They kept the mystery man in sight as they tailed him all the way to the train station. Shawn’s heart pounded as his mind ran through countless terrifying scenarios of what this man would do once he got there. Granted, Shawn didn’t have proof that he was up to anything nefarious other than the title necromancer, but he was highly suspicious and wanted nothing more than to get to the bottom of the situation.
The train station itself sat at the edge of town and contained at least a dozen tracks. Passenger trains, cargo trains, and stored train cars filled the busy transit hub. There was a large metal fence lining the perimeter of the station and guarded by a number of military reservists. A large group of people stood lined up to enter at a checkpoint positioned near the center of this fence. Much to Shawn’s surprise, the man circumvented the line and approached the front of the line from the side. After pointedly ignoring a few resentful glares from the citizens in line, the man reached into his coat pocket and extracted a folded sheet of paper he presented to a tired looking official in a small booth. The official glanced over the paper for half a second before waving the man through. Shawn made to follow but Anisha’s hand snaked out and jerked him backwards.
“Ow!” Shawn rubbed his neck after Anisha let him go. “What was that for?”
She had brought him across the packed street and stopped in front of an empty shop.
“Do you have money?” Anisha asked.
Shawn blinked. “No. Don’t you?”
Anisha threw up her hands. “No. I rarely need it so I don’t have much physical money at my disposal. Regardless, I didn’t think we’d need any since we were just going to the church and back.”
“Then how do we get in?” Shawn turned back to the fenced station.
“There’s no way we’re getting over that unseen.” Anisha shook her head. “This rail yard is an important hub for the military’s supply lines. It’s always heavily guarded. Plus I can’t be seen by anyone in the military or they’ll report me to the colonel.”
“Right. What if…” Shawn’s thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the man in the homburg hat walking along a path parallel to the fence line.
“There he is.” Shawn’s finger shot out and identified their target. “We can at least keep him in sight. If anything happens, we’ll scale the fence and get in.”
Anisha pursed her lips but nodded. They hastily jogged after the man until they were close enough to match his long gait.
“What’s at this end of the station?” Shawn asked Anisha, his eyes never left the mystery man.
“The civilian platforms are all on the opposite end, so I think this side is only for the military. If I remember correctly there’s a supply depot here where the trains load and unload.”
The further they walked from the entrance to the train station, the street began to grow less crowded. As a result, Shawn and Anisha were forced to slow down as their natural camouflage no longer allowed them to follow at the distance they wanted to. Shawn could see a number of large warehouses up ahead that he assumed were the supply depot Anisha had just told him about. Their target continued to walk casually along a walkway towards the depot, never bothering to turn and look at his surroundings. Shawn felt that this meant one of two things, the man was either extremely confident at what he was about to do or he was meant to be there. Both options made Shawn uncomfortable and seeing the man enter the train yard without issue made the second option seem more likely.
“There are a few soldiers coming out to meet him.” Anisha pointed out.
Sure enough, a door on the side of the nearest warehouse opened and three uniformed soldiers stepped out. Two seemed to be military police of some kind, given their uniform and compact rifles slung over their shoulders. The third had a flat hat and walked with a brisk formality that oozed high ranking officer.
“Don’t stare openly.” Anisha stepped in front of Shawn and positioned herself so that the four individuals through the fence were just over her left shoulder. “Pretend we’re having a conversation. We’ll draw less attention this way.”
Shawn smiled and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Anisha asked defensively.
“I was just thinking about how quick you are at thinking through situations. I think it's pretty amazing, honestly speaking.”
A faint blush entered her cheeks at the unexpected praise.
“Oh.” She shifted from one foot to the other. “What are they doing now?”
“The military trio met our man near the warehouse.” Shawn narrated what was happening over Anisha’s shoulder as he watched it play out. “I can’t say for certain but it looks like they are familiar with one another.”
“So the person we followed here works for the military?” Anisha reached out and began to absent mindedly straighten Shawn’s shirt.
“It’s possible…” Shawn glanced down at her slender hands, thoroughly distracted. “What are you doing?”
The blush returned, stronger this time.
“We can’t just stand here stiffly so I thought…” her voice lowered, and her eyes fell to the sidewalk below. “If we acted like a couple, they wouldn’t think anything about it.”
“Oh.” Shawn replied blankly.
He didn’t know how to respond, especially since his skin tingled wherever her fingers brushed against him.
“Sorry.” Her hands fell away from his shirt. “That was stupid. I don’t really know anything about being part of a couple.”
Could have fooled me. Shawn’s thoughts responded immediately before he could squash them.
His mouth had opened to utter the same words without his brain’s permission, but he quickly shut it again. Truth be told, he didn’t have a lot of experience acting part of a couple either. Sure, he had been on a few dates back on Earth but it had never been anything serious.
That’s what we’re doing after all… acting. Shawn rolled the word around in his mind, not quite sure why it left such a sour taste in his mouth.
Anisha cleared her throat, causing Shawn to jump slightly.
“What are they doing now?”
Shawn glanced up to the four men through the fence. He frowned at what he was seeing.
“Our man looks really angry for some reason. He’s waving his hands in the air and he keeps putting his finger in the officer’s face.”
In the distance, the man turned around and began to stomp away from the officer. The military man said something and the man wearing the homburg hat whirled around, shouting profanities loud enough that Shawn could hear them.
Anisha’s eyes widened as she listened to the vile stream of curses shouted at the officer. “You weren’t kidding. He’s livid.”
The armed men flanking the officer both took steps forward, arms out to prevent the man wearing the homburg hat from being able to reach the officer. A few more angry words were shared between the two parties before the armed men began to escort the man in the homburg hat towards the entryway. The man struggled briefly but gave up and allowed himself to be led away. The officer watched their departure for a few moments before he turned around and reentered the warehouse he had exited a few minutes ago.
“They’ll be passing us in five seconds.” Shawn told Anisha just after finishing his play-by-play narration of the whole endeavor.
Anisha simply nodded and reached back to play with her ponytail. Shawn meant to watch the departing guards and their mystery man from the corner of his eye only. When the man stumbled however, Shawn couldn’t stop himself from turning his head directly towards the trio. It was only for a moment, but Shawn’s eyes met the gaze of the guard on the far side of the man wearing the homburg hat. Shawn immediately tore his gaze away and diverted it back to Anisha.
What was I thinking? Shawn cursed internally. That was way too obvious.
Anisha opened her mouth to question Shawn’s troubled look when a voice called out.
“Hey! You two!”
Shawn felt like a rock had been dropped into his stomach. He glanced up and confirmed that the guard was approaching the fence. The mystery man and the other guard looked over in confusion at the sudden change of events. Shawn watched the guard’s eyes look them over. In a discrete motion, Anisha grabbed the hilt of her blade and pulled it up so as to put her body between the sheath and the guard’s critical gaze. The man’s eyes flicked down at the swift movement.
“He saw.” Shawn wasn’t one hundred percent certain, but he felt it best to assume the worst-case scenario at this point.
He grabbed Anisha’s hand. “Run!”
The pair took off heading directly away from the station. Behind them, they could hear the faint shouts from the guard as they fled.
“We’ve got to get back to the estate now.” Anisha quickened her pace and took the lead. “If he did see my sword there’s a good chance that he’ll report it to his superiors who may report it to the colonel. Our best defense will be to already be home by the time that happens.”
“Got it.”
As his initial adrenaline shot left his veins it was replaced by a longing sense of disappointment. Not only had they failed to reach the church and discuss what they knew about people from another world like him, Shawn had once again failed to figure out just who this necromancer was and what he was doing in the city. All they had were more questions.
Still. Shawn took a deep breath and calmed himself. We’ll handle things one at a time.
Steeling his resolve, Shawn focused on making it back to Anisha’s estate.
Fortunately for him, all Shawn had to do was follow Anisha as she took them down the least crowded but most direct paths back. Before Shawn had run out of stamina, they reached the overhanging tree they had initially left from.
“Climb up.” Anisha clasped her hands in front of her to create a place for Shawn to step. “I’ll push you up high enough to grab it.”
Shawn looked up at the distance between his head and the branch above skeptically. It had to be at least twelve feet above them.
“Are you sure you can get me high enough?”
Anisha rolled her eyes. “Yes. Now hurry!”
Shawn placed his hands on her shoulders and lifted his foot until it was firmly on the palms of her hands.
“On three.” Anisha instructed before counting. “One, two, three!”
Shawn felt an extremely powerful force below his foot as he extended his leg. Not only was his momentum enough to reach the branch, Shawn’s foot left Anisha’s hands as he gained an unexpected amount of altitude. Shawn flailed his arms as he reached the apex of his flight a few feet above his target branch. Right before he began to plummet back down, Shawn managed to grab a higher branch and stabilize himself in the tree. He glanced down to see an innocent looking Anisha mimicking shock.
“Oh. My apologies. I may have thrown you too high.”
Shawn felt a sting on his pride. She got him good, and he had deserved it. Not willing to voice his defeat, Shawn began to shimmy his way across his branch and towards the estate grounds. After a moment, Shawn paused.
I should probably see if she…
The tree shook as Anisha grabbed onto the lower branch and hoisted herself up.
She jumped that high? Shawn shook his head.
He really needed to stop second guessing Anisha’s physical prowess. The pair made it to the other side of the wall without issue. After dusting their clothes from bits of bark and loose leaves, they rushed back to the manor.
“Sorry but it’s probably best if you hide out in your room for the time being.” Anisha dipped her head slightly as she apologized. “It might sound rude, but it may be better if the colonel forgets that you’re here.”
“Fine by me.” Shawn shrugged. “I’ll stay quiet.”
“Thanks.” Anisha breathed a little easier as they approached the manor’s rear entrance.
Shawn spotted a few gardeners working in the distance but with no one else around, Shawn felt optimistic that they managed to return unnoticed. Once they entered the house, Anisha ushered him upstairs to his room.
“I’ll have Robert bring up lunch for you in an hour and, if necessary, dinner later on.” Anisha paused at the base of the spiral staircase that led to the second floor. “Again, sorry. Hopefully you won’t need to be hiding up there for long.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Shawn gave her a heartfelt smile. “I’ll be fine.”
She smiled in return before Shawn turned and walked back up to his room. Shawn stepped inside, closed the door, and rested on his bed as he waited for the day to pass by. Time slowed to a crawl inside of that room. After a short nap and lunch that had been dropped off by Robert., Shawn realized that he had little in the way of entertainment. He initially occupied himself by carefully studying everything inside of his menus that he could summon, though, nothing had really changed since he had last looked them over. Eventually, Robert came again with a dinner tray. Shawn glanced at the window, noting that the sun was finally setting in the distance.
“Any news?” He asked the well-dressed butler as the older gentleman deposited the tray on the bedside table.
“I’m afraid not sir.” Robert admitted apologetically. “Miss Goldrin has had several meetings with the colonel but I’m not privy to their nature. All Miss Goldrin managed to tell me was that you’d most likely want to remain here for the duration of the evening.”
“Great.” Shawn rubbed his eyes and fell back onto the bed.
Robert paused at the door. “Is there anything I can get you sir?”
“A book I can read?” Shawn perked up as hope entered his mind.
Robert smiled. “I believe I can find a few you may enjoy. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Thank you, Robert.” Shawn called after the butler as he left. “You’re my hero!”
Shawn placed his hands behind his head and sunk back into the bed.
Perhaps things wouldn’t be so bad. Shawn thought as he closed his eyes.
Just as he reached a comfortable position, a chime sounded in Shawn’s ears. His eyes flew open as a notification appeared in front of him.
You have failed the side quest ‘Tunnel Trouble’.
Reason for failure: Quest giver has died.
Shawn read the message over three times before it fully sunk in.
The person who gave me this quest died? How?
Curiosity burned in Shawn’s chest but there wasn’t any further information to be had. The quest had been crossed out of his quest list. As he was pondering the implications of this message, another chime sounded in his ears.
You have failed the side quest ‘Crooked’.
Reason for failure: Quest giver has died.
“Another one?” Shawn uttered aloud.
Another chime sounded.
You have failed the side quest ‘Petty Theft’.
Reason for failure: Quest giver has died.
Before he had a chance to read it, another took its place.
You have failed the side quest ‘Business Travesty’.
Reason for failure: Quest giver has died.
And another one.
You have failed the side quest ‘Herbs a’plenty’.
Reason for failure: Quest giver has died.
Shawn sat up, alarmed as the side quests continued to fail in rapid succession. Each and every one due to the quest giver dying.
“Something’s happening.” Shawn sprang from his bed and sprinted for the doorway.
Hiding didn’t matter anymore. There were people dying in the city, a lot of people, and he needed to find out why.
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