Chapter Twelve: The Eleventh Hour
Flynn woke up in a strange room with a headache. There was a pitcher of water and a glass on the nightstand by the bed, but he forwent the glass and chugged water straight from the pitcher. It was cool and fresh, and he felt like he hadn't had a drink in years. When the entire pitcher was empty, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and looked around. The walls were stone and covered in tall, thin windows tinted green. Where the hell was he? The last thing he remembered, they were trudging through the desert. He got up, pausing for a moment to deal with a wave of dizziness. He'd just drunk an entire pitcher of water, but he was still thirsty, and hungry too. He decided to go find Yuri and maybe figure out where they were.
He crossed the room and then stepped outside. At least, he was pretty sure it was outside. He could feel a cool breeze and couldn't see a roof above him, but instead of sky he saw a shifting miasma of green, almost like they were underwater. He stood on a stone walkway, and leaned against the railing to get a better look around. Below was a plaza, lined with dome-roofed buildings. A few people were scattered through the plaza, and every single one of them appeared to be Krityan. He wasn't positive, but if he had to hazard a guess, he'd say he was in the Krityan village.
"Well, if it isn't sleeping beauty."
Flynn looked over and saw Yuri and Judith walking toward him. Yuri grinned when he reached Flynn's side. "Good to see you finally got your ass out of bed."
"Where are we and how did we get here?" he asked.
"You're in Myorzo," Judith said. "The Krityan village."
Ah, so he'd been right. "I suppose I have you to thank for this turn of events?"
Judith smiled slightly. "I found you two collapsed in the desert and thought I should give you a lift."
"I can't thank you enough," Flynn said. "You saved our lives."
"It was no problem. Ba'ul did most of the hard work," Judith said.
"We're just about to grab dinner," Yuri said. "Care to join us?"
"Please, I'm starving," Flynn said. He followed them down the walkway and asked, "How long was I asleep?"
"You passed out yesterday afternoon," Yuri said. "I carried you a bit further until Judy picked us up. Ba'ul carried us here to Myorzo, and the city is now drifting northeast." Judith opened a door and let them into a room with a table in the middle. There were more of those tall, greenish windows in here, and the table was already set up with food. Flynn's stomach rumbled at the sight of it.
"I owe you my thanks, Yuri," Flynn said, taking a seat at the table. In the middle of the table were platters of tempura and rice, which Flynn wasted no time in piling onto his plate. "You saved my life."
Yuri shrugged, not meeting his eyes. "Yeah, well, someone had to keep going after the delicate commandant fainted."
Flynn glared at him, which wasn't very threatening because his cheeks were stuffed with shrimp.
"I wouldn't get too cocky, Yuri," Judith said. "You were collapsed in the dirt when I found you, too."
"Yeah, well, I lasted long than he did."
"Perhaps we should just both be thankful that Judith found us when she did," Flynn said. "Although, I do have to worry that even if we've been rescued from the desert, my trial is only two days away. What chance do we have of catching the culprit before then?" It was time to start thinking about what he'd do with his life if he had to remain a fugitive for the rest of his days. He supposed he could see if he could stay here, in Myorzo. It was cut off from the rest of the world and he'd certainly be able to evade the knights here. He didn't know if he liked the idea of living the rest of his life as a hermit, unable to get involved with wider society. He didn't have many choices, though.
"Actually, I need to tell you about something," Yuri said. "I had an epiphany in the desert. What do you think of the idea that we're not looking for just one culprit, but a whole conspiracy of them?"
Flynn paused, a fried shrimp halfway to his face. "That's…" It was like the clouds had rushed open and let light shine down into his head. "Of course. Why didn't I think of this earlier?"
Judith nodded. "Yuri explained his theory to me. It would explain why all the evidence points to different people."
"That must be it," Flynn said. "One person is set to inherit the land all the gold, but they brought in the help of their friends to kill Borden and Emmery and frame me, so that they wouldn't get caught by doing it all themselves."
"No doubt promised to split the money with them," Yuri said.
Flynn nodded slowly. "A whole group of them were in on it. Each one took care of a different aspect of the job. One of them stole my knife, another staged my shirt, and a different one went to Dahngrest to hire the assassin. That way, it's impossible to line up who could have done all of those things to narrow down the culprit." He felt like an idiot for not seeing it before. It was such an obvious scheme. "We need to tell Lady Estellise about this." He also wanted to let her know they were fine. It had been over a week since they last spoke with her; she must be worried.
"Just a sec," Yuri said, getting up. "I'll grab the communicator."
He left the table, while Flynn downed another glass of water. He felt like he could keep drinking non-stop and never be satisfied.
"You know," Judith said once Yuri was gone, "Yuri really was worried about you. When I picked him up, all he cared about was making sure you were ok."
Flynn set the empty glass down on the table. While refilling it with the pitcher on the table, he said, "I know. Yuri's never been very good at expressing his feelings."
"You're lucky to have such a loyal friend," she said with a smile.
Flynn smiled. "Yes, I am. He drives me crazy sometimes… often times… but I don't think I could ask for a better friend."
Yuri returned from a back room, and Flynn and Judith stopped talking. He looked between them suspiciously and said, "Weren't talking about me, were you?"
"Why ever would you think that?" said Judith with a playful smirk.
"Whatever," Yuri said, sitting down again and pushing the machine toward Flynn. "Here, you probably want to type."
"Please." Flynn pulled it closer and started typing. Hello, Lady Estellise, are you present?
She didn't respond right away, so they ate in silence for a minute or so before the machine sprang to life.
Flynn! 8D I'm so glad you're alright; I've been so worried about you. Is Yuri there, too?
"Say hi for me," Yuri said between stuffing his face.
Yes, he says hello, Flynn wrote. We were picked up by Judith and Ba'ul and are currently enjoying dinner in Myorzo.
I'm so glad to hear you're safe =), Estelle wrote quickly. You didn't encounter any problems in Mantaic, did you?
Flynn paused, considering how to answer. They had encountered quite a few problems in Mantaic, but there was no point worrying her needlessly. She didn't need to know about their brush with death in the desert. We had a brief run-in with the Knights, but nothing serious. However, Lady Emmery was murdered. She is not our culprit.
Murdered?! =O How horrible! By whom?
We do not know for certain. We caught a man in the act and Yuri threw a knife and injured his leg, but he managed to evade us.
I guess we're back to square one, now. =\
So it would seem. We're going to return to Zaphias. I think we have our best chance of catch the culprit there.
Oh, I forgot! I wanted to tell you that I figured out that Peel was working with Borden. He was in on the land scheme and that's why he as so intent on punishing you.
Flynn paused to consider this. It certainly made sense. It didn't change the fact that Peel was behaving unprofessionally, but at least it meant he wasn't the culprit they were after. It meant that one of his own knights hadn't plotted to eliminate him, which was somewhat comforting. That's interesting. Speaking of people working together, Yuri and I have a theory that we're not looking for just one person, but an entire conspiracy.
O_O You're right. That would make so much more sense. It will probably be harder to pin down, though =\
Yes, and we don't have much time. Have you found any other clues?
Well… I visited Zadel's home yesterday. I met his mother and she seems very nice, but she said some things that got me thinking about Zadel. Are you really sure you can trust him?
Zadel? Do you really think he's involved?
I'm not sure. His mother implied that he's only faking his support for you =(
Flynn's hands hovered over the keys, not sure what to say. If what Estelle said was true, this was quite disheartening. If Zadel's friendliness was faked, how many others he counted among his allies were also fake? He sighed. Let's not jump to conclusions until we have more proof.
Ok. I look forward to seeing you both in Zaphias soon. Be safe! =)
You as well. Goodnight. Flynn pushed the machine out of the way and returned to dinner. While he ate, Yuri read over the transcript.
"Zadel, huh?" Yuri said. "Do I know him?"
"I doubt it," Flynn said. "He's never done anything to warrant attention from you. By which I mean, he's always proven himself to be a decent and honest man."
"A decent and honest Council member? Sure, and I'm the emperor."
The door opened, and an older man entered. "Good evening," the Krityan man said. "I am glad to see you have awakened."
"Thank you," Flynn said. "I owe it to your village's hospitality."
"Flynn," Judith said, "this is the Krityan elder. I filled him in on the case, and he offered to look some things up for you."
"I spoke with Krones," the elder said, approaching the table.
"Who is Krones?" Flynn asked.
"Krones is the Entelexeia who carries Myorzo," Judith explained.
This didn't answer much to Flynn. "Myorzo is carried by an Entelexeia?"
"He's sort of like a giant jellyfish," Yuri provided. "Except he flies."
"We're riding on the back of a giant jellyfish?" Flynn asked, looking out the green-tinted windows in confusion.
"Hm," Judith said, "more like inside one. The swirling green colour of the sky is actually the dome of his body."
Flynn sat still, not entirely sure what to do with this information. He felt that Yuri should have explained this earlier, because being inside a giant, intelligent, flying jellyfish was a thing he felt he ought to know. "I see."
"What did you ask Krones?" Judith asked, moving on from Flynn's bafflement.
"I thought it might be possible that he remembers the name of the family you seek," the elder said. "He was, after all, alive at the time humans first settled Hypionia."
"Great," Yuri said. "So, does he remember?"
"No," the elder said.
The three of them deflated. "Oh," Yuri said.
"However," the elder said, "he does remember Astal complaining about the humans, and he is fairly sure the name started with a Z. He said it was likely Zay or Zah something. I'm afraid that is all I can contribute."
"Thank you," Flynn said. He glanced at Yuri, who was clearly thinking the same thing.
"Good luck in your investigation," the elder said, and then left.
They sat in silence for almost a minute after he was gone, not even eating. Yuri said it first. "So… what were you saying about your honest and decent pal Zadel?"
Flynn frowned. "We don't know it was him…"
Judith pursed her lips thoughtfully. "You have to admit, it's fairly suspicious."
"He invited me out that night," Flynn said. "If I hadn't turned him down, I would have had an airtight alibi."
"Why did you turn him down?" Judith asked.
"Lady Joplin gave me a mountain of paperwork. She gave it to me late, so I absolutely had to do it that night."
"That's pretty convenient if you ask me," Yuri said. "She just happened to load you up with work to make sure you'd stay in all night."
"And then," Judith said, "when your drink was spiked you barely completed any of it, so you can't even point to all the work you did as evidence that you were busy all night."
"If Zadel knew his accomplice was going to pile you up with work," Yuri said, "he could invite you out with confidence, knowing you'd turn him down but still painting himself as an ally who knew nothing of the plot."
"Then," Judith said, "one of the nobles who live near you in the castle could swipe your shirt from the maid and set that up."
"While a different noble who couldn't possibly have gotten your shirt swiped your knife."
Flynn stared at the crumbs on his plate. It was all coming together, and he wasn't sure he liked the finished picture. How could Zadel betray him like this? "Joplin was the one who gave me the papers. I think it is safe to say that she is involved. As for Zadel… we still don't know for sure. We should inform Lady Estellise of our suspicions and await further confirmation. When we get the Zaphias, we'll pay a visit to Joplin and see if we can get the names of the other conspirators out of her."
"Sounds good to me," Yuri said.
At the very least, this whole mess would be over soon. His trial was set for the day after tomorrow, so win or lose, it was going to end tomorrow.
Estelle sat on the edge of the partially completed fountain in the lower quarter, waiting for Flynn and Yuri. They were still several hours away, but she got restless sitting around in the castle. She had the communicator with her, waiting for one of them to give her news of when they were landing. Ba'ul would set them down outside the city and then they'd sneak in through the lower quarter and plan their next move from Yuri's place.
"Princess Estellise!"
She looked over and saw Ted hurrying toward her with a big smile. "I didn't know you were coming down here today."
"Hello, Ted," Estelle said. "I'm waiting for Flynn and Yuri; they're coming back today."
"Really?" he asked with wide eyes. "Did they figure out who the bad guy is yet?"
"Not quite," Estelle said. "But they have some theories and we're going to work on it from Zaphias."
"Oh, ok," Ted said, sitting down next to her. "I guess they'll have to work fast. Flynn's trial is tomorrow, isn't it?"
"Yes." A flutter of fear tore through her heart. The trial had always seemed so far away, but they were almost out of time. She was so worried about Flynn it made her feel sick. "But… it will be ok. It has to be."
"Right!" Ted said. "Um, Princess Estellise… when the case is over, can we, um, can we still hang out?"
Estelle smiled cheerfully. "Of course we can, Ted." Her smile quickly faded, though, as Rita's words came back to her. She really should talk to Ted.
"Oh, good!" he said with a big smile. "But, even when Yuri comes back… it can be just you and me sometimes, right?"
Estelle hesitated, not sure how to respond. If she assured him that yes, of course just the two of them could hang out, that really would be leading him on. Oh, why did this have to happen to her? She just wanted to be friends. Alright, she had to do this. She'd done it before, hadn't she? This couldn't be nearly as hard as when she'd had to tell Flynn she wanted to go back to just being friends. She took a deep breath and then said, "Ted… I think we need to talk."
He tilted his head to the side. "About what?"
"About… um, about us. Ted, you know you and I are only friends, right?"
Ted blushed. "W-well, yeah, but - but maybe… we could… um…."
Estelle sighed. "Ted, I'm sorry. I really like you and I think you're a very nice boy, but you're too young for me. You understand, don't you?"
"I'm not that young!" Ted protested. "I'm twelve!"
"Yes, and I'm nineteen," Estelle said. "I'm afraid I'm just too old for you."
Ted stared up at her with wide eyes like a kicked puppy. Estelle wanted to hug him tightly and tell him it would be ok, because she couldn't stand seeing a little boy upset like that, but doing that wouldn't help this situation at all. "But… it's only seven years. When we grow up, seven years will be nothing!"
"I know, but right now… um… you're still a child, Ted, and I'm a grown-up. I think you should try to find a nice girl your age. I'm sure you'll make her very happy."
"I could make you very happy, Princess. When I'm twenty and you're twenty-seven, seven years won't seem like that much!"
Estelle smiled a bit. "You're very sweet, Ted. Um… ok, how about this? We'll wait until you grow up. When you're twenty and I'm twenty-seven, if you still like me, then I'll go on a date with you."
Ted perked up a bit. "Really?"
Estelle nodded. She was ninety-eight percent sure that his crush couldn't possibly last more than a year at most. Even if by some miracle Ted did still have a crush on her seven years from now, she had only promised one date. "Yes, I promise. But for now, I want you to promise me that you won't ignore other girls while waiting, ok?"
"Ok," he said with resignation. He got up from the fountain and said, "Um, I think I'm just going to go home now."
"Don't you want to wait for Flynn and Yuri?"
Ted shook his head. "No, I just… I think I want to go home now."
"Alright. I'll see you later, Ted."
"Yeah, bye, Princess Estellise."
He left, dragging his feet on the old cobblestones. Estelle sighed, wishing she could make him happy somehow. She looked down at the little machine and typed, Hello, are you almost here? =3
hey estelle. we'll land in about 2 hours probly.
Estelle smiled, happy for the distraction. Hi, Yuri. =) It was almost funny how easy it was to tell which one of them was typing. That's good to hear; I miss you a lot. =( Where's Flynn? She had to imagine Flynn wasn't present if he was allowing Yuri to type.
still sleeping.
At this time of day? That's unlike him. =\
the doc says he just needs lots of sleep to recover.
Estelle's heart skipped a beat and she typed so quickly she was surprised she managed to spell everything right. =O Doctor!? What's wrong with Flynn?! Is he hurt? He told me yesterday everything was ok! D=
There was a long pause before Yuri started typing again.
…crap. i wasn't supposed to tell you that. don't worry about it.
Yuri! You tell me what's wrong with Flynn right now! D8
it's nothing serious. he got a little dehidrated, that's all.
Estelle frowned, not entirely pacified. If you're sure… =\ Is he going to be ok to investigate Zadel when you get here?
ya probly.
If it would help, I can go check out his house myself =)
no, we'll take care of it.
But if Flynn is sick, I want to take care of this and save him the trouble. They were low on time, so anything she could do to help them along would be useful.
if zadel is the one who killed borden, he could be dangerous.
I know. I can take care of myself, Yuri. =\ After all we've been through, you still think I need to be protected?
your right, sorry. be glad flynn is asleep or he'd be giving you a much harder time. see if you can find any evidence on zadel, but don't give away what you know.
Alright, I can do that! =D I'll send you guys a message if I find anything.
ok. see you in a few hours.
Goodbye. Tell Flynn I hope he gets better soon, and that once he's well I need to slap him for trying to hide this from me =(
hahaha, will do. see ya.
Estelle packed the machine into her bag, stood up, dusted off her skirt, and then made her way back toward the royal quarter. As she walked, she considered what exactly she'd look for to find proof of Zadel's guilt. Maybe if she could slip away unnoticed and search his bedroom or something like that? She's figure it out.
She still didn't have a specific plan in mind by the time she reached Zadel's mansion. When the butler opened the door, she smiled innocently and said, "Hello, sir. I was wondering if Lord Zadel was home?"
"I'm afraid he's not in right now," the butler said, "but he should be home for lunch soon. You may come in and wait for him, if you wish."
"Yes, thank you." She followed him down the hall to the same sitting room she'd been in last time. A vase of fresh orchids sat on the table. "Oh, what pretty flowers, she said. "Are those from Mrs. Zadel's garden?"
"That's right," the butler said. "Madam Zadel takes great pride in her garden. She has plants from all over the world."
"Yes, I saw her garden. It's lovely." She sat down on the sofa, breathing in the scent of the fresh flowers. The smell was familiar somehow, but she couldn't quite place it.
"Can I get you anything, Your Highness?"
"No, thank you," Estelle said. "Please just tell Lord Zadel I'm here when he gets home." When the butler left, she'd get up and do some investigating on her own. If anybody asked, she was looking for the bathroom.
"Make yourself comfortable, then," the butler said, turning to leave the room. As he turned around, his cane caught on the edge of the rug. He stumbled and fell to his knees with a hiss of pain.
"Oh, are you alright?!" Estelle leapt to her feet and hurried over. "Are you hurt? Can I help you?"
"No, no, I'm fine," the butler said, twisting over to sit down and gingerly stretching out his leg. "Please, don't concern yourself with me, Your Highness."
"I'd feel better if I could help you. Let me see your leg." Before the butler could stop her, she grabbed the hem of his pant and rolled the leg up. She had expected an old injury or a bad knee that her healing powers might be able to help, but what she found instead was a white bandage wrapped around his calf. "Oh," she said. "This is a recent injury, then?"
"Yes," the butler said. "I'm afraid I'm not entirely used to walking with the cane yet, hence my clumsiness. Please, Your Highness, don't concern yourself with me. It's just a small wound and will heal on its own."
"I can heal it now," Estelle offered. The idea of walking away from someone who was hurt was inconceivable to her. "Let me just see the wound."
The butler sighed. "If you insist, Your Highness."
Estelle carefully unwound the bandage so she could get a better look at the injury. The wound was already healing; she'd guess it was a bit under a week old. Luckily it looked like a clean cut, like it had been made with a knife or something like that. She was about to heal it when a sudden stab of realization nearly took her breath away. "Um… sir, where did you say you got this injury from?"
"It was just an accident," he said. "I tripped."
She frowned. "On a knife?"
The butler nodded slowly and met her eyes with an icy expression. "Yes."
They stared at each other in a long silence. Estelle took a deep breath, and she suddenly realized what scent those orchids reminded her of: it was cinnamon.
"I see," she said slowly, firing up her magic. She didn't think she needed to sneak around to get any more information. Flynn was going to be thrilled when she told him about this.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Flynn asked, looking around Ba'ul's back. "I feel like I need a seatbelt or something."
"Relax," Judith said. "Even if you fall, Ba'ul is fast enough to catch you out of the air… probably."
Flynn frowned, not at all pacified. He was starting to wish he could be unconscious for this trip, too.
"Stop worrying," Yuri said, sitting down behind him. "It's perfectly safe."
"If you insist," Flynn said. He really wished Ba'ul had handles.
With a lurch, Ba'ul took off from Myorzo. The village was now flying above Ilyccia, so Ba'ul flew in tight circles to the ground and set them down in the plains around Zaphias. From here, it would be about a ten minute walk to get into the city. As much as Flynn appreciated Judith and Ba'ul's assistance in the desert, he was grateful for his feet to be on solid ground again.
When he and Yuri were off Ba'ul, they looked back up to Judith, who sat casually by his head. "If you boys don't think you'll need me, I'm going to head back to Dahngrest now."
"I think we can manage on our own," Yuri said. "Karol needs you for a job, right? You should get back to him."
"Alright," she said. "Good luck. Ba'ul and I will come back in a couple of days if the trial doesn't go well and you need to escape from the city fast."
"In that cast," Flynn said, "I hope you won't take offense if I say I hope I don't see you for quite a while."
Judith smiled. "None taken. Good luck!"
Yuri waved, and Ba'ul took off. Flynn turned and looked to Zaphias on the horizon with a serious expression. "I really thought that the next time I saw this city, I'd have caught the killer and my problems would be over."
"We'll catch them today, don't worry," Yuri said. "No matter what it takes."
Flynn nodded and they started walking. He had to keep his hopes up, even if it was already mid-afternoon. Ready or not, he had to stand trial tomorrow afternoon. If he didn't show up, he'd be found guilty. If he showed up and they hadn't caught the actual perpetrator yet, he'd still be found guilty. "Yuri… I want you to know that no matter what happens tomorrow, I am confident that we did everything we could have. You helped me more than I-"
"Stop," Yuri said. "Save it for if we actually do fail. As far as I'm concerned, you'll be pardoned tomorrow and the real bastard will be properly behind bars."
"Alright," Flynn said, wishing he could share Yuri's optimism. He glanced over at Yuri's face, though, and realized it wasn't really optimism. Yuri wasn't confident that everything would be ok, but he was confident that keeping a positive attitude was the best way to move forward. He was right; dwelling on what would happen if they failed wouldn't help.
When they reached the city, they cautiously entered the gates, looking around for any knights. There didn't seem to be any, and Flynn knew nobody in the lower quarter would turn them in, but he was still on edge. The capital city was a dangerous place to be for a wanted man. If it came down to a fight, he wasn't sure what to do. All they had was the knife stolen from the knights, since their swords had been left with the knights in Mantaic.
Yuri saw his fingers twitching at his empty belt and said, "Yeah, I miss my sword too."
"I don't want to fight my knights," Flynn said, glancing down a street as they passed just in case, "but I'd like to know the option was there."
"I just want my sword back," Yuri said. "That was a damn good sword."
"You'll be able to get it back," Flynn said. "The knights won't just throw it away. They'll bring it back and it will probably end up in either the armoury or the confiscated goods storage room. Either way, you getting arrested doesn't negate your ownership of the sword. Once you've served your time for helping me break out of jail, just ask for it back and legally they have to give it to you."
"Ugh, don't remind me about the jail time," Yuri said. "I was hoping to find a way to avoid that."
"Sorry," Flynn said. "But, you did break a man out of jail. If you ever want to show your face in the empire without being wanted again, you're going to have to serve time for that."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Yuri grumbled. "I'd consider just not returning to the empire and spending the rest of my time in Dahngrest, but there are people I need to see in Zaphias. It'll be hard to visit Estelle at the castle if I'm a wanted man."
"It shouldn't be too long," Flynn said as they approached the fountain. "If I get my job back, as commandant I can shorten your sentence as much as possible."
"You should have told me that earlier! Now I actually have some motivation to get you back into office," he said with a smirk.
Flynn smiled. "Thanks a lot, Yuri." They reached the square with the fountain, but didn't see Estelle. His smiled faded. "Didn't she say she'd meet us here?"
"Yeah," Yuri said, "but then she said she was heading back to the royal quarter to meet with Zadel again to try to save us some time."
"What? She went alone?"
"Relax, Flynn," Yuri said, sitting down on the edge of the fountain. "Estelle's fought tougher guys than some smarmy councilman."
"I suppose…" His instinct telling him she was a princess who needed protecting often struggled against his common sense that she was a strong, capable fighter who could hold her own in battle. He sat next to Yuri and pulled out the communicator. "I'm just going to check in with her, just in case." He quickly typed, Hello, Lady Estellise, are you there? Yuri and I have arrived safely in Zaphias.
She didn't reply right away, which made Flynn anxious. He stared at the machine, willing it to spring to life. He knew he couldn't expect her to be right next to it at all times but he couldn't help imagining all the terrible things that could have happened to her to prevent her from responding. He relaxed when the machine vibrated and started typing.
Yes, hello! I'm glad to hear of your safe arrival.
Where are you now? Flynn wrote. Are you still at Zadel's mansion?
I just left. Oh, Flynn, I'm so excited! I found some really great evidence. I'm certain now that Zadel is our guy.
Really? That's wonderful! If Estelle had concrete evidence that could tangibly link Zadel to the assassin… if this could really all be over and their culprit caught… he barely dared to believe it could be true. What did you find?
It's kind of complicated. I'll explain in person, since you're already in the city. Can you meet me outside Zadel's mansion? I'll be waiting around the side of the house, so we can talk without people noticing us hanging around.
Flynn nodded, and then realized that was dumb because obviously she couldn't see him. Instead he wrote, Yes, that's fine. We're on our way.
Great! See you soon.
Flynn looked over to Yuri, who had read over his shoulder. "Shall we get going?"
"Yeah," Yuri said. "Give me a couple minutes, though. I've got some stuff I want to take care of."
Flynn frowned. "What sort of stuff?"
"Personal stuff," Yuri said, getting up. "I just need to talk to Hanks real quick. Won't be more than five minutes."
"Alright. I'll wait here." Yuri wandered off, while Flynn sat and enjoyed the sun. He hoped Yuri didn't take too long, because he'd be able to enjoy the sun much more when all of this was behind him.
Yuri was gone for almost ten minutes. When he came back, Flynn looked up with a mild glare. "Five minutes, huh?"
Yuri shrugged. "Give or take."
"I can't believe you're still late even though I gave you my pocket watch." He stood up, and they started walking.
"I told you, I don't know where it is right now."
"That's reassuring," Flynn said. "You'd better find it, Yuri. I'm going to be quite upset with you if you lost it."
"Well, maybe - and stop me if this sounds crazy - if you're so concerned with it, you shouldn't throw it at my head!"
"And maybe you should be on time for once!"
They made their way up through the city. Once they left the lower quarter, it took longer than usual because they took all the side streets to avoid being seen. The closer they got to the royal quarter, the greater the risk of being caught. They stopped talking to concentrate on stealth, and a few times Flynn nearly had a heart attack from their proximity to knights around the corner, but eventually they made it to Zadel's mansion without being spotted. Yuri, the bastard that he was, even seemed to have enjoyed the trip.
"Why do I get the feeling that you're going to be disappointed when you go back to being accepting by the knights?"
"Aw, come on," Yuri said. "This is the most excitement I've had since the Adephagos. Now let's go find Estelle and put this bastard behind bars."
"Right," Flynn said. He led the way, through the open gates and up the path through the front garden. There was a narrow strip of grass between the side of the house and the brick wall, which was where he assumed Estelle was waiting for them. He and Yuri passed the bushes, rounded the house, and stopped short as they stared down the empty strip of land. There was no Estelle. Flynn was about to say something when a bush rustled, a flash of movement from a nearby tree crossed the corner of his eye, and then something small and pointy pricked his back. It was a crossbow.
"Keep your hands where I can see them," came a gruff voice. It wasn't Estelle, and it wasn't even the knights.
Well, Flynn thought grimly, it looks like we found our culprit.
