The Seekers pushed through waves of revellers, fighting to keep moving against the tide. It was obvious Rats had riled them up as they chanted ‘Death to the rich,’ and began running en masse onto Hexham’s road.

It was only after several minutes of struggling, almost an hour, that they made it out of the riot and in front of Skitters’s home. The two-storey building was old with mould growing over the wooden beams. Even the recent lick of paint couldn’t hide the damage below as it had peeled off in large sections, revealing walls on par with brittle bones.

They were about to go in when Kora turned and scanned the skies. She searched and searched but found nothing but scribble-like clouds above the city, causing her face to scrunch up.

“What is it?”

“I feel something staring into my back. Could it be the Laeshi? They do have wings,”

“But you said it hadn’t seen you,”

“Yeah, but…” She paused and the creases on her forehead dug deeper. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Orion looked at her expression, then at the sky, but stopped when he saw less than she had. He walked over to Skitter’s home and looked at the door, a surprisingly solid addition to the run-down house. He checked the windows, and seeing none open, stepped back and rammed the door. It clicked open with little force, sending him barrelling to the ground.

Dusting his jacket off, he let Kora take the lead as she explored the house. There was a kitchen with bits of food out and dirty plates strewn around. There was a small, unused storage room holding dusty brooms, though most were bedridden with rot. Then, there was a large room lit by natural light. As they walked in, a figure on a chair became prominent with his back to them, facing the sunlight. Despite the figure continuing to face away, the wavy hair hanging off the top of the chair and the walking stick leaning against it made it obvious who it was.

“Skitters,”

The figure stood and picked the chair and the walking stick. He turned and sat back down, smiling at the Seekers. There were large hollows below his eyes and a note in his hands.

“Jax and girly. I mean, Kora and Jax. Welcome to my home, though y’know you didn’t have to barge in like this? Should’ve just called for me from outside,”

“You knew we were coming,” Kora said.

Skitters nodded. “A certain person told me to wait here for you two kids,”

“Grima?”

“The very same, heh heh,”

“We need to find him,”

“He knows what you wanna do,”

“And what’s that?” Orion asked.

Skitters opened the note and read through it again, his finger soon finding the words. “Kill him,”

Orion kept his face blank, but Kora smirked. “It seems your boss isn’t as smart as people say he is,”

The thief raised his eyebrows once more and nodded. “It’s what he told me you’re here for. As for if he’s what people make of him, you can judge that later y’know,” he said while throwing the note to them, landing a distance in front of their feet.

“Sorry, could you pick that up?” he said.

Kora picked it up and showed it to Orion. It read:

The Seekers Jax and Kora will come to you soon. Await their visit. They are coming to you to find me. They are looking to kill me. Welcome them and tell them I’ll be in Lilch waiting. I have business with them.

Orion remembered Lilch was a village a few days off Visgamar. Considering Rats had said Grima had been involved in the planning of the attack, it occurred to him as strange that one of the organisers was days away from the plan he had so much riding on. Or maybe he didn’t - maybe that was the benefit of keeping your face hidden from all men and women.

“Lilch? The shabby village full of peasants and farmers? What does he have to do there?” Kora asked, ignoring the fact Grima had correctly named them Seekers. It seemed there was credibility to the man’s reputation after all.

“I’m not sure, girly; I only know what’s in the letter, y’know. The boss only contacts people when he needs them and to reward them,”

Seeing as there were no other clues, Orion re-read the note, trying to find any hidden messages. But then it occurred to him Skitters could have very well received several letters, only that he was instructed to show one to them. The best way of getting information would have been through threatening or torturing the thief, and while Kora could and maybe would do that, Orion couldn’t handle the thought of doing that to someone he knew for such a flimsy reason.

He tapped her shoulder and whispered, “Come on, let’s go. No use in wasting time here,” He stepped to the exit when he realised she wasn’t following. The smile Skitters’s wore soured and finally dropped as he saw Kora standing strong.

“Anything else you want, girly?” he asked. “I can help you with a decent amount but nothing more with the boss, as much as I want to,”

“Skitters, how did your wound heal so quickly?” she asked.

The thief gaped at her as if checking she was serious. “What?”

“I thought your injury had been bad, but it seemed you were putting a lot of weight on it when turning around,”

He shook his head. “I can put a little pressure on it for a little while, but not for any good amount of time. Maybe me sitting in this dusty hole all this time has helped the healing,”

“Sure, but not this fast. You’re hiding something,”

Orion watched from the sidelines, confused at the two of them. What did his injury’s healing time have to do with anything?

The thief held her stare for seconds, saying nothing until he eventually broke and smiled. “You’ve passed the test, both of you, I knew you’d do it,”

“That was a test? To notice your injury had healed?” Orion asked, his confusion clear in voice and expression.

“Well, na. The test was to figure the code in the note, but you’ve done well enough; you’ve got my recommendation, at least. Here, let me get up,” he said, clutching onto his walking stick.

“You still need it?”

“Yeah, boss gave me some stuff that speeded up the recovery but nothing that made it disappear, y’know.” He moved to the wall beside him and slapped it hard, then even harder. A click came from the wall and he walked past them, through the hallway and into the disused storage room, coughing while brushing past the countless brooms. The back wall which looked like it was made of stone had gone inside its adjacent neighbour, revealing a dingy tunnel.

“Boss likes people who sees and notices the important stuff, y’know. They’re the best workers, which is why I was chosen,” he said while waving them in. “I think you two will have the same luck,”