>>5986254The docks are just as they were last time you checked. Empty, wet, and smelly. It’s strange seeing a place that’s usually so busy so devoid of life past the middle of the night. A few hours ago there were hundreds here, now there’s just you and Marie with a few others possibly milling about. Out of all your rounds here, there’s only been one small lead, that was summarily disproved. That being the clipper that left about an hour or so ago but you checked it and it was all clear of any less than legal human cargo. If it wasn’t for that woman’s testimony about her twins or the missing stable boy you’d be sure there were no disappearances by now. Maybe the kidnapper isn’t going to come out tonight? Or maybe there’s another reason for the disappearances? Freak coincidences of people getting lost in the wilds outside the city?
Whatever. After all, it should be about now, when you’ve let your guard down, that the kidnapper makes a surprise appearance and catches you, well, off-guard. Any moment now, just you wait. Then you’re going to have a cool battle when you use all your training to thoroughly defeat the kidnapper and learn everything about the Stranger. Like right NOW!
You spin around to face the alleyway you had your back to only to see a stray cat cross it as a light in an upper floor goes out in one of the buildings. Marie gives you a weird look as you sigh and deflate before finding a bench near the water and just sitting down. You should be asleep right now. What type of princess is forced to stay up to the early hours of the morning to perform guard work? Lorina de Lindan that’s who! You’re sure tales of your inquisital adventurers will reach far and wide someday. But that day isn’t today. Today you’re combating sleep and nothing else as you wait for someone to try and abduct you. You’re so bored.
“Hey, Earth to Lorina?” Marie says as she waves a hand near your face.
Dammit, she probably noticed you were about to fall asleep, “What is it?” You say in your most alert and attentive voice.
“Do you hear that?” You wonder for just a second what she means before you indeed hear something. It’s a rather strange noise but similar to the train in a way you can’t quite place. It’s not quite loud, but the fact that there’s no chatter or commotion to mask the noise means you can hear it quite well. Then it all ceases.
“Look, over there!” Marie excitedly says while pointing towards the docks. The docks that now has a dark silhouette tossing rope on from their little skiff. “You think that-”
You shush her before she can reveal your position. Seeing as the figure is very quickly tying his boat to the docks you recond you don’t have much time left to formulate a plan. That is given this is the kidnapper at all and not some random fellow back from fishing. Hopefully, they aren’t. Is that a bad thing to hope for? Well, speak of the Demon Lord and you shall receive and all that.
