Ceaseless Devotion || Garroth Ro'meave x OC

9: Ships on the Horizon

It was only a day since the appearance of Zane and the Lord of Scaleswind occurred and news had already spread through the village. Given the situation, Cecelia expected many of the villagers of Phoenix Drop to be planning their escape or considering the possibility of moving to another village, but to her surprise people were insisting on helping out in any way they could.

Lord Aphmau was very gracious of this and decided to call a town meeting in the plaza. There she announced the disappearance of Nicole Von Rosenberg and how in order for Phoenix Drop to continue to prosper, discovering her whereabouts was of the utmost urgency.

Needless to say, search parties were quickly formed and distributed. The guards accompanied their respective groups.

They found nothing.

Two whole days were spent relentlessly searching for Nicole, taking up the help from anyone who would offer. It was beginning to seem like there was no point in searching any longer.

With four days left before the Lord of Scaleswind and Zane would return with their armies of guards, Aphmau decided to call all of the guards to the guard station for an emergency meeting. When Cecelia arrived, Aphmau and Laurance were sitting at the large table to the right of the doorway while they spoke. Everybody else arrived a few moments later, even Garroth.

Cecelia would say that she was relieved to see him, but given his current state, she'd prefer him to rest as much as possible. He still looked so weak...

"Aphmau has issued a call to arms," Laurance announced, standing at the foot of the table with his hands firmly pressed against the polished wooden surface.

"What? When did she do this?" Garroth asked, his voice rough and coarse.

"Just now, Garroth. Given our situation, we have to make the call now." The second-in-command reminded. He was right, Phoenix Drop would undoubtedly fall if they didn't do something soon.

"...I understand."

"Laurance, shouldn't Garroth be holding this meeting?" Dante asked in a confused manner. Laurance turned his attention to Garroth.

"Garroth? Do you wish to speak?" He asked.

Garroth shook his head. "No... You have been active in the last couple of days more than I have. Use this as an opportunity to bring me up to date."

"Are you aware of what's going on with O'khasis?" Laurance asked once more.

"It's been the talk of the town. Of course, I know." He scoffed lightly.

"...I thought you would be more–" Laurance trailed off, holding his hand up and motioning it in a circular pattern to articulate his words. Garroth's eyes narrowed.

"More what?" He hissed back.

"...Nothing, you've been sick," Laurance commented before dropping the question entirely and returning to the matter at hand.

"Are you still sick, Garroth?" Aphmau asked, her tone coated with worry.

Garroth didn't respond, he instead turned his head away from everybody, refusing to make eye contact for at least a few minutes.

"So, a call to arms of the Phoenix Alliance... You realise it will take some of them a few days to get here, right?" Dante reminded.

Laurance hummed in affirmation. "Hence why we need to send out messengers now."

"Who do we send?" Garroth asked, returning to the conversation

"Well, for the wolf tribe, I was thinking Logan," Laurance replied, then looked at each of the guards expectantly. Dante was next to speak up.