Chapter 39 Taking Care of Business
Chapter thirty-nine
Taking Care of Business
Sam
Finding my way back to the field, I notice dirt that looks out of place around the same spot I saw that boot earlier.
Touching the ground, I rub the soil between my fingers causing sparks of magick to zing up my arm.
Hmmmm… Sensing that the magick travels deeper into the woods I follow its path trying to find where it leads.
The way it weaves about the trees makes me certain that this path is not made by some sort of animal.
It curves and doubles back meticulously, making its origin and ending hard to find.
No, whoever was here attempted to disguise their tracks, making them difficult to follow for the average person.
Unluckily for the interloper, I am a master in all things having to do with concealment.
I make easy work of discerning which path will take me to where they ultimately ended up.
Passing a few caves along the way, I take note of them in case they may prove useful later.
As the path of magick grows stronger, I mull over what disguise I will use when I eventually come upon the intruder.
I find a clearing that has a thick cloaking spell around it.
Ah there you are. Testing the spell, I try to see what kind of magick I am dealing with.
Looks like a redirection spell. I trace the little streams of air whipping around the area.
The air currents are supposed to direct whoever may come upon it to travel in a different direction, but these are not foolproof.
If someone is already lost, they can easily wander past the spell.
Its biggest weakness is that it is only useful at cloaking against those who are looking to find it.
I wonder what his back-up plan is if anyone were to find this place accidentally as it is not terribly far from the main cottages.
Deciding on the perfect disguise, I puncture the magick with a finger and it crumbles deliciously, revealing a large tent framed in wood, rope and white sheets.
I absorb the residual magick into my skin, prohibiting it from alerting its owner of my arrival.
Walking deeper into the clearing, I change my appearance as I go so that I look to be an older, weaker man.
My hair greys, my limbs turn frail and I change my gait to more of a hobble.
Arriving at to the tent I rap on the wood, a commotion sounds from within.
A glass breaks followed by a barely audible "shit," then silence.
I wait a minute before letting out a feeble "Hello?"
The white sheet peeks open. "Who are you and how did you find this place?" A large man stands on the other side of the tent door, a large axe in his hand. I roll my eyes internally.
"Oh… I am sorry." I feign fear. "I-I got lost in the woods on my way back to my cottage and came upon this place. I was wondering if you knew where I was and maybe how to get back?" I force my body to quiver with my words.
The big man's grip on his axe tightens. "Sure, old man, why don't you come inside." His voice is filled with anticipation.
I walk past the man, noting that he does not drop his axe.
His smell hits me on the way inside. He reeks of death and decay and is doing very little to hide it.
Holding back a grimace, I sit at one of the stools surrounding a small table in the center of the room.
The table has a bit of rope, a broken glass, some parchment, and a little quill on it.
The man smirks at me, throwing his axe over one of his shoulders.
"Quite the place you have here," I say conversationally.
"I have never seen a tent here before, are you visiting someone in-town?
We don't get a lot of visitors! They must be glad to see you.
" Sylvie mentioned a lack of guests in the past, not that I am surprised.
The only way to access this place is through the portal Sorin and Alaceandra fell through, and it has been quite selective over the years of who it allows entry.
The man approaches me, his steps slow and measured.
He is pulling up to his full height which I know is his attempt at intimidation.
Tsk tsk tsk… I purposefully ignore the menacing aura.
He studies me. He is likely looking for any weapons.
I am sure I seem like quite the easy prey right now.
Someone stupid enough to not be fearful of a big oaf wielding a deadly weapon, is someone easy enough to kill afterall.
He fiddles with his axe, tossing it up so he can rest the poll of the weapon on his other hand and caress the metal, his eyes never leaving me.
"I am in town doing some research," he replies. "I think I have found all that I needed to though so I will be leaving soon." Anticipation is growing in his tone, making his voice raspier.
"Research? What kind of research? I did not realize anyone would be interested in our little town."
"Yea, well… it seems that your town has been getting a lot of interesting new faces," the man grunts, more to himself than to me.
"Oh! I did not realize!"
He grunts. "Come on, old man." He grabs a bucket in his other hand and tries to smile. His crooked, rotting teeth are unsightly and I do my best to remain unfazed. He motions for me to lead the way. "I'm hungry, let's get going."
I jump up and push the stool under the table. Using my back as a shield, I grab up the bit of rope and stow it in my sleeve for safe keeping before casually walking out of the tent.
"This way." He takes me to a narrow path on the other side of the clearing. One that is definitely in the opposite direction of the cottages.
"Thank you!" I say enthusiastically. The path is short and the man stalks behind me, his breathing ragged.
We reach another small clearing. This one also has a heavy cloaking spell surrounding it.
I try to get a feel of what is hiding beneath it without breaking the spell.
The clearing reveals itself to me for only a second, but it is enough.
Bodies. Corpses litter the clearing in various states of dismemberment and decay. This must be why he smells so awful.
The changing of the wind is all the warning I get before the man's axe comes whizzing past my face. I jump to the side, spinning around.
"Shit," the man says, before winding up to swing the axe again.
I evade him and he growls. "Why are you so fucking fast," he mutters more to himself as he chases me.
On his third swing, I step into him catching his arm pulling it straight and twisting.
I hear his bones give way and snap. The axe clatters to the ground.
He yells, swinging his other arm to punch at me, I block and use his outstretched arm to vault onto his back before wrapping my legs around his back and my arm around his throat.
Placing my hand on my bicep I put my other arm around my hand to help me squeeze the man's thick neck. He pulls, punches and scratches at my arm to no avail. Running, he tries to ram me into the nearest tree, but before he can make it, his legs give out under him and he passes out. We hit the ground hard and I do my best not to lose my grip. Holding on for another minute to make sure he is actually out, I release him and make quick work of tying both his arms together. As I am finishing up the last knot he starts to rouse. A quick uppercut is all it takes to fix that issue. I sigh as I cinch the last knot on the man’s restraints.
What a waste. I hope I didn't cause too much brain damage.
I need to know what all he was sent to do.
I absorb the cloaking magick to reveal the clearing once again.
Stray limbs are strewn about and blood soaks the grass, I look down, and now my clothing.
I sigh. Well, I guess I now know where he was taking the people that wandered to his tent then, but I will have to find a change of clothes before returning back to Alaceandra and clean up this mess.
People will likely think the monsters lurking the lands caused this massacre.
I should move them closer to the border to corroborate this, but that will have to be done later.
The less people that know about this intruder the better.
Recloaking the field, I release the old man's form so that I am once again Fadres and get to dragging the man back to one of the caves I saw earlier. I knew those would be useful.
A couple of minutes later, I have him strung up in one of the caves closer to the cottages.
I weave my magick intricately around the area so that no sound can escape.
I also cast my own redirection spell, this one more complex than this man is capable of.
It should lead anyone who comes close to here away from this spot whether they are looking for it or not.
Checking the sun's placement in the sky I realize it has been close to two hours already.
I will have to question this man later. Checking my knots again, I leave him and make my way back to the tent.
Finding a spare change of clothes, I sniff them.
Luckily, they do not smell like death, so I change into them.
The shirt is far too long and looks more like a dress than a shirt on me but it will work.
Leaving my clothes, I grab a fire starter, flick it open and toss it into the tent.
The fire catches quickly, eating the wood and white linen until all that is left of the man's residence is ash.
Turning away from the mess, I make my way back to meet with the prince.