Damaia and Vivi darted from stand to stand, marveling at the shops like the tourists they were.
The felblood looked at everything she passed with a keen interest but she never stayed distracted long enough to fall behind as her elven friend dashed ahead. What appeared to be a rushed shopping trip was, in fact, an act; while they did take the time to pick up a few items they thought might prove useful, their true purpose was to stay within line of sight of their teammates.
The guard Captain was on patrol just up the street, a pair of ‘guards’ in oddly mismatched gear on either side of him. He always had new guards shadow him on patrol, he’d told the adventurers, so the easiest way to keep them close would be by disguising the boys as rookies. Much to Vivi’s confused irritation, though, Captain Darlow had refused to allow the girls to join them. According to him, with so few female guards in the city, the sudden appearance of two new ones would draw too much attention, and so he asked them to follow from a distance, pretending to be ‘ordinary adventurers’ - an oxymoron if ever there was one.
The elf wasn’t the only one unhappy with the situation, though. Lucas, too, was barely able to conceal his scowl as he marched in time with the old man.
It wasn’t because of the distinct likelihood that the Order was hunting him; he’d been expecting to run into them sooner or later. Neither was it because he’d forced himself into a borrowed suit of armor that barely fit him, courtesy of the tallest guard in the city, though that certainly didn’t help. No, the reason for his irritation was a simple one.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Everything the Captain said made sense, but as he marched along what he’d been assured was a typical patrol route, all of his instincts were screaming at him that he’d missed something - something important.
The guard to his left must’ve noticed his distress, because they strode around the Captain, breaking their formation to mutter to him in a familiar voice. “You okay there?” Jubel said as quietly as he could manage as he stumbled, nearly falling flat on his face. His borrowed armor fit better than Lucas’ but that wasn’t saying much, and unlike the werewolf, he had neither the muscles nor the training needed to move properly in chainmail.
“Just on edge. You sense anything?”
The half elf shook his head, nearly dislodging his oversized helmet in the process. “There’s traces of magic all through the city, but nothing strong enough to stand out. That doesn’t really mean much, though. If I was an assassin, ‘not standing out’ would be at the top of my to-do list.”
“Back in formation,” the Captain said softly, “before whoever’s watching us realizes you’re not actually guards.”
“You don’t think the armor that barely fits us is enough of a clue?” Jubel replied dryly even as he followed the older man’s instructions.
“Complaining about the armor again?” Captain Darlow said, loud enough for passersby to hear. “I told you, we don’t have the funding to go around ordering fresh mail and helms for every new recruit!”
“This isn’t working!” Jubel hissed insistently under his breath. “We’ve been out here for what? Four hours now? Five? The sun will set soon, and so far all we’ve managed to accomplish is to give me a lifelong hatred of chainmail! We need a new plan.”
The Captain opened his mouth, anger flashing in his eyes, but before he could answer, a sound like windchimes filled the air, causing the older man to freeze. That was the sound of the most expensive piece of equipment he owned connecting to another of its kind - the chime of a message crystal about to activate.
“Captain!” a muffled voice called. “Captain, are you there?”
The Captain pulled the now glowing message crystal from his pocket, his irritation swiftly replaced by concern as he spoke. “Report! Where are you, and what’s the situation?”
The voice from earlier sounded tense - even worried. “South watchtower, sir! We’ve found a young man who claims to have witnessed a brutal murder at the Paradise Inn and Tavern, sir. We’ve been able to confirm the deaths of his teammates, as well as their employer. We haven’t been able to confirm it yet, since the lad didn’t remember the man’s name, but supposedly their employer, who was also found dead at the scene, was a Count.” The man hesitated for a moment before hurriedly rushing through the last thing he had to say. “Also, the wounds were consistent with those found on Baron Menlay, sir.”
The Captain cursed under his breath.
“Keep him there! We’re on our way.”
“Are you sure?” Lucas rumbled. “This kid could be the one responsible for all of this, and if you’re a target -”
“There were no Counts on the list,” the Captain interrupted. “We can’t trust anything it says anymore - shouldn’t have to begin with, for that matter. You wanted a new plan? How’s this; we’re going to see if this witness has any clues for us.”
“We’ve been played?” Lucas’s eyes went wide.
“Like a fiddle,” Darlow snapped back, “but now’s not the time to worry about that. Now move!” He picked up the pace as he marched away, not bothering to look and see if Valorous was following him.
After all, there was no time to waste. He had a killer to catch.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
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The boy - for he was a boy, for all that he wore chainmail and had an empty sheathe at his waist - nervously glanced back and forth between the five people now sat across from him.
“H-hello? Which one of you is the Captain?”
“I am,” the older man said stiffly. “I’d like to have a chat with you. What’s your name, boy?”
“D-David Jark, sir!” he squeaked nervously. “Latest member of the Trailblazers!” He shuddered, folding in on himself as he went pale. “Last member left, too.”
“Nice to meet you David,” Captain Darlow said, his harsh tone softening as he heard the fear and pain in the boy’s voice. “I’m here to help keep you safe, alright? My guards are going to make absolutely certain that you stay safe until we’ve caught the person responsible for all of this, but to find them, we’ll need a bit of information. Think you can answer a few questions for me?” The boy nodded slowly, and the captain gave him a small smile.
“Why don’t we start with the name of your employer. He was one of the victims, yes?”
The boy nodded rapidly. “He was Count… Count…” his face scrunched up as he ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t remember!” he said bitterly. “I remember he was really bossy, and his named started with an R, but…” he trailed off, staring helplessly at the Captain.
“No need to worry,” the old guard assured him. “There’s only a few Counts in the whole country. Tell me, was his name Rikol?”
The boy slowly shook his head.
“How about Raymont?”
He brightened slightly. “That was it! Raymont!”
Captain Darlow scribbled something down on the paper in front of him before continuing. “Alright then… can you explain exactly what you saw? You don’t need to get into too much detail about the bloody bits, if you don’t want to, but try not to leave out anything else that you saw or heard. It might be important.”
The lad shivered and swallowed hard. “Well…”
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David suppressed a sigh of exasperation as he got to work.
His team’s employer - who was, as he reminded them almost constantly, a Count, and therefore very important - had demanded that his room be checked for any possible threats. David wasn’t quite sure what ‘threats’ the man was expecting to find in the largest room of the largest inn in the city, but he did as he was told. For what they were being paid, he could put up with a bit of paranoia. Besides, it was only for a few days. Once the local celebrations were done, the obnoxious noble would return home, leaving David’s team significantly richer for their trouble.
The sound of grating steel abruptly drew the young adventurer’s attention, and he spun around, drawing his sword -
Only to stare in open mouthed horror at what he saw.
A monstrous figure had appeared out of nowhere, clad in a mix of metal and fur, his face hidden by a steel helm shaped like a wolf skull. More importantly, though, the muscular man was nearly a foot taller than him and covered in the blood of his teammates.
David could hear his heart thundering in his ears. The snarling thing in front of him had cut down nearly half a dozen well trained men in an instant. What hope did he have of winning against that sort of monster?! Still, he had to try.
Then, the bloodstained man turned towards the teen, snarling at him like a wild beast.
He couldn’t help it. His sword fell from his trembling hands.
The monstrous man stared at him for a moment, idly flicking the blood from his claws. Then, without a word, he turned to face his true target.
“P-please, wait!” The Count stumbled backwards in a vain attempt to put space between him and the murderer slowly stalking towards him. “Don’t do this! Whatever you’re being paid, I’ll double - no, triple it! Just let me go!”
The muscular man let out a barking laugh. “You cannot afford to pay what you offer,” he rumbled, “and even if you could, I’d still decline. I have standards, you see, and you fall far short of meeting them, child killer.” At those words, the previously terrified noble darted forwards, his fear seemingly forgotten as he drew the hidden dagger he had up his sleeve.
The killer idly sidestepped the desperate noble's attempt to stab him , slamming a knee into the man’s gut with a contemptuous sneer, sending the fool tumbling to the ground. Without saying another word, he reached down and grabbed the man by his thinning hair, pulling him to his feet.
In a single smooth motion, he cut clean through the man’s neck and spine, letting his body fall to the floor.
With one final look to his fallen friends, the final member of the Trailblazers turned and ran, suppressing the urge to scream.
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A solemn silence descended as the terrified young man finished telling his tale.
“I see,” the Guard Captain said, keeping his tone calm as best he could as he finished transcribing the boy’s story. “Well then. Thank you very much, David. You can stay here for the night, if you’d like. It’s entirely up to you, though - we can send you home with an escort if you’d prefer.” The boy shook his head. “I don’t want that fellow to find my mom if he tracks me,” he muttered nervously.
The chuckle the Captain let out was forced, but David didn’t notice. “Don’t you worry about a thing, boy. That wolf-helmed fellow is our problem now! We’ll catch him in no time at all, I’m sure. Now get some rest. You’ve had a rough day.” The boy nodded rapidly, trembling slightly as he stumbled to his feet.
“Cots are upstairs to your left,” the old guard called after him as he moved to the stairs. He kept his falsely cheerful demeanor up until he heard the distant sound of a door closing, at which point his fake smile morphed into a scowl.
“We can scold ourselves later,” Jubel said calmly, locking eyes with the frustrated guard Captain. “What’s our next move? If the list is fake, how do we figure out who the real targets are?”
“Commonalities,” Damaia spoke up for the first time since the interrogation had begun. “Look for nobles that have something in common with the dead ones.” She looked expectantly at Darlow.
“Or,” Vivi added in a sharp tone as she looked out the nearby window, “the killer could walk right up to us and save us the trouble.”
Darlow scoffed. “What are the odds of -”
Valorous sprang into action, drawing their weapons and rolling out of the way as the door to the watchtower soared through the air, having been torn off its hinges by the massive man now standing in the doorway.