The roads were a flurry of movement. Raine and Sythe both were very uncomfortable, and felt the eyes of everyone watching them. The closer they got to Valinos, the more people they met. Though no one had stopped them yet, several groups of soldiers seemed to follow them for a while, before going back to their work. "I feel like I'm walking to my death." Sythe said as another platoon of Templars walked past. "We should turn-"

"We are not turning around." Lynn said. He was leading the group, his paperwork in hand. "You may not like it, but if we turned back, it would only raise suspicion, and most likely lead to your arrest. I have no intention of letting any of you be arrested or injured on my watch, Keith's orders."

"Keith? You never mentioned that Keith gave you orders to go with us!" Maren said a bit too loudly, and drawing the eyes of several nearby workers. More quietly she continued "Why didn't you say anything about it before?"

"Because he gave us 'indirect orders'." Maddie said with air quotes.

"What does that mean?" Richard asked with an eyebrow raised.

"It means our orders were implied. You are friends of his friend Trace, are you not?"

"Yeah, we grew up together."

"Then to keep you safe would be to keep Trace happy, and to keep Trace happy means keeping Keith happy and on task, which is my job to begin with. And if that's not enough, I have this paper with his instructions, signed by him."

"When did he have time to do paperwork?" Raine asked. "I thought he was too worried about Natani to do anything."

"Oh, he didn't. I do the hard work for him."

"So you forge paperwork?" Maren asked.

"Technically yes, but since Keith is my superior, and has given me permission to do work in his stead. And if you would like to continue questioning it, I have paperwork that he signed that says exactly what I need it to."

"You're scary, you know that?" Richard said, shaking his head. Lynn smiled, and continued on. As they approached the edge of Valinos, a group of soldiers came out and stopped them.

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to wait here." The captain said. "The city is under martial command right now, and until we can verify the authenticity of your reason for coming here, you are going to have to wait. Now, which one of you is the leader of this convoy?"

"Ah, that would be me. Which paperwork would you like to see first?"

"I'll need to see some identification and proof of travel to start. You, come with me. The rest of you lot will wait here until further notice. You two, with me. The rest of you, stay here and keep an eye on them." As Lynn was lead down the road, he glanced back and smiled. Raine and Richard sat down together, while Sythe, Maren, Karen, and Maddie stood nearby.

"I can't believe we got all the way here only to be denied entry!" Sythe said indignantly. "Weeks wasted. We could have gone anywhere else and been fine, but no. We just had to set our sights on the place the Templars just happened to be setting up shop."

"Sythe. Shut up." Maren said rubbing her temples. "It's bad enough I haven't had a good nights sleep in over a month, I can't stand listening to anyone else complain." There were 18 soldiers standing nearby with a wide variety of weapons. Some had halberds, while some had swords and shields. Strangely, none of them seemed to carry any ranged weapons, though they most likely were all able to use magic to cover their long range weakness. As they waited, a platoon traveled down the road, headed east, escorting a ballista. They watched as the troops trudged past, but Raine noticed something strange. No one was pulling or pushing the ballista. It moved on it's own, and she saw glowing blue runes engraved into the base.

"Hey." She elbowed Richard and whispered "Those aren't normal, are they?"

He looked over and shook his head. "I don't know. When I was training they weren't at war with anyone. Though I suspect magical siege equipment probably wasn't standard issue back then. Everything's different now. Or, maybe I'm different? I'm not sure. I don't think I could have done anything like this. The Templars used to have some good, or at least what I thought was some good, but now they are entirely different. When I heard the wolves had declared war, I wasn't sure what to expect. Sure, the Templars have acted like a more organized militia in the past, but this is something else. They're a military. And they aren't just defending themselves. You don't make siege weapons for defense, you make them to break cities. They aren't going to stop with just holding their ground. They're going to take the fight to the wolves."

Lynn was walking back, escorted by the captain and his two soldiers. "Everything checks out. You will be escorted into the city, where you will stay out of all military affairs. Any breach in conduct could result in your expulsion from the city, or execution. We will take you to the inn. Do not separate from the group, or you will be arrested and punished accordingly." Collecting themselves, they followed the platoon into the city.

"I'm sorry this isn't ideal, but it's the best I could get. We should be able to collect information here, and figure out our next steps." Lynn wasn't as expressive as usual. "I'm begging you all to please do as they ask. Madelyn, you know what your orders are?"

"Of course." Her usual smile was gone. She had shifted to a much more ready stance, as if they were about to be attacked at any second. Passing through the city gates, they saw hundreds of soldiers across the main road. Smiths collected raw iron and coal from wagons, and put out plates of armor, swords, shields, hinges and other metal works. Lumber was rolled past them to be processed into planks and parts.

The inn was a three story building in the middle of town, standing on it's own. Civilians and residents of the town were gathered around and inside, for no reason other than to stay out of the way of the Templars. Humans and Keidrans alike were treated like dirt by the Templars, and anyone who stood in their way was pushed down and trampled. Raine watched as a child was pulled out of the street as a row of soldiers stomped their way toward the docks. "Things are worse than I thought." She muttered to Lynn. "The entire town is under marital law. We shouldn't stay here."

"Do you trust me?" The question took her by surprise.

"I- I guess?"

"Then trust that I have a plan. And you will be most pivotal."