They spent another night at the guard house but this time their situation had definitely changed for the better. The spell had worked as promised and the old man had seen everything they did, including the weird creature in red. He had taken a special interest in the symbol that Gabe had seen, and he had Gabe repeat the description to him several times as he took copious notes on the subject. When he finished with that he turned to Sinclair. “Your talent has not gone unnoticed. When you get done with your task here come see me and I will help answer any questions you may have.” And with that he turned and headed to a door in the back of the guardhouse. They had spent the rest of the night talking to captain Alterio about the day’s events and sleeping in the barracks. 

           The next morning Gabe awoke with a start. There was a loud shrieking sound that could only be made by some kind of horrible beast. “Probably a harpy or a siren” he thought to himself as he was rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Kat was the next to wake and Sinclair, of course, was still snoozing in bed, like a baby. “What is that awful racket?” She asked wiping sleep from her eyes in a way reminiscent of Gabe’s own movements.

          “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.” Gabe said as he stood up.           

           Gabe walked to the door and opened it a few inches to peek through. This allowed him to get a good look at the shrieking beast on the other side. The source of the ungodly noise was a woman. Not just any woman, but the rude, stuck up, and arch Mrs. Cotton from the textile mill.

          “You did this! You put these outsiders in charge of finding the murderer and because of them my husband is dead!”

           “Calm down ma’am. They didn’t do anything to your husband. I’m sorry for your loss, but they are not responsible.” Alterio was doing his best to calm down the woman. It occurred to Gabe that she didn’t seem too sad for someone who had just lost a spouse. She was angry sure, but she didn’t seem to be grieving him. Kat approached the door and started watching as well.

           “Well, I never. I’ll have your post for this. I’ll make sure that you are digging latrines out of Reston.” She was red in the face as she yelled at the poor man.

           Kat looked up to Gabe “She doesn’t seem too sad for someone who just lost a husband.”

           Gabe gave a little snort of laughter and seeing the confusion on Kat’s face he whispered “I was just thinking the exact same thing.” They kept watching as she tore into Captain Alterio and any guard that had the misfortune of walking by. Eventually, she petered herself out and excused herself, leaving by the front door. Gabe went to Sinclair’s bed and started to wake him up. He rubbed his eyes and sat up on the little cot.

           “What’s going on” Sinclair asked.

           “Well, we have stuff to do so get ready” Gabe was buckling into his leather armor as he talked After they had finished getting their armor on and swords equipped, they heard another knock. Captain Alterio came into the room.

           “I’m sure you all heard that ruckus out front. Mrs. cotton seems to think that you are responsible for her husband’s death. Be careful around her today.” Alterio was straightening the tabard over his armor.

           “Did she seem like she was acting weird to you?” Gabe asked the captain, waiting for his insightful response.

           “She was a little strange, now that you mention it.” Alterio was twirling his moustache and thinking. “It is a bit suspicious that she would come here mad at you without attempting to get the full details of her husband’s death. She also didn’t get his body which had been cleared to go back home.”

           “That is suspicious.” Gabe thought for a minute. “How would she have known that we were the ones that found him? I think we need to look around and follow her to make sure she doesn’t do anything regrettable.”

###

           They left the guard house and started out towards town. It felt good to Gabe to have a little coin dangling from his belt. The men they had defeated last night and held in custody were wanted criminals and they were worth three sovereigns each alive. This meant that the two thugs they defeated put them into good money. As they headed to the downtown textile district, Kat suddenly became more interested in seeing where the shops are.  She would look into one window as they traveled and compliment a particularly pretty dress. She would then see some food item that see wanted to try. Gabe kept reminding his friend that time was of the essence, and they needed to catch the killer before it struck again. This had the effect of sobering Kat up just a little bit, but did not kill her enthusiasm.

            They headed to the Prancing Unicorn, to look for their friend the dwarf. When they entered, they noticed that the place wasn’t quite as busy this early in the morning and the dwarf lady was the only person who was working in the tavern at this time. Gabe walked up to her at the bar and sat down. “Hey, do you have coffee?” Gabe asked.

            She looked at him and said with a smile “Ay, I do. Although most people are looking for something a wee bit stronger when they come in here.” She looked at him and his friends. “Will it be three coffees for you?” they all nodded their heads and she headed to the kitchen to get it for them.

            When she came back, she gave them each a cup of piping hot black coffee and she sat out a little pitcher of cream for them. Then she pulled up a stool on her side of the bar and sat down across from them. “Now, I’m thinking you three didn’t just wander in here off the street for some coffee. What can I do for you?”

            “Well, I was hoping I could get some information from you.” Gabe said as he laid one of the gold sovereigns on the bar.

           “Ay, I’m willing to help you with anything related to your case their lad. You don’t have to bribe me.” She started to push the coin back to Gabe but he stopped her.

            “Take the coffees out of that and we will consider the rest a tip.” Gabe took a long sip from his coffee appreciatively. “We need to know where to find the house of one Mrs. Cotton.”

            “Is this in relation to the murder?” She asked obviously thrown off by the question.

            This time Kat leaned forward “It is. She came by the guard house today and was acting really strange. Her husband was killed last night and she didn’t seem the least bit put out by it. I think she is as shady as they come.”

            “Oh no.” She said shaking her head with a sadness that was truly felt.  “I didn’t realize that Mr. Cotton was dead. That’s horrible he was a good man and always did what he could to help the poor people in this district. I can’t say as I’m surprised by his widow not being too upset about it. They did not have the most loving of marriages.” She thought about it for a few minutes longer. “Ok I’ll draw you a map.”

            She wandered off to the back to get the paper and ink she needed to draw a map. The three of them sat at the bar drinking their coffee. “So,” Gabe said. “What are we going to do with the rest of our day”

            “What do you mean what are we doing with the rest of our day?” Kat was looking at Gabe like he was crazy. “We are going to go to her house.”

            “She is probably at the textile mill it would be wrong to go to her house if she isn’t there.”

            “Well first of all, she is probably home her husband just died and she needs to at least make it look like she cared.” Kat was holding up one hand and counting off points on her fingers. “Secondly, we all agreed that she was acting suspiciously at the guardhouse. And thirdly if she isn’t there this will be the best possible time to try and gather information.”

            “I agree with Kat.” Sinclair said as he sat down his coffee.

            “Fine, we will go when she brings us the map.” Gabe grunted unhappily into his mug.

            ###

            It turns out the map was very useful indeed. It led them through some winding streets that led out of the textile district and into a residential area. Sinclair noticed here there were houses that had yards with grass growing in them. Back in the textile district if there was a yard all it held was dirt and weeds. As he walked by, he saw fountains, statues, and other trappings designed to suggest wealth and signal position. The houses were all multilevel cottages and some had little sheds and storage closets.

            Gabe and Kat were up ahead talking about what they should do. Sinclair remained quiet as he followed behind them. He didn’t understand why he was here with his friends; he didn’t feel like they needed him here. It’s true that he is smart, but his intelligence was more along the line of book smarts. He was no more prepared for doing this kind of stuff then Kat or Gabe.  At least they had skills that were applicable to their situation. Gabe was a surprisingly good fighter and Kat was quick and sneaky. Sinclair knew that he wasn’t a fighter and he wasn’t very sneaky, so he didn’t know what benefit he would bring by being here.

            “That’s right,” he thought, “there was something strange that happened in the last fight.” As that one guy was swinging his club at him, he thought he was a goner, but somehow a shield of light blocked the club. All Sinclair could remember doing is reflexively throwing his hand up and hoping it blocked the club. He had felt a surge of something like a current of electricity running through his body and a shield appeared. Was he magic or just lucky? The old man said something about his talent having not gone unnoticed. Sinclair had no idea what the old man was talking about. Then a loud sound shocked him out of his introspection.

            “Help” a man was yelling as he was running down the street towards them. “Help us” Gabe ran up to him and held his hands up in the stop position.

            “What is it?” Gabe asked him as the man slowed down and saw the emblem of the king’s guard on their armor. He looked at them with hope in his eyes “How can we help?”

            “We need help, there are undead attacking.”

           “Undead you mean like zombies.” Kat said as he stepped up.

            “Grave walkers.” the man said “They are attacking we need help.”

            “Do you know where they are headed?” Sinclair asked. He had decided that he could be brave too and was going to try and show it.

           The man pointed down the way he had come. “They were headed to the Cotton house.” The three of them met eyes with a bewildered look and started running towards the house. They ran down the street and started seeing the signs of panic. People were running around and there was the occasional crying child, but also there were people standing around talking excitedly. Apparently, the zombies were just passing through this area on the way to their end goal. Sinclair couldn’t see any examples of an attack, just panicking and confused townsfolk. They made on last turn and there it was.

           A large house bigger than any Sinclair had seen yet, lay at the end of a dead-end street. There was a large wrought iron fence with a gate that was broken in. There were three shambling humanoid shapes walking around the yard and the front door was hanging open where it had been broken inwards.

            “What are we going to do?” Kat drew her sword and was looking nervously into the yard.

            “I don’t know” Gabe said as he paced back and forth.

            “We attack” They both turned and looked at Sinclair with a shocked expression on their faces.  He continued “They’re zombies. They aren’t smart and they shouldn’t be tough. We can take them we just need to aim for their heads.” He looked at his friends, chin poked out, secretly hoping that they couldn’t tell how scared he was.

            “This isn’t a video game Sinclair. We can’t come back if we die.” Kat said looking at him.

            “No, I think he is right Kat. Besides they can’t be much tougher than the thugs we fought last night.” Gabe absent mindedly rubbed the purple bruise on his jaw. With that acknowledgement, Kat gave a little nod of her head. The three of them headed into the yard, weapons drawn. There were three of the zombies in the yard and each one of them approached one of the undead.  Kat snuck up on the closest one and stabbed it at the base of the skull severing the spine. Gabe was next, cleaving his through the neck as it turned towards the groan emitted by the one Kat dispatched. Sinclair was the last to reach his zombie. It seemed to have heard him coming and had turned towards him and was shambling forward. Sinclair took a deep breath and hesitated, backing away from the zombie. Gabe started to come help but Sinclair yelled “I got this!” and he took a step forward and stabbed upwards through the creature’s outstretched arms and into its brain.

            Gabe gave him a nod of respect, smiling, but with grim determination. Sinclair wiped the rotting gore from his blade and joined his friends at the front steps. Together they headed through the front door of the house. They entered into a large entry hall. On the left of the house there was an open doorway appearing to be a large library and study. To the right there was a large dining room. There were two closed doors on both sides of the back of the hall and a stairway going up to a second floor. Occasional furniture dotted the hallway and there were a couple of overturned chairs strewn across the hardwood floor. “I’ll take the left.” Gabe said nodding at Kat. She nodded back and they headed towards the respective doors. Gabe swung his door open to reveal a sitting room. Sinclair couldn’t see too much from where he stood guarding the way they had come in, but he could see a couple of chairs and the glow of a lit fireplace. Kat’s door on the other end led to the kitchen. She opened it and let out a swear as she went into the room. Sinclair rushed over to her door just in time to see her behead another one of the zombies. It had been chewing on the corpse of what appeared to be a halfling maid. The question of how it got in here was easy to find. The servant entry door was broken in.

            “Hey, guys!” it was Gabe “I found another door” Sinclair and Kat walked around to the other side of the stairs.

            “Is that blood?” Sinclair asked him, knowing good and well that it was indeed blood.

            “Yeah, and there is a trail of it.” Kat sounded nervous about this.

            “Come on guys” Gabe started down the stairs “and be careful.” Sinclair followed behind him and Kat followed closely behind them. The blood trickle continued down the stairs and there was the occasional bloody hand smudge on the stair rail. They continued slowly down the stairs until they reached the basement. Once in the basement, they found a couple of the zombies dead or “redead” Sinclair thought to himself. The blood trail ended here and there wasn’t any sign of Mrs. Cotton. Where could she be, there wasn’t any exits from this location. They were all standing there looking trying to make sense of the situation.

            “Well, there is an upstairs.” Kat said as she was looking around.

            “Yeah, there is, but do you think she is up there?” Sinclair was examining all of the various root vegetables and dry goods that had been stored down here.

            “I don’t know,” Gabe said. He was staring fixated at a wall. Holding the cross that he had worn habitually almost as long as Sinclair had known him. “I feel something in this direction.”

            “What do you mean you feel something?” Kat turned to face him. “All there is in that direction is a wall.”

            “I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel something. Something evil is behind that wall.” He started feeling around the wall. Sinclair seeing what he was doing, thought about it for a moment and started looking at the bricks carefully. Maybe there was a brick that poked out a little bit more than the others. Or, maybe there would be one that twisted like a lever. As he looked around his eyes passed over a brick. For some reason that brick drew his attention. He kept getting drawn back to it, time after time his eyes would fall upon then he realized there was a faint, bloody finger print on it. Sinclair reached forward and pressed the brick, and with a mechanical click, it sank into the wall.