“Kyara?”
Kyara rushed into the room and closed the door behind her again.
“The others wanted to rat you out. There’s a bounty on the head of a necromancer in case you didn’t know. Fifty gold for killing you or information leading to your capture or death.”
“Fifty gold! Do they really hate necromancers that much?!”
“You’d be surprised. I bet if you got a chance to explain your power to someone then you could be let off without punishment, but finding someone in power that’s willing to listen to a necromancer would be rare. And, the other members of Dawnbreaker, unfortunately, decided to leave that out of their statement when they went to give it. Anyways, they followed you here last night, so they know where you are. I came here as soon as they left, but they’re probably going to be sending a detachment of guards here by morning.”
F**K! This is what I get for sparing them huh? At least one has a good heart. This is just murder!
“Let’s stash everything we can and get out of here!”
Venessa is the first to react by quickly running through the house and grabbing things to tie onto or throw in our thankfully still packed bags from the last delve food and water get thrown into bags and tools are tied to the back. With a supply like this, we should be able to last for a while.
I join her and start to gather anything I think is useful.
“Kyara, what are you going to do?”
“I.. uh…”
“?”
“I never thought that far ahead…”
“Well think, about it now ok? Whether your friends rat you out or the guards find out by themselves, if you get involved with us it’s not going to be pretty.”
“I don’t think they would, but they did it to you, so I guess I can’t say for sure.”
“KNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK”
So soon? It hasn’t been ten minutes since Kyara showed up.
“Krieg! Wake up! Its Bernardo!”
Bernardo?
“Open the door.”
Bernardo entered the room looking just as ragged as he did the last time saw him.
“There’s a commotion outside, there’s a posse of around twenty guards coming this direction. I have a bit of a head start since they keep backtracking like they don’t know exactly where they’re going, but I bet they’ll be here in five minutes or less.”
I had to give Bernardo a rundown of my situation last time, so I guess he would have a hunch where they’re going. Nevertheless, that’s some luck that he saw them coming.
“Five minutes?! Were they that ready for this?”
Now it’s Kyara’s turn to be surprised by someone walking through the door. Well, I guess I am too, but there’s only so much adrenaline that can pump through your veins when you’re life is on the line.
The bags were tied off within two minutes and we were out the door.
“Follow me. The gates are closed and they’ll be waiting for you there in the morning.”
If someone knows the streets at night it’s probably Bernardo.
It’s dark but the moonlight does make it just a bit brighter than pitch black, and we’re able to walk down the street without too many problems.
For now, it seems like Kyara is just coming with us.
I hope things work out for her, she actually helped us instead of just letting us be killed. If anyone here is innocent as far as I’m concerned, it’s her.
Three streets down the sound of clanging metal and hushed voices.
That would be the guards, wouldn’t it.
Bernardo pulls us into an alley to the side and we crouch down in the shadows of the buildings, pushing us further into the darkness.
The sounds grow louder, and soon the street starts to glow with the light of the approaching posse. The first person to pass the entrance to the alley is wearing a shining chestplate and has an arm covered in further plating, wearing a sword at his side.
After him came a line of four spearmen in leather, then two people in robes, and four swordsmen behind them.
I have to commend their formation when they’re moving through these narrow roads.
Soon the lights and steps were out of sight, and we took cautiously to the streets again. I was expecting someone to kick a bucket and make us run for it, but it never happened. That’s just a bit too cliche huh?
Following Brenardo’s Guidance, we make it to the outskirts of town where we end up in front of a building near the wall.
“Keith… Keith open the damn door.”
Bernardo was now tapping on the door and speaking into a small metal grate in the door of the building. After a while, a plate behind the grate slid to the side and a man’s eyes appeared behind it.
“Whoo’s it?”
“Just open the door already. You couldn’t stop the guards if they came anyways.”
“No need to go for the throat man…”
A wiry man opens the door and stands in the doorway.
“What are you doing here with these kids?”
“Hey! Don’t go cursing out your customers!”
“We don’t do that anymore man. It’s too dangerous for us.”
“Put up with it. Let us through.”
“Who made you the boss around here man, ahh whatever. Nothing good ever came of messing with you. Come in before someone sees you out there.”
When we walk into the house it’s more of a shell than a place to live, a large portion of the modest living quarters was replaced with a loosely made staircase.
“What’s that?”
I obviously point out the hole in the floor.
“That’s your ticket out of town I guess. We don’t normally do people, but I owe Bernard a favor, so I guess it’s your lucky day.”
I quickly toss him a coin and get a rough explanation of the tunnel’s path. When we take it, we’ll end all the way over on the outskirts of the forest!
The four of us pull out a crystal torch and head into the tunnel.
- •••••••••••••••••••••••••
“Sir!”
“At ease, state your report.”
“Sir, despite the tip we got, they knew we were coming.”
“Are we sure? No mistakes?”
“Yes sir. They were tracked to a small home just this last evening, yet they were gone by the time we arrived.”
“So be it. Find out who knew before we set off. If there is a rat amongst the guard… that would be a problem.”
“Yes sir.”
A man wearing a chestplate and an arm covered in steel left first.
“Eughhhh.”
Argeon, the captain of the Re’avire city guard let out a tired noise.
The amount of monsters on the surface was increasing again. While it was manageable, their presence meant that soon a wave of monsters would emerge from the overfilled dungeon.
Of course, they could always raise bounties and manage the population of monsters, but the coat was too high for a simple temporary measure.
Plans for the defense were coming well. They would just have to rely on their own strength from here.
