Chapter 229: The Man Who Returned
Blackwood’s new clinic stood only a short walk from the manor, close enough to the developing commercial district that carts could reach it without crossing the busiest construction roads. It was not impressive by Aurelia’s standards. The building had two floors, six proper treatment rooms, a small herb garden behind the kitchen, and a covered space beside the entrance where injured travelers could be unloaded from wagons during bad weather. Kael had approved the original plans because Blackwood needed something functional before it needed something grand.
Tonight, lanterns burned behind three of its windows.
Kael crossed the courtyard with Darius beside him and Edwin a few steps behind. The streets surrounding the manor had changed while they were away. Fresh gravel had been packed into sections that used to turn to mud after rain, drainage trenches ran along both sides of the road, and several new buildings had progressed far enough that Kael could recognize what they would eventually become. A bakery had opened near the western intersection. Two workshops farther down were still occupied despite the hour, and hammering sounded faintly from somewhere near the construction district.
Kael looked toward the Guild headquarters as they passed. Scaffolding covered only a portion of the western wall now, while the broad front entrance stood beneath a half-finished stone arch. Workers had left for the evening, but stacks of timber, fitted window frames, cut stone, and roof tiles surrounded the site in organized rows.
Darius noticed where he was looking. "Keep walking."
"I am walking."
"You slowed."
"I was observing."
"You were redesigning."
Kael glanced toward him. "Cassian has ruined everyone."
"No. He merely described you accurately."
Edwin made a quiet sound that might have been agreement.
Kael looked back at him. "You are supposed to be on my side."
"I am on Blackwood’s side, Your Highness. The distinction has occasionally proven useful."
Kael decided not to continue that argument.
The clinic’s front door opened before they reached it. A young woman stepped outside wearing a pale working apron over a dark dress, her sleeves rolled above the elbows. Kael recognized her from one of Edwin’s earlier reports as one of the two healer apprentices who had recently moved permanently to Blackwood. She stopped when she saw him, clearly realizing a moment too late that the prince she had expected to meet eventually had chosen the evening of his return.
She bowed quickly. "Your Highness. I’m sorry. We weren’t told you were coming."
"That makes two of us. Edwin told me about the patient ten minutes ago."
Edwin did not appear apologetic.
The young healer straightened. "He’s awake right now. He usually becomes tired quickly, and sometimes he loses track of what he’s saying, but tonight has been better."
Kael looked toward the door. "What is your name?"
"Liora Benn, Your Highness."
The name was unfamiliar, which was useful. Blackwood had grown enough that Kael no longer recognized every person who lived there.
"How long have you been here?"
"Three weeks."
"And you already have night duty?"
Liora hesitated. "There are only two of us."
Kael looked at Edwin.
Edwin calmly said, "The healer recruitment report is in the second stack on your desk."
"Of course it is."
Liora looked uncertain whether she was permitted to smile. Darius removed the burden by doing absolutely nothing to help.
Kael entered the clinic.
The interior smelled of boiled cloth, medicinal herbs, soap, and something sharper that he could not immediately identify. Blackwood had never possessed a proper resident clinic when Kael first arrived. He remembered the empty villages, the traveling healers, the families who had simply learned to endure injuries until someone capable happened to pass nearby. Seeing shelves of organized supplies and clean beds should have felt like a victory.
Instead, Kael immediately noticed what was missing.
Two cabinets stood half empty. One treatment room was being used to store crates because the rear storeroom had not been completed. A wooden board near the entrance contained twelve patient names, three of them marked for follow-up treatment in surrounding villages.
The clinic existed.
That did not mean the medical problem had been solved.
Liora led them upstairs.
"He arrived seven days ago," she explained quietly. "A farmer brought him in on a grain cart. He had a deep wound along the right side, burns across his shoulder, two cracked ribs, and severe dehydration. We thought the fever might take him on the second night, but it broke yesterday."
"Who treated him?"
"Myself and Healer Vessa. Mistress Tessa Wyn also examined him when she passed through Blackwood three days ago."
Kael looked over. "Tessa was here?"
"For one afternoon. She was traveling west and Edwin asked her to inspect the difficult cases."
Kael glanced toward Edwin.
The steward said, "You were occupied in Aurelia."
Kael nodded once. "Good."
That was another adjustment he was going to have to make. Blackwood had stopped waiting for him before doing useful things.
He liked that.
He suspected part of him was going to hate it.
The patient occupied the room at the far end of the corridor. Liora paused outside before opening the door. "His name is Rellis Vorn. Thirty-two. Independent hunter. He has worked the southern settlements for about eight years, mostly animal control, monster tracking, and occasional caravan escort."
Kael nearly heard Cassian in his head.
You see people as components.
He looked toward Liora. "What does he want?"
She seemed surprised by the question. "Right now?"
"In general."
"I don’t know."
Kael nodded.
Good.
That was something to ask the man rather than decide from a record.
Rellis Vorn was awake when they entered.
He looked stronger than Kael expected from Edwin’s description, though that was not saying much. Bandages wrapped most of his upper torso beneath a loose linen shirt, and one arm remained strapped close to his body. Dark hair had been cut short around a healing wound near his temple. The right side of his face carried several shallow scratches, while exhaustion had settled into the skin beneath his eyes.
His attention moved first to Darius.
Then Kael.
Recognition came slowly.
"You’re the prince."
Kael pulled a chair closer to the bed. "Apparently."
Rellis looked at Edwin. "You brought the prince?"
Edwin answered, "The prince brought himself."
"That sounds worse."
Kael sat. "It usually is."
A faint smile appeared on the hunter’s face before pain made it disappear.
Liora moved toward him immediately. "Do not laugh."
"I barely did."
"You barely have ribs."
Kael liked her more already.
He waited until she had checked the bandage along Rellis’s side before speaking again. "Edwin told me you were one of three hunters."
Rellis’s expression changed.
"Yes."
"The others?"
The hunter looked toward the window.
"I don’t know."
Kael did not immediately ask another question.
Silence stretched between them, but it was not empty. Rellis’s left hand tightened against the blanket, and Kael watched the movement without pretending not to understand what it meant.
Darius remained near the wall.
Edwin stayed beside the door.
Neither interrupted.
Rellis finally spoke. "They could still be alive."
Kael nodded. "They could."
The hunter looked at him sharply, perhaps expecting reassurance.
Kael did not offer false certainty.
"What were their names?"
"Berren Coil and Meya Hart."
Kael glanced briefly toward Edwin. The steward made no visible reaction, which meant neither name belonged to anyone Kael should already know.
Rellis continued. "Berren’s older than me. Forty, maybe forty-one. Meya’s twenty-seven. Best tracker between here and the south marshes."
Kael asked, "What was the contract?"
"That’s the problem."
The answer sharpened Darius’s attention.
Rellis shifted carefully against the pillow. "A farming settlement called Eastmere posted a request through a local broker. Livestock disappearing. Pens damaged at night. Tracks near the tree line. They thought it was one ridgeback boar, maybe two."
Kael knew the animal. Ridgebacks were dangerous but manageable for experienced hunters. Heavy, territorial, and capable of tearing through wooden fencing, but not unusual enough to justify Imperial military involvement.
"You believed the description?"
"We checked the tracks when we got there."
"And?"
Rellis looked irritated with himself. "Boar tracks. At first."
Darius spoke for the first time. "At first."
Rellis looked toward him.
Darius’s voice remained level. "Meaning there were other signs."
"Yes."
"Why continue?"
Rellis hesitated.
Kael noticed.
There.
A decision.
Not simply a monster.
"We were already being paid," Rellis said.
Darius waited.
Rellis exhaled. "And the broker had written the contract as a standard clearing job. We had enough experience for that. If we walked away every time a forest looked strange, we wouldn’t earn much."
Kael leaned forward slightly. "What looked strange?"
"Too quiet near the deeper trail. No birds. No small animals. We found one dead boar about half a mile in."
"Killed by what?"
"I don’t know."
Kael waited.
Rellis continued reluctantly. "Something burned it."
That brought Kael’s attention back to the injuries Liora had described.
"The burns on your shoulder."
Rellis nodded. "Not fire like a torch. It came from one of the creatures."
"One of?"
"There were at least four."
Darius moved away from the wall. "Describe them."
Rellis closed his eyes briefly, reconstructing the memory. "Low to the ground. Longer than wolves. Dark hide. Thick around the front shoulders. Their mouths glowed before they spat."
Kael frowned. "Spat fire?"
"Not exactly. More like burning fluid. It stuck to bark."
Darius looked toward Kael. "Ashmaws."
Kael knew the name, though he had never encountered one himself.
Ashmaws were not legendary monsters.
That almost made the situation worse.
They were known.
Dangerous.
Usually found farther south near volcanic soil and warm caverns.
Not impossible in Blackwood’s broader region, but unusual this far north.
Kael asked, "How many ashmaws can three experienced hunters handle?"
Darius answered before Rellis could. "Depends on terrain and maturity. Four adults in poor ground could kill them."
Rellis gave a humorless laugh. "Good to know afterward."
Liora looked at him.
He immediately stopped.
Kael continued. "When did you realize what they were?"
"When one came out of the rocks."
"You stayed?"
Rellis looked away.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Meya thought we could withdraw after confirming the nest."
"That isn’t the same as staying."
Rellis’s jaw tightened.
Kael waited.
The hunter finally said, "There was a second contract."
Edwin’s expression changed.
"What second contract?" Kael asked.
Rellis looked toward him. "Private offer. The broker said if we found ashmaw glands or intact heat sacs, a buyer would pay extra."
Kael felt the shape of the problem change.
"Was that written into the contract?"
"No."
"Did Eastmere know?"
"I don’t think so."
"Who was the buyer?"
"I never met him."
Darius asked, "How much?"
Rellis gave the amount.
It was not enough to make Kael angry because it was enormous.
It made him angry because it was plausible.
Enough money to tempt experienced people into stretching a contract beyond what they had originally agreed to do.
Not enough to make the danger worth it.
Kael looked toward Edwin. "Who is the broker?"
"Harven Toll."
Kael recognized the name from older specialist records.
Independent contract intermediary.
Not Guild affiliated.
Because the Guild did not exist yet.
"What do we know about him?"
Edwin answered carefully. "He has worked the southern road for years. Mixed reputation. Merchants use him because he finds people quickly. Hunters complain that his descriptions occasionally become more optimistic when coin is involved."
Kael looked back at Rellis.
"Did he lie?"
"I don’t know."
That was the right answer.
Kael nodded slowly.
Rellis continued. "Maybe he didn’t know. Maybe the farmer didn’t know. Maybe the private buyer knew and kept his mouth shut because he wanted the materials."
"Did you know ashmaws might be there before you accepted the extra payment?"
"No."
"After you found the burned boar?"
Rellis did not answer.
Kael understood.
They had suspected enough.
Not enough to know.
Enough that greed had helped them continue.
That distinction mattered too.
"What happened?"
Rellis stared at the blanket.
"We found the den entrance. Meya wanted to mark it and leave. Berren said we were already there and could take one if we drew it out."
Darius’s expression remained unreadable.
Rellis looked toward him. "I agreed."
No one spoke.
"First one came out alone," Rellis continued. "We hurt it. Then three more came from the rocks behind us. There was another opening we hadn’t seen."
His fingers tightened.
"Berren held them long enough for us to reach the slope. Meya went back when he fell."
Rellis swallowed.
"I told her not to."
Kael did not ask whether that was true.
Not because he doubted him.
Because it did not matter right now.
"What happened to you?"
"One of them hit me with the burning spit. I went over the slope. Rolled far enough that they lost me or didn’t care."
"And Berren and Meya?"
"I heard fighting for a while."
Rellis’s voice weakened.
"Then nothing."
The room became quiet.
Kael looked toward Darius.
Darius did not need to say it.
Nine days.
Two people missing near a known monster den.
The odds were bad.
But bad was not the same as certain.
Kael asked, "Has anyone searched?"
Rellis looked toward Edwin.
The steward answered. "The local settlement organized six volunteers. They reached the outer trail and withdrew after finding ashmaw markings. The nearest provincial patrol was informed, but the location did not qualify for immediate military deployment under the report they received. Blackwood learned about the incident only when Rellis was brought here."
Kael’s jaw tightened.
"There."
Darius looked at him. "There what?"
"The gap."
He stood and began pacing once before catching himself.
Cassian.
Darius.
Augustus.
Everyone had been warning him about turning every problem into a structure.
Kael stopped.
He looked at Rellis.
Not a problem.
A person.
Two missing people.
A wounded man who had survived because his companions had not escaped with him.
Kael returned to the chair.
"Rellis."
The hunter looked toward him.
"Do you want us to search for them?"
Rellis stared.
Kael continued. "Not what you think you should say. Not what makes you look loyal. Do you want someone to go back?"
"Yes."
The answer came immediately.
Then his face changed.
"But I don’t want more people dying because of us."
Kael nodded.
That was the actual question.
Not should the Guild have a missing-team procedure?
Not yet.
First:
Could Blackwood responsibly send anyone?
Kael looked toward Darius. "What would you need before deciding?"
"Location. Terrain. Confirmed ashmaw count. Age if possible. Whether there are signs of a larger den. Distance from settlement. Wind. Fire risk. Alternate access. Whether the missing hunters might have moved."
Rellis looked between them.
Kael nodded. "And who would you send?"
"That depends on what the first reconnaissance finds."
Kael smiled faintly.
Darius noticed.
"No."
"I said nothing."
"You were thinking about categories again."
"I was thinking that asking you first saved time."
"That is acceptable."
Edwin’s expression suggested he found this entire exchange increasingly strange.
Kael looked toward him. "Iris?"
"Returned two days before you. She is at Blackwood."
"Good."
"Your Highness," Edwin said carefully, "you have been home for less than an hour."
"I know."
"You told me you were not investigating tonight."
"I am not."
Edwin stared.
Kael continued. "Iris can review the maps tonight if she chooses. Nobody leaves until morning. Nobody enters the den tomorrow unless Darius approves the approach. First objective is information and, if possible, signs of Berren and Meya."
Darius nodded once.
Proportional.
Kael felt absurdly pleased.
He ignored that.
Rellis looked toward him. "You’re sending people?"
"I’m sending someone to find out whether sending people makes sense."
Rellis frowned.
"That sounds like the same thing."
"It is not."
Darius said, "You will learn to appreciate the distinction."
Rellis looked at him.
Then Kael.
"I’m starting to understand why people say Blackwood is strange."
Kael smiled. "You should meet Edwin properly."
"I am standing here," Edwin said.
"That is what makes it better."
Liora cleared her throat.
Everyone looked toward her.
"This conversation is finished."
Kael blinked. "Excuse me?"
"My patient is exhausted."
Rellis looked relieved.
Kael stood immediately.
"Right."
Liora moved toward the bed and began checking the bandage near Rellis’s shoulder again.
Kael paused at the door.
"Rellis."
The hunter looked toward him.
"If we find them, we bring them home."
Rellis’s expression tightened.
"And if you don’t?"
Kael did not soften the answer.
"Then we bring back the truth."
Rellis stared at him for a moment before nodding.
Outside the room, Darius waited until they reached the stairs before speaking. "Good."
Kael looked at him.
"What?"
"You did not promise success."
"I’m learning."
"Yes."
Kael became suspicious.
"You sound proud."
"I am evaluating."
"That is worse."
"It should be."
They returned downstairs.
Before leaving, Kael stopped beside the clinic’s patient board.
Twelve names.
Three follow-ups.
One hunter nearly killed because several layers of information had failed.
The farmer had probably described what he believed.
The broker might have known more.
The hunters had made their own risky decision.
A private buyer had created another incentive.
The provincial patrol had received a report that did not trigger immediate response.
Blackwood had learned late.
No single failure explained everything.
Kael looked at Darius.
"This is exactly what Vester’s review is about."
"Yes."
"But the Guild is not open."
"No."
"So we do not use this to justify building one faster."
Darius looked almost disappointed he had nothing to correct.
"Correct."
Kael smiled.
"I hate how satisfying that was."
"You will recover."
Outside, the air had cooled.
Blackwood’s streets were quieter now, though light still shone from several workshops and the unfinished Guild headquarters stood against the night sky.
Kael looked toward it again.
This time, he saw something different.
Not rankings.
Not contracts.
Not badges.
A question.
What happens when someone does not come back?
Galahad had already written it down.
Kael understood why now.
The answer could not be invented after the first Guild member disappeared.
It had to exist before anyone wore the badge.
Kael walked toward the manor.
"Tomorrow, after Iris reviews the area, I want Galahad included."
Edwin looked over.
"The Guild is not open."
"I know."
"Then why Galahad?"
"Because I want him to see the problem before he writes the rule."
Darius nodded.
That was enough approval for Kael.
They had nearly reached the manor when someone came jogging down the steps.
Elias.
He carried the sealed Church notice.
Kael stopped.
"What happened?"
Elias held up the letter.
"Nothing happened."
"You are running."
"I had a question."
Kael waited.
Elias looked slightly uncomfortable.
"The ceremony in twelve days."
"Yes."
"What exactly are we swearing?"
Kael opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
He realized he did not know.
Not precisely.
Marcus appeared behind Elias, walking considerably more calmly.
"I told him to wait until morning."
Elias looked toward him. "You asked the same question."
"I did not run."
"That does not make it different."
Kael looked at the Church seal.
The ceremony had existed for generations.
Thousands of knights had taken the oath.
Most people probably considered the wording obvious.
Kael suddenly understood why Elias wanted to know.
"Edwin?"
The steward shook his head.
"I know portions of the traditional oath, but not enough to guarantee the exact current form."
Darius knew more.
"The core promises are service under Imperial law, defense of the Empire and its people, lawful conduct in bearing arms, obedience to legitimate command, and responsibility for abuse of knightly authority."
Kael looked toward him.
"Has the wording changed?"
"Several times."
"Why?"
"Because the Empire changed."
There it was again.
Standards.
Traditions.
Institutions adapting slowly enough that people forgot they had ever changed at all.
Marcus folded his arms. "I want to read it before I swear it."
Kael looked toward Elias.
"So do I."
Kael smiled.
"Good."
Elias frowned. "Why are you smiling?"
"Because apparently nobody in Blackwood wants to do anything without reading the terms first."
Darius looked toward him.
"That should not be unusual."
"It is."
Kael handed the Church notice back to Elias.
"Tomorrow we request the current oath, the knightly code attached to it, and whatever rules govern the Church’s examiner."
Marcus nodded.
Elias relaxed slightly.
Kael continued. "You are not swearing anything you do not understand."
Darius added, "Understanding does not mean negotiating every line."
Kael looked toward him.
"I knew you were going to ruin it."
"I improved it."
Elias laughed.
Marcus shook his head.
The four of them started back toward the manor.
Kael had been home for barely an evening.
Already, Blackwood had given him two questions.
What responsibility did an institution have when the people working under its name disappeared?
And what did it mean when an institution asked someone to swear an oath that had outlived the people who originally wrote it?
Different questions.
Maybe.
Kael looked toward the lights of the unfinished Guild headquarters, then toward the small chapel farther within Blackwood’s grounds.
Augustus’s question followed him again.
What should never be standardized?
Kael still did not have the answer.
For the first time, that did not bother him quite as much.
Maybe he was not supposed to find one answer.
Maybe he was supposed to learn where the question mattered.