{-Rennyn-}

We’re coming. Those were those words written in a different lifetime’s language. And whoever “we” were, he knew they were right where they wanted them.

Seldir looked over Rennyn’s shoulder but, obviously, didn’t see anything worth noting. “What makes you think that’s any special?”

Xarena glanced at it, too. “Seriously, it’s just a bunch of scribbles. You’re going to need to give some better explanation than that.”

“Would ‘we’re screwed if we don’t get out of here’ be enough of an explanation?” Rennyn tried. “I know what I’m talking about. It says ‘we’re coming.’ I can guarantee we don’t want to know who ‘we’ are.”

Kaylin more cautiously approached where they were. She recognized it, too, she had to—they’d been together in some of the places this was used. Finally, it didn’t seem like they were on different sides. “I think Rennyn has a point.”

“But we’ve got about half a dozen guards with us,” Xarena pointed out. “Judging from everything else here, there aren’t many bandits and they’re all kids. I’m pretty sure we’re capable of handling them on our own. Even if you, that Noa kid, and Lyrei are all practically helpless.”

“I’m not helpless,” Kaylin muttered. Then she shook her head. “The point is that we don’t know how many there are, or what they can do. Remember that we were led here by someone who could manipulate fire. Don’t you realize what we’re right in the middle of?”

Seldir got it at that moment. “It doesn’t matter how many guards are here. We lose the second we get cornered.”

Rennyn figured there was no use in standing here, already leading the way outside. “We’ve found a bit of information,” he announced. “We should go.”

Before any questions could be asked, however, it seemed like it was already too late. He glanced towards their path back to the city—the safest place for them—to find three figures emerging there. And they were by no means the friendly kind.

When Xarena noticed them, her previously casual air was gone. “So if they really do cause as much trouble as you think they’re going to… how much do you think they’re going to be willing to negotiate?”

“Pretty unlikely, especially if they were sent by Dhymos.” Rennyn unsheathed the Goddess’s Sword with a kind of ease; his level facade must’ve built up the image of being far more prepared for this than he actually was. “If worst comes to worst, I can handle it. It’s not the first set of his minions I’ve had to scare off. I want at least Kaylin, Noa, and Lyrei out of here the moment there’s a chance to safely head back to the city.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Kaylin remarked. There was a hint of distress in her tone, too, but it largely went ignored.

He didn’t answer—they both knew that, when it came down to it, she’d listen to him. She knew that all he wanted was to keep her out of harm’s way; if there was any life when he needed her the most, it was this one. He couldn’t lose her.

Only briefly did he consider her side of things, in which she couldn’t lose him.

Rennyn took a step closer to these strangers. They approached the group confidently, even if they were severely outnumbered. Perhaps… they weren’t quite here simply for violence’s sake, but he knew they didn’t have friendly intentions.

Lyrei slightly gestured towards one of them—the younger of the two men… the one who looked around their age. “That’s the guy from the Archives.”

“Not like the others look like they should be underestimated…” Seldir mumbled. He pulled out his sword, too, though he didn’t step beside Rennyn. Instead, he was with the other guards, forming a line between these three strangers and the weaker of their own group.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

With no one else willing to do it, Rennyn pushed past his memories and decided to see if he could get some form of explanation. “What are you here for?”

The oldest of them all, the other man, stepped out in front of the other two. “Nothing people like you need to be concerned about. Stay out of our way and we’ll stay after yours, ‘Songbird.’ We have no orders to confront you here.”

“Why do I find that hard to believe?” Rennyn didn’t ease in the slightest; no, he got more tense the longer they were all this close.

“Perhaps it’s all because you’re a bit too ready for a fight. You come here looking like we want to kill you—in truth, doing something like that now would be unnecessarily messy.” The man must’ve seen that no amount of false kindness was going to talk them into going away. “I know we stand on opposite sides of this… situation. But it would be a mistake to resort to hostilities so quickly.”

“As if I’m going to test my luck trying to talk sense into people like you. If Dhymos cared about reason, he would’ve given up on this by now—not go further.”

The man, and the other two behind him, all took a step back. “If you must know me by any name, it should be Viragi. These two are Kharis and Ether. See? Pleasantries aren’t often exchanged in hostile situations.”

“Not unless you’re stalling for something,” Rennyn grumbled. “Where is the other one? Whoever you’ve sent to do whatever you were here for?”

“I… don’t think there is anyone,” Noa mumbled. “We haven’t seen anyone else. Provoking them isn’t going to make things any better…”

A glare portrayed Rennyn’s thoughts on the matter much more efficiently than words could’ve.

“The kid’s right,” Kharis remarked. He snapped his fingers, making a tiny flame appear at his fingertip. “Our mission doesn’t involve you. Unless you’re that desperate to make it…”

Ether more subtly collected a sphere of water to hover over her palm. “Give the word, Viragi. I don’t mind giving them a show—they’re starting to get on my nerves anyway.”

“You do not prove yourselves to Lord Dhymos by ignoring his orders,” Viragi patiently reminded them. He turned around and so did the others. “We’ve completed our mission—things are almost finished here. Let’s go.”

Rennyn took a step towards them—to try to follow them, or just to make sure they weren’t going to set a trap for later. But as soon as he did, a spike shot out from the earth, just barely missing him.

Viragi glanced over his shoulder with a taunting smirk. “Without any little tag-alongs. I know you must be dying for a fight, but I never thought you to be the ‘jumping to conclusions and rushing into danger’ type. That might just make things interesting.”

Then, against all better judgment, the three were allowed to walk away.

“What was that about, anyway..?” Lyrei mumbled. “What do you think they were here for, if it didn’t seem like they did anything..?”

“Nothing good,” Rennyn muttered. He sheathed the Goddess’s Sword again and started to walk back inside; maybe there were still some answers hidden in there. “The rest of you stay out here, keep an eye out for anything suspicious. I just want to look around a little more and see if they’ve left behind some clues.”

“Shouldn’t we follow them, though?” Xarena asked. She glanced at one of the other guards. “That Kharis guy was the one we were looking for. We might be able to get some information out of him directly, if we can bring him back for questioning.”

There was a mumble of agreement between the other guards.

Seldir shook his head. “Wouldn’t that be too risky? We just saw what they were capable of. If any of you get caught…”

“Let’s divide and conquer,” another one of the guards said. “A third of us can try to trail those three and see if they lead to anything interesting. A third can report what we found here to our supervisor. The other third can keep investigating this area. No matter what, we’ll meet back up in Zaitha at sundown.” Without a glance towards his comrades, he added, “I think Xarena should stay with the outsiders.”

She frowned. “I want to follow the guys, though. They’ll probably do something weird!”

“From what I’ve seen, the group right here should be ‘weird’ enough.” He turned to some of his other companions. “You’ll be in charge of the second team, and I’ll be in charge of the third.”

“I want to be the one who stays here,” Rennyn said. “Kaylin and I should be the most capable of figuring anything out here.”

The guard shrugged. “Go ahead. I’ll take the group that’ll trail the others. Xarena will stay here with the outsiders. The rest of you will head to Zaitha and report this. Are we all clear?”

There was a mutual, if not somewhat reluctant, agreement amidst all of them. Rennyn didn’t wait for the others to leave—he was already stepping back inside to try to see what else he could find…