Draw a Long, Straight Line

Annan needed to rethink what he knew.

After a day with this group, he had come to see them in a new light:

Michael looked like an Academy Magic Mage from the Mage Tower, but he was as sly as a rat. He liked letting enemies think he was a frail Mage, then, once they came close, swinging an oak Staff fitted with a nearly ten-pound battering ram.

Francois was a Baron with a miserable past and a derogatory nickname. He made no effort to hide his desire to curry favor with Annan, and he did have excellent archery skills and battlefield instincts. In private, though, he seemed to have a peculiar, slightly strange hobby that was hard to speak of.

Katarina was a Fanatic who worshipped the Human King, though fanaticism had not yet consumed her. Her faith had somehow grasped a truth Annan knew, but behind that truth seemed to lurk something too horrifying to put into words.

Klein, the man in full armor, had never taken off his helmet. His identity was a mystery, as was his gender. He followed some kind of Knights' code without being rigid about it, and his frank manner with Annan suggested a thing or two.

Della... Della!?

Annan suddenly remembered that the elven Guards Lady Fine Wine had assigned to him had been following him all along. Whether it was the attacker claiming Lady Fine Wine was behind it, or their investigation of the clues, none of them had held back in front of her.

He even remembered Michael's odd expression whenever they discussed Lady Fine Wine, as though he had wanted to say something but stopped himself.

"Della?"

At his call, the elven Guards seemed to materialize out of nowhere. In fact, she had been there the whole time.

"What