Chapter 33: Cheep!? 32

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Cheep!?

Chapter 32

It took everything she had not to fidget uncomfortably in her seat. Skye knew enough of social niceties and general conduct that she never really felt that anxious when she was meeting clients for a job at the guild. It was common enough for them to want to talk to a team before they set out on whatever task was needed, specifying how they wanted things done. In general it was nothing too complicated, and monetary rewards tended to also be better if specifications were met. For the most part, the Greenhorns were generally instructed on a specific part of an animal the client wanted, or on how to harvest an herb or other plant. It wasn’t anything special though, unlike now. 

Around her the waiting room shone with lights set in brass lanterns. No fire burned within them, instead each contained a stone that gave off light due to the flow and manipulation of essence via a simple set of sigils that Skye herself didn’t know the specifics on. Their illumination brought the rugged, but high quality aspects of the room to the forefront of Skye’s attention. A heavy duty carpet, with what looked to be a metal inlay that spanned across it in designs reminiscent of twisting vines and roots, spread from the entryway clear to the doors of the guildmaster’s office. If it wasn’t slightly worn already, Skye wouldn’t have been comfortable standing on it at all. The doors themselves were cut to look like the tree growing from the carpet’s root motif, with colored glass taking the place of the green leaves. The walls were a warm reddish brown wood inlaid with numerous metal braces and linings, both decorational and suitable for housing sigil work. All in all, Skye felt incredibly out of place. 

She was not alone in her discomfort; Dachna and Ronald each stole wistful glances at the door that would lead them to the stairwell back down into the main lobby of the guild building and the amenities that they knew better. The third floor, where they now sat in the waiting room, was reserved for the guildmaster himself. During ordinary circumstances the team would only have been called up here for a promotion.

“This is such a pain in the arse.” Dachna mumbled half-heartedly. Current nerves aside, the others could tell that even he didn’t really regret speaking up. 

Mithel, the only one unbothered by the entire occasion, just shrugged, “I mean, we came across something illegal and reported it. We also happened to know that there was a Phorus in the area. And after seeing what was in the cart…” she shook her head, “There’s gotta be whistleblower protection to some extent, right?”

Skye cringed at remembering the sight of the mules as they crashed their cart into the side of the guild’s stables. They happened to be the first ones on site after they had finished giving an exhaustive report to a guild examiner about everything they’d seen on their earlier excursion out of the city. Skye found it regrettable to have spilled information about the Phorus, but their examiner had been thorough, much more so than she’d expected. While they could have lied, it would have been incredibly detrimental to their chances of advancement in Greenleaf if they were discovered. Before they could see anything come of it, though, the wagon that had belonged to the poachers had nearly crashed right into them.

The guild worked quickly to keep everything under wraps, given the contents of the cart. Several corpses was bad enough, but the five Red Hawk’s in a cage and the words of the Oath-Sworn had placed this firmly into the category of a massive scandal. If it weren’t for the fact that Mithel insisted that they follow up on this and wait for an audience with the guildmaster, the others weren’t sure that they would have been willing to stick their necks out so far for something so clearly above their pay grade.

“This is the kind of thing that gets swept under the rug and lets horrible people get away with horrible shit.” Mithel had said, “Sure, we aren’t high grade adventurer’s now, but if we’re aiming high, we’d better start acting the part.”

After that, as a team, they’d decided to make sure that things weren’t going to be hidden. Skye briefly wondered at what Mithel had to have put up with if she was so adamant about going this route. She knew the woman was quite young still, but the way she confidently pushed forward and bluntly refused the guild's initial attempts to dissuade them at the door made Skye feel like she was an old soul at heart. 

The sound of a door opening cut through Skye’s thoughts, bringing her attention to the direct assistant of the guild master. Her short, bob-cut blonde hair and angular face made Skye think of the duelists that she’d grown up around, obsessed with their singular pursuit of the blade and honor. 

‘She’s definitely got that feeling about her,’ Skye mused to herself, ‘would not have taken her for an assistant type.’ 

As that thought crossed her mind, the woman turned a severe gaze upon her, almost making Skye flinch.

“The Guildmaster will see you all now.” She swept the door wide open before stepping behind it.

The Greenhorns rose as one, and Skye could almost feel Ronald curse in his mind at being subtly pushed to the front. He was, frankly, better than the rest of them at playing nice with authority figures. Not surprising, considering who his father was.

As they stepped across the threshold, Skye’s eyebrows climbed at the sensation of denser essence and the visible formations of complicated sigil work. Said eyebrows climbed higher still, when she saw the people currently in the room. 

The windows on the far side of the room, with their sheer curtains, cast light on the back of a modestly built older gentleman in blue and red finery. The guildmaster’s white beard was neatly kept, and the hair atop his head seemed equally tamed. On second glance, she amended that description; his hair was swept back into a vague style, but it was simply too unruly to lay flat against his head. The feeling of dense essence very lightly emanated from him, and Skye realized with a start that she couldn’t tell what essence tier the man belonged to. Either his control was simply superb, or he had some object that helped keep his essence in his body. Neither would be surprising, considering the essence density of the atmosphere in Greenleaf was too low to really support higher tiers.

Under normal circumstances, he would have stood out in a crowd, but with the two other people in the room, he was the normal one.

A man with braided brown hair and green eyes sat in a chair to the left of the guildmaster’s large desk. He was of fair build and had an air of confidence about him, one wholly out of place after having seen him so on edge, like a cornered animal. Any semblance of normality he might have had also vanished with the fact that five Red Hawks were currently either resting comfily on him or sitting attentively on the back of the chair. Skye made note of each bird, every one a beautiful example of the species, and she couldn’t help but to want to reach out and pet them. Beside the man, resting part ways onto his lap, was a cat of some kind, though on second glance Skye realized she wasn’t looking at a house cat, but instead a Sabretooth Cat’s cub. Her hands positively itched to pet them at that point.

Any consideration to do that was completely suppressed by the woman standing near to him, however. She was big, as big as Ronald, and with her armor on was wider at the shoulders. Bronze plate armor shifted silently, partially obscured on one side under a carmine cloak, as the woman’s cobalt blue eyes surveyed them each, an equal mix curious and critical that Skye tried not to squirm under. She seemed more powerful than her essence aura suggested, standing at attention with a ready and easy poise, yet Skye was positive the woman wasn’t more than tier two. Skye was suddenly not just suspicious of the fact that they were in over their heads, but in fact quite positive they were. Advarican paladins didn’t get involved in just any petty business, and Skye was positive of her identity as such, given the icon of a mailed fist holding scales weighted equally between arrows and laurels, representing war and peace in equal measure on her chest piece.

The air seemed charged with tension as the assistant closed the door behind their team, and then proceeded to walk deeper into the room to stand beside the guildmaster. Skye shared a look out of the corner of her eye with Dachna,  each feeling comfort in the fact that they weren’t the only one feeling anxious in the environment.

And yet, for all the anxiety the others felt, Mithel broke the moment wholly by squealing, “They’re so cute! Oh my Goood!”

All at once it felt like the tension had popped like a bubble with the incredulous look on Dane’s face. “I-I, what?”

“The birds, ohmygodsthey’resocute!” Mithel stepped forward, somehow blatantly ignoring the warning glare from the paladin beside the man. She paused only a few hands breadth away, suddenly looking into Dane’s eyes with a ferocity not unlike a dehydrated man with water finally in sight.

“Can I pet one?” She looked at him, and taken aback, Dane couldn’t answer immediately. Instead she turned her attention to the bird closest to her, “Hey, you, can I touch your pretty feathers? Please? You’re gorgeous, I mean just look at you…”

Skye tuned out her psychobabble with a supreme effort of will, and shot the paladin an apologetic look who, for her part, wasn’t sure if she should be angry or amused. Whatever words Mithel might have had melted as the Red Hawk she was talking at, the one with a single chevron of red around her neck, happily chirped and hopped onto the arm of the chair, leaning into Mithel’s pets.

Skye didn’t miss the almost disgusted looks the other Red Hawks gave their kin as she surrendered to head scratches from a stranger.

“I, uh… Well alright then.” Dane sighed before shaking his head and subtly shifting further away from the clearly mad woman, “I guess before anything… else,” he paused and eyed Mithel warily, “Thank you for your help?”

Ronald smiled broadly, pointedly ignoring the question in the man's thanks, “Of course. I’d expect the same from anyone else in our position.”

“I wouldn’t.” Dachna muttered, only to receive a sharp elbow to the side from Skye with a smile that was most definitely not friendly.

The guildmaster cleared his throat, refocusing the room's attention on him, but no one missed the slight tug at the corner of his lips. Mithel, to her credit, only shot a forlorn look to the Red Hawk as she stepped back into line with her team, receiving one in return from the bird as she sat down disappointedly next to Dane. 

“My name is Orson Maul, guildmaster of Greenleaf,” the man gestured to the group before him with a twinkle in his eyes, “I’m told you all are team ‘Greenhorns,’ yes? An… amusing moniker.” 

“That’s us.” Ronald nodded, “It seemed to fit us pretty good, considering how much we’re learning.”

Orson nodded, “A good mentality to have. Too many teams come in expecting greatness beyond their reach, only to find themselves coming up woefully short.”

A silence fell over the room at that, the team stiffening at the man's words. He frowned and nonchalantly waved his hand, “Don’t misunderstand. I’m not giving some subtle warning to you. If I wanted you to keep out of something, I’d tell you.”

Skye was relieved that the man hadn’t actually tried to threaten them, knowing that there wasn’t much that they could have done to really retaliate or work around him.

“In any case, this is my assistant, Shari, and you’ve already met Mr. Venn,” the guildmaster gestured to the man nearly buried in birds, “and beside him is Paladin Snowe. She’s only passing through, but has graciously offered her aid considering the delicate nature of what’s happened.”

“Dane. Just call me Dane,” the brown haired man smiled slightly. Skye could tell he felt very much out of his depth. 

‘No wonder, that’s a lot of trouble sitting on his lap, literally,’ Skye sympathized with Dane, to an extent, but hopefully something good would come out of his situation.

“Reese, Paladin, Snowe, or any combination therein is fine,” the woman seemed far more at ease than any of the lower tiers in the room.

“About what happened,” Mithel started warily, “What… even actually happened? We reported the poachers and Oath-Sworn, but…”

The leading statement dropped with the sharp gaze of the guildmaster, and for a startling moment it felt like the essence in the room intensified. In the next instant, it was gone, leaving Skye wondering if it was her imagination. 

The guildmaster glanced at his assistant who for her part had an expression that Skye found unreadable, aside from the subtle shake of her head. 

“That report, can you make it again for us here?” The guildmaster spoke warmly, but none of them missed the slight edge to his words.

Mithel stiffened, and Skye wondered if the guildmaster hadn’t even seen the report. Or, as she imagined Mithel might be wondering, if the report would have ever made it to the man's desk. 

Mithel went through their entire report again, meticulously covering every bit of relevant information she could remember, with the others piping in here and there when necessary. From the poachers and their armor, to the strangeness of the Oath-Sworn they’d seen, right down to the tangential information they’d found, including the Phorus. Throughout their report, the guildmaster himself didn’t do more than nod and acknowledge them to continue, but his assistant seemed to have an increasingly cold look on her face.

Dane was red faced with his fists clenched tightly, a mirror to the radiating fury of the Paladin in the room. Skye didn’t have the presence of mind to follow the report very well, her nerves ran too high, and was instead only able to worry about how easy it might have been to sweep their entire account under the rug. She wasn’t an especially cynical person, by her measure at least, but she couldn’t help but to wonder if this was a case of incompetence, or something more sinister. Amidst that thought, she shot Mithel a grateful nod who in turn slowly returned the gesture. Skye knew her well enough to tell that she was immensely disappointed in the Guild.

“Thank you all for the report.” Orson nodded to them, seeming every bit congenial, though even she could feel the essence in the room was fractionally heavier than what it first was. “That helps with some pieces of the puzzle.”

Dane looked up and frowned, “This Phorus… It didn’t happen to be mostly blue, did it?”

The team all looked to Skye, who felt her chest tighten, “Yes, why?”

He looked to the Red Hawks all around him with dismay, “Well, these are his siblings.”

Skye confusedly gazed upon the birds once more, before shaking her head and muttering, “Of course they are.” 

Almost instantly after, though, she grimaced and, even already dreading the answer, asked, “And how do you know what color he is?”

Dane detailed his side of the story after glancing at the Guildmaster. Skye and the others listened to the man with growing dread, which only increased after hearing the death toll. The failed escape attempt left all but Ronald pale faced, the big man was almost unreadable, save for his clenched fists and a quiet outrage in his eyes. When Dane finished his tale with the Phorus’ attack, the Greenhorns couldn’t help but feel wholly out of their depth.

“It should go without saying that I’ve asked all of you present to keep quiet about this,” Orson picked up immediately after Dane finished speaking, and added before any of them could protest, “This goes beyond Greenleaf, and none of you are nearly powerful enough to handle the blowback that this is going to cause.”

The team mulled that over, but Mithel spoke after only a few seconds of consideration, “So, what, is this just going to be-” she gestured widely in frustration, “-swept away like nothing happened?”

The assistant frowned, but the Guildmaster only calmly regarded her. He folded his hands in front of him, clasped together, concealing his lips. Skye thought she saw the briefest twitch of a smile, but it was gone and hidden before she could be sure.

“If it was, what would you do?” Orson’s question was calm, but a wave of pressure rolled out from the man into the room. It felt like a heavy blanket had been draped over her body, and even her senses somehow seemed heavier, like they were trying and failing to process anything from around her. Swallowing hard, Skye forced every instinct that told her to freeze in place out of her head. She had no illusions regarding Orson Maul's power level in comparison to theirs, he could probably handle them all without exerting that much effort on his own part... But, there was always a chance that lower tiers could overcome a tier gap with skill. Out of their group, Mithel had the highest chance of punching above her tier. With her expertise in alchemy and more than respectable combat ability, Mithel turned what would have been a half-hearted and vulnerable combination of skills into something that Skye herself wouldn't want to fight.. 

Mithel didn’t back down in the face of Orson’s challenge, “Tell everyone. People are already going to be suspicious, and if enough people call for answers, it can’t be simply ignored.” She began, before drawing a long breath, “And no matter what, the fact remains that this is a massive scandal, and I wouldn’t doubt that no one will be willing to become Oath Sworn in the future at all. The political blowback from this is already going to be so extreme that any nobles not involved, and some that are, will be so willing to advocate the spread of this information if only to get ahead of public opinion-” 

Mithel shrugged then continued,“-If they don’t get in front of this situation, then they’ll be buried under it. While I’m sure the highest degree of nobility aren’t going to be too affected by this, any low noble, and virtually every governing branch is going to be hemorrhaging from this event. The Oath is used rigorously to vet personnel for literally every level of government, with exceptions to nobility. If common folk no longer have this route, they’ll go somewhere else. The Kingdom has survived this long because of its people, certainly not because of its nobles.” Mithel calmly stated things even as Skye felt her chest turning colder and colder as her friend toed the line of what some might consider treasonous words. 

She also hadn’t thought that far afield, though given the grim line that Dane’s lips set in and the interested look the guildmaster had, she assumed Mithel wasn’t far off.

“Wouldn’t you say that would just encourage others to sweep this under the rug?” Orson answered, “In fact, if I just handled you here, what would happen?”

Instead of being intimidated, Mithel just smiled, “We’re well connected with the community and with people outside of the city, all of whom know where we are. My teacher, especially, wouldn’t believe for a moment that I’d leave without letting her know. If she got involved, not only would this scandal be cracked open, but you’d also have every Gnomish clan up in arms about it. I shouldn’t have to say why that would be bad, right?”

For the first time since the conversation started, the Guildmaster winced before returning his expression to that of neutrality. Skye risked a glance to the paladin, whose glare held a dangerous fury that promised retribution.

But not, she realized, for the Greenhorns. Reese’s eyes had settled on the Guildmaster, and she very plainly had a hand resting next to her hilt. Skye took some solace in that, and hoped that she wasn’t just putting on a show. Advarican Paladins were sworn to uphold justice, and while she was weaker than the Guildmaster, she seemed more than ready to put herself in harm's way for her vows and ideals.

‘I never thought I’d actually appreciate that,’ Skye thought as she glanced to Mithel, wondering if she was expecting the paladin to help.

Then again, considering how headstrong she was, Mithel would have done this either way.

“And the rest of you? What do you have to say?” The Guildmaster asked, turning his eyes to settle on Dacha, Ronald, and Skye in turn.

“We can go to the Empire if we feel like we need to,” Dachna spoke in a split second.

The answer was so fast that Skye actually balked at the man, “Dachna?”

“I’m just saying that if somehow the details of what happened leaked out, well, we’d be far from the Kingdom and any reprisal.” He shrugged, “I'm all for making sure things don’t get swept under the rug, but I’m also not gonna make myself a blatant target by standing out in the open.”

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Ronald gave his friend a choleric smile, “Well, I’d just go to the military. There are a few generals that would be out for blood if they found out about what happened with the Oath Sworn. Most of them started out like that, after all.”

Mithel nodded to that with a self-satisfied smirk.

They turned to Skye, who for a brief moment wanted to call them crazy. And yet, the words Mithel said earlier echoed in her mind. ‘...but if we’re aiming high, we’d better start acting the part.’ 

Skye took what she hoped wasn’t a noticeable deep breath before continuing, “There’s every reason to talk, and the only reason I can think of to stay quiet is to save our own hides.” She faked a laugh, “I’ve never been afraid of losing a bit of skin.”

Words aside, the Greenhorns weren’t naive. They knew that if the Guildmaster and the powers that be wanted them dead, then they’d be hard pressed to escape, let alone reveal anything. In spite of that, they also felt rather than knew a simple fact. If they stepped back here, then in the future, no matter how strong they were, they’d always regret this moment.

The prudent answer would be to pretend to be cowed now, to gather power and then push forward. The cynical side of Skye said that their accusations would fall on deaf ears, ever buried at every turn. But the side that she listened to wasn’t prudent, it wasn’t cynical, it was the part of her that had demanded that she set out on her own. The part of her that drew her closer and closer to becoming a ranger in spite of her family's hopes for her to become a druid. That choice had been hard, but she’d never been happier. If she turned away from this now, she may as well turn around and go back to her druid training. It would be a loss that she could not abide.

“Is that so?” The guildmaster stirred her from her musings, as the aura of pressure in the room became thicker and thicker, and at once she realized she and her team could barely move. The man let out a long sigh, back straightening in his seat as his gaze seemed to stare through each of them in turn.

Before Skye could scream at her muscles to move, the pressure relented all at once, leaving the four fumbling.

“Good. Very good,” the white haired man smiled warmly, “I was afraid that I’d have to keep you all locked down to stay out of the way, but if you’ve got this kind of resolve… Yes. I think I can forge that into something…” He trailed off, murmuring to himself as he stroked the short cut beard on his chin.

The Greenhorns blinked at the man in disbelief, Skye being the first to collect herself, “Excuse me, what?”

“Mmm…” the guildmaster hummed thoughtfully before speaking, “There’s a few things that I’d like to ask all of you to do…”

The Greenhorns followed his gaze as it settled on Dane and the hawks around him, “There happens to be a dangerous and upset Phorus in the area, and as it so happens, there’s still an Oath-Sworn that might be out there. I need a team to find them. An able, up and coming team with great potential and will. It just so happens that I’m looking at one right now, and this might well be a great way for you all to earn the merit you need.”

“And a great way for you to get us out of the way,” Mithel cocked an eyebrow at him.

“That,” the man positively gushed with mirth, “Will be entirely up to you.”

The others looked to Skye for a moment who hummed in consideration for just a breath. Honestly, this whole exchange could work out to their advantage if they played it right. But, there were a few things that she needed…

“We need assurances, in writing, about all of this. With the understanding that this is sensitive information. I’m sure there are a lot of things that we’ll need-” she forestalled the guildmaster before he could say anything, “-I’m not saying this for blackmailing purposes or to get resources beyond our station. I just want assurances that we’ll get what we need, appropriate to our power and ability, when we need it, or as soon as reasonably possible.”

The guildmaster’s face hadn’t quite settled to normalcy, but he seemed bemused at Skye’s words, “That is… acceptable, for an up-and-coming Champion team. But you’ll have your work cut out for you.”

Skye nodded vehemently, “We will. I also have a request for the Phorus; I’d like to have the chance to resolve this peacefully and, if possible, bring him over to our team.”

“Rather bold of you,” the guildmaster’s lips twitched, but Skye couldn’t tell what he really thought of the notion, “Most people can’t tame a newborn Phorus, let alone one that’s grown as much as this one seems to have. Nevermind the fact that it’s an aberrant. You might… Yes, if you succeeded you’d be the first in the Kingdom’s history to do so. How confident are you that you can pull it off?”

She opened her mouth to respond, about to lie that she was guaranteed. Something stopped her then, though, a gut instinct that warned her from being anything but upfront. “I give it a one-in-ten… no, one-in-twenty chance of working if we get the thing we need.”

For a long time, no one said anything, and she could practically feel her team vibrate with nervous energy behind her. They didn’t doubt her, but they didn’t like those odds either. Maybe Dachna would have lied straight up and said the chances were good under ideal circumstances, maybe Mithel would have demurred to a list of conditions that needed to be met for winning him over. Ronald would… Well, he’d probably say it was impossible, actually, considering the Phorus was already attacking people.

Even Skye wasn’t sure this was a good idea remotely, but she still wanted to try. If nothing else, her heritage demanded she at least make an attempt. This type of beast wasn’t one of the warped, though it was an aberrant. Maybe this would work.

“Mmm… Those odds are high, all things considered,” the guildmaster sat back, eyes gaining a faraway look in them. He idly stroked his beard in contemplation before he turned his attention back to the group. “This will be both easier and harder than killing a Phorus, though we don’t know enough about this one… But, very well.” He nodded to the group, “Whether you can tame it, drive it off, or kill it, if the Phorus problem is resolved, I’ll move your group up the ladder. If you tame it, you’ll be allowed on the Champions Pilgrimage, no doubt. What is it that you need?”

For a heartbeat, Skye froze, processing what just happened, but before she could explode from excitement, she rallied herself and began to relay what she needed, based off of her teacher’s knowledge of beasts, and what she’d learned of Phorus specifically. 

As she spoke, the guildmaster might have even looked impressed, “I’ll have all of that to you within the next few hours. Paladin Snowe, are you amenable to aiding them?”

The woman started for a moment, before looking at the team, more closely than she’d examined them before. It took her less than a minute to conclude her thoughts with a nod, “They’re good enough. We’ll need to look for that missing Oath Sworn, anyways.”

Skye was about to open her mouth and deny the company when Mithel shot her a sharp glare. “Thank you, Paladin Snowe, for the assistance.”

The woman smiled, “Just Reese will be fine, really. I look forward to working with you all.”

Skye only hoped the woman wasn’t nearly as loud and heavy sounding as she looked in all of that armor. Moreover, she was still uncomfortable with the idea of a paladin in their midst. As much as they did good, they only did so according to their own beliefs. If you looked hard enough, there were always stories about paladins slaughtering a noble house for their crimes, only to leave the city leaderless and destitute in the aftermath with nary a hand held out to help them.

“Then, here’s my plan. We’ll need something that Phorus have a natural inclination to fighting and eating,” Skye looked up to Orson then, “Guildmaster, if you could arrange for a Shaded Snake from the Elderwood to be freshly killed with as much essence retained as possible, I think that should do it. The higher essence tier and the snake itself should be irresistible to a tier one Phorus, regardless of if they’re an aberrant or not.” She then paused and corrected herself, “Actually, it might be more effective, I don’t really know how intelligent he is, but this should work with his instincts, not against them.”

The Guildmaster nodded his head, “I can make that happen. Two hours for it to be brought to the outskirts.” He glanced at his assistant, who bowed her head slightly and then quickly left the room, no doubt to put in the rush order. “It’ll cost, but I’m willing to foot the bill to handle the Phorus, hopefully without having to kill it.”

Skye suppressed a wince at that, but continued on, “From what I’ve learned from my teacher, it should be near-euphoric, so quite peaceful for a time. Most any beast or even humanoid experiences great feelings of peace and calm when they’re eating higher tier edibles, the snake in this case. We’ll be able to approach him like this, since he’ll be calm.”

“What if it isn’t?” The paladin asked, “It is an aberrant, so will it be resistant?”

“I… I have no idea.” Skye then asked pointedly, “If necessary, we’ll just have to fight him. That should be fine, right?”

She phrased it almost like a challenge, but Reese didn’t react, only calmly nodding to her, “Probably. But he seems abnormally powerful, considering we know for a fact he injured a tier two combatant, likely instantly killed a tier one, and drove off the poachers’ leader, an alleged tier three combatant. We have no real idea of how powerful he is.”

“Well… yes, that’s… yeah.” Skye begrudgingly nodded, but even as she felt foolish saying it, she added, “But, I don’t think he’ll be the problem you think he will be. I’ve met him before, he was far more reasonable than he should have been. I was in his nest and he didn’t attack me.” She emphasized.

“That was before his family was taken from him,” Ronald gently reminded Skye, “I don’t think anyone, beast or person, would react normally after that kind of situation. And, besides, Phorus are really crazy after stuff like that, right?”

Guildmaster Maul nodded, and said simply, “Generally quite murderous.”

“It would behoove us to take every precaution.” Reese’s voice was still even, but had a light edge of iron to it, “My own Advarican Oaths mean I will put people first. I still want to help you, and I want to avoid bloodshed if at all possible, though.”

She left much unsaid, but Skye didn’t need to be told that obtaining the Phorus as a companion was a very distant objective for the paladin. 

“I can concoct a fairly safe paralytic,” Mithel begrudgingly responded, “We’ll be able to dose the meat. It’s tasteless and colorless, but won’t work for long. He probably won’t be able to eat that much of it, so we’ll have at most ten minutes to work with him. The more he eats, the better, but hopefully not too much.”

Dachna frowned, “Side effects?”

“It can… instigate some darker thoughts, depression, induce catatonia, some suicidal thoughts, but that’s only at large doses. It gets used in general medicinal stuff alongside anti-inflammatories and general pain relievers.” Mithel explained quickly. She then saw the stormy look on Skye’s face and added defensively, “We’ll do a lighter dose overall! It’ll be perfectly safe. People take this stuff all the time.”

“Phorus’ don’t do well under this treatment,” Skye ground out, “He’s not going to want to bond at all with this.”

“Then he can break the bond, but we should be able to maintain it long enough to get him away from the Evergreen. Maybe into the Elderwood?” Dachna said as he looked at Reese, “Is that fine with you? We’d need to delay looking for the Oath Sworn if that happens, though.”

The paladin’s jaw clenched as she stared at the group. Skye herself wasn’t thrilled at all with this plan now; she genuinely thought if they just approached him equally, it’d be fine. The food was an olive branch, nothing more. But… it was also true that she didn’t just have herself to worry about. Even knowing that didn’t make the decision any more palatable to her.

“That… Yes, but with a caveat. I’ll take Skye and the Phorus if that becomes necessary while the rest of you continue searching for the missing Oath Sworn. I won’t budge more than that,” conflicted, she said, “I shouldn’t even do that much.”

“Thank you, Reese,” Ronald stopped Skye from saying anything untoward to her, “It means a lot to us that you’ll even give this a chance.”

Just then the doors to the room opened up, revealing the guildmaster’s assistant once more. Orson nodded to her, and then turned his attention to the Greenhorns, “Now, it seems that everything is going to be prepared for you. If you could all excuse us, I have a few things I’d like to say in private to Paladin Snowe and Dane.”

Skye regarded them suspiciously for a few moments before turning. She wanted to know what was going on, especially with how her plan was suddenly being commandeered in a way that she wasn’t fond of. There was a good chance that this would end up botched, but hopefully the Phorus was smart enough to understand that they were trying to do this for its own good.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dane waited until the doors clicked closed to speak up, “Uh… Gabby here wants to know if she can go to her brother? Wouldn’t that fix a lot?”

The Guildmaster took a deep breath, before looking at the paladin. She’d almost certainly be incensed to hear this, but Orson Maul had dealt with more than his fair share of paladins in his day. “This building is being watched by at least five separate teams of tier two’s, all of them with unknown intent, and potentially higher in number and quality than what we’re aware of. I’m not sure, because the men I have out there aren’t my normal surveillance teams, so until Oum gets here in the evening, I won’t risk letting them outside.”

Orson watched as Dane blinked, nodding slowly as though he were listening to an unheard speaker. Which, fair enough, Orson was aware that his companion hawks were already sapient and able to communicate better with every passing second. That alone would make them worth their weight in orichalcum, nevermind the fact that possessing even one as a tamed companion was an easy ticket to nobility. 

“Uhh… Gabby says she’s a fast flier?” Dane then nodded to the window, “Couldn’t you just open a window and she’d fly out?”

Orson didn’t disguise the flat expression on his face. Instead, he gestured to his assistant, “Mary here is a tier three, and probably not the only one in this city with abilities like hers. Gabby, if you can make it to my desk in any way, I’ll let you go right now. She’ll try to stop you.”

The chair was only four meters from the desk, set slightly to the side of the room. Orson could see the glint in the hawk’s overly-intelligent eyes as she brashly jumped through the air, flapping hard with the vaguest sense of essence on her wings. She didn’t even notice as the wave of telekinetic threads washed over the air and plucked the bird from the sky.

Orson did frown with displeasure as the others all jumped too, leaving the sabretooth cub startled and diving from the chair beside Dane. They got a half meter further by virtue of surprise, but Mary’s telekinetic threads now held five Red Hawks suspended in the air. She barely looked winded.

Then the wind flexed around one of the hawks, the one called Talon thrashing hard against the invisible bindings. She was freed for a fraction of a second before they re-enveloped her, and she was unable to determine where to strike to rid herself of the threads. Orson noted that their essence sight was about standard to their level, so that much was normal. A good thing too, considering that too many blessings on one beast would attract certain unwelcome questions.

“As you can see, Mary has locked down each of the hawks and she isn’t a combatant,” Orson fibbed a bit, but Mary would never be caught out in a flat out fight like this, that much was true. “There are also those out there that specialize in capturing targets. Some are good enough people, some aren’t, and each hawk is a sore temptation for any of them. Are you willing to risk them being whisked away to some distant corner of the Kingdom, or worse, to another country entirely?”

Dane glowered silently for several long seconds as Mary gently set the Red Hawks back down on the man and on the chair. The hawks themselves seemed taken aback, as if realizing they weren’t nearly as powerful as they’d thought they were.

Orson looked down at his leg then as he sensed something touching him, only to see a pair of glistening eyes that looked up at him. He chuckled before picking up the sabretooth cub and placing him on his lap, gently scritching the cub with a knuckle in the ear, eliciting a loud rolling purr from the cat.

“Now, onto other business,” Orson let Dane stew in his thoughts while he spoke with Reese. “I’m aware that your oath to Advarica is your first and foremost concern. So, I’d like to thank you for what you’re doing here. That said, can I ask you something else?”

She frowned openly at that, “I hope that it’s something in line with what I’m already doing, because I don’t work for you.” 

Orson nodded, “Of course, of course. It’s something that may help out, if necessary.”

Mary walked up to her, pulling out a collar that bore essence enchantments on it. Reese’s frown deepened at the sight of it, before she turned away from it, untouched. “Explain.”

“It’s a restraint collar.” Orson spoke, “It’s most generally used to restrain essence use in beasts and monsters, but it’s only effective for the low tiers. The more patterns and tiers a beast has, the less time you’ll have to use it. With tier one and a single pattern, it’ll last… maybe a day.” He then warned, “The more powerful the beast, the more exponential the decay. That… shouldn’t be an issue, but aberrants are all over the map. We know he’s smart, potentially low grade sapient, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be friendly.” He then said to Dane and the hawks, “We can hope that he will be, though. In the near worst case scenario, we’ll have to move him away from the rookie zone and try to earn forgiveness over the long term. At the very worst, he may become a new mankiller in the Elderwood.”

Reese took the collar with a look of heavy consideration, before saying aloud, “If he does, I’ll come back for him. But, if I think he’ll go straight to becoming a mankiller in the first place, I’ll take care of him.”

Orson nodded, keeping the tiredness out of his voice when he said, “Thank you, Paladin Snowe, I could ask for nothing more.”

 

 

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