I said goodnight to the girls on the landing. Siofra suggested to join me, but I managed to tactfully turn her down before I headed to my room. She looked a little disappointed, but at least now the chances of anyone coming to find me in the night were a little lower. Once the girls all went their own way, I stepped inside my room and closed the door behind me. Celine didn’t appear right away, and I thought twice about calling her out.

The armour I had received from the king was sat on the edge of my bed in a pile. I knew I was only going out to meet with Altria, but I decided it was still a good opportunity to wear it in a bit. I stripped off and started to change, as I did, I felt a hand touch me from behind.

“Celine?”

“I thought you were never going to call me.”

“I wasn’t sure that I would have time to spend with you… I might have to leave soon.”

“You’re going out again? But you promised!”

“I know I did, and I’ll still be back later. This is something important to me, I have to go.”

“Aww please.”

“No. I can’t. I need to do this, it’s for my own safety… After this and once we’ve left the city again, I might think about showing you to the girls.”

“I don’t care about meeting them.”

“Right, but things can’t go on like this forever. If you want to stay with me, we’re going to have to find some way for them to accept you.”

“I do want to stay with you.” She said throwing her arms around me a squeezing tightly.

It was then I heard a ringing noise in my ear. It was from Altria and it was a short message saying only, “meet me here in thirty minutes.” There was a map attached, along with instructions of what to do when I arrived at the meeting place. From the looks of things, it was going to take me fifteen to twenty minutes just to walk there. I didn’t have any time to waste if I wanted to meet her there on time.

“Then we’ll have to leave this until later. I need to go now.”

“You will come back, won’t you?”

“I will.”

Celine smiled at me for a moment before disappearing into thin air. It was strange to see someone so worried about your presence after such a small period of time. Even if she did rely on me for her sustenance. I kind of felt bad, for the effect the skill had on her, even if I had used it to protect myself. Well, it wasn’t as if I had mistreated her.

With Celine gone I continued to change into my new armour and a few minutes later I was ready to leave. I had picked well, and it was just as comfortable as when I had tried it on back in the palace and it was definitely much lighter than my previous set. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be testing its durability anytime soon. I walked over to the window and briefly considered taking the same route that Altria had gone earlier. It was only a fleeting thought, soon dispelled when I reminded myself how far it was to the floor. I doubted the drop would kill me, but as much as my physical abilities had improved since I had been here, I wasn’t going to be able to drop down like Altria had.

After deciding to take the normal route out through the inn, I opened the door to my room and peered up and down the corridor to check it was clear before heading out. I made it all the way downstairs without sighting any of the girls. Just as I was about to step out of the front door a voice called me from behind.

“Theo.”

I froze on the spot for a second before finally turning around.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to make you jump! We lock up at twelve, so make sure you’re back by then.” The girl from the reception told me.

I had known it wasn’t one of the others as soon as they spoke, but just the act of someone calling out to me had made me jump while I was trying to sneak out unseen.

“Right, thank you. I’ll be back before then.”

“Good. Have fun out there.”

“Will do.”

I turned back around a quickly headed out into the street. I was still a little conscious about being seen until I had made it a couple of streets away from the inn. After that it was just a case of following the instructions on the map that Altria had sent over and finding the meeting place. I had covered quite a distance, when I finally arrived at the building that we were supposed to meet. The instructions said to meet on the roof. It also said it was accessible from the outside. I glanced up at the building, there was no way I was getting up there from the outside. It was the tallest building in the local vicinity and was several stories high. Altria might be able to manage it, but it was beyond me. I would just have to try the front door.

I walked up the steps to the front of the building. It looked to be used as a block of apartments, there was a small reception in the entrance hall. It seemed as if I had come a just the right time, because there was no one at the desk watching the door. I twisted the handle and it slowly opened. I took the chance and crossed the hall then headed to the staircase at the side of the room. From there I hoped it was a straight run to the roof of the building.

I pushed on up the stairs, passing each of the floors on my way up to the roof, all the way hoping that I would be able to access it. Finally, I reached the end of the staircase. On the top floor there was a corridor that led past all the rooms and at the far end was door, with a window. There was a faint light pouring in, it had to lead outside. The door was unlocked and led out to a platform and a small set of stairs that led upwards. I quickly climbed up and a moment later I was on the roof of the building.

I was a few minutes ahead of schedule and the first to arrive. I decided to take in the view over the city for a moment while I waited for Altria to appear. I had only just taken up a position leaning on the far wall when I barely made out the sound of a footstep behind me. They hadn’t come from the stairs, as they were in my field of vision. I was expecting it to be Altria, but I still spun around quickly to check who it was.

“You got here before me. I was half expecting to wait for you.” Altria said as I turned around.

“Yeah well, I can’t say I wasn’t eager to get here.”

“I imagine you were… No one else saw you come here, did they?”

“No. I left the in without seeing any of the others. Lillia wondered where you had gone at dinner, but she seemed satisfied when I told her you’d gone to your mother’s.”

“Good.”

“Is there any reason why you’re so worried?”

“I’m just being careful, while we’re in the city. That and I remembered something the other day after we saw my mother.”

“Something to make you suspicious of the other girls?” I asked a little surprised.

“No not the girls, Lillia… No, not even Lillia. The elves, my great grandfather said and wrote some strange things down in his final years. For some reason I remembered it again and I’m probably just being stupid, because he’d gone senile, but it made me think.”

“It isn’t stupid to be cautious. What sort of things did he say?”

“It was about the summoning…”

“Really?”

“Yes… But now isn’t the time to talk about it and before I say much more to you, I’d like to speak to my mother about it. It was such a long time ago for me, I might not even be remembering it properly.”

“That’s fine and this probably isn’t the best place for a talk!”

“No…” Altria’s face switched from concerned to a smile. “I think you are going to be pleased with this though.”

“Did everything go to plan, when you met your contact?”

“Yes, and I have something for you.”

Altria started to rummage around inside her cloak for a moment, then produced what looked to be a slightly tinted ball of glass.

“Hold on, is that what I think it is?” I asked.

“Yes, this is yours.” Altria said, with her hand outstretched to give me the item.