Another chapter done and posted! Hope you enjoy! I am trying to make the best of this spring break, I know I am way behind haha. Please leave a review!

Chapter 22:

Breaking & Entering

Fenrir adjusted his hood to shelter himself from the rain. He walked through the streets of New Carvahall, shooting glances at the busy villagers still bustling about, boots splashing through muddy puddles.

It had now been a month or so since they left Elesmera. They arrived in New Carvahall a few days ago, only to find a relatively small occupying force of White Fire. There were few options here for interrogation, and none of them looked to be high-ranking officers.

He turned and looked up to the Keep of Lord Roran Garrowsson Stronghammer, Bane of the Ra'zac, Hero of Aroughs. The man had accumulated quite a collection of titles during the war, but there were those who still believed that his position of Lordship was given to him only because of his close ties to the Blue Rider.

It didn't matter either way to Fenrir, he needed to contact Roran. His political position would surely mean he had knowledge of the White Fire Dominion.

Fenrir had tried to simply ask permission from the guards to speak with Stronghammer, but was asked to leave, cast aside as another commoner who's troubles were not important enough to speak directly with the Lord.

And so he had decided to enter through the back door, so to speak. If he couldn't speak with Roran, then he would let the Lord's private documents do the talking. He was well aware how morally questionable this plan was, but as long as he found and stopped the Dominion, then his actions were justified.

Right?

He shook off the moment of doubt and continued on his way down the back streets of the town towards the Keep. The sun had set and the night was growing darker by the minute, with the rainfall providing even more cover.

Soon he reached the back wall and stared up the damp stonework. He took a deep breath, remembering that Aunyx was just outside the city, hiding among the forest, ready to move in if he needed help.

"Reisa," he said under his breath, and focused as his energy drained from him, raising him quickly off the ground and up onto the top of the wall. He crouched atop the wall, adjusting his fitting on the six inch wide stone. After scanning the area, he dropped eight feet down to the wet grass in the courtyard. Carefully watching the noise of each step he took, he made his way towards the keep, heading towards a dimly lit window.

Sliding along the wall, he peaked through the glass window. Insided was an empty study, with a worn wodden desk and a single lit candle in front of the window.

Surely they would not leave a burning candle on a wooden desk unless they planned on returning soon.

Fenrir decided to search for another way inside, not wishing to risk being seen by whoever would most likely be returning to the study.

Crouching below the window, he continued along wall until he came across a second window. This one was dark, and he could not make out what was inside. Through the faint moonlight that shone in, he could see the vague shape of maybe a small table and some chairs.

A dining room maybe?

As far as he could tell, it was empty, and he was wasting time, so he whispered a quick spell to melt the edges of the glass pane, carefully removing the square without shattering it and bringing unwanted attention his way.

He slipped inside, crouching low to the wooden floor and sticking to the shadows. The room turned out to be a small library, stocked with dust covered books and scrolls.

Stronghammer is not much of a literary man I suppose.

He tip-toed cautiously out through the door of the room and into a long hallway, dimly lit every few yards by fading lanterns flickering in the dark. He peaked inside each room looking for something that resembled a personal office. Finally, at the fourth room from the end of the hallway, he found an office with a single large desk, with the walls covered in paintings of various landscapes, mounted hammers and swords, portraits of an attractive woman and a girl maybe around Fenrir's own age, along with other personal items.

Silently making his way through the room, he leafed through stacks of papers, searched drawers and shelves, and found nothing. Releasing a frustrated sigh, he made a quick sweep over the room, making sure everything was back where he found it, before leaving the room.

Moving out into the hallway, he cursed under his breath as the wooden floor gave a small creak under his foot.

Then he heard a sword being drawn.

"Ay, who's there?"

Fenrir pinned himself against the wall, pressing into the shadows. He could hear a guard coming up a staircase, and saw his lantern light beginning to flicker into the hallway.

"Hljodhr sundavar," Fenrir whispered.

The sound of his breathing, his heartbeat, everything, faded into silence and shadows slipped over him, wrapping him in pitch black darkness.

The guard entered the hall and looked around, sword drawn. Fenrir's spell caused the guard's light to reach just short of the corner where he was hiding, keeping him in the shadows while the lantern illuminated the rest of the hall. After what seemed like forever, the guard sheathed his blade and turned, returning to his previous patrol route.

After a moment of waiting to make sure the guard was gone, Fenrir released the spell, resting against the wall as he recovered from the loss of energy. He peaked around the corner and down the staircase. The guard was out of sight, but Fenrir could not be sure how far away he was.

After a deep breath, Fenrir recited the silence spell once more and slowly made his way down stairs. He came to an abrupt stop when he reached the bottom of the staircase and saw the guard a few yards farther, patrolling the wide hallway that the stairs led to.

As the guard reached the end of the hall and turned around to walk the hallway again, Fenrir grew nervous that his luck would run out and he would be seen this time. The guard's lantern light grew dangerously close with each step the man took in his direction, and Fenrir whispered a spell to put the man to sleep.

In his hastily recited, panicked spell, Fenrir had not given a moment's thought to what would happen once the man was asleep. Sure enough, the man fell with a large thud onto the floor, his chain mail armor clanging around as he hit the ground.

Fenrir did not even have time to curse his own stupidity before he heard movement in the rooms further down the hall. A door on the left side of the hall opened and two guards came out, swords drawn. From the right side of the hall, a door a few yards closer to Fenrir opened as well, and another guard came out, accompanied by the young woman Fenrir had seen in the portaits in Stronghammer's office. She had a rather fancy (even for who Fenrir assumed was the daughter of the Lord) nightgown that brushed along the wooden floor, and a small dagger clutched in her right hand.

Fenrir began backing his way up the staircase again, anxious to escape from this place now that he had a collection of suspicious guards just a few yards away from him, not to mention that his energy was waning quickly from so much magic use in a relatively short amount of time.

As he carefully retreated, each step he took depleted his energy even more, the spell drawing his strength from him to cover up the sound of his footsteps. After some slow but steady progress, he tried turning around, confident that none of the guards would see him and stab him in the back.

As he turned around on the steps, he lost his footing in the dark and his foot slipped off the edge of the wooden step, stomping onto the next lower plank of wood. He gasped as the spell drew a larger amount of energy, covering up the loud noise of his mistake. His focus on the spell slipped up for only a moment, but it was enough to draw the attention of the Lord's daughter, who threw her small dagger spinning toward him. His reflexes saved him, the knife burrying into the wood in front of him as he dodged to the side.

The woman's attack had missed, but now the guards had focused their attention on the staircase as well, walking towards him with swords at the ready, their lantern light growing closer to the shadows in which he remanined unseen.

He almost ran up the stairs, his energy fading with each step the spell had to conceal. The guards were moving up the stairs now as well, just barely far anough behind him that their lantern light fell short. Fenrir's vision began to blur from the toll the spell was taking on his stamina. As soon as he was up the stairs and in the hallway, he ducked into the first open room he saw and released his spell, trying to keep his breathing quiet while he rested for a moment.

The guards were right outside, patrolling the hallway. He could hear doors opening as they began to search each room. Their footsteps grew closer as they continued their search down the hallway, closing in on the room in which he was hiding. He took a few deep breaths, trying to get his heart rate down and become as quiet as possible, but he knew he had little time to remain unseen. His chances of avoiding a fight were quickly decreasing.

The footsteps outside were now moving toward the doorway of the room he was in, and he braced himself, hoping his enhanced agility would let him sprint for the window he had opened when he entered.

A guard stepped into the room and Fenrir ran forward just before his lantern light fell on him. He knocked the guard to the side and ran out the door. The two other guards were waiting in the hallway aand swung their swords at him the moment he entered the hall. Fenrir leapt to the side, dodging one blade and kicking the legs out from under the guard. The other blade flew inches away from Fenrir's back, and he counterattackedby grabbing the sword from the man's grip and tossing the blade aside. He didn't wish to kill them, he just needed to escape. He elbowed the guard in the stomach and sprinted past him. He skidded to a stop as he almost ran past the the small room with the open window, the square pane of glass still lying on the floor.

His legs were kicked out from under him as he entered the doorway, and he landed on his back with a blade inches from his neck. The moonlight flooding in from the window illuminated the face of the Lord's daughter as she pressed the blade closer to Fenrir's throat.

"Thief or assassin, I do not care. You have made your last mistake entering the Keep of Stronghammer," she spoke with what would have been a beautiful voice if she wasn't threatening him.

"I don't suppose you would believe me if I told you I wished no harm to your father, would you?"

His words were pained as the woman's blade began to cut into his skin.

"Oh, sure, I suppose I will just let you go in that case," she responded mockingly.

"Please, I really do not want to hurt anyone. Just let me go and I will not return. You did not have what I was searching for anyway," he said, hoping he would not have to fight her to escape.

"Good luck telling that story to my father. He is much more ruthless than I, and shows little mercy to those who attempt to break into his home"

Fenrir gave an annoyed sigh.

"Thrysta"

The blade shot out from the woman's grip and embedded itself in the wall, allowing him to grab her by the wrists, rolling over to pin her to ground.

Momentary fear and surprise flickered in her eyes before she regained her composure.

"Nice trick, mage filth," she spat at him.

"They really have you all calling us that? Filth?"

"No one should have the power to make the impossible happen with a simple word. You are all dangerous"

"Only if we are forced to be. You have no weapon now, just let me leave and I will not have to use any spell that will harm you"

"You would have to kill me before I let you escape"

"I will not do that. I am getting up now nd releasing you. Do not pursue me"

A content smirk spread across the girl's face.

"I do not have to"

A hammer tapped Fenrir's back.

"Stand up now, mage, before I knock your skull from your shoulders," said a deep, rough voice.

Fenrir cursed and turned to face Lord Roran Stronghammer.

"Stronghammer, I can explain," he replied, trying to keep calm while the Lord held his hammer at the ready, prepared to crush Fenrir's head with one powerful swing.

"You will have plenty of time for that in prison. At least until the morning, when I hang you for breaking into my home and attacking my daughter," the Lord replied.

Guards entered the room and took Fenrir away. He knew he could easily defeat the guards and escape, but he could not harm anyone, or he would be no better than the Dominion who he seeked to destroy.