Chance went out the back door of the building and went the opposite way out of the alley that Mallory had gone. Turning, he went down the street beside the lot and as he passed a bush Alyssia dropped to the ground and ran into the tall grass. I will be back as quick as I can. Be safe. Chance told her as he walked away.

Chance wound his way back to the part of town he knew and then making sure that he had not been followed made his way to his friend, Captain Herrera’s home. He had gotten to know the Captain when he and Horace had received sword training from him. They had become good friends in that time and closer friends after Horace had left for the Academy. The Captain had also been Horace’s sponsor for the War Academy. He knew Horace wanted to be a smith but said that Horace had an exceptional grasp of tactics and was quickly becoming an excellent swordsman.

Luckily, the Captain was home when Chance arrived. “Captain, I need your help. I think it will be a benefit to the city as well. You remember Rupert and Mitch?”

“No, refresh my memory”, the Captain responded.

“They were the young men that Horace had the fight in the alley seven or eight years ago. They were trying to take the young girl.”

The Captain nodded his agreement, “I remember now.”

“Well, it seems they have returned and are back to taking children and forcing them to steal for them. I would like to shut them down and be done with Rupert and Mitch once and for all.”

“Why the sudden interest Chance? They have not bothered you in years. Why now all of a sudden? It also seems as if you mean to do it right now.” The Captain asked patiently.

Quickly, Chance related the events of this afternoon and the information he had gotten from Mallory. He left out any portion that related to Alyssia. By the time he finished his tale the Captain had put on his chain mail shirt and was belting on his sword. He glanced at Chance, “Does your father know?”

“No sir. I came straight here as you were closer.” Chance responded.

“Chance, we will need more men than just you and me. Do you know how many men they have in the house? What defenses do they have in place?” The Captain asked and Chance shook his head. “Let’s get some of the men and we will make this a training exercise. I know that some of them are down at the yard practicing. It might not hurt to get the City Guard as well.”

“I thought about doing that but I was not sure if I had enough evidence for them to justify it. I know I have all the evidence I need for me to justify taking action. I would take the word of the child over Rupert or Mitch, but I have a history with them. I feel that Mern would be a better place without them here. Do you think the Guard would stop us or would join us?”

“Well, that is a tough question Chance. I know their Captain quite well and I think, on my authority as the King’s Guard, I could get him to join us. The King is against anyone harming children or exploiting them, so I think His Majesty would back this, if He knew about it.”

With that they headed out toward the militia compound. When they arrived the Captain called the men over. They greeted Chance with slaps on the back and warm handshakes. The Captain quickly outlined what was going on and asked for volunteers. The men all stepped forward, for most of the men were husbands and fathers and they were angry that this was occurring within their city. The men quickly went to the armory and got their gear. They also grabbed cloaks to throw over their armor so that they did not stand out as they moved through the streets. As soon as they were ready, Chance, the Captain, and fifteen men left the training grounds, it had taken less than ten minutes from meeting the men to them walking out the gate. At the Captain’s insistence they headed to the toward the City Guard offices.

Chance. Alyssia’s voice broke into Chance’s thoughts. The girls are together but have gone into hiding. The Merchant guard that threatened to punish her showed up and told them about her getting caught. Now they are trying to find the girls. You really should hurry. I am going to try to use some of my magic to help them hide.

Do you what you must Little One. When I sent her back I figured they might confine her or something but if they think she turned them in they could seriously injure her if not worse.

Chance stepped up to the Captain and leaned in where only he could hear, “Captain, I need you to trust me on this, we have to go to the house now. Don’t ask me how I know, but I just found out that the Merchant guard that saw me catch Mallory just showed up at the house. They are now hunting for Mallory and her sister. It has become dangerous for them.”

The Captain stopped and looked at Chance, “We will discuss this later.” His tone left no doubt that they would and that the truth would come out. “Alright men. The situation has changed. The children might be in trouble at the house. Let’s go. Double time!” The men turned and headed toward the house and stepped up the pace to a light jog. They rapidly made their way back to the area of town where the children were kept. They slowed as they entered the alley behind the house that Chance had observed from. “Sergeant, you, Callaway, and Dupree you will be in charge of the back gate to make sure no one sneaks out the back way. We will give you a count to one hundred and twenty to get to the gate before we leave here, now get going. Stay out of sight while you watch the gate.” The three headed out the backdoor and began to make their way to the gate. Turning to Chance, “You take Carpenter and find the girls, I take it you know where they are?” Chance nodded. “Ok, the rest of you, we will hit the front door. Brock,” the Captain turned to the largest man in the group. “You take your war hammer and drop that door in one swing. Then the rest of us will sweep the house in our battle groups. Group one will take the first floor and group two will take the second floor.”

Alyssia, Chance called, where are the girls?

They are hiding behind a pile of illusionary boxes in a closet in the front room to the left of the entry door.

Are there any other children in the house and do you know how many men?

There are twelve children total including Mallory and Jessica, seven adult males, and two adult females. An adult male and both adult females are upstairs in the bedroom, two adult males are by the door, three are looking for the girls, and the last adult is with the other children in the back right corner of the house. Two of the ones looking for the girls are currently looking in the kitchen and… The third just came into this room. Hurry Chance!

Chance relayed the information to the Captain, who just looked at him. He reiterated that they would be having a conversation later. “Alright men, you heard that. Quick change. Chance you go to the two children. Carpenter, Fenwick, Wheeler, and Wallace you all head to the other children. The rest of us will clean up downstairs. We will let the men stew up stairs or flee into Sarge’s group. Avoid killing them if we can. We are not the city guard but we do represent the King so do what you must to stay alive. Now, let’s do this.”

The men left the front door at a quick trot towards the house. Brock sped up to a run when he heard a cry from the house that let them know that they had been spotted. Once he got several paces ahead, the rest of the group sped up as well. Chance watched as Brock brought his large war hammer back over his head. Then timing it perfectly he leapt at the door and brought the hammer down in a two-handed overhead swing. The double doors flew open under the impact. Brock stumbled as he landed but the rest of the group had his back. They swarmed through the now open doors, the four men heading to the right and down the hall towards the back corner of the house. The Captain and three of the militia squared off with the two men by the door. The other four headed for the kitchen down the hallway to the left. Chance ducked into the room on the left and glanced around. The man in the room had been reaching for the closet door but when the door to the house was forced open, followed by the door to this room slamming open, he had spun and dropped to a crouch. His right hand reached down to his boot and he pulled out a large knife. The man held it low point up and towards Chance as he crouched with the other arm out for blocking and balance. Chance reached for his sword but quickly realized that he had failed to grab one while they were at the armory. How could he have been so stupid! He thought to himself.

Grinning wickedly the man began to advance toward Chance. “I am going enjoy slicing you up pretty boy!” he gloated. His left hand flashed down to his other boot and then came up and with a flick of his wrist he launched a small throwing knife at Chance.

The thought flashed through Chance’s head that a shield would be nice to have to stop the throwing knife. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than a rune flashed in his thoughts and Ard was flowing to the rune. The throwing knife that was headed straight for his heart suddenly impacted something solid and bounced off it to the side. Startled Chance just stood there staring at the glowing barrier in front of him.

The man with the knife on the other hand was unsure what had just happened to his perfect throw, it had hit something and bounced off. So he decided to close on Chance and use his knife for the killing blow. As he charged across the room though he ran square into Chance’s glowing shield like he did not even know it was there. He bounced off the shield similarly to the throwing knife, but unlike the throwing knife he left a good-sized blood spot where he had crushed his nose into the shield. In his shock of running into an unseen barrier he dropped his dagger and forgot about his opponent. He grabbed his crushed nose screaming and bending over. Chance took the opportunity to cut-off the flow of Ard to the shield and scooped up the man’s knife. He brought the pommel down solidly on the back of the man’s head and his screams stopped abruptly as he collapsed to the floor.

Chance ran to the closet and pulled open the door. He was greeted by two terrified screams from two small boxes in the corner of the closet. A third box in the opposite corner of the closet suddenly disappeared and Alyssia climbed up the back of Chance’s pants leg and slipped into the satchel. The two screaming boxes disappeared to reveal Mallory and a younger girl that looked very similar to her. They were crouching in the corner. They both had been crying and upon seeing him, Mallory ran and grabbed him around his waist. Her head buried against his stomach. Jessica not to be left out ran and grabbed onto his leg.

Gently pulling the girls off, he squatted down on his heels and pulled the girls close to him and tried to assure them that they were safe. As he sat there holding the two girls he could hear the sound of fighting. The fighting only lasted a bit longer before it stopped entirely. “Chance!” he heard the Captain call.

“Here Captain.” Standing up with a girl in each arm he left the closet and walked out into the room.

“We got them all. Not much fight in them. All the children are safe. Rupert and Mitch are being held in the room across the hall. Are these the girls?” The Captain asked smiling.

“Yes. This is Mallory.” Chance said bouncing her in his arm, “and this littler angel is Jessica.” He bounced her in his other arm. Both girls had their arms around his neck holding on for dear life.

“A pleasure to meet you both.” The Captain said.

“CAPTAIN! You need to see this!” a voice urgently called from outside the room.

The Captain turned and hurried out of the room. Chance was a step behind as he followed the Captain into the entry hall.

When Chance came out in the hallway he saw the Captain going through a doorway that had a set of stairs that descended into what must be a basement. Chance walked to the door and was about to head down when both girls began to scream hysterically, “NO!! NO!! Please don’t take us down there!!” they both tried to squirm out of his arms.

“It’s ok.” Chance said calmly. “We won’t go down there. I promise. You will never have to go down there.” He walked back into the room where he had found the girls. He sat down and held the girls as they calmed back down. “Did you get to give Jessica her pies Mallory?” Chance asked.

Mallory shook her head. “The guard at the door took them once I got inside. He said they was too good for a snot nosed kid.”

Chance controlling his anger reached into the satchel and whispering the key word he pulled out two warm pies. Jessica looked at them hungrily. “Here you go Little Angel.”

Chance sat and waited until the Captain came back. He had never seen him this angry and pale. “There are six more children down stairs along with a few bodies. The ones down there have been abused and are severely malnourished. The bodies look to have been treated the same way. There are also about ten large boxes with the King’s seal on them. They are stolen from somewhere but I have not heard of any thefts recently in the area. There is no manifest but I am sure once we can get a Bonded pair to break the seal we can determine where they belong.”

Chance was shocked, how had Rupert and Mitch fallen as low as to torture and kill children let alone steal property directly belonging to the King.

“Chance, if you had not gotten me to help we would never have found this. I no longer have to justify this to the City Guard. This is now a King’s Case. I will send a message to the capitol and get an investigative team down here within the month, as well as Bonded pair to open the crates. Thank you!” the Captain said as he clapped Chance on the shoulder. “I have sent Brock for Sarge and the City Guard. I will be sealing this house off and posting my own guard over it to make sure that no evidence is tampered with.”

Chance stood slowly picking the girls up once again and asked, “What about the other children? Are they alright? Where will they go?”

“We don’t really have an orphanage here in the city right now. So I am not sure. Do you have any thoughts?” the Captain asked.

“What about Brother Joshua? He is a kind and loving man and the Abbey has plenty of unused space. We could talk to the mayor about taking up a collection to provide for their care.” Chance offered.

“That is a great idea. In the meantime, though, what do we do with them?” the Captain answered.

“I know just the place. Reaching into his satchel he pulled out a second bag of silver coins from the pouch inside. Can you ask one of the men to go to the Market and buy as much food as this will get and have it brought to my house?” Chance smiled.

The Captain hefted the bag and glanced inside at the silver coins. He raised an eyebrow at Chance, “Let me guess. This is part of the later conversation?”

Chance nodded and smiled. He wondered what the Captain would say when he met Alyssia. Are you sure that is wise? Alyssia asked.

Yes, Little One. If we can’t trust the Captain, then there is no one we can trust. Chance responded assuredly.

With that, most of the small force headed out. Some of the soldiers carried the smaller or weaker children in their arms or on their back as they left the house. It was good to see the big burly men trying to make the children smile. From the looks of it, they had little in their lives to smile about. A few more of the militia escorted the prisoners at the back of the group. They had left three men behind to watch the house and ensure that no evidence disappeared.

“Let me run ahead and so I can tell my parents what is coming their way, alright?” He said to the Captain as he stepped out at a quicker pace than the rest of the group.

“Ok, I will get the Captain of the City Guard and Brother Joshua since they are on the way. We will drop these men off at the jail on the way as well. Dupree can you run and get the mayor and have him come to the Smithe Forge.”

“Yes Sir!” Dupree saluted and ran to complete the command.