"Noble swordsmen! Noble swordsmen!" shrieked a woman's panicked cry from outside of the tavern. "There's been a murder! We need the aid of a swordsmen!"

Reid darted out of his seat and charged through the wooden doors of the Gilled Lass. Bree followed closely behind with her signature crossbow in hand.

A woman settler from off of one of the docked ships panted from exhaustion infront of him.

"I'm Reid of House Aerys, Lord Regent of Aerendel," he announced, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword, "What is it, mi'lady?"

"Up the road, and outside of the gates, my Lord.  There's a mangled man. Entrails spun across the branches of the trees. He's been cut down," she panted.

"Past the walls? Who was it?" Bree questioned.

"I'm not from 'er. Just arrived aboard the Windsplitter, and old galleon in the south port. My family comes from Abyth'ir."

Trevos exited the tavern, still puffing on his rolled smoke.

"And you went out of the gates first thing?" Bree looked at Reid with a puzzled look.

"We're trying the find the road to Aerendel, my lady. We weren't suppose to dock in Londor Bay."

Without a word Reid darted up the roads towards Londor Bay's main gate.

Trevos followed slowly behind. The fisherman hadn't had a reason to run in years.

Bree continued to question the wayfaring woman.

Reid walked outside of the safety of the towering wooden walls that served as Londor Bay's only protection against outside threats. The main gate had been left open. The soldiers serving under the banners of the Red Fox, and House Aerys, who operated the large iron gate had flight the site and left it ajar.

A trail of blood marked a path to a nearby manor, dilapidated with a sunken roof. The speckles of red sat above the layer of dust and grime of the beaten roads leading Reid to his destination. The victim's intestines hung from the lower branches of the red cedar trees, and crossed over the path like a festival ribbon. Reid ducked under the grotesque sight and continued onwards to the old manor. Half of a man remained in front of the doors of the manor. A thick blood trail led into the house, past the closed doors. The upper half of the victim's body had appeared to had been dragged inside.

Bree and Trevos caught up to Reid and called from out of sight.

"Bloody disgusting- tripping over another man's entrails," called out Trevos, "you left that there for me, didn't you, Reid."

Bree jogged up beside Reid who slowly approached the door. Reid turned, observing Bree, unsure if she should enter through the doors with him.

Her eyes widened and her body froze at the sight of the massacred remains. Her lips moved, as if to speak but no words left her mouth.

Her finger shaked beside the trigger of the readied crossbow she held firmly in her hands.

Reid placed his finger against his lips and placed his other hand on the wet red doorknob of the manor.

Trevos shuffled in behind Reid and Bree.

The brave Lord Regent swung open the old wooden door and quickly drew a short single-edged sword from the sheath positioned to the side on his lower back. Reid knew that the manor would be too narrow to use his claymore sword and kept it holstered.

The faint rustles and sounds of someone moving hastily against the creaking wooden flooring of the manor could be easily heard. The blood trail led past each room of the manor and down the halls to the living room. The manor was dimly-lit by a single curtain-less window and the open door behind them. The contents of the house were barely visible. It would take time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Bree tapped on Reid's shoulder. Reid raised his dagger briefly, then turned to Bree. She pointed to the room on the left, gesturing that she's willing to survey it, and Reid nodded his head. She slowly cranked the doorknob of the room on the left and entered out of his sight.

Trevos, who followed the slow-pacing Reid, shuffled left and right impatiently.

"Get on with it, lad. You're giving 'em prep time," Trevos Allant muttered to Reid who stepped one foot at a time, trying to remain quiet as he walked down the creaking floors, plunging deeper into the darkness.

He tapped Reid on the shoulder, and pushed on by him and jogged down the dimly-lit halls alone. Reid whispered for him to stay put, but it was unheard.

"He's fucking gone," Trevos called out from the end of the halls.

Reid entered the dark living quarters.

"I've lit a lantern," Bree announced from behind, as she followed in.

The light of the oiled lamp brightened the dark room revealing the top half of the victim. The victim's corpse was ravaged and mangled, with pitch black beady eyes like that of a rodent.

"What the fuck," Trevos muttered, looking down at it.

"This rotting fort was being used by vagabonds," informed Bree, "I've got some of their papers here. Found some of their personal items as well, my Lord."

Reid kneeled down beside the bloody mess and examined it.

"Many hells, that's disgusting," choked Bree as she looked down at the corpse.

The putrid smell of death filled their nostrils. The many flies that claimed the corpse buzzed in their ears and attempted to invade Bree's mouth and nose.

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The victim had long pointed ears like Bree's left ear. Large chunks of flesh were absent from his neck, and his lower jaw had been completely removed.

"He was a Lunarei. Pointed ears, natural grey skin tone, white ink markings. He wouldn't hail from Londor Bay," Reid assessed, "no full-blood Lunarei live among us at the moment."

"A dead Lunarei..." Bree whispered, "that's no good."

"Fuck 'em. His fault for scouting our walls," Trevos added, "They plan to attack if they're out this far. In our perimeters, Reid. He's probably left as a colourful message for Londor Bay. Look what we do to traitors of our own kind. Imagine what we'll do to you."

Trevos took the lit lantern from Bree and walked towards the exit, "let's get out of here. The deeds been done."

"Flesh wounds like these aren't caused by weaponry, and not by another Lunarei. He was mauled by a beast," Reid continued as he examined the corpse, "I've never once seen eyes like these..."

"The eyes of a rat? Neither have I. It's not a Lunarei trait if that's what you're wondering," Bree added.

Trevos huffed impatiently, waiting for the two to finish. Reid imagined the sight and smell of the mangled corpse was too much for Trevos to handle. Admitting that was not something Trevos would do.

The fisherman shined the lantern up against one of the unchecked rooms. The door had claw markings carved into it. Trevos tried to peer through the small key hole but couldn't see anything on the other side.

Trevos opened the marked door, which was adjacent to Reid and Bree. A man with pale grey skin and black beady eyes stood staring at Trevos as the door flung open.

The man shaked sporatically and lunged at Trevos in the narrow hall. Trevos drew his rusty longsword. The sharp full-arm length sword pierced through the man's pale grey coloured flesh, reaching through the flesh on his back and scrapped against the wooden walls of the narrow hallway. The man seemed unphased by the wound. Blood ran down the fisherman's hands, dripping to the slick red floor. Trevos grasped the hilt of his sword, but struggled to pull the blade from out of the sporatically shaking man.

The man ripped into Trevos' neck and torn out a chunk of flesh, spitting it to the floor. Trevos pryed his longsword from out of the grey man's flesh and swung the heavy iron blade at the grey man- accidently carving the sharp blade into the nearby wall of the narrow hallway. Trevos, unable to pry the longsword from out of the wood, fell on the slippery wooden floor while the grey man ravaged him on the floor- mauling him with his fingers and teeth.

Alerted, Bree turned and fired her readied bolt in her crossbow at the grey man. The crossbow's wooden bolt had an iron tip which punctured the grey man's chest, but only caused him to briefly flinch.

Reid charged with his short sword in hand. The minature sword was only a foot and a half in length, but had an edge sharper and thinner than a longsword. Lunging at the grey man, Reid Aerys repeatedly stabbed the creature, colliding the sharp steel edge of the blade against the creature's spine. To no avail, Reid reached forward and sliced a belly wound to the grey man, causing his entrails to fall out on the bloodied Trevos. He prayed that the first sight that he witnessed, the entrails hung outside like festive ribbons, was the answer to dealing with these unknown creatures.

The grey man shrieked. It felt more like a battle cry than a sense of pain and agony, he thought. Turning his attention to Reid the grey man stood up while holding his intestines in his hands.

Bree fired another bolt at the creature, barely missing Reid. The iron tipped bolt punctured the creature's face, disrupting his face and shattering his skull on the side closest to Bree. The fragments of the creature's skull rapidly dispersed, breaking the skin of Reid's unprotected face. The creature fell backwards, stunned by the force of the blow.

Using this moment to his advantage Reid pounced on the fallen creature. He sliced through the grey man's neck and continued to cut, pressing down against the bone. Reid couldn't help but imagine that he was sawing a thin alder tree in that instance. The grey man twitched and shook as his head came loose, and within that moment ceased to move.

Exhausted and covered in blood and guts, Reid sat down beside Trevos and rested.

"It's dead, old friend," he huffed.

Reid looked down at Trevos. Trevos laid along the drenched floor holding his neck wound and panting. His eyes were pitch black. Beady like the eyes of a rat.

"Hang me at the town square," he muttered, "hang me at the town square."

Trevos repeated these words as he faded out into an unconscious state.

"He's not a soldier, Reid," Bree spouted, "He's bleeding out, and turning into one of those beasts. His family won't be left with any benefits when he dies. Not unless we hold an execution. Aerendel compensates the Houses that lose patriarchs to non-crime related executions."

Reid looked down at his old friend and pressed his hand against Trevos' chest. The beat of his heart weakened, fading off.

"Call my men," he mumbled, "We will have to strap him to a cart and have this done immediately."