Chapter 14: The Search and The Lie
I. The Trail of the Master
Evan couldn't openly leave the palace immediately after his Northern success; it would instantly confirm Theron's suspicions about his desperate need for Kaelen. Instead, Evan relied on Lysandra, now moving with the immunity of a future Royal Guard Captain.
Lysandra used her extensive network to bypass the Royal Guard's sealed perimeter around Kaelen's Foothills estate. Her initial report was immediate and chilling: Theron's men weren't looking for Kaelen; they were looking for evidence—any scrap of a letter, map, or training log that could tie Evan to the Master's specialized methods.
Lysandra (via a coded message): "The area is watched, not searched. Theron seeks proof of the source of your new Discipline, not the man himself. We must clear the site and confirm his disappearance before the Royal Edict is enforced."
Evan understood. The objective was to ensure Kaelen's estate yielded nothing that could be used as evidence of sedition against the Third Prince.
II. The Strategic Diversion
To buy Lysandra the critical time she needed to cleanse the estate, Evan executed a massive Strategic Diversion in the heart of the capital, designed to draw Theron's focus away from the Foothills.
Evan used his Oratorical Command and newfound status to petition the King for an immediate, public inquiry into the exact sequence of events leading up to Minister Garrick's death.
Evan (to the Royal Council): "My success in the North will be meaningless if the Kingdom cannot trust the official narrative. I request a public session to present irrefutable proof of Garrick's treason and the Volkar connection. Let the people see the justice of the Crown."
This demand was pure Calculated Cunning. Theron, the Strategic Analyst, knew such a public inquiry would be a political headache, requiring his full attention to manage the flow of witnesses and prevent Evan from gaining more popular support. Theron's resources were instantly pulled back to the capital to prepare for this high-stakes political performance.
The public inquiry was a calculated lie: Evan didn't care about the final narrative; he cared that Theron's eyes were fixed on the stage, not the mountains.
III. The Shadow's Efficiency
While Theron prepared for the political theater, Lysandra moved like a shadow through Kaelen's secluded cabin. She systematically removed all traces of Evan's presence: a forgotten training dagger, a pair of worn sparring gloves, and most importantly, any coded correspondence that Theron's investigators could link to Evan's writing style.
She found a small, hidden chest containing only one item for Evan: a smooth, perfectly balanced stone. It was accompanied by a cryptic note, written in Kaelen's angular script:
"The Stand requires three weights. You possess two. The third is the cost of your escape. Trust the balance."
Kaelen was gone, having vanished into the wilderness as soon as the Royal Edict was issued. He refused to be a captive, but he left Evan with a final, confusing task. Lysandra sealed the estate perfectly, ensuring that when the official investigation arrived, the property would look exactly as it should: the simple, abandoned home of a solitary exile.
IV. The Two Weights
Evan received Lysandra's final, coded report just hours before the public inquiry. Kaelen was safe, but his cryptic note left Evan deeply unsettled.
Evan already understood the three weights in his possession:
The Sacrificial Magic: The weight of the curse and the ticking clock.
Kaelen's Training: The weight of the discipline and the physical mastery (The Stand).
The Final Weight: The missing piece that Kaelen alluded to—the cost of his escape.
Evan realized Kaelen's final lesson was that his survival was not about acquiring skills, but about making the ultimate strategic sacrifice. The "cost of escape" might refer to the necessary act of killing his final victim without the Magic's deadline, or a far more personal betrayal.
The clock was quiet now, but the Royal Guard Competition was only days away, and Evan still needed to find a justified kill to satisfy the Magic. He had successfully secured his Master, but the price for that security was now due.
The stage is set for Chapter 15, where Evan must deal with the immediate aftermath of Kaelen's vanishing act and prepare for the looming Test of Mind in the competition