The Villains

Back in Kirathain, June sixteenth.

For the past few days Alexander spent most of his time deciding whether or not he should go and search for Alexandra. And two days ago he made his decision, to research where they were and what they were doing.

Yesterday he spent a hot day and a cold night trying to talk Kuro into releasing such information and all attempts failed up until he asked another guard such questions, a guard who needed and was willing to accept a bit more gold then he was worth.

Apparently they were going up north on this little fetch quest for Korin himself, to acquire the eye of Kilijaid. And wow, was that unexpected. Alexander had figured Korin was a cynical skeptic, and yet he was paying quite a handsome price for something that was probably completely worthless.

Even funnier, none of them except for Korin probably even knew what the eye of Kilijaid was. Every noble or decent person in Kirathain had a good clue what it was, but two poor Foxes and an outsider? There was no way they even had a clue it existed up until now.

As for the eye . . . in most cases there were two main theories. One was that the eye was an object with nothing more but a metaphorical name to suit it's purpose; being able to gaze through the eyes of others, ultimately knowing what they were up to and where they were. A tool which Korin probably would want one of his guards to use for the sake of tracking down all the criminals.

And the second theory was that it was literally an eye of some sort. Alexander him self didn't believe either object held any actual power and he also believed Korin wasn't stupid nor naïve, whatever reason he wanted the object for it was probably not out of faith or hope that it would actually work. And it was clear to Alexander what was to be done.

Chasing a girl he liked was beyond stupid and it wasn't going to be worth his resources or time to chase her down, she could probably take care of her self. What Alexander wanted was the eye. If he found such an object for Korin he'd be far more respected. And who knows, maybe he really could help his little Fox friend. He truly did care for her, but his future was going to be far brighter if he had that eye as opposed to if he had Alex.

And finally after hours of deciding Alexander was in a ship of his own filled with mercenaries he himself hired. Alexander questioned why Korin didn't just send Kuro or a loyal subordinate to find the damn thing but then again, maybe Reliath had quite an impressive record.

** ** ** ** **

Elsewhere in Kirathain running through the streets like a lunatic was a white Arctic Fox, he had quite a few of the same features as Alexander except his ears were rounder, he was smaller, and his muzzle was shorter. And wow, he was a lot unluckier too. When he woke up he didn't think he'd have two guards chasing him through the city with the possibility of him missing his boat.

His name was Nathan, and ironically he was known by his friends as an escape artist. Yup, an escape artist. He could get him self out of anything. Well, except maybe Kirathain when followed by two guards wearing heavy armor. Honestly, all he did was accidentally bump into a girl!

Finally, Nathan had reached the docks and right in front of his very eyes was the ship he should have boarded an hour ago. He continued running towards the ship up until he boarded it and suddenly a paw forcefully grabbed his. Not a word was spoken until the guards had caught up.

'Why were these gentlemen chasing you, and why did you bring yourself and they to my business.' The white Fox holding his arm asked. His cold cold blue eyes were set on the Arctic Foxes.

'He assaulted a woman on the street, very fine of you to help us in apprehendi-'

'I just ran into her, I was late so I didn't want to waste any time in getting here, Alex.' Nathan interrupted and Alex ran his paw through his fur before replying

'And how is it I'm to trust you when you lack punctuation?'

'Information. And I can't give you any if I'm in a cell.'

'Very well, come on aboard.' Alex's grasp on the Arctic Foxes arm lessened. And he politely stepped to the side to greet him on the ship.

'So you take in criminals now, Alex? He says he ran into her but it just so happens we heard a scream, we saw her bleeding, and he was running.'

'He is no criminal, he is just grace deprived. And I am sure that can be fixed before we return. Speaking of which, when I return I don't want to hear any lies or rumors going through town that I hired a criminal.'

'Not at all kind sir, this was all a complete misunderstanding.'

Alex nodded and the two guards nodded back and left.

'Now . . .' Alex turned his head to Nathan, 'You have information, yes? I'm not very fond of liars so I hope whatever you have to offer is the truth.'

'I know quite a few things about Reliath, is that of your intrigue?'

'You must be psychic. Come with me down to the Captains Quarters, you'll receive a bonus if you share anything that's actually useful.'

The two of them began walking through the ship to the captains' quarters. Compared to a lot of other boats Nathan had traveled on this one was quite small, but it seemed well decorated none the less.

'No pay is necessary, my only wish is confronting Reliath.''

Alexander then looked over the Fox with a new intrigue, remembering the words Lily said. The one about a Fox with white fur killing Reliath. Abstract, but interesting none the less.

'Um . . . why are you looking at me like that?'

Alexander let out a light chuckle. 'Aren't you a bit small to fight Reliath?'

'Reliath isn't the greatest of fighters, so I'll take my chances.'

'A mercenary that's not good at fighting?'

'Well, in a fair fight he's decent, but he never fights fair. It's his tricks that you should look out for.'

'And you swear you're telling the truth? That you're not just making this up?'

'I'm telling the truth.'

'Good.' Alexander opened the door and greeted the Arctic Fox in the captains' quarters. The room was extravagantly decorated and everything was in perfect order. A table stood in front of the windows, a bed was in the corner, and a desk was in the other. Inside this room there was No dust, no fur, nothing. Alexander must have had an obsession of some sort.

'Are you this polite to all the guys you meet?' Nathan asked.

'I'm this polite to nearly everyone I meet. Besides, you sort of look like me so I should treat you like you're one of my own. Now, take a seat and share everything helpful about Reliath that you can think of.'

Nathan sat down on the bed, he couldn't find anywhere else to sit.

'Get the hell off the bed!' Alexander shouted hysterically and Nathan shot up off the bed.

'Where am I supposed to sit?' Nathan asked while Alexander went to the bed and swept the bed with both paws. Yup, he certainly had a slight problem.

'There are two chairs. One of them is at the table and one behind the door. Pick up the one behind the door and bring it to the table. Oh, and please don't tap your paws on the table when you acquire your seat.'

Nathan went to the door and picked up the chair to bring it to the table.

Nathan always had this peculiar habit of meeting nobles, and weird ones none the less . . . but Alexander was probably the weirdest. Finally he set the chair down, Alex sat down, and he sat down. What followed between the two of them was then an awkward silence.

'Well . . . ?' Alex asked.

'I know a lot of things about Reliath . . . but uh . . . I haven't the slightest clue what you need to know about him.'

'Tell me a bit about your self then, to make up for your lousy first impression.''

'All right, I'm Nathan, I'm considered a bit of a master escape artist.''

'If you're a master escape artist how did you have those two heavily armored guards chase you down?'

'Just having a bad day I guess. All you really need to know about me is that I know a lot about Reliath and I collect weapons.'

'You mean you have an unhealthy obsession with Reliath.' Alexander said as if it were a fact, not an opinion.

'I've got my reasons.'

'I'm sure you do.'

'One of the first things about Reliath is that he's pretty much a negotiator. In our travels its best never to ask anyone if they've seen Reliath because it's fairly likely they'll downright lie to us if they have, because Reliath paid them.

'I guess that's useful, sounds like he's used to being followed.'

'He is, I've been trying to hunt him down for about two, three, four, maybe even five years and I'm quite sure he's running from quite a few people.'

'Why are you so hell bent on chasing him down anyway? Some sort of grudge?'

'Well . . . sort of. He murdered my sister in cold blood, but it's not out of revenge that I'm searching for him, that's beneath me.'

'Then why?' Alexander asked not hiding his intrigue.

'For closure, I don't hate Reliath enough to kill him but I need to know why he killed her.'

'That's very simple, he's a mercenary and she was his target.' Alexander replied and Nathan shook his head.

'My sister was his wife before he started running. It's kind of complicated.'

'Then if I could get us both a drink I'd gladly hear it, yes?'

'I guess.'

Alexander got up off the chair and poured himself and Nathan a glass of water which was sapphiric in colour. Nathan picked up the glass and examined it curiously meanwhile Alexander just took a sip of his own.

'Kirathain is sure an interesting place.' Nathan said as he played around with the glass a bit and watched the waters texture.

'Where are you from anyway?'

'I'm from the city of Arlithian, its located far west in the continent of Arjirun.' Nathan replied as he continued toying with the glass of water.

'Arjirun? Your travels must have taken you all over the world.'

'It sure has, but I've never really seen water which is actually blue by colour before.'

'In that case you must find Kirathain a very interesting place.'

'Eh . . . it has its ups and downs. I think the guards here are psychotic.'

'And what is Arlithian like? From what I hear it's considered the Capital of the western world.'

'It's a lot bigger and a lot less colourful. Originally Arlithian was a network of four small adjacent towns. The town of the south west built a port, the north west town was a port, the north east town had a lot of flood plains and relied on both their agriculture and trade with the north western port. The south eastern which was furthest of the four towns had relied on agriculture and forestry.'

'And the four small towns united to become a super power?'

'Not quite. The four towns grew in size over time and eventually there were border disputes. What followed was a short war which ended in the other three towns being taken over by the north western port. Eventually the four cities grew to become one massive city.'

'So what I'm to learn from this is that Arlithian is basically the size of four cities?'

'Yup, it's probably the biggest city in the world!' Nathan stated informatively with a proud smile.

'Probably, I just can't believe you got lost in Kirathain when you're from one of the biggest cities in modern existence.'

'In size Kirathain is one of the smaller cities I've been to . . . at the same time however this city state has a lot more buildings and a lot of those buildings are cluttered together. Kirathain looks nice from the outside but once you step in it's confusing as hell.'

Nathan sniffed the water curiously and with no surprise the water smelled much the way he had expected, like water. Alexander however seemed somewhat baffled in why Nathan had done what he had. After all, what did he expect the water to smell like, tea?

'Um . . . it looked different so I just figured maybe it smelled different . . . '

'It's water.'

'Trust me, you'd probably do the same if the water you've seen your entire life was different from Kirathains.'

'Who knows.' Alexander took yet another sip of the water and Nathan did too. The water of Kirathain managed to actually taste slightly different, but not much.

'Now, that thing we should have talked about five minutes ago . . . what was it?' Alex asked.

'I can't really remember.' Nathan replied as he rubbed his chin with his paw.

'Something about Reliath.'

'Right, now I remember. At the age of fifteen my sister was forced to marry some Fox from a tribe. The reason was because these said Foxes were supposedly going extinct and having the said Fox marry a noble, my sister, would better to ensure his species survival. The reasons behind the marriage came with good intent. At first all of us thought everything had gone perfectly, which even then came across as eerie and somewhat unsettling for me.'

'So you felt something was wrong even then?'

'Yes. But because Reliath was handsome, polite, kind and intelligent, at the time I was just happy for my sister. I was happy that she married someone that didn't want her for money or success.'

'What was Reliath like back then anyway? I don't quite understand how any of this leads to him murdering your sister.'

'Besides what I told you he was also both quiet and shy. Really, I think Aiva was the only person he talked to besides my self on occasion. The morning after she died Reliath was upset about it, we even thought someone might have poisoned her like maybe the cook. But, on the day of her funeral Reliath never showed up, instead he ran away as fast as he could and he's been running since then.'

'That's definitely suspicious.'

'It is. On the night of her death the entire north western quarter of the city wept. And on the night Reliath ran it would seem everyone in the city was searching for him, just a week later perhaps even the entire country.'

'I thought you said she was just a noble. I'm given the impression that you left something out, Nathan, because just a noble - like me - dying would never leave such a great impact.'

'Aiva gave food, clothes, and money to orphans, to them she was a mother they never had. Aiva gave money to the poor and she never looked down at them as if they were inferior. Nor did she ever speak in a condescending tone of voice towards anyone. She was very kind to both the workers and the noble of Arlithian, she was a good person.'

'And a figure head from the sound of it.'

'Can you please not make any comments like that about my sister?'

'Yes, I'm very sorry. That was just tasteless. . . And I guess when the time comes I'll let you decide what becomes of Reliath.'

'Thanks, but besides asking him why he killed Aiva I don't know what should be done. Even if he really did murder her I don't think she would want me killing him.'

'Whatever choice you make just ensure it doesn't end with Reliath taking your head because you spared him.'

And to that Nathan had not replied. Instead he thought in silence what fate was in store for him, Reliath, and Alexander. Nathan didn't just fight to reach the day that he could finally get answers, he also feared that day.

And as the ship began its journey towards the northern wastes Nathan had a peculiar feeling come over him. That maybe soon he would finally find out why Aiva was murdered . . . or if Reliath had even done it.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Another dialogue heavy chapter finished yay! I can't really think of much to say besides I found this story needed an Arctic Fox or two. I guess the only other thing I have to add is that I feel a tad guilty at times on how anything I write is heavy in dialogue and lacking everywhere else.