In an early hour in the morning, the sound of someone knocking on the door kept echoing around the common room of the Golden Boar Inn.

*bam* *bam *bam*

The innkeeper rose from his bed. He cursed under his breath and made his way around the tables and the few drunkards sprawled on the floor who never made home the previous night. He opened a small portion of the door, keeping it ajar, and looked outside.

“Hi mister, please let me in.”

“Oya, it’s the boy who’s afraid of spiders. Why are you here so early? I don’t know where you and your friends slept last night, but couldn’t you’ve waited at least till the sun is out to come back?” asked the grumbling innkeeper while letting Nicola inside.

“Thanks mister.”

Nicola rushed to the stairs and into the room with the key Liza gave him. He closed the door, opened the window and looked outside. Waiting on the streets were Popis and two other kids, Simon and Lars, who looked up at him.

He made a positive sign with his thumb and disappeared inside the room again, returning moments later with a rucksack in his hands. He held the rucksack out of the window and let it drop in the waiting arms of the children below.

-

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam*

“Ah~, who is it now? And what’s with all these people arriving so early?”

Still grumbling, the innkeeper opened the door again and was shoved aside by a group of guards who entered the establishment. Startled, he immediately assumed a meek attitude to deal with the soldiers.

“Why, hello there! What can I do to help you noble sirs?”

“We are looking for some people,” replied one of the guards.

-

After catching all the gear Nicola dropped off, Popis led Lars and Simon to the corner of the street and helped them to divide the load.

“Ok guys, take these back to the hideout and give them to Liza. I’ll wait for Nicola. Remember, go fast and try to not be seen.”

After sending them on their way, Popis returned just in time to see two guards hoisting Nicola up by his arms. He was struggling in vain, trying to escape their grasp. She quickly hid beneath the second-floor overhang, vanishing from their line of sight.

“Curses! It’s only a little kid that looks like a beggar. What should we do with him?”

“Urgh, let me go! I didn’t do anything wrong!” shouted Nicola.

“The innkeeper confirmed he was with them and even spent the night here two days ago. Let’s separate. Carl, Bret, the two of you take the brat to the barracks, we’ll find out what he knows. The rest of us will spread around the area. Let’s see if they’re in the surroundings and keep an eye on the inn in case they return like this boy did,” said the squad leader, ignoring the fussing Nicola.

Popis was fretting in her hiding spot. She unconsciously bit her lips and clenched her hands hard while trying to figure out how to get her friend out of this predicament. Finally, she made a decision and darted into the mess of alleys.

After running for a few minutes, she arrived at the backdoor of the Adventurers’ Guild. Popis searched her satchel for something then banged the door frantically.

[Please be here, please be here, please be here.]

A sleepy worker opened the door and looked at her with annoyance.

“Are you crazy kid? What are you doing bashing the door like that so early in the morning? We’ve nothing to give you. Go away.”

“I’m here to report to Mr. Rodney, is he here yet? It’s urgent,” said Popis, almost shoving a small badge she’d fetched earlier from her satchel in the man’s face.

The worker scrutinized the badge and recognized it as the one they gave to helpers, informants, service providers and other people that were, some way or another, associated with the guild.

“He’s in alright,” said the man, rubbing his eyes. “He spent the night working. Come in, I’ll call him for you.”

Moments later, Popis was face to face with Rodney in a small room created with the sole purpose of meetings like these. It was situated near the guild’s backdoor to facilitate coming and going discreetly and was furnished with only a table and a couple of chairs.

Popis wasn’t seated, nor did she wait for Rodney to get comfortable.

“I got your report, but before that I need your help. One of my friends just got taken by the lord’s troops. They are moving him to the barracks,” she said, trying to keep calm.

Rodney looked at Popis with his drooping eyes. He scratched his bald head and smiled.

“And here I was wondering why you were reporting so early. Tell me, why should I help your friend? And why would the guards take one of your kids?”

“If you help him I’ll give you an extra piece of information I gathered. A very juicy piece, I might add! Now, decide quickly, if they get too far he’ll be done for!” said Popis agitatedly.

Rodney narrowed his eyes. He liked Popis. She was efficient on shadowing people, gathering information and going about unnoticed. A trustworthy informant that never gave him any trouble, well, till now.

“Ok then, let’s see if there’s an opportunity for us to rescue your friend. I hope this information is truly interesting or we’ll need to talk later. I’ll be ready in a jiff, wait for me outside.”

-

Carl and Bret were walking the narrow lanes towards the garrison with an unconscious Nicola hanging under Bret’s arm, their boots making dust rise from the beaten earth.

Seeing them, the few people that were already on the streets would take the long way around or hug the walls to give the soldiers more space. Blocking the path could be considered an affront to their authority.

“Was the punch really necessary?” asked Carl.

“The kid was squirming too much, he was annoying,” replied Bret in a foul mood. He, like almost every other soldier, had pulled an all-nighter in search of the fugitives. Everyone felt tired and on the edge with all the pressure being put by their commanding officers and higher-ups.

[Shit! Things would be much easier if the knights and the elite troops weren’t on an expedition,] he thought.

Carl sighed and shook his head. Soon, they’d arrive at the barracks and be relieved of their shift. All he could think about right now was having a warm meal and hit the sack.

Coming from the opposite direction they were walking, a hunchback man using a sturdy cane moved slowly in the center of the street. His entire face was wrapped in bandages, showing only his drooping eyes. He wore shabby clothes with a thick cloak on top.

Realizing there were armed people coming his direction, the hunchback man advanced sluggishly to the side of the path. He barely managed to give enough room for two people to walk side-by-side when Carl and Bret reached him. He lowered his head apologetically for being disrespectful and not clearing the way completely.

Bret grunted in displeasure, but they otherwise ignored the hunchback and passed by him.

“Excuse me, noble sirs…” said the hunchback in an unnatural husky voice.

“Humm?”

Perplexed, Carl turned around to look at the man who’d just spoken, but all he saw was a blur as the heavy cane connected to his chin in a swift motion. He’d gone to sleep.

The hunchback was no longer hunched over and stood tall. Alarmed, Bret dropped Nicola to the ground without any care and tried to draw his sidearm.

His aggressor approached him with unbelievable speed and hit his private region with the wooden walking stick. Bret let out a groan and hunched over. He then received the same smack to his chin as his colleague did and fell unconscious. He would later remember this ambush and realize, like many others did before him, that chainmail was great against cuts, but not so much against blows… and that, in the line of duty, a groin protector was worth much more than gold.

Watching all of that from a safe spot and panting for breath was Popis. She was amazed at Rodney’s ingenuity and quick thinking. When both guards were down she hid her face beneath the hood and rushed to Nicola. The left side of his face was swollen and his parted lips were bleeding, but other than that he seemed fine. She turned to Rodney who was making a silent apology to the men he’d just knocked out.

“Wow, that was impressive. You don’t even look tired,” said Popis, wheezing for air.

“Comes with the job. Let’s move away from here, I can see people peeking at us from their windows,” replied Rodney.

He picked the fallen Nicola and put him across his shoulder before dashing away. Popis complained under her breath and chased after him. Nobody followed them nor there was any shouting. Two soldiers had their asses handed to them, who’d be crazy enough to try anything?

The people that were watching the fight soon made themselves scarce. Nobody wanted to be around when the guards woke up or were found out. Some of the more courageous ones did, however, “alleviate” the soldiers from their personal belongings before running away. Shortly after, the street became empty apart from the two bodies collapsed on the ground.

Confirming they were now safe, Rodney got rid of his disguise and covered Nicola with his cloak. They went back to the guild and into the room they’d left only 20 minutes ago.

“Ok, the boy is fine. Now make your report and tell me about this amazing tidbit you supposedly found out.”

“Alright, let me start with the report. I followed the targets the entire afternoon. They went around town asking for information and rumours about elves. At dusk, they were walking by the lord’s mansion when someone shouted at them from inside the manor. Their monster… climbed the mansion’s wall and got inside the room of the person that shouted…”

“Their monster climbed the wall and invaded the lord’s residence? Wasn’t it a tamed monster? Did they order it to do it?”

“No, it didn’t look like it. The girl, Liza, was furious. She kept asking for the thing to return, but it didn’t listen to her. It appears something attracted it to the room.”

“Suspicious… carry on.”

“Liza then asked the boy, Eliot, if he could do something about the monster, bring him back and such. He didn’t respond. He just ran, jumped and climbed the wall, going after the monster. He too broke in and disappeared inside the same room.”

His eyebrows rising, Rodney had a look of incredulity on his face. “It looks like that room was really tempting, I almost feel inclined to go there myself and see what this is all about.”

“If you want to I could point the right window for you,” said Popis shrugging her shoulders. “Anyway, there were noises and shouting coming from the chamber moments later. Liza walked in circles till she couldn’t stand it anymore and shouted their names. Let me tell you, my ears were ringing for a good time after that.”

“There were people talking about that last night. Right now, everyone wants to find out who Eliot and Boro are. I assume it will turn into gossip and absurd tales soon enough,” sighed Rodney. “What happened next?”

“After the shout, both Eliot and Boro returned. The interesting part was that a third person came out of the room with them. A man wearing bizarre looking clothes climbed down a bunch of blankets tied together and dropped to the ground. He was yelling ‘I escaped, I escaped’ and even his voice was strange, he sounded like a ghost.”

“The earl was keeping a man imprisoned? In a regular room? Not only that, but the people we’ve taking an interest to ended up helping him escape? The more I listen to it, the more absurd it turns out! Go on, what occurred next?”

“Nothing much, they legged it. The guards were showing up in huge numbers by then, so I couldn’t follow them anymore. This ends my report,” said Popis flatly.

Rodney eyed her for a moment and tossed a small pouch to her. It landed heavily on her tiny hands, the tingling of coin coming from inside.

“There’s your payment. What happened yesterday was more absurd than I thought; I’m suddenly glad I accepted your offer to help the kid for another piece of information. You said it was something juicy, but what could be juicier than what you’ve just told me? I am looking forward to find out.”