Alongside those who are sinful.

Chapter 27

"Would they be bothered to let us have a normal week under the sun?"

Mal'kriss turned to look at his lifelong friend and fellow guard member, Sidaria. Sidaria, a female of light brown complexion, sat in front of a window overlooking the western side of the Queendom.

Mal'kriss understood what she was talking about, even from his position well away from the window. He reached over across the table he sat down at, snagging a piece of goat cheese and putting it in his mouth.

"I understand your plight, Sidaria, but the Matriarch and her council know what they are doing. Have they not shown their intelligence to us before?" He asked.

Ever since the High Council of magic had begun their actions and nightly routines, Sidaria had become erratic and almost paranoid.

While it was true that the strange lights and sheathed phenomena dissuaded him from thinking it was normal, he felt assured that those in power had a handle on everything.

"No. The lights don't mean anything. There have been whispers. Strange things are happening all over." Seethed Sidaria. Mal'kriss hissed lightly but fell silent.

He watched as his friend bent over, exhaling heavily and then leaning against the frame of the window.

"A bandit village was brutally destroyed. There were no remains besides the bandits. Reports of thunderous noises were heard as it went up in flames." Said Sidaria. Mal'kriss continued to look at his friend.

"On our patrol outside of the wall yesterday, we found a deer that had been killed and cleaned like if a butcher did it deep in the forests." She said. Mal'kriss huffed in annoyance.

"So? A Thrask gets lucky and has a solid meal for a few days and you call it weird?" Jeered the Thrask. Sidaria hissed.

"The carcass was hanging twenty units above the ground from a tree branch! No Thrask alive could hoist the deer that high! It was cleaned in the tree! The organs splattered everywhere as if dropped from the height!" Mal'kriss did not respond at his friends outburst.

Such news was new and strange, and it served to unnerve the Thrask who had seen quite a lot in his time.

"One of the local prostitutes went missing last night. They found her today, drained of her blood." Said Sidaria. Mal'kriss stood up and walked over to the window to stand by the window with his friend. Placing a hand in the small of her back, he hoped it would comfort her.

The strange, wispy green lights hung over the city. Today, the swirling vortex of lightning was replaced by an ominous orange ring of fire. Mal'kriss looked down to see that Sidaria was scanning the range outside of the walls.

"There is something in those trees. Something dangerous." She said. Mal'kriss heard something cut into the wooden frame and looked down to see that the female's claws had sunk into the board lightly.

"Captain Krestus did not return from his 'patrol' outside the gates." Muttered Sidaria. Mal'kriss felt his ears shoot forwards.

"It is not out of the ordinary for him. I do not enjoy his brutal ways, but..." She didn't finish the sentence. Mal'kriss understood. Krestus was a twisted individual, deriving pleasure from pain he inflicted upon others.