“Give me the pen. I will protect your caravan from other Visions. Other help will be at my discretion,” he said.

“Still bargaining in your situation? Bold,” Bartholomew said, showing off his large teeth. “I like it. Done and done.”

The large Vision waved his hand over the paper. A small pen with the leaves of a delicate golden plant engraved into it appeared on the table. Ethan snatched it and signed his name across the bottom of the paper.

Bartholomew turned to Jasper with a raised eyebrow.

“Will you also be joining, my little gremlin friend? Or do you prefer to avoid having to fight against your own kind while escorting us humans?” Bartholomew asked with a deep laugh.

Jasper growled at the larger Vision and hoisted himself back onto the table. He picked the pen up and drew a crude middle finger on the paper next to Ethan’s name.

“Ethan’s the only human in this room,” Jasper said. “And even that might be a stretch.”

Bartholomew shrugged. He picked the contract up and rolled it up into a tight tube that looked miniscule in his enormous hands. Ethan reached out quietly. The large Vision held the key in the air above Ethan’s hand for a moment before letting it fall.

Ethan stuffed the key into a small bag at his side and buttoned it up tightly. A knowing grin crossed Bartholomew’s face and he nodded at the bag.

“The feeling of having great wealth is wonderous, is it not? Best make sure you don’t lose it. With all due respect, I hope this is the last time we meet. I don’t think further business interactions would be beneficial.”

His round body sagged downwards, as if it had suddenly grown several hundred pounds heavier. Golden coins tumbled out from under his suit and hair, filling the room rapidly, like a tidal wave.

The churning wealth crashed against Jasper and Ethan. The two were lifted off their feet and thrown out the door. They crashed down onto the cracked cobblestone of the dark street and the door slammed shut behind them.

Bartholomew’s laugh echoed out from within the building one final time. The words on the wooden sign above the door faded out of existence and the door disappeared with a pop. Jasper stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes with a grimace.

“I hate that bastard,” he said.

Ethan nodded absentmindedly. His hand drifted down to the pouch at his side and he popped the buckle open, glancing inside of it. The swordsman let out a sigh of relief and closed it securely.

“I can’t believe we actually got it,” Ethan said.

The anger vanished from Jasper’s face. “Good. And you’re sure it’s the real thing?”

Ethan nodded again. “Yeah, this is it alright. Our access to the Everflame is secured.”

Jasper grunted in agreement. “So long as Yon doesn’t kill us first.”

“We can worry about that later. For now, we have a caravan to find.”

The tall swordsman set off down the road and Jasper scrambled to catch up with him.

“By the way, that was some good acting back there. Bartholomew really bought it,” Jasper said.

“If we weren’t in a rush, I would have liked to drag it out a little longer,” Ethan agreed with a smirk. “But, just like Garm, I suspect we’ll have to take care of our wealthy friend if we survive this.”

“Problems for another day,” Jasper said. “But more importantly, how are we meant to find this caravan? Are they going to be flying that greedy pig’s face on a flag?”

Ethan shrugged helplessly. “We’ll see.”

“I’m going to rip Bartholomew’s disgusting little head right off his shoulders,” Jasper snarled.

Moonlight illuminated several caravans that had set up camp for the night along the enormous walls of Rellen. The guard stationed in front of the nearest set of wagons had a familiar red plume hanging mockingly from his helmet.

“It appears we have encountered a slight problem. Bartholomew got us good,” Ethan agreed, scratching his head in thought. Despite their situation, he couldn’t keep the smirk off his face.

They stood just outside of the gates of Rellen, hidden under the wall’s shadow. Jasper rubbed his hands together and frowned thoughtfully.

“It won’t be a big problem for me to mask our appearance, but it’ll take some effort. If Linna is still with them, she might end up seeing through it,” Jasper said.

“Are you not strong enough to evade her abilities?” Ethan asked, his eyebrows raising slightly.

“Of course I am, you sod,” Jasper barked. “But not for weeks on end. Not with our current situation, anyways.”

Ethan grunted and he unconsciously lifted a hand up to his chest. He clenched his fingers into a fist and pressed it against his body.

“If Linna discovers us, we will deal with it.”

A dull purple spark leapt from Jasper’s hands to Ethan. Energy rippled across the tall man’s body, changing his appearance as it went. Ethan’s skin grew several shades lighter and his hair lengthened so that it reached his shoulders. His nose became hawkish and his other features morphed until he was completely unrecognizable.

Jasper nodded in satisfaction once he had finished with Ethan and directed the energy toward himself. Green skin turned white and he grew several inches taller. His face morphed until all his gremlin features had become human, although his eyes kept the hungry look within them. Once both transformations were complete, Jasper stretched his arms out and took a cautious step away from the wall.

“I hate having to change my height. I don’t know how you can balance on those stilts you call legs,” Jasper whined.

“It is better than being crotch level,” Ethan said dryly. His voice was an octave higher than normal. He pursed his lips.

“Did you have to make my voice this much higher? I sound like I’m going through puberty.”

Jasper just cackled and darted toward the caravan. He promptly tripped over his feet and flopped face first into the ground. The gremlin let a muffled string of curses out into the grass.