Alarms loud enough to rattle bones blared throughout the Hebron Grand Codexium. Every person standing in line cringed and covered their ears or looked around in pure surprise, though they also stared at Nimbus and me, as if we were the culprits behind whatever crime had set off the Security Nodes.

Jonah and Ruth whirled around to face us, both wearing identical shocked and confused expressions, though it was Jonah who said, “What happened? Why did you guys set off the alarm? What is going on?”

I didn’t have any answers to those questions, and neither did Nimbus, based on the way he dug his nails deeper into the shoulders of my robes and clung to me tighter than ever. We were both too stunned to talk.

Then a shadow fell over us, and I looked over my shoulder to see who had approached us.

A large man in thick plated armor, carrying a massive glowing hammer covered in runes and sigils, marched toward us. He wore an open-face helmet that revealed a face that looked like it had been carved out of solid rock, with a chin that jutted out like an rock outcropping. He vaguely reminded me of Herod, the frightening Enforcer from the Obsidian Order, though only about half as tall and much rounder.

I scanned the man with my portable quickly:

Codexer identified! Gideon Brush, Captain of the Hebron City Guard

Species: Human

Synced Partner: None

Chapter: 3

Page: 5

Discipline: Codex Protector

Affiliation: Hebron City Guard

Origin Kingdom: Shinar

Codex Note: The Captain of the Hebron City Guard. Known for his strict adherence to rules, laws, and procedures, but ultimately a good man at heart.

“Young man,” said Gideon Brush, his voice rumbling and deep. He spoke with authority. “Please identify yourself and your synced Codex Beast.”

My first instinct was to say no, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw about half a dozen other armed guardsmen forming a semicircle around us. Not only that, but my encounter with Gideon Brush had also frozen the line outside the Grand Codexium. Behind Brush, I saw people craning their necks or leaning around the captain of the City Guard as if trying to find out what was holding up everyone and everything. I had no idea where Gideon and his guards had been stationed, but that was a question for another time.

For now, I decided I would cooperate with Gideon and the City Guard, if only because I knew that I had nothing to hide.

I looked up at Gideon and answered his question calmly and directly. “My name is Aaron Thorn. This is my synced Codex Beast partner, Nimbus. Though I assume you would have found that out already by scanning my portable.”

I meant it as confusion, not defiance. I was really just expressing my confusion at why he wanted me to identify myself when he already had a way of identifying me without needing me to speak.

Gideon’s eyes narrowed. “That’s the problem. I have scanned your portable, and it would appear that your Codex data is locked.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You heard me,” said Gideon in a tone that brooked no dissent. “As you do not appear to be aligned with any active Guild within the city’s limits, this is highly suspicious behavior. Undoubtedly, the Security Nodes picked up on that, which is why you have to come with us.”

I hesitated. “Go with you? Where?”

Gideon gestured with his head behind himself. “To the offices of the City Guard. We will hold you there for questioning and then run an investigation with the Shinar Node Authority to determine your actual identity and purpose in coming to this city, young man.”

My jaw fell open. “What? You are going to hold me prisoner even though I haven’t broken any laws?”

Gideon shook his head. “You won’t be a prisoner. You will merely be detained until we can ascertain your identity, Discipline, and motives for entering the city and attempting to enter the Grand Codexium of Hebron. My portable Node indicates corrupted glyph signatures associated with your Discipline.”

I reached up and wrapped my hand around my portable Node, even though I knew that didn’t prevent it from being scanned. “Corrupted glyphs? I have no idea what you’re… talking about…”

The Wyrdbinder Discipline. The one that I had absorbed from Wolfbrand. Gideon’s portable Node must have somehow picked up on its corrupted glyphs, but I had no idea how. It wasn’t like I’d activated it.

Gideon’s eyes narrowed even more. “That’s what I thought. Now come with me. This should take a couple of hours at most. Then we will be able to release you to continue your business.”

“But I want to be with my friends,” I said, gesturing over my shoulder at Ruth and Jonah. “One of my friends is even about to become a Chapter Two Codexer. I’ve got to see that.”

Gideon looked as unmoved as a mountain. “If you cooperate with us, then we should be able to release you in a couple of hours. Assuming, of course, that we don’t find any evidence linking you to any kind of criminal activity.”

While I was still certain I was not guilty of breaking any laws, I realized that it was pretty suspicious of me to be carrying around forbidden Discipline data inside my portable Node, even if the forbidden Discipline was not actually mine. Was it actually illegal to carry forbidden Disciplines around even if you weren’t personally using them yourself?

By now, the line had turned into an ever-increasing crowd of people all trying to get a good look at me. I also noticed that the other members of the City Guard appeared to be focused more on crowd control than on arresting me, because they stood facing the crowd. They had even created some kind of glowing energy rope separating the people in the line from me and Gideon. Hopefully, they weren’t expecting trouble.

Nimbus hopped down from my shoulders and stretched. “You heard the scary big man, Aaron! Feel free to go with him and answer whatever questions he has about your motives and behavior. I will stay here with Ruth and Jonah, though if you could give me a couple of bananas so I have something to snack on while you are away, that would be great.”

Nimbus had been hopping away toward Ruth when Gideon suddenly stretched out his hand toward Nimbus and a rope of blue mana shot out and wrapped around Nimbus’s neck, yanking him back. Nimbus flew backward and landed between Gideon and me with a startled expression on his features.

“What the Sheol?” said Nimbus as he struggled against the energy rope. “What is the meaning of this?”

Gideon’s voice was humorless. “My initial request applied to you and your human Codex partner, rabbit. The Security Nodes indicated that you have been marked with certain unusual glyphs that require specific investigation to determine their origins.”

Nimbus gasped. “This is an outrage! This is basically animal abuse. I want to speak with my lawyer.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation. “Nimbus, we don’t have a lawyer. Or any kind of legal counsel.”

Gideon nodded. “You won’t need it. We will simply question you and Nimbus for a few hours and let you go. This is merely a precaution that we take with anyone who trips the Security Node alarms. It’s entirely possible that you will be back out on the streets free in a few hours as long as you cooperate with us peacefully.”

I bit my lower lip and looked at Ruth and Jonah again. Ruth was anxiously twisting strands of her hair together while Jonah appeared torn between watching us interact with Gideon and going on to his Chapter Two Trial. I understood why neither of them were eager to jump in and help me, given how not only was Gideon stronger than all of us, but he was also th top authority in the City Guard. And honestly, I didn’t want Ruth and Jonah to end up in trouble with the law for no reason—not if we really could solve this situation with simple cooperation.

At the same time, I didn’t like how Gideon kept insisting they would hold us for hours, probably in a part of the city we didn’t know anything about, with no guarantee that we could even leave until they decided they were done with us. And despite his assurances that it would be just a few hours, I also remembered his implication that both Nimbus and I had done something illegal or unethical in some way. Gideon clearly knew and understood the laws of Hebron much better than we did. If he wanted to get us for something, then he probably could.

And that would really mess up my Quest to deliver the Node Fragment to King Amphrael.

But before I had to make a decision, I heard a yelping noise from the crowd and a guinea pig suddenly darted out from the crowd toward us. It deftly dove underneath the energy rope created by the City Guard and just as easily dodged the guardsmen who tried to capture it as it ran past them. Gideon even looked over his shoulder at the guinea pig in surprise, but even he was too slow to stop it.

The guinea pig skidded to a stop between my boots and hid behind my boots as it quivered in fear, though when I looked at the guinea pig more closely, I realized I recognized it.

“Thistle? What are you doing here?”