No one moved at first. Everyone was still taking in the news from the gate. We all knew that there was a risk of war with the alliance. A large part of our last trip was to find a way to prevent one. Despite that I don’t think anyone was expecting it to happen, at least not this quickly.

Beth was the first to her feet. “I know things aren’t looking good, but we should speak with Lisa before we start to despair.”

She was right.

With Beth’s words in our ears, we pulled ourselves out of our seats and slowly began departing the carriage.

We assembled at the foot of the steps, while Ameri and Lucy tied their horses just to the side. Everyone had departed the carriage except for Rosa, she was still sat atop of the driver’s bench.

Serin walked to the side of the carriage. “Aren’t you coming with us?”

She shook her head. “I can’t yet, I need to return the carriage and stable the horses first. I’ll return to the guild to report to Lisa once I’m done.”

“Okay, I expect they need the rest. We’ll go on ahead then.”

“Thanks.”

We waved Rosa off as she turned the carriage and headed back to the stables.

Once the carriage left the square Serin turned to the rest of us. “Come on, let’s go and report in.”

Serin led the way and the rest of us followed her up the steps to the guild house.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as we stepped inside. But what I saw still surprised me.

Compared to the last time I was here the guild was busy. It was nearly as busy as I’d ever seen it. Only this time it wasn’t just adventurers sitting and enjoying their food and drink or checking for available quests. It was now a hive of activity.

Almost every table was occupied. Groups of adventurers were pouring over maps and charts. There were city guards in amongst some of the groups. They appeared to be consulting with the adventurers, I could only guess about what.

As we made our way through to the main desk, we barely drew any attention from the people in the hall. They were all too busy with what they were doing to notice yet another group of adventurers pass by.

When we approached the main desk, Jules looked up from a pile of paperwork in front of her. She froze for a moment, before double taking as if she didn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Then she stepped to the side flipped up the desk hatch and came running out.

Reaching me, she flung her arms around my waist. “I’m so glad you’re okay! We’ve had no news at all.”

I hugged her back. “We’re okay. We came back as soon as we could, and we didn’t have any way of getting news back before us.”

Jules slowly let go of me, looking up at my face. “But what are you doing here?”

“What are we doing here? I don’t understand.”

“I wasn’t told the details, but Lisa said she had sent Rosa with a message for her sister. You weren’t supposed to return here.” Her smile left her face and was replaced with a look of concern. “Don’t tell me, Rosa didn’t make it?”

I waved my hands. “No, no. We came back with Rosa.”

“But the message, didn’t you speak with Lisa’s sister?”

I glanced across to Serin and then back to Jules. “We spoke with her, and she passed on a message… But there was no mention of not returning here.”

Jules was visibly surprised. “I don’t understand… I don’t even know how you made it into the city!”

“Uh well the roads were completely deserted, we just rolled up to the city gates. We were stopped there, but as soon as they realised who we were they let us right in.”

“I still don’t understand…” She took me by the hand. “Come on, you all need to speak with the guild master.”

Jules pulled me in the direction of the front desk. I glanced behind and the others were already following closely behind.

We took the now fairly familiar route through the door behind the front desk, then up the stairs and along the corridor towards Lisa’s office.

Once we were outside Jules knocked on the door.

Lisa’s voice answered from inside. “What is it? I asked not to be disturbed!”

The sound of her voice gave away her stress and irritation even before we had stepped inside.

Jules took a breath before answering. “I know, but you’re going to want to see who’s returned.”

“Fine, come in.”

Jules pushed the door open and then stood to the side to let us in. She motioned for us to enter.

The sight of our group in front of Lisa brought her to her feet. “What are you doing here?” She almost shouted.

“Weren’t you expecting us to return?” Asked Liz.

“I did, of course I did! But that wasn’t what I meant. Why did you return here, didn’t you get word from my sister?”

Serin nodded as she approached Lisa’s desk. “We met with Elsa, but she didn’t mention anything about not returning here.”

Lisa slammed a fist against her desk. “Dammit!”

“I’m sorry Lisa, but you’re going to have to explain what’s going on here!”

“You must have heard the news since you’ve arrived?”

“Nothing specific, only that the alliance declared war on the catkin… Which is honestly concerning enough in itself.”

“Yes, the alliance declared war, an army was dispatched to Dunshelm… I asked Elsa to warn you not to return here if you passed through Silthorn. I even asked her to send adventurers to look for you.”

“She didn’t mention it… Neither did Rosa for that matter.”

“Rosa had no idea what was in the sealed message. I wanted it that way, safer for her if she knew nothing and at that point not many in the city knew what was happening.” Lisa sat down and sighed. “Well, that means I can have a good guess at why you were able to reach the city again and what side my sister has taken.”

“I’m sorry Lisa, I mean we had our suspicions about Elsa after we spoke to her, but I don’t understand the rest. Why wouldn’t we have been able to reach the city?”

Lisa motioned to the seats. “You will probably want to sit down for this.”

“Okay…”

Serin took a seat and the rest of us followed suit, filling up all the available seats in front of Lisa’s desk.

Once we had settled Lisa began to explain. “Dunshelm is completely encircled by alliance forces. We haven’t received a messenger in three days and no one we sent out has returned, except for Rosa.” She sighed. “I had a feeling that they would try something like this that’s why I sent out Rosa with the message as soon I heard the news.”

Serin gasped. “But we didn’t see any sign on the way here.”

“It almost as if they wanted you to get through… I suppose it makes sense. This place is completely surrounded on all sides. There’s less chance of you escaping from inside than if you were approached on the road.”

“So that’s how… What about the catkin? Is help on the way?”

“I hope so, but it isn’t guaranteed. An army was sent to their capital at the same time that one was sent here… There might be no help to send.”

“And the humans and wolfkin, did they side with the alliance?”

“I’m not sure.”

“They haven’t decided yet?”

“No… Both races are in complete disarray. Even if they decided to side with us, there’s no telling what aid they would be able to send.”

“There’s something else isn’t there? What haven’t you told us?”

Lisa took in a deep breath. “The human king, the wolfkin king were both assassinated along with all of their family that were living in the capital before any decision was taken by them…”

“Assassinated! That’s, I just can’t believe it. But if that’s the case, then surely they will side with the catkin and us?”

“You would think so, but there’s more…”

Serin’s eyes widened. “More?”

“They played the murders off as a terrorist attack, just like the incident with Altria and Theo in the city. The blame has been pinned on your party. I wouldn’t like to make a guess at who carried out the attacks. They were carried out simultaneously, one was almost identical to that first blast…”

“Just like Lillia’s attack…” She shook her head. “No, it can’t be!”

“Like I said, I wouldn’t like to guess, but the similarity to that blast has been used to frame you all for the attacks. Now everything is up in the air!”