Chapter 48: The Baron’s Envoys
Two eye-catching riders on horseback rode through the dirt road before ten others on foot who were soldiers.
One was a male with jet-black hair and a sharp, angular face, the kind that looked carved from stone. He was garbed entirely in a fitted black gambeson stitched with silver threading, black pants tucked neatly into high leather boots, and black gloves that looked barely worn. The texture of his clothing, smooth, layered, and reinforced was clearly beyond what anyone in the rustic Redwood Town could afford.
A slender sword with a violet hilt dangled at his waist as his horse trotted with steady grace. Beside him rode a woman in a flowing black gown that clung tightly to her torso, emphasizing her curves, before spilling loosely from the waist down like dark silk, trailing lightly over the flanks of her grey mare. Her hair was tied in a simple braid, but her bearing was unmistakably that of someone important.
She was Mirabel the scribe, cold, brilliant, and trusted and the man beside her was Edric, a sergeant and a peak-level Adept with over a decade of battle-worn experience!
"Why did Lord Fenlan send us to this wretched place again? I seem to have forgotten," Edric asked, his voice slow and dry as he tilted his head lazily toward Mirabel, as if trying to keep himself entertained.
"To count his rice," Mirabel replied softly, her voice calm and almost bored, though her eyes never stopped scanning the landscape. "He thinks Lord Kaelor Dravion might have laid hands on what belongs to him."
"And what should we do if he has laid hands on it?" Edric raised an eyebrow, a mocking edge in his voice, his smirk widening as he stared at her like a boy expecting mischief.
"Remove his tongue." Mirabel stated such cruel punishment like it was some everyday chore, her tone as casual as one commenting on the weather.
"We’re already there. Last time we came here, the walls were about to fall. I think there won’t even be a wall now—" Edric trailed off, his voice faltering as his eyes widened.
He didn’t know what to think of his own statement when he saw the towering, tree-bark brown wall ahead, over twenty feet high, blotting out the very sunlight.