Behind the Mask | Garroth x Reader

| Part Thirty Five | Escape |

The people of Brightport are surprisingly submissive. I was expecting more of a fight, but it seems that they are either willing to join us or they know better than to act out against High Priest Zane.

Phoenix Drop, however, has been a growing thorn in O'khasis's plans. Their Lord is stubborn and their manpower is only growing. If it were up to me we would have already attacked, taken them out before they could get any stronger. They have gone from a village that barely had any manpower to having a guard who scored top of his class in the guard academy, another high-performing guard turned shadow knight, a werewolf, and even a doctor who seems to be keeping everyone alive through injuries that should have killed them.

I don't blame the High Priest for wanting her skills back in O'khasis. If we can take her from Phoenix Drop then we could slowly pick at their defenses before taking root in their town like the others.

I shake my head and turn my attention back to patrols. I can't let my attention be clouded, we have a job here and I don't want to get on the High Priest's bad side. I raise my hand to my neck and give it a gentle rub before resting it back onto my sword. It was almost time for me to rotate back into the village, just had to tough it out.

"Come on ladies." A soft voice spoke. I perked up and look around to try to find the source of the voice. Soon the figures of four people started to approach. Four feminine figures emerged from the darkness.

"Hold it. This area is currently under the watch of O'khasis on behalf of Lord Bert." I step up to the group, trying to get a closer look at the four of them. They seemed like an odd group to be traveling just before dawn.

"Oh, I wasn't aware. We typically come out here to do some mining." The taller female with goggles stepped forward, an artic fox trailing behind her.

These females don't look anything like typical miners, but they did have the fox with them. I heard a rumor once that they were useful in caves to sniff our air currents.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" I start to circle around their group to examine what they had brought with them.

"No we hadn't, but we will find another spot as to not interfere with any O'khasis business." The woman dressed in purple spoke as she grabbed hold of the shorter red haired female. I step back and let out a sigh.

"Don't take too long." I turn away and hear the small group hurry on their way away from Brightport. Those people definitely weren't from Brightport and I wasn't looking to start up anything before going into the village.

---

I plops down onto the stiff bed in the temporary base. With the end of my shift it was nearing evening and things were winding down.

A soft kick to my leg made me lift my head up and narrow my eyes. I instantly relaxed when I saw who it was and laid back down. "What do you want? I am trying to get to bed."

"Word is spreading that the ladies who were being held escaped somehow. Not only that but they think one was the Lord of Phoenix Drop and another the village doctor. We don't know when they escaped, but we were thinking it was sometime in the morning. We found an entrance to a cave under the house." My whole body went rigid. The lord of Phoenix Drop and the doctor. Caves. Escaped this morning.

"You know something, don't you. You just turned pale as hell." I look up at him slowly and see that scared expression on his face. "You saw them? Didn't you?"

"I didn't think it was them.." He stepped back slowly towards the door. "Please, let me go find them, I know the direction they went." I stumble to my feet and try to stop him, but he takes off out of the room. My heart sinks in my chest and the muscles in my neck tighten.

I'm so dead.