Despite the name, the King's Dream was only a modest inn. But it was to Arden's standards, and it had a lovely little restaurant on its second floor, where the priest was happy to take a meal while listening in on the conversations of the patrons around him. He still intended to properly ask around about the roads and Trandore itself later this evening once Valerie and List had returned, but it never hurt to keep one's ears open.
The city of Lochmire Keep, it seemed, was experiencing a bit of turmoil. Some minor magical cataclysm had only recently occurred, plaguing the city with undead and plunging the city into general chaos. The Chosen had responded with a massive increase in military presence inside the city. Arrests were up. People were scared.
He briefly considered using a prayer to send a message, warning the girls about the state of the city, but quickly put aside the notion. Valerie at least was observant, and both his students were capable enough. They could handle themselves with or without his warning, and it was always prudent to conserve power when possible.
When the conversation at the table next to his suddenly died down, and the couple sitting there was asked to leave by a waiter, Arden thought it was a little odd, but dismissed the incident. Perhaps they'd been too overt with physical affection, and had offended some of the other patrons.
Then another table was asked to leave. And another. And another.
As Arden sipped his tea and watched from over the rim of his cup, every table in the restaurant was cleared out by staff. Meanwhile, new men and women had begun to arrive, positioning themselves at every exit. They were armed. Hiding it of course, behind their limbs, beneath cloaks, but it was obvious.
The staff cast nervous looks to the new arrivals as the last of the guests were cleared out, save for Arden. The specifics were unknown, but the situation was easy enough to understand. Maybe he would need to send a warning to his students after all.
Arden counted out the twenty-two enemies, finished his tea, and stood up.
"Ladies. Gentlemen," Arden greeted, resting his hands on his cane. "How can I help you?"
"So your old guild wants you dead, and since you helped him escape before they could call in a favor with the Chosen to have him executed, now the peacekeepers are after both of you," Valerie said, trying to summarize the conflicting mess of stories Xigbar and Kaleb had fed them.
"Pretty much," Xigbar confirmed.
"Well that explains why you two are in the shit," List said. She gave him a look more pointed than the dagger she was still holding. "Not why it's our problem."
"Because we aren't the only ones the Pavers want dead," the thief said. "If we saw you guys in the city, they sure as shit have, and they hate you even more than they hate me. They'll never let you leave this city alive."
"Then we'll burn their house down too," List said.
"That's exactly why we want to work together," Kaleb said. "You're on a collision course with the Pavers. We can help."
Suspicious as he could be, Kaleb had helped Valerie once already, and she'd been wary of the Pavers' retaliation ever since that day. If they really were allied with the Chosen like Xigbar claimed, her party could be in serious trouble here in the city. She was willing to give Kaleb and Xigbar's proposal some thought.
List was a different story.
"I'd rather snuggle a quillbeast."
"List."
"What? We don't need them, and I don't trust Xigbar as far as I can—"
"Valerie, List, regroup on my position. Now."
Arden's voice reverberated inside their minds, carried by wisp of his power, and the two immediately stiffened. The brief connection had carried more than just Arden's words. It held the impression of his current state; agitated, focused, and deadly serious. Without precisely understanding how, they both knew that Arden was in the middle of a fight.
The boys had heard nothing, and were visibly confused.
"What is it?" Kaleb asked.
It was like he didn't exist. Valerie met List's eyes. "We need to figure out where he is."
As if on cue, a beam of golden light lanced out across the sky, originating from somewhere west of them in the city. List jerked her head.
"I'm going to guess he's somewhere in that direction."
"Who is?" Kaleb asked. "What's going on?"
"I'm sorry, we have to go," Valerie said. List was already sprinting away. "Our teacher's in trouble."
And then she was running too, leaving Kaleb with his next question still half formed in his throat. To his credit, it didn't take him long to reach a decision.
"We should go after them," Kaleb said.
"Why?" Xigbar asked. "They told us to fuck off."
"Their friend is in trouble. This is our chance," Kaleb said. "Come on!"
And then he was running, fast enough that he would probably catch up to the girls even with his headstart.
Xigbar watched them all go, and weighed his options. Kaleb had been a massive help in spreading out the burden of being hunted across the city. Without him, things would be harder, but not impossible. Somewhere, somehow, he could find a way out of the city and the Pavers' grasp. Eventually. Maybe.
Not to mention, he'd seen and heard what Valerie's teacher could do. If he needed help, there wasn't going to be much that Kaleb and Xigbar could offer. And List didn't want his help.
Really, it would be stupid to go after them.
Completely, utterly, stupid.
Xigbar swore in Iandran.
As another beam of light tore across the sky, the members of the Twelve Swords came to a stop in the road, staring up at the sky. Beneath the tarp, their caged monster grew more agitated, as if anticipating another fight. It drew in a deep breath through its nose, and growled.
"What do you think's going on?" the company's leader, Zarya, asked.
Next to her, the Twelve Swords' newest and youngest member took a long drag from his smoking pipe, and blew out a perfect ring.
Jose de Gazara de Kopesh was a strange young man, with brown skin, wavy dark locks, and thin facial hair. His coat was tightly fit, and covered in straps and buckles to keep it that way. The style was a little odd, but still could have passed for Xykesh-made clothing.
His hat on the other hand, was pure Outsider, with an exceptionally wide brim and a dyed swan's feather in the band.
"I could not begin to guess," Jose said, with a sharp accent even more Outsider than his hat. "But whatever it is, I'm sure it is interesting. And it seems our new friend does not like it."
His observation was punctuated by another snarl from the cage, and a brief shake of the entire cart as the monster began to thrash inside its covered prison.
"Let's keep moving," Zarya said to the others. "The sooner we hand this thing off, the sooner—"
Her words were drowned out by a bellowing roar, and the shriek of tearing metal. The tarp, along with the top half of the cage, went sailing through the air, crashing through the brick wall of a nearby building.
Just like that, the giant bugbear was free.
"GORPMORP!"
Several members of the Twelve Swords reacted at once, drawing weapons or readying spells, but the closest were all swatted away with a single swing of its tree trunk-thick limbs. Then the monster leaped.
Its body crashed into the face of a building, and it dug its fists and feet into the bricks to keep from falling before leaping to an adjacent building. Every landing kicked up brick and dirt, raining debris on the people below. In seconds, it was barreling across the rooftops of the city, headed straight towards the source of the beams.
"Perhaps we should make ourselves scarce," Jose suggested.
Zarya agreed. She'd wanted the bounty for bringing this monster in, but now that it was loose in the city causing damage, things had changed. The Chosen was going to livid about this, and once the monster's rampage was finally stopped, he would be looking for someone to blame. When that time came, it would be best, as the ones who'd brought it into the city, to be long gone.
Not to mention, her company still had injuries from their last fight with the thing. They had no desire to go for another round with it.
"Change of plans everyone," Zarya said. "That thing is officially someone else's problem."
There were no complaints.
Valerie and List arrived just as Arden threw a Paver bodily through the front doors of the King's Dream. The priest strode out a moment later, the last wisps of armoring divine power fizzling out across his body. Between him, the Paver, and the King's Dream, the inn looked like it had seen the worst damage.
There were two holes in the second floor, each scorched around the edges, and several windows were broken. Smoke was still billowing out of the second floor, while the last of the staff and patrons fled through its back exits.
Scattered here and there in the street were bodies of other Pavers besides the one Arden had thrown, lying in piles of broken glass or on top of broken window shutters. They weren't getting up, but from their groans, they were at least still alive.
Arden was fine. His hair barely looked out of place, his hat still sat neatly on his head, and he maintained his usual placid expression.
He gave a nod when he spotted his apprentices. "Good. You made it back."
"Dr. Siren, what happened?" Valerie asked.
"Our old acquaintances, the Pavers, I suspect," Arden said. "They commandeered the restaurant where I was having lunch to attack me. I worried they were enacting a similar ambush for the two of you."
"So you were fine?" List asked. "Then why the fuck did we run here?"
"Dare I hope it was out of prompt and decisive obedience to orders?"
"Oh, fuck off."
By this point, Kaleb and Xigbar had also arrived. Kaleb right on the girls' heels, and Xigbar several seconds later, huffing for breath.
"See? I told you . . . he didn't . . . Saints, give me a second."
Arden raised an eyebrow, and Valerie explained.
"We ran into them while we were shopping. They actually wanted to talk about the Pavers, but we didn't get a chance to work out the details."
"You know, because we thought you needed help," List said, still bitter.
"I see," Arden said, stepping closer to Kaleb.
At once, Kaleb was reminded of Al-Sakr. Arden radiated a confidence and self-assuredness that came only from years of experience, and it triggered a drilled instinct in the boy to be silent and await instruction. It took everything he had not to stare at the floor.
"You must be the one who aided Valerie back in Shadefall."
"Yes sir."
Arden nodded. "Good. There's much I'd like to discuss with you. Later."
He turned back to List.
"If it makes you feel better, this battle isn't quite over. There should be a few more Pavers back in the inn behind me, and more to the point I suspect they kept a force outside in reserve in case I attempted to flee."
A crossbolt shot down from a nearby roof, skipping off a helmet of light that formed instantly over Arden's head. He turned to face the direction the shot had come from.
"Ah. There they are," he said. "I'll draw their fire from here. Valerie, List, you two—"
A roar echoed through the streets, silencing Arden's plan and scattering nearby birds. "GORPMORP!"
List's whole body tensed as they felt a dull thud reverberate through the air. Then another. And another. A heavy, rhythmic sound of something big headed their way.
"It can't be," Valerie said.
"Oh, what now?" Xigbar snapped irritably. He didn't like not knowing what was going on when Arden and the girls clearly did. He also didn't like that the Pavers hadn't taken any more shots at Arden. What were they waiting for? Or, probably more accurately, what was coming that had scared them off?
Kaleb secured his shield onto his arm without a word. He didn't need the details to know what was about to happen.
With a crash, Gorpmorp the giant bugbear came to crash landing on the rooftop of a building opposite the King's Dream, knocking over its chimney as it did. It spotted the five of them standing in the street as everyone else in the area screamed and ran.
Arden had just enough time to shout, "Move!"
And then Gorpmorp was on the ground, landing like a catapult shot in the center of them and sending cobblestones flying.
