A/N: Things are finally starting to get interesting, or at least I can hope so. Thank you xXLiquidSugarXx for being such a top notch beta.
~5~
The area around the cliff didn't appear to attract many monsters, so Yuri and Karol decided to set up camp there. Repede had also settled down to nap, and the chances of him moving were slim.
Yuri was collecting firewood, a large stack already resting in his arms.
"Yuri, do you need any help?" Karol's eyes were as wide as ever.
"Yeah sure, Captain, if you think you can handle it."
Karol's eyes looked about ready to pop out of his head. He scurried over to Yuri and began to help him carry the wood.
"W-why did you call me C-captain?" he squeaked out.
Yuri raised an eyebrow. "You're Captain Karol, that's why."
He honestly just liked to give people nicknames, and maybe if he called Karol something that sounded respectful the kid would gain a little confidence. Regardless, the two words sounded good together.
"No one's ever called me Captain before," Karol mumbled.
"Better get used to it," Yuri drawled.
Karol plopped the pieces he'd taken from Yuri onto the ground. Karol hovered near Yuri as he made a fire, biting his lip the whole time. As the flames began to spread, Yuri straightened out from his crouch.
"I really am sorry about running away. I p-promise I won't do it again!" Karol blurted the moment Yuri stood up, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Don't make promises you can't keep," Yuri said softly. Karol's eyes flew open again. "Work to change yourself if you want to, but don't do it for me or anyone else. And don't build that change on empty promises. I already told you that I don't care if you run off."
Karol's mouth open and closed, making him look like a fish.
Yuri wasn't trying to get the kid so worked up, but it seemed like Karol had gotten a lot of bad advice. Probably constant demands that he 'sacrifice himself for the good of the guild' or to 'just be brave.'
"Man, I'm hungry. Let's dig into the supplies we brought and make something half edible," Yuri changed the subject. Karol had enough to mull over at this point, and his stomach was starting to growl.
Karol jumped on the subject change like it was a lifesaver, and he hurried over to where their supplies sat.
Yuri and Karol were able to make a meal that was actually quite tasty. The two of them sat next to the fire with full stomachs. Repede had left camp to go find his own dinner and wouldn't be back for a couple hours.
"I-I didn't know you could cook," Karol commented with some hesitation.
Yuri snorted. "I grew up without anyone I could rely on to cook for me, so I figured out how to do it myself."
Karol was staring at Yuri again. He was quiet for a long time before asking, "S-so, you're an orphan too then?" His voice was barely a whisper.
"Yeah. I spent the first seven years of my life in an orphanage. After that, my best friend and I took care of ourselves. My friend can't cook for shit, so I had to do it." Yuri wasn't ashamed of his background, he just didn't usually tell people about it.
Karol nodded. "Me too, except Nan always cooked for us."
Yuri remembered the girl at Halure. If she was to Karol like Flynn was to him, then Yuri understood why Karol had been so upset when she abandoned him. The thought of Flynn giving him the same cold look sent a terrible feeling to the pit of Yuri's stomach.
"Hey, do you want to add that crazy monster we fought today to that book of yours?" Yuri felt it was time for another subject change. He really needed to stop having so many serious conversations.
Karol immediately brightened at the mention of his Monster Book. He pulled the massive text out of his bag and flipped to a blank page. He starting writing quickly, occasionally asking Yuri about details he couldn't quite remember.
Finally, after almost an hour of working on the Monster Book, the boy had fallen asleep. Yuri was about out of steam himself and decided to turn in for the night, as well.
~5~
Many hours later, Yuri awoke. The fire was completely out, but the light of the half-moon illuminated the campsite. Yuri sat up in a rush as he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He cautiously looked around and froze when he spotted something.
Standing not too far away from him was the shining form of the silver person he'd seen in the woods. This close, Yuri could see that it was male. His hair was billowing in the sea breeze, and he was wearing dark clothing that made a striking contrast with his skin. He was standing in front of a small stone marker near the cliff that Yuri had noticed earlier in the night. Yuri had found it a strange place for a grave but hadn't given it much thought. Now his mind was whirring, old superstitions from his childhood flaring up.
Before Yuri could try and grab his sword, the pale person turned to face him, his red eyes glowing unnervingly. Yuri couldn't help but wonder if this was the end. Surprisingly, the creature didn't attack, instead he just kept giving Yuri a dead stare.
Yuri scrambled to his feet and grabbed his sword. Karol was snoring happily away on his bedroll, and Repede was nowhere to be seen. Yuri was going to have to deal with this by himself. The entity barely reacted when he saw that Yuri was armed, as he turned back to face the ocean with complete unconcern. Yuri had a feeling that things would end badly for him if he attacked, so he kept his sword sheathed.
"Uh, hey there," Yuri tried after many moments of silence. There was no way he'd be able to fall asleep again with an apparition hanging over him.
The pale creature turned back to stare at Yuri, his expression completely unreadable.
"No dragon this time?" Yuri asked with a deceptively wry tone.
The entity finally moved to face Yuri all the way. "Not many would choose to sleep in a place such as this." His voice was incredibly deep.
Yuri shrugged. "It was as good as any. Unless you're superstitious." He motioned to the grave.
The entity had returned to giving Yuri an unblinking stare.
"You got a name?" Yuri grunted as he tried to figure out a way to get this apparition to leave. Karol let out a particularly loud snore behind him.
The pale man drew himself up, making his already impressive height even more intimidating. "Duke."
"Well, I'm Yuri. Now that we got that out of the way, that wouldn't happen to be your grave, would it?" Yuri motioned to the small stone marker with a slightly trembling hand.
Duke turned away from Yuri to face the marker. "It is, in a way."
Before Yuri could say anything else, Duke began to walk away. Yuri felt a wave of relief fall over him as he saw the strange man disappear into the night.
"Yuri, what is it?" Karol mumbled from his bedroll. It looked like he had finally decided to wake up.
"Nothing, Captain. Go back to sleep." Yuri was barely paying attention to Karol.
His eyes were riveted on the perfect white lily that now lay in front of the grave.
~5~
Capua Nor was a grey city with a muted atmosphere. All of the buildings had the same plain and bulky facades and were the same height, except for the luxurious mansion that loomed above everything else. The city was covered in a blanket of storm clouds, and rain had begun pouring down by the time Yuri, Karol, and Repede had walked through the barrier. The storm was strange. It was centered on the city as if some invisible force was anchoring it there.
Yuri's eyes were trained on the mansion. He'd bet gald that that was where he'd find Ragou and a heap of stolen blastia, but first he needed to find Flynn and tell him what he'd found. Afterwards, he could go and do what had to be done.
"W-why is it raining?" Karol asked in dismay. He was trying to use his bag as an umbrella. "It wasn't like this at all when I came over from Capua Torim with the H-hunting Blades a couple weeks ago."
"Let's get a room at the inn and get dry. I'll go and ask around about a ship heading out to Torim."
"I don't think any ships will go out in weather like this," Karol lamented just as a streak of lighting cut across the sky. A deafening roar of thunder followed soon after.
Repede rushed a little ahead of them and stopped right under the inn's overhang before shaking himself dry. Any passersby cried out in dismay at the onslaught of water and glared at the dog.
Yuri smirked at his canine companion. "I'll try and get them to let you inside."
Repede let out a growl before sitting down on the slightly damp pavement. He was prepared for the worst. Yuri and Karol walked into the inn and added to the large puddle by the front door.
"Welcome!" A blonde girl rushed up to the two of them and offered dry towels. "We have rooms available, but they're going fast! They're 200 gald a night."
"That's a little steep," Yuri commented as he began toweling his hair.
"We're the only inn in town, and there aren't any boats leaving with this storm. You can sleep in a tent if you'd like instead." She gave Yuri a sickly sweet smile.
"Will you let a dog stay here?"
"No, it's Empire mandate to keep animals out of the inns."
Yuri put a hand on his hip and sighed. "I'll take a room with two beds."
"Thank you for your business!" she said as he handed her the gald. "Here's your key for room 101. It's up the stairs and to the left. Just ask if you need anything!" In moment she had bustled away, asking a group of people sitting in the inn's lounge if they'd like anything to drink.
Karol had his own towel sitting on top of his head and was looking at the crowd in the inn with apprehension. "There sure are a lot of people stranded here."
"I'm going to go look for a friend of mine," Yuri said as he handed Karol the room key and his own bag. "Stake out the room for us."
Karol bit his lip and nodded before rushing through the crowd. Yuri went up to the overly cheerful inn matron.
"Has there been a party of knights through here?"
"Oh yes! They rented out the whole top floor. I think they might have even had the princess with them."
"Thanks," Yuri waved off any offers of drinks and made his way up the stairs.
He was trying to figure out how a low ranking officer like Flynn had gotten mixed up with the princess. Yuri might have just gotten the wrong unit of knights, but he thought that the royalty factor would explain why Flynn had ended up in Nor instead of returning to the Capital.
When he turned the corner into the fourth floor hallway, he saw a female knight with orange hair and a kid wearing Imperial mage's robes having an intense discussion.
"I could just go in there and start a fire!" The knight had a hand on her hip and a glower on her face.
"And get court marshalled! You're a lot more useful to Flynn by staying here instead of being thrown into prison for arson." The little mage was scowling up at her.
"We're all going to be useless if we don't find a way to stop what's causing this storm!"
"I didn't think anyone could control the weather," Yuri blandly cut in.
Both of them spun to face Yuri. The mage's eyes widened while the knight's narrowed. "Who are you and what are youdoing here? This floor is off-limits to civilians!" she snarled.
Yuri raised his hand in a placating gesture. "I'm just here to see Flynn. I have some important information to pass onto him."
The knight sized Yuri up with piercing purple eyes. Yuri was amused to see that Flynn's subordinates were so protective of him.
The mage glanced between the two of them. "Sodia, we should just ask Flynn if he wants to see this guy."
"Flynn is busy right now," the knight easily dismissed her companion. "You still haven't told us who you are, or who you work for since you're obviously not a knight."
"What he's busy with wouldn't have anything to do with stolen blastia, would it?"
The knight inhaled sharply. "How do you know about that?"
"Flynn let me in on it. Now, are you going to let me see him?" Yuri smirked.
One of the doors in the hall opened and two teenaged girls walked out. One had short pink hair and was dressed like a noble woman while the other was wearing bizarre red clothing and carrying an oversized book.
Both the mage and the knight turned to face them before bowing.
"Your highness," the knight said. Her respectful tone was jarring after the viciousness she'd spouted at Yuri.
"Please, just call me Estellise," the pink haired girl insisted. Yuri was looking forward to hearing how Flynn had gotten himself mixed up with the princess.
The girl with the strange clothing stepped between the princess and everyone else. "Who's this guy supposed to be?"
The mage and the knight turned back to face Yuri. "You're still here?" the knight demanded.
Yuri raised his eyebrows. "I have important information that for some reason still hasn't reached Flynn."
The same door the two teenaged girls had walked out of opened again and a blond head poked into the hallway. Flynn had finally arrived like rain in the desert.
"What going on out here?" he asked with furrowed brows that morphed into surprise when his eyes landed on Yuri. "Yuri!"
Flynn stepped from the doorway and shifted through the small crowd in the hallway to reach his friend. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd still be in Zaphias taking care of things."
"I finished early and got bored, so I came after you." Yuri put his hand on his hip and a lazy smirk spread across his face. "You have a lot ladies with you. Was I interrupting something?"
Flynn laughed. "No, Yuri, I'm completely free. We can talk in my room."
"Sir, who is this?" The knight was completely baffled.
"An old friend of mine. Don't worry, Sodia, he's not going to try and stab me."
Flynn led Yuri through the group of people and gave a nod in recognition to the princess before ushering Yuri into the room and closing the door firmly behind him. He let out a sigh.
"Rough day?" Yuri drawled as he leaned against the wall.
Flynn shook his head. "Every time I turn around there's something else going on, but that doesn't matter right now. You said you finished, so does that mean you've gotten evidence?"
Yuri held up the leather folder he'd kept by his side since he left Zaphias. "It's all right here."
Flynn plucked the folder from Yuri's grasp and sat down at the room's small table. He pulled the folder open and began to peruse the shipping manifest and the letters.
"There's more here than I thought there would be."
"I had help."
Flynn's eyes flew up from the documents to rest on Yuri. "What?"
"When I snuck into the Randell place I ran into another guy who was snooping around. He was from the Guilds, and he helped me out. Someone knew that there'd be a break in, and we got swamped with knights. If he hadn't been there, I probably would be in prison right now."
Flynn's attention was completely focused on Yuri now. "You were almost caught? How could they have known? I didn't tell anyone that I was asking you to do this, Yuri, not even my second. And that man from the Guilds. He might have been from Ruin's Gate, like the one my men caught at the gate."
"I think the guy that helped me was the one who was set up, and I don't think he was with Ruin's Gate. He let me take the documents and didn't even care that I was digging around."
Flynn leaned back and sighed. "This is just getting more convoluted."
Yuri smiled wryly. "It gets better. The governor of this city is a major player in all of this. He's been moving the blastia into Guild territory."
Flynn's expression darkened. "That's not the only thing he's doing. He's been abusing the people of this city since he took power, and now there's this storm. It's not natural, and I think he's generating it somehow. I can't do anything about it because this evidence is null, and I can't charge into his estate with just conjectures." Flynn put his head in his hands.
"We came all this way just to run into a brick wall, huh?" Yuri knew how he could fix this, but he wasn't going to share it with Flynn. He didn't want to get into an argument. Or arrested. "Are you going to tell me how you ended up with the princess in your care? I don't think I've seen any royal guards since I got here."
Flynn lifted his head from his hands. "That's because there aren't any. The princess left the Capital on her own initiative and completely in secret. No one in Zaphias knows where she is right now." Flynn sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "She left because of me."
"You?" Yuri smirked. "You're not going to tell me you're having an affair with royalty?"
Flynn flushed. "Of course not! I've gotten to know her over the past two years, but she's only a friend. She came because she overheard a couple of knights gossiping. Captain Warren has put out a hit on me. A group of assassins attacked my unit on our way here, but because of her warning we were ready and didn't lose anyone."
Yuri got out of his casual lean at that, his wry humor disappearing in an instant. "That bastard sent assassins after you?"
"It's why I haven't returned to Zaphias. If the third Captain of the knights wants me dead than the Capital is the worst place for me right now. I sent a message to my Captain telling him what's going on, but I don't know how much he'll be able to do."
Yuri had half a mind to turn around and rush back to Zaphias just so he could stab Warren Agrioli in the heart a few times for daring to try and have Flynn murdered.
"Don't do anything rash," Flynn cut into Yuri's angry haze. "You have that look in your eyes that only ever leads to trouble."
"Rash? He put a hit out on you! Why aren't you angry about this?"
"I am angry but raging at the wall of my hotel room isn't going to do anything. I'm as safe as I can be in Nor, and I have a chance of bringing down Ragou while I'm here. I'm not going to lie down and die, Yuri."
"But you are just going to sit here and wait for someone to stab you!"
"Yuri." Flynn got up. "I'm well protected here. My men are on all sides and my second has barely given me any privacy. Besides, the assassins were Guild agents and no one can come in from Tolbyccia with this storm raging on."
Yuri was still scowling, but he allowed himself to calm down. There was a problem right here and now that he could take care of. "You said the governor was the one creating the storm. How can he control the weather?"
"The princess' companion is a mage who studies blastia and aer properties. She thinks he's using a Hermes blastia. It could be a modified version of one of the stolen ones."
"And once again we can't do anything about it." At least they couldn't do anything legal about it. Tonight he would go and make sure Ragou wouldn't be a problem anymore. "I rented a room on the second floor. I'll be there if you need anything while we wait for everything to go to shit."
"Yuri—"
Yuri waved Flynn's words off. "I just got into town, and I'm tired. I'm going to go sleep. Try not to get stabbed in the meantime."
Yuri opened the door to find the hallway empty.
"I'll figure this out, Yuri," Flynn said before Yuri slipped out the door.
Yuri was going to make sure Flynn didn't need to. He was going to give Flynn a reason to go barging into Ragou's mansion, he just had to make sure he didn't get caught. Ragou would be the first official he killed in Clay's stead. He could feel his heart beating erratically, but he clenched his fists and braced himself. He could do this.