We stayed in the stable for a few hours, with Zaion staying asleep throughout. I eventually couldn’t cast Heal on him anymore, which I assumed meant he was fine. We let him rest and Deacon surprised me by finding some spare shoes in a clothes storage that fit well enough. Being barefoot sucked so I took them without complaint.

  When the shadows began to lengthen outside and several exterior lights started going on, Elayne went to wake Zaion. I looked at Deacon, and nodded towards the outside, “So, where’d everyone go if the only people here are slaves?”

  “They probably left for the city when the screaming started. The fact that it’s still going is concerning.” He went to the window and looked outside through a crack in the shutters. “I’m surprised a bunch of mages aren’t out here on an extermination quest.”

  “Maybe they were.” I said, thinking about the bodies in my Spatial Closet.

  Deacon’s face scrunched up as he thought about that. “There’ll be more, but I don’t think that was meant for us specifically.”

  I sighed, “There’s nothing saying they weren’t either. We don’t know if Paige and Jason got back safely.”

  He turned to look at me. “You think…”

  I shrugged, “I’m just thinking. I’ve no proof of anything. They could have been bandits. Maybe greedy adventurers seeking an easy profit. But…” My shoulders sagged, “As usual, I’ve no real idea.”

  We were quiet as I heard the creak of a bed behind me. The sound of our water mage yawning and getting up lifted a weight I hadn’t been aware I was holding. I heard some thoughtful sounds, and turned to find a confused elf taking in their location. “Were we… captured?”

  Elayne laughed, “Pfft, no. I probably could have handled them alone if I hadn’t been defending Deacon.”

  “I… do not remember much after we left the road. A lot of wheat in my face, a few glimpses of a man in a breastplate, and then I woke up here.” He said, frowning. “And apparently, it has been a few hours at the minimum.” He turned to face Deacon, “What happened?”

  “That’s exactly what we’ve been discussing.” The bard responded. “Unfortunately, it’s not safe here. If we can make it back to the city, we can shelter at the Rosecrest Manor while we figure it out, and probably loot the bodies properly.”

  I grimaced as I thought about dead bodies. How some of them were… “Thanks for reminding me of the rotten bodies in my Spatial Closet. I don’t want to even think about needing to clean it.”

  “My options are limited.” He said, waving his unfinished arm at me, “My spells need a focus or they’re difficult to work with. I can’t play most instrument with one arm.”

  “Right…” I replied, looking down in embarrassment. It had slipped my mind. “I’ll figure something out.”

  I felt him tap me on the shoulder as he walked past. The door opened behind me, “Come on. Let’s get going.” I turned and saw Zaion and Elayne stepping outside. Not wanting them to be too far ahead, I jogged to catch the door and leave. Looking back and seeing one of the slaves that was standing next to their bed, I decided to close the door.

  The rest of the trip was uneventful. We got to the gates as they were locking them for the night. Deacon managed to ‘misplace’ 500 PEC, and the guard was nice enough to let us through the side access to one of the towers. We had to go all the way up and across the wall at the top of the gate. Then down five floors of guard sleeping quarters.

  We actually woke up one of them right before we left, but our escort slipped him something. Probably PEC. He then rolled over and ignored us leaving the… Guard post? Mini Barracks? Guard Tower?

  When I asked, Elayne was the one to answer, “It’s a Gate House. Apparently, any guard can choose to stay there for free, so long as they agree to shifts on the walls.”

  “Is that a bad spot?” I asked, looking back in curiosity.

  “They’re tall enough to catch all the wind that generates along the lands around here. It gets strong enough that walking against it can be a struggle, and strong guests could knock someone over. Rather than build a roof or getting some kind of enchantment to lessen the effects, they gave guards on those shifts twenty kilograms worth of extra gear, including really heavy boots.” Elayne laughed, and when I looked she shook her head. “They have to do at least one lap per shift. They can stop at each Gatehouse for a night, though.”

  I blinked a few times in surprise. “How many Gatehouses do we have? And do they have to take everything they own with them each day?”

  Elayne nodded, “Yes, so not a lot of personal items. And we have eight. Yes, that means two more days than there are in a week. Which means you can be stuck with not being able to enjoy the free bed until you can regularly do more than one Gatehouse a day. And since you don’t get paid for the shift until you get back to your starting Gatehouse, people who want to do it are either determined, or desperate.”

  “Can anyone take a shift?” I asked, mostly trying to figure out if Elayne had tried it.

  “Yes, though they won’t get as high a payment. Something about joining officially. They get all the benefits, free bed and food, though.” She averted her gaze, “I’ve been considering it between quests, just to save on rent.”

  “Huh.” I thought it sounded interesting. “That sounds really good for training. How does that defend the wall, though?”

  “Anyone who is trying to cross the wall without going through the Gatehouse is risking their own necks. And anyone officially up there who participates in apprehending someone dumb enough to do it, they get paid and spend up to a week at a guardhouse of their choice.” It was Deacon who had responded.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “How do you know?” Elayne asked in confusion.

  Deacon looked over his shoulder, leading down streets that were beginning to look familiar. “Many would stop by my old employer’s establishment to hear me and others perform.”

  “Where was that?” Elayne asked.

  “The Performance Hall in the Religious District.” He said, turning down a street and leading us along a familiar tall iron fence. I could see the Rosecrest Manor through the fence. “We’re here.” He said over his shoulder, probably for Zaion’s benefit.

  I could feel some tension starting release from between my shoulders. Despite only being gone for most of a week, it felt like twice that easily. I started to stretch my arms out as I looked around and paused. There were an unusual amount of people loitering for the time of night it was.

  I was about to bring it up, when I felt something hit me from behind, pain blossoming from a point right above my hip. The force caused me to spin, but I caught myself on the fence before I hit the ground. Someone had a hand on my shoulder, but I knocked it away as I ripped the offending object out. I was already casting Heal as I saw the attacker.

  He was a lean man with an angular face, hurriedly pulling back the action on a crossbow. The only other thing of note was a dark colored cloak, something that two of his friends were also wearing. They had dropped their crossbow and were rushing towards us.

  Elayne grabbed Zaion by the collar of his shirt and threw him over the fence. He did his best to roll with it, but still needed to stumble to his feet. “Get inside! Tell Grimoire the street is compromised!”

  I didn’t see what he did, cause I was too busy staring at the two quills on the ground that looked like they’d shattered on impact. When I looked up to her, she was already moving to intercept the two… assassins? Am I being assassinated?

  A sharp whistle erupted and I heard a crack as three more bolts impacted a transparent shield that formed up next to my head. I looked towards where they had come from and I saw two more people dropping crossbows as a third calmly reloaded another. The two approaching drew different weapons from beneath their cloaks: one a sword and the other a pair of knives. I swore and looked at Deacon, “Plan?”

  Deacon looked towards me as we both heard a loud crash from behind us. “Get past them, get inside. Keep them off me for a few seconds.”

  I didn’t respond to agree, but instead reached into my spatial closet and pulled out my last three throwing knives. The rest were either broken or lost. It’ll have to be enough. I thought a step forward and whipped the first knife forward towards the guy with the knives. He dodged out of the way, but I hadn’t expected it to hit just distract.

  Deacon was, meanwhile, starting to whistle a melody. I could feel magic building, but didn’t wait to see the results as I flung the last two throwing knives at the man with the sword, one right after the other. He deflected the first one, but the other took him in the thigh. I stepped forward, pulling my now only tonfa from my belt and unsheathing my blade. Then he was on me, swinging his sword.

  I swept my blade up and deflected him off to the side. Before he could recover, I shoulder tackled him, aiming to shove him into his friend. The guy with the knives ducked to the side, but the swordsman caught his leg on the man and fell backward onto the stone road. I heard a crack as I swung my sword at the dagger wielding man.

  He dodged back and looked between me and Deacon. His decision took less than a second, and he tried to maneuver around me to Deacon. I swung at his neck and he ducked low, using both of his blades to stop mine. He looked surprised, which likely wasn’t helped when I used the hand to spin my tonfa into the back of their knee.

  The swordsman managed to stand and lunged just as I was getting ready to attack again, and I had to step back to avoid him. He followed with a rising slash, which I met with my own sword. Rather than try and control his blade, I elbow’d him in the face. His head rocked backwards and he stumbled, but I didn’t have time to take advantage of his bad position as the dual wielder started moving for Deacon.

  I swung my blade to stop him, and he deflected it with one blade as he changed direction to lunge under my guard. I intercepted his blade with my tonfa and winced as it almost went through the wooden weapon. I’m getting metal tonfas made after this. I thought, before thrusting at his center mass. I actually got him in the chest, but the blade didn’t penetrate his armor. The flat look I gave him as he rubbed at his likely bruised ribs made him laugh.

  I caught movement from the corner of my eye and bent over backwards as a blade was swung for my head. I let go of the damaged tonfa and used my hand as a brace to turn my dodge into a flip. He followed up his slash by punching me in the face with his off hand, sending my acrobatic ass tumbling across the ground.

  Then, the twang of a crossbow sounded, and I watched as it was blown off target by before it hit Deacon. The winds began to pick up around him, and knocked both of the nearby assailants to the ground. I stumbled up and felt the wind tugging at me too. Rather than get swept up, I slipped an arm between two of the iron bars that made up the fence and held on. Somehow, I hadn’t let go of my sword, which was a pleasant surprise.

  It was a good thing I held on, because the wind went from knocking people around, to lifting them as both of the nearby assailants suddenly found themselves airborne. There was panicked shouting and both of them started flailing helplessly in the air as Deacon’s whistled song started to fill the street, along with the conjured wind.

  I looked around as I held onto the fence. Elayne had left at least two bodies and was chasing after the last as he took off down the street. When he turned a corner, Elayne stopped pursuing and started looking for other assailants. Her head started to turn, looking towards sounds that I could barely hear over the wind and song. Alarm bells.

  Deacon suddenly cut his melody off and the two men flying around crashed on top of the gate, their bodies impaled by the iron bars. One wasn’t killed on impact and I winced as I looked at him. It’d probably take a while to die with the iron rods through the stomach region.

  I was gathering myself when I heard the distinct click of a crossbow firing again. There was a gust of air near me, and I turned to see a tall, elegant elven man wearing a black suit that was finely pressed and kept meticulously clean. His gloved hand was holding a steel bolt that was uncomfortably close to my head and staring at the offending shooter. “My apologies, Lady Dani. I seemed to have missed a few spots in my earlier clean up.”

  The bolt snapped in his hand. “Give me a moment.” The next thing I saw was Grimoire standing next to the shooter, holding the man up by his face. He moved with an almost lazy motion as he swung the man into the ground head first. A very nasty crack echoed through the street and he took the now maybe unconscious, probably dead, man by the back of his collar and started towards the front gate. “If you’ll please follow me, I’ll come collect the… refuse… when you are all safely inside.”

  I looked over at Deacon, who looked back at me. I’d figured Grimoire was good in a fight by the training but… He caught that bolt in mid air. Which brought another realization. I almost died again… I knew I had Second Chance, but the thought was sobering. Even with the bugs, it hadn’t been as… real.

  “Close your mouths or you’ll catch bugs.” Elayne said as she jogged past. “Hurry up!”

  Both of us were brought out of our thoughts by her, and I hurried to jog after. At least the scary butler was on my side.