With those two no longer posing a threat, that anxious fear came back. Slowly, questions started flooding my mind. “What if they’ll ask for the impossible? What if they’ll just turn us in? What if they’ll just kill us? What if they’ll torture us first?”. Questions like that kept on coming. It then turned to telling myself I’m screwed. That I need to make a break for it. That I must do something to save myself. I noticed I was slightly shaking. Same went for Vyth, though it was a bit hard to notice. The Dwarf and Dragonkin were at the counter, on the other side of the room. They were discussing something in their language. Why in their language? Are we not allowed to know? Are they planning something against us? No, no. It can’t be. They’re just speaking in their native language, nothing bad about that, right?

My head was hurting. I didn’t know what to think. Conflicting thoughts kept racing through my head. The Dragonkin and Dwarf approached us. They’re confident expressions turned to worry as they got closer. Are they worried I figured it out? So, they were planning something. As the Dragonkin knelt down besides Vyth, he asked: “You alright? You seem… terrified. Look, we’re not going… “. In one swift motion, Vyth kicked him on his chin and sprang up. He dashed to the counter, where they laid down the sword he had taken, and grabbed it. Vyth must’ve figured it out as well. The Dwarf was distracted by him. I got up, shot out an icy ray to slow her down and ran to the stairs.

As I walked up the first few steps, a knife hit the wall in front of me. The Dragonkin had thrown it. Was it a warning shot? Or did Vyth’s kick daze him enough to miss? He got up and yelled out: “This won’t go well for you! I suggest you lick my boots in apology before I kick your teeth in!”. Vyth grabbed a pouch from inside the counter and threw it at him. The Dragonkin grabbed it and threw it back. Vyth dodged underneath it. The pouch flew against the edge of his sword and ripped, spilling out a lot of coins. The Dwarf, faster than she appears, shrugged off the ice, grabbed a coin and launched it into Vyth’s eye. I threw down my robe. They weren’t going to get us that easily. There’s no telling what they were going to do to us. I spread my wings and jumped off the railing.

I splashed acid as wide as I could and grabbed Vyth. I flew up to the railing of the second floor. Just before I could touch it, the Dragonkin shouted something. A strange sense came over me like a wave. It was conflicting with my thoughts. My head felt like a war was being staged on it. Like it would explode at any moment. I faintly touched the railing, as I fell down, having lost control of my entire body for a bit from the headache. Vyth broke my fall and he didn’t seem too hurt either, as he quickly got up. He stood ready for a battle, but then started running. He was leaving me with these two demons. He didn’t come far however. The Dwarf threw a knife into his calf. He dropped just within the room. She said something to her friend, before retrieving Vyth from the other room. The pain had mostly gone away. It went back to the level I felt before we tried to escape.

“You alright?”, the Dragonkin asked. I didn’t respond. I just looked at him with an expression of anger and fear. I didn’t know what to say. He must know we’re on to him. Is he testing me? Is he playing with me? I didn’t know. He had an expression of worry on his face, but that had to be a lie. It soon changed, as well. He seemed to have understood something, figured something out. Now he definitely knows. Now, he’ll stop being so nice. He said something to his friend. She had knocked out Vyth and laid him down on the counter, though I never heard her hit him. The Dragonkin extended his arm towards me. I did the same in an attempt to cast firebolt, but the Dwarf grabbed my arm before I could manage it. A golden light emanated from his hand and engulfed me. A black smog seeped out of me, together with me doubts. My anxiety, my fear and my paranoia left with it. The headache remained for a while, but it did seem to get better now that my rapid train of thought had stopped. I was confused. I was an idiot. Acted rashly for no apparent reason. I nearly got us killed. I couldn’t understand why I did all of that, however. Sure, these people aren’t trustworthy, but my ideas went a bit too far.

“Guess we’ll have to forgive your little stunt”, the Dragonkin said, “Can’t blame someone under the effect of a spell”.

“A spell?”, I asked.

“Seems you two caught the archmage’s attention. He cast a spell on you. One that makes you fear everything and everyone”.

“Wait, what?”.

“Don’t worry, I’ll explain. Though you’ll have to promise to behave. First things first, however. I’ve got to heal that nasty wound Thet gave your friend”.

He healed up Vyth and used the same spell on him to rid him off his fear. He brought us upstairs, to a small living room. It had a large table that looked like it belonged in a tavern. And the chairs had the same look to them. He sat us down and sat across from us. The Dwarf lit a fire in the fireplace and then sat next to him.

“Well, let’s start with that spell. It’s a spell that brings fear into the mind of the target. The archmage is the only able to cast it here in town, though I wouldn’t be surprised if you pissed off another traveling mage to get this”.

“We didn’t piss off anyone like that, right Oth?”, Vyth asked.

“No. This archmage. Does he have silver hair and wear a purple robe?”.

“Yeah, that’s him alright. Then I wouldn’t worry too much”.

“What? We got a spell cast on us, why shouldn’t we worry?”.

“Because that means he doesn’t really care about you. He uses that spell to get anyone suspicious to act rashly. Eventually, a target will do something out of fear that sells them out. I reckon he has guards patrolling the area, waiting for you to do something like that. Now, my questions. Why did you break in and steal?”.

“I… I don’t know how to explain it”.

“It’s because of that spell!”, Vyth yelled out, “The walls looked like they were growing, so we looked for shelter inside”.

“And why did you take the sword? I don’t think that counts as shelter, now does it?”.

“I was just trying it. Then we heard footsteps, so we hid and I took the sword with me”.

“Well, I’m still not letting you off the hook. Thet and I have come up with a way to repay us. There’s this other guy who stole from us and we can’t seem to catch him. Each time we get close, he’s already disappeared into thin air. So, it would help if you caught him for us”.

“Are you insane? Do we look like we could handle something like that?”, I complained.

“Yes, you actually do. Your friend here seems decent with that sword and you have both wings and spells. You seem like the perfect duo to get this done. Of course, we’re not just going to trust that you’ll do it. We’ll take that bag as a hostage of sorts”.

He extended his hand in a gesture to receive it. I hesitated for a bit, but realised we didn’t have a choice.

“A bag of holding!” he exclaimed as he looked it over, “I’m willing to bet my pride on that you stole! There’s no other way you got this”.

“I’m guessing it’s rare”.

“Rare? You two don’t know much, do you? It’s not that rare, but it’s expensive. Worth what we make in two months! Where did you get this from?”.

“A… merchant”.

He looked at me for a moment. The gears turning in his head being nearly audible, before he burst out in laughter.

“No shit you got anxed! You were the ones who burned Elrad’s house down! Hahahaha”.

The Dwarf asked something, before laughing with him from the response.

“I doubt you feel bad about it, but you shouldn’t anyway. That guy’s a real asshole. He had that coming!”.

“Why?”.

“Another story for another day. We’ll need you to go to Marius’s house and catch him for us. He currently resides in a small cabin on the eastern side of town. Can’t miss it. It looks like an army went through it”.

“If you’ve tried to catch him already, why hasn’t he left the town?”.

“Because he can’t. He’s in trouble with the guards as well, and the fucker’s too dense to smuggle himself out. So, he just changes where he lives every now and then and keeps an eye out for anyone who’s got a reason to snap his scruffy neck. Now, go. There’s no telling when he’ll switch places again”.

He got up and led us to the balcony. It was starting to get dark. The sun just barely touched the horizon. He pointed us in the direction and told us to be aware of the moving street lanterns, as those were used by the guards patrolling the streets.

“Before you go, what’s your names. I got yours, it’s Oth, but what about you, sword thief?”.

“It’s Vyth and he’s Othokentir. You?”.

“Eidechse. And the lady’s Thetara. Pleasure to do business”.