Pandora Unchained B1C31 - Knives in the Dark

5 chapters again this week ^^. Enjoy!

“You’re saying I should tell you how I want to die?” laughed the guard commander. “Look at where you are, miss York. This is the Bloodwood Outpost, not Olympia.”

“If this was Olympia, you wouldn’t so much as look at me the wrong way,” answered Haley. “But you’re right. I am far away from home.  That means I don’t need to be so inhibited when I pull out your cuts and cut up your bones.”

“Who will be cutting up who remains to be seen,” said the guard commander. “Your man killed five innocent people and resisted arrest. That’s a grave offense.”

“One of our guild members gets attacked in the street by a group of assassins, and your guards come here to try and kill him?” retorted Haley. “What sort of bird-shit logic is that?”

“All I know is that my guards are all carefully screen cultivators under the direction of the governor,” said the guard commander. “To question them is to question the governor.”

“If you want to go tell the governor about this, Zenol, be my guest,” Haley said sarcastically. “If we’re lucky, he’d die from embarrassment.”

“Are you making light of the governor’s life?” asked Commander Zenol. “Because that’s a worse offense that resisting arrest.”

“You know that I would never dare do such a thing,” said Haley. “But to be clear, my man did nothing wrong. The fact that these five are wearing cloaks and masks and attacked him when there was no one around is ample evidence. Unless you’re going to tell me that he happened to attack five cloaked and masked men of his own initiative.”

Commander Zenol grunted. “Even if that’s the case, he should have gone with the guards so they could perform an investigation.”

“He was simply waiting for a guild representative to accompany him,” said Haley. “It was your people who decided to force the matter and attack him when he resisted.”

“He didn’t mention anything about the Adventurers Guild when we attacked him!” shouted the man with the dagger in his hand, only to realise he’d misspoken.

“So you did attack him,” said Haley. “Well that’s a problem, see. The correct course of action would have been to surround him and call on the Adventurers Guild to mediate.”

A loud snort sounded out from a neighboring street. A group of cultivators in alchemist robes emerged. “How typical of your Adventurers Guild,” said a man who, just like Haley and Zenol, had reached the bone forging realm. His robes were embroidered with the symbol of the Alchemists Guild, along with two golden stars. “I’m not surprised. It doesn’t change wherever I go. Your lot thinks you can get away with anything and use martial might to supress the local law enforcement teams.”

“Oh? And what brings you here, Alchemist Avery?” asked Haley. “What a small place this outpost is. I suppose you were just out with a walk with all of your senior guild members?”

“Don’t speak nonsense, Haley,” said Avery. “How could us old timers not sense it when bone forging auras clash?”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said another voice. Unlike the ones who’d arrived before, his arrival caused the mana in the air to ripple. The speaker was a lone man in simple mage’s robes. He walked up to Haley and stood beside her. “Pardon for arriving so late and so alone, but this scuffle took me a bit by surprise. Otherwise, I would have emptied out the guild to cause an even bigger scene.” His implications were clear.

“Why don’t we all take a step back?” came the voice of a fifth bone forging cultivator. A handsome, caped man in gold and silver armor came walking down the street. He wore a gleaming golden sword at his side but didn’t bother unsheathing it. Out of all those present, he was clearly the strongest.

“A step back?” asked Haley flatly. “A bunch of people tried to kill one of my members, but the outpost guard – the governor’s people – didn’t try to find justice for him and instead tried to silence him. To ask us to take a step back just shows how lacking your entire team is, Allen Marsh.”

The man’s smile twitched slightly, but he maintained his friendly demeanor. “Shouldn’t you address me as Vice Governor, miss York?”

“No. I don’t think I will,” said Haley. “Don’t take it personally, I just can’t respect a man who relies on his father to obtain his position.” Her words wiped the smile off the vice governor’s face.

“Then let’s get down to business, shall we?” said the vice governor. He looked at the dead assassins and snorted. “These are clearly hired killers. Have your guards no shame?”

Sorin’s eyes narrowed. It seemed they’d really come prepared if they were going to immediately give up on the assassins and the guards.

“Apologies, Vice Governor Marsh,” said Commander Zenol. “I will strictly discipline my people on this matter and will not pursue the matter of assault from Miss York.”

Haley snorted. “You think they can try killing my person and get off with a slap on the wrist?”

“With all due respect, miss York, this matter is unclear,” said Vice Governor Marsh. “Moreover, a knife to the hand is hardly a slap on the wrist.”

“Fine,” said Haley. “If that’s it, then we’ll be going.”

“Not so fast,” said Commander Zenol. “There is a separate matter that needs investigating. Physician Marcus recently reported that an earth flame was stolen, and listed Sorin Kepler as the prime suspect.”

“How surprising,” said Sorin to the commander. “Marcus’s grudge against me is well known, as is the conflict with my family. Am I to become a suspect just because he throws my name out? Tell me, did you see me anywhere near his clinic when the theft occurred?”

The commander’s expression turned icy. “This isn’t the place for a blood thickening whelp to speak.”

“So by your logic, the accused can’t even defend themselves?” retorted Haley. “This is exactly why our guild insists on representation before law enforcement.”

To Sorin’s surprise, the vice governor nodded. “Indeed, it is,” he said. “And we’re thankful for your presence. Personally, I think such an accusation is dubious at best.”

“Nonsense!” yelled Alchemist Avery. “He clearly has an earth flame!”

“Oh?” said Vice Governor Marsh. “And how would you know that?”

“Because this man rented a flameless one-star workshop from my guild and caused a ruckus!” said Alchemist Avery. “I received a report earlier this morning and rushed over to investigate. To my surprise, I discovered the aura of an earth flame. I put it out of mind, because it didn’t seem to matter, but given this surprising report of earth flame thefts from Physician Marcus, I can’t in good conscience not speak up.”

Haley eyed Sorin. “Is this true, Sorin?”

“I’m afraid this is all a big misunderstanding,” replied Sorin.

“What do you mean, a misunderstanding?” pressed Alchemist Avery. “I am a two-star alchemist and couldn’t possibly be mistaken about the aura of an earth flame.”

“That’s not what I was talking about,” said Sorin. “I do have an earth flame.” Then, seeing Haley’s expression fall, he amended his statement. “But it’s actually a beast flame, not a proper earth flame as you were speaking of.”

“A beast flame,” said the alchemist flatly. “I find that very hard to believe.”

Haley, however, suddenly seemed to realize something. “Are you saying the rat king you tamed, the one the guards saw you bring back, the one you tamed in the Temple of Hope, can actually produce a beast flame?”

“Indeed,” said Sorin. “Lorimer, show them.” A rat crawled out of Sorin’s ruined coat and jumped onto the paving stones. His entire body lit up with orange-red flames. “While it’s not strictly an earth flame, its properties are nearly identical. So I can see why this would cause some confusion.”

The alchemist was dumbfounded. So was the vice governor. As for Haley, she could hardly suppress a laugh and patted Sorin on the shoulder. “How lucky you are, finding something even alchemists dream they had. A living earth flame!”

“I personally find it extremely suspicious,” said Commander Zenol. “Why did he not reveal this earth flame when he discovered it?”

“Yes, because every cultivator reveals all their secrets,” said Haley, rolling her eyes. “What, are you going to continue insisting on this dubious charge?”

“There’s still the matter of practicing medicine with out a license!” started Commander Zenol, but the Vice Governor cut him off.

“The guild responded to an emergency shortage out of their own pocket, and by not speaking on the matter, our governor’s manor implicitly approved of their actions,” said Vice Governor Marsh. “So yes, Assessor Haley, this matter ends here. “You can all scatter and return to where you came from.”

With that, he turned around and walked off. The remaining guards dragged away the wounded guard and the assassins’ bodies. Doubtless, their investigation into these people would yield no results.

“Thank you for your support, Vice Guild Master Thomas,” Haley said to the friendly mage who’d come to support them.

“It’s no problem, Assessor Haley,” said the vice guild master of the Mages Guild. “Those fellows are always so overbearing. Us reasonable people need to stand up for each other to survive.” He eyed Sorin’s rat, then looked at Sorin with an expression of surprise. “You should send that lad over to study with us sometime. He’s quite the oddity, man-wise, don’t you think?”

“Don’t you dare steal him from me,” said Haley. “He belongs to our guild, not yours.”

“There are no conflicts between our guilds, and people are often members of both guilds at the same time,” said the vuce guild leader. “Anyone who wishes to learn spell craft is welcome within our halls.”

Sorin coughed lightly. “I’ll pay a visit when I have time.” he said diplomatically.

“Then I’ll be looking forward to your visit,” said the vice guild leader. “Since that’s everything, Haley, I’ll be off. Be sure to keep up your guard. The Kepler Clan’s really kicked the hornet’s nest this time around.”

“You have a lot of guts renting a workshop in the Alchemists Guild given your current situation,” said Haley to Sorin when the vice guild leader was gone. “I have to wonder – are you an idiot, or just desperate? You should know that the Alchemist Guild and the Medical Association are in bed with each other on every level.”

“I guess I underestimated how deeply the connection ran,” said Sorin, shaking his head. “I assumed it was a business alliance. But it seems its closer to marriage instead.”

“Business and politics are inseparable in this world, Sorin,” said Haley. “As you can see, even the supposedly neutral governor has business interests and conflicting interests with the various organizations.”

“It seems I was still a bit too naive,” said Sorin. “Many thanks for your help, Assessor Haley. I would have died without your intervention.”

“I didn’t step in because it was you,” said Haley. “I’d stand up for any one of our members in this situation. Alchemists and physicians are insufferably arrogant, and the local governor’s disposition has only made things worse.”

“Still, I appreciate it,” said Sorin. “And you can rest assured about my condition. I’ll be sure to come by in the morning.”

“Don’t even think about taking off,” said Haley. “Come over to the guild and sleep there. There are beds aplenty, and they’re much safer than the ones in your manor.”

Sorin’s heart warmed at the consideration. “Then I’ll be troubling you, Assessor Haley.”

“It’s like I said,” said Haley. “Don’t look too much into this. If your issue blows up, half of us will be dead before the demon tide even begins.”