Mason dragged Rollan down the streets of Greymerrow, ducking around and skirting around the various patrols.
At the moment they were hiding behind some crates of produce waiting for the nearby patrol to pass by them.
"Umm... sir? Where are we going?"
"Keep it down kid. Ask the questions later."
Obediently, Rollan stayed quiet; however, he tensed up, fearing what may be in store for him.
The patrol passed by them, when the glint of light off shining off of Mason's dagger attracted their attention.
Turning towards their direction, the guards were about to yell for to alert the others, that was until they were clobbered over the head. Their bodies dragged off into a ditch and then disposed of.
They continued to sneak around, darting around corners, remaining in the shadows.
After knocking out several more guards, they came to arrive at a rather bland alehouse. It's front was decrepit and unattractive. It's paint peeling off in layers.
Mason led the duo towards the door, knocking on the door.
A voice responded from the inside "Who is it?"
"It's Mason, and a friend," he replied.
"We're closed right now."
"The inn's always open for the weary."
The door of the inn opened, a robust man appearing in their vision. He ran at Mason.
Rollan backed away thinking he was going to attack his recent companion, ready to bolt if the situation required it.
In a turn of events the robust man jumped and hugged Mason, then he pushed him back examining him.
"You good?"
"Let's talk inside," replied Mason sternly.
They followed the robust man inside, the hallways were dark, lit sparsely. The lights dim, they were lead into another room, a man perched on a crate outside, smoking a cigar.
The man nodded to them, moving aside to give them entrance. Walking into the room, one's attention would be drawn to the large table, covered in maps and various texts.
"Oh hey, Mason. Good to see you back. Now who's the tag along?" asked the person perusing the table, writing down various things.
"He's... er...," he turned to Rollan, "hey kid what's your name?"
"I'm Rollan Fairchild, son of Adamastis and Willow Fairchild."
"Yea, that's his name," said Mason lamely.
"We've talked about this Mason. You can't just keep bringing strangers here. You can screw everything up!" cried the person sternly.
"Calm down. It'll be fine. He was being hunted. What do you want me to do eh?"
"I don't know just don't bring them here!"
"He would've died!"
"Umm... what's going on?" asked Rollan meekly.
"You know what screw it. Name's Krishna kid. Go follow Mason and he'll tell you what we're all about."
"What! But I got mo-."
Krishna cut Mason off, "You brought the kid here, he's your problem now." He then waved his hand dismissing the duo before turning his attention back to his documents.
The two left the room, and walked down another narrow passageway, leading into an empty courtyard, paved with stone. Various training equipment were placed meticulously along the walls, designated and organized by the specific characteristics of the equipment.
The armor was hung glittering, separate from the weapons as well as next to the greaves. The daggers laid glimmering on wooden tables, their edges honed.
Spread out the training ground, a bunch of what seemed to be recruits practiced swinging wooden swords, others sparring against one another.
Beckoning Rollan to follow, Mason finally began to explain what was going on here, "Rollan, do you understand exactly why you were being chased by those 'hunters'?"
"Not exactly Mr. Mason. My parents just told me that they might get into some trouble."
"Well kid, you see. As you know, you were being hunted. Your parents were supporters of the movement to help those unfortunate and all that. They wanted to fight the truth of our society, like us."
"What do you mean were?"
"Hate to break it to you like this kid but, your parents?"
"Yea?"
"They're in a better place now."
"You mean..." Rollan's eyes began to water up, his lips trembling, threatening to burst out in tears at any moment.
"Shush... it's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be okay," Mason comforted Rollan, smoothing his hair back as he spoke words of comfort into his ears, wiping away his tears at the same time.
-
Aadam finally woke up after a fitful night of sleep, the horrors of last night still plaguing his mind.
Dark clouds were overhead, obstructing the sun from shining it's light into the graveyard. Probably cast by the coven due to the undead's aversion to light.
Readying himself he checked his gear over again, his armor was banged up. His sword was fine; however, it could do with a sharpening, unfortunately he was unprepared and didn't bring any form of whetstone. He had lost his shield during the fight, it being too damaged that it would hinder rather than aid him. The map given to him was undamaged, luckily.
Feeling a growing hunger begin to rear it's ugly head within his stomach only now did he realize how much he screwed himself over, for he had forgotten to pack supplies.
Cursing his own stupidity, he set out to at least do something meaningful. Leaving his shelter, he began to explore the area surrounding his 'home' for even though the map outlined what he should expect, it was still wise to have an idea of what it physically looked like.
Spotting some dead bushes on the horizon he went over to retrieve it, thinking that it could perhaps be used as foliage to obscure the entrance to his cave even more.
When he approached them he was shocked when suddenly something ran out from underneath the bush and leaped towards his face. A black blur collided into him snarling ferociously. It would have been quite frightening and perhaps Aadam would've actually died there if that blur wasn't a small hellhound cub. From it's small size, a runt, abandoned due to weakness.
Pushing the offending cub off of his chest he rose up, getting a good look at the cub he observed it.
"You're not such a bad thing eh? Ah well, I'll just be on my way," Aadam then proceeded to gather the bushes and head back to his cave, not noticing the cub following after him, sniffing the air as if it had just smelled something delectable.