NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 24.3 Blocked
“What do you mean we aren’t allowed to talk to the staff?”
“It’s exactly what you think it means.” The dean of Mya University replied gravely. “Due to the circumstances of your friend and one of my students disappearing, it was permissible to ask questions at that time.”
Rick could barely keep his boiling rage in check. It took nearly all he had just to keep his voice calm and his volume below an indignant roar. “And as I just told you, after reviewing the information we collected, some followup questions about the whole debacle are necessary to find her!”
The older man gave a sigh and placed a wrinkled hand on Rick’s shoulder. “Look, if it were completely up to me, I would let you through with no regrets whatsoever. But unfortunately, the decision rests with those above me.”
“The Rivenmoor family ordered you to stonewall us?”
The dean’s eyes grew wide in surprise. “And why would you assume a thing like that?” His tone wasn’t accusatory, more genuinely curious.
Rick crossed his arms and scoffed. “Who else has the power over the dean of a school besides the nobility? Specifically the very noble family that sponsored this whole event, whose daughter just won the first year tournament by default. The very same family we had a mild altercation with the day before everything went down so they would know us on sight and order you to stop from asking questions. Don’t you find that just a tad suspicious?”
The older man straightened up and looked Rick over with a more critical eye. “It seems young Sade liked to keep similar company.” He muttered softly before continuing. “Be that as it may, I’m still barred from letting you continue your investigation here.”
Rick wanted to argue further but the dean held up his hand. “But that doesn’t stop me from informing you that many of the staff helping with this event are employees of the school, or that the majority will be working there tomorrow morning.”
Rick’s eyes grew wide as he finally started to pick up what the old man was putting down. “I understand. And… I’m sorry sir… For losing my patience with you.”
The dean gave a warm smile of his own. “Truth be told, I and much of the faculty are all fond of her as well. Which brings me to another matter. Aside from interviewing the attendants, was there anything else you were hoping to achieve here in the arena?”
The dean’s words were all but dripping with implication. Thankfully, Rick wasn’t nearly so dense that he could miss the double meaning. He looked towards his dwarven friend and waved her forward. “Hey Daniela, could you do your best to explain what you were planning to look for and where?”
The petite blonde woman sighed, but nodded her head in agreement. The next several minutes were oddly amusing to those sitting on the sidelines. With each new sentence Daniela spoke, the old man’s eyes grew wider and wider. By the time she had finished, what little of his mouth they could see underneath his flowing beard was slack jawed, and his face a ghastly pale.
“Miss, If I wasn’t completely sure that you are doing everything you can to find one of my students… I would be very worried about exactly where you got your expertise.”
That caused the dwarven woman to let out a great bark of laughter. “Ha! Don’t worry so much about it. I’ve often been called on jobs to test how well a casa is warded against thieves.”
As she boisterously patted the taller gentleman on the back, her words seemed to mollify him somewhat. Rick thought it best to not point out that although there were no doubt legitimate businesses that offered those kinds of services, she didn’t exactly say the jobs she performed were of the legal variety. It was probably best he didn’t ask her when they got home either. Sometimes ignorance truly was bliss.
Exiting the stadium, Rick was at a loss for what they should do next. They wouldn’t be able to interview the school staff until the following morning and none of Daniela’s or Tyr’s various contacts had reached back out to them just yet. While word of mouth spread incredibly fast when the local rumor mill was in full swing, getting people to come forward with any useful information was agonizingly slow.
“Anyone have any ideas on what we should do? Because the last thing I want is to sit on my ass while twiddling my thumbs.”
He felt two separate sets of hands rest on his broad shoulders. “We’ve done all we could for the moment.” Lilie said softly. “Let’s grab Tyr and the four of us take a walk through the city.”
“Yeah! We can also map out all the different routes from here to the noble district while we’re at it.” Daniela offered.
Rick looked at the two women and gave a small smile. “That’s… That’s a good idea. I think the fresh air would do Tyr some good as well.”
They would not stop hunting for their friend and lover, but spending a few moments to calm down and refocus was equally as important as finding her. Tyr, being the wild woman that she was even when not saturated with pregnancy hormones, had taken the longest to learn that fact. But Rick would be damned if he didn’t do his best not to let the search for one person ruin the lives of everyone else he cared about.
…
The past few days had not been fruitful.
Rick glared at the wall before him as if the overgrown mass of ink and paper could speak actual words but still chose to keep its secrets hidden. They had done nearly everything they could to divine a location of where Sade had been held, but not a single scrap of information could provide that one vital clue. They had interviewed all the staff at the event, combed the building and surrounding areas, interrogated city guards, and even dragged people off the street, all in the hopes of finding out where she had been taken. But over and over, one glaring issue had made itself apparent.
They were being blocked.
The question as to whom was easy. The Rivenmoors were the only noble family Rick and the rest of his new family had any sort of relations with. Actually proving the high elf family was behind all the various obstructions was a completely different matter entirely.
There was never any outright statement that the Rivenmoor’s were putting pressure on anyone involved, but the signs were everywhere. Halfway through the interviews with the staff of Mya University who worked at the tournament, a messenger arrived. The moment the note he carried was read by the dean, he solemnly stated that any further questions would be constituted as harassment and that they should leave immediately.
Thankfully, the sneaky old man managed to slip a written report over to Daniela the moment they arrived that morning. Combined with what they already learned, they didn’t leave the situation empty handed, but it was clear that they would receive no further help from the school moving forward.
The city guards were even less helpful. Somehow or another, word of who Rick and the others were had spread amongst the constabulary, with specific instructions to politely, but firmly, tell them to pound sand if they come calling. Rick didn’t know exactly how those men and women or their leadership were threatened, but if his experience dealing with the guard was any indication, it had to be something substantial. It takes some serious brass balls to look an emotionally compromised forest elf in the eyes and tell her to piss off, especially one of Tyr’s impressive stature. Yet, every single one they approached had managed the feat.
Rick of course would be considerably more impressed with their testicular fortitude if they weren’t directly getting between him and finding the woman he loved. And of course, holding back the rest of his women, especially said emotional elf, from crushing those overly solid orbs into a fine red paste.
Despite all her talk about remaining calm and composed, the pale healer’s patience at being denied answers had worn dangerously thin.
The one bright spot was that although the Rivenmoor family had ample resources to stop them, their ability to prevent people from talking wasn’t infinite. All the various drinking buddies Tyr had made throughout the city had finally pulled through and brought a few people forward who saw something strange the day Sade was taken. Combined with the more shady contacts that owed Daniela a few favors, and a clear picture of events finally began to emerge.
After being subdued, and not without her extracting her own pound of flesh in the process, Sade had been loaded up into an unmarked carriage and taken off site. From what various witnesses had seen, the vehicle went seemingly all over the city. While the last reported sighting had it near the border wall to the noble district, nobody had actually seen the carriage actually cross that border.
This meant that Sade’s captors probably hadn’t foolishly taken her to their home. Not that it helped all that much.
The final location of the love of his life still eluded him. Not only that, but the reason for all of this was still up in the air. Sure, the Rivenmoor’s could have taken Sade so that she wouldn’t get the chance to show up their daughter. But Rick refused to believe a noble house would go through all that trouble for such a petty and insignificant reason.
And judging from what they heard from the staff and fellow students who were still in the tournament on the day of the finals, Ariwyn Rivenmoor was not privy to her family’s plans. By all accounts, her fury at being denied her chance to fight Sade had been legendary. She had even steadfastly refused to stand on the winner’s podium, roaring in rage that her title as first year champion was hollow.
When he thought back on that little detail, it was entirely possible they were all looking in the wrong direction. There was an enmity between their two groups, as well as probable cause, but none of it seemed to fit. There was a major piece of the puzzle they were just not seeing, and that bugged the shit out of him.
Rick was beginning to lose hope.
Glaring one last time at the wall of papers, he turned around and headed out the door of the trophy room. Everyone’s nerves were beginning to fray. The only thing that had managed to keep everyone somewhat sane was the love they shared for each other. Unfortunately, that could only hold them all together for so long. Rick estimated that they had only a few more days before one of them finally snapped, and he honestly couldn’t tell which one of them it would be first.
With one last look at the messy room behind him, Rick closed the door and headed towards their massive bedroom.
Wherever she was, he dearly hoped that Sade wasn’t suffering. He would never forgive himself otherwise.