Band of Misfits

CHAPTER 2: REGROUP

"This is insane. It's treason. We'll be labeled as enemies of the state. I can't believe we just did this," said Alexia as she held her head and frantically paced back and forth. She continued for a few moments as she couldn't stop the hoard of thoughts racing to her head. Her companions stared at her with concern and, admittedly, a bit of amusement. After some time though, Lyla nodded her head. She went up to Alexia and began shaking her.

"Slow down there princess. Everything's gonna be alright," said Lyla.

"Oh? And how is that?" asked Alexia with a frown on her face.

"Yeah, how is that," asked Rydel as he faced Sol.

Sol began giggling to himself. He pointed towards the dead bodies and said, "Look, it's ice." Zero tilted his head and stared at Sol with a raised brow. Sol noticed this and turned to him. Sol continued saying, "What happens with ice? It melts, so there's no murder weapon left behind. And look," Sol grabbed the ends of his cloak and spun, "there's no kind of stain on me, so there's no proof that we were ever here."

"He makes a good point," said Lyla, "and besides, do any of you have a better idea?"

Rydel and Alexia looked at each other for a moment. They could see that the other wasn't ok with the situation but were powerless to do anything about it. They both turned their heads down and in unison said, "No..."

"Alright then it's settled," said Sol as he clapped his hands in glee, "we'll split up and go through the city from different entrances. Whoever goes in first can tell the guards that they've seen the bodies here. We'll meet back up at a bar."

"Alright fine, if we're splitting up then I'll go with Lyla and keep her in check," said Alexia.

"You'll what?!" questioned Lyla as she started marching towards Alexia.

"So it's decided," said Sol as he motioned towards Zero and Rydel, "the girls will go together and I'll take these two with me." Lyla scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Let's just go already," said Lyla.

The group gathered their things and split off towards the great city. Lyla and Alexia ventured to the Northeastern entrance while the rest of the group headed to the Southeastern. Each group would take roughly the same amount of time to get there.

Although they were still quite a bit of distance away, the group could see the great walls surrounding the city of Shalai. From afar the walls didn't look so mighty, but as one grew closer they would see that the stone walls were as sturdy as iron and looked as though they could reach the heavens themselves.

The continent of Iserath had seen constant war when the first races were brought into existence. Cities and knowledge were lost with each clash until 2000 years ago when an uneasy peace treaty was struck, and Shalai came to be. Its large outer wall is both for defense and a reminder to keep the people safe.

After some time walking in silence, Lyla and Alexia were approaching the city's entrance. Two guards stood there, eyeing the girls approaching them.

"Ok, so now what?" asked Alexia.

"We go up, we lie, and then we go in," replied Lyla.

"That sounds too simple."

"Just follow me." Lyla ran towards the guards and waved at them, and Alexia quickly followed suit. Lyla reached the guards and began panting as though she had lost her breath from the short run.

"What is it? What's going on?" asked one of the guards. Lyla looked up at him. Her once sharp eyes seemed rounder, and her tone became softer.

"Please," said Lyla, "we saw an attack not too far out from here. It looked like a massacre, and we fear it might have been a noble family." Alexia took a step back at Lyla's behavior, as she had never seen her act like this before and didn't think she could. The other guard, however, was paying no attention to Lyla's plea. He stared intently at Alexia, as if he had seen her before.