The Awakening

Chapter 6

Lycel had gotten a room at the same inn he ate at. He spent each day tailing the target and the woman with him. They had only stayed in the town for 3 days before hastily packing up and moving on. Saying his thanks to the bartender on the way out, Lycel left the old building more conflicted than resolute.

Lycel followed the man and woman on the road with great care. The woman struck him as dangerous, so Lycel was careful to utilize every stealth technique he knew. He kept close track of the two, amplifying his senses and staying at a careful distance.

The woman was calm and collected but the young man was different. He had several nervous ticks and seemed to peer over his shoulder every now and then. More than just his behavior, It seemed like each day, his hair had changed shades ever so slightly. Sometimes, you could see tufts of silver poking out of his reddish brown hair when he was under bright lights.

From all this, Lycel concluded that his target was a Kievian. This had conflicting emotions for Lycel, and he wondered why someone would want to assassinate a Kievian. Sure, some people despise Kievians enough to want them to die, but the Family wasn't cheap to hire. No ordinary citizen would hire them to assassinate a normal Kievian refugee. Something wasn't right. If his supervisors saw how he was acting, they were liable to take matters into their own hands.

Lycels stomach dropped at the idea. Uh oh, let's make sure that doesn't happen. There's no telling what would happen to me then, I don't think they'd let me off again. Unsure on how to quell the feelings of reluctance in his heart, Lycel sighed heavily.

After travelling for another week along the winding road towards the southwestern border of the Theocracy, Kiel and Thala had reached the border checkpoint.

"Should we really be going through the border gate? I mean, it seems like we should skip it and just cross into neutral territory unnoticed," Kiel asked.

"It's relatively easy to skip the checkpoint and go over the border somewhere else, but it's almost always easier to go through one of the 4 major checkpoints that lead into the Theocracy."

Kiel gave a soft hum as he listened to Thala's reasoning. He wasn't too interested in hearing her explanation, he'd decided a while back to trust her with everything. The horse below him gave a soft snort as Kiel brushed it's mane with his worn hands.

"The border gates aren't too strict, and the guards are generally lower class citizens. All you really need is a name and a reason for passing through." Thala took a swig from the clean waterskin on her waist and cleared her throat. "There was supposed to be a small toll for passing through, but the guards almost always waive it from sheer laziness. When you compare that with crossing the border and potentially being spotted, it just makes more sense to do it legally."

Raising an eyebrow in the same way Thala did, Kiel asked another question. "Why would they waive the fee? Sounds like a good way to get in trouble with their higher-ups."

"Taking the money would require stashing it and recording it onto a sheet of paper. Once they had enough money, they'd have to send a guard out to travel to the guards station in Iriel and drop off all the coin. All in all, they probably think it's not worth the effort."

It didn't take long for Kiel and Thala to make their way through the tall and tattered brown arch that marked the end of Iriel's reach. The guards didn't bother to even ask them questions, opting just to wave them on through instead.

Now in neutral territory, Kiel and Thala walked in silence. The landscape hadn't changed too drastically, but now there were small trees and large pieces of stone rubble strewn about. Kiel had seen these pieces of rubble spread around Kievia but hadn't known they were in other places as well. Some were ornately carved with mysterious symbols, and others were plain masonry.