I leaned forward. My smile made Payton’s sneer drop a bit. He started to look a little worried.

  “There are one hundred and thirty-three Dungeons in the Solace Fellowship. That does not include the thirty-seven in the Gray Wolf Territory. As of this morning, one hundred and seventeen Dungeons have been cleared in the last week or will be cleared in the coming week. Of the remaining sixteen, thirteen have been cleared in the last month and still have three months or so before they will reach dangerous levels. All thirteen are scheduled to be cleared next month. Those thirteen are the ones in the most remote corners of the Solace Fellowship, where it takes up to a week of travel by foot to reach. The remaining three are a month away from reaching dangerous levels and all three are scheduled to be cleared next week when the delving teams traveling to them reach the entrances.” I paused, still staring and smiling at Payton. He was looking pretty squirmy in his seat, like he wanted to be anywhere but there. I continued. “Of the Gray Wolf Territory Dungeons, all of them are within easy travel by airship or walking with the farthest being the one we just cleared. Twenty-three Dungeons have been cleared in the last week or will be cleared in the coming week. Seven Dungeons are reaching critical stage and there is no one scheduled to clear them. Of the last three, they were all at critical stage and two have been cleared. The last will be cleared within the next couple of days.”

  I leaned back and pointed at Derek.

  “Yes, I do delegate a lot to people. But I also receive almost daily updates.” I leaned forward again, smile gone and pointed at Payton. “I get updates because I am the clanchief of Clan Howell. I am responsible for all the people in the Clan and keeping them safe. That includes keeping them safe from Dungeon Breaks. If the Dungeons are not properly handled, cleared in the right time, that falls on me. That failure is mine. Or in this case, it’s yours.”

  Payton looked at Calvin and Caulfield for support. There was none there. Caulfield knew when to jump off a sinking ship. Calvin was too much of a coward to do anything except stare at the table, wondering what his fate was going to be.

  “You’re right, Lord Howell,” Payton said, sitting up a little straighter. “I failed my people. I trusted the wrong ones.”

  I shook my head.

  “If it was just that,” I said. “I might let you off easy. There’s no excuse for not being on the front lines with your people, but the Dungeon thing…. Maybe I could let that slide, but not now.”

  Payton squirmed in his seat, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but there. I couldn’t blame him. He had to know what was coming. I glanced at Caulfield, who was doing a better job of hiding his anxiety, but he was starting to get worried. Daphne and Calvin had no idea. She looked like she was enjoying the beating Payton was getting. Calvin just looked like he wanted to crawl under the table and hide. He knew his luxury living as the mayor was over. But poor Payton, he knew the whole thing was over.

  “I’m sure you’ve noticed the elves that are with us?”

  Payton sputtered, his face losing a bit of the fear. He was confused. Not the direction he’d expected me to go.

  “Elves? What… I…”

  “Yeah, the elves. There’s seven of them with us. They’re part of a Faction that the Solace Fellowship is now allied with. They have a much longer name, but they go by the Sunrise Formation. One of them is in my Infinite Tower group, so you can guess that we have a pretty good relationship between the two Factions. Anyways, when I heard about the invasion, I reached out to my friends in the Sunrise Formation.” Payton was staring at me, eyes widening in fear a little bit at a time. Caulfield was now starting to squirm. “I figured, a Faction as old and widespread as the Formation would know all about the invaders. Turns out that they did.” I pulled an information crystal out of my inventory, holding it so Payton could see it. “They told us all about the Grimdar. But they also told us some more information.” I stared at Payton, stopping his squirming with my gaze.

  His face was going white. His eyes tracked from one of us to the other, looking for support, allies, way out, something. Not even Caulfield was looking at him.

  “I thought it was weird that the Grimdar would be invading, a whole nine years before they should have been able to. We had that grace period, right? The Celestial Challenge System even told us it existed in the Notifications we got way back when Earth was integrated into the System. I’m sure you remember it? We all do.”

  Payton slowly nodded, swear starting to form.

  “Turns out, that Earth isn’t the only place this early invasion has happened.” Payton looked like he started to relax. Like he thought his salvation was coming. I quickly destroyed that liferaft. “But it’s extremely rare. And when I say extremely, like one in a million kind of rare. But it had happened, so the Multiverse knows how it happens. Turns out the invaders have to be invited.”

  I watched the four Gray Wolf clanmembers. Daphne had been staring at Payton, just like everyone else at the table. She’d been impassive, but as I talked, her face changed as realization sunk in. She glared daggers at Thomas Payton. If we’d been anywhere else but this meeting, she looked like she would have attacked him. Calvin looked like he’d finally caught up to the conversation. His eyes were open in shock and surprise as he looked at his former Clanchief. Caulfield sat straight, eyes on the table, hands clasped and resting on the surface. Payton looked defeated, a man that knew the end had come.

  I let the silence linger for a bit. He finally spoke.

  “I didn’t invite them,” he said, voice barely audible. He wouldn’t meet my gaze. “You have to believe me.”

  “I do,” I said, which made everyone look at me, except Maria and Derek who already knew the details. Even Caulfield glanced my way. Payton looked up, there was no hope in his eyes. “You couldn’t invite them. It takes someone from a Faction on the ruling council to invite invaders in early. The Gray Wolf Clan wasn’t on the council.”

  Payton, and probably Caulfield, knew what I wanted. I had no proof, but I was positive Caulfield was involved somehow. Names. Just give me names. If they did, maybe I’d go easy on them. That’s what they had to be thinking. Wasn’t that the way it worked Pre-Integration? Cut a deal and get a lesser sentence or even get off completely?

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  The two didn’t look at each other, but I could tell they were thinking it. Who would rat the other out first? It looked like Payton was going to break.

  “I don’t understand,” a new voice, one that hadn’t spoken yet, said.

  It startled everyone, making poor Payton jump in his seat. All eyes turned to look at Calvin. The man was looking down at the table. He looked up at me.

  “If you know Lord…I mean.. Uhm…,” Calvin took a deep breath. “If you know Thomas didn’t invite the invaders why…” Calvin melted under all the glances his way.

  “Why am I acting like he did?” I supplied. “Because Payton here, he’s working with or even for the folks that did invite the Grimdar. And I want to know who that is.”

  I like to act like I know everything going on, especially in this meeting. But most times? It’s an act. I’m strong but I tend to make it look like I’m stronger than I am. My perceived strength? It’s part of the Solace Fellowship’s protection. Subudai doesn’t attack us, because he thinks I’d wipe the floor with him.

  He’s right, but it would be a tough fight.

  People are afraid of me and the Fellowship because they think we’re always a couple steps ahead. And most times, not to be arrogant or anything, but I am. Not me specifically but the people I have working with me. Kat, especially.

  That fear of me makes people predictable. So I rarely get surprised.

  Caulfield surprised me.

  As I spoke, Payton sank in his seat, completely deflating. Mason was gripping the tabletop, and I could see where his fingers were digging into the wood. He looked ready to flip the thing over and charge Payton. I watched Payton, figuring he’d be the one to break first.

  Caulfield moved so damn fast.

  One second he had his hands clasped on the table, staring down at it, not moving. The next?

  He was behind Derek, knife at the throat. Derek’s eyes were wide in surprise and a little fear.

  Everyone was slow to react. We all were staring at the chair where Caulfield had been, now knocked over onto the ground. It was Derek’s strangled grunt that made us turn to look that way.

  “What the hell…” I said, staring at them.

  Caulfield was taller and had Derek pulled up. One arm was across Derek’s chest, holding his arms tight, hand clasped on the right arm to lock it in place. Caulfield’s other hand held a short bladed knife, the edge against Derek’s throat. Caufield’s dark eyes stared at us, at me. He appeared pretty calm.

  “Bernard?” Payton stammered out.

  “Shut up,” Caulfield said, still calm. “You’re a damned fool, Payton.”

  Caulfield’s eyes never left mine.

  “How did you do that?” Daphne asked.

  Calvin’s mouth was wide open. He was staring at where Caulfield had been and where he was now. Looking back and forth. The rest of us had started to stand up.

  “Don’t,” Caulfield said, pushing the edge of the knife tighter against Derek’s throat.

  In the world of the System, a stand off like this might not be a big deal. With Levels and the differences in strength, if Derek was higher Level than Caulfield, there would be almost nothing Caulfield could do. But that wasn’t the case here. I didn’t know Caulfield’s Level but I knew Derek’s and had a feeling that Caulfield knew Derek’s as well.

  There was no way he’d gone after Derek at random.

  He knew that we, specifically I, wouldn’t care if he took Calvin or Daphne hostage.

  And he was right. I might care a little about Daphne. I had plans for her.

  But Calvin?

  Nope.

  So Caulfield went after Derek. And he had to know Derek’s Level compared to his. Otherwise there’d be no point in taking a hostage whose skin there was no way he’d break. Looking at the thin line of blood at the blade’s edge, Caulfield was higher Leveled than I had thought. I didn’t know what his play was here though but it was something he’d been planning since walking into the tent.

  “No one moves,” Caulfield said.

  “What’s your play?” I asked.

  “My play?” Caulfield said, sneering. “My play is to leave here.”

  From outside we heard some grunts and cries of pain. Everyone else looked that way, I focused on Caulfield. I’d been waiting on that move. It was a signal of sorts.

  “No,” I said. “That’s obvious. Of course you want to leave. Probably go to whatever Faction is behind all this. No. I meant, what is the point of all of it? The why?”

  “The why?” Caulfield laughed, the knife pulling tighter against Derek’s throat.

  For his part, Derek didn’t appear panicked. Nervous? Sure. Who wouldn’t be with a knife at their throat. But he wasn’t afraid, not too much.

  “No,” Caulfield said. “I won’t answer. This is not a movie where the villain sprouts on and on. Now you will let me leave.”

  The sounds outside got louder.

  Caulfield started shifting that way.

  “Why would I do that?”

  He stopped, eyes wide. That question had caught him by surprise.

  “What?”

  “Why would I let you leave?”

  “I’ll kill him.”

  “And then we’ll kill you,” I said. “If you leave, we’ll find you and kill you.”

  I stood up, making Caulfield take another couple steps toward the tent flap, dragging Derek with him. I calmly pushed the chair in, smoothing down my leather jacket. Reaching up, I shifted my hat.

  “Because we will find you. We’ll find out who is behind this and we’ll kill them all and anyone that helped them.”

  “Don’t…,” he said as I took a step around the table.

  “Your only hope of living is to give us the information we want. We’ll find it out, but it’ll be quicker if you just go ahead and tell us and then… maybe… we’ll let you live.”

  “That’s not how this works,” Caulfield said, his voice straining a little.

  “Of course it is,” I said and smiled.

  Caulfield stiffened, Tracey appearing behind him, her blade at the back of his neck.