4 Chapter 4 The Stone Wall

"You are doing this not just to get your white wings back, are you?" asked Airow. His deep voice washing over her, as she rubbed the last of the sleep from her eyes.

"What do you mean? I need to get my wings white in order for us to go home."

"Yes, but maybe the wings won't turn white, unless you do it not from the need to get them white, but the need to help the children. Don't do it for just your white wings."

She nodded silently as she thought about that.

"Grey, we should eat before we investigate this Lord Stonewall," suggested Airow.

"You are right. Bob had said we could have some food while we were here."

As they sat to eat, Airow found it dull and tasteless. He watched as Grey didn't seem to have a problem eating it, though.

"Airow, why are you not finishing your meal?" asked Grey.

"It tastes bland, but I shall finish it. It doesn't compare to the manna we ate, back home."

Grey paused, and looked at him for a moment. She didn't remember manna. Looking back down at the food from Bob's kitchen, she fought the urge to cry. Had the food back home been that much better? Fighting off her sadness, she finished in silence, and they stood to leave. They had a job to do.

"Let us go and talk to people, to see if we can learn more about the child trafficking," said Airow, as they stepped out the inn.

Grey nodded in agreement, then moves over to a mother with several children around her.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but we heard that children may be being snatched from the streets."

"She means that we've heard about someone doing child trafficking around here. Do you know anything about that?" jumped in Airow, quickly.

Grey nodded at his words. She knew that she might not be wording things correctly, and decided that perhaps it would be best if he took the lead.

"I've heard of such rumors," said the woman, hugging her smallest child to her. "But I've never let my children run loose to play, to be snatched before. It's too dangerous and there are too many monsters about. Why, we had angels and demons fighting just the other day. Surely you saw the destruction they left in the marketplace?"

"Yes, and it was a good thing that they left, and nothing happened to the angels. Those demons were really evil."

"The angels?" she exclaimed in anger. "I don't care about the angels! I don't care about the demons! I just wish they would all leave us be, and fight their battles somewhere else!"

"As do I," he agreed. Grey pulled him away from the woman and they moved on to the next person, who was an old man, leaning on a cane. He had watched their discussion and Grey thought he might have something to add.

"Sir, we are here to deal with the rumors of child trafficking. Do you know anything about it?" Airow asked.

"All I know, is that with all of the fighting, it's very easy for children to go missing. Sometimes, it's the demons and angels that cause the child to die, and sometimes its misfortune that they disappear.

"Perhaps you should ask Lord Stonewall. His family has been known to house orphans in the past."

"Why is he called Lord Stonewall?" asked Airow, suddenly curious about the name.

"It is said, that his family is the one who built the wall that circles our town. Though, unfortunately, it has fallen to ruin over the past decade."

"Thank you," said Airow, pulling Grey to the side. "We should check out the wall that Lord Stonewall has built. It was supposed to protect the town, but now the demons are coming through it. Maybe we'll find a clue there?"

"Why do you want to go to the wall?" asked Grey.

"I find it odd that it's fallen to ruin. Maybe he's letting the demons in, to cause a distraction."

"Fair enough," she said.

When they reached the site, of the collapse outer wall, that the demons broke through, it looked like this wall had recently been sabotaged from the inside.

"There are two theories, circulating in my head, right now. The first, you already know, is that he's using the demons as a distraction, the second, maybe the demons have some way to come in and used the wall as a decoy so they could hide the fact that they had a way in."

"I don't think that the imps we had fought here, would have thought that far ahead. I think they were too stupid to use a wall as a decoy. I imagine the Lord Stonewall theory is probably closer to the truth. Should we check him out next?"

"Ok, but we have to make sure we get some evidence of his crimes. We can't just kill someone. The humans will probably do it for us if we can find proof," Airow cautioned.

Grey knew that if she killed anyone else, it had better be a demon only, because she had already fallen farther then she wanted. Nodding in agreement, they made their way across town, to the grand estate of Lord Stonewall. When they came to his front gates, they saw that the stone wall that surrounded his estate was actually taller and better built than the one around the whole town.

"That's odd," Grey said, as she touched the wall. "Why would this wall be better than the other wall?"

Placing his hand on her shoulder, "Maybe they have gotten better at building walls? This one does look more recent? Could they have had to replace the larger wall after all of the attacks, thus making it not as good?"

"Perhaps, but let's ask Lord Stonewall and find out."

A butler arrived when they knocked on the door, to let them in.

"How may I help you?" he asked.

"Is Lord Stonewall home?" asked Airow.

"We wish to speak to him," added Grey.

"The lord is busy at the moment, but I can take you to his study so that he can meet with you as soon as he is free?"

"Thank you," they said, following the butler.

The great hall was very ornate, with highly decorated designs carved into the walls. A shield was hung on the wall, depicting the crest of the Stonewall family. It looked normal for a rich person's estate.

The butler took them down a lavish hall, that had thick carpet and colorful wall hangings. Opening the door to the study, they entered to find themselves surrounded with books. In this day and age, a single book could sell for enough to feed a man for the whole of his life. To be surrounded by books attested to the wealth of Lord Stonewall.

"If he has all this wealth," said Grey softly, "Why would he bother with trafficking? He obviously doesn't need money."

"Then what does he want?"