A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

"Come on," he said and led the way to the rest of their host of Mercenaries where he got on his horse.

Kayla followed and once she was seated at the back of her horse, they continued the ride toward the ridge.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the scene of death where the bodies of the dead Mercenaries were strewn.

Gareth stepped his horse a few feet from the cages and leaped down to run toward them. The ones with the larger bars were so clearly empty but, with the door of the third being turned away, he held on to hope.

That hope was dashed when he caught sight of the broken door lying a few feet away amid signs of battle that were not quite the same as the ones they had passed and had obviously been caused in the battle between the hijackers and the now-dead Mercenaries.

"It\'s gone," Kayla said a mere feet away from Gareth and while he stared at the door lying on the floor many feet away, she was looking into the empty cage.

"There was a battle here," Gareth said.

"Our fight against the hijackers didn\'t get this far," Kayla said, "It had to have been the Hijackers against the Werewolf."

"So they opened the cage then," Gareth said, "They\'re either suicidal idiots or they didn\'t know what was inside."

"If they didn\'t know what was inside then they might not have been allies." Kayla said.

"Maybe not," Gareth said, "But where are the Hijackers?"

He cast his eyes around but everybody he saw was clothed like a mercenary; one of their own. None of them fit Kayla\'s descriptions.

"Search around!" Gareth yelled to the Mercenaries they had brought along,

"Spread out and search for any sign of the Werewolf. Be careful in your search. The moon is still high in the sky and if it has already killed once, it will be all too excited to hunt down more."

"Right!" The Mercenaries chanted as one left on horses. It was going to be easier to outrun or at least reach support if they were on horseback.

"Hold on," Kayla mumbled with her eyes on the battle trails she was sure had nothing to do with the now-dead Mercenaries she had been with earlier that day.

The snowfall was making visibility difficult but she trudged through and it didn\'t take long before she saw something sticking out of a snow pile.

Gareth was close and together, they looked at the face of a recently deceased. It had been obscured not just by the snowfall but by the snow that had collected on the ground around and on top of it.

Gareth and Kayla shared a look and it was clear that they both had the same thought. But one of them was reluctant to accept that thought so he proffered a hopeful alternative;

"One of the Hijackers, maybe?" Gareth asked.

"It\'s naked," Kayla said as though that made things clear. And it did.

A Werewolf\'s shift was bad news for its clothes and they don\'t return when they revert to human form. There was no doubt about it; This was the cargo they had come to retrieve. Only it no longer had any value.

Kayla saw a bullet hole on the head but it was so shallow that she didn\'t think that was what killed him and so, curious about the cause of death, she swiped snow off the body and exposed the ruptured midsection still sizzling with the acid of the shot that killed it.

"They fought it… And they won," she said in a low voice, "Might as well call the Mercenaries back. This is what they left to search for anyway."

"No, let them search," Gareth said, "We might still be able to find the bastards that did this."

"What?" Kayla asked with a raised brow.

"Look around, Kayla," Gareth said and gestured around them, "It might be obscured by snow but a great battle happened here. I don\'t think the \'winners\' were left in good shape."

"They\'ve had time to heal or at least get far and hide away," Kayla pointed out.

"We\'ll see," Gareth said.

Kayla frowned but said nothing.

"How strong was the Werewolf?" Gareth asked.

"Incredibly," Kayla said with a sigh, "There was a legend about him in the neighboring towns. They marshaled hunt parties and always failed. Granted they were not the best and lacked good resources but even when we faced him, he didn\'t shift and we still had to send our best."

"Orson?" Gareth asked and scoffed.

"Scoff all you want but he was the best Fighter we had with us," Kayla said.

"Why didn\'t you just do it?" Gareth asked.

"Orson thought I might kill him if I did," Kayla said with a shrug.

"Would you?"

"If he pushed me to it. It\'s hard to hold back when you have someone raging and coming at you that hard," Kayla admitted, and then, with a sigh, she continued,

"The bastard was very stubborn. Said he had a good thing going with hunting the townsfolk and wasn\'t interested in \'greener pastures\'.

Also, Orson didn\'t him defeat alone. He had help.

So I know he was strong. And with the moon this full, that strength had to have been doubled and then some."

"What do we do with the body?" Gareth asked.

"We bring it with us," Kayla said.

"Why?" Gareth asked, looking surprised.

"You want to return to Alvareen empty-handed after an all-out search and a Lockdown?" Kayla asked and paused for Gareth to be against it again and then she continued,

"We\'ll let Lord Gribbo decide what we do with it."

"Very well," Gareth said, "But we\'ll keep searching. I believe those hijackers can\'t be far."

"Suit yourself," Kayla said and stood to her feet to walk away.

She was sure that the search would not be fruitful just as sure as she was that their targets were now nearing Alvareen.

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***

For Henry and the others, the rest of the journey to Alvareen was peaceful.

Before they could venture into the City, they were stopped by the City Guards who had been ordered to lock it down and stop anyone from getting in but, with her name and her status as a Knight of the Citadel, Eloise quickly had the Guards stepping aside and offering apologies for delaying her.

In minutes they were stopping at the entrance of Lotus Inn and in a few more, they were all stepping out of the Elevator now on their floor.

"A Healer will be here soon," Eloise announced almost as soon as they were out.

Henry wasn\'t sure how \'soon\' was soon but barely five minutes after Eloise made the announcement, they were welcoming an aged man onto their floor.

"Sorry for calling you so late, Healer Aldrin," Eloise said with a bow.

"Anything for you, My dear," the Healer said with a kind smile before he shuffled forward to be led by Andor into Louis\' room.

The consultation went on for an hour before Aldrin stepped out with a relaxed smile,

"He\'ll be alright. He\'ll need some rest and to refrain from strenuous activities for a week but he\'ll make a full recovery."

"Thank you," Henry said faster than Eloise could.

"I\'m only doing my job," Aldrin answered gracefully.

He healed Andor next and provided far more concentrated Healing Potions to keep the recovery going. The potions were very expensive but Eloise said she\'d take care of it.

Aldrin healed Henry too but all through the short process, he just kept announcing that Henry was healthy besides the small cuts on his face. The concealing balm from earlier had worn off which was good and helped the Healer diagnose their injuries.

When Aldrin left to many words of thanks, he was escorted by the Squires Alice and Darren.

Soon, it was only Eloise, Henry, and Andor who were left in the common area since Louis was resting.

"So," Eloise said with her head inclined as though to prompt something.

"So?" Henry prompted her in return, looking confused.

"So, what happened?" Eloise asked this time with her voice sounding almost like a snap.

Henry sighed,

"You already know what happened," Henry said.

"Tell me everything," Eloise prompted.

"You\'re asking for details?" Henry asked.

"Yes," Eloise said.

Although she was disappointed they would do something so dangerous on their own without a word to her, hijacking those slave trades was one of Eloise\'s goals in life. And she wanted to hear from someone who actually lived that goal.

"Okay," Henry said with a shrug and gave a quick rundown of events. Andor supplied a few phrases here and there. Mostly details about what he and Louis had been busy with while Henry faced off against Orson the Fighter and later, the Water Mage.

"… And so Nyx struck the Mage in the chest, she blasted Nyx away and ran. She got too far away too fast for me to follow after her."

"An interesting tale," Eloise said with a nod, "What happened next?"

"That\'s it. She got away and we freed the slaves," Henry said with a shrug.

Eloise furrowed her brows,

"You didn\'t mention anything about Louis\' back in that story. How did it get broken? Or almost broken anyway."

"Oh that wasn\'t the slavers," Henry said, "That was the Werewolf."

Eloise\'s eyes went wide,

"There was a Werewolf?!"