Ruyo went looking for trouble in the city, now that she'd shown off her powers.

The Hairy Eagle Pub was the kind of place where someone looking to get kidnapped could probably get her wish. Two tables of the low-ceilinged den hosted intense, complicated dice games, and more people were trickling in as the sun set. The merchants here were the rougher sort, mostly men, and most of the others looked and smelled like they'd been in stuffy workshops. By force of habit Ruyo tried to listen in on gossip about how candles and shoes and wicker were selling.

She relaxed at first. She ate and drank but went easy on the alcohol, discreetly refilling her mug with water. She loitered, holding a murmured conversation with Nusina about the city and other modern towns she'd visited. She fended off two would-be suitors with a little polite talk, then went over to gamble. Coins changed hands excitingly but she ended with only a small loss, a fair price for entertainment.

Back at her seat she idly practiced her magic. When she created a cloth napkin for herself, she got hardly any attention. "Starting to wonder if tonight is a bust," she said.

She was playing with her drink, to the annoyance of a serving-wench, when she lost control of a spell. A gout of watered-down beer flung itself at a table halfway across the pub and splattered all over a platter of grilled pork. It dripped along the table and onto three patrons.

The largest of them rose from his table and seemed to keep rising like a mountain, his head brushing the low ceiling.

"You there, the mage! Get over here!"

Nusina said, "Snap out of it."

Ruyo had been stunned by her mistake. "How'd I do that?" she said, and reluctantly went toward the big man to apologize.

He said, "Look at what you've done! And my shoes!" His tough leather clothes were splattered with water and pork. His companions were mostly spared but one had spilled his drink too. The whole room was getting quiet.

Ruyo said, "I'm very sorry, sir! Let me buy you a new meal. I can even clean your clothes if you want."

Somebody snickered. "You picked the wrong target, girl."

"It was an accident!" Ruyo insisted.

The man had a nasty scar on his neck and at least two blades on his belt. His friends were also clearly not in the candy and toys business. "On your knees to apologize, for a start."

Ruyo held out her hands and said, "I'll just be going now."

In an instant, one of the other two grabbed for her.

Ruyo hopped backward and flung a splash of water at his face. But she stumbled against a table.

She should've run, but this creep was trying to humiliate her or worse. "Never attack a magic user!" she said, and conjured the might of an angry goddess to hurl a massive spray of water at him. Except the might of this angry goddess came out as a pathetic splash that barely even reached him. The quick man just laughed at her.

A one-eyed man hefted the ruined pork and tried to swat Ruyo with it, but she ducked and the ham-fisted attack whiffed.

A pair of nondescript men emerged from the crowd and went after the fast guy, but couldn't connect. Ruyo recognized one of them; Vissio had her back!

The leader didn't attack her outright. He just drew one of his knives, slid it slowly along his chin, and gave her a smile straight from hell. A drop of his own blood ran along the blade. Ruyo stood there frightened.

In the commotion, someone else had gotten banged around, and now a second brawl started. Several people fled but others joined in for fun.

Ruyo hurled someone's full tankard at the guy who'd tried to grab her. It struck him right in the face and sent him reeling, tripping backward to hit his head on a table. A basket of bread fell on him but he was too unconscious to care.

One-Eye was toying with her, abandoning the meat to jab at her with a chair instead. Unfortunately for her, she got her leg caught on a fallen barstool.

So when the leader came for her with his knife, she couldn't get away. She screamed -- and a splash of beer soaked the man from behind! He turned around, but the culprit was invisible Nusina. There was a terrified patron standing nearby at the bar, though. The gangster got the wrong idea, yanking him up onto the counter and hurling him along it to crash into other people's drinks.

The Vissio men weaved through the crowd to accost One-Eye. One of them got a hand on him but only managed to distract him.

As the brawl widened, the man who'd ridden the whole counter crashed into someone else like a spear, interrupting another duel. Two chairs came flying back in return.

The leader dodged one without even looking, and watched with satisfaction as it struck Ruyo in one arm. The other hit a Vissio man and knocked him free of One-Eye, but they kept tussling with him.

Ruyo saw her chance. She climbed onto a table, seized a big round tin platter, and leaped at One-Eye's blind side to smash the disc on him like a gong. He went down. One Vissio man put a foot on his chest. Just for show, Ruyo conjured a ball of water in one hand and shouted, "Who's next?"

The thugs' leader slowly put his knife away and said, "Not me, today. Some other night." He circled slowly toward the door, abandoning his men, and said, "I'll think of you fondly, miss. And of what I'll do with you."

The poor barkeeper swore and browbeat the rest of the fighters into settling down. Several of them fled to escape blame and payment. Ruyo caught her breath for a moment, rubbed her bruised arm, and caught the Vissios' eyes before heading out, herself. There was no way the kidnappers would risk getting caught when people were paying attention to the bar.

She'd taken three steps outside when somebody threw a bag over her head and yanked her off her feet.

Ruyo called out, but something in the bag had a cloying smell and it was hard to focus. She struggled weakly as someone, several sets of boots on the cobblestones, carried her off somewhere. Others were behind them, running too, but there was a bright flash.

Nusina called in her ear, "Wake up! You can --" But Ruyo couldn't follow whatever the nice voice was suggesting. She fell asleep.

#

People were shouting. A man said, "Just walk away, Mother! We don't need you for this anymore."

"How dare you!" an old woman said. "I've been here since the beginning, and I think --"

"You only thought. I acted."

Ruyo's head spun. She mumbled, "Nu...?"

"I'm here," Nusina said, sounding distant. "You were poisoned."

She was in a dank stone room smelling of moss and old earth. Iron bars trapped her.

The spirit said, "I was out almost as long as you. I'm pretty sure these aren't the Khyber soldiers you talked about."

The arguing people had a local accent, and now that Ruyo could dimly see them in the distance, they wore robes. One stooped-over woman faced down a man with a pointed hood. Just silhouettes, lit by flame around a corner.

Ruyo whispered, "Is the missing boy here?"

"I was able to move around while you were waking up. I heard a child crying. But we've got another problem. You see that firelight? They've got an elemental."

Before Ruyo could answer, the old woman hobbled around the corner and into view. She smelled of flowers, and forced a smile onto her wrinkled face. "I'm sorry to put you through this, dear. An over-enthusiastic few people among our little circle insisted on getting more research."

Ruyo said, "For what, your pet fire creature?"

The lady's eyes widened. "You sense its power, eh?"

"I sense that you're in a great deal of trouble."

The man she'd been arguing with snorted with amusement as he followed her into the room. "Good morning, ma'am. You're a lucky find. You're going to help us better understand the deep secrets of magic."

The woman said, "But once we've gotten what we need, we'll be done with you, and you'll be free to --"

The man rushed her, and stabbed her. With a gurgle and a look of shock, she toppled to the floor.

Nusina echoed Ruyo's gasp. The lady's walking-stick wobbled and toppled toward the prison cell. The killer darted toward it and snatched it before Ruyo could, but she got a good look at his face. Sharp-featured, narrow, with deep hollow-looking eyes.

He said, "When we've got what we need, we will decide then if you're of any further use to us. Some people who've outlived their main use decide to be a bother, and then we have to remove them."

Ruyo cursed. "So you think a water expert will tell you how to control a fire elemental?"

He looked puzzled for a moment. "An 'elemental'? That's a good name for it, better than Mother's term. But you're not an expert, are you? You're a common street performer with a few unusual tricks -- and a new job."

Ruyo fell quiet, waiting for his move. She'd been allowed to keep her clothes, but the pockets had been rifled through and she now lacked her knife, her money and the locator pendant.

He whistled, and two hooded figures marched in. They startled at the sight of the murdered woman. He told them, "Feed her to our pet. Well? Do it!"

They carried her away.

"Now then. Let's talk about magic theory. Everything you know about these 'elementals', how they're made, how they're steered."

Ruyo kept sullenly quiet.

"Oh, don't force me to get creative. I'd rather stick to just denying you food and water until you help, but one of those is obviously off the table. I could just mention that I have a second test subject I can interrogate instead."

"Bastard."

"No, I'm only an orphan, as of today."

Ruyo muttered, "Ideas?"

"What was that?" the man asked.

Nusina said, "If we have time unsupervised, you can break bars with freezing."

Ruyo looked away. "I said, I don't know what your idea is. But it won't work."

The spirit asked, "Wait, was that directed at me?" Ruyo shook her head no.

Her captor shrugged. In the background, the firelight grew brighter and its crackling noise became like a hiss and crunch, making her shudder.

The man stretched. "Well, I have other things to do. I'll check back later." He waved and walked away, one boot stepping in the puddle of blood he'd left.

Ruyo waited a minute before asking her companion, "Did Vissio's men find the place?"

"I doubt it," Nusina said. "There was a flash, and then I lost track."

"They took the pendant too. If we're lucky they stashed it nearby."

"We can't count on being rescued."

Ruyo nodded. The room held only her cell and a few barrels; it looked like part of an elaborate cellar. "Could I make a key?"

"Maybe, if you knew the exact shape."

"You or I could probably pick locks with water."

"Neat idea, but you need to learn more fine control. That juggling act was sub-par."

Ruyo scowled. "I just watched someone get stabbed in front of me!"

"Sorry, sorry! I thought you could do with some humor."

She sighed. "It's fine. But let's focus. Can you scout again, please?"

"Now that you're awake my range is better. Here goes."

Blood had seeped into the cell, outlining each stone of the floor. Ruyo pushed it away by magic, but it barely reacted to her power. While the spirit floated away, Ruyo studied the bars as well as she could in the dim light. They rang when she tapped the dirty metal.

She couldn't find any weak points by jiggling things or scraping at the stonework. Her captors would never have to open the door if all they needed was information.

Nusina reported back, squeezing into the cell and flowing easily. "I didn't find the exit. The good news is that I did find Virid. He's in a cage like yours, poor thing. Only pebbles for company."

"What did you mean by freezing bars?"

"Freeze water around the metal, then melt it, over and over. Should weaken it, especially if the bars are hollow."

"They are."

"It'll take patience, but you can do it. Water can defeat anything over time."