Chương 45: The Northern Expanse Peacekeeper

Aaron was hiding out in the room with Tim and Alex. Paige was still in her own room, and Aaron would have to trust she had the sense to remain hidden. He couldn't see the peacekeeper, but he assumed they were the ones from the military camp in the middle of the farm. There were bronze hawk emblems on their banners, so they had some sort of affiliation with his city and king. Not that their affiliation mattered. Aaron didn't trust them.

For some mysterious reason, the city kept the entire existence of civilisation outside of the walls a secret, yet had a camp all the way in the east. He knew there were missions to kill beasts which posed a threat, but they were capturing and training these creatures for what? He shuddered at the thought. It was also possible that they could have been working for Harrold, or if not, might have seen a poster with the reward money on. It wasn't worth risking showing himself.

Godric was a lifelong friend and practically family, but Paige's words had seeded doubt in his mind. He couldn't help but worry that he might turn them in. It can't be easy living out here after all. Perhaps betraying his friends could buy him further safety and protection. There was no point worrying about it now. He had to trust him.

"Hello officers, what brings you here?" Godric said. His voice was muffled through the wall but still audible if Aaron listened carefully.

"Godric! Good to see you. You look well. I'm here to inform you that we are implementing a curfew from sundown until further notice." The guard's voice was deep and booming. It was much easier to hear.

"Oh," Godric said. He feigned surprise in his voice.

"Why so?"

"There have been reports of a disturbance in the surrounding farm during the night. It's best to stay inside until we have completed our investigation," the guard said. The guard continued, "have you seen anything unusual in the past few days? Or seen anyone on the farm you didn't recognise?" Aaron's heart sank, and he held his breath for what felt like an eternity before Godric replied.

"No, same as always. Are you looking for someone?" Godric asked. Aaron exhaled, but kept it quiet.

"We are doing an investigation. That's all I know, I'm afraid," the peacekeeper repeated.

"Oh, okay. I'll send word if I notice anything that might help," Godric replied.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Have a nice day," the man said before waving a gloved hand and shutting the door. Aaron ran out of the bedroom to find Paige doing the same. They both crouched and stayed away from the windows to be sure not to be seen.

"Are they looking for us? Has Harrold reached this far east already?" Aaron whispered.

"I don't know. They probably just heard the bats last night. But we should assume the worst just in case," Paige replied, whispering.

"He's gone. You don't need to whisper," Godric said.

"We need to stay hidden until Giddeon comes back," Tim said, stumbling out of his room, leaning heavily on his cane. The bags under his eyes were still there, but he looked slightly more refreshed. Aaron looked at his brother. Every ounce of him wanted to charge into the farm and run down the mine. He was so close, and Tim looked worse than ever. But that was stupid and reckless, they needed Giddeon's help, as much as he didn't want to admit it.

"THE BATS!" Paige shouted. The remains of all the dead corrupted creatures were in the barn.

"If they find them, they will see all of the stab wounds and know someone was there fighting them."

"So what," Godric said, "farmers fight off wolves all the time."

"Who else uses that barn?" Paige asked.

"No one," Godric replied.

"Oh." His face dropped into a grave expression.

"No offence, but will they believe that you took on several corrupted bats on your own without as much as a scratch on you? And if they do, how do they think they'll feel when they remember you told them you'd seen nothing suspicious?" Paige explained.

"The best you can do is lie and tell them someone else must have broken in, but there can't be many people living round here, and it will only make them look harder to figure out what happened," Aaron added.

"Yes, very true. You're both right," Godric admitted.

"And I need those bats for training. I don't want the peacekeepers taking them away," Paige said. Aaron mentally rolled his eyes. He knew Paige's priorities were slightly skewed. But he agreed. It would be really useful to get their hands on one of them to study it and train.

"Okay, let's go now then." Aaron and Paige grabbed a few empty potato sacks. They would be useful for keeping the bodies out of the sunlight. Even though they were dead, Aaron figured the sun might still damage the corrupted skin. Not to mention they would draw a lot of attention if they bumped into anyone. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Panting as they arrived, Aaron sighed a breath of relief when he saw the absence of peacekeepers around the barn. The cattle were still in the field in the distance, thankfully untouched by the bats. The sun leaked into the entrance of the barn, illuminating a black bat skeleton. The light had incinerated all of the flesh, leaving only black charred bones behind.

They found similar charred skeletons further inside the barn in all areas the sun had touched, including the severed head the larger creature had bitten off. Its jaw looked unnaturally big with fangs so cumbersome that they must have caused it pain, if it could feel it. The jaw structure was so large that it barely fitted onto the rest of the skull. It was surprising that it could open and close its mouth. The smaller triangular jagged teeth were still inside the jaw, pointing in seemingly random directions.

It explained how the skin on Aaron's leg got so torn up from the bite. There was one intact bat in the shadow underneath the upper floor. It had provided enough shade to prevent the sun from damaging it. Paige wasted no time putting it in her sack.

"Do you hear that?" Paige said. Aaron stopped moving. The faint sound of hooves clacking on the dirt path alerted him.

"HORSES!" He shouted.

"Quick, we need to hide all of these bones!" Paige and Aaron quickly scooped up the bones and placed them in a few of the crates on the lower floor. The stairs to the upper floor were completely destroyed when the large bat attacked. Luckily, the bodies were the size of a small dog, and the bones were hollow and light, suitable for a flying creature. It was easy to quickly stuff them into the crates. Aaron could hear the horses outside, followed by loud thumps as their riders dismounted.

There must have been at least five of them, judging by the sound of their footsteps. Paige gestured to Aaron to quickly come over. She climbed behind a mound of hay in the corner of the room. Aaron copied her and lay flat against the wall, right by her side. They scooped large clumps of hay over themselves until they were completely covered, and then some more. It wasn't the best hiding place, but it was in the corner in the shade. Hopefully they wouldn't look too hard.

"Boss, come and look at this," a deep voice called out. It sounded like the man who came by this morning.

"Althea's mercy!" The other man said, astonished, "It's definitely been here. But what was it doing? Boys, see what you can find." Aaron made a conscious effort to calm himself. He made slow, shallow breaths through his mouth to make sure his chest didn't push the hay pile up and down. The peacekeeper's boots were loud enough to drown out any breathing sounds, but he kept as quiet as possible just in case. The men stomped around the room, thankfully not looking inside any crates.

"There's blood here, and the wood underneath has gone rotten!" One man called out.

"Corrupted blood. They must have had a fight," the boss said.

"There's more blood over here," another younger-sounding voice said. It was coming from right next to where Aaron and Paige were.

"I think it's human, or animal. It's not caused any rot!" Boots stomped over, presumably the boss coming for a closer look.

"Yep, that's not corrupted. Come here, Bart." Softer sounding footsteps tapped rather than stomped.

"Yes sir?" A soft, unsure voice said.

"Check this blood," the boss commanded. Aaron felt a rush of light wind blow over him. Thankfully, it wasn't enough to blow the hay off his body. The man was using some kind of magic.

"Young male, maybe twenty-one years old," he said. Aaron's heart was in his stomach. It was a Seer. This was his blood. He was bitten by the bat in this corner. What if he could sense it was him?

"Magical?" the boss said.

"Hmm, this one is unusual," the soft voice said, "magical for sure, but I can't tell what kind."

"Look for corruption," the boss said. They knew about corrupted magic? Perhaps they were sent by Harrold to find him? Or maybe there were other corrupted mages around. Either way, it was concerning that this man was looking very specifically for corrupted magic which he just happened to possess.

"But it's not corrupted, look at the floor," the soft voice said.

"I know, but look anyway!" The boss demanded. The gentle gust blew over Aaron again, but a bit harder this time. A bit of the hay became displaced above his head, and he could see the roof of the barn. He stayed still. If he didn't move, hopefully they were too distracted to look properly. The man gasped.

"There is corruption in this blood, but... different."

"It's him, he's here," the boss said.

"We must report it to master Umber at once. Derek, go back to camp and pass my orders onto the lieutenant. Start searching the farms and residents' houses immediately." Aaron's heart started beating fast and it took every ounce of control and focus to not increase his breathing rate. But thankfully he didn't have to do it for long. They rushed out, mounted their horses and rode off briskly. Once the sound of their hooves cantering on the dirt grew quieter, Aaron and Paige got up out of the hay pile.

"The cart!" Paige said.

"We can't move it without Giddeon. They're going to find it!" Paige went to the crate and grabbed the sack containing the dead bat. She slung it over her shoulder, and they rushed back to Godric's house. If they were lucky, the peacekeepers wouldn't have arrived yet. They needed to ride back to their camp, talk to the lieutenant and then ride out again. They had that time to get there and hide everything before they were found out. They would probably search other farms on the way first.

What were the chances that they would go straight out to Godric's farm?

Aaron's prayers were not answered. They got back to the farmhouse to find a single horse tied up to a fence post. It had the bronze hawk insignia on the saddle. It was way too soon for them to have ridden back and come out again. One of them must have broken off and searched Godric's house on the way back to camp. They snuck around the back of the house, steering clear of windows. The cart was at the back, covered in a large cloth sheet.

Thankfully, when he checked inside, Aaron found the carpet hiding the storage hatch was undisturbed. He went in and took out his backpack, which contained his tome; it was too valuable to lose. Paige and Aaron went round the back under an open window to try to listen to the conversation. Alex was singing, and he had his lute! Paige was red in the face and scowling. She got up and started to march towards the front door. Aaron quickly grabbed her wrist.

"Stop!" He whispered. Paige yanked her arm away, giving him daggers for eyes.

"Paige, listen to me! If you storm in there now, the guard will know something's up," Aaron whispered.

"The bastard took his lute out. He could be ratting us out now. We need to stop the guard before he gets back to camp," Paige whispered back. Although it was a loud whisper. And far from subtle. It made Aaron uncomfortable that the peacekeeper might hear them.

"So what, if he rats us out, we will leave the farmhouse now. If we kill or kidnap the guard now, that's going to draw more attention and potentially drag Godric into it. He took us in and kept us safe. We owe him," Aaron pleaded. Paige huffed and sat down.

"I'm going in as soon as he leaves, and if that bastard bard has caused us problems, I'll make him regret it."

"Agreed, but we need to be patient and play it smart," Aaron replied.