A Bored Lich

"You think Kilot would make a mistake just because he likes us so much?" Doevm asked.

Frey's eyes went wide. "That old geezer would never!" he paused. "So it was an attack, but what does this mean? We know how Kilot was attacked, but what now?" With reluctance, he resisted the urge to steal a glance at Kilot's onlookers. His expression twitched.

Doevm was much better at handling his emotions as he calmly explained. "We know much more. Given how vivid my spell is, we can conclude that this explosion happened a minute after the earthquake began. We know that Kilot's forge is like a fortress since, if it wasn't, everyone would be dead. We also know that Kilot was on high alert after his last forge was burnt down. I doubt he'd let any shady characters into the forge."

Doevm gestured to the blast's epicenter. "Lastly, the appearance of this powerstone is highly suspect. Even if Kilot were to politely open the door for his attacker, the powerstone is too unstable. It would have exploded seconds after creation, making it impossible to deliver it to the forge."

Frey rubbed his temples. "In short, someone used magic and then the forge exploded? Wouldn't the attacker sense the spell you cast?"

Doevm smiled. "Yes."

Frey blinked. "The attacker isn't doing anything though. Wouldn't he detonate the bait?"

Doevm nodded. "Or she. Seeing as how nothing changed, we can conclude that the culprit is gone."

Frey furrowed his brow. "And how does that mean the attacker is a she?"

"Process of elimination," Doevm said. "To summarize, a highly powerful spell caster bypassed the walls of the greatest blacksmith in the country, casted a spell, then left. Who could do that?"

Frey shrugged. With his selective hearing, he'd seem to grasp that Kilot was out of imminent danger. Swallowing his hesitancy, he kept glancing over at the crowd. "We can help him then, right?"

Doevm rolled his eyes. "I think the Goddess did this. Only she could have done this. She knows where we are! As we just saw, she can suddenly appear, destroy us, then vanish."

"Something doesn't feel right," Frey said. At some point his gaze had shifted away from the crowd and past a few buildings, locking onto an approaching figure.

Doevm, however, had looked down in thought, slowly nodding. "You're right," he muttered. The more he thought about it the more confused he became. "Maybe, maybe there's some restriction? If the Goddess wanted to smite Kilot, why wasn't she successful? It's like she just wanted him out of his workshop..."

Doevm's mutterings seem to fade into incoherent background-noise as Frey narrowed his eyes at a figure which he had caught in the corner of his eye, who slowly approached the crowd. There wasn't a complex thought process behind Frey's actions. It was an instinct he'd developed on the battlefield. It kept him alive. It was screaming at him.

The man's steady steps, his shoulders hunched, his head lowered like a wolf circling on its prey. The ignorant sheep only seemed to notice the man's concern, which mirrored their own, and they beckoned him over to the flock.

Frey perked his head up over the half-destroyed wall. "Elero!" he yelled, springing into action.

Elero, who had been distracted by a twitch in Kilot's expression, slowly turned to see Frey leap out of the destroyed forge, twenty feet away. Stepping much closer behind her was a plainly-dressed man in a long, black jacket with short, black hair, deep brown eyes, and pale-ish skin. If she passed him on the street, she would have never thought twice about it except for the dry-lipped smile stretching ear to ear that made her hair stand on end. Her tear-filled vision focused on the tip of a crossbow bolt, and her heart skipped a beat.

"Elero!" Doevm's voice rang out as he followed closely behind Frey, summoning his spear and reeling it back as if to throw it. Life essence flared around the both of them.

By the time Elero snapped to her senses, life essence flaring up from her chest, blood dyed her vision.

Doevm watched a fountain of blood erupt from the assassin's wrist, whose severed hand splashed into the water along with Frey's thrown Kopis. The flood waters around Kilot were dyed crimson and, although the man's face contorted with pain, he managed to fire his other crossbow at the unconscious Kilot.

Time seemed to slow as the bolt whistled out of the crossbow. Reflected in the blade of Frey's thrown Kopis was Elero's outstretched hand which, despite being enhanced by life essence, was a millisecond too slow to catch the projectile as it raced towards Kilot's throat.

Kilot didn't move yet the bulge under his shirt flashed the image of a robin and then he was gone, reappearing further paces down the street. The bolt bounced off the place where Kilot had been a moment prior, the poison dripping uselessly on the cold stone.

Elero drove her rapier through the assassin's heart and he stiffened. As the light drained from the assassin's eyes, Doevm's spear sailed into the assassin's neck. Frey's poleaxe came thundering down a moment later, splitting the corpse in two with a bone-chilling crunch, much to the horror of the onlookers.

The butchered remains collapsed into the floodwaters as the crowd recoiled at the murder, no it was an execution. The silent street came alive with screams and splashing as the onlookers retreated into their homes, some retching at the scene while others fainted.

Doevm, Frey, and Elero all looked at one another, then to the corpse, then to Kilot's unconscious form lying just down the street.

"What the hell's going on?" Elero asked as Doevm helped her to her feet.

Frey looked over at Doevm with a look that said "I told you'' and shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Let's get him somewhere safe."

As the three rushed over to the unconscious Kilot, the light under Kilot's shirt began to dim. His expression twitched.

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