The weight of the deceptively heavy ball pressed into the hip of a small cloaked figure hiding in the shadows. She put her hand into her pocket, feeling the distinctive 3 ringed shape with a threaded base. She imagined the clear lens shaped gem that had been inset into the bottom. The fear of losing the item was unshakable, even though her enchanted pocket promised that no item shall leave it except by her hand. A botched robbery was bad enough without ultimately losing the prize.

With the stolen object secured, Pierce turned her attention to securing herself. Alarms were going off, drawing a crowd in front of the vault. Traditional wisdom is that theft should occur at night, but Pierce felt differently. Having a crowd around to disappear into has always felt more beneficial than darkness that could be wiped with a quick spell. She pulled her hood down revealing her powder-white face with big orange eyes, thin-lined lips, pointy ears and a petite nose with a ridged bridge. Her cloak washed from black to a dirty white.

She moved forward silently and blended into the crowd. Since she had burned most of her magic trying to get out of the vault, she had to be wary of the magical security moving around the area. They walked around in light blue robes with big wooden staves. They kept in communication with each other by sending rapid message spells, which they were casting without preparation, otherwise known as hot-casting.

Pierce began surveying the congregation for prepared spells. She had only known one other person who had been gifted with the ability to see spells, aka spell sight, and they never compared notes on what they saw. As far as she was concerned, it was an open question if all spell-seers saw the same thing. What she saw were energetic light spheres of various colors and consistency with various effects. While she was at the Academy, a teacher once said, “Spell identification is just as much art as it was science.” Of course, this teacher was wrong. It was very much science, but the augmentation magic she used was never as good as the real thing.

There are a few characteristics that one should look upon when discerning what the conjuration is. The first is color. There is a persistent myth that spells fall into six families, each with their specific color. The truth is there are many colors, and most magic is multi-tone. The spell she is looking for now is mostly pink, but with a touch of blue-green. The second identifier is texture. Not easily detected without natural magic sight, Pierce wanted to see a soft skin-like texture. Affectations were the third key to determining the spell type. Some spells had rings; others had sparks flying off. One time she saw a spell with a head just orbiting it, some kind of necromancer conjuration. The one she needed would have two circles dangling from either side. This was a glamour, a means to hide her face if the Vault’s protection had gotten her image.

She had noticed this particular sorcery when the crowd first started to draw in and hoped she would find it again before a projection of her face decorated the sky above. She walked unnoticed by most and dismissed as a child by the rest. She passed under a perfect white pearl, a healing prayer, circling the waist of a cleric. The first magic she stole a long time ago was a healing prayer. The first crime was always desperate.

Her eye managed to catch the glamour floating in front of her, a few feet away around a beautiful tall woman dressed in an extravagant orange dress with a hoop skirt. Pierce wondered why someone so beautiful would need to change how they looked. Moving through the crowd with ease, she quickly closed the distance to her destination. The woman was distracted as the need to be on guard hadn't quite disseminated its way into her consciousness. The ball flowed freely and in a large orbit around the target, indicating this would be an easy transference. Pierce brushed against the woman. The spell wound around the woman one last time before rolling down its new owner’s arm where it began to rest around her waist. She moved quietly away from the scene of the crime.

As the people gathering began to realize exactly what was happening, the mystical orbits tightened. A few got close enough to attach it to the caster's body. This guaranteed that further attempts would be noticed or resisted. The crowd's attention was upward, where the beginning formation of the thief's portrait was taking shape. The thief, herself, was downward, preparing to cast her illicitly obtained spell. She was careful to crouch in an area with plenty of room around her. She made a show of tying her bootlace. Growing from 3 feet to 6 feet would be less noticeable when kneeling rather than standing. She made a cup out of her hands. The glamour flowed and puddled into them. She splashed the magic in her face, triggering the spell to take effect.

As she suspected, the first thing to start changing was her height. Nearly twice as tall as she was used to. Her hair shortened and browned. Her skin went from ghost white to a bronze tan. Her eyes narrowed, her ears rounded, her arms grew, and her chest shrunk. New hair starting popping up in places where she usually removed it from. Short tufts poked out her nose and her ears. Then the beard started coming in. It was short and well-shaped. Any minute now, everyone around would be alerted to an albino pixie girl, and she would be helping them as a big burly man.

The next part was critical. She carefully stood up pushing her way out of the shelter of denizens that surrounded her. People were being pushed every which way, which helped convey the idea that she had been this tall the whole time. The image above had been completed. It was a perfect copy. Captured a split second before the shocked look on the face above uttered unkind words of frustration. The accompanying text, in fancy writing, "Spell Thief." "I guess they noticed the missing keys, or that the trace on the artifact is gone," Pierce thought, "Good for them."

With that particular hurdle overcome, she began navigating her overly large body toward the Tavern. She had protested when she was told that her contact would be waiting for her there. She always got hassled because of her height. “Children aren’t allowed in here!” This is a common problem for short people like her, especially those who tended to keep a youthful appearance. Proving one’s age can be a hassle, sometimes requiring documents, and sometimes requiring being subjugated to an age-verification spell.

She soon noticed moving through the crowd wasn’t easy. This did not surprise her. It wasn’t the first time she had piloted a body foreign to her. When she was at the Acadamy, the athletics class required one to master certain feats after being transfigured into many different things. She was best when she was tiny, always first when being turned into a mouse. She struggled with the larger bodies but was quick to adapt. She took a breath, slowed down, and began walking. It took four steps of her normal body to equal one step from this man. She was well aware of the amount of weight she had just put on, and how easy it would be to unintendedly overpower her movements. It didn't take long for her to start moving like she had been doing this her whole life.

She pushed her way through the congregation, being very polite and saying “Excuse me,” and “Sorry” often. Her priority was getting away from the scene of her transformation. People stepped out of her way, some politely, some begrudgingly. It wasn’t long before she wished she could disappear under their legs again and move without notice.

A gruff female voice began booming through the air. “Spell Thief among you! Keep watch on your valuables and your magic! If you are missing a spell, please report it to the nearest Security Mage searching the crowd!” Security canvased the crowd. They moved through in a grid search pattern sending messages and detecting magic.

A guard with white hair and only a left eye approached the area of Pierce's transformation. He paused and twiddled his fingers on his free hand molding raw magic energy into a spell. He closed his hand a popped the detection magic almost as soon has it formed. He focused intently as it took a moment to process the information often garbled by the caster's spells. His eye brightened and a smile washed across his face. He was quick to send this information to the Head of Security. After a few seconds, the loud voice boomed again. "We have detected a Glamour Spell cast in the area! If you have recently lost or cast a glamour spell, please notify the nearest Security Mage!" A frustrated Pierce let out a quick grunt. The guard started to question the people in the vicinity. She changed direction and picked up the pace. Getting lost in the noise was harder now that she was taller, but not impossible.

She got within viewing distance of the perimeter. She didn't expect them to be incompetent enough to not be patrolling, but she did have her hopes. To her dismay, everyone separating themselves from the mass was stopped and questioned by a guard. The process appeared quick and people were let go as soon as they passed inspection. Three identical men approached one of the guards. They had comically large muscles clearly showing through their too-small tank tops, one red, one blue and one green. The guard cast detect-magic. Red-shirt started trying to distract the guard, while Green-shirt attempted to intercept the magic. The effort was clumsy. The guard appeared agitated as Blue-shirt started to protest. Green-shirt started crying. Red-shirt simply sat down in defeat. The guard dispelled their glamour, and what remained where three boys, all wondering how much trouble they were in. The guard angrily dismissed them.

She receded into the crowd a bit. Security was being thorough with their search and it wouldn't be long before they were close enough to detect her disguise. They were pacing themselves evenly, leaving no room to slip between them. Even if she could do that, the crowd would eventually disperse leaving her standing alone as the only one who could not pass the perimeter check. The question of how long this particular spell would last. The magic felt strong, suggesting it would go on a good while, but a spell ending unexpectedly is how this escalated to this point. With the search getting closer, she calmed herself and made a plan to cross the border.

“Man,” she said to no one in particular, “I sure could use a drink right now!” No response. She looked around at the surrounding people and cleared her throat. “A good ale certainly takes the edge off when I am stressed out! Am I right?”

“Certainly does!” The dark-skinned man had long black hair braided down the length of his back. He smiled with tusks poking out from his lower lip from pointed ear to pointed ear. She smiled back at him.

“Why don’t we go get a drink?” she asked.

“That’s a great idea!” her new friend responded. He turned to a short green tusked woman standing next to him. “Want to get a drink, Jenks?”

Brown pigtails bounced around her head as she shook it. “Don’t you think it’s a little early to drink, Leeroy?”

Pierce pointed at the sun that looked to be setting soon. “If you moved that way really fast, the sun would actually rise instead of set.” She turned the other way. “On the other hand, if you went that way, the sun would set faster. Now, I know a good spell that can take us that way, and we could sit down, and have ourselves a beer at the proper time.” She glanced at the Tavern. “Or we can go over there, have ourselves some nice drinks, on me, of course, knowing full well that the time to be merry and celebrate the end of the day exists somewhere. Besides, I’m sure any plans you had today are now ruined and what better way to eulogize a day like this than with a drink with your partner and some new friends?”

Jenks nuzzled up against Leeroy. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to live a little.”

“Great!” Pierce looked around and addressed the other people in the vicinity. “Anybody else?”

“I’ll go!” Pierce looked down and saw a little man, no taller than she was before the change. He had no hair on his round head. He wore glasses that enlarged his already large blue eyes. “Name’s Charles.”

“Glad to meet you, Charles.” Pierce extended a hand down to him. He grabbed it and gave it a firm shake.

"How old are you?" Leeroy asked. Jenks gave him a soft smack on his shoulder. Charles cracked his neck as if ready to start a fight. Pierce was both annoyed and amused as the years had not been as kind to Charles as they had been to her. "Just kidding."

“I don’t think it’s funny,” hissed a new voice. The party of four turned toward a man with cat eyes and scaled skin. His tongue was narrow and forked which resulted in the hissing voice.

“I don’t either,” Pierce blurted, clapping the newcomer on the back, “Want to join us?”

The snake-man considered for a moment before thoughtfully replying, “Syd.” His face gave no sign of expression. Pierce took this as an affirmative.

“Welcome aboard!”

Leeroy shook Syd’s hand and patted Charlie on the head. Charlie was not amused. Jenks made a sign of apology toward Charlie for her partner. Finally, Leeroy asked of Pierce, “Hey, Buddy, I'd like to know the name of our benefactor?”

She paused for a second. She usually had a few aliases on hand. Her brain latched onto the last word that was said. “Bennie,” she responded.

The group assembled, they started making their way out of the crowd. Leeroy led, followed closely by Jenks. Charlie sat on Bennie’s shoulders. Something she did partially to hide her head from any approaching guards. At the end was Syd, taking up the rear.

When they emerged, the party shifted from a line to a gaggle as a towering guard approached them. Pierce was slightly amused by the fact that as Bennie she looked up to this woman as she often looked up to most other people. On her light blue robe, the vault insignia was visible, a gear icon with a keyhole in the middle. Underneath it read, "Georgette." The lady looked down at them. "I'm sorry, this will only take a moment, I just need to do a few simple things to make sure our suspect isn't among you."

Charles pointed at the image in the sky, “None of us look like that, you overgrown mystic!”

Even with Charles sitting on top of Bennie, the guard had to bend down to get to eye level. “Well, I mean, you match the height!”

"Do you hear this?!" Charles responded indignantly. He stretched up and moved his face closer to hers. Turning his face side to side, "Do you see pointed ears?" He then turned his head straight at her, and then bowed it a bit, keeping his eyes locked, "Do you see a ridged nose?" He started reaching for the lace on his pants, "And that up there is obviously a woman, a pretty one if I do say so myself!" Pierce blushed a little but maintained her composure. "Let's see if this matches!”

Georgette put her hand on Charles’s hand to stop him from undoing his pants. “That’s quite all right. I’m sorry, height is probably a sensitive area for both of us. We believe the thief has disguised herself using magic. Since no one has reported the spell stolen, she could look like anybody. Even the special parts.” She winked at Charles. “It will only take a moment to cast this spell, and you guys can be on your merry way.”

Charles was starting to throw Bennie off balance. Quick finger movements started manifesting a small yellow-white fuzzy ball that appeared in the guard's hand. She snapped her fingers and the ball burst into tiny sparks that floated in the area. Bennie spun around clumsily and fell backward into Georgette, causing all three to spill into the ground. As she did so, Pierce was able to intercept the sparks delivering the knowledge to her instead of the intended target.

Charles bounced up to his feet. He turned to the security guard and reached out to her. She looked at his hand, confused, and then took it. What followed was surreal, as Charles had nowhere near the height or mass to pull Georgette to a standing position. Yet, somehow that is exactly what happened. Bennie took a moment, as Pierce wasn't used to getting up with such a massive body. She slowly got back up to her feet hoping that the guard was flustered enough not to notice their spell did not land. She let out a sigh of relief when the angry mage finally said, “You can go.”

“Thank you,” she said, “ALE, BEER, WINE, WHATEVER YOU WANT! FIRST ROUND ON ME!” She yelled as the group proceeded to the Tavern once again taking the shape of a line. This time with Bennie upfront.

The Tavern had a sign hanging by two robust chains that read, fittingly, "The Tavern." There were two paned windows on either side of the door that allowed light in but didn't allow much out. between those panels stood the big red door with a small window at eye level. Again, designed for people to see out, but not so much in.

Bennie turned the knob and gave the door a small test pull. After carefully gauging the weight of the door to her current body strength, she pulled the door naturally and stepped aside to let her party in. First were Leeroy and Jenks. Next Charles went, followed by Syd. Finally, Bennie went in letting the door close behind him.

Inside the Tavern was mostly wood. The lighting was done by encased lanterns that used free-flowing magic provided by the city to stay lit. Bennie pointed at a round table in the corner. He then walked to the bar to set up payment. “Excuse me, sir,” he said.

“Not sir, not ma-am,” said the slinky figure as they turned their attention towards Pierce. Their hair was shaved and their skin was slightly scaly but not the same as Syd’s. They had two horns that had been cut off at the base and a ring in their nose. They were polishing a glass that was already clean, apparently trying to create the appearance of being busy. "You can call me Enby. What can I do for you?”

Bennie pulled a gold coin out of his pocket and placed it on the table. He tapped it nine times, each time the stack grew by one coin. Enby slowed at polishing her glass, and then stopped completely. Bennie then proceeded to move the stack across the bar, first pulling it toward him, leaving a duplicate behind and then pushing it back in a stack right next to the last. He also repeated this action nine times. In the end, a hundred gold coins were sitting on the bar.

Bennie looked up at Enby. “My friends are over there, they are kind of thirsty, I promised I would take care of them. Will this do?”

“Yes sir, this would more than do. A hundred silver coins could cover drinks for the five of you for hours. These are gold coins.”

"I won't say anything if you don't. If you get me? It should also cover any trouble that may come my way.” The bartender placed their hands over the last stack of coins, where it collapsed into a single coin. The other stacks all disappeared leaving a second coin where Bennie had originally placed his signaling the transaction completed. “I recommend waiting a few days before putting that in the books.” Enby nodded as they pocketed the hundred gold coin.

“Anything, Mister--?” They stretched out the last word waiting for a response.

“Wadentere.” Bennie winked and walked back to the table. He hoped his face was charming, and not creepy.

Leeroy and Syd were talking about local politics. "For a small fee paid with every purchased good,” Syd said, “you can take any illness or injury to the local healing center and get it taken care of for free.”

“That just feels like theft to me,” Leeroy responded. Jenks rolled her eyes. “I mean the local businessmen have to charge more, and they don’t get to see the money. The city center takes it, and they did nothing to earn it. “

"Sure, you say that now, but wait until you take an arrow to the knee. Have you ever needed a major heal? That gets expensive in a heartbeat, even more, if you don't have one! In the healing center that I worked at before I came here, I once saw a high healer resurrect a patient. And then watched that patient die again when they saw the bill. We had to leave them there because if he reacted that way to one resurrection, no way he could afford two." There was a chuckle from Charles as he listened to Syd's story. "His wife couldn't get the money together before a res spell was no longer viable. The worst part, she still had to pay the bill. Ended up selling her husband to a Necromancer."

"Yeah but, what about people who don't need heals. Healthy people, and those that can cast their magic? They get left paying for a service they would never use."

“Healthy isn’t a permanent state of being. And just because one can cast their own magic doesn’t mean they never need a spell cast for them. A serious injury can prevent them from completing a spell. They may not have a good supply of magic. And all in all, it gets annoying to have your friends and family ask you to fix all your scrapes and bruises.”

Jenks let out a sigh, “You remember the wyvern cavern, Leeroy?” His face started to redden as he heard his partner bring up one of his more embarrassing stories. “I was cooking chicken while you were getting drunk. You thought one of the wyverns had taken your pants. You ran in there with a hammer screaming your name like some kind of idiot. Where were you pants, Leeroy?”

Leeroy lowered his head in shame. In a low voice, he said, "around my ankles... where they fell after I peed in them..." His voice suddenly changed to a forced bright tone. “Hey! Bennie is back!”

Bennie’s return was soon followed by a plump woman carrying the first round of drinks. Her face was sweaty and slightly dirty. Her sandy hair was pulled back with a bandana. She placed a round tray with five empty glasses. Each person reached for their glass. Leeroy’s glass filled with foamy beer. Charlie's glass changed to a shot glass and filled with clear liquor. Jenks decided she would have wine. Her cup transformed into the appropriate glassware when her hand touched it. Syd looked to actually be consuming nothing more than water. Bennie’s glass also filled with a foamy liquid, but his was non-alcoholic root beer.

"My name is Beatrice. I am your waiter for the day. If you need a refill, just place your glass on the tray and whatever you want will be taken care of. Try not to change drinks too often as the enchantment does to tend to act up after the third or fourth different thing. If you need a new glass or anything else, just say my name and I will be here. Please keep your pants on for the duration of your stay." She giggled a little, as did Jenks. Leeroy slunk a little deeper, before taking a huge gulp from his glass.

“Syd,” Bennie asked, “you’re a healer? Where did you work?”

"Not a healer, although I am capable of small healing spells, capable of taking care of a small cut." Bennie looked at five small pearl spells floating around Syd's wrist. Syd caught this glance and lifted his arm a bit, then set it back down. "No, my work was mostly administrative. The incident I mentioned took place in Malton, you ever been there?" Bennie nodded. "Had my first incident with a spell thief there too, maybe even the same one. She stole some healing spells from a member of the clergy. He did charity work with his spells but was strict on who he shared it with. I suppose after being rejected; she took it upon herself to acquire the spell."

Bennie took a drink from his glass. “She was probably pretty desperate.”

Syd dipped his tongue into his water and blinked his eyes. "I suppose she was. I found out from people in town that the thief had been in there three days earlier asking for help with the Red. No one should die from the Red, ever. Did you know untreated Red can be weaponized into a plague with the right magic?”

“I do,” Bennie replied, “do you wonder if the spell thief did?”

“I like to think so,” Syd reflected. “evidence surfaced not long after that there was a plot to release the red plague upon the town of Malton. That stolen spell might have saved the entire town. After that, I tried to change things. I couldn’t, so I ended up leaving for where things are better.” Bennie wondered for a second if he should tell Syd that the tragedy wasn’t averted, only postponed, then thought better of it.

Jenks spoke up. “Does anybody know what was stolen from the vault? That place holds some of the most dangerous artifacts in the world.”

Bennie felt a little uncomfortable at that. He wasn't sure what the item that had been taken did. When Pierce examined it earlier, there was only residual magic in the thing, nothing specific. It looked like it could be a staff head, and judging by the weight, probably packed a lot more juice than a standard oak piece.

Charlie took a shot from his glass and placed it back on the tray. This would make his fifth shot. "I'm not worried about what was taken. I am worried about going to work tomorrow." He took a shot. "I work in a magic trinket shop. I make the trinkets and get them enchanted. When the news breaks, the shop will be flooded." He took another shot. "Everybody in town is going to want something to ward off a curse, and we don't have the inventory for that. To make matters worse, most of our enchanters will probably be at the vault securing cursed items. "

Jenks took a sip from her wine. “Do you think we should be worried about curses?”

“I don’t know, maybe.” Charlie took yet another shot. “All I know is no trinket from my shop will protect you. Curses from the vault will be too much for any enchantment that we can muster. Not that I will be saying this tomorrow.” He switched his voice to a foe-pleasant tone that all good salesmen have. “Yes, Mrs. Rosenblum, this is the very best enchantment. It can block any curse, even the scariest ones from the vault.” He took another shot.

Bennie looked at Jenks. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much. If a cursed item was taken, they would have been more focused on containing it than catching the thief. You saw the words in the sky. ‘Spell Thief.’ It suggests they didn’t break any protective enchantments.

Leeroy put an arm around Jenks to try to comfort her. He took a drink from his beer to try to comfort himself. “What do you mean?”

"Well, I've been around a bit. I've done work with security and curses. A spell thief is someone who has the ability to take magic for their own. A ward is very much like a lock to a door. You can open it with a key, in this case, a special spell. The person who places the ward also makes the key. It's very difficult to duplicate without the original. The difference between a spell thief and a thief-thief is that a spell thief would have stolen the key to get past the ward, whereas a thief-thief would have to smash the lock. If the ward was unsealed with a key, it can easily be resealed, but if it was smashed, the ward has to be rebuilt from the ground up. That takes a lot of power and a lot of time. They said it was a spell thief. A guard had to be missing their keys and the ward was unsealed, not smashed, no doubt about it. And the ward can just be resealed, just like relocking a door." Bennie took a big drink out of his glass and placed it on the tray for a refill.

It was getting late; darkness was thirty minutes away. The light coming from the outside was growing redder and dimmer. Bennie finished his drink but did not put it back on the tray. He reached into his pocket and pulled out four bottles. Each had a long stem and a round base. There was a cork stopper in the end to prevent leakage. The only difference was the tint; red glass, green glass, blue glass, and yellow glass. He put the red one and the blue one away. Those two would be completely useless.

“I don’t know what you got planned,” Leeroy remarked, “but I think you should go with Stamina.”

“Huh?” Bennie looked at the green bottle.

“Trying to rush through your problems makes more problems. I find it is best to outlast them. Take it from a guy who once ran into a wyvern cave with my pants around my ankles.”

“You have a point.” Bennie poured the green one into his glass, then placed his glass on the tray where it mixed with his drink. “Marathon it is.”

With a little bit of hesitation, Syd asked, “Is Malton okay.”

The question was directed at Pierce and not Bennie. She considered the answer for a second. “Malton... was never the target...” She wished she could pound a shot down like Charlie was, but she had to be sharp. She started considering her contact. He was described to her as a short round man with a pig head. His name was Hoggins. Pierce took a breath and returned to being Bennie.

The door opened and two patrons entered the bar. One was Hoggins, who stepped aside and positioned himself by the door. There was a spell floating around him. It was predominantly black, but there was another color swirling around that kept changing slowly. Red to purple, to blue, to green, to yellow, to orange and back to red again. No matter what angle you saw it from, you were always looking inside, as the outside was perfectly transparent, and the inside was perfectly black. A portal spell, hopefully, one that would connect back to the lair of the employer.

The other person was Georgette, the tall guard who had inspected them on the way in. She had to crouch get in the building. She moved with a strange conviction for someone who couldn’t stand up straight inside the building. Bennie mused that with so much range of heights, buildings should be more accommodating. Charlie had been standing the whole time to avoid having the table at eye level. Georgette had mastered a quick hunched walk, which was certain to be standard in most domiciles and establishments.

“You know, I forgot to get your names for my report earlier,” she said, smiling down at them. She had positioned herself between the group and the door and settled in a squatting position. Bennie started going heavily for his drink. "You seem nervous, Mr...?"

"Bennie." He tried to arrange his face in a charming formation, but without knowing his face, he could not tell if he was successful. "I'm just trying to catch up with Charlie here." He continued to drink, already halfway down the glass. Charlie, as if to provide support, took another shot and fired a huge grin in Georgette's direction.

“And the rest of you?”

“This is my man, Leeroy.”

“And this is my girl, Jenks. We can vouch for each other’s whereabouts all day.”

"That won't be necessary. And you are Syd, I've seen you at the hospital." Bennie consumed another quarter of his drink. Over or Under, he thought to himself. "I've got a funny story." She started moving her right-hand carefully. Magic started swirling around it. "You see after you guys passed out of the crowd, I checked some more people through." The swirl started to shape into a ball. "Each time, I would detect a handful of message spells. A detect-magic here or there." The ball started to get a yellowish color and grew tiny spikes. Bennie realized that Georgette thought she was being sly. Her hand gestures were so subtle that no one would notice. If it wasn't for the ball of energy sitting it. "There were even a few dispel-magics. You know what I detected when I checked you guys?”

Bennie took the last little bit of his glass and set it on the table. Everybody looked at Georgette in silence. Bennie chose under at this moment.

“Nothing. And the only way that is possible is if the spell was stolen from my hand as I cast it. Very good timing with your fall out there.” She squeezed the spell in her hand causing it to pop a brilliant light. Pierce was back to being Pierce again. Before anybody had a chance to register what happened, Pierce tumbled off her chair and did a summersault between the legs of the towering Georgette. Leeroy was the only one shocked at this transformation. Charlie let out an angry laugh as he pounded down one last shot.

Pierce made a lot of ground while Georgette fell victim to her distraction. The befuddlement did not last long, and Georgette snapped around quickly closing the gap almost instantly. She reached out and managed to lay hands on the robe of the fleeing thief. People watched in anticipation waiting for Pierce to snap back and tumble into captivity.

A cloak can have up to five enchantments. The most common thing to have augmented on a cloak is to have the pockets enchanted. There is a simple version that simply prevents things from falling out. A more sophisticated enchantment required a unique key, locking to the pockets to the owner, much like the wards in the vault.

Invisibility seems like an obvious choice for thieves, but it isn't a common choice. An invisibility spell is easy enough to obtain, and one can be purchased off the black market like Pierce did if one doesn't want to leave a trail. Hiding isn't as much about not being seen as it is not being noticed, or recognized. This is why trans-chroma enchantment was the choice for Pierce.

While it would be unwise to underestimate Pierce's athletic ability, she does usually go with a little help. Her cloak is enchanted with the ability to lighten her up a little bit to help her jumps achieve mind-boggling jumps. It also has an adaptive slow-fall that allows short-distance gliding if the need to arrive. To keep her cool while achieving these feats, Pierce's cloak has thermal control. While it struggles to keep up in extremes, her cloak keeps her comfortable in a wide range of temperatures.

At this moment, the single most important enchantment is the snag-less coating. It was one that was so important, she made sure enchantment was the highest quality she could find. No thief wants to get caught in a door or snag a nail on a hot escape. And for many, this is reason enough to avoid a cloak with a long trail. Everybody in the Tavern of Port City watched as an imposing woman grabbed tightly the cloth trailing behind this minuscule bandit expecting basic tug of war rules to apply. The cloth seemed to have a mind of its own as it unwrapped itself from the iron grasp of those monumental hands and slipped away nearly frictionless. Georgette fell backward as she pulled against the expected weight that wasn't there.

Pierce finished her dash across the room. She grabbed the Hoggins’s knee and allowed the portal spell to flow into her while opening the door. The victory was short-lived. When the door closed behind her, Pierce saw a security force in wait. They ranged in height from two feet to fifteen feet. Their features ranged from pretty standard to cloven hooves, horns, and tusks. None of them had any magic prepped, limiting their options to hot-casting. This is a common practice when dealing with a spell thief.

Pierce did a backflip touching the tavern wall just above the door. She bounced off and grabbed on to the hanging tavern sign. Kicking her legs forward, she managed to flip herself from the sign onto the roof. She turned her attention to a tube feeding magic from the town center to the tavern. Her hand touched the tube, pulling a small amount of magic out of it in preparation for hot-casting. With the balance of a cat, she started running the wire-like pipe with uncanny speed and grace. Her fingers started moving with rapidity like playing an invisible instrument. The first attempt grew and then fizzled. The second one completely sparked out. She shook her hand in frustration then returned to casting.

While some wizards chose to scale the Tavern behind her, some completing feats that made Pierce’s jump look clumsy, others were down below ho- casting levitation and flight spells. They drew magic out of their staves, scepters, and wands to fuel their spells. The advantage the thief had was that casting these spells took a bit of time, but once the spells were cast, they would be able to catch up quickly.

Pierce successfully prepped dispel magic. Any minute now, a wave of high-flying mages would be surrounded, and this was her best defense. She had two more before she exhausted the magic she had taken from the tube, making a total of three. Getting more would take her focus off of where it needed to be, running to the town center.

She could tell from the wobble that mages were chasing her on the wire. She could hear in the air the first blasts of levitate spells. Flight magic takes a bit longer to cast, but it won’t be far behind. A rushing sound came behind her a split second before feeling an impact of stasis spell hit her back. She quickly popped the dispel before it could take hold and dropped down catching the wire at the last second. Another stasis flew by overhead. She gave the wire a sharp tug and flung herself back onto the tightrope. She turned to see what was going on behind her. Three mages were standing on the wire. Two were struggling to regain their balance after the vibration she just made caught up to them. She made a jumping motion on the wire amplifying the wave. The two mages lost their battle and fell. The third, unphased, threw a stasis spell. Pierce ducked.

The few levitators had reached the height of the Tavern. They positioned themselves to block the retreat. The first of the flyers took to the sky. Any moment now they would block her advanced. Two dispels left, she had to make them count.

She turned her attention toward the remaining mage standing on the line. Her face washed with determination. She knew what she was about to do was theoretically possible, but she had never attempted it. The mage moved down the line like a squirrel. He paused briefly sensing Pierce’s resolve. He stood up and flashed a brief smile revealing fanged teeth. He managed to conjure another stasis spell with little effort. Pierce blinked once and the mage let the incantation go.

The spell left the casters hand and flew through the air with a whoosh and a crackle. The drinking party had exited the Tavern and were observing the spectacle above. Along with Georgette, they had been joined by the security that had fallen earlier. The levitators had mostly gathered on the roof of the Tavern. The second flyer had just left the ground as the first moved into position behind Pierce. A gust of wind blew. The mage’s bowl cut hair blew across his face. Pierce’s cloak flapped in the wind. Everybody waited for Pierce to dodge.

When the spell was within a foot of Pierce’s face, she reached up and snatched it out of the air. Before the effect started to go off, she crushed it in her hand. It moved into her arm as she swung her other arm forward. The stasis spell emerged from her hand, and before anybody else realized what had just happened, the mage was falling off the wire, frozen by his spell.

She didn't allow herself more than a second to celebrate turning around to see a flying blue monkey. This guard had just finished preparing her stasis spell but had second thoughts about casting it. Pierce resumed her run; the mage flew to intercept. Not even pausing to aim, she tossed her dispel at this next obstacle. The spell connected rendering the furry woman flightless. The second flyer altered their trajectory to catch the first, careful not to stop the target abruptly.

She made it to the roof of the town center, the tallest place in all of Port City. It only took a minute for a flying security guard to appear. Pierce took note that they had decided to ready a second flying spell for backup. As the mage made a direct charge at her, she leaped into the air, twisting around so she can land on the back of the flyer. The flying magic spun around its host and then started to move up her arm, but instead of transferring completely, it went back to its original master.

Flying through the air gaining altitude, the mage twisting and turning rapidly. Pierce lost her grip and slip down to the other’s legs. She clawed herself back up the torso of the flyer. Again, she focused and tried to bring the flying spell over to her. This time the magic flowed freely from one person to the other.

Pierce wasted no time casting the spell, feeling herself suddenly go weightless. She then pushed the dispel into her partner and felt them gain back all their weight. She flew down low dropping off the unwanted ballast at a height where injury wouldn't be a concern. She then rose straight into the sky and then flew away to safety.

After a minute of flying, with no signs of being followed, she landed in an empty ally. She looked again at the portal magic she took. The black was unnerving. It was blacker than any black she had ever seen. The spell went into her hand, where it reshaped into a piece of chalk. She outlined on the wall in the shape of a door. The drawing became real.

She opened the door to what appeared to be a small grove of apple trees inside a building. Beyond what had the appearance of an indoor park, there appeared to be bookshelves as far as the eye could see. She walked in. A wave of dizziness came over her, and she fell to the floor. “Stamina blowback,” were her last thoughts before she fell unconscious.