BODY THIEF

Glax missed the moment to throw the stone at the mysterious man because a woman passed a pitcher in front of them at the exact moment! The unexpected distraction confused him. Alexandre whispered,

"Did you see what I saw, Glax? A man just…"

Yes, I saw it. What, after all, is that cart?"

"Ah, it's a hearse. To take a body from one place to another. Is that car here to take Chriseis? " the boy asked, with a surprised expression. "Glax, what can that thug want with Chriseis? Is he a corpse defiler?"

"Uhn?!!!" Glax hoped Alexander was not referring to what came to his mind at that moment. He opened his eyes wide in shock, and ran into the temple, followed by the son of the archigeos.

"Wait, Glax! Shouldn't you beat him up? What are you going to do?"

"Reducing him to pulp is the job of those ten warriors."

"You'd have been a good husband for my cousin! A leader and a man of strategy!" the teenager agreed with Glax's logic. They didn't have to go very far to meet the group returning with the coffin. A group of priests followed the escort.

To Glax's surprise, the haughty warrior coming in front of the procession kept looking towards the door, and ignored him, as did the others. And they continued on their way. The priests stopped, confused.

"Hey, wait! Echelians! Where are you going with my wife's body?!" Glax called, furious that they had blatantly ignored him.

"General Nikandros ordered Lady Chriseis to be taken. Perhaps he has no reason to give you any explanations." The man turned stiffly in Glax's direction, looking him up and down. His serrated teeth came up when he twisted his mouth in a mocking smile.

His shield had the design of three women with wings, and Glax deduced they were Furies. Proctius colleagues, certainly.

"So do your job right. I just saw a guy jumping on the roof of the hearse, and its driver was too distracted by a prostitute to notice."

This disconcerted the leader of the unit, and he motioned to four men who were not taking the coffin to go to the cart. They ran out into the street, and their armor rattled with metallic sounds in front of Glax, who accompanied them.

Arriving on the street, one warrior jumped on the hearse, and pierced the wagonman with his spear long before Glax could have blinked twice.

The prostitute threw herself to the ground, trying to escape, but another warrior pierced her back, spearing the woman on the ground. She still tried to crawl, fighting for her life while choking on her own blood, but the Fury guy pulled his gladius and beheaded her as if she were a chicken.

In the meantime, two men went to the back of the hearse. The other got into the wagon.

The captain stopped beside Glax, watching the search and the blood of two people dripping from the hearse and dripping on the stones of the street.

"They are having trouble finding your mysterious man, don't you think, Lord Glax?"

Glax had to admit it was true. The man was neither on the roof of the vehicle, nor under, nor in. He felt the blood rise to his ears. Alexandre countered the captain of the unit,

"I saw him too, Captain!"

"Of course, Lord Alexandre. But as you saw, there's nothing..."

"Are you doubting our reports?" Glax confronted.

"If there were a thief planning to take possession of valuables or even trying to steal the body, he must have realized that it would not be so simple. We are attentive. "

The chief priest approached, "Don't be arguing here like two imbeciles. Do you want the fury of the gods over Echelion, or over the entire state? Take the general away from here," his tone was subdued, but furious. "Glax of Valosia and Chriseis, these two shouldn't even be in front of the gods!"

The Fury gave another sardonic smile and turned his back on Glax, ordering the coffin to be placed immediately on the cart.

"What?! What's the matter with Chriseis?! And me?!" For a moment it seemed too important to ignore, and Glax turned to the High Priest.

The tall old man wore a tiara of circles made of copper, and fringes that went down on both sides of his head, in addition to his long robe. He did not endeavor to show any sympathy, and hissed.

"You are both unclean before the gods. There is no ritual to appease that mutilated woman's soul. And you and your face... Do you think the gods don't know?!" The priest widened his bulging eyes at Glax, looking from above. The younger man realized that there would be no argument against the conviction in that man's mind.

"Well, say what you want about me. I don't care. Now don't you dare talk nonsense about Chriseis around the city, do you hear me, old man?"

It was not his habit to be disrespectful to his elders, but he couldn't help himself. He was already regretting his rudeness when he asked, "What's the matter with her soul? Why isn't it floating in a beautiful glowing ball like the others? Can't you do anything about it?"

"Why don't you ask the man who forced that child to follow in his footsteps?" The priest continued with his manic gaze, holding his breath as if he expected to be thwarted just one more time to have the excuse he needed to curse someone.

Glax took a deep breath, listening to the cart leave behind him, and muttered audibly.

"Not today, Priest. But we will have this conversation again in the future."

People crowded to see the dead persons thrown on the street next to the temple. A priestess called the temple attendants to clean the site right away.

Meanwhile, the cart has turned the corner of the street, escorted by the Furies group.

"Shit!"He was sure it wasn't over. Looking over the rooftops, he no longer saw the man or traces of him. But it didn't make sense that he had all this work for nothing, would he?

"He sabotaged the wagon. explanation. He knew the cart was empty. He intends to intercept it later," Glax explained to the archigeos son.

"Are they going to take her to the family mausoleum? I thought she would be buried in the heroes' tomb at the top of the fortress..." Alexander scratched his chin.

"I will see with my eyes where they will take her!" He made up his mind, dashing down the street towards the stable. If he were fast enough, he might catch up with them.

:::::::::::::::::

About fifteen minutes later, he and Alexandre were riding along the long military road trying to reach the hearse and their escort. Glax could see the street that meandered below.

"Watch out, Alexandre, that man wants to steal Chriseis!" They couldn't ride like crazy on the sloped road, because even though it was the military exclusive route of the fortress, it was busy and irregular.

"There. Glax, he's there!

It was a few meters ahead and a lap below in the windy road, but there was the strange hooded man, near a public fountain. He was far ahead of the hearse. The man just stood out from the people around him because he sprinted to somewhere ahead in the road.

Glax also saw a small tunnel through which the wagon would pass in an instant. The height between the track they were on and the top of the tunnel was about four meters.

Glax decided not to do calculations and just trust that would work. He wouldn't dare do that to the horse, and didn't even know if it would work at all. But he was determined to capture that maniac who wanted to steal the body of Chriseis.

Going down off his mount in a rush, Glax climbed onto the guardrail, and hoped it would count as a road, as he definitely needed the protection of the god, now.

"JERONIMO!"

'Would my Nike sandals have better cushioning than these?' he asked himself, after he landed crouched, and felt the bones of the body ache and even his brain shook inside the skull. Not counting his heels and calves...

As soon Glax stood up to look around, he felt the surface beneath him tremble lightly with a muffled bang.

A stinking smoke began to ooze through both exits of the tunnel. Glax realized that whatever that was, it had a powerful narcotic effect. His eyes got watery and almost impossible to keep open...

He heard the soldiers' screams of anger and despair. They were blind and stunned inside the tunnel, and their warlike power severely affected.

The corpse kidnapper would certainly write his name in history by stealing a coffin in broad daylight from eleven Furies in the middle of Echelion.

But not today. Because he wouldn't let that happen.

He prepared to jump as soon as the hearse left the tunnel.

Soon the carriage emerged in the tunnel's mouth, now with a new pilot in command.

Glax jumped on the hood of the vehicle, as soon as it passed beneath him. It was impossible to do that without being noticed, though.

Pulling his sword, he crawled ahead to stop the kidnapping and face the cunning bandit.

The man looked back as Glax approached from the top.

Glax blinked, stunned. The bandit wore a gas mask, the 'steampunk style', it is. But it wasn't unexpected at all.

The mechanical eye that scanned him with a strange hum was the unexpected detail.