Suggested Listening

Elruin answered Cali's question with a question of her own: "Why is that man wearing a dress?"

Cali chuckled for a moment. "It's a trap. People are less likely to suspect a woman, so some fool goes to help with the wrecked wagon, then his two buddies hiding in the trees jump them from behind. Threats made, victims robbed, killed, maybe worse stuff depending on who's caught. Simple highwaymen, nothing special." Cali dropped her voice some. "I don't get it, though. This is a terrible spot, nobody comes through here in the rainy season."

"There are five men hiding in the woods," Elruin interrupted Cali's thoughts. "Well, that's how many I see."

"Five?" Cali hesitated, looking out at the woods. "You're sure?"

"Yes, but three of them are weird." Elruin said. "There's one-"

Cali caught Elruin's hand as it started to go to up, then brought it back down. "Don't point. Don't do anything that might show them we know they're there. Just tell me where they are. The two I can spot are past the man in the dress, ducked behind that Pixie Vine, right?"

"I guess." Elruin had no idea what 'Pixie Vine' was, or how Calenda could identify it from this far away. She couldn't see any vine at all from this distance, only the soft green of generic foliage and its accompanying coloration of life. "And there's the one hiding in that big tree to the left. He's up on the big branch."

"The red oak? Are you sure... oh, oh wow, that is tricky." Calenda sounded impressed. "How did you see them from here?"

"They glow," Elruin said. "Trees and plants have a little glow, animals glow more, and people glow the most."

"Lifesight?" Cali smiled a little. "Useful. Keep that trick of yours a secret; lifesight can be beaten, but most people don't bother. It's not always laziness, either. You can only pile on so many stealth spells before you radiate magic like a miniature sun, which defeats the whole purpose of stealth magic. And there are several senses more common and threatening to prioritize first."

"Okay." The advice sounded reasonable enough to Elruin. "The other two are right behind that hill, and I think there's one under that leaf pile near the front. He's the closest." That covered all the others she saw, but after Cali talked about ways to beat magic senses, she didn't know if there might be more. "What do we do, now?"

Cali stretched her arms above her head. "Normally, I'd walk in, let them spring their little trap, then beat them to a pulp and drag them by what remained of their necks to the nearest village. The sheriffs love it when I do their job for them. But these guys are way better prepared than normal bandits if they got three people past my watersight, and I have to worry about you getting hurt."

"Probably smarter just to back away and take a different route, then contact the mercenary guilds and let them know we got a nice, juicy, bandit gang that got hold of some valuable magic or sarite," she continued after finishing her stretch. "That'll bring the adventurers running. Sometimes the only way you can tell the difference between the guilds and the bandit gangs is that the gangs stick to low risk, low reward targets... while mercs don't care about risks, only rewards."

"I can help," Elruin offered.

Cali stopped to consider it for a moment. "No, I don't think that's a good idea. True, you can take down a single mork, but these guys are murderers. You don't find any work with highwaymen if you haven't killed before. They can and will slit your throat, or take you and... well... a girl your age doesn't need to hear about what they do to captured women. Wild talent only goes so far, and you don't have the training to fight in close quarters."

"I don't have to get close." After years of hunting rodents with her magic, Elruin felt confident in her abilities.

"You have ranged magic?" Cali's smile widened. "Hmm, that might even work. If I bring up a fog cloud, it won't do anything to block your Lifesight. They might be fighting blind, or close enough to it. With you sniping and me running interference, yeah, we might be able to do this." Her smile faded a moment later. "But it's still a risk, even for trained mages. If things go bad, my abilities are mostly defensive or personal, I won't be able to protect you from them if they get hold of you."

"Does that mean we should let them go?"

"Like I said, I'd take the gamble if I was alone. But that's because I can run if I have to. I don't think you have that option," Cali said. "I guess it all comes down to whether you think it's worth the risk of getting hurt to stop the bad guys."