Leo

“Right,” the Town Guard said. “Follow me, Argentshade.”

Leo inclined his head and meekly followed the Town Guard out of the tavern. They crossed the wide open square in the middle of Wolfpine and headed straight for the Town Guard barracks, a two-story wooden building with blacked out and boarded over windows. No other Town Guards stood guard outside it, but Leo understood this to be a small garrison.

With only eight guards to stand multiple shifts on the gate, they’d have to spread themselves thin to keep anyone from working overtime. Under normal circumstances, a Town Guard might not even have entered The Mead Beast in the middle of the day of all.

Of course... this Town Guard had been waiting for him. Everything was now going exactly to plan. Leo liked it when things went to plan.

The Town Guard opened the door for him. Leo walked inside. She followed, closed the door, and then pulled the gleaming silver cuffs off her belt. As Leo turned on her, he stared in surprise.

“Are those necessary?” he asked.

“Necessary?” the Town Guard asked. “No. Fun? That depends on you.”

It took Leo a moment to recognize the obvious amusement in the woman’s voice. Was she ... propositioning him? Why would she do that now? They’d only just met!

The Town Guard tucked her gleaming silver cuffs back on her belt. “You sure you’re a Blazer? You’re a bit young.”

“Junior Blazer,” Leo corrected instinctively. He wouldn’t claim a title he didn’t own.

“Well, Junior Blazer, that was quiet the performance. I haven’t seen Zack that close to pissing himself since he ran back to town with a quartet of Shaitan on his heels.” The Town Guard removed her helmet, something Leo had absolutely not expected her to do, and set it aside. “Now. Status Sheet.”

Now that he could see her, Leo was surprised by how young this woman looked. She wasn’t even out of her early twenties, with a cute face, button nose, and short blond hair streaked with red. Jenny had described Joanne Dewcrest as a senior guard, but she certainly didn’t look it.

“Status Sheet,” Joanne reminded him. “Or are you really that interested in my cuffs?”

Belatedly, Leo revealed his full Status Sheet to Joanne, confirming his identity beyond any doubt. It felt compromising to show something so private to a woman he’d only just met, but Joanne didn’t know him. She’d never met him. She knew only that she’d been asked to find and arrest an undercover Blazer named Leopold Argentshade in Wolfpine’s tavern, and now knew he was that man.

“I’m convinced,” Joanne said. “Zip up.”

Leo belatedly hid his Status Sheet again. Had she ... what did she mean by that? So far, this Town Guard was nothing like he’d expected absolutely any Town Guard to be.

“So,” Joanne said, and walked over to an unoccupied desk. “Lay it on me.” She pulled the seat back, thumped herself into it, and then slammed one booted foot down on the desk. “Why’d I get orders straight from the mayor to arrest you and make it look good?”

Leo took a moment to gather his temporarily dispersed wits. “I’m here on a Blazer Quest.”

“I gathered that,” Joanne said, visibly amused. “All I got was your name and where’d you be, not what you were doing here. So tell me why we’re being so secretive.”

“Right,” Leo agreed. “I’m here looking for someone. A noble and high-ranking fugitive from Aquarine. The Blazers received word from our office in Frostford that she and a co-conspirator may have traveled to Grassea in the past few weeks. They may be in your town even now.”

“And what do these Aquarine fugitives look like?” Joanne asked.

Leo mentally went back over the descriptions he’d been given. “They’re both of trial age. They look alike enough to be brother and sister, with pale skin and blond hair. They’re not siblings, but cousins. The woman is a Harmcaster. The man is a Brutalist.”

“Right,” Joanne said. “Can you narrow that down?”

“Narrow what down?”

“Brutalist,” Joanne said. “Harmcaster. Blond hair. Anything I don’t see dozens of times a day?”

Leo genuinely rummaged through his brain for anything he might have missed. “They ... might be acting suspiciously?”

Joanne visibly slapped a palm to her face and dragged it down. “Gods, Leo. You’re killing me.”

“That’s all the info I received,” Leo said defensively.

“You can’t really have just that to go on. Don’t you have any details on noticeable scars? Giant tattoos? Please tell me you at least have the assumed names they’re traveling under.”

“Her name is Anna Bronzelight,” Leo said. “His is Alan Starshine.”

“Which they’re obviously not stupid enough to check into the Mead Beast using,” Joanne reminded him. “You sure you’re up for this whole fugitive hunting business?”

At her suggestion he might not be up to the task, Leo felt his pride rise. He was a Junior Blazer. He should handle himself better than this. Instead, he was mucking it all up.

“The info I’ve now given you is all I was given,” Leo said calmly. “Yet please don’t worry. I don’t expect you to do my job for me, and I know this has little to do with your duty as a Town Guard. Now that you’ve helped me establish my cover as a simple Adventurer, I’ll find them myself.”

“Good luck with that,” Joanne said ruefully. “Still, this was fun. I had fun.” She smirked anew. “You sure you don’t want me to slap the cuffs on?”

“No,” Leo said pointedly. “But thank you for your help. I’ll need copies of the guest logs from both The Mead Beast and The Scarlet Rose from the last six weeks, as soon as you can get them. I’ll also need a place to stay that’s not either of those. While I’m here, I intend to keep a low profile.”

“You’re doing a great job of that so far,” Joanne said.

“I wanted people to know who I am,” Leo said evenly. “Or rather ... I wanted them to know who they think I am. Given what just happened in the tavern, do you think they will?”

Joanne watched him with a newly appraising gaze. “So that’s why you made such a ruckus? To convince everyone in town you’re a troublemaker?”

“Better than convincing everyone I’m a Blazer looking for two fugitives. With luck, some of the less law-abiding Adventurers in town may even hear about today’s incident and be more willing to confide in me. Especially since I managed to get myself arrested my first day here.”

After a long moment of sizing him up, Joanne nodded approvingly. “It’s not a bad plan. It’s not even a bad cover. Maybe I was too quick to judge you, Argentshade.”

“It’s Leo,” Leo said. “And that’s fine, of course. And again, I really appreciate your help.”

“You’re awful polite when you put your mind to it. Got a lovely chin, too. Now I really am thinking about slapping the cuffs on you.” Joanne cocked an eyebrow. “You’re eighteen, right?”

Leo felt a blush heating his face. “I’m here on a Quest.”

“Quests can be fun,” Joanne reminded him. “Especially when we’re being sneaky.”

“Thank you for the offer,” Leo said quickly, not wanting to offend a woman who might become his only real ally in this small town. “But I shouldn’t get distracted.”

Joanne sighed and slid her boot off the desk with a thump. “I suppose there’s always Luke.”

Leo assumed Luke was her boyfriend, or ... but if she had a boyfriend, why was she propositioning him? An Entertainer? He really needed to stop thinking about all this.

Joanne stood. “Grab any cell you like. The penalty for dueling in town is a day cooling your heels in one, so that should give you plenty of time to plot your next brilliant move. None of the other Town Guards save Captain Cliffbreeze know your true identity, and the two of us will keep it that way. Though I do wonder why the Blazers insisted on keeping all this so quiet. You can trust us.”

“I do,” Leo said, before he thought better of it. “It wasn’t my call. Just orders.”

“I understand those,” Joanne agreed ruefully. “Anyway, in you go. I’ll need to confiscate your armor, weapon, and bag. I trust you’re properly dressed under ... all that?”

“I am,” Leo said.

“Too bad,” Joanne said wistfully.

Leo was honestly starting to consider her offer. She really was awfully attractive. Yet what if her attempt to seduce him another test from Jenny to see if he could keep his mind on his Quest? He couldn’t risk it, not today.

“I’ll have the guest logs you requested by nightfall,” Joanne said. “The son of our town’s best Scribe just got chosen as a Town Guard, so I’ll give him the task to copy down the guest logs and not tell him why. He won’t question, and I imagine his penmanship is impeccable.”

Leo perked up. “You’re talking about Glenn Redwood, right?”

Joanne snorted. “He’s really that famous?”

“Jenny mentioned him,” Leo said. “That is ... my superior. He sounds like an impressive individual. I think she’s still cross he didn’t end up with the Blazers.”

“Not as cross as Becka,” Joanne said.

Leo nodded. “I met her on the road, briefly. We didn’t talk much, but she looked determined.”

“Becka is that,” Joanne agreed. “Anyway! Here I am chatting with you, when I should be tossing you in a cell and leaving to get my brains boned out. Let’s get one done so I can get to the other.”

Leo said nothing as Joanne helped him out of his armor, set his armor and weapon aside, and then marched him to a cell. He truly had no idea what to make of this woman. Was she really a Town Guard? He’d always assumed they’d be impossibly stiff and intimidating.

Joanne was ... absolutely not that.

Once the cell door shut, Leo realized he was, indeed, trapped inside a cell now. Again. Still, this cell was nice, with a firm cot covered in fresh straw and most importantly, no rats.

That was another difference between a big town and a small one, he supposed. The cells in a small town were much nicer.

Joanne leaned casually against the bars. “Anything I can get you before I leave you to rot?”

“A meal?” Leo asked. “I mean, when you have time.”

“Somebody will be along to feed you soon enough,” Joanne assured him. “Martin’s on that duty today. He’s a bit of a sourpuss, but be polite and he won’t poison you.”

“Right. I’ll be polite.”

“And for what it’s worth, I hope you find your fugitives.”

Leo nodded with fresh determination. “For what it’s worth, I fully intend to.”