Chapter I: The Gathering

Gavner tossed a look over his shoulder as he sneaked through the extremely late Radasanth night. He was extra careful to avoid the soldiers who were patrolling the area. It was difficult to understand the ins and outs of the environment he was in, because Gavner tended to overanalyze everything. He tried to plot out every single patrol route of the guards, tried to plot out the perfect time to sneak around, yet anything could happen at any time.

“For Christmas,” he mumbled to himself, “it is all worth it to celebrate Christmas with those whom I love.”

Gavner sneaked down an alley and across a street, barely avoiding one of the soldiers. Radasanth was under a strict curfew for all residents and guests of the city. Something about an oppressive governmental system with corrupt viceroys. The ins and outs of Coronian politics always baffled Gavner, and he had trouble understanding it. He never understood it up to this point, and more than likely he would never understand, so there was no sense in trying to now. Gavner had many fond memories of this place. Radasanth was the city that not only the Ixian Knights often protected, but it was also the place where he would converge with other knights of his team, and fellowship. They would often go to the citadel and battle it out, have tournaments, and enjoy beverages in the many taverns and marketplaces.

One time they actually got caught by solders when they were sneaking around past curfew. If Jensen had not arrived just in time to free them from the jails and kill all of the witnesses, the Knights’ wetwork team would have been completely exposed to the public. After that they never heard the end of it from Jensen. He and Sei were rather cross at their foolishness and recklessness, but they couldn’t help the way that they were. They were the wetwork team. They feared nothing at all. It takes a certain type of person to be on the Ixian wetwork team, and frankly, not giving a care in the world was a key component. Consequences were important, but Ixian assassins couldn’t be held back by the fear of them. They had to act according to what they knew had to be done, and deal with the consequences later. Such philosophy was difficult to those who were inhibited by circumstances and consequences for their entire life, but it was easy to adopt for the assassins. They didn’t have time to completely contemplate it, they just did as they needed to.

And so was the case as Gavner ducked and slunk his way through the shadows of Radasanth until finally, he came to the end of the street and saw his destination. Now, any normal human or creature in such darkness could not make out what the sign said, but with his supernatural vampric sight, Gavner could see, as plain as if it was in daylight, a large sign that read “The Rusty Wheel.” He had arrived at the convergence.