FSE

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Chapter 13

The black and orange armored one slowly treaded down the path that Russo and Jem had traveled days before, his heavy boots leaving noticeable impressions in the earth. The sun had been shining brightly here in this part of the province for the past few days, which was unusual. It was almost as if a terrible darkness blanketing this land had been lifted with the destruction of Peccamen and the shining of the sun heralded a bright new beginning.

It was disheartening receiving the news from his sentry that the assassins had failed in their mission but at least now he didn't have to pay them. The armored one scoured the path and the tall grasses alongside it, looking for any evidence of the confrontation that took place between the two parties. If he was lucky he might be able to gain some insight into how the human and collie fought.

His search for clues was aided by the fact that the sun had had the desirable effect of drying and preserving the footprints in the path from the days before, when the path was still muddy and moist. The shoe and the paw prints side by side made for an easy path to follow.

While slowly following their trail, at first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, the knight took time to pause when he happened upon a fist shaped crater with the decaying body of a cat inside it. He further investigated his surroundings and looked up along the path. He was greeted by the sight of the crumpled remains of the weasel he had also hired.

This didn't make sense. Mages nor warriors were capable of killing like this or doing this kind of damage. Obviously this was the work of a giant. Yet giants tended to live in the deep forests, where there was enough game to physically support them and their insatiable appetites. Giants didn't, no, could not live in this area due to the sheer lack of resources required for them to survive. The locals here had a hard enough time forcing the land to provide them a subsistence living. And it was unlikely one would have just wandered into this area and then left without anybody noticing.

No, no, stop to think. There must be some clues as to what exactly happened here. A giant couldn't have magically appeared out of nowhere, it was well known that they had a poor magical affinity. Or at least that's what was widely propagated. The armored one methodically scanned the path again, looking for where the giant's footsteps first began on the path. Two sets of paw prints dotted one side of the path while a set of shoe prints and paws dotted the other side.

"So it's safe to say that the assassin's actually did make contact with them. It's unclear who fought who but the assassins split the collie and human up," He thought to himself.

The first visible giant paw print was mixed in together with the set of two smaller paw print pairs. Odd. It was almost as if one pair of the smaller paw prints ended as the giant ones began. Surely that couldn't be the case. The armored one looked over the tracks in the road once more to confirm his strange observation. No, there was no doubt about it, one of the paw print pairs went from normal to gigantic in size and followed along a determined path. It headed towards the fist shaped crater first and then where the crumpled weasel lay second. From there it proceeded off the road and some flattened patches of tall grass confirmed it.

The armored one slowly took in the information presented to him and processed it. After some time quietly pondering what he saw before him he opened his right hand and concentrated as a small orb of dark energy began to swirl in his armored palm. Once again he crushed it within his hand and melded it into another bird.

"Make contact with the wizard and inform him to adjust the focus of his research immediately. He is to now research if it's possible to force someone to grow to gigantic sizes via magical methods. Furthermore he is to investigate the magical capabilities of giants. I want you to emphasize the importance in investigating the possibility of them being able to change sizes. If he has any qualms, reassure him that I will personally make time to meet with him to persuade him to consider otherwise."

In an instant the bird flew off into the distance to relay the message. The armored one surveyed the scene one last time before raising both arms and concentrating his power. The ground itself tore apart and swallowed up the bodies of the assassins. The path was left in disarray as crags of earth jutted up a couple feet into the air. He concentrated further and the crags slowly began to rumble and sink back into the earth. When he was finished the path had once again become relatively smooth for the most part but noticeable fissures in the ground remained. No tracks, no bodies, no evidence remained as to what transpired here.

"That should be adequate for now. Hmm... it would be prudent though to find out exactly what that collie is or perchance what that mage is capable of before engaging either of them again," he thought to himself. The orange and black knight continued silently walking down the path, the only sounds to be heard were the whistling of the wind and the clanking of his armor. "Regardless, there's no cause for alarm yet. I have all the time in the world to prepare myself. I'll leave nothing to chance, and kill them when ready."