It was around 2am, when I heard a knock on the door. The shop was closed at this time, so I ignored it figuring it was a drunk. But when I heard Kallen’s voice from the other side, I knew to open it up quickly.

“Hello Kallen, what brings you back so soon?” I greeted her while opening the door, but when I looked into her face, it was not smiling like before, but rather it had a face akin to a devils.

“Pride.” Kallen merely said my name, but from that one word, I could feel a sense of foreboding.”Ezos was attacked, you need to come with me.”

“Attacked? Wait, what do you mean he was attacked!?” I could not hold back my astonishment at her words, yet even while questioning her, I found my body automatically grabbing my shoes that I had unequipped and following her automatically.

“Come with me, I will explain while we walk.” WIth that she turned on her heel and started down the street, leaving me to fumble with the lock and chase after her.

“So Pride, how much do you know about the political worth of a body artist?” The question seemed to be unrelated to the event, but a preliminary bit would make sense to help me understand.

“Well, tattoo artists are artists after all. So a great artist would have some sway in a celebrity sort of way, but that’s the extent of it, right?”

“Wrong. Tattoos are marking on a body right?” With that I nodded my head and motioned for her to continue.”Now, what if that marking was to put someone into slavery, or if the tattoo’s negative effect was purposefully set to be lethal? Seems a lot more worthy now doesn’t it.”

“I can see the uses in that, but what does this have to do with Ezos?” Seeing a couple of lines dangling near the issue, I decided to try to tie them together.

“Tattoos with those effects are few and far between, with their makings being closely kept. Ezos happens to be one of those keepers.” Kallen said this as she rounded the corner towards a district that mainly held inns, bars and restaurants.

“Wait, so Ezos was attacked for his knowledge? Were they attempting to kidnap him?” The information made sense, but it didn’t explain why he was attacked.

“People aren’t supposed to know who can, and cannot use those markings. They are markings that can change politics in an instant. Imagine if say, King Rex was scheduling to get a tattoo and the artist, instead of applying the tattoo asked, supplies a slave mark. Dangerous isn’t it?”

“That is a reason, but that still isn’t tying the strings together.”

“Ezos was scheduled to do a tattoo for Rex’s son, yet someone found out he can do slave markings. Artists who can do this are supposed to be announced to the king so that they can be monitored. Failure to do so... is death.”

Those words struck me like a stone. Questions popped up in my mind, such as why didn’t he tell the king, how did they find out, why attack him at night, rather than make a scene of it? I kept these to myself though, as we approached an inn by the name of ‘The Harlequins Tavern’. Kallen entered and I followed.

She went past the eating area, and straight for the stairs, ignoring all those around us and focusing on her objective. Once upstairs we entered a rather large room with multiple beds, on one of which Ezos lay, his sheets stained with blood, and with three characters around him, tending his wounds.

“Welcome back Kallen, is that Pride?” A short dwarf asked this while moving his way from the bedside to in front of us, offering his hand for me to shake.

“Yes, and you are?” I said this while reaching out my hand.

He grasped it in a vice like grip and said,”Name’s Narvi. I’m one of the members in Kallen’s group.”

Behind him I could see two elves, one male one female, both of which were talking to Kallen beside Ezos’ bed.

“Those two elves over there are Ellan and Endal. They’re twins who specialize in magic. Ellan is the one who has been keeping Ezos alive so far.” Noticing my gaze, Narvi supplemented for the knowledge I was lacking.

I began to walk over towards them when one of the twins, the girl named Ellan, noticed me and they all come over to introduce themselves.

“Hello Pride, I’m Ellan, and this is my brother Endal.” She and her brother were rather similar. They were of an average height and build, but their silver hair and blue eyes definitely made them stand out.

“Hello. I heard from Narvi that you have been keeping Ezos alive. Thank you for that.” I said this while bowing my head towards her.

“Lift your head. Ezos is a friend to us aswell, so there is no need to be caught on formalities.” The one who said this was Endal, his gaze seemed to of softened after telling me to be more casual with him.

“In any case, how is he?” Feeling anxious wasn’t going to help me, so getting a solid bit of information would to well.

“He is stable for now, but there are bound to be more attempts on his life as long as he is in the city.” Ellan said this while looking at Ezos’ silently laying on the bed beside us.

“What exactly was the attack by the way? I know who did it, but I don't know how.”

“We ourselves don’t know all the information, but we do know he was shot by a poisoned arrow.” Endal said this while moving down Ezos’ blanket to reveal an area of bandages near his heart.

“I take it you’ve done something about the poison then?”

“Yes, we’ve been applying detoxification magic for awhile now, but the poison is strong and still isn’t entirely gone.” Ellan said this with a downtrodden face.

“Hmm, so how are we going to get him off the island, and to where will he go?”

“We don’t know yet, but I have some contacts in Bahrst who should be able to keep him safe.” Narvi said this while sitting in a chair opposite the bed.

“That is the where, but how?”

“We have our own boat, but the king will definitely have guards at the docks. What we will need to do is either eliminate these guards, or find another way to sneak out.”

“We should just kill the bastards and then get out of here like a dragon on a speed potion!” Endal yelled this out. It seems as if the stress is getting to him.

“Enough. We don’t need more blood.” Kallen finally spoke, and a silence permeated the room.

“Well, it seems it will be option two then. We should act fast too, since the king’s forces will no doubt be searching for him.” Continuing the conversation, I confirmed how we should do this, while reminding everyone of our constraints.

“Maybe we could find a smuggler?” Ellan muttered this to herself and it was barely audible for the rest of us.

“That could work, but do we have enough time to find one, and then leave in time?” Time was going to be our biggest constraint, and Endal did well to remind his siste of this.

“How far is Bahrst from here?” I had an idea, but I needed more information before presenting it.

“Well, by air it would take us about three days. That’s assuming the king doesn,t follow us on the way there.” Narvi answered my question and waited for me to continue my thoughts.

“What if we did this…” With those words I layed out my plan, and it was decided we would do it tomorrow.

I guess those lessons will have to wait a bit longer.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another chapter for you. Bit of a set-up chapter, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Anyways, like always comment any mistakes of suggestions and thanks for reading.