1

He appeared in an open well-groomed field, standing in a large circle formed from crushed white granite stone. About a hundred yards away stood a large keep, a round building about four stories high with walls of rough-hewn field stone and covered with old ivy. Carrying his staff in hand and muttering to himself, he stormed off in the direction of his home.

He passed by a young man, tall and thin, who had come out from the house in order to greet him. “So,” the young man asked, his gaunt face pulled back in a smile. “How did it go?”

“Don’t ask!” The wizard growled at him. He entered the keep through the kitchen door and was immediately assaulted by the smells of food being prepared, simmering beef, potatoes, onions and garlic.

“Oh, you just in time!” A frumpy middle-aged woman said to him. She wore an apron over a brown sweater with the sleeves pushed up. Her large bosom spilling out the sides. Her greying hair had been pulled back into a bun. She looked up at him through small glasses. “Dinner is nearly ready, my Lord.”

“I’m not hungry,” the wizard snarled.

“Now you look here!” The woman said point a large wooden spoon at him. “I have been slaving over this meal for hours and you will eat it!”

“Millie, you’re not my wife!” The wizard yelled in exasperation.

“Thank the Gods for that!” Millie shouted loud enough for everyone in the house to hear. “But none the less, servant or not, I made this meal. Everyone will sit properly at the table and eat it, or it will be the last meal I ever cook here!”

“Fine!” The wizard replied. He stomped up the stairs to his study.

The old, grizzled wizard paced back and forth on the creaking floor of his study, muttering under his breath. He had been so close, yet it slipped through his fingers! He cursed aloud to himself. He knew he should have sent some other lackey to get the job done. Perhaps Armiger could have been up to the task? No, he thought to himself. The boy was too brash, too young and too reckless. The lad would have gotten himself killed for sure. That farm boy was damn quick with the sword, wasn’t he? Yes, he would have skewered Armiger for sure. Worse yet, what if his servant was caught instead or killed? Would they have beaten the lackey into a pulp until he confessed everything he knew about his master? Would they have found him out? Where the keep was located, perhaps? No, it was better that he himself had gone, even if he had gotten so close only to have to leave the map behind and escape capture.

By the Gods this young group was bold! Or was it stupid? The wizard could not be sure. He cursed himself for not frying Elwin with a lightning bolt instead of the incredibly stupid street urchin. He knew it was better that he had not though. He knew the fireball had been a very stupid move as well. What was he thinking! Was he getting too old for this? The map could have been destroyed if the farm boy hadn’t dodged out of the way in the nick of time. No, the wizard thought. He had caused enough trouble already by killing the youth. There were too many problems with killing the farm boy Elwin and his friends in the dank alleyway of the Wizard Quarter. It could lead to uncomfortable things like an imperial investigation. Currently, he was on the good side of the Emperor. He wanted it to stay that way, at least for now. He pictured several city officials and a few Order of the Red Dragon soldiers, parchment in hand, writing down the details and positioning of several charred corpses. No, the wizard thought. He had drawn too much unwanted attention already by killing the brat. If he had killed all of them? The Emperor might not look the other way.

It was bad enough that Elwin would now be on his guard and more careful with his possession from now on. Further imperial trouble was something he really wanted to avoid. As it was the relationship between the crown and the Wizard Council was tense at best. Dead citizens in the Wizard Quarter would have brought unwanted attention on their whole profession. Even a dangerous and fearless wizard like himself wanted to avoid such complications. Oh, he would get the map alright. He would just have to be more cunning and subtle in his ways.

The old wizard was known around the Verant Empire as Vask of the house of Fillius. He had teleported out of Verant City just in time. Now he brooded back at his home, still pacing, stoking his long grey beard and wondering what to do next. His wizard keep was out in the forest wilderness, at least three days travel east from Palantine. At his age and even with his power, teleporting himself a thousand miles would have been almost impossible. The distance was simply too great for all but the highest-ranking masters of magic, of which he was certainly one. However, Vask had the foresight to build his keep in a very special place. There was a magical secret, known only to a few people in all of Gaia, that the world was crisscrossed with lay-lines. These were lines of powerful magical forces that ran across the land and sea. Where lay-lines intersected each other, a special magical place was form called a node. Vask Fillius’ keep was built right next to one such node. The city of Verant also happened to be built upon one. It was hidden away in the Wizard’s Quarter near the dark marble tower. Vask knew that this was not a coincidence. Even if the wizards who built the tower hundreds of years ago were unaware of it; they would have built the tower next to the node subconsciously. Magic is always drawn closer to more magic and the more powerful the better.

Vask suddenly laughed aloud. Ha, the whole situation was ridiculous of course. The damned foolish boy was guarding a map he can’t even read, let alone comprehend even if he knew the language! It was almost too comical! Yes, Vask knew all about the farm boy named Elwin and his snot-nosed friends! Born in Salome Hollow, brother Rith, both parents were dead from the plague. Yes, magic could tell someone a lot about anything. That’s why Vask loved magic so much. He was also aware that he might be God Touched. Servia was certainly, that’s why he needed her. Maybe he would need Elwin too. There were many more God Touched yet to discover and who knew what side everyone would end up on.

At over eighty years of age, he had used magic to extent his life, defying nature itself! The average Human only live to about the mid-fifties, maybe almost to the mid-seventies if they were really lucky! How much longer could he extent his own life before even nature could not be held at bay by magic? He did not know, but he knew he had some time yet to live. He would possess the map. He had time. He could wait until the moment was right. He would strike again, but patience would be the key.

He looked around the room. It was a single large circular room on the top floor with the outside wall being the wall of the keep itself. It was held together with large flagstones and mortar. At one spot against the wall was a set of stairs that lead down. This room in the keep was his workshop and his bedroom. The rafters above were choked with various herbs, flowers and fungus. Not just local ones, but rare ones from all over the world. A large table, on the opposite side of the room from the stairs, was covered with jars filled to the brim with exotic ingredients, various rare stones in a rainbow of colours, a crystal ball on a wrought iron stand and a multitude of different wands and staffs.

Vask stopped pacing before a huge bookshelf overflowing with books. Many were so old they were beginning to fall apart, written ages ago by hand. Next to them sat newer books made on a printing press only a few years before. Vask was always looking for new books. He believed very strongly that knowledge was true power. He scanned the shelves until he found the book he was looking for. It was very old. He handled it delicately. It was written entirely in Elfish, but for Vask that was not a problem. He could speak and read six languages. It was a very rare title called A Brief History of the Enki. He sat down next to the table.

“Sinister! Sinister! Come here at once!” He called out. Suddenly a ferret, Sinister, appeared and began hopping across the floor bounding towards him. Sinister stopped at the wizard’s feet and looked up rubbing is little paws together. He was all black with a few white spots randomly placed around his body and a pink twitchy nose. He sniffed the air randomly.

“Remember the boy I had you follow in the city?” Sinister twitched his nose in reply. The real communication was telepathic of course, but Vask had gotten use to speaking his half of the conversation aloud. Somehow it made it easier to talk to a ferret, even if it was his own familiar.

“Good. I’m going to need you to follow him around again,” Vask told him.

Somehow Sinister looked as despondent as a ferret could.

“It’s only for a short while my friend! I just need to see where he goes. That’s all. I ask for no more than that,” Vask explained dispelling and trepidation.

Sinister nodded his pointy head and blinked.

Vask picked up a wand and waved it above the ferret and said a few words in a strange magical language.

Suddenly the ferret vanished.

Vask sighed, cracking open the book he began to read. I must know more about the stones! Vask thought. After all, it was directly related to the map and the more he knew about it, the better.

He was interrupted by a shout from Millie below. Yes, the bloody dinner! That woman was incessant!

A few minutes later, Millie, Armiger, Valance and Vask Fillius sat around a large table eating the meal.

“How is it boys?” She asked politely.

“Braised beef, my favorite!” Armiger replied cheerfully. He beady little eyes shown in the light from the big window above the counter. The sun was beginning to set and a soft orange glow was coming in.

Valance, the tall thin one whom met Vask earlier said. “Very good, Millie.”

Vask said nothing. He was too busy reading. Valance elbowed him when he noticed Millie looking at them. Vask looked up from his book laying next to the bowl. “Yes,” he muttered. “Delightful!” Then went back to muttering to himself, brooding and reading.

“So did you get the item?” Armiger asked Vask.

Vask looked up annoyed. “Do I look like I got the fucking item?”

“Come now Vask, the boy was only asking a simple question,” Millie said. Then she added. “Maybe if you offered more money, you might have gotten it.”

“It’s a one-of-a-kind item,” Vask said. “He’s not going to sell it to me you idiot! If you must know I hired a boy to steal it.”

“What happened, the boy couldn’t get it?” Armiger questioned.

“No, the boy is dead,” Vask replied simply.

“They killed him!” Armiger said alarmed.

“No… Look, the boy is besides the point here,” Vask tried to explain.

“Why didn’t you just hit him with a fireball and got the map off his corpse?” Armiger suggested. Nothing could defeat his upbeat mood.

“Because it would have destroyed the map!” Vask said exasperated. “Am I the only sane one at this table?”

“Then use lightning…”

“How is that any… Would you just shut up and eat!” Vask shouted.

“No shouting at my table,” Millie demanded.

“This isn’t your house!” Vask yelled at her in disbelief.

“Well, it is my meal and I want peace,” she replied completely unfazed.

“Oh, for fuck sakes!” Vask complained. “Are you completely insane woman?”

“You know you’re not supposed to say hurtful things too me,” Millie replied. She was almost on the edge of tears.

“Okay, fine I’m sorry…”

“Why is the map so important anyway?” Valance asked changing the conversation.

Vask silently thanked him. “I’m not sure yet. If it is what I think it is, then it could show us the location of the powerful crystals that the Enki used thousands of years ago.”

“Don’t you already have a shard of one in your staff?” Valance pointed out.

“Yes, however, these would be whole stones and not just fragments,” Vask explained. He stopped to take a bite of the stew. “Now imagine something ten times as powerful and that’s still not the full extent of what just one of those crystals could do. You take several of them and put them together… Well, you would be as powerful as any God in all the realms.”

“And you think the map could reveal their locations?” Valance questioned.

“Possibly, but I might need to do more research,” Vask replied. “That’s assuming it is what I think it is.”

“Which is what exactly?” Valance asked.

“I think it might be part of a much large tapestry that would have hung in the great hall of one of their cities,” Vask explained. This was more like it, he thought. Real question and intelligent conversation.

“How many are there?” Armiger wanted to know.

“One for every major Enki city,” Vask replied with a shrug. “Maybe a dozen in total. Maybe more. There’s no way to know for sure.”

“Here the thing,” Valance said. “Even if this map shows the location, the landscape has completely changed. How do you intend to figure it out?”

“Research,” Vask said simply. He pointed to the book in front of him. “We may have to hunt down some very rare tomes before we can figure out anything.”

“And this adventuring group?” Armiger questioned.

“The kids dumb as a post,” Vask said. “He has no idea what it is that he is in possession of. They tried to show it around the Grand Bazaar to see it anyone could figure it out. No, you need a master wizard, such as myself or a wise old elf to translate it.”

2

The smell of burned flesh filled the alleyway. It took Elwin back to the horrifying moment when Levka was killed. The same smell, the same lifeless body.

Anna had been right, Markus was dead. Killed by the wizard whose named they did not even know. Elwin knelt next to the body. Anna was beside him, while the other two stood around in shock for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Elwin told one of them to get a city guard.

The two city guards that they managed to find a few blocks away were less than enthusiastic about the situation. Especially after Elwin explained that a wizard had done this to the boy. Elwin explained to them that the wizard had struck the youth with a lightning bolt and killing him instantly right before their eyes.

“You say this wizard is old, very old?” The one guard questioned. He had piece of parchment with him and a pencil, but he was reluctant to write anything down.

“Yes,” Elwin was quick to say. “He had long grey hair and a long silvery beard that hung down almost to his belt. I have no idea how old he really was, I mean how do you judge such things?”

Elwin felt that he was a little more nervous sounding than he wanted to be. It was not like he was totally lying to them. He just did not want to revel why they had met with the wizard. The map was too important to him now.

The two guards seemed to exchange knowing glances that made Elwin worry.

“Who is this boy Markus to you?” The other guard asked.

“Ah,” Elwin had to think quickly. “He was a street urchin, our guide. He was showing us around the city. Ah, we’re tourists, of course!”

“And you just happened to encounter this wizard, who just happened to kill the lad here?” The first guard asked pointing to the body still lying on the ground.

“Look, I don’t understand it either, but it happened and now the boy is dead,” Elwin replied. “I tried to stop the wizard, but I was almost killed myself!”

It was a partial truth at least! Elwin thought. It would be believable and hopefully the guards would not press the issue further. Why should he feel like he was on trial here anyway? He did not kill the boy, the wizard did. In the back of his mind, he heard a familiar voice say, really? You had nothing to do with it? Shut up! He thought to himself. Just shut up!

“Was there anything special about this wizard?” The second guard asked. “Something that might distinguish him apart from others?”

The two guards did seem a bit more relaxed once they were sure that the boy was merely a street urchin.

“He wore a dark green robe and a wide brim hat. He carried a staff!” Elwin stated.

“What did the staff look like?” The first guard questioned.

All wizards carried some sort of staff Elwin supposed, but they would not all be the same. He thought about it for a moment. Everything happened so fast, how was he to remember all these details! “I think it was made out of an elder tree branch. It had a stone in mounted on top that the wood seemed to wrap around and envelop, like it just grew like that with the stone in the center. It looked like a…”

“…Red ruby?” The first guard finished the statement for him.

Elwin exchanged puzzled glances with his friends. To the guard he asked. “How did you know that? Do you know this man?”

The guards exchanged their own distressing glances, but they did not reply to the question. The first guard tucked the parchment and pencil back into his pocket.

“Listen lad,” the man spoke in a deadly serious tone. “If I were you, than I would go back to your inn and forget this whole thing.”

“What?” Anna shouted appalled by what she was hearing. “You’re joking, right! This boy was killed by that wizard, we all swear it! We saw it with our own eyes! Are you not going to investigate this… this murder!”

“No, investigating wizards is no easy task,” the first guard replied flatly. “We’re going to bring this to a captain.”

“This is mazy!” Rith interjected. “You know who we’re talking about, don’t you? Why won’t you speak his name!”

They both gave him a grave stare. The first guard said. “Because it’s too dangerous and brings on too much trouble.”

“So, what do you call him then?” Elwin questioned. “You-know-who!”

“Of course not!” The guard snapped. “That would be a stupid name!”

The two guards said nothing further. They turned to walk away. They discussed amongst themselves that one would stay with he body and the other would get the captain.

“I have something!” Elwin suddenly spoke up. He felt he should let a bit more of the truth come out. “Something the wizard wanted! He killed the boy over it!”

One of the guards stared directly at Elwin. It was a cold heartless stare that made him shiver involuntarily. “If that’s true… If he’s really looking for you… Then I would get out of the city and flee if you value your life! Because the city guard can’t stop him.”

“So, what about the boy!” Anna shouted at the guards. “It doesn’t matter that Markus is dead?”

“What about him?” One of the guards said to her. “If you really insist on knowing, the man you describe isn’t just anyone. His name is Vask from the house of Fillius. He’s a nobleman and one of the most important and powerful wizards in the entire Empire. Not to mention a good friend of the Emperor. There’s nothing we can do. It’s out of our hands. This has to go up to a higher authority. We need to get the captain involved and if you’re lucky, he might take it to the Imperial Council.”

Elwin was furious with the guard’s attitude. “Is there no justice here?”

“Of course there is!” Now it was the guard who was angry. “If you leave here, you live! That’s justice! If you know what’s good for you, you will forget this place. It’s ancient history now. The boy will get a proper funeral. That’s all you need to know.”

The four companions just stood there stunned for a moment, unsure about what to do next. Then the guards told them to get moving. So they did.

Well, Elwin thought. At least they had a name for this evil man. For all the good it did them.

3

Elwin awoke from a nightmare to find the dawn had already broke. The others were still asleep. In his dream, he could see the faces of Markus, Levka and the ogre children. There lifeless expressions haunted his dreams more often than not. Of course, Elwin knew why he was having such dreams. It was the boy, Markus. Elwin felt responsible for his death. It was his fault. He made the boy meet with the deadly wizard. He put the boy up to it, despite the risk. The boy had paid with his life. This guilt made his sleep restless and filled with horrible images of the dead coming to him, pointing with accusing fingers.

Elwin thought about the day before. They left the Wizard Quarter rather quickly and did not look back. They were shaken and scared. It made Elwin feel ashamed. They had just left Markus’ body lying there in the shadows of a desolate alleyway. No burial and no justice. Just an uncaring city guard keeping watch. He was disgusted with himself. The wizard, (Vask? Was that his name?) had humiliated him. He had no way to find him, to get revenge. It did not sit well.

What was it the druid had said to Rith? Everywhere you go death and destruction will follow you? No, this had nothing to do with Rith. He did not make the boy do anything. Elwin had done it. But Rith was with him. Could the fortune have been right? Maybe Rith did not have to do anything, just being there was enough to cause some sort of magic effect.

Hogwash! That voice in the back of his head said to him. This is your doing and you know it. Don’t try to put it off on someone else. You’re the lead, you decide the course of action and someone died.

Elwin had to shake his head in anger. He did not believe the old druid anyway. It was all garbage and fluff, right? Elwin was having too many conflicting thoughts. He was not sure of anything anymore. He really wished the druid had done a reading for him. He decided that he must know. The next time they ran into a fortune-teller, he would ask to have his cards read. He had to know, even if it was all just bullshit.

Eventually, he roused the other three and told them that they had to get ready. They were going to the guild hall as soon as they were ready. They needed to find a job that would take them as far away from the city as possible. Elwin figured that their luck had to change.

They had been checking in with the guild for the last few days, but it had been very disappointing. Not many assignments were coming in and the few that did were taken before the group could even get there. This time they were up and out the door before most of the shops had even opened.

As they approached, the guild hall was bathed in the golden morning light. Birds scattered from the streets and they could hear morning doves cooing indignantly. Elwin prayed that they could get a good assignment.

The guild hall was already open for business. The empire it seemed never rested. It did not matter the year or what time of day it might be. The clerk had assured them that an assignment could come in at anytime. If nothing was available, Elwin feared they may have to sit there all day and wait for one to come in. He did not want to leave the hall empty handed.

“I don’t care what assignment they have,” Elwin said to the other three. “Whatever it is, we’re taking it!”

With great trepidation, he placed his hand on the doorhandle and they entered the strange angular building. The guild hall was empty. Only a clerk behind the main desk shuffling some papers disturbed the silence. Elwin approached him.

The clerk looked up at him. In the last few days, the clerk, who always seemed to be on duty, had come to recognize Elwin. He spoke before Elwin could. “Looking for work, are you?”

It was the third day in a row he had used the same phrase.

“I hope that our persistence will pay off,” Elwin said wearily.

“I have something,” The clerk said with a sigh. He pulled out a handwritten parchment and handed it to Elwin.

Elwin read the top line and said. “This is an imperial assignment!”

“Indeed!” The clerk replied. “It’s an escort mission.”

“It doesn’t sound very adventurous,” Elwin commented as he began reading the document over.

“I suppose not, but the imperial missions always pay well. This one pays fifty in gold per adventurer. Not only that, but you get half up front and the other half when the report is issued,” The clerk explained. He folded his hands together and sat back in his rickety wooden chair. There voices echoed in the large empty room.

In the background he could hear Emerson whistle as he listened in. It was a lot of money both up front and in total.

Elwin had a few questions before they agreed. “What do you mean by a report?”

“Well, the assignment is to escort an engineer to a large town in the north. Domara, I think it’s called. The engineer will have to fill out an official report that is submitted to the guild when you return.”

“Any idea how far this Domara town is?”

“Any map I have ever seen show the town up near the Black Mountains, maybe six hundred miles from here,” the clerk shrugged as if the distance was insignificant. “That’s why it is offering so much. The distance is going to take time. And time is money.”

Elwin was happy to hear that part at least. He wanted an assignment that took them far away and they got one. On foot, this trip could take over three weeks he reasoned. That was assuming that the imperial roads were well maintained. However, if they had to leave the main roads to get to the town, the trip may take even longer.

There was an addition danger, and it made people very nervous about heading north. The Wild Elves had invaded Verant briefly about twenty years ago. They came swooping down from the north like demons. After that, people got very nervous about heading that far north. Even though the Wild Elves no longer threatened the Empire, they had not gone completely away. Elwin shuttered when he thought about it. Even a small group of Wild Elves could wipe out their party.

Elwin looked at the other three, but they did not have much choice. Nothing else might come in that day. There was no telling when another good pay assignment would arrive. They need to get out of town in a hurry.

Elwin looked back down at the document title. Imperial Order # 236 it read. He had also noted the phrase five party members required.

“It says here five people are required?” He pointed out to the clerk. “That seems like a lot for an escort mission.”

“True, but it’s because of the great distance north. For safety reasons the imperial orders, even for escort missions, require a minimum of five adventurers. This is especially true of great distances like this one. We have sent fewer people in the past, but sometimes we had problems… Sometimes they… wouldn’t come back…” The clerk left the thought hanging in the air.

“We don’t have five people,” Elwin pointed out.

“Obviously,” The clerk said frowning. “Look, just get another member to join your party. There are plenty of other adventurers in the city, I’m sure. I have a whole list here if you want to look it over.”

“Not to worry, I have someone in mind,” Elwin said. His thoughts immediately went to Selby. He read a little further in. “Who are we escorting?”

“That’s entirely up to you.”

Elwin gave him a strange look.

“You’ll be given a hundred gold coins with which to hire an engineer,” The clerk explained.

“We have to hire the engineer ourselves?” Emerson questioned from behind Elwin. He looked around him to see the clerk.

“That’s right. On the road heading north, you’ll come to a crossroads that leads to a little village called Nina. The place is filled with engineers. For that price, you should have them begging to go with you!”

“So, what does the engineer have to do once we get him there?” Elwin asked.

“Well, that’s a little tricky. If you continue reading, you’ll see that the document states that there have been persistent rumours that have filtered back to the Imperial Palace about a series of earthquakes that have hit the Domara region in recent weeks, but it doesn’t go into any detail. My best guess is that the town is damaged, if not levelled completely. Buildings collapse, people homeless, that sort of thing. The mayor or local Earl has probably requested an engineer to assess the full extend of the damage.”

“Why don’t they have their own engineer? I mean it’s a Large city, right?” Elwin questioned.

“Engineers aren’t as common as you might think. That’s why they get paid twice as much as you. It requires a great deal of education. If the Earl ordered an imperial engineer, instead if using his own, then it’s probably because the assessment is to be officially sanctioned. This means that the town could get some imperial coin to help rebuild,” The clerk replied.

With document in hand, he read it to the group again and they discussed the assignment. It was not very thrilling, but it took them to a part of the empire they had never seen. A wild untamed part of the world where isolated communities carved out simple existences, cut off from the rest of the world. There was not much to talk about, they needed this assignment badly.

“Hold this job for us,” Elwin said to the clerk. “We’ll get a fifth party member and return for it. Just give us an hour or two.”

“No problem, Elwin. I’ll have the full documentation for you to sign as well as the payment, ready for you when you return,” The clerk said with a wink.

4

If Elwin remembered correctly, Selby had mentioned staying at the Lion & the Gladiator. It was a small inn near the north end of the Grand Bazaar. They had initially stayed at the Griffin’s Tail which was only a city block away. If they hurried quickly, they could find him before he left the inn for the day.

They had not seen him since that night they went to the Crassidio, but they had gotten along quite well and Elwin was sure that if they put it to him the right way, he would surely join them.

They got lucky that morning. As they headed up the avenue towards the inn, they spotted Selby coming the other way. “Selby!” Elwin called out across the crowd. As usual the Grand Bazaar was already filled with people buying goods. This made it quite noisy. Elwin had to shout above the din.

Selby noticed them and waved back. Making his way through the crowd, he reached them. The five stood in a tight circle as the crowds walk all around them like the flow of a river.

“Well met, friends!” He said. Selby was in high spirits that day and seemed genuinely happy to see them. “How fortunate to run into you here!”

“We have an assignment!” Elwin said. “From the guild hall.”

“Really? Good for you!” Selby said sound genuinely happy for them.

“Not exactly,” Elwin said.

Selby gave him a surprising look.

“Well, you see the mission requires five people and we only have four. If you’re interested in work, you could join us?”

Selby was quite surprised by the offer. “Well, I don’t know what to say?”

“Say yes!” Anna exclaimed suddenly before anyone else could speak.

“You said you needed time and well you had time, almost two weeks,” Elwin pointed out.

“Let’s face it,” Emerson added. “You’re not Tram, you’re not done adventuring. There is much more the find out there and I know you want to be a part of it.”

“Well!” Selby said nodded. “You’re right, I have thought about and Emerson you’re right, I’m not done. The city has been fun, but it has been somewhat expensive. I have gone through almost all of my cash. I could use the money…”

“Fifty in gold for each of us,” Elwin said. “The only thing is, we have to leave the city as soon as possible, by noon at the latest.”

“I love the sound of fifty gold, but what’s the hurry?” Selby questioned.

“Ah, we’ll explain on the way, but right now we have to get moving,” Elwin replied.

The five of them went back to the guild hall and took the assignment. As the clerk had promised everything was ready. They were paid half the money, given the money for the engineer and the document detailing the assignment.

The rest of the day was spent planning and buying supplies. They need food for the trip, something that could last for weeks. There could be a few places to get supplies, but they were headed into unknown territory. Selby confessed that he was from out east and had never been that far to the north. The village of Nina, where they had to stop, might have supplies, but what else? What other towns lay ahead? They had no idea, so they got as many supplies as the pony could carry or coin would allow.

Later after lunch, the party of five companions headed out of the city. They were north bound on the Imperial Verant River Road. They did not look back.