Chapter 1: Someone Notices Something Amiss IN A SMALL TAVERN tucked away in the Second City of Irelil, the second largest city in the Biheiril Kingdom, Sandor von Grandour and a young man were having a drink. “…So, you’re saying the monkey-faced demon left the Second City of Irelil for the capital, then vanished?” “Yeah. His mug’s supposed to be unique, so I reckon it’s true.” “After that?” “I dunno… Hey, I swear I don’t know any more than that! I’m just speculatin’, but I reckon he caught wind that you was after him and did a quick vanishing act.” The informant speaking to Sandor was little more than a boy, but that boy knew more rumors of the Biheiril Kingdom than anyone else. Either he was older than he looked, or he was a pawn of the real information broker. “Hey, mister,” said the boy abruptly, “I’ve got a juicy story—only it’ll cost you extra.” Sandor pulled a silver coin out of his pocket and clunked it down in front of the boy, who scooped it up quickly into his pocket. “You hear about the devils in the forest?” he asked. “Devils?” “Yeah, you know the ones. Turns out, they’re them Superd. Some foreign adventurer made ’em angry, so they slaughtered a whole village.” “Gosh. Nasty people who’ve moved in,” Sandor said. “They say the kingdom’s gonna send out a hunting party any day now. I hear tell the forest devils make invisible beasts fight for ’em, so who knows how bad the fallout’ll be…” The remainder of the boy’s story was made up of extremely exaggerated rumors. There was nothing to confirm it for sure, but it sounded like gossip someone might spread on purpose. That someone was obviously Geese. Page 1 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com