The two scarlet clad priest’s hands didn’t leave their gladii and single shot pistols as they moved quietly but not silently through the house. During their watch of seeing the other three heroes, the inside of the manor had seemed just the least bit lively, but now it felt as though it was forbidden to breathe loudly.
“He must be hiding, that coward,” one of the scarlet men quietly cursed before turning to the gray clad priest. “Be on guard, he relies on trickery but is not an unskilled fighter. Expose him and we’ll take care of the rest.”
“Marcus, don’t be a fool”, the second War priest reprimanded.
The man giving him a baleful look was indeed Marcus, the man that lost to Thatch when the Head Priest wanted to measure the Traveler’s skill. Needless to say, he was among the more vocal to suggest death or imprisonment when the division of what should be done about the Unknown Hero came.
“He is only a man who so far shows no aptitude for any magic”, Marcus tried to expel any doubt, “If we come down on him with every advantage, there will be little he can do.”
Nodding in understanding, the three split up to hunt down the Unknown Hero. The gray priest accompanied Marcus while the other went alone. They each took a separate path through the first floor of the manor. The solo War priest came upon the first door outside the sitting area. Listening closely at the door, he heard nothing, but the three heroes had only left a moment ago, so the Unknown One couldn’t have had much time to hide and they were told to be thorough. He wasn’t sure why, but his hand was shaking and his breathing was unsteady. Was it excitement or fear? Yes, he was eager to please Cassidia by spilling blood and keeping one who was clearly an agent of the demons from entering their war, but this was different.
Wetting his dry lips, he turned the knob and burst through the door, quickly checking every corner. When he found that the room was empty, only then did his breathing settle. The same pattern followed for the rest of the rooms on the hallway he explored. A few nerve wracking moments later and all three of the invaders were at the other end of the building, standing in the equally empty kitchen. With the Traveler being the only one living here in a long while, there weren’t many cooking tools. Just a few knives that all looked too blunt or the wrong shape for killing and an empty fireplace with all its accessories present.
“Anything?” Marcus asked as the first one shook his head.
“Nothing in any of the rooms or armoires. He must have hid upstairs.”
The gray clad Death priest nodded and suggested, “The two of us should head up the second floor then”, he pointed at the solo War priest, “Stay down here. If he runs back down this way, then shout and we will corner him.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
As the two of them went to explore the second floor, the single War priest paced back and forth between looking at the hallways of opened doors. He could never admit it to Marcus’ face, but after seeing how the Unknown One had so easily beaten him, he was afraid. That fiery constitution of his leader was known to be a sign of his confidence at rarely losing. But to the rest of them, who took a more sober disposition, they recognized danger when they saw it.
He was about to move back towards the front sitting area, when he heard a faint trickling sound, like a drifting of dust. Turning back to the kitchen, at first glance everything looked the same, but as he raised an eyebrow, “Wait, where’s the fire?!”
Before he could even complete his thought, something smashed into the back of his head, the pain blinding and knocking the wind out of him. Not even being given the chance to fall down, the War priest barely registered the missing fire poker being tightened against his throat by a pair of soot-covered hands.
‘The fireplace!’, he desperately shouted inside his mind, ‘He hid there and waited for us to split’
All the Cassidian could do was make strangled noises. Thatch backed up and pulled the unsuspecting War priests’ body off kilter to prevent him from regaining his balance. Before the home invaders had even approached his door, he knew someone was out there. A sense of impending danger told him that the surrounding trees weren’t empty, and this time it wasn’t by wildlife that seemed always too calm for his liking. Beneath his blackened hands, he could feel the man slowly slipping into unconsciousness. But even through the haze of approaching oblivion, the Priest somehow gained the presence of mind to try driving his legs back and driving Edwin’s back into a wall. The impact was enough to loosen his grip enough for the War priest to grab Edwin’s hand and yank the smaller man forward.
Pulled off balance, the larger man grabbed Thatch and tackled him to the ground. Curling his back into an egg shape to distribute the impact, he managed to not have the air completely knocked out of him. The War priest tried to reach for his gladius, but Edwin jabbed his hand out and to gouge out his enemy’s eye. The larger man clutched at the bleeding orifice where his eye used to be. Edwin reached to the side and grabbed a brick that was loose on the floor. Smashing the brick into the man’s temple, he slumped over. As Thatch caught his breath, he saw how despite him still breathing, the man’s head was no longer oval shaped. He was going to die, but it would be slow.
If there was one thing Thatch didn’t consider himself, it was a sadist. Reaching into the space where the brick had been, Thatch pulled one of the kitchen knives he hid and stabbed it into the man’s windpipe. Edwin gave the knife a twist, barely registering the blood spilling onto his shirt. The Cassidian’s breath rattled, and his eyes no longer contained any light.
As the redheaded man looked down on his would-be killer, he noted that it may have been easier to use the knife from the start, but he almost had no time to hide. His attackers didn’t seem too observant, but a missing brick may have raised suspicion. Calming his raging heart, Edwin listened closely. In such an important house, the kitchen would be muffled so as not to disturb any important dinner guests. But that was still too noisy for his liking. True to his fears, Edwin heard loud footsteps rapidly approaching from upstairs. Looking at the fireplace, he got an idea.
