Caleb, Alois, Rena, and I worked on the summon plan, while Maximus and the rest focused on a different method. Keane had vanished after leaving behind a note and a silver hair he claimed belonged to the kidnapper.

Caleb set up a tracking spell that would work for both teams, as well as a communication charm so we would know as soon as one of us succeeded. When the results of the tracking spell were checked with a map of the territory, the kidnapper had gotten surprisingly far, but seemed to have stopped at the border, in that weird line between Tethia and Beraud that wasn’t really a part of either kingdom.

“I will go ahead,” Alois said, “You guys come by at dawn disguised as a merchant caravan.”

“I can use stealth magic too,” Rena protested.

“But can you fight against a kidnapper that skilled?” Alois shot back, “It is better for only one person to go in first and keep an eye on things.”

I disagreed, but I could come up with no good arguments. Besides, an attention seeker like Alois would never let someone else take his glory.

“I will prepare the caravan,” I decided, and headed out the door, “If you are going ahead, go.”

Alois smiled. “Of course, my queen,” he replied with a fake solemn tone. 

Before I could find a convenient pillow to throw at him he was gone. Hopefully he wasn’t in over his head this time.

Morning came, and we were able to get a few minutes of sleep before the sun rose enough to set off without being suspicious. Due to the short notice, the caravan and merchandise I was able to throw together was pathetic, but pathetic merchants existed too. In fact, it may have been more suspicious if the merchandise was too perfect.

The tension from those inside the carriage made the ride to the border seem all the longer. Was Autumn alright? We hadn’t been contacted by Alois yet, but it was probably too dangerous to use the magic behind enemy lines.There was also the fact that magic was said to be thinner by the border.

As my mind churned the caravan slowly rumbled on to the border checkpoint. 

When they arrived, there was already a line, albeit a short one. Carriages slowly pulled forward one after another. They were so close, but they had to follow the rules.

“Reasons for leaving Tethia?” the bored guard asked.

“Trade,” Caleb replied, presenting the papers. 

The guard gave them a brief glance and handed them back. “Be careful. There have been bandits between our checkpoint and Beraud’s lately.”

“Thank you.”

They moved along to make way for the next carriage. It was convenient for now, but that guard didn’t even read the papers, did he? Bonus points for giving friendly advice though.

It was then that Alois finally decided to contact them. “The summon went rogue. I haven’t been able to find him or Autumn in this maze of a compound.”

I stiffened hearing this. There was only one way a summon could go rogue, and that was by killing their summoner. It was extremely difficult to send a summon whose summoner had died home, but between Caleb and Alois’ unique talents we should be able to manage it… If we can find the summon.

The other bad news was the word ‘compound’. How had they built a compound so close to Tethia without anyone noticing. Beraud surely would have made a fuss as well. Or perhaps both knew and we just happened to stumble upon it while they were still planning on how to deal with it?

“We should look for a place to ditch our carriage,” Rena suggested.

“There is a clump of trees over there we might get away with,” Caleb noted and headed back to the front to notify the driver. 

“Can we get in?” I asked Alois.

“I don’t see why not, but it is pretty crazy in here. There are lots of prisoners here as well. Blackmail material from the looks of it. We are going to have a lot of work cut out for us when we finish with this.”

“So there are hostages,” I groaned, “Are they in any danger?”

“Of course not. They have me protecting them, after all.”

Alois had a large ego, but he had the skills to back it up. No matter how hard he tried to make it look effortless, I knew the constant he put into being the best at everything he felt was necessary. Sneaking and stealth may be his most famous skill, but he practiced daily with the sword and throwing knives. 

“Can you tell us where the entrance is?”

“Yes. Follow the trail I left behind. Oh great…”

“Alois?”

“The summon is coming. I won’t be able to answer for a while.”

I turned to Caleb and he pointed in a direction. “Alois left magic markers.”

We left the carriage and started following the trail Alois left for us. 

It led to a well disguised building that was undoubtedly a compound. Just as we slipped inside, someone grabbed me. A tall man with a lean but muscular build and shining silver her looked down at me. 

“Are you that eyepatch kid’s friend?”

“...Yes?” I answered warily.

“Wonderful. Let’s get this over with so I can go home. The food in this place is trash.”

It was a compound, but I definitely did not want to discourage him from going home so I didn’t mention it. 

“Let’s get moving already. I got rid of the nuisances in advance, but don’t let your guard down.”

I followed and nodded for Caleb and Rena to follow suit. Caleb was muttering something under his breath about a summon with a strong energy like this not triggering any of his magic defenses and how he could fix them. 

After winding through some twisted hallways we finally arrived in a room with several prisoners as well as Alois and Autumn. Those were the people I expected to see, but the one that the summon walked up to was Keane.

“Thanks for the tip, by the way. These guys actually do seem skilled enough to send me back.”

“No problem,” Keane replied.

“How did you get here before Alois?” Rena demanded.

Alois looked almost physically wounded by the comment. “This guy seems to have asked the territory guards to follow Autumn’s grandfather behind Maximus’ back.”

“He didn’t seem like the kind to just give up,” Keane explained calmly.

If Keane wasn’t so focused on researching medicine he would probably be someone incredibly terrifying. No, he already was.