Chapter 205: Can We Go Home Now?

A team of city healers arrived with a canvas stretcher before the checkpoint guards had even finished recording Garrick’s name.

Arthur watched the healer’s assistants unload their stretcher. Beyond them, the street vendor was still turning skewers of spiced meat over his charcoal grill.

Fuck, that smelled good.

Felix knelt beside the injured merchant as the senior healer climbed aboard. "We splinted it with a couple of crate slats," Felix said. "Didn’t try to straighten it."

The healer inspected the makeshift leather bindings and nodded. "Good. We’ll take him to the ward."

Emily moved in to help the healer’s assistants carefully shift the man onto the stretcher. The merchant groaned, his face pale and slick with sweat, but he didn’t wake. His companion stayed close to the stretcher, his hands shaking slightly as they lowered it to the cobblestones.

Arthur hopped down from the tailgate, slipped past the guards gathering around the wagon, and walked straight toward the charcoal grill.

By the time the watch captain arrived, Arthur was leaning against the stone checkpoint wall, eating his second skewer of meat.

The captain was a broad-shouldered man in heavy chainmail. He took one look at the blood on the floorboards, the dented shield resting against Felix’s leg, and the bound driver huddled on the floorboards beside the driver’s bench.

"Kaelen’s Company," the captain said, looking at Garrick.

"That’s right," Garrick said. "We pulled those two merchants out of a camp in the eastern foothills. They were moving the wagon toward the lower valley when we intercepted them."

The captain looked at the stolen wagon. "And Kaelen?"

Arthur finished chewing and tossed the wooden skewer into a nearby barrel. "Dead."

The captain turned to him. "You left his body out there?"

"One of the merchants had a broken leg, and the rest of the camp was coming," Arthur said. "Wasn’t exactly a good time to hang around."

The captain looked at the medical team carrying the unconscious merchant toward the inner city.

"Fair enough," the captain said. He gestured to the driver. "Who’s this?"

"He was driving the wagon," Garrick said.

The driver swallowed hard, his eyes wide. "I just drive the horses! I didn’t—"

"Take him to the holding cells," the captain interrupted, nodding to one of his guards. Two men hauled the driver off the floorboards. The captain turned back to Garrick. "We’ll need the exact location of that camp."

Garrick explained how to reach the quarry, describing the hidden trail, the sheds, and the wagons they’d seen inside the camp.

The captain interrupted twice to clarify the route. Then he took down their names and asked Arthur how Kaelen had been killed.

"Arrow through the throat," Arthur said.

"And you can identify the body?"

"Yeah."

The captain finished writing. "We’ll need formal statements from your group. I’ll send word through Obsidian Hand once we’ve checked the site."

Arthur glanced toward the city gates. "So we can go?"

"For tonight."

Arthur walked back to the wagon and handed a skewer to Emily.

She took a bite, chewed, and immediately reached over and took the last remaining skewer from his other hand.

"I bought that one for me," Arthur said.

Emily kept eating.

Felix leaned against the checkpoint wall and tried to shift his shield onto his other arm. He winced, gave up, and rested it against his leg.

Mira unbuckled the top strap of her armor, easing the pressure off her torn shoulder guard. She looked at Garrick as he stepped away from the watch captain.

"We done?" Mira asked.

"With them, yeah," Garrick said. "They’re keeping the wagon for now. They’ll return it to the owners once they’re done with it."

Felix rubbed his forehead and picked up his damaged shield. "Let’s just get to the guild."

Warehouse 9 was still active when they pushed through the heavy doors an hour later.

A crew of workers was moving a late shipment of iron ingots across the floor. Sophia was finishing a delivery manifest at her desk. Sylvia stood near the central table, signing off on a stack of completed contract receipts.

Sylvia looked up as they walked in. She saw the tear in Mira’s leather, the fresh dents in Felix’s shield, and the general layer of dirt covering all five of them.

"I told you to bring them back in one piece," Sylvia said to Arthur.

"They’re in one piece," Arthur said, pulling out a chair and sitting down heavily.

Sylvia looked at Mira’s bloody shoulder. "That’s a generous definition."

"It looks worse than it is," Mira said.

"You can tell me that after somebody checks it," Sylvia said. She set her pen aside and looked at Garrick. "Well?"

"He’s dead," Garrick said. "Arthur put an arrow through his throat on the quarry road. But Kaelen’s Company is a lot bigger than the old bounty suggested. They’ve got multiple wagons, a functioning camp, and a hell of a lot more men."

Sylvia frowned. "How many?"

"Hard to tell," Mira said, adjusting her shoulder. "We saw armed guards mixing with ordinary laborers. If we had gone back in there with just the five of us after hitting the wagon, we’d be dead."

"The watch knows?" Sylvia asked.

"Garrick gave them the location," Arthur said. "They took the wagon driver into custody."

Sylvia nodded slowly. She looked toward Sophia, who was just closing her delivery log. "Sophia, make sure we have Garrick’s route recorded before he leaves. If the city guard decides to clear that camp, I’m not having them drag our people back out there to hold their hands."

Sylvia picked her pen back up. "Go home. I’ll sort the rest of this out tomorrow."

Mira walked toward the back room to store her broadsword and get her shoulder looked at properly. Garrick stayed near the desk to help Sophia log the exact terrain details for the guild’s records.

Arthur, Emily, and Felix left the warehouse and walked out into the cool evening air.

By the time they reached the academy transport stop, Felix had shifted his shield from one shoulder to the other three times.

He finally set it down beside the bench.

"I’m sleeping until Monday," Felix muttered.

"You’ve got Vale’s assignment," Arthur reminded him.

Felix looked at him.

Arthur sat down. "Right. Not my problem."

Emily dropped onto the bench beside him, stretching her legs out.

When the transport finally arrived, Felix picked up his shield with a groan and followed them aboard.