In the novel, even though Hansworth thought he'd dealt with them, he hadn't found the hiding spots in the capital. He hadn't found potentially hundreds more hiding spots in other cities. How about the rest of the continent?
There was something really big going on with this kidnapping thing. And the assassin's guild was behind it somehow. They were really starting to get on his nerves. Rayne's suspicions that they might have been found out were almost entirely accurate.
He'd found no less than five assassin scouts watching rhe street he'd commissioned the building in. Even though he was being careful not to use his witch factor, his mana had no problem. Killing these unsuspecting idiots was no task.
**************
When he and Rayne had entered the subbasement room to lead the children out, they'd sat huddled in cocoons of their own kind, and they flinched whenever he turned his attention to one in particular.
There was this one boy though. A wolf shifter, from the way he beared his teeth and growled low. He sat in front of his pack, and stared at James with defiance. The younger pups just huddled together and whined pitifully.
If they were this scared though, why had they not made a ruckus. Rayne had told him that even her extended presence still caused them anxiety somehow. He hadn't been present when they'd rescued them, but now he wished he hadn't told them to just kill all the kidnappers.
Where was all this rage, this righteous indignation going to go now? What if it had been Nino and Eno in this situation? Then a stray thought reached his mind once more.
It had been them. They'd just been lucky enough not to be held too long. He gritted his teeth to keep from shouting in frustration, clenched his fist, tried to restrain his shaking body. He took a deep breath, another, another.
Then he turned away without preamble.
"Can you get them to come out, Rayne?"
He nodded at her confirmation, then briskly matched out. At least they were going to be staying in the open air again in a few hours. Too bad this new place would surely have bad memories for some of them.
He'd picked a place he'd known would probably be empty by now. A village not too far from the capital. The people there didn't know it, but on the fringes of their village lay another.
Or they knew it, but they mostly believed it to be rumours and myths whispered to them by the hearth. Jason had gone there though.
He'd gone searching for wolf shifters, wherever the rumours took him. When he'd finally found their hidden village, their had only been one boy of about fifteen, and he was digging.
Digging graves to bury well past expiration corpses, and a few fresher ones too. He'd said their village had been attacked at around the time the royals' convention happened. They'd been broken this much in a few weeks?
They'd likely seen their families die. James took a heavy breath. Then he imagined young Lily, even the upright Crest who was only a few years younger than him.
At least he shouldn't let the kids see them again. He would bury those bodies before he let the kids out of the gigantic wagons. Then he'd try, even if only a little, to bring back a little light into their eyes.
A small hand touched his own and squeezed. He looked down. Nino watched him with sad eyes. She didn't say anything. Just stood there with him, and together they looked forward and watched the smog covered sky. Then he sighed, got back into the moment.
The plan had come as no more than a spur of the moment idea, but that's just how this whole mess was. It felt like everything he'd achieved do far was no more than him throwing a few tantrums in reaction to what was thrown his way. He was always just reacting. He sighed.
'You can fly the whole wagon load of them, can't you?'
'That is child's play!' It had replied with what sounded like a snort.
'Good, good. Then you won't mind three?'
'What?!'
'And you'll be carrying me too. I can't use my own power yet, and those kids can't stand me.'
'I'm not doing all that, human.'
'And you'll have to locate a certain ward while you're at it. I'm almost certain its a dark magic ward, but it may have some hint or other of light.'
'Are you listening? I'm not going to do it!'
'Fine, then. I guess I'll have to try and push my divine treasure beyond its capabilities. I wonder what will happen to our bond if my witch factor breaks.'
'You're not supposed to use it. Please, don't use it.'
'But we need those kids out of here. There is going to be a battle.'
The mental link was dead for a few moments. The first group of children moved through the shadow hidden door. They entered one of the wagons.
'But I can't... I've never done such a thing. I don't even know how to find a ward.'
He spoke out loud. "You can do it, little black. You are, or used to be a dragon after all. All you need to do is break through your fear."
He thought the little floating orb of darkness might have gotten a little bigger, a little darker.
*****************
Jason had decided to linger in the city after his mission was over. Truth be told, he didn't even know what they were doing. He hadn't asked questions. Why were they putting magical tools even he didn't know anything about in the most crowded places?
What if, just what if James Halden was the villain here? He hadn't thought to ask. He owed the young noble, although James had insisted otherwise. But why had he blindly taken on the assignments he'd given him?
Why had he...no, why was he thinking of serving the man? Trust, James had told him. The whole operation, everything was predicated on that one word. Yet if James trusted them all back, he'd never said. He hadn't told them about what to expect, just what to do and not to do. Did James Halden really trust anyone but himself?
He didn't even know why he'd flown off the handle. Why he'd spoken out like that. It had felt like the natural thing to do, but...
Now he felt like shit. But how even had James known what he did? How did he know all the things he did? That was the kind of thing villains did.
So in the end, trust. James might have been right. Jason didn't trust him. Or maybe he didn't want to trust him. He scrunched up his face. Thinking, self evaluation, reflection. All things he hated with a vengeance.
He wished he had something to punch. Although the only thing he wanted to punch now was his face. He didn't even want to punch Hansworth when the other young man somehow ended up walking by his side.
They were silent for a block, two, only their gaits making the noise. Then it was too much. He couldn't stay in his head no more.
"What do you want, Hansworth?" he ground out.
"Your behavior today," the other young man said. "It was unacceptable."
All Jason could do was laugh bitterly.
"What exact thing, though? It was a somewhat long day."
"I didn't like it when you smacked the young master earlier, but he didn't think much of it, so I let it slide."
"Oh?" Jason was truly surprised. "Is that all?"
"You know it can't be all, you idiot!"
Jason stopped at the warning in the other man's tone. He wanted to grin. He'd been spoiling for a fight anyway, and fighting Hansworth had its appeal.
"Who're you callin' an idiot, Hans?" growled Jason.
"You are an idiot, idiot! The young master knows things. Its a fact I, and perhaps all the mercenaries who've known him longer than you have come to accept. Even Mary has had no choice but to adapt.
"He knows things, and he only reveals them when he wants to. He always has his reasons."
"That's a load of crap and you know it. What is this, some kind of new cult?!"
Hansworth shrugged. "Perhaps. But listen, recently, he revealed to those of us in the know that prince Mikhail is involved with the revolution. Why then does he so callously reveal prince Mikhail's plan to the revolution, yet he is a part of it?"
Jason blinked, his mind not quite following.
"It is useless information, you dolt. But the organization is pacified and kept off Talia and the others' case. The information is useless in and of itself. In simple terms, if the young master doesn't intend to save the woman, then her and her family are already gone."
"And you're okay with that?" Jason asked.
"The young master has a bigger mission than to save one noble house. If he says its not worth it, then it is not."
"You are blind Hansworth. You are a fool, like a lamb being led to the slaughter. You are like a damned fanatic, only you worship a living man. That is madness, I tell you."
"Maybe it is. But I have another word for it, trust. I, who had thrown away my sword have picked it up again, because I met him. I feel them, sometimes, the screams swords have wrought in my hands, the tears, the wetness of blood. But then I think of the good I've done, the good I'm yet to do. Protecting him with my life is the best thing I might ever leave to do. Giving him my unimpeachable loyalty is a worthy cause.
"And you, who are skeptic. What great cause shall you dedicate your life to? I pray it is worthy. Like the young master said, you're only with us temporarily. There is no need for you to shift your stance. There is no place at his side for those with weak resolve. Even the children know this."
Then he was gone, Jason staring after him, his mind rejecting the ideas Hansworth had tried to plant in it.
*****************
The dragon spirit had disappeared after it had taken them through the wards. It'd exhausted itself, it said, and then flew straight at James. He'd startled and tried to swart at it, but then it had found its way inside him.
He'd also pushed himself this journey, maintaining an invisibility spell on over three large wagons. Now he was wondering how he and Rayne were going to get back to the capital.
He had to deal with the damage first, though.
"You can use earth magic, right?" He started to turn around. "We need to bur—"
He clumped his mouth shut, his body going rigid as hers had. It looked like any regular small village. Small houses, some stone, some wooden, some tiled, some thatched.
Except there was too much black. And dark red too. The place was in shambles, but what was worse were the abandoned corpses, mutilated beyond—
The princess was on her knees, her guts emptying loudly on the burnt grass. Even with the ward, James wondered how the neighbouring village hadn't noticed.
In truth, this was where the demi human cull had started. But as always, the hero had only gotten into things when something noticeable had happened.
James had seen many wars. Heck, he had gone to war on multiple occasions. It was one thing for two or more groups of armed men to clash, well knowing a few of them will die at the end of the day.
It was quite another to attack a settled community, people minding their own business, killing them for whatever reason. This kind of mass killing, terrorism, he found cowardly. It had left him sick too, the first time he'd gone onto a sight.
Now he was more or less used to the sight. Used was the wrong word though. You couldn't, shouldn't, get desensitised towards disasters. Otherwise then what different are you from those same monsters who did this?
Someone had told him that once. He still thought fondly of his old senior partner.
Now though, he had to be the stronger person here. There were children, and they shouldn't have to see this. Soon though, the great forest the elves lived in would be threatened, and so too the underwater empire. He didn't think there was any mermaid here, but he'd heard something about a whale shifter.
He helped Rayne to her feet, her eyes still running, her mouth less than lady like. He wiped her off with a clean handkerchief. And when her legs threatened to buckle, he held her more firmly.
"What do you feel?" he asked.
"I don't know! The smell! The indignity of it all! And they did it right in front of the children! Don't you feel it, too?! How can you not feel grief right now?"
"Because I didn't know them. No, wait, I'm not done. I didn't know them, so I don't feel grief. What I feel is anger, hatred, a need to find justice."
She stared at him for a few moments, then she stared away.
"I think, maybe I feel that too," she said at last.
James nodded in approbation. "Good. Good. Now let's channel whatever emotion you think will help. Anger, grief, or whatever. The first thing we need to do is clear away all the bodies. Do you think you can dig us up a pit?"
She nodded, a resolute look taking her face. James nodded as well.
He had planned not to use his witch factor for a while, but he needed the speed. And he was going to strain it.
He was panting by the time he'd finished carrying, at very high speeds, about five corpses per trip. He couldn't count the number of trips. He'd had to lighten the corpses up.
One had been the corpse of a girl barely almost his age. He'd been unable to avoid vomiting that time. Maybe it was his witch factor breaking up again.
"Can you do something about the blood?" he'd asked Rayne.
Looking at the town though, he could see that somehow, the interior was better off than the exterior. The shifters had tried to fight back, had probably left their children in the deep set houses and gone out to meet their aggressors.
"Perhaps I can use a water spell I know to clean those on the interior, but those on the exterior? They need to be demolished. That's the best I can do."
"And you think you can do it? Bury twenty or so houses, then immediately use water magic?"
"I don't care if I pass out. In fact, I want to. I don't want to think right now."
James couldn't blame her. After all, why had he almost aggravated an existing injury just now.
The ground started to rumble, abd stone shifted and... James was mesemerised. The amount of magic coming off her was unprecedented.
If he remembered right, something like this had happened once. But it was too early. It was far too early for Rayne to start her sage evolution. She'd first needed to see someone she admired for their noble heart, someone like the hero, Jason.
Although James still couldn't see the noble heart. There were uneven mounds now, like hills covering the rest of the village from view. There was a valley between two of them that led into the village, otherwise they looked impenetrable.
Then came the water, and then, not quite fire but heat, ever growing heat. Rayne was one of those mages who weren't born with an affinity. You'd never know it though, from her absolute mastery of spell form.
She collapsed, as she'd predicted she would.