Chivalry Isn't Dead | A Clawtie Fanfiction

• Blind Trust to Ruins •

Chase's enjoyment with his daily river baths shrunk as the days passed. He knew Claw should have been back the same night he went off. At most, he would have returned by sunrise or just plainly the day after. However, he never did, and the treehouse grew lonelier and quieter. Chase snooped around a bunch of times and found no real evidence to claim to himself that Claw was a criminal. Of course, there was the Dobermann's dragon, who also didn't return, yet Chase suspected that Claw was in some sort of influence when he ordered Sparks to attack. If he was not, Chase would have been left to burn as he was protecting Sweetie.

"Maybe Claw really is just innocent. If that's the case, he wouldn't be doing such actions though, that would defeat the purpose. There's got to be something here."

Chase looked around again despite already tapping his paws on every inch of the well-built treehouse. There were no secret areas to hide items nor any rooms that could actually hold any crucial information. There was one but Chase knew better than to look into the most private of rooms: Claw's bedroom.

Without a choice for about a week of waiting, he finally convinced himself to look into the last room. It had the same empty atmosphere as the other rooms, merely being much smaller.

"What's this?" Chase caught the end of an envelope slipping out from under Claw's pup bed. He lifted the cushion and grabbed the item. It was unsealed. "Maybe this is what the Duke gave him," he said, taking the note out of the envelope. His eyes scanned the writing, stylized in cursive.

He understood immediately, although he was frightened by the order. The Duke asked Claw to end the Princess of Barkingburg's life on the night of when Claw left. Although it came as a shock, Chase quickly recovered his senses to understand the case. Taking everything he knew in, Chase formulated an explanation in his head: the Duke wanted something but the princess was an obstacle that stopped him, in which he sought to find help. Claw was approached for some reason and cannot deny the deals, probably due to something the Duke had against him, although, it wasn't enough to push Claw into just blindly accepting everything ordered by him. After all, the pup doesn't seem to complete his missions such as the recent attack in Barkingburg, only making enough of a ruckus to say he did good to present something to the Duke. It was as if he was stalling for time.

"Something's amiss," Chase trailed, running a simulation in his head. Claw was supposed to return the night he left—perhaps a few hours more but never a week long—yet he did not. There was a possibility that something grabbed his attention and left to do something on his own. However, it was unlikely he would risk wasting time. The second possibility was that Claw succeeded with his missions and was hiding, yet Chase believed that he wouldn't have done such a thing based on how long the shepherd last heard of him. This led him to believe his third theory: Claw got caught. It wouldn't matter if Sparks was caught or not, he wouldn't have a master to command him.

Chase hid the envelope in his pup-pack, continuing his search in the bedroom. He double-checked every nook and cranny and found nothing. There was a low desk but there was nothing on nor under it. He then took a book in its collection, one of which had the title Cherish with an awfully familiar cover, though he couldn't quite remember where he saw the characters, but he had more important things to do than procrastinate using a mundane story. He flipped through the pages, until another envelope dropped down to the wooden flooring. Returning the book, he picked the envelope and opened it, jerking his head back in surprise from what was inside.

"So that's why," he said, adding the envelope to his pup-pack.

He then turned to the outside where the sun was rising. He woke up early that day, just like every day. This time, however, he decided to come back to Barkingburg. If Claw really was caught, he should get a move on and find out the truth himself.