94

Chapter 94

Flange Orphanage, City: Three Prongs Fork, Republic of Shantu, Continent: Barat, the Year 2031, Planet: Grimoire

The hour had grown late when Grifton jolted awake after falling into a fitful sleep. At first, he hadn't known whether he'd wound up in a dreamscape. Then he recognized his companions stirring and looking in his general direction.

That's when Grifton heard faint alarms that he'd set earlier to awaken them before the spectacle went off in full glory. It wouldn't do to scare them out of their skins.

Grifton confirmed, "It will soon begin." No sooner had he said so, erosion began occurring all over the exterior cliffs surrounding three parts of the orchards.

POP!

BANG!

BOOM!

Flashes of light, popping noises, and small puffs of smoke soon obscured the air. Coughing, cursing, and yelling sounded shortly afterward.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Denby commented sourly. "I'm guessing they thought this would be an easy place to capture exhausted individuals as hostages while destroying this area to find treasure."

The other team members exchanged glances. "I don't think all of the traps were set off yet," Corley recalled. "Then again, a few people are hanging back." He glanced at Denby. Does that seem normal?"

Denby shrugged. "No idea unless they've experienced with potential booby-traps through time on the battlefronts."

Currently, the amount of damage occurring is within Grifton's expectations. Strangely enough, other kinds of traps hadn't set off yet. "It seems none have gotten inside yet." That didn't really surprise him right now. The earlier ones would've instilled some caution within the smarter ones.

More shouting and angry cursing interrupted their conversation. Or so he'd thought about the caution instilled. Grifton shook his head. It seemed like his expectations had been too high.

"Now, those did come from inside." Denby glanced at Grifton's diagram of where he'd set them up and made a few markings where some icons lit up while others remained dark.

Morton grunted. "Well, from my estimate, I'd say about twenty percent are now unable to do damage." He shrugged. "A bit low, but since we're dealing with a fairly low number of people this time, it's not too bad."

Evidently, many of the arrivals had already fallen prey to Grifton's traps. "I wasn't expecting much in the way of actively hurting or catching people when I set them up." He'd worked on a few concepts and shown them to the team members.

Grifton surprised them when he sought their opinions. Evidently, he hadn't been expected to inquire of their opinions. Well, Grifton knew that in this situation, clearer heads were required to give wiser advice on what might not be suitable.

They gave their opinions of yes on several of the traps Grifton made. A few had gotten definite 'no's, and he modified those traps because they'd appeared too nasty in terms of the damage they caused when snapping shut on an arm or leg.

Grifton shrugged. "It was more like disabling sight and fast movement, to be precise." He hadn't wanted to do too much damage. "That was why I asked for your opinions before making the trap."

Denby nodded. "I'm glad you asked for our opinions in that case."

The team members grinned cheerfully. While they had been surprised earlier, they were pleased to understand why he'd done it. "Yeah, this is much safer, too," Corley commented.

If the traps actually killed and permanently disabled people, that would defeat the purpose of catching and interrogating the culprits safely. Well, Grifton also didn't want damage done through friendly fire to the others who were there as spies.

"Let's just continue observing the situation before making our moves," Denby suggested, noticing they all seemed impatient and wanted to do something.

~*~

Earlier in the evening, Brinton and Desmond, who'd infiltrated the big group with three others, convinced a few to spill the truth about the operation.

"So, Crin, what can you tell me about tonight?" Desmond inquired. "I know there's that treasured thing."

"Treasure, you actually believe in that bullshit tale?" Crin immediately scoffed. "Hah, no such thing. There's a water source beneath the ground." He told Desmond a few other things and scowled. "Say, ain't you one of them orphans or something?" Crin frowned. "I thought you were fanatically devoted to keeping that place intact." He was suspicious of Desmond now.

"Where'd you hear that last part from?" Desmond shook his head. "I'm not one of those devotees." He looked repulsed. "Now, if you're talking about Tinroy, you may be onto something there."

Crin looked confused. "Huh? Who?" He shook his head in bafflement. "No, I haven't heard that name."

Desmond cleared his throat. "Well, whatever. So, what else is going on?"

Crin shrugged, staring at him coldly. "I told you already, the water source." He'd obviously felt there was nothing more left to say. "You'll find out the rest when we get there."

Brinton had slightly more success, but he couldn't get much information.

The other three had varying levels of success as well. However, everything that they'd been told made their blood run cold. It summarized into a very vicious plot designed to kill everyone who used the precious underground water.

This orchard also held some rare species of fruit trees that were hard to obtain. Brinton was shocked to learn of this unknown fact. If the harvested fruits were ruined, that would equal three years of profit destroyed, and there would be no way of obtaining the trees again.

Since those trees were no longer available for purchase, even though black market channels, they were considered very precious specimens. "Wow, which is shocking indeed," Desmond shook his head in disbelief. So, the other reason is to ruin the acreage and eventually kill all the residents?"

"I think this will affect more than the main residents." Brinton couldn't believe what was happening. "Since that water source also feeds into all the lakes that make up Three-Pronged Fork..." He shrugged with a sigh.

Brinton concluded. "I think this is going beyond our scope of authority." Oh yeah, someone or something was trying to ruin the entirety of the acreage the Orphanage sat upon, not just because of revenge but also hatred.

"Well, we can't notify anyone else at this late date." Desmond reminded him. "All we can hope to do is see if any night owls are watching what'll happen at night."

Brinton nodded in resignation. That certainly seemed to be the case indeed.

Since Brinton and the others knew what was at stake. They were extremely cautious about where they were placed within that crowd. None of them wanted to run afoul of the traps and decoys that Grifton undoubtedly constructed.

When the first explosions went off, Brinton was amazed at the creativity and ingenuity the kid displayed in setting up the items swiftly, with hours to spare before the arrival of the saboteurs.

Saboteurs, they were indeed. Their purpose in choosing that location was twofold, and it turned out it had nothing to do with treasure. Brinton gritted his teeth. Then, he was startled when his communication device went off.

It was Commander Darmono. "What in tarnation is going on out there?"

As well as merchant Lamberton. "I could see the explosions clear from my office."

Brinton exhaled and went to a safe area. "I've infiltrated a group of saboteurs." He filled them in on what was happening. "I'm not sure my small group will be enough to handle this large crowd."

Between Brinton, Desmond, and the three officers they could trust not to leak details, they'd managed to obtain the names, ranks, and affiliations of each of the fifty-plus people.

Lamberton shook his head. "Unbelievable." He exhaled. "I'll see how I can assist with the aftermath."

Commander Darmono frowned. "Try and get out of there as quickly as possible." He warned. "My unit is already deployed to arrive in about fifteen minutes."

Brinton was grateful. "Will do and thank you both." He hadn't missed the fact that neither of them inquired about Tinroy. While that bothered him, Brinton focused on the future. He signaled to the others and relayed what he'd been told.

They got out in time to greet Darmono, who, true to his word, was already on his way.

No sooner had greetings been exchanged than the absolute mayhem began breaking out, setting off the nastier traps that Grifton placed around the tree roots.

"Wow, that's going to become problematic. Friendly fire will become a problem soon." Darmono shaded his eyes and looked at the messy situation. A new visible fog hung around the orchard.

"They're pinned in there," Brinton confirmed.

"That's an illusion fog designed to confuse and demotivate the intruders." Desmond grimaced. "As for the traps...what I could see of them, they're mainly there to discourage the intruders from doing anything too violent." He shrugged when Darmono and Brinton stared at him. "Just my thoughts on the situation."

~*~

When the last of the traps was triggered, Grifton allowed his senses to explore the area and stiffened in shock. When he would've said something, Denby shook his head. He held up his hand to make everyone remain silent.

What an unexpected development! Grifton exhaled in confusion and withdrew the sense that they recognized a friendly presence pouring in from different locations other than the orphanage building. In fact, all he got from the Orphanage was extreme hostility and hatred. Something happened and the people within that building were furious. Was it because Grifton hadn't returned that night? Whatever the problem was, he felt it also had to do with what he witnessed in that orchard. Now, he wondered what to do next. Only Grifton discovered there wasn't anything left to do. Instead, he watched a very amusing spectacle.