***

  In a different part of the city, a peculiar pair of tourists navigated up a street looking for their destination.

  The goblin was not used to being allowed iies, but for whatever reason he did not uand, people in this pce seemed perfectly fih his presence.

  Maybe it was because everyone was too afraid to say something since he was apanied by a mean drake?

  Or perhaps it was because everyone was aware of his important boss and knew not to mess with his loyal assistant?

  No, surely it was because they saw the hat on his head and the staff on his bad knew he was no savage goblin like all of his cousins out in the wilds.

  Druma was a civilized goblin wizard, and people respected that.

  Nodding to himself, the little green guy tinued examining the piece of paper he had scrawled a rudimentary map on, based on the rger one his boss had.

  To anyone else, the squiggles and chaoties on the part would have been indecipherable as dires, but to Druma’s uellect, they made enough seo get around, and that’s all that mattered.

  “Blue!” he said, turning back to his travel partner. “Druma think he find right way!”

  The azure drake eyed him with her usual zy and ued gaze, but carried on following behind.

  Druma didn’t mind it. He knew her better than most. She acted cold, but the goblin knew she was warm on the inside.

  Especially when she breathed out those pretty, magical fmes.

  Druma wished he could do that too.

  Scratg his head uhe wizard hat as he turhe piece of paper upside-down with the other hand, the goblin tried to make sense of the crossroads in front of them.

  A sign with street ht by one of the ers, but that was of o him.

  He did not know the streets of Marquessa.

  Or how to read signs.

  “Hmmmm…” said the goblin, toig out the er of his mouth as his eyes darted up and dowween the map and the forked path.

  Blue let out an impatient growl behind him as she rolled her golden eyes.

  “Yes, yes,” the crab’s assistant said. “Druma know where we go. We go… this a-way!”

  With fident steps, the goblin carried on through the street to the left.

  That part of town was nowhere near as busy as the main ercial districts they had e from, but there were still a few people passing by here and there. Most paid the two outsiders no mind, but some paused to look at the colorful visitors.

  “G’day,” a nky figure wearing a hooded cloak said as they crossed paths, his face semi-covered by the shade of the hood, revealing only a greeting smile.

  Druma waved bad returhe smile, notig the passerby had no skin but rather shiny green scales. Looking back as the stranger tinued walking in the opposite dire, the goblin also realized he had a long tail dragging behind.

  The more he saw of Marquessa, the more Druma thought that pce retty .

  If only the town near home was as weling to non-humans…

  After a couple more turns and twists through the streets, the two town explorers came to a stop in front of a dipidated building.

  It was an old storeroom with high windows, most of them with missing or broken gss. Their frames and the froal door were covered in rust and grime, like a pce that had been abandoned for a long time.

  “This it!” excimed the excited goblin. “Druma find pce boss want Druma and Blue to check!”

  With one brow raised higher, the drake looked at the unassuming building. With a nod, she thehe windows high up he roof—the only openings that would allow looking inside.

  Her green partner followed her gaze up and quickly shook his head. “No, no! Boss say Blue ’t fly. People get scared.”

  The winged creature clicked her toh a scoff and spread her wings, preparing for take-off.

  “Please,” the goblin pleaded. “Druma no want to make trouble for boss.”

  She paused and looked at him from the er of her eye.

  “Druma really want to do jht.”

  Blue stared at the goblin’s sad, puppy-like eyes for a moment before letting out a smoky sigh and folding her wings ba.

  “Thank you, thank you!” the happy assistant said, hopping from side to side.

  Skipping toward the door, Druma stuffed his sketched map in the pocket of his burp pants and crossed his arms, carefully the rusty door in front of him.

  “Hmm… Druma ’t see inside…”

  Then, gng up, he spotted a transom window above the door.

  “Aha!” the goblin excimed as he snapped his fingers. “Druma get in if Blue boost Druma up!”

  The drake cocked her brow at her green friend but obliged. With a swift hop, the goblin jumped up from her onto the ledge of the window.

  Holding his rge hat in pce, Druma pushed the window open and squeezed through the tight space.

  Blue winced as she heard a loud crash behind the door, from the goblin’s clumsy nding.

  “Druma is fine!” his voice said from the other side.

  Shuffling, rummaging, and things falling could be heard from ihe building as the drake frow the metal door.

  “Wait… Druma will… find way… to let Blue in,” the struggling assistant yelled.

  Blue took a sniff at the door and rolled her bright yellow eyes with a groan. With a soft headbutt, the winged creature pushed the unlocked door open with little effort.

  “Oh,” said Druma, standing oher side with a broom in his hands and one foot inside a bucket. “Druma not know Blue pick lock!”

  Exhaling a small puff of smoke, the drake walked past her partner in adventure aered the storeroom proper.

  “Look empty to Druma,” the goblin said, hopping behind her while pulling his foot out of the bucket.

  Stretg her neck up, Blue she air, as if searg for any useful sts. Meanwhile, the other crab panion looked around the room while rubbing the back of his still-sore neck from the tumble he had taken ing in.

  “Is this mangoes?” he asked, standing up from looking under a table while holding out a slightly moldy e.

  The drake looked at the fruit with a skeptical frown and gave it a quiiff before pulling her head away with a snarl of disgust.

  “No, Druma no think it is,” the slightly defted goblin said, throwing the spoiled fruit behind his back. “Druma no think what boss want is here.”

  They looked around the rge room, filled with little more than several yers of dust and the appearance of a pce that hadn’t been used in a long time. Uo be where anyone had stored a rge shipment of mangoes—or anything else—retly.

  “Blue and Druma should go back. Boss will be waiting, and Druma no has anything to tell boss.”

  Slumping his shoulders, the small goblin walked to the exit, dragging his feet as he went. The drake, gring at the back of his head with a mildly disapproving scowl, followed him out, giving his arm a pyful bump as she passed him.

  A short time ter, and after a couple of games of cat the way there, the slightly more cheerful goblin and the drake arrived back at the tral square where they were meant to meet the crab.

  “Boss not back yet?” he said. “Druma and Blue wait for boss then.”

  Hopping on the ledge of a fountain, the assistant sat down, watg the passing crowds while idly boung his hangi bad forth.

  Time passed, but no sign of the crab.

  “Druma hungry,” he said, jumping off the ledge and bato his feet.

  Holding his hat ihe goblin looked up at the clock tower at the other end of the avenue.

  Unfortunately, the goblin did not know how to read a clock either.

  Fortunately, the sun was out, and that he knew how to read.

  “Hmm, time for lunch soon. Where is boss?”

  As he turned around, he found his winged friend walking in the opposite dire they had e from while sniffing the ground.

  “Oh, Blue smell boss?!” Druma said, running up to her side.

  The drake offered no obvious respoher than to tinue following her nose, swerving and dodging the crowds as they exited the square ahrough more streets.

  After several minutes of sniffing and walking in circles a few times, the two panions reached a much more slummy part of the city.

  “Blue smell boss here?” Druma asked, looking worried as he eyed a ruined building with a single old tree o it.

  The drake gave him an affirmative nod, and they walked around the low feoward a low window on the side of the building.

  “Trap,” the goblin whispered as he stopped and pced his arm in front of the drake.

  Druma poi the snare rope haphazardly hidden under some leaves in front of them.

  Carefully, the pair walked around the obvious trap and reached the window.

  Popping their heads up, they peeked through the dirty gss.

  Ihey saw two bandits with knives in their hands, aween them, hanging upside-down from the ceiling by a rope tied to his legs and cws, was a giant crab.

  Druma gasped. “Boss!”