Chapter 1681 Not, the Point

--- Kat ---

Not wasn’t going anywhere. Kat was near certain his chance of escape was basically zero.

With Hunter holding him in place Meg had first applied a set of manacles to his arms and legs. Then, she’d put a gag in his mouth… then she’d put him in a straight jacket. Where she got it? Kat had no idea. There certainly wasn’t one in her storage ring but apparently Meg had one… and it still wasn’t enough. She then wrapped him up from head to toe in bandages leaving only his nose exposed. Now for Kat it had probably already gone too far. For Meg? Not far enough.

Her final step in ensuring the guy wasn’t going anywhere was to place him in a barrel. Fill that barrel a heap of sand from her storage ring, and then break the lid so that it just barely fit around Not’s arms and shoulders. In fact, Meg had needed to force Not to bunch them up a bit to fit the lid on, and she only barely got it over his head. Kat wasn’t entirely sure if Not’s nose had broken in the process.

So yeah, Not wasn’t going anywhere and Kat was starting to feel a touch bad for the guy. Defeating him was one thing. Restraining him was just reasonable caution. Whatever the fuck this was though? It was a bit too close to torture and perhaps already crossing the line. Still… he was evil, or at least working with bandits. So Kat didn’t mind him suffering a bit. Still felt excessive though.

[Yeah I agree this is a bit much. I mean, I get that in like stories and stuff whenever you capture an important person they escape at the last moment so I don’t want to say it’s completely unwarranted… but yeah this just feels like Meg playing with her ’food’.]

Kat shivered. *Yeah thanks for that image Lily.*

[Hey you thought of it! And now it’s stuck in my head too! Why would you go there?!]

*You ’said’ it! Not me!*

Before Kat and Lily’s mental bickering could escalate Strdl turned to Meg and yelled, "What the fuck is going on?" Meg stared back, one eyebrow raised and back completely straight. "Um… I mean what the fuck is going on here ma’am?"

Meg nodded, indicating this was acceptable. Kat had no idea WHY it was acceptable but she was betting it was more how nervous and unsure Strdl looked instead of the more formal address. "Well we’re capturing one of the bandits are we not?"

"That… does seem to be the case ma’am… it’s just that I can hardly believe the good sheriff was working with them," mumbled Strdl.

"Were his own words not enough for you?" asked Meg.

"I wouldn’t want to doubt you ma’am but… in my… no longer as extensive knowledge of sheriff Not I assumed I had indicated he’d never do something like this, and I know more than most ma’am. The one vice he seemed to allow himself was throwing a large chunk of his paperwork at me to fill out but the sheriff was always quite clear that it was his work and I didn’t have to help him with it…" explained Strdl.

"So there were no strange occurrences? He’d already mentioned firing individuals that weren’t willing to go along with his policies… did that not seem odd to you?" asked Meg.

"Er… well… not particularly ma’am? Sure he fired some of them, and I can sort of see what he meant… but plenty of people disagreed with him including some of the other men that came with us. Which um… where are they?" asked Strdl.

Hunter pointed two side tunnels on the edge of the platform that Not had stood on as she explained "There are hidden alcoves on either side for backup to wait. I have…" Hunter glanced at Not "bound them in a less strict way. Sadly, while I was able to capture most of them, including three of the men attempting to escape there are two individuals that managed to get away from me. I suspect they were never sent down to this area based on smell. It is annoying but capturing Not and securing the prisoner took priority,"

Continue reading stories on empire

"That’s go- fine enough I suppose. We were likely already to be attacked at the base since Not managed to get permission to use this trap I believe he said? Still that doesn’t answer my question from before… I truly didn’t see anything questionable about his actions. Nothing done within my presence, or noted on the paperwork I did made it seem like Not was anything other than an excellent captain. He was… he was indeed a bit like a father to me and it is hard to accept him like this," explained Strdl.

Meg shrugged, "Eh for me it was obvious the moment I saw him though I am aware that not all possess my abilities. Still… I am more than a bit surprised he never let anything slip. It seems he is a better actor then I gave him credit for…"

"Um… is it… is it no possible there was mind control involved?" asked Strdl.

Meg laughed, "Mind control doesn’t really exist, or… well it is possible to do the equivalent of puppeting around someone’s body but that takes a ridiculous amount of practice if you want it to look in any way natural and that’s before you get into the acting requirements for pretending the original is still in control. Much easier to just disguise yourself and learn the acting chops required to replace them. In this case I can very much confirm there has been no mind control,"

Strdl let out a long sigh, "I just… I don’t really know what to say ma’am. This is years of my life that have been completely upended. I’ve been fighting against these bandits in indirect ways for the entirety of my adult life ma’am. It’s not as if we’ve never had spies in the office. I managed to catch a few over time, and I know of others… but now I can’t help but wonder.

"Was I meant to find them? Were they actually spies? Were they framed? What am I even meant to do with myself when we get back to town?! My boss is apparently working for the greatest threat the town has ever faced if we don’t include any natural disasters,"

"Are the bandits really that bad?" asked Kat. "I mean… they haven’t killed anyone and they’ve been around a long time. It was my understanding that part of the reason they weren’t dealt with is linger guilt combined with how light their banditry has been,"

Strdl shook her head and sighed, "No. Or well, yes but also no. It’s not that simple I guess. The big problem really is that we’re fundamentally a mining and trading town. People come here to head out to deeper mines where not all that many people stay through the winter, if any do. We get a lot of seasonal workers and merchants of course.

"If the bandits ever become a big enough problem then the town will simply be bypassed. The merchants will petition the duke, or maybe the king and have the roads reworked. Which… well I guess that’s actually what the bandits have been planning all along. They were never in it to make money from the merchants… or maybe they were…

"But it seems like the real goal is to replace the town as the connecting tissue of the entire mountain range. Or one of them at least, we have two sister cities further in but most of the goods flow through here because of how the kingdom’s laid out. The seat of power is this side of the mountain range.

"And if they built a road bypassing the town? It’d die. I… it makes me wonder if the Mountain Shaker-"

"Pebbles," interjected Meg. "His childhood nickname is Pebbles,"

Strdl snorted with ugly laughter that devolved into a cackle and dripping tears. The laughter burned as it left her throat and the tears running down her cheeks and mixing with some snot did not help her appearance.

When Strdl finally recovered she nodded in agreement, "Alright Pebbles then. It… it makes me wonder if that’s what all the secret passages are. He’s trying to build a road network underground. It’s been the work of over a decade… and… and it might be too late to stop him entirely now.

"Even if you round everyone up, if the roads are mostly complete and the people working with the bandits in town KNOW about it all? I can see things being pushed ahead. A few private contracts and… the town might still die out,"

*That’s… that’s crazy. Though I guess it does make more sense then casual banditry… but WHY? Why not make himself the head engineer of the town or something? Or like the roadsmith? He could’ve made a lot more money that way…*

[I dunno? Creep wanting power would be my guess. Pebbles isn’t someone to think long term by the sounds of things… though maybe we’re wrong? Maybe he blames the town for the death of his mother and wants it to die as well?]

*That… that’s a weird angle but maybe I can see it?*