As the town burned behind me I was walking down the road. I admit it probably didn't look necessarily great walking away from a blaze, but you know I'm not one for optics. There weren't many cars coming, but I was assured by one of the ghosts during my brief stay in town it had been the off season. I don't even know why I was walking, or what I hoped to accomplish, hometown was miles away, the train station I'd ridden to get there was on fire and trains weren't exactly regular to begin with, and I was wearing terrible traveling shoes, basically I was doing the most Lorentino thing possible. So it came as a bit of a surprise when a huge convoy of soldiers came driving up, I have to admit it was the last thing I expected, even more so to Hanlon front and center in the lead truck.
"Ahoy Trezlan you're back up is here!" I want to take a moment here to say no one uses ahoy as a greeting anymore, Hanlon is a man of complete mystery, but apparently he likes terms that no one uses.
"I don't recall asking for any help."
"Which makes my help all the more needed." I turned around and could see the fire almost spreading.
"Unless you brought water I don't think you'll do much back there Hanlon." He smiled, it was rather creepy, again his facial expressions never betray regular emotion, they are always at best a mimic of the real thing. So when he smiles its like a particularly human looking animal smiling without knowing what smiling actually is.
"No I don't believe we brought any water, guess I'll just turn around, you need a ride home Trezlan?" I thought for a moment it would be better to say no, but seeing as I had no supplies, minimal money, and bad shoes decided I did indeed need a ride, I loaded up into the back of Hanlon's truck, which I swore had people in it but when I got in there, there was no one. There wasn't even supplies. It was just a covered truck with no cargo, I had to wonder what back up he hoped to bring, indeed as the truck turned around the other trucks I swear I saw also just vanished. I wrote it off as fumes from the fire, but I tell you its more than a little alarming that Hanlon had an army and then he didn't, he's done this trick before, but I hoped in modern times with it being harder to just have an army and not have an army Hanlon would stop doing this, my hopes of course were not to be realized!
Anyway I sat in the back of an empty truck for a really awkward ride home, all things considered I should have walked.
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