Private Erdwin Dalkins Works Overtime on Hearthswarming, and Is Mad About It

Also Titled: What Ever Happened with Buggy's Note to Severn Handred? 

  Private Erdwin Dalkins was not having a good Hearthswarming. In fact, he wasn’t having a Hearthswarming at all. He thought of his family, warm and happy together eating the traditional holiday meal. He thought of the special sweet buns his mother always made, and almost drooled. But here he was, out in the dark, and cold, working overtime because everything had gone to shit the night before.   With the APS disbanded (for lack of a better word), and the council dead, all that stood between the innocent civilians and the demons that hunted the city’s streets at night was the Watch.   He shivered, whether it was from the cold or fear he couldn’t tell. Normally, the APS runners would handle any demon sightings within a few moments of them arriving. The City Watch hadn’t had to get their hands dirty. He thought it odd that the APS was so proficient at killing the demons when they were at the same time purportedly working with them. Maybe they were using illusions? He didn’t know what to think. He also wasn’t paid to think, which was just fine by him. His superiors could do all of that for him, he just had to get through the night, go home and grab some leftovers. If his siblings were merciful enough to leave him anything at all. Erdwin felt his stomach growl.   “Hey, did you hear that?” His partner, Vera asked. “Sorry, I think I’m just hungry.” Vera rolled her eyes, “No, not your stomach idiot, that -” she was cut off by a loud crashing sound coming from up the street. “Holy shit!” Erdwin exclaimed, “I think we have something. Quick, blow the whistle!” Vera blew three sharp notes into the whistle to gather more guards to their location as the two of them began running towards the disturbance.   “It's coming from up on Elani Street” Vera huffed as she ran. Great, that place was crawling with magic, they were way out of their league here. As they rounded a corner and turned down Elani Street, he could hear whistles and footsteps coming from the other direction. At least they had backup. They zeroed in on where the noise was coming from. It was a cacophony of crashing, roaring, and whooshing sounds, and it was all coming from one of the small shops lining the street. The sign above the building said “Evanton’s Enchantments” and through the window, he could see several people battling what looked like some giant fire monsters, and some…wind?   Erdwin and Vera crept closer, making eye contact with two other guards coming from the other side of the street. “Holy shit, aren’t those the rogue APS runners?” Vera whispered. Erdwin looked closer and blanched. “They certainly look like the ones on all the wanted posters” he replied. “We are in way over our heads.”   Vera made some motions at the other pair of guards, signaling for them to get more backup. “We should just observe until we get some help,” she said. Erdwin wasn’t going to argue with that. As the fight continued, he couldn’t help but wonder why they were fighting those monsters instead of unleashing them on the city. None of this made any sense.   After a few moments, the fight began to die down as the rogue APS runners defeated the monsters. Erdwin gripped his sword. Was he going to have to fight those people? He certainly didn’t want to - based on what he just saw, he and Vera were no match.   He almost sighed in relief when instead of leaving, they went through the door that led to the back of the shop. They would have time to wait for backup. If they could surround the building with enough people, they might have a shot at arresting them.   A short time later, with multiple teams in place, and his superior officer, Corporal Allan Munc, on the scene, Erdwin felt far more confident about their odds. Finally, the door to the back opened and the group of traitors walked back into the main shop, followed by what appeared to be the shopkeeper. They looked exhausted and more wounded than he had seen them last. What in the nine hells were they doing back there? He hadn’t heard any more fighting. He swore as a few of them looked up and made eye contact with him and the other guards standing watch. Surprisingly, they didn’t seem to panic much and simply walked up the stairs. He noticed one of them stop, the one Erdwin recognized as the former Watch Corporal, and scribble something on a small sheet of paper before joining his compatriots.   Corporal Munc shouted orders through the window for the group to surrender, and when they didn’t, ordered the guards to begin knocking through the door and surrounding the building. The female shopkeeper looked out at the assembled guards tiredly, and then went back through the door to the back. What was her role in all of this? Erdwin wondered to himself, as Munc yelled at them to hurry up and break the door down. There must have been some magic on the door itself because it did not come down easily. Eventually, it did bend, and then finally break.   Guards flooded into the small shop, running up to the top floor and flinging open the door to the back. “Corporal, there is no one back here!” came a shout from the back hall. “There is just an empty office, I don’t see where she could have gone.” Corporal Munc scowled - “well keep looking, she has to have gone somewhere!” Similarly, from upstairs, a call came down that the traitors were nowhere to be found, but there was a fire escape they could have used to exit the building. Corporal Munc stormed out of the shop and began barking orders for guards to search the surrounding area.   Erdwin took the chance to walk over to the note left by the former Watch Corporal. It was addressed on the front to Corp. Handred. Erdwin vaguely recognized the name. He unfolded the paper and found a message written inside. It said: “Verify before you trust anyone. I wouldn’t do this for nothing. I’ll find her no matter what. - Buggy”   Erdwin scratched his head. He had no clue what this could mean, but guessed that Corporal Handred might. “Vera, take a look at this!” he motioned his partner over. She raised her eyebrows and whistled. “Well, that’s cryptic. None of this makes any fucking sense.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, “We don’t get paid enough to deal with this shit. Ask Munc what he wants to do with it.” Erdwin nodded, and he agreed, this was way above their pay grade. He would pass this off to the Corporal, and then finally head home for one of those buns. Erdwin approached Corporal Munc on the street, “Excuse me, Sir, I think you should see this.” Erdwin handed the note to the Corporal. The Corporal looked at the front and saw the name written. “This is addressed to Corporal Severn Handred, did you see who wrote this?” “Yes sir,” Erwin replied, “it was the corporal that joined the APS, Becker I think his name was.”   Munc began to unfold the note when there was a shout from behind the building. “I heard something from over there!” A guard cried out. Munc reached for his weapon and pushed the note back into Erdwin’s hands. “I don’t have time for this, just take it to the sergeant in charge of the detective squad. It’s his guy, so he’ll know what to do with it.” With that, the corporal took off toward the back of the building.   Erdwin sighed. Well, it looked like he was stuck with it. But, he thought, it was unlikely that the sergeant would be in his office at this time of night. He would just have to wait and deliver it in the morning. He tucked the note into his belt and followed his partner to join the other guards in the search. With any luck, he’d be home within the hour.  
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  The next morning, a bleary-eyed Erdwin pushed his way through the large doors to the Watch’s headquarters. He didn’t have much occasion to visit the main office, as his squad was locally stationed in Midtown. There was a flurry of activity as guards rushed around the building. It took him a minute to find someone that could direct him to the Sergeant’s office, but finally, he was pointed in the right direction. He knocked on the office door.   “Come in” came a deep voice from inside. Erdwin opened the door, stepping through and saluting, making sure to stand to his full height. It wasn’t every day he interacted with someone as high-ranking as a sergeant. “What is it?” asked the man behind the desk, looking up from a stack of reports. “My name is Private Erdwin Dalkins Sir.” “I don’t care what your name is, what do you want? I’m busy.” Erdwin rushed to take the note from his pocket as the sergeant watched impatiently. “Sir, there was a sighting of APS Team 7 last night on Elani Street.”   “Were they captured?” The sergeant asked. The man seemed almost panicked as he asked, almost like he didn’t want to hear that they had been. Erdwin filed that under the “none of my business” category and continued, “No sir, but former Corporal, Harrison Becker, left this note behind. It’s addressed to one of your men sir. My superior officer, Corporal Munc thought you should have it.”   The sergeant frowned and reached out his hand. Erdwin handed over the note. “Thank you for bringing this to me, I can take it from here, you are dismissed.” Erdwin saluted again before leaving the room and quickly exiting the building. Once he was clear, he let out a sigh of relief and headed toward his station. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to deal with anything like this ever again.  
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  The sergeant behind the desk waited until the private had fully shut the door behind him before roughly unfolding the piece of paper in his hand. Reading its contents, he couldn’t help but smile. Another knock at the door interrupted his thoughts, as Corporal Aisha Dale barged into his office. “The team is wondering when you were going to hold a briefing,” she stated matter of factly. The sergeant scowled, “Dale! I won’t be operating as sloppily as Kassan was - things are going to be different around here now, and I expect proper decorum!!”   Corporal Dale’s expression turned sour. The woman just couldn’t keep a straight face and had a clear problem with discipline. The whole department had a problem with discipline and respect. He would have to be more strict with them. Dale finally managed a half-assed salute. “Apologies, Sergeant Kravits, sir, the team was wondering about the briefing.”   Sergeant Lucas Kravit let out an aggravated sigh. “There will be a briefing when I say there will be a briefing! Just keep looking for leads on the location of the traitors!”   “Sir, I really think we should discuss,” Kravits cut her off before she could finish. “Dismissed Corporal.”   “But I..” Kravits pounded his fist onto his desk, “I said dismissed damn it, get out!” he all but shouted. Dale’s eyes went wide, and he couldn’t help but feel satisfied that she seemed a bit afraid. “And send in Handred while you’re at it. I have something I want to discuss with him.” The woman nodded before turning and all but fleeing from the room.   Kravits looked back at the note. “I’m looking forward to our next encounter, Becker” he jeered, before tossing the note into the small stove that heated his new office.