Angel was surprised to realize that he did, which only served to make him dislike the bandit more. Silver reached down to his side and opened a small pouch. He revealed a large brown disk with a small button in its center.

The man pressed on it and tossed the device out before him. It expanded outwards, forming into a small circular table. Several chairs sprang up from around it. Silver sat down at one of the chairs and sent them a pointed look.

Baffled, Angel sat down across from him. Neither Vanessa nor Cowl made any move to join them. Silver clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“You are much more polite than your companions.”

“I think I’m just dumber,” Angel muttered.

Silver let out a short bark of laughter. “Perhaps. Do you care for a drink?”

“I don’t suppose you’re going to poison me?”

“We’ve got you dead to rights,” Silver replied. “Why would I need to poison you?”

He pulled a flask from his side and took a swig from it before offering it to Angel. The Seeker studied the man for a moment, then shrugged and took it from him. He took a quick drink and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was just water.

“Thanks,” Angel said, handing it back to him. “I have to say, you aren’t like most of the other bandits I’ve interacted with.”

“Nor are you akin to the majority of my targets,” Silver said. “The general response tends to include brainless scampering and screaming.”

“Sounds horrible,” Angel said with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

“Indeed,” Silver agreed. “It really is a pity that we had to meet in these circumstances. I hate to interfere with a good man’s work.”

“Well, you don’t have to interfere if you don’t want to.”

“Nor do you have to complete your own job,” Silver replied. “We can dance around this until the sun sets again, but it’ll get us nowhere.”

Silver drew a segmented blade from its spot at his side and set it down on the table. He drummed his fingers on the hilt, his gaze shifting from Angel to Vanessa.

“Boss Silver!” a man called down to them from the ship. The bandit’s eye twitched.

“Now is not the time, Terrence. I’m in the middle of a discussion.”

“The Magistrate stiffed us, sir!” the man yelled. “I just finished counting through the Vei – we’re fifty short!”

“I told you to count that three days ago!” Silver said, his composure breaking as he glared up at the man from beneath his wide brimmed hat. “Are you sure you counted it right?”

Angel took the moment to discreetly pop one of the cylinders from his arm and slide it into the slot in his arm.

“Yes boss!”

“And how do you know?” Silver asked, crossing his arms. “Did you count it twice?”

“Three times, boss!”

“Why didn’t you tell me it was coming up short the first two?” Silver snapped. He shook his head in disgust and slammed his sword back into its sheathe. “What is it with you people and pushing their responsibilities off until the last minute? Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be to deliver the girl to the Magistrate, only to realize we’d been scammed after we finished the task?”

“Damn Magistrates,” Angel said. “Horrible customers.”

“I can’t agree more,” Silver said, clicking his tongue. “Almost as bad as lazy subordinates. I suppose this does throw something of a wrench into our discussion. Without the coin, I don’t see any good reason to tarnish our polite conversation.”

“You’re letting us leave?” Vanessa asked, her eyes widening.

“Leave is such a strong word,” Silver said, waving his hand. “Perhaps a ‘temporary stay of hunting’ would be more accurate. I’ll be calling the good Magistrate shortly after our chat, and he’s going to give me the rest of my fee. And then I will come looking for you again. If you manage to run farther, we might even get paid extra for the trouble of chasing you down. A good trade, no? I get more money, and you get a taste of hope.”

“That’s quite considerate of you,” Angel said.

“Consider it thanks for being so civil. It’s hard to have a good conversation nowadays,” Silver said. “It was a pleasure meeting you…”

“Angel.”

“It was a pleasure, Angel,” Silver said. “I look forward to our next chat in a day or two. Take care of yourself.”

Silver whistled and jerked a thumb up at the craft above them. His crew grabbed onto the ropes, which started to ascend as a pulley system chugged to life on the ship’s deck.

Angel blinked. The bandit actually seemed to be telling the truth. The man had to be playing at something, but he didn’t have any idea what it might be. Silver laughed at the Seeker’s expression. He slapped the table and it collapsed back into a small disk, nearly dumping Angel on the sand. Silver pocketed it and gave them a wink.

“I’ll be seeing you all,” the bandit said, grabbing onto his rope as it started to rise up into the sky. “Make sure the three of you run as fast as your little feet can carry you. I’d hate for either of us to start overstaying our welcome.”

The chopper rose up into the air, their shade vanishing as it disappeared behind the distant clouds. The three of them stared up at it, baffled.

“Did we just get spared because he got cheated out of his money?” Vanessa asked, her expression alternating between disbelief and fear.

“Questions later,” Cowl said, his wings sprouting from his back. “Don’t look good fortune in the mouth. We move. Now. That man was far too relaxed. A fight against his crew would almost certainly end very badly for us. We need to reach Churning Sands before they catch back up to us.”

Vanessa and Angel didn’t need to be told twice. Angel hopped onto his board and Vanessa’s skates hummed to life. Cowl took off and the two of them took off after him. They spoke little throughout the rest of the day, traveling late into the night and setting up camp quietly.

Angel found himself too on edge to even toy further with his pendant. He let Cowl take the first watch and drifted off to a restless sleep as quickly as he could. Luckily, the night passed without issue. Cowl awoke Angel for his watch, which was perfectly boring.

They had a quick breakfast and immediately set off once again, Cowl at the lead. Despite the strange events from the previous day, none of them seemed eager to speak. When the dark form of town walls started to materialize on the horizon, Angel let out a sigh of relief.

“Almost there,” he said. “It looks like Silver didn’t end up getting his payment.”

“Yet,” Cowl said grimly. “That kind of man doesn’t take no for an answer. He’ll be back. We just need to make sure we’re far enough away that he can’t find us. We need to get a map at Churning Sands. I don’t dare travel past the center of the Barren without one.”

“In and out,” Angel agreed. “Just keep an eye out for bandits. I’m honestly surprised we haven’t run into one of the smaller groups yet.”

The sand in front of them shifted. Dozens of tall copper pillars about the width of a forearm rose up from it in a circle around them. Large, circular disks sat atop the pillars, glowing faintly. Blue energy crackled to life between them, forming a sparking fence.

The three of them skidded to a halt. Cowl shot Angel a look. It was impossible to see what he was thinking behind the mask, but Angel got the feeling that he was getting glared at.

“Did you really have to say that?” Cowl asked, drawing his sword.

“I’ll keep my mouth shut next time,” Angel said. He still had the canister from their interaction with Silver loaded in his arm, so he didn’t make any sudden movements.

Vanessa jerked her head back and forth, trying to find where the pillars had come from. “More bandits? Where are they? Underground?”

A grating laugh reached Angel's ears. Four men rose up from the sand, each wearing a mask with a breathing tube that ran down to a small tank at their sides.