“The worst part about the situation was the fact that the university managed to cover it up for almost a year before it became public. Some of the administrative staff even knew that it happened but chose not to do anything, it was going to be taken to court but just a week before it was scheduled the Yolan Empire declared war and pillaged a few bordering towns and villages.”
“So if something should happen to someone like me, one of the common folk, the university likely won't do anything unless they have absolutely no choice.” Arthur said while he looked over the flyer. The flyer was covered in bright colors and showed several students together with cheery smiles. “Imagine if they put that in the flyers.”
“Oh if they did that it would only be a matter of time until it was forcibly shut down by the crown. They don’t like it when youths with great potential are encouraged to leave the kingdom promising revenge. Everyone involved might even get executed if it turned out bad enough.”
The duo after finishing their lunch stayed a bit longer to talk since it only took them about ten minutes to eat. “Well I am definitely not going to the tryouts on the seventh. Do you have any plans then?”
“Aside from work at the guild I don’t have anything happening then, why?”
“I thought perhaps you might want to do something then, so far all we have done is go out to lunch several times. I thought you might want to do something interesting.” Arthur did enjoy having lunch with Calavia everyday, but mixing things up might be fun as well.
“Sure, I don’t see why not. Did you have anything in mind that you wanted us to do?”
“I heard about this archery contest that is held every seventh day over in the eastern district. There are rounds for people of different skill levels so we won't feel out of place, and I haven't tried archery before so I thought it might be a new experience for both of us.”
“That does sound interesting, normally I wouldn’t need to know how to use a bow since I could just use magic. But when I was younger my brother liked to practice in our yard once he turned 14, he said he wanted to be a mounted archer and join the army once he became of age.”
“So that settles it then, we will meet up on the seventh for the tournament. I will look into the details of where and when it is exactly, and if we need to bring our own bows and arrows.”
“I will talk with my boss and see if I can get that day off, if not we might need to postpone it till next week.”
*********
For the next six days everything went just about the same as it had before for Arthur and Calavia. Everyday that they could they stopped for lunch at the Free Parrot Bar for lunch and discussed the upcoming tournament.
Regarding the situation in the southern district, things were getting better for the common people who lived there. With the new guard patrols and reduced corruption in the area things became safer, the various thieves guilds who tried to move into the area were all fighting amongst themselves, leaving vulnerable spots that the city guard under Captain Tasius were more than happy to exploit.
The bandits out in the forest were also in a bit of a predicament, prior to Captain Tasius’s promotion they had free reign over the forest and surrounding areas. They could steal, pillage and do all kinds of things as long as they left no witnesses and gave the captain a cut of the profits.
But now they had to keep an eye open as they slept and had to hide the evidence of anyone they attacked or else the guards deployed would find the bodies and like bloodhounds they would sniff them out. It also helped that they used bloodhounds to find them.
“This is rather unfortunate, wouldn't you say?” The leader of the bandits said as she lazily sat on her throne. “It looks like there is no honor among thieves after all.”
“Diana, I don’t think now is a great time to ponder the human condition. We should be looking for solutions to get the new captain off our back.” A human man almost shouted as he stepped towards the bandit captain.
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The other fifteen or so bandit lieutenants started to grind their teeth in annoyance. If they had said anything like that to her they would have likely been killed on the spot, but since she really liked Lieutenant Felix it would be allowed.
“Oh but I am, I just find it interesting that someone gave up crucial information to the captain in question. The only question is who did it.” Captain Diana clicked her tongue several times as she looked over a few documents in her possession that she had someone on the inside make copies of. “With the five outposts we have lost, two of the lieutenants in command have gone missing while the other three were found dead. Odds are we won’t find any of the deserters, but if they do show up again put a blade through their stomach.” Captain Diana giggled while making a stabbing motion with her right hand.
“But what should we do about the captain and the city guard?” Felix never liked it when Diana got off topic and attempted to reign the conversation back to where it needed to be.
“But I was just getting to that my dear Felix.” Diana gave a fake pouty face to Felix before she continued. “Since we have no way to drive the new captain out of his city we are going to need to create a situation inside the city that he will need to respond to.”
The lieutenants in the room started to voice their concerns with her plan before she gave them all a look that could kill each and everyone of them. “As I was saying before you all interrupted me, since the power vacuum left by Misery’s End several other criminal organizations have been trying to get their hands on whatever they can. All we need to do is push what was until now a hidden conflict into an open conflict when everyone can see.”
“In order to get the captain to personally deal with the situation we would likely require the entire underground to take part. It won't be easy to convince them all with all the bad blood between the various groups.” Felix spoke up to clarify the details of Diana’s plan because if he didn’t she likely would forget to, like last time.
“That is what money and persuasion are for. First we will try to convince them that when the captain dies they will have a window of opportunity to firmly embed themselves within the southern district and establish their operations before they can be rooted out. If that doesn’t work we can offer them some money to… temporarily put aside their differences and kill each other in the streets. Now if there aren't any questions I'll allow Felix to finalize all the important details.” All the lieutenants in the room were a little baffled by her simple and non-specific plan.
“I knew she was a little eccentric, but this is more than that.”
“Why is she our leader again?”
“When should we start preparations for this?”
They did not really understand why Diana came up with such a plan, but they did know that Felix was likely to put it all together. He was always the voice of reason in the room when Diana started talking, keeping her within reason and on topic.
Diana stood up from her throne and walked around to the left side into a room cut out from stone. Felix quickly followed her with an unhappy look on his face and quickly shut the door behind him.
“Diana, what are you thinking? We don’t have the influence to enact such a plan. So far we have kept outside Antium to stay out of the sight of the crown. As of right now we will not be able to enact our plan let alone succeed.”
“Oh I know, but this is not a plan we will enact within a few days time. This might take up to a month to organize, but that isn’t all that bad.” Diana said while she brushed her long brown hair in front of a silver mirror that they had stolen several months ago.
“How is it not all that bad? Even if we do succeed after the crown is done with all the gangs they will come after us with the army if they need to.”
“Yes they will, but how long will it take to root out all the gangs from the entire southern district. Heck several of the other gangs outside the district might even join in to take advantage of the chaos.” Diana finished brushing and turned to face Felix before caressing his chin.
“We will be left with enough time to collect all the valuables and money we will need before we disappear and return home. Doesn’t that sound nice, just the two of us surrounded by all our children.”
“So we are going to betray our subordinates after we have everything we need.” Felix sighed and began walking towards the door. “I will begin preparations to create a catastrophe in the southern district. I will inform you when we have finished.” Felix closed the door behind him and walked to the lieutenants who remained to discuss their options.
*********
On the morning of the Seventh of Slate Arthur was up and ready at eight o’clock and by nine o’clock he was just outside the archery range when the tournament would start in about half an hour. While he waited for Calavia to arrive Arthur took out one of the bows he purchased in preparation, it wasn’t anything special but it was just fine for someone with decent strength and it only cost him a silver coin for each. The second one he kept in his bag for Calavia to use when she arrived.
Arthur also took out a bundle of arrows that he purchased with the bows. The arrow heads were flat and made of wood, clearly designed for training rather than killing. The flat and wooden head on each arrow instead of killing the target would just leave a bruise.
As he waited several people of various races arrived and entered the range, the attire of each varied amongst each individual but they all carried a bow and quiver with them.