“Darling, is everything alright?” Elliott said, once he’d reached Lyla. The boy and the girl that had distracted her had also begun walking away, but Elliott kept his eyes on the boy who had the purse as he casually walked through the crowds. He was a little on the plump side, wearing a tattered t-shirt streaked with dirt, and more brown than white now. The t-shirt hung over black shorts that came just past his knees.

  Lyla spun to face Elliott.

  “Everything’s fin–” She cut off as Elliott wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her in close, his mouth by her ear.

  “Your seven ‘o’ clock,” he whispered. “Fat kid. Brown shirt, black shorts. Follow him. See where he goes.”

  He let her go, a gleaming smile on his face as he tapped the tip of her nose with his finger. Her eyes narrowed at him, her lips pressed together. But she was a spy. She knew how the game worked. “Would you mind paying for my goods, honey? I’ll see you at home shortly?” Lyla said, her tone a little curt. She took a quick glance over her shoulder to spot the mark.

  “Of course. Anything for you, my dear.”

  Okay, maybe that was a bit much!

  Lyla looked like she wanted to gag. She turned around, heading slightly away from where the boy was going.

  Elliott turned to the elf who had a welcoming smile on her thin lips and wide-eyed green eyes. There was an ageless quality to her porcelain skin and she had long silver braids hanging to her chest. She looked anything but a thief – and gave no indication of what she had done.

  “How much?” he asked, an eyebrow raised.

  “Four silver and three bronze please, sir.”

  Seven bronze short of a gold. He fished in the inner lining of his jacket, removing a gold coin and dropping it into the elf’s outstretched palm.

  “May as well make it a round gold,” he said.

  She nodded in gratitude, dropping the coin into a drawer behind the counter before handing him a paper bag. He took a peek inside – four knitting needles and several balls of yarn in various colours. He scrunched the top of the bag and held onto it. He’d put it in inventory later – he didn’t want people seeing the bag disappear in front of them.

  “I see a few elves around,” he said to the woman. “Other races too. I’m surprised you wouldn’t go back to your lands or to one of the other races’ lands.”

  “Why would we?”

  “Well, the war’s on Aldren’s doorstep. It doesn’t scare you that Bizayn will attack?”

  “What will be, will be,” she said, smiling at him. “We’ve seen a lot in our lifetimes. Humans are always involved in war in one way or another.”

  “Bizayn’s not exactly welcoming to foreigners.”

  “Sounds like you might not be welcoming to foreigners.”

  He laughed. She wasn’t as open with her thoughts as the tailor. “I suppose it does a bit. Well, thank you for the goods. May you have a blessed day.”

  She tilted her head respectfully. “And you, sir.”

  He walked away, making his way back towards the buildings. He’d [Conceal] once he was out of sight and wait on the roofs above the market. Behind him, he could feel the presence of the gold coin he had given the dollmaker. The [Trace] he had applied to it was undetectable.

  There weren’t elves on Earth – but he had come across them in some dungeons. They were always painted as moral and serene but he’d come across ones that were anything but.

  He wondered what type the dollmaker was.

  It was several hours later with the sun dipping below the horizon and a blazing amber glow settling over the city that Elliott walked along the roofs of the buildings in the southern part of Carsonne. Ahead of him, he could sense the presence of Lyla and Isabel – Lyla having her own [Traced] coin that he had given her earlier and Isabel through their shared [Ethereal Bond]. He kept his eyes over the edge to his right, fixed on the elf dollmaker walking several paces ahead through the less well-kept streets of the city. Where the centre and the roads leading to the palace were paved with stone, the streets further out were made of packed mud and dirt.

  He leapt over the gap between two buildings, the street thirty feet below, just as the elf ducked to her right into another street. He rushed forwards and waited, watching as she walked a third of the way into the street then stopped. The streets here were empty and quiet, the elf alone, with her back to him. He could sense she had the [Traced] coin with her. She glanced over her shoulder at the base of the building that he stood on but she wouldn’t know he was there. She was just being cautious.

  Because she stole or something else?

  She walked a few steps further on, then approached a three storey building to the right. Elliott strafed to his left, to get a better look.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  [Magnify Vision]

  The elf knocked on the door in a specific manner – three knocks then pause, then one knock, then pause, then four knocks. Then she waited, head glancing side-to-side but he couldn’t see any signs of nervousness in her. She reminded him of himself in his early adventurer days. When he and Elsie were still hunted. They had been cautious like the elf, but not nervous of what they might face. If he had to take a guess, he’d assume she was facing something similar – always on the lookout for people that might be hunting her but prepared to face whatever it was.

  The elf turned back to the door, seeing it slowly pull open, enough for her to slip inside. Elliott didn’t get a look at whoever opened the door before it was shut again. He looked up, at the building across from the one the elf had gone into.

  He dismissed [Magnify Vision] and applied [Exalted Perception]

  The world around him faded and the outlines of Isabel and Lyla came into focus, standing on separate corners of the same building, eyes fixed on the door the elf had walked through. He dismissed [Exalted Perception], his vision returning to normal and jumped across the two-metre gap to the buildings opposite him, walking towards the other two. When he reached them, he applied [Conceal] to them both.

  “You can drop your stealths,” he announced, drawing a small gasp from Lyla, though she did as asked.

  “You can see through stealth?” she asked, as she walked towards him from her corner. Isabel was already at his side as they stood near the edge, watching the building opposite.

  “It’s not hard,” he replied. “Nothing is. It’s just a matter of knowledge and determination.”

  He focused on the building the elf had walked into.

  [Detect Magic]

  Coloured sigils stirred into life across the building like a house covered in Christmas lights.

  “The whole place is warded. They’ll know right away if we enter.” He turned to each of them. “What are you both doing here anyway?”

  Isabel gestured for Lyla to speak first. “This is where that kid came with my purse. I’ve been up here since then, just watching kids come and go. A couple every hour. I’ve seen a few adults as well – elves, humans, even an orc. Quite a few for the size of the house though, and most didn’t come back out.”

  “And you?” Elliott asked Isabel.

  “I followed a group of the kids here. Didn’t see them again, but halfway through the day, a man came by with a horse and cart. Some crates were loaded on the back – ten of them. Kid-sized. An elf, dressed like a merchant joined the man and I followed them to the docks. The elf spoke to one of the ship captains, passed him a money purse and the crates were loaded onto the ship.”

  “Any idea where it’s going?” Elliott asked.

  “The manifests had three names. Kocci, Barzun and Saria.”

  “Kocci and Barzun are Orcish port cities,” Lyla offered. “Saria is a beastkin port city. The river travels south into the Great Lake of Iskaria. Those cities are on the eastern side of the lake – several hundred miles away.”

  Elliott turned back to the building. “Maybe these are refugee kids, then? They lure them in with promises, put them to thieving and whatever else and sell others?”

  He glanced at Isabel. He’d found her in not-so-different circumstances. Children used for the depraved cravings of men and women. He was relatively indifferent to the comings and goings of others – even criminals. As long as it didn’t affect him, he didn’t get involved. But there was one thing he absolutely abhorred. Child exploitation. It was the only empathy he carried – he knew how hard it was to be a child without protection from the adults around them. Even so, he didn’t specifically seek such things out, but if he became aware of it, it was hard to turn a blind eye to it. Besides, if Elsie ever heard about it, never mind Isabel being right beside him, he’d never hear the end of it if he walked away.

  He glanced up to the north, in the vague direction of the dungeon. It’s not like he didn’t have the time.

  “What are we doing then?” Isabel asked.

  Before he could answer, the [Traced] coin began moving towards him. His eyes snapped to the front door. He expected to see it open and the elf dollmaker to step out but though the coin moved through where the door was, it wasn’t open and there was no elf. It couldn’t be a concealed teleport, he knew that much. [Teleport] was limited to somewhere that was visible to the caster. She couldn’t have teleported through the door, but the coin continued moving.

  The elf – or someone she had given the coin to – should have been down there on the street, walking right into the building they were standing atop. And yet, the [Traced] coin passed under them. Elliott swivelled his head around, looking at the grey concrete roof as if trying to see through it to the coin. It was definitely moving away from them to the south.

  “They’re using tunnels.”

  He glanced up. The city walls were less than a hundred metres away. Lyla had said more people came than would be usual for a house of this size, and the kids Isabel had followed hadn’t come back out. Either they were in those crates on their way to another land. Or maybe they were moving underground to somewhere else, outside the city.

  “Isabel. Stay here and keep an eye on the building. If you don’t see anything else of note, join us. Lyla, follow me.”

  He started walking across the rooftops. The [Traced] coin was twenty metres ahead, moving at a brisk walk. As expected, it was moving right towards the city walls and it wasn’t long before he and Lyla found themselves on the last row of houses huddled against the twenty metre tall stone battlements.

  Nearby, to both left and right, guards stood in the towers in pairs, lighting their lanterns against the deepening twilight. Elliott leapt atop the wall, Lyla landing beside him a moment later. Below them, farmland dotted the countryside giving way to rolling plains of wild grass. In the distance beyond, nestled among scattered groves of oak and birch, smoke rose from the chimneys in the small villages, the odd window glowing faintly as night settled in.

  He kept his eyes on where the coin should be, following as it headed beyond the farms and towards the villages, when suddenly – halfway between the two – it veered off towards the right. He looked ahead to see where it was headed and towards the southwest, he could see a dark mass of shadowed trees, packed densely together.

  “It’s heading towards that forest,” he said to Lyla. “Hold my hand.”

  “You’re getting awfully comfortable with me,” Lyla replied, craning her neck away from him, her eyebrow raised.

  “You should be so lucky.” He held out his hand, and after a brief hesitation, she did as asked.

  [Sanctuary of the Wind]

  [Sentinel Blockade]

  [Nullify Motion]

  [Fly]

  Lyla let out a scream, before she managed to compose herself. He allowed himself a small smile. He accelerated them beyond the coin, racing towards the forest. Like the Rhianians before, the forest was the best place to hide – secluded from prying eyes and easier to defend against most, the dense foliage providing natural protection and hiding places. The coin coming this way only solidified in his mind that the elf and whoever she was working with had a lot to hide.

  He spent a few minutes flying over the forest, looking for signs of life, keeping an eye on the direction the coin was still moving. The canopy below was thick, darkness and shadows filling the gaps between the trees. No clearings. No campfires. Somewhere, he could hear a faint trickle of water.

  “There,” Lyla whispered. He looked towards where she was pointing.

  Through a tiny gap, there was the faintest flicker of light.