As soon as the door to the Council Chamber closed behind him, a smile crept onto the seneschal’s long face in the dim light of the corridor. Beneath the illusion, See No Evil was taking a moment to enjoy the look on old Jerald’s face when the young Paladin’s name had been put forward.
Hear No Evil’s idea to assume the identity of someone from Crystalia Castle had been a good plan and, as a mimic, easy to pull off. Even his companion, the shapeshifter See No Evil, was surprised by how well he had chosen. Not only did they now have the king’s ear, but they could also relay messages as if straight from the king’s mouth. And because the seneschal was supposedly not the one who made decisions, whenever someone got angry with them—as that older Paladin just had—it was simple to pass on the blame.
Oh, no. Don’t shoot the messenger.
Never mind that they had been the ones to suggest the idea to the king in the first place. Now in the darkened hallway, Hear No Evil was taking this chance to stretch out from his position nestled on See’s shoulder where he usually stayed concealed. Fortunately, Hear’s four-foot-long, lizard-like body weighed very little, at least compared to See’s true, hulking form. Still, the claws at the end of Hear’s little feet dug uncomfortably into the seneschal’s silky shirt as he uncoiled his body.
See shifted at the discomfort, but Hear ignored him and kept talking about the plan.
“You know, when we report back to our master again, I better get my fair share of the credit,” he said.
Unable to speak, See grunted to communicate his assent and continued down the corridor.
Reaching the stairs, See shoved Hear back into his hiding place. Even with all the Paladins at the meeting, the lower floors of the Tower were filled with watchful eyes. The maids, servants, and even the Castle guards appeared chipper as he passed. All were blissfully ignorant to the truth about the identity of the Midnight Queen that was tearing at the royal family’s hearts. They nodded politely as See passed by, showing their respect for the king’s seneschal.
Before even arriving in Crystalia under their master’s orders, they had decided to pick someone respectable, someone high up in society and the court, but neither See nor Hear would’ve thought they’d come across the likes of the king’s seneschal in a seedy place like Pickled Lane.
All that Hear No Evil had to do was lure the man into an alley by making his voice sound like the king. The seneschal came running immediately. See made himself look like a giant, foul monster and the man fainted in fear. They didn’t even have to touch him before he was out.
They tied him up and put him in a cage in Castletown’s Underbelly, where many of Crystalia’s dissidents dwelled.
See studied the man for several hours, poking a torch in his face to study every crow’s foot and frown line. Then he could begin his own magic.
Once he had transformed into the seneschal’s likeness, See presented himself to the guard they had hired, who responded with, “How did you get out of the Castle?”
Now everyone thought he was the seneschal. Hear No Evil could easily mimic the seneschal’s voice, wrapped around his bulky form like a snake, tucked inside the stolen red cloak. Together, they were now allowed into the most respected places in Crystalia. All See had to do was pretend he was sick, cover his mouth with a handkerchief, and Hear would speak with the old man’s voice.
Fortunately, no one had visited See and Hear in the seneschal’s considerably large chambers during the several days they’d been pretending to be him, and, given the man’s reputation of not entertaining guests, there would be little chance of discovery. And even if there were guests, Hear No Evil could always use them if need be. They would become just another identity he could steal. Even so, they would have to shift the real seneschal back into the Castle soon.
After the rumor had spread of the Midnight Queen’s retreat from the Midnight Tower at the hands of a Paladin, their master suddenly realized the threat the Paladin order could be toward their plans. After all, the Midnight Queen had all the power, all the influence, all the favor of the Dark Consul, and yet she was defeated.
So what else was their master to do but order her most trusted spies, See No Evil and Hear No Evil, to undermine the Paladins in the best way they knew how? Espionage and deceit, usurp and assume, or more accurately, divide and conquer. Once the news of Amethyst’s betrayal was leaked, it shouldn’t take but a week for word to be spread through the kingdom.
“Sometimes I don’t think you respect the effort I put into these schemes, See,” Hear said as they approached the bottom floor.
See pointed to himself and grunted. Who? Me? He shook his head.
“I mean, as soon as I saw that the kid was a rising star among the Paladins, it really didn’t take much to convince the king to put in his vote. Nominating a young Paladin to a position that high was sure to divide their legions. When we can take the identity of whoever wins their election, none of the Paladins will stop us from spreading that discord into the Castle, leaving it completely helpless for—jmmmhmhhmmm.”
See smashed a hand over Hear’s carving-knife nose and blabbering mouth when he heard quick footsteps making their way toward the Tower.
Hear No Evil jammed his feet into See’s sides in protest. “What’s the big . . . oh, hello, my dear,” he said, quickly shifting his voice to the seneschal’s low baritone.
Rushing toward them was a beautiful young woman with long golden hair that bounced as she moved. “Am I too late?”
See made sure to feign a cough as an excuse to cover his mouth while Hear did all the talking. “Too late? You mean for the nominations for the new Paladin captain to be called? Yes, I’m afraid that is happening now as we speak. Best hurry.”
“Goddess’ graces!” she said as she began running up the steps. “I’m sorry, sir, but I must make my report.”
See watched her go and breathed a sigh of relief.
“That was close,” Hear said.
See nodded. If the girl had caught the seneschal talking with a strange, nasally voice, who knew what rumors could pop up within the Castle. Then again, the true seneschal had tried to maintain an air of authority, even after he had been captured. See thought that his low voice was really an act in itself.
“You see? I keep saying we need to be more careful. You nearly got us caught,” said Hear.
See raised his palms in questioning. Me?
“Yes, you. You clearly heard her coming before I did. You could have warned me.”
See felt Hear shaking his head under the cloak.
“Anyway, where were we?” continued Hear. “Ah, yes. Once the partisanism, tribalism, bias—whatever you want to call it—sets in, as it always does for things like this, we can start pointing fingers at those that refuse to follow our orders. Some of the Paladins might defect, but let them. Once they are tearing each other apart, any power they might have had to protect the Castle against our master will be made trivial to our master’s might.”
See had seen Hear do this before. After all, they hadn’t become their master’s top spies just because of their abilities. They’d had to be clever. Find out where loyalties lay, discover who among the competition supported their master and who supported the Midnight Queen. Then all they’d had to do was point fingers, question allegiances, and rise up through the resulting chaos.
That’s why Hear No Evil always liked See. According to his longtime friend, not being able to talk had its advantages. He couldn’t rat Hear out to their master, and he couldn’t talk behind his back. There was only one other person who they both had liked: Speak No Evil. But only their master knew what happened to her.
“Okay, now, do you know what’s next in our plan?”
See nodded. After all, Hear had told him about it near a hundred times.
“No, you don’t. Stop lying.”
See huffed.
“All right, fine. If you think you know what it is, then tell me.”
See rolled his eyes and Hear began to laugh. Knowing this conversation wasn’t going to end anytime soon, See stopped under the shadow of Crystalia Castle, far enough away so that no one could hear Hear explain his “genius plan” once again.
“All right, fine. I’ll tell you.” Hear chuckled. “Now that we have set up the opposing sides in the Paladin ranks, step two is to trigger suspicion between them. And the best way to do that is to make them believe the opposite side is working for the enemy. Whatever trust they have for each other must be snuffed out, and then the in-group party politics can do the rest.”
See nodded emphatically. I know already!
“You see? You agree with me. Now, what would you do without me around to remind you all the time?”
See made his way over to the flock of nobles gathered around the entrance to Crystalia Castle, who were waiting for news about the newest council meeting. Hear may have been a genius schemer, but at least See knew a way to shut him up from time to time.
If anything, he was glad that the man they had taken the identity of didn’t have the reputation of a blabbermouth.