29 Fire

After being caught up by a "rocklette" that saw the whole thing unfold, Dustina sighed, "When master hears about how the witch actually managed to infiltrate Roland's castle..." She shuddered at the thought.

Dustin rolled his non-existent eyes and remarked, "I mean all you did was turn your 'dustlettes' into 'rocklettes'."

Dustina annoyedly brushed him off and said, "How was my warning not enough? At the very least when things calm down, they should be able to notice how we were able to predict how the Church would be coming."

About an hour later, a somewhat large crowd of all the castle's occupants were gathered. Nightingale asked them all at once, "Are any of you witches?"

They all shook their head and said no. Roland furrowed his brows and asked, "Have any of you seen anybody leaving this castle in the past hour or so?"

Roland held his chin, deep in thought and said, "Then the witch must still be here- only hidden."

Roland addressed the crowd, "For now, all of you stay here."

Carter whispered to Roland, "Your Highness, what about maintaining the security around the perimeter of the castle? Do we send those guards back? It would be dangerous to leave the castle walls exposed like this."

Roland reassured him, "Relax. It's not like we are at war yet."

Suddenly, Roland heard someone yell, "Fire! Fire inside the castle!" There was smoke from rising from within one of the castle windows and smoke began to seep out of neighboring windows as well.

Roland glanced at Anna who said, "Hey, I'm right here. It must be that witch who infiltrated the castle."

Roland turned to the guards in the crowd, "A quarter of you will go out to put the fire, the other quarter will investigate the cause and arrest the perpetrator if there is any. The other half, make sure no one else leaves this crowd and no one enters it."

The guards quickly scrambled to duty and they hurried to the fire. By the time Roland and the others arrived, the fire was a conflagration that was spreading rapidly throughout the rooms. The guards were scrambling to fetch water to pour out the fire.

Roland made a mental note to construct a better water system in Border Town while overseeing the process of putting out the fire. Guards were also running up and about in the castle trying to find anybody suspicious.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle, Dustina and Dustin heard about the fire. Dustina asked Dustin, "Is there nothing we could do about it?"

Dustin replied, "Have you forgotten all about your little 'rocklettes'? Just ask them!"

Dustina's jaw dropped in shock and said, "How could I forget?" Speaking to her rocks, she asked, "Have any of you seen the cause of the fire? What happened?"

The rocks have all not witnessed anything unusual and the fire was too sudden. Dustina was losing hope when a rock replied, "I did not see the cause of the fire and all that but it seems that the perpetrator has been caught just now."