Chapter 3: I'm a Criminal?

She looked fierce. Like she was prepared to slice his head off at any second. With a sword poised for attack, he made sure his hands were as still as humanly possible as he frantically thought through his options. He doubted he could run away from her fast enough, so that was out. But going with her willingly might be worse. He had no idea how prisoners were treated here!

“Identify yourself.” She growled, taking one gurgled step into the water.

She wants an identity? He didn’t even think of a new name yet! “I’m a, uh....Alex....ander. Alexander.”

There. That name was simple, easy to remember, and was a definite upgrade from his old name.

Her mouth curled into a sneer. “Well Alexander, it seems the gods are already showing you their displeasure.” Her eyes traveled all over him, taking in his frail stature and decrepit appearance. “One would hardly think a criminal of your caliber would be found like this...but you still have to answer for your crimes.” Her sword lowered slightly as she took another step towards him, the decorative cloth of her breastplate becoming smeared in green algae and dirt. “Come with me, and I will ensure that you make it safely to Irdelios.”

The question bubbled out of his mouth before he could stop it. “What crimes?”

The question made the woman halt with a start, and she looked at him with a curious keenness. Like she was trying to determine if he bumped his head or if his exposure to the elements have made him senile. Suddenly looking offput, she cleared her throat before she spoke slowly, clearly enunciating each word so that he may understand. “You stand accused of several high crimes. All tied to the murder of several high priests in druidic monastery located near Irdelios. Your murderous actions were witnessed by several attendants, the wounds on the bodies match with your preferred weaponry, and you yourself are a known assassin. Your guilt is clear, your feats are noteworthy, and now you have been found.”

She sheathed her sword as she continued to wade in, eager to grip one of his arms and drag him ashore. “Now come with me and we will address any lingering wounds you may have. I have a responsibility to make sure that you arrive in sound body and mind so that you may plead your case. Now hurry up, I don’t want to be in this smelly bog for all that...” She paused suddenly, her nose scrunching and eyes widening as she realized something. “Oh for the love of—the smell is coming from you!?”

She rushed back towards the shore, her sword back in hand as she coughed in revulsion. “By the mercy of Sadokal, dunk yourself! Ugh!” She scanned the surface of the water thoroughly, almost as if she was searching for any more wrongdoing. “The gods must have a sense of humor.” She murmured as she watched Alexander dunk himself.

When he came up again, his dark hair clung to his face like a slimy veil before it was pushed back over his head. If he didn’t smell like a wet dog that hasn’t been bathed in months, the look wouldn’t have been too bad.

Alexander ran his fingers through his hair as he squeezed out the moisture, wading through a few ambient twigs and a clump of algae as he made his way back to shore.

When he stood before the woman, he shrugged apologetically, but all she did was level her blade at him. “Disarm.”

Alexander blinked “Uh...what?” Disarm? Disarm what? He was pretty sure his dagger was lost in the woods somewhere because of manic digging. Hunger makes you forget things.

She almost looked frustrated. “I said, disarm. Don’t get smart.” She flicked her eyes downward and cocked her head to the side. “The knives on the side of your leg, hand them over.”

Sure enough, when he looked down and looked toward his side, he found a small line of throwing knives latched onto one of his thighs. When he first saw the leather attachment, he just thought it was a fashion statement. But it seems that was not the case. They were really small, barely the size of his middle finger. But they were situated closer to his back, where they could not be seen easily by a passerby. Perfect for throwing when someone was unawares, the woman must have noticed them when he got out of the water.

He searched blindly for the clip holding them up. “I uh....what’s your name again?” He patted his thighs in what he hoped wasn’t obvious desperation.

When he finally found the metal latch and began finagling with it, he looked up to see the woman giving him a dumbfounded stare. “My name is Janesca. A paladin of the Order.” She gave him a once over again, and came to some sort of conclusion.

Before he could even blink he felt a great pain in his chest, and his feet barely left the ground when he found himself looking down to realize that she had given him a brutal palm strike with her open fist. By the time he thudded onto the ground he could barely move his fingers, much less his arms or legs.

A pained grunt left him as Janesca marched over to him, taking off the knife attachment herself. “I do not know what is wrong with you or if this is just an elaborate ploy, but I will not let you catch me off guard with these.”

When she was done with the knives she went for his boots, taking them off his feet. When she gave them a firm shake, a thin dart came falling out. Same with his other boot, which Janesca took off with more ferocity than the last. Likely thinking he was intentionally hiding them, he figured.

Then she went for his chest piece. Finding pockets and slips in the several folds of leather that he didn’t even know existed. She fished out all manner of tools. Caltrops, throwing stars, packets, vials, and little round tablets that he was beginning to suspect were smoke or poison bombs.

His abject amazement must have shown, because Janesca temporarily stopped her incessant search to fix him with an inquisitive stare. “Did you accidentally poison yourself with one of these?” She held up one of the packets, shaking it to draw his attention. “Do you use poisoned with mind-altering side effects?”

He didn’t answer immediately, his mouth struggling to form words as he realized just how many opportunities he missed out on just because he wasn’t aware of his full inventory. “Um. I don’t think so? I honestly didn’t remember that I had those things on me.”

She shook her head. “I’m not convinced. Hunger, fatigue, and my presence may account for your peculiar attitude, but forgetting basic things like what you’re wearing seems too excessive.”

“And what about my name? I had a hard time telling you that too.”

“That’s because it was an alias.” She reasoned. “You weren’t struggling to remember anything, you were trying to come up with what name to tell me.”

Alexander pursed his lips. It's not like she was wrong per se, but...

She collected the discard tools, looking down at him as she did so. “Stay put. Since you can’t move for a while, we’ll make camp here for the night and begin traveling tomorrow.”

She went out of his field of vision for a while before returning with a mirror, which she promptly shoved in his face as he blinked confusedly. “What are you doing?”

“Investigating.” She primly stated. “I want to see just how truthful you’ve been and just how strong you are.”

He saw his reflection brighten for a second in a way that didn’t seem natural, and for a second before Janesca pulled it away, he saw the ghostly-looking numbers and letters that were part of his character sheet.

She looked at the mirror with great interest, and Alexander was pretty sure that she wasn’t frowning at her own reflection. Why would she? She was pretty and didn’t look like a she was lost in the woods for months.

She looked displeased at she stared at the mirror, her brows furrowing considerably before she looked back at him. Then she looked at the mirror again before looking back towards his restrained figure. She shook the mirror slightly, hoping for some sort of change that never happened.

After getting no fruitful results, she rushed over to him and grabbed his arm roughly, forcefully sitting him up. “Do you have a twin?” She asked, looking entirely confused and desperate for an answer.

“No.” He stated plainly. “I am an only child.”

She looked at the mirror again, groaning. “Did you ingest some form debilitating poison?”

“You already asked that....and no. Or at least, I don’t think so. I have been eating a lot of suspicious stuff lately.” He offered.

She shook her head before looking at the mirror again, her face steadily showing more and more signs of confusion and doubt. “Are you a doppelganger?”

Before he answered, she muttered the answer herself. “No, no. That couldn’t be it. If that was the case, the skills would be matching up perfectly.”

Her nostrils flared as she ran a gloved hand through her hair. “Even with the curse taken into account, this doesn’t make sense. And how do you have a null class?!”

Alexander attempted to shrug, but found himself unable to do so. So he settled for giving her a sympathetic look. She had no idea what she was dealing with. Which was fitting because he had no idea either. “Can you explain what you are talking about?”

She practically shoved the mirror in front of his face. “You are....weak. None of these skills are high enough to make you a decent assassin. By the gods, you probably can’t even fight a grassland ridgeback! I have seen teenagers with more stat points!”

She shoved the mirror closer, his reflection becoming blurred and unintelligible as Janesca all but smashed the mirror up towards his eyes. “And you don’t have a class! Something that is only supposed to happen with small children! Everyone else at least has a utility class like “Farmer” or “Baker”! So how do you not even have that?!”

She pulled the mirror away from him, and Alexader found himself heaving out a sigh.

“One does not simply lose fundamental traits like that.” She argued, looking like she was at her wit’s end.

Alexander gave her a hopeful smile. “So...Does this mean you will let me go? I’m clearly not your guy.”

She glared at him, her armor making a small ringing noise as she suddenly turned to him. “No. You match every description of the perpetrator.”

“But you just said my skills and class don’t match up!” He argued loudly. “If I can’t even fight a “grassland ridgeback”, which I am assuming is a weak creature, then how am I supposed to kill several druids!”

“I don’t think you can.” She growled. “Not in this state, at least. But your armor and weapons tell me that you are usually prepared for combat.” She gestured towards his clothes. “I don’t know exactly what it’s made of or even what tier it is, but it’s clear it is strong enough to absorb most of the impact from my palm strike attack. Otherwise, you’d be out cold now or possibly even dead. My palm strikes are not known to be forgiving in the first place, but with stats like yours it should have been devastating. Beyond devastating actually.”

She shook her head before pointing to an area that he couldn’t see. “And your inventory tells me a similar story. How exactly do you explain having all of those poisons, weapons, and high-tier healing potions and not have the skills to use them?” She threw up her arms. “I’d even be willing to believe that you just bought all of this with a massive amount of gold, but I can’t see how you could make even a half decent living with stats like these.”

She looked at the mirror, almost looking like she wanted to throw it against a rock. “Without this mirror, everything points to you being the Assassin of Irdelios. But this—” She lowered the offending surface. “This tells me that there is something else at play...Something I don’t understand.”

Alexander tried to move again, this time to get on his knees. But aside from an obvious struggle, nothing happened other than getting dirt on his drenched pants. “Then isn’t that a reason why you should let me go? What if I was brainwashed and the assassin just placed these items on me because we looked similar?”

She gave him a look. “Out here in the woods? Unlikely. Furthermore, if you were brainwashed, I would know. The mirror would tell me of all negative of debilitating affects you have endured for the past 7 days. Aside from the curse, there was no sign of mental tampering on you for the past week.”

There it was again, that “curse” she mentioned. “What curse are you talking about?”

She stiffened for a second, as if the question caught her off guard. “...I don’t know. It is too advanced for the mirror to identify.” She looked at his gaunt face one more time, and the first signs of sympathy began to appear on her face. “But given your appearance, and the negative modifiers, I think it must have been something gruesome. Apparently, several potent spells were thrown at you when you tried to escape. It most likely came from one of those.”

Alexander would have pressed for more information, but he found his tongue getting stuck in his throat as his eyes fixated on something far beyond Janesca’s demanding figure.

It may have been his curse playing tricks on him, but there was no mistaking the equine figure that was staring at them from just beyond the tree line. Shining like snow and with a beautiful horn on its head, Alexander saw the curious head of a unicorn poking out from the brush.