Three days had passed since the attack on their caravan. Paden was thankful for their good fortune. Though they had been attacked, no one had been killed. All the wounded men had miraculously been healed by whatever Weillin had done during the battle. Weillin and Axel on the other hand breathed a sigh of relief as none of the men showed any signs of being invisibly scared by the battle. Not even magic could heal wounds of the mind, heart and soul.

Their group was parked on the side of the highway in a clearing once again. They chose an area with a wide open view that was not close to the forest as they had been. Although the mercenaries were dead it was not impossible that the former lord of Avery did not hire anyone else.

Weillin talked it out with Marie and decided they would have someone make contact with the Gift from the Woods organization to assassinate the former lord. The man had unwisely chosen to provoke their ire. He, a mere commoner, forgot his place and decided to gaze upon and harbor ill intent for his betters.

All of this was of course not made known to Paden. The youth still thought the attackers had been mere highway bandits. Paden was sitting on the outside circle of the youth area as he ate. Paden would glance every now and then at Lily. She, her younger brother and sister had joined their uncle and his family, while their father and mother closed up the inn and sold the things they needed to get rid of in Avery.

She was sitting with another youth he was familiar with. It seemed the two had begun spending more time together after the demon attack a month ago. He had spotted them the other day making out in secret. The sight shocked him to the core and the sadness almost made him reveal his presence. It took great effort for him to get away quietly and not alert them.

Paden had been moping around the better part of the day, berating himself for being so slow. Had he missed his only chance with Lily in this lifetime, he wondered. Everyone was oblivious to the troubles of youth, still concerned with the attack from a few nights back. Paden merely smiled weakly and gave noncommittal answers back to anyone who approached him as he quietly thought.

“Paden, Auntie Marie wants to see you,” – Carol.

“I’ll finish your food,” spoke Cheryl as she happily took his plate. Paden got up and rubber her head lightly with a weak smile as he left.

Paden found his aunt with Weillin in their tent.

“Aunt Marie, you called for me?”

“Yes. We will arrive at Woodhaven tomorrow. We will be going into town. Leanna and the girls will stay with Axel so they are leaving you with us. I don’t need to remind you about not repeating the events in Avery, right?” Marie asked him coldly.

Paden shivered and nodded his head. He had thought a lot about the events in Avery. He had gotten lucky that the people he offended were not anyone of import but he could not make that assumption. It would be better to be unassuming and if trouble comes he should act decisively. Although, he did not see how he could find it in himself to kill someone as nonchalantly as his aunt had.

### ### ###

Their group reached the walls of Woodhaven. Like in Avery, the caravan once again camped out the walls as some went in to buy supplies. Paden went with Marie and Weillin in their carriage to another expensive looking inn. Paden was once again surprised to find their party greeted by the proprietor. He could not help but wonder if such things were common.

It was still noon when they arrived so Paden went out with his aunt to do a bit of shopping. Woodhaven was a larger city than Avery. This meant for more varieties of items being sold in the shopping district of the city. Marie brought him to another store to buy clothes. She bought a dozen pairs of clothes for him. To her, the amount was relatively small. When they arrived home she would have more clothes tailor made for him and fill his wardrobe with clothes. Her nephew had become her personal doll somewhere along the way.

After an exhausting three hours of shopping and visiting various stores, Marie led him to a store that made Paden gawk. The front had a sheet of glass bigger than their carriage showing the various wares. He almost couldn’t believe the ridiculous size of it that he failed to notice the shop catered to magicians. Marie looked slightly amused at his expression and led her nephew inside.

“Good afternoon. What can I do for young master and mistress?” asked a skinny salesclerk when they walked in with their guard.

Marie carefully scanned around the shop. Her eyebrows furrowed in disappointment. Most of the items were of low quality bordering on being shameful to even presume to sell to magicians. However, they were not looking for magical equipment. She looked at a glass display case and spotted the items she needed to instruct her nephew.

“I will take the bone ring next to the golden circlet. I will also be requiring a testing crystal, restrictive earing, and a meditative bracelet of at least medium level,” spoke Marie indifferently as the salesclerk’s eyes glowed.

The salesclerk gave an order to his assistant. Five minutes later he came back and gave the clerk the items.

“Here are the items. That will be thirteen hundred gold coins,” he told Marie with a grin.

Marie took a single glance at the items and rested her eyes on the meditative bracelet. Her brows furrowed in displeasure as she looked at the salesclerk. He noticed her look and was sweating while cursing inwardly. Did she notice?

“What is this?” Marie spoke as she casually lifted the bracelet with her finger up to the clerk’s face. “How is this medium quality? This isn’t even a lower quality item. How does your store get by selling such garbage?” Marie asked with disdain.

The shopkeeper’s face twisted into an ugly look. Garbage?! He had never been so insulted. Even if she was a mage he could not allow her to talk about his shop that way, even if he knew her words to be true. He slowly reached to his waist but was stopped abruptly by the actions of Marie.

Marie had noticed his subtle movements. In an instant, a cloud of dark smoke circled his throat pressing down. The shopkeeper felt a cold sweat drip down his spine. The smoke was a basic darkness spell was no more threatening than fog. However, in her hands it had gained substance that he never imagined possible. He rethought his actions and decided to employ dialogue.

“Miss, I cannot allow you to defame my establishment with your lies. How is the circlet in anyway garbage?” he asked smoothly. He signaled for his attendant to get the guard he paid off. He imagined the helpless look on her face with an inward grin.

“How? For one, the bracelet is made of cheat silver plated zinc rather than pure silver,” she told him with a toothy grin. “Next is the inscription pattern. Rather than penetrating through the bracelet fully, the inscription is merely placed on the surface.” By now the shopkeeper had regretted trying to take advantage of her but he was reluctant to submit. “Lastly, how could something middle tier possess such trashy inscriptions with serve no purpose?”

The shopkeeper looked at the arrogant sneer on Marie’s face in horror. He had truly misjudged the woman. She could tell at a glance all those things with a casual glance. However, the guards would come and then he would show her. A night in jail with the guards and she would be screaming in pleasure, he darkly thought.

Two guards walked in as the lead man looked at the shopkeeper with a knowing nudge. The shopkeeper regularly sold useless magical items to unsuspecting mages. Every now and then someone with knowledge would call him out on it. For this he bribed the guards in order to muscle those people and teach them a lesson in order to keep his reputation intact.

“What seems to be the problem?” asked the guard as he eyed Marie up and down lecherously.

“Sir, this woman is trying to obstruct my business. She is calling my valuable merchandise fake garbage. I demand you arrest her,” cried the shopkeeper shamelessly. Paden watched this feeling dumbfounded.

“You can tell that is trash. Look for yourself,” Marie explained dismissively.

The guard walked up and examined the bracelet in question. He finished and turned to his partner.

“Yea, it’s the real deal. Seems the missy wanted to leverage ruining his reputation and get a deal,” said the guard. “Arrest her.”

Paden was shocked. He wondered what had happened. How could the man call that real given what his aunt had explained? The guard put his hands on Marie. The guards motioned to unsheathe their swords but were stopped by her look.

An ungodly cry resounded from the guard. His arm was covered in a black substance. It slowly dissipated revealing a blackened arm that crumbled like ash leaving behind a stump for an arm.

“You. Attacking the town guard is a treasonous offense,” said the main guard. However, he made no motion to arrest her. He walked to his buddy and looked at his wound with fright.

“Offense?” Marie asked pompously. “What offense is there in correcting the behavior of mere dogs? Do not think I am so foolish as to not understand the deal between you and this establishment,” she told him coldly with piercing glare.

With a wave of her hand a spear of darkness penetrated into the injured guard killing him. The shopkeeper and guard looked at her brazen actions in horror. Never would they have suspected someone would murder a guard outright in broad daylight. The guard looked at her in fear. What is killing two guards versus one, thought the man?

“Don’t worry. Despite your ignoble actions, you will be free to go,” she told him with a sneer. His heart leapt and was instantly plunged into freezing water at her next statement. “Of course after my guards hold you down so I can cut the tendon to your wrist and break your arm,” Marie told him with an icy grin.

Paden listened to his aunt, dumbfounded. Her actions repeatedly left him speechless. Every action turned his view of the world upside down. Where was justice? What was justice? Isn’t this merely the rule of strength?

The guard tried to flee as two guards cut him off. They held him down as Marie personally took out a jet black dirk from beneath her blouse. Paden looked at her actions in awe. She moved and cut his right wrist, severing his tendons and did something. He screamed in agony as a burning smell reached Paden’s nose.

Marie had burned his wounds. Only a higher tier healing spell would restore use of his hand. She signaled the guard who then broke his right shoulder at its elbow. The sound caused Paden to flinch. He had never seen something so callous. He burned the words to never make his aunt angry into his mind.

The man hobbled away in pain as the guards let him out the store. Marie then spoke to a guard who left. She then turned her attentions to the shopkeeper who looked at her as though he were seeing a demon. She slowly walked to the shopkeeper and stabbed her dirk into the table. The shopkeeper looked at the bloodstained weapon and gulped. He had chosen poorly when he decided to offend her.