To Kill A Moral Man

The Stressed, The Righteous And Those Who Just Want To Live In Peace

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Warnings: implied death, destruction, cursing.
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"Damm it!" Roman cursed aloud, kicking at the dirt.

The involuntary wince that came over the rest was not a result of the shout or its content, but happened for the fact there was no one there to scold him for it.

"Let's.." Logan tried to hide the lump in his throat with a cough, ending the silence. "Let's go back to the castle" he sighed, meeting Roman's and Virgil's angry glares, "we can't do anything for him here. We need to turn back and think of a strategy".

"No! We need to go after him!" Roman objected, running to where Virgil stood, looking over the edge then turned his head right back to Logan.

"We can't" Virgil shook his head in defeat.

Roman's head whipped back to the sorcerer in an offended surprise.
"Don't you want to save him?"

"Of course I do! But who knows where he is right now? He can teleport, for crying out loud! He shouldn't be able to do it!" he panicked, "don't you see what this means? The Book's powers go beyond manipulation of our reality! With the powers of the book he could be right at the Snake Man's door step!"

"Virgil, breath" Thomas went forward and joined the rest.

"Roman, they're right" Thomas admitted a few minutes later, turning back to his horse with a defeated hunch to his shoulders.

The three said nothing as they joined him, Virgil glancing back one last time at the large, sun bathed clearing before they were swallowed up by the thick trees once again.
_

Back at the castle, they all sat grim and somber, staring at Patton's empty seat.

"To figure out where Patton is, we first need to find the Snake Man, since 'bringing him in' " Logan emphasized the last words using air quotes, "seems to be his primary goal" he laid back the maps on the round table, drawing everyone's attention to them.

"We know that the Snake Man's attacks started approximately a year ago, then suddenly stopped after a month, only to resume a few month back. We know that he attacks mainly on Patton's land but reports suggest that he has ventured farther."

"What was Patton thinking?" Roman pounded on the table, startling the rest. "He was there when we first apprehended the Book, when we fought to save this land from the corrupt hands of that devil! How could he be so foolish as to take The Book? As to become a villain?!"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" Thomas sighed from his place at the table.

"Still, has eleven years of peace made him forget all the hardships of the past?" Roman argued.

"It doesn't matter now why he did it," Virgil interjected, "finding him should be our top priority."

"And it is, but to find him we need to find who he's looking for" Logan continued, only to be cut off again.

"No.." Virgil shook his head, "We have no idea if he even knows where the Snake Man is. Even with The Book's powers there's a slim chance he could have teleported right to his doorstep"

"Agreed" Roman joined in, "to find Patton we need to think like Patton"

"How are we supposed to think like Patton?" Logan said with a huff. "He's proven himself to be quite unpredictable" Logan sounded frustrated.

"Patton would want to help people" Thomas croaked. "That's why he did it in the first place. He couldn't watch the villagers suffer any longer by the hands of that man" Thomas looked at the men before him, pulling his hands together in sudden realization.