“Do you know where to find this Hudal?” Felia asked the guard.

The elf looked at her, as if she asked whether or not he was a guard. After a moment of silence he answered: “Lady. I’m just a guard. I don’t know any Hudals”.

“But isn’t it your job?”

“It’s not his job, Felia” Syln interrupted. “Let’s just go find the guy”.

Felia stared down the elf at the table, as he stared her down, turned around and headed to the exit with the rest of the group following close behind. But, when she was ready to open the door, another elven guard entered the building. He had a small stack of papers in his arms. The group went out of his way and left as they heard the guards speaking with each other. “Hi, Carl!”

“Hey. Any new today?”

“Just the two: a former cleric and a paladin”.

Paper rustled behind the closing door. “She looks famili...”

They didn’t hear anything else. Felia sped up and her companions rushed after her. The dirt roads of Dorf were half-empty with an occasional guard here and there. Their disinterested stares felt like gazes of hungry logers looking for an unsuspecting prey, and so she weaved and waved through the streets trying not to look them in the eyes.

Syln was getting slower and slower. The cat and the twenty minutes already had tired him out, and catching up with Felia was just too much for a dwarf like him. “Wait!” he yelled after her, but her stressed mind didn’t notice it. He slowed down and the elf got further and further away from him. Bokh looked from Felia to Syln and back as he slowed down to the dwarf’s pace. The dwarf boggled at him. “What are you doing?! Go after her!” The wizard gave him a little nod and rushed after Felia alongside Cervella and Muscol.

Syln stopped grabbed his knees and his heavy breathing eventually became slow and steady. The dwarf cracked his spine as he straightened up and glanced around. “Might as well go look for that Hudal”, he muttered to himself.

The market was the first place he decided to go looking. Halfling Prairies, as the name suggested, were home for the halflings. Their lands were rich and plentiful, as well as many ports allowed for trade with the outside world. Many silks, spices, exotic creatures and fruits allowed for the halfling folk to be the best and richest merchants in all of Moria. No other country could compete with them as their shores were full of cliffs and mountains and the jagged rocks beneath scared away any trade ships that dared to even come close. Sea ports in these places were rare and full of fishermen that didn’t go further than the first rock they could touch with their hands.

The market in Dorf was well known for anyone familiar with small towns like this. You just had to follow carts full of products to sell. This was exactly what Syln did. He got out of the alley and started walking right after an elf with hands full of sacks bursting with apfels. Some of the tasty fruits fell out of them, but the farmer didn’t seem to notice, the kids picked them up. Syln decided not to be excluded and took one of them as well and bit into it. Apfel juice ran down his mouth and into his bushy beard. The dwarf smiled.

Not long time after they arrived to the market. Elves and occasional dwarf and human were screaming their lungs out trying to get the attention of the customers. Vegetables, fruits, berries, clothes, everything one could desire was there. These were not top quality goods, nothing that a well-off person might consider buying, but the sheer amount and diversity would confuse anyone.

Syln marched between the tents looking for anything bearing a name of Hudal or anyone even mentioning it. Some time of hopeless seeking, peeking and listening to other people’s conversations he was about to leave, when something grabbed his attention. More specifically, it captured everyone’s attention.

Fireworks blew up in the noon sky with deafening thunder. Red, yellow and blue lights were hard to spot with the sun, but the shapes were easy to recognise. “Visit Hudal...” Syln read the first two words aloud. “That was easier than expected”. He headed off to the place, where the fireworks came.

And then it all stopped. No fireworks, no explosions, no thunder, no words or letters. It all just disappeared, like none of it ever existed. People glanced at each other and went on their business, some of them even went along with Syln.

The dwarf came upon a large tent so bizarre that if not for its size one could mistake it for a circus tent. A dark skinned child like figure with velvet robes the went down to the feet and dragged behind stood in front of the tent and was beating a small device into submission. “Dachin damn that dwarf! Never again!” The halfling’s voice was high, but distinctly male. “How does she even stay in business?!”

“Gospod Hudal?” Syln approached the halfling.

Halfling looked up at the dwarf. “Oh, shit...” he murmured. He hit the box one more time, turned to face the tent, hid the device under his robes turned back around and spread his arms with a big forced smile on his face. “Welcome to Hudal!” He bowed and snapped back right up. “Here you will find mysteries to uncover, spices you’ve never heard of, fruits that will blow your mind, fabrics so smooth!...”

“Gospod Hudal, I am no customer”, interjected Syln.

“Oh”. Hudal let his arms fall and smile disappear. He looked the dwarf up and down, shook his head. An elf that approached them and the halfling turned to him, his arms and smile wide. “Welcome to Hu!...”

“Gospod Hudal! I am here for quest business”.

Hudal dropped his facade and rubbed his nose and put an arm on his hip. “Listen here. I am a busy halfling and no bullshit quest is going to interrupt my business here. Now”, he smiled at Syln, “fuck off”.

As Hudal was about to continue his speech Syln said: “I am here for the quest you specifically put on the quest board closeby”.

The halfling stared at him quizzically. “I didn’t expect anyone to pick it up so soon… A week or two, maybe, but not 3 days… Well, then! Come in and we’ll discuss everything inside”. As an elf went after them, Hudal turned around and flicked his wrist at him. “Not you!” He came into the tent and put out a sign that read “GRAND OPENING IN 10 MINUTES”.

When he closed the flaps, Hudal turned to Syln and said: “Well! Let’s discuss that quest of yours”. He gestured to the rug on the ground. “Please, sit down”.

Syln gave the tent insides a quick look. Lack of a lamp or of any light source made everything look dim and mysterious, exactly like Hudal promised in his opening speech. Spices and fruits were laid down and displayed in crates, the fabrics and clothes were hang from the wooden beams holding the tent up. The dwarf sat down on the rug as the halfling sat in front of him. “So”, Hudal started, “what is that you want to discuss with me?”

“I came here to inform you that I and my companions have signed up for your quest. As soon as...”

“Oh! That makes things much easier!”

Syln look questioningly at the halfling. “What does?”

“Your companions! You see, I usually like to travel in a big group. Makes the travels safer. How many else are coming, if I may ask?”

“There are four more of us, gospod Hudal. A human berserker and ranger, an elven wizard and...”

“Wait, hold on a minute”, Hudal stopped Syln with his hands. “An elven wizard? Aren’t they outlawed here, or something?”

“Yes, they are. He broke out of a prison not too long ago”.

Halfling stared at the dwarf. “And you propose that I travel with an escaped convict?”

“Gospod Hudal, you should not worry! He is from Dellier. No guard should know him, if we are going to the Prairies”.

“Fine, fine. Just don’t throw these elven names at me. Let’s say that I agree to come with you. You did mention someone else. Who were you talking about?”

“There’s another elf travelling with us. She is a rogue”.

“Well, fine. I am still planning to stay in Dorf at least for another week. I’ll see if anything else comes up. Give me your name, so I’ll be able to tell you when I’ll leave”.

“Of course. My name is Syln Minin”. Hudal nodded and pointed at the tent flaps. “If you’ll excuse me, gospod Hudal, I’d like to wait for my friends here”.

“And why’s that? I’ve got all of this”, he waved his hand in a broad gesture, “to sell and you’ll just be in the way”. Syln continued staring at Hudal. Halfling sighed. “Ugh… Fine. Just wait for them outside. Why do you even think that they will even get here?”

“Your fireworks were hard to miss, and I am sure that they would like to meet you as well”.

“As well or not, they won’t. Now, get out”.

Syln gave Hudal a little nod and left the tent. The vendor sighed and rubbed his temples. “A convict… just perfect...”

***********************************

Syln felt that half of an hour could be spent more productively than just waiting for his friends. He could go to the market and buy some food. He could write a letter to his elderly father to assure the old bastard that he was fine. Maybe, he might even pick up lute lessons he abandoned, when he was 30. Anything would do. But he only could wait.

When Syln saw Felia he sighed with relief. After her came Bokh, Cervella and Muscol. “Finally! What took you so long?!” he asked them as they approached.

“We bought some food for our travels”, Bokh answered. “Is Hudal in there?” He nodded at the tent.

“Yes. And”, Syln grunted as he stood up, “speaking of Hudal, we aren’t going anywhere”.

“Ugh! I knew it! You can’t trust those short pricks”. Cervella put her hands on her chest.

“It’s not like that”, Syln protested.

“Then what is it like?”

“He isn’t planning to go until the next week. We’ll just have to hang around here in Dorf and we’ll be good to go”.

Felia snapped her head to stare at Syln. “What?!”

“Don’t worry, Fel. Just a couple of days, nothing to be afraid of”.

“What do you mean nothing to be afraid of?! I’m a wanted criminal! There’s plenty to be afraid of!”

“Calm down”, the dwarf put his hands up. “We can take a quest or two, while we’re waiting. No need to stay in town for too long. What do you say?” Felia looked at him and nodded frantically.

Cervella moved her gaze from Felia to Syln and back in disgusted astonishment. “Great! Are you her father now or what?”

********************************

Felia was looking up at the starry sky. Everyone but her were already asleep. Well, an hour ago Cervella and Muscol were busy the only way they knew how. That was part of the reasons why the elven girl was still awake.

Her thoughts were a mixture of calm, terror and wonder. Crickets sounded like music to the sensitive ears and the dark blue canvas above with blinking stars soothed the young woman.

In the last five days she hasn’t stepped a foot in Dorf. Syln and others walked to town, got some quests and returned to Felia to take the quests on together. Cervella protested, but didn’t go further than complaining. It was annoying, certainly, but no one gave her more than an angry tired glance. They mostly killed logers, or how Syln called them, ligrs, and exterminated gnome mounds. These tiny monkey like creatures lived underground mostly in forests and loved the taste of livestock, but occasionally they did kill one or two unsuspecting travellers or farmers. It wasn’t too big of a deal for the elven girl, however. She even was somewhat glad, if she was honest. She gained two more levels out of these quests, while the only person to gain a single level between the rest of the group was Bokh.

Felia let out a heavy sigh. She was ready to swear that she could fall in love with a life like that, if anybody asked. However, being on the run from the law was a big flaw. And yet, no one has come looking for her, and most likely didn’t recognise her.

Syln let out a yelp from his tent. “What in the fuck?!” The elf heard the dwarf struggle getting out of the sleeping bag. “Where are these bells?! Cervella, did you?!...” All of a sudden he fell silent. Felia sat upright and looked at his tent. Some time later, no more than a minute, the dwarf went out and started yelling: “Wake up! We are moving now!”

“What is it, Syln?” Felia asked him.

“Hudal has sent me a message that we are to get to him and move out immediately”.

“What? Uh… Didn’t he say that he was going to leave in two weeks?”

“Don’t ask me! Wake up, Cerv, Mus!!!” Syln kicked their tent and by the sound of a low grunt hit Muscol. “I said get up!”

Bokh got out of his tent his eyes heavier than usual. Syln looked at him and rolled his hands to tell the elf to hurry. The elf nodded to himself and started folding the tent with everything inside. These weren’t just regular tents, as one might think from the first glance. These were so called hashtags named after their inventor Hash who thought it was a good idea to call a tent-bag a tag. Since no one else thought so as well, it was an unspoken decision to mock the man by calling them hashtags. To everyone’s horror the name stuck and now, 100 years after, easy to pack and easy to put up hashtags were extremely popular among travelling adventurers.

Cervella crawled out of the tent, her sleeping bag barely covering up her naked body. She rubbed her eyes, a flap falling down revealing even more of her cleavage then seemed possible, and asked: “What’s the fuss?”

“Hudal. Up. Now!” Syln then rushed to his tent and started packing up his own hashtag.

The woman scowled at the news, rolled over and sighed. “Mus, honey. Can you pass me my clothes?”

When everyone was up, dressed and ready they headed to Dorf. Felia was a little bit shaken by the thought of going back to the town. What if there were guards roaming around, looking for her? What if those gnomes decided to look for prey in town tonight? What if Hudal wanted to sell her out? What if?!...

She shook those thoughts out of her head. First of all, if guards were actually patrolling the streets, a small group of adventurers would easily be able to win any fight against them. Second, no gnomes ever attacked anything bigger than a small farm. Third, Hudal never saw her. Not to mention that the price on her head was too small for anyone to truly care, as Syln told her.

As they passed one of her wanted posters Felia dared to spare a quick glance on it. She could barely make out ‘150PP’ bounty right below her face, when she couldn’t take any more of it. That was less than she expected, but not by too much. She only was a cleric, after all.

They went out to an empty spot behind the market place. Syln looked around. Felia saw that he was confused and threw a questioning glance at others. Cervella spoke up for everyone: “Syln? Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Of course it is!” Syln snapped at her. “You were here yourself. All of you were!” He turned on his heel and when nothing changed he let out a heavy sigh. This was the place! He was sure of it. But where was that little shit?

A sudden breeze passed the dwarf’s head. “I told you to go to the forest near the market! Get here now!” This was Hudal’s voice. Did he have two Wind Whisper scrolls? That guy must’ve been rich.

“Alright!” Syln told his companions as he marched off in the direction Hudal told him. “I just got another message from Hudal. Follow me”. As everyone rushed off after the dwarf, Cervella rolled her eyes and muttered something to herself.

The forest wasn’t too far away from the market, no further than a ten minute walk, but, considering the circumstances they arrived there two minutes later. It was dense, the trees were barely distinguishable from each other, and yet Hudal was nowhere to be found. They walked between the trees for another 2 minutes in hope to find the vendor in there. Then there was silence. No one could hear anything, they opened their mouths to ask each other what happened, but they couldn’t hear themselves.

Half a minute after, right out of nowhere, Hudal approached them. In contrast with the last time Syln met him he was wearing some brown pants and a white shirt, ready to head out. He looked them over, counting them up, confirming the dwarf’s words. His gaze stopped at Felia. At first, he squinted making her uncomfortable, but suddenly, his eyes bulged out, and the elf got confused. The halfling pointed at her with his finger and tried to say something. When he realised, that he didn’t hear himself, he snapped his fingers and repeated: “You don’t mean to say that she’s coming with us?!”

Felia was surprised to hear herself: “What?”

“You should keep your mouth shut!” He turned to Syln. “You want to take her with us?”

“I don’t understand” Felia said despite Hudal’s instructions, and the halfling threw an angry look in her direction.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand either, gospod Hudal. I told you that we had an elven rogue with us, didn’t I?”

Hudal gave them a crazy smile with raised eyebrows. “Oh yes, you did! But what you didn’t tell me is that this rogue is being hunted!”

“You must’ve seen the posters then”.

“Of course I did! They are really hard to miss, if you know about them!”

“Listen, gospod Hu...”

“Don’t you gospod me! I was generous enough to agree to travel with your wizard over there”, he pointed a finger at Bokh. “But two! Two of them?!” He put up two fingers up to strengthen his point. “Do you want to get executed?!”

“I don’t think that 150PP are going to get us killed”.

“You don’t know that! They do! Tell him”, Hudal nodded at Bokh.

Bokh stared down at his feet. “Getting a future hero dead is a terrible offense...”

“She did what?!” Hudal yelled and took a couple of steps back.

“I haven’t done anything!” Felia stepped in for herself.

“Like hell you haven’t!”

“I didn’t! It was an accident!”

“Oh! An accident, you say?! Sure! I also killed a future hero by acci...”

“Enough!” Syln interrupted them. “Gospod Hudal. Look at me. Do you really think this young girl is capable of murder?”

“I don’t know...”

“Well, she isn’t. And even if she was, you are obviously afraid of someone, or you wouldn’t have called for us so soon. Is it too bad to have a proposed killer on your side at this point? Why have you called for us, gospod Hudal?”

Hudal curled his lips with thought and said: “Well, you know. Usual merchant stuff. A deal here and there and then, before you know, you got yourself in touch with a band of outlaws”. He looked them over. “You should know that better than me”.

“Sure, whatever you say”. Syln finished up the conversation. “You have everything ready to head out?” he asked Hudal.

The halfling pointed behind his back into the woods. “Everything is ready. You five should be able carry everything”. He glanced at Bokh. “Ok, maybe, just the four”.