I stared at Master Gurgne incredulously. How could he place a bet AGAINST me, grumble about losing his bet, and then congratulate me for my success?

My expression must have been obvious because the dog man suddenly grinned. "Young pup, I realize you're confused about why I would bet against you and then congratulate you for learning the skill in question. If I won the bet, Kalistro would have owed me twenty gold coins. The odds were too tempting for me to pass up. Secondly, you had a string of success already in learning new skills. Sooner or later, your luck will run out and you won't be able to learn a skill. Since Duel Winner is a difficult skill to learn under ideal circumstances, there was a strong possibility that you would fail to learn this skill. Fortunately for you, Lady Luck continued to smile upon you." Gurgne shrugged.

I suddenly remembered my saving throw. "Now that you mention it, I had to make a saving throw against my Constitution when I tried to execute the skill for the first time," I remarked. "My arm grew very heavy because the grandmaster was making me practice the strokes continuously. And then he suddenly charged at me," I recounted the experience.

The cat man's eyes gleamed. "It was by design, young pup," Kalistro chuckled. "Sometimes, you will find yourself in the thick of combat for a very long time. I wanted to test you and see how you will mentally break free of your body's growing fatigue but still have the presence of mind to execute the Duel Winner skill," he explained.

"You definitely earned the skill," Gurgne piped in.

I smiled to myself. It was the first time that both the master and the grandmaster had praised me. Of course, I realized that if the other students were around, then they might have been less effusive with their praise.

The church bell tolled, indicating that it was now five past noon.

I looked up at the sky and noted that the sun was setting on the horizon.

Suddenly, Kalistra appeared and behind her were Captain Maisen, Giudot, Sankryn, and Jormyril! The heir bowed deeply to the grandmaster. "Pardon my interruption, but the Watch has an urgent message for Lord Mulligan."

I looked at the cat girl with great interest. Despite her public humiliation, Kalistra appeared to be back to her usual, proud self. However, I noticed that she made a conscious effort to avoid looking in my direction. No matter. When we hit the road, we will have many opportunities to discuss my near-death experience.

The former journeyman of the dojo stepped forward and caught my attention. "Milord, there was a report of drows sneaking into Tregome," Captain Maisen announced. "We fear that they may be after you. We recommend that you leave the town immediately."

"Why didn't your Watchmen attack them?" Kalistra asked.

"A two-man patrol is no match for a band of drows," Giudot began mounting a defense of his fellow Watchmen. "In that situation, if the patrol ended up getting killed then the rest of us would not have learned of their return. Our Watchmen made the right decision in returning to HQ to make the report and pass the word to the Church."

I nodded in agreement with the rationale. The drows were after me; it wasn't fair to ask other men to throw their lives away needlessly. Furthermore, I knew that the drows will return some day. I just didn't realize it would be so soon! "Is my sword ready?" I asked hopefully.

The part-time blacksmith pointed at a sword leaning against a wall. "Your blade received a fresh coating of silver, but it's not ready yet," he replied. "However, I will lend you my personal sword. You can give it back to me when you return to the dojo." Gurgne walked into the armory and grabbed a sword from a display stand. He returned and held the sword by its scabbard horizontally.

"Thank you, Master Gurgne," I said with reverence as I humbly accepted the weapon with both hands. Surprisingly, the black scabbard was unmarked; there were no adornments of butterflies to indicate my membership in the dojo.

"It's a bit heavier than the sword you are accustomed to," the dog man admitted, "but you will learn to use it if you have enough practice."

"I'm sure that can be arranged," Kalistra interrupted. Her eyes glowed at the thought of sparring with me again, particularly in the absence of supervision from either her father or Master Gurgne. "We need to leave now. Maisen has made some arrangements to cover your tracks," she remarked.

The Captain of the Watch nodded. "Bishop Canterbury has been informed of the situation and I received his permission to use the push cart that we captured from the drows. We're going to have Lord Mulligan and Kalistra hide inside the cart. Sankryn, Giudot, and Jormyril will be disguised as merchants. They will follow the other merchants leaving town via the bridge and head eastward. Your group will bypass the next village and continue to the next town where Lord Mulligan and Kalistra will then leave the cart and continue on with Jormyril on foot. Sankryn and Giudot will return to Tregome with the cart. If the drows do follow you, hopefully, they will follow the cart and lose track of Lawrence," she explained. Maisen then motioned with her hand for me to follow her and leave immediately.

The captain and I started to walk away but Grandmaster Kalistro held up a paw to stop us. He reached into a side pocket and pulled out a silver pin in the shape of a butterfly and handed it to me. "Since you have learned the intermediate level sword skill, Duel Winner, I am elevating you to the rank of 'Adept' within our school even though you have not reached character level 10 yet. This silver pin is proof of your current status. When you sign up for the tournament, please tell the check-in official only your character level; if you give him your rank within the dojo, the official has the discretion to enter you in a higher division and this will put you in a very deep disadvantage," he said.

"I understand," I replied. I accepted the butterfly pin and bowed deeply to the grandmaster. I received a pop-up message which read, "Major faction quest COMPLETED. +500 Reputation. +1,000 XP."

Gurgne patted me on the back. "Congratulations, young pup. Please keep the pin in a safe spot. Do not wear it until you reach Bristol. I purposely gave you an unmarked scabbard so that the drows will have a tougher time locating you," he warned. The master quickly entered the shed again and grabbed another sword from a display stand. It, too, had a black scabbard that was unmarked. Without warning, he threw it at Kalistra.

The cat girl snatched the sword out of the air. Kalistra quickly unbuckled her scabbard and gave it to her dad. "I entrust my sword to your care, grandmaster," she said solemnly and bowed deeply.

"May the gods of Law and Order watch over you during your travels," the grandmaster replied.

"This way," Captain Maisen prodded us gently to leave.

I followed her into the courtyard and, sure enough, the old pushcart was located in the middle of the courtyard. The box was filled with hay, with a large tarp over it. I looked at the captain and pointed at the box. "This belonged to the drow?" I asked.

"Yup," Maisen confirmed cheerfully with a grin.

"And I am supposed to hide inside the box?" I frowned.

"With Kalistra, too." Her grin widened.

Seeing my hesitation, the cat girl grabbed my collar and started dragging me toward the cart. "Let's go," she ordered. Halfway to the cart, my tormentor finally released me.

Gendun and some other young apprentices appeared before me and Kalistra. He gave me a tan colored backpack. Another lad gave me a bundle of clothes wrapped in a green colored cloak. They gave my companion a similar set of clothes and pack. "There are provisions inside the pack. And here are your travel clothes," he said.

I gave my young friend a hug and ruffled his messy, curly hair. "Take care of your mom," I said.

Gendun nodded. "My mother said she will pray at the Lucky Shrine every morning and ask her goddess to continue watching over you."

I smiled at the boy and then approached the cart. I pulled off the tarp and dug a hole into the hay on the left side. I placed my travel gear into the box and climbed into the hole. I felt Kalistra bump into me as she occupied the right portion of the box. It turned out that the box was too short and therefore, I had to tuck my legs in. Once we were both inside the box, I felt soft, airy hay being placed over me. Then I heard the tarpaulin being placed over the hay. Well, it could have been worse; Maisen could have arranged to hide me inside a container instead.

"I won't be able to accompany you. But my men will keep you safe. I promise," Captain Maisen said.

"Take care of yourself," I replied in a loud voice.

"Let's move out!" the captain barked at her men.

The wheels started groaning and I felt the box shift as the three Watchmen pushed the back of the cart in unison. It was unsettling for me to hide under a stack of hay with some rays of fading, pinkish light shining into the box through holes from the tarp above our heads. The roads were uneven and whenever a wheel rolled over a stone, the box would shift. Thank the gods I didn't suffer from motion sickness. It was an uncomfortable ride for me to say the least and I soon gave up any hope of napping inside the box while it was in motion.

My companion remained silent but soon I discovered the reason when she started snoring!

How could Kalistra sleep in this environment? I was beside myself with shock and amusement. On the one hand, she WAS a cat girl and naps were certainly an important part of a healthy feline's daily life. Since Kalistra was short and petite AND accustomed to sleeping on the hard floor of the dojo, sleeping on a soft layer of hay was probably a luxury for her. On the other hand, the drows were looking for me and if they tried to search the box then I wanted her to be alert and prepared to attack our pursuers. I was really tempted to wake up her but something else did it for me . . .

"Halt!" A harsh voice barked.

Suddenly, the cart stopped moving.

"Fair evening, Watchmen," a voice replied.

I recognized it as belonging to Jormyril and quickly understood what was happening. With the report of a drow sighting passing through the Watch, it was natural for them to set up a checkpoint at the eastern bridge to catch drows trying to escape with kidnapped children. I felt Kalistra shift slightly and realized that her snoring had stopped. Great! She was awake now.

"We need to search your cart," another voice said.

More sunlight shone into my hiding spot as the tarp was removed. I started to panic. If the Watchmen found us hiding inside the box, then we would be detained in jail while they investigated our situation. In the meantime, the drows may learn of my location at Watch HQ and even mount a daring raid against the Watch. What was I going to do?

Suddenly, a memory appeared in my mind showing Lord Bane teaching me the Veil spell. At the same time, I felt a tingling sensation in my left forearm. I knew then that the demigod was telling me to cast the divine spell. As the hay above our heads started being removed, I focused my mind on the brand of Bane. I held my right palm above my face and said, "Veil." My hand glowed red as a red aura spread out over myself and Kalistra. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that my green mana bar had emptied out. I started to feel dizzy. I heard dice rattling inside my head and then it stopped. A pop-up message appeared: "Intelligence saving throw SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP. Condition: Veiled. +100 XP."

When the last layer of hay covering us was removed, I saw a grizzled looking man in Watchman attire looking down at me. He stared for a long moment and blinked his eyes. With a look of disgust, he started replacing the hay that had been removed from the box. "Nothing in the box," he reported to someone. Eventually, the tarp covered the hay, sending the two of us back into darkness.

"You may continue," a voice said.

Soon, the push cart started rolling again.