"To me, you're taking an unnecessary risk Daemon." Scalia said for the hundredth time. "What was the need for you to come too?"

"Do we really have to talk about this again?" the young man answered with a sigh. "You should have figured it out by now. I'm certainly not the kind of commander who sits safely behind the lines waiting for others to do the job for him. Besides, I didn't feel like leaving you alone with this dandy."

"I find your lack of trust in me deeply offensive." Adrian blatantly replied. "I thought I had amply proved my reliability to you."

"We'll talk about it when this is over."

With the legionnaires fighting each other and the confusion reigning in the village, reaching the base of the Castle walls had been child's play.

Seen from below, the fortress seemed even more imposing and menacing, and Scalia could not but feel a little relief at the thought that they would be able to conquer it without having to scale those ramparts under a rain of arrows.

"So then? Where is this secret passage?"

"Right here." Adrian said pulling lightly on the head of a gargoyle.

There was a slight tremor, then part of the stones of the wall came down revealing the entrance to a tunnel.

"Ladies first."

"Ladies, my foot! I don't trust you if you haven't figured it out yet. You go first. And if I see even the shadow of a soldier along the road..."

"Yes I know. You sink your teeth into my throat."

"I see you understand."

"Stop it and let's go before anyone notices us."

Adrian used his magic to summon a globe of light, then the three ventured inside just before the entrance closed behind them.

For a while, they walked along a corridor dug first into the walls and then directly into the earth, maneuvering among narrow holes, overhangs and even an underground river, until after almost an hour they arrived at what appeared to be the labyrinthine ruins of an ancient building, so large and majestic that even that on the surface would pale.

"Don't forget to never lose sight of me. One gets lost in here with disconcerting ease."

It was enough to look at the bodies and skeletons lying on the ground or leaning against the walls to understand that Adrian wasn't exaggerating.

"So these are the ruins of the ancient palace. It's much bigger than I expected."

"Ancient chronicles speak of a great cultural center that would have existed here more than a thousand years ago. It was probably a holy city dedicated to one of the Old Gods."

Daemon felt strange; for some reason he felt like he'd been there before, which was obviously impossible. But despite this, he couldn't help but perceive something familiar in those ruined vaults, the crumbling walls and the mosaics now almost completely gone.

"Here we are." Adrian said when they reached the foot of a stairway carved directly into the rock. "The exit is right up here."

They climbed the ladder for several minutes, while the foundations of the Castle gradually replaced the natural rock, until they arrived in front of the exit of the secret passage hidden behind a wall.

Before pulling the torch that served as a switch, however, Adrian turned to look sternly at his companions.

"I warn you. You may not like what you are about to see."

The door opened into a kind of prison consisting of six small cells closed by wooden grates; the stench was terrible, and the ground was covered with straw and strange colored feathers, long and bristly.

Scalia picked up a torch and illuminated the inside of one of the niches, but what she saw shocked her to the point of leaving her petrified.

Huddled in the corner farthest from the bars, three young harpies hardly more than children lay more dead than alive on a miserable woven straw mat, surrounded by their feathers and covered in dirt.

"By all the gods! But it's awful!" Scalia said almost on the verge of tears

"Unfortunately, my father is crazy about harpy eggs. For a long time he just bought them, until he realized it was much cheaper to make them at home."

The other cells were similarly occupied, as Daemon discovered after examining them all; but worst of all was what the two brothers saw in the sixth cell, where a single harpy, at first glance somewhat younger than the others, sat alone surrounded by the lifeless bodies of her two starved companions.

If there was nothing but resignation in the eyes of her companions, a small spark of life still burned in those of that girl, fueled by the inexhaustible embers of hatred.

When she saw the presence of a human, she hurled herself screaming at him, but she was so weak and battered that despite the claws on her hands and legs she couldn't even scratch the bars of the cell.

"Careful with that. Last month she gouged out a guard's eyes."

"Then why is she still alive?"

"Because to my father, a Great Harpy's egg is worth far more than a blinded guard. What they did was kill her mates and leave them in her cell with her. After all, everyone knows that harpies don't get sick even if left among corpses."

The poor thing was in such bad shape that Daemon hadn't even noticed that she was a Great Harpy, even if her long orange hair, still able to sparkle like the setting sun despite the dirt that covered it, had made him more than a suspect about it.

Adrian had Scalia's sword pointed at him before he knew it.

"I should kill you now!"

"Take it easy." the young man replied calmly. "I have nothing to do with any of this."

"But you knew it! You knew these harpies were here!"

"And what could I have done? For centuries, the harpies have lost the ability to fly. Even if you tried to make them run away, do you really think they could have gone far? At least as long as they stay here they're..."

"They're what? Alive? You humans are disgusting! In your view, we should be grateful just because you keep us alive! For many of us even death would be better than this!"

"Do you really consider me that amoral? I'm not a philanthropist, but even I think this is too much."

In the meantime, Daemon hadn't stopped staring at the young harpy for a moment, sustaining a silent duel of gazes in which neither of them wanted to lose.

"What's your name?"

The girl answered with a spit, which Daemon brushed off his cheek without blinking or ceasing to stare at her. Resting on a nearby table were the leftovers from the watchman's meal.

"Are you hungry?" Daemon said again, who, not without a certain amount of concern from his companions, slipped his hand over the bars offering her a piece of bread.

Once more the harpy glared at him, hissing and nervously flailing her hairy and thinning, yet beautifully golden feathers.

Faced with the impassivity of the human who was facing her, the harpy she finally convinced herself, and after snatching the bread from Daemon's hand she devoured it in a few mouthfuls.

"Can you tell me your name now?"

"Why are you so interested?" she answered, staring at him again. "You are nothing but a filthy human."

"Do you need a reason to want to know someone's name?"

"...Xylla."

"You're a Great Harpy and you carry an important name. Do you belong to a royal family?"

"Who cares? My family and all my people were all killed. We are the only ones left. They keep us alive only for our eggs."

"If this fate disgusts you so much, why haven't you killed yourself yet?"

At that point, she threw herself again against the bars, this time managing to crack them.

"Do you think I haven't thought of that? But they said if we did they would kill our friends! The dragon's right, humans are horrible beings! You should all die!"

Daemon didn't get upset, but after collecting all the food that remained from the table, he threw it inside the cells under the incredulous gaze of the other harpies.

"For now, wait here. As soon as the situation calms down, we'll send someone to get you out." then he turned to his companions. "Let's move. This story has gone on too long."



"This is unforgivable." snapped the governor, sinking into his seat in the audience hall. "Now the legionnaires rebel against the orders of their superiors? That's why the Empire is going down the drain!"

A servant came to bring him the usual two hard-boiled eggs scented with Maharadi's green pepper, excellent for when he needed to calm his nerves.

"I've taken care of the matter, My Lord." Ron said. "I had a couple of the rebel soldiers hanged and restored discipline. Now the archers are shooting at anyone who tries to leave the village, and in fact the escapes have stopped for now."

"I thought you were in full control of your soldiers. When this story is over, I can't help but report the matter to His Majesty."

The General was aware that the Governor would have done everything to shift all the blame on him in order to try to save his reputation, but this would not have prevented him from doing his duty to the fullest; which unfortunately also involved obeying and bowing his head in front of that fat good-for-nothing.

A loud and sudden din coming from outside was the prelude to catastrophe.

"What's going on?"

The legionnaires guarding the room were literally thrown against the door, opening it with their backs and falling half dead on the silk carpet.

"Good morning, My Lord. Glad to see you again after such a long time." mocked Daemon entering the room with Scalia. "General Ron. The last two times we met you left in such a hurry that I didn't have time to say goodbye."

"Damn you! What are you doing here? Guards!"

"Don't waste your breath, fat fellow!" Scalia said "No one will come to save you!"

The two legionnaires accompanying Ron unsheathed their weapons in defense of the Governor and their commander, but Daemon had no mercy and killed them both with a few blows.

"This is for all my friends you killed!" Scalia then shouted, hitting the General with such force that she almost cut him in two.

Only a simple soldier remained, but given the situation, he didn't think twice about throwing down his sword and surrendering.

Seeing his last line of defense crumble, Longinus was stunned for a moment, only to start shaking uncontrollably as he saw Daemon walking towards him with his sword tainted in blood.

"Okay, you win! The province is yours! Keep it if you want, but let me go!"

"It's not that simple, Governor. There are many things you have to answer for."

"It was the General! He was the one who did it all! I was just an administrator! And in any case, what I did here, everyone else does too!"

"That doesn't make you any less guilty. But you are the Governor, and therefore you are responsible for everything the servants of the Empire have done in your name all these years."

"Aren't you planning to kill me? His Majesty will not let you get away with it! You will all get skinned! Don't you dare touch me!"

The two were now face to face, and in front of those icy eyes the Governor felt his legs completely fail as he suddenly found himself sitting on the ground.

Then someone Longinus knew very well entered the room through the still open door.

"Nice to see you again, Father."

"Adrian! Are you safe?"

"Safe and sound, and certainly not because of you."

"Come on." Daemon said stepping aside. "Make it quick and let's wrap this up."

Adrian drew his sword and approached the Governor, who crawled back until his back was against the wall.

"What are you doing, my son?"

"My apologies, father. I have given you many chances to prove me wrong about you. But in the end, dung can never become a diamond, no matter how hard you try."

"Adrian! You can't do this!"

"A man's worth is measured by his ambition. Those are your words. And unfortunately for you, mine is too big to waste any more time chasing a loser like you."

"Adrian, no! Please!"

"Goodbye, father. The pleasure was all yours."

Soon after, a heartbreaking scream echoed throughout the Castle.



Outside the castle, a surreal situation had arisen, with the rebels on one side, the garrison on the other, and the inhabitants in the middle.

It seemed like the quiet before the storm, and none of the three groups dared make a move for fear of crashing everything and starting an assault that would spare no one.

Then, a voice rose among the besieged.

"I can't believe it! Look up there!"

Suddenly the golden lion flag atop the main tower had been lowered, and the rebels' vessel was now waving in its place.

"They did it!" Septimus exclaimed. "They've taken the Castle!"

Shortly thereafter Daemon, Scalia and Adrian came out into the square under the astonished gazes of the legionaries, carrying two bloody sacks in their hands.

"The Governor and the General are dead!" Daemon exclaimed, showing off their grisly trophies. "The province is ours! Throw your weapons, surrender, and you will all be spared!"

As if they were waiting for nothing else, almost all the legionaries immediately obeyed the order received, some with obvious relief, some simply with painful resignation in the face of the awareness of how futile it was now to try to resist further.

At the sight of the banners of the Fifteenth Legion disappearing from the ramparts a single, rumbling cry of victory rose from the ranks of the rebels.

"We made it! - We won! - Long live Daemon!"

"So it's true." Scalia said as if she couldn't believe it. "We won. It's really over."

"No, Scalia." Daemon sternly said. "Far from it. This is just the beginning."