Sigthyme and Grace were lead toward the center of the city by Rhea and Geo Plattis. Two members of the city guard walked behind dragging the barely conscience Dwarf. All of them headed toward The Xylon City Courthouse in the middle of the night.
“We’ll throw him in the jail cells in the basement and you both will give statements to The Chief. Then you’ll be free to go,” Rhea explained to Sigthyme and Grace as they walked.
“Yes Ma’am,” Sigthyme nodded.
“Where are we going to stay tonight now that The Pilgrim’s Rest is burnt down?” Grace asked.
“We should be able to set you both up with rooms over at White Hat Inn,” Rhea said. “Just tell ol’ Rox that the City Guard is putting you up for the night. We’ll get it squared away with him in the morning.”
“We have three other members of our group,” Grace said. “They’ll need a place to stay too.”
“I’ll try to get you all a couple of rooms but you’ll have to bunk up together,” Rhea said.
“We’ll use to that,” Sigthyme said.
Just as they reached the steps of the courthouse, another group arrived. A party of four people including Juniper and Tak as well as two members of The Robinhearts, Mara and Sauler approached.
There was a sense of general confusion between Sigthyme, Grace, Juniper, and Tak.
“What are you two doing here?” Juniper asked.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Sigthyme said.
“Bad lady attack,” Tak said.
“A Dwarf tried to kill us and ended up burning down The Pilgrim’s Rest,” Grace said.
“Wow. We both had people try to kill us,” Juniper said.
“So you know each other?” Mara asked.
“Friends,” Tak said.
“Nice to meet you both,” Mara said with a big smile on her face.
“Rhea,” Sauler nodded.
“Surprised to see members of The Robinhearts out this late,” Rhea said.
“I work best at night,” Sauler said.
“So why are you two here?” Juniper asked.
“We’re here to give a statement about the attack,” Sigthyme said. “And you?”
“We have to give a statement about the lady who attacked us,” Juniper said.
“Right, well it seems like everyone is here for the same thing. That means it’s time to meet The Chief,” Rhea said. “Follow me.”
The entire group made their way up the steps toward the courthouse doors.
Sauler stood at the bottom of stairs and held Mara by the shoulder.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
“I want to go with them,” Mara said.
“Our job here is done. We handed over the two people in question to The City Guard. We need to pursue the attacker,” Sauler said.
“But…fine,” Mara said with a saddened expression.
She waved to Juniper.
“Bye Juniper! Bye Tak! Hopefully we meet again!” She yelled.
Juniper gave a small wave.
“Yeah maybe,” She said before turning back to the group.
“She seems like a lot,” Grace whispered to Juniper.
“Yeah a bit,” Juniper said with a sigh. “She has a lot of enthusiasm.”
Rhea let them into the building. It was dark, but she lit a few candles.
“Wait here. The Chief should be here any minute. I’ll take the prisoner down below,” Rhea said. “Also I feel like I don’t really need to say this, but if you try to leave before giving statements you all will be considered dangerous criminals and warrants will be put out for your arrests. Alright, be right back.”
Rhea and Geo left with the prisoner while the two City Guard stood by the doors and just watched over everyone.
“Are you both alright?” Juniper asked.
“We handled ourselves pretty well,” Sigthyme said.
“Yeah we’re ok,” Grace said as she moved closer to Juniper.
“Good,” Juniper said brushing some ash out of Grace’s hair.
“What about you two?” Sigthyme asked.
“Fast lady,” Tak said.
“We got attacked by some quick-moving woman. She punched and stunned us,” Juniper said. “But we are alright.”
“Any luck finding Riffen?” Grace asked.
“No,” Tak said.
“We only spent a little time looking before we were attacked,” Juniper said. “I’m guessing it is safe to assume he didn’t show up at The Pilgrim’s Rest.”
Sigthyme shook his head.
“No sign of him,” He said. “Maybe he’s shown up by now, but I have no idea.”
“He’ll show up,” Juniper said. “I know he will.”
A soft moment between the group was then interrupted by a loud bang on the courthouse door. It flung open violently and there stood an angry Dwarf wearing simple armor with two members of the city guard flanking them.
“There better be a good reason I was woken up in the middle of the night,” They said.
“Are you…uh… The Chief?” Sigthyme asked taking a step forward.
“Yeah who are you all?” They said folding their arms and starring.
“We are.. Well I’m Sigthyme. We’re victims of a violent crime.”
“Us too,” Juniper added.
“Ah, The Chief. Sorry for interrupting your sleep,” Rhea said as she entered the room with Geo by her side.
“Rhea. I should have known. What is going on here? Who are these people?” The Chief asked.
“Geo and I stumbled upon the scene of The Pilgrim’s Rest on fire. We have a Dwarf in custody downstairs in enchanted chains. I brought two individuals here who were the targets of the attack leading to the fire,” Rhea explained. “It seems like the other two were also attacked by some sort of assassin.”
“Krumb’s people?” The Chief asked.
“Very possible,” Rhea said. “We’ll know more once the Dwarf awakens tomorrow and we can question him, but his appearance matches the description we’ve been given.”
“And the other one?”
“I believe the other one got away,” Rhea said. “They were captured by Mara and Sauler, but was able to escape.”
“Robinhearts,” The Chief said rolling their eyes. “Never send a Robinheart to do the job of The Guard.”
“You… are the Chief of The City Guard?” Juniper asked.
“Yeah. You have a problem with that?” The Chief asked.
“No. Not at all,” Juniper said as she got quiet.
The Chief looked back at Rhea.
“So these people got attacked. Are they criminals? Are they members of Krumb’s gang? The Chief asked.
“No, I don’t believe so,” Rhea said. “They seem like adventurers from out of town.”
“Great. Well get their written statements and then they are free to leave,” The Chief said.
“Can’t write,” Tak said.
The Chief looked up at Tak who towered over them, but in that moment Sigthyme doubted who would win a one-on-one fight.
“Fine,” The Chief said.
They turned to one of the guards standing next to them.
“You,” They said pointing to the guard. “Write down whatever the tall one says.”
“Yeah Chief,” The City Guard said with a salute.
“We also need a place to stay,” Sigthyme said. “We were told you could hook us up with rooms at White Hat for the night.”
The Chief looked at Rhea and then back to the group.
“Yeah fine,” The Chief said, their patience thinning.
“Uh, also,” Juniper spoke up.
The Chief’s eyes narrowed.
“Uh.. our friend is missing,” Juniper said. “His name is Riffen and he went to go find a friend of his in the city. We haven’t seen him since.”
The Chief let out a sigh.
“Rhea. Get a statement about the missing person in question. We’ll begin our search tomorrow morning in the light. For now there is not much we can do for him,” The Chief said. “If you were attack by Krumb’s people, there is probably a reason for that. Maybe your friend was also attacked.”
The group fell silent.
“Now if that’s all, I need my beauty sleep,” The Chief said.
They made a quick turn around and exited the courthouse, followed by the same two city guard members which came with them.
“You two get lost! I can find my own way home,” The Chief yelled which could easily be heard from inside the courthouse.
“Do…do you think Riffen is ok?” Grace asked.
There was a brief moment of silence before Sigthyme spoke up.
“He’s a strong warrior. He’ll be ok,” Sigthyme said.
The group all gave written statements about what happened with one member of the city guard writing down Tak’s statement. When their statements were handed over to Rhea, she asked Juniper about Riffen.
Juniper did her best to describe Riffen which Rhea wrote down. The group added details here and there including the fact he was looking for a woman named Lillian. After that the group was free to go.
“Remember, to just tell Rox at The White Hat to give you rooms on The City Guard. I’ll be by tomorrow to make sure you are all safe,” Rhea said.
“Thanks,” Sigthyme said.
The four members of the group left the courthouse and made their way toward The White Hat on the East end of the city. They were happy to be together again, but a cloud of worry hung above the group. They worried for Riffen and were uneasy after facing off with assassins.
Once they arrived at The White Hat, they spoke with Rox Dretter, who was an older gentleman who owned the Inn, and filled him in on their situation.
“I heard about The Pilgrim’s Rest burning. Just awful,” Rox said. “Well I have two rooms available. One double bed and one single.”
The group exchanged eye contact.
“Sleep on floor,” Tak said.
“Tak, you don’t have to -” Juniper said.
“It fine,” Tak said.
So it was decided. Juniper and Grace took the double bed room and Sigthyme and Tak took the room with one bed. Sigthyme offered the bed to Tak, but Tak refused and laid down on the floor next to the bed.
They all tried their best to get some rest, but none of them slept soundly that night.
Cassidy ran through dark alleyways putting as much distance between her and the Robinhearts.
“Hey stop!” One yelled behind her, but she was too fast.
She just ran and ran until she was sure that she had lost the Robinhearts. Then she took a small breather before making her way toward the hideout. She reached the door, giving it two knocks, a small break, and then two knocks again.
“Who is it?” A man’s voice asked.
“Open up. It’s Cassidy. Hurry,” She said.
There was a series of small clicks and the door swung open with a long screech. Standing in the doorway was Jace.
“What took you so long? He asked.
“Shut up,” Cassidy said as she pushed past him. “I was about to take out my targets when Robinhearts showed up.”
“You didn’t take our your targets?” Jace asked.
“Didn’t you hear me? I was outnumber as is. I’m not taking on Robinhearts alone,” Cassidy said.
She glanced over and saw an half-elven man tied to a chair in the center of the room.
“Ralph got his target,” Jace said as he shut the door and locked it.
Ralph was focused on poking at the fire, but briefly turned and smiled at Cassidy.
“Yeah well he had only one target,” Cassidy said. “What about Kingston, is he back?”
“Haven’t seen any sign of him,” Jace said. “Thought you two met up and decided to hook up or something.”
“That fire-wielding idiot?” Cassidy said. “I’d rather screw Ralph over there.”
Ralph looked over at them again.
“Not a chance,” Cassidy said.
“Whatever,” Ralph grumbled before tending to the fire.
“Boss isn’t going to be happy that you failed to get your targets,” Jace said.
“I know that, Jace,” Cassidy said with a hiss. “Maybe he should have been there.”
“We were busy dealing with Hector,” Jace said.
“Yeah, like you needed two people to talk to Hector,” Cassidy said.
She glanced over to the dog in the cage in the corner of the room.
“Is that where the dog came from?” Cassidy asked.
“Yeah, I guess it’s special or whatever. At least that’s what Hector told us. I think it’s just a stupid dog,” Jace said holding his injured hand.
“Right. So where is the Boss?” Cassidy asked.
“Trix and him are in the other room sleeping,” Jace said.
“Right, well I need to talk to him. I don’t know how safe we are here. If those Robinhearts are able to track me -”
“You came back here when you were still hot?” Jace asked.
“Look, I’m pretty sure I lost them.”
“Pretty sure?”
“Yeah, pretty sure. But we still might not be safe. Especially if Kingston doesn’t come back. We need to leave now. Get out under darkness and be gone before people start looking for us. And for him.”
They looked over at Riffen who was slumped over and tied to the chair. Riffen’s eyes were closed and his breath was steady. Then Jace and Grace looked back at each other
“Wake the Boss if you want. It’s your death sentence,” Jace said with a shrug.
“Better than having this place raided by City Guard tomorrow,” Cassidy said as she started walking toward Krumb’s room.
To everyone in the room, Riffen looked asleep, but that was not the case. He kept his eyes shut, muscles relaxed, and breathing steady; however, he was listening to what everyone was saying. He was relieved to hear that some of his friends were safe but he didn’t know which ones. Plus he was worried. He knew he couldn’t get dragged out of the city. Then his friends would never be able to find him. He needed to come up with a plan and he needed to do it fast.
Header Photo Credit to Miguel Regodon Harkness on ArtStation
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/o4VJJ
Allen The Writer 