A Cat, a Thief, and a Wizard

The carriage rocked to a stop around the corner from their destination. This was the main thoroughfare through the market district. Traffic was moving slowly and there were lots of pedestrians about, some blocking traffic.

Duvessa hopped out, tossed the coachman a coin, and hardly waited for Seth to get out before marching off. Seth had to hustle Mau along and jog to catch up to Duvessa or they'd be left behind. As she rounded the corner, she nearly collided with someone coming the other way.

"Oh, hello," the man said, side-stepping Duvessa.

"Oh! I beg your pardon. I didn't see–" Duvessa cut off abruptly. His clothes were worn but sturdy, he had a thick mustache, and his dark hair was just beginning to gray.

The man she'd run into was none other than the mercenary Duvessa wanted to spy on.

"Isn't this a pleasant surprise," the mercenary said with a smile. He stared first at Duvessa and then Seth, his smile broadening. "Two of my favorite troublemakers."

"This is not a pleasant surprise," Duvessa said indignantly and crossed her arms. "You are not a pleasant person."

"Favorite troublemakers?" Seth asked. This was the guy who was trying to get permission to kill them the last time they'd met. Seth also wasn't sure if he should be more alarmed at the 'favorite' part, or the 'troublemakers'.

"Of course!" the mercenary said. "You brats are keeping me employed! It's good to be so in demand that I can turn down work." He peered past Duvessa and Seth, glancing around the street behind them before looking back at Duvessa. "No farmboy? I hope you haven't lost him for good. I'd like to, ah, spar with him again."

"Right now he's–" Duvessa started.

"He's fine," Seth interrupted. "You look like you're heading somewhere. Maybe you could let us know what direction you're heading so we can not be there."

"Oh, I am. I'm off to clean up a mess." He gestured vaguely north. "Stay in the city, and I doubt you'll see me. I'd say keep out of trouble, but I don't actually want that. Have fun, kiddies." The mercenary started whistling as he swaggered off.

They watched him go in silence. He turned and gave them a wink before disappearing into the crowd.

"Oooh!" Duvessa growled with her fists clenched and then stamped her foot. "He makes me so mad." She glanced towards the restaurant. "We're late! He's the one we were supposed to spy on and we missed him! Today is a terrible day."

Seth was relieved things weren't going to escalate, and surprised Duvessa hadn't done anything unexpected. They've come so close to disaster so many times already. Mau, still wet and stinky, brushed up against him and Seth sighed. He was getting so used to things spiraling all the time that it was such a relief when they didn't.

That thought came too soon. Duvessa's black hair whipped around as she whirled on Seth. "I know I said we wouldn't follow him. But this is different. We should totally follow him."

Seth shook his head. "He knows we're here, and he knows we'll probably do that. Let's take a quick look in the restaurant and see if we can figure out who he was meeting. They might not have left yet."

"Find his accomplice! Excellent idea." Duvessa took three steps towards the restaurant then stopped, summoned a shadow dragonfly, and sent it after the mercenary.

Despite the risk of sending summons like that in the city, Seth didn't say anything to stop her. The mercenary didn't seem to have a direct connection to the Skull Gang, so Seth thought it was unlikely the summons would be lost. And dragonflies were smaller, more maneuverable, and harder to see than sparrows. Learning what that guy was up to was probably worth it.

The restaurant was a hole in the wall type of place. In this section of the city, many buildings utilized the walls of their neighbors, and multi residence structures grew into whole block buildings. The restaurant was a small section of the basement floor of the block building, with no sign over the door, just a symbol and a name painted directly on the wood.

Seth took a quick moment to scan all the nearby pedestrians. If whomever the mercenary was meeting had left with him, they were long gone. It was very unlikely they'd know who the mercenary was meeting even if they were still inside. But if it kept Duvessa busy, Seth was fine with it.

"Before we go in," Seth said, "I want to be clear on the plan. We are going to take a look around for who we think might have met with that guy, we will get a table nearby and order something, and we'll listen to whatever they're talking about. Is that right?"

Duvessa rubbed her hands together. "I am on the hunt!"

"Subtle and sneaky, right?" Seth asked.

"Of course! A good hunter is always sneaky!"

Unconvinced, Seth opened the door anyway. Duvessa marched inside, bypassed the distracted hostess, and headed straight for the dining area beyond.

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The room looked like the basements of two smaller buildings had some of the walls between them knocked out to expand the room. Wooden paneling and tapestries depicting the city warmed the stone walls and reduced echoes. There was no magical lighting in the room. Instead, candles lit each table and flickered in wall sconces, leaving the room dim and filled with shadows. The tables were dark wood with benches instead of chairs.

Seth glanced around and didn't immediately notice anyone he recognized. It wasn't terribly crowded as it wasn't a peak time of day for dining, but nearly half of the tables were occupied.

If whoever had met the mercenary were still here, they'd probably still have food or drink, or would be finishing up. Seth scanned the tables for people nearly done. At the far end was someone nearly done, and they looked familiar, but he couldn't get a good look at them in the shadows.

He was about to get closer for a better look when Duvessa announced, "There you are!"

Seth grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?" he hissed. "What happened to sneaky?"

"Oh, right." Duvessa paused for only a second. "I have questions." She pulled away from Seth and marched up to a table.

It took Seth a moment to recognize Helena. She wasn't wearing the hair wrap or the foreign looking clothing, and she looked damp. Seth realized that she wasn't foreign at all. She just used the odd clothing style to hide how drippy she was.

There were two young men at the table with her. They had the look of caravan guards.

Seth and everyone at the table stared in surprise as Duvessa sat at the table next to Helena.

This was not the plan. This was the opposite of sneaky.

"Hello. Let me introduce myself. I am Duvessa. I believe I know your name, Helena. Who are your companions here?"

"Excuse you," Helena retorted. "This is a private conversation."

"That's okay, I don't mind. I just wanted to ask you about your stolen magic talent. How exactly did you take it from my friend?" Duvessa folded her hands and leaned forward.

"Get away from my table."

"I will once you answer my question."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Helena said. She glanced at the two caravan guards.

"You have a stolen magic talent?" the blond guard asked, a greedy glint in his eyes.

"No, I don't," Helena said.

"Yes she does," Duvessa said. "You need to give that back."

"Is that something anyone can do?" the dark haired guard asked, his gaze piercing into Helena.

"Duvessa," Seth said quietly. He had no idea what Duvessa thought she was doing. They were supposed to be gathering information, not doing Helena's recruitment spiel for her.

"You need to leave. I'm not going to ask again," Helena said and turned to look for a waiter.

Seth glanced around. He wondered if he should sit at the table too, or make sure they could get away if things got violent. This was quickly going sideways. He'd been expecting to placate Duvessa, effectively stalling to give her grandmother time to infiltrate Lord Thurstan's circle, while letting her feel like she was doing something.

Duvessa had other ideas, and Seth was worried she would jeopardize what her grandmother was doing. Keeping Duvessa out of trouble was as hard as keeping track of Mau.

"I am being perfectly polite," Duvessa said to Helena, "especially since the last time we met your companion attacked and nearly killed a friend of mine. You're a thief. Oh, that thing you were looking for in the mountains? We found it."

Helena stopped looking for a waiter and spun back to Duvessa. "Where is it? What did you do with it?"

"Hmm. Oh, are these garlic mushrooms?" Duvessa reached out and stole a mushroom from Helena's plate and popped it into her mouth. "Mmm, tasty."

"Get your hands off my plate! What is wrong with you?" Helena hissed, incensed.

Duvessa smiled at Helena's outrage. "If you want what I know, tell me what you know," Duvessa said as she snagged another mushroom.

Seth subtly moved a bench so if either of the two caravan guards moved suddenly, it would give him a second or two to cast something.

"I think you're lying. You didn't find anything." Helena raised her hand and snapped her fingers. "Waiter!"

Duvessa leaned in and whispered, "Regalia."

Helena stood up abruptly. "Nope, we're done." She tossed a couple of coins on the table and then picked up her half eaten plate of chicken and mushrooms and dumped it in Duvessa's lap.

"So rude!" Duvessa exclaimed as she knocked the plate away. "I did not deserve that!"

Helena looked at the two men. "You're in or out. I don't care." Then she stalked out of the restaurant.

"I'm in," the greedy guard said and hustled after Helena. Seth followed right after. The second guard stood up more slowly but followed.

"Ugh," Duvessa exclaimed once she got outside and caught up to Helena. "That was not how this was supposed to work. We were supposed to trade useful information."

Helena stopped at the edge of the street and turned on Duvessa. "You need to get lost. I'm not talking to you, Ravenshroud."

"What has you so rattled, Helena? Are you worried I might find the next one before you?"

Helena glanced up and past Duvessa for an instant. Seth was on the side opposite from Duvessa and followed her gaze. She looked at the waterfall on the northern mountain.

"Follow me or send one of your summons, and I'll end you. I don't care who your grandmother is," Helena said softly. "Or better yet, I'll make sure your power is the next one taken. I might do that anyway. Stay clear, you hear me?"

Helena marched off with the two caravan guards following.

"I expected that to go better," Duvessa said.

"I don't see how," Seth said. "You just sabotaged your grandmother's efforts at getting close to Thurstan. There is no way he's going to trust her for anything now."

"But I was bargaining with the regalia! She didn't know we knew."

"Yes, she did," Seth answered. "I told you I saw her in the Palace by the vault with the fake items. I'm pretty sure she heard us saying they were fake. I don't know where she's learning about where they're hidden around the city, but I think I know where she's looking next."

Somewhere on that mountain was the next regalia piece. But a mountain was an awful big place to search, and Seth was sure there'd be more than one group looking. He wondered what he should do.