Hounds Rising

Leaf let the ice fall from his hand, and the bartender’s body dropped onto the wooden floor with a thump. He looked around the room at the destruction caused. Four dead, one unconscious, and a lot of property damage. Realizing that he was probably still linked with Lyla, he thought out to her.

Do you wanna explain this now?

Shit! Yeah, come outside, and I’ll show you.

He followed Lyla outside and across the street. Leaf watched as she carefully opened a crate and pulled out a small box. She handed it to him, and she spoke.

“I found a crate of eggs. One of them hatched, and they’re in this box.” She started to explain.

“Halt!”

Three guards were running up the street to them.

“Hey, it’s okay! We handled -”

One of the guards, a female half-orc, lifted Lyla into the air and slammed her to the ground. She grabbed Lyla’s hands, pulled them behind her, and held her there.

“Fuck! Look, we’re not the bad guys here!”

The two other guards made their way up and immediately stopped. The shorter one lifted their helmet, revealing a female halfling with brown hair and green eyes. She stared at Leaf for a moment, then called out to the half-orc.

“Semini, you can let go of her. She’s with the Archmage.”

Semini let go of Lyla and stood up. Lyla got back to her feet, and Leaf could see how angry she was. Assuming that she would blow up if he didn’t speak first, he started.

“Hello Captain Rosara. We were just grabbing some of the evidence you’d need for tonight. My party and others are inside. Four attackers died during the fight, and one, a server, is unconscious but alive.”

“What happened here?” Rosara asked.

“That box has a creature in it. They had it and others in crates in their office,” Lyla answered.

The other guard walked over and carefully took the box from Leaf. Cautiously, they lifted the lid. In a panic, they shut the lid and held it tightly closed.

“Captain, this is a basilisk!” the guard’s gruff voice came out from under his helmet.

“Okay, this is a full scene then. Let’s get inside and assess,” Captain Rosara ordered.

Leaf walked in with the guards and Lyla. Lyla pointed to the office door, and Semini made her way over to it. The male guard walked over to Ana, who was still bleeding profusely and pulled out a small pack of herbs and bandages. Rosara gestured with her hand, then talked to all of them.

“Thank you for handling this, but next time, it would be good for you to let us handle situations like this in the future. My name is Captain Rosara. I run the Iredale District’s force.”

“Rosara…?” A quiet voice shakily appeared.

Kanadak was helping Arric up, and the halfling was looking over at them. Rosara walked over to them and embraced him in a careful hug.

“What are you doing here, brother?”

“We were just drinking and playing songs with our new friends, and these people attacked us!”

“It seems like you were in good company tonight, as you’re alive.”

Semini walked out of the office and spoke to her captain.

“It seems like there are two crates full of basilisk eggs. It looks like the one in the box was the only one that hatched.”

“Let’s send word to Aramore. They have pest control for this specific type of thing.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Semini walked out of The Jaded Tavern. Leaf took a moment to slow his heartbeat, which had been pounding since it all started. Ana looked up at Arric.

“Your sister is a captain of the guard?” She asked him.

“Yeah. We moved here about fifteen years ago from Airelon,” He answered.

“Helped by the Poppy… The Poppish…” Kanadak tried to help but struggled with the common language they all spoke.

“The Popplewells. They’re a family in Airelon who helped us raise the money needed to travel out here,” Arric corrected.

“As long as everyone can do so, you should all head home and rest. I’ll send someone for any additional information if needed,” Rosara stated loudly over Arric’s explanation.

Leaf nodded, and the party stood up and said quick goodbyes before leaving and heading back to the Archmage’s Tower. He looked around and noticed that Lyla and Myla had already gone, sneaking out before anyone else could see.