A civil war rages in Talestor. A boy from a forest chases after his friend, leaving the safety of the trees and thrusting himself into a world he can barely comprehend, happening upon a weary sword whose only wish is for peace. A group of slaves are...
Hallow Etheri was enjoying a nice bit of leisure time at home in his bed when the knock at his door came. In fact, it could even be argued that he was still asleep, even though it was very late into the day. All of this amounted towards the argument that he could be forgiven for answering the door rather late, and even then, dressed only in a long shirt. Thankfully, it was sufficiently long to conceal the fact that he wasn't wearing pants, or indeed any sort of hip covering.
What? Pants were uncomfortable and underwear kept turning up in awkward places. He lived with his sister. 'Nuff said.
Anyways.
Opening the door to the moon pool room brought him face to face with a security officer. After pantless and indeed momentarily brainless Hallow recovered from this surprise, he noticed that the security officer had two more security officers behind him.
Being the respected and highly intelligent hunter he was, he immediately blurted out the first thing that came to mind, which just happened to be:
"Sorry, officer. I'm not wearing any pants."
"Oh," said the officer. He reddened and took a step back. "Er."
"I'll, uh," said Hallow, brain not quite fully operational, "I'll just go get dressed. Uh. Please! Come in. I won't be a moment."
The security officer and his two lackeys considered this, nodded, and entered the room.
Hallow disappeared into his bedroom, experienced a moment of panic when he couldn't find his dresser, remembered that he didn't have a dresser anymore and all his clothes were in a closet, opened said closet, retrieved said clothes, and put them on. He then emerged from the bedroom and went to deal with the officers, who were sitting on a couch.
"Sorry about earlier," said Hallow, planting his rear in an armchair. "This is one of my precious few days off, and I was kind of asleep when you knocked."
Still blushing, the lead officer replied, "Oh, it's no trouble." One of his comrades elbowed him gently, grinning. The other one hid her mouth with a hand, but the twinkle in her eyes gave her smile away.
"Erm. Did you need something, officers?" Said Hallow, wondering what that was all about.
The lead security officer swallowed whatever it was in his throat and said, "Messer Etheri, the Winterdeeps Security Force has a proposal for you."
Hallow blinked. "What sort?"
At this, the officer gave a sigh. "You are, without a doubt, one of the best hunters in this kingdom. We need your experience to catch a murderer."
"A murderer?" Hallow frowned. "We are few enough as it is. Who would want to kill another here?"
The officer shrugged, then sighed again. "It's an awful business, but once you hear who the victim is, I think you will understand."
"Who's dead?"
"Doctor Sigurdur Charsang," said the officer, and immediately heaved yet another sigh.
Doctor Charsang?
Who the crap would kill Doctor Charsang?
He wasn't a politician of any sort, or important beyond his healer's work. Sure, he was a little scary, but he was a nice guy! He'd been Hallow's doctor for nearly a year now, and had fixed more of his broken bones that Hallow cared to remember.
Unless it was his differences that got him killed.
Hallow scowled. He absolutely despised xenophobes. Anyone who would harm or kill someone solely because they were different was the worst kind of people. Hallow made it his rule not to judge anyone until he knew where they were coming from, and to never make fun of people for their physical differences.
"Terrible business," said one the officers, the woman. "Groe here is a trainee," she indicated the other lackey, "and I think he threw up more than once when he saw the crime scene. There was... A lot of blood, and what we found it on suggests that Doctor Charsang suffered before meeting his end."
Groe's face turned slightly pale. "It may be possible that whoever did this didn't intend to kill him at all, and fled the instant they discovered they had."
The lead officer's face was grim. "There's a trail," he said. "We know which direction they've gone. And we need you to catch him."
Growling, Hallow nodded. "Count me in. The doctor was a good man; whoever did this is going to pay."
"Thank you, messer," said the lead officer. He stood and extended a hand. Hallow got up and shook it. "If you will please come with us."
"Of course," said Hallow. Together they exited the house, and swam towards the security office.
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Author's Note: Welcome back to Aer'denna, everyone!
Sorry about Crappy Tree again. I realize I should probably draw Hallow sitting on his couch with the officers or something, but I just don't have any time! Drawing takes longer than you might expect for me, and I'd rather spend the time editing this book to make it read easier.
What'd you guys think of this latest development? If you liked it, drop a comment or a vote and let me know! If not, feel free to rant at me for being a sucky writer. Cheers!
