“Yeah, but did you see what he did to Sergeant Heardt? I didn’t think there was anyone that could beat him, and that guy just killed him in one shot.”

“I saw. I also heard him say he killed Commander Le Saux.”

“That’s right! That big block of ice shattered! He said that was what happened to Commander Le Saux? That’s frightening.”

“I didn’t know magic could do all of that. A walking fire monster?”

“Do you think we should have ganged up on him.”

“No way! My whole platoon fired arrows at him, and they just fell to the ground.”

“Seriously?”

“It happened! Then him and this girl started shooting fireballs and setting the ground on fire around us.”

“Yeah, then the fire monster appeared and killed Captain Galand.”

“And his horse!”

“And his horse!”

“I can’t believe the pope is dead.”

“Yeah, I heard that four of them puppet women killed him.”

“That’s frightening. I’m glad none of them woke up when I was doing them.”

“At least you guys got a chance, Captain Cornec wouldn’t let us do that sort of thing.”

“Didn’t stop us though. Just had to do it when the Captain wasn’t around.”

“Hahaha, yeah.”

A shadow silently slipped through the jailer’s door, not alerting anyone. It moved quietly through the dark and damp corridors of the subterranean prison and out into the light of day where it changed into a woman who pulled he hood down, exposing her brown hair to the sunlit courtyard. She walked with a purpose through the courtyard and to a building on the opposite side. She entered the building and quickly rose to the second floor where there was a door she knocked twice on before opening.

“Ah! Isobel! Have a seat. Have you had tea before? A couple of the summoned introduced it to me. It’s really good.” Evren said as he was pouring a cup of tea for himself.

Isobel paused before replying, she hadn’t tried tea before, but a few of the other things the summoned ate or drank and she previously tried had put her on edge. “I’ll pass.” She finally said.

Evren nodded, “Still wary after the cooked innards?”

She nodded and said, “It just wasn’t for me.”

Evren sat down with his cup of tea and said, “Before I found tools, I was eating bugs tha…”

“Evren, stop. Please.” Isobel interrupted.

“Ah, sorry. Did you learn anything new?” he asked.

Isobel nodded and said, “Apparently Captain Cornec wouldn’t allow his soldiers to touch the summoned women.”

Evren took a sip of tea and nodded, “Yeah, apparently he didn’t want his women soiled by the troops, so he could enjoy them all on his own.”

Isobel gave a look of disappointment and disgust. Evren set the teacup down on a saucer and said, “I agree. Doesn’t appear to be a decent one in the lot of them.” After a pause Evren asked. “We’re going to be going to Dolbalt in a few weeks, did you want to take Fletcher with you there to do some investigating for me?”

“Who would we be investigating?” She asked.

“The baron that rules the town, by the name of Keegan Barnette, apparently used to be one of the quartermasters here in St. Gloria. He has an unpleasant fondness for women, so maybe let Fletcher take the lead on this one.” Evren said.

“What do you mean by that?” Isobel asked.

“Well, it’s something the former adjutant mentioned once. Baron Barnette apparently likes to kill, mutilate and rape women.” Evren frowned and added, “In that order.”

“Disturbing.” She said, looking disgusted.

Evren nodded and took another sip of tea, “If, during the course of your investigation, you find the baron in a position where he may cause harm to others in any way, you and Fletcher are authorized to use the minimal amount of force necessary to cease his actions and apprehend the baron.”

“What does that mean?” She asked.

“If the baron does something you think to be illegal, you can stop him anyway you want to, including, but not limited to, killing him. If he is alive, arrest him.” Evren said.

“What if we kill him?” She asked.

Evren shrugged, “I guess you don’t have to arrest him then.”

Isobel closed her eyes and said, “Won’t that cause a problem in town?”

Evren shrugged, “Yeah, but we’re going there to replace him anyway. A week or two without him should be fine. If not, get with the local guard commander and whip him into shape.”

“Any other questions?” he asked.

Isobel shook her head, “No, but if I come up with any, I’ll ask you before we leave.”

“What about you, Fletcher?” Evren asked.

Isobel frowned and turned around to see Fletcher sitting on the couch behind her. “When did you get here?”

Fletcher smiled and said, “I was here before you got here. You just didn’t notice me.”

Isobel had a confused look on her face and turned back to Evren who nodded. “Yeah, he’s been here the whole time.”

“Why didn’t I notice him? Wait, did you use ‘conceal?’” Fletcher smiled and Isobel said, “You jerk!”

Evren chuckled and said, “Do you have any questions, Fletcher?”

He nodded and said, “Do we know much about the guard commander?”

Evren said, “No, but since there’s two of you, I expect we should know about him by the time we get there.”

“How much time do we have?” Fletcher asked.

“We plan to leave in fifteen days. We’ll have a wagon with us, but everyone’s either a summoned, or one of us. It should take us under a month to get there. How long you have depends on how fast you can get there and when you leave.”

“Will we go somewhere else? Isobel asked.

Evren turned to the map on the wall and said, “Well, Arlingswell is just a couple weeks north of it, if you follow the coast. We don’t have anyone slated for there yet though.”

“Wouldn’t it make sense to have someone ready to go there and save a trip?” Fletcher asked.

Evren nodded, “It would, if we had someone that could take the job. I’m not sure when the next batch will come in and if there’s any qualified personnel in that group.”

“Who do we have left on the continent?” Isobel asked while looking at the map.

“Let’s see, from the north we have Bridgewich and Emdon. Arlingswell just came in yesterday. Uhh, from south of the Thundering Mountains, we haven’t had the batchers from Arcadia and Dubhan. Gloverlita showed up, but nothing from Tornillo and Marlwick.” Evren replied. “Arcadia and Dobalt are both port towns, so whatever’s coming from other continents will be coming through there.”

“Is that why you want someone in Dobalt?” Fletcher asked.

Evren nodded, “Yeah, I want someone in Arcadia too. We’re going to need to replace the ones on the boats at some point, else we’ll be cut off from the other continents. I’ve a feeling the captains of the boats are not innocent of abuse either.”

“Oh.” Isobel said, “I see. So, if you punish the captains we’ll be cut off from the other continents, but if you let them go, you’re setting a double standard.”

Evren nodded.

The morning bell went off and Isobel looked outside, then back to Evren, “You’re not going to the meeting this morning?”

Evren shook his head, “I’m having Walter and Harley do it this morning.”

Isobel continued, “We got that batch in yesterday, didn’t you want to see if there’s someone there we could use?”

Evren nodded but said, “Not for the first day, no. Just getting them used to the idea and letting them know they’re not alone is first. We’ll ask them for help later.”

Just then a there were two knocks at the door and Karina poked her head in, “Evren a new batch just arrived, and we’ve got a problem.”

Evren stood and started heading towards the doors, “If you two have any other questions, get with me before you leave. Excuse me for now though.”

As Evren started following Karina, she started to explain the problem, “Many of the newest batch are injured and bleeding heavily. Harley and Ellis are healing them now, but I think a few of them might not make it.”

“What do their injuries look like? Think a beast did it?” Evren asked.

“I’m not sure, but most of their injuries are on their back side, as if they kept on running while getting attacked.” Karina said.

“Shit. How many are there?” he asked as he picked up the pace.

“Thirteen.” She said.

Evren stopped and looked at her for a second before he continued to hurriedly head to the cathedral. He had started jogging and stopped asking Karina for information. Upon arrival at the cathedral, he opened the door and saw several people had separated themselves from the others and were holding their hands over their mouths. There were blood trails on the floors leading to several pews were people were seated.

Evren quickly scanned everyone with his eyes, and said, “Who’s the worst of the bunch?”

“Over here Mr. Evren. These two are.” Harley said as she was trying to help, but also keep her breakfast down.

Evren turned around and noticed Isobel and Fletcher had also followed them. He ran over to the first of the two injured and said to Fletcher, “Go get stone 421,391 and… 443,645. Harley, put your hand here and put pressure on it.”

“Evren, the doors are closed.” Walter said.

Evren closed his eyes and said, “They’re open now. Go with them to make sure nobody goes in there and get the assignment book. I want to know where they came from.”

Evren was casting ‘cure deep cut’ on the wounds as he worked his way from the inside out, healing injured organs and arteries as he went. “These are sword wounds.” He said with anger. “Is Mr. Hill in here?”

Nobody responded, so Evren asked, “Does anyone know who Doyle is?” One man came forward and said, “I know who he is. The guard captain, right?”

Evren nodded and said, “Go get him, tell him to get everyone inside the gates, someone attacked these people, and they may have followed them. Uh… today he should be at the cathedral gate, if he’s not there, check the west gate.”

Fletcher came running up with Isobel shortly after, “Evren, we’ve got the stones!”

Evren checked the wrist of the one he was working on and said, “Have 421,391 lay down on her stomach. The other one, have him lay on his left side.”

The puppets moved as they were instructed and as Evren moved to continue healing, he asked, “Is there anyone here that’s a doctor?”

One of the women who was stopping the bleeding on another person said, “I’m a nurse.”

Evren looked to see that she was already helping someone and instead of giving instructions he said, “Awesome, thank you.” He turned to Fletcher, “Where are they from?”

“Walter said they’re from Emdon.” He replied.

“Emdon, what the hell could be attacking them from there?” Evren asked to himself as he continued to treat the injured woman.

Isobel asked, “Do you want to free these?”

Evren shook his head, “The curse is currently working in our favor. Without the control from the stones, we’ll never be able to help them. See if you can get the other stones brought up here. Once we get them stabilized, we’ll work on freeing the less injured ones.”

Isobel nodded, setting the stone down on the alter in the sanctuary and heading off to the depository. As Fletcher was going to follow after her, Evren called out, “Fletcher, get the numbers first.” Fletcher looked to the door Isobel had gone through and quickly went to get the numbers of the injured people.

Evren chanted ‘amplify’ and while continuing to work said, “Sorry everyone, today’s meeting got interrupted. If you could help us out in some way, that would be appreciated, otherwise it’s fine to take a break for now. We’ll try to pick up the meeting again after the noon bell.” ‘Heal deep cut.’

“Oh, hey dude, I’ll take care of them.” Orion said.

Evren looked up at Orion and said, “Thanks… are… are you still eating peanuts?”

“Peanuts are awesome, dude.” Orion said with a big smile.

‘Heal deep cut.’ “Orion, take them to the cafeteria and see if there are any who have experience with ships, politics, or computers.” Evren said as he finally got the bleeding to stop on the most severe wound. “Harley, switch with me.” On the way to the other injured person, he cast ‘drink’ and rinsed his hands off really quick. As he started to work, he said, “Holy shit, I should have started with this one.”