Fanilly lowered her blade.

The boars had vanished entirely, just as swiftly as they had appeared. Their numbers had been crushed, and they no longer had the advantage of an ambush. Needless to say, they would not be back soon.

Unfortunately, simply defeating them in battle did not answer the many questions circulating in the knight-captain's mind. Just what was going on here? Whoever had hired the Golden Boars had ordered the mercenaries specifically to target Lady Cal.

"... Search the fallen. If there are any who yet live, detain them for questioning," the blonde knight paused for a moment, hesitating, "... And if they are not long for this world..."

She took a deep breath.

"... Ease their suffering, but not before learning what they know."

They needed information, and these were ruthless mercenaries, but at the same time leaving them to die slowly if they had not been killed outright was unnecessarily cruel.

The Iron Rose Knights were a just order, and those who dedicated themselves to justice could not allow suffering to occur without cause, if they could help it. At the very least, this was the ideal held in Fanilly's mind.

As for Lady Cal...

Martiza had attempted to question her over Haelstadt? For that matter, Haelstadt had their head returned to them, and was now standing behind the young girl and seemingly staring directly at the naga knight.

Fanilly had no idea what to make of Haelstadt. She felt that, had Haelstadt been an ordinary, mortal being, she would have failed to guarantee an ally's survival. The only reason they were still alive was because of something she couldn't possibly have known about.

That made it a failure, no matter the circumstances.

But more pressingly...

What was Haelstadt? How did someone survive being beheaded so? Most undead couldn't survive being beheaded like that. 

"The crown?" scoffed Veileena, eyes narrowed, "Fine. I'll inform them exactly what I was doing. And I'll tell them everything I did was in service of this country. I'm plenty used to people judging me by the actions of that bastard. I won't be threatened, snake woman."

The young girl seemed to be quite incensed by what she perceived as a threat.

"Lady Cal?" Fanilly called. She had to try and defuse the situation as best she could, to try and get Veileena's cooperation once again. She was their only clear lead, "Surely you must understand, none of us have ever seen anyone like Haelstadt, short of Dame Tyaethe, perhaps."

"Hmph," insisted the grey-haired girl, "I don't know why I should give you an answer after I've been threatened. Apparently I'm supposed to speak to the crown now instead."

"This... this isn't helping!" Fanilly called to the young girl, who huffed again.

"Then perhaps I deserve an apology, if you want me to answer any more questions."

Was... this real? After all that, now she wasn't going to cooperate because of this?

Among the fallen Boars, a large made with wild red hair was still breathing. Given the considerable hole punched through his armor, it was unlikely he would be alive much longer, but perhaps if he was questioned he would be willing to talk.

As for Sir Gerard...

As the stinging sensation ran through his body, the pain impossible to ignore, a voice that would sound somewhat familiar would drift through his mind. It would not, perhaps, be immediately recognizable, but if he thought back to the catacombs, then maybe...

[i]My, does it hurt?[/i]

It said nothing else. In fact, was it even real? And yet...

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