“I was told to come to the home of the Severe Redeemers?” Beth said, speaking slowly as the two people standing in front of her didn’t really seem to speak her language. They were just staring at her, their mouths open. “It would really help if we could get a bit of dialogue going here. You do speak Viarran, right?”

They both nodded. Good, she thought, a start.

“Like I said, I’m looking for some fancy group of people. I’m sort of lost and there are sinkholes all over the place.”

“We didn’t do it,” Iarkspur blurted out. Arledge punched her calf.

“What she means is-” he began, before Beth cut him off.

“I know you didn’t do it. I’m asking if you can fix it. A simple yes or no would do.”

“Wait, you think. Oh, no. No, we aren’t part of the Severed Redemption.”

“That’s the name!” Beth said, “So what are you doing in their house? I noticed the door was… in need of repairs.”

“That’s one way to put it, Arledge kicked a hole in it,” Iarkspur said proudly, suffering another blow to the calf. She seemed to be clinging to a distraction.

“Impressive,” Beth said, “but why?”

“Look,” Arledge said, “we don’t know you. We don’t want trouble and I don’t think you do too. So, we are just going to go.”

“Look,” Beth said, equally forcefully, “it’s been a long couple days. This is the furthest I’ve gotten in getting answers and if I have to blackmail you both to keep you here, I will.”

“Blackmail, with what?” Arledge said.

“For one, breaking and entering. Two, all that blood going up the stairs. Yes, my eyes work. You also have blood in your fur. And I know one of your names now.”

“Damn,” Arledge said.

Iarkspur had fallen quiet again at the mention of the blood. Beth noticed but kept it to herself.

“I don’t think you both have actually done anything bad, you don’t seem the type, but if I can get answers up those stairs, you’re coming with me.”

“Fine,” Arledge said, “Iarkspur, how about you go close the front door and take a rest on the first floor? Out of sight from, y’know.”

Iarkspur nodded and mutely walked to the door and pushed it closed once more.

Beth peered into a couple of the rooms containing the dead members she had hoped to meet. She didn’t linger, instead going through to the study and skimming over some of the opened books on the desk and a few of the titles of the books strewn across the floor.

“It is probably not a good idea to stick around too long,” Arledge said from the door, “those guards won’t care about what we say if we’re found in this mess.”

“I guess you’re right,” Beth said, “but I’m willing to bet the reason for all of this is somewhere in this room.”

“It won’t matter if we’re arrested.”

“It matters to me.”

Beth’s eyes grew wide as she folded the corner of a page and slammed a book closed. She stuffed the hardback into her shoulder bag and, for good measure, pushed in a few stray sheets of paper that were also lying on the table.

“Okay, okay,” she said, feeling Arledge’s eyes on her, “I’m c-”

“Someone’s here.” Iarkspur rushed into the room, whispering to the others.

Arledge could hear whoever had entered running up the stairs. Fast.

“No time,” he said. He sprang across the room and tapped on the door of a tall wardrobe. “In here.”

“We aren’t all as small as you,” Iarkspur said.

“Now.” He smacked his paw on the door a little harder, urgency raising the volume slightly. The footsteps were getting closer.

Beth and Iarkspur shared a glance and rushed to the wardrobe, opening the door and closing it with them inside as quietly as possible. It was not too tight of a squeeze, likely fitting one more person. Thankfully, it was empty save for the three of them. Arledge patted both of the girls’ knees as the door to the study that had been pushed to by Iarkspur creaked open.

“... To put a long story short, you are an imbecile.”

Ephin was speechless. He had followed Jadon underground, below the city sewer system. Almost like the burrows of some gigantic badger, the home of the Brixith Order twisted before him. There were continuous dirt tunnels, lit by sparse everflame torches, with numerous branching tunnels. Ephin was glad he wasn’t too tall as he was beginning to feel claustrophobic and couldn’t think how bad it would be if he were much bigger. He and Jadon had been brought straight to a small, simple room with a single desk and chair. Behind the desk, sitting in the chair, was a grumpy looking man with a beard and short hair, all looking as if it had been recently cut with nothing more than a dagger; the hair color more grey than black. He must have been at least three times older than Ephin in relative human age, considering they aged quicker than he did.

Almost as soon as the door had clicked shut behind them, this man had begun a tirade of insults at Jadon and Ephin, rapidly rising from seething quietness to shouting loud enough to make Ephin flinch. He had apparently worn himself out as he finished his barrage, slumping back into his chair. Jadon had stood silently with his head slightly bowed the entire time, so Ephin had followed his lead.

“Dar-” Jadon said, allowing the older man time to gather his breath in case he had wanted to say more.

“Don’t try it,” the man cut him off, “I know you’re going to make excuses. I just, I don’t care about them right now.”

“It wasn’t me.”

“It wasn’t you, what?”

“I didn’t cause the sinkholes. Some other guy did.”

“You think I care about the sinkholes?” The man leaned forward, grabbing eye contact with Jadon’s bowed head. “Were you listening to a thing I just said? You had one job. Collect that potion. You lost it.”

“I- wait. So, you don’t care about the sinkholes?” Jadon asked.

“Sinkholes, ruptures, like I care to get involved with that. You, Jadon, have cost me money. Tangible money, with your idiocy.”

“Darroreck, how do I make this right?”

So, his name is Darroreck? Ephin noted.

“You get me what is mine. I have angered important people by not delivering what they paid good money for. You find me whoever had the guts to steal from you. From me,” Darroreck said, looking back over some of the papers on his desk and picking up a quill.

“What do I do when I find him?”

“Priority one, get the potion. Secondly, I want him dealt with. If you cannot get the potion, you better start using holy boy over here to find another one or I’m coming for you next. Got it?”

“Yes sir,” Jadon said, dipping his head lower for a second and then turning and knocking on the door. Ephin lingered as Darroreck lifted his eyes to look at him. Ephin then spun on his heels and hurried after Jadon.

Ephin followed Jadon, trying unsuccessfully to offer him aid with walking. He must want to look tough in front of his friends, Ephin thought, trying to sneak glances at the people they passed without irritating any of them. They didn’t seem the trusting types and he had already snitched on Jadon.

Jadon stopped by a wooden door and opened it. Ephin looked inside, there was a hammock, and an unlit candle.

“Home, sweet home,” Jadon said, pushing Ephin forward. “Don’t go wandering, I’ll fetch you in the morning.” With that, Jadon closed the door, leaving Ephin in complete darkness.

Ephin went to try the door, but it was already locked. He fumbled across the room, feeling his way by the mud wall, to the stand that held the candle. He held is amulet and whispered a few words and the amulet glimmered, allowing the tips of his fingers to glow faintly. He pressed his index finger to the wick of the candle and it sparked alight, giving the room a wavering, unsteady light. Ephin sighed and climbed up into the hammock, spun and fell off the other side. Eventually, fourth time lucky, Ephin was lying on the hammock and looking up at the moist roof of his room. A single bead of water dripped down and hit him square in the forehead.

Did I do the right thing now? He thought, allowing the exhaustion of the past day to wrap him up and take him to sleep.

The candle had long since burnt out by the time the door unlocked and filtered light into Ephin’s room. Whilst the corridor outside was still dim, it felt far brighter after his night in such a dark space.

Jadon was waiting by his door. He wasn’t smiling but he also didn’t look to be on the edge of growling at him like usual. He was dressed in different clothes, having discarded his guard outfit. Ephin did not feel overly comfortable walking around a den of thieves and criminals being the sole one in guard uniform.

Jadon led Ephin to a larger room that housed a few rows of tables and benches, slightly sunken into the mud. A mess hall. Ephin felt a punch to his stomach, his body reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since early the day before.

“I’ve managed to get some clothes that might fit you. You can put them on after breakfast,” Jadon said, taking a plate from a stack of metal kitchenware and helping himself to the bread rolls that were on offer. “We have a guy that is just the best at baking, I swear to the gods. Don’t take too much though, gotta feed everyone remember.”

Ephin nodded and took exactly as much as Jadon did, following to join him at the end of one of the tables. Jadon gave a nod of greeting to a couple of the other people in the half-filled room.

“So,” Jadon said through a mouthful of bread, “the plan for today is to scout out the shop where the guy stole my potion. Maybe get some clues as to how he got in without me noticing, maybe find something that shows us which direction he could’ve come from. If not, we try to head to where he collapsed the mines. Figure out where he went from there. That’s riskier though, which is why we’re starting at the shop and retracing steps. Got it?”

Ephin nodded, trying to keep up with the pace at which Jadon was speaking. It was still early and Ephin had no idea what Jadon was talking about for the most part, much less put it together at the speed he was speaking. He tried to arrange his face to one of understanding.

“Right, well just go where I go and hopefully, we can find this guy before he gets rid of the potion.”

“Why can’t I just go back to the temple now I’m free?”

“Are you dense?”

“What, no,” Ephin said.

“You broke out of jail. There is no ‘going back to the temple’ for you,” Jadon said.

“You mean I have to stay here with more criminals?”

“You are a criminal. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you’ll be useful. And you want to be useful. Understand?”

Ephin was awake enough to get the threat. Somebody that wasn’t useful was simple a drain on space, resources and a liability.

They finished up their breakfast and Ephin stepped back into his dark room to get changed into the outfit Jadon had picked out for him. It was slightly too big for him and smelt quite bad, but it wasn’t something that stood out like a guard uniform, so Ephin was somewhat pleased with it.

“Come on,” Jadon called from outside, “we can’t waste too much time.”

They followed the tunnels back out, past the sewers and up the wet stone steps to the grill and slunk out into the streets.

“Look desperate,” Jadon said, “people like to ignore desperate people.”

“That’s awful,” Ephin said.

“Life’s awful, people just follow the pattern. I’ll bet you do the same.”

“I help people.”

“Right,” Jadon said, “what about those unable to bring themselves to your doors? Lying freezing in the snow ready to be collected as dead the next morning?”

“I can’t help everyone.”

“Do you try? You sent me right back out into the snow too.”

Ephin avoided Jadon’s eyes as the shuffled through the streets, keeping close to walls and blending in as the few people they passed clung to the opposite side of the street and walked a little quicker.

“You see?” Jadon said.

They reached the street that the shop was nestled into. The glass front was still open to the elements, although some effort had been put in to cover the worst of the open window with planks of wood.

“So, we just need to get to the roof.” Jadon said.

“You what?”

“No. We. I’m next to useless with this leg, so I’m going to need you to help me up there.”

“You’re mental,” Ephin said shaking his head and backing away a couple steps.

Jadon lifted his head to look directly at Ephin, the wind blowing back his hood.

“You owe me.”

“I helped you get out of the jail.”

“No, I helped you get out,” Jadon said, his voice rising in volume.

“I’m not going up there. I’d slip and fall.”

“That’s okay, you don’t always die.”

“Not funny,” Ephin said.

“It’s him!” Both of them whipped their heads to the where the shout had come from. A figure was standing in the doorway of the shop pointing at Jadon and Ephin, a guard poked his head out from within the store.

“Time to go,” Jadon said, starting to hobble down the street as fast as his leg would allow.

Ephin jogged to his side and muttered a few words, grabbing his amulet and resting a hand briefly on Jadon’s shoulder. Jadon’s injured thigh closed up its wound a little more but also kept a sustained glow similar to the one from the amulet. His pace picked up and the two were soon hurtling down the street.

Jadon was not back his normal pace, but he was fast enough to make Ephin struggle to keep up and they were both too quick for the guards. Unfortunately, every time they stopped to rest; the guards rounded whatever corner they had just passed. He had given them the slip too many times.

Jadon’s energy was sapping much more quickly than normal. The effort to keep his injured leg from buckling was draining his stamina and Ephin started pulling ahead. Ephin suddenly jerked to the right darting into an open doorway. Jadon followed, knowing they had to stay together.

Ephin pushed the door closed and they both ran further in, hurtling up the stairs and reaching the first floor before they heard the front door slam open behind them.

Ephin slowed, noticing the blood all over his shoes. The floor. The walls. He had led them into a slaughterhouse. He had simply noticed an open doorway and figured it was a quick hiding spot from the guards.

“Hurry,” Jadon whispered pulling Ephin along, pushing open the one door that was not coated in blood. Jadon closed it behind them, not entirely to avoid the giveaway click of a closed door. He could hear the guards pausing at the blood like they had; raising their voices; heavy feet marching both up and back down the stairs. Getting closer. He scanned the room they were in and waved Ephin over to the wardrobe at the opposite side. It was a desperate attempt.

Ephin shot Jadon a questioning look but hurried to the wardrobe anyway and opened the door, still looking in Jadon’s direction as he pushed his way into the quite full wardrobe. He looked to see why it was so full and saw a pair of terrified eyes staring back down at him. He opened his mouth to gasp but a hand clasped over his mouth as someone else pulled him as deep into the wardrobe as they could get, keeping him quiet.

Jadon, looking at the study door, walked himself backward into the wardrobe too, feeling with his hand to push Ephin to one side or another and make room for him. When the body didn’t move, he turned to glare at Ephin and saw the packed wardrobe.

“It’s you?” Jadon asked, looking up in shock at the girl and then down at the rabbit that they had collided with the day prior. In the back of his head, he noticed there was no room for another person in the wardrobe. The odds of there being more people in there and that he knew them, had made his brain stutter for a moment. In that moment, the door behind him was pushed open, the entering guard looking over at the five people in the room, four of them clustered in one piece of furniture.

“It’s not what you think,” Arledge said raising his hands above his head.