A/N: This chapter is proof that reviewing does make a difference. I hadn't realised how long it's been since I last updated! So I sat myself down and pulled up this story from the dregs of my computer and told myself that another day would not pass without an update. What happens from now on, though... well, let's just say I'm not dead, and neither is this fic. I'm sorry - I'm low on free time right now - but thank you for reading! And on a side note, I went out on a branch and said that Gaddes' eyes are green. I honestly don't remember: are they?

Chapter 6: A change of plans

By the time night fell, Allen was feeling so tired, that he wasn't even upset by the fact that no one was saluting their superior officer as he made his way to his seat at the dinner table. When he got there, he did not even pause to consider that he was in plain sight of everyone, before he dropped down onto his chair and leaned his head against his hands.

He had spent the entire day after leaving the hangar going over a stack of paperwork that would not end. He knew it was work that had to be done, but it certainly was not his forte. He had tried to weasel his way out of it - and of the remorses he knew he would later feel if he had just put off the work for another day - by sending whoever happened to pass outside the open door to his office in search of Gaddes, every now and then, but no one had been able to find the man.

Thus it was that even his own conscience had turned against him and Allen decided that he would stop wondering how things could possibly get worse for him. He rubbed his stinging eyes and swore to himself that never again would he repeat that mistake.

Whether the men hated him or not and no matter what Gaddes wanted to protect him from, the next day he was going to take on a much more practical approach to solve the problems of Fort Castelo - and he already had the little to-do list he had compiled earlier to get him started in that enterprise.

His stomach growled and his nose immediately steered his hand toward the dish on his left. It was an indistinguishable brownish mush of chopped meat and what could possibly be vegetables, but it was also the one that looked the most appetising out of the available selection.

He looked around himself and saw that everyone else at his table was already happily munching away their chosen gruels and that at least a couple of drink jars had already been emptied. The men below were no different: he could spot several groups singing or drinking and, unless his stinging eyes betrayed him, gambling as they ate. All in all, it wasn't any different than what he had encountered on the night of his introduction.

His eyes narrowed as he added yet another habit he would have to break these men off to his to-do list. There would be no mobs of drunkards under his command: what if there was an emergency while they were all inebriated? He would turn them into respectable soldiers yet.

Just then, the doors-or-are-they-gates of the great hall opened and in came the man that Allen had been itching to talk to all day. His second in command was calmly making his way over to the seat next to his, but the knight thought there was something strange about his behaviour. He was not talking to anyone, despite the fact that many threw him a comment or a question - or one of those bone-shattering pats on the back - along the way.

Allen would not have been worried had it been anyone else, but from what he had seen of the sergeant so far, it was uncharacteristic of him to ignore others like that, or to look so somber. The Knight Caeli wondered if the strange mood had anything to do with the note he had received in the hangar that morning.

"Something wrong?" he asked Gaddes after he had taken his seat.

Gaddes looked almost startled by the question and for a good while afterwards, he just stared at the knight's expectant face. Allen recognised the expression and it surprised him in return: he was being evaluated. His second in command was debating over what to tell him.

"If it's personal and you don't want to discuss it, that's fine", he said at once. He had just met the man after all, and his only obligation was to keep the Fort functioning, not his subordinate's lives. "You just looked troubled."

Still not talking, the sergeant's brows knitted together. Seeming to have come to a decision, he let out a long breath and gave the soldiers sitting close-by a measured glance. After that, he leaned toward the knight. Allen followed his lead.

"Yeah, something's happened that you should know about, sir Allen", he explained in a hushed voice so that no one else could hear.

"What?" the knight asked back. All signs of weariness were leaving him, and his mind was sharpening with alertness. Gaddes' tone was not promising.

"It's hard to explain, but do you remember Reeden, from this morning?" Allen nodded instantly – he would not forget the scoundrel that had cannibalised his beautiful guymelef that easily. "He got himself into some trouble with someone from town and now he and some of the other men have gone missing."

Allen sat back on his chair after hearing that. Somehow, the news did not surprise him. What did, however, was the fact that Gaddes looked genuinely upset about it. Reeden had yet to demonstrate behaviour suitable for a soldier of the Asturian Army, and if he and his fellow accomplices wanted to defect, Allen was sincerely inclined not to raise any objection.

Still, said the nagging voice of righteousness that would not let his personal aggravation cloud his reason, Reeden was one of his men and as commanding officer Allen was responsible for him. Damn his principles for making him care for the miscreant!

Allen looked around for the closest person who still looked sober. Focusing on a dark-haired man whose name he frankly could not recall, he quickly ordered him to prepare a tray with a meal for two and take it to his office.

Then he gestured toward Gaddes to accompany him and left the great hall, leaving a slightly baffled soldier in his wake.

---------------------

"Tell me everything", Allen calmly ordered his second in command after he and Gaddes had situated themselves on each side of the desk at his office.

The sergeant pulled out a piece of paper from the breast pocket of his shirt that Allen instantly recognised as the one he had been delivered earlier at the hangar. So his suspicions had been right. As the man unfolded it and spread it on the table top, Allen's eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh."

The paper was an announcement, not unlike the ones one would find hanging on the window of any shop when a pet went missing, but one much more sinister. In it was the shadow graph of a face that the knight recognised as Reeden's and it simply read:

WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE

Contact Cutty

"When you said Reeden and some other men had gone missing, I assumed they had just ran away..." the knight said, taken by surprise. He had been forced by Army regulations when he had made his earlier decision to listen to Gaddes and help Reeden, but now he was really concerned for the man - thief or not. Just what had he gotten himself into? "Who is this Cutty?"

"Cutty, whose real name is Curtiwald Zänninger, is a local crime lord. He runs some smuggling operations and... other things, if you get my meaning. Sometimes, Reeden would do him some favours for extra money, like overlooking some suspicious cargo or equipment whenever one of Cutty's ships stopped by for inspection."

The sergeant was bearing a pained look at having to admit to what his friends did in the Fort and how he knew all about it, and Allen suddenly realised that if Reeden had not disappeared, he would probably have never found out about these operations.

"And you let this happen?" he cried out in indignation. He had thought more of Gaddes.

"Sir Allen, you have to realise that we're very far away from anything. This isn't like Palas", the dark-haired man justified. "I knew Reeden did these things - in fact, I asked him to keep me informed of them."

"Keep you in-!" the knight sputtered, but Gaddes was not finished.

"Yes, keep me informed. So that I could keep him under control", he affirmed. "I never let him do anything that was too bad. If Cutty wanted him to close his eyes on an extra box of precious minerals, that was fine. But if he asked Reeden to smuggle weapons or slaves, or let his assassins pass unchecked through the border, I told him to stay out of it."

"And you honestly believe that Reeden listened to you?"

"Yes, he listened to what I told him", Gaddes vouched with conviction. "Because if he did like I asked him to on those occasions, he knew that I wouldn't try to stop him on the others."

"Fine. So you kept tabs on him", Schezar finally said, conceding that it was a moot point until Reeden was found and therefore not worth discussing. But he was nevertheless disturbed by what he had just learnt, and by the part Gaddes had played in it. "How did this happen, then?"

"Reeden got greedy."

"Reeden got greedy and...?" The knight was wondering if anything about these 'operations' could still shock him at this point.

"And he started cheating on Cutty. Cutty didn't like it, so he put out that notice", Gaddes said, pointing at the paper. "Then this afternoon, Reeden, Ort, Kio, Pyle and Katz went missing. I don't know what happened to them."

Allen took a deep breath, going over everything that he had been told. His second in command was looking at him anxiously, but the knight could see the strength behind his green eyes. He remembered that one of the first impressions he had gotten from the man when they had met was that he was loyal and steadfast, and here was proof.

Despite knowing the bad impression that the knight would be left with of both him and his fellow soldiers after he had explained the situation, Gaddes had come forth in hopes that Allen would be able to help Reeden in a way that he alone could not. He was standing by the men he probably called his friends, yet at the same time remained loyal to them and his new commanding officer by revealing the secrets of what they had been up to in the Fort.

And Allen had no delusions that if he had wanted to, Gaddes could have gone around his authority and sent some soldiers himself to look for the missing - he certainly had the men's loyalty for that. But instead, he had come to Allen, whom he had no way of knowing how he would react, and laid down his cards.

Allen had to admire his fibre.

"Very well, first things first: we have to find Reeden and make sure he is safe. I want you to gather up some men you trust - about five, no more - and have them take a look around in the woods, just in case Reeden did run for it. In the meanwhile, I'm going to Castelo to see if this Cutty can be reasoned with..."

"Begging your pardon, sir Allen", Gaddes cut in, "I already went to see him this afternoon." Allen did not look pleased by that little revelation, but the sergeant continued: "He said he wouldn't let this go, and that I'd be hearing from him again soon. I don't know what he meant by that, but I didn't like it."

"But if he was that confident, then he's probably aware of what happened to Reeden and the others."

Gaddes nodded his agreement.

"All right. Change of plans: forget about the search party. You and I are going to go 'hear from Cutty again'. First thing tomorrow."