When they finally reached the town of Arlem, night had fallen, and familiar thick grey clouds blocked the sky.
It occurred to Mathew that for the weeks he had been traveling in this world alongside Ophelia and Argus, he hadn't seen a clear sky even once. How long had it been since he'd seen the moon? Even the sight of an alien moon would be welcome to him.
As they approached the city gate, the guards stopped the returning crew out of courtesy, but after noticing Siyah and Beyah, they allowed them back in without a complaint. They didn't question for a moment why bounty hunters, albeit one with a monstrous appearance, would be out so late with the two sisters.
Ophelia walked confidently toward the outpost, noticing Argus waiting patiently outside. He sat cross-legged on the ground, arms resting on his knees, as if meditating.
His eyes opened as the group reached him.
"I would have pointed out the fact that you are late," he said, "but it appears as though you found success where I did not. These are the sisters, then?"
"They are," Ophelia replied simply
"So our bounty is assured." He eyed the sisters. "They came along willingly?"
"Something like that," Mathew replied, though Ophelia gave him a vicious side glare. Mathew held his hands up in surrender.
"We are finishing business inside now," Ophelia asserted to Argus, "accompany us, but do not interrupt." Argus nodded, a question on his face that never escaped his lips. He followed his lady into the outpost.
…..
Theron stood behind the desk and seemed to be organizing some papers. As he noticed his visitors, an emotion flickered across his face for only a moment. Mathew couldn't tell if it was nervousness, surprise, or something else because Thereon quickly hid the emotion behind a smile.
"I see you have returned! I'm glad." He said, slapping his belly. He then gave a cursory once-over look at the sisters, as if he had just realized they were there, and added, "Looks like you brought those two back as well. That's perfect then. A job well done, I might say."
Ophelia stared him down, narrowing her eyes. Theron quickly continued:
"Oh, of course, what am I doing. You need payment." He put a hand beside his mouth and shouted: "Stringa, Earl, get in here!" He looked back at Ophelia and gave a chuckle, as if trying to break the tension.
"I have had enough of this farce already," Ophelia said, sighing. "Tell me, Theron, why did you betray me?"
"He-he… what do you mean?"
"You know very well what it is I speak of. You set us up to be silenced by that bounty hunter."
"There seems to be a misunderstanding here…" Theron licked his lips nervously.
"There is no misunderstanding. You recognized my name when I introduced myself to you, as well as my companion, Argus. Not only that, you knew the direction that we were traversing, and you had the Finder's Feathers to track us." Ophelia said, every line becoming sharper as she spoke.
Theron opened his mouth to protest, but then Mathew cut in.
"You also are the one who put in the bounty for Siyah and Beyah, right?" The words died in Theron's throat, his fake smile barely holding up on his face. Mathew took this as confirmation and continued his explanation:
"I was curious who would have requested the bounty in the first place. The girls have been in hiding this entire time, with no possible indication that they weren't human. Even they didn't know what they were. But when they were told the story about their discovery by Damon, it was here in your yard. You must have overheard it and somehow connected the dots."
Theron was silent.
"What was the contract? I bet you cut a deal with the bounty hunters, where you pay them for bringing in the sisters alive, and killing them for you, and in exchange you get to keep the magical ingredients made from their remains." It was dark, and messed up, but it was the only thing that made sense to Mathew.
He tapped his finger on his own metal skull and added: "Tier 3 creatures are probably more valuable than Tier 2 creatures, after all."
"Even if that's all true, why not turn the sisters in yourself? They are monsters that killed their own father, after all." Theron argued back.
"Because they didn't kill him, did they? It's hard to tell exactly between the claw marks and stab wounds, but it was the bounty hunter Creas who killed the priest. He needed evidence that the sisters were monsters, so he grew impatient and decided to make his own evidence by provoking them. He wasn't expecting to lose in the resulting fight."
A shadow crossed over Theron's face: "The damned priest should have known better than to bring back refugees from Maslow village. I knew the moment I heard his story what kind of beasts those little girls were."
"Maslow village…" Argus muttered, and Mathew glanced back to see a glint of recognition in his eyes.
"Honestly, none of this nonsense concerns me personally," said Ophelia, who had allowed Mathew's theory to continue on.
At that moment, Stringa arrived along with Earl, the man who had been counting inventory earlier that day.
"W-w-what's going on?" Stringa said.
"Do not move!" Ophelia said, and a silvery sword appeared in her hand. She held it threateningly toward Theron. "No one move even a step from where they are, or I skewer this man." Her eyes didn't leave her target as she continued:
"You have set me up. You knew there was a bounty on my head, so you maneuvered us to help you find the Enfiri, then you sent the bounty hunter after us to collect both bounties. You knew who I was when I walked in here and were already scheming from that very moment."
"You must be mistaken. Even if I made a deal with the bounty hunters for the girls, why would I go after you?"
"You boy!" Ophelia said without looking at Stringa. "Look behind the counter and find the paper with a sketch of my face on it." Stringa swallowed, but complied. After moving some things around, he held up yellowed parchment that showed a detailed sketch of Ophelia. A wanted poster, perhaps.
"Idiot boy," Theron muttered.
"I have had enough of liars and schemers. Wolves who cannot look others in the eye and deal with them honestly. Vultures that follow around the living and wait for them to fall."
"Ophelia… No, Lady Ophelia, why don't we cut a deal? Surely there is peace to be had between us." Theron tried.
"I refuse to negotiate. I refuse to be trapped. Never again will I cower before another. I will take what I desire with my own strength." Her sword trembled for just a moment before she steadied it with her other hand. She took in a deep breath, as if to fill her lungs completely.
Then she swung.
Theron's head flew through the air, landing on the ground in front of the girls. Stringa's face went white as a ghost. The headless corpse collapsed onto the ground as nausea assaulted Mathew's stomach.
Ophelia exhaled.
"You two. We need the provisions we were promised. And also, prepare the carriage outside in the yard. We will be taking that too." She said to Stringa and Earl while flicking the blood off of her sword. She kept it in her hands, though, holding it as motivation for Theron's employees.
"O-of Course!" Earl stuttered, then grabbed Stringa by the arm. The boy wasn't speaking.
"Argus, go with them to make sure that they do not get lost along the way," Ophelia added. Argus nodded.
Mathew was in shock. His brain was still trying to process the situation.
"Dread." Ophelia's order caused gears to turn in his metal head again.
"…yeah?"
"Keep our new monsters away from the corpse. They must not go into a frenzy." Mathew felt the order lightly compel him to move towards the sisters.
Even though both sisters were obviously horrified at the head resting at their feet, for some reason, Beyah was salivating, a string of drool escaping from the corner of her mouth.
"Got it," Mathew said.
The rest of the process went about as smoothly as it could have gone, and the crew of now 5 members left Arlem in their brand new horse-drawn carriage.
Mathew stared at the Siyah and Beyah sitting across from him. What would happen to them now? What was Ophelia planning?
"Let us speak frankly," Ophelia said, as if reading his mind, "How would you two like to become my maids?"