Arthur looked to the man who exited the burning and trashed herbalist shop. He had a larger build than most, revealing he was more than a simple citizen of Antium, and what he said along with the wounds on the third criminal gave Arthur a hint of who he was.
“I'm sorry but I am no knight of the kingdom, just a person like any other.” Arthur sheathed his sword on his hip.
“My apologies, but you are more than worthy of the title for your actions on this day and many in the past.” Lar walked towards Arthur with his hand extended for a hand shake, which Arthur took.
“Past the southern gate it is safe, are you and these people able to make it there?” Arthur pointed in the direction he came from, just a few turns and streets away was the gate and the guards keeping what little order they could.
“No one here has been injured, so if we run we can make it without any further complications.”
“Good. I leave that to you Mr…”
“Lar. Just call me Lar.”
“I leave this to you Lar.”
***********
Lar kept his promise and took the few people that managed to follow him into the herbalist shop to the southern gate where they found many more guards in their equipment preparing to move into the city and go on the offensive.
The leading corporal recognized Lar and called out to him. “Lar! Come here.”
Lar followed the orders of his superior officer and gave him a salute that the corporal followed with his own. “Reporting for duty sir.”
“I'm sorry Lar, but without your equipment you will be no help to us. But I do have a task for you here.” Lar attempted and failed to keep the disappointment from showing.
“I need you to stay here and help keep the citizens calm, with everything happening here they need someone to help them to keep from losing their minds. Since you have already helped several of the people here they will be more willing to listen to you than us.”
“I understand sir.” Lar gave a final salute that the corporal returned before turning around and ordering him men. “Have your weapons drawn men, you won’t have time to do it when we engage the enemy!”
Lar simply sighed and he turned to look at the panicking mob and his nephew slowly walking up to him and grabbing him by the leg. “Uncle Lar.” The young boy's voice quivered as he spoke. “Are we gonna be ok?”
“Yeah, we're going to be alright.” Lar bent down and picked his nephew up and held him in a hug. “We just need to help all these other people calm down and we'll all be just fine. Do you think you can help the other children here?” Lar voice was soft as he asked his nephew.
The young boy nodded and Lar let him down back to the ground. “I'll help them like how you always help me uncle Lar.”
*********
Arthur continued through the burning city looking for anyone unfortunate to still be still in the streets but he found no one. As he went down the streets he found that there were less and less burning buildings the farther away he got from the southern gate. It was odd and felt very intentional, almost like whoever created it wanted to have it there for some reason.
Arthur stopped and ducked into a small alleyway to think. ‘The father away from the gate the fewer fires, clearly this is some kind of bait. It is also close to where most of the criminals are, the only people they would be able to attract with this bait is the city guard, but who would want to do that?’
Arthur remained in that alley way for a whole minute thinking of all the possible reasons any criminal would want the guards to find their crimes in progress, then it hit like a boulder flung with a trebuchet. ‘They want to kill as many guards by drawing the mall to one location.’
As the possibility of the annihilation of the whole southern district city guard being eliminated the color faded from his face. ‘The only part that doesn't make sense is why all the criminals in the city would suddenly come out into the open and take part in this plan, or if it was an effort of the entire underground or just a few organizations.’
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If he was right he knew he wouldn’t have much time to act so he turned back the way he came and ran at full speed back towards the southern gate where most of the conflict was happening.
*********
On the opposite side of the southern district Captain Tasius was seated at his desk as the reports of what was happening poured in. Every member of the city guard was being mobilized to deal with the situation, even the elite units.
“Captain, the fires are spreading from the initial conflict zone. We need to send in a brigade to deal with it!”
“Captain, the criminals involved are taking advantage of the situation to kill anyone they can see. The civilian casualties are through the roof!”
“Captain, the crown is asking for a report on the situation! What should I tell them!?”
“Tell the crown I am going to personally deal with the situation! And the rest of you are authorized to do whatever you feel is necessary!” Captain Tasius reached for his weapon of choice on a nearby weapon stand, a pristine two handed halberd and a reward for his promotion to captain.
With his weapon Captain Tasius rushed out of his office followed by an adult force of elite guards specifically trained for such situations. Each unit was given a horse to ride upon exiting the build as well as the captain.
“We are in a very dangerous situation! The criminal underworld has decided to make a direct attack upon us and the citizens we have sworn to protect! Today we will put these vile excuses for people into the ground and save anyone we come across! To Arms!” Captain Tasius shouted while he raised the end of his halberd into the air. The elite units smiled and replied saying “To Arms!”
Captain Tasius directed his horse towards the southern gate where most of the conflict was currently happening and his horse took off running at full speed that was followed by the elite units in a tight formation that prioritized offence.
*********
On a building nearby a dwarven man watched the captain rally his troops and take off towards the southern gate. He smiled and retreated back into the building to a table with a grey crystal orb and contacted his boss.
The orb glowed to life and a human woman appeared within the crystal sitting at a table eating a whole chicken. “What do you have to report Borsan?” The woman said between bites of her food.
“Captain Tasius has left the barracks and is on his way to the southern gate.”
“Excellent.” The woman stood up from her seat and placed her food down on her plate. “Contact team B and tell them to prepare their crossbows for our favorite captain.” The woman followed up her order with a vile laugh as she ended the call.
Borsan following his orders contacted team B, a human man wearing the armor of the city guard answered atop the outside wall. “The captain is on his way to the gate with reinforcements, get ready to take care of him.”
“You got it, Borsan.” The human smiled and began giving out orders as he ended the call.
Borsan remained seated at the table for a good minute thinking over how he might just have ended the captain's life. He didn’t do it personally, but it felt just as bad. ‘I haven’t even met him, and based on what everyone said he was just doing his job.’
Only after those thoughts did Borson stand up and walk back over the window he watched from. He looked over to the burning city and just stood there, taking in the destruction he took part in.
*********
Arthur ran with all his might towards the southern gate ignoring the petty criminals having the time of their life by burning and killing each other. All the innocent people have already been moved to the southern gate, but that was the problem.
When he made his way through he sent everyone that could walk to the southern gate where at the time it was the safest and closest place to be. But now that it may be a trap to attract as many members of the city guard to kill them all in one foul swoop, Arthur could only hope that he was wrong in that theory.
As he was getting closer to the gate he suddenly could hear the sounds of horses running, many horses all at the same time in the same direction. Arthur could hear them down towards the end of the street he was running down, and then he saw them.
At least fifty guards on horseback passed the street towards the southern gate, the one in the very front looked quite a bit like the captain. The other riders had very nice looking equipment compared to what he saw on most of the guards.
But such things were not important, if he was right then Captain Tasius was going straight into an ambush where he could very likely be killed. He needed to get his attention somehow and warn him.
One rider at the very end of the formation took notice of Arthur right as he got to the end of the street and slowed his horse to a stop. “This is no place for civilians, even if they are mages. Leave the situation to us.”
Arthur looked up to the rider with a mixture of hope and shock on his face, this was his opportunity to inform the captain but it was also unexpected for a mounted guard to just stop for him. “You need to stop Captain Tasius from going to the southern gate, it's a trap to kill off the southern guard!”
Upon hearing the accusation the guards eyes shot open which Arthur could not see with the helmet covering his face. “What!? How do you know this!? Who even are you!?” The guard gripped his halberd tighter upon those words. ‘This mage must be a messenger of some sort from the mages guild. I should probably take him to the captain so he may tell him in person.’
“Never mind, that can wait. Come with me and tell the captain yourself.” The guard reached out his hand to Arthur and helped him up onto the horse. The moment Arthur was seated the guard had the horse take off to catch up with the group led by Captain Tasius.