Every person I asked in the next few days only confirmed further what Osmond had told me: there were indeed undead warriors in Lord Albion's keep. My first thought was that they could be under the control of the necromancers that had terrorized the town a few weeks back. However, I remember Lord Augustus told me that he had killed those very necromancers, so that couldn't be true. Perhaps some other malevolent being was controlling those soldiers? ...That was improbable. So, the most likely conclusion was that Lord Augustus was responsible for the bone warriors. If this was true, then he was extremely dangerous! I rubbed my throat. I had a hard time believing that the August I had come to know and respect could be a necromancer, but everything inside me was screaming that he was. I decided that I would be the one to get to the bottom of this. I knew him the best and had actually seen much of his estate. It was time to gather evidence.
First, I talked to the people who had encountered the hag. They gave me somewhat of an idea of what she looked like, but her appearance didn't remind me of anyone that I knew. All I knew that she was big, smelly, and hideous. I wasn't ready to go into the forest myself and ask the murderous hag my questions, so that was all the information that I could go off of. There was no connection to Lord Augustus there except for the fact that she was living in his forest.
Next, I talked to the militia who had fought the undead at the Albion keep. They told me that the skeletons were well-armed and extremely tough. Most of the skeletons looked like they had been there for centuries, judging from the color of their bones, but there were a few that gleamed with an ominous fresh-white aura. I concluded that those were the ones that had been raised recently. These skeletons were the best evidence I had for linking Lord Augustus to the crazy happenings recently. They were in his keep, defending it for him. He had probably fled the keep during the battle to avoid danger and a connection to the skele-
I suddenly remembered something. The people had told me that the hag had thrown mysterious magical spices and dead animals at them before snatching away those immobilized by the assault. She was wearing a belt with many different pouches hanging off of it. There was a person who matched this description that was connected to Lord Augustus: Acta! I remembered that she was living with Lord Augustus and loved to buy all sorts of strange herbs from town. The last time I had encountered her, she killed some townspeople and dragged away one of their bodies. Thus, my unfortunate hypothesis that Lord Augustus was responsible for everything was all but confirmed. The only task left would be to apprehend Lord Augustus and have him confess to his crimes. A small part of me still believed that he was innocent and that this was a colossal misunderstanding, but I knew better.
Apprehending him would be difficult, however. We just witnessed our town's militia get crushed by his bone army. It would probably take every single person in this town storming the keep to stand a chance. It was possible to call to another neighboring region for aid, but that would take an eternity, not only for their soldiers to get here, but also to convince the other lords that Lord Augustus was actually a necromancer. He was held in high regard in this country, after all.
"You've begun on the path, freo," a raspy voice crackled into my ear. That gave me a great start. I backed away and turned around to see the hooded old man from the other day.
"Old man, where did you come from? You scared me!"
"That doesn't matter. I've spent all day warning the people here of their impending doom, but it appears that person who understands the true threat the most was the one who wasn't listening," he growled, pointing at me.
"Trust me, everyone could hear your shouting, old man. You've managed to gather quite the rabble."
"I am simply playing my role, as you must as well. Now hear this, dear freo. Nothing you do can save me or you, but nevertheless, we must continue on our paths."
"We're in danger?"
"Yes and no. Any threat on our lives are in the very distant future. But our livelihoods are soon to be inverted. You seem to be a lovely and caring young lady. Do not worry for me."
"All right…but I'm not sure I understand."
Suddenly, screams came from the town square. Both the old man and I hurried to the source. A group of green-hooded men armed with dangerous swords and muskets had appeared, opposite the town mob that had gathered in the square. On the ground between them was a townsperson riddled with bullet holes, bleeding out. He was moaning terribly.
"Murderers!" someone yelled in horror.
A mountain of a man stepped out to the front of the mysterious group. He brandished his enormous cat o' nine tails and whipped the ground, making a threatening sound.
"Lord Albion tells us that you peasants have been acting up recently!" he roared. "We're here to maintain law and order, simple as that!"
"That is my job!" A man with a cane hobbled out to the front of the townspeople. It was the venerable sheriff. "I see that after I rebuffed Lord Albion's bribes, he hired you unscrupulous men. You will find that we do not bend so easily to brigands."
Osmond rushed to the man's side. "Yes, my father and I will bring you all to justice!"
"Well, if it ain't the sheriff himself. You'll be glad to know that we're only here to tell you all that all this mobbing and gathering in the town square goes directly against Lord Albion's wishes. Keep it up, and we'll be forced to do something severe. Anyone who dares go against us will end up like that piece of cheese down there."
He gestured to the now dead man on the dirt. Unfazed, the old man went from my side and walked up directly to the mountain man. There was some sort of demonic fire in his eyes.
"You only aid the coming of the inevitable end! Leave at once! You know not what you do!" he called out.
The huge brigand easily picked up the old man and brought him up to his face.
"Ah. You must be the rabble rouser Lord Albion told us about. He has a fantastic punishment in store for you."
The group of bandits took the old man to the pillories and locked him in one.
"He has been sentenced to death in the pillories. Anyone who dares feed him or give him water will be executed without mercy. We will be leaving some guards in town to ensure order here. Be on your best behavior. If we see another unlawful gathering, you can be sure that there will be harsh consequences."
For the next week, people were caught trying to aid the old man, but all of them were caught and beheaded in front of everyone else. Other townspeople were minding their own business when they were accused of fake crimes by the bandit guards and were executed as well. In response, secret meetings were held, and eventually, one final assault was organized to defeat all the brigands and take back the town.