Guardian's Farm 19

Sage arrived at my side once the villagers went away. “Thanks for the assist, buddy,” I said. “But, you can’t come to town with me. Why don’t you go back to the farm instead,” I suggested.

Sage whimpered in protest, showing his distaste for the idea.

“No, I would love to have you with me in a fight,” I lied. I certainly would not, as while Sage was a truly spectacular example of his kind — which certainly wasn’t an ordinary wolf — when it came to battle, he was young and inexperienced. Strong, fast, and smart, maybe, but not the kind of companion I wanted to bring to a possibly heated situation.

“Bringing you to the town will cause more problems than it solves,” I said. “And, I’ll feel better if you stay at the farm to defend against any interlopers. We don’t want to lose all the delicious meat in our storage.”

Both were true, but it didn’t change the core fact. Sage looked at me suspiciously before he nodded, then jumped away, disappearing into the woods. I had a feeling I would pay for it, but as I moved toward the town, I only wished that it would be the worst I dealt with.

As it would mean I saved Eli before too late.

The trip to the town had been smooth, and so was the entrance to the town; not that I expected it to be any different. The unfair arrest of an orphaned peasant was hardly the thing that shook the land with great discourse.

For a moment, I dared to hope that things would go smoothly. Visit the prison, maybe bribe the guard to see if ‘the bastard that dishonored my daughter’ was in the cells, and see if they could look the other way as I punished him for it.

It wouldn’t be the first time I pulled that trick, though those days, it was an imaginary sister and not a daughter that needed their honor to be defended. Perils of old age.

However, those plans died the moment I approached the entrance of the dungeons, and noticed the guards standing at the entrance. Six of them, all tense as they gripped their spears.

Suspicious.

I hadn’t visited this part of the town before, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know that was to be expected. A town this size, two guards at the entrance was to be expected, nothing more. More importantly, a task like guarding a dungeon was often assigned to the dregs of the guards in such a town, holding nothing more than common murderers and such. A lax attitude was to be expected.

It would be different if it was the discipline of a good guard. But that kind of discipline was easy to discern, and wouldn’t have their uncomfortable shuffle as they glared at every passerby.

My gut clenched. Something was going on, something possibly illegal if the way guards shifted was any indicator. It meant my earlier plan was not viable. They were too tense to take the risk for the silver of a disgruntled peasant, and even if I had the budget to pay more, throwing around gold would run contrary to my aim of concealment.

Waiting for the night would have been the safer choice for me, but not for Eli. Whatever that was going on, there was no guarantee that Eli would survive the attention.

Instead, I started looking around, waiting for an opportunity big enough to distract the guards. But, as I did that, a pang of nostalgia rang in my heart. How many times had we worked together as a party to distract the enemy forces, arriving at our destination after minimal distraction…

I lost the count of different tricks we had pulled. Elric always had a sharp mind toward such tricks, always coming up with interesting variants, and Seraphine was not too far behind him, her complicated spells enough to trick even the most careful opponents. Thorne could disappear into the smallest shadow, and Anna —

I shook my head, forcing myself to focus on the present. It was not the time to reminisce about the past. I missed them, but they had made their choice, and I had made mine. There was no point losing myself in my memories when I had someone else waiting for me.

I started looking around. I might have lacked their clever plans or effective spells, but that didn’t mean I had no options. I continued looking around, waiting for an opportunity. One that arrived soon, in the form of a merchant, escorted by four guards. The perfect distraction.

I pulled my hood over my head, and made some small changes to the way I looked. Slouched shoulders, a small limp, the kind of things that would stick in people’s minds. Then I simply walked toward them. “Hey, friend, what’s going on —” one of the guards warned me as I approached, which was all he was able to say before I buried my fist to his stomach.

He fell. “Assault! Help!” the merchant gasped in shock just as I ripped his pouch from his waist with one hand, and hit the other guard in front of him with a backhanded slam.

“Catch him,” the merchant shouted even as I darted through the nearest gap.

A loud shout rang in the street while I disappeared into the side street. “The one that catches him gets fifty gold coins as a reward.” A shout that was enough to mobilize the whole street, the idea of fifty coins too extreme for any merchant to pay.

Especially for the money pouch that he carried at his waist. No experienced merchant would carry all his money in such a vulnerable position. I didn’t bother checking, but I would be shocked if there were more than two gold coins inside.

Which was why I was the one to shout. Four guards were not enough to create a proper distraction. But, the same wasn’t true for a crowd of town residents hoping for an unexpected payout without risk.

Once I arrived at the side street, I quickly pulled myself onto the nearest roof, which required a long jump, followed by a pull-up. Soon, I was at the rooftop, crouched behind a low point. I couldn’t look down without being caught, but I didn’t need to. The gathering of people was not silent.

“He ran toward the dungeon,” I shouted and I reversed my cloak. “Quick, don’t lose him.”

It wouldn’t have worked against any experienced opponent, but it was perfect against a bunch of opportunistic townspeople. They started moving toward the dungeon entrance despite the warning shouts from the guards.

When the argument started to grow, I stepped down, but I didn’t rush toward it immediately. Instead, I loosened the strings of the pouch, and threw it up. The coins rained over the crowd. Almost exclusively copper with some silver, showing that the pouch was a decoy like I had suspected, but it was enough to trigger a group that was searching for an easy payout.

The crowd collapsed into a small riot, giving me the opportunity I needed. With almost forty people near the gate, I went unnoticed, especially since I stayed near the stone wall and away from the center of the riot.

I moved rapidly, careful to stay at the blindside of the guards who were busy trying to solve the chaos, a fortunate crate made my job even easier, and I slipped inside.

The entrance was more like a guardhouse than an actual dungeon. I grabbed one discarded cloak and one helmet, neither worn by the guards thanks to the blistering heat. It wasn’t some kind of miracle disguise, but it should give a second’s pause to any guard I encountered, which was all I could hope for during my panicked rush.

I moved deeper, prepared to take down any guard silently and non lethally. But, to my surprise, there were no other guards inside. Nor were there any prisoners in the cells I passed. I had already suspected something was wrong, and what I was seeing didn’t help to quell these worries.

I started hearing delirious gasps near the stair that was going down. I heard the distinct sound of a whip, cutting through the air, followed by a soft, almost soundless gasp. My eyes widened.

Torture.

“Tell me, where did you learn your technique, maggot!”

The question sent a jolt of shock through me. I took the stairs, careful not to make too much noise as I moved rapidly. I was fast, because that soft gasp instead of pained screams scared me.

It told me that the target was already at the edge.