Nels led them inside, past the atrium, and into the back rooms, where the armor was kept. Their first stop was a large chamber, a quarter of which was stacked with boxes. The room had stone walls with no windows and only one door.

“This is where the leather armor was kept,” said Nels. “They took most of it.”

The more Tristam thought about the robbery, the stranger it seemed. Fifty to seventy-five sets were enough to outfit two or three units. It was too many for a band of brigands to use themselves, which meant that whoever stole this probably intended to sell it to someone with a sizable force of armed guards. Within Forge, only the Palace employed so many soldiers. There were the neighboring cities of Parna and Edlan, but why would they go to the trouble of stealing something as simple as leather armor?

“What do you make of this, Tristam?” asked Malikel.

Tristam shared his confusion, and Malikel nodded, seemingly satisfied with Tristam’s reasoning. “I agree. It’s unlikely that Parna or Edlan is behind this. And none of the noble houses of Forge employ this many soldiers. So what does that leave us?”

“I don’t know. Is someone building a secret army at Forge’s expense? It seems far-fetched.”

“It does. And yet…” Malikel led Tristam to the back of the room, away from Nels’s hearing. “There’s unrest in the city. Whispers amongst the common-born against the Palace. My men have been picking up on it for years. Nothing concrete, but enough that I ordered all the locks changed in our important storehouses. Apparently, that was not enough.”

“But who could possibly…”

“Are you familiar with the stories of the Assassins Guild, Tristam?”

“The only Guild I know of is the one from the history books.”

The older knight nodded. “About a hundred years ago, they were a threat in the city, dealing in illegal trade and eventually becoming powerful enough to influence the government. The Palace was able to capture their leaders, and the Guild dissolved. But in the past decade, there have been rumors that it never completely disappeared. And since becoming Minister of Defense, I’ve encountered hints that they, or some organization like them, are returning to power. Reports of strangers asking our low-level servants for information, for example.”

“So someone is recruiting spies,” said Tristam. Espionage was by no means new to Forge, and all squires learned the basic history. Edlan and Parna were always trying to gain an upper hand, but they usually infiltrated the nobility to learn the goings-on at court. “Perhaps it’s not too bad, if they’ve only been able to get to the servants.”