In Soaring Bird City, at the palace.
As dawn broke, Mike and Wyatt, supported by a squad of guards, walked out of the palace carrying the wine and food Torin had given them.
Soaring Bird City was awakening to another busy day.
In a secret chamber, Torin took out a mysterious scroll, sliced open his wrist, and let a few drops of blood fall upon it. A moment later, a voice emerged from the parchment.
"You were too hasty. Last night was obviously a setup, a trap to lure you out."
It was the voice of the Two-Faced Clown, Ogu. His collaboration with Torin seemed to have deepened.
"What if it was a trap?" Torin retorted. "You guaranteed me that it could be done without a trace."
The assassination of Henrik, a representative of an imperial Grand Duke, in Soaring Bird City was an act the empire could not possibly ignore. But surely, the Grand Duke's man, Richard, would never have guessed that the assassins were a group of uncanny, unstoppable puppets.
