CHAPTER TWO

Risk Takers

Five inspectors stood at the border between Itania and its thick forests. Trees stuck out like sharp needles as they raced to the top, hoping to get even the faintest glimmer of sunlight as they extended their leaves across the canopy.

This led to a very dim forest floor, which the inspectors would have to traverse in search of the mysterious gunshots. Thankfully, the darkness meant that not much in the way of foliage actually grew here, allowing the inspectors to move freely and relatively unmolested.

Nullam was still dressed in his usual waistcoat and black slacks, with his trusted revolver kept holstered by his thighs just in case. He was the exception, as his fellows were all wearing camouflage, breathable fatigues, and were much better equipped than he was for the task at hand. He eyed the forest with healthy apprehension, realizing just how hard this trek would be.

"Do any of you, perchance, have an extra set of clothes?"

His four companions shook their heads with varying degrees of intensity, ranging from sagely serenity to downright mockery. One of the inspectors on this team was the latter, finding it amusing to see Nullam so distraught with his choice of clothing. Poor thing, his fellow inspector was.

"Well, now's as good a time as any to introduce ourselves. Again, I am Nullam Arcana, Inspector Second Order. And you?"

The inspector who'd found Nullam's plight so ironic spoke up first. "Marvisk Restud Kidesk, Inspector Second Order. I'm in charge of these rookies you see here. Hey, aren't you that guy who bagged that coup a few months ago?"

Nullam simply nodded, silently enjoying what he perceived to be praise as he thought back on his last assignment. It was a stunning success! Investigating high-level corruption, then finding out about a coup attempt and dismantling it silently was pretty difficult to pull off. That was his career's proudest moment, the rewards from which he would reap to this day.   

Marvisk, who was a balding, dark-skinned, almost middle-aged man apparently didn't think much of Nullam's previous feat as he continued, a hint of disbelief in his tone. "We'll see how you do out there, I guess."

He motioned for the rest to speak, and a pair of pale twins sporting messy mats of brown hair stepped forward. Both bowed with fists clutched to their chests.

"Birdur Charona, Third Order. At your service," said the first, who had a very large scar running across his left arm.

"Berded Charona, Third Order. Glad to be here, inspector." said the second, who evidently did not have any scars.

"No, no, you don't need to do that with me. Nullam will do," replied Nullam uncomfortably. It was common practice within the inspectorate to bow to those of higher orders. Nullam only found it quite uncomfortable, instead opting for a more casual treatment from his juniors. 

"Understood, mister Nullam," replied Birdur, bowing his head.

Nullam almost wanted to correct him again, but decided against it in favour of turning his attention to the final member of the team. It was a she, something pretty rare in the inspectorate. She was blonde, with pointed ears and very pale skin, even more so than the previous twins. Holding a longbow, he realized she was an elf.

"My name is Saige Zethuek, of the Third Order. A pleasure to meet you, Inspector Nullam."

"Likewise, Miss Saige," replied Nullam, bowing his head in acknowledgement. Turning to the rest of the team, he spoke. "Alright, now that we're all acquainted, I'll be briefing you on what we're here for and why we're heading up there so soon. Somewhere in the northeastern part of the forest, something's spooking the animals and making life really bad for the townsfolk. I'm sure you've heard the shots earlier, so I hope you realize why we're moving up so soon. We good to go?"

"Aye, inspector," replied Marvisk, mocking a salute. "Ready when you are."

Just then, more claps rang out from the forest in quick succession. That was just downright impossible, he thought. Unless they had some kind of army firing in succession, that kind of firepower shouldn't even be possible! Only rotary guns could manage those feats, and those were dedicated machines built for open battle. How would they even lug something that big and bulky that deep into the forest? 

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One burst of insanely rapid fire. Then another. Then another one, but far longer. What the hell is happening out there?

▬ ▬ ▬

Nullam's posse rushed through the dim forests, with him remaining firmly behind the group as they weaved through the trees with magically enhanced speed. He was lagging behind quite a bit, struggling to maintain a good distance with his team. This was the cause for his earlier apprehension and desire to change attire, he still had his damned oxfords on! 

Running with the shiny, fancy, and pointy laced shoes was proving to be a nightmare for him. Whatever intentions Marvisk had of gauging his abilities seemed to be all but gone as the baldie ran ahead of the group, occasionally glancing at Nullam with pity and disgust.

The wardrobe will need to be reconsidered.   

"Are you alright, sir Nullam?" asked Birdur with a hint of worry, slowing down to match pace with his slow superior. As if it couldn't get any worse, Berded slowed to match pace, too. "Should we take a break, sir Nullam?" the other asked. Talk about embarrassing!

"No, don't– ugh. I should've bought some damned proper shoes before leaving."

Nullam reminded himself to keep up, and so he did, pouring just a little bit more of his mental energy into strengthening his speed enhancements. All the while, the impossible gunfire remained, unceasing in its repetition as it echoed through the forest hollows. 

As Nullam wore his shoes down, he kept racking his brains for an explanation to the peculiar sounds. There were only two probable causes for the gunfire, neither of which were especially favourable for him and his team. The first, more reasonable cause would be a large group of hunters making camp, with multiple repeaters firing in quick succession.

This was quickly shot down by the consistency of the shots, as well as the sheer volume of the gunfire. An entire army's worth of repeaters would be necessary to pull something like this off, and there isn't any conceivable way of bringing an army to Itania without the dimensional gate.

That brings him to the second possibility, which is that there is an army of sorts there. How they have that much ammo to burn would make sense, but how their weapons fire that quickly, that consistently? How they got there without a dimensional gate, being spotted by the coast watch, or going through harbour authorities? Nullam had no idea how to properly explain all of this.

Then again, there isn't anything he could come up with to explain why this was possible. He could come up with a million outlandish reasons for whatever that gunfire is, but he would never find anything realistic enough to be logical. He would never find a reasonable explanation through guesswork alone.

He'd have to get a closer look.

"Marvisk, we'll be giving those shots a wide berth. I don't want to be anywhere near those shots while they go off, find us a vantage point and we'll observe from there," ordered Nullam as he scanned the environment, looking mostly to where the shots were coming from. "The monsters have been steering clear of this place for a few weeks now, which means whoever's here is probably camped nearby. We'll wait for sundown and look for lights."  

Marvisk nodded in affirmation as he climbed a tree and began looking for a good position. Tonight's going to be a long night, the bald man could already tell. 

▬ ▬ ▬

Hours had passed since the group had dug in on top of a steep cliff, prone and barely moving an inch as they observed the environment around them. When night fell, the group was on the lookout for any lights and better vantage points. Darkness was convenient for the group's mobility excluding Nullam, as he still had to move around in oxfords as they jumped from branch to branch.

Spotting the lights wasn't a difficult task. Nullam himself had been the first to find it, seeing a glint of white light through the trees, like a star just a little too close to the ground. That was a very peculiar sight, as you'd expect a fire to glow in reds, yellows, and the in-betweens.

They hastened their pace and reached the outskirts of an artificial forest clearing around a strange encampment. Once they'd found a good spot, they began observing and jotting down everything they could see. Most of the jottings were done by Nullam, as the group had decided to keep him hidden in a makeshift hole and dictate what they saw.

He was understandably bitter about that, but he understood that his clothing made him stick out like a not-so-sore thumb, even if it was dark.

Still, what he took note of was very unsettling. The things they said made almost no sense to him, what with the village-sized camp filled with strange buildings and strange people with equally strange rifles. They were hunting, which was apparently made clear by a strange metal contraption bringing people and dead animals into their camp. There were other machines, some of them with a massive hollow tube on something that swivelled like a turret.

Nullam contemplated what he wrote down and scratched his head at the information they'd given him. "Oh screw that, I'm coming up," announced Nullam as he lifted himself out of his little hole and slid in between the Charona brothers and Saige.

"You think you can make any sense of this, inspector?" The elf asked, a scowl on her face as the encampment below held her rapt attention. "I'm not sure if we'll get anything more than 'strange metal things' ourselves." Nullam chose not to reply and peered out over the cliffside. After enhancing his vision with magic, he quickly realized why their explanations were so vague.

What the hell are those?