In the Kingdom of Astravia, there was an urban legend. It goes; If you receive a black letter with the symbol of a white dove, then the Angel of Death shall claim your soul.
* * *
Rumors spread quickly. Before long, in a tavern, they circulated every person's lips. Erick listened calmly as he sipped on his drink.
"Did you hear? The young Grandmaster is being detained," said a man drawing all attention to him.
This set the tone for the conversation, like politics it was another hot topic of gossip. It also picked Erick's interest and he listened forgetting the beverage in his hand.
"You mean the young prodigy? She is almost of age and is not married?"
"I hear," said the first man, "shit went down in Louisiana yesterday, and she is in the middle of it,"
Erick rose from his seat his eyebrows arched and beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. This drew the attention of the others who did not fail to notice the look of agitation across his face. Quickly he regained his composure and smiled nervously then walked away from the group.
"What the hell, why is Jhana under suspicion?" he thought as he walked through the streets, "It doesn't matter, the only question that I should be thinking is "How heavily guarded is she?"
* * *
The Astravian soldiers formed the core of the Nation's military unit. They had ranks awarded to them and anyone could join as long as he passed the basic requirements to join. And, during a time of war, the conscription methods often disregarded the requirements, and people were brought in as long as they were physically able.
(Soldiers had two stars as their Primary way of recognition.)
Above the soldiers were the Knights. Individuals who had proven themselves in a particular field were knighted by either Her Excellency the Queen of the Empire or the Honorable Prime Minister. Most included scholars or veteran soldiers who had earned a fable. A knight's strength was said to be equal to ten men.
(Knights had Crusaders' budges as their primary way of recognition. The Knights' badges were bronze.)
In the Knights, there was a select group that had transcended and were known as Holy Knights. They were recognized by the church and were said to be the equivalent of fifty men in physical combat and all of them were scholars of magic. In the entire Kingdom, an estimated Five hundred holy knights were present.
(Holy Knights badges were Silver.)
The leaders of the Holy Knights were the Grandmaster, and each led a unit of one hundred men, often stationed in different parts of the nation. The total Grandmaster count was five in the entire Kingdom. They all answered to the Chief Commander, Henrick Goldenvilla, this meant that this man had the power to start a war with a small nation and win.
(The Grandmaster badges were Gold and The Chief Commander Ruby.)
The higher one climbed the more Stars and Badges they Carried. All of them were to be worn with the uniforms as a form of decoration for the individual.
The Grandmasters and above were protected by the Constitution and could not be court-martialed. For this to happen all their powers had to be stripped and their crusader's badges handed over to the church. Then and only then was it in the Jurisdiction for them to be arrested.
The ones above the Grandmasters were paladins, their powers were so immense that they were considered almost inhumane, in total there were twelve paladins but, in all honesty, none of them had ever been seen it was speculated that they were not even real.
* * *
Thursday the 21st of September.
As Jhana sat quietly behind her desk thinking, she heard the door push slowly. A tall slim maid walked in. She placed a tray of tea on the table. She was petrified by the presence of the man who sat across from Jhana. His presence encouraged uncomfortable silence in the room. Even Jhana's assistant was seen camouflaged in front of the shelves pretending to arrange the books.
"Miss Helmsman," the maid spoke "I beg your pardon, but do you take honey?"
"Yes, I do," said Jhana as she wondered why the maid asked her that. She concluded that it must have been the fear of the man.
Shaking, she placed her cup on her table, then the Chiefs, curtsied and left.
"Now back on topic, Miss Helmsman." said Chief Henrick," but before that, let me explain how much trouble you are in."
He sipped his tea knowingly and he bathed in the momentary silence. He saw the thin drop of sweat on Jhana's face. Her hands were slightly shaking, and she only looked at her tea. He was trying to milk her of any information she would unwillingly share.
"First don't count on your brother to help you this time, he, if I may say is preoccupied at the moment."
It was true, if her Big brother was involved then all it would take was one letter and the issue would be resolved. Besides Jhana had already figured by now that this may have been an opportunity seen by the nobles who saw her ascension to Grandmaster as an unfair act since she was, first a woman and second young. The choice was hasty.
"There have been reports that you were seen in the Adventures' Guild, most accurately the assassins section. Do you deny?"
Jhana looked up surprised, yes, she had been to the assassin's guild to get Erick.
"I do not deny, but my reason is transparent, I was conveying a message."
"I see . . . But is it not, a suspicion that the Baroness was killed just the night after? More so did you know that the assassin that Killed the Baroness was . . . the Grim Reaper? It was a real mess."
Her eyes widened and she looked up making eye contact with the man. She was about to ask a question but instead clenched her fist and sat back.
"Erick killed her? No way, it can't be . . . " she thought.
In a moment she regained her composure and stared down the gigantic chief. It was as if her Will had returned ten times.
"It may be that she was killed by the Grim Reaper, but I don't see how that ties me to the killer."
"The fact that you set foot in the Guild and the report that we received about sparing an assassin who had attempted to kill Her Deceased Ladyship shows that you are at the core of this!" Chief Henrick broke, then stopped instantly.
Seeing that the questioning was getting nowhere he decided to break. Jhana's status as a Grandmaster was making it difficult for him to conduct a rigorous investigation. She would even decide to walk out, and no one would argue. And her mixed expressions did not make any sense to him.
"If Erick is involved in this somehow, I must never let anyone know," thought Jhana as she sipped her tea calmly looking at the man.
Then she noticed, as she placed her cup down, there was a lumpy feeling below the cup. She placed the cup on her lap hidden by the desk from the eyes of Goldenvilla, then felt the base of the cup. Sure enough, there was a lump, it was soft like wax. She carefully scratched it out avoiding any suspicious movements.
In her palm she held a note, she scratched the wax off with her thumb then in a flash she was able to throw a glance and read the note.
"I AM HERE."
"Anything the matter?" asked the Oldman.
"Nothing, I just recalled I had somewhere else to be at the moment."
* * *
Escaping the Chief was no easy task, but she managed to slip away from her escorts at last in the evening. She hurriedly walked through the halls and opened the door to her study, she was not surprised to find the maid crouching in front of a shelf.
"What are you doing here, Erick?" she asked.
The 'maid' stood and smiled then with a feminine voice said, "Just helping," he then added with a manly voice, "You look like you need it,"
"First, let me say you look gorgeous as a woman you should cross-dress more often," she said holding back the laugh threatening to explode.
"I never thought you're into that kind of thing." he replied, "however while am here I need to stay in character."
Ericks appearance made him look like a pale foreign woman, His disguise made him look less conspicuous it was as though he was another person in the background. She thought and realized why he did not have a very muscular body as his work often needed him to disguise himself in the most unorthodox manner.
"Erick, may I ask, did you, do it?" she asked avoiding his gaze.
"And if I did?" he asked curtly.
"I . . . wouldn't hate you?" she spoke hastily stumbling to find the right words, "sorry to use an accusing tone."
"Do you think I did it?"
Silence. An inscrutable expression on his face. His eyes, however, had a sinister lure in them. She looked into them dazed by their beauty and animosity.
Earlier, he was responsible for attacking the carriage. He was also an assassin. To be frank, in the Helmsman Family there was an unspoken secret, the last son of Aterxerxis was, in fact, the in-famous Grim Reaper. And that last son was Erick Helmsman.
"Should I take your silence for a, yes?"
"No . . . I mean I don't know. But even if you did, like I said, I wouldn't hate you."
A reassuring smile formed on his face for a second, "Honestly I wanted to see if you know me well enough, and if you trust me."
"Did I pass the test?" she asked jokingly leaning beside him.
"Maybe. But tell me, aren't you afraid of what I've become?"
"Hmm, nope. It's as I told you a while ago, I love you, and my feelings haven't changed."
He sighed as he looked at her. Her red cheeks, the awkward smile as she looked away. Fidgeting at the silence, knowing that he was watching her and waiting in anticipation for his next words. She was a girl in love.
"You should be careful, someone wants you dead and I was hired to kill you."
He started walking to the door.
"Will you?" she asked.
"Excuse me," he said turning the lock before exiting.
Jhana slid down against the wall and sat on the floor. She cuddled her knees and looked at the door with a sourer look. Then, she said, heavily:
"I guess he hasn't forgiven me."