- Her City Untouchable

Kara sat at her desk, a piece of loose paper in her hands, once covered by the firm leather of an envelope. In her hands, she rubbed the paper between her fingers, half trying to wonder if she should open it, while the other half was trying to convince her to do so.

It had been three days since she interrogated Lia on the deaths of four Hunters, which normally wouldn't have been her problem.

Like Randolph said that morning, any Post matters were dealt with by the Hunter's Post, as that was their jurisdiction. However, Kara was not one to let a chance like this fall.

If she could prove that someone within the Hunter's Post was responsible for their deaths, rather than some monster - which no one had seen other than a small handful of Hunters - she could obtain the power and reasoning to claim the Post was biased in one of their own favor.

Leaving her the chance to swoop in and claim power and dominion of the Post - a power that had long since been the only thing in her way from owning the town. A dream she had ever since she was a little girl on the streets, with no family to call her own.

Well, other than her abusive father and her street working mother. Both of which cared very little for her, so she cared little for them.

In fact, the moment she discovered herself that she was a summoner, they had attempted to sell her off like some slave. Which didn't turn out well for them, as her summons quickly took care of them.

Even now, she still remembered feeling nothing as she ordered her assassin to kill off the slavers, and her parents, far outside the city's walls.

Power.

It had been the lack of power in her hands, and the power in theirs that made her suffer. Now, she was going to have all the power she could, and was never going to let it hurt her again.

-Knock! -Knock!

A small and rhymetic knock on her office door snapped her from her despicable memories that continued to haunt her to this day.

Straightening herself up, she ordered whoever was on the other side of the door to enter.

"Your tea madam."

A servant set down a small cup of green tea, as well as a large teapot filled with more. Clearly the servant knew she was going to be there for a while.

"Thank you. You may leave."

The servant bowed and left the way he came, leaving Kara alone to her own thoughts.

Eventually, her eyes fell back on the loose sheet of paper in her hands, the leather envelope lying on the table behind it.

Her personal messenger had brought it to her late last night, yet she didn't see it until early this morning, as her messenger had ridden all night and all day, exhausting both him and his horse just to bring her the response she was looking for.

It was this type of dedication she was proud to have in her ranks.

However, the message had just been sitting there all morning, as Kara had not yet gotten the chance to open it.

Truth be told, the words - such simple words on a piece of insignificant paper - had frightened her.

"Just what do you hold for me - hm?"

She said, speaking to no one in particular, as she continued rubbing the paper between her fingers, fiddling with it.

Finally, she got enough corsage to open the paper, slowly and carefully enough to see the inside.

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Dear Kara, Town Speaker and Mayor of The Outpost,

I have received your message and letter post haste, the ink still wet on the paper. Your messenger is quite stubborn as to not leave until I have written a reply and sent him on his way with it. But I can assure you that within this paper, I shall give my answer to the question you so regarded me with, at one in the morning, when your messenger arrived.

Yes, Lia, the girl hired by notice and someone who I can claim did arrive in Neverdark, did in fact defeat and slay many Silver Tail Spiders inside the den within the Silver mines. In fact, the miners are still on their way working day in and day out to clean the place of corpses. Apparently they had made their nest within an old Concor tomb. Quite the find. Just another reason to put Neverdark on your map.

However, as to the second question you've given me, I'm afraid I must say no. While Lia did receive many miners to help her, these miners - who have little fighting experience - were only able to survive thanks to her brilliant strategy and formation. Though there were some mix ups, I'm proud to know that my men held up strong in the face of danger. May those that died rest in peace.

So no, Lia did her best and achieved the work set out for her, to which I am grateful.

As to her rank, I'm disappointed to note and hear that she only received Rank C, as she took on more than a hundred, if not - I dare say - thousands of spiders alone, with only two allies at her side. Not to mention taking on a rogue group of mercenaries as well after that.

And if there are any comments I can leave you with, it is this.

You may be the Town speaker, and Mayor of the Outpost, however, don't get too high on your power.

Lia is no ordinary girl, and if I may give you a bit of advice, if you were in fact writing to me to find evidence against her, you've come to the wrong place.

You won't find your answers here, and if you continue this path against Lia, you might just find them.

Ten feet underground.

Sincerely,

Wallace, the now running Mayor of Neverdark.

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-Crunch!

Kara balled up the letter in her fist, her face contorting in anger, as she threw the letter, now crumbed into a ball, at the wall.

She slammed her fists on the table and cried out, releasing her anger.

The letter, which she had waited nearly a day for, contained everything that she did not want to hear. Answers she had hoped were lies, and even a threat.

No. Not a threat. 'Advice.' Advice telling her to stop while she was ahead, otherwise a threat would become reality in her case.

And this angered her even more.

(A/N: If you're wondering why the messenger was able to get to Neverdark in a day, and travel back in a day, while Lia and her group took three, here's the reason:

Kara's messenger rode until his horse was near exhaustion, then rode back on a different one. At the speed he was going, it took him a day to travel between. It's the same thing as comparing the distance between a street block by walking and riding a bike.)

Kara's mind drifted back to the conversation she had with Lia, and the absolute calm expression she had on her face when questioning her.

The girl wasn't even afraid, even after Kara had threatened to execute her if she was found guilty. A threat that anyone else would have quivered in their boots from.

When her mind drifted back to this memory, her mind shifted to Randolph, and her anger tripled.

"Bastard!"

She yelled, tossing the teapot across the room and slamming it against the nearby wall, shattering it and sending the green tea her servant had prepared for her spilling all over the floor.

Randolph. Someone who 'shared' equal power with her, as someone who led the Hunter's Post, an entity the clan head had decreed to be equal to them.

Someone whom she loathed with every fiber of her being.

-Knock! - Knock!

Another set of knocks came from her door - no doubt the servant who had heard the commotion from earlier and had come to check on her.

"Go away."

-Knock! -Knock!

Another set of knocks, this time more harsher than the last.

Kara's patience was already as thin as it was going to get, so she had little left for the servant other than rage.

"I said leave!"

She yelled at the door.

However, instead of stopping, and rather than a knock at the door, the knob turned, and the lock clicked.

This only served to further enrage Kara, who had now lost any bit of patience she had towards the servant. Picking up the tea cup he brought her, still full of green liquid tea, hot and freshly poured, she chucked it towards the door.

Too late.

Too late did she hear the body fall.

Too late did she see the two pairs of colored eyes on the other side of the door staring back at her.

Too late did she see the man, dressed in black leather and steel (knives), catch the tea cup, caring little for the hot liquid that poured on his clothes, steaming from the contact of something cold.

There he stood, staring at her with red eyes frowning. The sight frightened Kara, who immediately went for her closest knife - the one she opened the leather envelope with - only to find a hand already on the hilt, keeping it from being lifted off the table.

His eyes were yellow.

The man in the door was red.

The third she found sitting on a leather chair she had in her corner, a match in his hands as he flicked on and on the flame against the candles.

His eyes were purple.

The fourth she saw standing next to the door - next to the dead body of her once obedient servant, standing with a dagger drenched in blood.

His eyes were white.

"Who - Who are you?! Why are you here?!"

Kara, finding her voice once again, shouted at the four men, equally distancing herself from them, as their eyes glowed in the darkness. The setting sun casting shadows from her window added little to help her mood, and simply made it more frightening.

"Guards! Guards -"

"They won't be coming."

She snapped her head to the red eyed man, who slowly took daunting steps towards her, gesturing to the chair behind her desk. The one she had been sitting in moments before, reeling at the contents of the letter.

Following his hand, Kara didn't object, nor did she resist, as she kindly sat in the chair, as the yellowed eyed man, holding her blade in his hands, distanced himself from her.

They were all dressed head to toe in black, and had their faces covered by some mask, further illuminating their colorful eyes that glowed like lights in the darkness of their clothes.

Again, Kara questioned them, but more violently with less of a harsh tone in her voice.

She knew who was in charge now.

"What do you want?"

Rather than answer, the red eyed man sat on her desk, twisting his body so that he could look Kara in her eyes as he spoke.

"I have a proposition for you, Kara - Town Speaker."

Taken aback, Kara tried to wrap her head around the absurd circumstance she found herself in.

"You broke into my office building just to give me an offer?"

Red eyes shrugged as if it mattered little to him.

"We like to make a point."

Thinking for a moment, Kara glanced between the four of them, each seemingly different from the other.

Yellow was focused on her blade - a pure silver blade decorated with runes and a gem in the hilt.

The purple seemed to be focused solely on sitting still, as if the conversation didn't matter to him.

The white however, was close to the door. What confused Kara was whether he was trying to keep her from leaving, and running out the door, or if he was considering it himself.

Finally, she spoke, confidence returning to her body and chest.

"And what would this proposition include?"

The dagger the Yellowed eyed man had been fiddling with slammed into the table, stabbing the letter Kara had just been reading moments before.

The sudden thump into the wood made her jump, as she let out a slight hiccup in surprise.

"The letter. You're after a girl named Lia, are you not?"

Instantly, Kara's face shadowed, as her previous surprised demeanor turned serious. Her eyes narrowed, and her expression gave nothing away.

The face of a leader who held every ounce of power at her fingertips.

"What?"

"Lia. The arrogant brat you've been trying to gather evidence against. Involving the four murders."

Red eyes glanced at the others around him, gesturing to them all.

"We can help you take her down."

At first Kara was shocked and surprised to hear this, not only by the information and knowledge they knew of her investigation, but also how absurd this entire situation seemed.

But then, a sudden thought occurred into her mind.

"Are you the ones who killed those four Hunters?"

"No."

Red answered without hesitation, setting Kara a little bit at ease.

"However, that doesn't matter. Goblins may have been the cause, but no one has to know that."

He leaned in close so that his voice was only a whisper in the wind.

"Makes things easier."

Taking a moment to think to herself, Kara was definitely suspicious of these men, and did not trust a single one of them.

Not only that, from the sound of their woods, and what they entailed, she now had confirmation that the four Hunters were in fact killed by goblins, as Lia had nothing to do with it. Considering she had been told this for several days, hearing it from a man she had never known made it seem like common knowledge.

Making it that much more believable.

Taking a chance, Kara's words came before she could think.

"I'm listening?"

The man smiled - or what seems to be a smile as much as Kara could guess it was behind her face coverings.

"Then let's make a deal."

<End Arch 2: The Outpost>