“What…,” Caulfield stammered.

  “Release him,” Tracey said, voice chill.

  The tent flap opened, Sergeant Parker walking in. He held his sword off to the side, blood dripping from the tip. He had more blood splattered across his leather armor.

  “Lord Howell,” he said, glancing at Caulfield.

  “Are they dead?”

  “We managed to capture one alive. He is in bad shape and being brought to the healers. The rest are dead.”

  “Tell the healers to do just enough to keep him alive. No full healing until he answers questions.”

  “Yessir,” Sargeant Parker said, glancing at Caulfield, and backing out of the tent.

  “What…,” Caulfield stammered again.

  I walked closer, one hand on the back of Nathan’s chair. The big man had shifted, watching Caulfield. He didn’t look worried or in any rush to get up.

  “Those guards that were loyal to you, not him,” I added, pointing at Payton, who looked shocked that the guards they’d brought weren’t loyal to him. “Sorry.” I told him. Payton didn’t look like he was in a good place. I turned back to Caulfield. “Now, let’s make this easy and just release Derek.”

  Caulfield glared at me, gritting his teeth.

  I wasn’t sure what Ability he’d used to move so fast. Something based on the Speed Essence. Maybe Space as it could have been a teleportation kind of thing.

  The glare turned into a smile.

  “You’re a fool, Lord Howell.”

  I could feel the scorn when he said that.

  “Oh? How so?”

  “You’re going to lose,” Caulfield said. “The Earth is going to lose.”

  He lifted the knife, pushing Derek forward, as he moved forward and away from Tracy’s sword at his neck. Derek fell into the table, but Caulfield recovered, managing to hold his balance as Tracy chased him with her sword. The tip of the blade stabbed down but Caulfield was gone.

  One second there, next not.

  I heard a commotion just outside the tent. Soldiers in armor caught by surprise. There was a grunt of pain and then shouts of confusion.

  “Dammit,” Tracy growled and disappeared.

  I knew how Tracy’s Abilities worked. Still unsure of Caulfield’s but it was definitely some kind of Space Essence.

  “Sergeant Parker,” I yelled out. His head looked inside the tent. “We have a runner. Send out the hunters.”

  “Yessir.”

  “Hunters?” I heard Daphne say, a little confused.

  I turned to face the table. The people at my end looked calmed. Nathan was making sure Derek was okay, and he looked fine. The other end, which was just Payton, Daphne and Calvin, looked incredibly confused. Payton still looked like he was afraid his life was going to end soon.

  Which it still might.

  But he had a lot of confusion on top of that.

  “Yeah, hunters,” I answered, picking up Caulfield’s seat.

  I put it back in place and sat down. Poor Calvin actually squeeked when I sat down, leaving a little away from me.

  “There’s some folks out there with tracking Abilities. They’ll hunt Caulfield down.”

  “You knew he would escape like that?” Daphne asked.

  I could have answered in a way that made me look all mysterious and powerful. Like I was in complete control of the situation. Truth was that I was only halfway in control. Caulfield had caught me by surprise. I figured, considering what I wanted to use Daphne for later after the war, telling her the truth would be the better option.

  “Not quite like that,” I admitted. “But we planned on if the traitor would have a means to escape.” I turned to look at Payton. “Turns out the traitor wasn’t quite who we were expecting.”

  Payton wasn’t looking at me, he was shrunk into the chair as much as a man his size could be. He looked defeated.

  “What’s going to happen to us,” Calvin asked, still trying to lean as far from me as he could.

  I shrugged.

  “Don’t know yet,” I replied, looking from him to Daphne. “Depends on if we found out if you were directly involved in this mess.” I smiled at him, leaning close. “We’re not going to kill you for being an incompetent or bad leader.”

  Calvin signed, seeming to relax but then he realized all of what I’d said.

  “What? But…”

  “Stop before you embarrass yourself,” Daphne said, shaking her head. Taking a sigh, she locked eyes with me. “I’m not going to expect you to believe me, but I truly didn’t have anything to do with this. I had no idea and was just as surprised when the invaders showed up.”

  “We have people looking into it, but so far the two of you are clean.” I focused on Payton. “You’re not.” Payton looked up. He glanced at the others around the table. My people were all impassive, not friendly but not really caring about his fate. Mason on the other hand was glaring daggers still. He’d just gotten angrier and angrier the whole meeting. “The only thing that can save you now is to just come out with it. The whole plan. Especially who on the World Council is behind all this.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Payton looked at me.

  “Yep. We know it was someone on the World Council. We’ll find out who, but it’ll take time. You’ll save us all that time if you just tell us and we’ll go a little lighter on your sentence.”

  Payton was quiet then he started laughing. There was a crazy edge to the laugh as he looked at the table.

  “I’d tell you if I could,” he said, the laugh turning sad. “I really would. I have no desire to die. That’s why I agreed to this in the first place.” He looked up at me and I could see the surrender in his eyes. “Caulfield started working for me two years ago,” he started. “The man was good at his job and proved himself loyal. About a year ago, he brought up the subject of the upcoming countdown and opening to the Multiverse. He said that some had expressed concerns about how the lower tier factions, such as the Gray Wolf, would be treated in the Multiverse. How it might be in our best interests to align with a large faction.” Payton shook his head, eyes searching the table. “Can I have some water?”

  I nodded, and looked for someone to grab him a mug. Surprisingly it was Derek.

  “You okay?”

  “Yessir. The scratch is healed already,” Derek said.

  He looked a little shaken.

  “Are you okay?” I asked again.

  He nodded.

  “I will be.”

  I nodded as Derek went back to the other end of the table. I’d have to let Kat know so she could really check on him. Sometimes, being the big boss, the folk didn’t like talking to me. It sucked, but it was the way of things.

  Payton took a big gulp of water and started coughing. He got it under control and took a smaller sip.

  “The funny thing was that I thought Caulfield was talking about joining the Solace Fellowship. You were still Clan Howell back then. But no, Caulfield said doing that would be basically the same thing as if we went to the Multiverse ourselves. You would forget about a little Faction like us, steal our elites.” He waved a hand at Mason. “And not care about the people up here. It made sense.”

  “What did Caulfield suggest instead?”

  “Find one of the other Factions on the World Council. One that wasn’t too big and could benefit more from some of us joining.”

  “And let me guess, he had one in mind…”

  Before Payton could answer me, Mason slammed his hands down on the table. The wood cracked, some pieces flying up. He stood up, his chair falling back. A single gauntleted finger pointed at Payton, Mason’s eyes filled with rage.

  “Some?” He growled. “Some? You were going to abandon your people?”

  Payton seemed to shrink some more. He was like the incredible shrinking man from those old movies. Poor guy was going to disappear in his armor if he kept it up. He did his best to ignore Mason, looking at me.

  “Yes, Caulfield had one in mind. I should have realized it was planned from the start, but it seemed like a good deal and…,” he paused, shaking his head. He looked at Mason, but avoided looking directly in the other man’s eyes. A little bit of life returned even if he wasn’t looking at Mason. “I didn’t abandon anyone! They would have been part of the Solace Fellowship. That was all real. Only some of us would be leaving.”

  “And you’ve be leaving with your people under attack? Then you’d be leaving Earth completely to the mercy of the invading Factions.”

  The little bit of life Payton had shown faded away completely.

  “You bastard,” Mason growled out.

  “Who was it?” I asked, Payton not looking at me.

  He shook his head.

  “I can’t… System…”

  Of course. A System Contract. Caulfield had thought of everything. Payton was an idiot. He’d fallen for Caulfield’s line. It was a good one and made some sense. Payton and his people, the ones he’d picked for positions of authority, weren’t the strongest in the Graywolf Clan. He was an Adventurer, but he’d be outpaced by others. Folks from stronger Factions and once he’d joined the Fellowship, the elites of his Faction like Mason would leave him behind. What did Payton have to look forward to? Becoming just one of many?

  That wasn’t a bad thing. He’d have the weight of responsibility removed and could just focus on himself. But instead he took what might have sounded like a better deal. I didn’t know the details, but really didn’t need to know them. It was a common thing.

  This other Faction would give Payton more power, more resources. They probably had a deal set up with the Grimdar. In exchange for Earth, they’d get more power.

  It was always about more power.

  Payton and Caulfield, along with whoever else was involved, would be part of the other Faction’s leadership or management or whatever position they’d be given for selling out Earth. They’d leave it behind and reap a lot of rewards.

  Great deal for him.

  Bad deal for everyone else.

  Especially those of his former Graywolf Clan that would be sacrificed in the Grimdar’s invasion.

  Whatever Faction was behind this, they’d been planning it for years. Not the other side in the Nexus, but probably had a list of criteria to look for the first day they stepped into the Nexus. Where most others, like myself, went to the Infinite Tower, this Faction went hunting for people to essentially buy the Earth.

  The worst part about this for Payton? If it’d been Fred’s United American Alliance, Payton might have become just one of many. But he’d joined my Faction, he’d joined the Fellowship, and if he’d been a competent leader, I would have respected that. He would have gotten some help from us to Level and gain experience so he could be an elite in the Faction.

  We wouldn’t have just left him on his own.

  But the idiot hadn’t even given it a chance.

  He was bound by the System and wouldn’t be able to reveal the Faction name. We’d lock him up and start drilling him for information on the others involved. I had some smart people that might be able to figure out the faction just by the questions they asked. It’d take time, but we’d figure it out eventually.

  Hopefully before that Faction made their other moves.

  Because this invasion couldn’t be the only thing planned.

  I turned to look down the table at Maria, about to tell her to have Payton dragged off and questioned, but Mason spoke before I could.

  “You are a traitor,” he said, his voice very scarily calm. Too calm. I was afraid of what was going to come next. “The only thing traitors deserve is death.”

  Crap. I knew where this was going.

  “Mason..,” I started but it was too late.

  “I challenge you to a duel to the death.”

  So much for questioning Payton.