Elucard and Cade stood at the top of a large apartment building in the residential district of Twin Cliffs. The morning fog lay dense over the city, giving the two shrouds the perfect cover for their secretive meeting.

  From the veil of fog pierced a set of sharp blue eyes. Elucard focused on the pair of glowing eyes, not at all deterred by their sudden appearance.

  “You must be Drift of the Storm Wolves,” Elucard said.

  As the eyes grew closer, a pearl white kanis appeared. He was young, as young as Elucard when he was a Black Rabbit, no more than seventeen. Drift wore black and orange assassin garbs and a heavy wool, black cloak draped over his shoulders and around his neck. Two similarly dressed kanis flanked either side of him.

  The head kanis folded his burly arms. “You are correct in that assumption. I am Drift, High Blade of the Storm Wolves. You contacted our clan to set up this meeting. Do you have a job for us?”

  Elucard and Cade bowed before the clan leader. He was young for his position, but so were Avalon and Vada when they became the Black Rabbit leaders.

  “I am Elucard Freewind, former First Blade of the Black Rabbits in Cypress,” Elucard stated. “This is Cade Stargazer. His mentor was also a former Black Rabbit.”

  Drift’s mouth gaped open. “You are Elucard of the Black Rabbits?! The actual Elucard?”

  Cade gave Elucard a puzzled look. “The one and the same, High Blade,” Cade said to Drift.

  Elucard cleared his throat with a hrm. “Yes… have you heard of me?”

  “Of course! Any assassin worth his salt has heard of Elucard Freewind. The Black Rabbit that felled a king!”

  Cade smiled at Elucard. “I didn’t know you killed a king?”

  Elucard stroked his throat. “It was a long time ago.”

  Drift’s eyes moved up and down. “The Black Rabbits have gone silent, we have not heard of any of their activity in Cypress for years.”

  “They disbanded,” Elucard said. Hoping to ignore the subject.

  “I saw a version of them led by a former Rabbit in Varis, but yes, I haven’t heard much activity from them since then,” Cade added.

  “Cypress no, but sects of the clan still function in Blight and Stratus,” explained Drift.

  Elucard raised his brow. His curiosity lured him back to the subject. “Come again? Black Rabbits exist in Blight and Stratus?”

  “Perhaps by name only. I assume they are copycat clans.” Cade said, offering an explanation.

  “They claim heritage of the original Long Whisper Rabbits, but I could see them just taking the name for clout,” argued Drift.

  Elucard put his hands on his hips. Black Rabbits in other realms and even Rabbits in Varis. How could they worm away from Elucard, even after burning Ryjin’s clan to the ground. Black Rabbits, cockroaches. Scurrying in the shadows—surviving the impossible. I suppose that is why we created the Anti-Rogue Operatives. To combat the ever growing menace of assassin clans such as the Black Rabbits.

  He turned back to Drift. “Listen, we need your Storm Wolf knowledge of this city to locate a man.”

  “His name is Raze. A leader of a network of terrorists called the Spellbreakers,” Cade answered.

  Drift rubbed his muzzle. “What is your business with these Spellbreakers? I see that you wear a combination of assassin armor and mage robes. Are you Elemental Shrouds? Perhaps part of the Mage Task Force?”

  “We are both Elemental Shrouds,” Elucard said with a nod. “My mage has been harassed by the Spellbreakers. They are a menace that must be dealt with.”

  “Yes, Raze must die,” agreed Cade.

  “I know where the Twin Cliffs Spellbreakers reside. We keep watch over their activities. They are bad for business.”

  So our hunch was right, thought Elucard. Even Arrelion’s fortress has its cracks.

  “Then you will help us take them down?” asked Cade.

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  “No, we will continue to watch them, but we will not risk a war with them,” replied Drift. “Retaliation is also bad for business.”

  “Can you at least show us their headquarters?” asked Elucard.

  “For the great Elucard Freewind? Of course!” laughed the kanis.

  ***

  Elucard and Cade lept from roof to roof as they followed the three Storm Wolves. An icy wind chilled their cheeks and snow along the ledges hampered their speed, but the seasoned assassins did well to keep up with their hosts. Trapezing through Lost Dawns in the winter gave them good practice with traversing across Twin Cliffs. Although the Stratus city experienced a heftier snowfall and blustery winds, Elucard and Cade managed just fine.

  Elucard dropped silently onto the roof of an old factory and joined Cade and the others by a skylight. Like the skylight, shattered, dusty windows dotted the side of the building. Dirt and cobwebs settled on the glass and the scent of rust and mold vented from the broken windows. If the Spellbreakers were here, this old factory would be a perfect place to hide a large group of criminals.

  Elucard peered through the grimy film and into the darkness of the factory. Along the catwalks and across the floor, men and women in leather jackets, training with staffs and batons. Others sat at a long table jotting on sheets of paper while more men meditated in a circle. However, there seemed to be no sign of Raze.

  “Here are the Spellbreakers of Twin Cliffs. No doubt your target is with them somewhere,” said Drift.

  Cade looked at Elucard. “So we drop in there, make a ruckus in the cave and see if the grizzly bear makes an appearance?”

  “Kill them all, Cade, and if Raze is the only one left, we end him tonight,” Elucard hissed. He drew his ninjato and flared it with a flood of vernal magic from his left arm.

  “You will be sorely outnumbered, Elucard,” Drift said with caution in his tone. “Do you think this is a wise tactic?”

  “The Spellbreakers have had the element of shock every time we’ve encountered them,” said Elucard. “It is time we showed them the same level of aggression.”

  Cade narrowed his eyes and unsheathed his sword. He channeled a mist of cold magic over the steel until it frosted over with ice. “Very well, then.”

  Elucard nodded to Drift. “Wish us luck.”

  Drift bowed to the elves, doubt glinting in his eyes. “Good luck, Rabbits.”

  Elucard and Cade walked back to the ledge of the factory. They both took a deep breath and dashed with reckless energy, crashing through the skylight. Together the shrouds descended through the darkness, glimmering shards of glass floated around them. Time moved slower to Elucard. Like a dream before the nightmare. A calm before the storm or peace before the slaughter.

  Before any Spellbreaker could react to the sudden attack, Elucard and Cade blasted an array of spells and magic down to them.

  Shuriken leaves peppered flesh and chests. Icicle daggers drove deep into throats and thighs. The two shrouds landed into a roll and immediately launched into their onslaught of the confused and scattering Spellbreakers.

  Elucard slashed left and right, stabbing, kicking, and lopping off limbs and heads. He transformed his arm into a lumbering branch and heaved his log-like limb into a crowd of enemies, crushing them against the wall. Their screams were cut short by the crunching of hundreds of bones. Elucard recalled his blood soaked arm and sneered. He turned to Cade, finding the hydro shroud right at home among statues of frozen Spellbreakers. In a single swing, Cade shattered the statues into gruesome frostbitten chunks.

  From a long, dark archway thirty more Spellbreakers arrived as reinforcements to the remaining seventeen. They surrounded the two shrouds, brandishing their electric batons.

  Elucard and Cade stood back to back.

  “Hurry this up!” growled Cade. “Show us Raze!”

  A taunting voice boomed around the room. “So, you wish to challenge Erzathen’s paladin?”

  Elucard narrowed his eyes. Streaks of sweat dripped down his forehead. He gripped his sword even tighter until the leather bands around his hilt cracked.

  “They wish to deal with the full might of the Spellbreaker movement? Then they will suffer!” Raze’s voice continued to echo around the enraging crowd.

  This is it. Live or die, it all ends tonight. Either we walk away with Raze’s head, or we don’t walk away at all… Elucard whispered to himself.

  The voices and cries of the Spellbreakers bellowed louder and louder, drowning out the thoughts of Elucard. The elven shroud swallowed hard as Raze’s speech riled the Spellbreakers into a frenzy.

  “The Academy of Mages want to silence our cause, but we won’t be silent! We won’t back down! We will rise above the flames of the Mages. Rise, Spellbreakers. Rise above their oppression! Above their tyranny! Above their corruption! Rise! Rise!”

  The voices of many shook the roof of the factory. They stamped their feet and waved their weapons.

  Rise! Rise! Rise!

  “Elucard!” Cade shouted over the commotion. “We need to escape!”

  “There is no escaping now, Mage lackeys! Spellbreakers, attack!” order Raze.

  Like a crashing wave, a rush of hands and batons grabbed and pulled Elucard and Cade to the floor. With all his might, Elucard tried to pull free, thrashing his legs and fists wildly. He tried to rip his body away from the hundreds of clawing hands. Tried… but failed.

  The weight of fifty men held down Elucard and ripped away his weapon. He grunted and thrashed out his feet, but to no avail; he had been taken prisoner.

  “Cade! Cade!” Elucard cried out.

  “Collar them! I do not want them to escape! They will serve as sacrifices to Erzathen at dawn!” Raze commanded.

  Elucard was lifted to his knees. His arms were pressed behind his back. Heavy, iron shackles locked his wrists together and a collar fastened around his neck. Glowing runes hummed from the collar, and the once-frigid rush of Magi that made up his arm burned hot. Pain warped through his hand and up to his shoulder. Elucard screamed out in utter agony. The pain was so intense, more than any other pain he had dealt with before in his life. It felt as if his arm was pressed against an oven. Burning. Scalding. An unbelievable sensation, so much so that a ruthless baton swing cracked across Elucard’s head to finally silence the screaming elf, he took it as blessed reprieve.