Altria and I quickly exchanged glances as we both thought about what to do next. There was only so much cover at the side of the road and the chances were that if we decided to make a run for it, whoever was inside the carriage would spot us. Then again, if they made a thorough search of the surrounding area it wouldn’t take them long to discover us either.

The carriage was too close for us to make a sound, in the end we decided to wait it out and hope we weren’t picked up or that the occupants weren’t looking for us. From where we were hidden it was hard to make out much past the bottom couple of feet of the carriage. Without leaving our cover we wouldn’t be able to get a glimpse of who was inside. It was only moments after the carriage door was flung open that someone stepped out, but all I could see was a pair of legs from the knees down. They walked to the side of the road and stopped.

“Theo! Altria!” They shouted at the top of their lungs. “Are you sure you saw someone dive off the road?” They asked their driver.

“I only caught a glimpse for a moment, but it definitely looked to be a person.” The driver answered.

 “It would make sense if they were trying to stay off the main routes, that they would come this way.”

The tension that had built up in me and Altria boiled over. As soon as we recognised the voices and could guess their intent, we both burst out into laughter simultaneously. The pair of legs walked over to the bush where we were hidden, immediately alerted to our presence and they pulled away the branches to reveal us.

“It’s them!” She said turning back to the driver. “What are you two doing in there and why are you laughing at a time like this?” Serin asked as she spotted us.

“Sorry, sorry. We were trying to stay hidden. We didn’t know who could be coming after us or traveling down the road. As soon as we realised it was you, we just couldn’t help it…” I tried to explain in between fits of laughter.

“I see… Anyway, the pair of you should get out of there and into the carriage before anyone else comes along.”

“Okay, come on Theo.” Altria said standing up and removing some of the leaves from her hair.

I climbed to my feet and out of the bush to where Serin was waiting. She looked at me for a moment before stepping forward and enthusiastically threw her arms around me.

“I’m really glad you’re okay. I was so worried.” She said as she squeezed me.

Serin was normally more reserved than this, she seemed genuinely worried. I wondered what had gone on inside the capital once we left.

“It was close, but we made it out. Altria was wounded, but I managed to heal her in time as you can see. Didn’t you get my message before we left the party?” I asked her.

“I did, but well it was chaos in the capital last night and there’s worse news. I'll explain more once we get on the road. Let’s get inside.”

“Okay.”

I glanced up at the driver as I went to climb inside and recognised their face. It was Rosa. A lot really must have happened after we left.

“Rosa!” I said as I climbed up the steps.

“Hi Theo.” She replied.

“But why?”

“Serin will explain everything inside. We really should get going, I don’t like us all being out in the open like this.”

After that Altria and I quickly climbed inside the carriage. Serin slid open the drivers hatch so Rosa could hear what was being said and join in if necessary. Once we were all seated, she pulled on the reins and we rolled forward.

“I guess I’ll explain from the beginning, although you know some of it already.” Serin said as we begun to move.

“Please do, I want to know everything that happened.” Replied Altria.

“To start with I was woken by a massive explosion, I dressed and rushed out of the room to check on everyone else. That’s when I found that you, Altria and Lillia were missing. I ran downstairs and joined up with Siofra. We decided our best course of action was to head to the guild. We only noticed the message from you once we arrived.” Explained Serin.

“So where is Siofra?” I asked.

“As soon as she read that she wanted to check on Lillia…”

“She what! But I explained what happened in the message.”

“I know and she believed what you said, but she still wanted to check. I’m sure you can understand why.”

“I suppose I can… So, where is she now?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t been able to get in contact with her since.”

“Don’t worry Theo, she’ll be okay. Siofra can look after herself and she was forewarned about Lillia’s frame of mind.” Altria added cutting in.

“I hope so.” I said looking out the window back in the direction of the town.

“She will be, I’m sure. She said as soon as she finds out Lillia’s condition she would try to meet up with us again.” Serin answered.

“It’s just after what Lillia did, I worry that no one is safe around her anymore. She didn’t seem in control of herself.”

“You’ll have to explain more about what happened. I don’t quite understand what is going on myself.”

“I will, but can you continue telling us what happened after you reached the guild first?” I asked.

“Sure… After Siofra left, I went to the desk to see if there was any word about what was going on. It was total chaos inside, but there were already jobs up to search for survivors and help the rescue operation.” Explained Serin.

“Hold on, what do you mean?” I asked.

“I thought you would know this already, but an entire building was destroyed in the explosion and several of the surrounding buildings were caught up in the blast and seriously damaged. There was a great number of casualties. When we left, they still didn’t have a complete count of the numbers.”

“We knew there was some sort of explosion, but we managed to get out of the way before she let rip. We only saw the aftermath once we were out of the city. I had no idea it was that bad.”

“How did you manage to get away from something that scale?”

“We had help…” I said glancing over to Altria. “Don’t worry I’ll explain everything in minute once you’re done.”

“Okay… Well, I decided to help with the rescue effort. There was already talk about it being some kind of terrorist attack, there was rumour of an anti-alliance faction being involved. But at that point it was just pure speculation and there were all sorts of other outlandish rumours going around. So, I took one of the jobs and spent the next few hours of the night trying to rescue people from the damaged buildings in the area surrounding the blast. It was awful… In the early hours I returned to guild exhausted. By that point the rumours had evolved, now people were talking about a split in the alliance and that there had been a fight between someone high up in the elven and catkin camps… There was even talk that the queen, Altria’s mother had already left the capital. The human faction and wolfkin had were still there but there was word that they had pulled some of their troops from the front lines… Knowing what I knew from your message, I was really concerned that there was some truth to the rumours!”

“Hold on, why would the human and the wolfkin be involved?”

“I suppose you wouldn’t know. Before the great war when the alliance formed, they were all part of the union bloc opposed to the elven forces. It could all just be rumours, but if there really was a split in the alliance it wouldn’t be a surprise if they acted together rather than alone against the elven bloc…”

“I didn’t know that… But I don’t know about that. As far as I knew it was just Lillia acting alone. Has Altria’s mother really left the capital?”

“I couldn’t confirm that. Why do you ask?”

“It just seems off…”

“Do you know something Theo? I think you might have to explain what my mother said to you. After what Serin just mentioned I’m sure she is up to something.” Altria asked.

“I don’t know…. This doesn’t seem to go with what she told me. It’s almost the complete opposite. I’ll tell you everything that she said to me, but let’s let Serin finish first.”

“That worries me even more. Fine tell me after Serin finishes up.” Altria agreed.

“There isn’t much more for me to say. Everyone in the guild was in a panic, word about what happened or rather the rumours had begun to spread around the entire city by daybreak. That’s when I ran into Rosa.” Explained Serin.

“I came to the guild to find all of you. After I heard about the explosion, I was so worried and then there was the rumour… After meeting you all I knew it couldn’t be true. So, I came to the guild to check for myself.” Rosa added speaking up through the driver’s slot.

“What had you heard?” Asked Altria.

“Go on, tell them Rosa.” Encouraged Serin.

“The rumour was that a summoned hero and one of the highest ranking catkin adventurers had attempted to steal something from the guild. Something that was very important to the war effort and to the summoning. They also said it was under the orders of the catkin queen…. There’s more, princess Lillia got wind of their plot and went to talk them out of it, but when she found them, they attacked her and injured her badly, causing the blast.”