Return of the Runebound Professor

Noah hurried into the house after Lee, nearly running straight into Brayden as they stepped inside. Lee expertly squished to the side, sliding past him and leaving Noah to skid to a stop before he barreled into the larger man.

“Brayden!” Noah exclaimed, shifting the scroll in his grip. “What’s going on?”

“Ill omens,” Brayden replied with a grunt. He was dressed to travel, his sword slung over his back – even though they supposedly weren’t leaving until the following morning. “Janice gave me some reports of pretty high ranking monsters on the road back, and it looks like there might be more soon.”

“What? I thought the area should be safe because we’re in Linwick territory.”

“Monsters don’t exactly listen to rules, you know,” Brayden said with a bassy chuckle. “They occasionally migrate. It’s starting to get colder, although it’s a lot earlier than I would have expected.”

“What kind of monsters?” Lee asked from behind Brayden. He craned his neck back to look at her.

“Not sure. Janice just had reports of attacks, and that means it’s only going to get a lot worse. I wasn’t quite able to get the investigative committee to agree that you’re clear from suspicion, Vermil. They don’t want you staying here too long because there’s a chance something could happen.”

“Something could happen?” Noah repeated. “Like what? Do they think I’m going to make a run for it?”

Brayden chuckled again. “More like they think you’re going to get assassinated because you saw something you didn’t. I don’t really know. They’re being a bit tight on the detail since we’re family, but the replacement Great Monster is smoothing things over a lot. You might get a bit of shit when you get back to Arbitage, but as long as you keep your nose down and don’t do anything else too stupid – and as long as they don’t get any more info – you’ll be fine.”

“Which is exactly why I won’t be staying in Arbitage for any longer than absolutely necessary. As soon as I’ve dropped you off, I’ll be setting off to look for signs of a group meddling with the Hellreaver.” Brayden shook his head and let out a huff. “What a waste of time. As if anyone would bother attacking any of the Bastions. They’re just bored and want something to do. Doesn’t matter now. All of you make sure to sleep well. I don’t know how long the roads will be.”

“What about Moxie?” Noah asked.

“Already handled. Sent a runner to warn her and have her meet us at the edge of the Deadlands,” Brayden replied. “One of the guards volunteered. Frederick.”

Noah recalled the kindly guard that had spoken to him when he’d first arrived at the Linwick Estate. He’d never actually gotten a chance to visit the man for dinner. He’d gotten a bit too wrapped up with the Runes.

“He’s a nice bloke,” Noah said.

Brayden nodded in agreement. “It’s unfortunate he never developed the taste for fighting. He’s a nice guy, but he’ll never make it much beyond his current station.”

I hope he finds something he can do that lets him visit his daughter more often.

“And do Isabel and Todd already know?”

“They’re already asleep. I caught them training in the middle of the night yesterday, so we ended up having a makeshift class,” Lee said.

Noah chuckled. “I’m not sure if that’s responsible or not, but thanks for filling in for me when I get distracted.”

Lee shrugged. “It’s fun.”

“Distracted?” Brayden questioned.

Noah nodded at the scroll in the nook of his arm. “Something for Father. If I leave something here, will he get it?”

“Yeah. I’m sure Janice will bring it to him when she cleans the house out.”

“Great,” Noah said. He set the scroll at the edge of the door, unfurling it and carefully tearing it straight down the middle. He rolled the two halves up – he’d long since decided which one he wanted – and tucked one of them under his arm. The other went back to lean against the door. “I’ll just leave this here, then. Thanks for the warning, Brayden. What time are we leaving tomorrow?”

“I’ll wake you up. You won’t miss it.” Brayden didn’t seem too concerned with the scroll or its contents. He clapped Noah on the shoulder, nearly throwing him through the wall, then ambled off. Noah and Lee watched him leave, not speaking until he’d closed the door to the house behind him.

“You think Moxie is okay?” Lee asked.

“She’s capable,” Noah replied. “I’m sure she’s fine. We might as well do as Brayden suggested. If we’ve got a potentially dangerous trip ahead of us, it’s not a good idea to meet it tired.”

They both headed up to their own rooms. Noah shut his door and turned, pausing as he spotted a cloth bundle on his bed. His eyes narrowed and he approached it. Clothes. Fourteen sets of it, to be precise. They were incredibly similar to the training ones that he’d been running low on, but a single touch was enough for Noah to tell that they were of much higher quality.

And, of course, they still had metal tags with his nameplate on them. He let out a soft grunt.

Little late on these. Father has to know that Dayton left the city by now. Is he just delivering them because he said he would? Or did he have some other motive?

Noah glanced down at the bottle of wine that Father had Janice deliver to him. It still sat at the foot of his bed, untouched. He’d been too busy to get around to trying it, and he wasn’t entirely convinced that Father wouldn’t try to poison him.

After a moment of consideration, Noah took both the bottle and the bundle of shirts, stuffing them into his travel bag until it was bulging at the seams. Luckily, he didn’t have much in the way of other belongings to put inside the bag aside from the two scrolls, which he stuffed into a corner before closing the bag over.

Letting out a weary sigh, Noah flopped into bed. There was still a lot more work he wanted to do with his Runes, but it would have to wait. Being able to work without worrying about Father looking over his shoulder would be a nice bonus, though. Noah closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep.

***

A booming knock ripped Noah from his dreams. He bolted from his bed, grabbing his bag and readying his Runes before he was even fully awake.

“We’re leaving,” Brayden’s voice rumbled from the other side of the door. Heavy footfalls headed away, echoing through the house as the large man descended the stairwell. Noah let his hands lower and shook his head, a small smile running across his features.

Brayden probably could have woken us all up just by walking up and down the stairs a few times. I wonder how he managed to get up here without waking me up, actually. Maybe he was trying harder to be quiet?

Noah grabbed his bag, slinging his grimoire and gourd over his shoulder, then headed out. Isabel, Todd, and Lee were already waiting in the dining room, shifting around with the air of nervousness that always came together with travel.

“Fast. Nice,” Brayden said with an approving nod. He looked a little more tired than Noah would have expected, faint bags beneath his eyes and ruffled hair. Brayden rubbed his nose with the back of his hand and gestured to the door. “Let’s get moving. Daylight is burning.”

“What about Edward and Allen?” Isabel asked.

As much as Noah didn’t like the two, he was wondering the same question himself.

“They already returned a week ago,” Brayden said, squeezing himself through the door and out into the crisp early morning air. The rest of them followed him out. If it wasn’t for the warmth of Combustion, Noah was pretty sure the air would have prickled against his skin. Instead, it was just pleasant.

The sun had yet to even start considering its ascent through the sky, and the city was only lit by the faint flickers of yellow light from lanterns lining the streets. A shadow hung over everything, casting it in a peaceful feeling. Even though it was chilly, there were no clouds and the sky was clear and starry above them.

Brayden wasn’t one to sit around and appreciate the weather. He set off at a brisk pace that Noah had almost forgotten, forcing the rest of them to jog to keep up with him.

It didn’t take them long to trek through the city and exit through the same gate they’d come through. A guard standing watch gave them a silent nod, but the early morning was clearly too much for him to bother with conversation.

The aggressive pace that Brayden set wasn’t the easiest to keep up with, but Noah was pleased to find that he was doing far better than he had on the way over. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the extra energy his body would have been absorbing from all the new Runes he’d formed, or if it was because of all the training they were doing.

Probably a mixture of both.

Noah threw a glance back at the Linwick Estate as it receded in the distance behind them. He’d expected… more. Exactly what, he couldn’t place. Father had just given him the grimoire for enough time to Noah to pick through it, figuring out exactly which Runes would be the most useful for him and even taking a few of them.

I know the grimoire probably wasn’t worth too much to him, but it’s… odd.

There was nothing to be done about it, though. The hours started to drag on and the sun rose over the horizon. The grassy plains turned a faint golden as it rose into the sky. Brayden, if anything, increased his pace.

They continued at the same rate for almost six hours before Brayden finally raised a hand, coming to a stop. There was still a good bit of light out, as the day hadn’t even moved into the afternoon yet. They all slowed beside him, grateful for the chance to rest. Well, most of them were. Noah was pretty sure Lee could have run a few laps around them and still not have been winded.

“Are we camping already?” Todd asked with a confused look around them. He wiped some of the sweat from his brow. “Is it because there might be monsters roaming around so its less safe at night?”

“No.” Brayden shook his head, then paused. “Well, yes. But that isn’t why we paused.”

“What is?” Isabel asked.

Brayden jerked his chin in the direction they were headed. “I’m sensing some fairly powerful Runes up ahead. Something pretty strong.”

“Maybe we should take another path?” Lee suggested.

“It’s in the general direction we’re heading. There’s no way to path around it if I don’t know exactly where it is,” Brayden replied. “I’m going to go find it. I don’t think it’s too strong for me to handle on my own, but I won’t be able to take care of it while the four of you are with me. I can’t waste energy protecting you and fight at the same time.”

“You sure you can do it alone?” Noah asked. “Lee and I are both–”

“Alone,” Brayden said with a grunt. “I’m not an easy man to kill. Don’t worry. You’ll hear if I’m in trouble. Run back for the Linwick Estate if things go really wrong, but I don’t think the threat is that significant. Just wait here a few hours until I get back.”

Noah and the others nodded reluctantly, and Brayden jogged off, leaving them standing in the afternoon light. As Brayden ran, his body shimmered with purple light. A portal snapped open before him and he stepped into it, vanishing.

Not a single one of them noticed the hooded man that stood on a slight hill behind them, somehow completely hidden from vision despite standing in plain sight. But, if they had, they would have seen a string of silver prayer beads hanging from his clasped hands and swaying in the wind. The beads shimmered with a faint glow that coiled around his body like golden mist.

“The report was correct,” the man breathed, his words lost to the wind before any could hear them. “I have located the demon. Grant me protection as I cleanse it from this realm.”

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