We did as Jules suggested and followed her to the front desk. We had wanted to check in at the guild first to find out the lay of the land anyway. The other girl who had been behind the desk with Jules had stepped out into the back room as we arrived. She appeared through the side door as Jules made her way through the desk.

She turned to Jules. “Can you take them upstairs? The boss wants to see them right away.”

Jules looked a little awkward. “Right now? They’ve only just returned, they haven’t event had chance for a drink yet.”

“She insisted.”

“Okay…” Jules turned to us. “Is that okay with you all?”

Serin nodded with a smile. “Yes, that’s fine. We wanted to talk with her anyway.”

“I’ll show you up. Follow me.”

Jules lifted the hatch to the front desk and the three of us followed her into the back room and upstairs to the offices. Lisa’s office was the third door along, and Jules knocked as we stopped outside.

“Yes?” Asked a voice from inside.

“I’ve brought them up as you requested.” Answered Jules.

“Send them in. Thanks.”

 Jules pushed the door open and held it while motioning for us to step inside. Serin strode in and Altria and I followed in behind her.

As Jules was closing the door, she turned to me. “I’ll see you later.”

Lisa was sat at the far end of the room behind her large wooden desk. There was a bottle of something that looked like whiskey standing on her desk. She had already helped herself to a glass before we had arrived.

As we stepped inside, Lisa placed her glass down on the desk. “You made it back.”

Serin made a gesture with her hands. “Somehow.”

Lisa motioned to the empty chairs. “Don’t just stand there. Take a seat.”

We did just as she asked and sat down.

Lisa waited until we were settled down. “Well, a lot has happened since we last spoke.”

“It has…” Replied Serin.

Lisa slumped in her chair. “I’ve barely had a moment’s rest the last couple of days, ever since that incident that you all seem to have been caught up in. Do you have any idea just how many people have been getting in contact with me?”

“I expect there have been many.”

“Yes. They were all expecting you to return here after you vanished from the capital, and it seems they were right.”

“We didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“No… I suppose you think you’re safe here?” There was a hint of danger in her question.

“Safer than where we were.”

“I’ve already been contacted by the head of the guild, or perhaps it’s the head of the alliance guild now… There is already a quest out for your capture, alive, except for Theo that is. Seems there is already a price on the hero’s head. They’ve requested that I honour it…”

“Lisa you wouldn’t!” Serin said clearly alarmed.

“I would at least interview you before I decided what to do. Whatever I decide will put the city’s guild in an awkward position.”

“You can’t really be considering turning us over to them?” Asked Altria.

“I said I would hear you out before I decided what to do. This city’s guild hasn’t picked a side yet. The mayor wants us to stand with the queen, and possibly the union if the other races follow her lead. The guild wants us to keep our allegiance to the alliance. Whichever side I pick we stand to lose a lot, but what really bothers me is that I don’t have a clue as to how things came to be like this. Seeing that Lillia isn’t with you I can guess that the rumours are at least partly true.”

“I expect you heard from my mother too?” Asked Altria.

“Yes, and oddly enough before news of this broke.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“I need you all to explain to me what the hell is going on here. The catkin has broken off from the alliance, the humans and the wolfkin look set to follow them. We’re almost on the brink of war with what were our allies just days before and I’ve been given two opposing stories from each side.”

It was Serin that answered. “We don’t know much more than you. I don’t know how it came to this.”

“Then at least tell me what you do know. Tell me everything that happened in the capital that night. You know the one I’m talking about.”

“Sure, we were going to tell you anyway.” Answered Altria.

After that Altria and I ran through the events of that night with Lisa. We told her everything, including the parts about Celine. At first, I was worried about confiding in Lisa, but the girls decided it was for the best. She had a big decision to make, and if we kept anything from her, she was less likely to come down on our side. It was clear Lisa could barely believe what we were telling her.

Lisa fixed her gaze on me. “So, you stole your relic, with the aid of Altria and got into a fight with Lillia when she tried to stop you taking it? That’s what caused that disaster in the city.”

I could feel myself squirming under the intense gaze. “Like we said it wasn’t like that. Lillia was…”

“That’s your side of the story.”

“He’s telling the truth. Lillia wasn’t herself.” Altria spoke up.

“You’re hardly any less biased.”

“Why would my mother have pulled the catkin from the alliance, if Theo had stolen his relic and attacked Lillia? She aided us, and it seems that she knew something like this was going to happen. There’s more going on here than any of us know.”

“You want me to believe that Lillia was under some unknown party’s control?”

“That’s what we think.”

“You’re going to need proof.”

“If you had seen her, you would believe us.”

“Perhaps, but I wasn’t.”

“Are you really considering having the city guild oppose the city and the queen?”

Lisa slammed her glass down on the desk. “I’m going to take the side I believe is right, no matter the cost.”

“Everything we’ve told you is the truth. Have we ever deceived you before?” Asked Altria.

“Not as far as I know… But you’ve admitted to stealing this relic from the guild vault, and then you tell me that you’ve been working with a demon and that Lillia was under some kind of mind control. You do understand how that sounds, don’t you?”

“I do… As much as I hate to admit it, that demon saved our lives. We wouldn’t have escaped otherwise. Then the relic, if we hadn’t taken it Theo’s life would always be in the balance at the whims of the guild masters. I don’t regret helping him and I’ll never believe Lillia would do that of her own will.”

“What? How can an artifact be connected to him? He hasn’t long arrived in our world.”

“You don’t know?”

From Lisa’s reaction it seemed as if she was genuinely surprised. “I don’t know what the relic is. All I was told is that they are vital to the alliance.”

“That’s true, because that’s how they summon the heroes. Their bodies are killed in their own world, and their soul is brought here and bound to a relic. If the relic is destroyed, then the hero dies here as well. Many of them have lost their lives this way.”

“I have no way of knowing that is true either.”

“It’s the truth!”

“So, you say…” Lisa turned to me. “Do you trust me, Theo?” She asked.

“I’d like to.”

“If you want me to trust you, you’ll need to give me something to work with. Please hand me your relic.”

“You want to see my relic?”

“Yes. If I’m to believe this story of yours, I’ll at least need to inspect it.”

“Okay…”

I began fumbling around in my item pouch. I wasn’t entirely sure that this was a good idea, but I knew we had to do something to get Lisa on our side. We needed Lisa to trust us if we wanted to be able to stay in Dunshelm. This was the first step.

I pulled out the strange looking glass ball and stepped towards the desk to hand it to Lisa.

Serin placed a hand on my arm. “Theo, you don’t have to.”

“It’s okay, I want Lisa to trust us. I’ll show her the same.”

I passed Lisa the relic.

She took it in her hand and smiled. “Thank you, Theo.”

I sat back down.

Lisa held the relic in her hand and looked over it intently. “Hmm… It definitely appears to be a magical item of some description. It seems fragile.” Lisa said as she held it in the palm of her hand. “I suppose there is only one way to tell if you are telling me the truth.”

Lisa slammed down the relic on the desk. I winced as she did so, but it appeared to be unharmed. I breathed a sigh of relief. It hadn’t only startled me, both Altria and Serin had jumped to their feet.

“Calm down Girls, I doubt it would break that easily…” Lisa got to her feet. “But perhaps this would.”

She moved so quickly that it was almost blur. Before I knew it, she had picked up a heavy sword from the side of her desk and had lifted it above her head. It was already travelling down towards my relic.