I reincarnated in game

40 Biding Time

As predicted, Kenneth was happy and relieved to see Hugh and Judi back at the inn.  He had spent the whole day with the doors to the inn within sight; he did not relax until he saw them come back through the doors.  “I am so glad to see you,” he said earnestly. 

Hugh smiled and replied, “We are happy to see you, too.”  Judi knelt down and gave him a big hug which Kenneth accepted and returned with obvious emotion.

The three returned to their rooms so Hugh and Judi could take off their outerwear and Hugh could remove his concealment apparatus.  Kenneth followed.  He was anxious to hear all the details.  Once they were in the room, he knew it was safe to ask all his burning questions.  “How did it go today?  Did the camouflage machine work OK?  Did you find Bishop Paul?  Is everything OK now?” 

“Hold on there, Kenneth,” Hugh said with a smile in his voice; he raised his hands over his head.  “That was some barrage … one question at a time, please!”  Judi laughed at Hugh’s feigned surrender.  “It went OK today.  The camouflage machine worked very well … not a single person challenged me.  And yes, we managed to find out where the bishop is staying.  With Judi’s help, I was even able to get into his room.  It seems that his gods were with him, however; he was never alone, so we weren’t able to complete our mission.  We will have to keep our eyes open for another opportunity.”

“Oh,” replied Kenneth.  He grew silent; he realized that the danger had not yet passed.  His friends were still set on their mission.

“Hey, I am starved.  Let’s go down and get something to eat!” Judi declared.  She had seen the change in Kenneth’s face and could imagine that he was thinking about being left at the inn to worry the next time they went out to pursue the bishop.  She put her arm around the dwarf and led the way out of the room and down to the dining hall. 

Kenneth’s face brightened; he was happy to be with his friends and happy to be going for something to eat.  “Me, too!” he said.

Just as they were finishing supper, Hugh spied James coming in.  He waved him over and made room at their table for him.  James was grateful to be sitting down and motioned for the inn staff to bring him something from the kitchen.  His last few days had been long; it was beginning to wear down on him. 

Light conversation flowed while James ate.  As he was finishing his tankard of ale, Hugh turned to him, asking, “Would you have time for a bit of an update on our activities today?”  

“Sure!” he replied.  “Why don’t the three of you come back to my room?  Just give me fifteen minutes to freshen up a bit.”

“OK.  See you then,” Hugh replied.

Short minutes later, the four were comfortably seated in James’ room.  “Yes,” he said.  “What is it you have to report?”

“Well, to start,” Hugh said, “yesterday, during the parade, I was confronted by two security fellows who yanked me out of the parade when I had slipped in behind Bishop Paul’s float to be able to follow him.  They made it clear that they didn’t like the fact I am part Crystal; they told me, in no uncertain terms, that I wasn’t welcome and could not participate in the festivities.”

“To make a long story shorter, Kenneth came up with a modification on a camouflage device that he and his father built a while back.  When I put it on, it masks my Crystal features; it worked like a charm!”  Hugh looked over at Kenneth; the little guy was beaming.  James acknowledged the dwarf’s accomplishments with an encouraging smile of his own.

“Judi and I went down to the square; Kenneth stayed here.  We spotted the bishop in the afternoon and saw him go back to the inn where he was staying.  Judi was able to sneak a peek at the register and saw he had a number of rooms reserved in his name.  We snuck in through the back of the inn and, while we were contriving how to navigate though the inn without being noticed, we were interrupted by a maid who stumbled on our presence.  We bound and gagged her, then tied her up in the storage room while we continued our mission to locate the exact room the bishop was occupying.  We found it to be 7 West, however, he was always with someone and was arranging a meeting in his room so we could not do anything more.  When we were leaving, we saw that the maid was gone.”

“We don’t know how she managed to get loose or whether she reported our intrusion to the inn management.  As far as we could tell, nobody followed us out of the inn and there didn’t seem to be any unusual activity after we left.  We came back here,” said Hugh as he finished his reporting.

James nodded.  “Well, even if the maid did raise the alarm with her boss, they probably would not have done anything overtly.  Right now, they have several foreign guests who are here at the king’s invitation.  They certainly wouldn’t want it known that their security had been compromised, potentially putting their guests in jeopardy.  If it came out that people staying there needed to fear for their safety, the king would definitely not be looking to them for guest accommodation in future.  That would be bad publicity and have a financial impact,” James speculated.

“Sounds like you did some great reconnaissance,” James continued.  “Now that we know where he is, Eos can send a contingent to dispatch him.”

“Please don’t,” Hugh interjected.  “This is personal for me; I want to be the one who completes this mission.”

“OK,” replied James.  “Just remember that it is on the same conditions as I detailed before.  Best of luck; keep me informed.”  With that he stood up to end the meeting; he was very tired and was looking forward to climbing into his warm bed.

Hugh and Judi set out after breakfast, heading back to the town square.  Hugh again wore his disguising device.  They milled about with the crowd but kept a watchful eye on the bishop’s inn.  They heard the town criers going about announcing the upcoming gala event to showcase the king’s engagement to the beautiful Saint Elizabeth in just two more days.  They could already see the beginnings of an elevated platform being built in the town square.  The temporary seating which had lined the parade route was being transferred and reassembled in the square in anticipation of the crowds who would be attending the event.  Other than that, there was no activity concerning the bishop for the entire day.

Hugh and Judi returned back to the waiting Kenneth with nothing to report.

The next day was pretty much a repeat of the day before.  The bishop seemed to be  busy organizing his part in the upcoming announcements, or he just didn’t want to mingle with the crowds.  They knew for sure that the bishop would be out and about tomorrow because the engagement announcement was to be the culmination of the National Week of celebrations and he apparently had a role to play.

At breakfast, on the morning of the third day, Kenneth turned to Hugh.  “Today is the big day.  I would like to go with you guys when you go to the square.  Can I, please?”

Hugh glanced over at Judi who nodded slightly.  “Sure you can,” he replied with a smile.  “I know you are anxious to see the celebrations.  We won’t likely be able to do anything with respect to ‘our friend’ with so many eyes looking on.  If an opportunity does come up, we can take you to a safe place … It will be nice for the three of us to have the whole day together, again!”

The crowds were even larger on this momentous day.  Anticipation grew as the appointed hour approached.  Cheers arose from the masses when the participants mounted the stage.  It was subtle at first, but gradually, the cheers seemed to morph into angry shouts.  A disturbance erupted a short distance in front of the podium when a large number of poor people rushed in and began to fight one another.  As they continued their riot, they pulled down the temporary seating and anything else they could get their hands on, creating large bonfires throughout the square. 

The guard’s reaction was immediate.  As soon as the fighting broke out, they immediately formed a human barrier around the dignitaries on the stage.  Organized contingents of their ranks escorted the king’s guests back to the security of the inn in small groups in order to assure their safety. 

The rebellious crowd’s chants could be heard above the din.  They were obviously upset by the invasion of the rich and the powerful members of the church.  They demanded to know why the king was spending so much money on his guests when his loyal subjects were starving! 

Hugh, Judi and Kenneth moved back a bit so they could watch from a distance; they did not want to get involved in the melee.  From there, they noticed that Saint Elizabeth seemed to be resisting the attempts of the guards to whisk her away to safety.  She managed to break through their ring and approached the speaking dais.  In a clear and distinct voice she addressed the masses compassionately.  “Friends and believers, please listen to me.  I hear your cries.  My heart is with you.  Please listen to me.”  Gradually, the crowd noises dwindled and then became nothing more than a disturbed rumbling as their cherished Saint pled with them.

“Thank you,” the saint said.  “I see your pain.  I am prepared to postpone our engagement while we seek to address your concerns.  Your well being is of great importance to me; I won’t see you starve while we feast!” 

A cheer rose from the majority of the rabble rousers … others still seemed dubious and angry; they continued to mill about in the square. 

With a semblance of order restored, members of the crowd started to disburse.  Hugh watched as several of the rioters passed their position on the periphery.  “Hey Judi, certain of those guys look familiar … didn’t we see some of them on the airship coming from Fourth Level?”

Judi followed his gaze and scrutinized the faces of those who continued disbursing.  “I think you are right; several of them look quite familiar!” 

Illumination struck them!  “The guys on the boat were from our organization … do you think Eos was behind the riot?” Hugh asked in a whispered voice.