Nocturna League (Episode 2: The Mist Hour) by Kell Inkston Read Free Book Online Page A

adjacent to her frantically scrambling for a crossbow
at the side of the room. “Freeze, bitch!” is all she needs to say
before the man stops cold. With a decisive smack she pistol whips
the door guard and sends him to the ground out cold. Several people
gather around the inside foyer and guards pour in with weapons
poised at the young lady.
    “ That’s far enough! One
more step and we’ll shoot!” A front-most man says with a trained
aim.
    Colette laxly points the gun at the
unconscious man at her feet. “Give me a reason,” she says, training
her scope right at the man’s head.
    Gasps are exchanged between the
waitstaff, and the guards tense in fear.
    “ Go on,” she adds, “give me
a single damn reason not to shoot him.”
    A spry lad scoffs at Colette’s
declaration. “Yeah, as if you would! If you shoot that guy, you’re
dead!”
    Colette’s expression is mixed a
moment, but falls to a relaxed smile. “Alright, then I’ll shoot as
many of you as I can before I die from bolt injuries. I bet I can
get at least five of you… who will it be?”
    The guards, only seven in number,
nervously exchange glances. The spry lad, holding down his tremors,
grins as widely as he can. “Y-yeah! But you’d still die! No one
would be so crazy as t-” The guard stops once Colette draws a
sharp, deep breath, and points the gun at her own
person.
    *BANG*
    Colette shot herself in the
hand. With a smooth, perfectly composed look on her face, she
raises her brows. “Of course. No one could be that crazy.” Every guard drops their
weapon, and the red-handed Colette meets the action with a smile.
“Excellent. I’m proud of you all. Now take me to the prisoners,”
she says as she takes out The Captain’s bandages and spools it
about her wounded hand.
    Everyone draws back and exchanges
looks of uncertainty. There’s an awkward, palpable feeling of worry
flowing through the crowd. The guard captain sighs. “We actually
can’t do that for you, Miss.”
    “ Eh? And why’s
that?”
    “ There’s a force field, and
we can’t really get in.”
    Colette looks up after finishing her
bandaging. “Explain.”
    The guard captain clears his throat.
“There’s a Kalamest field that prevents entry.”
    Colette squints. “Wait, but how could
a Kalamest get through the mansion’s Ganastere field?”
    He sighs again, looking aside in
embarrassment. “Well, that’s just it. One couldn’t have. It had to
be a person who was not a Kalamest, given the magic by a Kalamest.
It’s probably someone who works here.”
    Colette stares blankly. “So, you’re
telling me that the Kalamests did the kidnapping, and had someone
who worked for the Ganasteres plant all the prisoners in a room
that he set the force field on?”
    The guard captain nods.
    “ So, just find the people
who aren’t Ganasteres, right?”
    “ Not quite that simple,
Miss. So many generations have passed, no one really knows how much
Kalamest or Ganastere blood they have in them.”
    “ Then let’s find out now!
Gather everyone who works at the mansion, and have them try to
enter the field!”
    There are winces and cringes of
discomfort displayed clearly in the crowd. The guard captain shakes
his head. “You need to understand, Miss. A force field won’t just
bar entry, but it will kill someone if they’re not allowed in. It’s
vicious magic, and frankly everyone’s afraid that they have a
little in them, most people know for sure that they do.”
    Colette sighs. “Then why didn’t you
get a person on the outside to do it for you?”
    “ As I said, Miss, almost
everyone on this island probably has at least a little bit of each.
The only people that could travel through our Ganastere field, and
the Kalamest field containing the prisoners, would have to be
someone who has neither Kalamest nor Ganastere blood, and my employer requested we keep the
information that we were holding prisoners a secret. The public
would go nuts.”
    Colette laxes and puts away