Evren sat on the front steps on the cathedral drinking a cup of water with bloody hands. He had tried to wash them off, but the blood had stained them. He, Harley, Ellis and Karina had gotten everyone healed, and eventually freed. While several of them were weak, the only thing that could show they were injured were the bright purple scars. A few of the summoned had volunteered to help out with cleaning the cathedral and that was what they were doing now. Doyle approached him from the gate and said, “What’s going on Evren?”

“Someone attacked the puppets from Emdon.” The injuries were still fresh by the time I got here so it was someone close by.” Evren said as he set the cup down.

“Close by, do you think it’d be those guards that ran away?” Doyle asked.

Evren raised an eyebrow at that thought, “Possibly? Honestly, I’d forgotten all about them. I thought they’d just ran off. Why the hell would they attack the puppets?”

Doyle shrugged, “Well, puppets are the reason you arrived, and since freeing them they’ve lost everything.”

Evren stood up and said, “Where are you working from today?”

Doyle said, “West gate.”

Evren looked at the blood on his hands and said, “Give me a minute to grab my bag and I’ll head out there with you. Evren jogged back to his office and grabbed his backpack and jogged back. When he reached Doyle, he walked with him to the west gate. Along the way he put his sword on his waist and his dark cloak over his shoulders. He then pulled out his bow and strung it, dropping the quiver over his head and his right shoulder.

“What’s your plan Evren?” Doyle asked.

“I’m sure these weren’t the only ones that got attacked. There’s probably some that are already dead out there along the road. There used to be twenty-four of them at Emdon, but only thirteen arrived. Eleven are missing, and my plan is to find them.” Evren replied.

“You won’t need a bow to find dead people.” Doyle retorted.

Evren smiled, “My plan isn’t to find the dead people.”

“But didn’t you just say…” Doyle started to ask and then realized he never said he was going to find the dead.

“Keep the people inside for now.” Evren said as he exited the gate.

He began jogging and ten minutes later, within view of the gate, he found the first body. He ‘excavated’ a hole, said a prayer for them and buried them before moving on. It took no more than two minutes. He was searching the area with his sensory field while jogging down the road. He found four more bodies before he sensed the first person observing him. The man was armed and was watching from a farm house nearby.

Searching the area around the man, he found a dead farmer nearby. Angry, Evren nocked an arrow and aimed at the man hiding behind the corner. As the man leaned forward to peek on Evren, he let the arrow fly, striking the man in the eye, killing him instantly. Evren left the man where he was and jogged down the road to find the remaining six puppets and the remnants of the guards along the way.

Down the road from him was a fallen puppet with two armed men talking as they looked down upon them. Evren cast ‘clarity’ to hear what they were saying and discovered they were part of the group that chased down and hunted the puppets. Evren nocked another arrow, put some magic into the bow and let the arrow fly. It went through the side of the chest of the first man, exiting the other side and then into the chest of the man behind. Both fell to the ground dying as Evren walked up on them.

He buried the puppet and said a prayer for it as the two begged for help. Evren yanked the arrow out of the second man’s chest and jogged further down the road. Further down the road, Evren found two puppets. No armed men in the area. He buried and prayed for both of them and continued down the road. The final three puppets had several arrows in them. Evren pulled the arrows out and aimed towards the woodline. He fired an arrow into the woods and caused a man to start running away. He fired another arrow and hit the man in the back, dropping him to his knees. A final arrow arrived shortly after, ending the man’s life.

After burying and praying for the last three puppets, he did a wide area search around him. He found two people in the woods on the opposite side of the road and headed in their direction. He cast ‘conceal’ on himself as he entered the wood line. It wouldn’t make him invisible, but it would help him get closer to his targets. When he was within forty meters of them, he dropped to one knee and pulled out two arrows. He held one ready as he nocked the other. The first arrow found the base of the man’s skull and exited out of his nose; the second arrow hit the ear of the other man as he turned to see what the noise was.

Evren searched the two for any information and found nothing. He buried them, said a prayer and headed back the way he had come. He crossed the road to the other forested area and found the man he had shot with arrows. After a search, he was buried, and a prayer was offered. Coming back, he found the two that were injured had died. He searched them and only found some coins on one, but still no information. He was still scanning the sides of the roads as he traveled, looking for someone remaining.

He buried and prayed for the two and headed back down the road towards the farmhouse. He checked the dead man, and buried him near the barn, saying a prayer so he doesn’t come back as undead. He then went to check on the farmer that had died and found there was someone leaving the farmhouse further off the road. He scanned the farmhouse and found a dead woman inside. Evren buried the farmer where he laid and said a prayer to Ethelia.

With the crops between him and the man that had just left the farmhouse, Evren took aim and fired an arrow. It hit the man’s knee, shattering the patella and making him fall to the ground. Evren approached as the man was screaming. He passed the man and went into the house to find that the woman had been raped before she was killed. He picked her up and buried her behind the farmhouse, vowing justice for her with the prayer.

Evren walked around to the man who was begging for help and babbling on about the puppets. Evren lifted him with telekinesis and placed him against the wall of the house, where he nailed him in place with arrows. Letting the man hang there with only the arrows holding him, he waited for the screaming to stop before he started asking questions.

After a few questions weren’t answered, Evren cast ‘aberration’ on the man and went into the house to get a chair. He sat down in front of the man and waited for the spell to finish. ‘Aberration’ was a spell that came from the dark/curse category of spells. Unlike the similar spell ‘phantasm,’ ‘aberration’ causes the target to experience horrors for thirty minutes before it wears off. ‘Phantasm’ is more of a pleasant sort of dreams.

When the spell wore off, Evren asked a few questions, of which the man did not answer, so Evren cast ‘aberration’ on him again. The man had experienced ‘aberration’ three times before he started answering questions. He said he was part of the unit that came with Captain Galand and was one of the eight that had run away. They were instigated to attacking by one of the others who said he was going to sneak into town to attack Doyle who they thought was a traitor.

Evren frowned at this information and turned to look at the town. He turned back to the man and cast ‘venom’ on him before running back to town. Along the way he put the bow away in his backpack without unstringing it, along with the quiver. ‘Venom’ was a spell that causes a target to become poisoned. Evren hadn’t taught it to anyone because of its effectiveness. It causes pain, swelling, necrosis of tissue, nausea, vomiting and eventually death. It doesn’t have a time limit of wearing off, causing it to last until the target dies, or is cured by magic.

When Evren got to town, he found Doyle still at the west gate, talking with some of the guards. He went up to him and said, “Hey Doyle, I found the guys, but one of them was missing. I wonder if you have time to help me find him.”

Doyle looked at the guards and nodded, “I’ve got time, yeah.”

The two walked east down the road heading towards the center of town. At one point Evren asked, “Hey, do you know a shortcut to the southern gate?”

Doyle looked at Evren strangely and Evren gave him a wink. Doyle said, “Yeah, there’s a shortcut down this alley, up ahead.”

They entered the alley, then turned right at the back, heading down a side street to another alley. When they turned down this second alley, they heard some running from behind them and then a “Hrrkk!” as if someone had just been punched in the stomach. When they turned around, they saw a man bent over holding his stomach. Evren lifted him up and took the dagger away from him.

The man screamed at Doyle, “Traitor! You allowed them to kill the pope and Commander Le Saux!”

Doyle listened to the man and turned to Evren after he finished, “Did you use me as bait?”

Without turning to look at him, Evren said, “Yes.” He took a step towards the man whose arms, and legs seemed to be bending backwards slowly in the air. It wasn’t painful for the man yet, but it had become uncomfortable. A popping sound was heard, and the man grunted in pain.

“Were you going to tell me I was bait?” Doyle asked.

Evren slightly shook his head as he stared at the man in the air before him, “No, you’re a terrible actor.”

The man’s left shoulder dislocated from the socket, and he screamed in pain. “I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Ask me anything!” he shouted.

Evren tilted the man down so his face was even with Evren’s. In a low voice Evren said, “Who said I was doing this for information? I already know what happened.” The man’s other shoulder popped out of joint, and he screamed again.

He screamed, “Then why are you doing this?”

Evren said in the same low, even voice, “Because of your actions, you killed eleven innocent people who have only been suffering since they got here. Because of your actions, a farmer and his wife were murdered. Because of your actions, that woman was raped before she was murdered.”

The man’s back was popping and causing him to grunt each time. He was having difficulties breathing now. Doyle put his hand on Evren’s shoulder, “Evren, don’t you think that’s enough now?”

Evren said, “No.” But let the man fall to the ground in a heap anyway. The man struggled with his shoulders dislocated to stand up but was unable to. When he fell to the ground, he hit his face on the stones and had gotten a bloody nose. Evren lifted him off the ground and roughly set his shoulders again before dropping him.

“Stand up and let’s go.” He said to the man.