After reassuring the Voluch, the only thing left for them was to get going. The only mode of transport available for both of them was the Silths carriage, built to comfortably accommodate four, but to Alexus any number greater than one was a crowd. They sat across from each other and he couldn't help feeling awkward, so he leaned on his fist and lightly drifted off to sleep.
What aroused him next was Doran's voice, telling the coach to stop. The investigator opened the carriage door and hopped out, then addressed the detective. 'Give me a few minutes, I have to give a report.'
He looked up through the window and saw that they had stopped in front of the station. The guards outside stood rigid and statue-like, but Alexus took a second look in confusion, then remembered why the uniform colour and pattern had changed. After the bureau had come together, with some reasonable force and oppression of opposition, they made subtle changes to shift the society conformation to the Queen's rule and make it 'humanitarian'. Slowly but effectively, regions across the human realm succumbed to the Bureau.
Hargford bent to the bureau when it came into power but sealed tight its contents from their autonomous rule, reminding the organisation that even during the Queen's rule it was independently structured. Seeing the uniform change, Alexus can guess the bureau had made another move on the state.
Inside, Doran smiled politely to all the greetings and headed directly to the chief's office, he knocked twice politely and entered without a reply. A rugged man sat behind the desk, his scribbling coming to a resounding halt. He smiled wide when he noticed who had entered his abode.
'Doran, my boy!' Doran returned the sentiment. 'Jolly good to see you sir. I see you've been quite busy even though you've only been back for a day.' He pointedly looked at the stack of papers cluttered on the desk, in gold, his name was engraved on the plaque on the table: Lucian J. Gordia. Chief Gordia bellowed heartily, his rich baritone laugh reverberating in the office.
'Well, work never stopped while I was away! So do tell, is there something wrong?' His voice was laced with concern. Doran rocked on his heel, thinking of the best way to put things forward. 'No, no, not yet. I wanted to inform you of a digression I'm about to indulge in.'
The sitting authoritarian frowned lightly. 'This is surprising, why do you ask? If you think it's something you need to do, you should go right ahead, but if you need cover, you should tell me now.' Doran thought about himself being an accomplice to drug assault but mused that might be the least of his problems in the long run.
'Thank you sir, for now, I'll need some passes in place of search warrants.' The chief nodded at the reasonable request. 'Alright. Be careful, nothing overboard.' He stared meaningfully at Doran who smiled back brightly.
He closed the door behind him and exhaled, then noticed a box at the foot of the door. He bent down and opened it, only to reveal a stack of doughnuts his eyes widened in surprise, he knew the chief had a sweet tooth but he also had diabetes. He picked up the box without guilt and took it along, if he did this today, the chief might have one more day added to his rapidly shortening life. He contemplated dropping it off in the cafeteria, an unnamed defenceless box of doughnuts dropped in the nest of vultures called the cafeteria wouldn't last the hour. Then he remembered the poor detective that dozed off in the carriage, and how loudly his hunger was made known. So he headed outside to give it to the person he thinks really deserves it.
The carriage swiftly made for their destination, Hedgins hill was quite a distance, and they were leaving the bustling parts and heading to a freeway, the horses were eager to pick up speed. From the corner of his eyes Doran examined Alexus whose mood seemed to have improved after having something to fill his mouth. Alexus was slender and healthy on face value but if Doran's knowledge of sorcerers was correct, for someone who is powerful the detective was not in the best condition.
Sorcerers were beings that could utilise their body's pneuma to do the extraordinary because of that, they require strong physic to perform powerful spells that'll otherwise kill an average person if they tried to do so, and if their physic didn't meet the standards, their food consumption is high just to avoid using damaging levels of pneuma.
Alexus was alright if he only did low level spells, but part of his reputation was being a genius sorcerer, he neither had a muscular frame or ate as frequently as would be required of any sorcerer. Along with his confusing soft features, Doran chucked it up to luck, Alexus was a lucky exception whose mother's genes displayed tremendous superiority but he wondered which of his parents he had inherited his gifts from. He had tried to find information on him since the first time he laid eyes on him but everything came up null, the Silths family had covered up his tracks and the background of his adoption. Alexus was the first person he had close interactions with that was mysterious and it was so mostly because he was difficult to communicate with on a personal level.
They made it to Hedgins hill, the town was old and had a traditional feel to it. With a population of 342, written in bold letters on the board proclaiming the presence of the town, the place looked to be thriving. The coach went down a dirt path that led to an architecture fit for higher class people, the obvious lords of the town, but the coach turned the carriage to the side and stopped so that its passengers could see what was happening.
There were motors parked in front of the gate with masked men standing alert, they looked straight at the stopped carriage that had come to their attention.
Alexus licked his thumb free of syrup and scowled in distaste, he had just had his energy restored and now he was going to have to use it again. He looked over at Doran who had drawn out his gun and took a magazine from the side of his hood.
'I thought you would be a pacifist.' Doran laughed in good merit, he made to open the door and turned to the detective.
'I like to think I am.'