The Hunt

-The Cottage of the late Baron Orpheus, Dalen. Morning, 3 DSTR-

The Dreadknight stood just inside of the doorway, his eyes moving over the carnage within the cottage. The bodies had had a couple of days to spoil, creating a sweet smell that was becoming increasingly intoxicating. Walking over to the Baron's wife's body, he knelt down and placed a gauntleted hand on her jaw. Turning her head from side to side, he could hear tbe faint grinding of several pieces of bone moving around each other due to being shattered. The deep purple bruise over her neck showed the hand of her assailant, whose size must have been comparable to Dreadknight's due to the scale of the handprint. Rolling her head away from him, he looked over his shoulder to where three soldiers kept Christopher on his feet. Standing and walking over, he towered over the crying man and spoke in a deep voice, "You were his chief adviser. You should have fought until your dying breath to keep this from happening."

Dreadknight backhanded the man, driving him out of the soldier's hands and to the ground. He began sobbing into the floorboards until the soldiers jerked him back up to his feet so that Dreadknight could continue, "You told us only that they were killed, but these wounds on Lady Orpheus do not seem to be those that a mere man would be capable of. Tell me, who did this?" Seeing the man sniffle before breaking into sobs again, Dreadknight took hold of his throat and smashed his fist into Christopher's cheek. Delivering a few punches to the man's gut, he dropped him before following him to the ground. Pressing Christopher's face into the groind with a grip on the back of his head, Dreadknight hissed into his ear, "Who did this? Tell me, or die."

The man's sniffling continued for a few seconds and Dreadknight was preparing to drive his hand through the man's skull until he heard him whisper something. Lowering his ear closer to Christopher's mouth, Dreadknight squeezed slightly in a silent order to repeat himself.

"Thierri, the King of the Timber Crag Kingdom. He killed them all, asking for the identity of the assassin who killed his father. I had no choice, he was going to kill me too. If I hadn't told him, he would have found out anyways and there would have been no warning he was coming. Please, you must understand; I did this for the good of the kingdom, one final act of loyalty to the Queen in a present i was unsure I would survive."

Dreadknight sucked air through his teeth before breathing out slowly through his nostrils. Standing and shaking his head, he pulled Christopher to his feet before throwing him to the guards while speaking, "You got your confession boys. Take him to the Queen and see what she wants with him. We're through with him. Glancing over to where Spellbow and Estalla are studying a set of tracks, Dreadknight strode over before speaking up, "He is heading toward the capital. Our little friend Christopher told him the identity of the assassin. So, I can only assume the invasion will wait for word from Thierri, who will only call them when he has found her. Where do we start, Witch?"

Tag- Estalla and Spellbow