The One Unworthy of Legends

~ Chapter 3 ~

A Scheme Uncovered

Cody sat up, crickets could be heard, but that wasn't what had woken him. He looked to his side, Maria was asleep, the fire was out. A thin spool of smoke rose into the air, Cody stood up and stirred the ashes, his ears trained behind him, listening. There were sounds coming from the forest, not animals, it sounded like humans. Suddenly an arrow shot from the tree line, Cody caught it from the air. He turned and drew his sword, then leaped into the forest, the first attacker was downed instantly. He followed the path of the arrow, next he twisted and cut a second arrow from the air, he leaped upwards into the tree where the attacker sat. Cody cut him down without a second thought, the next attacker was in the tree across from them. He was breathing heavily, obviously frightened, Cody leaped at him and stabbed him through.

Suddenly, Cody realized that there was a presence other than Maria at the campsite, He dashed towards it, leaping from branch to branch. The campsite came into view and he saw a hooded figure with a sword held above Maria, Cody leaped from the trees but knew he wasn't gonna make it. Maria twisted at the last moment, and with a glint of steel, the man coughed blood before collapsing. Cody skidded to a stop beside him, Maria was holding a b****y knife.

"Whew, that was close." Cody took a deep breath, he sat down for a moment, the sun was rising. "I shouldn't have strayed so far, I thought they were all in the forest, I missed one." Maria didn't answer, she was inspecting the clothes of the bandit.

"My father sent them." She spoke after a while, "This one has the crest of my family." She pulled a medallion from the man's neck, it was shaped like a shield. A sword at the top pointed down towards a horseshoe at the bottom. The sword was blue on a white partition, the horseshoe was blood red on a black partition. The horseshoe stood for s*****y, the sword meant it was a family that supported the military of the country.

Cody rubbed his chin in thought, does this mean he's targeting her. I thought he'd target me, why's she the target. She's the heir to the family, why would you want to kill the heir? "Maria, is there any reason why your father may want you dead?" He asked her, and she thought about it for a moment.

"I oppose forced and black market s*****y, unlike my father who has a hand in both. It's possible he wants a different heir and is planning to have me die in an accident, then my sister could take over, she's much younger though. Easier to groom into a certain point of view." Maria replied, she sighed, but didn't seem afraid. "He may have wanted to get rid of you as well, otherwise no reason to send you as an escort, or at the very least he wanted to muddy your name with my death."

"I suspected as much," Cody replied, he took the medallion from her and slipped it into his pocket.

"If my father could get rid of me, then he could turn my sister into a puppet and step down." She began, "My father is unaware, but I've been preparing myself to be head for a while. There's a lot I can do in Aguris. It's far enough from the Capitol that the crown wouldn't interfere."

"True, and your father probably has his hands in a few illegal pockets, and it's likely those pockets are telling him to get rid of you before you tear their businesses down," Cody replied, he was thinking.

"I'd like to make him step down sooner rather than later, force him to if I must." Maria spoke with annoyance, "The longer he stays at the top the more lives he'll ruin."

"We could take him down, he's already tried assassination and murder it's likely he'll move to other crimes as well if we can stack them against him we can force him down but are you ready to be the head, is that a responsibility you could actually reasonably bear at this point in time?" Cody warned her, but she shook her head.

"Cody, if you were to chance upon a city being attacked by a monster you weren't ready to defeat would you turn around and leave, let all those people die, Mr hero, could you condemn them simply because you didn't think you could defeat it?" Maria stared at him intently, there was a bit of anger in her eyes, he realized that he'd offended her.

"Of course not." Cody said simply, He sighed though, "But you're young, and this isn't a life or death situation. But I understand your resolve, and I'll support you in this." He turned away, the talk had gotten a little too serious.

"Well, let's get ready to go, pack up." Cody got to his feet and started dragging the body of the assassins into the forest. Maria packed up the sleeping bag, food, and cooking utensils. She packed them on the back of Noir, as she waited for Cody to return she stroked Noir's mane, he gave an approved neigh.

"Alright let's set off." Cody hopped onto the horse and held out his hand, helping Maria on behind him. With a pat on the neck, Noir set off down the trail, Maria wrapped her arms around Cody. He'd thought she wasn't scared, but he could feel her hands trembling. His grip on the reins tightened, the sun was rising beside them, anger? I'm angry, that's new. I was having too much fun up until now. I forgot that this world has its own problems, it's real after all, not some fun fantasy.

Maria's trembling hands slowed, till they stilled, her eyes sparkled now. The fear was long gone from them, she was gazing at the mountain they were passing, a large waterfall was cascading down the side. A vibrant rainbow was jumping out from the water, leaping into the clouds. Suddenly her gaze was dragged to the other side as loud lumbering footsteps could be heard. A large meadow spread out beside them. A pack of large creatures were roaming, keeping pace with the horse, large creatures with hard grey skin. They had ram-like horns and udders for milk, they were called. Boarmadillos, they had good meat as well, they were docile but would race horses and carriages. As they reached the edge of the meadow, the Boarmadillos veered off, turning back to their feeding area.

"It's so beautiful out here." Maria breathed into his ear from over his shoulder, they were now traveling between two forests. She was resting against his shoulder, her breathing was normal, but her hands were shaking again. She was so good at hiding her emotions.

"Are you scared?" He asked her suddenly, she jolted, her gaze settled into the distance.

"You could say that, was it obvious?" She asked, probably feeling embarrassed.

"No, you hide it well. Don't worry too much, I'll do my best to protect you." He spoke without thinking. She tightened her grip on him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Cody, that means a lot." her shaking hands stilled as she calmed down. How am I gonna pull this off? He wondered, she was silent now, not asleep just not feeling like talking. They rode in silence for a while as the trees rushed past, Cody kept his ears open for the sounds of monsters or more assassins, but none surfaced and before long they broke out into open fields on both sides. A large lake opened up on one side, there was a group of kids and an old man fishing by the roadside, a horse off to the side munching grass.

Cody had had enough time to think of a half-decent plan as he patted Noir's neck and the horse slowed, the gate to Aguris rose in front of them. The guard waved him in without even checking his license, for a moment Cody wondered if he'd see Skarlet. That hope was dashed as he brought noir to a stop in front of Macuroll's front gate, the guard checked his license, but seemed surprised to see Maria.

Cody stepped down from Noir, helping Maria down beside him, they entered the house of their assassin's pocket with the confidence of fools. Well, that's how it should feel at least, but this was a special case. He brought Maria to Macuroll's office, upon opening the door a gasp was heard.

"Maria, you're ok!" a young fox-eared girl exclaimed before suddenly covering her mouth, she moved away, quickly rebuttoning her shirt and yanking up her skirt. Mr. Macuroll had a look on his face like he really wanted to punch the young fox.

"Maria my dear." He said through clenched teeth.

"Clara, go to my room please." Maria ignored her father and spoke directly to the young beast kin.

"Yes, lady Maria." Clara left the room in a hurry.

"Dad, we had a deal, you don't touch Clara and I don't touch your business." Maria was angry but spoke calmly.

"Y-yes dear, I know." He stuttered from anger, but then pointed out of the room. "The Hero and I need to discuss payment, go and play with your little fox, she's gonna need some comforting." He had a grin on his face, Maria glanced at Cody before quietly leaving the room. He could see the emotions in her eyes, they solidified his decision.

"First, before we begin, I suggest a lengthened bodyguard and escort. It seems assassins are targeting your daughter." The Hero began. "No extra charge, I'll do it out of the kindness of my heart." His voice was somehow cold and warm at the same time.

"Hmph, she'll be safe right here." He shot back, seeming confident enough, though a bit of sweat had started to form.

"I think not, due to the high likelihood that the assassins have infiltrated this estate," Cody replied, this caused Macuroll to pause.

"So, I can just assign a guard to her twenty-four-seven," Macuroll replied, visibly annoyed. "Besides, not like they could have infiltrated that deep.

Cody set the medallion on the desk, "This guard head's crest says otherwise, there is officially no one in your estate that you can reliably trust to guard her. Unless there's a reason you want her to stay here, where it's guaranteed to be dangerous to her, and a high likelihood that the guard you assign her is also her assassin. Instead of Letting me guard her until the assassins have been dealt with, and it's not like it's a money problem as I'm offering it for free." Macuroll couldn't respond, he sat there looking angry for a moment before standing up.

"Fine, you take charge of her, but if anything happens to her, you'll pay me however much I deem necessary." Macuroll finally spoke through gritted teeth. Cody smiled and took his hand, they shook.

"All for the protection of your heir, Mr. Macuroll sir." He replied before turning and leaving the room, he made his way through the home, he asked one of the maids, and was directed to Maria's room.

Cody knocked on the door, she let him in a few moments later. Her room was light pink with white trim and furniture. Maria was sitting on the bed brushing Clara's hair, she looked up at him as he entered.

"She ok?" Cody asked, gazing at Clara in concern.

Maria nodded, "Yeah, dad was just being mean, he hadn't touched her yet." Maria said yet with a tone riddled with poison. She hugged Clara before sliding forward to sit on the edge of the bed beside Clara. "What's up?"

"Pack a bag for like a week or something, you'll be staying with me for a bit," Cody explained, Maria perked up.

"Really, how'd you manage that?" She asked though it didn't disguise her excitement.

"It wasn't difficult, he hadn't planned for us to survive, so I just made it impossible for him to say that here was safer," Cody explained.

"No, I meant how'd you get him to pay?" She asked, as she got up and went to her closet, dragging a suitcase down.

"I didn't think I could, so I offered my services for free, and he cracked." Cody laughed, it wasn't a joy-filled laugh though, more of a this is ridiculous laugh.

"What?" Maria paused, she gazed at Cody, surprise, and suspicion in her eyes. Clara began gathering clothes and packing them into the bag. "Are you sure? As a Hero, you're naturally quite expensive."

"Not about the money this time, it's about the promise." He replied, she stiffened, and a blush crawled onto her face.

"Well, I was just saying stuff, you didn't have to take it seriously, jeez." She quickly finished packing. "Can I bring Clara, I'm worried about what would happen without me here." Clara stared wide-eyed at Maria.

"Lady Maria, thi- I will be f-fine." Clara stuttered, her tail waving nervously. Maria ignored her, instead, she stared at Cody awaiting his answer.

"I don't mind at all, though it'll be a tight fit, I'm staying at the inn in town," Cody explained, a worried look appeared on Clara's face and she opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Maria spoke first.

"Ah, that'll be just fine, don't worry," Maria replied, for some reason, she looked excited.

Cody pushed open the doors to the Inn, he nodded at the receptionist and headed up the stairs, he then fished out his key and opened the door. It was decently spacious, with a single wide wooden bed against one wall and a desk with a nice chair against the opposite wall.

"You can take the bed, I'll sleep on the chair," Cody announced before setting down his bags. Maria took the whole room in.

"Whoa, is this what adventurers usually sleep in?" She asked, her eyes sparkled. she must really want to be an adventurer, He thought. "Ooh, Clara, we can sleep together!"

"Lady Maria I don't thi-" Clara began, but was cut off.

"Just Maria please, also I really wanna use your tail as a pillow." Maria pleaded with her and Clara sighed before nodding, her fluffy white fox tail wagged a little in excitement or happiness. "Yes!" Maria exclaimed in excitement.

After that Cody went out with Maria and Clara to the Market where he bought a bunch of essentials and some dinner, when they made it back to the inn it was late.

Cody opened the door, he sat down with a sigh, Maria grabbed Clara's hand and dragged her to bed.

"Maria, nightclothes-"

"Oh forget it, we're on an adventure, so I'ma sleep in whatever I want." Maria retorted, she fell onto the bed, dragging Clara down with her. Clara sighed as her tail wrapped around her and rested on the pillow between her and Maria. Maria hugged Clara, snuggling her face into the soft fur.

"Clara, your tail is so soft." She mumbled, a yawn escaped her lips, Cody was tired as well but wasn't planning to sleep right away. Clara was about the same age as Maria, and he could tell that Maria really just wanted a friend her age. He leaned back in his chair as their breathing slowed into sleep.