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Complete Series | Chapter Four |
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This is a compilation of all updates of Chapter Three of my series. Although I update this story every other day, feel free to come here to read any updates you missed, that way you don't have to search for them in my journal.
All updates will be listed as the current chapter, i.e., "1.1," "1.2," "1.3," etc. until we hit new chapters. 1.1 is chapter one, part one.
Ardid crept around the corner of the hallway, peeking over to make sure no one was coming. After he confirmed his safe travel, he quickly and quietly sprinted down the hall to the next corner. This continued until he reached the center of the Guild Hall, the library. He watched the two doors of the enormous room tentatively. He had the feeling that he would come face to face with something if he dared to pass.
However, his waiting bore no fruit. He had been standing there for at least three minutes -- clearly enough time for him to have already passed. So, in order to save his time, he decided that he should make his move now.
He put one foot around the corner and began to step out. Just as he did, however, the door swung open, and Claude walked out. He was tossing a journal up and down in his hand. It spun through the air and landed with the spine in his palm each time.
Ardid retracted his foot with lightning speed, praying to Aias that he didn't make noise while doing so. Luckily, when he peaked out from behind the wall again, he saw Claude walking in the opposite direction, still tossing the journal. He waited until Claude was out of sight, and then, with a sigh, he stepped out into the hallway. He made sure to take a branch of the hallway that he was certain would not allow him to meet up with Claude again.
He continued down the hallways and eventually reached the public entrance to the Guild Hall, which was a large lobby of sorts. Several people were heading in and out of the hall, dealing with business or applying to the guild. Some people were led deeper into the Guild Hall by apprentices so that they could deal with guild banking or with the library.
There had been a time when he had seen this sight several times a day, but now, it was foreign to him. He hadn't been a part of the guild for several years now, and a sight such as a busy lobby was more rare than he had thought.
Turning away from the sight, he made his way out onto the front steps of the building. Here, one could look down on much of Port Rap, since the Guild Hall was built at the highest point of the city. The rest of the city simply sunk down as it reached closer to the bay.
He took in the fresh air eagerly and sighed as it passed through his lungs. He had been cooped up in that dorm for far too long. Getting past the guards had been easy enough, but avoiding everyone else in the building was quite difficult. It was such a large facility that there were practically people around every corner.
The entire building was full of passages that would lead to an enormous array of rooms. From the lobby, there were only two hallways to progress from, both of which wrapped around the Grand Council Hall. Those two hallways collided with each other at the entrance of the large room, and then the hallways split off into two more passages which led to the library, dorms, and even the Financial Division.
Ardid's dorm was not like the majority of the dorms in the building. His dorm, along with the officer's and Claude's, was in a more secure area on the upper floors of the Guild Hall. While the Financial Division and the Archiving Division both had areas that reached up to roughly three floors, each of the officers and the Guildmaster had been supplied with an array of towers that reached up to six floors high or higher.
Ardid looked over the bustling port town before him. He pulled a pipe from his cloak and lit a match that he had in his tunic pocket. He smoked away the pipe for a good while, but something had caught his attention. He had been sitting on the steps of the lobby when several armed men came rushing out. They looked as ordinary as any other people, but their arms were clearly not normal. One had a crossbow on his back.
As they passed him by, Ardid chewed his pipe silently, analyzing the crossbow meticulously. "No doubt about it," he said to himself, standing and turning back to the building. "They're probably going to need some help."
Ardid stretched his arms and dumped the contents of his pipe. He took a couple steps up to the lobby and reentered just as an apprentice was frantically asking for help. "Please! You must contact Young Master Claude! He was the last one to have seen Sylvestor!"
The words rang in Ardid's head as he remembered Claude stepping out of the library before him. "Boy," he said, slapping the apprentice's shoulder, "let me know what happened."
Claude stepped past the guards and entered Ardid's room without knocking. At the sound of Claude's grumbles, the guards peeked in behind him. Their jaws dropped as they took sight of only Arvur.
"Pray tell, where is your brother?" Claude asked, masking the anger in his voice, but not his face.
Arvur turned the page of the book that he was reading and answered without looking up, "He went out for some air. I'm sure he'll be back eventually."
Claude turned away and slammed the door behind him. He stomped down the hall and mumbled as he went. When he reached Victor's dorm, he turned the knob and barged in, only to find that Victor was not there. Normally, Victor would either be here, or out on the back courtyard, where he trained his troops.
Claude turned away from the bland room, littered with weaponry and armors of all kind. He closed the door and sighed gently, continuing on towards the back of the Guild Hall. Eventually, he reached the courtyard and stepped out onto it. The ground was covered in white stone slabs and green grass. Several troops were about, swinging their swords and jabbing their spears. Some were shooting their bows, while others were waving other weaponry at targets while they rode their horses.
However, Victor was not there. Claude stepped up to the man in charge, who was a high ranking member of the militia. "Where is Victor?"
The man turned and stuttered at the sight of Claude, "A-Ah! Yes, of course. Victor said that he had been called out on official business."
"Oh?" Claude's eyes narrowed as he continued to question him. "And where did he say he was going?"
"He said that you had ordered him to visit the camp outside of Port Rap, just inside the forest -- the Rustkeep Camp."
Claude turned away and scratched his chin. He had never given such orders. Not to mention, the Rustkeep Camp was far south of Port Rap. A messenger bird would have made for a faster communication, if that were the case. Something was clearly happening in the Council of Virtuous Parley.
Claude stepped back inside and wandered about the hallways. Eventually, he found himself listening to the conversations around him as people rushed by. He heard frantic whispers as they passed by about missing people, and he was so surprised by it that he ran straight into someone.
Ardid brushed his cloak off gently and looked up at Claude, expecting an apology. Of course, he didn't get one.
"Why aren't you in your dorm, you piece of--"
"Now, now, Claude, don't you think that's a little harsh? I'm sure Arvur told you, I was just out getting some air."
Claude crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. "I think you've had quite enough air. Go back to your dorm, I'm incredibly busy right now."
"I'm sure you are. After all, several of your officers have gone missing. Let's see, I've confirmed that Lorelis, Henrik, and Sylvestor have gone missing--"
Claude cut him off with a shout, "They're all gone!? Where the hell are they!? Did you do something to my officers, Ardid? Answer me honestly, or I'll pierce your heart right now." His hands had somehow already planted themselves on the obsidian rapier at his side. His posture had taken the stance of a fighter.
Ardid waved his hands about in front of him, "By Aias, boy, who do you think I am? I wouldn't have anything to gain from hurting your dear officers. Besides, Henrik is my friend, too! I'm just as worried as you are, so calm down. After all, I don't believe that it's over quite yet."
Claude straightened and looked him up and down. "Ardid, what do you know about what's going on right now?"
The former Guildmaster crossed his arms, just as Claude had done a thousand times now. He scratched his chin anxiously and offered an explanation. "Claude, my boy, I believe that our enemy has just launched their first attack on the Council of Virtuous Parley."
Claude crossed his arms as well, matching his old teacher. With a frown, he asked, "And what makes you think that, Old Man?"
"Didn't I tell you before? You've brought yourself into a ring of assassinations. You're most likely a target."
Claude and Ardid stepped down the hall hastily. The two had no time to waste, for the guild was clearly in peril. However, Ardid still found the time to make jokes, somehow. "Y'know, Claude, maybe they're all just taking a break. I'm sure those officers must be incredibly tired of being bossed around all the time. I doubt you even gave them lunch breaks."
Claude ignored the old man's banter and continued to lead the way to the Grand Council Hall. He had already sent several messengers around Port Rap and the Guild Hall in order to bring the higher ranking members of each of the Divisions to the Grand Council Hall.
With any luck, they would be able to discover the locations of all of the officers before the situation progressed any farther. His main concern was Victor. He was sent on false orders to one of the Council's militant camps just outside of Port Rap, but he had no idea if he had even made it that far.
Stepping up the stairs to the Division Seats, Claude found his way to the High Seat and Ardid followed behind him. Soon, dozens of people began to fill in the large room. As he waited, Claude glanced at the empty Seats around him. He could not help but to feel rather lonely, but Ardid's hand on his shoulder stopped the strange emotion.
When all of the secondary command of the Divisions were gathered in the Hall, the large doors were closed and blocked on the outside by four guards. Claude stood from the High Seat and addressed the crowd of confused guild members. "All secondary command of the Council of Virtuous Parley," he shouted over their voices, which eventually quieted down to listen, "your officers have been reported missing. Acting as the voice of the Grand Council, I declare that all our resources be invested in finding and recovering our Division officers -- Sylvestor, Henrik, Lorelis, and Victor."
Ardid made the next announcement, which came as a shock, even to Claude. "Our enemy is still on the Council of Virtuous Parley's property. They were spotted exiting the lobby less than an hour ago. They are armed and dangerous, and it is possible that more targets will go missing. Claude being one of them, and myself being another."
His voice boomed in the fashion that it had always boomed. It resonated with the crowd, who did not quite understand who was speaking. Whispers began to spread about the crowd, but Ardid ignored them and continued, "Port Rap is currently at the mercy of our enemy. They are still here, stalking in our streets. If any of you see a man with a repeating crossbow, take them into custody, but be wary, these are trained professionals."
Claude nodded slowly and considered all that was happening before him. The guild was under attack -- no, the entire city of Port Rap was under attack. If the guild fell, the city would fall as well. Without some governing society, the city would be a target for bandits and other militant groups.
Claude shook his head and addressed the crowd once more, "Defense Division, I will require your assistance in recovering your officer, Victor. He has been sent to the Rustkeep Camp, just inside the forest, at the old keep. It is incredibly possible that he is being led into a trap, and we must catch up with him immediately. All other Divisions, locate your officers!"
Claude turned away from the crowd and faced Ardid, "You are coming with me to Rustkeep. Don't argue with me." He stepped around Ardid and followed the crowd as it cleared out.
Ardid smiled and chased after Claude, laughing. "As if I'd want to be anywhere else."
Claude and Ardid made their way to Ardid and Arvur's room hastily. Without knocking, Claude passed by the guards and opened the door. Arvur was still sitting at the desk, reading his book. With a wave, he said to Claude, "Sounds like something's come up -- don't you tell me that Ardid has made a commotion again?"
Ardid peeked over Claude's shoulder and smiled wryly, "Of course not! When I said I was getting some air, that's what I had planned to do! Things just... developed."
Arvur turned to Claude and Ardid with a frown on his face. "Then what's going on out there?"
Claude pushed Ardid away and explained the situation to Arvur, whose frown turned into a concerned look. "The officers are missing, and you both are going to Rustkeep to investigate the whereabouts of Victor? Who will be left to order the secondary command?"
"That's where you come in," Claude said with a sigh. "I hate to say it, but since you are the most knowledgeable of the guild members here, you will be left in charge of the secondary command. You'll also be leading the investigation into the disappearances of the other three officers until I return with Victor."
The white haired twin leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, rubbing his chin at the same time. "Controlling the secondary command shouldn't be a problem, but leading an investigation that I know nothing about might be difficult."
Ardid tossed a small, rolled up parchment to Arvur. "I've recorded some of the things that I've been hearing on this. Feel free to use it as some starter evidence. Just question guild members that last saw their officers, and use their knowledge to your advantage."
With that, Claude and Ardid closed the door behind them, leaving Arvur to his thoughts. When he opened the scroll, he saw dozens of lines of dialogue that rolled down the length of the parchment. With a frown, Arvur thought to himself, 'Just how did he manage to find the time to write all of this. How did he even remember it!?'
Rolling the parchment back up, he knotted a red string around it and shoved it in his bag. Gathering his things, he stepped to the door and opened it. The guard that was posted there had left as well. Arvur was free to roam the facility, but he did not feel the urge to. Instead, he headed towards the library, where he assumed that he could find some information about Sylvestor, who would be crucial in the search for the others.
Ardid saddled his horse professionally, wasting no time at all. Several other horses were saddled and ready to ride out, already. Looking around the stables, he could see Claude saddling his horse and preparing to mount. There were roughly a dozen extra horses being saddled for Defense Division troops.
"I suppose that if we're riding headfirst into a trap, we might as well come prepared, eh?" he shouted to Claude. Mounting his horse, he led the horse over to the wall, where his halberd was leaning. Grabbing it as he passed by, he rode the horse out of the stables and turned to wait for Claude, who came out a few moments afterwards.
Claude's left hand fingered his rapier anxiously, and his right hand held the reigns cautiously. "If we are riding into a trap, then we'll have already seen it coming, apparently."
Ardid spun his halberd around his head and caught it with his left hand. "Oh, yes, my boy, we'll be ready if it's a trap."
Claude eased his grip on the rapier at his side and let his smile return to his face. "You're right. Besides, I am certain that it would take more than just one ambush to take down Victor."
"That man has known battle for nearly two decades, now. Your certainty is not misplaced, Claude, but there is only so much damage one can take."
Claude waved the ominous suggestion away and turned towards the stables. The other troops were beginning to trickle out of the building. They were all armed with bows and spears, and their armor was half plate, just light enough for the horses to carry with speed.
Turning back to Ardid, Claude nodded eagerly. Ardid nodded back with a smile and turned to face the force behind him. Shouting, he addressed the Defense Division troops. "We ride out to Rustkeep!"
Arvur ran his fingers along the spines of the books on the desk. They were well-kept and incredibly beautiful on a scholarly level. To Arvur, they were such a pleasing sight to see that he couldn't help but pick one up and open its cover. He did not bother to read the title, or to read its contents, but he did skim through the pages, feeling the soft parchment under his fingers.
When he was finally satisfied with the feel of the book, he sat it back down on the desk before him and continued to look about the room. This was Sylvestor's quarters, which was a room in the library that was normally off limits to other visitors, except for the Archiving Division's members.
The walls of the room were lined with bookshelves, which were filled to the brim with books and manuscripts and parchments. Arvur didn't bother with reading any of them. If Sylvestor had been targeted by any kind of assassination attempt or something of the sort then he most likely would not have had time to leave some form of evidence, unless there was a struggle.
Of course, there was no sign of a struggle, which could mean that Sylvestor was led astray, just as Victor had been. Despite the apparent lack of evidence, Arvur looked around the room, managing only to find signs of the past night's dinner. With a sigh, he crossed his arms and scratched his chin.
After a moment of hesitation, he withdrew the parchment from his robe's pocket. It was the same parchment that Ardid had left with him just a short while ago. He hadn't bothered to read any of the written statements that his brother had recorded, but he figured that now was as good a time as any to do so. So, he unrolled the parchment and looked it over, noting that there were different sections for each of the missing officers.
He scanned the parchment until he found Sylvestor's name and then began to read the statements. The majority of the statements that were recorded seemed to lack any important information. For instance, several of the quotes said things such as, "Sylvestor? I haven't seen him since earlier," or, "Sylvestor was here earlier, but he has not been around recently."
However, some of the quotes managed to draw his attention. One of which said, "Someone wished to meet with Sylvestor earlier and was firmly rejected." Arvur furrowed his eyebrows at this statement and rolled the parchment back up. He placed it into his pocket once more and stepped out of the room. Finding the nearest librarian, he began to inquire about who had met with the Archiving Division officer and what had happened when he was rejected.
"Well, I recall that the person was a woman. I couldn't manage to get a good sight of her face, but she did have long, blonde hair. She seemed quite upset about her meeting being rejected, but Sylvestor didn't empathize with her. I was the one who had informed Sylvestor of her desire to meet with him, and he only responded with, 'I'm not taking any visitors right now. I'm incredibly busy.' Busy with what, I don't know, but I didn't ask, either."
Arvur listened intently, making sure to draw the scene in his mind. Visualizing it helped him to create more inquiries, which could lead him to an answer. In his mind, he imagined a faceless woman with long, blonde hair, and the librarian at the service desk. His visualization made him wonder, why could the librarian not see her face?
"Well, I was deeply immersed in a book, and of course, I was incredibly busy. Sylvestor had me working incredibly hard to decipher a journal that he had found. He gathered up a bunch of us and we each took up roughly five to ten pages. It wasn't too terribly difficult to translate, but it was in an older language. Most people don't know it anymore. The people in the west used to speak it before the days of Alnia."
Arvur asked if he could see the pages of the journal that were translated, thinking that whatever Sylvestor was working on might have been of importance to his own investigation. After he was confirmed access to the journal, Arvur asked the other librarians if they had seen Sylvestor leave the library, to which he received the mysterious answer of, "Not today."
Evidently, Sylvestor rarely left the library to return to his actual quarters. The majority of the Archiving Division had noted that the scholar would sleep in his study in the library, rather than returning to his quarters. He would not leave for meals, either. Instead, he relied on his underlings to fetch him food when he desired it. "Sylvestor must not be an easy man to work for," Arvur jested to the librarians when they were questioned. To his surprise, they all nodded and sighed in agreement.
Because of this, he noted that Sylvestor very easily could have made an enemy from within his own Division, but dismissed the idea, simply because the chance that a member would strike his or her own officer, on the same day that an assassin were to strike all of the other officers, no less, was too thin.
When he was satisfied with his interrogation attempts, he went to Sylvestor's study once more and began to read the requested documents. However, not all of the pages were completely translated, and the old language was completely foreign to him, so he was unable to completely read its contents.
However, he gained enough information from the translated pages to make a connection to Sylvestor's disappearance. Even the title of the journal raised a red flag for Arvur. He read it aloud to himself, emphasizing the part which was most important to him with a pause. "The Marvelous Works... of Aias," he said.
Claude's steed did not slow, not even after an hour of riding. When he had made his trip to Lelantos, he did not spur the beast quite so roughly as he did now. Ardid, however, trooped along beside Claude without much effort, gently kicking the horse's sides every few minutes. The beast did not seem to struggle to keep up with Claude's mount, which was immeasurably frustrating to the Guildmaster.
He kept his eyes forward, however, ignoring the nonchalant grin on his former Guildmaster's face. Ardid glanced around at the environment around the company, which was riding southward, towards the forest camp at Rustkeep. Despite the environment to the south of Port Rap being completely forested, everything in between was dull and bland.
There were no trees, nor were there shrubs or grasslands. The entire area was simply covered in dead or dying bushes and dirt roads. What little grass grew here was yellow and seemed to lack nutrients. Of course, the Yellowdale Kingdom was not known for having fertile lands. All of the fertile lands were in the east, in the Lelantos Empire. The only thing that the Yellowdale Kingdom had to offer was lumber, which prospered in the pine forests in the south.
As the company galloped on, the environment slowly and steadily began to grow more grassy and luscious. Trees began to sprout up every few miles, and, as they continued to travel, they became more and more numerous. Eventually, the treeline could be seen in the distance, indicating that they were nearing their destination.
"Rustkeep should be roughly a mile into the forest. What danger lies there, I don't know. So, I ask that you all be ready." Claude said to the troops as they stopped at the treeline. "Keep your ears and eyes open."
Ardid rode up beside Claude when he had finished addressing the troops and spoke in a low whisper, "If there is a trap, you know none of them will be able to spot it. Whoever we are up against is not so idle as to leave his or her trap out in the open."
"I cannot help that. If I do not give them fair warning, they will not understand anything when and if it happens." Claude gripped the reigns defiantly and spurred the horse ahead, leading the troop into the forest. Ardid followed after him hesitantly, shaking his head.
The group quietly trotted through the forest, with every member of the company feeling anxious and alert. The horses' hooves crunched over fallen pine cones, and the sound of a gentle wind could be heard, rustling the treetops above. Ardid took in the forest around him, seeing the large trunks that reached up into the sky and the canopy that roofed the forest above them. He had not been in the southern forest of the Yellowdale Kingdom in several years, since he had been residing in the Lelantos Empire for so long.
The soil here was incredibly fertile, and beautiful flowers could be seen growing in the darker depths of the forest. Birds tweeted in the branches above and other creatures quietly crept through the shadows. It was a mysteriously eerie environment, but beautiful nonetheless.
Eventually Claude slowed his horse at the sight of the stone walls of the old keep. The company behind him followed slowly and eventually they all came to a complete stop, meters away from the walls. Sun shown down from above, but only in certain spots. The keep was completely overgrown with trees, which reached high into the canopy. When the keep was made, the trees were cleared in the area, and the sun used to shine down on the keep, making it a beautiful sight for travelers. However, now it had a mysterious green glow about it, matching the dark forest around it.
"We'll go on foot from here," Claude called to the company, cautiously dismounting his horse. The others did the same, causing a loud clatter of iron as the Defense Division troops' armors shook when they landed on the ground. Ardid followed closely behind Claude as they quietly made their way around to the southern side of the fortress.
As they circled around Rustkeep, they could see the battlements on the crumbling walls, and the old towers where archers once kept watch. Behind those crumbling walls and towers was the actual keep, which stood erect in the clearing, with trees grasping at it from inside the outer walls of the fortress.
When they reached the southern gate, they saw the splintered wooden doors hanging from their hinges. The wood that fashioned the doors was ancient, and not well-kept. When the Defense Division had obtained the fort, they did not plan to fix the building, but just keep a garrison of troops there. Hence why Rustkeep was in shambles.
Claude's white hair fell about his shoulders, as he approached the doors. They were fallen inwards and were overlapping each other, blocking the opening. "I do not recall our garrison being so careless as to leave these doors in such disrepair," he whispered to himself.
Ardid stepped forward and scratched his beard. "I do not believe that the garrison had a say in the matter." He reached for one of the doors and pulled it away from the remaining hinge easily, feeling the ancient wood snap from the steel hinge. He sat the door against the arched gateway and stepped inside, with Claude at his heels.
As soon as they passed through the gateway, a sudden putrid smell permeated their senses. Claude and Ardid immediately gripped their weapons, sensing something ominous.
Ardid stepped to the structure in the center of the clearing, which was the large keep, where the garrison was kept. Guards normally would have been posted on the walls outside to keep watch, but evidently, something had gone wrong.
Claude searched the clearing inside the walls but could not find any hint of the garrison that had remained here. All he had found were the tents in which they stayed, all of which were empty and untouched.
Ardid found his way through the brush to the door of the keep and called over several of the troops. Claude made his way over as well, circling the building and meeting from the opposite side in order to finish his search of the clearing.
The two men drew their weapons anxiously as the troops began to grasp at the door. It would not budge, so two of them retreated a few feet as they planned to break it down. With a charge, they slammed into the door and knocked it clear off it's hinges. The momentum of the charge forced the two to follow the door and fall to the ground on top of it.
Stepping over the two troops, Claude and Ardid stepped inside, furrowing their brows and gritting their teeth. The other soldiers that were at the door gasped and were speechless at the sight. The two soldiers that had fallen with the door looked up and screamed at the sight, immediately falling backwards when they tried to spring to their feet.
Ardid stepped forward and spoke quietly, "I suppose that's it then. We were too late."
Claude had his arms crossed and did not answer. He only continued to stare at the burnt mound of flesh before him. Limbs stuck out from its depths, and smoke rose from its peak.
The bodies had been piled against the back wall of the keep and had been burned there, sometime recently. But what displeased Claude the most was the arrow that was stuck into the wall above the peak. It was firmly planted into the wall, piercing through the eye socket of the head of the Defense Division officer, Victor.
 Ty-Harukii · Tue Jul 25, 2017 @ 06:47am · 0 Comments |
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