4. Vigilantes

"Raven! Raven, wake up!" A familiar, excited voice shook him awake.

"Hmm? Seris?"

"Big news!" She held a newspaper up to him. The headline read 'Major Break-In at Palace.' "There's no evidence as to who did it, but a shady merchant is leaving town with two mercenaries as guards!"

Having read through the paper, he replied. "What is he, an idiot? Why would you agree to sell goods like that?"

"Uh, because he's a thief desperate for money!"

He sighed. "Seris, this merchant isn't the thief. Chances are, he wasn't the one to steal from the palace. He may be a fence, but that doesn't make him a thief."

She huffed. "Then who do you think is?"

"Well," He started, "Given that there's no evidence, whoever did it must have had a key to wherever it is they need to go. That means there's two people who could have possibly done it. Either one of the butlers or maids, or one of the royal advisors."

"And why couldn't it have been anyone else?"

"Because the butlers and maids have their keys on them at all times, and the royal advisors sleep behind some of the most secure doors in the kingdom. While the butlers and maids have keys to any door, they don't have access to secure things like display cases. The royal advisors do."

"So then, it one someone from one of those two groups?"

"Normally, yes. But there's a simple fact about the palace that makes only one of them possible."

"And what's that?"

"Cleaning isn't done until sunrise, and there are guards in front of the secure doors. The butlers and maids wouldn't have been able to sneak into that area to steal the keys. Additionally, no one reported their keys being stolen in the first place."

"So then… one of the advisors did it… Should we report this?"

"If I know the investigators as well as I think they do, they'll have had the same line of thinking. Though, everyone will likely be under investigation anyway."

"It could speed it along, though. Why don't we give them an anonymous tip off?"

He smiled. "Saris, we're outlaws. They'd arrest us the minute we set foot in the city. Our job is to deal with the people the law can't touch. We catch them and provide enough evidence for an arrest."

"But we're still going to catch this merchant guy, right?"

"Of course. Fencing is also a crime."

"I'll tell the guys, then!"

This is how life normally went these days. Every now and then, something small came up, the law couldn't do anything about it, and he and his mercenaries would take care of it. If there was evidence of a crime, they'd just capture them and hand them over to the guards, which is what the plan for the merchant was.

Their plan was carried out without a hitch. A couple people took out each of the two guards, and a few people knocked the merchant unconscious and tied him up, throwing him in the back, and sending the cart filled with stolen goods back to the city.

While the guards and merchant were being taken care of, others had taken food and money out of the back of the cart in order to sustain themselves. This was their form of payment, and they never took anything else (though, they often took any rope the person had on them, as not being able to buy rope became a disadvantage when trying to capture criminals).

This is what every day was like for them. Find some criminal, catch them, and hope they had enough food or money to sustain them for a while. Though they were technically criminals for acting above the law, once a month an official caravan would be conveniently abandoned on the road near their camp.

These were left by Raven's friend from the academy. He was of noble blood, and as such, had no issues getting through easily. Just before Raven dropped with several people now with him, he had offered him to leave with the rest. He refused, but was supportive of their cause. When he was promoted to commander, he began unofficially sending out unguarded caravans to be dropped off in a specific location, claiming that field units and elves came to him for support in their missions.

These peaceful times of catching runaway criminals didn't last long after that. Seris and I became engaged that same day, but then something else brought everything to an end. I woke up to the burning smell of smoke and ash. I ran to the entrance of the tent to see the entire forest lit ablaze, and Velder soldiers killing everyone in sight.

"Seris, listen to me. You need to get out here as fast as you can."

She hesitated. "But… but I-"

"Just run. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

She nodded her head nervously and ran out the back of the tent.

He muttered quietly to himself. "I'm sorry, Seris. I need you to survive. You're the only one who can fix this."

Moments later, several soldiers walked in and outside into the burning forest where he was then confronted with a familiar face.

"Owen?! What are you doing here?"

"My, my, Raven. You didn't really think I was helping you, did you?"

"You bastard…"

"No, Raven. You're the bastard. And to think, you actually trusted me. A noble? Help a bastard commoner? Ha!"

"You know, I think this says something about you that you didn't know."

"And what might that be?"

"You're willing to use others as stepping stones just to gain power. Even if they were once your friends."

"Friends?" He let out a soft chuckle. "Don't make me laugh. You were a tool from the beginning. I build you up in the laws eyes, and set up a trap for you, making you top the most wanted boards. I just so happen to stumble across his little den while finding out where our missing supplies are going, capture him, and kill his accomplices. It's a perfect plan, and it worked. Think of the promotion I'll get from this."

"That just goes to show that you don't really care what happens to any of the people around you."

"You're right. Not even the girl I used to love. Bring her."

Two guards brought a familiar woman.

"Seris?! I told you to run!"

"Oh, you really thought she could get away on her own? Or maybe you thought we wouldn't touch her just because she's a noble?"

He sighed. "If you let her go, I'll do whatever you ask, with no resistance."

"Oh? Fallen in love, have we? Let me guess. You fell in love, turned her against her people, and planned to use her against us?" He drew his sword.

"That's not it at all! She came of her own will, and you know it!"

"Well, then I guess that makes her a traitor. And you know what we do to traitors."

"Raven…" She spoke softly. "It's going to be okay. Trust me. I- Ahhh!" Owen's sword pierced her heart, and she dropped to the ground.

"SARIS NOO!" He cried out.

"Oops. It seems that we nobles will do our duty to the kingdom even if it means killing each other."

"You… monster!"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. It is a tragic happening that the only heir to an influential family, but in the end, she chose to fight me to the death, and lost."

"You won't get away with this."

"Oh, but I already have. Come to think of it, you chose to fight me as well." He raised his sword, but dropped it as a blade Raven had never seen before struck through Owen, and continued slicing through him, ultimately killing him.

Behind where Owen had once stood was a figure in full armor, presumably of steel. The odd thing was that there were no plates that would make movement possible in armor. A bleak, monotone voice called from it, and it seemed to drown out the sound of the fire and burning forest around them.

"You have violated the terms of the contract. You and your subordinates will now be executed." It then ran around, swiftly taking down all of the soldiers before returning to him. "Mission objectives updated. Secure the prototype."

I blacked out after that. When I woke up, I was already someone else. Something else. So I came up with a plan to take revenge on the ones who had caused all of this at the root. First, I would take down my captors. Then, I would destroy Velder and kill every singe noble.