"The Disturbance (Ch 2)" by Travis George

Jace looked around his room for his sash of rank as it was not with the rest of his equipment. It was not until after he began to rub his shoulder did he realize that he was already wearing it. He removed the sash indicating that he was captain of the city guard/militia and placed it next to his armor that he'd spent the better part of a few hours the night before cleaning and polishing.

He began to buckle on bits and pieces of his armor, thinking his usual about how having a squire would make this process much easier. As fate would have it though, Jace was born the second son of Baron Greenstone and had no squire to help with such tasks. As he finished adjusting his armor, he returned his sash to its previous position on his shoulder and then pulled on his dark green cloak, which contrasted greatly with his brown skin.

Dressed for work, he looked back to his desk where sat an invitation to a banquet in honor of his brother and the reports from the nightly patrols, of which he'd already committed to memory. All but one read "All quiet." That one read something unusual, not only the reported crime, but the remedy from the investigating guards.

Time: Moon descending
Situation: Riot/Brawl reported at 14 Wheeler Street residence.
Remedy: Told resident to acquire a cat.

Jace did not usually require the night patrols to include a time in their reports since sun dials only work during daylight hours, but the officer wanted him to know that it was very late when the incident occurred. Brawls were not entirely uncommon for night patrols to break up, but they were usually located in or around a tavern, not residences. Without looking at a map, the militia captain knew that there was no tavern on wheeler street, and not to mention that not once in all his time as captain had Jace Greenstone ever broken up a riot by telling those involved to get a cat.

Jace hoped that the officer in charge that night left word of what happened when the guard changed that morning. He grabbed his sword belt, tossed his invitation into the fireplace, and set off toward the guard post that generated the report of a riot, dodging various servants scrambling about to prepare for the impromptu banquet.

As he walked down the street, he wasn't quite sure what was bothering him more, the fact that his brother was claiming credit for saving them all or that his brother had denounced Jace's role in the ordeal as 'frolicking in the forest.' While Jace had no doubt that his brother and his knights had saved some lives, he was certain that saving the city had something to do with himself, Larado, Arianna, Klee, Gormick, and a handful of orcs banishing the walking-dead-wizard back to... wherever.

He struggled to keep his mind off such, but that task was made easier when he spotted a familiar face. "What's in the box, kid?" shouted Jace as they passed within a yelling-conversational distance in the street.

"Reinforcements!" yelled Larado, patting the box.

Made curious by the response, Jace turned to follow. "Didn't Klee already pay you? What do you mean 'reinforcements?'" demanded Jace, "You better not have a gnome in that box!"

"Gnome? Are you drunk or something?" spoke Larado as he turned around with a roughly gnome-sized crate in hand, "The last gnome nearly cooked me with his clock-bow-screwdriver-thing. No, this is something much better. Come on and I'll show you."

"I'm on duty, and it's only mid-morning, of course I'm not drinking," replied Jace, "Where are we going?" He tensed slightly as Larado turned down a side street and into the poorer part of town.

"My house," replied Larado, "It's over there, about half a block from here."

"That's a cat. Isn't it?" inquired Jace, stopping suddenly.

"Maybe," uttered Larado evasively, not quite liking the tone in which he was asked.

"I should have known," the captain grumbled, no longer watching where his companion was headed as he already knew the address. "We're not back in town a full day and you're already giving me headaches."

"So you know... No, this is not just a cat," Larado explained as he stepped through his doorframe, absent of a door except for a few splinters. "This is a cat berserker!"

"A what?" Jace asked, barely paying attention to Larado, the ink of the night watch's report still wet in his memory.

"Yeah, the guy I got him from said, 'Yeh don' be wantin' that'un,' but I knew just by looking at him that he was the right one," Larado spoke as he started to pry loose the top of the crate, "You should have seen him struggle to not go into this box!"

"There are no air holes in your box, Larado," observed the guard captain as the lid was pried loose and Larado peered inside.

"Air holes? Something is wrong with my cat..." staring in mild confusion, Larado reached in to prod the animal.

Suddenly there was a flash of orange and yellow striped fur clawing its way up Larado's arm to his head. Larado yelled in surprise and pain as his new pet sank tooth and claw into his face, ears, and scalp. The feline assailant screamed and hissed with rage. Jace, overcome with a fit of laughter could not immediately assist.

Still yelling in pain, Larado shook his head wildly attempting to dislodge the cat. He grabbed at the cat with his hands only to have them bitten and scratched to a bloody pulp. "Help!" he finally shouted in desperation.

Jace, finally regaining his composure grabbed the flame colored cat with a plate gloved hand and wrested the animal from the boy's face and tossed it aside. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah! See? Didn't I say that was a cat berserker?" shouted Larado excitedly, warm blood dripping from the perforations in his face. "I'll have the rats out of here in no time with this one. I'm gonna call him Fluffy."

"Kid, have you ever-" Jace started, but was interrupted by a nearby alarm bell.

Long ago, before the area of Emerald Cove was 'civilized' The dark skinned natives had devised a means of communicating across the forest with drums. This system was eventually updated to use bells, which carried further over the noise of the city.

"Miner's Row..." Jace translated.

"I know the bell language," Larado spoke, sounding a little annoyed, having served with the city guard between jobs.

"Shh!" glared Jace, "Sewer entrance... Guard down... Message repeats."

"That's not far from here. I wonder what's going on," Larado uttered as he buckled on his sword belt, "Where is my... upstairs!" Larado bolted upstairs and returned after a moment, brandishing a copper badge shaped like a gem.

"You're supposed to turn that in when you stop working with us," groaned Jace, who recognized the badge instantly.

"Really? I was using it as a coaster," Larado said with a grin. "I expect you'll be wanting the cloak back as well?" he asked while opening a small crate and pulling out a dark green bit of cloth, like Jace's only more faded and moth eaten, to complete the uniform of a city guard.

"You coming?" Jace asked as he started toward the exit.

"Why do you think I dug up the clown suit?" Larado replied, tying the cloak around his neck, jogging to catch his new boss, who was already halfway up the street.

"Report to third precinct tomorrow morning," Jace barked over his shoulder.