Cirilius VII

----------------------------------------

The man’s gaze instantly locked on Cir and Smoke.

“There are probably more tasteful ways of making our presence known,” Smoke sighed.

“After being apprehended in the bullet and being given free tickets to the most sought-after event of the year, I’m in a strange mood.”

“That’s obvious.”

“What are you two doing here?” the man asked. He looked to be about the same build as Knight—Cir could potentially take him in a fight if needed.

“We wanted to sightsee, obviously. What’s that big hole you’re standing by? Can I get a sketch of my friend standing in front of it? He’s into strangely sentimental things.”

The man rolled his eyes. “The Concord has declared this area off-limits to locals.”

“That’s funny, I thought all the locals had already vanished. We’re not from around here.”

“Let me clarify,” the man said, and this time his voice dripped with anger. “this area is off-limits to all Loreians.”

“It’s usually not good practice to declare such a strong ban,” Smoke rumbled, standing up straight so that he loomed over the man. “People tend to have a burning desire to explore forbidden places.”

“No one should have known about this place. You shouldn’t know about this place.”

“We’re End Hunters,” Cir retorted. “It’s our job to protect people, especially from Outenders.”

“Outenders are a myth, and End Hunters is just a fancy name for Enforcers,” the man scoffed. “You can’t be here.”

“I’m pretty sure he is friends with Knight. Or at least Paladin. He has the same look of disgust in his eyes as she did,” Cir said, turning away from the man and facing Smoke directly.

Smoke gave him a slightly irked look before nodding briefly.

“Possible. This one is uglier than Knight though. Maybe his name is Squire. Isn’t that what the holy knights of old called their servants?”

“Stop. I don’t know anyone named Knight,” the man snarled.

“Oops, looks like we got under his skin. I’d actually forgotten he was still here, didn’t you?” Cir said, fiddling with his hat to get the angle just right.

“You two are a disgrace to the name ‘Enforcer.’ I’ll make sure you’re both reported to the Concord and stuck behind desks for the rest of your…”

“Careful,” Cir said grinning, “you might wake up the Outenders sleeping below. Or do you plan on giving them desk jobs too?”

“Outenders don’t exist.”

“Then why are you guarding a potential Outender nest?” Smoke asked quietly.

“I was told…”

“What upper management wanted you to know. We were here yesterday. We saw what happened. That hole you’re guarding? It wasn’t there yesterday.”

As Smoke talked to the man, Cir took a mental snapshot of the man’s face.

You can’t escape me.

“You know what?” Cir said, putting an arm around Smoke. “I think we may have gotten lost. Doesn’t that sound about right?”

Smoke’s muscles tensed as if to say, “You got me into this mess. You change the plan one more time and you’ll be spending the night in that hole,” but he only nodded and said, “You’re right. I’ve never heard of such a strange place.”

“Could you direct us to the nearest city, Squire?”

Clearly fighting to keep his building anger under control, the man pointed a long, slender finger in the direction of Persis.

“Thank you. Clearly a man of many deep thoughts and few words.” Bowing to the man, Cir started walking confidently down the slope toward Persis, which glittered faintly in the distance.

As soon as they were far enough away from the man not to be heard, Smoke rumbled, “What was that about? You said we had to return to Lazarenth. There’ll be clues, you said. Lots of good information. Secrets on the Outenders. And although you didn’t say it explicitly,” Smoke glared down on Cir, “you kept hinting that we would be famous, revered as the two greatest End Hunters.

“Do I look like someone eager for accolades?” he finished, folding his arms across his chest.

“You do look a little like you want to knock the stars out of me, so I’ll make this brief. If we’d stayed any longer, that man would have studied our faces long enough to know who we were, or at least he would have known enough to talk to people who did.”

“And here I thought it was because Steele and Axis were kneeling in the trees behind him.”

“What? Seriously?”

Obviously the best day ever now.

“Should we go back? I can distract the man long enough for Axis and Steele to get away.”

“First off, anytime we use you as the distraction, things go wrong. Like that one time in Crispus.”

Cir opened his mouth to counteract Smoke’s statement, but Smoke gave him a look clearly learned from Steele.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Ok, I know when to pick my battles. Although you have to admit, that time in Crispus was pretty hilarious.”

“To everyone else maybe. Anyway, we’re getting off topic. Have you even taken a moment to consider why they’re here?”

“Same reason as us. But I also know Axis. She’ll find a way to sneak past that man and jump into that hole, and I may never see her again.”

“How much time do you think we have before your wife takes the plunge?”

“She probably already did. She works fast.”

Smoke huffed and then cocked back his fist and smashed it into the tree right behind Cir. The sound reverberated, and the man watching the hole cried out.

“Ok, here’s your chance,” Smoke whispered before shouting at full volume, “You come back here, you skinny little thief! Don’t make me knock your blasted, starstraight self into Lore’s history!”

“Clever!” Cir grinned and started running away from Smoke as he yelled, “Come and get me, you big oaf!”

Smoke turned toward where the man stood and bellowed, “Can I get a little assistance here?!”

Training kicked in, and the man started jogging over to Smoke. Before he reached his destination, Cir turned tail and ran back toward the hole, going as far right as he could to avoid running into the man and Smoke. As soon as he could make out Steele’s silvery hair, he whistled, a pure, complicated trill of notes. Both Steele and Axis whipped their heads around to look for the source of the noise. Waving, he gestured toward Smoke and the man and then pointed at Persis.

Axis and Steele nodded, standing up and disappearing down the slope toward home.

Now to save Smoke.

“I’m over here, you slow potato!” He ran full speed at Smoke and the man, interrupting their conversation as he shot past them and down the slope, making sure to run more toward Junia to keep the man far away from Axis and Steele if he chose to pursue.

“Never mind, you’re useless,” Smoke growled, pushing the man aside and barreling after Cir.

After they’d run for about five minutes, Cir slowed, letting Smoke catch up to him.

“A slow potato?”

“I had to throw the man off our scent!”

Ignoring Cir’s comment, Smoke asked, “And Steele? Axis?”

“Axis apparently hadn’t found a way to sneak past the squire yet. They should be halfway back to Persis at this point. At least, Steele should be. If she’s running full speed, we may find Axis somewhere along the way.”

“Don’t give Axis so little credit. She may not run as quickly as my wife, but Steele told me about her mistbullet throw. For such a short woman, she’s terrifyingly strong.”

***

They found Axis and Steele on the outskirts of Persis. Steele had apparently reigned in her running enthusiasm, or Axis had been persuasive, because the two of them didn’t even seem to be winded.

“How did you get back so quickly?” Smoke asked, trying hard to hide the fact that he was slightly out of breath—Cir didn’t want to see the vengeance Steele would enact on him once she realized her husband wasn’t as much a speed demon as she was.

“We took your horses, of course,” Steele replied. “I didn’t think Axis would survive another jaunt through the woods.”

Of course.

“And where are said horses now?” Smoke asked, looking around the glimmering haze of night color.

“We didn’t want to ride into town this late, guns blazing,” Axis said. She still had an arm around him, which was more affection than she typically showed around others—except for the Outender incident, but then, they’d all been shaken up by the event. Even if Cir had seen multiple warped towns, he hadn’t gone face to face with Outenders. Always only the aftermath.

“Don’t worry, Smoke, I’m sure your beloved creatures are healthy and well,” Cir said curtly, drawing out “beloved” as much as possible for dramatic effect.

“Didn’t the two of you go to Elias today?” Steele asked, folding her arms across her chest, one hand on Smoke’s arm.

“That was what I thought we would be accomplishing today,” Smoke said.

“Won’t there be consequences for not reporting this incident to the Concord?”

“You would think so, but after seeing the guard, it seems they, or someone, already knows,” Cir shrugged.

“So where were you all day?” Axis asked.

“Your husband managed to befriend a deranged stranger decrying the Holy Tournament, invite said person to join us on the bullet, and then get us almost kidnapped by same person. And now we have two first-row tickets to the biggest event in Lore.” Smoke was truly the king of succinct explanation.

Could have been a little more flattering though. Come on—I saved us!

Smoke, as though he’d read Cir’s mind, added, “And Cir was as heroic as always, Axis. He probably wanted you to know that but prefers someone else tell you.”

Cir play-growled in annoyance, rolling up one of his sleeves as though he were preparing for a fist fight. Axis merely chuckled. “Thanks for keeping him safe, Smoke.”

“Hey now!” Cir was about to protest, but Steele, always as sharp as her name implied, asked, “How do you know the tickets aren’t fake? Smoke and I haven’t gone in three years because they’re so hard to come by.”

“Who are this year’s contestants?” Axis asked.

“Conveniently, I bought a copy of just that from the man who tied us up in the bullet.” Triumphant, Cir dug into his longcoat pocket and handed her the paper he’d gotten from Knight. He hadn’t even had a chance to look at it himself.

Everyone gathered around Axis as she unfurled the rolled-up sheet of paper and began scrolling down the list of names.

“Same typical contestants from Elias. A couple from Damaris and Sapphiris. Two from Lazarenth! They’ve never had anyone compete before…”

“Not Lazarenth,” Steele cut in. “Look.”

Cir looked to where Steele’s finger was pointing.

Laza – Knight

Renth – Paladin

“Impossible,” Smoke rumbled.

“Not even. I hadn’t had a chance to catch you two up yet, but someone, or something, has been systematically destroying all of our evidence,” Steele said.

“What does that mean?” Smoke asked, concern rippling across his face.

“Remember all my notes from our encounter? My mistpad was wiped. All the data, it’s gone. And that’s not all. Axis?”

“They tampered with all of your sketches, Cir.” She looked ready to chuck another mistbullet at someone.

“How’s that even possible? Were they in the house? But wait, the strange separation of the town into two wasn’t what Smoke was referring to,” Cir said, his thoughts already rushing to the implications of what Axis had said.

“So, what is so impossible?” Axis asked.

“Knight and Paladin—they’re the ones who ‘kidnapped’ us today. The ones who gave me the tickets. The ones who disappeared in a room with only one entrance, an entrance we know they didn’t use.”

“That’s not the only impossible thing on this sheet you brought,” Axis said quietly, almost too quietly for Cir to hear.

“What’s that, honey?” Cir said.

“Steele, did you sign up for this?”

“For what?”

Axis didn’t bother explaining. Instead, she pointed to the next name on the list.

Persis – Steele