"Where is Ferdinand?" Sir Wiff whispered, tapping one of his attending knights lightly. The gentle tink caught an armoured woman's attention. At the mention of Ferdinand's name, her head snapped towards Kevin at breakneck speeds, and she flinched at the sudden jolt that shot down her spine. "Ease up. You're going to hurt yourself even more, at this rate." The woman he spoke to nodded once and cleared her throat, but had nothing to say. Kevin curled his lip. "Do you not know?"
"It's not that-" She hissed quietly. Kevin glared at her and shook his head.
"It's fine, Linda. Keep an eye on the horses. We'll leave as soon as I'm done with these peasants. If he's not here by then, he can walk back to the castle for all I care." Linda nodded and stepped away, circling the Caravan to where its horses were resting. Sir Wiff let out an irritated sigh and ran one of his armoured gauntlets through his hair. A chink his in left hand-plate pulled at a few strands, tearing them loose and making him twitch. "Bugger," he groaned, plucking the curly intrusions from the gauntlet with his teeth.
Lefonderous thumbed his many rings patiently, waiting. His eyes glanced from person to person, briefly towards the west-ward buildings, and then back into the crowd. He didn't take note of anyone in particular. It wasn't his job to keep track of every last tom dick and harry that prattled about. A man and his son, no mother in sight. Two fidgety girls who didn't seem to be paying very much attention to anything going on around them. A woman huddled inside of her little cloak, gravely affected by either the wind, or the crowd. A vagrant that moved in on the first woman to show any signs of vulnerability. Stray kittens, chased by the local children through the forest of legs that their elders created. Lefonderous sighed and reached up to button his shirt, straight up to his neck. The temperature was dropping. Soon enough, the rain would make that worse. What a disgusting day.
"Attention, civilians!" Kevin shouted, his voice crisp and overbearing, like a winter squall. Lefonderous flinched at the man's surprising presence. He must have been used to giving these little speeches to have a voice like that. Kevin continued as soon as the crowd quieted down, "We've summoned you this day, to address the sudden influx of refuges that hail from Arngrim." Kevin paused and racked his brain for the next phrase. 'I should have spent more time on that stupid parchment' he thought to himself. Lefonderous huffed with a smile at the boorish oaf's forgetfulness. Kevin's chin dropped, and he give a quick little nod. "Right" he said quickly, under his breath, "The past days have brought turmoil to the neighbouring town. Day after day, its citizens have been living in fear, dreading the possibility of dangerous terrorists bringing further destruction to their humble homes." Kevin paused again and looked the crowd over before continuing. "This terror has followed an explosive incident that occurred five days ago, at the city's grand library. A fire- rather an explosion tore through half of the building, and destroyed most of the tomes they had been keeping safe there. Fortunately, there were no casualties. The only things lost, were the books." Kevin spoke with a lack of concern. He didn't really care for reading, anyways. The only use for the written word, was for keeping track of important matters. To him, fiction and history, did not fall under that category. Lefonderous let out a sigh of relief as Kevin noted the lack of death following the attack. The next pause lasted a short while. Sir Wiff sighed lightly, keeping his head held high. "Fortunately, my fellow knights were alerted to this incident forthwith. Supplies are being transported to Arngrim as we speak. Books, stone, and lumber- The damage in Arngrim will be dealt with. But the impact, as you may have inferred, still presses deep onto the hearts of her people. They speak of magic, and mayhem. They speak of these terrorists, as if they are some ever-present force, but I am here to assure you otherwise... Usually, we would not share information regarding the weapons of our kingdom, but to quell the worry of its people, I have been instructed to do just that." Lefonderous bit his lip. "In the days leading up to this attack, our knights had reported a discrepancy in our private caches, a barrel of explosive powder, designed to defend our castle walls, had gone missing. It is believed, both by me, my superiors, and the king himself, that somebody has betrayed the throne. They have used this stolen material to try and spread panic, perhaps even convince the public of things they know not to be true."
That was enough. He'd heard enough. Lefonderous whipped himself around and began making his way towards the alleys the lined the western side of Corsa Plaza, lightly pushing aside anyone in his way as he did so. Kevin paused once again, lost on what he was supposed to say next. For a moment, the knight felt as if he's already made a serious mistake. Was he even supposed to mention the gunpowder? Or magic? His lip quivered for a moment as an autumn chill found its way into his suit. What was he supposed to say next?
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