My My, What Fetching Horns You Have

[Anja]

Benjamin's smile was warm and benign. For one sick, morbid moment, Puck envied his skill, but the docile linguist trailed off and began staring forlornly into nothingness when his colleague spoke again.

"There's a good girl. I'm sure he won't let you down." He said it as though he were really saying "I hope he doesn't let you down. Who knows? But we're here for you if he does."

Puck emerged from a sombre daydream as quickly as he had let it take him, and he stood up rather abruptly. "Best of luck, then, dear," he mumbled placidly. "If you'll both excuse me, it's time I met Thad. Best you linger for a time, dear, until he's on his way out of Marn."

The great iron door opened behind the old elf, and he drifted out in a subdued sort of shuffle. The clang of the door behind him was emphatic in the silence and the wetness beyond. He made his way down through a great, colliding yawn of corridors and stairwells, and retrieved a small box from his damp and unassuming quarters. The hinges on the oak and copper box creaked ever so slightly as he opened it. Within, the little sparkle of light snuggled tightly into its silk-woven womb.

Puck sighed heavily as he closed the lid. He turned the latch, and wrapped the box tightly in a cloth sack, before beginning his ascent to the surface. "I hope you're worth all this to-do, little friend."


___________________________

The night air about the theatre always seemed to hold a special quality for Puck. It seemed mustier, but in a pleasant sort of way. He approached the way in front of the theatre as though he were ducking into a celestial steam room: A sort of warm reverence overcame him, and his gait changed, loosened into an acquiescent shamble.

They met openly, two in a gently pressing crowd of people that wasn't used to paying mind to things like people meeting openly. After a charlatan exchange of cheerful pleasantries, Puck allowed Thad to fall in step with him in a leisurely stroll toward the bridge out of town. He handed him the package as they walked.

"I trust things are in order then?"

[Dianelopa]

Dianelopa stared at Benjamin for a while without saying anything. Somewhere inside herself she felt hurt, or maybe it was the suggestion that she should mistrust Thad that was gnawing at her. There was no reason to, really, isn't that what Puck had said. Sitting there waiting for Thad to leave Marn, whenever that might be, was getting on her nerves. She jumped up, "I'm going," she said to Benjamin. "He won't see me."

It was easy enough for her to follow Puck's path. In front of the theater she caught a whiff of Thad. Her heart jumped. She kept on going noting that the two of them must have been together walking toward the bridge. How she wanted to run to catch up to them, to see Thad, to embrace him. But she kept her distance and saw nothing.

[Anja]

Benjamin was reticent as Dianelopa left, murmuring only a token farewell. It was getting to him too, seeing the passion burning in this farm lass; it was exactly the kind of thing that might end up devouring her from the inside, were she to continue working for Anja long enough. Either that, or the flame of life within would dwindle into a cynical passivity, as it had in him, so long ago. Now, it was only the memory of his former spark that ate at him, not its admonishing presence, or any remote possibility of its salvation.

When all but the faintest sounds of her parting had passed, he muttered to himself. "Silly, silly girl. Poor, wretched, silly girl." He bit his lip tensely, and automatically looked over his shoulder at the array of copper listening horns embedded in the wall.

________________________________

"I trust things are in order then?"

Thad nodded thoughtfully, masking well his trepidation at the prospect of tackling the mission unaided. He didn't know if he should be lying to this elf, but revealing his ill recruiting luck seemed equally unwise, if not more so. He trusted his gut.

He tucked the little package into his sack, and slung the leather strap back over his shoulder. The new weight tickled his nerves in the same way the presence of something right behind the neck can cause the shoulders to crumple, and produce a warm, aching tension down the spine.

He was so distracted by it that he hadn't noticed Puck leaving his side. When he turned to talk to the elf, he was met instead with an empty block of night air. He looked over his shoulder as he began to cross the bridge, and saw Puck ambling serenely back the way he had come. No briefing, then. He was expected to handle this, end of story. Their whole way of playing this game gave him chills.

He was not accosted on his way out of Marn, and the road was peopled by a sparse assortment of characters, all walking briskly and looking straight ahead. He therefore saw no reason not to stick to it, at least for most of the journey.

He patted his knife as he walked, his mind formulating and playing out scenarios in which he and it could best a nobleman's carriage, and walk away unscathed. He expected that his initial meeting with this noble would reveal much; most highwayman jobs didn't come with that sort of reconnaissance luxury.

[Morry]

"Da' yoo remembar why we signed up fer dis jawb"? croaked a voice, spoken by a thin, gaunt man. The whisper was followed by a vague twitch of his eyes and a lift of one bristly brow toward the grey dappled draft horse in front of him. The sky was dark and the trees surrounding the path shuffled together in the wind, humming between their leaves as if telling their own secrets to one another. In the moonlight it almost seemed possible to pick out shapes within their great boughs. The man, called Clydenstein, was thankful when they passed the patch of forest and instead were surrounded by the outskirts of Shim. Animals brayed in the darkness from the farmland, trapped within their individual fences.
"Money?" whispered back a thick-voiced, tall man. Both men were clad in heavy armor, with broadswords at their sides. They were riding atop great, muscled horses, dark brown in color. The tall man's horse snuffled in annoyance as the tail of the draught horse tickled her nares.
"Money. Wus et really worth thas load o' bullshite?" said Clydenstein.
"I 'unno," said Chek, lifting his hand to his helmet as if to scratch his head, before he realized what he was doing and put it back down at his side. His horse nickered. The going was quite slow. Behind them clicked and clacked the wheels of the coach, preceded by light but agonized hoof beats.

The coach was being drawn by a large white horse, one whose breed was not suited for pulling heavy loads. The carriage itself was fraught full of uselessly expensive treasures, which Salazar had insisted on bringing with them. Driving the horse was a very large and very annoyed looking guard, also clad in armor. He had a distinct frown plastered across his face, accentuated by his rather ridiculous, ginger mustache.
"How yoo do back therr, Bomber?" asked Clydenstein, turning his horse around so that he did a full circle, nickering and stomping his foot at the change. Bomber gritted his teeth and waved a dismissive hand to Clydenstein's taunting. His white horse was glimmering with sweat, pulling the heavy load slowly.

Up ahead was the grey dapple, the draught horse who seemed all too pleased with her sudden change in roles. She clip-clopped ahead of the guards and the carriage with her head high, pretending to be one of those beautiful military horses she had seen dressed up in the stables. On her back was a saddle that was too small for her, along with Salazar, who looked positively giddy with excitement. "Oh come now men. Elenor wanted a break from her duties tonight, and she matches my coat," said Salazar, pulling Elenor's reigns gently so that she also turned proudly in a circle. The effect was utterly ridiculous due to her extremely large feet, but she neighed in approval.

Bomber shook his massive head, looking sorrowfully at the poor white horse trying desperately to draw the carriage. "Master Salazar, surely a riding horse need not be broken twice. I fear this one may ruin if forced to draw this load," he said.

"Then perhaps you can get your fat arse off of there and start walking to lighten the load," laughed Salazar, flipping his girlishly golden locks as he did so, trotting Elenor up ahead of them. Clydenstein and Chek snickered stupidly, snorting behind their master in a way not terribly different from the horses they rode.

The going had been terribly slow due to Salazar's insistence that Elenor be switched with the white riding horse, and that he not ride in the carriage but on her instead, which in itself took long enough without the added agony of the poor creature. The guards were used to Salazar's ridiculousness, but his foolish suggestions still caught them off guard (hah) often enough. "Soon Elenor, you will carry a treasure far greater than any you have ever carried!" Elenor snuffed. "How wonderful that they have forgotten all about that nonsense, and instead have agreed to grant me my prize!"
"Who, master?" asked Chek.
"Whut didjoo do, master?" wondered Clydenstein.
"Hmph," grunted Bomber.

"These people are mysterious enough for me to never dare mention them by name to the likes of you imbeciles. I have to admit that I am a might bit surprised that they have not questioned me, but I assume of course that my smart trickery worked and they did not blame me for happenings past, blaming instead that idiot farmer," he said. He snickered to himself and adjusted the silver cap on his head. "It was only a dragon, after all. Surely they weren't too displeased," he laughed, not offering details.
The idiot farmer he had tried to frame had of course been eaten, and therefor was not able to be framed.

Salazar led the group on, Elenor clip-clopping ahead of them as they passed into the farmlands.

[Dianelopa]

It was night and Dianelopa was at her best, at least for the task at hand. The familiar emanations from Thad made her nostrils quiver, which probably would have caused a person to wonder, if they'd have seen her. But no one did. She also noticed at once when the scent of Puck became stronger. He's coming this way she reasoned, he must have delivered the package, and now Thad's alone. So far, this isn't so difficult, she thought.

Puck was approaching. She wasn't sure whether she should acknowledge him or not, and decided, since the whole undertaking was so secretive that she best not.

There was a quarter moon which gave enough light so a normal person could see the road, but hardly beyond it. For Lopa the night held no mysteries, no source of fear. On the contrary, there was something exhilarating about being out in the country at night, something she actually missed, spending so much time in the city. Memories of her relatively carefree childhood swirled into her mind. She had no idea where Thad was headed, but the road she was traveling on went to Shim, toward home. At that realization a flash of homesickness struck her. She went a bit faster, though not consciously, until she saw a figure ahead in the distance. It was Thad, slinking as he did, warily it seemed as well. It occured to her that maybe he was a little frightened, since his peculiar gait did not exude the confidence that she usually noted. I wish I could reassure him, she thought. But then, she remembered with a slight jolt, that she was supposed to be spying on him, and that he must not see her. Of course, he can't see me, she mused. What I see in the dark, most of them don't. Still, I'm too close. She slowed down until the figure disappeared over the horizon.

[Anja]

Apart from the occasional vague feeling of being followed, which was no unusual thing for Thad to feel in any given situation, the journey to Shim was uneventful. So uneventful, in fact, that his eyelids were drooping as he shuffled into the farming village's outskirts shortly after sunrise. He made his way to the Red Chalice, where he was told Salazar would be renting the finest suite.

The interior had been redone since he had last breezed through Shim, (on what he remembered to be younger and infinitely lighter feet). He was indifferent to it, as he was indifferent to the one or two guarded looks he received from the sparse handful of early-morning patrons in the common room.

Despite his weariness, he wasn't in the mood for sleep. He wanted to get this over with, and consequently, he found himself loathing the decadence of the younger noble class when the innkeeper dismissively informed him that His Bishanliness wouldn't be up for a good 4 hours at least. Surly and dog-tired, he slouched in a corner chair and decided to see how long it would take before somebody asked him to buy something or leave.

[Morry]

"Ah, the Red Chalice. Such a quaint little place; I could almost say I've missed it," said Salazar. The horses had been tied, the carriage guarded by a very annoyed Clydenstein and Chek, while Salazar had whisked his magnificent self into the well-kept inn, his silver overcoat flowing behind him. Bomber half-waddled, half-stalked his way in, following Salazar like a bulldog on a leash. The noble dramatically looked left, then right, his golden locks bouncing as he moved. As he stepped forward, his polished white shoes clacked on the wood floorboards and he theatrically walked to the front desk as if stepping out onto a stage. Nobody gave him a second glance, but he winked naturally at those who bothered to look. Bomber trudged his way behind.

Salazar paid for his suite, took his key, and then sat at a table, which was already occupied by three other individuals, all of whom appeared less than pleased about the new arrival. Bomber sat at a table alone and guzzled cheap beer while the silver-clothed noble flew into a story about his epic adventures, detailing a city in Semerkhet which may or may not have actually existed. The two men and unattractive woman whose conversation he had obliterated by his entrance were too drunk to care or truly pay attention. Two drinks in and Salazar had abandoned what remained of his boundaries, and began detailing a sexual encounter with a woman who apparently possessed two heads, which she had used to--
"Master Salazar." Bomber was wavering dangerously and trying to remain upright.
"Well then!" Exclaimed the noble, who stood immediately, and then shooed Bomber out to the carriage for the others to deal with. "Goodnight, my friends!"
All three "friends" had passed out at the table.

---

He woke with a severely absurd headache considering that he had limited himself to two drinks, but no matter. He rubbed his temples, dressed in his dashing silver outfit, and skipped out to meet he who he would be doing business with in order to receive his item of choice. His very hard-earned, wonderful, one-of-a-kind, rare item. Yes.

It was late in the morning when Salazar half-walked, half-danced his way into the commons of the inn. He scanned the room briefly and stood there, looking important. One of these idiots was one sent to collect his monies and gift him with that which was priceless.

[Dianelopa]

It was just dawn when Dianelopa watched Thad disappear into an inn. She knew it only vaguely, having been there once on an errand of some sort years ago. This wasn't so good as she had no idea how she could get inside without Thad seeing her or where she could hide while spying on him. She was also beginning to be a bit tired and knew that her ability to find reasonable solutions to immediate problems always diminished under such circumstances. Perhaps the best thing would be to rest. However, she had no idea how long Thad would stay in there.
She walked toward the backside of the inn, staying a good distance away so as not to be visible from the windows. But there was no way to get closer without going through someone's property. Simplest would have been to go through the yard bordering the back of the inn, but as soon as she'd sprung over a low fence a dog began barking. She jumped back. The dog, having latched onto her smell, followed her as she headed for the other side and a possible passage through a different neighbor's yard. Only when she'd gone two houses further did the dog stop barking. But now she was too far away from the inn. Even worse, the barking dog had attracted attention and someone in that house opened the door and peered out. Dianelopa walked away slowly, hoping she didn't appear suspicious. After a rather long round-about walk she reached the inn again from the other side.
Then another thought occurred to her. Her mother and father lived not so far away. Thad didn't know them. If she sent one of them to sit in the inn, they could let her know when anything happened. But going home this early in the morning, surprising her old parents out of their wits, and then with no time for complicated hellos and where've you beens and how are yous and all of that. It would be impossible to explain.
There were some bushes on this side of the inn. But it was also getting lighter out and now and then someone was walking down the street. Dianelopa decided to take the risk, slink along behind the bushes and get close to the inn, then hide behind a bed of tangeled and rather unkempt roses. From there she'd be able to note when Thad came out.
She crept along the wall of the building, placed herself flat on the ground and covered herself with her yellow green cape, which more or less blended in with the yellow green leaves of the plants, or so she hoped. She listened for a while to the indeterminate sounds of life around and in the village inn, she smelled some breakfast being cooked and her stomach cramped up with hunger, and then she fell asleep.

[Anja]

Thad lurched subtly out of half-sleep, (and it takes a certain uncouth skill to lurch subtly, one should note,) and recognized Salazar instantly. Maintaining a poker face, he sent the lad, whose hair was fairer and shinier than any luxury whore's, a sparing wink.

He was both surprised and dismayed, as he picked at his grubby gloves and nonchalantly analyzed the wood grain of the table, that the lad hadn't brought his posse into the common room with him. He could have really used this opportunity to weigh the odds and solidify his plans, (which were currently in a terrifyingly ethereal state). He conducted an internal monologue, making an inventory of things as they stood: He had his trusty dagger, a hefty coinpurse courtesy of the Mystery in the Marn Sewers, and his quick thinking, slightly eroded at this point by lack of sleep. He was alone, up against unknown odds, with no opportunity of reconnaissance with which he might bolster his element of surprise.

He grinned involuntarily at Salazar's approach. He felt brilliantly alive. "Benjamin sends his regards, however you might like to interpret that. I'm assuming we have access to private quarters?"

[Morry]

Morry had no money for inns. He had no home, no family, and no qualms about finding a place to sleep while the sun was out. As a nocturnal animal of sorts and a man who had become rather accustomed to sleeping in dirty places, Adamor found his way, naked from his transformation, to a small stable. There, he buried himself in a pile of hay and lay in wait, drifting to a strangely drunken (despite being sober) sleep.

---

The shadowy man who approached Salazar looked bold and new and fresh. He also appeared quite shady with his dark clothing and whatnot.
"Salazar Chronomantique," he said brightly, and nodded his head in a sort of formal introduction that still respected that this man was far below him in social class.
The contrast between common bandit and infamous nobleman was astonishing, and perhaps a bit of an eyesore. The rich man was a startlingly bright combination of several metallic silvers, while the lesser was drab and dark and looked about ready to kill someone. Or worse.

"Ah, old Benny," laughed Salazar heartily. He could almost feel the hairs along the elf's neck stand on end in contempt.
"Private quarters of course! Come, come, boy," he commanded smoothly as he clacked away on his offensively white shoes. He led Thad to the suite, where Bomber was already awaiting them. From beneath the large, ridiculous red mustache of the guard, a lip twitched subtly. "Oh bother, Bomber this will not be a repeat of the dragon salesman. I'm fairly positive this one is heterosexual," he said, rather absently as he walked past a small mirror to check his teeth and adjust his hair.

"Now then," he wiped his tongue across his teeth, "I assume the price discussed still stands. And you have the item, I presume?"
Only now did he turn to Thad, expectantly.

[Dianelopa]

Dianelopa did not sleep for very long. She had weird dreams and in one of them she found herself fleeing from an invisible monster. As often in dreams she discovered herself unable to make her feet move. She flailed and thereby smashed one of her arms into the rose bush she was hiding behind. A thorn pierced her lower arm causing a sharp jolt of pain which woke her up. Where am I? was her first thought. And then she remembered, of course. She saw blood dripping from the gash on her arm and felt at the same time a renewed attack of hunger cramps now far worse than before. "Ugh", she groaned.
It was broad daylight. People were passing by on the road not far from where she lay.
Her view of the road was not very good with mud clumps and rose bushes blocking any possibility of getting a good wide-angle shot. Staying there, however, did not seem to be an option. She waited until she could see no one and then stood up. But there were people around who she could now see. She pretended she was supposed to be there, fixing the roses, plucking a few for a bouquet.
She had to get into the inn. That seemed clear enough to her now. She needed food and she needed to know if Thad was still there. But standing there, still in doubt about how to get in without Thad seeing her if he were there, she saw an old woman walking down the road in the distance. Dianelopa stared, she was so far away, but somehow familiar, could it be my mother she thought? But she is so stooped. More than my mother. The old woman turned into another street and disappeared.
Dianelopa shook off her indecision and sprinted off toward the street where the old woman had gone. But when she got there there was no sign of her. How can it be? she thought. Am I seeing things?
She stood there bewildered not realizing how disarrayed she looked. Dry leaves and mud still clung to her cloak, her hair was uncombed, blood was still dripping down her arm and had smeared on her cloak as well. And in the face of all the frustration, tears were gathering in her eyes.
A woman came out of a nearby house, stopped when she saw Dianelopa and stared.
"Did you see?" said Dianelopa hesitantly.
"See what?" said the woman.
"Umm, nothing." But with that the gathering tears gushed forth.
"Oh my," said the woman, "you don't look in a good way."
"No," said Dianelopa. "I need, I need..."
"You need", the woman said, perhaps with a note of derision. "a washing, a bandage, perhaps some food and clean clothes."
"Yes," said Dianelopa, a glimmer of hope returning. "I will pay, I have bishani."
The woman laughed. "Show me."
Dianelopa took out her purse and held out several bishani.
The woman's face took on a more serious look. "Alright," she said. "Come on in, I'll help you."
Dianelopa wanted this all to happen fast, so she could get back to the inn, but the woman seemed quite content to take her time.
"You can fetch water from the well," she gave Dianelopa a bucket.
When she came back in, the woman said, "come and see what you want to wear." She showed Dianelopa a varying array of articles of clothing. None of them looked right. "Do you have a cape with a hood?"
"Why that?" said the woman and gave Dianelopa a suspicious look.
"It will be cold tonight," said Dianelopa "and I have a long way to go."
"Oh you do?" said the woman. "You are from far away."
"Mmmmm," said Dianelopa.
The woman disappeared in the back of the house and was gone for a while. When she finally came back she had a cape in her arms, a black and brown plaid cape. She held it up.
Dianelopa nodded. While she washed herself, the woman made some pancakes.
"Sit down," said the woman when Dianelopa appeared and she set a plate of pancakes with melting butter on them in front of her. "And so," she continued as if she wanted to spend the whole morning gabbing, "where are you from so far away and how do you dare travel alone or are you alone?"
Dianelopa went "ummph" and wolfed the food down.
"Don't eat so fast," said the woman, "you'll get a stomachache."
"Yes, Sorry," said Dianelopa. "I must get on my way, you know. I have a long way to go. I left my dirty clothes for you, and you can do whatever you want with them." She dumped four bishani in the woman's hand and dashed off without further ado. "Wait," said the woman.
But Dianelopa did not wait. She scurried back to the inn, walked in the door with the cape pulled tightly around her and the hood covering her face. She found a spot to sit in the darkest corner and then carefully pushed back the edge of the hood and peered around. Thad was not to be seen.

[Anja]

The price, yes... Thad hadn't been told what the price was. Not that it mattered. If Salazar paid less, and walked away thinking he got away with it, all the better, right? This wouldn't be the time to prove one's intelligence; best, given near-future plans, to be underestimated. He licked his lips, and affected an uncertain look.

"Ah, yes, uh, the price. The same, yes."

He gave Bomber a purposefully nervous smile as he took the package out of its little leather satchel; the opposite of the tough guy act. He put the box on a convenient table. "Now, Benjamin was very specific about this. You're not to touch it until you've got it well, well out of town, for reasons too numerous to list. You stick to that rule, and we can all walk away happily. He also expressed a willingness to do business in the future."

[Morry]

Salazar considered himself a reasonably observational individual, even though he tended to only see things he wanted to. So, when the man, who was assumed as one of Dear Benny's stupid errand-runners, provided reason enough to believe that he didn't know what the discussed prize was, the noble smiled. It was a small, barely noticeable, jagged smile that leaned to one side of his face more than the other, a smile that betrayed a feeling of superiority and mild bemusement.

"Of course, of course, no need to worry about that," he waved a luxuriously lady-soft hand dismissively in response to the one, golden rule he had been given. "An item like this is practically priceless. So much, in fact, that it may take some time for even my funds to recover for future business," he noted. The asking price was quite a lot, and while Salazar was, indeed, minted, he did not have an unlimited cash supply.
Still, he had his own illegal underground operations going on to work up more, but it would take time.

Fifty thousand bishani. That was a lot of dough.
"Forty thousand," said Salazar, eying the package. He waltzed his way to the table to open the box and check that the merchandise was in fact in the box before he snapped his fingers without turning his head. Bomber produced four large bags, tossing each at Thad's feet without smiling. He touched the hilt of his large sword with nubby fingertips, staring at the man.

"If you wish, I can order a horse and cart to help with the goods. Forty thousand is a lot to transport for one man, especially one of your..." He downgraded Thad by touching his own chin while he looked Benjamin's puppet up and down, "stature."

Bomber snorted audibly.

[Dianelopa]

Dianelopa was uncertain. She'd sat in her corner for a bit of time now without seeing anything of note. Thad was not in the main room of the inn. He could have already left while she'd been asleep or eating breakfast. He could also be in another room in the inn.
The tables in the meantime were filling up with people wanting to eat lunch. Two young male country bumpkins who seemed in a jovial mood were heading toward Dianelopa's spot where there were still two empty chairs. They looked at Dianelopa huddled behind her cape and one of them said loudly, "Hey you, take off your coat, it's hot in here." The other one laughed loudly and said, "lady, come on let's see your face." Both of them now guffawing loudly took the two seats. People turned to look and Dianelopa felt her face flushing, her heart starting to race. Above all, she did not want to be noticed.
Beyond the bar there was a hall which Dianelopa assumed led to the rooms. She got up quickly, squirmed past the two men and headed for the hall.
"Aw, don't go," said one of men. He got up and started following her.
"Oh, no," she groaned.
"Oh, yes," he said.
Dianelopa turned around faced him squarely and said, "Go back to your place and leave me alone. I'm going to my husband."
The man threw up his arms, "oh, oh, sorry," he said and stood there.
Dianelopa walked slowly down the hall, trying to discern whether there was any sign of Thad in any of the rooms. She cast a quick glance back and saw the man still standing there.
"Ha," he said. "Your husband?"
"Get out of here," muttered Dianelopa, "or you'll be sorry."
The man burst into another spasm of guffawing.
At the same time Dianelopa thought she was catching a whiff of a Thad smell, but she was also feeling like she was in some kind of trap and she was having a hard time concentrating.

[Anja]

As he carried the nervous wimp act even further, Thad was smiling inside. They were lapping it up, and all the while he was studying Bomber's physiology in his periphery. The bum knee, the tic in the eye... now, he saw that there was a discoloration around the one eye. Where had he seen that before?

As Thad lowered his head and muttered an "I'll manage, thanks" at Salazar's height jab, his eyes did a quick sweep of the room. On one of the dressers by the door, there was a rawhide drawstring pouch, the mouth open against the wood grain, some herbs spilling out. Thought so. Bomber was going blind in one eye, the tic merely an effort to keep the medicines behind his lower eyelid. "I'm just down the hall if ye need me. I'll stay another night before heading into Marn."

As he made his way out the door, he made sure he stooped a little more than was necessary under the weight of the four bags, and he grunted with affected muscle strain as he crossed the threshold. It wasn't just to look wimpy. As he made a show of trying to adjust the weight of the bags, he made sure they blocked the pair's view of the dresser just long enough for him to slip Bomber's herbs into his coat pocket.

When he heard the door close behind him, he paused a moment to get in touch with his internal compass, and gently opened a door on his right. His ears were perked, and he stepped into the room tentatively. There was the sound of splashing coming from behind the pine-paneled partition in the corner, and a woman's voice softly whispered a tune he had heard played earlier downstairs. He closed the door behind him, tiptoed across the room to the window, which was open, and eased himself and his bags through.

As he had thought, the outside wall was ensconced here by high trees and shrubs. It was the back of the inn, where it brushed the forest. He dropped the bags into the mossiest spot he could see, and let go of the ledge himself. In seconds, he was bounding off through the forest. He had a spot in mind for this cash.