Wight put one foot in front of the other, in a rhythm that carried him to his destination without fault. Sometimes, he would need to look down to traverse some uneven terrain, but mostly his eyes were glued to the book in front of him.

She seems pleased by my sacrifices, says it can free her or something. I just want this torture to end, Hath knows those souls are going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

“Hey. Wight, you think we’re getting close?” Kames asked. He flipped to an earlier page.

It can give me power. More power than any Driver has held in his life. This must be fate. I must be the one to take up this power, to bring justice to that rotten king who sent me here.

“Wight?” Kames asked. He snapped out of his trance and looked at the man. “You all there in the head?” he asked. “Yeah, just doing some light reading. You want to take a gander?” Wight asked. Kames started walking again. “Maybe later, it’s too depressing.” Wight accepted the answer and tucked the book away in his jacket. He would need to examine it later.

****

Fortunately, it did not take long for them to reach the shaman. Her house wasn’t like the others, made of wood instead of stone. It didn’t even have a chimney so it could have been made by herself. It rested on the top of a small hill, a pathway leading to the top of it. As they climbed, they noticed her sitting on the front porch, rocking back and forth in her chair, saying some prayers.

Wight was the one to speak up first. “Uh, Hello?” he said in a submissive tone. The woman cocked her eyes up at the man and smiled with her uneven teeth. “Hello, sunny. What brings you all the way here, to my abode?” she asked.

“Well, we we-“ Wight started speaking but was interrupted by the woman. “Shoes off, first. Then, you can speak.” Wight and Kames looked at each first, then took off their shoes and sat down on the grass. It was nice during this time of year. “Um, well we came here to get a key actually,” Kames said. She looked confused at the statement. “I don’t think that’s a type of potion I know, sunny. Might have to look for the other witch over,” she said, cackling at her own words.

“If it’s the castle key you’re looking for; I can help with that. Just a moment,” she rose up from her chair and walked through the wooden doors of her little hut. Wight and Kames waited for a bit, but she returned remarkably late. “Well, that’s confusing. I can’t seem to find the darn thing,” she said, leaning on her cane.

Wight and Kames were worried at what she had just said. “What do you mean by that? The mayor said you’d have it,” Wight uttered. “You’re free to have a look inside if you want, but you won’t find it in there. I searched every nook and cranny.” Wight and Kames took her up on her offer and went into the hut, searching the place top to bottom. Furniture was moved, cupboards were checked and rugs were searched but not a single key was found.

“Either it’s been stolen or we’ve got a thief on our hands,” Kames said. “I’d agree with that assessment. Seems we’ll have to return to the village for now,” Wight replied. “You’re not going to break into the castle, are you?” Kames asked. “No, I still have some options before I have to resort to that,” Wight said.

“Good to know our law abiding constable isn’t afraid to break a few rules himself,” Kames joked. “I’ll arrest myself later to make up for it. I think we have one main avenue we can explore for now. Take a look at the journal,” Wight stated, handing it over the Kames. He was reluctant to take it but if Wight had an idea then it must be necessary. He read through some parts of it, confused as to what he should be noticing.

“I don’t get it, what’s so special about this?” he asked Wight.

“Did you get to the part about the girl?” Wight asked in return.

“Yeah? What about her. Maybe she was a guest of his. Might even be an illusion,” he said.

“Unlikely, one of his servants mentions hearing her. Our man had a guest, one so elusive that either the town’s famous informant didn’t hear about her, or didn’t want to tell us,” Wight continued, “Which do you find more likely?”

“A mass hallucination. But assuming that the man did really lie to us, what do we do about it?” Kames asked.

“Well, we tail him to wherever he ends up tonight, of course. Let’s see if he has any other secrets that he’s willing to hide from us.” They bid the old woman farewell and made their way back down the hill, towards Whistone.

****

A quiet walk was something Wight wished it would have been. “I don’t think it’s quite my fault, do you? Might have contributed to my expulsion from the priesthood, but it was well worth it,” Kames said, continuing on.

“One can only wonder how a devout member such as yourself can be treated so poorly,” Wight replied.

“Exactly,” Kames said. He stopped talking when he noticed someone hiding awkwardly in the bushes. He kept talking, but tried indicating to Wight that something was wrong. Wight was too busy with his book, however.

He took the book from him. “You need your eyes to use your Wheel, do you not? Maybe it’s best to preserve that keen eyesight, lest it impact your usefulness in combat,” he said.

“Kames, this isn’t time for one of your-“ he froze in the middle of his sentence. The pause gave those bandits enough time to realize what had happened. They burst out of their hiding places, only stopped by Wight’s steam cover. “Great job, Wight. Remind me never to never hire you as a backup actor,” Kames commented. Wight wasn’t paying attention to him, he instead pulled out a vial of a liquid that did not look like water.

“Try not to breathe this in, Kames,” he said as he pulled out the cork and turned it into steam. He cleared a pathway for the steam, finding a man holding a club. He blasted the man’s face with the gas, causing him to cough rapidly. His nasal passages must have been burnt from that alone. Wight maneuvered the steam into his eyes, irritating those as well. He swept the man off his feet before proceeding to kick him a few times. Kames had trouble working in an environment with steam.

The further he created a clone, the harder it became to control. He decided to forgo a long distance physical illusion all together. Instead creating the sound of a branch snapping under his feet, drawing the attention of two of the men. They rushed towards him, oblivious to the body under him. When the supposed corpse rose up to punch them, there wasn’t much they could do to react.

“Men, use your powers, now!” one of them said. Prompting the rest to nervously throw fireballs and ice around. Wight was constantly creating steam to fill the gaps. One of the ice crystals caught Kames in the shoulder. “Why is it always me?” he muttered, wiping the residual crystals away.

Wight ran through the men with ease. Depleting his entire bewl source in one go, he would have to wait a bit to use it again later. He took a slash to the leg, ignoring the pain and slamming the head of the attacker onto the ground. Burning it for extra measure, he moved onto the next man in his path. Wight looked at his feet, and then burst forward with steam, tackling another man. He proceeded to punch the man into submission, brutalizing him. When he was done, the thug had a broken nose and closed eyelids, on top of a few broken fingers. Wight’s hand was a bit beaten up as well, but he ignored it.

Wight looked at Kames ahead of him, running to the last man who was charging up a fireball. Wight used his power and made Kames jump up into the air, avoiding the fireball. The man came crashing down fists first, incapacitating the last member. Wight dispelled the steam, he would need to fill his bottle up again.

Kames ran over to the man. “I thought the people here had no Wheels?” Wight asked.

“They’re not supposed to, at least.” He looked at the hands of the criminals, a crystal had fallen out of it. He picked it up, noticing the slight blue glow of the material. “Bewllan,” Wight said, taking it from the man’s arms. He drained the crystal of its residual energy then tossed it into his pack. “Is there a mining operation around here somewhere?” he asked Kames.

“None that I know of. Whistone isn’t advanced enough to even buy a ship. They must have gotten it from somewhere else,’ Kames replied.

“What about the fireballs, you said they didn’t have a priest,” Wight asked.

“They didn’t seem to use anything other than the same attack. So they’re either more foolish than I thought or,” he paused, moving to inspect the bodies of a few of the men, searching for the Wheel tattoo. He found one hidden on the man’s back.

“They spellsmithed on a man? I thought that didn’t work if you only had only Wheel?” Wight asked the homlin.

“They used the crystals, somehow. They have revolutionary things like this yet they stick to common thuggery?” Kames said. He looked at Wight, who was gathering up more crystals. “That satchel of yours won’t do good for recharging that crystal, my friend,” He told him. “What a waste,” he said as he threw them away after draining them. Wight began to tie the men together. “Wight, I don’t think we’ll be able to carry these men all the way to town. You’re strong, my friend, but you’re not as strong as ones with greater Wheels.”

“You can go on ahead; I’ll catch up soon.”

Kames sighed in response. He paced around for a few moments before speaking up again.

“You know; I’ve never seen a constable so committed to the ideal of justice. Any particular reason why?” he asked. Wight turned to him, still gathering the bodies of the men.

“I learned the skills I have in Iohana. It was a small town near a forest. Chief had us positioned there to help the place regain some modicum of order,” he said. “I’ve heard of the place,” Kames replied. He started helping Wight with his work.

“Things were going fine until I took in someone; which the people of the town didn’t very much appreciate. Called me the usual names, demanded for the man’s release. Apparently he was some bigshot in the town, really loved,” His grip tightened on the ropes as he stood up and began dragging them. Kames eased some of the difficulty of the task. He helped Wight drag the man to the village.

“Can’t, ugh, can’t you make some ice. That would really speed this up!” Kames complained. Wight grunted with the man. “That’s a pure water Wheel kind of thing. I got stuck with Water and Fire with this lousy Wheel,” he said as they heaved the man.

“Now do continue, so that something can distract us,” Kames asked. “They just wouldn’t, argh, let me take the man to court. Got so bad I couldn’t leave the damn town, ugghhh,” he continued, “One day I lost him. Cou-Couldn’t find him no matter how hard I tried. They wouldn’t cooperate with me after that. So I just turned in my resignation and heard of this place. Thought I could provide help where it mattered. Not make the same mistake again as I did with Iohana,” He stopped. They both took deep breaths, annoyed at the difficulty of the task.

“I seriously doubt we can take them to the village, Wight. Let’s just untie them and get ‘em next time,” Kames said. Wight stood up straight and looked at him. “If they want their freedom so bad, they can untie themselves. Let’s go,” He replied. Kames reluctantly followed, leaving behind the beaten and bloodied men.