The next day…
"William Jensen?"
"Yes? What can I do for you?"
"We need some answers to some questions we have."
"I see, but for what reason should I easily give them? All I see are suspicious cloaked men trying to threaten me with their words. How can I be sure you aren't enemies of the Kingdom?"
"A wise one, you are. But you need not fear."
After spending the night in a village near the Summer Country border, the Captain ordered a 5 hour force march to the small town of what we now call Dorchester - where William Jensen's workshop is said to be. As they entered the town, and after mandating everyone to wear cloaks, the Captain with his lieutenants - Levi and Bart - went to the workshop to interrogate William Jensen; The Captain and his lieutenants are currently inside William Jensen's workshop.
As the Captain does his job and interrogates Jensen, Luke and Bart are on the other side of the shop looking at the products.
"This is the right place, all right." Levi said as he picked up a rake, "All the tools back in the castle are engraved with this workshop's brand."
"I wonder why he even bought them here?" said Bart as he held a broom from the side of a shelf. Bart then turned his attention to the plaques detailing the prices of each tool.
"Huh. Looking at the prices here, it's safe to say why Andrus chose to buy the tools here." Bart said.
"These tools are 4 times cheaper than the ones I find back home." Levi commented
"And 4 times weaker." Bart said as he gazed upon a shovel lying on the floor.
"What makes you say that?" Levi questioned, now standing beside his friend who knelt down to grab the shovel
"Well…" Bart simply placed a hand on the shovel and pressed it. Causing the shovel handle to split in half.
"Hmph. I'll be damned." Levi said.
As he turned around to see where his Captain was, something caught his eye. And according to the elbow bump by his friend, he saw it too...
As the lieutenants were looking at the store products and doing their thing, Captain Faust was opening his satchel to retrieve the scroll with Camelot's seal. Opening it wide so that Jensen can see it clearly. Once the realization of the Captain's identity struck the shopkeep, the Captain began talking,
"I believe you are now open to cooperation, yes?"
"Huh?! I-uh, I am! Yes, I am willing to help." Jensen said nervously.
"Good," Faust said with a half smile, " Let's begin. Did you make a deal with a man named Andrus for tools a few weeks ago?"
"Andrus? Yes, yes. I do know a man of that name. He is my brother after all."
"Oh?" Faust said, pleasantly surprised at the revelation. He stayed silent so that the shopkeep could elaborate.
"He came here around the same time to buy the cheapest stock I had. Didn't know why. He's been weird lately, ever since he bought the cheap stock, he's been very secretive about things. He didn't even tell me that he came home! The nerve of the man."
"Wait." Captain Faust was shocked at what he said, while looking around he asked, "Andrus is here?"
"Yeah. He came here this morning. Told me he planned to go to Weymouth after picking up some things from his place."
"I see… Where could he be at this time?"
"Beats me. Like I said, he's been quiet about his whereabouts nowadays. I only got him to talk 'cause I cornered him. Something's up with him; I just know it."
"He's not on anyone's bad side, is he?" The Captain asked
"Well, I'm not sure. But when I mentioned his wife when I saw him this morning, he seemed to freeze up a bit. Never really talked about it further." came the reply
"...I believe that our talk has come to an end. Faust said as he made sure all his stuff was kept. He then dropped 5 silver pence on the counter where the two were talking.
"Here. Compensation for your services."
After he called his lieutenants to follow him, the Captain went out of the workshop. Wondering how his men were doing.
...That's how it should've ended. But after realizing his lieutenants hadn't gone to his side yet, he turned around towards where the two could be to see what was the problem. And what he saw surprised him.
It was Bart and Levi haggling for a bow and quiver at the weapons store beside William Jensen's workshop.
He can only sigh at the display.
Meanwhile…
"Archer, I see him."
"Stay close to me, Andrew. We'll only go near him should Mordred fail."
"You really think Sir Mordred can pull this off?"
"I don't think he could, Andrew. I know he could."
"Hey look! The target's on the move."
After Faust and his lieutenants talked with Jensen, the Captain ordered a search. The Captain, with Bart and Levi in tow, decided to go to Andrus' house. The rest - with some subtle prodding by Archer - went out of their way to scour the town area in the notion that it might be possible to search for Andrus here with 15th were split into 3 groups of two, with the exception of Archer's group. The redhead's team has 3 in total - with Mordred and Andrew filling the other 2 spots. The 3 groups of two went their separate ways towards the town gates, while the redhead's group decided to scout the market place.
Archer, using reinforcement to enhance his eyesight, found Andrus buying bread from the bakery. The trio are now following him into an alleyway, with Mordred planning on knocking the man out for questioning, while Andrew and Archer are above the buildings overlooking the embezzler from there. The redhead decided that the high ground was more favourable for him; the Cavalryman just wanted to climb things. The Red Knight couldn't care less, all she cares about is getting things done. And speaking of which...
"Archer. This is Mordred we're talking about for Christ's sake!" Andrew talk-shouted while keeping an eye out on Andrus, "He's more likely to stab him if anything else."
"Calm your nerves, Andrew," Archer said as the pair jump to another building, "He can control his temper better than anyone could."
"Really? Is that true, now? Aren't you forgetting about the little detail that he almost killed someone in the bar last night?"
"That drunkard had it coming." Archer said looking back at his compatriot and new friend, "I would've done the same thing if I was in Mordred's situation."
"So you're saying you would bring out your sword and threaten the neck of a mere drunk just because he touched your shoulder?"
Archer just stayed silent at that. There was no defending the Red Knight when Andrew put it like that. When the drunk joked that Mordred was so small and frail last night in the tavern they were staying in, it struck a chord or two within the Red Knight. The shoulder touch probably sent shivers up her spine, since that part was armorless. The reaction was immediate. It was merely in self-defense that Mordred did what she did. But Archer can't explain it to Andrew for obvious reasons. Since it involves explaining the Red Knight's true gender.
So he does what he does best - Change the subject. It worked wonders for him with Rin, and it won't fail him now.
"Andrew. Look." Archer said, pointing downwards to their target.
As the Cavalryman looked down, he saw the embezzler getting drop-kicked by the Red Knight. Said Red Knight just looked up towards her friend and said,
"You bastards gonna get down here or what?"
"On our way." Said the redhead as he jumps down the building. Andrew climbs down the wall in turn.
"What kind of an idiot decides to climb over roofs just to do nothing at all?!" Mordred exclaimed at the redhead
"You can never be too certain that no one is looking." Archer replied. He turned his attention to the cavalryman as Andrew neared the embezzler.
"He's unconscious…" Said the cavalryman as he kneeled down to check him.
"He'll live." The Red Knight said nonchalantly
"Let's bring him back to the Captain." Archer said
"But how? We can't just carry him like a sack without anyone being suspicious about it." Andrew said
"Just use your cloak and put it on him." Archer said while looking out for potential eavesdroppers. "And carry him by the shoulders. Let's make it look like he's knocked out drunkenly."
"On it." Was the reply of the cavalryman. After covering the embezzler with his cloak, Andrew took a bottle of beer from his satchel and splashed bits of it on Andrus' mouth, neck, and chest - giving off the impression that the man spilt his drink on himself before going unconscious.
"Ready?" Archer asked Andrew.
"Ready." was the reply.
"Great. Let's go."
30 minutes later…
"So this is Andrus… Pretty plain looking if I say so myself."
"He looks like the type no one expects to be a criminal."
"Silence, you two. I will do the talking once he wakes up. In the meantime, all of you investigate the house. Search for clues for the money."
"Yes Sir." x10
The Captain and the rest of the 15th are currently inside Andrus' house. Currently, only Archer and Mordred are with the Captain in the master bedroom. The rest went off to all other sections of the house.
The redhead and the Red Knight started looking around in the room for secrets. It wasn't easy since the room itself was very plain and mundane as you go inside it. It contains a wide bed for two in the center of the bed alongside a nightside table at the left corner. A wardrobe rests at the left side of the room. And if the dust being illuminated by the sunlight coming from the window at the right side of the room says anything, it would tell you that this room was barely used.
As Archer neared the right side of the room, where the window is, underneath it was a drawer. He opened the first drawer to find clothes inside. He removed the clothes in search for something hidden. To no avail. The second drawer had the same results. But the third dawer, as he opened it, contained a chest. A chest with no key lying around.
After looking around to see if anyone was looking - no one was - the redhead cast structural analysis upon the box and its keyhole. And after looking around again, he projected the key suited for the chest and proceeded to unlock it. Rather than open it for himself, the redhead decided that the Captain - who's currently watching over the embezzler - should see it first. Lest he face questions on how he opened it.
"Captain." Archer called, "I found a box."
"Oh? Let's see it then."
The redhead then gave the chest to the Captain. Said Captain opened the door, with both of them anticipating something of value inside. As the chest opened, letters fell on the floor. The chest was overflowing with letters.
"What…" the redhead was surprised at this. The Captain shares the redhead's sentiments.
While the two of them are reading the contents of the letters, Mordred busied herself with the wardrobe on the other side of the room. As the Red Knight opened it, a cloud of dust appeared. If it wasn't for her helmet, Mordred would be in a coughing fit. As the dust settled, she started removing all the items within. Clothes of all sizes made their way to the floor in her wake. When all is said and done, she was left with disappointment. Disappointment turned to annoyance, and annoyance turned to irritation. Out of spite, she slammed her fist at the back of the wardrobe resulting in the back of the wardrobe to crack open and splinter. Much to the dismay of everyone else in the room.
But Mordred didn't expect to hit something metal when she punched.
"Archer!" Mordred turned around, "There's something you need to see."
"I can say the same thing to you." Replied the redhead as he neared his friend.
"It looks like our criminal over here seems to be onto something far deeper than we thought." he continued.
"No shit." the Red Knight said, "But right now, you gotta see this. It's a-"
CLANG!
"A sword…" Archer said in surprise. As he picked it up from the ground and unsheathed it, he casted structural analysis upon the sword.
But it was not just a mere sword, he came to realize. It has a curved crossguard. A maroon leather grip is intricately designed with a silver pommel that's etched with a 4 point star at its end. The edge of the blade is as sharp as a razor. But that wasn't the only thing that caught the redhead's attention.
This sword holds power. Power that he can't quite explain but it seems familiar to him. When Archer made a glance to Mordred the redhead said,
"So you feel it too."
"What do you think it is?" Archer asked in a low voice. This is a conversation that Captain Faust is not privy to, after all.
Noticing his change in tone, the Red Knight replied in an equally low voice, "It felt like what I feel whenever I used my sword."
"Could this sword be-"
"No! It can't be" Mordred shouted calmly
"Is there something wrong over there?" Captain Faust asked, currently immersed in his search within the letters from the chest.
"No Captain!" The two replied.
"Well, if it's nothing. Come over here and help me out. I think I know why Andrus stole the money through these letters. But I need assistance in sorting the useful letters out." the Captain said.
Before the two heeded their commander's order, Mordred stopped Archer as she said,
"What do you know about the sword?"
"I know that this could be one of the weapons of the Knight in the book." Archer replied, recalling the weapons listed in ,the Lion and the Witch,
"If that's what you think, then the son of a bitch we just knocked out could be like that bastard!" She exclaimed in a low voice.
Archer knows what she's talking about, but he doesn't agree. "Mordred, Andrus is no Drecken. If he was, then he would've slaughtered everyone in this town. But he didn't."
"But we can't be too sure of that. It's best if we just killed the guy." Mordred said.
"That's not the mission." Archer said dismayingly
"If you two are done having your personal quarrel, I need you two to help me in this. From how I'm seeing it, Andrus would wake up any hour now. We need to finish this before he wakes up." Captain Faust said.
Knowing the repercussions of lack of intel when it comes to interrogations. If he didn't sift through everything, then it would lead to miscalculations he doesn't want. It was a lesson he learned from the Saxon Ambush a year before - an incident brought about by the mistake of the scout responsible for securing the route. He isn't too keen on repeating an incident like that.
"Yes Captain." Archer and Mordred said.
2 hours later…
A groan was heard from a man. A youthful man. A man with raven black hair and equally black eyes. The back of his head was stinging with a foreign pain whose origin is unknown. As he opened his eyes, he noticed he couldn't move his hands. And as he realized this, he suddenly felt that his legs couldn't move as well.
"Hey, you're finally awake."
"About time. I was about to knock his teeth in if he doesn't show."
"Mordred, that's a terrible idea. You would've made things worse."
His eyesight was still shaky and hazy from just waking up. But as his gaze centered at the owner of the first voice, he started to see things clearly.
"Andrus Jensen. I am Captain Faust. Personally given orders for your apprehension by none other than Arthur Pendragon - the King you have committed a grave error upon. Now, as a Knight, I must duly ask this question: why did you steal the King's riches knowing that you'll get caught?"
Andrus is not dumb. Knights of all kinds won't give a rat's ass about a criminal's reasons. He knows that people like him are the lowest of scum to them; what with their holier-art-thou attitudes and arrogance.
"I merely have done so in the hopes that my name will be etched upon the annals of infamy," He replied with venom and sarcasm. If his interrogator was miffed at this attitude, he didn't show it.
"I need to know with full honesty, Andrus Jensen." The Captain said neutrally as he inched closer to the tied up man, "Your life depends on it."
"And why do you care!" Andrus replied in spite, "Heaven knows you don't really care two shits about why I did it. So why bother? All you're gonna do is lock me up like a pig waiting to be slaughtered."
He knows that embezzlement is a crime punishable by death. But he doesn't care. But he was a little happy that one of the Knights who was with the Captain got riled up and was about to near him until his companion stopped him. 'Just like I planned.'
"You can just kill me right here." Andrus continued, "Apparently that moron at the back agrees with me on this."
"If only you stopped being an asshole! We were gonna say that we'll help you! And it looks to me that you don't need it." the 'moron' said. The 'moron' turned to Faust and said, "Oi Faust! It isn't even worth it. Just let him die, for all I care."
"Sigh...Please take care of Sir Mordred, Archer." The Captain commanded. After waiting for the two to get out of the room, Faust started again.
"Andrus, please. We know why you truly did it so please don't make things harder."
Andrus was not only confused at this, but another feeling was bubbling up inside him - hope.
"Not like you'd care. All you really needed was the money." Andrus said.
"We have the money. And we have no need for it. It belongs to the King, after all." As the Captain finished, he brought out a letter from a place Andrus can't quite see. But it didn't matter since the raven haired man was too shocked to even bother wondering.
"How did you…" Andrus said eyes wide as saucer plates
"It does not matter. What does matter is why you planned to steal from the King just to get our attention." Faust asked.
Andrus replied irritatingly, "You make it sound that my plea would have easily been heard."
"When it concerns the Saxons sending an unwilling spy inside the Castle walls, then yes. It would've been heard."
"That's not what I me-." Suddenly, he coughed. It was a violent one, if I may add. He coughed more and more until blood came out alongside spit. As the Captain gazed in horror at the display, he saw that a mark was forming at the raven haired man's throat.
"A curse of silence…" The captain said surprised.
"Just talking about the cur-COUGH!" And the coughs came back once more. Even talking about the curse would trigger the effects.
"Stop talking about it and let's get back to the point." Faust said as he gave the man water.
"You really think I can drink that?" Andrus asked mockingly
"If you would grab it for yourself, then I suggest you do."
Looking down at his arms, Andrus saw that his restraints were loose. When did the Captain undo them? The raven head grasped the cup and slowly drank its contents.
"Seeing the whole reason for your crimes, I cannot see why I would turn a blind eye to this issue at hand." The Captain said as he moved away from Andrus, choosing to sit on the bed.
"The bloody curse is so powerful that I cannot mention anything at all related to those bastards. The bi - coughs - the one who did this was strong in mag- coughs."
"Snap once for no and twice for yes. We need to find other ways to circumvent this curse if we want to help each other."
Two snaps was the reply.
"Good." As the Captain said, he picked out a letter out of nowhere. It has a black seal keeping its contents inside. He opened it and started asking questions.
"Is anyone with you in this house?"
1 snap
"I heard from your brother that you had issues with your wife, is she ok?"
1 snap
"I see… Are the Saxons keeping her?"
2 snaps
"All the letters in the chest we found are filled with commands by the Saxons. Did you follow them all?"
1 snap
"Is stealing the money proof of your deeds? Is it a ransom for your wife?"
1 snap and then 2 snaps
"Regarding the leaked information you have given, are some of them detrimental to the security of the King and Camelot?"
2 snaps. The Captain frowned at that.
"Now for the final question." Captain Faust said becoming serious, "Who did this to you? Do you know what color she wore?". Turns out the Captain heard him say, "bitch" before his coughing fit took over.
Andrus pointed at the seal the letter the Captain was holding.
"So, a black clothed witch did this to you… that's not exactly enough to pinpoint a target. But it's helpful."
"How unsettling. Once we have dealt with this situation, we'll find a way to get that curse off of you. In turn you will fully cooperate with the King's desires no matter what they are. Do you agree?"
"Who's to say that I won't be killed once I come back?" Since it wasn't about his involvement with the Saxons, Andrus can speak freely
"My word." Faust replied, "Stronger than any weapon you can think of."
"Oh I don't think so…" Andrus absentmindedly said, looking at the wardrobe where he kept his weapons. Only to panic once he saw the gaping hole Mordred made.
"Do not fret," Seeing Andrus' expression, Faust tried to calm him down, "We have your sword right here." Pointing at the object resting on the bed beside him. The Captain then rose up from the bed and asked,
"I trust that since you have told me all of this, you will wholly cooperate in what I plan to do."
"And what is that?"
"I will take you and my men to save your wife from the Saxons who did this to you."
"Heh! I'd like to see you try. Judging by the fact you've read my letters. You already know who did this to me. He isn't an easy nut to crack, I'll say. Did you even think about what would happen if you did that?"
"I do not fear Horsa. Even if he is Hengist's brother, I will not stop to save an innocent."
"At the cost of many more lives." Andrus said bitterly.
"You were willing to sacrifice your own life just for us to know about what the Saxons have done. It is only just to avenge your suffering. Along with saving your wife."
"...You are so full of yourself."
"Will you agree or no?"
"Fine! Fine. I'll help."
"I trust that the enemy is in Weymouth? I heard it from your brother."
2 snaps was the reply
"Good. Take what you need and meet me downstairs."
And with that. The Captain left the room.
The ravenhead proceeded to grab his trusty sword - Cair A family heirloom. It's been in the family for generations. But it was incomplete. Where was its counterpart?
He headed towards the beaten up wardrobe and did something to unlock the false bottom built into it. Opening the false bottom, he found the pair suited for his sword - Paravel. An oval shield with a Lion carving at its center. Beside the shield is the armor his granddad used to wear. A long-sleeved chainmail and shoulder plates for upper body protection.
Wearing his ensemble makes him look like a Knight like the Captain from before. Except he's wearing red in contrast to the other man's silver. Thinking about the Captain once more made him reflect on what transpired.
Should he trust the man? Or should he not?
Of course he should! His brain said. After all, Captain Faust is Andrus' closest bet to not only save his neck by pitching in a word or two to King Arthur about his innocence, but he's the best chance of saving his wife! If anything, that fact was the one that eased his worries. If he could save her now, then the chances of her being defiled by those brutes will plummet to 0.
'Just hang on, Cyrille. I'll save you!'
And with that, the ravenhead left his room.
Author's note.
As always please review my work. It's the only way I can tell if i'm still doing a good job. Anyways. Thanks for reading and peace!