After speaking to guild master Seoras, I knew I needed to make further preparations for the request. I was only the adventurer escort, not even a true guard, but I had all the intentions to serve the merchant like I was his or her attendant. I wanted to be liked by this merchant as much as possible.
Therefore, I needed think about what a wealthy person bored inside a carriage might want or need.
I sold off the rest of the orc tusks through Bon the receptionist. Frankly, I didn’t know or care much, but she reintroduced herself with her full name, Bonny, not her nickname.
The tusks earned seventy-five silvers at one silver per piece, a small representation of real wealth, and the mana stone from the orc knight was a whopping five gold.
When the gold was passed over the counter, I got some greedy looks from several adventurers. I quickly kept the gold in my wallet, slipping it under my shirt, and said goodbye to the guild. From glances over my shoulder, though, I saw three crummy looking guys following me. Great.
I hurried to my inn, slightly hopeful they would give up, but through the small window in my room, I was able to see them loitering around. They were going to push me into getting rid of them the hard way.
Since the day wasn’t dark yet, I had time to take out the trash before bed.
Adventurer shapeshifted, I rolled up an old, worn-out cloak I had into a bundle. I blatantly hung my wallet through my belt so the hopeful thieves could see. It worked, because I practically felt their eyes move as I walked by. When I made it halfway across the street they began to follow.
I led them on a slow chase toward the wall of Alesdale, around the shopping district, and into the part of town I used to call home. It was a residential area with cluttered, tiny houses that were built so haphazardly and close together, the buildings created a shadowed maze.
And it smelled like stale air.
People, many hooded or covered by indifferent cloaks, seemed to loiter around the corners. Food stalls nearest the shopping district displayed day old fruits and vegetables, but the further I went in, goods remained behind closed doors. Several homeless and drunkards sat within these twisted alleys. The people I passed made sure to observe as if questioning whether or not I would bring them harm. Or trouble.
Essentially second nature now, I actually had some difficulty preventing my stealth skills from activating. Especially, when I was in a place far from the law like this.
The three adventurers continued to follow as I moved familiarly through the alleys; I knew a specific place where it was easy to get lost. Plus, everyone from the slums tended to avoid it unless they were asking for trouble.
I sped up my pace a bit as I got closer, and quickly ducked behind a timely, dark corner. I shapeshifted, again, as fast as I could using a homeless person I had walked by as my image.
I was able to drape my old cloak over my head and hunch down in a beggar’s squat when the three adventurers noisily arrived. My body squirmed under the transformation that wasn’t finished.
The alley was narrow and it split into two directions at the end.
“Move it already. Hurry up!” The adventurer last to enter the alley was pushing at the backs of the other two. “If we lose him cause you’re slow I’ll kill ya both.”
“Who knew he would suddenly run like that?” said the skinny one.
The skinny adventurer was practically squished up against the far wall, since the third adventurer, who refrained from speaking, was a hulking mass of arms and legs and gut.
“Wait,” said the skinny one, but the adventurer in the back kept pushing. Skinny stumbled forward and only steadied himself with help from the wall. He pointed at the end of the alley, “it goes two ways.”
“Damn it, you idiots.”
I sat by the intersection; the adventurers were a few steps away. I thought they might overlook me, until the loud adventurer’s eyes made contact with mine.
“You there!” He made to grab at me, but stopped short. He probably decided it was best not to touch the cloth and ‘dirty himself with a measly beggar.’
“Tell me, where did that person who ran through here go?”
I didn’t say anything, and the adventurer had a very short fuse.
“Goddamn trash,” he spit. He raised his foot in an effort to kick me.
He sent it toward my head, the easiest place to dodge. So I did. Mere inches away, I swerved and tackled his other leg. He crashed to the ground, while I dashed straight at the big guy. It was best I managed him first.
I felt my muscles squirming under the movement since my shapeshift was interrupted, but I ignored it and pulled out my dagger.
The big guy saw me coming, but was too slow to move. I ran my dagger across both his ankles and cast a burst of water at Skinny. The big guy failed to connect a punch as I stepped aside, and he also fell, injured legs unable to hold under the stress.
I moved in close to screaming Skinny, who wiped uselessly at his waterlogged eyes, and clubbed him with the butt of my dagger.
He sank to the ground like a sack of potatoes, unconscious, right when the loud adventurer stood back up.
“How dare-”
Why is he trying to talk during a fight? This isn’t a drama being played out in a theater.
In a panic, he rushed to draw his sword when I moved in close. A stupid move considering how narrow the alley was. He tried to swing the sword across his chest, but it only struck the side of the alley in a hair-raising flash of sparks.
Suffice to say, my attack went unheeded as I stabbed into his gut…is what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, I did not see the need to murder the guy, so I avoided any major organs. He would bleed and be in severe pain, but he would not die.
Clutching at his stomach, he completely abandoned his sword, which clanked against the ground.
I spoke, “If you don’t want to die, then leave everything behind and get out of here.”
The bleeding adventurer was about to complain, but with the sharp end of my dagger in his face, he obliged. As for the big guy, he quickly stripped himself and helped out his unconscious friend without complaint.
He seriously creeped me out with his eagerness to help Skinny.
“We won’t forget this, bastard,” cried the bleeding adventurer, who had to be lifted alongside Skinny by the big guy.
I couldn’t help rolling my eyes as they left, and began to go through their things. Why not? I wasn’t going to pass on free stuff, especially if I could use it. Although, I scooted their clothes aside with the toe of my boot. I touched them enough while searching the pockets.
There was only a chipped sword, a basic iron dagger, and two bulky gauntlets. Nothing worth anything and no money. No wonder they turned to stealing.
I turned to head home, myself, when a flicker of light caught my eye. A small silver tag, looped along a thin chain, was half-sticking out from the noisy adventurer’s boot. I hadn’t wanted to touch those foul things, but eventually I picked up the tag and gave it a good look.
Some writing was on it, a name, and an animal was impressed into the metal on the other side.
“Omenspect,” I tried to see if it could be useful.
[Black market identification. Rat.] It said, and I felt a murky potential fortune.
“Easy enough to understand.”
It looked like I had a new shapeshift I could carefully use to great use.
[~1300wds]
