HYPERION
After giving the shriveled captive a minute with his thoughts,we urged him to speak."I'm not at all high up in the chain,so I don't know much.all I know is that here in Or,a lot ot of us were hired by a man named Harden. He said he was the right hand of the eighth unkind named Harlem killman." The name elicited a chuckle from Ida,"there is no way that name is real". She calmed down at the sound of a cough from me."continue",I urged the man. "He said he needed workers to come help him in taking over this town. Harden is a bit of a loudmouth,so he told us a lot about how Harlem was one of the few chosen to serve as a hand to the truly unkind". "Yeah, could have bet my life Killman wasn't his own boss. Now why did Wyatt only ask us to take him down,does he think we will naturally deal with all of corvus aurum or does he believe this 'truly unkind' will be too much for us. Well no bother, that's a problem for future me",I thought inwardly. Anyway,why don't you tell us about your base here,I urged the man. "The regular footmen number above seven hundred,each as strong as grade five huntsmen, which would equate them to a regular enforcer. Besides them is Harden,who is always on ground giving orders and assigning jobs to all of us. He's hell of strong, equal to a grade one huntsman,he uses a magical flail and is super skilled. Harlem,is usually on and off,no one but Harden is trusted with any substantial information. Please I beg you, this is all I know",he concluded. "Oh no bother,this is actually all we need from you particularly,now do you have any beloved among the henchmen?", Ida asked."No, we don't even know each other. Mask wearing is mandatory",he replied. "Oh thank goodness", Ida heaved a sigh of relief with her hand on her chest. "I thought we would have to try finding your loved ones as we purged the ravens,that would have been stressful, and you would have been disappointed",she said as she pointed at the man. "What's your name",I asked him."Cavill",he replied."Well Cavill, I'm appointing you as my criminal witness, you keep your ears on the ground for any news and you tell me if i ever come looking for you. I already recognise your magical signature,if happenstance ever brings me back here and you're not around, your contract will hence be terminated,and so will you".
We went upstairs and found Luiz sitting on a chair. "Thank you for your service Mr Luiz,we will be taking our leave now. I want you to let the captive go,we have already made a deal with him, and if he causes any trouble, I'm sure you can take care of him in our absence. "Thank you for helping our town",he said. "Firstly,we are doing this because we will be paid. Secondly,I haven't really helped your town yet, but you're welcome either way. We will be taking our leave now,I forgot to mention but nice bracelet you have there",I concluded."Rather beautiful wife you have too, appreciate her, Ida said In a light tone". He replied with a thank you, before we left.
***
HARDEN
It has been rather noisy in this town since this morning,but I don't think it's any cause for alarm. Anyway,it's evening enough,I think it's about time the ravens are sent off. But my words were met with a loud bang on the main gate. A second bang and a loud thud informed me that the gate had probably fallen. I rushed to the window to see that a frail looking woman, had somehow felled the gargantuan gate. She stepped into the large compound majestically with a golden haired man following behind her,hands behind his back. I smashed the alarm button to inform those who were not already alarmed by the loud noise outside that there were intruders. About two hundred of the men were already outside,then the lady took her first step. She vanished,and about ten of the men fell headless before she reappeared. "There's no way those third rates can take care of someone like that,she far outclasses them. Curses,how dare you try to take our land that Sir Harlem graciously left in my control". I motioned for the door, but before I could reach it,the golden haired man had appeared. His hair after a closer look looked as if star dust had been sprinkled on it,and he had looks second only to Sir Harlem. "Get out of my way heathen,I am nothing like those ravenlings down there,so it would be well for you and your lady friend to not pester me". "O but that's not the way we planned it ",he replied. "You see, while my lady friend exterminates the 'ravenlings', I'm meant to entertain you. This doesn't necessarily entail fighting,as information about the whereabouts of Harlem is all I require". How dare he, how dare he speak of Sir Harlem as though he were any other being. "You bastard,you will pay for your insolence",I said as I took out my flail from the containment device on my belt buckle. I rushed at him and swung the flail with enough force to make his corpse unrecognisable,but he easily sidestepped. Following my attack with several rapid swings,he still easily managed to evade. "Close quarters is not where you'll find me lacking Harden",he commented. Shut up,I am chosen, handpicked by sir Harlem, do you think he'd pay heed to someone who wasn't strong enough to squash a mere pest like you?",I roared before releasing the chain in my flail. With my metal manipulation magic, paired with the length of the chain and the constant ejection of spikes, my moves were unpredictable and inevitable,but it caused immense damage to the building,so I had to come out through the window. "Take that you cocky bastard",I spat. "O my,who new your moves would be this destructive, Harlem will definitely be mad when he comes back and sees this mess". How is he alive, that attack was too wide ranged. Even I would have been damaged if I wasn't simultaneously using my metal manipulation to prevent the attacks from hitting me. Could he also be a metal mage,but being powerful enough to overpower my control over the flail shouldn't be possible as it was formed from my magic. He is infuriating, speaking down on me,the sword of the eighth unkind, he'll pay. "You've done well",I said with contempt, "you seem to have skill worthy of accolade that would have been duly given if not for your mouth. But worry not, you shall receive your praise in the fact that I will take you seriously".