Chapter 4

"Well don't leave me in suspense! What happens next?!" Dot anxiously demands, clinging to the sides of the boat with her hands. 

 Kit frowns. "It doesn't say." He answers truthfully. "As far as I know, Aeda never started on the next chapter."

 Dot cries out in frustration. "The girl has the gall to leave such a pivotal moment of the story unfinished?!"

 Kit hangs his head and before delicately sliding the aging papers back into Aeda's pack. When he peaks through the rest of her inventory, a mischievous grin curves across his lips. 

 "She did conceive a few tales fully." He informs her. "Though commitment to many more pages appears to be a struggle."

 Dot grumbles. "Better than nothing, I suppose. Hand them over."

 Kit offers her the loosely knit papers before gazing back out at the estate. His jaw clenches fearing for Dot's safety. Hundreds of fates play throughout his head of what can horribly go awry from Aeda running into a dead end, being executed for simply trespassing, or even the rare possibility of of betrayal. 

 Regardless, what's done is done, and again, there's nothing neither can do as there is no turning back now, and all they must do now is wait and hope fortune favors them

 But each passing minute dims his hope of escaping the Capital and onto Gierrox. 

 "Hold a moment… this is smutty literature!" Dot exclaims in alarm. "'He continues to ferociously rock her against the railings, leaving her a blissful dazed state with incoherent moans escaping her mouth…' Bleeding Void, would she be hanged for this?!"

 Kit chuckles. "Well, if lewd tales prove too much for you, I'll gladly save you from more vulgar escapades." He reaches out to reclaim the papers. 

 Dot responds by jerking the papers away from him. "I have not finished yet!" She snarls before her eyes scan the next page.

 "Well… I supposed we should be grateful for the Angarde birthing it's order." Kit changes topics in a condescending lighthearted tone. "I doubt the wheels of fate would be forever cogged."

 Those words cause Dot to break contact from the story and gaze at Kit with a raised brow. "Is that supposed to be an insult in disguise?"

 Kit shrugs. "I mean, unless you lot are going to punish people for vulgar plots, too."

 Dot feverishly shakes her head. "Of course not! You think us that pity? Besides, we already have priorities that easily overshadow a petty one like that!"

 "So… what I'm gathering is that if the Angarde didn't have to worry about rioting, kidnapping, and executing, then you would outlaw Aeda's work and hang her for it?"

 Dot is far from amused. "I would personally throw you overboard for interrupting me from reading material that I have no issue with!"

 Kit feigns a horrified look. "You tyrant!"

 The female elf rolls her eyes as she grows impatient with Kit's foolish behavior. "Despite what you hear from posh pricks, we are anything but a mindless mob. If we were, then the Royal Army would have easily retaken the city, not to mention everything we capture, treasure, food, districts, we ensure they benefit the many and weak. Something NO one in power had no interest in doing!" 

 She continues after a short pause. "In fact, were it not for he Angarde, you would have likely been lashed or possibly castrated for even conversing with a human, never mind walking into Emerald District."

 "Instead, the Angarde places us in its custody, and is skulking our shadow towards the way to the city of the gnomes just to prove we are not spies."

 "And are more than tolerant enough to put up whatever cock and bull scheme you're committing to." Dot growls. "I could have detained both of you back in the square, AND I could have bludgeoned your friend after discovering who she was!"

 Kit casts a scowl. "You were about ready to do so I might add."

 "YetI didn't!" Dot hotly defends.

 "Only because I intervened!"

 "You think me an impulsive brute? If I was, I wouldn't even have listen to you!"

 That causes Kit to pause and ponder his next move. 

 "You raise a fair point." He concedes. 

 Dot exhales deeply from her nostrils as she settles in her seat. "Think what you will of the Angarde, but bandits we are not. For our purpose is to cleanse the untouchable from a realm rightly ours."

 "And that means real power rests with, who then, Tierron and his Angarde?"

 Dot shakes her head. "The Angarde and the meek are one of the same!"

 Kit lets out a humorless chuckle. "Right, and I am Aeda's strong passionate lover from those pages you're hoarding."

 "You doubt me?" 

 "I believe you." Kit assures. "But Tierron has yet to earn even a slither of my trust. I've read enough tragedies to know that men like him sing a lovely melody for his audience only to con them."

 "Believe me, the Angarde would not have my oath if it was truly so." Dot boldly counters.

 "Oh? You sound so sure." Kit challenges her.

 Dot, once again, stands eager to defend the Angarde and Tierron's honor. "I pledged my life to the Angarde not because of standing ovations of flowery orators, but for the hope it has delivered and continues to do so."

 Kit curves an interested smile. "Wow… from that description you sound more like an enlightened idealist than a fanatic."

 "Your word do me honor. Truly." Dot grumbles lowly. 

 "And the fact that he's human does not make your skin crawl?" Kit presses.

 "How do you know if he's human?" Dot counters. "Given the height, it's definitely of our kin."

 "But if he reveals himself to be human?" Kit asks.

 Dot bows her head and bites her lip, as if she is processing that information. After a quick sigh, she shoots Kit a determined glare. "Tierron has yet to betray my trust. I would still lend him my oath regardless."

 "Scandalous." Kit teases.

 Dot's brows furrow. "I can see why she's not so fond of you."

 "Oh, fret not. Aeda's like this with everyone she comes across." 

 Dot glances out at the estate and finds it unsettling. "I pray hope she has not forgotten her part in your grand escapade."

 "Trust me. She knows the plan." Kit assures.

 "And… how is she going to secrete us inside?" 

 Kit shrugs but flashes a confident smirk. "I shouldn't worry. Aeda is anything if not resourceful." 

 Dot scoffs and leans back. "More high praise for her I see…" 

 A subtle rock of the boat alerts Dot. "What was that?" 

 "Peace. It's just a big fish." Kit easily dismisses.

 Another rock does not ease Dot's mind. "There's something having a keen interest in us." 

 Kit sighs and begins to lean over the side. "If it will rid you of paranoia, I'll heroically check for- MMGH!" 

 Dot freezes when she sees an armored golem leap from the ocean and snaking its arms around Kit. 

 Her flight or fight instincts rise rapidly as she feels herself brutally smothered from behind. She responds by smashing her hammer into something glassy behind her. A low painful grunt is heard as the grip around Dot loosens and she takes advantage to quickly twirl and continues bashing the hammer into the glassy visor of a ghastly looking metal man. 

 However, Dot's brutal smiting is finally intercepted when a burly hand squeezes her wrist, and she responds by frantically using her free hand to pull a small tube across its face. 

 A loud click and his follow and ghastly gagging follows as the attacker fall back into the water. 

 Dot quickly turns her attention to Kit's captor and is alarmed to find her colleague rendered unconscious.

 She wastes no time on pouncing on the other trespasser. 

 The intruder quickly counters her when he extends his arm out and thin rope pops out from his steel wrist and sticks to Dot's chest, becoming paralyzed by the shock of lightening outlining the rope. She cries out in pain before the lightening fades and she falls on her sight with fresh smoke rising simmering from her body.

 Kit watches in horror before the suffocating pressure forces his vision to blacken. 

 The intruders now control the boat.

 "This is definitely Kiere's boat." The leader states resting before assisting his wounded comrade aboard the boat. "Stop wheezing and get that gear off, soldier." 

 "I thought you never ask, sir." The other dwarf coughs tearing off his mask. "Bleeding prototypes! You think they would make them more comfortable!" 

 The leader ignores him and his head gear allows him to enhances his eye sight as he peers at the docks of the Capital. His two remaining men stand ever vigilant on volatile grounds with one on watch for threats while the other checks the bodies of the battered royal soldiers. He watches his subordinate flash hand signals to him and the leader responds with the same nonverbal method. 

 "Aye, Chief?" 

 "Slice found our sentries." Chief answers. "They're alive, but their condition grave. It seems the girl's claim rings true."

He lets out a grave sigh before whispering quietly. "This is what you get when you give amateurs men's work." He turns to the wounded Dwarf. "Get this thing singing, Demo. Once we pick up the additional cargo, it's back to The Graf's the lot of us!"

 "Argh, Chief! Y'know I wreck things not commandeer them." Demo smartly responds starting on the engine. 

 Lead signals to Slice with hand signals that they will be there shortly before returning to safety.

 "I hope we won't be coming back to this place anytime soon." He mutters seeing the smoke rising above the city as the Angarde continues to ravage it.