Blade(Part 3): Dusk

Chapter 11: Matilda

Matilda's targets were two of the most vital Peacekeepers to Apeph and Aziz's authority. They were called the Chimera and the Gryffon. As far as Matilda could tell, they were both two of the worst ones out of all of the Peacekeepers. The Chimera was in charge of Orathan's Peacekeepers' weapons research and development, while the Gryffon had the task of taming terrifying monsters to use for destructive means if necessary. Both of them would likely be more difficult than the targets that Catherine and Ptolemar were charged with hunting down, but Matilda would rather she be the one to do so than her children. The Chimera would likely be in the Skaolan city of Emopis, the most industrialized city in the country. If he wasn't there, Matilda didn't know where else she would look. The city had smog in the sky looming above it, coming from towers that stuck out from factories that ran all along its coast. Shipyards that had the warships of the Skaolan navy housed in them had slaves at work building the war machines, while more inland were weapons factories and vehicle depots that also had used slave labor to further build up the might of the Skaolan military. The city's streets were worse. There was no one other than black-armored soldiers marching through them, keeping an eye out for citizens in the houses that would instantly be targeted as escaped slaves, and either killed where they stood or sent back to whatever factories they supposedly ran from. It only confirmed what Matilda already knew. Life under the Empire of Skaola was no life at all.

"These people must have been abandoned by the gods," Matilda whispered to herself. She would need to stay completely out of sight, no matter what. The outer residencies of the city seemed to have fewer guards patrolling. They must have known that the inner city was where any escaped slaves would more likely be than the outer city. Chances are there would hardly be any slaves that escaped the inner city at all. Still, Matilda wouldn't risk being spotted. She climbed to the rooftop of one of the small houses before her to find a route to the keep of Emopis. There seemed to be a small road that went straight through the outer city, and all the way to the center, where the keep sat, but the only way Matilda would get there was if she stayed off the street and out of sight. That wouldn't be a problem for her. She kept to the alleys between the houses and other buildings, taking care to look around every corner she turned for guards before moving any further. As they drew closer, Matilda could hear their conversation more clearly

"So, the Chimera's left, hasn't he?" one of the asked.

"That's right," another one answered. "Some kind of artifact in these ruins west of the city. I don't know what could be there that would be of any use to us, though."

"Well, it must mean something to him, right?" the first soldier guessed.

"Maybe," the other one agreed. Matilda heard their voices fade as they walked further away.

"Damn it," she cursed. She was in the right city, but the person she was looking for wasn't in the city. If what the soldiers were saying was true, then she would find the Chimera in the deserts to the west. She crept through Emipos until she reached its western limit, then noticed a thin stack of smoke rising from behind a tall sand dune. Matilda climbed it to see where it was coming from, finding a large camp in what seemed like a shallow crater in the sand. A few Skaolan swordsmen were sitting around the fire, roasting a piece of meat on a sharp stick over it. They seemed to be the only two soldiers there, since Matilda couldn't see any in the tents of the camp. She crept up behind one while the one in front of them had his head down and stabbed one of her bracer blades into his throat before hurling a throwing knife at the next one before he could react, sticking it into the top of his head.

"What were you looking for, Chimera?" Matilda whispered to herself. She looked around the campsite for anything that would have told her something. The tents had nothing, but a small pot was next to the campfire the soldiers were sitting by, filled with ash. Matilda picked up one of the ashes, looking at it closely. It was a burnt piece of paper, with writing on it. She could only make out a word and a half, though.