The Knights huddled in a circle, crowded around Greyan who was pointing at some drawings in the dirt. Grehn hung about nearby, listening to their conversation, learning little of note. He never mentioned how powerful the barrier would be or anything about the amount of Mind they’d use, only details about the barrier’s size. Grehn did find that odd. If they were all going to contribute to the barrier’s creation, wouldn’t they need to know how much power to use?
“You all have a grasp on where your start point is?” Greyan asked, prompting a nod from the Knights. A confused grunt came from Lahim, who was leaning on the wall.
“Those are very specific measurements. Would you like us to help?”
Greyan smiled and shook his head. “There will be no need for that. I didn’t send you all on a fruitless scouting mission just now, you know.” He tapped four points on his floor drawing. “The old barrier was a simple formation I could create by myself, made more efficient by having my friends contribute a bit of Mind. This new one is more complex. My friends knew this, so they were keeping watchful eyes open. Now they can each envision a spot where they will create a section of the barrier that shall be integrated into the whole. It will be a simple matter to calculate how the starting points should be translated to form the full barrier.”
“I feel like there are several holes in your explanation, Knight Commander,” Lahim said, dabbing sweat from his brow.
“Of course,” Greyan laughed. “My Knights are highly capable and experienced soldiers. We’ve worked together for a long time, so I don’t need to instruct them on every little thing.”
Grehn noticed the look of relief that washed over Lahim’s face and wondered how the town of Lemonholm had survived this long. They were so untrusting and confrontational, but a few words of empty promises were enough to assuage their fears? Well, Lahim seemed more unguarded than the average Lemonholmian. But Grehn wasn’t so comforted by Greyan’s words. The implication that there were so many secrets the Knights could keep while still acting as an effective team scared him.
In truth, what made Grehn the most uncomfortable was that this team of Knights was a machine tuned to perfection. Even compared to his own group of mercenaries, which, under Yelah’s leadership, was one of the best in Yiwi. Though, Grehn was starting to think that his team wasn’t quite as impressive as they were once led to believe.
He shook his head. They had encountered the bees unprepared. They were ambushed. The bees were unnaturally powerful. He repeated the mantra several times, a habit he had begun forming over the past weeks. All he had left was his sanity, and without confidence, unearned though it may be, even his sanity would be gone. Like his former leader.
“Alright,” Greyan said, “everyone ready?”
Grehn snapped out of his thoughts. The Knights were nodding, and Jey was even yawning. He couldn’t put his finger on Jey - in fact, none of the Knights fit the image of the valiant or monstrous protectors of the kingdom. He had met none of the Knights that came to Yiwi, so he wondered if all Somuian Knights acted so… normally. Shaking the last remnants of doubt from his Mind, he joined Vlugh and Elofan who were chatting nearby.
“…and the last part was ‘slowly transfer power from the old one’,” Elofan said.
“Is that about the barrier?” Grehn asked.
“Get this, Grehn,” Vlugh said, waving for Grehn to sit. “Elofan was right there next to Greyan the whole time. So she heard him mumble a bunch of stuff about percentages and whatever. He even said something about layers; it seems like the barrier is gonna have three layers stacked on top of each other. They’re not messing around with this thing.”
“Hm. So you’re telling me he mentioned sensitive details about the barrier, out loud, close enough for Elofan to hear? And you guys don’t think that’s fishy?”
Vlugh raised an eyebrow. “I think this town is getting to you, man. I guess it’s a little weird, but since Beelzebub is gonna be inside the new barrier anyway, it doesn’t really matter.”
“That Greyan is a funny man. For a human, he’s pretty alright. Not like you sour, serious types.”
Grehn stared at Elofan. There was so much he resented about her statement that he lost all will to rebuke it. He plopped onto the ground, exhaustion filling his entire body, and simply watched as each Knight channeled Mind.
Jey clenched her fists and growled. Meyara closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. Herwen just stood in place and crossed his arms, making no outside sign of concentration. And Greyan remained seated, stroking his beard. The fading light of day wavered as Mind poured from the four Knights, dominating the open space. Though invisible, the potent waves of Mind made it seem like a shimmering blanket was rising over the town, tucking it into bed for the night.
In a matter of minutes, the process was done with. Grehn even felt like he had a bit more room to breathe with the new barrier being further out. The Knights, no worse for wear, began to walk back into town, prompting the mercenaries and government officials to follow suit. The town of Lemonholm was under lock and key until a murderer was found, and they would be discovered, one way or another.
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Lemonholm slept fitfully. Even in the dead of night, rumors and heresy were whispered in alleys, bedroom windows, and the privacy of people’s homes. Beelzebub heard the whispers, but they were so stupid and unproductive they made her brain hurt. And she was barely using it.
‘The Knights were replaced by monsters who are wearing their skin.’
‘The mercenaries are actually a part of the MIS and are trying to undermine the Knights.’
‘That Fernen is the mastermind behind the entire murder mystery.’
‘This entire debacle is a conspiracy to rob the town of all its lemons.’
These were the sorts of things she heard while keeping watch over the inn where the humans rested. The hilarious speculation from the townsfolk still wasn’t enough to keep the boredom away, so she had to buzz softly to keep herself awake.
“I just don’t get how they travel around with someone who speaks a totally different language. Well, the same goes for you, I guess. Don’t you get, I dunno, bored or something?”
Jey continued chattering nonstop, though Elofan seemed to be quite adept at ignoring such unceasing banter. The pair were sitting in wooden chairs, overlooking their piled up comrades who, despite the noise, were sleeping in peace. Beelzebub was doing her best to keep an eye on everything happening inside the inn, but while she could hear everything fine thanks to the Linked humans, the only thing she could see was a limited view through the inn window. Well, there was that, along with supreme boredom. Watching people sleep was anything but thrilling. Jey continued to prattle, and Beelzebub sighed. She wished she could join Ben in his slumber.
“Keeping watch sucks - I can’t believe you’re staying up for double shifts, Elofan. I mean, I guess one of you would have to, seeing as how there’s only three of you. Grehn said you Fernen can go longer without sleeping, but how does he know that? I get being from Yiwi means he would know more about you forest creatures, but it seems like a lot more detailed info is known than I’d expect.”
“Sure, we might be lucky, but it’s not as big of an advantage as it seems. Actually, I think you humans are just stupid. Such flexible Minds at your disposal and you can’t figure out a way to stay awake longer? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a problem I’d be enthusiastic to solve myself, but I’m sure one of you could figure it out.”
Jey snickered. “I might not know what you just said, but I know you were calling someone an idiot. Maybe it was your tone. I say it all the time.”
A small smile crept onto Elofan’s face, but Beelzebub just yawned. Only a few more hours until the sunrise. Then more boring investigating and probing. Beelzebub came to Lemonholm hoping to find action, and it was nowhere to be found. And they were so close too. The Knights were just being annoyingly cautious.
A figure meandering through the street by the inn caught Beelzebub’s attention. There was nothing special about this particular person - several people had passed through the street and nearby alleys, some more shady than this one. Whether it was the cloak with a drawn up hood, the confident stride, or something else, Beelzebub wasn’t sure, but she found her attention drawn to the figure.
“Ben. Wake up.”
“Haaa… it was a good fight, Bub, but you’ll need to get stronger if you wanna beat me…”
Beelzebub slammed a leg onto Ben’s head, causing him to yelp in pain and shoot into the air. Ignoring his panic, Beelzebub kept several eyes on the figure, moving to follow them.
“Get up already, Ben. Someone suspicious just showed up. I’m gonna follow them, so keep some eyes on the humans while I’m gone.”
“Huh? Wha?”
“Also, I’ll spar with you whenever you want. And I’ll kick your ass.”
Ben still looked confused, but Beelzebub was already gone by the time he calmed down. Keeping to the shadows wasn’t Beelzebub’s style, but Beatrice was forcing her to do so. She wasn’t scared of any bee in the hive, not even Mother. But when Beatrice made a vague threat about what she’d do if Beelzebub wasn’t stealthy enough, a primal fear crawled up her thorax. So, she crawled along the rooftops, hidden in shadow.
The figure turned into an alley, so Beelzebub maneuvered overhead to cut them off. As much as she wanted to confront this random stranger and beat them to a bloody pulp, that wasn’t very stealthy. Every time Beelzebub thought she’d get a good look at the stranger’s face, their hood obscured their appearance. The person turned again, into an alleyway even darker than the last. Just when Beelzebub feared that boredom would come back to crush her, the person turned again, and she finally got a glimpse under the hood. Bathed in shadow was a full-face wooden mask, blank save for x-shaped eyeholes.
“Oh yeah. Finally.”
The masked figure turned once more, slowing down a noticeable amount on this street. Surprised, Beelzebub came to a rest. Next to Ben.
“Oh, hey Beelzebub. You didn’t have to smack me on my head, you know.”
“What? That masked human just went in a circle! Why the hell’d they do that?”
The masked person slowed to a crawl, and this time, Beelzebub waited alongside Ben. Sure enough, the masked person turned into the same alley, speeding up as they did, and after just a few moments, they reappeared on the street in front of the inn. Beelzebub was stumped.
“Well, it’s good to know my instincts were on point. That human is weird.”
Ben buzzed, confused. “Something about them looks familiar. I think’s it’s the way they walk. I can’t put my stinger on it, but they walk exactly like someone I’ve looked at in this town.”
A masked figure who was a resident of the town, circling the inn where the most suspicious humans were sleeping? Beelzebub was buzzing with excitement at the thought. A sense of exasperation appeared in the back of Beelzebub’s Mind. Strangely, it felt like Mom was experiencing some sort of annoyance at the extremely obvious suspicious development. But Beelzebub didn’t really care about any of that - she was just excited for something to actually be happening.
Coming to a stop, the masked person turned to face the inn. They dug around their cloak for a moment, eventually pulling a small object out and dropping it to the ground. Both Beelzebub and Ben found their gazes drawn to the object, which seemed to be a small slab of wood with markings burned onto the plank. Just as with the figure previously, it felt like they couldn’t look away from the wooden slab. Beelzebub didn’t notice as the figure began to saunter away, but thanks to his impeccable eyesight, Ben saw the masked face turn towards their position for a moment before they disappeared into the night.