Karsten kept his eyes on the Werewolf as it disappeared into the distance. Clambering over buildings before vanishing into the urban sprawl towards the south. When it was clear that it had well and truly fled he dropped the candlestick in his hand, the adrenaline wearing off even as the ringing headache he had received from the beasts kick returned to his brow.

“Gah.” He rested on his spear, turning back into the room. “He's gone for good I think. Is Henrietta okay?” It had been a shock that the man-beast had charged past them, apparently aiming for the still unconscious Abbot rather than for the more present threats in the room. That or maybe he was trying to take a hostage, either way, he had covered a good part of the room with broken glass, which thankfully seemed to have missed the Nun or his captain. Still, it had been far too close.

“I'm fine child. Just a little shaken is all.” The woman climbed to her feet, aided by Mary's support. “The brute just knocked me about with his forearm. Didn't seem altogether too interested in me. Unlike Brother Abbot there.” The woman rubbed her stomach where he supposed she had been hit, before whispering a spell. For a moment her hand glowed like a torch and she let out a sigh of relief. “Yes, I'm alright now.” The woman wandered over to the young Father who slept on, unknowing of the wrecked chamber around him. She placed a palm on his head before nodding sadly towards them. “He seems alright too, though I can't say the same for many of his little friends.” She sent a long glance at the bloody remains of the animals that had tried to defend his captain.

“I imagine he'll be rather saddened by that when he awakens.”

Karsten had to agree, he had only seen the end of their struggle, but they had surely fought bravely. While glancing at the carnage he noted that one of the rats was still moving. Reaching down towards it, he picked it up. It was a young thing, one of the Grey-rats common in inland cities. A female if he recalled their features right, though it seemed it had lost a leg. “Sister, if you could…”

He lifted it towards the woman and she smiled gently, taking it from his and saying a short a prayer before casting some spell or another that would hopefully keep it alive. Sighing, he put the rat down on top of Abbot’s Sheets. At least one of the animals would be there to greet him when he woke up.

Mary walked a circle around the room as she reloaded her firelock, cleaning it with a little brush she carried. “We should check the Reliquary. That guy wasn't carrying anything. At least I didn't see anywhere he could be keeping anything on him.”

Karsten refrained from making any crude comments in front of the two women, and frankly, he had already seen far more of the werewolf than he wanted too. “You're right about him probably being a distraction, but we should stay here. We need to make sure Abbot and Sister Henrietta remain safe.” He glanced around at the broken glass scattered over the chamber. “We can't both go, and if there are more than one of those things we don't stand a chance against them alone.”

Mary looked him in the eyes for a moment, starting to object, but his gaze was firm, meeting her green eyes with his own blue. Finally, the woman sighed in defeat. “Yeah, you're right. This is like bringing the gem home, it isn't worth the risk. Let's wait for the guard.”

Henrietta, to the side of them, grimly nodded. “While I fear for just what the thieves might be here to steal I think you're right. Preserving the lives of the innocent is more important than chasing down the guilty. The archbishop should return as soon as he can with the wards broken.”

Karsten nodded, swallowing his own desire to go out and fight as well, before stepping towards the door. “I'll keep a watch for now.”

It was all he could do without leaving people he cared about in danger.

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Catalina awoke with a bit of a start as the bench beneath her bucked into the air. Glancing to the side she realized she was inside of a covered wagon of some sort.

“Finally up then, huh? Took you long enough.” She turned to the side, spotting Fang there on the opposite bench. “You probably shouldn't move around too much, those Wards did a number on you.”

“Where…” Catalina’s brain raced, she had broken the wards and then… “We're leaving the city aren't we?”

“Yup, the Job isn't over until we get the object to the buyer. Don't bother asking me what it is, the boss won't even let me know his name, much less what we stole.” Looking again she realized the man had been injured as well, he was wearing a different set of pants than before, and his rough wool shirt had been abandoned in favor of bandaging what must have been a fairly nasty injury on his right side.

“I take it that your fight didn't go as planned?” She asked, not particularly wanting to ride in silence. She had had enough of quiet.

“No, the wolf was acting up acting round some kid in the halls of healing and they got me with acting round gold candlestick. Ah, I'm a werewolf by the way, in case you couldn't guess.”

“I'm not an idiot.”

“You'd be surprised how many people actually figure it out, despite the name.”

“I'm not “many people”.”

“No” and the werewolf gave a savage grin at that. “I'm don't think any of us are.”

The idea of having anything in common with the dark elf irked her slightly, but she supposed he was just as likely an exile or fugitive as well if he was wandering the surface. “Where Is your boss anyway.”

“He's your boss too, for now, shorty, and he's driving the carriage.” The werewolf winced slightly as the carriage hit a bump, rubbing his side gently. “I'd do it normally, but I'm not really fit for it right now. Unfortunately, while the boss access at many things driving is not one of them.”

“Heh.”

The two of them lapsed into an amicable silence even as the wagon trundled on. Catalina propped left ed her head up a little to look out the back of the wagon, despite her neck muscles protestation. The view wasn't particularly descriptive, it was daytime and they weren't in the city anymore, the smell of the rivers had been replaced with the smell of cattle farms, and they were rolling out over the open countryside on a dirt road of some sort. It could have been anywhere on the surface in her experience.

“Not much to see really. Western Brindon all looks the same.” Fang commented glancing out with her. “Though the people here are smarter than in the east. They get raiders up out of the Red-Wood from time to time, so they don't like strangers much.”

“And that makes them smarter?”

“When it comes to folks like us? Yeah. Boss says we're heading for some wizards tower up along the north edge of the Red-Wood where it meets the Fangs.” the man gestured behind him towards where the elf was presumably driving. “That's why he's kept you on for now, by the way, The beastfolk tribes will probably leave us alone, but it's always good to have security. You'll be free to go once we deliver the thing, though I have a sneaking suspicion that he'll make you an offer when we do.”

“Really?” the idea came and a bit of a surprise to her. She had mostly been expecting the elf to just try to kill her and dump her in a ditch somewhere.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Yeah, he likes having a team with him, though I won't lie with these types of high-risk missions the attrition rate is pretty high, I've only lived this long because of my healing factor. That and most people don't carry silver weapons.” the man sneered at that. “Their funeral.”

Catalina made a mental note to get her mace some silver inlay at the next available opportunity as she weighed in her head the value of becoming a professional criminal on the surface. ‘At the very least I wouldn't be alone.’

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“Welcome home sir. A late night eh?” The mansion was small all told, it was not as if it's master required much, and it was mostly seen as a sign of the humility of the knight in question, so he had neglected to expand it. His relationship to the Archbishop was far more important than any prestige he could earn by throwing parties or the like.

“Yes, and an I'll one at that. Some thieves broke into the Cathedral and stole an item of some power, the night-guardsman, Jeremy, was killed as well. He was cut up by a dagger of some sort and long dead when we found his corpse hidden in an alcove.”

“An ill night indeed then sir. Would you like me to prepare you a meal to calm your senses.”

“That won't be necessary, I will be retiring to my quarters. I find I grow tired easier in my age.”

“Then it really does happen to the best of us, sir.”

Archibald's lips formed a thin smile as he glanced at his butler. “Yes. It seems it does.”

Once free from his servant's attention he climbed the stairway to the master bedroom, stepping inside he shut the door and lit a candle to provide some small amount of light, before stepping before the mirror on top of his dresser.

Rather than trim his mustache, however, he reached a slender finger out, tapping along the edge of the frame until he found a particular lump in its fixture.

The mirror began to softly glow with a sheen of purple light.

It was some time before anything else changed, and the old man found himself tapping his foot in spite of himself as he waited for his true master to respond.

Eventually, the screen of light began to shift and he found himself staring at a poorly lit throne room, the figure of his queen silhouetted only by the green light emitted from the braziers sat behind her.

“Archibald. I take it you have succeeded in your rather circuitous plan to deliver me the eye?”

“Yes your majesty, there is no evidence tying me to the crime. Even the hiring process was conducted by a construct in disguise.”

“There would be no concern of that had your agents secured the gem in Kelmo rather than let it be stolen by a rival first.”

“I could not simply hire the best adventurers for such a task, your majesty, people would suspect that the gem was more than they think it to be.”

“Pah, whatever your excuse you have set us back slightly, be thankful that others are earning my ire more effectively at the moment.”

“I take it the builder-king is causing problems?”

The braziers behind the woman sputtered, and even with such a distance between them he still felt a chill down his spine. “You do not need to know that.” the Rebuke was sharp, as they always were, and he resolved to push his boundaries no further today.

Then the chill was gone, and she merely nodded. “But since you asked, yes, he is proving incredibly difficult to assassinate. Veluca, on the other hand, has folded into my hands like a house of cards. It will not be hard to prompt a war once the artifacts are ready.”

He wiped the sweat from his brow gently, much to the amusement of his lady.

“Anyhow, you should start to prepare to deal with that old man in the future. He will pose issues when we finally move.”

“Yes, Your Majesty I will start working on possible methods right away.”

“Good.” He restrained his flinch as the mirror cut out instantaneously, flashing back to its natural state. He sighed, to kill his ostensible master was a heavy act, though not one that he had never performed before. While he would hardly be accused of liking the man, he certainly respected the current archbishop.

‘The things I do for immortality.’

______________________________________

I remember the first thing that I did when I woke up was snuggle into the blankets above me. It was a little cold with my back on a stone table since I only had my underwear on. It took a couple of moments for me to realize something was wrong and wake up after that.

My eyes flicked open and I found myself staring up at the stone ceiling above me. The last thing I recalled was the bar fight and then…

‘Ah, this is probably the hall of healing isn't it.’ I had never been inside of the place, but as I sat up the ornate stonework around me seemed to confirm that I was inside a cathedral. As I shifted I heard a frightened squeak from my lap. Looking down I spotted a small grey rat, who must have been sleeping on me. “Oh, now what are you doing down there?” I reached down, rubbing her head lightly, which elicited a happy noise in return. Though I noted that she was missing a leg when she rolled over to let me rub her belly. While I continued petting the tiny creature I glanced up, looking for my clothes and gear.

‘I must have gotten magic exhaustion when I tried to heal that lady.’ I rubbed the back of my head a little sheepishly, remembering the barfight. ‘I hope she's alright. She should be, probably.’ spotting what was likely my objective in a wooden cabinet on the wall opposite the door I made my way there, placing the rat back on the blanket. Fortunately, the dresser was not locked and a was able to access my things. The bloodstains near the top of my vestments had me rubbing my jaw a bit and whispering a quick “Hakura” to help the bone repair itself properly. I slipped the beige undershirt over myself. It was good for keeping away the late winter cold at least.

“Ah, Brother Abbot, it's good to see you up and about.”

I spun on my heel, turning to look towards Sister Henrietta as she entered the room, smiling gently. “How do you feel?”

“Pretty good I guess.” I made a show of jumping up in the air and waving my hands about so that she would know I was ok. “Did I get mana exhaustion?”

“Ah, yes, a fairly severe case too, perhaps you will be more judicious about picking barfight in future. Especially seeing as how you are roughly a quarter the size of most tavern goers?”

I gave her a big cheeky smile, though I knew she was in the right, at least to a certain degree.“Maybe. Hey, do you know how long I was asleep?”

“A little over a day I think, you recovered fairly quickly, though we did have to move you to a different room after the attack.” Henrietta must have seen the look of confusion cross my face as she stepped up next to the bed. “You should come to sit down. Things got a little complicated last night.”

I walked over to the stone table, pulling my pants on as I went. “What happened?”

“Thieves, a group of them broke into the Cathedral Reliquary. One of them was a werewolf and your friends fought him off.”

“Oh,” I sat back for a moment, quite surprised that anyone would try such a thing. “Is everyone alright? They didn't get bitten did they?”

A sad look crossed Henrietta’s face, and I feared the worst for a moment before she began. “Your friends are alright, but the night-guard for the Reliquary, young Jeremy, was killed by one of the thieves.” The woman sighed and I reached out and clasped her hand to comfort her, which brought a bittersweet smile to her face. “Oh, don't pity me, Brother Abbot, I hardly knew the man, but it is still sad to see one of the faithful perish in such a gruesome manner. I will spare you the details.”

I nodded at that, while I could certainly imagine them well enough on my own, there was no reason to make Henrietta revisit her memory of the scene. “So Karsten and Mary managed to beat the werewolf?”

“Yes, or drive him off at least.” Henrietta nodded. “It was rather frightening, I hadn't realized quite how terrifying werewolves are. He was much larger than any beastman I've seen, and he broke through my shield spell into the room we had you in before with just a few blows.” At that, she turned to me, before glancing slightly down at the rat at my side. “He seemed to have an intense fascination with you actually Abbot, perhaps your ability to attract animals has an effect on werewolves as well?”

I looked at her with that and then down at the little rat who was even now curling up against my thigh. It made sense in a way, I'd kind of figured that it wasn't a natural ability once it became obvious that animals outside of the mountain still loved me. Werewolves were part of a nature spirit bound to a human though, so maybe it was just natural things in general? “I guess, I can't think of anything else I did that would attract werewolves, I haven't bathed in bacon or anything.”

The nun ruffled my hair at that before gesturing to the window. “Anyway, we had to move you to a different room afterward because the window in the other one shattered when the werewolf escaped through it.”

“Ah, that's that's a problem.”

“Yes.” the old nun smiled before glancing towards the dresser. “You should finish getting dressed. Your friends are with the Archbishop and the knight from the Order of Roland who came to investigate the theft.”

“Sure thing, just let me clean my robe first.”

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