Investigation

After following his sister far longer than he probably should have, Silver finally stopped shadowing the soldiers escorting Rose back to the palace. Part of him wanted to follow her all the way back into King Rhodri's arms, but he did not want to cause a misunderstanding if he were discovered.

What would he say if someone found that he was effectively stalking the princess? 'Of all the reasons to get arrested, that one would be the funniest...' Silver sighed. It was time to turn back.

He had work of his own to do. In addition to deciphering the papers from Borit, Silver had recently acquired an additional related mission. After freeing Rose and Ethyn from the clutches of Sir Kent, Silver had learned from Colonel Jay that there was a suspicious investigator at the fort making mischief.

If the investigator was indeed the one who released the soldiers from Lakyle, then Silver was determined to find out why. If the man was dirty, then it would be good to catch him and keep him from hurting the people of Birle further. If he was acting on Borit's orders, it would add to the growing list of offenses the Guardian would use to take the commander down.

Daisy quietly plodded along, easily responding to Silver's nudges with his knees. The silver-eyed man barely held the reins anymore except when necessary. The brilliant mare did not need his constant attention to stay on course. It was one of the many reasons she was his favorite of all of Conall's horses.

"I should probably talk to Conall and make an honest horse out of you." Silver patted the mare's neck.

Daisy snorted.

"I know I took my sweet time, but better late than never. You know Conall is going to charge me an arm and a leg…"

The mare nickered and whinnied, shaking her head at her hapless rider.

"What do you mean it serves me right?" Silver arched his brow beneath his inscrutable hood.

The horse, wisely, made no more noise.

Eventually, the fort came in sight and Silver was spotted by one of the sentries. The Guardian waved a white cloth in the air before continuing to approach. Once acknowledged, he came to the front gate of the fort and dismounted.

"What business have you here, Guardian?" The senior soldier at the front asked. His voice was neutral, neither forbidding nor overly welcoming.

"I am here to see Colonel Jay. He is expecting me." Silver mirrored the man's nonconfrontational tone. Overall he had a friendly if not amicable relationship with the fort.

After the Baron was discovered for his excess taxes and the region was set to right, soldiers of Birle in general regarded Silver as outside the law, but still an ally. At least those soldiers outside the realm of Borit's influence did. And these men, up until now, had been far from Borit's reach.

The guard called inside for a servant, and soon enough, Silver's story was confirmed with Colonel Jay. The gates swung wide, admitting the Guardian to the military stronghold. Silver chuckled inwardly as the gate closed and the wooden walls loomed above him. They would not be able to keep someone like him out....or in.

Because this was a permanent fortress, the buildings inside were sturdily built and well organized. Although it was not as large as some of the other forts along the border, it was quite respectable and very well kept. Silver followed behind the servant boy, who had run to check with Colonel Jay and returned, past long rows of barracks and to a small unassuming building near the end of the precise lane.

The colonel's office was as tidy as the rest of the camp. In true military style, it was sparsely furnished with a desk and a couple of wooden chairs. Colonel Jay rose as the Guardian entered. He dismissed the servant before speaking freely.

"Welcome Silver, I hope the men did not give you any trouble at the gate." Jay looked somewhat uncomfortably at the black void beneath the hood. It was one thing to meet the man with all of his soldiers to back him up, but in the confined space, the lack of face was somewhat unnerving.

"No trouble. They did as they should and confirmed my story. You have good men." Silver dipped his head. He had nothing against the colonel.

"The fault of their hesitance lays with me, I'm afraid. I did not notify them of your imminent arrival. In truth, I had not expected you so soon. I have not even had one full day to gather what I could about our mysterious escape." Jay's bushy eyebrows knit together as one.

As Silver suspected, the colonel had personally seen to the transfer of the prisoners and had only just returned the evening before.

Silver shifted his weight. "I supposed I should have given you more time, but I did not want to keep you waiting. As soon as I made sure the detail was on their way, I came to fulfill my part of our understanding."

"You don't owe me anything, Silver. If what you said was true and the woman needed transport to the king, then I only did my duty as an officer of Birle."

Jay motioned for Silver to sit in the chair opposite the desk from himself. They had things to discuss, so they should at least be comfortable. Sitting in his own polished seat, the colonel rested his hands lightly on the desk full of papers.

"By your words I take it the men left for the capital without any issues?" He asked, picking up a piece of writing stone.

"They were most professional. I can tell the young lady will be well looked after." Silver commended the men for what he had seen. "Young Gilbert seems a capable leader."

Jay scribbled some notes on a piece of parchment, then looked up with a lopsided grin. "Gilbert certainly seems to have a natural bent towards inspiring others, along with some rather unorthodox skills that one wouldn't normally pick up as the son of a mayor. Imagine my surprise when I found out he was from Rynnlee."

"I hope you don't hold that against him..." Silver was ready to come to the young man's defense but Jay waved him off.

"He will have to continue to earn his spot just like the others. As long as he doesn't cause harm to the kingdom or his fellow men, I have no problem with him having ties to less than savory characters," the colonel winked, taking the sting out of the words that he had meant to be funny.

The Guardian relaxed slightly. "I appreciate your open-mindedness. There are not so many free thinkers these days."

"Yes well, if I were not, you would not be here at all, would you?" Jay picked up a couple of pages from the corner of the desk and passed them over to the hooded man. "This is all I have so far. I did try to get what I could from Sir Kent before I handed him over to Fort Briar, but the man would only hurl insults about what an idiot I was. He was coarse the first time we hauled him in, but this time he was truly unbearable...we ended up gagging him."

Silver chuckled inwardly. It was very possible that the colonel had gagged Kent to stop the nonsense about the princess--which wasn't nonsense at all--from being blabbed about the countryside. If Jay had connected those claims with the escort which Silver had requested, the soldier did not show it on his swarthy face.

"Probably for the best..." The Guardian looked down at the papers as Jay summarized.

"As you can read, the door to the cell was still locked and there was no sign of tampering. The stable master who discovered them missing swears he knows nothing about. The horses were removed while he was mending a shoe. I want to accuse him of falsehood, but the officer he claimed to be helping confirmed his story." Jay scratched his chin, trying to gather his own thoughts even as he was sharing them.

"The investigator inquired as to the location of the prisoners almost as soon as I arrived last night. I put him off, feigning exhaustion, but I know he will return. Since you are here..."

There was a knock at the door. "Investigator Ryker is here to see you," Jay's secretary said through the door. "He says it cannot wait."

"I swear that man just knows when he is not wanted..." Jay muttered. In a louder voice he said, "Just a moment!" Rubbing his eyes, the colonel weighed his options. "You can keep those pages for now, Guardian...in fact, if you want to stay--hiding in the shadows as rumors say you can--then I would be interested on your take on this meeting..."

Jay looked up, the Guardian was gone. But somehow he knew the man was watching from somewhere. A shiver went down his spine. With a deep breath, he regained his composure.

"Come in, Investigator!"