Killroy smiled.
"Right then, to Dunwatch!"
***
The first rays of sun were filtering through the clouds on the horizon as Captain Lydiana of the Shoonsville guard entered the main conference room of the governor. Within she found said governor, speaking intently with her second-in-command, a man named Gilbert.
"You summoned me, my lord?" she asked, seeming a bit annoyed.
She had been summoned in the middle of search efforts around the city. The Ravagers had been expelled, but it was necessary to sweep the surrounding territory to search for any surviving enemies, or terrified citizens trying to hide from the carnage.
"Yes, come here, captain." the governor replied, not sounding the least bit pleased himself.
Looking battered and weary, Lydiana approached and then bowed to the ornately-dressed ruler of Shoonsville. The governor was a heavy-set, aging man with a receding hairline and a substantial beard. An increasingly imperious man, he was dead-set on bringing law and order to Shoonsville and the villages within its jurisdiction, at any cost.
"I had been beginning to think that you were beginning to properly grasp your role as captain of the guard. But this most recent escapade has shown me otherwise. First your refusal to crack down on the foreigners as I have commanded, then your continued inability to insure loyalty and discipline among the guards, and now this incredible display of incompetence in response to an outside attack."
The governor put his hands behind his back and walked toward the window.
"And worst of all... the loss of my prized steed, Shadow. Stolen, by my own prisoners." he lamented.
Lydiana bit her tongue and did not respond. The governor valued his horse quite highly. He always showed him off to visiting noble or parading down the street to display the horse to the citizens.
"The fact that one of our own guards, one intrusted with watching over the vermin that I have gone to great lengths to exterminate, released the prisoners and fled the city with them like a coward..." the governor shook his head, "It is beyond forgivable."
He turned toward the woman, a fury blazing in his eyes that betrayed the calm tone in which he spoke.
"If not for the memory of my dear brother, your father, I would have you stripped of name and privilege, then sent home in disgrace."
"I'm sorry, uncle." Lydiana replied weakly.
"Don't!" the governor suddenly burst out, "Don't, call me that. I won't have it... Do you realize the embarrassment this will cause me? My city has been sacked, my prisoners have escaped and my prized Shadow was seen being ridden by, of all things, a beggar from Eastport and a halfling! A HALFLING!"
The governor walked over to the conference table and slammed his first upon it. He seemed to be getting more and more furious as he thought about it. After a moment, he seemed to have collected himself to speak again.
"As it is, your commission as captain of the guard is now void. I am demoting you to lieutenant and promoting your adjutant, Mr. Gilbert. I have also already sent for a reputable mercenary guild to retrain and reinforce the guards. As for you..."
The governor reached down and picked up a scroll from the table.
"The guards on the North gate reported a group of ragged individuals who forced the gate open and fled out of the city. The gatekeeper was wounded by a crazed dwarf, but he swears he recognized my horse being ridden by man and a woman halfling." the governor stated, then tossed the scroll to Lydiana.
She opened it, revealing a wanted poster for a raggy-looking man with black hair. She knew the face.
"The gatekeeper identified that man as the one on my horse. I want him, and Shadow, brought back here, alive. The horse must not be harmed in any way. I don't care about the man, so long as he is still able to speak. If you can recover the other horses, please try to. As for the other escapees... kill any you find." the governor instructed.
"My lord, most of their crimes were minor..." Lydiana protested.
"Most were degenerates or foreigners. They're better off dead." the governor dismissed the concern, "Take a couple dozen men and head North. A traveler that arrived late last night reported passing a group riding toward Dunwatch. Perhaps you can catch them there. If you don't, then keep searching. If you do not return with my horse and the Eastport man... do not dare return at all... Am I clear?"
Lydiana stood in silence. She had watched her uncle change from the kind-hearted man she'd known as a child, to the cold, ruthless, power-drunk man he was today. But never did she think he'd say such a thing to her. He truly wasn't the same person.
"Yes... my lord."
***
Sometime during the night, Killroy, Glink, Todd, Mhaenal and the other two prisoners had arrived at Dunwatch. Without cash to pay for lodgings, someone suggested they tie the horses off, then sleep on the town green. It was remarkably well-maintained after all. So they did... until dawn when...
"What do you blokes think you're doing?!" a cranky male voice snapped.
