War of Dark Ages: A Unicorn's Journey

Arriving closer to the tavern, the large crowd of people earlier seems to have grown smaller and a few people are standing in the doorway to it. She steps closer and hears a lot of yelling from inside.

A high-pitched female voice echoes through the tavern, “She has to have fangs reaching down to the floor to pick herself up as she mutilates another body standing next to her!” Quite a bit of laughter follows.

Stepping through a few people in the doorway, the silver-haired creature pauses at a counter to the right of her with notes hanging above.

“Well, you should have heard this. I heard the bloodlust about her is so bad that you can’t put clothing on her. Her completely bloody corpse that is!”

More laughter follows as four young Lyceruriams, two male and two female sit at the bar counter.

“That is enough! Eat your damn dinner then get the hell out of my tavern.” A man stands seven feet four inches tall with long reddish green hair, ears, and a large tail, places his hands on his hips giving the four youngsters a nasty glare.

“Please, we all know you work for Commander Kail. Besides, you got paid, so let us enjoy our fun!” The female replies with a sour look on her face as her eyes dance with evil laughter. Taking a closer look, the female has blue shoulder-length hair as the other three do, and yet their ears are brown as are their tails.

The person standing on the other side of the counter gives them an incredibly disgusting look before he raises his hand.

“Now, Now, no need to get angry here Torin. We are just passing what we are told. No harm done. Besides, I think if we use those triggers on her, they will be easily disposed of.” A male voice comes from the table behind them where the silver-haired creature observes five men sitting. A young human with a vest over his white shirt sits on one side close to the Lyceruriams while the two to his left are Artonis. The Artonis are dressed in capes covering them. One of them has a hood over his face while the other has a pair of goggles over his eyes. Across from the human is another human who looks slightly older with a pair of magic pistols resting on his leg in holsters. The other person next to him is a mystery as she is covered in bandages with her face also being bandaged. For some reason, she can’t sense what type of creature this person is.

The younger human man crosses his legs together resting them on top of the table. He crosses his arms and glares with a wicked grin at an older human sitting across from him. The older human picks up a drink before him as he throws the liquid down his throat in one gulp setting the glass hard on the table.

Torin uses a loud and forceful voice, “Get the hell out my TAVERN! NOW!” He raises his hand and snaps his fingers.

Symbols appear above the four youngsters sitting at the bar and five more appear above the group sitting at the table. They sit still as the female Lyceruriam glares at Torin with anger. The symbol changes as Ice shards form pointing daggers at them.

“I won’t hesitate to force you out of this Tavern! The choice is yours!” Torin ordered standing impressively tall one against nine.

At that moment, her nose smells a foul odor, and a man clothed in black with goggles sitting at the table opens a vial vaguely familiar to the ones from the potions shop. All of a sudden, the invisible silver-haired creature throws her head forward as a powerful sneeze comes forward. No sound is heard as a large gust of wind blows directly towards the four youngsters followed by quite a few loud thumbs, clashes, and a few people yelling. She holds her hands to her nose as that hurts all the way to her eyes, and raises her head looking in shock at the sight.

Torin is standing with his hands to his sides staring straight ahead of him. Two other people behind the counter are standing back from the counter with strange expressions on their faces. Her gaze shifts to the four youngsters at the bar and raises both eyebrows.

Unsure of what happened, it looks as if the food in front of them with their drinks became their clothing. Smashed plates drip down from the top of their heads with food smearing down the backside. Liquid juices along with pieces of stewed meat slowly flow down their faces.

Just past them, a few other people stood up as their chairs moved with their glasses knocked to the ground. Her gaze shifts to the table as all of the five men are somehow upside-down with their chairs in an upside-down position on top of them and the table is also upside-down. Scattered debris is on the floor with the broken vial among them.

She is still invisible and therefore the people inside have no idea it was her causing this mess.

“Now that you have made a fine mess, you can get the hell out of my bar.” Torin’s lips twitch but his eyes remain stern.

The four youngsters groan their dismay and stand up wiping the food off their forehead. The blue-haired woman in the front looks at Torin before replying, “Fine, we shall take our leave from this dirty establishment.” They march towards the entrance. As the other three following her look truly angry, the people standing at the door move aside to let them through. “You will hear from me about this!” They leave the tavern.

Five men rose from their positions leaving their chairs on the floor and dusting themselves off. As the group gathers on the far side, the younger brother tries to intimidate Torin by placing his hands on his hips giving a shameful look of contempt. “You realize you will have more trouble on your hands especially with my father if you kick us out of your tavern? This time you will not recover.”

Torin twitches his ears and raises his hand up in the air. Casting a small smile, he replies in a very soft and intimidating tone, “Shall we try this again?”

All five men stomp outside the tavern grumbling their displeasure along the way. A few other individuals standing in the doorway also left with sour expressions on their faces. Did they want violence or are disappointed by something else, the silver-haired creature ponders.

The sun starts to set and Torin sighs with his hands bracing the counter as his head dips slightly forward.

A woman from the other side walks behind the counter and puts her hand on his back rubbing up and down.

Torin stiffens. “Sorry little Natasha, I just get so mad when people start throwing out all kinds of accusations when they do not even know half of what is really going on. Pisses me off.”

“I know Papa.” Natasha stops rubbing his back and picks up an empty glass. Casting a mischievous smile, “Since I am good at making drinks, why don’t I make you my special Red Solace Drink on the house?”

Torin smiles at her, “Alright, that sounds great.” Suddenly, he stops smiling and looks towards the door.

Natasha sighs and puts down the glass.

A lot of marching footsteps can be heard outside rushing towards the tavern. Suddenly, an old codger walks through the door with eight subordinates trailing behind him. He walks up to the counter jabbing his finger directly in Torin’s face, “Alright Torin, that is enough out of you. You leave my people alone and let them do their job.” He looks plump for his age with his belly hanging outward even with the fancy garments. His crinkled-up face with short dirty white hair doesn’t hide his tiny, beaded eyes with his pointy nose.

A sigh escapes Torin’s lips and watches the other man with a bored expression. “You mean like letting your sons get away with starting a war that doesn’t need to happen Mr. Durdley.”

“You listen here, I own this town and you need t-” Mr. Durdley is interrupted as several citizens stand up in the tavern looking at him with a look of complete contempt on their faces.

Torin stands tall and glares at him straight in the face, “You might own a few businesses and some housing districts. You do not own this town or anyone in it. I suggest you take your leave now.”

Mr. Durdley draws a small thin weapon looking similar to a wand and points it at Torin. “You will do as you’re told, Old Man!” His face contorts with more anger.

Everyone freezes as the other men with him draw their weapons comparable to Mr. Durdley’s. They point them in Torin’s direction.

Torin replies, “Going to kill me to get your own way?”

Natasha’s face goes ashen white as her eyes dart from her father to Mr. Durdley.

“I do what I have to.” Mr. Durdley states.

Not wanting to get involved, and yet if the valuable information needed dies with this tavern and this Torin fellow, nothing will be gained. Getting information might cause her to break her word to Commander Kail. Casting a glance at Mr. Durdley as a full glass of liquid sits on the other side of him on the far side of the counter catching her attention. Giving a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes, steps forward and raises her hand gesturing for the glass to come to her. The glass rises and moves behind Durdley. It stops before her and she grabs it.

At the same time, the subordinates watch the glass rise with nothing else attached and their faces pale. One standing close to her moves his hand and passes it through the glass. As his weapon passes through the glass, his eyes grow wider and his face portrays fear. He screams and falls backwards falling on the two other subordinates beside him. Rising hurriedly, darts out of the tavern leaving his weapon on the ground while the others stare with stunned expressions.

“For the love of. . .” Mr. Durdley spies the glass hanging in midair and points his weapon at the glass. The weapon is a thin wand with a few gem decorations on the handle below. “Dammit it all to hell Torin, I told you not to do anything!”

Torin, not moving from his position, raises one eyebrow, “I assure you, I’m not doing anything.”

Mr. Durdley mutters a small incantation as the wand lights up, and fires the weapon at the glass. A blue beam shoots forth passing through the glass and the person holding it, making scorching marks on the wall behind. His hand trembles, betraying his fear.

Raising the glass higher, the symbol for acid appears in front of them. The glass is turned upside-down spilling the liquid on the acid symbol causing a mist to float upwards. The glass slowly lowers in front of everyone onto the symbol causing it to appear to disintegrate.

Torin slightly raises his hand as something below him catches his eye. He stays still and looks to Natasha and his other worker to not move. With a twist of his lips, switches his gaze to observe the scene unfolding before him.

The glass completely dissipates leaving nothing but frozen breath as the symbol disappears. Cold breath slowly moves forward and pauses directly in front of Mr. Durdley’s face ensuring that her cold eyes are directly in front of him and makes herself visible to them.

Mr. Durdley screams, falling backward, and landing on two of his subordinates. Their weapons fly in a few different directions and stop to drift in the air. The other subordinates go very pale and look to Mr. Durdley awaiting his instructions.

Beckoning the weapons to her side, all eight of them fly to her as the subordinates try to grab the weapon, having it slip through their fingers. Everyone freezes at the sight as the weapons float beside her without any magic symbols being used. Looking at Mr. Durdley, the silver-haired creature closes her eyes and smiles at him; In the next moment, the weapons floating above her explode one by one. As the first one explodes, a small round oval shape around it with a dark and terrifying sphere that makes a sizzling crackling noise like thunder. The sphere disappears and the weapon disintegrates into dust. One by one, each weapon explodes, turning into dust in the same manner.

By the time the eighth weapon explodes, Mr. Durdley races to get to his feet; Turning around, grabs the two subordinates by the shoulders to help him get to his feet. He races out of the building with the other seven subordinates trailing right behind him.

Glancing in the direction of the people running away from the tavern revealed it went better than previously planned for she expected a fight from them. The silver-haired creature looks back at Torin who is staring at her with a strange expression on his face. “Seems I have kept to the agreement so far, not killing anyone as of yet.”

Torin throws back his head and starts laughing. He falls against the cabinet behind him and continues to laugh, his arms clutching his sides.

Natasha looks at her father in amazement and shakes her head.

It seems that in this instance, the moment that froze everyone has dispelled and people move around as if it was normal to do.

With a smile on his face and in his eyes, Torin stops laughing. “I do say, if you can scare them off that easily, I’ll let you eat and sleep for free if they stop pestering me.”

“Tempting as that sounds, I doubt you can feed me the food I require, and I do not sleep.”

“Fair enough, how about a room? You can have a place to yourself if you need it. I have a few spare rooms still,” Torin motions his hands to the stairs.

The silver-haired creature tilts her head and nods. As much as she requires time to herself, staying invisible would cost too much magic, and wants to read this book the woman named Latoyia gave her.

Torin turns around picking up a key on the shelf behind him. “Natasha, would you be so kind as to show our guest a room? And feel free to stay as long as you like.”

Natasha moves from the other side of the counter and picks up the key from her father. Starting down the hallway, “Follow me if you please.”

Trailing behind her, Natasha is at least two feet shorter than her father with the same color hair.

Natasha walks up the stairs, turns right, and proceeds down the hallway. She stops at the third door and uses the key to open it stepping inside. “Your room Miss. If there is anything you need, let me know.” She walks to the window. “This window shows the wall but sometimes we have people spying in. This button on the side of the window hides the room so no one can look inside.” Natasha presses the button, and the window becomes slightly darker.

Walking to the window the silver-haired creature gazes outside. “This will come in handy.”

“I like it a lot. One of my father’s better inventions. Is there anything else you would require, Miss?”

“I will require nothing for the night. Thank You.”

Natasha nods and leaves the room, shutting the door behind her.

This is interesting, the silver-haired creature thought. Not sure if the Owner Torin wants her here to keep watch of this place or to watch her. Perhaps a bit of both, and yet what Latoyia said about him is true, he does not tolerate any violence in his establishment.

Walking over to the dresser, she places the book on top. The dresser has writing tools, paper, and a lantern lit up with two open shelves on each side. A chair sits in the middle. Beside the dresser is a small basin with cloths to wash yourself.

The book resting on top of the dresser needs to be read to get a better view of what is transpiring with Mr. Durdley. It seems he does play a large portion, and yet Mr. Durdley isn’t a threat. His knowledge about the trees does give her something to think about.

The basin to the right catches her attention as it would not hurt to bathe herself. She strips the clothes off and lays them on the bed with the boots near the end of it. She takes the braid out and walks over to the basin picking up the cloth. Next, the basin turns on and the silver-haired creature starts to bathe herself.

Afterward, a sigh escapes her lips, and finishes drying herself off. She sits against the wall below the window and raises her knees resting her face in-between them.

Taking in a deep breath her mind wanders, and memories of the War of Dark Ages brought about flood her mind. She remembers being in an open valley near something and they came killing a few of her kin. A General known as LokDanan came and the First told them to bring the rest of us to the facility. Flashing lights pass her mind as she is chained with a device clasping around her. The next thing is a memory of her standing watching her sister die. But what her sister looks like is hazy and blurry. After they turned her, they took her to different torture rooms as time became null and non-existent. They continued to transfer her from facility to facility performing all kinds of different experiments on her demanding she give them something.

More memories flood her mind, lowering her head as her hair flows forward covering her in a silver blanket. She reminds herself that the world is different and not being able to sense any magic familiar causes this feeling of emptiness inside her to grow. Not being able to remember what she was before or any happy memories before the War causes her great pain. An hour passes and she calms down, reminding herself to focus on the present and not dwell on the past for it will do her no good. Shaking her head rises and looks towards the book, it is time to read it.

Putting the shirt on and sitting in the chair, the book opens as the silver-haired creature begins to read. The first few pages, it describes the scene where Latoyia saw her husband on the wall as a corpse. Another page turns and starts describing a few bits of information about Mr. Durdley. Seems he was not from this town originally a hundred years ago and was from across the seas from the land of Persnia. He came to this town forty years ago because a merchant sold his share to him. From the transcript, the merchant here had a bit of a gambling habit. One night the merchant got drunk and played a hand with his daughter as the betting tool. The merchant figured he had a winning hand and yet it was not meant to be. Mr. Durdley cheated him at the game, owning the girl in question. The girl was instantly sold into slavery, even though the merchant sold the property to get her back right away. As the father reclaimed his daughter, they were both beheaded on sight. No one could verify if he obtained this property legally or illegally.

Turning to another page, many transcriptions and shipments were made by the Temple of Dierie and the Kingdom of Saluden. From the transcripts, the Temple of Dierie shipped him many relics and quite a few forbidden weapons.

Some of the relics here are incredibly detailed mentioning the description as well as usage for the item. It displays the exact time and date of the shipment and how many were received. The more being read, the more some of the relics have symbols on them vaguely familiar from her own time. Making a mental note to visit that temple just to see what is going on with them. A knock at her door causes her to look up. With a frown on her face, the silver-haired creature uses her ability to see who is standing behind the door. It was the owner, Torin. She stands up, walks over and opens it, giving him a disturbed glare.

Torin looks at her up and down and turns around with a deep rose blush blooming on his cheeks. “W-would you mind, uh. . .. p-putting something on d-down there please?”

Gazing down at herself, realizes he is embarrassed for some reason. “Very well.” She walks back into the room towards the bed putting the shorts on, and sits on the bed with her legs crossed, “You may turn around and enter, I am dressed. I take it you’re here for a reason?”

Torin slowly turns around, and peeks inside seeing the woman dressed. He walks in, turns the chair around, and sits down. “Thank you. I don’t mean to bother you so late. I wanted to ask you a question if you don’t mind.”

“What is it?”

Torin swallows hard and bends forward resting his elbows on his knees. “I need your help with a certain matter at hand. I will repay you with anything you desire and from what I have been told you do not like our kind at all. I am alright with that.”

Placing both hands on her lap, grows thoughtful of his offer as the moon is high displaying a bit of time has passed. The silver-haired creature looks at Torin with a straightforward expression revealing nothing of her nature, “Very well. Tell me your offer and I will tell you whether we can come to an arrangement.”

Torin sighs and scratches the back of his head. “You remember that fellow Mr. Durdley from earlier?”

She nods.

“Seems he is blackmailing all residents and citizens of this region to sell him their place. They can still work here to make a living, but what goes on in the establishment is what he says. You have no control over your own establishment anymore. I do not know why he is trying to take over this town and has been for the last forty years.” Torin sighs and looks down at his feet. “But I do know that a lot of people who are originally from this town don’t like him at all. The clergy person, Mr. Rysen from the Temple of Dierie has been trading stuff with him for the past five years since he bought a building here. A friend of mine who owns a meat and vegetable shop is currently being pressured to sell.” Torin rubs his hands over his face. “I just learned that he means to make a scene tomorrow and force his whole family out. The reason I am asking is not for the good of the town since very few people can stand up to him. Truth be told I hate most of the people in this town because they let him do as he pleases.”

The silver-haired creature ponders the facts of Torin not liking a lot of creatures in this town and the incident from downstairs.

Torin stands up and walks towards the window resting his right arm on it, “But I owe that man a lot. We traveled together a lot during those times on adventures. Some of the trouble we got into was more than we bargained for. But afterward, we decided to settle in this town. It is not a bad town, but like all towns, this one has some dark secrets.” Torin crosses both arms. “I would like you to influence him as you did here a moment ago. I want him to go away but I know I can’t ask you to kill him as you have an agreement with Commander Kail whom I respect. But if you can at least stall them a while till I can set something up, I would appreciate that.” No sound was heard for a few minutes. Torin steels himself as he turns to see her right hand on her chin.

“You want me to scare them away from his establishment as I did here a moment ago?”

Torin nods. “Yes.”

“How is it if you are working with Commander Kail on this, nothing has been done all this time?”

​Torin looks out the window. “Commander Kail can’t move an inch unless there is evidence. Anytime I tried to give some, someone would disappear and make it sound like a prank. He trusts me and I trust him, but without proof, there isn’t much he can do.”

​“What could you offer in trade to benefit me?” Placing both feet on the ground leaning back as the silver-haired creature listens to Torin.

“Well, you have a place to rest but this is a new agreement so I cannot use that. You do not eat, and you do not require sleep. I am rather good at gathering information. From what I heard you plan to destroy those trees?”

“Yes.”

“Can I give you some information that will help you destroy them and deal with Mr. Durdley since you might be able to move around more freely?”

Her hand falls from her chin to her lap, not saying anything for a few moments. Mr. Durdley is very devious and has dealings with Mr. Rysen from the Temple of Dierie. “This Mr. Rysen you speak of, he came here five years ago. From the documentation recorded, it seems Mr. Durdley has been trading with the Temple of Dierie for at least thirty years. Would you agree with that assessment?”

With a frown on his face, Torin places his hand on his chin, “I wouldn’t be surprised, the temple is not from around these parts. They have been trying to spread their influence lately. I honestly don’t know why either.”

“How long has Mr. Rysen worked for the Temple?”

“That I don’t know. Not even the registration office has documentation of that.” Torin turns and walks back towards the chair sitting down with his feet spread apart in front of him, “That is interesting as every town in Feldorea has a registration office and you need to register your full documents with them to ensure things run smoothly with your town as well as the capital.”

“Capital?” the silver-haired creature queries.

“Oh, it’s the capital of every kingdom. Every kingdom has a capital where information is stored and worked with to help ensure that everything runs smoothly.” Torin starts counting on his fingers, “You have the businesses, and the adventures, as well as transportation and you have the title ranking among other things.”

“Mm.” She looks down at her hands. Does the Temple of Dierie have any connection to the history of her time? Looking directly into his eyes, “Very well, we have an agreement. I would like to claim the deal later as I am quite busy. I will be gone by morning to handle this situation. I can’t guarantee the outcome will be what you want, however, I am curious about these two individuals.”

A huge whoosh erupts from Torin’s chest and brushes his hands down his face. “Thank you. That stubborn old fool will know where this came from and might not be very welcoming to you. Still, I’m grateful.” With a smile of relief on his face, “Do you need directions to his place?”

“No, I have seen that establishment before. I am aware of where it resides.”

Torin stands up and opens the door, turning around and giving a polite bow. “Please if there is anything else you need to know, let me or my daughter Natasha know.” He closes the door behind him as his footsteps are heard going down the hallway.

The silver-haired creature sits down on the chair browsing through the different transcripts between Temple of Dierie and Mr. Durdley. A couple more hours pass, and early morning dawns through the window. Closing the book, she stands up and finishes dressing herself. Picking up the book casts a small spell making it disappear while making herself invisible and continues downstairs to the tavern. At the bar counter, Torin isn’t there, but his daughter Natasha is wiping the counter down as a few people sit on stools. One person makes two taps on the counter and his friend looks panicked, “You don’t need this drink in the morning!”

The other man looks at his friend while Natasha makes him a drink, “Right now, I don’t care!”

Strange that a drink could cause a simple panic, she moves past a couple of people standing at the side of the doorway and walks out of the tavern heading down the path towards the meat and vegetable shop.

Upon reaching the alley with the wall of corpses four different guards and two other people are hiding in the shadows. Deciding to check the wall and trees, she walks past the guards a few feet pausing at the sight before her. The wall looks no different from yesterday except for more dust that appears to be falling through a few cracks. Placing her hand above the dust sensing the same death, decay, and something else vaguely familiar to the place inside. Something told her this area would become deadly in at least six to seven days. This will not give her much time to destroy them.

Sighing, she turns around and walks past the guards walking towards the meat shop.

Inside the store are two young men who looked almost identical to each other. Both have brown hair, and brown eyes and look human if not for the tail. A woman with long red hair to her waist and a large red fluffy tail almost touching the floor. The two boys in the back wipe down a counter as they are rearranging the meat arguing with each other. The young woman is standing behind the first row of stalls bent over wiping the cabinets as the older man walks around the room with his hands behind his back.

As if approaching on schedule, an individual steps inside the meat market and approaches a stand with a few slabs of meat on there. A male Artoinis seems to observe them for a minute before picking one up. He turns it in his hands as his eyes roam over the meat and sets the meat down, moving down three more stalls that hold several Babirusa Legs on a rack with a tag sign below it. This leg is at least a good arm’s length with a lot of meat on it. As the man grabs one and lifts it above his head, five of Mr. Durdley’s subordinates appear to stand in the doorway blocking anyone else from entering. More people show up from surrounding areas.

Out of the corner of her eye, another shadow figure in the distance to the north is following someone else from the rooftops on high. Mr. Durdley arrives at the scene as the person on top stays in the shadows. A clergy person, Mr. Rysen, shows up on the other side waiting.

The man in the shop suddenly drops the meat and clutches his left hand to his right shoulder. He screams in pain and kneels on the ground, his right shoulder and hand start turning purple with spots looking white as ooze on them drains down his arm. “Omg, I just got contaminated by the meat! It is poisonous!” Mindless ranting continues as the man clutches his arm screaming in pain.

Boredom appears on the old man’s face standing by the counter. “Trish, I need you to take this man down to the clergy with Mr. Rysen over there for healing.”

Trish starts to come around from behind the meat stalls.

“You did this on purpose, OH MY GOD! You are going to KILL ME!” HELP!”

Several people around and outside the meat market start murmuring to each other.

“Oh my, do you think it will ever be safe to purchase from this shop?” a young female voice asks.

“This shop is poisonous as he has been against the celebration from the beginning. Seems he knows how to get people to disappear.” A subordinate standing beside the young woman replies in a whispering tone.

Mr. Rysen takes a few steps forward and looks at the man on the floor. He raises a cross pattern with gold and silver markings on it and different colored gems across it. “Stay where you are! That man is contaminated by Demon’s Blood!”

The old man inside raises his eyes to the ceiling, completely exasperated.

Meanwhile, Trish throws her hands upwards in frustration. “We never have done anything wrong here! Go away and take this fool with you!” She steps forward around the stalls to the man screaming on the floor.

At the same time, the old man steps forward, and from the expression on his face is the trap Torin warned her about.

With a look of displeasure on her face, the silver-haired creature proceeds to interrupt the scene. At first, her thought was going to make the meat explode, intimidating them but remembers the scene at the tavern.

A mark of the dead looking vaguely familiar to the wall of corpses hangs in the air in front of Mr. Rysen. No one else except for Mr. Rysen can see it and the cross he carries holds no magic. Mr. Rysen stops dead in his tracks looking very pale.

Mr. Durdley frowns and looks to the left and the right and nervously takes out a small cloth from his pocket wiping the sweat from his forehead.

At the same time, the silver-haired creature walks past the two subordinates as time slows down. They are not carrying any weapons, but the three ahead of them are. Making sure to lower her magic on these creatures, casts the same spell used on the tavern.

The first person has his weapon inside his pants with part of the weapon hanging outwards. Upon passing him, the subordinate looks down at his pants seeing a dark sphere rise on his weapon. He starts to yelp as the sphere explodes causing him to fall backwards with his pants falling below his waist. The weapon on him disintegrates into dust.

Quite a few chuckles float around as the young person is too shocked to move. The burn is light and leaves a nasty dark ash mark spread across his upper thigh to his waist.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rysen appears even more shocked as the symbol in front of him disappears, and is able to move again.

The Atroinis on the floor stops wailing and is still grabbing his arm. Trish beside him has a blush on her cheeks with her eyes downcast.

The silver-haired creature walks past the other two subordinates simultaneously; the same thing happens to them, one on each side of her with their weapon in their pants halfway sticking out. As both subordinates fall to the ground, it grows incredibly quiet. She stops before the man on the floor kneels and appears before him. Her eyes are colder than ice and speaks in a soft voice with an icy chill, “Hello.” While everyone remains still, she raises her arm and brushes her finger down his arm. Then gazes at her finger and rubs them together. The paste falls like dust to the floor.

Mr. Rysen takes a couple of steps forward raising his cross, “You made that Demon and are now trying to contaminate the whole town by what you did at the wall!”

Not even getting up or glancing in his direction, “Nice to see you get paid well for your patronage Mr. Rysen. Seems having a Mr. Durdley in your pockets is doing well for your temple.” The silver-haired creature stands up and turns around to look at Mr. Rysen causing him to swallow hard, betraying his nervousness. “Oh, by the way, I do not know how to make human technology, but I would much rather destroy them and you.” A smile with her eyes closed crosses her face and continues in the same soft voice. “I do have a truce with the Commander to not kill anyone from this town, but there was nothing mentioned about torturing anyone.” Raising her hand, a light spell flickers causing screams left and right. A lot of citizens disappear from the crowd leaving Mr. Durdley, Mr. Rysen, and their subordinates.

Soldiers approach standing a few feet away as the silver-haired creature slowly lowers her hand to stop casting the simple light spell.

Ragnar in the shadows hasn’t moved from his spot and yet made motioning hands to the other rangers hiding in the shadows.

Both Mr. Rysen and Mr. Durdley have her full attention as they are gazing at her with a bit of fear. Mr. Rysen, however, shows more determination as time progresses.

“Shall we try this again or shall you try my patience?”

Mr. Rysen pales and swallows again. He looks towards the soldiers standing behind them. “You there, arrest her. She is threatening this town. You are supposed to protect it!”

All four soldiers look at each other and the one soldier standing in the front replies, “We do not take orders from you Mr. Rysen, or you Mr. Durdley. You need to learn to clean up your own mess.”

It grows quiet again and the silver-haired creature turns around and is still smiling at the young man sitting on the floor in front of her. She kneels before him and her eyes open revealing there is no smile in them.

Trish takes a few steps back and bumps into a stand behind her. She swallows hard and stays very still.

The woman kneeling in front of the man on the floor says quietly, “If you wish to not be tortured, I suggest you start owning up to your responsibility as to why you started this mess and do it quickly. I am not a very patient person.” Even though her voice is quiet to him, the other five subordinates can hear her speak directly in their minds.

The man gulps and shivers in fear and dread.

Rising, the silver-haired creature walks towards the front side of the entrance, turns around, and leans up against it with her hands braced on her hips as a bored expression flows across her frame.

They race towards the guards confessing their crimes and ask to be arrested. It was more interesting to see them trying to hang on to their pants while the soldiers put some interesting cuffs on them to put their hands behind their backs. More guards show up to take the subordinates away to the Barracks to be questioned. Mr. Rysen looks quite angry, while Mr. Durdley is looking very flushed with his eyes growing a bit red as well as pursing his lips.

“Well now, this is interesting, it seems your fate is tied with Mr. Durdley.” Her eyes are lowered and continues watching both of them for their reaction.

Mr. Rysen spoke calmly, “Demon I know not from when you came, but you shall not win here.”

Raising both eyebrows at him and crossing her arms, she gives an inward sigh as she hates dealing with these species. Seems they never learn, and it looks like this man along with the Temple of Dierie knows what the trees are as he tried to connect the dye to the dust on the wall that was displayed recently. “Come now, you know as well as I do that you have supplied merchandise to Mr. Durdley for the past thirty years.” A book appears in her hand, “Every piece of information is documented here. Seems this is quite valuable as both you and Mr. Durdley went pale, and your vitals dropped quite a bit.”

“You have no notion-,” Mr. Rysen stops suddenly as a couple of Riley’s men appear on each side with a blade to their throat in their hand. A couple of men also appear next to Mr. Durdley holding a blade to his throat stopping him from moving.

They both look extremely angry as Ragnar above the rooftops reveals himself and jumps to the ground walking forward past them. His movements are silent, never revealing his footsteps. He stops before her, looking in her direction with no intention of lowering his hood. “If you don’t mind, I would like to look at the book for evidence against them and the town as well as the kingdom.” He speaks in a formidable tone and extends his hand in front of him.

“What will you do with these two men?”

Taking off the hood reveals a human with tattoos across his face with steely grey eyes as his black medium-length hair blows in the wind. “We will take them back to the barracks for the time being. They will be transferred to the capital and await their punishment which will be beheading.”

A female voice from behind her whispers, “Beheading?”

As the silver-haired creature turns around, Trish is still standing with a look of shock on her face and her left hand is raised to her throat.

With a wave of his hand, the old man gazes at the boys, “Bently and Bartley, take your sister to the back and stay there, all of you!” His sons grab Trish and take her by the hand, dragging her to the back out the door on the other side.

Ragnar turns around and orders his men, “Take them back to the Barracks, ensure the chains on them do not come off. Make no mistake, perform a full search on them before taking them to the room for questioning.” He looks to the four soldiers standing there, “Prepare a search on both the Temple and Durdley’s mansion.”

His men take Mr. Rysen and Mr. Durdley away as they place chain bindings on them. The soldiers salute as one soldier orders him to stand guard at the Temple of Dierie while the other two race to the barracks to the North.

Casting a glance back inside the meat market, the old man inside nods towards us and steps to the side where the counter is. The silver-haired creature looks back towards Ragnar, “Why did you wait so long if you suspected something?”

Shaking his head with both hands on his hips, “Having no proof is what hindered us for the longest time. My apologies Miss, we have been looking for a connection between the Temple of Dierie and Mr. Durdley for a while. And that book you are holding may be the key needed to bring them down. May I see it?”

Feeling undaunted, she hands the book over to him.

He skims through the beginning pages and stops after a few moments looking up at her, “Seems this connection will allow us to dig deeper into their findings.”

“I would like to join you in your search at the temple and Mr. Durdley’s mansion. There are a few relics and weapons that look vaguely familiar to weapons from my own time.”

Ragnar tilts his head to the side and presses his lips together giving the impression of what he should say next. He hands the book over to her and sweeps his other hand behind him causing his cape to blow outwards. “The name is Ragnar of the Rangers. I work for Sir Riley himself; I can set up a meeting with him as I am sure he will be interested.” He places his hand back on his hood and pauses, “What made you interfere in our affairs since you have a dislike for our kind?”

“Seems I made an agreement with another individual of this town. The more I know about it, the easier it will be to deal with those trees.” She doesn’t say anymore as the impression he understood there is more involved.

“Very well,” Ragnar pulls the hood over his head. “I will tell Riley about the situation. He will meet you at the tavern you are currently staying at.” With that last remark, he returns to the shadows disappearing down the pathway to the right. That person didn’t trust her. However, he displayed his undying loyalty to Riley.

“That damned fool sent you, didn’t he?” The old man stood a few feet from her in the store and had a distasteful expression on his face with his hands on his hips.

A questioning glance descends on her eyes, “Yes, he did. He also said you would not be very welcoming for any assistance.”

He swears under his breath and turns away sweeping his hand forward to express his irritation. “Damned fool knows to keep his head in his own business.” He sighs and glances in her direction, “The owner of the tavern, Torin and I go way back. It is old history, but that irritating fool knows how to get information. Seems I owe him and you a thank you.”

Amused by his behavior, she nods at him.

The old man bows towards her and walks over to the meat on the floor picking it up and brushing it off.

Giving a thought to herself, “What is my next goal? Talk to Mr. Rysen and Mr. Durdley first. Or perhaps explore their holdings?” She turns around and walks away without glancing back at the meat market.

A guard comes up to the store, “Excuse me Mr. Granger, but do you know where the silver-haired creature went?”

“No, I do not.” As Granger looks around, it seems she has disappeared again.