Chapter 611: Mad (1/2)
Prince Herod stretched his arms out and allowed one of his surviving knights to pick the lock of the iron cuffs. He took a quick check of his surroundings and cursed as he spotted several patrols lit by steam lamps moving up and down the streets. One of his knights said quietly, ”We need to find a safe place to hide and recover.”
He nodded in agreement but he did not know where to find a safe spot. The Prince has some contacts in the city of Iron Gate but he did not know if they will turn against him. The sudden appearance of killers and the strange movements of the City Guards meant that there was a conspiracy against him.
He did not know if the Greenrock Clan was the mastermind, but if they were, it would be puzzling as the amount of effort and resources they had used to support him was not small. Unless there was something major happening, the Greenrock Clan would not burn their bridges with him.
”There must be a third party out there manipulating things...” Prince Herod mumbled to himself. ”But who will benefit the most from my death?”
”Your Highness!” A knight hissed and he gestured to the alley entrance. The telltale glow of an approaching patrol could be seen entering the dark alley. ”They are coming!”
”Hide in the shadows!” Prince Herod whispered and he crouched low against some rotting crates. The rest of his knights followed suit and they watched tensely as the patrol shone beams of light down the dark alley.
”Come on,” A dwarvan could be heard saying. ”Let's go, there's nothing here!”
”Hold on for a moment,” Another dwarvan said. ”Let me check the alley real quick!”
”What for?” The rest grumbled. ”We are not getting paid enough for this! I should be in bed nice and warm and not freezing in my leathers!”
”Hold your rocks will you?” The dwarvan mumbled as he strolled down the alley, sweeping his steam powered gas lamp left and right. ”It will jus-!”
A fist flashed out and connected against the dwarvan's face with a loud crunch of breaking bones. The punch sent the dwarvan flipping backwards and knocked out cold. Cries of alarm came from the patrol when they witness one of their own getting attacked and they charged into the narrow alleyway.
Prince Herod feinted a retreat down the alleyway and lured the rest of the angry patrol after him while his knights remained hidden against the shadows. As the patrol ran past them, they tripped the dwarvans or hammered them with pieces of rotting planks. A one sided melee broke out and in just a span of several breathes, the dwarvan patrol was neutralized.
”Grab anything of use and go!” Prince Herod ordered quickly as he went forward and stripped a dagger off one of the dwarvans. The earlier shouts of alarm had already attracted more patrols over and the Prince and his men could see the bobbing glow of lights approaching them from the alley entrance. ”GO!”
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”Shopper copies,” The Marine radioman released the transmit button and turned to the rest. ”The Captain says we are to find an inn or somewhere safe and stay the night in the city. A quick reaction force has been dispatched and will be standing by outside the city just in case.”
”Great!” Dr. Sharon sighed. ”Where can we find a place to stay at this time?”
Magister Thorn glanced around the unhappy crowd growing larger and larger at the closed gate and said, ”We better go find an inn fast before they run out of rooms...”
”We saw some inns back that way!” Clarie helpfully said from the side. ”We can see if they have any rooms left?”
Dr. Sharon nodded and they headed away from the gates. Many other people were doing the same as they too left to look for a place to sleep for the night. Anyone that tried to sleep next to the gates was kicked and forced away. The Iron Gate's city guard does not allow begging nor sleeping on the streets, hence many of the people that were planning to leave by the side gate were in a dilemma as many of them could not afford a place to sleep.
After an hour of scuttling up and the dark streets did they finally found an inn that only offered them space at their empty stables. The rest of the inns were all fully packed and even their stables were rented out. Without much choice, Dr. Sharon and the rest accepted the arrangements and they settled down to rest in one corner of the stable that was thankfully filled with fresh straw.
”First of all, I like to apologize for tonight...” Dr. Sharon said sheepishly. ”If I did not get sidetracked with all the shopping... We would have been back in our comfortable bunks instead of sleeping out in the rough...”
”No sweat madam!” One of the Marine grinned as he set down the parcels and bags of purchases. ”This is better than being cooped up on board the Old Ugly!”
”Yes!” The Professor's students all agreed. ”We have been stuck on board for so long... Even sleeping out here feels so much better!”
Everyone laughed and they settled down as comfortably as they could with the straw filled floor while the Marines arranged a watch. It did not take long before the rest of the stables were filled with people who like everyone else were trapped in the city for the night. After a night of excitement, everyone quickly dozed off while one of the Marines stayed on watch inside the stable.
Dr. Sharon suddenly jolted awake from her sleep that was invaded by restless dreams. She kept seeing the handsome elf staring at her with murder in his eyes in her dreams. She wiped the sweat off her face and decided she needed some fresh air. She waved the Marine sentry back to his post and walked out of the stable and headed to the well in the courtyard and drew some water.