My jaw dropped when Caleb introduced himself. “No way. You’re the Mayor of Hebron? That makes you—”

“The second most powerful man in Shinar, next to King Amphrael himself,” said Thomas, interrupting me. He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and started dabbing his forehead. “What brings you out here, Mayor? I thought you had important city business to attend to. Or are the rumors true and you are the Old Protector of Hebron?”

My eyes snapped from Caleb to Thomas and I frowned. “The Old Protector of Hebron? Who is that?”

“Me, apparently,” said Caleb as he smoothed out his robes. “Not that I have ever used that title myself, but you can’t always control what the public calls you. The rumor mill is the most productive mill in the entire First Kingdom, if not in the entire continent.”

“The Old Protector of Hebron is a Codexer who people have witnessed defending the city of Hebron for the last six months,” said Thomas. He puffed on his pipe again. “Supposedly, the Old Protector would pretend to be a weak old man on the outskirts of the city, naturally drawing in bandits by feigning weakness before taking them out before they even knew what happened, leaving them tied up for law enforcement to find later.”

Ezekiel nodded. “Some of the people he saved caught glimpses of his face, which was said to be old, hence the name.”

Caleb huffed. “I prefer mature, thank you very much. Though aged has a nice ring to it, like aged wine from Gethsemane. Speaking of, Thomas, are you available tomorrow night to dine with the wife and I at the Last Spirit? We have reservations, assuming I don’t feel the need to wander around the city entrances seeking out bandits to apprehend.”

Thomas sputtered. “O-Of course, Caleb, but I just didn’t think much about the rumors. It all sounded so silly. And you, of all people, being the Old Protector? I half want to believe you’re playing a trick on me.”

“No tricks here, Thomas,” replied Caleb. He suddenly stood upright, revealing that he was actually at least a head taller than everyone else here, including Jonah. He grinned and patted his chest. “Just a mayor seeking to keep the citizens of his city safe.”

I blinked. “Is that why you are going around pretending to be this Old Protector guy? To protect the citizens of Hebron? What about law enforcement?”

Caleb turned his gaze toward me, still grinning. “Our City Guards do an excellent job dealing with petty criminals and crime, but these bandits have been a different breed. Using Forbidden Disciplines, dark spells, corrupted glyphs and Codex entries … but I’m sure you are already aware of this, given your experience.”

Jonah glanced over his shoulder at the unconscious bandits. “I thought these guys were Uninscribed.”

Caleb dusted off his shoulders. “These ones were, yes, but I’ve faced far worse recently. We got lucky today.”

I bit my lower lip. Caleb’s description of the bandits attacking Hebron reminded me of Wolfbrand and his band of thieves and robbers. I didn’t care for the implications, though it did confirm that Caleb knew about what happened in North Forest, presumably courtesy of Isaac.

Though if Isaac had messaged Caleb about us ahead of time, why did he write that letter of recommendation to us in the first place? Perhaps Isaac just liked redundancies.

I also realized I hadn’t scanned Caleb yet, so I quickly did that:

Codexer identified! Mayor Caleb Jepunnah

Species: Human

Synced Partner: None

Chapter: 3

Page: 4

Discipline: Codex Keeper

Affiliation: Government of Hebron

Origin Kingdom: Shinar

Codex Note: The Mayor of Shinar and second most powerful man in Shinar, politically-speaking. A veteran of the Giants War, Caleb is considered a hero by not just the population of Hebron, but Shinar as a whole. He is even famous outside of Shinar.

My eyes went big when I saw Caleb’s Chapter. Chapter Three? He was much stronger than me. No wonder he hadn’t been worried about those bandits.

Before I could say anything else to Caleb, Jonah stepped toward Caleb and said, “You said you were the Codex Keeper of Hebron’s Grand Codexium, right? Then take us there right away. I’m ready to start my Chapter Two Codex Trial.”

Caleb gave Jonah a surprised look. “So forward, with not a hint of respect toward your elders.” He smiled. “I like it! Very well, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to directly escort you to the Grand Codexium myself. One of my Assistant Codex Keepers should be able to help you once you get there, however. Just tell them Caleb sent you and they’ll get you set up and ready to go, no problem. They’ll even oversee your Trial in my stead.”

Jonah frowned. “How come you won’t be able to oversee my Chapter Two Trial? You’re the Chief Codex Keeper.”

Caleb turned his gaze back toward me. “I am yes, but I’d like to talk to your friend, Aaron Thorn, a bit more. Isaac’s message made you sound like quite the intriguing young Codexer.”

I scratched the back of my head. “Thanks, but this is all so sudden.”

“You’re right.” Caleb stepped away from us, scanning the road. “And this is hardly a private place to speak. Tell you what, head to the Mayor’s Palace on the north end of the city tomorrow morning and let my secretary know I invited you. She’ll let you in no problem. In the meantime, feel free to find lodgings in the city. The best place to stay is near the Mayor's Palace, at the Cross Hotel.”

“Wait, where are you going?” I asked in alarm. “Why can’t we meet sooner?”

“Because I’ve got an important meeting with King Amphrael tonight myself,” replied Caleb, “and even I can’t blow that off. But I’m sure it will be a productive meeting, though I look forward to ours.”

Caleb raised his walking stick—which I now recognized was a staff—and swung it through the air. The air shimmered around him and Caleb disappeared, leaving us all standing in the middle of the road, exchanging confused looks with one another. I wondered if he had teleported away somehow.

Ruth looked at Thomas. “Is Caleb … always like that?”

“In a hurry and frequently acting like much younger than he actually is?” Thomas rubbed the side of his head, smiling slightly. “Yes, that’s Mayor Caleb, all right. Now that I know he’s the Old Protector, though, it does make a lot of sense. He never could turn an eye from injustice, especially injustice happening under his watch.”

I nodded. While I was still a bit overwhelmed by Caleb’s speed, I had to admit I admired the man a lot more than I thought he would. A leader who cared enough about his citizens to go out and help them personally seemed like a rare thing.

But perhaps it also meant that the bandits—and the Nullifiers—were an even greater threat than I thought if Mayor Caleb, who was clearly a powerful Codexer in his own right, felt the need to step in and personally handle the situation. I thought Wolfbrand was the worst of them, but maybe he actually wasn’t.

Maybe there were far worse bandits out there.

That was a scary thought.

But hey, at least Caleb was already looking forward to meeting with us. I still didn’t quite understand why we needed our letter of introduction from Isaac anymore, but I would keep it anyway. Maybe I’d need to show it to Caleb’s secretary tomorrow to prove that we were who we said we were. I doubted they allowed just anyone to march into Caleb’s office and demand a meeting with him, regardless of what they might say to the contrary.

Besides, it might be nice to explore the city a little bit before needing to meet the king. I had never visited Hebron before and was curious about seeing all of the sights. Maybe I would even have time to meet up with Professor Baruch, though that might have to wait until tomorrow or some other day while we were in the city, as we needed to get lodgings first.

So I turned to the others and said, “All right, everyone. Let’s head into the city and find lodgings. Let’s start with that hotel that Caleb recommended to us. It sounds nice.”

Thomas shook his head. “Too nice for you youngsters. I know that place and it’s extremely expensive. It’s where visiting leaders from the other Kingdoms typically stay whenever they visit. Trust me, you could pull all of the shekels that you have together between the three of you and it still wouldn’t be enough to afford even one night at the Cross Hotel. I imagine Caleb recommended it because it’s the only one he knows, thanks to its importance to political and business leaders. But I would be happy to let you four stay at my mansion in town.”

I looked at Thomas in surprise. “You’re willing to let us stay in your mansion for free? Are you sure about that?”

Thomas waved his pipe at me dismissively. “Of course. You young Codexers have already proved that you are decent folk, which are hard to come by these days, in my opinion. And since you are obviously on a very important mission and have already charmed Caleb—who I consider a good friend myself—it would be quite rude of me not to offer you and your friends a place to stay, at least for a few nights. How long were you intending to stay in Hebron, anyway?”

I pursed my lips. “I don’t know. It really all depends on how quickly we can see the King. Plus, Jonah and Ruth have their own goals they were hoping to accomplish while there. But we are expecting to stay at least a week, so if you wouldn’t mind—”

“A week it is!” Thomas puffed on his pipe again, but this time he looked a lot more relaxed. “I have many rooms in my mansion for guests, anyway, enough for everyone to get their own room. I could even get your rabbit a room of his own, if you want.”

Nimbus hopped onto my shoulders and smiled at Thomas. “That sounds like a most agreeable idea, Mister Thomas! Does your mansion happen to have a lot of bananas? Because if I could have fresh bananas delivered to my room every day—”

“Who cares about bananas?” said Jonah, cutting off Nimbus and earning a death glare from the rabbit at the same time. He rested his trident on his shoulders and glanced at the unconscious bandits within the Golden Barrier. “We should make sure that these guys are handed over to the authorities first, but then we have something else that we need to do before we even get lodgings and unpack. Something very important.”

Nimbus raised an ear curiously. “What could possibly be more important than bananas?”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, but I did ask Jonah, “I know we have a lot of things we want to do when we get to Hebron, but surely we can at least unpack at Thomas’ mansion before doing other things.”

Jonah huffed and turned away from us. His gaze seemed to focus on a particularly tall building rising out of the center of the city in the distance. “You guys can go and chill at Thomas’s mansion. As for myself, I’m planning to head directly to the Grand Codexium of Hebron as soon as we enter the city, find one of those assistant Codex Keepers that Caleb told us about, and make them oversee my Chapter Two Codex Trial.”