Chapter 92

June 8, 2003 – 16:45

They chuckled as they got deeper into the forest. The scent trail led them to a clearing and a hunter's cabin at the back of it.

They saw eight goblins playing cards outside of the cabin. Coralis, Veronica and Eva stood behind the tree line and watched the goblins for a minute.

"If the vampires involved don't have a sunlight jewellery, they won't stick their nose outside. We each kill two goblins, tie up the other two, and then we go into the cabin," said Veronica.

They bumped each other's fists and walked toward the goblins. The moment they saw the trio approaching, the goblins stood up, accidentally reversing the card table.

Without stopping or saying a word, Coralis and Veronica unsheathed their swords, and Eva pulled out two knives, one in each hand. The goblins walked toward them.

Coralis grabbed the hair of one of them while sliding her sword through the neck of another and in the same motion, passed it through the neck of the one she held by the hair, and Veronica used the same method to behead two goblins. Meanwhile, Eva plunged her knives into the hearts of two others.

Coralis and Veronica quickly went behind the last two goblins and grabbed their arms before they could react.

"What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to be here," said one of them before they tackled them to the ground.

"You tell all that to Hendrick from your cell, now shush," said Veronica before Eva twisted their next to render them unconscious.

"We'll take these two back to town when we're done here, so the mayor can see for himself that we did our job and took out the danger, and you can then take them to your dungeon," said Coralis to Veronica.

"I'll call Hendrick right now. I'll tell him to meet us by the church."

"I wonder which one of us wasn't supposed to be here," said Coralis.

Veronica made her call, and they went into the cabin. The cabin consisted of one large room. Along the back wall, they saw two large cages, each with a sleeping prisoner in it, and about ten vampires sleeping in another corner.

"Do we kill them all?" said Eva.

"Yes. There is no point in keeping one alive. None of them are wearing daylight jewellery, and I don't want to stay here until nightfall," said Veronica.

The vampires woke up when they heard them talking, and the prisoners woke up while the trio was busy fighting and killing the vampires. Eva noticed their movements from the corner of her eyes and seeing that Coralis and Veronica had it under control, she paused to look at them.

"Are you the mayor's son and his neighbour?"

"Yes. Who are you?" said the woman, in a raspy voice.

"We're your rescue party."

"They are monsters."

"Yes, no more monsters now," said Eva as her friends beheaded the last two.

"Have they done anything to you two?" said Coralis, holding a blood-covered sword in her left hand and a vampire head in her other hand.

Both prisoners showed them their wrists and necks, and several vampire bites could be seen. Veronica cursed.

"Are you able to walk?" said Eva.

The prisoners glanced at each other and then stared at three women. Eva searched the dead vampires for keys, and Veronica called Hendrick while Coralis took a closer look at them.

"My brother is close with two of his men. They'll meet us here instead."

Eva found the keys and opened up the cages.

"You don't need to come out now, help is coming. Just know there are no more bad guys around," said Eva.

"Eva, want to stand guard by them while Veronica and I wait for Hendrick outside? Hopefully, no more roaches will come, but I'd rather not take any chance. I also want to make sure our prisoners won't wake up," said Coralis.

Twenty minutes later, Hendrick and his men arrived at the clearing.

"It's always you two, always," said Hendrick while looking at the scene, shaking his head. "Lucas?"

"Partially, probably. Elder Alfredino is the one who sent Blue here, what does that tell you?" said Veronica while Hendrick's men went inside the shack.

"It doesn't tell me anything good, but I'm going to enjoy myself questioning the two you mercifully left alive."

"Thank Blue for it. She wants to show them off to the mayor before we take them into our custody," said Veronica as she watched Hendrick's men carrying the prisoners outside, followed by Eva.

"Always so thoughtful," said Hendrick to Coralis.

"Is it me or our prisoners aren't in the same position they were when we walked into the shack?" said Veronica.

"I don't know, nothing would surprise me at this point. If this is indeed a setup, I'm sure they have people spying on us. Why not take them while we weren't looking, though," said Coralis.

"Let's get out of here, we'll figure it out when we can interrogate your bounties. I'll take one and you two take the other one? Eva will watch our tail, and we'll come back here to clear the evidence when we're done in town," said Hendrick.

Eva called the mayor on their way back to the church. Jan waited for them as they exited the forest and rushed to his son. His neighbour, who was with him, ran to his wife.

"Thank you so much, I don't even know how to thank you enough," said Jan, turning his head to look at Coralis and Veronica as they passed by him, carrying an unconscious goblin. "Is he the one behind the kidnapping and murder?"

Jan saw Hendrick coming out of the forest behind them, carrying the other goblin.

"Yes, these two are behind it," said Coralis.

"They look monstrous," said Jan before looking at the blood on Veronica, Coralis and Eva. "Are you okay, we have a doctor in the church."

"Think about what they've done to your town. These are the true monsters out there," said Hendrick.

"We're fine, don't worry," said Coralis.

Two hours later, there was no trace of what had taken place in the clearing and the hunter's cabin. While Coralis spoke with Veronica and Hendrick, Eva called High Mage Finnas.

"Blue," said Eva when she ended the call, "we need to go to Winnipeg, to High Mage Finnas's residence."

"We'll let you know if we find anything useful out of the two goblins you left alive," said Hendrick.

Coralis and Eva took off toward Winnipeg.

"High Mage Finnas wants your full report on what went down. He doesn't understand why the EBEE was involved there when King Matthew's family didn't call them. After I talked to him, he called King Matthew. He said that Hendrick did try to call the CMMA after Veronica told him what was happening and left to meet with you, but got no response. He also told High Mage Finnas that they usually call you directly when there's something," said Eva once they crossed state lines.

"They activated a spell to purge all smells, thinking you'd be there, yet the CMMA didn't send you. If Matthew's people had found out about the goblins, strange bodies and disappearances and called the CMMA, they wouldn't have been able to get in touch with them… so they probably anticipated me to call you directly."

"Like what happened at Healing Moon last year. I bet you it's Veronica who wasn't supposed to be there."

"They never released High Fay Zaaro, right?"

"They didn't tell you? On the day of his trial, a few months ago, he managed to break through the energy suppressant spell put on him. High Elf Yalor and two other elders had to take him down. They killed him," said Eva.

"Then it means the CMMA has another traitor among their high ranks."