Darion's footsteps echoed like war drums through the halls of the barracks. In his hand, the map of Eldros trembled slightly with his movement, as if even the paper understood the gravity of what it revealed.
Each village marked in dark ink was an open wound. Each symbol, a meaningless death. The beasts arrived like shadows, devoured the silence… and vanished.
"If those things cross the kingdom's walls…" he thought. No. He couldn't allow it. His duty was to contain the chaos, even if the world crumbled beneath his feet.
He exhaled sharply and descended the stone stairs toward the dungeon.
"First," he murmured, "I'm going to deal with that brat."
Krau was a headache, yes. But not a bad kid. Clumsy, brazen, insufferably annoying… but not a criminal. Besides, the sword was still here. Maybe it wasn't necessary to throw him into a cell every time he breathed strangely.
When he reached the dungeon, the sound of silence struck him like a hammer. Open gate. Hanging chains. Empty cell.
"Where is the boy?!" he roared.
The guard nearly swallowed the book he was reading. It was a tome with no cover, one corner burned.
"C-Captain! I… they took him. A woman came. From the Grey Library, I think. She had papers. Said she wanted to conduct an… analysis."
"A woman? And you didn't think to notify me?"
Darion looked at him as if he could turn him to dust with just his gaze.
"She described everything in great detail, seemed to know what she was doing. Tall, elven, very formal. Had the air of knowing more than everyone in the room."
Darion ran a hand down his face and sighed. It wasn't Liora. Not with that description.
"Not short, dark-skinned, with a 'I'm going to break your teeth for speaking' kind of expression?" he said with a hint of hope.
"No, no… this one seemed the type to insult you using footnotes and bibliography."
Darion remained silent for a second, processing.
"Oh, no…" he whispered through clenched teeth. "Krau… what have you done now?"
In a plaza not far from the central market, Krau stood with his arms crossed and the expression of someone who had just stepped into a book-shaped trap.
"I can't believe you found me," he grumbled, cornered against a stone wall.
Alessa stood before him, hands on her hips, with the look of someone who had lost her patience… weeks ago.
"And to think I was going to look for you at the central library… because 'that's where young people gather,' or so I was told." She scoffed with disdain. "But no. I find you in a plaza, eating an apple like nothing's happened."
She turned to Joren, who was panting behind her with a bag full of books.
"And you didn't think to foresee this possibility?! A plaza! With fruit in sight! He's a child! Of course he'd be here!"
Joren raised his hands, defenseless.
"I just followed the logic of his recent behavior patterns, ma'am…"
"Well, your logic is as useful as a compass in a sandstorm!"
She turned back to Krau, her eyes sparking with barely contained fury.
"Do you have any idea the mess you've made?! And your grand plan was simply to run off as if nothing happened?!"
"I already served my punishment. Technically."
"Technically my sandals! You stole a sacred sword, activated the church's security protocol, and offended five paladins and three sculptors!"
Krau raised an eyebrow.
"Sculptors?"
"The statue that was there when you escaped! And now you're coming with me!"
"I don't want to," Krau replied, shrugging.
Alessa stared at him. For a moment, she seemed to search for a logical way out. Then, she let out a deep sigh.
"You're coming with me, whether you want to or not," she said, her gaze severe.
"And now you're coming with me!" Alessa ordered, extending a hand as if she could drag him along by sheer force of her authority.
Krau took a step back, crossing his arms.
"I don't want to."
"Krau…"
"I'm not going. That's enough confinement for one day. Thanks."
Alessa looked at him in silence for a second, with the expression of someone evaluating the weak point of a bridge before collapsing it. Then she glanced away and saw something.
Three guards patrolled a few meters away. One paused to sneeze. The other two talked to each other without much interest. They hadn't noticed them yet.
She looked back at Krau and smiled. But it wasn't a kind smile, not even a sarcastic one. It was the kind of smile that announces disaster with academic politeness.
"Well," Alessa said, tilting her head, "you leave me no choice."
Krau frowned.
"What are you—?"
"THIEF!!"
"WHAT?!" Krau yelped, jerking back as if someone had thrown cold water on him.
The guards immediately turned. One of them, upon recognizing him, let out a long, resigned sigh.
"This brat again…"
"Yes, the one with the sword."
"And the altar."
"And the one who insulted Sister Mildred."
Krau raised both hands.
"No, no, no! This is not what it looks like!"
But the swords were already out of their sheaths, and the air tightened like a bowstring before release.
Krau exhaled and looked at Alessa with a mixture of disbelief and annoyance.
"That was… really dirty."
Alessa winked at him.
"I'm an academic. Not an idiot."
"By the gods…" he muttered before curling his lips into a grin. "Well, not every day you get free exercise."
The fight lasted less than a prayer of repentance.
The first guard attempted a frontal charge. He ended up doubled over, the air knocked out of him by a swift punch to the abdomen.
The second barely lifted his weapon before Krau grabbed his uniform and tossed him like a rolled-up rug, crashing him into some barrels.
The third tried to grab him from behind. Grave mistake. A sharp elbow to the chin left him dazed and toothless in the front.
Dust floated. Barrels rolled. And Krau, standing among the three fallen bodies, dusted off his hands as if he had just cleaned his room.
"Three against one. Expected a bit more from you."
The rookie guard, leaning against a wall, stared at the scene, his face bloodied and stunned.
"Who…? Who the hell is this kid?"
A deep voice, amused yet firm, answered from the shadows:
"A child with unusual strength… and a stupid attitude, if you ask me."
Krau turned abruptly. Alessa did too.
A man emerged from an alley, as if he had been there from the beginning. Tall. Lean. Dark hair streaked with gray, eyes deep and calm like wells. He wore a worn but dignified traveler's cloak, and on his back, wrapped in cloth, rested a short spear.
"S-Sir Korvus," Alessa said, half surprised, half relieved. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."
Korvus nodded, keeping his eyes on Krau.
"And I wasn't expecting to find a boy who not only takes on three guards… but makes them look like carnival trainees."
He stepped forward, his shadow stretching across the ground.
"You and I should have a conversation, kid."