‘The man is a menace,’ Robin said firmly.

He was sitting in the tavern with Drev, Jhess, and Savra. Between himself and Rerebos, Robin had managed to restore the chimneys and fireplaces to working order so a small fire burned in the hearth providing light and heat.

‘But he will be key to our success in the hunt,’ Savra said. ‘I’m afraid the signs are very clear on that.’

‘Plus we can’t just off him,’ Jhess added from where she was pounding in a chair, one leg propped up on the table. ‘His mother is too powerful. And murder is frowned on here in Noviel anyway.’

‘Yes, what a barbaric place we live in.’ Drev’s sarcasm could have cut steel. ‘How unfortunate that murder is looked down upon!’

Well, steel thread maybe. Very thin steel thread. But steel!

‘We need to do something about him.’ Robin stood and began to pace. ‘He’s become fixated on Riv and the whole shapeshifting thing. I don’t think we’re going to have an easy time of it as a group if we’re both in it.’

‘You’ll think of a solution,’ Savra said calmly.

‘Is that a prediction? Because it sounds more like a platitude,’ Robin said sourly.

‘She’s not wrong,’ Jhess cut in. ‘You’re clever. You’ll think of something.’

‘We need to get down into the undercity and start searching for this treasure before too many other teams get down there!’ Robin continued to pace, fingers occasionally twitching. His brain was cutting in two directions, though: the need for haste and the problem of Khavren.

Before Robin could come up with a solution (other than just killing Khavren, which, while tempting, was a non-starter), however, the meeting was interrupted by the arrival of a messenger from Zahn.

Robin was to appear before the Guildmagister at his earliest convenience.

‘We’ll stay here and make sure the bar doesn’t fall down,’ Jhess said immediately. Drev and Savra agreed.

Robin glared.

‘Hold it up until the world ends if you like, just don’t touch my booze.’

Jhess assumed a martyred look.

‘Don’t bother,’ Robin said, ‘I know exactly what’s going to happen once I leave. Just be aware I have an exact accounting of my inventory and I will hold you liable for any that goes missing while I’m gone. Financially and personally.’

‘I’ll keep an eye on her,’ Drev said.

‘Big words from the heir to the Cor’Draconis family business,’ Jhess shot back.

Drev looked like he’d bitten into a green lemon.

Savra looked between the two of them.

‘Oh, this is going to be quite the interesting adventure,’ she said. She waved Robin off. ‘Go. See the Guildmagister. Keeping him waiting is an even worse idea than antagonising Khavren.’

Robin couldn’t disagree with that. He left the other three members of his party discussing the problem of the knight and slipped out the door to make his way to the guildhall.

The journey was both too long and too short all at once. A summons from Zahn at this point? Probably nothing good. Especially considering Robin’s recent conversation on time-sensitive treasure-seeking. So, all too soon Robin found himself being ushered into the guildmagister’s office and the door behind him closing with an ominous click.

Guildmagister Zahn sat behind his desk, studiously ignoring Robin and perusing a report. Robin opted to sit in silence and await Zahn’s pleasure, rather than risking an interruption and a potential snap-back. After all, there was no way the Guildmagister didn’t know he was there.

‘So,’ Zahn said finally, ‘it seems your party is off to a bit of a rough start. What with that Rhomari boy attacking your alter-ego in broad daylight on the training grounds.’

‘It’s a bit of a setback but I’m in the process of fixing it,’ Robin said quickly.

‘I don’t doubt you are. And you’ve shown a great deal of sense in acquiring Savra for your team.’ Zahn eyed him. ‘In spite of the personal discomfort that must cause you. That’s why this meeting is going to go a lot more smoothly than you might expect. Not,’ Zahn said, pinning him to the chair with his gaze, ‘that you are likely to unreservedly enjoy the outcome.’

Great.

‘Yessir,’ seemed the safest option at that point.

‘I assume you have a plan to resolve this mess and get down into the undercity as soon as possible, yes? Within the next three days, maximum?’ Zahn’s voice made it very clear he would prefer Robin get moving and be in the undercity in the next three hours.

‘Yessir!’ Robin said. It wasn’t quite a lie. It wasn’t quite the truth either, but it was close enough.

‘Good. I will assume the matter is taken care of, then. So long as I don’t have to summon you back here within the next three days.’

The message was clear. Sort this out and get out of the overcity and into the under, or face the wrath of Zahn. And Robin, while clearly useful to the Guildmagister, was still expendable AF.

Robin didn’t relish thinking about what the Guildmagister would take out of his hide to regain his investment if the party failed to retrieve that gem, and soon.

Thankfully Savra’s visions could help guide them, even if those same visions said Khavren would be instrumental in finding or salvaging the treasure.

Robin wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t just messing with him—and the unnerving feeling he got when she was around didn’t help—but there was no way he was going to risk it. She was probably entirely legit.

Well, mostly legit.

‘I will even go so far as to tender you some additional assistance,’ Zahn said silkily.

Uh oh. This could not be good.

‘I had not initially thought it necessary, but recent events with our martial friend have convinced me otherwise.’

He was clearly talking about Khavren and the incident at the training grounds. Here we go. Down comes the iron fist in the velvet glove.

‘I’m going to assign you a porter. After all, I have complete faith in your ability to find and retrieve the treasure, so why should I not make sure you have someone to help carry it all out? It would be a terrible shame if any of it were to be somehow missed, after all.’

Ah. A babysitter. Insurance.

Robin opened his mouth to put up a token resistance. Anyone the Guildmagister sent alone was likely to have plenty of secrets and some dangerous abilities to boot.

Zahn didn’t give him the chance to raise even the ghost of a protest.

‘Wulfram was a guild member in good standing for years until he retired. He’s agreed to take some time off from tending his farm to accompany you and act as porter. He’ll carry any extra equipment you might need, set up camp and see to meals, and—’ Zahn once again pinned Robin with his gaze, ‘—help make sure the treasure makes it back out. And get you out, if anything untoward should happen to any of your party members.’

Robin closed his mouth with a snap.

Did Zahn think he was planning to kill Khavren during this mission? Or was he just hoping Robin would? What sort of political mess had he stepped in? Or was it something else?

Robin cursed Khavren and his family and the unknown politics in this city that were tripping him up.

Who was this Wulfram anyway? Robin ran through what he knew or could guess from the circumstances, and was surprised when his [Bardic Lore] actually offered up an answer!

Wulfram, the Hammer of Novad-Khel, was a powerful warrior and adventurer successful enough to have several ballads written about him. He was strong, favoured the hammer as his primary weapon, and had, if the ballads were to be believed (and they usually weren’t, really), slain several bandit lords, shattered a number of stone giants down out of the mountains, and even a dragon. All in the defence of Noviel.

There were also some detailing of his wider adventures and a surprising number of off-colour ones detailing his exploits with women. Usually shepherdesses, for some reason.

And the one ballad that had him more interested in the sheep than the shepherdess. Robin wondered what Wulfram had done to piss off that bard or minstrel. There were some excoriating rhymes in there.

‘Wulfram will take up lodging at your tavern. I presume you’ve made it habitable enough that that should not be a problem?’

Zahn’s tone made it clear there was only one acceptable answer to that.

‘Yessir,’ Robin said yet again.

At least the basement was liveable. And thanks to his ring he only needed an hour or so of sleep a night.

He didn’t really want to find out what bunking with Wulfram would be like. Not from the description in the ballads, at least.

‘Then I think you have everything you need.’ Zahn dismissed him with a flick of his fingers.

Robin was halfway out the door when the Guildmagister spoke again.

‘Oh, and you may want to keep an eye on your mage friend. I believe his father had some sort of beef with Wulfram at some point in the past.’

Robin didn’t answer that one beyond a nod as he fled the room.

Things were becoming increasingly complicated.

He found his way to a shadowed alleyway as soon as he could, dodging and twisting through the streets to lose any potential pursuit and escape any notice. When he was fairly sure he was unobserved he called Rerebos to him. The miniature shadow dragon had been tailing him the whole way.

Robin was fairly certain Zahn knew nothing about his familiar. The Sisters Sharp didn’t know, and Rerebos was very good at hiding. The Guildmagister could probably find out if he knew to look, but so far there’d been no reason to assume Robin had a familiar and no reason to look for hidden helpers.

Hopefully Robin could keep it that way. Though it might be harder to do so in the undercity. And he certainly couldn’t trust the entirety of the party around him to keep their mouths shut.

Khavren needed his open to breathe out of, after all.

The knight was quite the problem. Zahn’s little meeting had kicked Robin’s brain into high gear, however, out of the need for sheer self-preservation if nothing else. An idea was beginning to form in the back of Robin’s mind.

‘You hear all of that?’ Robin asked his familiar.

‘Yes,’ Rerebos confirmed. ‘And I do not think the large man noticed me lurking outside the window.’

‘Excellent. Well done.’ Robin skritched the little dragonet gently along his brow ridges. ‘Sneakiest dragon.’

‘Of course!’ Rerebos preened. ‘Now what are we going to do about the shiny oaf?’

Rerebos, like Robin, did not hold a high opinion of Khavren.

‘We can’t kill him,’ Robin said firmly, but with a touch of regret. They’d had this conversation several times already. The little dragon was rather direct and bloodthirsty in his suggested solutions.

Some of them were quite creative, though. Like the idea to drop a vase of petunias on his head from a great height. Rerebos had assured him repeatedly that his aim was good enough to pull it off without a hitch.

Rerebos grumbled.

‘What do we do, then?’ the familiar demanded.

‘We’re just going to have to get rid of Riv and make sure that Khavren thinks making Marq his replacement was his idea,’ Robin said with resignation. ‘It worked well enough with Savra joining the party.’

Though, knowing Khavren, the knight wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than Riv’s apparent death.

Well, Robin could certainly oblige! If it was going to take a show to convince the knight, then a show Robin would put on!

He just hoped the trouble was worth it in the end.