Chương 104: Chapter 103- The Interview

Elias studied the man's face as he glanced around the room, panic clearly rising the more he saw, he was thin but healthy, the soft pale white skin, and gentle brown eyes under a mop of short blond hair seemed odd for a soldier. As he took another glance at the ill-fitting chainmail and his nervous expression, Eli revised his estimate, Not a soldier, maybe a clerk?

Astra sat back in her chair and tapped one thigh plate with a gauntleted hand, before removing them and tucking them into her belt, fixing the man with a stern expression, " At ease." She sat back in her chair, " What is your name, soldier?" The man sat up straight and marshalled his nerves visibly as he cleared his throat after stuttering a bit at first in his answer, " B-Bre, ahem, Brewer. Corporal Brewer, Lady… Emberholdt?" A slight inflection made the name seem like a question. Astra nodded, " Aye, Emberholdt.

How are your injuries?" Eli clocked the visible relief as tension left the man's shoulders upon hearing her name, had a past issue with nobles? No, he is fine with Astra, he's had issues with A noble. The man grimaced and lifted his three fingered hand for a moment before setting it back in his lap, " Fine my Lady, the others have it worse, I'm just glad to be alive, I didn't think we would make it. I thought I had seen my last sunrise."

Astra nodded, crossing her legs and tapping one knee, " Aye, the situation looked quite fraught upon our arrival, so tell me. What squad are you with, where is your commander?" The man chuckled nervously, " Squad? I'm a logistics clerk, and honestly my Lady I don't rightly know where Lieutenant Stenson is, I haven't seen him since yesterday."" Ok, how about the other officers, maybe the Garrison Commander?"

The man began to shift nervously, glancing around at the grim-faced men and women filling the room, " I'm sorry my Lady, I don't know, do you mean you haven't found them either?" Astra grimaced and shook her head, " No. I have my suspicions but so far you are it." The man's hand began to shake as he started to hyper ventilate, a wild panic entering his eyes as he glanced up when Winterbrook placed a hand on his shoulder, " Easy boy, deep breaths, you are safe for now. Just answer the questions."

The man squeezed his eyes shut, panting heavily, but after a few moments calmed before opening them once more, " Ok, I can do that. What do you want to know?" Astra leaned forward voice steady, but combined with the heat of her glare it did nothing to cut the fury in her question, " How did a clerk end up manning the gate to the Fracture Yard, and where the Fuck is the watch?"

Corporal Brewer took a while to find his courage, but once he did, the words flowed, and the picture he painted was a bleak one. He was responsible for inventory and intake for the main supply warehouse for the Garrison and consequently worked a very early shift, starting in the middle of the night and continuing through the early morning, resulting in him often going to bed for the night well before sundown.

He was woken in the late afternoon by a massive explosion that shook the walls of the building, as alarm bells rang through the Garrison. He dressed in a rush and ran outside to find a scene of chaos already in motion, most of the Garrison had already emptied with only the clerks and the off duty squads left inside. Hearing a call for all hands he had joined the rush to the Armory to arm themselves, more explosions had occurred while his group had been inside, but they could only move so fast.

He mentioned noticing that the bell had cut off, and after a bit of questioning was unable to remember any other alarms being sounded, his group had just followed the sounds of battle which led them to the Fracture Yard. When his small group had arrived, the fighting had already breached the inner gate and entered the passageway and, someone he didn't recognize who was wearing an officer's badge ordered him to close the outer gate and hold it at all costs.

Brewer spoke in a dry rasp with a haunted voice, " We could hear screams in the back alleyways and we sent a squad out to check while we barricaded the gate, but they never returned, the runners we sent to rally the Watch never returned either." The man's hands started shaking again before he gripped his pant legs, the pain of flexing his wounded hand bringing him back out of his thoughts and into the moment."

Our barricade held the gate for a while, the men inside must have thinned their numbers, but it wasn't enough and they broke through on the second wave." Astra held up a hand to stop the man as she leaned forward, " Wait. The second wave? We saw a flash of light and an explosion from the fracture, a little after sunset, was that not the first?" Brewer frowned and slowly shook his head, " No." Everyone in the room froze, as every eye turned to the man, even the guards." How many?""

That was at least the third so far, I don't know if I slept through more." Astra shot to her feet as Winterbrook grunted, " How often boy?" Brewer grimaced as he shrugged, " I don't know for sure, it was all a blur, there was at least an hour between them but no more than two. I couldn't be sure, we never heard any alarm bells, and we didn't hear anything from the clock tower either."

Elias glanced over at the guards and made eye contact with Franklin, nodding his head at the door, " You should go tell Mason and the Baron." Franklin turned to look askance at Astra before turning to duck out the door at her nod, she turned back to Brewer and took her seat once more as she asked him to resume his story, albeit with a white knuckled grip on the hilt of her sidearm, her posture ramrod straight in her chair."

As I said, the outer gate held until the second wave, I never saw the first, only heard it, but the flash of light and the boom was unmistakable. Once those bastards poured out it didn't take long for them to start battering at the other side." Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Astra gave him a sharp look, " There was no one on the ramparts?" He shook his head, " No one alive at least, we never heard the ballista fire.

The watch was supposed to man them, and they were missing so we just assumed that there was no one else left." Brewer took a deep breath and gave out a shaky sigh, " We were no more than fifty or sixty at that point, mostly non-combat classes. We had one mage though, Eric."" 3rd platoon, maybe 2nd squad? He was an earth mage, he was the one who collapsed part of the gatehouse when they shattered the outer gate, probably the only reason we held out so long."

He gestured vaguely around the top of his head as he grimaced, " Almost made it through the second wave, but one the big antlered bastards got him when he tried to block the passage… through the throat, bled out after."" Some of the small ones and a couple of the big ones made it through our lines, but we held most of them back. There was talk about searching the town for them after the second wave died off, but I wouldn't let them."

He frowned as he looked back at Astra, " There were maybe a bit over twenty of us left, and I knew it wouldn't be enough to get them all. I was the only one left with any rank, so I ordered everyone to grab everything they could to barricade the entrance and hold the line." Brewer took a deep sigh, " So we piled a bunch of desks on some carts, dumped them in the gap, and grabbed every single pike and spear we could carry.

When the sun set it had been almost two hours, we thought maybe it was over, and then the flash came again." Silent tears traced tracks down the man's face as he continued, " We could see em' this time, through the gap."

"They came crawling up from the hole, you know, the one under the fracture, the one you can usually walk right across." He was wracked by a silent sob, " Boiling up out of there, like ants before a flood, and the howls, Ancients bless, the howls." His breath hitched as he shook his head before glancing up to make eye contact with Astra, " I'm proud of those men, you know." Brewer's voice firmed as he continued, " When the time came there was no more talk of running or leaving to search the town.

We knew if we failed everyone in town was dead, and they all stood their ground."" Every single one." He took a moment to catch his breath and compose himself as Winterbrook offered him a rag. After wiping his face and a couple more breaths he continued, " On those horns though.."

He breath caught again, " Sweetest sound I ever heard, like the Elder Gods themselves returning in our hour of need, and then you all came riding through and descended on those things the next coming of old Eldric himself sending them back to the Abyss with fire and fury." He fixed Astra with a steady gaze, " You have my thanks for that." Astra's stern gaze softened in a gentler smile, " None needed, my only wish is that we had arrived sooner."

Brewer nodded, " Aye, but you must have been close already, the Captain didn't fire the beacon, at least not that I could see, and we never found it either. There's no way anyone could have made it in time, but we hoped to at least warn people." He gave Astra an unexpectedly wary look, " Why did you come?" Astra leaned forward, " Now, that sounds exactly like the kind of thing that brought us here, you are sure you never saw the beacon?" Elias leaned over to Cooper and muttered quietly, " What's a beacon?"

Cooper gave him a strange look before shrugging and whispering back, " Some fancy magic thing the Captain's have, cheaper the talking tokens but can only use em' once." He held up his hands about six inches apart, " Little stick about this big, sends out a big beam of light in the sky and sets off an alarm somewhere like Emberholdt or the Capitol, only used for one thing, breaches."" They send out an Imperial suppression unit, maybe even one of the armies if it goes off.

You set one off for any other reason and you're lucky to just get a court martial, they've hung people for less." Eli frowned, whispering back to Cooper, " Wait, why didn't Captain Winterbook set his off?" Cooper shrugged before responding in a whisper, " Probably already did? At least I would be surprised if the Lady didn't tell him too. Emberholdt's a long way off, even for high tiers, and we don't have much time. If we did, we could have just set it off and sat on our thumbs until the Army rolled in."

Cooper gestured in Astra's direction, " With the young Lady out on patrol Roderic the Lion himself might show, especially since it means that Lady Blackhall is missing." Eli nodded, thanking Coop as he turned back to the interview, and it turns out that the beacon may be missing, and most likely had never been fired.

Astra quizzed the man further as the events around town turned even more suspicious, the Viscount had been drawing down the Town Watch for weeks leaving only a skeleton crew, but enough to man the walls. The rumors were that Garrison Commander had not been happy about it as it put extra strain on his men to cover the Fracture Yard, but since the Watch had stuck to minimum staffing levels, the worst he could do was report the issue to higher command. Astra frowned, " Why would he need so many men?"

Brewer gestured in the direction of the north east, " Word was something about an extra large wine harvest this season, he was hiring a bunch of town folk too, said they needed extra hands. Rumor had it that if you needed work and were willing to deal with low pay, the Viscount would take you as long as you were hale. Maybe he needed the guards to watch them all?" Astra tensed as she warily asked, " How many?"

Brewer arched a brow at her shift in demeanor, " A couple hundred at least, but probably no more than a thousand. It takes a lot of hands to finish the harvest, but it was definitely a lot more than normal." She frowned, " Anyone else getting called out of town?" Brewer paused the tension in her posture causing him to grow wary as well, " Aye, a couple caravans for shipping, a friend told me they came down the route that passes up by Springdale.

Same friend on the Watch who worked the gate and was complaining about there being some training exercise for the Watch out in the woods today or tomorrow, about all I can think of?" He bolted upright, " Wait, do you think the Watch is out in the woods?" Astra swore under her breath as stood gesturing for Corporal Brewer to remain seated, " Mr Cooper." He stepped forward, " Aye my Lady.""

Find me two men or women of the Garrison who can corroborate Mr Brewer's tale of their final stand, as well as a list of all who stood with him living or dead." Astra turned to the seated man, and after a pause saluted the man before giving him a slight bow to the gasps of the rest of the room. She stood back upright as she clasped her hands behind her back, speaking with the imperious air that Eli was quickly coming to associate with her 'Official' persona."

You have rendered both the Empire and my Clan a great service on this day Corporal Brewer, and the Emberholdt Clan pays all their debts in full."" Both yourself and everyone who stood at your side will have a commendation for bravery in the line of duty added to their record, along with a monetary award, and upon my return to Emberholdt I will personally submit a recommendation to award you personally the Azure Star."

The man bolted upright in his cot as she continued, " Furthermore, I find myself in need of a new leader for the logistics squad of my platoon, and I find myself partial to men and women of exceptional courage."" We have much work to do in the next few days, but if we are successful, the position is yours if you so desire, and you may select between three and five to serve as your subordinates."

Corporal Brewer lifted his maimed left hand, and Astra snorted, " I am asking you to wield a quill, Mr Brewer not a sword, which I suspect you can hold in three fingers as well as five if you are unable to write right handed." A soft smile crossed her face as stared down at the man, pinning him with her gaze, " Also, If you find yourself still wishing to wield a sword in my service, I can recommend a most excellent tutor to shore up your shortcomings."

She gave him a brief nod before turning, ""Goodday to you Mr Brewer, rest and be well, I expect an answer within three days." The man seemed excited about the offer, but his expression turned dubious as the round of snickers that came from the back of the room when Astra mentioned her 'tutor'.