Wyn marveled at the magical city of Alestead. He had spent an entire year there climbing the tower, but it never ceased to amaze him how wondrous the place truly was. The massive front gates welcomed all travelers, from horses and wagons to donkeys and carts, to single travelers or groups of people on foot. It was still as busy as ever with people coming and going, packs full with items to help them climb or trade or leaving the city with new goods and securities.

  “Welcome home,” Arabelle said, giving Wyn a hug.

  His sister was right. This was their new home, now. Their farm was gone. In the past. The foul memories of their father and their debt was no longer part of their future. The Assembly promised them no contact in the future, and while he was skeptical of exactly how true that was, he was also hopeful they would keep their promise. He and his sister had no qualms with them. That was their father, who was good and dead.

  Or Lucy. But she was on the run, gone from Alestead to who knows where. The last time they spoke, they had concocted a plan to help her return to her family and see them again, with possibilities of changing her identity as well as theirs. Whether she actually followed through with any of it was another matter. Or if she made it there alive without the Assembly catching wind of her.

  As their caravan stopped outside the city and people began to unload their goods, Wyn couldn’t help but hope Lucy was safe. In the end she did help Wyn and Arabelle, and he didn’t want her to die for it. Though there wasn’t anything else he could do for her now. While he wished her no ill will, she was part of that same past Wyn wanted to leave behind. And there was a future ahead that he and Arabelle were trying to secure.

  Daniel walked up to the siblings while adjusting his pack straps, somehow balancing the smaller bag in his hands. He kindly left the city to travel with them, but was bringing back some gifts for Wendy, the waitress in the guild hall who was his romantic partner. He planned to ask her to marry him and had brought back gifts for her, including a spectacular engagement ring. Arabelle helped him pick it out and also covered the cost with Wyn. The elder Ruby Magician had done so much for both of them it was only right to repay him in some way, and money was no longer much of an issue for them as they were gearing up to return climbing.

  The other members of their group – the rest of Wyn’s climbing team – were also gathering their things to come back to the city when Roscoe and Bartholomew walked up to the side of the wagon. The caravan owner and wealthy merchant was giddy with childlike glee, and the imposing head guard was his serious self. Wyn had an inkling that he was also excited, but the large man didn’t show much emotion.

  “Ahh, back in the city,” Roscoe said, clapping his hands together. He then rubbed them as though washing them. “So much I want to do here but so little time, I’m afraid.”

  “You’re not staying?” Arabelle asked. “We just secured our deal with Mariah. That’s a reason enough to celebrate!”

  “My dear, we already celebrated. It’s time to work, now. I only wish I could explore the shops and new stock as spring approaches!”

  After the dinner that was primarily meant to establish a new partnership with Mariah Valega, the wealthy merchant Roscoe set up for Arabelle and Wyn, they had decided to stay at the restaurant to celebrate with drinks and dessert. Everyone except for Wyn, who left with the head chef to go and do his own celebrations. The head chef being Cal, the Paladin Climber and former teammate, who had previously left for personal reasons. They met up with the others in their group and had a damn good night of drinking, stories, and general merriment.

  Arabelle sighed. “Fine, fine. Back to work, then. I can come along and help before I see my group. I want to see if they’ve made any progress since we’ve been gone.”

  “Probably not much,” Bartholomew said. “If it was anything like back in my day, we just drank and messed around until the whole group was back together. Those are the best times of being a Climber, after all.” He grinned, looking off at Alistair in the distance as some memory likely came to his mind.

  Arabelle threw her pack onto her shoulders with a huff. “Great. Missed out on all the fun.”

  “You don’t think our trip was fun?” John said, nudging her in the side.

  “Any trip that involved that gods forsaken farm is a trip I’d rather leave behind.”

  John’s smirk turned somber and Tasha patted him on the shoulder for comfort. Marcy smacked him on his other shoulder, then shot him a look that said ‘you just had to bring that up’.

  “At least it’s done,” Wyn said. “And that was the last time we will ever be going back. It was a good trip, though. Seeing Cal again was an amazing treat, and our new deal was worth it.”

  “It absolutely was,” Roscoe agreed. “And Arabelle, we could use your help at Benedict’s. We need to load up the first shipment. The caravan will be pulling out bright and early in two days and I want those crates already packed!”

  “Fine,” Arabelle relented. “I need to talk to Benedict anyway. Daniel, I’ll see you tonight. I need to get my own affairs in order before I go out and climb this season. My team said they’d leave some notes for me to read.”

  Daniel beamed with pride. “Of course, dear. I’m here to help! I do plan to see Wendy today and I know she’ll want to come over, but I doubt she’ll mind the company.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “I won’t be long. I got her a little gift, too. So it’ll be nice to see her!”

  Daniel started to respond but then stopped, looking like a fish out of water. Arabelle just smirked and left with Roscoe and Bartholomew, saying her goodbyes to everyone else.

  Wyn couldn’t help but feel some sense of appreciation both for how much Arabelle looked up to Daniel and for how he and Wendy both cared for his sister. They were practically family now. And with Wyn and Arabelle only having each other, it was more than welcome. As he and Daniel continued to have tea and enjoy each other’s company several times a week, the older Ruby Magician felt more like a father than his actual father. He was happy to see Arabelle had a similar connection.

  “You don’t need to go with them, Wyn?” Daniel asked.

  Wyn continued to watch his sister leave with the two men. “She’s more than capable of handling the business on her own. Honestly, I don’t even think she needs me.”

  “Oh, don’t sell yourself short. She needs you in many ways, though I tend to agree that a business equal is one of the last ones on the list.”

  Wyn smiled. Arabelle really was making her own journey in Alestead. Not just as a Climber, either. It was an amazing sight to watch her grow.

  “Well, she might need us gathering items for them,” John said, putting his arm around Wyn. “Her team is pretty good, but they can’t get that many rewards on their own.”

  “That’s true,” Wyn said. And that was the one concern he had about the partnership with Mariah. If he could recruit the rest of the Twilight Blades, it would have been an easy sell. They could have doubled their agreed upon quota, too. But their partnership was ensuring their own future, outside of any guild obligations. Plus, the rest of the Twilight Blades would have had to agree on it with her being a new sponsor, and that just wasn’t going to happen.

  For months their guild had been going through a downward spiral that didn’t seem like it was going to end well. Since Lucy revealed that she was part of the Assembly and the organization practically bought her way into the guild, they started unraveling. The leaders fought constantly. Prian and his entire team left almost right away, which Wyn brought up was suspicious but his opinion was drowned out in the ensuing chaos. They continued to climb and keep their obligations, but the guild hadn’t felt the same since that first month. And everyone could tell, even John. He was the most excited about being part of the guild but was the one who suggested everyone go on the trip with Wyn and Arabelle. Apparently even he needed some time away.

  “It would be hard for most teams to keep up with our pace,” Cedric said. “Admittedly we slowed down after Lucy left, but we still do quite well comparatively.”

  “I’ll say,” John said. “I’m nearly at my parent’s progress as Climbers, and I’ve only been here a year!”

  “Speaking of, we need to head back and plan for the month,” Tasha said. “There’s only a few weeks left and we need to get back to climbing.”

  “I’m heading to the training hall,” Marcy said. “Daniel, would you mind introducing me to the class recruiters? I might as well go ahead and meet them.”

  “Of course!” Daniel exclaimed. “I need to ask about my new students, anyway!”

  Right before they left with the caravan, Marcy had been sent a letter that the city guild was wanting her to become a mentor for new Archers and similar classes. They had been having an influx of new climbing classes, and many of the existing mentors already had their hands full with training unknown classes with new skills. It initially caused climbing to slow considerably as people were trying to figure out their new classes, and the city guild was scrambling to both find out the reason and to accommodate the change. It affected the local economy in several ways, too, and they were doing anything possible to get people climbing again. One of those solutions was new mentors, and Marcy was selected for new ranged classes. She took the trip to think about her decision, but ultimately decided to help.

  Daniel, meanwhile, had a couple of problems of his own. He was asked to take on the few strange classes that didn’t fit any specific category. Being a Ruby Magician meant having a lot of options and differing skills, and he had great insight that helped. There was also the fact that several new Climbers actually stuck with the Ruby Magician class in the last several months, and Daniel was taking on new students more than he had in years. He agreed to mentor them and had been working with six Climbers regularly, being as busy as ever but thriving.

  Wyn was happy to see him doing so well with it, and the older man handled the new responsibility with respect and fervor. He no longer drank alcohol, was level headed, and supplied an endless amount of advice to both Wyn and Arabelle. The few times he needed to express his own difficulties Wyn was more than happy to provide his own listening ear, too.

  It was still strange knowing new classes were now popping up all over the city, but Wyn was used to strange. Since their entire group had new class upgrade options for the third tier new classes had been showing up regularly. The base classes had a half dozen more options, which was a change that had never happened before since records started being kept about Alistair. And that was only the first tier options for new Climbers. Second and third tier classes had three or four times that amount. It was both exciting and mysteriously terrifying.

  Wyn couldn’t wait to see what other types of magic were out there. It would certainly help knock the thought of needing to only pick specific classes to do well, which was a good thing. Climbers needed more variety. That was part of his goal as a Ruby Magician, and he thought things had already been changing for the better. Their group’s showing at the guild trial helped show that, and now with new classes hopefully the coming months and years would support that, too.

  With the group splitting off, Wyn walked mostly in silence as he listened to the others and took in the city. It was as bustling as ever, despite the slight chill in the air. It would be busier soon as spring fully took over and the weather was more cooperative, but he mostly kept to other areas than the populace as it was.

  “Maybe it’ll be a string of underground caverns this time,” John said, holding Tasha’s hand as they walked down the street. “With some colorful glowstones or fireflies.”

  “I’m hoping for open air,” Tasha said. “A large, open space with nice green plains and a warm sunny sky sounds lovely.”

  “I’d rather not face whatever monsters are out on open plains,” Cedric added. “And I believe I’m done with underground caverns, thank you very much.”

  “Fair point,” John conceded. “What’s the plan for this month, Wyn?”

  Wyn thought about it for a moment while trying to look for a cart to take them to their guild house. “Nothing major, really. There’s no point trying to push high since we’re already over half way through the month. I’d like to see how many gemstones we can find or possibly trade for as an estimate for future negotiations. Arabelle and her team are going to be working the first tier a lot, and I want to see how the second tier holds up. Of course any items will be split but I want to log it all. If Arabelle can stay in the first tier that would be my preference, but we might need her to go into the second if we get behind.”

  As he waved down a cart, something caught his eye in the far off crowd on the other side of the street. While most everyone was walking side to side, and some were standing around talking to each other, one figure was facing him. They were cloaked in a ragged cloth, their face covered by a strange mask. No one else around them seemed to notice them or mind their presence.

  Seeing them made a chill run across Wyn’s body. Their mask was of a dog-like creature, and Wyn recognized them.

  One of the members of the Faceless Four.

  A cart pulled across his vision, stopping to allow the four of them to enter. Wyn looked around it to see the person gone.

  It wasn’t the first time he noticed their presence in the past several months, and he had a strong feeling it wouldn’t be the last.

  “You know she’s going to want to get into the second tier anyway,” Cedric said, settling in beside Wyn. He was shaping and reshaping his left arm constantly as its strength fully returned after coming back to Alestead. “There’s no sense in hoping she stays on the first floors. You know that.”

  Wyn tried to focus while looking out the side of the cart as they passed the city. He knew Cedric was right. And he didn’t really want to hold Arabelle back. The dangers of climbing grew so much for the next tiers, though, and he only wanted her to be safe. But she was her own woman, and her own Climber. She would make her own decisions and her group collectively would agree on what was best for them. Wyn was simply happy her group was solid and worked well together.

  The four Climbers continued their ride back to their guild house, with Wyn mostly observing the city, Cedric refamiliarizing himself with his magical arm, and John and Tasha talking to themselves.

  When they arrived, they all stopped at the front entrance with their bags at their feet. On the front door at the top of the steps were three nailed papers. Two were more weathered and the third looked cleaner. In big, bold letters on all three of them was the heading ‘EVICTION NOTICE’.

  “Well, shit,” Wyn muttered.

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