Water's Reflection or Hero's Guilt

Chapter Thirty-Four

          The fortress of Bigwaters stood tall in the afternoon sun; from the streets, nothing seemed the matter with it. No sign was given of the demon that had made the fort its home. From the flagpoles on the highest tower still hung the flags that always hung there: the gold and red flag of Wealthorn, depicting the mythological Cornucopia, and the white and blue ship on the Bigwaters' flag. Little did the people of the coastal city know of the massacre that had taken place inside the mighty structure. No one sounded an alarm, no one made it out to warn the people on the streets.

          In the hot sun walked three knights. They traveled to the fort, unknowing. Sirs Toughmace, Decker and Byzantine, in their platemail armor. Common folk greeted them and shot them polite smiles, but those were lost on them. They slumped in defeat, still angry at 'that demon bitch', as Decker had called June Bailey countless times over.

          Digging Decker and Toughmace out of the sand where June had left them stuck had been quite an effort, even with Mage Whitesands's magic to aid them. The knights were tired and they needed to rest. Mage Whitesands had noticed it, and given them a simple task to perform: inform all guards of the change of situation. No longer was Terrance Longeway their highest priority. June Bailey had to be found and quickly. She was very dangerous—who knew what she would be capable of? No one could venture a guess what disaster she would create next...

          However, the knights got a bad feeling of this following disaster when they reached the fortress. Laurent Byzantine frowned and muttered, “That's odd...” when he noticed the guards at the gate were missing. Blood lay on the street. He drew his sword. “Proceed with caution.”

          “Don't got to tell us twice. That bitch was here,” Decker muttered. Toughmace only gave a grunt before taking his mace off his back. He led the way and pushed the door open with the large weapon. The knights peered inside.

          The halls were empty. There was no one to be seen. And no one to hear either: no sounds rang through the fort.

          “I don't like this,” Sir Laurent Byzantine said as they entered carefully. “Where is everybody?”

          “Dead?” Decker gave a nervous chuckle.

          “Why would she do that? To what purpose?”

          He shrugged. “I don't know. Because she's an evil bitch? What good was tossing a few fireballs our way? I think she just likes killing people...”

          “Why not go on a rampage in the streets then?” Byzantine argued. “There's a lot more people there. A lot easier to kill too.”

          “I don't think that matters to her,” Toughmace said. With his mace, he pointed at a large puddle of blood ahead of them. There lay no body.

          Byzantine stared at it for a moment, baffled. “She kills them, then removes the bodies? What good is that?”

          “Maybe so that we don't know who it was. Or maybe it's just for show. It could be animal blood, right?” Decker asked. He looked at his fellow knights for assurance, but neither of them could give it to him.