Chapter 72: Distraction and Misdirection (Patreon)

“It’s not how I remember it,” said Hugo.

I had to agree.

We were on a rooftop across the street from the tavern and couldn’t help but notice some inconvenient changes had been made to the place since our last visit. The first being that every window on both floors had been boarded up. That eliminated my first plan of sneaking in via a bedroom window.

Lively voices could be heard in the tavern which suggested at least a dozen people were inside. Hopefully they’d all been drinking, but it wouldn’t make getting past them any easier.

“Hey, you couldn’t summon one of your crows to appear from inside the building, could you?” I asked.

Hugo shook his head. “I need a direct line of sight to do it.”

Well, there goes that idea.

“What do you think their levels are?” he asked.

I knew what he was getting at. If Anders and Martin weren’t inside, then we had a decent chance of fighting our way through, especially if we caught them by surprise. It was getting away before reinforcements showed up that would be the gamble.

I asked Hugo on whether he could bring his big gun out to fight. “What about Ostorox? Can it fight in these conditions?”

“No, it’s too bright with all those lanterns hanging out front.”

“So get rid of them, then.”

The streets were empty and with all the windows boarded up, the people inside wouldn’t even notice.

Hugo was about to fly off and do just that when I told him to wait. Suddenly, I had a better idea for the lanterns.

*****

Ten minutes later, I was behind the tavern near the back door when I silently sent Hugo the signal through party chat.

There was no way to tell if it would work. The materials might be all wrong or the people inside might be too distracted to notice. All I could do was wait and hope.

Hugo returned, looking pleased with himself.

“You know nothing has happened yet,” I said.

“It will,” he assured me.

Sure enough, smoke began billowing into the air and wasn’t long before others took notice. Voices inside shouted, “fire!” and there was a stampede of people rushing out through the front door.

The lanterns turned out to be more of an asset than I’d first realized and considering all of the buildings were made of wood, fire made the perfect distraction. Hugo had been able to turn several off and coat the building's front exterior in oil before throwing a lit lantern at the oil soaked wall. It had caught fire instantly and spread quickly to the neighboring building as well. At that rate, half the street might get destroyed if they didn’t do something about it.

While they were busy trying to put out the blaze out front, Hugo and I snuck in through the back door. It took us directly into the kitchen, where I paused.

“Get buckets of water and hurry,” said one woman before running off.

The person left in the kitchen was a teenager I didn’t recognize. He would fill one bucket of water in the sink, then put it to the side in order to fill another. A man or woman would then run in to grab the bucket of water before running back out to try and quench the fire. With no hoses, I guess that was the best that they could come up with on short notice.

I waited until somebody grabbed their next full bucket before walking briskly through the kitchen. The teenager didn’t even glance at me, but just to be safe, I grabbed a bucket of water on my way out to the bar to help blend in. Hugo hopped along the floor next to me where it was easier for him to be overlooked, and there were many nooks and alcoves for him to hide in.

As soon as I opened the door, I nearly slammed into one of the runners from before. He was returning an empty bucket and looking to grab a full one. He almost made me drop my bucket of water and I pretended to be angry about this.

“Careful!” I growled at him.

He frowned at me. “Wait, who are…”

“There’s no time!” I snapped, before taking his empty bucket and shoving my full one into his hands. I ordered him to go as if I was in charge and the runner thanked me before heading back outside.

“Good thinking,” Hugo said.

It was something I’d learned before. Act like you belong and almost no one will question you. This goes doubly true when you’re in the middle of a crisis or emergency.

I nodded and told him to wait near the bottom of the stairs and warn me if it looked like anyone was coming up. Hugo didn’t complain this time about being left behind. He understood how pressed for time we were and how sensitive this was. The other reason I’d left him behind was because he was too distinctive. A swordsman with a crow was too recognizable. If anyone saw us together, they’d instantly know who we were.

As I got to the top of the stairs, one of my doubts proved true.

Two guards were standing guard outside of the one of the bedroom doors near the end of the hall. They must have heard about the fire and if that hadn’t moved them, then my act with the runner wouldn’t work a second time with them. Plus, if the fire didn’t concern them, then they must be guarding something important.

It could only be Damian, and as they saw me come up the stairs, I suddenly needed to find a new reason to be here.

“Who are you?” one asked as I approached.

Strangely enough, I almost didn’t answer as I became distracted by the black symbols that had been painted onto the walls and ceiling. Those definitely weren’t here before. Were they something for protection or to hide Damian?

Thinking quickly, I said the man, “somebody from the church. I was told to come here and check on things. Of course, nobody warned me that the place would literally be on fire when I did so.”

The two guards smirked at each other. “I bet it was Ben playing around with one of his fire tricks again.”

“Is there any reason you aren’t out there helping to put it out?” I asked.

The two guards became serious. “We were told never to leave this post under any circumstances, even if it's an attack. Who did you say from the church sent you?”

Crap, they’re getting suspicious.

“Carina sent me,” I said. “If it’s a problem, then maybe you should ask her or Martin about it in party chat. I’m sure they’re not that busy,” I smiled.

The guards blanched at that, which told me I’d guessed correctly. I figured that when their party had grown to a certain size, strict rules would have to be put in place, otherwise the party chat would devolve into a nonstop spam of messages. With such a large party, there might even be punishments for those who broke the rules.

Neither of the guards wanted to take me up on the idea of using party chat.

“I suppose he could go in for a quick look,” said one of them.

The other nodded and pulled a key out of his pocket. “The place is just as Anders and Martin left it.”

One guard frowned at me as the other unlocked the door. His eyes widened in recognition as he stabbed me in the gut. My surprise at the safe zone barrier not activating only lasted a moment before my blade met his throat. The second guard turned and met the same fate and healed me at the same time.

It’s got to be these symbols. They’ve done something to the barrier to block its presence here which means they were likely prepared to kill Damian in this place if he didn’t cooperate.

*DING!* You have Slain [Terry Bellows, Brawler] Level 15 – Experience Points Acquired.

*DING!* You have Slain [Jackson Prull, Axeman] Level 14 – Experience Points Acquired.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that some might recognize me. Martin had no doubt given my rough description to everyone, but there were a lot of swordsmen wearing cloaks in this place. It was a shame, though. I’d hoped to do this without killing anyone.

I quickly added the points to dexterity and shifted the body aside to open the door.

The bedroom has been converted into a makeshift prison cell. There was nothing inside the small room except a man tied to a chair with a hood over his head. He was tied up with metal chains that had symbols carved into them.

So that’s how they were keeping Damian restrained. The chains must dampen or nullify his powers somehow. I tried to loosen them, but they wouldn’t budge.

I called Hugo to come up to me to see if he had any ideas.

“Maybe just carry him and chains and all?” the bird suggested. “We can figure out how to undo them later.”

Right, we should just grab him and go while the others are still distracted by the fire.

“It’s okay. I’m here to help,” I said to Damian as I pulled off his hood.

The man tied to the chair was not Damian.

He grinned up at me and suddenly the bedroom walls melted away to reveal ten fully armed warriors. They’d been waiting for me. They hadn’t just boarded up the windows, but torn down all the connecting bedroom walls and put up a magical illusion in its place.

This whole thing was a trap, and I’d walked right into it.