Chapter 426: Chase Through Antila

"You’ve noticed as well." Walking down the street, Horace peeked over his shoulder at the Templar guards who protected the street. They had heard of the large Templar force that had marched into Anitla the other day and could guess that Constance was making a move for some reason.

"Yeah. Why Bardas wants to meet with the situation like this is beyond me." Replying with a cold voice, they turned into a dark alley and exited the other side. Once more, they saw a Templar watching the street. Clicking his tongue, Horace and Halfdan blended into the crowd and approached the tavern that Bardas had agreed on.

Walking in, multiple eyes turned to face Horace and Halfdan, the two easily able to tell that Bardas had taken precautions and filled the establishment with either his people or criminals he had paid. Walking to the table by the nearest back entrance, sat down and stared at him.

"You really request to meet at a time like this? Where you followed."

Bardas smiled like nd old friend and shrugged. "From what I know, I wasn’t followed, but lately they have been getting harder to shake. Why do you think I made sure to stuff this place full?"

"You do know that if you’re caught here, you won’t be able to enter the Palace again." Bardas shook his head and smiled.

"Wrong. If you’re caught, they have proof that I have been working with the Empire. If you escape, I am under heavy suspicion, but there is no real link between me and you. After all, I have burnt every single letter exchanged between us. I’m sure you’ve done the same." Seeing Horace nod, Bardas happily clapped his hands, "Perfect. Then all I have to trust is your ability to escape."

Horace sighed in regret. "It seems our partnership is to end. It’s a shame. Working with a man who thinks like you is always a nice thing."

"Not necessarily." Bardas smiled, "You can still help me. It’s just that we won’t meet any longer." Hearing his words, Hora e chuckled and leaned back.

"You seem to misunderstand. I’m ending our partnership because this isn’t safe for me anymore. I’ll try to do one more thing out of respect for our previous deal, but this is over." Sighing, Horace leaned on his hand, "Frankly, I see no way you get the throne. Either Magnus or Julius will get the seat. My bets are on Julius, just so you know."

"Whilst I live, it isn’t over." Bardas thinly smiled, his eyes incredibly sharp. Horace just sighed.

"Listen, if you live through all this, but can’t survive in Severia anymore, come to the Empire. I’ll give you a job. Who knows, if you can play the long game, you may get Severia in the far future through this." Horace got up alongside Halfdan, "If you don’t accept my offer, this will be the last time we meet. I wish you luck, Lord Ammorian."

Bowing respectfully, Horace made his way to the door, but froze. Halfdan and Bardas were the only two to notice Horace’s strange behaviour, having interacted with him enough. He wasn’t one to change his mind so quickly. Horace moved quickly and kicked a customer in front of the door before pulling his hood up and running to the back entrance.

The door flew open as multiple Templars charged in, one tripping over the man Horace had knocked over. Halfdan and Horace had a head start and ran for the back door as every customer jumped up in surprise. Bardas had already rushed out the back door, through the dirty alley and disappeared into the street when he saw Horace acting strangely.

"Shit." Halfdan reached into his pocket and grabbed his dagger with his one good hand. Horace didn’t look back at the chaos behind him. He could tell the Templars were slaughtering their way through the people Bardas had planted, making a beeline for the two. Knocking over tables and chairs to buy time for their escape, they reached the back door through the alley onto the street.

A group of Templars marched down the street, led by a man in civilian clothing. "THERE!" Pointing out the two, the Templars charged down the street without care for who was in the way. Civilians tried to get out of the way, but those unlucky enough were shoved to the ground. Horace and Halfdan ran the other way, pushing through people and turning every corner they could.

"We won’t lose them on the road." Halfdan cried out as they turned another corner, seeing the Templars quickly following behind. Some brave civilians saw them being chased and tried to stop them from escaping, either being pushed to the ground or scared off by the weapon Halfdan held.

"FUCK! GET OFF!" Despite the obvious threat, a larger man, obviously trained, managed to get hold of Halfdan. In a desperate attempt to break, Halfdan raised his dagger and stabbed it through the man’s stomach. The grip around him loosened, but he had fallen behind, as Horace did not attempt to help him. Clicking his tongue, he turned down a corner, instead of chasing after him. They already had numerous places they would meet if they had to separate for any reason, and he could only put his faith in meeting later.

Horace looked back and saw the group of Templars split, some giving chase to Halfdan, the rest after him. Turning another corner, the street was packed with stalls flanking the road, selling different types of goods.

The passersby screamed behind him as the Tempalrs followed closely behind, and scanning the area, he saw a small stall selling wooden and stone decorations, carved in numerous patterns and shapes. Not hesitating, he ran past it and grabbed one of the stone ones, knocking over many of the other things next to it. Picking the pace back up, he turned another corner onto another street and looked around.

’There.’Seeing a house in the distance with large windows, he charged at it, not paying attention to his heavy breathing and aching legs. Looking back at the Templars, they had slowed, their heavy armour weighing them down. Horace didn’t hesitate. Standing before the house, he smashed the window as best as he could with the stone, cleared the glass in the way and threw himself inside. Rolling on the glass shards, he covered his face with his hands, the backs of them getting cut.

The people inside screamed in panic at the sudden intrusion and backed off from Horace. Pushing himself to his feet, he ran through the house, towards the back door. Kicking the back door open, he heard the front one get knocked down as the Templars charged in after him.

Scanning the surroundings, he made his way to a nearby alley onto another street. Taking his cloak off, he threw it to the ground and slipped into the busy street, blending in. Catching his breath back as quickly as he could, he saw a single Templar walk out of the alley he had come from, holding his discarded cloak and scanning the street.

The man was obviously annoyed at having lost him and walked down the road, eyeing the people. Horace put his hand in his pocket and casually strolled along, not looking back.’It’s over. Constance knows we are here.’Disappointed that his mission was cut short, he sighed in regret and made his way to one of the few meeting points he and Halfdan had agreed on.

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"My Lord." A Templar saluted Gabriel with a deep frown on his face.

"You failed," Gabriel said with his usual cold tone. Seeing the Templar nod, he scoffed and shook his head.

"It was three men. How did you fail?"

"They must have known we were coming. By the time we entered, they had already begun running." Gabriel was about to say something again, but was stopped by the Templar, continuing, "We have confirmed four dead during our pursuit."

"What? Commoner." The Templar nodded, causing Gabreil to get up. Walking before the man, he swung his hand across his face, sending him to the ground, "You failed to capture the targets and caused four innocents to die. The church is already receiving backlash for our sudden appearance by the nobility, and now we have the people to worry about."

Gabriel rubbed his gauntlet and looked at the Templar on the ground holding his bloodied jaw, "If you were going to cause the deaths of innocents, you could have at least captured a target. Get out."

The Templar didn’t respond and slowly picked himself up. Saluting Gabriel, he scuttled out of the room. Sighing to himself, Gabriel retook his seat and rubbed his eyes. The door opened once again as Janus walked in. "Failure?"

"Yeah." Garbiel clicked his tongue.

"Don’t be so discouraged. I know a little about the Underwells. Now that they are exposed, they will either flee back home or go into hiding. Either way, Bardas has lost his help from outside."

"We can’t do anything to apprehend Bardas, however."

"Evidence always appears. All we need to do is find it. Bardas won’t be a threat for a while. He will have to clear his history. He’s good at it, but even he knows one small thing will be his end." Janus smiled happily, "Even in failure, we still got benefits. It would have been great to capture the Underwells and deliver a blow to the Ammary’s, but we can’t fault your men’s failure. There’s a reason that families are known as a bunch of snakes."

"What now?" Gabriel asked, having calmed down after Janus’ explanation.

"Put pressure on Bardas. Don’t let him have a moment of privacy. We need to know when he eats, shits and breaths. That way we can find a single weakness." Gabriel nodded and leaned back in his chair. Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair.