56: Exiled

It was an awkward wait, especially once the captain of the guard arrived. Hari flat-out refused to speak to him until Jackson showed up, which took considerably longer.

“Can you at least tell us what caused the incident?” the guard captain asked, clearly frustrated by the delay.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’ll wait for the vice-captain of the guild. We were doing a job for him,” Hari said firmly, not giving an inch.

The guard captain threw his hands up in frustration. “Fine.”

It was a while longer before Jackson finally made it out. “I’m here. What’s going on?” he asked, glancing from Hari to the guard captain.

The captain spoke first. “We wanted to speak with these individuals. There are reports they were at the temple when it was attacked—specifically the boy with an elemental, and the large man, said to be travelling in a party of five.” There was a clear edge in his tone, but Jackson… didn’t seem to care.

“They were on a mission for me,” Jackson said. “They needed to clear a Galvonson nest. So if you don’t mind, I need to take my adventurers to the guild for a debrief.” He almost waved the guard captain off.

“Absolutely not. Our investigation places them at that site. There are several witnesses—and only one person in the city has an elemental on their shoulder,” the captain snapped back.

Jackson arched a brow. “So let me get this straight—you believe two adventurers, one of whom is a chef, unleashed a what? A Shadow Cat onto the city? All so the Ancient Dragon would attack its own god’s temple?” He gave a short, incredulous laugh.

Amusingly, as absurd as it sounded, everything but the Dragon part was actually true.

The guard sputtered for a moment before Jackson delivered the final blow.

“Go back to your Lord. Tell him you believe this story. Then have him set up a meeting with myself and Kara, and we’ll discuss this outlandish claim. In the meantime, I need to debrief with my adventurers. Do you mind?”

The guard captain looked absolutely outraged, but left with the other guards all the same. Once they were a fair distance off, Jackson turned to Hari.

“We do need to have a discussion—with Kara—immediately. You can stable the horses at the guild for the afternoon,” he said, the laid-back attitude gone. Hari just nodded, likely expecting this outcome.

As we rode into the city through the gates, I couldn’t help but feel the glares on me as we passed. Did they know about the cat situation? Or was it just because we’d upset their captain?

I wasn’t sure. But I felt very nervous—like all eyes were on me.

As we rode through the streets, the atmosphere felt different compared to the last time I came in. Before, there had been happy, smiling faces. Now, there were only impassive expressions. The whole city felt tense.

Soon we arrived at the guild. We stored our horses in a temporary stable mainly used by staff, then were escorted by Jackson inside and straight upstairs. This time, we didn’t enter his office, but rather passed through the giant, beautifully carved wooden doors leading into the Guild Master’s office.

Inside, Jackson bowed slightly. Seeing Hari and the others doing the same, I quickly followed suit.

Kara sat behind a modest-looking wooden desk. The room was much larger than Jackson’s, though almost basic in comparison. A well-worn training dummy stood in the corner, flanked by weapon racks—on one hung a pair of massive axes.

There was a bookshelf, but unlike Jackson’s office, no chair for reading. Instead, shelves upon shelves of scrolls and paperwork lined the walls.

Several seats were already arranged, and in one sat a man I didn’t recognise.

“Come, come. Take a seat. We’ll get introductions out of the way, then get this over with,” Kara said, gesturing.

The man rose, bowed to us, and then sat back down. Once we were seated, Kara took the lead.

“Elias, this is the Polite Company: Hari, Jen, Milo, Liane, and finally Trevor. Polite Company, this is Elias. He’s adviser to Lord Felix of Boltron, and here in place of the Lord today for this conversation. What is said here will remain between us, the Lord, and no one else. Is that understood?”

Everyone nodded in agreement, so Kara went on.

“Right, we all know why we are here, and that is due to the attack on the city by the Ancient Dragon while fighting the Shadow Cat that, I believe we have confirmed now, is following young Trevor.” Her eyes flicked to me as she explained, stating the facts.

“It’s important to note that Trevor, from my understanding, has no ability to control the cat, nor does it listen or take commands from him. Its motives are currently unknown. However, to date it has not posed a violent risk to anyone around Trevor—except for four days ago.”

Elias was scribbling notes as she spoke.

“Before we go into what eyewitnesses claimed to have seen, why don’t we hear what happened at the peak, and what followed,” Kara said, looking at Hari and myself.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I froze up, unsure what to say. Almost mechanically, Hari gave a rundown of everything that happened, right up until the corpse was dropped off at the structure. I nodded along—he hadn’t missed any details. To be honest, he’d seen even more than I had. When he picked me up, that part was all a blur.

“It dropped off a dragon corpse? At your door? Preposterous,” Elias said in disbelief.

“It’s a Rare-quality Ancient Drake, not a dragon,” Hari replied, unbothered by Elias’s disbelief.

“And what of this corpse now?” Kara asked.

“We have it with us,” Hari said.

Elias snorted again.

“Elias, if you are unable to act professional, I will personally demand the Lord come here himself and have you replaced. I am in no mood for petty games and rubbish.” Kara’s glare cut into him, and even though it wasn’t directed at me, the pressure rolling off her was intense.

Elias went pale but fell silent. Kara turned back to Hari.

“You have it with you? How?” she asked.

Hari turned to me.

“Trevor, the whole thing won’t fit in this room, but I don’t suppose you could pull out just the head?” he asked softly.

“Not on my paperwork—that took my team a day to fix,” Kara added quickly.

I moved over to an empty spot. I needed a lot of room for this head—it was larger than even Hari. I was fairly certain this drake could have swallowed him whole. When I withdrew the head near the training section of the room and it hit the ground with a heavy thud, Kara literally fell back into her chair, eyes wide.

If Elias looked pale before, now he was a ghost. His jaw hung slack and his eyes bulged.

“Put that away. Now.” Kara hissed, pressing her palm to her forehead.

“Elias, get the Lord. Immediately.” She shot him a look, and when he tried to protest, she cut him off instantly. “This is beyond us. Get the Lord now, Elias—I will not ask again. Tell him it’s of the utmost importance.”