It is now the early hours of the morning. It feels like we have been in this place forever. Three people have used the fluid room since Tristan. The first two haven’t done anything suspicious since coming out and the third one is still in their cleaning up after his last client.

  If we ignore the whole stake out thing, this has actually been quite a pleasant evening. Even saw Jonty a few times when he came over to collect our empty flagons. He’s actually a very pleasant young man. Nothing like the offensive powerhouse that his father was.

  Chloe and Tristan elected to teach me how to play poker while we keep watch. Apparently, I am not very good at it. Chloe says I really need to get a better poker face… claims that my face gives me away all the time. Which must be a fair criticism because whenever I have a good hand, they always fold.

  Chloe has been having a go at Tristan on and off over the course of the evening. She still seems pissed that he was in the room for over an hour. This case must be getting to her. She’s normally jovial and jokey about stuff. You know… where the insult is mild enough and said in such a way that you don’t take it seriously. But tonight, she has just been outright mean.

  I get that she’s pissed that she has been looking into these missing persons for a long time and just wants the bastards caught… but there is just no need. And Tristan is so nice that he just sits there and takes it. At least Lucas would bite back with sarcastic wit. Tristan just hangs his head in shame.

  Eventually, the guy emerged from the room. He wasn’t like Olly or Dolly at all. He was a tall, dark and, what I suppose would be considered handsome. He had a firm, muscled and hirsute chest. He wasn’t flamboyant or fun-loving like them either. He had a kind of… sternness about him.

  His client had been a pretty small and gangly looking man that I am pretty sure I have seen somewhere before. I think he works for the council in some capacity… but a lot of those guys look the same, so I can’t quite put my finger on it.

  Dwynfel: “He’s finally out… honestly… why do they always take so long to clean that room?”

  Chloe: “For the last time, Dwyn. It’s the damn fluid room.”

  Dwynfel: “Sorry… I think spending the entire night drinking is getting to me a bit.”

  Chloe: “Your ale is so watered down that a child couldn’t get pissed from it.”

  Dwynfel: “Even watered down, it builds up over time, Chloe.”

  Chloe: “Pfft… lightweight.”

  Dwynfel: “I’m half your size… I can’t take the same quantities as you.”

  Chloe: “That sounds like someone who is admitting defeat.”

  Dwynfel: “Defeat? What are you talking about? This isn’t a competition.”

  Chloe: “Everything’s a competition, Shorty. Now, show your damn cards.”

  I mean… my cards are reasonable… I might actually win for once. Three kings is a good hand… right. I know there are other hands that beat it. But most of the time my hands have just been pairs. Then again… people have bluffed their way to victory with less than a pair… urgh… this game stresses me out.

  Tristan: “Everybody keeps looking at me.”

  Chloe: “Of course they are. Olly’s got half this place wondering what a slo-mo orgasm feels like. You’re the bloody great celebrity of the whore-house. Really helps us to fly under the radar… fucks sake.”

  She looked back at me with a raised eyebrow.

  Chloe: “Just play your damn cards already.”

  Dwynfel: “Okay… okay. Three kings.”

  I placed my cards down on the table. Chloe swiftly followed suit.

  Chloe: “Two pairs. You beat me kid… what you got Tristan?”

  Tristan: “I’ve got a straight…”

  Kiyui: “Jesse just left out the back.”

  Chloe: “What?”

  Kiyui: “He said he’s going to get another barrel of ale… I’m pretty sure we don’t need any. I’m checking the stores now.”

  Tristan put his cards down on the table, revealing a straight flush. Chloe picked the money up off the table and flung it at him and began to shout.

  Chloe: “Alright, you can just fuck right off! I’m sick of hearing your fucking miserable droning voice anyway!”

  Tristan hurriedly picked up the money, bowed his head and swiftly left.

  Dwynfel: “What the hell, Chloe?”

  Chloe: “Shut up, shortarse! Kiyui, what’s the news on them stores?”

  Kiyui: “We have enough back here to last the night. But he may be getting an extra barrel in preparation for tomorrow. I can’t be sure.”

  Dwynfel: “Seriously, Chloe… what the hell is with you tonight? Why are you being such a…”

  Chloe: “Tristan, let me hear that sweet monotone. You got him?”

  Tristan: “He has donned a cloak and is moving through the backstreets.”

  Chloe: “Well, that’s fucking suspicious. Keep on him.”

  Oh… right… yeah… I get it now. She was being a loud bitch to him so that he could leave and follow anybody suspicious at the drop of a hat without blowing our cover here. Still… seems a bit excessive. I get that if one of us left every time one of the staff left it would likely blow our cover… but still.

  To be honest… we lucked out that the first room we checked happened to be the one with the drop-off in it. I was fully expecting it to take two days just to check the rooms. But whilst we found the drop-off quick… we’ve still been sat here for hours on end waiting for somebody dodgy to use it.

  Chloe: “You ain’t half an idiot sometimes, Dwyn.”

  Dwynfel: “I get it now, okay. You never explained that you were going to do that.”

  Chloe: “If I explained, then your reactions wouldn’t have been genuine. Tristan worked it out.”

  Dwynfel: “I’m not one of your knights, Chloe. We’ve hardly worked together in the last four years. Forgive me for not knowing your tactics instantly.”

  Chloe: “Yeah, but you know me well enough to know that I’d never rail on the guy for enjoying a bit of sex. And for the record, Tristan. I’m glad you enjoyed himself. But seriously, being in there for over an hour was taking the piss…”

  Tristan: “I may have lost track of time… but… I think it made the situation more believable.”

  Chloe: “Oh, it was certainly fucking believable. But you’re gonna make all these whores very sad if you don’t come back here, you know that?”

  Tristan: “Sorry.”

  Chloe buried her face in her palm before downing what remained of her drink.

  Chloe: “Don’t apologise, you tit. Just… urgh… where is that guy heading?”

  Tristan: “He’s entering the northern quarter.”

  Chloe: “Kiyui?”

  Kiyui: “That is nowhere near our ale supplier.”

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  Chloe: “He’s definitely up to something.”

  Kiyui: “If they head much further north, then Tristan will exit the range of connected voice.”

  Chloe: “Shit. Decision time. What are the other two doing?”

  Kiyui: “Cynthia is with a client in room four and Devon is serving drinks until his next client arrives.”

  Chloe: “Right… well… keep an eye on them. We need to join with Tristan. Anything suspicious happens, keep track of it.”

  Kiyui: “Right.”

  Chloe slammed her hands down on the table and stood up with such tremendous force that the seat that she was sitting on fell to the floor behind her.

  Chloe: “Fucks’ sake, fine! I’ll go apologise. You boring fucks can’t take a damn joke!”

  She stormed off out the front door and I rushed off after her. We ran as fast as we could to catch up to Tristan. We were almost to him when connected voice wore off. The last thing that he said was that he seemed to be heading to the northern city gate. We knew that we’d never catch them by going through the backstreets, so we decided to swiftly cut ahead and get to the northern gate first. The gate is never busy at this time of night. The only people who leave at this time are nearby farmers heading home or travelling traders who want to get a start on the next day’s travel. So, the guards were quite relaxed.

  Chloe asked the guards to prepare a couple of horses, but keep them out of sight. After about fifteen minutes, a horse-drawn wagon travelled through the gate. Sat up front was a couple who looked to be in their forties. The man had a thick scraggy beard and the woman had long white hair tied in a braid. There were several barrels in the back. They carried fish… I hate the smell of fish stalls… so much concentrated odour… it is overpowering… I couldn’t smell anything else as soon as they started to approach the gate. Honestly… that much fish… it’s vile.

  The couple smiled at the guards as they passed through the gate. That was when we saw Tristan poke his head out from an alley. He rushed towards the gate and instantly headed for Chloe.

  Tristan: “He’s in the back of the wagon.”

  Chloe: “We’ve got horses ready, let’s go.”

  Chloe and I got on one horse, Tristan hopped on the other, and off we went. Carefully following the wagon from a distance. They were being cautious… circling back round on themselves, occasionally casting light spells behind them to see if anybody was following. Fortunately, Chloe had anticipated such behaviour and we were travelling across the fields rather than the roads.

  Chloe: “Tristan, think they made you back there?”

  Tristan: “Don’t think do.”

  Chloe: “Cautious twats then.”

  We had been following them on horseback for about an hour when a thick white fog started to descend upon the moors.

  Chloe: “Shit… Shorty, you’re a farm boy. Any chance this shit’s natural? Or is it them?”

  Dwynfel: “It could be… the moors do get misty on a morning sometimes… but this does seem a tad excessive.”

  The mist was thickening up fast… it wasn’t long before we could no longer see the wagon ahead of us.

  Chloe: “Shit, we’re gonna have to get much closer. We should head for the road; the mist shouldn’t be as thick there.”

  We picked up speed and veered back towards the road… but as we did, we heard a terrible, low, growl coming from all around us. Chloe recognised it instantly.

  Chloe: “Fuck. Hellhounds!”

  Dwynfel: “It can’t be… they don’t live in these parts.”

  Chloe: Yeah, well, neither do crocodiles.”

  Something large and heavy thudded into the back of our horse and it collapsed to the ground. Chloe threw me clear but ended up with the horse landing on her leg. The horse quickly stood itself up and ran off into the mist.

  Chloe: “I hate these things.”

  Hellhounds are not easy things to avoid. They are invisible… at all times… so when fighting them you have to go by footprints and sound. And it is very hard to see the ground in this fog.

  Chloe drew her great sword and Tristan turned to assist us.

  Chloe: “Fuck off after the wagon! If they get away, we’re fucked.”

  Tristan: “Close your eyes.”

  Chloe: “Fucking what?”

  I did as he instructed.

  Tristan: “Rainbow dust.”

  I heard a large poof sound. A moment later I opened my eyes. Tristan had gone but everything in front of us was coated in this horribly bright rainbow coloured dust… even the hell hounds… three of them.

  Chloe: “One night with the twink twins and now he’s throwing rainbows… pretty fucking handy though.”

  The hounds are slowly moving around. When one of them barks and growls, the other two get closer and ready to pounce. It’s a good strategy for an invisible assailant. They are trying to confuse their prey. They know that sound is how most people detect them, so they are using it to their advantage.

  Dwynfel: “Chloe… they don’t realise that we can see them.”

  Chloe: “I know, this’ll be easy. Keep your eyes on the barking one. Don’t let the others know we can see them until they are right up close. When I take those two out, you shoot the loud one.”

  Dwynfel: “Right.”

  The growling grew louder and louder. I drew my bow and notched an arrow. I pointed it in the vague direction of the hound and waited. The other two got within two metres of us before they pounced. One dived at me… the other went for Chloe.

  Chloe: “Now!”

  I focussed my aim and loosed my arrow. As I did, Chloe sidestepped and swung her sword straight through the hound that lunged at her. The second the arrow left my bow, I dived forward out of the path of the second hound. My arrow reached its target and the hound fell to the ground. It wasn’t dead… but it was struggling to stand.

  The uninjured hound circled around and went to pounce on me again. Chloe barged me out of the way and swung her sword upwards, the sword travelled about halfway through the hound, but not all the way. The hound whelped as Chloe continued the swing of the sword in an almost full circle and slammed it down onto the ground… the impact finally splitting the hound in two. The hound that had been wounded by my arrow lay on the floor struggling to breathe. I must have punctured one of its lungs.

  Chloe: “Almost feel sorry for the thing.”

  She swung her sword down on its neck, ending its suffering. Then we heard a series of explosions in the distance.

  Chloe: “Damn it…”

  Chloe instantly ran off in the direction of the explosions. I ran after her. When she runs flat out, she is much faster than me… or perhaps I should say that she has a lot more stamina than me and can run flat out for a lot longer. When it comes to short bursts of speed, I am faster. Endurance is not my strong suit. Anyway… pretty quickly she disappeared into the fog and I was alone.

  After about fifteen minutes of running up the road I found a series of small craters with scorch marks in them. They were scattered in different parts of the road. No blood or any other signs of injury though. If this was that wagon throwing bombs at Tristan to get him to stop following them then it seems he was able to dodge their attacks and continue his pursuit. But if they were throwing bombs at him then they definitely know he’s following them and they aren’t going to lead him back to their homebase. Shit.

  I continued up the road… the scorch marks didn’t go on for long… clearly, they ran out of bombs pretty quickly. I found Chloe and Tristan slightly further up the road. They were stood next to Tristan’s unconscious horse.

  Dwynfel: “What happened?”

  Tristan: “When that Jesse guy ran out of bombs, the woman from the front climbed into the back. She tried to cast sleep on me, but I have a magic shell amulet, so it had no effect. So, she targeted my horse instead.”

  Chloe screamed in anger and kicked a nearby stone.

  Chloe: “FUCK!”

  Tristan: “I tried to rouse him… but it’s like no sleep spell I’ve come across. He just won’t wake up.”

  Chloe: “We’ll never catch them on foot. We need reinforcements.”

  Obviously, she should be wielding her sword with two hands. But the AI absolutely could not comprehend that for some reason.