincidence. This is just great. We’re the only ones who can expose the truth and we’ve been discredited in the worst way possible. Pretty damn clever.”

“A little too clever,” Thern replied with a growl.

“Let’s not get too emotional—”

Thern slammed his fist against the floor. “My friend is suffering! Some sick bastard won’t even allow him time to grieve! Don’t tell me not to get emotional!”

“I’m just saying that if we don’t keep a cool head, we’re going to end up like Rala,” Liam said calmly. “This is exactly the kind of chaos they want. I want to find those bastards, too, but I’ll never forgive myself if they get away because I couldn’t be rational.”

Thern growled but said nothing.

“Now let’s go over what we know,” Liam said. He started pacing in the middle of the room. “We know someone snuck Afflicted into the palace and that their goal wasn’t to target the queen. The timing just doesn’t add up otherwise. We know that former members of the Glaives were blamed and were turned into Paladins instead of facing execution.”

“And now those same Paladins are being branded traitors to Lunaris,” Thern finished. “How does any of this help us?”

“It’s more about what their goal is. Assassinating the king maybe?”

“If they can sneak Afflicted into the palace, they can reach Andres,” Thern said. “If they haven’t gone after him yet, I don’t think they plan to. We have to think back to the original distraction. We saw the Afflicted in the lower levels, near the storage. What’s down there?”

Liam stopped pacing and shrugged. “You would know better than me.”

“Because I sneak down there to fool around?” Thern asked angrily.

“No, because you’ve been there longer than me.”

Thern’s ears fell. “Sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“Look, I got my own feelings on your whole…arrangement, but it’s like you said: what does it matter now? Besides, it’s already done and we have bigger things to focus on. So let’s work on finding the bastards who started all this, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay. But that area is just food storage. There’s nothing else of importance down there.”

The hound went back to his pacing. “That seems like an awful lot of effort just to poison the king’s meals. No, that’s way too chaotic for something like that and it would draw the risk of everything getting thrown out anyway.”

“Robbery, maybe? You said you worked for Cerberus before this, right? Didn’t you have any cases where someone tried this?”

“Only after the Afflicted had been spotted. We never had a case where someone purposefully led it somewhere. They’re way too violent for that.” He paused long enough to look at Thern. “Which begs the question of how they got in to begin with. Teleportation into and out of the palace isn’t possible, right?”

“Well, I heard rumors that there was a special gate that only the royal family could use, but no one’s seen it.”

“Even then, it would suggest the king summoned those things and I doubt he would do that.”

Thern struggled to keep the rage out of his voice. “Never.”

“Which brings us back to our first theory,” Liam continued. “I’ve never heard of anyone being able to control Afflicted.”

“Let’s ask Gaius,” Thern said. He winced at the pins in his tail as he stood up. “He knows those things better than we would.”

They found Gaius in the bedroom. The fox paced in the middle of the room, his ears flat, his brow furrowed, and fur on end. Judging from the communicator clenched tightly in his fist, he was talking to someone. Thern and Liam decided to wait patiently by the door.

“Yes, sir, I understand,” Gaius said in a defeated tone. “No, we cannot take that risk… We will do what we can, just remember to act on this information…Thank you, sir. It was an honor working with you.”

Thern’s ears fell at that last remark. He looked worriedly at Liam.

Gaius sighed heavily and sat on the edge of the bed. He looked haggard and drained, accelerating his appearance by several decades.

Thern lightly knocked on the door and said, “I’m guessing headquarters isn’t gonna help us?”

The fox showed no acknowledgment of the interruption. “The situation is”—he sighed again--“ as expected, however, that did little to soften the blow. Is Liam with you? I would rather only share the bad news once.”

“Yeah, I can hear you,” the hound replied from behind Thern. “So how fucked are we?”

Gaius somehow looked even more despondent as he turned to the floor.“We are on our own. The Knight-Commander can buy us time but in 24 hours, we will be officially stripped of our status as Paladins and expelled from the order. We will be marked as fugitives and treated as such. Every citadel will close their doors to us and our descriptions will be given to Cerberus. Lastly, the Judges will summoned to deal with us.” He scoffed as a scowl crossed his face. “Executioners is more like it.”

“Hold on, what about Cecili?” Thern asked.

“There has been no word from her and no one at the palace is talking,” Gaius said. “We can only assume that she has been taken into custody.”

Thern swore and struck the doorframe. “And these ‘Judges’, who are they?”

“A special rank of paladin. Their only duty is tracking down those who betrayed their oath and are on the run.”

“So they hunt down rogue paladins?” Liam asked. “You don’t sound very fond of them.”

“When a Judge is summoned, it is a death sentence, nothing more.”

Thern entered the room. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you saying that they’re just gonna kill us? Just like that?”

The fox nodded and said nothing.

Liam followed Thern inside. “Hold on, we don’t even get a trial? I know the punishment for treason is death, but even traitors get a chance to defend themselves!”

“You have to understand,” Gaius said. “The Paladins are not endorsed by the royal family. In fact, the first of our Order were labeled brigands and murderers. We are more or less a private force. As the only ones specifically trained to combat Afflicted, we cannot afford to have rogue members of the Order besmirching our name. If the Paladins support us in any way, they risk being branded traitors themselves or allies of traitors. That will then extend to anyone who supports us whether it is financially, politically, or even morally. We would be forced to disband, and that cannot happen. You have no idea the horrors that would be unleashed on Lunaris if we weren’t here to keep the Afflicted at bay.”

“I’m sure Lunaris would survive,” Liam said. “Cerberus isn’t stupid. They’d find a way to keep the peace.”

Gaius frowned. “Would it? The rats you two faced were considered among the weakest of the Afflicted. Had it been a remnant or even a collector, neither of you would be here.”

“Actually, about that,” Thern cut in, hoping to keep things on track. “Is it possible to control Afflicted?”

“If such a means existed, there would be no need for Paladins,” Gaius replied.

“But do you know anyone crazy enough to try? We figured that however those Afflicted got in, it had to be someone who knew what they were doing.”

“Perhaps. But I can tell you that no one has ever successfully tamed an Afflicted. As for how they got in, I can only arrive at two possible conclusions: either someone has found a way to breach the palace’s defenses, or the Afflicted were already there and simply needed to be let loose.”

He stood and straightened his clothes. “But that is something you two can discuss while I am gone.”

Thern cut off the fox’s escape. “Uh, gone? Gone where?”

Gaius tilted his head. “Back to the palace, of course. Cecili is likely hiding or being held captive. Regardless, I have no intention of abandoning her in a hostile place.”

“They’ll kill you on sight,” Liam said.

“Then I had best remain unseen.”

“We had best remain unseen,” Thern corrected.

“I will not ask you—”

“I know the palace better than you do and I know how the gGaives operate. You need me.”

Gaius groaned and shook his head. “Very well. You’re in no condition to go out, but I will not waste time arguing when a fellow Paladin’s life is at stake.”

“Good. Because the only way you’re getting around me is if you knock me out.”

“I hope you don’t plan on leaving me behind,” Liam said. “If you guys die, I’d rather not be the only one on the run. Besides, What kind of Glaive would I be if I abandoned my partners?”