Morning had come to the castle once more. Attendants, maids and other staff continued the cleanup operations from the prior evening’s festivities. Despite the weekend, maybe even because of it, the castle interior found itself abounding with activity from cleanup to maintenance of the large and ancient structure.
Two occupants in particular found themselves in the more neglected and somewhat forgotten areas, specifically the southeast part of the castle. It’s not so much that it was decrypted, but the dust along the ledges and occasionally spider web in the corner of the ceiling showed clear signs of neglect. The two’s footsteps echoed in the otherwise silent space, echoes that were themselves broken only by the two’s occasional banter.
“Why are we all the way out here? No one comes to this part of the castle.” The gnome spoke between breaths. In the gnome’s arms, he carried a crate that was about the same size as him. Being the smaller of the two, he didn't appreciate walking the extra distance or the weight he had to carry.
The elf in front winced a bit as his hangover grated against his companion’s voice. "She told us to find a spot that’s out of the way, so that's what I'm doing!" He marched forward carrying his own crate that was also about the same size as the gnome. He pushed into one of the many closet spaces in this section of castle. Behind him the smaller gnome peaked into the room with great hesitation and uncertainty.
"But were not supposed to be in these closets, it's where they keep most of the antiques." The gnome protested.
"If anyone actually cared they’d be cataloged and in a real storage room or if they were worth anything they'd be in the vaults. No one cares what’s in them, just like no one cares about these crates." The elf gazed around the space; it would be more than enough room for the gifts brought by the merchant conglomerate for the queen.
There was a small mess on the side of the large closet that did need to be addressed. Though, the elf was willing to just leave it. Unfortunately for him, the gnome found the pieces quite interesting. The pile looked like junk just thrown in the corner haphazardly. Bits of broken wood and what might have been some old antiques around.
At first it seemed like someone broke a crate and rather than deal with the paperwork and cleanup, just left it here to be forgotten, until it was someone else’s problem. But as the Solar Guard looked at it more the truth dawned on him, it wasn’t the remnants of just one crate, but several at least two maybe three. One might have been an accident, but three? That seemed more like a pattern.
The gnome picked up some of the wood fragments that had writing on them, unlike the other container and junk in here this trash was originally serialized, someone would be looking for them eventually, and maybe even currently. "Wasn't that dark elf looking for some missing crates?" The gnome asked his companion who was already trying to leave.
"Eh? You mean that night court Luna Guard, that guy creeps me out.” The elf paused his exit with a sigh. “But I do think I remember our captain saying something about that?" Now he was curious and came over to inspect the debris.
"470" The elf spoke, reading the still legible numbers off the side. That sounded like one of the numbers they were told to look for. At least he thought that's what his commander said. "Never seen a serial number this short before."
With a deep sigh, the elf put the large wooden splinter back down. He should have listened to his gnome comrade and skipped this closet. No doubt there will be paperwork now, and questions. He just wanted to spend the day leaning against a wall somewhere and wait for his hangover to subside. Now, it was just going to get worse.
The morning dragged on in the kind of rush you’d expect of the military. That is to say, a lot of hurrying up only to wait around, and currently five Guard members were waiting around for at least one more to hurry along and wait with them. Three Solar Guard, one High Guard and one Common Guard now stood in the space. Currently the white lion with the High and the tan skin halfling of the Common Guard each argue about who had jurisdiction over this apparent crime.
It was easy to tell their branches apart from their armor. The solar guards were dressed in the normal Solar armor consisting of green, blue highlights with only subtle gold trim. On the other hand, The High Guard’s lion had rather opulent armor with large amounts of gold plating, and even some encrusted rubies and amethyst like stones around the neckline, the three colors representing the colors of the High Guard. Meanwhile, the Common Guard’s armor was much simpler than the other two branches, just streel and some leather strapping. Only one bit had color and that was painted on his should pauldron. It was a larger brown and green tree, between two blue and red half circles, the great seal of Illania. Given the subtle details and hand painted attention, it was clearly an important symbol for them.
The white lion took a breath, “Castle grounds are the responsibility of the High Guard, you know that. Any general crimes here are to be investigated by us, not you.” His sky-blue eyed gaze was focused on an unseen blemish on his armor that he constantly rubbed and polished, as he spoke in a rather dismissive manner. Between his attitude, armor and his appearance, right down to the ringlets in his light blond hair, the lion Vistage screamed high born Nobel.
The halfling, a mere commoner with nothing overly distinguishing about his simple features of browns and brown short trimmed hair, didn’t seem particularly phased by the disdain from the High Guard. It was like he was used to it. “Normally you'd have a point, except for the fact that the Lunar Guard were the ones who reported the stolen crates to begin with. That means it's the Common Guard’s place because you don't want to deal with them. Unless your unit has changed its mind?”
The lion still refused to meet the halfling’s gaze, deliberately looking over his head. “The report may have been filed by a Lunar Guard, but the crime still took place within the castle. You are welcome to stay and talk to the Lunar Guard if you'd like, but investigating the crime itself will be handled by the High Guard.”
Enn, the Halfling would stay because the Lion and the rest of the High Guard didn’t scare him. He had a job to do and would do just that. When the Lunar Guard member arrived to verify his report and the remains here, Remilgado the Lion would ignore them. So of course, he had to be here if anything was to actually be done. As always, the Common Guard would do the actual hard work while the High Guard stood proud and mighty on top a glass mountain.
While the Common and High Guard bickered the Solar Guard Captain, a female elf rubbed at her eyes in frustration. Much like her elf subordinate, she too was nursing a mild hangover. The disheveled long platinum hair and reddish scales around her otherwise lively green eyes attested to the fact that she was unprepared to be here. Normally she’d have the day off, but obviously couldn’t rely on either her subordinates here nor the Common and High Guard to handle this. Why did her squad have to be the one to find the crate remnants? For that matter, why were they even all the way out here?
She looked up from pinching her nose, and asked them bluntly, “Why were the two of you on this side of the castle in the first place, didn’t I say yesterday to find a place to put merchant guild’s gifts?”
The elf subordinate nodded in agreement at his captain’s words. “Yes. You did Captain Arborfortsus, you told us to find a spot that’s out of the way once they left, so we did.”
The glare in her eyes struck a moment of fear in the two Solar Guards, “I meant one of the normal storage rooms or the warehouse.” Her flat tone radiated at a volume that showed how hard she was working to stem her anger. She had been looking forward to sleeping in.
“R-Right we just… didn’t….” The elf subordinate stammered and looked away from her piercing eyes as they grew wider with each word.
His silence didn’t do him any favors with Captain Arborfortsus, who’s voice continued to raise. “Didn’t? What? Didn’t think?” She was vaguely aware that the Common and High guards were both looking her way now, and she didn’t care.
The gnome picked up for his colleague, “Captain, what Guardsman Fustramis is trying to say…” Even he had trouble. The captain could be quite terrifying without meaning to be.
Arborfortsus was growing ever more frustrated, between waiting for the Lunar Guard to show up, and her two subordinates dancing around her questions in fear. If they didn’t collect themselves and act like Guards she would give them something to fear. “Guardsman, someone answer me or I’ll have you standing next to that human, cleaning these hallways for the next month. Void take it, this section of the castle certainly needs it needs it. Why didn’t you check them into storage, like you were suppose to?” Despite her thin looks, the elf captain was unusually strong for her size, and was doing all she could not to smack her guards thought a near by wall.
The gnome swallowed and tried to continue, “Sorry mama. We didn’t want to deal with that Dark Elf he’s…” Trailing off, the gnome felt himself start to shake.
Thankfully his companion finished his thoughts, “He’s weird, mama.” Unfortunately, that was not what she wanted to hear. Additional misfortune fell, as Teuta chose that very moment to enter the room, carrying three clipboards with him.
Though, if there was one good thing, his arrival quite the conversation and seemingly steamed some of the captain’s anger.
The dark elf’s face seemed frozen in place, a look somewhere between boredom and disdain, with eyes that seemed devoice of any further emotion as he glared around the room.
Of course, he had heard the conversation. He always heard everything around him, it was hard not to. It also wasn’t unusual for people to say things like that about him, and sometimes even too him. The dark elf was used to it or so he would say if pressed. Still it felt, like something that was hard for him to explain, something bad. Didn’t they know what it felt like to be awoken right when you nod off? It’s like they had no respect for the expectations of the Evening Guards.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Inside his head, he could feel his voice almost begging to come out, “You’re all exceedingly rude! Calling me weird, you’re the ones that woke me and told me to come out here. You know you could have grabbed the clipboard and verified the contents yourself. You wouldn’t need me if you were even halfway competent at this. But no, of course not. None of you ever bother to check the crates in and out as it is. Reading must be too difficult for you all!” Teuta stood in the doorway, thinking to himself what it would be like if those words had actually reached any of them. They couldn’t since he didn’t speak to them, but what if he had?
His eyes continued to move around between the various people in the room. He wasn’t particularly familiar with the Common and High Guards, seeing them in passing maybe once or twice. The Solar Guard, on the other hand, in particular he knew the two low ranking Guard members well. They never properly processed their crates, and it seemed like they were the ones tasked with handling them for their squad.
The captain, Arborfortsus on the other hand he had tried to talk with a few times. Though, she never seemed to notice him. Maybe, he never actually spoke with her and just thought he did. It was a common enough occurrence.
“You’re named Teuta aren’t you?” Her soft yet powerful voice seemed to echo in his head.
Normally, he’d have a hard time responding with anything more than just stammers, but this time it came easy, “Yes, it is captain Arborfortsus. I’m surprised you knew that.”
“Call me Arbor, my full name is such a mouth full. How could I not know you? Everyone sees you around the castle. You’re always running between these closets and the storerooms. Somehow, you always find exactly what we need, when we need it.”
He would be surprised; most people didn’t understand how challenging it all was. “Thank you! It is difficult, most people don’t really get all the complexities of inventory management. It’s not just moving things around. You have to document them, ensure the documentation is filed correctly. Fix problems when people don’t file them it’s hard, and truthfully, a bit thankless.” His voice seemed to bellow to him, in a way it never did in real life.
“Well, I’d be happy to thank you more after this, maybe we could go out for drinks?” Her hair seemed to almost blow in the wind as she spoke, her eyes shined in the way a brilliant field might in a spring afternoon.
He could feel his heartbeat faster, and his head grow a bit lighter, “That would be…” Pausing for a moment, Teuta blinked in surprise, something didn’t sound right, “Wait, what did you say?” he said aloud.
“I said are you ok Guardsman? We’re waiting for you to confirm the debris in the closet.”
‘Right’, he thought, and moved towards the splinter pile, vaguely aware of a snicker from one of them and whispers from the rest. He tried to ignored it, like he always did.
Looking over the crate splinters he picked a few of them up and was able to quickly put together three numbers: 470, M4119 and N33R6. The three missing numbers. Ignoring the prodding and probing from the other Guards as they asked dumb questions, he went about cataloging each of the items around the pile, matching item after item to its listing in his own paperwork.
After he was done, he did it again just to be sure he was right. Once that was done, he started to do it a third time only to be stopped by the captain.
“Guardsman, what are you doing?” Her powerful voice sounded unsurprisingly annoyed.
Teuta was silent, part of himself just wanted to disappear. He liked logistics, it was quiet, easy, full of numbers and manual labor. When things worked the way they should, there was order, manifested in neatly stacked rows of crates and other items. It suited his personality just fine, but dealing with other people, that sucked. How was he supposed to explain without looking like a fool that, “It looks like everything is present. Nothing is missing, or even damaged. Beyond the crates themselves.”
A second of silent passed before the lion snarled slightly at the dark elf, “You understand filling a false report is a crime in itself? We could have you before a tribunal and your rank stripped.” He threatened.
The halfling let out a surprising loud laugh, “On what grounds?”
The high guard snorted at the question, and didn’t even try to answer it.
Not satisfied by the lack of an answer, the halfling continued, “The Lunar Guard did his job. He reported items were missing, possibly stolen. They were found, and there’s still the crime of vandalism along with evidence tampering if they were moved here after the fact.”
The lion’s snarl disappeared, replaced by a mixture of disdain, annoyance, and no small amount of arrogance as he walked towards the door. “Since there is clearly no theft, the High Guard will no longer pursue this matter.” He turned vaguely in Teuta’s direction, refusing to even look at the dark elf. “I suggest you put your branch back in order. The next time the High Guard has to waste it’s time we won’t be so lenient.” With that Remilgado left.
The Solar Guard stood by as the High Guard wandered from the space, before turning to the Common Guard. Technically, in matters like this, police issues, they were supposed to defer to their judgement and orders. Even the lowest of the common and high Guard ranks would technically have command in such a state. Since the High Guard left, they were reliant on the Common Guard to either dismiss them or leave the room themselves.
The captain looked at Enn and in an almost pleading tone asked, “Gaurdsman, if you don’t need my-“
The halfling looked up at the captain and gave a slight smile, cutting her off. “Of course, your squad can continue their duties. If I need anything else I know where to find you.”
“Thank you. At least someone here is competent.” It was hard to tell if she was referring to Teuta or Remilgado, maybe both.
The dark elf didn’t show any sign of emotion. No sadness, anger or frustration, just his same flat face. Inside, however, was a different story.
The Solar Guard took their leave, yet, Arborfortsus paused in the door way for a moment with a sigh and a whisper that no one could hear. Turning she looked at him with almost pitting eyes, “I know you’re normally asleep this hour Guardsman, thank you for answering our summons.”
That was surprising to him, it was rare anyone thanked him, even if it felt forced. “Uh. No problem. It’s my job.” Teuta’s face felt strange, like it was being stretched in odd directions. It wasn’t a sensation he was used to.
The captain returned the awkward smile with a forced one herself before finally leaving. For a moment the dark elf wondered if that actually happened or if like most of his memories, it was just a daydream.
Pushing those future thoughts out of his head was hard, but he needed to focus on this. His head dropped along with any semblance of a smile as he studied the debris again. He’d have to find new crates to replace the old ones here. Proper packing material as well, some of these items were very delicate and used special materials that would be hard to find without purchasing. The more he considered it though, the odder it all seemed. Some of these things were very delicate, they should have been destroyed if the crates had been smashed open, like it appeared.
Enn wandered closer to the seemingly lost logistician, and studied his attention, the way he looked at the pieces. “That look on your face. You don't think it was an accident, do you, Dark Elf?” The halfling was of course bluffing, he couldn’t see anything in his face. But, Teuta’s actions did imply something else was amiss, something the dark elf didn’t want to say, perhaps to save whatever face he could.
Again, Teuta was his quite self, studying the pieces. “That’s what it what it looks like.” He spoke with a whisper. The dark elf’s face remained stoic. Calm. Collected. Seemingly unreadable by most.
Enn on the other hand, could still something beyond that still face and prodded further. “Sure, but even I can see there are things amiss here.” He picked up a glass figurine next to him, it was fragile, and it’s subtle appendages were so frail that it seemed like it might shatter merely from putting it in the sunlight. “Like this. This glass figurine would have shattered had this crate was actually broken. No, someone ripped the crate apart, but they were careful about the internals, about what was inside. Someone quickly, and with great care took this out and put it on the ground.”
Maybe it was just the light, but it almost looked like the tiniest hint of another smile crossed Teuta’s face before disappearing as he stood up.
Enn, continued to stand at Teuta’s knees. “You handle the logistics for your team. Help most of the castle with it if we’re being honest. I'm sure you've seen broken crates before. How often have the internals been as intact as these are?”
Teuta turned his attention from the debris, “Never.” His voice flat and head unmoving, he knew the broken crates were intentional, but did it matter?
The halfling and put the glass figurine down carefully. He gave a long, protracted sigh. “Still not enough to go on. I'm going to have to write in my report that this crate was missing but found damaged. Minor vandalism. But I’m going to leave it open in case more evidence shows up. Are you willing to sign that report?”
Now it was Teuta turn to sigh, more paperwork. Still, he did wonder, what anyone could have wanted with this junk?
The paper work was, less than he expected. But there was so much redundancy. Five copies of the same thing. But with all that out of the way, Teuta was now left alone in the space. For some time, he considered the debris in the corner. His mind drifting in and out of various conversations with itself.
The truth was no one would notice or care if he left it till next week. In one conversation, as he convinced himself he was supposed to be off today. Though in another, he would argue guards were expected to be on call for anything that arose. His own voice fought with itself, leading to one conclusion; That he didn’t know what to do. Teuta closed his eyes and took a breath. This was a simple decision, what was it then that made it so hard for him.
When things became difficult, he could always choose the safer option. In this case, that would be repacking everything, today. Opening his eyes, he moved on with his hard-fought choice. Less he gets another word in edge wise against himself.
Walking through the castle was quite a chore today. It seemed quite busy for the weekend, as castle staff ran about cleaning and prepping. People he had to interact with even if it was just smiling back. At least, he thought he was smiling, it was hard to tell sometimes. Perhaps the Queen and Princess had something planned for this evening that required all this activity? It wouldn’t be that unusual. Most weeks only had one or maybe two events. Though, on occasion there were more.
At least one time he could remember back-to-back events for nearly two weeks without stopping. The Queen had even requested both her Solar Guard and Luna’s Lunar Guard be full active for those events. Something about show of force for foreign dignitaries. Not that he really understood. It was not a fun time for the dark elf, but at least the crown paid the squad overtime for the extra effort required of them.
Stepping around a corner, he wandered back into the more normal parts of the castle, away from the dust and neglect. His eyes were blinded for a moment by the bright exterior of the castle thought one of the many large windows. The castle sat on top of a rather large hill, and though it had sunk a bit over the eons, it still looked over the mid and lower parts of the city.
Through that window he could see the barracks in the distance, and right before it was the training field, so called Guardian Park. The two features, park and barracks, rested between the two city sections. Seemingly separating them. Teuta paused as he focused his gaze on it all. The field was a bit of a distance, but he could just make out someone in park, a specific someone. His mind churned over his own possible actions and responses.
The guard out there could be used to help him, Teuta did out rank him and he had the authority to order anyone in his squad below him. All guards were expected to be on call for duty at any hour on any day, so they’d have no right to complain. Still, it would mean he’d have to go out there and talk with them. Then there were other considerations. The dark elf took a breath and made the easier of all options, nothing. He would do nothing, as he continued his walk down the hallway.
What was the human doing out there anyway? Teuta wondered to himself before engaging in another inner debate. If only he could quiet his mind for a few moments, maybe he’d actually be able to think.