He who cannot be named

He who cannot be named Part 3

Next morning Vad wished Ringle good luck, and continued on his way to Shire. He made good time, MountFiraga dominating his view more and more as he got closer. He eventually saw a speck at the base, which turned out to be Shire. Once he was in sight of the town, he was spotted, and two riders rode out to meet him on the road. They wore leather armour, as well as leather helmets. They were guards of the town, except they had no weapon he could see besides a strange metal tube strapped to their back.

“You are entering the territory of Shire, state your business stranger.” One rider said, as they rode up to Vad.

“I have business in your town; I am here on behalf of the Prince, whose territory Shire is part of.” Vad said, showing the Prince's seal. The two riders looked at each, and then the same rider said, “Aye, you are correct there, we are loyal subjects to the kingdom. If you follow us we'll take you back to our outpost, where you can brief our commander on how we can help Prince and country.”

Shire was a town like Vad had never seen before. The houses were constructed strange, made out of red stone, in strange designs, with triangle roofs. The stone roads put the roads in the capital to shame. What Vad found strangest of all was the order the town was made in. Someone had planned the town, as if it was built yesterday, not a village growing throughout the years. The place was the cleanest village he had ever seen.

The people they rode by seemed curious, but not hostile or shunning him as Ringle led him to believe. They wore the same clothes as people in the capital would, but also clean and well made. The riders led him to a large building, also made of red rock. He dismounted, and led his horse to a post where he could tie it to, then followed them inside.

The guard post was full of activity. It had more guards then a village as small as Shire would require. Few men had any sword that Vad could see, most had the metal tubes. The guards seemed well disciplined, the post a mountain of activity but there was an order to it that would make the Prince's personal guard look like uncouth mercenaries. The Knight of Peace in Vanderdale seemed ranked amateurs compared. Strange for a town so small. His riders talked to their sergeant, who went into a back room. He came back out and waved Vad in.

In the room was an older man sitting behind a desk. He did not seem surprised to see Vad.

“I am told you are the Prince's agent, my names is Wallik, commander of the town guard here. How can I be of service?” he said.

“Greetings. My name is Vad. I have been sent here to find someone that has gone missing. All clues I have uncovered have led me here.”

“And who would this person be? I'm sure we can help you, we know everyone who is currently in our village.” Wallik seem almost bored of the conversation already, but the shine of his eyes made Vad think he was more interested than he pretended. Help from him and the town guard would no doubt be a major for his investigation, but Vad felt he couldn't trust him just yet, not without knowing more of what was going on in this strange town.

“I'm afraid the Prince wants to keep the missing person private.”

“Ah, I see. Well what our Prince wants, our Prince gets I suppose. Our town is open to you Vad. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them. You are free to go.”

“I do have one question, I notice all of your guards have no conventional weapon. They carry slender metal tubes instead. How do you employ those?”

“Ah, the boom stick. Mostly harmless I ensure you; they fire a metal ball at a person, knocking them down or out. We like to take the nonviolence approach in our small town. We keep our real weapons in a store room here at base.”