Finally feeling like my point had been made, I gave a concession. "I will give you my word however, that I will not intentionally do anything that I believe would jeopardize this mission, venture, or whatever it is. I will play my part as bait as requested by your superiors. However, You will not have any command over my actions. If that is understood, then let us continue on our way in peaceful silence."
Without waiting for him, I resumed walking towards the city patrol barracks. Not long after, I heard his steps resume behind me, and we both made our way in blessed silence for the rest of the trip.
*******************************
Upon arrival at the barracks, I stepped aside to let him pass me. I then followed behind as he led me, I assume, to the group in charge of this search for the child and young adult abductors.
After traversing a few corridors, we came upon a meeting room of sorts and entered.
Two older men, one with bear like features and the other with more vulpine or masculine foxlike features were evaluating and discussing a series of red dots on a map of the city. The Vulpine man was certainly nothing like that alluring beauties of Madam Callestro's. He appeared more like a navy seal, expert in infiltration, and extreme destruction with those features. The bear like man also looked nothing like the old 1967 animated children's movie character called Baloo in The Jungle Book. This was a battle-hardened, flea-bitten tank of a man who, I honestly could believe he'd provide a fair challenge to a tank back on Earth.
They both stopped their private discussion seeing our arrival, and they turned to address us. "Greetings trainee Steven." The fox man called out to my reticent and begrudging fellow Traveler. He then turned toward me. "And who do I have the pleasure of inviting on this mission of ours?"
I bowed my head in respect to both men before speaking. "Greetings, I am Andrew, apprentice to apothecary Victoria." Surprise filled both men's eyes as they examined me more carefully.
"Well, this is an honor to have you join us. I am Lead Jax and this man here," pointing toward the bear like man, "is Lead Bartholomew. We are joint leaders in this task force to find the abductor or abductors that have been stealing away children and young adults in this part of the city." He pointed at the red dots that speckled the map across the North western edge of the outer reaches of the city.
"Before we begin our pre-deployment review with the rest of the team, I want to make sure you understand what we are asking of you." Lead Jax glanced briefly at Steven as if to include him. He then directed his primary attention back to me. "The both of you are to act as bait for the perpetrator of these abductions. The both of you are within the reported age group of abductions. It is our intent and hope to catch the miscreant in the process of luring or abduction one or both of you away. Our men will be waiting, remaining hidden a distance away, so as to not startle our target. Although it is undesirable, we cannot rule out the real likelihood that one or both of you may lose your lives in this venture. For this reason, we are only seeking out Travelers for their proven immortality and offering the high price of a gold between the two of you for your troubles."
Looking me intently in the eyes he asked. "Is your master aware of this risk to you, and are you willing to follow our explicit instructions in this endeavor?"
Meeting his firm gaze with a determined one of my own, I responded with a distinct. "Yes Sir!"
A grateful smile formed on both leaders faces at my response. Lead Bartholomew or the bear man, then spoke to Lead Jax. "I believe that it would be a time now to gather the others to begin this mission."
With a nod of his head, the fox man dashed out of the room to holler into the nearby mess hall. "Attention! All previously chosen personnel for the abduction tracker mission, are to report immediately to the briefing room!"
A group of 12 soldiers rapidly marched into the room in a semi organized manner. Once all were seated, the two Leads took turns giving out greater details of the mission and assigning various responsibilities to the individual patrolmen.
As Travelers, our intended actions to be use as bait we found were not as simple as simply walking around in the general vicinity of the prior abduction cases. Due to the nature of most of them being involved in farm and field work, it was determined that we too would be assigned such work as well, so as to reduce the likelihood of the discovery of their ruse.
'Haha!' I laughed inwardly at this and smiled. I was feeling growing excitement at this venture. Additionally, getting the opportunity to try my hand at a small portion of farming was something that truly intrigued me.
The model dream home that I had designed prior to my sister's ailment, still remained in my room as the self-made promise of what I might return to, once I had fulfilled my promise to cure her disease. That home was designed on the premise that it would be built as a high functioning yet reduced maintenance homestead, on a 20+ acre sized property, preferable with a year-round clear water spring, and a natural cave on the premise. I understood that such extras were likely a long shot. However, it was a dream of mine, and until it came time to actively making it a reality, I couldn't convince myself to make any pre-concessions. For that is what dreams are for. To shoot for the stars.
The remainder of the briefing didn't include anything more for either Steven or me to focus on. As such, I pondered on what kind of farming work we'd be asked to do.
Soon enough, we were on our way following closely behind the Leaders of the group. Hitching a ride in a couple of open carriages, for intended use by only the city patrol, we traveled about 30 minutes to the very start of the farming community, saving us a lot of time on our feet.
Once there, Steven and I disembarked from our carriage and were accompanied by the vulpine leader Jax. He led the way for the three of us past several homesteads and farms, traveling for an additional 20 minutes. He began to slow down as we came up on one of latest of the wooden framed homesteads, which looked to be transitioning soon to the thatch and clay housing I remembered seeing near to the very edge of the city wall.
Coming to a stop in the shade of the farmhouse, Jax pulled us aside behind the walls. Giving us each a serious look, he then spoke. "Now, just a little farther down this road, is the farmhouse of the young couple that we have coordinated with to lure these child abductors into revealing themselves. They are a gentle and friendly bovine family who recently lost their nine-year-old boy and 13-year-old daughter. They will set you up doing similar duties as their children were performing, when they disappeared without a trace." His voice and eyes softened before continuing. "Please be considerate of them as they have lost their only posterity."
Despite not even having met them yet, my heart went out to this couple who had unwittingly lost their children.
Concluding with that last comment, the vulpine man appeared to disappear without a trace. My eyes widened at this new display of skill. What this some kind of illusion magic, I wondered?
Shaking my thoughts loose of the bewildering disappearance of our guide, we headed out. Together Steven and I began to make our way down the short hard packed dirt road to the nearby farmhouse which was our destination. Having left the Apothecary shop at around 10:30 am, by now I guessed it to be close to noon as the sun was directly overhead. My stomach gurgled a little in rebellion for missing out on lunch, but I pointedly ignored it as we made our way.
Steven had continued to be blessedly silent this whole time as we each dealt with our own thoughts.
Soon enough we reached the gate to the farmhouse, and let ourselves in. The sounds and sights of chickens clucking and goats bleating welcomed us as we traversed their yard to reach the front door. Arriving at the front porch of the farmhouse, I could now more clearly see the state of disrepair of the building. I knocked on the door and patiently waited for the arrival of our temporary host family for this mission.
We didn't have to wait long as the door was answered by a stocky yet solidly built woman. Like all the other Demi-humans that I'd seen so far, she was also mostly human in appearance, standing upright on 2 legs. She did have some notable cow like features. She had a slightly elongated face and foppish brown hair. But more noticeable, were the pair of long forward-facing cow ears, wide black nose, and wide set, larger than average reddened eyes. Most notable about her, was her ridiculously large bust. However, her strong body appeared more than capable of holding up that extra weight.
With a bow of her head, she greeted us. "Welcome Travelers. My name is Antonetta. My husband and I are so very grateful for your aid in tracking down those that took our children. Please come in." Drawing away from the doorway, she bid us enter. I took a moment to wipe away some of the road dust on the sparse rug they had at the entryway. I did not see if Steven followed suit.
Following her in, I noticed that from the rear she had a long tail with a tuft of fur at the end. Heh, truly bovine like.
Stopping at a kitchen counter of sorts she asked. "While we await my husband who is coming in from the field, is there anything that I can get you to eat or drink?" My stomach had begun growling more fiercely at her offer. However, I did not want to impose further upon a family that already appeared so destitute. As such, I said. "Only that which is convenient for you to offer."
With a somewhat sad smile upon her lips, she pulled out a pitcher of orange juice and a large chunk of bread. "It's not much, but we have plenty of oranges thanks to the orchard we have by the creek. Also, wheat we have in abundance despite our appearances."
Thanking her profusely, we both began eating as we awaited her husband, who I expected would be the one to instruct us in what we needed to do. As we waited and ate, Antonetta spoke up again looking off hazy-eyed into the distance, through the small kitchen window. "We had a daughter, Savanna, who took mostly after me, in that she loved to eat oranges and wander around the creek. Jordan, my husband and I, had great hopes for her in the next years elemental affinity testing which we were saving up for. She absolutely loved playing in the water and appeared to have a close connection to it.
Our younger son Tommy, he had a bit of a rebellious streak much like his father had when he too was younger." A reminiscing smile crossed her face as she appeared lost in the memory. "He loved to run, and was quite the speedy little guy. Surely, he would have become a highly sought after courier, if he ever decided to join the war front or even if he stayed in the city."
Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as her expression hardened. Looking deeply into my eyes, she begged. "Please, please bring a terrible end to those that took my precious son and daughter from me. And if . . . ." She couldn't finish. I somehow felt that she wanted to say if they were still alive, to bring back her children. I think that she knew deep down, that they were likely already irretrievably lost. But she didn't want to give up hope.