"Haven't you heard?" Grape asked the rest of the team while they were waiting for their captain to return with their assignments.
The scouts were standing around one of the tables in the dining hall, except for Axel and Apple, who were both sitting down.
"Um-huh," Apple replied while engrossed in a book.
"Looks like your book's pretty interesting," Artichoke remarked, "Mind if I take a look?" they asked, reaching for the book.
"Not now, still studying," Apple replied, swatting Artichoke's hand away.
"Studying? For what?" Artichoke asked, "You're in the Emperor's Coven, study time's over," they reminded.
"What's wrong with someone wanting to better themselves?" Grape asked.
"I'm studying because I have to," Apple said, "I came into the Emperor's Coven with the promise that I was the best of the best when it came to Beast Keeping," they explained, "But when I saw that thing, I had nothing," they said.
"I mean, it was some tall skeletal beast, what's more to it?" Artichoke said, confused.
"By the Titan if you put a random claw in front of me, I could tell you the beast it was from and how the beast has lived," Apple said slamming his book down, "Give me a hair and I could tell what your beast has eaten," they said getting up near Artichoke's mask, "But when I looked into the skull of that thing in the castle I couldn't tell anything about it!" Apple explained.
"Nothing?" Artichoke replied.
"Nothing!" Apple exclaimed , sitting back down, "So I'm studying until I find what that thing was made of, until I can categorize it," picking up their book again and beginning to read.
"Working hard to fix a mistake?" Artichoke muttered, "I respect it," they admitted.
"Attention," the scouts' captain called, "We have our assignments for the day," he told the other scouts.
"Has the thing in the castle been caught yet?" Apple quickly asked.
"The guards have been informed not to give out information on the beast in the castle," the captain quickly replied.
"Come on, captain," Apple whined, "Can't you tell me anything?" they asked.
"For our new mission-" the captain began.
"Dang it," Apple whined.
"-we will be working at a guard station in Thoralle," the captain told the other scouts.
"Thoralle? That's a rather peaceful city," Grape said in response.
"Doesn't matter, our job is our job, we have to go," the captain ordered.
"Wasn't arguing," Grape replied.
If Axel was listening to the situation closely, he would have noticed the captain's foul mood, but he was far too focused on what Apple was talking about.
Undoubtedly, the monster that Apple was talking about was him.
Axel then clenched his hands; he could feel the glyphs carved into his skin. The glyphs offered power beyond anything that he should be able to do.
And yet, if he used them too much, it would be extremely obvious to anyone in the Emperor's Coven that he was the monster.
'The only reason I got away last time was that I was only facing grunts, if the Coven heads came, or worse, the Emperor...'
"Beetle?" Grape asked, "You good?" she asked
"Yep!" Axel replied, snapping back to reality.
"We need to be in top condition!" the captain yelled out.
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The guard station was a simple one; it was pale white with golden highlights. The station had one floor with a high roof.
Within the station was a large desk, a jail cell, and that was it. It wasn't very large.
"I call staying inside first," Apple said.
"Being inside means you can't read your book," Artichoke reminded.
"I call standing outside first," Apple said.
"You can't read outside either!" Artichoke said.
"I call taking the first break," Apple said, leaving.
"I will have you transferred to the dudgeon if you-" the captain began to say.
Lettuce patted the captain on the back.
The scout's captain took a breath in, then a breath out.
"You can read your book inside, but if that door opens, I want it away," the captain then ordered.
"Understood Captain," Apple replied.
"I want you two out front," the captain said, pointing at Artichoke and Grape, "You three stay inside, rotate in three hours," he ordered, "I'll be back in five minutes," he said before marching out the door.
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It was two hours past when the captain said he was going to return.
No one had come in yet, much to the enjoyment of everyone on the inside.
Apple was still reading his book, Lettuce was probably asleep, and Axel was trying to figure out what to do if some witch walked through the door.
There was probably a workbook somewhere in the library about what to do, but Axel wasn't anywhere near a library.
'Maybe I can get a conversation going and get information about what we should do from that'
"So, where do you think the captain is?" Axel asked his two fellows inside the scouts.
"Probably dead or something," Apple replied while flipping through his book.
"I don't think he would die easily," Axel said.
"Man, I don't know what the captain's doing," Apple then said while looking up from his book.
"You haven't found anything yet, have you?" Axel asked.
Of course, Apple hadn't found anything yet; he was searching through a book about beasts throughout history, and Axel had only recently was that thing.
"I've gotten a few leads but nothing concrete," Apple replied.
"Grieving," Lettuce said.
"What?" Axel asked, turning to Lettuce.
"Captain is grieving, you were talking about him, right?" Lettuce asked.
"Grieving?" Axel wondered.
"He died here," Lettuce.
"I don't think the captain's dead," Axel said, confused.
"Not the captain, him, Carrot," Lettuce replied.
"Carrot?" Apple asked.
"His old boyfriend," Lettuce answered.
"Hmm," Apple hummed in response, still deep into his book.
"It was here," Lettuce continued.
"In Thorville? Where?" Axel asked, staring Lettuce down.
"Here," Lettuce then said, pointing down.
"At this station?" Axel asked, "How do you know?" he wondered.
Axel still wanted to know what to do in case a witch walked into the guard station, but he was always open to a good story.
"I was there," Lettuce answered.
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"Carrot, what are you doing?" a younger captain questioned.
"Nothing, what are you doing, Flakes?" Carrot answered while messing around with the jail lock.
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"Wait a minute, the captain who doesn't like the nicknames had one of his own? And it was Flakes?" Apple exclaimed.
"Troll flakes," Lettuce specified.
"Don't interrupt the story!" Axel ordered Apple.
"Sorry," Apple said, returning to his book.
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"I'm trying to figure out what you're doing," Flakes responded while pinching the edge of his mask.
There were three scouts inside the guard station, and one outside.
"I'm adding some Abomination goo to it," Carrot answered.
"Why would you be doing that?" Flakes asked.
"Listen," Carrot replied, "Imagine if the door could open and lock by itself!" he explained.
"So you put Abomination goo into the lock?" Flakes responded.
"Exactly!" Carrot responded.
"But what if you're holding a criminal?" Flakes asked
"So," Carrot said, holding up his hands, "Don't be mad," he said.
"You mixed magic," Flakes realized.
Carrot tapped his foot once, which then caused the jail door to open.
"Carrot," Flakes said.
Carrot then tapped his foot twice, causing the jail door to swing closed, before locking up with a loud click.
"Just Bard and Abomination magic," Carrot explained.
"And Construction," Flakes pointed out.
"And Construction, couldn't get the door to move fast enough without it," Carrot admitted.
"Did you use Bard magic to make the click sound consistent?" Flakes wondered as he took a closer look at the lock.
"Yes! Are you done deconstructing my work?" Carrot asked while grabbing Flakes's mask and pushing him away from the lock.
"You know that the Emperor's Coven forbids mixing magic," Flakes responded.
"The Emperor's Coven forbids a lot of things," Carrot replied.
"Not wrong," Flakes murmured.
"What was that?" Carrot said, getting close to Flakes's mask.
"I said you weren't wrong," Flakes stated.
"That's what I thought," Carrot said, before tapping his mask on Flakes's mask.
"Please do your job," Lettuce said from the desk.
"Sorry, Lettuce," Flakes responded.
Then, the door to the guard station opened.
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"We got a witch who was throwing fruit at people," Artichoke announced while opening the door to the guard station.
"The story comes to life," Apple murmured, "And then Alki understood what the monster was!" Apple shouted out.
"No real names," Lettuce reprimanded.
Artichoke had a witch in their left hand, and in their right hand was a half-used potion.
"The Emperor's Coven sucks! The Emperor sucks!" the witch yelled out, "You suck!" she said, pointing at Artichoke.
"Why won't you be quiet?" Artichoke wondered while pulling her into the guard station.
"Because I'm the distraction," she answered, "Duh!"
Before any of the scouts could react, three witches cast spells at the guard station from the other side of the door.