Master Haddem’s office was located on the very first floor of the Moontower proper, just above the atrium. An assitant let them in after only a few seconds waiting. It was similar in proportions to the living room area of Valerie’s quarters, but it had a lot more going on. Similar to Master Meyah’s, there were scrolls, books, parchments, and other various documents sitting on extra desks and shelves lining the walls, and they had a sort of controlled chaos feel. No one could look at this place and call it neat, but it wasn’t absolutely all over the place, either.

  For one thing, the space between the door and Haddem’s white wooden desk was completely clear, and so the Master of the Tower was able to watch them approach with a neutral expression. “Captain Vayon,” he greeted. “Ser Wynn, Ser James. What brings the three of you here?”

  Jam gave no particular reaction to being in the man’s presence, same as before. But Jam’s attention was so broad and undefined at the moment, they felt the need to check the Master anyway.

  Valerie eyed Haddem for a moment, and only replied when she was looming over his desk, “I have reason to believe a demonic possession has occurred.”

  To his credit, Haddem showed no sign of distress beyond thinning his lips. “And those who fought in Harwyck are the most likely candidates for such a thing, I imagine?”

  “I’ve been led to believe there was a Dread General on the field throughout much of the siege, and many demons besides,” Valerie said. “I’ve been getting a feeling ever since your force returned. A familiar one. Like something’s looking over my shoulder, observing my every move. It’s gotten worse in the last day, and I feel obligated to investigate.”

  “There was indeed a Dread General, and I counted eleven demons in total, though we slew four by the time I felt I had no choice but to call the retreat. I saw them all with my own eyes,” Haddem confirmed. His eyes fell closed, pained. “If ever there was a doubt that these monsters seek anything but the total extermination of all life on this planet, Harwyck should dispel them all. I’ll have the tongue of any man who claims the Demon Lord can be negotiated with.”

  “Is that a thing people say?” Lucas asked, glancing between the three skycloaks.

  “It’s been posited,” Valerie said. “It’s generally dismissed as a delusion borne of total desperation.”

  “It typically comes from the mouths of people who haven’t faced a beast before, let alone a demon,” Florence said.

  “There’s all too many of those left in the world, I’m afraid,” Haddem said. “Sometimes, I wish there was a mandatory law that everyone of a certain age must be taken to the Front Lines to bear witness to the reality of this war.” Haddem slowly lowered his book to the table, then laced his fingers over it. He opened his eyes and gave Valerie a hard stare. “You’re sure this feeling you’re having isn’t a product of your own condition? I am unaware of any instances of our people going missing for any period of time during the Harwyck excursion.”

  “Categorically.” Valerie nodded at Lucas. “Ser James’ skill with lunamancy is surpassed only by Lady Claire. He keeps my soul untainted.”

  “I see,” Haddem said. His eyes fell shut in thought. “If there’s one individual I should not doubt in the subject of demonic corruption, it’s you, Captain Vayon. If you say one of our number is possessed, I believe you. Do you plan to have your apprentice test for corruption among the Order, then?”

  “That is our intent, yes. Obviously, it’s not so simple. The last thing we want to do is alert the possessed individual to our intentions and provoke them into rash actions. I know better than anyone how difficult it is to put down a possession.”

  “We would like to avoid that, if possible,” Haddem said. “In these times, we need as many trained warriors of the Order alive as possible. We lost too many in Harwyck. And there’s only so many we can graduate from the academy every year. If there’s one thing all the Masters agree on, it’s that we will not lower our standards.”

  Valerie nodded in agreement.

  Haddem turned to Lucas as he stood. “Well then, lad. How does this work?”

  They went through the process of injecting lunar mana into Haddem’s system. It was a trickier job than it had been with Valerie, since her soul was so used to accepting outside mana sources. Lucas was ready to take that as proof of Haddem’s innocence alone, but Valerie pushed for a full check, talking Haddem through the process of temporarily lowering his guard.

  “This won’t make me more vulnerable to corruption?” Haddem asked, frowning.

  “It would take a lot more than one instance of accepting foreign mana to truly damage your soul’s natural defences,” Valerie replied.

  In the end, Lucas managed to thoroughly check Haddem’s system. It took longer than anyone would have liked, but it was worth it to confirm that one of the most powerful individuals in the entire Order hadn’t been compromised by the enemy. He hadn’t noticed how tense Valerie and Florence were until he saw the relief on their faces when he revealed that he’d found no sign of any demonic corruption. In fact, the man’s soul was remarkably pure.

  “I was a Shieldmaster, Ser James, and some would say quite a good one in my day,” Haddem said with a wry smile. “There’s no stronger defence than when you put your entire soul into it, you see. It’s only natural that impurities get scoured away.”

  “Quite a good one,” Florence repeated, shaking her head. “You’re too humble, Master Haddem. People compared you to Lord James for a reason.”

  “Bah. Nonsense.” He waved a hand dismissively. “No mere man could ever hope to match up to one of the Great Heroes. No matter how strong your soul, you only have one. Lady Claire and her companions have the strength of a thousand behind them. There’s no closing that gap.” He sighed. “These groups with their talk of taking the Great Powers for themselves are fools. Even if they did manage what Lady Claire herself couldn’t and were able to transfer a Great Power, what would they do with it if they had only one soul to power it? It would turn a man into a talent seen only once in a generation, for certain, but the Great Heroes themselves are far more than that. The greatest legends in history cannot match their feats.”

  Lucas hid a grimace at that reminder. He generally tried not to think about the people who had sacrificed themselves to grant him this power. It was done. Nothing he could change. All he could do to honour them was try and complete the task they’d given their lives for.

  “How goes it with those groups?” Valerie asked. “I assume you heard about the incidents with New Dawn?”

  Haddem nodded, frowning grimly. “Those are the worst of it so far in terms of direct confrontations. But much is at play, out there. I’ve no doubt other groups will resort to violence soon enough, and our ability to project power into the city will diminish somewhat. No matter. Our preparations to go on the offensive will soon be complete.”

  “Where will you strike first?” Valerie asked.

  “You’ll have to ask one of the other Masters for that. Affairs outside our tower are not officially my remit, much as I have a bad habit of sticking my nose in. For this one, I’m happy to let others do the work.”

  “I see. It may be preferable that such operations are delayed until we’ve dealt with our demonic possession problem,” Valerie said.

  “Possibly,” Haddem agreed with a nod. “You’ll approach the rest of the Masters next, I imagine?”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  “The ones who were with the Harwyck force at the time of its return, yes,” Valerie said.

  “I see. Would you be amenable to using my office for your tests? I have the list of everyone who participated in the Harwyck excursion somewhere here, and I have the right to summon most of them to me. Ostensibly to assign missions, but I’m sure they’d forgive the mild deception. Furthermore…” He trailed off, eyeing Valerie carefully.

  She talked over him before he could continue, “And they would be much more cooperative if the ‘request’ came from you.”

  Master Haddem grimaced. “Sadly, yes. It’s not only a matter of trust, but authority.”

  “Understandable. As far as many members of the Order are concerned, I lack both,” Valerie said. “That was part of why we approached you first. I’m heartened that you made the offer. It would have felt somewhat rude to ask it of you.”

  “But you would have.”

  “Absolutely.”

  ~~~

  First, Master Haddem sent for the three other Masters who had accompanied him to Harwyck. Master Nhiti was a tall, dark-skinned woman with short hair that looked like it was woven from gold. She had a piercing stare, assessing, and she seemed to be aware something was amiss before she even entered the room, stepping through the doorway with caution.

  As the Master of Defence, her remit was to ensure the Moontower and all the Order’s other holdings were well-defended. The Order had owned properties in Harwyck, as well as having plenty of skycloaks stationed there, and so she’d been able to rightfully claim it was her duty to take part in the mission to lift the siege on the city.

  As far as Haddem could remember, she’d spent the entire mission among the command staff, never alone long enough for a demon to work its corrupting designs on her. But they had to be sure, and the tall Bowmaiden agreed to the check as soon as the situation was explained to her, demanding more information from Valerie while Lucas worked.

  “I cannot think of any incidents where a demon might have got to one of our people,” she told Haddem at one point. “Standard Doctrine of Five was followed at all times, as far as I’m aware. It would have been reported if it wasn’t.”

  “I said the same thing,” Haddem replied grimly. “But if Captain Vayon believes a possession has occurred, I’m inclined to take it seriously.”

  “Agreed,” Nhiti said. She levelled searching looks at Valerie, Florence, and Lucas one after the other. The weight of her attention was heavy, and Lucas had to remind himself that she was a Bowmaiden, not a Wand with some esoteric psychic ability. “The three of you seem determined to bring to light any and every difficult problem the Order faces. First with the dissident elements in the city, now this.”

  “We’re committed to ensuring Lord Lucas’ safe arrival,” Florence said.

  Valerie and Lucas nodded in agreement.

  “A worthy goal,” Nhiti said. “Your dedication is admirable.”

  Nhiti’s mana showed not a hint of demonic corruption, and she insisted on sticking around to see how this played out, at least with the rest of the Masters. Haddem was reluctant, citing the importance of her duties, now more than ever.

  “If one of the Masters turns out to be corrupted, we’ll want to subdue them as swiftly as possible,” Nhiti said. “I’m sure the four of you could defeat them without me, but the more of us there are, the higher the chances we’ll be able to suppress our comrade without killing them.”

  Their next visitor was a man called Renyk, the Master of Exorcism—exactly the person who was meant to deal with incidents like the one they potentially faced. He was a pale, hairless man with albino-like pink eyes and thin lips, but he had a pleasant voice and smiled warmly when he greeted them. They didn’t even need to tell him what was happening. He took in the occupants of Haddem’s office, tapped a thin finger to his bottom lip, and said:

  “Should I be offended that you didn’t bring this issue to me first, Captain Vayon?”

  “It seemed prudent to get Master Haddem’s support rather than sneaking around the tower on a clandestine investigation,” Valerie said.

  “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter much. Will you allow me to double-check your work?” He glanced at Lucas. “I don’t mean to imply any doubt in your competence, Ser James. In these scenarios, it’s best to get as many opinions on the matter as possible.”

  Lucas had never met the man before, but he supposed the Masters were expected to keep up to date on the happenings within the Order. After a nod from Valerie that confirmed he could speak safely, Lucas said simply: “That’s understandable. I’d like to check you first, though.”

  Renyk smiled and nodded. “And I would like to test you as well, if that’s alright?”

  That was potentially problematic, but he caught Valerie nodding imperceptibly again out of the corner of his eye. Presumably, whatever technique Renyk deployed was unlikely to detect anything weird about Lucas’ soul, whether that be the Great Star or Jam.

  The Master of Exorcism sighed as Lucas’ mana entered his system. “Ah, lunamancy. Such a rare art. I can see why our dear Captain Vayon has recruited you as her apprentice.”

  There was no demonic corruption in the Master’s system, and the man reciprocated by snapping his fingers, setting off an invisible technique that made Lucas feel like someone had run his soul like a gong.

  “You’re clean, too,” Renyk said. “That’s good to see. It would have been rather awkward if all this turned out to be a demonic ploy. I have to consider those kinds of things.”

  Lucas was dying to know what, exactly, Renyk had gleaned from that spell, but he’d have to wait until later to ask Valerie and Florence. The Master went around confirming everyone else in the room was safe, though he skipped past Valerie, giving her a wry smile. Quite to Lucas’ surprise, Valerie returned it. He could count on the fingers of one hand how many times he’d seen her show any kind of positive expression.

  Two more Masters joined them over the next hour to be checked over and read in on the situation. Kym, Master of Logistics, was an older man with a long grey beard woven with black beads. He’d overseen the movement of supplies to the defenders and would-be-liberators of Harwyck, but neither Lucas nor Renyk found anything wrong with his mana. He was the first of the Masters to leave after being checked, citing the fact he could contribute little here.

  After him came Alora, Master of Wands. Lucas hadn’t met her before, and was surprised that such a small woman was in charge of the Order’s magic, second only to Claire. She barely came up to his chest, and her wild black hair combined with the dark rings under her big green eyes to give her a frazzled look, like someone who’d only just got out of bed.

  “What do you people want?” she snapped, glaring around at the others arrayed in the room. “I’m a busy woman!”

  She gained a sour expression when the situation was explained to her, grumbling under her breath while Renyk and Lucas were checking her over, then angrily demanded they allow her to examine them all in turn. Once she was done, she stormed back over to the door. “Keep me informed of the situation, but do not summon me up here again unless it’s urgent!”

  Then she was gone.

  “Always a pleasure,” Master Haddem said dryly.

  That left Haddem, Nhiti, Renyk, Valerie, Florence, and Lucas stood around Haddem’s table as he arranged the list of skycloaks and auxiliaries who’d participated in the attempted liberation of Harwyck. They covered his giant desk, hundreds of entries arrayed over metre-long pages of parchment. Many names had been crossed out.

  There was a moment of solemn silence as they beheld a tangible representation of what the Order had just lost. Renyk was the one to break it, saying, “Every name crossed out is confirmed dead?”

  “Fifth rites performed,” Haddem said.

  “And we’re certain—absolutely certain—of this?”

  “Lady Claire frequently says nothing can ever be truly 100% certain, and I'm inclined to agree with her, but I’m as confident about this as I can reasonably be. I know what idea is going through your head, but you will find none of these people walking around the Moontower as an undead infiltrator.”

  “Is anyone unaccounted for?” Lucas asked.

  Everyone looked at him, and he tried not to cringe.

  “I see where your mind is going, too, Ser James,” Haddem said. “As I told you earlier, though, I’m unaware of any instances of people going missing only to show up alive later. Such an occurrence would come under heavy suspicion, and the individual would go through rigorous testing before being released.”

  “One of my duties is confirming nothing nefarious is afoot in those circumstances,” Renyk said. “And I can at least attest I was never called upon for it during the Harwyck mission.”

  Lucas nodded. Another thought occurred to him. “There were other skycloaks stationed around the countryside, right? Like Ser Deryn in Taunton.”

  “They would have been vetted too,” Renyk said.

  “Taunton, you say?” Nhiti murmured. “There have been reports—”

  Her words were cut off as a flash of light lit up outside the windows. A boom followed it, and a column of smoke rose just beyond the Order’s walls.