Glenn walked from the woods without bothering to disguise his heavy footfalls. He saw no movement from the cliffs, yet he suspected those hidden behind the raised rocks were already aware of him. He decided to give himself away in the most obvious and undeniable way possible.

“Hello!” he bellowed. “Is Renee Fallowpeak up there? I’ve come to negotiate for her release.”

No answer from the cliffs. Glenn kept walking. A moment later a man in the dark robes and a cloak of [Shadow Leather] appeared a few steps away. He wore a dark mask that covered his mouth and nose, revealing only his pale face and hard eyes.

“What brings you all the way out here, Town Guard?” the man asked. “Something wrong?”

The Shadower had already given away more than he probably knew. [Shadow Leather] required the heads of Demons found deep in Evolan, so was unavailable to Adventurers in Grassea. It was, however, the most common and durable armor for Shadowers of 15 or higher.

So this Shadower was obviously that high, at least. Higher than a Level 10 Adventurer ... but still no trouble for a Level 10 Town Guard. Glenn could take this man in a fight if it proved necessary to arrest him. Yet he doubted he could take on the man’s whole Party.

Glenn glanced his way disinterestedly. “You’re the bandit who abducted Renee Fallowpeak, aren’t you? With your Guilecaster and your other friends?”

The man merely shrugged. “I’ve never heard that name, and I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Did a girl go missing?”

“Sorry to bother you,” Glenn said, and headed for the cliffs. “I’ll be just a moment.”

“Hold it,” the man said, as his voice changed from comfortable to menacing. “You don’t need to go up there. You don’t want to go up there.”

Glenn focused on the Shadower with every last ounce of his Town Guard menace, which actually made the man step back. “Is there a problem, citizen?”

The Shadower glanced behind himself, then at Glenn. “So you found us. You want a medal?”

“I want Renee Fallowpeak. Her father sent me to pay her ransom. You did do this for ransom, didn’t you? You didn’t tie her up simply to prove a point?”

Glenn gave no indication he knew Renee was in a cage with Cliff Spiders. In fact, he took pains to convey the opposite. With luck, he could convince this Shadower he was alone.

The Shadower turned and walked. “Follow me. I suppose my partner wasted his trip.”

As he followed the man up the cliffs, Glenn found himself curious despite the situation. “Why lob tomatoes? Those were foul.”

“They were light, cheap, and untraceable, and we needed something to [-Transpose-],” the man said. “Also, I thought tossing rotten tomatoes from a ballista would be funny.”

Glenn almost snorted. He didn’t. That would have been unprofessional. “How much are you asking for Renee’s safe return?”

“That’s not for me to say,” the Shadower said. “Just walk, Town Guard.”

So this Shadower wasn’t the leader of this bandit group after all. He must be only a subordinate. Did that mean one of the two casters was in charge?

It had to be one of the casters or someone Zack hadn’t seen. It didn’t make sense that the Shadower who’d left to negotiate with Preceptor Fallowpeak on the Safe Road would be the leader. Glenn heard nothing of Zack or Natalie, but both had ways to hide themselves and any sound they made.

He rounded the large rocks that had hidden the camp and found the scene just as Zack had described. In person, it was more horrifying. The wooden cages were as Zack described, one small cage with Renee, the size of small table, with a larger case about the size of a carriage around it.

A cage filled with a horde of scurrying Cliff Spiders.

Renee, mercifully, had passed out. Or they’d simply drugged her with something. Glenn wondered if putting one to sleep violated the Law of Consent. It wasn’t harm, technically.

There were two tents in the camp, both big enough for two people. That suggested this was a Party of four, yet it could also be misdirection. Zach had mentioned three tents yesterday, which suggested the bandits had collapsed one for misdirection. There could be more than four.

A woman in dark-colored [Shadow Robes] leaned disinterestedly against one of the boulders, arms crossed. She had dark skin and white scars on her midriff, which her robes, being configured for a woman, left bare. The man on the other side of the camp also wore [Shadow Robes], yet his robes covered his entire body and fell to his ankles instead of ending above his knees, like the woman’s.

Same exact armor. Different appearance based on the sex of the person wearing it. So dumb. Glenn put it from his mind and focused on the negotiation. Both of the casters also wore masks with skull images on them, so it was impossible to identity anyone by their appearance.

He looked between the two casters. “Who’s in charge?”

“That’d be me,” a man’s voice said from behind Glenn.

Glenn didn’t jump, but he came close. The man’s low voice was filled with menace. A man he hadn’t seen walked past Glenn, and this man was obviously no mere Shadower. He had dark skin, like Zack, but a mask covered all but his eyes, disguising his identity.

His armor was red and black instead of simply black, and his hood was red as well. [Gloomshroud Armor]. Suitable for an Evolved Shadower, either a Voidstrider or a Timestrider.

The former could create portals and teleport. The latter could actually play with time. Neither was an Adventurer Glenn would want to tangle with in a fight, even with his Town Guard Skills, yet at least Glenn had been right about a fifth bandit. He took comfort in that.

“How’d you find us?” Red Hood asked calmly. “We left no trail.”

“Does it matter?” Glenn asked. “What do you want for Renee?”

“The recipe,” Red Hood said. “And I expect the old man to bring it to me himself.”

Glenn frowned inside his helmet. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“I don’t think I do,” Red Hood said casually. “You may have found us, yet you can’t have failed to notice the predicament in which young Renee now slumbers. I’ve already sent someone to deal directly with her father. He’ll be here soon. You, I believe, can walk off into the sun.”

“You drugged her?”

“She rests,” Red Hood corrected. “I wouldn’t put a child in a cage with Cliff Spiders when she was awake. That would be cruel.”

“I’m sure her welfare is foremost on your mind,” Glenn said evenly. “So what if I just arrest the lot of you?”

The man bowed mockingly. “You can try. Start with me and see how far you get.”

Was it time to execute his plan? No. Not yet. Glenn first needed to know what “the recipe” was, and if Preceptor Fallowpeak would be willing to surrender it. He needed to talk to Natalie first, and he needed a way to leave this camp without being followed.

“So your demand is the recipe,” Glenn said, buying time to think. “For Renee.”

“As we’ve already told the Preceptor directly, or soon will,” Red Hood said almost patiently. “So you can go. Run along now. This isn’t your town, Town Guard, nor is it your affair.”

Glenn pretended to hesitate. He looked around the camp as if sizing it up, and he took longer than he suspected everyone was comfortable with to make his move. He couldn’t give up too easily. The male caster, at least, fidgeted nervously. He looked worried.

Finally, Glenn turned his gaze back to Red Hood. “You have no plans to hurt the girl?”

“Not if I get my recipe,” Red Hood said patiently. “This is just business. I have no intention of harming anyone so long as the Preceptor cooperates. If he doesn’t, well...” The man shrugged. “Such tragedies happen every day in Balarel. Rest assured you won’t be getting her body back.”

“Noted,” Glenn said, and turned to leave. “I won’t see you in my town, will I?”

Red Hood chuckled dangerously. “Not if I see you first.”

Glenn walked away without another word. A Shadower could be following him, of course, and he suspected one would, so he kept walking long into the woods. Finally, he stopped and turned.

“You can come out now,” he said.

Natalie Runefall stepped from thin air, with Zack right beside her.

Zack stared at Natalie with new appreciation in his eyes. “That was impressive casting. I can’t stay in [-Shadow Walk-] near that long.”

“I know,” Natalie said grimly, and looked to Glenn. “I’ve verified we weren’t followed from the camp, but we have a big problem.”

“The recipe?” Glenn asked.

“The man,” Natalie said grimly. “I’ve seen that man before, on wanted posters. The Shrike. He’s not with the Shadowers Guild, though he’ll tell you he is. They kicked him out. He’s assassinated dozens of people over the years, and even the Shadowers Guild won’t work with him any longer.”

“Devilspit,” Zack said. “That’s not good at all.”

Glenn looked between them. “It’d be better if he was a member of the Shadowers Guild?”

“The guild takes contracts like any other guild,” Zack explained patiently. “They do handle assassinations when they can get around the Law of Consent, but only for a boatload of money. Yet they also honor their deals. If you strike a deal with a member of the guild, they’ll honor it. Otherwise, no one would ever pay their ransoms. So if you make a deal and don’t honor it, you’re out of the guild.”

“The Shrike won’t honor this deal,” Natalie said darkly. “Because this is personal for him, or rather, his finances. Preceptor Fallowpeak is a threat to his business.”

Glenn cocked his head. “How so?”

“It’s his new recipe,” Natalie said. “I shouldn’t really reveal this to either of you, but given the stakes and the fact that it will be public soon anyway, I must. The Preceptor recently developed a potion that offers long-term immunity from poisons of all kinds. And since he already has more money than Isdon, he’s going to make the recipe public. Meaning any Alchemist of sufficient Level can mix it.”

Zack whistled softly. “Is that even possible?”

“The potion remains incredibly expensive,” Natalie said. “Only the very wealthy will be able to afford it, given the rare crafting materials, but the wealthy are often those targeted by rivals, with poison, by monsters like the Shrike. If the Preceptor makes that recipe public, the Shrike is out of business. So long as they can afford one, his targets will simply imbibe a potion every few months.”

“How will getting the recipe help him, though?” Zack asked, then stopped. “Oh. Right.”

Glenn understood as well. When Natalie said the Shrike wouldn’t honor this deal with Preceptor Fallowpeak, she wasn’t implying that he’d kill Renee despite Preceptor Fallowpeak giving him the recipe for this new potion. That would only make the Fallowpeak more determined to release his recipe.

Instead, the Shrike would use Renee to lure Preceptor Fallowpeak to his camp, where he’d make a demand. Consent to be attacked and murdered ... or watch his daughter eaten by Cliff Spiders.

If the Preceptor was dead, he couldn’t release his new recipe to anyone. And knowing how closely master Alchemists guarded their recipes, Glenn suspected Fallowpeak held the only copy of the recipe. In fact, the Shrike had certainly already made sure of that.

Knowing what little he did about Preceptor Fallowpeak’s obviously kind heart, Glenn knew which course the man would choose. He’d choose to save his daughter, or think he was doing so. The Shrike really was a master of loopholes, immoral though they might be.

He looked to Natalie. “So we’re down to the backup plan.”