Aurelia had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. The crowd of angry villagers was yelling and jeering at whoever was sitting in the red and gold carriage, the unknown noble’s guards keeping everyone at bay. Aurelia saw Robin getting dragged through the streets, seemingly no longer conscious. Corbin was pushing his way into the crowd, striving to get to his brother, both Zen and Justin following close behind. Belle grabbed Aurelia’s arm, getting her attention.

“Aurelia! What should we do?” Belle had to shout to be heard, “Should we follow Corbin? He seems to be trying to get to his brother.”

Aurelia didn’t have to think long before saying, “Yes! Whatever is happening, it can’t be good. We have to help Corbin save his brother!”

With that, the two girls set off after their teammates, worry and confusion mixing inside them. They had gone down into the secret tunnels while the streets had been busy but nothing of note was happening. Only a couple hours later it seemed the entire town had gone under. Aurelia guessed it had something to do with either the baron or the duke, but she didn’t know enough about them or how the nobility worked here. Aurelia would have to learn by jumping off into the deep end once again.

They found it difficult to make their way through the crowd, as no one seemed willing to get out of the way. As they passed by various aggrieved individuals, Aurelia caught bits of the words being thrown about. Most of it was insults and words of anger, but she could also hear the people saying the name of Duke Gladys. She guessed that had to be the man in the red and gold carriage.

By the time Aurelia and Belle caught up to Zen and Justin, it was too late to stop Corbin from approaching the guards who had his brother. Aurelia watched as Corbin began to yell at the soldiers, ordering them to release his brother.

“What in the name of Gloria’s Angels are you doing with my brother? He is the second son of Lord Gray, the mayor of Rainy Hollow, the very village you are standing in!” Corbin said as he continued to approach the soldiers.

The soldier leading the procession was covered head to toe with shining black armor except for a red-colored tabard emblazoned with the image of a black and golden horse. The entire time Aurelia had been watching, this leading solder had continued forward unhindered, ignoring the cries of the villagers. As Corbin began to speak, the black armored soldier turned to get a better view of the approaching young man.

With a deep and commanding voice, the leading soldier spoke while pointing at Corbin, “He’s coming with us,” he then gestured at two of his men, “Greggory and Talon, you grab the young noble.”

“Yes, Captain Northwood!” the two soldiers said together.

Without another word, Captain Northwood turned away from Corbin and continued the procession into the center of town. The indicated soldiers approached Corbin, subduing him quickly, before marching back into line. Corbin didn’t put up much of a fight, and after using her identify, Aurelia could see why. All the soldiers were at least level twenty-five with most of them around level thirty, and the Captain was at level sixty-two. There wasn’t much Corbin could do.

Zen seemed ready to rush at the passing soldiers but was held back by Justin. Zen turned to his friend, his face red with anger, “Why are you trying to stop me? We can’t just let them take Corbin and Robin like that!”

Justin shook his head, “What are we supposed to do? We are both under-leveled and outnumbered!”

Belle walked up directly behind the two young men, “We have to do something! Corbin is our teammate now!”

Zen nodded, “Something has to be wrong if Duke Glady comes in and immediately takes the Gray nobles into custody. There has been conflict between nobles before, but I can’t imagine what has made the duke do this!”

“Where are they headed? Maybe we can follow them there?” Aurelia asked

As the group talked, the crowd around them converged behind the last of the soldiers walking by. The three soldiers at the end of the procession walked behind the gilded carriage, their hands next to their swords. The villagers were hurling insults at the men, but they didn’t dare raise a hand against the soldiers, fearing what they might do in retaliation.

“They are headed towards the center of town, which is also where the Gray home is. The Grays may be a small noble family, but they are still lords. Anytime a noble passes by, usually Baron Redford, they will always stay with the Grays. I expect that is where they are headed,” Belle said.

“Okay, but can we even follow them there?” Justin asked.

“That may be a bit tricky, with all those soldiers with Duke Gladys,” Belle replied as they watched the parade of people disappear around a corner, “We definitely couldn’t just walk in, but I do have another way we can get inside.”

Zen eyed the girl, “Does it have something to do with where we just were?” Zen asked.

Belle nodded, “It does indeed, and I think we will need some extra help if we are to find out what is going on. Follow me!”

The four of them turned to head back in the direction of the tavern. Now that the group of soldiers and the horse-drawn carriage were out of sight, the villagers had begun to disperse. With a less dense crowd of people to move through, the team was able to arrive back at the building fairly quickly. They followed a pair of men inside the Orphaned Hen, trying to hurry around them.

Ivan was behind the counter, a stormy look on his face. Some people were now sitting at tables, but most were crowded in groups talking together with shocked looks on their faces. Belle led Aurelia and the two boys through the common room and towards the counter. When Ivan spotted the group, he moved to the side so he could talk to them more easily.

“Ivan! Did you see what just happened?” Belle called out to him.

Ivan nodded, then motioned towards the group to follow him into the back hallway. “Yes, I did. We need to talk.” They followed Ivan to the storage room, only stopping so Ivan could ask one of the barmen to take over for him in the tavern.

Aurelia was surprised when Ivan had them also climb down the hatch, rather than just speak to them in the storage room or the back hallway. Zen was the last down the ladder and had to rush to catch up to the group. Ivan had set a quick pace down the hallway, and the group almost had to jog to keep up.

“Ivan, do you know what is going on?” Belle asked him.

“Everyone has been called to meet in the assembly room,” Ivan said while still walking quickly, “Marge will update us all at once.”

Belle gasped in surprise, “Really? Everyone?”

Ivan only nodded, his demeanor indicating he didn’t want to discuss it anymore.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Aurelia was confused, not sure what it all meant, “Is it a big deal that everyone meets up?”

“Oh yes,” Belle turned to look at her, “We never meet all together at the same time. It is a big security risk to do so, which is why I am so surprised it is happening. Whatever is going on must be a big deal.”

A couple of minutes later, the group walked into the biggest room Aurelia had seen so far in the Moon Raven hideout. It looked like the room was built for a stage theater, with tiered seating leading down to a large open area in the lowest part of the room. Inside, Aurelia saw almost forty people, the youngest being Freddy and Jasper and the oldest looked to be a man in his late sixties or early seventies. Marge and Admium stood together with a third older man in the larger open area.

Ivan urged the four members of Evertide to take a seat along with the majority of the Moon Raven members, while he walked down to stand by Marge. Aurelia sat down in a wooden chair, not quite sure what was going on. Ivan, Marge, Admium, and the fourth man stood together in a circle while a couple more villagers made their way into the room. By the time everyone was settling down, the group numbered over fifty people.

Marge turned to the audience of Moon Raven members and motioned the room for silence. “Thank you all for coming on such short notice, I realize it is unusual for us all to meet together in person.”

“More like we’ve never met all together before,” Belle muttered under her breath.

“Almost half an hour ago, now, Duke Gladys and his men arrived at the gates of Rainy Hollow where Robin Gray and his team were waiting to greet them. Our best listener wasn’t around at the time to hear the conversation that followed, so what we know is just from what one of our people saw personally,” Marge’s eyes flicked upwards toward the Evertide team, “As the Duke stopped at the gate, Robin approached the carriage with what we think was the intent to greet the duke personally. After only a minute of talking, the captain of the duke’s guard, Evan Northwood gestured his soldiers to take Robin into custody. The ensuing fight left Robin unconscious along with his two team members. We don’t know the current condition of either Eagan or Maria, as they are still watched over by a couple of the Duke’s guards.”

The crowd of Moon Raven members murmured at the news, shocked by what had just happened. Even Aurelia was baffled at why the duke and his men had done what they had. Robin seemed like an honorable man, so what could he possibly have said to cause the duke and his men to then beat him and his team up before storming into Rainy Hollow like they owned the place? It just didn’t add up. Maybe the Duke always had the intention of taking the Gray nobles into custody.

“As the duke and his men continued into town on their way towards the Gray house, Corbin Gray was also taken into custody by the duke’s men. As of right now we don’t-” Marge stopped as a small runner boy Aurelia hadn’t met dashed into the room.

“Marge!” the boy shouted, waving a note in his hand.

The whole room turned to watch as the boy ran up to Marge, handing her the folded note. As Marge opened the note to read, Aurelia saw as her face turned white with fear. The tension was palpable in the room as everyone waited to hear the news. Ivan walked up behind Marge, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“What happened?” Ivan asked.

“I…I…” Marge swallowed, seemingly at a loss for words. Without an answer, she passed the note over to Ivan, before walking a couple of steps away, turning her face away from everyone else. As Ivan read the note, his face also seemed to whiten with shock.

Belle reached over and grabbed Aurelia’s hand, squeezing it hard. As Aurelia turned to see her friend’s face, she could see the fear written on her face as well. It seemed whatever was going on, was getting worse by the minute.

“I am afraid I have some more bad news to share,” Ivan spoke up, “Lord Gray has been killed, along with his wife.”

Voices cried out in shock throughout the room, and Aurelia couldn’t help but think of Corbin and what his fate might be. Her heart beat faster as she waited to hear whatever bad news Ivan had to share. Beside her, Belle began to cry and Zen jumped to his feet in anger.

“Please settle down, everyone,” Ivan called out, “I understand being upset, but you all must remember the part we have to play. We have known for a while now that Duke Gladys might be a problem, it seems today is the day we remedy that threat.”

The room quieted the more Ivan spoke, and the feeling of shock and sadness turned to one of anger and resoluteness. One man, near the front of the room, stood up saying, “What will you have us do?”

Ivan nodded, thanking the man, “We have a few options, but depending on what we choose, our presence here in Rainy Hollow may be exposed. If that happens, we must disband our base of operations.”

A murmur of discontent met those words, making it clear to Aurelia that exposing the Moon Ravens here in Rainy Hollow would in no way be a good idea. Aurelia glanced at her team, seeing the looks of determination on their faces. As an idea popped into her head, a feeling just like had when Corbin asked to join her team filled her. It was her ability activating, Amaril’s Fortune. Aurelia knew that meant the idea she had would not only work, but it would be the best course of action she could take.

Aurelia leaned over towards her teammates gesturing them to come closer. Zen, Justin, and Belle looked at Aurelia with questioning glances. When she explained her idea, their eyes widened in surprise.

“Are you sure?” Justin asked.

“Yeah, we don’t even know what we are doing,” Zen added.

Belle hesitated before saying, “If we don’t, there could be even worse consequences for both the rebellion and the whole village of Rainy Hollow. You are sure the gem will work for more than one person?”

“Yes, I am confident it will, we just need to get inside to make it useful,” Aurelia replied.

After a few more whispered back-and-forth words from the group, a consensus was made. While the group had been distracted by their conversation, Ivan was still leading the discussion about Moon Raven’s next course of action. As Aurelia tuned back in the conversation, she heard a woman remarking on the state of affairs.

“I don’t think you understand, Ivan, you have only been in Rainy Hollow for maybe a decade. We have lived here our entire lives and there is no way we are abandoning our homes. Lord Gray is… was a trustworthy leader and a loved member of this community. We will not abandon the Gray children to die as well.” the woman declared, obviously a bit heated now.

Around the room, her words were met with either affirming applause or the occasional disagreeable statement. Ivan looked frustrated and Marge seemed to still be devastated and turned away from the conversation. Aurelia looked back to her teammates and they gave her approving gestures, urging her to stand up. She took a deep breath and stood up in her seat. The people around their team looked at Aurelia with questioning glances, but she did her best to ignore them.

“Excuse me,” Aurelia called out, “Excuse me, I need to say something.”

More people became quiet, and the rows in front of them started turning around to look at Aurelia. When it finally became quiet enough for Aurelia to be heard, she started speaking again.

“I know most of you have no idea who I am, but my name is Aurelia. As of a few hours ago, I, along with Belle, Justin, Zen, and Corbin Gray formed an adventuring team,” the crowd around her began to murmur at her words, “I may not fully understand what is happening right now, but I know our teammate and his siblings are in danger. I have a way to get them out safely, but we need your help getting to the Grays safely.”

Ivan looked at Aurelia intently, and said, “Are you sure about this? If something goes wrong, it may end with your death or the deaths of the Gray family.”

“We are sure, and we will get the Grays out if you can get us in the Mayor’s home,” Aurelia said.

A man in the crowd stood up, “How can we even trust you? The only one of your so-called team that is a member of our group is Belle. What can you do, that we cannot do ourselves?”

“Well, for one, the fact that we aren’t a member of your group is a benefit. If we do get caught, it will be less likely to be traced back to you. Belle will stay out of any direct confrontation, and none of you have to be directly involved either.” Aurelia turned to look at Ivan and Marge, “It will be up to you to then deal with the duke. We can help your cause while inside the mansion, but our first priority will be to get the Grays out. Will you help us?”

By this point, Marge had gotten out of her stupor and was now looking at Aurelia with red-rimmed eyes. She took a deep breath in and out, then said, “If you can help save my nephews and niece, we can take care of the rest.”

A shocked hush fell over the room as Marge said those words. It was Belle who broke the silence, “Wait, you are related to the Grays?”

Marge nodded, “Yes, but that is not important right now, what is important is to get your four into that house. We can deal with the Duke’s men after my family is safe.”

Ivan stepped forward, a hand on Marge’s shoulder, “What do you need from us?”