"Sir we've arrived," The driver said, opening the carriage doors.
Tooka looked at the stairs leading up to the wooden doors and sighed. "Tell Derrick and Lez to come out."
"Understood." The driver bowed his head and shut the door. "Thud."
Tooka stared at Vance's frozen body leaning against the leather sit.
"The plan was to do a background check on you."
"Once I confirmed your weren't connected to any powerful families..." He glanced up at the officer insignia painted across the carriage ceiling. "None of that matters now. The higher up already know about you."
"All you had to do was shut up and lay low." A bitter smile tugged at his lips. "Now I can forget about that promotion."
"Knock. Knock"
"Come in," Tooka answered.
Derrick stepped inside with the women from the front desk behind him.
"What happened?" Derrick stared at Vance's frozen body.
"Just sit down," Tooka said.
"Yes sir," Darrick glanced at the seat beside Tooka, then quietly moved to the opposite side after noticing Tooka's cold stare.
Lex sat beside Tooka.
"Derrick," Tooka said, "what skills and gifts did you register on his ID?"
"None," Derrick instantly replied. "I left everything blank."
Tooka sighed. "This wouldn't have happened if Zel didn't take him to the mage tower."
"Is he dead?" Derrick asked.
"No. She froze him near death." Tooka stood up. "He's in cryosleep."
He turned to Lez, "please heal him, sweatheart."
She smiled and nodded. "Yes, sir."
Tooka stepped out of the carriage.
"What should we do with him?" Derrick asked looking through the open door.
"Just take him to the mountains." Tooka smirked looking over his shoulder. "Break his spirit."
"Thud." Tooka shut the door.
Derrick sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "Just when I thought I was about to make a rich friend."
"Stop being such a parasite," Lez said as the carriage began moving.
"You're calling me a parasite?" Darrick stared at her.
"Weren't you planning to suck him dry of all his money." She replied, "before the commander turned him into a slave."
Derrick leaned back into the red leather seat. "The lack of self awareness you have, honestly baffles me sometimes."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Just heal him."
Lez picked up Vance's frozen hands and smiled. "Do you think he raised his middle fingers at the section chief."
Derrick glanced at her before turning back to the window, watching the passing stone buildings and crowded vendors blur by outside.
People scrambled aside as the carriage rushed through the streets.
The carriage slowed down as it approached the Iron wall.
As it passed through the gate, a human women and a goblin walking back into the city appeared through the window.
"Should we do some damage control?" Derrick asked, looking at Jennifer.
"Why?" Lez replied as light spread across Vance's wrist and reattached his severed hand.
"If they have powerful connections, they'll contact someone."
She didn't bother to look at him while restoring the other hand. "I'll file a report that he's gone missing."
"And If someone comes to ask?"
"The commander and section chief will deal with it." She said pulling the shard from Vance's neck. ''You worry to much."
"Thud." She dropped back into her seat with the ice shard in her hands.
Vance's body sat upright, frozen stiff against red leather.
She got up and moved back to Vance.
Translucent circles formed around her wrist as soft light formed in her palms.
The frozen whole in Vance's neck slowly repaired itself. Flesh crawled from the edges inward until the wound seal shut.
She sat back down.
"Now we just wait for him to unfreeze," she said. "Then you restart his heart."
"Yeah," Derrick replied. "By tonight he should regain consciousness."
The carriage stopped.
"Let's start," Darrick said, standing.
The driver opened the door.
"I'll grab the legs." Derrick said holding Vance's frozen feet.
The driver nodded and lifted Vance onto his shoulders.
"This is going to take a while" Darrick muttered staring at the dense forest ahead.
Wind rustled through the tree's, and dry leaves crunched beneath their feet as they walked.
"Do you think he'll agree?" Lez asked.
Derrick looked back to the carriage that was still in sight.
He sighed, "he'll agree."
"How are you so sure?"
"Instead of asking dumb questions, why don't you focus on doing your part?" Derrick snapped.
The driver simply smiled as he carried Vance deeper into the forest.
"It seems you didn't need me," Lez replied with a smirk. "And we told you to stop dumping all of your stats into intelligence. It doesn't actually make smarter."
Darrick sighed. "if you were smarter, you wouldn't still be the commander's plaything."
"Thud." She stomped her foot. "What me and commander have is special."
"And unlike you, who fantasizes about the upper continents. I have realistic dreams."
"My chances of reaching the upper continents are still higher than your chances of being a stepmother," Derrick replied as they approached the rocky slope.
"Oh really?" A sinister smile spread across her face. "You need at least ten thousand stats before they'll even letting you in. With your pathetic five hundred, you'll die long before that."
"That's why we have him." Derrick looked at Vance's frozen body resting on the driver's shoulders.
"With the skill Extract, we can all reach ten thousand before another war begins."
Her expression softened slightly. "That's why I asked if you are sure he'd agree."
Derrick remained silent for a while, staring up the path along rocky slope.
Finally, he spoke. "I can't afford to fail."