′I can't tell you.`

  ′Why in the abyss not?`

  ′He made me promise not to.`

  ′I gotta know. Now!`

  ′I can't tell you!`

  ′You have to!`

  ′No!`

  ′By the gods, please tell me. Where'd he go?`

  ′He made me promise not t' tell. Especially not you.`

  ′WHAT?`

  ′I'm not allowed t' tell you.`

  ′WHY NOT?` A door opened and closed. ′He needs me!`

  ′I can't tell you!`

  ′He'll die!`

  ′What are you two yelling about?`

  Sern and Felisei turned to look at Listarl who stood fully armed, looking like he was ready to go out on some mission, even though he'd just entered.

  Sern pointed accusingly at Felisei. ′She refuses t' tell me where Ranloo went! Help me,` he demanded, still in a loud voice.

  Listarl patted the air to calm the boy down. ′Alright. So she knows where he is?` the big man rumbled calmly.

  Sern nodded furiously and gesticulated in the air, frustrated. ′She knows, but won't tell me.`

  Felisei looked back and forth between Listarl and Sern. She blushed and fidgeted, tossed her head, and pressed her mouth into a thin line.

  Listarl eyed her for a moment in silence. ′So, are you going to tell us or are you going to let him die?`

  She blushed deeper and shook her head. ′He made me promise,` she whined.

  Listarl nodded, almost as if in support. ′Alright. But do you want him to die?′ he asked and regarded her with his dark eyes.

  She shook her head and bit her lower lip. ′No, but he said I couldn't tell you. Especially not him!` she pointed at Sern who frowned, his cheeks blushing hotly.

  ′Why you –` he began, but was interrupted by Listarl.

  ′Listen, we all know he cares about you two the most. Of course, he doesn't want you to come and help him. He's afraid you're going to die. Alright?`

  Both Felisei and Sern glanced at each other in surprise. Sern frowned and looked down at his shoes.

  ′But if we don't help him, I think he'll be lost. He's up against vampire hunters. Don't you think they can handle one vampire?` Listarl asked.

  ′But...` Felisei protested weakly.

  ′Do you?` he asked again and she nodded, averting her eyes.

  ′I thought so,` he continued in a low voice. ′Tell us where he went so that we can go and help him before they do him in. You don't have to come with us if you don't want to.`

  Felisei looked up sharply. ′If I'm tellin' you, I'm comin' too!` she said hotly, raising a fist. ′But he made me promise several times,` she continued and lowered her hand again. ′He threatened t' leave an' never talk with me again if...`

  ′You know as well as me that's a lie!` Sern spoke up.

  She looked in surprise at the boy.

  He had his arms crossed in a defiant stance but looked at her with an honest face. ′He likes you,` he admitted. ′He just doesn't want his friends t' get harmed.`

  That must've hurt, she thought but didn't comment on it. She knew how much Sern hated that Ranloo liked her. He wanted him for himself. She nodded slowly.

  ′I intend to go and help him,` Listarl said flatly. ′Either you tell me where he went, or I'll find him some other way. But I'd prefer if you told me right now so I don't waste too much time running around the city, trying to find them.` He gave her a stern look.

  She sighed and looked away as she tried to collect her thoughts.

  ′If you don't tell us, he won't be able t' leave us,` Sern said quietly. ′He won't come back at all.`

  She met his blue-grey eyes, wide and glossy in his boyish face. He was scared, she realized. ′He went t' meet them in Doseix Hall,` she mumbled, barely audible.

  Sern gasped, and Listarl turned a curious eye on him. ′That's in the Upper Quarter!` he uttered in surprise. ′Why'd they go there?`

  ′I don't know,` she said quietly.

  Listarl clapped his hands together with a loud slap, startling them both. ′Alright!` he boomed. ′If you're coming, get your stuff right now. I'll wait by the door, but not for long.` With that he turned and left them in the room, staring at the open door.

  ′Uh, you comin'?` Sern asked awkwardly.

  Why did he care? He hated her. ′Guess so.` She already felt better, despite doing the exact opposite of what Ranloo had asked her to do. But her promise had left her with a heavy, sinking feeling in her stomach. Now, the load had been lifted. She took a deep breath and straightened. ′Let's go!` She ran towards her room to pick up her gear. She needed lockpicks and a weapon.

  Sern was quick to follow. He dashed past Felisei as she stopped to enter her room and continued down the corridor. He too grabbed his usual things. Lockpicks, throwing knives, a grey cloak, some rope. He also brought the Eldon symbol out of habit. He always had it when dealing with his best friend. You never knew in what state he'd be in. If he was hurt or angry he might not recognize friend from foe. He grabbed some bandages from his chest of belongings as well. It might be needed. Looking around the room a final time, he made sure he wasn't forgetting anything, then ran back out. When he opened the back door of the guild, Listarl and Felisei were already there, waiting in the dark rain outside. Rising fog obscured the streets as usual.

  ′Are we all set?` Listarl asked as he spotted the boy.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Sern nodded and Felisei pulled the hood of her cloak up to shield her face. Sern did the same. They walked at a brisk pace to avoid attracting unwanted attention and to conserve strength. It was a long walk to the Upper Quarter, and they didn't want to end up too exhausted to be able to help. Neither of them liked the slow pace, but it was for the best.

  They walked in silence, listening to the rain pattering in the street and their own footsteps. The air barely moved, unusual for Jaris. As a harbour city, the wind almost always blew in from the sea. But not tonight. The night lay quiet with near empty streets, apart from a few city guard patrols. The guards didn't pay them much heed, however, and they continued undisturbed. Just three friends on their way home from a late night's work.

  Time passed slowly as their clothes grew heavy with rain, their hands and feet cold. They walked up a steep hill, the wet cobbles slippery with yellow leaves. Listarl almost fell once and cursed under his breath the rest of the way up.

  ′That's it, isn't it?` Felisei asked as they spotted the big white building some way ahead.

  Sern nodded, licked his lips and swallowed nervously.

  They couldn't see anything from their position, but now and then cries and metallic clashes echoed between the houses. A loud bang followed by yells resounded. The friends set off running. As they neared to the big U-shaped building, they slowed down and sneaked the last bit, studying the large hall. Ornate iron bars secured the windows, and a door on the short side of the building faced the street.

  Felisei sprinted to the door and produced her lockpicks as Sern slunk to the corner and peeked into the courtyard. At first, he didn't see anyone and his eyes were drawn to a lit window in the far end of the building, on the second story. Then Ranloo emerged from behind a big fountain in the centre of the courtyard, bleeding and limping. A big armoured hunter came behind him, brandishing an axe. Ranloo swung his sword at the hunter and cursed as it bounced off an invisible barrier. He roared and backed away from the big man. Sern stared at the scene, his heart hammering in his ears.

  A quarrel slammed into Ranloo's back, causing him to stumble and yell at the hunters. They shouted back, but Sern couldn't make out their words. Ranloo bashed the big man's shield again and sidestepped a heavy blow from the axe. A bright light flared and hit Ranloo in the back. He wailed and fled to the far end of the courtyard.

  Distressed by his agonized scream, Sern twiched, about to run in to help. A hand landed on his shoulder, startling him, and he twisted around. Listarl beckoned for him to follow. Felisei had opened the door and indicated for them to come inside.

  ′Why` he whispered.

  ′Barriers.` Listarl nodded towards the courtyard. ′Let's get inside and see if we can find another way, or Ranloo's wife.`

  Sern nodded, not fully understanding what Listarl meant but trusting the man.

  They hurried after Felisei into the dark interiour of Doseix Hall.

  The friends moved slowly through the hallway, faintly illuminated through the windows by the street lanterns outside. Unsure whether there were any traps or people about other than the hunters themselves, they stayed as quiet as possible. The first rooms were empty and they saw nothing of interest. As they entered a room with windows towards the courtyard, Sern hurried up to one of them, carefully parted the curtains a fraction and peeked out. The hunters and Ranloo fought outside, yelling and screaming. Ranloo was at a clear disadvantage, hurt and bleeding. Sern clenched a clammy hand around the hilt of a throwing knife as anger and stress strained his breathing. With an intense feeling of urgency, he abandoned the window and hurried after the others into the next room. He wanted to help his friend before it was too late. They looked for a door out since all the windows were barred with wrought iron.

  ′Ssshhh!` Felisei pressed a finger to her mouth and held up her other hand to stop them.

  They froze, barely breathing. Sern hadn't heard anything apart from the sounds outside. Yells and blasts, the grating of metal on metal, and faint thunks. Sweat trickled down his back. Why had they stopped?

  After a few agonizing minutes, Felisei moved again but slower than before. They entered a large room filled with looming figures and odd beasts. Covered furniture, made ominous by the dark. No wonder she had stopped, Sern thought. You could easily hide in here. They crept through the room. No doors led towards the courtyard here either. A closed door at the end of the room forced them to stop again.

  Felisei grabbed the handle and agonizingly slow, Sern thought, pressed it down to see if the door was locked or not. The handle clicked and the door opened with a slight whine. They flinched at the sound and stood motionless.

  Felisei leaned closer to the door and listened by the crack, then she nudged it open some more, again with a slight creaking. She grimaced at the sound, but a loud bang from outside made them all jump and forget the grumbling door. They stared at the windows, even though they were all covered by heavy curtains. Felisei soon turned her attention back to the task and peered into the next room.

  It looked like a large gloomy study of some kind, filled with cabinets, bookcases, desks, and chairs. Her eyes swept the room, searching it. Then she straightened, pushed the door fully open and entered. Listarl followed her as quietly as he could, which wasn't very quiet, Sern noted with some irritation. The man was simply to big and heavy to be able to move silently. At least Felisei was very good at sneaking, he thought as he followed.

  Listarl stopped, and Sern almost walked into him at the unexpected halt. Felisei gasped, alerting Sern that something had happened, though he couldn't see around Listarl's wide frame. Practical by nature, when he wasn't just playing around, Sern threw himself behind a big wooden desk to his right, hiding behind it in case of trouble. If there was nothing, he could take being laughed at, he thought as he crouched behind the heavy furniture and drew two knives.

  * * * * *

  Vaguely annoyed by the heavy footfalls and creaking of Listarl's armour and weapons, Felisei was still glad he was there in case something happened. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than her eyes met the surprised stare of a man a few yards away from her, standing in the shadows beside a window, close to a door. They stared at each other, rooted to the floor like statues for several seconds.

  The person, a man in his late forties with deep-set eyes, a wide nose, weak chin, and long hair pulled into a ponytail, moved first. His eyes snapped from Felisei to Listarl. Then he raised his hands and spoke strange words. His dark robes fluttered around him as he moved.

  Fear descended over Felisei like a cold shower. The man was a mage. A mage casting a spell! With a terrified yell, she threw herself onto the floor in an attempt to avoid whatever he was casting. Her stomach knotted and she closed her eyes in terror as her hands and knees scraped against the dusty floor. Why had she gone first, she wondered with great regret. A sharp intake of breath and the scraping of a sword drawn from its sheath told her Listarl had seen him too.

  The mage finished talking and flicked his hands forward.

  * * * * *

  Felisei yelled, and an unknown man spoke in a strange tongue. The words were followed by a loud crash. The floor vibrated with the impact. Listarl. What had happened, Sern wondered. Strange words. A mage?

  Barely daring to breathe as he hid under the desk, his sweaty hands shook, clutching the daggers convulsively. An oppressive quiet settled over the room. Dizzy from being so tense, the only things Sern heard were his own too loud breathing and his heartbeats hammering in his ears. Then, shuffling footsteps and someone mumbling to himself shattered the silence. Biting his lower lip hard, he steeled himself and very carefully began to move. He had to help his friends, or at least figure out if they had died or not. He winced and gritted his teeth at the slight noises he caused as he gradually moved out from under the desk, certain the mage heard him several times. But nothing happened and he breathed in deeply to steady himself.

  Slowly blowing the air out again, he dared to peek around the side of the heavy desk, staring out into the dark room. The robed mage stood bent over Listarl's big body. Then he turned and shuffled over to Felisei, who lay sprawled on her belly some way further into the room. He studied her prone form for a moment before turning his head to look back towards the door.

  Certain he'd die right then and there, Sern froze. He didn't even dare to blink as the mage's eyes passed over the desk and beyond. He hadn't seen him. He couldn't believe his luck.

  A loud sonorous grating caused Sern to near jump out of his skin and he fumbled with the knives in fright before he realized what it was. He turned his head and stared at the big man on the floor. Listarl snored. The mage hadn't killed them. He'd cast some kind of sleeping spell. A faint huff escaped him, the relief so great he almost laughed out loud.

  Redying the knives, Sern raised a hand, fully intending to kill the mage before the man could do any real harm to his friends. But the mage must have heard him since he suddenly twisted around, eyes darting back and forth in Sern's direction. He pulled up something from a satchel by his side and mumbled some words, drawing a sign in the air that glowed after his fingertips for a second before vanishing.

  Sern didn't wait for the mage to finish but jumped up and flung a knife towards the man. Surprised by the sudden appearance of a young boy, he stumbled over the words and swatted the knife aside. He yelped and cradled his injured hand with the other, interrupting the spell. The glowing traces in the air vanished. Sern exhaled in relief. But it was short-lived. The mage fixed Sern with a stern glare, lifted his bleeding hand and spoke some weird sounding words and pointed towards him.