Chapter 4: Check-in
A scream bellowed from a huntsman behind Qrow, who looked in time to see a Beowolf rip the rider away from his horse. The man frowned before turning to the other riders, "KEEP A LOOSE FORMATION!"
The other riders, all Huntsmen, quickly widened the gap between themselves, a few twisted around and fired a couple of crossbow bolts at their tail. The Grimm.
"How far?" A nearby voice asked.
Qrow turned toward the man and smiled, Tai Xiao-Long, "Not too far," Qrow fired a crossbow bolt over the blonde's head, killing a Beowolf in an explosion of fire dust, "Too lazy for a run?"
As the group crest the hill they saw the large walls of Vale, and a good amount of guards patrolling the ramparts.
"Sir!"
Qrow twisted his head to find the source of the shouting and found a whole new pack of Beowolfs on their tale.
"Shit!" Qrow turned his attention back to the wall and cursed his luck. He heard another one of his men scream in pain, "Tai!"
The blonde nodded and grabbed his horn. A deep desperate call echoed out of it, grabbing the attention of the guards on the wall.
Soon enough, arrows began to fly over their heads and into the bodies of the Grimm trailing behind them.
As the number of Grimm slowly decreased the gate was lifted and the group of riders were allowed into the city.
After slowing to a stop Qrow dropped down from his horse and ran his hand down its mane with a sigh. He glanced around his men and then up at the wall, finding two familiar faces, Jaune Arc and Hawthorne, and then a girl he didn't recognize, she had white hair and a blue dress, she seemed familiar.
"Hey, Qrow," Tai called out, "We're all going to go get a drink, wanna join us?"
The huntsman turned and shook his head, "I can't," he gestured toward the King's Tower, "Gotta go report what we found to Oz."
With one final glance to the three on the wall, Qrow turned away from the Huntsmen and began to make his way up toward the palace.
He sighed once he was out of sight of his men, the mission had been a complete failure. Cities and towns had been destroyed, not only that but there were too many Grimm to make a foothold anywhere North of Arcon.
The huntsman continued to make his way to the palace while taking in the sights of the city. There was a multitude of shops, bakeries, clothing, and even dust shops. He smiled when he saw the old man, Qrow had known the man when he was a kid, but it has been a while since he's seen him. He had last been here at the end of the war, six months ago, most of the city had been reduced to ruins back then.
He was happy to see it had returned to something more. With a wave he walked passed the shop, Qrow heard a loud boom before he was flung to the ground. He pulled himself up and scanned his surroundings for the source of the explosion.
His face went pale.
Qrow sprinted toward the flames, pushing those that would hold him back away.
Just before he could step inside another explosion, smaller this time, blew him backward off his feet.
Qrow pushed himself up by his elbows and watched as the fire spread to several other buildings.
"Get the buckets!" Someone yelled.
Suddenly the paralyzed crowd sprinted into action. Running to the nearest wells and filling buckets, others grabbed some dust that had been thrown out from the explosion and hurled it back into the burning building.
Qrow quickly joined in and grabbed his crossbow. He put in an arrow tipped with ice dust and pulled back the trigger.
Immediately the flames on the neighboring house went out and flames were replaced with ice. Qrow holstered his crossbow and ran to get water for the other burning buildings.
He didn't have to, however, a faint humming blew past him and washed over the smoking buildings.
Qrow whirled around and saw the source of the humming, a woman in a green cloak with electrifying green eyes, in her hand was a riding crop that was surrounded by a strange purple energy. She was surrounded by a small escort of soldiers, but it was clear she didn't need them.
She was the court Wizard, Glynda Goodwitch.
Qrow made his way over to her and crossed his arms, "I had that under control."
Glynda shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Just be glad that I was here," She glanced over at the now put out fire before turning back toward the Huntsman, "Ozpin asked me to retrieve you when he heard of your return, luckily the fire wasn't too bad…"
Qrow sighed as the woman trailed off, "Just take me to Oz, I have something he needs to know."
The woman frowned and waved her escort forward, they began to trek up to the castle. For a while silence was in the air, Glynda was the one to break it.
"Did you know that a Schnee has arrived in Vale?" She leaned toward the huntsman, her voice barely above a whisper, "She's going to form a union with Jaune Arc."
"Winter?" Qrow asked she shook her head, "Poor boy." He sighed. He glanced up at a portion of the castle that was being rebuilt, "How has it been since I left, has the city recovered?"
"The northern half, yes." The wizard replied with a small huff, "The southern half is lagging, and that's not even mentioning the people's opinions of Oz."
"What do you mean?" Qrow raised an eyebrow, "Has he begun to lose the people's trust?"
"Yes," She said firmly, "We've also found out about groups that are planning a coup, luckily we have a double agent informing us on what's going on."
Qrow took a breath as they entered the courtyard, "Things have changed, haven't they."
The escorts resumed positions guarding the gates and the other two continued into the museum. While Qrow glanced at the many works of art, weapons of warriors and Kings, he continued up the steps into the King's throne room.
The room had six marble pillars on either side of a long walkway leading to the throne. This pathway was marked by a carpet embroidered with the royal insignia. On either side of this walkway were wide open areas made for dancing nobles and tables whenever they had a feast. The walls had three large windows one facing the ocean to the South, and the other facing the Forever Fall Forest to the north.
In a large chair with green velvet fabric cushions sat His majesty of Vale and Mountain, Ozpin. He wore his royal garbs and emerald crown, "Great to see you again, Qrow, I heard that your mission ended a few weeks early."
"This is a closed-door meeting, am I correct?" Qrow glanced over his shoulder toward Glynda. She rolled her eyes and began to shut and lock the doors. Qrow turned his attention back toward the King, "It's all gone."
"What do you mean it's all gone?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow.
"Everything North Arcon is gone." He sighed, "towns, villages, farms nothing is left."
"Do you have any idea what destroyed anything?" Glynda made her way away from the door, "Is it a herd of Grimm, or a bandit clan?"
"From the looks of it, Grimm." He glanced over to Glynda, "Arcon has also seen higher levels of Grimm activity, we took out a small herd while we were there," he turned back toward the king, and extended a letter sealed with the arc insignia to him, "They're asking for aid."
Ozpin took it and scanned the letter, a frown forcing itself on his face, "How long have they been suffering attacks such as these?"
"Just after I was sent out," Qrow answered.
Ozpin went quiet and ran and brought a hand to his chin and went quiet, "Glynda, do we have any troops that we can send to support them?"
The woman nodded, "We have a battalion that we can send."
"Set them up with the best equipment we have and send them to Arcon," Ozpin ordered, "Go, we can't allow delay."
The woman nodded and made her way out of the room, a stiff silence swept over the room.
"What about the Silver Order?" Ozpin asked after a few moments, "Are they still on the mountains?"
Qrow shook his head, "No... all that I was able to find were ruins and claw marks."
Ozpin was silent for a moment, his eyes glaring at the floor. From what Qrow knew about Oz's past, he had many friends in the Silver Order. The silver-eyed warriors of legend who had gone into isolation atop The Valen Mountains to the Northeast.
Qrow didn't know much about them, other than a quick run-in with one during his youth, but he hadn't seen her for years. When the Grimm had reached the highest number ever seen, she had used magic that both he and Raven hadn't seen before.
"Was it Grimm?" The monarch asked in a low tone.
"It looks like there were also mages involved, a couple of corpses looked… burned, others looked like they had been poisoned." Qrow sighed, he didn't like thinking back to that day. The smell was horrid, and the silence was haunting.
"Well, I'll have to keep my eye out on the Grimm and mages." Ozpin stood up and made his way over to the window overlooking the city, "I'm sure you heard about the Schnee girl that arrived yesterday."
"Glynda filled me in," Qrow responded, "Do you think this is a good idea?"
"If we are to face Salem, we need allies." Ozpin frowned and stared out at his city.
"All due respect Oz, but this is a stupid plan!" Qrow protested, "Atlas just defeated us in a war and destroyed the countryside, and you decided to make one of our least respected Lord's to marry who many would consider the enemy!?"
"This is the best path to take," Ozpin frowned, his gaze still out the window.
"THE BEST PATH TO RUIN YOUR KINGDOM AND START A CIVIL WAR!" Qrow hollered in response, "Your people lost Fathers, sons, daughters, and even daughters to Atlas." He pointed toward the door, "And you brought a SCHNEE into the city!"
Ozpin slowly turned his head toward the Huntsmen, "Thanks for your opinion Qrow, it will be noted."
Ozpin began to make his way toward the throne and Glynda made her way back inside and closed the door behind her, "I just got word from our mole in the Court of Miracles, he says that they're going to spread the word in the royal court in a few days."
Ozpin sat down with a huff, "Did he tell specifically who they would approach?"
"He's not sure either," Glynda responded.
Qrow raised an eyebrow, "The Court of Miracles is the group that's planning a coup, I presume?"
"They are," Ozpin grinned, "Luckily the royal treasurer, Henry Serin, has been reporting on what the court has been doing and who've they're trying to recruit."
"How many people do they have?" Qrow leaned against one of the marble pillars.
"We know that they've approached the city guard and has tried to talk to other nobles, including the Arc's, but have not been very successful."
"The next place he's said that their going to attempt is the Royal Court when it reconvenes in a few days." Glynda informed him, "That's where you come in."
Qrow pointed two himself, "Me?"
"No rest for the wicked, Qrow." Ozpin smiled.
"You'll be watching Henry and his colleagues from the sidelines," Glynda informed him, "Try and infiltrate the group if you can."
Qrow turned his head out of the window "And if I can't?"
"You know you can, you've infiltrated groups before" Ozpin reasoned, "You can do it again."
Qrow glanced between them and sighed, "I'll do it, but it may take a while to get results."
"Thanks, Qrow." Ozpin smiled, "You may go and join your men now, we both have a lot to think about."
"Yes," Qrow agreed and began to make his way out of the throne room, "Yes we do."
As he left the palace, what he felt a new weight on his shoulders, is this what Ozpin felt? Qrow sighed and continued walking toward his men in the bar, his mind stayed in the palace, however.
The Silver Order, gone. Those mighty warriors who were able to slay thousands of Grimm in an instance had been destroyed without much of a fight. Was it Salem? Or someone else?
His mind turned toward the Court of Miracles, who had plans to uproot the monarchy. Henry Serin, the royal treasurer was a double agent in the favor of the crown. But had failed to get or mention the names of those who were also part of the conspiracy.
Was he a double agent?
Finally, his mind found Jaune Arc and Weiss Schnee. Poor boy, he'll face a whole lot of scrutiny from those who surrounded him, and Weiss seemed to be just like her sister. Independent.
If the court of miracles didn't have enough to use against Ozpin, then this would spark some outrage and possibly bring the nation into conflict. This set up would either unite the country or destroy it completely. Qrow saw no other way.