Ciylia finished buying herself a dress from Kendra which pleased the shopkeeper. Kendra was disappointed the Ciylia couldn’t find something the last time she went in, but this time made every effort to make sure the thief would purchase something.

The time was getting pretty which annoyed the forest elf because she didn’t even get the chance to scope out a place to steal from. Even if she had no intention of robbing the place, she still enjoyed the mental practice of how she'd do it. So instead of doing the closest thing she had to a hobby, Ciylia went to go wait at the stables for everyone else.

Fern was already standing by the cart when the thief arrived. He was holding a wrapped package, which Ciylia assumed was his new fancy clothes.

“Smoked cheese?” The druid offered some food he was munching on while he waited.

“Why not?” She snacked on the delicious cheese while she waited as well.

After a while, Gene also returned to the cart. “When everyone gets here I have some important information to share.”

The thief noticed that the monk seemed panicked which was unusual. The man was able to inspire everyone while he was being pelted by ice magic and fearless fight without worrying about his death, but something had him spooked.

After a few more boring moments of Ciylia staring at Gene, the other 5 members returned. The Jellybeans all piled into the cart, paid the stable master, and returned to the road heading to Erend.

An hour on the road, Gene cleared his throat and spoke, “I have some troubling news to share.”

Fern stopped the horses so he could listen and react, while everyone else turned to face their leader. “Candice Bruntworth has escaped from jail and no one knows where she is.”

Some quiet whispers were shared amongst members but then attention moved back to Gene. “I don’t know if she is plotting revenge against us but we need to be on the lookout for her.”

There were some nods and then Gene became more relaxed and closed his eyes. Ciylia didn’t think it was a big deal, as long as you didn’t look the woman in the eyes her magic couldn’t harm you. At least that was what the thief hoped.

She did spend her days with some magic users and even she could use some form of magic. In fact, only Gene wasn’t able to perform any can of magic. Perhaps that was because he was born a human and didn’t have a knack for it. Almost all elves could perform magic, it was in their blood.

The thief shrugged at her own thoughts. She would just go off the information the group had learned about the woman and try not to look at her eyes if Ciylia saw her.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and when the group got back to Erend everyone went to the Erend Hunt to rest. Aliya looked super paranoid and clutched onto her traveling bag. The cleric left the Hunt for a few hours and then returned.

Even when she got into the Hunt to go to sleep, the gnome kept clinging onto her bag for dear life which made Ciylia want to take it to see what she was hiding inside of it.

The night was quiet as Ciylia watched Meowlynn play with Cupcake as the others slept. The thief still had no idea how Meowlynn and Fern got Mistress Astrin to agree to pet sitting. She guesses Astrin had a soft heart because she was playing with both of the grphylings in her study when they returned.

Cupcake purred as it nuzzled itself into Meowlynn’s lap. The wizard smiled softly at her pet and gently stroked the feathers on its head and fur on its back.

Ciylia closed her eyes and tried to block out the sounds in the room. She was going to visualize picking some of the more challenging locks she encountered in her long career, well long in human years, not so much in elf years.

The forest elf tried to focus her mind but a noise outside caught her attention. It sounded like men whispering and a dog sniffing around just outside the window.

Cautiously, Ciylia moved towards the window and signaled to Meowlynn to wake the others.

“What,” mouthed the higher born elf with a confused look on her face.

“Wake the others up,” whispered Ciylia harshly. “I got a bad feeling about this.”

“About what,” asked Meowlynn clearly irritated.

The thief poked her head out of the corner of the window in the room. Looking out, she saw two armoured men with two big hounds just outside the barracks’ window. One man was armed with a halberd while the other one had a short sword.

“Are you sure this is the place? Thought they’d be at an inn.” Even though they were whispering, Ciylia’s ears could still pick up the conversation.

“That’s what the boss said. Should be in the bag of the gnome is what I’m told.”

Just then one of the dogs made eye contact with Ciylia and started barking. Both men turn to look at the window and caught a glimpse of Ciylia as she ducked down.

“We have visitors,” yelled Ciylia. The next moment, one of the huge dogs leaped through the window, shattering the glass and chipping some of the frame.

The hound barked and then bit Ciylia as she was the closest person to it. Its maw clamped onto her right arm. The teeth sunk into her flesh and then the beast started thrashing its head. An enormous surge of pain pulsed through her body as she felt the teeth start to tear some of her muscles and threatened to rip her whole arm off.

Gene was quick to react as he had been woken up by Meowlynn before the hound burst through the window. The monk kicked the dog right in the throat, making it let go as it gasped for air.

The man with the short sword then crawled through the window as well. Now that he was in the room, it was clear that he was a higher-born elf like Meowlynn.

He quickly scanned the room and stopped when he spotted Aliya. He dashed towards her and punched her in her already crooked nose before swiping her travel bag.

At this moment, Meowlynn conjured a bubble of acid and hurled it at the oversized dog. It yelped in pain as its skin began to melt.

The door to the room burst open as the other hound rammed it. The sheer mass of the dog was more than enough to overcome the wooden door. The person next to the door was Fern so it bit his leg. The druid screamed in pain and then transformed into a bear, making the dog's jaw widen as it tried its best to maintain its grip.

The man with the halberd rush in and stabbed the newly formed bear who then roared in pain.

Ciylia had more then enough of this and reached for a dagger from her bag, grabbed one and then stabbed the fucking hound in its eye. It howled and tried to flee through the window but Blaine finally scrambled out of his bed and lopped of the head of the dying beast.

The man holding Aylia's bag then teleported from the spot he was standing and appeared outside the window and ran off into the night. Ciylia could only stare helplessly as the man got away. The sound of an arrow sinking through flesh brought the forest elf's attention back into the room.

Kira was standing on her bed and she had just released an arrow. The man with the halberd was grabbing at his throat and blood began cascading down his chest. He turned to start moving out of the Hunt. Gene chased after him, jumped over Fern, and tore the arrow of the man's neck causing the crimson waterfall to gush faster.

A few seconds later, a thud could be heard from down the hall. Meowlynn again shot a ball of acid but this time instead of hitting just a hound, it also splashed on Fern. The bear then tried to shake the pathetic dog off of him but it held on tightly with its final moments. Ciylia then threw the dagger she was holding at the dog and it pierced through the hound's skull. It slumped over and its jaw relaxed freeing Fern from its grip as he returned to his half-elf form.

Astrin kicked open her door, bow drawn. "What ze 'ell is going on!?"

"I have no idea," snapped Gene. "We were just attacked by two men and their mutts. One managed to flees but the others are dead."

"Just great," huffed Astrin. "Well clean zis up zis instant! I don't want to see all zis blood when I get up in ze morning. I'd like to pretend zis was all a nightmare." With that outburst off her chest, Astrin marched back into her room and slammed the door.

Gene reentered the barracks, "Meowlynn I need you to use your cleaning magic to help us get rid of the blood. The rest of you, we need to clean up the bodies and report this crime to the authorities. Their deaths were in self-defense so I don't think any trouble will come to us."

Gene and Fern grabbed a dog's body while Kira and Blaine grabbed the body of the other one. Ciylia picked up its severed head and followed them out. On the way out, the thief noticed the man who attacked them was a high-born elf just like Meowlynn. That explained was he was able to teleport. Some people from that sub-section of elves had the innate ability to teleport short distances.

They placed the bodies by the stables. "I'm going to go fetch the city guard," yelled Gene as he ran off into the distance.

Kira and Blaine went to move the man's body from the hallway while Meowlynn began using her magic to clean up the blood. Ciylia beelined for the bedroom when Aliya was still hiding. As soon as she entered the room she screamed, "What the fuck was in that bag?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," stuttered the gnome.

"Why the fuck were they interested in your bag?"

"They weren't," pleaded Aliya.

"Oh really," scoffed Ciylia. "They why did that man cross this whole room to punch you in the face and steal your bag?"

"It really must be a misunderstanding," cried the cleric.

"Don't you fucking lie to me! I heard them say whatever they were looking for was in your bag!"

Aliya started bawling, and Kira stormed into the room. "What are you doing?"

"She is keeping information from us! They were after whatever was in her bag!" Ciylia was at her boiling point. There was no way she was going to risk her life protecting one of Aliya's precious secrets!

"Let's wait for Gene to get back," suggested Kira. "He'll solve this mess, I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, I guess we'll wait for Mr.Hero to show up," scoffed the forest elf.

The rest of the Jellybeans entered the room and the silence grew awkward as they waited for Gene to return. Loud metallic footstep could be heard from outside the shattered window. The muffled sound of Gene's voice as he talked to the guards did not drown out the rage growing within Ciylia's breast.

Not even a second after the monk walked into the room, Ciylia uncorked the angry she had like a volcano erupting. "Gene! This little devil here is keeping valuable information from us! They were here to steal something that she was keeping inside her bag!"

"Is this true," asked Gene.

"The only thing they could be after is Shield's pendant," explained Aliya. "But they didn't get it. I had a decoy placed in there in case of such an event."

"Why do you think they were after this pendent Ciylia?"

"Because I heard them say that right before they rushed us down," rambled Ciylia.

"Why did you set up a decoy if I may ask," inquired the monk. "Why not ask us for help? Do you not trust us?"

"I trust most of you," sobbed the gnome. "But after we learned about Candice, I had to be prepared. I strongly feel it was her who organized this attack. She wants what she thinks belongs to her."

"That was very weird to assume, but you may be right," said Gene. "I want you all to be on your guard."

"Obviously, we aren't attending the ball," smiled Aliya.

"Why not?" Meowlynn entered the conversation clearly irritated.

"It's too dangerous," grinned the cleric.

"I think we can still attend," sighed Gene as he patted Meowlynn on the back. "We can have Fern hold onto it."

"What!?" The shocked looked on Aliya's face was worth a thousand words and brought a small amount of comfort to Ciylia.

"When he transforms into a creature, he seems to hide all the things he is carrying within him," explained Gene. "So we can use this as a way to bring our weapons into the ball if we need to and also hide the pendent in case a group tries to steal from us again."

"I think that is a great idea," agreed Fern.

"No, it's stupid and reckless," yelled Aliya.

"You are only saying that because you don't want to enjoy some fun," hissed Meowlynn.

"Alright, settle down ladies," Gene stood between the women. "How about we vote. It is the fairest solution."

"Yeah right," screamed Aliya. "Like we don't already know that I'll lose."

"It will be fine," smiled Gene softly. "You need to trust your team. Besides I'm letting you keep some secrets."

"What do you miss," sniffed the cleric.

"I didn't ask you where your real box was now did I?"

"I guess not."

"Okay, let's get to bed," said Gene. "We'll have to pay for some damages tomorrow as well as get ready for the ball."

Everyone went back to their beds but got startled when they heard rustling from under a bed. The Jellybeans drew their weapons and inched closer then Drake and Cupcake popped their heads out from under the bedsheet. They must have hidden there when the men attacked and got frightened by the dogs.

A small burst of laughter engulfed the room before everyone doubled up on the blankets for the chilly night. Ciylia moved into a corner of the room to watch out for the others. She wanted to keep an eye on Aliya and the window just in case.