ALL NOVEL Chapter 130: To Cherderez
Gaul woke up early in the morning. He stretched his limbs, and wore a sleeved shirt as he got out of the cabin. It was a fair day despite the booms happening in the direction of the city.
At the kitchen’s dinner table, he saw Edward sipping on his mug of coffee. Stefanie was busying herself with her healthy shake. Scanning the room, Gaul wondered where the Boss went.
“Where’s Boss?”
“I think he got out last night. He didn’t return,” Edward said. His voice didn’t have the usual dull tone it had.
Stefanie took her healthy shake, and placed it in her personal glass marked with her name on it. She twisted on the seat, and started drinking on the shake. Gaul stared at the two before taking a piece of sliced bread from the fridge. He sat on the stump near the campfire, and stared at the forest line where he spotted the Boss coming out of the bushes.
“Good morning, Sir,” Gaul said.
Boss looked at him, nodded, and walked straight into the cabin without saying a word. Gaul ate his piece of sliced bread, took a long look at the greenery before heading back inside for a cup of coffee.
Stefanie ate silently while the Boss mindlessly cooked his own batch of eggs. Stefanie was taking a glance over shoulder, wondering if she should have cooked instead. The Boss however was unperturbed by their gazes, focused on his cooking, and delivering the plate of eggs in the middle of the table.
The Boss took the sliced breads, placed the over easy cooked eggs in-between the bread. Gaul could smell grass and dew on the Boss, but Gaul and Edward didn’t have the courage to say that. Not after what they saw in the compound.
If there was any doubt about the Boss. It was all solved by what he did yesterday. The Boss was rather mindless. He ate as if he didn't notice their existence. Edward felt uncomfortable. Stefanie was waiting. Gaul was wondering what the Boss was thinking.
“We’ve dealt with the problem. There is more to do, but that depends on the idea if they appear. Minerva’s death made it so that only the city of Knia was sacrificed. I don’t want to talk about the ‘what if’s’ knowing that there was no way I could have woken seven years late. For now, our only goal is to return Miss Wendy to where she belonged. Although she has valuable information, the people that she was with are dangerous individuals that have hold on the industries of a Confederate. It is unwise to prove them, and in a way it will cause confusion if we send her back after healing her. I’m going to assign a group. Edward, you’ll use your connections, work with Stefanie. Gaul, I need you to escort the Lady back while keeping an eye out on anyone that might come and interfere.”
Gaul raised a hand.
“What about you, Boss?”
“I’ll be going with you, obviously.”
“Stef,” he pointed out. “We’ll take a van, and we’ll send her back home. Holmia’s too dangerous for her at the moment.”
“Got it.”
Gaul nodded and stood up from the table. He went back to his room, prepped up, and carried two gun cases with a webbing kit. He got out of the room, found the Boss, and asked if he needed it.
“We’ll carry an SMG to hide it. We’ll keep the C5AR in the van just in case. Better be careful. There might be forces who are eager to get good hands on her. We’ll have to travel 1405 miles if we want to get a long shot of keeping her safe.”
Gaul was confused. “Boss, why do we have to travel on wheels?”
“It’s much low-profile that way,” Boss explained. “Let me remind you that I murdered two high-profile leaders that caused the burning of Knia. The reason why there are so many people displaced at the moment. If we are up in the air, there is much higher chances that someone would be wary. Now, what about a van traveling the road? It might be a bit slower, but better than being shot down and asked too many questions. Besides, it's better if we take it slow while she heals her wounds.”
“Got it, Boss.”
Gaul accepted the reason. He went to take the SMG’s and C5AR, an assault rifle, and carried them to the garage where the camper van was. The RV van was a customized one, with two bunk beds on both sides, located on the back of the camper. There was a booth where four people could dine, a small kitchen set, and a storage room where they could hide the assault rifles.
Gaul prepped up the camper with supplies. He checked the engine, and made sure that they had spare tires as well. On the core of the camper RV was a hydroelectric crystal that was modified to look like the commercially produced in the market. It was a perfect concoction that allowed the camper to be powered and run for days without running out of juice.
While checking on the RV, heard footsteps behind him. Stefanie walked over while carrying two beeper phones.
“This one has a customized customer identification module so the towers would randomly log records of strings instead of our actual message. Not to mention that it scrambles the voice of the caller, making it unlikely for them to understand what we would be talking about. Edward and I have it. I’ll get one for Boss too.”
Gaul took the beeper phones. He pocketed his and left the one for Boss on the hood of the camper.
“So, what are your thoughts about this, Stef?”
“I think it’s fine if you do it this way. Boss killed Colonel Elric and Lady Minerva. If you read their dossier, then you know how dangerous they are.”
Gaul nodded. He read the Dossier containing the records of the two. Colonel Elric was a one-man army on his own, and Lady Minerva was a storm. But the Boss was in another league, which he had expected from the Founding Master of the Hounds, and the one who beat back the Exiled One. He had seen it for himself. How he moved. How he attacked and how he eliminated the enemy, targeting their weakness, and overwhelming them with a continuous assault.
He trusted the instincts of the boss. But it didn’t mean that he’ll completely rely on the Boss as well.
“Miss Wendy Otto is a high profile target. She’ll be on everyone’s papers, and to get her back safely we need to get her back to Finia where she will contact her group.”
“What about our identities?”
“She’ll keep her mouth shut. I had her take a vow of silence. Not only that, I was given some lessons by Father Aunger about this.”
Gaul looked around. “Sis, do you think after this, we’ll get to be loose?”
“Perhaps, but there is a chance that even without us, the Boss will find a way on his own.”
Even though the Hounds had lost their funds over the years. They were still to the point where they still could eat without worrying. Pay their bills, afford necessities, and maintain a status where they don’t have to worry about being bankrupt.
Most of the funds were focused on keeping anything about the Boss confidential. To keep himself hidden while the world goes on. He was the most guarded secret of the Hounds. Their stepfather had made it his life’s work to keep him safe while the rest of the Hounds left them or chose to hunt them down.
Aunger was one of the best Hounds. All that they have learned right now was based on the teachings of their stepfather. They owe their life to Aunger. And his wish was to assist the Boss. They do this out of their own will, and through the will of their father as well.
They were already given a choice years ago.
Leave the Hounds or wait until the Master of the Hounds awakens. Although he was seven years late from awakening, the way he took care of the problems had given them an assurance. And if they work hard enough, then it wouldn’t be long until they can go out there and face the world themselves.
The Boss entered the garage with Miss Wendy who kept close to the Boss. Her bruises have healed and she has changed into a dress. The boss wore a jacket that hid his shoulder holsters.
On his belt was the hilt of his sword that looked like a flashlight. It was rather unsuspecting that he didn’t know better. He would have thought of it as one.
“Do you mind driving, Gaul? I can take over during the night.”
“Got it, Boss.”
The Boss took the luggage in the camper, and seated himself on the bench next to the kitchen while Wendy sat on the booth. Seeing that the two were eager to get a move on, Gaul could only shake his head.
“See ya, Sis,” Gaul said.
He went to the driver’s seat and drove out of the garage, following a downward path to the highways leading to a town called Cherderez.
