Price of Honor | Part Three

A crumbled up letter, smudged at the edges with soot lay discarded outside the guard barracks within New Ashen.

"Mother,

Routines and events around the Outlook are... Different now.

Orders only come late at night or the early hours before dawn now. Hushed directions whispered between the captain and the quartermaster that seem to distance himself from myself and my comrades when we get brief respite around the fire. Patrol routes have been shifted without explanation or reason. Then, I noticed certain wagons pass freely without question while others are ransacked and searched until dawn.

One of the older guards caught my gaze and told me not to ask too many questions if I planned to keep my post.

Last night I saw Everdeen meet with riders outside the palisade on the edge of Sirencester Sea. These cloaked men held no banners and spoke quietly under the cover of the cloudy night. There was a moment when one reached for his weapon, or so I thought. After a few momentd of tension, these shrouded men passed Everdeen a small iron chest.

The chest went straight to the command tent.

In the morning, I searched the logs. There were no records were written regarding this encounter.

- Theo"