It was cold when Alder woke next, the cold of evening that only comes from a lack of the overbearing sun above. It felt nice, a slight nip at the exposed skin, while the body remained warm and content in its coverings. 

Someone had thrown a blanket over him and placed him along one of the sides on a makeshift cot. Likely Jeann had found him and made sure he was removed from the way of people, Albert had probably made the cot ready and given him the blanket. 

"...madness." He heard the distant sounds of Oridi, her rushed words spilling out.

"How bad, really?" Jeann asked

"Not good," A male voice said "The city is under strict guard. Ihugi could not get away."

"Neither could Tsep," Oridi said. 

Alder threw off the blanket and pulled himself off the cot. The conversation was too interesting to just eavesdrop on, he needed to be apart of it. This was something he could help with, he needed to help with. 

He made his way into the central room of barn and found Jeann, Oridi, and Albert sitting with a pair of men he didn't recognize. One looked rough, and hand a distinctly hianderian look. Large frame, muscled arms, slightly piggish features. The only thing he was missing was tusks, of course they didn't all have them. 

The other was a noble looking man in a well trimed coat and trousers, looking more and more iritated at the surroundings with each second. He was mardan, but with the pale skin of the more northern provinces. His ears were long like Alders though, that was interesting. 

"Evening," He said. "Sorry for sleeping in so long."

"I'd imagine you'd need it after that whole event." Jeann said

"Are you feeling alright?" Albert asked

"I'm fine. Nothing that won't work itself out anyway." 

"Excuse me," The well dressed man said "But who are you?"

"Alder, Pere of Mehonoris and Librarian."

"Ah, a librarian. How wonderful. Perhaps you could fetch me a cup of tea and good book. Otherwise you should stay out of the affairs of people you-"

"Shosh," Oridi snapped "Enough. Alder, this is Shosh, the least respectable noble you'll find that still deserves some respect." 

Shosh wrinkled his nose and turned his face upwards in dissaproval but said nothing to counter the statement. 

"I'm Khokke," The Hiander said, extending an open hand for a shake. Alder met the gesture and found that his hands were rather calloused, like he'd worked with them all his life. 

"They're part of the group Albert formed."

"Meant to kill Count," Khokke said. He couldn't seem to shake the accent of his home, and the strain to speak in the common tongue only made the process seem more difficult. "But that has failed so far."

"I would maintain the blame being on the feet of Albert," Oridi said. 

"I will have no such thing!" Albert defeneded. "If anyone, its Jeann at fault here. You know that now."

"Oh good friend you are," Jeann snipped "Loyal till the end, eh?"

"It doesn't matter." Alder said, trying to calm to mock fight that was building around him. He was glad that everyone had a good sense of humor, otherwise those words would have sparked a very nasty fight amongst the group. "We need to figure out what to do now. What was this about madness?"

"The city," Oridi said, "Its under lock, and the whole place is madness now."

"Shouldn't it just be a normal military lockdown, whats so different about this?" Alder asked

"They're searching homes too," Jeann said 

"Ripping them apart more like." Albert corrected "Killing those in their way."

"Hes gone full tyrant," Alder breathed "over this? Over Nadea and our leaving?"

"Who can say, but it certainly let an impression on him." Jeann crossed her arms and leaned back a bit. "Hes searching for both of us. And the guard that helped us escape."

"Oh, thats fun." Oridi said. 

"Is this it then? The whole group?" Alder looked around, their team wasn't large. It was smaller than they'd need to take on an entire army. Actually, he wasn't sure how many he'd need for the minimum of that, but whatever the number was he certainly wasn't close. 

"No," Oridi said "There are three others. Ihugi and Mogti, Hianders like Khokke, and Tsep, another mardan."

"Where are they then?"

"Tsep works as a mortician, she can't just up and leave without marking suspicion. Neither can Mogti or Ihugi for that matter, both work as guards now."

"Both?" Albert asked "When did that happen?"

"When the city went on lockdown and the guard captain noticed a strong hiander without armor on. You think they avoid Mogti now?"

"Thats a fair enough point." 

"So whats our plan then?" Alder asked "We kill the Count, right?"

"Right." Oridi said

"Then what?" 

"What do you mean?" The room looked to him with confusion 

"What happens to the city and its people once we end the life of its Count?"

"It pass to next in line," Khokke said "the daughter will rule the city. Hopefully better than father."

"Thats a bit much to put on the shoulders of a kid, don't you think?"

Alder ignored the decades of histories he'd read of young children being rulers. He didn't know what he was fighting for now, but he was taking a stand here. Perhaps he didn't what there to be any issue with the city after they left and fled. What would be the point in saving a town only for it falter the next day?

"Thats not really our concern," Jeann said "If it becomes an issue than the Duke will sort it out, but I'm certain Elizabeth will be fine. After all, shes at that fancy Academy. They have to teach her something there, right?"

"I still don't feel too right about it," Alder said  "I don't like the idea of throwing the town into chaos just to thwart the affairs of a single evil man."

"Its the lives of the many ove the lives of the few," Jeann said "If he starts up that project again, or worse yet summons another being like Nadea... Theres just no telling what could happen."

"You saw the damage first hand in Old Town, Alder." Oridi said "The church, remember?"

"I'm just saying that maybe we should turn him in to the Duke for punishment."

"The Duke would have his head and stick it on a pike for the trouble. No, this way gives everyone here a better chance and doesn't rely on a broken buearacracy."

Alder was silent for a minute, weighing up all the possibilities in his head before finally resigning and nodding. "Fine, I'll take your word for it then."

"Wonderful." Jeann said "Now how do we actually, you know, kill him?"

"Planning murder has always been one of my specialties." Oridi said confidently, "Well, planning heists, but like I said before they're basically the same thing."

"With Ihugi and Mogti on the Guard payroll, that gives us two ins on the locations and placements."

"That is not nothing," Khokke stroked his chin and sat atop a bale of hay, sections of the upper bulked beneath his weight but the whole thing kept. "We know guards, we know holes in armor."

"Fair enough." Shosh said "But what about the actual deed? What do we do about that?"

"Well, I have a few plans we could try," Oridi said "but they did rely on the city not being under such a strict regiment of guard."

"Nothing we can do about that now." Jeann said "I have a few ideas, but most involve drawing him out of the city. Out into the field and leading his troops too."

"We'd need an army, and again we don't have that." Shosh said "This is all starting to feel rather hopeless."

The room fell silent. Nothing was working, no plans were coming to fruition, nothing seemed to be an answer. Worse yet was that they were just talking themselves in circles, they weren't getting anywhere with this. Everything they could do would be thwarted, every avenue blocked. Alder cursed magic for its inability to solve all their problems, something it'd been advertised as for years. 

"We know movements." Alder offered. "And we have a few people on the inside who maybe be able to sneak us in, but how do we use the morticianary position to our advantage?"

"We could pretend to be bodies." Jeann said "Sneak in that way."

"What good would that do us?" Oridi asked "Your full kit weighs more than three soldiers combined, noones believing that youre dead. The others maybe,"

Jeann looked like she was trying to decide whether it had been a smart decision to allow Oridi so much room or not, but the question seemed to fade from her mind quickly, because she noded in agreement and shurgged her shoulders.

"Fair enough. So what then?"

"We keep coming back to that question." Alder said

Silence. The seconds ticked by to minutes, and minutes ticked to an hour. They all stood or sat, pondering the possibilites and transfixed by the options and how they would be countered, if they could be countered. 

Alder decided that this had to be the least enjoyable section of the whole ordeal, as knocking the wood over off made building a fire near impossible, so too was it hard to get someone to keep trying when you only ever found yourself wrong. Still, thats what the war gamers did, and they'd helped win battles. He just wished he could find the spark of inspiration to light their way. 

"Okay," Jeann said, shattering the silence and pulling them all back into reality "We've been at this too long. We need to take a break. I'm going to go see if I can make some food for us."

"I will help," Khokke said cheerily "Will be fun to cook."

"Might as well spend my time around there as well," Albert said "anything else we should know Oridi?"

"Not that I can think of," She said "Just that I wish we had a plan. Let alone a defensive strategy for if they track us here. Perhaps I should talk with hargis about that..."

"Okay, well you heard the lady. Lets all go about our duties or wants, and we'll reconvene for food."

Oridi paced the open space and tried to mentally place all of the intricate pieces that were spinning around her. The guards, the soldiers. what their schedules were, she tried mapping it all and letting that image color her plan. Instead, all she got was a headache and minor dizziness. 

"Argh! This is impossible!"

"What is?" Hargis asked. 

Oridi turned and found Hargis, the man she'd considered her oldest friend. A man she'd considered as a father for a short time. A man she'd grieved for, and someone she'd never trully given up hope on. 

"I... Nothing. This plan is all. Or lack there of."

"So nothings happen'd?" 

"Nothing beneficial." She paused, taking a breath. "I never gave up hope that you were alive."

"I'd have." Hargis said laughing, "I didn't know what te think when I lost ye. Still don, really. Missed ye something fierce, but..."

"No one would have survived that," Oridi whispered "I know. I'd have thought the same thing."

"I'm sorry." Hargis said "For not lookin, for not tryin."

"I don't blame you, it's probably better that you didn't. It certainly seems that way, you made a home for yourself finally."

"Well I..." Hargis reddened in pride slightly and looked around. When he returned his eyes to hers, his face was awash with pain again. "I had a feeling ye were out there. I just never acted on it." 

"Hargis, its fine. Like I said, I don't-"

"I know, I know." 

Silence. Not a defeaning one, not one that bore its roots into the soul of the conversation and slew it in a single motion. No, this was a comfortable silence that erupted from family, ones with no need to fill every moment with the duldrums of speech. 

Oridi had found Hargis. He was alive. She didn't need to worry about him now because he was fine. He had made a life for himself, a safe one. 

"You made the smart move," Oridi said at last "Staying out of it, that is. Only way out is death otherwise."

"Never got out fully," Hargis said "Family still goes raidin, sometimes I join em, but its nothin like it used te be."

"Better for your longevity that way,"

"What about ye now?" He plopped himself on a bale and looked her over "Ye seem to be about the same as when I last saw ye, though that aint sayin much given yer whole." He waved over her direction. 

"Just traveling," She said, ignoring the gesture with a genuine smile. "Trying to stay safe and find you, I guess."

"Long way te go, safety. Think ye'll find it?"

"Found you, didn't I?" 

He smiled, but it never reached his eyes. Instead, a look of saddness filled his pupils and eventually drained down to his face. 

"What about this Count business? Is that really neccessary?"

"Hes one of them," Oridi said. Anger was trying to buble its way into her voice, but she kept the feelings in check for the moment. "One of the bastards involved in creating me. Maybe not him exactly, but hes trying to do it again. Make more. He might have succeeded already, just this one was a failure."

"You mean, more changelings? Torture and overdose with energy, again? Here?"

"People've been going missing for sometime, if the locals are to be believed." 

"That they have," Hargis muttered "But I never imagined..."

"Neither would I have," The room felt colder somehow, like even the warmth wished to flee the topic. "They kept it well hidden."

"I'd imagine, ain't heard nothin bout it ever. Only the missing people, never where they'd gone." He shook his head in disbelief "I thought you said you destroyed the records."

"I thought that I had." 

"Then what does that mean? Hes working from memory or rumour?"

"Maybe he hasn't succeeded before, but he's deffinetly getting close."

"Nadyoin! Oridi, this ain't good."

"You needn't tell me! I'm here trying to stop it,"

"How'd you find out about it anyway?"

She shrugged "Didn't know until recently, honestly just came to beat some information out of him and see if I could find you." 

"Well, least something worked out." He gave a more full smile and nodded "For once," 

"You sure I can't come meet the family?"

"Oh no!" He said "Not with this whole thing goin on. I'll not have the others gettin involved, idiots they are."

"I understand, we wouldn't have asked anyhow."

"They'd of offered! Fools near every one."

"We wouldn't take them, I wouldn't do that to you Hargis. I wont even ask you to join us."

"No?" He seemed almost hurt by that.

"You've a life here now. I'm not going to be the one to pull you away from that, especially not over a vendeta."

Silence again. They were slipping into it more and more now. It felt strange, like a comfort that came after pain. Knowing the experience was over but never really going anywhere with it. 

"So," Hargis broke the silence this time. Clearly neither wanted to leave. "What do ye plan on now?"

"Thats where the rub is." She said. Oridi pinched her brow and tried to fight back the headache. "I'm still not sure. No ideas we've had have been good. Or would work."

"Hmm,"

"Its okay," Oridi chuckled and shook her head "I don't expect you to find the answer where the rest of us couldn't, and I wouldn't put that on you."

"But ye need all the help ye can get." Hargis said. "Perhaps I can help with that, I'm old but I still served a while."

"I wouldn't discredit the work, but this might be a bit of a different situation than those you found yourself in before."

"No matter, perhaps i'll bring it up over dinner. The groups love talking their ways through things like that."

"Well, if you think its a good idea then i'll leave it to you, but in the meantime we need to figure out what we're going to do. And what about defensive options around here, what do you have?"

"Oh," He smiled "Don worry too much about that, we've got it well in control?" 

"What does that mean?"

"We've thirty people living in the manor and another dozen in the valley. We look out fer one another."

"What about if the Count were to send a force here?" 

Hargis' face dropped and he took on a more serious tone 

"There isn't much we could do about that, but I hope it wouldn't come te that."

"It very well may..." Oridi crossed her arms and tried to picture the future. Tried to picture her life ahead without baring down a full army of soldiers. She couldn't see one, all she could see was the world before her and the new friends she'd made, dead. It wasn't a pretty thought.

"Well I hope it doesn't, but we've been ready for that since the day we started here. The boys go and raid from the Count and the Empire from time te time, only fair they find us eventually and rectify that situation."

"Awful accepting way of looking at the lifestyle you left."

"Never said we'd go quiet. None would, we plan on taking down every last one if they come."

"Down to the last man, huh?"

"Should it come to it," Hargis said, "But again, hopin it wont get this far."

"We'll do our best to keep the fighting to the city and its surrounding landscape, we wouldn't want to bring any further issues down upon you or your family here."

"I know, Oridi, I know." 

Philistine, Count of Domicorta and the region surrouding, paced the floors of his study in frustration. The guards had failed him at nearly every avenue, none had managed to capture a single one of the Pere or the other escapees that fled with them. The fact that the bitch had tipped off the other Pere was a problem. 

He couldn't go to the Empire with the issue, and he knew they likely would if they had the chance. He'd ordered his guards on the fringes of the territory to keep an eye open for those passing through. He'd failed to find any of them using this method either, but if he was anything it was persistent. 

"My Lord," Said a soldier entering "We still haven't found anything of the Librarian or the Bloody Lance."

"Call them by their names, they deserve no honor! They tried to kill your Count!"

"Yes m'lord, sorry m'lord. The peres Jeann and Alder haven't been spotted in any of the surrounding settlements, nor have our scouts managed to track the carriage those three spoke of."

"Useless." He clenched his fist and tried to push the scent of dung from his nose. The Guard clearly hadn't bathed in some time. He'd need to have a note with the mans betters about the state of the soldiers in his retinue. "Fine, you're dismissed. Keep searching,"

The man nodded and slipped out of the room without another word. Philistine felt himself tense with stress as he relieved the last few moments he'd seen them. Those bastards. Alder had taken that which was supposed to be his. He needed that creature, the changeling was the goal, but this was something new. Something entirely new. 

None of the expirements he'd performed in all his years had produced energies like the ones during that nights' tests so many weeks past now. It was unfortunate that it had resulted in portions of his populace being terrorized by a monsterous creature of nightmares, but that was life. Sometimes you lived, sometimes you died to forces beyond your control. 

He'd lost his parents that way, he'd lost his wife that way. He didn't want to lose anyone else that way, and now he had the chance to change it all. Whatever that creature was, was something that was only rumoured. It held power in ways he'd never expected. 

"What were you," He muttered, running a hand along his desk to smooth a report out. "What power do you have that I can learn."

"My Lord," A woman, one of his generals. 

"Ah, Hasley, good news I trust."

"No my lord, sadly nothing of the sort."

"Hmm, I'd hoped that one of the best of my troops would be able to manage a simple task as finding a group of runaways." He turned to face the woman.

She was getting on in years, the grey showing in her auburn hair. She had the scars of war mixed with the wrinkles of laughter, strange how those two managed to mix. Her armor was polished, but the gambeson beneath seemed to be in desperate need of repair, it almost looked as if she'd been fighting. 

"Everything alright General?"

"No my lord," Hasley lowered her head "I'm afraid we've been unable to locate the majority of the offenders. Our best have pursued them to the extent possible, but without further aid it will be impossible to search the remainder the lands."

"Further aid? What did you have in mind."

"A frigate and-"

"Out of the question." A frigate? Was she crazy or just so frustrated that she wanted this done. Overkill be damned "I'll not be sanctioning a Frigate to fly over my city. We have enough trouble with the citizens as is, given the searchs through the town."

"Then a patrol ship at least, maybe two. Just something to fly the lands and look from above. It might be easier to spot their hideout that way too."

"What else did you have in mind, besides that."

"Well," She said "Failing that, we could redeploy our fifth company to assist in searching the areas." 

She really was looking for the overkill option. 

"Any reason for fifth company in particular?" 

"They're the closest and stationed with some new recruits. They're both bolstered and within reach, figured it'd be the best option. My lord." She tacked the last bit on a sign of formality. She clearly wasn't going to lose her head for the failure, but she still seemed unsure as to what was going to happen. 

"I'd appreciate it if my top general managed to capture a handful of criminals escaping from my lands. "

"Give me either of the two and I promise I'll manage it. We can force them out into the open, or push the chase into whatever hole they decide to hide in."

"It's been five days as it is, they could be anywhere in the land by now. We'd need both to properly search the region." He sighed and nodded his head approvingly "Fine, send off the order for the Fifth Company and a pair of Patrol airships to be sent our way." 

"Yes my lord!" She snapped a quick salute and departed out the door. 

The room fell silent agian, filling only with the sounds of his steps as he returned to his pacing. He'd given her the order because he too was growing impatient. If things went on much longer, which given it'd take more than a week for the airships and company to arrive from the front, it was already going to take a while. 

Perhaps he could lure them out, they'd likely want his head. Surely they'd be working on some way to "end his reign", that made them predictable. He could use predictable. 

What he couln't use though, was another guard turning on them, how had they managed to turn one of his anyway? It was the strangest thing, and even if they'd just managed to slip one of their friends inside dressed as his guard, how had they managed for so long without being discovered?

It wasn't impossible, and he had to admit that it would be something he'd likely do in a similar situation. So, what would he do now? Being on the run and with enough information to take down a higher Count of the Eastern Front, what would he do? He'd go to the authorities is what, but he'd have to leave the region to do so. 

Typically that would mean water, rail, or air. His region had neither the new rail lines or any real Air stations, so neither would be a viable option of escape. That left land, which mean taking a caravan for the protection and safety, however they'd also need to register their identities with the transport official, and they wouldn't be able to do that and leave. 

"So what would I do?" 

He could see the rub of the issue now. Surely they had considered all the possibilities the same as he had, which meant they likely felt the same way about their options. Hopeless. It was a pleasant feeling to know that his system had worked well enough to trap the bastards in without escape, but that didn't help him find them any faster. 

"Would I try and kill the despot? Would I risk my life to end that reign?" 

Probably not, especially when he had no reason to. Of course that didn't matter to the issue at hand, but it did color his perspective. With a resigned sigh, Philistine elected to take a trip down to the lower chambers and review the notes he'd made of the other days events. There must be something there that he was missing, he was sure that if he could only find it then he could find the others.