This place might’ve been called a barracks, but as it was purely for the elite monster hunters currently on leave, it had far more in common with a holiday lodge. A large, two-storey wooden complex, it was taken up primarily by the huge common room they entered. Here, a motley company of hunters lounged around playing pool, sharing drinks or enjoying dinner. The only break from the jovial atmosphere was a section in the corner, devoted to a map of the city, an artist’s rendering of Syline pinned beside it, with areas searched crossed out. They’d been looking for me, Syline thought, wishing so badly that they’d found her, instead of the watchman that morning outside the walls. But that was past now and she dragged her gaze away from the map, lest she fell deeper into maudlin thought.
It looked like someone had just made a run to a food shop in one of the main streets because paper parcels and half-finished meals were scattered all around, full of butter-lathered, toasted bread piled high with cheese, roast potatoes, mince, and fish from the waters around the island. The place had a huge hearth, which made entering the room a refreshing reprieve from the cold as the two sisters stepped in.
Syline kept her scarf around her face and her hood low over her brow, disguising her identity even among men who were conceivably theirs. Thankfully, with Kat at her side, no one was about to question her presence. Kat approached the first person they found alone, a young man with huge forearms, denoting him as an archer. He wore his military coat unfastened over a simple shirt and was reclining on a sofa, half a sandwich in hand and the other half in his mouth. Upon seeing Kat, he snapped up to his feet and saluted with the hand currently holding the sandwich.
Neither sister could resist laughing at that, and Kat grinned at the man as he flushed, a stain of gravy dripping down his forehead, realising what a fool he’d made of himself.
‘At ease soldier, no need to salute. Is Ioann here?’ she asked, looking around.
‘Up in his room, ma’am,’ the man replied after swallowing.
Kat tore off a piece of fish from the paper platter in his lap as she stepped away, offering half of it to Syline.
‘Thank you, soldier,’ Kat said over her shoulder with a little grin, chewing on her stolen dinner.
The two quickly made their way through the complex, returning a few smiles, salutes or nods as they went until they reached the stairs and ascended up into the private rooms. They went along for a few moments, looking at the closed doors. Kat turned.
‘Which room is Ioann’s?’ she yelled down the stairs.
About five different people yelled back, and the girls were back en route. On approach, the door opened itself, the sorcerer having heard the yelling. He curiously poked his head out, hair dishevelled, shirtless as usual, lacking even his coat, this time.
‘Katarina? What can I do for you, ma’am? Was there…? Have you heard…?’ Kat looked down at Syline, who lowered her hood and scarf. The sorcerer’s mouth opened, slack a moment before it turned to a relieved – if rather bashful – grin. A little hiccup left him as he struggled to keep it in place. It was just as bright, just as awkward and just as charming as the night Syline had met him in the library, the night all this began. ‘Guess you heard I was looking for you?’ he asked, wiping an eye.
Syline smiled back, blushing in turn. The thought that he cared enough to worry when she disappeared had Syline a bit giddy. A moment passed with both just beaming at one another before Kat sighed dramatically.
‘You’re both useless. Ioann. Come on. We’ve need of you.’
‘H-huh? What for? Does it have to do with why Syline went missing?’
Syline gave him an abridged rendition of what had happened, largely just telling him of Jane’s involvement and their current plan. He grabbed his coat from somewhere just inside his room.
‘Are you sure you shouldn’t bring the whole barracks for this? There’s not a man here who wouldn’t fight for the pair of you.’
Syline shook her head.
‘We need to do this quietly. We go marching in with an army, and the guard will be all over us, and worse than that, she’ll see us coming. Five should be more than enough, considering who I have with me.’ Syline beamed at him as she said that.
Ioann scratched the back of his head, grinning.
‘A-alright, ma’am – er, Syline – just give me a moment, then. Just need to grab a few items.’ He shut the door behind him, disappearing back into his room to ready himself.
Kat snickered and elbowed her little sister.
‘Look at you: middle of all of this and you’ve managed to get a boy smitten,’ she teased, reaching over to pinch her cheek. Syline flushed bright red and pulled her hood up. ‘And you’re pretty smitten yourself. He is hot… and I don’t mean his flames,’ Kat continued, getting a whimper from Syline. Kat laughed and hugged her sister. ‘With him here, I’m sure we’ll have a big advantage. This’ll all end well,’ she assured Syline, kissing her forehead.
Ioann soon emerged from his room wearing a few assorted amulets, pouches, rings and fetishes – the war gear of an experienced sorcerer. A small hatchet hung at his hip, a crossbow on his back.
‘Let’s be off then,’ he said, and Kat turned on her heel to take the lead. Syline lagged a little so that Ioann could come up alongside her.
‘When this is over,’ he started as they descended the stairs. Syline looked up. Ioann smiled down at her. ‘When this is over, how about we get that coffee, and you can tell me all about what I missed?’
Syline smiled, a little blush still tickling her cheeks. She took Ioann’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze.
‘I’d like that.’ Together, they descended out into a storm, one as heavy as when they had met. Ioann blocked it all from ever touching her.
Arriving at the manor of the Petrovs had quite a bit of the confidence, that Syline had built up, going out the window. Like her home, it was a large, two-storey estate. Most of the windows were unlit and behind its gate and walls, the manor gave off a foreboding presence. Like Jane and her husband were already watching them within. Getting in proved to be fairly easy, at least.
Thelonious and Ioann threw the girls one by one up to the lip of the wall, so they could then pull themselves over. Then Thelonious gave the sorcerer a boost so he could, in turn, drag Thelonious up it. With the snow coming down hard around them, no guards walked the grounds, most likely all huddled for warmth in the foyer or in some little hut nearby.
‘I’ve been here before,’ said Kat as the group touched down. She nodded to a window on the second storey, just to the left of the main entryway. It was some four or five metres up. ‘That’s Gehrman’s study. Let’s start there. We’ll check for the antidote and proof of anything illegal.’
‘How’re we all going to get up there?’ asked Syline as they all moved through the snowstorm to reach the great manor itself.
Kat looked up, then at Thelonious. She sighed. ‘The men can throw the women up there. I’ll go first and help you and Amberly through. When things go south, we yell loud enough for Thelonious and Ioann to hear, and they storm the front door. Anyone got any better suggestions?’
Ioann, who the snow never seemed to touch, and who had been shyly raising his hand in the back this whole time, spoke up. ‘Er, I should be able to get Thelonious and me up there. It’ll just take some good reflexes on our part.’ Amberly smirked, wondering just what that could mean, but Kat merely shrugged.
‘Alright, if you say so. Let’s get a move on, I want out of this cold.’
‘Agreed,’ said Syline, quickly echoed by the rest of the group aside from Ioann who – despite being shirtless – didn’t seem to mind the weather all that much.
Ioann and Thelonious positioned themselves below the window, and Kat stepped into both their hands, taking a moment to gain her balance, getting ready to use them as a springboard for her leap.
‘Alright, throw me.’
With that, the two powerfully muscled men hurled her up with all their might, enough to get her level with the window. Kat showed finesse and agility that would put her little sister to all kinds of shame. She grabbed hold of the windowsill in mid-flight, flipping herself up and over onto it before grabbing the window and shimmying it up out of the way so she could slide in. Kat turned and extended her arms to catch the next person through as Amberly climbed into the men’s arms.
