Pali and his family had finally arrived in Eto. He hoped that this was where Salis was. Thanks to some news and strange rumors, he was hopeful, even if some of the rumors involved the rescue of people, which he sadly could not see Salis doing. Of course, he knew that the rumors might simply be combining two people into one.

The problem now was investigating the rumors. Since not even the Toa Mirr military, which had patrols out every night searching, could not find whoever was attacking criminals and soldiers finding the perpetrator themselves would be even less likely if he did this as well.

Pali did have one advantage that the Toa Mirr garrison did not. He knew Salis' behaviors and tendencies, well many of them at least. He could not be sure how much she had changed in the last year but he was not too worried about that at the moment since it had only been about an hour since their arrival and they had had only barely settled in at an inn in a less run-down section of the city. Even so, he had already found out that it had been several days since the last attacks on any soldiers or unsavory characters.

It made sense that Salis would not be doing anything because their innkeeper had warned them about the increased patrols at night and that anyone found outside late were often arrested or at least beaten.

"This is going to be such a pain…" Dario said as the carriage pulled to a stop at one of the markets close to their inn.

"I know," Ferra said, "listening to your whining for a few more days is going to be a real pain."

Dario shot Ferra an angry look.

Pali shook his head. It was sad how used to their bickering he had become.

"This is the best way to pick up information," Pali said. "Set up shop and ask about any rumors or hearsay while making some money."

"But this city stinks. Can we not set up shop in that village we passed on the way and let Meric come here do her snooping?" Dario said.

"You know that will not work, Dario. Meric would have to travel an hour each way and it would prevent the rest of us from helping as well." Pali said.

"She could at least have taken me with her to the more wealthy part of the city."

"She did not take you because you would have done something stupid," Ferra said.

"Probably," Calren said in agreement.

"I would not have! I have lots of experience dealing with government types." Dario said.

Pali knew that Dario would have been the best in the group that could deal with officials thanks to his real family being wealthy landowners but they were pretending to be peasants so that kind of skill would only lead to suspicion.

"It is exactly that reason that we cannot let you go. I imagine that most of the people here are familiar with the local landowners and higher ranking members of Toa Mirr society. Someone that they do not recognize that is educated would bring up suspicion." Pali said.

Pali was not sure if this were true, but he agreed with Ferra that Dario would make more problems than he would solve so he had used the best excuse he could find.

"I know, that is the fifth time you have told me. But I still think I should have gone with her to give some advice." Dario said.

Pali stopped the cart and gladly turned away from the children. He looked around for a moment, hoping to see if he could find someone that might be in charge of the market. He saw no one.

"Excuse me." He said, calling down to a woman sitting behind a stall not far from him. She appeared to be middle-aged. Her face was worn and already had a fair amount of wrinkles. Her dark eyes appeared to lack any energy or brightness, not unlike most others he had seen in Toa Mirr.

"Yes?" The woman said after she looked him over.

"Could you tell me who is in charge of the market here?"

"No one. If you can find a spot you can take it jus' so long as you pay tha' tax when the patrol comes through." The woman said and then spit on the ground. "Take all my money they do." She added, Pali barely able to make it out.

"Thank you," Pali said.

The woman waved him off and did not say anything more.

Pali shrugged. He had noticed the people of Toa Mirr were all like this but he would be too if he had to live here.

Pali looked around the market. It was already crowded with stalls thanks to their late arrival. It was not vital for them to set up their shop today and they could simply walk around town asking questions if they did not.

In a few minutes, Pali did find an open space and parked the wagon there. It was obvious why the spot was not occupied thanks to its distance from any of the entrances to the market. There was also a decent amount of trash and other refuse nearby, making the area smell much more than the rest of the area.

"Oh please no…" Dario said when he realized why Pali had stopped. "Did you have to park by that?"

"Yes, Papa," Ferra said, showing one of her rare agreements with Dario. "The smell is already starting to make my head ache."

Calren nodded his head vigorously in support of the other two.

Pali was starting to agree with them. The smell WAS horrible.

"Maybe you are right." He said and began to pull the wagon out of the spot.

As he did so he noticed a group of peasants laughing at them.

"I am going to try one more market." He said to the others. "If we do not find a good spot then we will wait until tomorrow morning to try again."

"The rest will be like this," Dario said. "This late in the day there is no way any good spots will be left."

Pali knew Dario was probably right but he also knew the boy was saying it only because he wanted to get out of running a stall. He viewed it as being below his position and hated every moment they had done it in the smaller towns and villages.

"I still think we should try at least one more time," Pali said, wanting to do it more for tormenting Dario than for actually believing there would be an open spot.

"I hope Mama is having more luck than we are," Ferra said as they left the market.

"She probably already has taken over the city," Calren said with a smile.

"I can see that," Dario said.

"She is an amazing woman," Pali added.

"Oh Papa," Helnion said, grinning at him. "Why do you wait to say those things until she is gone?" Helnion poked Pali in the ribs.

Pali blushed.

Meric was finally at the main barracks for the Toa Mirr army in Eto. She refrained from looking at the soldiers around it, most of whom either giving her lustful looks or jeered at her.

"What would a fine woman like you be doing here?" She heard a husky male voice say to her.

Meric looked to her right and saw a soldier standing not far from her. He was not much taller than she but was well built and carried an air of command around him. Since she was still not very familiar with the rank insignia of the higher ranking soldiers she was not sure what his rank was but judging from the quality of his armor and the cleanliness of it she knew his rank had to be fairly high, though his younger age meant it was probably not too high.

"I am looking for information on a bounty," Meric said.

"A bounty?" The officer said. "Bounty hunting is not something women should do."

"Is it illegal for women to be bounty hunters?" Meric said, a bit of anger creeping into her voice. Oh, how she hated men like this.

The man raised his hand and took a step back. "No, No. I just think it a waste for women to get themselves killed."

The man took a step forward. "Let me start over. I am Major Grthan, commander of the Fifth Patrol of Eto."

Meric looked at him for a moment. She did not want to become familiar with the man but she might be able to get more useful information out of him than she would if she asked someone of lower rank.

"Meric."

"Ah, Meric. An uncommon name. Do you mind asking my asking where you hail from?"

Meric was tempted to see what he would do if she told him the truth.

"I would rather not say." She said.

"Oh? Being secretive are we?" He said and eyed her again. "No matter, as long as you do not do anything illegal I do not care where you come from."

The man, Grthan, walked closer to Meric and then turned towards the building in front of them.

"Now, I believe you came here to get some information on bounties?" He said.

Meric nodded.

"All right. I will be more than happy to get the bounty reports for you." He said and began walking towards the entrance of the building.

"Is there any particular type of work you are looking for? Bandits? Runaway slaves? Murderers?" He said when they entered the building. He then motioned towards a door to their left and began walking towards it.

Meric reached inside a small bag at her waist and pulled out two folded sheets of parchment, then handed them to Grthan. He took them and unfolded them before looking them over.

"I see you are after some serious prey." He said when he had given them a quick look. "The Night Trickster and the Terran girl."

"Do you have any information you could provide for me?" Meric said.

Grthan opened the door and motioned for Meric to enter. She did and Grthan followed.

The room was not large but was lined with shelves filled with scrolls and the occasional book. It was not well lit but Meric saw a light crystal on the far wall.

Grthan went to the crystal and placed it in a slot in the wall, lighting it up. Meric noticed that the crystal was chained to the wall.

"Since you have chosen two of the more well-known bounties I will not have to search for any records as I am quite familiar with these two criminals. The first is the Terran girl. At first, I was not convinced that she deserved such a hight bounty but after hearing several rumors that she had killed several bounty hunters, as well as a noble, I think she was deserving of it. The family of the nobleman she killed has increased her bounty to ten thousand."

"Any word on where she is now?" Meric asked.

"No. She was in one of the large canyons north of the lake and was heading west but no one has seen her since she reportedly left there. I imagine she is either heading out of the country or hiding out near a village somewhere."

"What about the Night Trickster?"

"Fully deserving of their five thousand gold bounty I say. Using strange magic and tricks on soldiers before killing them. I think the Night Trickster is the same person as the Ghost Stalker. Some have even suggested that the Ghost Stalker might be the Terran girl thanks to several rumors that the Ghost Stalker is the size of a young girl."

Meric knew about the Ghost Stalker but there were only rumors and they did not even have a bounty so she was uncertain if the Ghost Stalker was even real.

"Do you think that is true?"

Grthan laughed. "Would it not be amusing? One person with three different identities? Not to mention that it would be a small girl that had done all the killing, even if she is a Terran."

Meric nodded. She knew how good Salis was with a bow and sword so it would not surprise her if the girl had done all of this considering only the more wealthy and soldiers in Toa Mirr would have received any formal training with weapons.

"And the whereabouts of the Night Trickster?"

"They have not been active for the last few days so I am not sure if they are still in the city. If they know what is best for them they will not become active again." Grthan paused and thought. "Now that I think about it, I have heard no new rumors about the Ghost Stalker for the past few days either, but with our patrols having increased most criminals have been staying off the streets."

"Can you show me the areas where they were seen?"

Grthan nodded. "Yes. Let me get a map."

Grthan turned from Meric and headed to one of the shelves where he looked through several scrolls, unrolling each before looking at the next.

"Here we are." He said, holding up a large scroll. "I believe this is the most recent map of Eto."

Grthan then walked to a small desk that sat just under the glowing crystal and placed the map there. He then unrolled it and placed weights on each corner to keep it from rolling back up.

Meric joined him at the desk just as he finished.

"From what I can remember the sightings took place in these areas," Grthan said and pointed to several spots.

"All of them are on the East side," Meric said.

"Yes, but the city is large and by the time we started looking for them seriously they stopped. We have been searching all of the inns and hostels but there are too many places to hide and there are so many suspicious-looking people that it would be a waste of time stopping every one we felt was up to no good."

"You should do a better job keeping your streets clean."

"We generally prefer to let the commoners do what they want as long as they do not involve the state."

Meric was disgusted. She had seen how poorly the city was run. The only thing she had seen the soldiers do was collect "taxes" and bully the people, and she had only been in the city for a few hours. If they were like the soldiers she had seen elsewhere in Toa Mirr than it was likely they did much worse than this.

If Salis was the one that killed the soldiers she probably had good reason to do so, and if the killings associated with the Ghost Stalker were also because of Salis then she imagined those were probably justified as well. Salis may not have been the most likable child but Meric had never seen her hurt someone, on purpose that is. Still, considering what the girl had probably been through in the past year the possibility that she had changed for the worse was there.

"What of the Ghost Stalker? Do you know of any places they have been?" Meric asked.

"I could not say. There are so many murders in the city that it is hard to place a rumor to a real crime, but because I think that the Night Trickster and the Ghost Stalker might be the same person I have looked into it a bit."

Grthan pointed at the map and made a circle around part of the southern part and eastern part of the city.

"The Ghost Stalker appears to have a much larger area, but it does overlap with the Night Trickster's area."

"Can you tell me what the earliest rumor is?"

Grthan thought. "No. There are so many of them and they have spread so much that it has proven difficult to find out when they started, but I believe the Ghost Stalker was around for a few days before the Trickster."

Meric nodded slowly.

"Do you have any other questions?" He asked.

"None at the moment," Meric replied.

"Good!" Grthan smiled and clasped his hand together when he said it. "Then do you care if I ask a question?"

Meric resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow. What kind of questions was this man going to ask her? She hoped they were not about her likes or other things men liked to ask her when they were interested in courting her.

"Go ahead," Meric said, hoping she would not have to suffer through too much flirting with the man.

Grthan rolled the map on the desk back up and then walked back to the pile of maps where he deposited it picked up another map which he placed on the desk.

"Have you been to the western parts of the country lately?" Grthan asked as he unrolled the map.

Meric became a bit suspicious but she knew it was too early to tell if she should be worried.

"Why do you ask?" She replied, deciding she should reveal as little as possible.

"Oh, it is just that there is an even bigger bounty over there and was wondering why you would pass that up for a child and rumors."

"I did not think myself strong enough to fight those capable of taking out a heavily armed group of soldiers."

"Smart of you." Grthan straightened himself. "Now, if you have no more questions I assume you will be leaving?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure you would not like to stay and perhaps eat a meal with me?"

"I am afraid I have other things I need to attend to."

"A shame. Maybe some other time?"

"I will consider it." Meric lied.

"Good!" Grthan walked to the door and opened it. "Do you mind if I walk you out of the compound? Many of the soldiers do not know how to behave towards women."

"I can handle myself."

Grthan frowned. "Very well."

Meric walked quickly out of the room. Grthan smiled again at her as she passed him but she simply nodded back. The rest of the walk away from the compound Meric was careful to watch everyone around her. Like before many of the soldiers jeered at her or made attempts to touch her in unwanted places but she was easily able to evade them.

The moment she left the compound she let out a sigh of relief. She hoped she would never have to be surrounded by her enemies like that again.

Pali, the boys and Ferra had given up on finding a stall for the day and were resting in an inn he and Meric had chosen before she had left to check the bounty office. Since Meric was still gone he had no choice but to stay put, despite his desire to begin searching for Salis.

Pali looked around the room. Dario and Calren were sitting on the floor near the window talking. Ferra was sitting on a stool and was playing her hand harp while humming a slow song that she had learned from the only traveling musician they had seen on the road. It was making him want to lie down and take a nap.

As Pali listened to Ferra play he heard something. He was not sure what it was so he made Ferra stop playing.

"What is it, Papa?" She said.

"Did you hear something?"

Ferra appeared to be in thought for a moment before replying, "I do not think so."

"Pali… Pali… Are you there?" He heard a muffled voice.

Pali looked around for a moment before realizing what it was.

"The communication crystal!" He said and rushed to open the secret compartment in his trunk.

Ferra followed close behind him, excited to see what the call was about. Dario and Calren jumped up and came over as well.

"Hello! This is Pali." Pali said as soon as he had the crystal extracted from the trunk.

"Good to see you alive and well." A man said. It was one of the communications officers in Fort Kein.

"Is there something General Hani wants us to do?"

"No. Someone has requested to speak to you and General Hani has given them permission."

Pali and the children looked at each other, curious who would have asked to contact them.

Before Pali could say anything the officer nodded to someone out of view and then picked up the crystal, obscuring the view with his hand briefly, before it was put down again and he could see who the person was.

It was Loih! Pali had not seen the Knight of Sorris since a few months before he had left for Toa Mirr when he had asked him to keep an eye out for Salis.

"Loih!" Pali said excitedly. He hoped the man was calling to say he had found Salis and that they had only been chasing rumors.

"Good to see you, Pali!" He said, smiling. "How goes the search?"

Pali's spirits went down a bit. Loih would not have asked that if he had found Salis.

"We have found a few leads but nothing concrete. We think Salis is in Eto but we just arrived today and have not been able to do much searching."

Loih smiled again. "Then you are in a good place because I too have come across information that suggests Salis might be in Eto."

"You did? That makes me feel a little more confident."

"I have some even better news to tell you."

"Better news?"

"Yes. We found Salis' friend Helnion!"

Ferra squealed in delight as soon as Loih had said Helnion had been found. Pali also noticed Calren looked happy as well.

"How?" Pali asked as soon as he had Ferra quieted down.

"She was in Al-Kel…" Loih said, telling Pali the story of Helnion and the things the woman named Triosa had made her do.

"That is horrible!" Ferra said when Loih finished. "Why would someone do that to her?"

"I wish I knew. All I know is that Helnion agreed to retrieve the stolen magic items in exchange for help finding Salis." Loih said, shaking his head.

"How is she now?" Pali asked.

"She is resting. Her injuries were not life threatening but she is extremely tired."

"What of Triosa?"

"I have not seen her since she chased us out of the estate but she seems to be able to appear and disappear at will so I could not say whether or not she will be back. I am going to stay with Helnion for a while just in case but I do not know how much good it will do."

Pali heard someone off-screen. Loih looked away from the crystal for a moment then turned back.

"It looks my time is up," Loih said.

"Thank you for letting us know," Pali said.

"Yes! Thank you!" Ferra added.

"I wish you luck with your search," Loih said before the crystal went blank.

"Poor Helnion," Dario said.

Calren nodded. "I wish I could visit her."

"Me too," Ferra said, her previous glee now gone thanks to Loih's story.

"At least she is safe," Pali said, bringing a smile to his face. "If she is safe then Salis is too, considering how much tougher that Terran girl is. At least I could say that if she was not so prone to finding trouble."

Dario and Calren both laughed a bit at this. Ferra looked at them, slightly disgusted, but did not say anything and sighed.

Pali had just finished listening to what Meric had found out at the bounty office. He was happy that Salis had not been caught yet. Meric had even narrowed down the areas of the city they needed to search by half.

"Where should we start looking, Papa?" Ferra asked Pali.

"Salis is a smart girl so I believe looking away from the center of the sightings would be the right place to start," Pali replied.

"Then where should we look?" Dario asked, his voice sounding as bored as he looked.

"It depends on how much money she has," Pali said. "You all know how much she hates being dirty. So I would not be surprised if she was at a nice inn."

"And what if she has no money?" Meric asked.

"I imagine it would be somewhere with as few people as possible," Pali said.

"Where would we find a place like that in a city this big?" Ferra asked.

"That I cannot say," Pali responded. "For now we should head over to the east side of the city and begin searching."

Dario stood up. "Finally I can get out of this room."

"I do not know," Calren said, staying seated on his stool. "Do you not remember how much it smells outside?"

"Dario. Calren." Meric said. Her voice stern.

Neither of the boys said anything and simply glanced at each other. Calren stood up.

"Let us get in the carriage. No use walking that far." Pali said.

"Yes Papa!" Ferra said, a smile on her face.

Pali smiled as Ferra rushed out of the room. She could sometimes be a pain when it came to her relationship with Dario but her attitude for everything else had made their trip that much more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise.

Pali lept to his feet and followed Ferra outside. The boys were just behind him, pushed by Meric.

Pali finally pulled the carriage to a stop outside of a modest-sized inn near one of the areas the Night Trickster had been seen. He hoped they would get lucky and this inn would be where Salis would be staying but it would not be so easy.

"Meric," Pali said, getting the woman's attention. "Do you think it is safe enough for us to split up?" Pali glanced at the children.

Meric looked around the crowded streets for a bit before replying. "As long as they stay in crowded areas."

Pali turned back to the children. "Are you three up to searching on your own?"

Dario replied almost immediately, his chest puffed out. "Of course! I am not scared of these people."

"I will go with Dario," Calren said. "I do not want to find out what they do to slaves here that are caught on their own."

Pali nodded. "Good point."

"I will be fine too Papa," Ferra said. She then looked to Dario. "I think I will do much better by myself."

Dario made a face at Ferra.

Pali shook his head and sighed.

"All right," Pali said after a moment. "Meric and I will check the inns and you three can ask the street children and the beggars if they have seen anyone. I imagine she has been covering herself to hide her skin and hair but her height should still give her away." He then added, "We will meet back here in three hours."

The three children nodded and then left, Ferra going in the opposite direction of Dario and Calren.

"I will check this inn," Pali said to Meric.

Meric nodded and headed in the direction Dario and Calren had left.

Pali turned to the inn.

"Please be in there Salis." He said to himself.

Three hours later Pali pulled the wagon back into the same spot he had last seen the others. Not only had he not found any useful information most of the inns had refused to tell him about any of the guests staying there. A few had accepted small bribes but all he got out of it was getting told that no one like Salis had been staying there.

"I am tired," Calren said, rolling into the back of the wagon and laying there. Dario climbed in behind him. They had already been there waiting. Pali wondered how long they had been back.

A few minutes later Ferra arrived. She had lost the zeal she had had when she left.

"I do not like it here." She said. "Everyone is so depressing."

"I know," Pali said, remembering the faces he had been seeing all day. "No one seems to trust anyone here."

"I know I would not," Dario said. "Everyone here is probably a thief if not worse."

"Maybe not all of them…" Pali replied, not sure if he was right.

"Where is Mama?" Ferra asked.

"I imagine she is being more thorough than I was and is taking longer," Pali replied. He hoped she would not be too thorough and get herself in trouble.

"There she is!" Ferra said a few minutes later. She stood up and jumped out of the wagon before running to meet Meric.

"Did you find out anything?" Pali asked Meric as she approached the wagon.

Pali judged by the irritated look on her face that she had not.

"None," Meric replied.

"Is something wrong Mama?" Ferra said, looking up at the woman's face.

"The men here are disgusting and vulgar creatures," Meric said, letting disgust show on her face.

Ferra looked down at the ground for a moment and then looked back at Meric.

"Did someone do something to you!?" Meric said, anger appearing on her face.

"Some men tried taking me with them a few times but I was too fast for them," Ferra replied.

"From now on I think we should not let you two go anywhere alone, especially you Ferra," Pali said.

Meric looked at Ferra. "I agree. As much as I know I can take care of myself I tire of these men, though I do not know how well any of you three would help keep them away."

Meric looked over the two boys and Pali, a small smile appearing on her face.

Pali ignored the remark and Dario's protests to simply take in the woman's smile. He enjoyed seeing it.

Ferra laughed.

"We would have to end up protecting you three if you came with us!" Ferra said, still laughing.

Dario looked like he wanted to argue but Pali knew that the boy knew Ferra was right.

"We should head back to our inn for now," Pali said, hoping to not give the women any more opportunities to make more jokes.

 

 

"What now?" Meric said to Pali as soon as they entered their room.

"I think it would be best for the children to have the rest of the day off," Pali replied, looking over the children. They all looked exhausted.

Meric looked at them as well before saying, "I was thinking I would look around the streets tonight. I should be able to move around without being seen by anyone."

Pali nodded slowly. He was not sure he approved of Meric being alone at night and by herself but she would be far more safe than he ever would.

"I do not like the idea of you being out there alone in this city at night but no one else can do it," Pali said.

Meric nodded. The look on her face told Pali that she was not looking forward to it either.

"What about you?" Meric asked Pali after a moment.

"I am going to visit several of the bars," Pali said, almost gagging at the thought of spending time with drunk Toa Miran men.

Meric put her hand on Pali's shoulder. "I will pray to Sorris for your safety."

"Thank you," Pali said.

Pali looked at the children. Ferra was the only one that appeared to still be awake and was watching Pali and Meric, but she looked like she could join the two boys at any moment.

"What say you we get some rest as well," Pali said.

"Yes, we still have time before nightfall and we will need to be as rested as possible."

Pali unrolled his bedroll next to Dario and Calren's on the floor while Meric settled down beside Ferra on the bed. It did not take long for Pali to fall asleep.

The night had been horrible. Pali had spent the night buying drinks for various Toa Miran men in hopes that he could find out anything. Little did he know how much over his head he would be getting.

Once the men realized they could get a drink just for a little gossip they had swarmed him. What made it worse was that most of the things the men had told him were far fetched and as the night wore on and the men became drunker the stories had gone from far fetched to unintelligible. When this happened Pali moved to a different bar but found that the situation was just as bad there.

It wasn't until Pali decided to give up for the night that he got his only real new information.

"Hey buddy…" Pali heard a man's voice behind him, the man's voice slurring the words almost beyond recognition.

Pali turned around and saw a man staggering towards him.

"Yes?" Pali said, stopping and waiting for the man to catch up to him

"Ya have not heard my story yet." The man stopped just in front of Pali and stared at the ground for a moment. He could smell the stench of alcohol pouring off of the man. "What was I going to tell you?" The man added a moment later, telling him the man probably was only after the free drink like all the others had.

Pali sighed. "I am not buying any more drinks."

"Come now. You bought all of those other fellas drinks, why not me?" The man said and then nearly fell on top of Pali.

Pali pushed the man back just enough to let him regain his balance.

"I think you do not need any more to drink tonight." Pali tried pushing him away.

"Nonsense! I am still…" The man trailed off and stared at the ground again. His face then appeared to turn green and the man covered his mouth.

Pali had expected the man to vomit but his face returned to its former bright red.

"Have not drank enough if you can still hold it down." The man said laughing awkwardly, the smell of his breath rolling over Pali again.

Pali shook his head, partly in disgust at the man and partly to shake off the nausea the man's breath made him feel.

"Look for someone else to buy you a drink," Pali said and turned back towards the road that led to the inn.

Not long after he had turned around he felt the man slam into his back, knocking him on the ground. He then felt a slam on his back as the man fell on him.

"If you will not give me a drink I will take your coin and get it my self!" The man screamed in his ear. The smell of the man's breath nearly making Pali vomit.

Pali tried to roll the man off of him but no sooner had he tried then he felt a fist hit the back of his head. Stars appeared in his vision.

Pali push on the ground as hard as he could. It worked and he found himself on his back with the drunken man between himself and the ground but this did not phase the man because Pali soon felt another blow on the back of his head.

"Get off of me!" Pali shouted at the man. He knew shouting at a man this drunk would be futile but it made him feel better.

Pali struggled with the man's arms and managed to slip out of them with more ease than he had been expecting and quickly jumped to his feet.

The man looked up at Pali, his eyes filled with anger. The man then began to attempt to get back on his feet.

Pali had no desire to wait for the man to get back up so he took off running in the opposite direction.

"Halt!" Pali heard a different man shout at him. It was gruff and sounded very authoritative.

Pali stopped on the spot and looked to where the new voice had come from. It was a pair of soldiers.

"What is going on here?" The lead soldier said.

"That man," Pali said, turning to the drunk man that was now on his feet, swaying back and forth. "Tried to rob me."

"Another drunken fight?" The second soldier said, bored.

The first guard eyed Pali. "You do not appear drunk. What are you doing out so late?"

"I am looking for someone," Pali said, not able to think of anything better to say.

"Oh, did your girl run off on you?" The second soldier said before giving a half-hearted laugh.

"No, I am looking for a bounty," Pali said.

The guards both laughed.

"You!? From the looks of it you could barely hold off that drunk." The first guard said.

"Was running away like a scared child." The second soldier added.

"Fighting him would have been a waste of time," Pali said, his cheeks turning red.

"Yes, but I would rather have fought off a drunk then get caught running away in fear!" The first soldier said.

Both of the soldiers laughed again.

Suddenly Pali realized he had an opportunity on his hands.

"I imagine you must see a lot of drunks get in fights," Pali said.

The guards stopped laughing.

"Lots?" The first said. "It is unheard of for a patrol to go the night without seeing at least half a dozen."

"Yours was our fourth tonight." The second soldier added.

"Must get tiring," Pali said.

"We used to ignore them but since the Night Trickster appeared we have been ordered to check every fight." The first soldier replied.

"Oh? The Night Trickster?" Pali said, happy he had gotten them to the topic successfully.

"Yeah, got to make an example of someone that kills our comrades."

"Any luck with that?"

"No. The coward stopped coming out as soon as we began looking for them."

The second soldier spit on the ground. "Filthy coward."

"Where was the last place they were seen?"

"To the east of here. Hard to miss thanks to the fires."

"Fires?" Pali had heard there had been a large fire a few days ago that was rumored to have been started by the Night Trickster.

"Yeah, huge fight. The king's assassins were even involved."

"The king's assassins? What would they be doing going after a rumor?"

"No idea. All I know is that by the time anyone arrived there was no sign of the Night Trickster or whoever had killed the assassins.

"The strange thing is that some of them looked like they had been attacked by an animal and two did not have any injuries at all."

"Why are you telling him all of this?" The second soldier said to the first.

"Why not? Better than walking around and roughing up the occasional drunk." The first soldier replied.

"I can say one thing." The second soldier said to Pali. "If the Night Trickster can kill even a single of the king's assassins then I do not want to be the one to find him."

"Wimp." The first soldier said and punched the second on the shoulder.

Pali looked back towards where the drunk man had been and saw that he was shambling off back towards the bar.

"Looks like he gave up on you." The first soldier said.

"I think I better go before someone else decides to come after me," Pali said. He was not sure he would get anything else useful from the soldiers. He was not sure what to make of what they HAD given him.

"Running back home to your momma already?" The second soldier said.

Pali sighed and began walking away.

The soldiers said nothing more to him and walked away laughing.

Pali touched the back of his head. It certainly hurt but there was no blood so he was not too concerned. He only hoped none of the others would see it.

By the time Pali had come back to the inn he saw that Meric was still gone and that the children were still sleeping. He was tired and there was still plenty of night left so he decided to join them. He was a bit worried about Meric but waiting for her would just mean he would be tired and unable to do anything as well as he would need to so he unrolled his bedding and joined the two boys sleeping on the floor.

The next morning when he woke up he saw that Meric was back and that the children were awake as well.

"We thought you were going to sleep all day," Dario said when he noticed Pali sit up and rub his eyes.

"Shush!" Ferra said to Dario. "You know how late he was out."

"Meric came back later than he did and she is fine."

Pali looked at Meric. She was watching the exchange between the two boys, her expression not showing any signs of fatigue or emotion. Sometimes he wondered if she and Salis were related. Give Meric white hair, skin and the proportions of a Terran and they would be a perfect match.

Pali cleared his throat loudly. Ferra and Dario stopped their bickering and looked at him, waiting to see what he would say.

"Meric," Pali said. "Did you find out anything?"

"None. It seems the children are the only smart ones in this city and do not wander the streets at night so I saw almost no one that would match Salis' build and height."

Pali nodded.

"I did not find out much of anything new, but I want to visit a place today some soldiers I talked to mentioned."

Meric nodded.

"Are we going to set up a stall today Papa?" Ferra said.

"No. I imagine it is too late to find a stall." Pali replied. The sun was already coming in through the window and he imagined they would have had to have left before dawn if they wanted to find a spot.

Pali heard Dario and Calren sigh with relief.

"Where is this place you want to look at?" Meric asked Pali.

"One of the last spots this "Night Trickster" was seen. It is on the east side of the city. It should be easy to find because of a large fire that occurred that night."

Meric nodded again. "If it has not rained we might be able to find some clues."

"We could also ask anyone in the area if they know anything," Pali added.

"We are so going to get lost," Dario said.

"Not if we ask around, idiot," Ferra said. "Do boys not know how to ask for directions?"

"I think we should take our things with us and move to an inn on the east side of the city," Pali said.

Everyone agreed and began packing their things.

A few hours passed before they had arrived at the scene of the fight. It had not been hard to find the place thanks to Ferra asking almost everyone they passed if they were going the right way. It had also been hard to miss the burned out buildings.

Dario whistled when he saw the street.

"Salis does know how to leave an impression." He said.

Calren nodded in agreement.

Pali looked down the street. About two-thirds of the way down the street he saw the burned area. Unlike Flaern, which used little wood in their construction, many of the buildings here in Eto used mainly wood and had burned easily. Thanks to this he saw two buildings that had been completely burned down and the buildings immediately around them had nearly joined the first two. He also saw burn marks on several other buildings.

"Whether or not it was Salis that did this something did happen here," Pali said.

"Do you really think Salis could have done this?" Ferra said.

"If she were fighting for her life I imagine she would burn down the town if that was what it took," Pali said.

"And what a sight that would be," Dario said and laughed. "I would want to watch that fight."

"Me too," Calren said in agreement.

"As would I," Meric said to everyone's surprise. "I would even help if it meant burning this city down."

Everyone nodded in agreement when they heard Meric's last comment.

"Umm… Maybe we should start looking around." Pali said.

Everyone looked at him.

Dario shrugged to Calren and the two walked off towards the burned buildings.

"Ferra, would you mind asking around and seeing if anyone saw something?" Pali asked the girl.

"Yes Papa." She said and began looking around for someone. This section of the city was much more run-down than the west side and many of the buildings had been abandoned so there were not many people in the area.

"We should see if we can find anything out of place," Pali said to Meric.

Meric nodded. "I will search this side of the road," Meric said, pointing towards the right side.

Pali nodded and split from Meric, heading towards the left side. Part of him wanted to stay with Meric and help her look.

Pali looked up at Meric and watched her walk away. He nearly followed her but instead ended up staring at her thighs. Her beautiful thighs…

Pali shook his head to clear his thoughts. He would have to worry about Meric later.

The first part of Pali's search yielded nothing. Aside from a few burn spots on some of the buildings he passed, most likely from fireballs, he saw nothing interesting. The dusty ground was even more uninformative.

"Calren?" He said when he noticed the boy squatting on the ground and looking at something. "What are you looking at?"

Calren looked up at him. "There is some strange black sand here."

Pali knelt on the ground next to Calren.

Indeed there was black sand. Pali had not seen any sand near this color anywhere else in the city.

He picked some of it up. The grains were larger than any normal sand. He thought it could just be ash from the burned buildings but his gut told him otherwise.

"I wonder," Pali said to himself.

Some of the rumors said that the Night Trickster used a strange kind of fire that not only made a loud noise but also sparked and popped. Pali had never heard of any magic like that, but if Salis had been here and had made something with her knowledge then it would make sense.

Pali gathered some of the black grains on a large, flat rock. He then created a small ball of fire just above the rock and then lowered it.

No sooner did the fire touch the sand it lit up in a puff, black smoke rising from it. Both he and Calren jumped back.

"What was that!" Dario said, scrambling down from a fallen beam he had been climbing.

"I do not know," Pali said.

"What happened!" Meric yelled as she ran over to join the group.

"That black sand," Pali said, pointing towards the spot where he had gathered some of it.

"I have never heard of any kind of sand that could do that," Meric said, crouching and inspecting it.

"I think Salis made it," Pali said.

"Salis knows how to make stuff like this?" Calren said, looking down at the sand in amazement.

"Just imagine what other secrets she has in that head of hers," Pali replied.

"Pali…" Meric said, pointing down the street.

Pali looked up and saw that several people had stopped and were staring at them.

"We should leave before any soldiers arrive." He said.

"I agree," Meric said. "Let us find Ferra and go."

Meric looked at the boys to confirm they understood. Both nodded. They looked like they wanted to leave more than Pali did.

Not long after they left the street they heard what sounded like soldiers yelling at some of the onlookers. The soldiers never came after them so Pali guessed that no one had said anything.

"Papa!" Ferra yelled excitedly when she saw them.

Pali noticed a boy about Calren's age was following her.

"Did you already finish looking?" Ferra said when she met them.

"For now. We did not find anything that would tell us where to find Salis but we did find something interesting that makes me believe she was there." Pali replied.

Ferra grinned. "Gyael says he knows where Salis is!" She said and then pointed at the boy following her.

Everyone's jaws dropped. Could it be this easy? Could their search finally be over?

Gyael grinned. "Yep! I know where Little Big Sister Salis is. My little brother is watching her right now."

Dario and Calren snickered when they heard what Gyael had called Salis.

"How did you find her?" Pali asked excitedly.

"My master has been watching her." The boy replied.

"Your master?"

"I am not allowed to talk about him."

Pali wondered why the boy could not talk about his master. There were too many possibilities and Pali did not want to waste time making assumptions.

"Why is he watching Salis?" Meric asked.

"I cannot tell you, though Salis can."

"Can you take her to us?" Pali asked.

"Sure! My master told me to find you and take you to her."

Gyael did not wait for a reply and immediately took off at a jog down a nearby side street.

"We can finally go home now!" Dario said excitedly.

Ferra punched him on the shoulder and then took off after Gyael.

"Ow!" Dario yelled at Ferra. He rubbed his shoulder for a moment and took off after her.

Calren, Pali and Meric looked at each other. They all smiled although Meric looked a little unsure.

"Come on. If it is not Salis then we move on." Pali said to Meric when he noticed.

Meric nodded. "We better not get too far behind."

Pali nodded and the three took off.

Gyael was not jogging very quickly so it did not take long for Pali to catch up to him.

The boy led them through a winding path of streets and alleys and Pali was not sure where they were. He did not care how lost they got if it meant finding Salis. He also imagined that Meric knew perfectly well where they were so that helped.

Gyael finally stopped at a corner.

"She is down this street." He said quietly.

"How can you be certain?" Meric asked.

"That is a secret."

"I will look!" Ferra said and ran around the corner.

Pali sighed and followed behind Ferra.

The street he turned on to was nearly empty and he only saw three people. The first was a skinny street urchin and the second was a middle-aged woman that was smoking something. It was the third that he figured would be Salis if she was indeed where the boy had said she was.

Thanks to the dark clothing that covered her Pali could see he could not see any features. The only thing he could make out at all was the short stature.

The figure suddenly stopped just before Ferra reached them but instead of looking behind them they looked up. Just as this happened Pali saw a young boy leap off of the roof of a nearby building. The boy landed just behind the figure and grabbed at the cloak they were wearing, pulling it off before running away.

No sooner had the cloak been torn away did Pali see long white locks of hair burst out. He also saw that ghostly white skin. He saw the face. It was Salis. It was Salis!

Only one more chapter to go! Pali and friends finally found Salis and know that Helnion is safe. Nothing bad will happen in the next chapter, right?

Also decided on a new name for this story, "Artifice: Tools of the Gods." I will be reposting the everything under the new name but with shortened chapters. I've been told the chapters are too long and I agree. I will still post the last chapter so those few that have gotten this far can still read the ending. It's about 15k words long so look forward to it! 

I also have a poll on my Patreon page. I'm currently not writing anything but want to start up again and want to know my readers' opinions on what I should write next. You don't have to be a Patron to vote.