The first attack of the Shadow War did not involve an assassin.
It did not involve poison.
No warehouses burned.
No Imperial agents disappeared into dark alleys.
Jax's first weapon was considerably more dangerous.
The truth.
Three days after the meeting at the Compound, Jax walked through the doors of The U.K. Chronicle.
Zee accompanied him.
Kat Virellyn was already waiting.
The Chronicle had grown considerably since Jax first encountered it.
What had once been a relatively modest newspaper had become one of the most widely circulated publications in the United Kingdoms.
Copies traveled through the dimensional gate network.
Merchants carried them between cities.
Adventurers left them behind in Guild halls and taverns.
Other newspapers quoted their stories.
That reach was exactly why Jax was here.
Kat led them into her office and closed the door.
"You don't usually come here personally."
Jax sat across from her.
"This one matters."
Kat looked between him and Zee.
"Alexandria?"
Jax nodded.
Kat leaned back.
"We've heard stories."
"Then you've probably heard some of what happened."
"Some."
"Not enough."
Kat studied him.
"What do you want me to print?"
"The truth."
Her expression didn't change.
"Whose?"
Jax smiled slightly.
"Good answer."
Kat folded her arms.
"If you want me to print propaganda, you've come to the wrong newspaper."
"Good."
That finally got a reaction.
"Good?"
"I don't want a newspaper that prints whatever I tell it to."
Jax leaned back.
"I want you to report what happened."
Kat watched him carefully.
"Those aren't always different things."
"No."
Jax nodded.
"They aren't."
That was the understanding between them.
Jax knew the Chronicle had influence.
Kat knew Jax understood exactly how useful that influence could be.
Neither pretended otherwise.
But there was a line.
Jax could provide information.
He could provide witnesses.
He could provide documents.
He could even tell Kat what he believed the story meant.
But he couldn't tell her what the truth was supposed to be.
That was her job.
"What can you prove?" Kat asked.
Jax placed several reports on her desk.
"Start there."
Kat opened the first.
Imperial casualty reports.
Names of soldiers known to have survived Crescent Moon Canyon.
Testimony from merchants who had recently fled Alexandria.
Reports of arrests.
Executions.
Riots.
Civilian deaths.
Confiscated property.
Statements gathered from families who had escaped the Empire.
Kat's expression became increasingly serious.
Then she looked toward Zee.
"And you?"
Zee had been unusually quiet.
"I was there."
"At Alexandria?"
Zee shook her head.
"Crescent Moon Canyon."
Kat set down her pen.
Zee looked at her hands.
"I treated them."
"The Imperial soldiers?"
"Yes."
"How many?"
"I don't know."
She paused.
"Hundreds."
Kat said nothing.
Zee continued.
"After the battle, we treated everyone."
"Imperial soldiers."
"Anyone who was injured."
Her voice became quieter.
"I remember one man who thought he was going to lose his leg."
She smiled faintly.
"He kept asking me if I was sure."
"I told him he was going to keep it."
Another pause.
"There was another who wouldn't stop thanking me."
"He couldn't understand why we were helping him."
Zee looked toward Kat.
"They thought we were going to kill them."
Kat's pen remained still.
"We didn't."
Zee swallowed.
"We saved them."
"And then we sent them home."
Silence filled the office.
"I don't know which ones died."
Zee's voice became softer.
"That's the part that bothers me."
"I saved hundreds of people that day."
She looked down at her hands again.
"And now I'm wondering how many of them made it home just so their own kingdom could kill them for surviving."
Kat slowly picked up her pen.
Jax didn't say anything.
He didn't need to.
Neither did Zee.
Kat began writing.
Two days later, the headline appeared.
THE MASSACRE OF MAIN STREET
Below it—
Survivors of Crescent Moon Canyon Executed by Alexandria
Copies flooded Solmere before breakfast.
By noon, they had reached Hairbro.
Oceanside.
Crystalshire.
Burrowlane.
By evening, merchants were carrying them beyond the borders of the United Kingdoms.
The Chronicle did not call Alexandria evil.
It didn't have to.
It printed names.
Dates.
Witness testimony.
Known arrests.
Confirmed executions.
Accounts from families.
Statements from survivors.
And prominently within the story—
The words of Zee.
A healer who had saved Imperial soldiers only to learn that all had later been executed by their own kingdom.
Alexandria had already named the event.
The Suppression of the Traitor Riots.
The Chronicle gave it another name.
The Massacre of Main Street.
And that name spread.
Jax understood something from his old world.
People remembered names.
They remembered phrases.
They remembered stories.
The Empire could argue about the details.
It could denounce the Chronicle.
It could call the witnesses liars.
It could claim the dead were traitors.
But every time Alexandria denied the Massacre of Main Street—
They repeated the words.
And every repetition made the name harder to erase.
The second attack was considerably quieter.
Over the following weeks, Vaelrith and General Soren began dismantling Alexandria's intelligence network.
Except—
They didn't actually dismantle it.
That had been Jax's first contribution to the plan.
Soren placed several files across the table in the Compound.
"We have confirmed twelve Imperial agents operating within the western United Kingdoms."
Jax opened the first file.
"How good?"
Soren raised an eyebrow.
"At spying?"
"Yeah."
"Poor."
Jax opened the second.
"And this one?"
"Also poor."
The third.
"Competent."
The fourth.
"Extremely."
Jax looked through several more.
Then closed the files.
"The bad ones stay."
Soren stared at him.
Vaelrith smiled.
He understood immediately.
Soren looked toward Jax.
"You want to leave enemy agents operating freely?"
"Not freely."
Jax tapped the first file.
"We know who he is."
"We know where he goes."
"We know who he talks to."
"We know how he sends information."
"Correct."
Jax smiled.
"So let's make him good at his job."
Soren's eyes narrowed.
Then he understood.
"The information we choose."
"Exactly."
Vaelrith leaned forward.
"Useful idiots."
Jax nodded.
"The worst spies Alexandria has are about to become their best."
The first was a merchant operating in Solmere.
He had been under observation for months.
His trade business was legitimate.
His intelligence work was not.
He asked too many questions.
Spent too much money buying drinks for warehouse workers.
And possessed the remarkable ability to become intensely interested whenever anyone discussed Jax Darquebane.
His first great discovery came almost accidentally.
At least—
That was what he believed.
Two warehouse workers were drinking after their shift.
They complained loudly about the additional cargo expected the following week.
The merchant listened.
A major shipment was coming from Burrowlane.
Grain.
Fresh produce.
Fruit.
Enough to supply several of Jax's restaurants and grocery operations.
The merchant sent the report.
Alexandria investigated.
The shipment arrived exactly when predicted.
His information was correct.
A week later, he learned that Jax had commissioned another large order from Brannic.
True.
Then he discovered that additional warehouse space was being purchased near the Solmere transportation district.
Also true.
Another report concerned increased security around several gate facilities.
True again.
None of the information was secret enough to hurt the United Kingdoms.
But all of it was valuable enough to verify.
Report after report proved accurate.
Inside Alexandria—
The merchant's reputation grew.
His handlers praised his work.
He received additional funds.
More responsibility.
Eventually, access to information that had previously been withheld from him.
He had become one of Korvin's rising intelligence assets.
Which was impressive.
Considering nearly everything he discovered had been deliberately placed where he could find it.
He wasn't alone.
Across the United Kingdoms, mediocre Imperial spies suddenly became extraordinarily successful.
A courier discovered accurate shipping schedules.
A tavern owner learned of negotiations between two towns.
A caravan guard obtained legitimate estimates of agricultural production.
Another operative discovered that Kaelor Fangmere had recently contacted several Guild Masters throughout the United Kingdoms.
All true.
All useful.
None devastating.
Alexandria began trusting them.
That was the point.
Because once Jax taught the Empire which spies to trust—
He could teach them which spies to destroy.
The first target was considerably better.
An Imperial operative working between Solmere and Hairbro had avoided detection for years.
Careful.
Patient.
Disciplined.
He rarely contacted his handler directly.
Never traveled the same route twice.
Never asked unnecessary questions.
Vaelrith considered him one of the best Imperial agents they had identified.
So Jax decided to make him look like a traitor.
Not with forged confessions.
Not with fake Imperial documents.
Those could be discovered.
Instead—
They gave Alexandria facts.
The operative legitimately conducted business with one of Jax's companies.
So the company offered him an unusually favorable contract.
Nothing illegal.
Nothing even particularly suspicious.
But profitable.
Money changed hands.
Legitimately.
Weeks later, the operative met with a merchant who happened to be one of Vaelrith's informants.
Neither discussed espionage.
They discussed textiles.
The meeting was real.
Then one of Jax's useful idiots received a tip.
The operative might be compromised.
The idiot investigated.
Money from a Darquebane business.
Confirmed.
A meeting with a suspected United Kingdom contact.
Confirmed.
Travel patterns placing the operative near several locations shortly before Imperial operations failed.
Also confirmed.
Coincidence.
Carefully cultivated coincidence.
The report went to Alexandria.
The Empire investigated.
And everything checked out.
Their own evidence convicted him.
The operative knew he was innocent.
Which meant someone was framing him.
He began investigating other Imperial agents.
His sudden interest in them was noticed.
Which made him look even guiltier.
Alexandria recalled him.
Jax never learned exactly what happened after that.
He didn't need to.
One of Korvin's best agents had disappeared from the United Kingdoms.
And one of his worst received commendation for discovering him.
Then something happened that Jax hadn't planned.
An Imperial spy died outside Hairbro.
Vaelrith delivered the report personally.
Jax looked up from his desk.
"Us?"
Jax frowned.
"What happened?"
Vaelrith's mouth twitched.
"He fell from his horse."
Jax stared at him.
"Seriously?"
"Apparently he had been drinking."
"How much?"
"Enough to lose an argument with a horse."
Jax leaned back.
"So we had absolutely nothing to do with it."
"Nothing."
"Does Alexandria know that?"
Vaelrith smiled.
"Not yet."
Jax slowly smiled back.
"Interesting."
By the time Alexandria received word of the death—
The story had changed.
The dead operative had recently made several unusual financial transactions.
One was genuine.
Two had been deliberately misunderstood.
Another Imperial operative had supposedly been seen meeting with him shortly before his death.
The meeting had actually happened.
They were both Imperial spies.
Of course they occasionally met.
But Alexandria didn't know why they had met.
Then a report arrived suggesting the dead operative had been investigating a spy who was considering defecting.
Nobody could question him.
Nobody could interrogate him.
Nobody could ask for his explanation.
Because a drunken man had fallen off a horse.
And Jax had turned bad luck into espionage.
Alexandria recalled another spy that was giving the group troubles in how they operated.
Another piece moved off the board.
Then came the robbery.
That one wasn't Jax either.
Bandits attacked a caravan outside Oceanside.
They stole several crates of valuable goods.
Injured two guards.
And disappeared into the countryside.
Ordinary crime.
The kind that happened everywhere.
Soren brought the report to the council.
"Imperial-connected merchant."
Jax looked at him.
"Did we know the caravan route?"
"Yes."
"Did any Imperial agents?"
"Three."
Jax smiled.
"That's unfortunate."
Soren was beginning to recognize that smile.
"For them?"
"For at least one of them."
Information quietly reached one of Jax's useful idiots.
The bandits had known exactly where the caravan would be.
Exactly when it would pass.
Exactly what cargo it carried.
The conclusion was obvious.
Someone had given them the route.
The useful idiot investigated.
One of Korvin's most capable operatives had possessed the schedule.
That was true.
He had also recently experienced financial difficulties.
Also true.
He had recently paid off a significant debt.
True again.
The money came from selling property inherited from his father.
That part somehow didn't make the report.
Alexandria investigated.
The operative panicked.
Not because he was guilty.
Because he knew what Alexandria did to people it suspected of betrayal.
He destroyed documents.
That was noticed.
He changed his travel schedule.
Also noticed.
He attempted to contact another Imperial agent privately.
Definitely noticed.
The Empire hadn't discovered a traitor.
It had created one.
Or at least—
Created someone who behaved exactly like one.
The Shadow Ninjas made the process even easier.
Jax had originally considered their Stealth ability unimpressive.
When he'd encountered it, his Perception had allowed him to see through it almost immediately.
He had assumed the skill wasn't particularly useful.
He had been wrong.
Very wrong.
Stealth was extraordinarily rare.
At high levels, it did more than hide someone visually.
Movement disappeared.
Footsteps vanished.
Breathing became imperceptible.
The tiny sounds of clothing and armor faded.
Even the instinctive sense that another person occupied the space nearby seemed to disappear.
High enough Perception could defeat it.
Powerful mana users could sometimes detect disturbances around them.
But against ordinary people—
A master of Stealth might as well not exist.
Jax discovered that his own experience with the ability had been wildly unrepresentative.
Which made Shadow Ninjas horrifyingly effective spies.
In Crystalshire, Eldrich already carried a Shadow Knight.
Its purpose was simple.
Protect him.
The scientist was too valuable.
And possibly too oblivious to recognize an assassination attempt until someone explained afterward that the knife hadn't been an experimental medical instrument.
His assistant carried something different.
A Shadow Ninja.
Its mission wasn't protection.
It was observation.
The Ninja moved from shadow to shadow.
Assistant.
Merchant.
Traveler.
Courier.
Anyone who became interesting.
One evening, an Imperial operative left a tavern near Eldrich's laboratory.
He walked three streets north.
Turned east.
Stopped.
Looked behind him.
Nobody.
He continued.
Entered a crowded market.
Exited through another street.
Stopped beside a shop window and studied the reflection.
Nobody.
He doubled back.
Waited in an alley.
Still nothing.
Satisfied, he continued toward his meeting.
Fifteen feet behind him—
Something moved.
No footsteps.
No breathing.
No sound.
No presence his senses could recognize.
The Shadow Ninja crossed the alley.
Stealth.
The Imperial operative had spent years learning how to determine whether someone was following him.
He was very good at it.
The problem was simple.
Everything he had learned assumed the person following him was human.
He was an assassin, and a spy. High Value targets identified were to be eliminated.
The Alley he was meeting in, was delivering the poison that would end the scientist's life.
The exchange was exactly as promised.
....Until it wasn't.
Both men had their throats slashed, and a poison blade and delivered the killing blow.
It didn't take long before they were heaps of dead flesh on the ground.
Other shadow soldiers arrived for the clean up. Something impossible a month earlier, but through Warden, became routine.
Nothing happened in that alley. No sign of the two agents were ever seen again.
After nearly a month, Soren placed a new collection of reports across the table.
Jax.
Vaelrith.
Kaelor.
Brannic.
Thalorien.
Llandra.
All studied them.
Soren pointed toward the first group.
"These were considered low-value operatives when we began."
Several names.
"They've all been promoted within Korvin's network."
Jax smiled.
"The idiots."
"The useful idiots," Vaelrith corrected.
Jax nodded.
"My apologies."
Soren pointed toward another group.
"Four of their strongest operatives have been recalled."
Another page.
"Two are under internal investigation."
Another.
"One appears to have fled."
Brannic scratched his beard.
"Did we make him flee?"
Soren shook his head.
"We made Alexandria investigate him."
Vaelrith smiled.
"Alexandria made him flee."
"Even better."
Llandra studied the reports.
"So they're doing it themselves now."
"Beginning to."
Soren looked toward Jax.
"But we need to be careful."
Jax nodded.
He understood.
If every good Imperial spy suddenly failed—
Alexandria would recognize the pattern.
If every incompetent spy suddenly became brilliant—
Eventually someone would notice that too.
So occasionally...
A useful idiot would be wrong.
Sometimes badly.
A skilled Imperial operative would uncover something real.
Jax would allow it.
A shipment might be disrupted.
A trade negotiation might become known.
A small amount of money might even be lost.
The game required sacrifices.
Truth needed lies.
Lies needed truth.
And both needed enough uncertainty between them that nobody could easily tell where one ended and the other began.
Far away in Alexandria—
General Korvin sat alone at his desk.
Five reports rested before him.
The first came from an operative he had once considered mediocre.
His previous six reports had been accurate.
The second came from one of his most experienced agents.
It contradicted the first.
The third suggested the second agent had been compromised.
The fourth claimed the third report had originated from an unreliable source.
The fifth...
Korvin read it again.
Then again.
His jaw tightened.
He no longer knew which one he believed.
A month earlier—
He would have trusted his veteran.
But two experienced operatives had already been recalled under suspicion.
Another had fled.
One had died before he could be questioned.
Meanwhile, several previously unimpressive agents had produced some of the most reliable intelligence his network had gathered in months.
Korvin stared at the reports.
One of them was lying.
Maybe two.
Perhaps three.
Or perhaps none of them.
He slowly looked around his office.
For the first time in his career—
General Korvin wondered whether the problem wasn't the intelligence.
Maybe it was the people delivering it.
Maybe someone inside his network was compromised.
Maybe several were.
His eyes returned to the reports.
He didn't know.
And hundreds of miles away—
Jax Darquebane had achieved exactly what he wanted.
He hadn't destroyed Alexandria's intelligence network.
That would have been easier.
Instead—
He had made Alexandria stop trusting it.
The Shadow War had moved beyond truth and lies.
Now—
The most dangerous place was somewhere in between.