When everyone awoke the next morning, Al was already awake, reading a book. “I see you’re doing better,” Raulin said, yawning.

“More than better.”

“What are you reading?”

He put his finger on the page to hold his place and shut the book. “Kantrat and the Giap Sea.”

“Oh, I’ve read that one. That’s the one where Kantrat marries a dryad and goes through several quests to prove his love to her.”

“Yes. Like melting his prized possessions to forge their wedding rings.”

Raulin watched him for a moment. “You have a clever look, Wizard. What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that, maybe, a man in his later years might have wound his mind up so tight with a legendary tale that he might have begun to think he was the main character. We found the pin marking his membership into the Order of the Sands in the fireplace. Maybe he was trying to melt it like Kantrat did.”

“That’s interesting. A bit of a stretch, but since we have nothing to work with, I think we should pursue it. Let me get the other two and we’ll begin our search.”

Anla was thrilled to hear that Al was awake. They returned to the kitchen, Al explained his thoughts, and Raulin pulled out his list.

“Kantrat,” Al began, “was a Berothian prince who was traveling through the desert when his entourage was ambushed. Only he lived, but he was without supplies and would have died had he not found an oasis close by. There was a tree there that turned into a woman when the sun hid at night. Kantrat fell in love with her, and though she loved him as well, she didn’t believe that he would marry her if she gave herself to him. To prove his fidelity, he set upon quests. He slew a beast, he courted her, he froze time so that she could see the sun once, he protected her family by finding an underground cave to hide them in. Once she was won over, he melted all the gold he still had to make their wedding rings.”

“We need to match things up to where they might be,” Raulin said. “Al and I found the pin in a fireplace. We should find the crest, seal, bullion, watch, and jewelry in others.”

Al shook his head. “They might be there, but I think he used the jewelry to court her and the watch to freeze time.”

“Let’s start with every fireplace, then, wing by wing. Anla and Tel, start with the ones in the lounge. Are you up for it, Wizard?”

“Actually, yes. I feel really refreshed.”

“Good. Do you think you could look at my leg?”

Al blinked a few times, then said, “Oh! Yes, I’m sorry,” he said, placing his hand on his leg.

Raulin nodded and woke up, swallowing the extra spit in his mouth. “Unh, how long was I out?”

“Ten seconds?”

“Then that’s a bit strong, then.” He stretched his leg. “Ah, much better.”

“Really? That should’ve taken longer …”

“Never mind,” Raulin said quickly. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to Anla. She thinks she healed you with her magic. No, no, I see that look. Apparently baerds can sing health back into someone. She worked hard on it yesterday and grew discouraged when she thought she wasn’t making progress.”

“How do you know she didn’t?”

“Because I was present for most of the time she was singing to you and my ankle still hurt.”

He nodded. “I won’t say anything.”

There were a total of twelve hearths in the mansion. It took them most of the morning to search, but they found all the items Al said they would. Sometimes they were hidden amongst the logs or tucked up in the flue, but they were there.

“Good job,” Raulin said. He took all the items and put them in a burlap sack. “Now, let’s start at the top. A sword. That would be what Kantret used to slay the beast. What beast, though?”

“It was a giant horse.”

“I don’t think we’ll find a giant horse here, Wizard, so it needs to be something else. Something grand, something that would look menacing to the right pair of eyes.”

“There was a room, a hunting room, with stuffed bears and cats,” Anla offered.

“Good option, but those are life-sized. What’s something very, very big?”

“A tree?” Telbarisk asked.

“Well, that is something big, but I don’t…Wait. Do they have topiaries on the property?”

They all ran to the back of the house, opened the doors from the greenhouse, and piled outdoors. Mud flew in chunks from saturated grass, brown divots leading back to the herb and flower garden, once meticulously kept, now brown and weedy. In each corner stood a beast in green leaves, the shapes so obscured from neglect it was hard to tell what they once were.

“Take one, search all around,” Raulin said.

“Over here!” Anla yelled from the…elephant? She grinned as she held the sword in the air, waving it back and forth.

“Great! We might be done today! Now, we need to find a tree.” They looked around at an entire estate covered with trees. “A…womanly tree.”

“There was a rather fetching tree in front of the house,” Telbarisk said.

“’Fetching’?”

“I’m not sure. I remember the men on the ship describing what kind of women they wanted when they arrived in port. They talked a lot about curves. The trees in front were curvy, like some of the Gheny women, when their waists dip in and their breasts…”

“Thank you! For that informative description,” Al squeaked.

“Definitely have the picture now, thank you, Tel,” Raulin said. “I suppose it’s worth a look.”

Standing in the front yard, heads tilted at an angle, the other three could see where Telbarisk was coming from. Al nodded once and began chopping it down.

“Wizard…” Raulin said.

Al looked over, mid-cut.

“We do have someone who can tell if there’s something abnormal inside a tree.”

“Two,” Anla said, “though Sakilei was much better than me at that.”

“There are small bits of metal inside,” Tel said. He placed his hand on a thick, gnarled branch to steady himself as he reached inside the hollow. His hand came out clutching something, covered in bugs, some tiny, red ones, some black, some long with many legs and pincers. He shook them off and opened his palm to reveal a brooch.

“There is more,” he said. Three more dips inside brought the remaining jewelry, necklaces of different metals and stones.

“This is great work,” Raulin said as they walked inside. “Now, we have the land title, the painting, the family tree, and the watch to find.”

“The watch should be in some place that would catch the light,” Al said. “That’s how Kantrat stopped time.”

“That never made sense to me. How are you supposed to stop time by collecting the sun?”

“I didn’t understand it, either. My professor in Amandorlam explained that it likely meant he was able to turn the watch into a false sun, not that he actually stopped time.”

“Ah, that sounds feasible, for a Berothian tale, that is. Then we’re looking for some place near a window on the southern side of the house.”

“Or the solarium that was near the master bedroom.”

“You could have led with that. Let’s go.”

They didn’t even have to look hard for the watch; it was placed open on the sill. “This is kind of fun,” Anla said to Raulin as they were walking out of the room.

“Agreed.” To the rest he said, “Now we need our family portrait, the tree, and the title.”

“Kantrat brought her family to an underground cave. Could that be the basement?” Al asked.

“Hopefully, otherwise we’ll have to scour the estate for a cave.”

The tale had said nothing more about the rescue, just that Kantrat had hidden them from the beast in a cave. This meant they had to spend hours going through the wine cellar, the cold storage, and the root cellar before finding the portrait and family tree tucked away under one of the servant’s bed. There was no sign of the title.

“Was there anything about a house he bought for her or his palace? Where was his palace?”

Al flipped back and forth throughout the story. “I don’t…no. Nothing. I don’t think there’s anything here about his palace or what happened after they left the oasis.”

Raulin clicked his tongue. “It has to be here, then. The story was contained in the oasis. He wouldn’t have taken it and moved it off property without someone knowing it. Besides, why waste all that money on a trirec if it’s in some bank?”

“Maybe it has nothing to do with the story. Maybe it’s in his office. It’s a pretty treacherous place; I wouldn’t want to go there.”

“Again, you mean? I won’t force you to, Wizard. However, that does seem the most likely place.”

“Do you mind if I read it?” Anla asked. “Maybe I can give a fresh perspective.”

“Yeah,” Al said, handing her the copy. “I’ll just go grab the other one.”

“Other one?” Raulin asked, stopping to turn around.

“There’s another copy under the bench…oh.”

Raulin ran to the kitchen, past a confused Anla, and shook the book like he was testing the sturdiness of a ladder. A piece of paper tumbled out and Raulin sighed when he read it. “First thing tomorrow, we leave. I’m sick of this place and it’s riddles.”

* * *

Raulin paid for their rooms and slid seven copper to the innkeeper for keeping his mail. The man turned and opened a drawer, pulling out an envelope and handing it to him.

He waited until he was in his room before sliding his finger under the fold and cracking the seal, a blank impression in white there to keep the letter closed.

Meet at 5 p.m. sharp at Crimden Park

It was a quarter past four already, having taken the previous day and most of this one to arrive in Acripla. He hated walking into audiences without properly assessing the situation.

“Anla?” She looked up from unpacking. “Could you accompany me to the park? I need to meet with someone about my next contract and another set of eyes wouldn’t hurt.”

“What’s this about?” she asked once they were on the street.

“Just a normal meet-up as far as I know. I always like to get there very early, to scout out and see if someone’s laid a trap, but I don’t have the time today.”

“Why not write the instructions on a piece of paper and send it to the hotel?”

“Good question. Why not write it down in the very expensive contract they wrote out for Arvarikor?”

“They’re afraid?”

“Very likely. People get cautious when they are afraid they are going to get caught.”

“And so, very clandestine meetings in secret places.”

“Crimden Park isn’t very secret, and I wasn’t given a specific place. Therefore, the place wasn’t important, just that I was somewhere that was in someone else’s control.”

“Interesting. Are you afraid of an ambush, then?”

“Like what the Cumber did? No, people typically wouldn’t ambush me in a public park. I think they’re worried about the opposite, that someone will find out who they are.”

He ducked into a shop before she could say anything and bought her a chocolate desert to eat while she was waiting. She laughed when he gave it to her. “I don’t know how to start this!”

“I think it’s completely acceptable to break off whatever you want and eat it bit by bit.”

“Thank you,” she said.

He held up a hand at a corner across the street from the park and said, “I’m going to have you wait here. Enjoy your treat. I will be on that bench there. If I move for whatever reason, follow me.”

“Okay. Good luck,” she said, poking a sliver of chocolate in the slit in his mask for his mouth.

“Mmm. Thank you.”

She watched him cross the street, in no hurry. A few people waved at him and he gave a cheerful wave back. One young man even approached him to chat while he was lounging on the bench. She wondered how he thought of the notoriety. Although he had said numerous times that he preferred to stay off the main roads, to get from here to there as quickly and quietly as possible, he didn’t seem to mind that Acripla loved him. It was probably refreshing for him.

A young boy approached as she crunched on a curled pastry wafer. Another admirer? No. He held his hand out as Raulin stood and pulled a few coins from his pouch. The boy said something then ran while Raulin dropped his head for a moment, then walked back towards her.

“So?”

“I’m going to be very, very busy. I need to contact the agent, I need to start a new identity immediately, I need to…mediche, what day is it?”

“Saturday, why? What did he say?”

“Saturday,” he said, clicking his tongue. “Those kids were having their meeting tonight. I need to be there.”

Anla frowned at this.

“I should have known, Anla. With a price tag like that, of course…” He quickly moved them down an alley, looked both ways, and stopped. He leaned down and whispered, almost through clenched teeth, “I have to find the Mantyger.”