“Bryan! Sure took you a while. Everything all right?” Tim asked as Bryan entered with three armored women in tow. Bryan’s reply came with a look of disgust and a small shaking of his head.

“That fat, dis…” Bryan started to say but was cut off by Tim in a low voice, “Watch it.” Tim flickered his eyes towards the man applying a chemical tattoo to one of the armored men. The man was getting a number tattooed on his left forearm. The man applying the tattoo looked up at the two momentarily before turning back to his work.

“I take it the Baron was the cause?” Tim said. “Yeah, he said he had to have a taste of one that one.” Bryan replied as he pointed to the far-left woman.

“If he gets another one pregnant, the commander said he’d hang for it.” Tim said with a sigh and an accusing look towards Bryan.

Bryan gave a look of surprise, with a hidden smile, “Oh really? If I would have known that I would have probably stopped him. I do hope things work out well for him.”

“Your eyes have a sparkle to them, Bryan.” Tim said with his own grin. The two men shared a hopeful moment when they heard from the man behind him. “Where’s the last one then?”

The two men turned to him and then to the slaves, Bryan replied. “I only had three, weren’t hard for me to keep count on them.” Tim frowned and said, “I kept track of all of the ones I had. I know none of mine wandered off.”

“Oi, yer sayin our most holy Goddess made a mistake? After all these years of summonin’ ten at a time, she fergets and sends only nine?” The two men look nervously at each other before counting the number of puppets yet again.

“Should we check with the monks?”

“I checked the chamber before I left, there was nobody left inside.”

“I gave directions from the back like I always do. None of them wandered off.”

“Yeah, same with me.”

“I’ll watch this bunch, ye best be findin yer missin puppet!” the man said as he brought forward one of the women to be tattooed. “But ye best have it found by noon bell, ‘ere yer gonna have to tell the commander.”

The faces of the two men paled. “Thanks Nigel!” Tim said as he followed Bryan quickly out of the room.

The two men ran off, first to the male quartermaster, then the female quartermaster, but they found the numbers of equipment assigned matched the number brought to the adjutant. Continuing on they reached the depository where the caretaker monks took the control crystals, and it was confirmed that only nine crystals had been obtained.

Sweating now, both from the running and their nerves, they rushed to the summoning chamber. There they asked the guards if anyone entered or left the chambers since they departed, to which the guard shook his head. They entered the chamber and searched all of the platforms. They then searched the scaffolding above and below the platforms and walkway. All of which were futile.

The two men dashed out of the summoning chamber and headed back towards the depository in the basement of the cathedral. Every room and every corridor were searched. As they stood before the depository panting and wracking their brains about what they should do, the noon bell rang. Their already pale faces blanched.

They ran back to the adjutant, who had already finished the last tattoo and was filling out a large booklet. When he saw the two enter, he glanced behind them for a moment, then back to the two of them. He pulled out a blank piece of paper and began to write on it. No noise, save for the ragged breathing of the two could be heard as he filled the page with writing. When he had finished, he sprinkled some sand on the paper, and tilting the paper in various ways ensuring the ink became dried.

He then folded the paper and placed wax over the seam. Using his signet ring, he set his seal on the wax while staring at the two of them. He was about to hand over the paper to the two, but pulled back changing his mind, “I’ll follow ye two to the commander.”

They marched off the puppets, saying nothing other than the commands. They arrived at a courtyard which was already filled with other puppets standing in formation. A man in a clean and pressed uniform exited from a nearby building and headed to the formation.

“A little late aren’t … you … boys?” the commander said as he looked at the adjutant in the back. His eyes switched from between the two obviously nervous men to the completely indifferent adjutant. Nigel didn’t say anything, nor halt his approach until he was before the commander. He held out the note he had written, while staring the commander in the eyes.

The commander returned the stare for a moment before looking down at the note held out to him. He noticed the seal of the adjutant on it, then looked back up to the two nervous men. He looked back down and silently took the note from him.

He broke the seal and opened the note, reading it quietly to himself. The more he read, the redder his head became. A grinding could be heard from his jawline as he clenched his teeth together. When he finished reading, he closed the note and stared at the broken seal.

“Thank you, Nigel,” he said in a quiet but firm voice. “That’ll be all.” The man nodded and turned on his heels heading back the way he came, never looking back. The commander’s eyes followed him until he was out of sight, then turned to the two who were nervously standing to the side.

One commanding word filled with fury reached their ears, at a level only the two of them could hear.

“Explain.”

Tim fainted.