Piper waited in Glinrin's personal armoury, as Figrid had instructed.

Personal armoury. The man has a fucking personal armoury.

The room was particularly large, all sorts of weapons lying along the wall, swords of various shapes and sizes, some were so big only Giants or Trolls could wield them,spears, lances, maces, clubs and morning stars. There were shelves stocked with random metal clippings and armour parts. Some were closed, Piper couldn't guess what other weapons they could have hidden.

What weapons are left to hide anyways?

There was a single large window, about eight foot tall, with an iron grating, that could be opened from inside.

Why would anyone want to open a window, to an armoury placed so high above ground? Is it possible he plans to suicide someday? Good jump of the cliff and I am free.

The thought made her laugh. But she was cut midway through by a raspy voice, "Who do we have here? A girl squire?" She looked to see a man about five feet tall enter the armoury, he was sweaty and clad in chainmail.

"Would you like to play with my sword?" the man said coming an inch closer to her, his eyes drooling with lust.

Piper grabbed the nearest spear, and flung it in circles in her hand a few times before thrusting it straight at the man's neck. The spear tip stopped just as it touched the flesh on his neck.

Piper said in a voice intended to imitate a coquette, "Oh honey, I would so love to, but you lack one it seems?" A little stream of blood trickled down his neck as the spear tip did the job it was appointed to. The lust in the man's eyes was now replaced with fear and dread as he saw his sword dangling between Piper's index finger and thumb.

She flung the sword. It swooped past the man's head and exited from the single window in the room. "Now that's out of the window, shorty," she giggled as the man watched in horror.

Got that pun, you fucker?

Footsteps could be heard closing in. They were heavy, nothing like the short one's the little man had. The General of the Empire, Glinrin, entered the room in full chainmail. He walked straight past the two as if he hadn't noticed them at all, which Piper found particularly odd, for the little man was still at spear point. He walked towards the window, and placed his hands on the sill, and looked below it as if enjoying the view. His six foot three frame blocked any sunlight that was previously slipping in the armoury.

"Stop embarrassing me Hallinson. Get out of here," he said as if ordering a platoon of soldiers below him. "Try that again and I might just have your skin flayed."

The little man, Hallinson, was now red in the face, with both embarrassment and anger. Piper withdrew the spear and the man walked out of the room saying, "I will take my leave, My Lord," and grumbling something like 'bitch' under his breath, looking at Piper one last time before leaving the room.

"Apologies for the man's behaviour. You must be the new squire?" Glinrin's deep voice echoed through the room.

Does he always sound like he is leading troops into battle?

"Yes, General," said Piper, keeping the mockery to her own self.

"The shadow of Rosenville, isn't that what they call you?" Glinrin still had his hands on the sill.

"Ah, that's just a name caught on along the way," she waved, almost blushing as if the phrase was supposed to flatter her. She didn't lie to herself; she took pride in the title.

"Has the gaoler informed you of the condition?" Glinrin demanded.

"He has, but unfortunately I am no highborn, I don't know what all are the duties of a squire and such. Yeah, I have heard that they help you in wearing armour, doing odd jobs but My Lord, I am inexperienced," she said putting the spear back in its choice.

Glinrin glanced back. He took his hands off the sill and turned towards her. "It is little jobs mostly, nothing that you need either training or experience for." He then looked at one of the cupboards. "And as for armour, that isn't one of the tasks you have to do," he said with a short laugh.

Okay so he likes to wear his own armour, nothing funny about that. Is he afraid the squire might kill him in the process?

She was soon proven wrong as one of the locked cupboards started vibrating. The doors were thrown open and something flew right at Glinrin. The General stood with his arms spread wide as if welcoming a guest. The right half of his side was drenched in sunlight from the window outside, as he concentrated at the cupboard. Vambraces flew from the cupboard shining with a whitish glow as they lodged themselves in Glinrin's arms. A breast plate giving away white light flew as a back plate simultaneously fell in place. There was a little click as the two locked automatically around Glinrin. Piper noticed the backplate had two swords. Next came rerebraces covering his massive biceps and pauldrons shielding his shoulders, clicking and clanking without a single human touch. It seemed the armour had a life of its own.

He turned and started walking slowly towards the door his arms still spread wide, as cuisses and greaves fell into place, groaning a little and reverberating as if invisible hands were at work fixing them in place. Little armour parts and rondels flew from the open cupboard as they started finding their place in the scheme of things. Gauntlets found Glinrin's hand and started covering his fingers one by one, clanking their tongues as they did it.

Then came his armet, it had hinges on a few spots and quickly turned to cover his full head. The visor remained in place and did not come down to cover his face.

As the invisible squire completed fixing the last hinges in the armour, Piper stood awestruck, her big eyes taking a different proportion.

Is it possible for one man to control as much Gladinstone? That would require an inhuman will.

As the glow died down, she saw that rivulets of metal ran down throughout the armour. They were welded with another metal painted red and gold. She realised that only the rivulets with the sharp turns were Gladinstone, rest was just another alloy.

Otherwise it would be insanely expensive and nor can a man control as much Gladinstone. The rivulets make the scheme more practical.

Glinrin wasn't looking at her, nor was he behaving any different than he had before, it was routine for him, rather he was looking out of the door.

"You might want to bow down when the King enters," he said as he waved her to remain out of the sight of the door.

The King of the Empire shortly entered the room as Glinrin had suggested.

So that's why he was looking out of the window before.

He bowed, his armour creaked a little. Piper followed his example. When Glinrin had entered the room the air had gotten heavy, but now when the King did the same there was almost no impact, even as his two knightsguard stood at the door outside the armoury.

The King has no presence it seems. A weak aura.

He smiled at Glinrin, "Ready General?"

"At your service, Your Majesty."

"May the blessing of Dragrin be with you!" Said the King with a lazy smile. Piper's ears flew up when she heard it.

A mission?

"I will find them as I promised," said Glinrin.

The King inched a little closer as he spoke, "Trinopolis is an illustrious city, many travellers and such. It remains one of our major incomes. And furthermore is suitable for making noise, so make as much noise as you can, put up a grand act. I will cover up the rest, if anything moves beyond an act and escalates."

Piper's sharp ears flew up again at the sound of 'cover up'. When the King of the Empire said so, there was bound to the something wrong. And Trinopolis.

Journey there? That will mean all my effort spent on Figrid down the drain? Now do I have to wait months to elope here? So that's why he chose a thief instead of a murderer, all for the journey!

"Understood, Your Majesty. It shall be done," said the General bowing.

The King tapped his left shoulder with two fingers of his right hand and chuckled. *Some inside joke?* ,thought Piper. If it was a joke, Glinrin did not seem to find it funny. He looked the King in the eye, just as he did with everyone, and spoke, "The Cape interferes during battle. No offense Your Majesty, the cape is but a decoration I need not." The King didn't seem to take any as he smiled, "Well General, it represents the strength of our Empire." Glinrin made no attempt to hide disagreement flashed across his face. Piper assumed he would argue further, but her doubts were smashed as she heard a flutter from the cupboard. A sunlit golden coloured cloth unfurled itself and flew at Glinrin. Piper noticed the buckles were made of Gladinstone and they pushed the cape forward with invisible hands. The buckles locked with the pauldrons on Glinrin's massive shoulders with a faint click.

The King smiled and turned to leave the armoury. "Do not fail me, Glinrin." His knightsguard followed him. Piper noticed even they wore golden capes with Kings sigil painted in red. Glinrin's cape seemed more grand it was a General's cape after all.

The General looked at Piper and said, "We leave now. Take the weapon of your choice; you are good with spears I presume?"

He walked towards the window, "Meet me at the barracks."

He opened the iron grating and stood up the sill, almost completely blocking the window. His gaze shifted to the ground visible below. "And yeah, lock the grill from inside."

Piper was afraid he was going to jump and he did.

What the fuck, that was suicide? Good riddance, she joked to herself as she moved towards the window to look below. Although
she knew full well that that wasn't the case and she further had predicted what was going to happen next, but Piper still had to see it to believe it.

As Glinrin reached closer to the ground, his armour began glowing white and his fall slowed. His cape fluttered, the cloth flowed with waves in ocean of open air, the ocean Piper had wished to see since the past three months. At one point he was practically levitating a few feet above ground, the waves in the cape started catching a slower beat as well, the crest of the lion's head in red and the two babes looking up at him painted in green. Then the glow died and he landed with the precision that had seen long into cultivation. He walked towards the barrack's gate. The people working around the castle looked at him for an instant as he landed and went about doing their work as if nothing out of place had happened here.

Someone jumping down ten storeys for instance.