Sir Redrick

It wasn’t very comfortable sitting on a stool in front of the bar in full armor. But comfort was the last thing on his mind. The bartender had offered him a free drink on account of the easily recognized armor of the hex knights. The beautiful woman sitting next to him seemed just as impressed.

“So, tell me about the scariest beast you’ve ever fought!” she said, leaning forward and sipping from her drink. She had short brown hair, freckles, and a small nose ring that normally Redrick wouldn’t be into, but tonight, he found attractive.

Sir Talmot was on Redrick’s other side. He was quiet as usual. He sat there, polishing his round-rimmed glasses with a small cloth from his pocket. This wasn’t Talmot’s kind of place, but they were in Arcadeya. After camping in the woods on some wild baby chase for weeks, Redrick wanted to enjoy a drink with beautiful company. It wasn’t often he got to do that.

Redrick lifted his glass and stared at his distorted reflection. Tousled red hair and a hardened face even a mother couldn’t love. Well, his mother didn’t really like anyone, so maybe that wasn’t fair. He turned to the woman, doing his best to get a hold of his gruff voice. The last thing he wanted was to do was scare her off. “Heh, I wrestled with a caldurra once.”

“No! Seriously?” she asked. Her elbow hit her drinking glass and the pieces of ice inside it shook against each other.

He nodded. “It caught me off guard and I lost hold of my blade. I only had two choices. I could run and catch that ugly creature’s tail in the back, or I could fight. So, I rolled up my sleeves and charged it.”

“Did you…kill it?” she asked.

Redrick took a sip of his drink. It burned in all the right ways. “I still have the skull as proof.”

Talmot nudged him. “Redrick, we should… we should get going. If Brandt finds out we were slacking off, he wouldn’t be happy.”

Redrick sighed, scratching the back of his head. “Relax Talmot. Let’s take the night. I’m sure this pretty lady wouldn’t mind introducing you to one of her friends.”

The woman giggled. “I could do that, but first you’ve gotta buy me a drink,” she said.

Redrick smiled. “Of course! Uh, let me just…” He looked over at Talmot, who had put his head back down at the bar. Redrick smiled sheepishly at the woman and turned away to whisper to his friend. “Hey, get up, buy her a drink for me.”

Talmot fumbled around with the coin purse on his waist and took a few silver coins out. His hand slipped, and the coins fell on the ground. Redrick stared at them. Talmot suddenly looked up in surprise. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to—”

“Um, aren’t you a knight? You don’t have money of your own?” the woman asked.

Redrick turned to face her and held his hands up. His face flushed. “It’s not that! I have money! I just uh, lost my coin purse on our last job. He owed me a few silver pieces any way. No big deal.”

She frowned. “I think my friends are calling me. I better go. Sorry.”

“Wait,” Redrick called after her, but she was already hurrying back towards her friends. His head fell.

“Redrick, I’m so sorry. I should’ve been more…more careful!” Talmot stumbled over his words as he was known to do. Redrick had never known a more anxious man. But anxious or not, Talmot was probably the closest thing he had to a friend.

Redrick pushed his stool back and went to pick up one of the coins. It turned into sludge in his hands. “Do you ever wish we could trade curses?” he asked.

Talmot nodded. “You know I’d take yours in a heartbeat. I don’t think you would like mine, though,” he said.

Redrick laughed. “Probably not. Let’s get going.”

Talmot picked up the remaining few coins and headed toward the bar’s door. It was fairly crowded inside tonight. But the streets were mostly empty. Honestly, it was the best time for the kind of tracking they were doing. Redrick followed his small-framed friend toward the door and took one last glance at the woman and her friends sitting in a booth against the wall. They’d been looking at him. They looked away the moment he looked over and started giggling amongst themselves.

Redrick sighed. “What a life.”

***

The two of them walked side by side through the streets of Arcadeya. It was dark out, aside from the scattered light of lampposts. Besides a few people hanging outside of taverns and inns, the streets had cleared up. The citizens of Arcadeya would be back on the streets in the early morning, trading and selling their goods as they did every day. If you wanted to make money in Aysela, you started in Arcadeya. At least, the saying went something like that.

“Scarlet Hex Search!” Talmot said. A small hex appeared before him. He studied it for a second and then started pointing his hand in different directions. Eventually, the hex grew brighter. Talmot’s eyes lit up. “I think I have something!”

“Is it them?” Redrick asked.

Talmot nodded. His hand was pointing toward one of the residential districts. So, their prey had holed up in Arcadeya, after all. It was a smart choice. It was the kind of choice that meant they knew something about searching hexes. Though they’d already suspected that. It was the only way the targets would’ve known they were being followed in the first place. Whoever they were dealing with certainly wasn’t an amateur.

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They ran down street after street. Redrick’s dark armor clanked with every step. Talmot’s black and gold robe flowed in the wind. The smaller man never had enjoyed wearing armor. He wasn’t much of a fighter, anyway. That just meant Redrick had to keep him safe.

They turned down another road, and Talmot held a hand up. The road was darker than the others. Redrick squinted. There were lamp posts ahead, but they were dark. It was like someone had put them out. If there were any bars or inns on this road, nobody was outside. Redrick had a bad feeling about this. “Are you sure this is the place?” he asked. Redrick reached back and grabbed a hold of the hilt of the sword on his back. He’d be ready to draw it if he needed to.

Talmot’s brow furrowed, and his hex pulsed. “I think so…I should be able to lock in on them shortly. I just need another few —” The hex dissipated. “No!”

Redrick turned to look at him. “What happened? You run out of juice?” he asked.

Talmot ran his hands through his hair frantically. “Oh! This is not good. I didn’t rest enough. I haven’t gotten any sleep and I’m out of magic potential. What do we do now?” he asked.

Redrick looked around. The houses were all dark. The shades were drawn and there was no sign of life. “We can’t really go door to door. We’d probably just scare them off if they haven’t figured out we’re close by now.”

“Red…Redrick!” Talmot said, pointing down the road.

Redrick looked up. There was a woman standing there facing them. He couldn’t make out what she looked like or what she was wearing. She was a shadow amongst shadows. One of her hands was on her hip, and she stood there unmoving. Staring at them. “That’s creepy as hell,” Redrick muttered. “Think that’s her?” he asked.

Talmot swallowed. “I have a bad feeling about this, Redrick.”

“It’s alright, stay here. I’ll check it out,” he said. Redrick flexed his legs. He’d need to clear the distance quickly. He’d have to move much faster than she could react. But that wasn’t a problem for him. His speed and strength were nearly unmatched. Thirty feet, she was about thirty feet away. If he propelled himself forward with enough power, he’d reach her before his feet even needed to touch the ground again.

“Redrick, maybe we should think about this—”

Too late. Redrick’s legs pumped, and he kicked off the ground. He rocketed forward like an arrow at top speed. He moved so fast that when the giant rock wall shot into the air in front of him, he couldn’t stop himself from ramming toward it. “Uh oh!” he managed to say before slamming into it.

He rubbed the back of his head. He was lying face first in a pile of rubble. “That really hurt…what the heck was that?” Surely he hadn’t had that much to drink. Redrick roused himself and dragged himself to his feet. He turned around and saw another large rock wall behind him. It separated him from Talmot. “Talmot, you okay?” he called out.

There was a pause. Redrick’s breath caught. “Talmot?!” he cried out again.

“I’m fine! I’m fine Redrick, don’t worry! Are you okay?” Talmot cried back.

Redrick breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I’ll look for a way around. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think you’re right. We should call for reinforcements. I can’t keep you an eye on you and deal with whatever this it.” Rocks fell somewhere behind him. Redrick spun around and couldn’t believe his eyes. There it was. The baby. It was wearing the same onesie Talmot had described. But the child was much furrier than he imagined it would be. His eyes grew wide. “Holy hell. This kid really is a monster. It can transform?”

The furry baby looked at him and then turned and ran away. It moved on all fours like some kind of cat or wild animal. It was probably luring him into a trap. But as long as Talmot was okay, Redrick would be fine. “I found the kid! I’m going after it! Meet me back at the tavern, okay Talmot?” Redrick called out.

Talmot was silent for a moment again. Finally, he answered back. “Okay! I’ll meet you there, Red.”

Redrick looked over his shoulder. Red? Talmot hadn’t ever called him that. He shrugged. “Guess he’s trying something new. It’s weird though.” He broke into a sprint and charged after the fleeing child. He wasn’t going to let it get away from him. Brandt would let him have an entire week off if he caught this kid. He wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.

Vetica

“Excellent, little hostage. You played along nicely,” she said, holding the knife to the scrawny hex knight’s throat.

“He’ll figure it out before long. You won’t get…get away with this!” he said.

Vetica looked over her shoulder. Merlin emerged from the shadows. Charlie sat in the hood of his cloak, peeking over Merlin’s shoulder. He was wearing a makeshift onesie made from a quickly cut bedsheet. Vetica thought it was kind of cute. Orb had said it looked more like a toga. Whatever that was.

“Is this him?” Vetica asked.

Charlie leaned forward to get a good look at the knight. “Yeah! It’s the same one from Troa. The knight who saw me use my powers.”

Vetica smirked. “Well, good, that settles that. I even saw him use the scarlet hex. This is our guy. Let’s get him back before the other one figures out he’s an idiot for chasing a raccoon in a onesie.” She pushed Talmot towards them. Merlin led them down an alleyway in between two houses. They’d rented a house several blocks over, and Vetica had made sure there wouldn’t be a trail to lead the knights to them. They’d have as much time as they needed to interrogate the knight and force him to help them find the researcher.

Talmot looked over his shoulder at her. “What do you want…want with me?” he asked.

Vetica shot him a devious look. “With you in particular? Not much. My friend in the purple cloak has always wondered how hex knight meat tastes. I’m just along for the journey.”

Charlie giggled ahead in the darkness. Merlin scoffed. “Stop it! We’re just going to ask you some questions. If you cooperate with us, we’ll let you go unharmed when this is all over. You have my word.”

Vetica rolled her eyes. Even if Merlin believed what he was saying, for Charlie’s safety, they absolutely could not let Talmot leave alive. That should be common sense.

She heard Talmot swallow in the darkness. “You don’t have to do this. Turn the boy over and we’ll let you go. That’s all Brandt cares about! He’s not interested in the rest of you. But if you take me like this, and Brandt learns about it, he won’t have mercy on you. It’s in your best interest to—”

Vetica clocked him on the back of his head with the butt of her knife. Talmot slumped to the ground. She studied the knife in her hand. It was nice. She’d got it on sale in the market earlier that day. It wasn’t as durable or powerful as the one she’d lost. But it would do for now.

Merlin stopped walking ahead of her. “Vetica! Did you knock him out? That’s going to give him a concussion! We agreed not to knock him out.”

“Vetica! Be nice!” Charlie called out in her mind. She sighed and lifted Talmot up. She threw the man over her shoulders and kept walking.

“Fine!” she called out. A smirk crept across her face. She was looking forward to this next part.

“And don’t forget we aren’t torturing him!” Charlie reminded her.

Vetica groaned. She was looking a little less forward to this next part now.