“It wasn’t as difficult as you might think,” Jazai told him and swung his bundle. “Do you mind taking this, Heni?”
“This is the flayer mission from Brestshire, correct?” Heni asked as he took the bundle from him and lifted it casually.
“Yes, sir.” Devol nodded and handed the smaller bags to Coko. “It was an alpha leading a few smaller flayers. Are you okay with them, Coko?”
“Oh yeah, no worries!” she said although, with her tiny frame, the four bags filled her arms and stacked on top of each other to obscure her face.
“We will make sure to send these to the clients,” Heni stated and held the bundle at arms’ length so the fluids that darkened the cloth didn’t stain his suit. “I recommend you inform the grand mistress that you have returned, Freki. Both to tell her of the success of the mission and to attend to a new development.”
The wildkin nodded “Yeah. We ran into Acha and his team on the way in. They said something about anomalies popping up in all the kingdoms?”
“That is correct,” the daemoni acknowledged with a nod. “Fortunately, the issue seems to be only on this realm so far. We are not quite sure if they are related, but the grand mistress has asked me to send all higher-ranked Templar to her whenever they arrive.”
“We’re on it.” Freki and Heni bowed slightly to one another as the tall steward and his assistant wandered to the mailroom to transport the proof of the flayers’ demise to the client. The wolf wildkin led the group to the main stairs. “Let’s check in with Mistress Nauru and see about these new problems that are springing up.”
Asla followed her mentor with Devol and Jazai a few paces behind. “I wonder if we’ll be sent to investigate,” the young swordsman said quietly to his friend. “I guess even if we are, it’s not like we’ll get to go on our own.”
“That might be a good thing in this case,” the diviner replied and chuckled at the confused glance he received. “Don’t get me wrong. I was annoyed like you and Asla that they sent a handler to keep track of us. I’m simply better at hiding it.”
“But you’d be okay if they did it again?” Devol asked. “I thought we were hoping to get out on our own.”
“There is a difference between having faith in us and throwing us to the wolves,” Jazai warned as they began to ascend the stairs. “Having someone watch over us while we dealt with a few flayers is a little insulting. But if they sent us to look into something at our skill level when they don’t even know what it is? Hells, I think we would be better off in a thieves guild.”
“Do you honestly think it could be something that bad?”
They reached the top of the steps and continued along the main hall to the grand mistress’ chamber behind Freki and Asla. “You heard what Acha and the others said, right? Those archeologists disappeared and anyone sent to look for them.”
“Yeah? I thought the Templars were who you called to brave the unknown,” Devol retorted.
Jazai smirked and nodded. “You still have that spirit. I would have lost a bet by now,” he said but mostly to himself. “You are right in a way but remember how most people see the Templars. Maybe a few centuries ago, we would have been called in as soon as something like this happened, but now?” He drew a deep breath and looked him in his eyes. “Now, it means they have run out of options.”
Chapter Seven
When Freki pushed the doors to the grand mistress’ room open, Devol felt like he had walked into the middle of a council meeting. Zier and Wulfsun were present, along with Vaust, surprisingly. The boy had seen him come and go since his arrival and unlike the other elder Templars present, he was not one of the mentors, which meant he had either invited himself or they had indeed interrupted a rather dire meeting.
“A timely return, Freki.” The grand mistress’ voice seemed to drift through the room. The swordsman finally located her where she was almost hidden behind Wulfsun’s massive frame. She wore dark-blue robes. “Ah, and the young magi are with you.”
“Of course, mistress,” the wolf wildkin said with a small bow. “They performed admirably during their mission.”
“I would expect so,” Vaust commented from where he sat on a large chair with his feet kicked onto a pink ottoman. “They were able to detect you as well.”
Freki frowned slightly. “Perhaps I merely decided to accompany them on their return after the mission.”
“Nah. He slipped up after we killed the flayer alpha,” Jazai interjected and held his book up. “It turns out he’s a sucker for a happy ending, especially when it comes to his ward.”
This earned him a tired and somewhat exasperated look from the wolf wildkin and an irate one from Asla, who pushed Freki forward.
“We completed the mission, Madame Nauru,” she explained without preamble. “We were told that there have been some interesting developments since we departed?”
“Interestin’, sure.” Wulfsun snickered. “I prefer my interestin’ things to be more jovial and less evil-soundin’.”
Nauru closed her eyes and nodded slowly, “Yes, some rather unfortunate events are taking place around the kingdoms, but we will return to that in a moment.” She glanced at the wildkin mentor, whose blue eyes glimmered under the shade of her hanging garden. “Tell me, Freki—how did they fare on their own?”
He glanced at Jazai, who gave him a mischievous grin before he shook his book again in response. The hunter waved him off as he approached the head of the Templar Order. “They took care of it, madame, and as you can see, gained a few small wounds to boot.”
“Although with a flayer alpha, one good strike is all
