The road to Northguard was in a sad state of disrepair, and the man riding the horse chose to stay off of it and take the side of the road instead. Less chance of his horse stepping in a hole and going lame. Based on Pinchpenny's reputation, he had expected bad roads. But this bad? Wagons would shake themselves apart in ten miles. Which was about the distance between this little guard post and the city he was heading to.

The guard post was two little shacks on either side of the road, with some smoke coming out of one of them. He started to veer wide around them, on a path many others had made. He stopped when a guard in a much-patched uniform yelled for him to stop.

The guards had seen him coming and started a discussion as he walked his horse the last half a mile.

"Gerald? Do you see this one coming up to visit with us? That's a nice horse."

"Aye, it is, Harvey. He's well-dressed too. Looks like it's inspection time."

"Agreed. I could use a bit of coin. The wife's been on me to buy a new copper pot. She burnt out the bottom of the last one."

"Your wife burns everything from the way you talk. Dinner, pots, water..."

"Shut your mouth! Here he comes..."

"Hey, You! Stop! You can't go around an official guard post on the Baron's Road! Now we need to search you for contraband and stuff you shouldn't be bringing into the Barony."

Mordecai sighed. He wished he could skip to the part where he agreed to give them a silver coin. But if he started with that, they'd want a gold, and they'd blab their mouths off. Still...might be worth a try. He really didn't want to show what he was carrying.

"I'm not a smuggler. I'm delivering goods to the Baron. There's no need to hold me up. I'll swear on Zeus, most powerful of the gods, that I am not smuggling anything illegal into the Barony, or bear anyone ill-will. Hell, I wasn't even using the road at all. How's that?"

The guards paused, then spoke up loudly while sucking in their guts and trying to look fierce. "That's all well and good, but what about the fine? You tried to go around us. And I'd like to take a look in that big basket you have tied to the saddle. Looks suspicious."

Well, this wasn't going to work, Mordecai thought. Maybe a larger bribe? He had the money really didn't want the trouble. "I’ll tell you what, I'll pay a silver piece as my fine to each of you, if you don't look in the basket. Deal?"

Harvey had always been curious. Too curious. "Oh no. I see what you're up to. You'll pay the fine, and I'll take a look!" The overweight guard flipped up the top of the basket and a reptillian head popped out, opened a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and said in a voice that sounded strangely like a three-year-old girl, "Fish?" The creature looked up at Mordecai.

Mordecai looked down at the baby wyvern. "No fish." He had fed her that morning and wasn't going to feed her again until night. That was all he needed, was her getting fat.

"No fish?"

"No. No fish."

Harvey had backed away, trembling. The head turned towards him, the eyes narrowing. "Fish." Harvey started running. Gerald was rooted to the spot in fear, and a little piece of his mind that told him you didn't run from a predator.

The little wyvern jumped from the basket, spreading three-foot wide wings that were balanced by the long tail. She took off after Harvey, half flying, half running, and yelling "FISH!" every few steps."

Gerald looked up at Mordecai. "If it's alright with you sir. I'll take my silver and wish you well." Mordecai grinned, tossed the man his coin, and whistled for the wyvern. She came back tired after he was on the road for a few minutes and jumped into her basket. He neither knew nor cared what had happened while she was gone. The rest of the trip was uneventful all the way to Northguard.

At the gate to the city, two more guards in much better armor and uniforms stopped him as he went to enter. "Where from and state your business." They were polite about it, but it was obvious this was a formality and they done it a hundred times a day for a very long time.

"My name is Mordecai. I took a contract through the Adventurer's Guild in the Capitol to find specimens for the Baron and have two for him to look over. I also have an animal I am training in the wicker basket, that I don't wish disturbed. Disturbing it will waste time, and I have live specimens to deliver. The idiots at the crossroads insisted on letting the beast out and one of them is probably still running."

The guards bowed. "If it's the Baron's business, we won't keep you. In fact, Jeremy here will escort you to the castle stables, and watch your horse and basket while you deal with the Baron."

Mordecai was thankful for that, and followed the guard as he went through the streets clearing the way and jogging at times. The Baron liked to put pins into his specimens. He didn't treat people who annoyed him much better. Mordecai tied down the basket after slipping in a fresh carp, and made his way to the Castle. It was a poor example of architecture. The mortar was missing in many places after years of neglect, and the roof looked the same. Castles weren't known for being cozy at the best of times. This one looked to leak like a sieve and the cold wind must echo down its corridors in the winter. Mordecai took in all the small details and memorized the route to the Baron's quarters as they walked.

He was met by a man with unkept hair in a threadbare robe. The stink of unwashed people mixed with formaldehyde. The two guards at the door were asleep as he walked up, guided by a pageboy. One guard stirred himself enough to announce him and then went back to his nap. The Baron had decided to cut pay and lengthen the hours they had to work. The guards had responded by getting in their sleep while on the job. Pinchpenny rarely left his rooms, and it was rare that anyone came to see him. Today was an exception and explained by the two glass jars with creatures fluttering within.

The Baron looked up from his book, and his eyes alighted on the two jars. "New specimens? Splendid. Most likely I have them already, but I'm always on the look for some pretty variations in wing color."

Mordecai put the large jars on a table, and stepped back so the Baron could examine the large insects in the jars, and so Mordecai could avoid being near the man. "These may surprise you. They only appear for one month a year and only in the deepest parts of the swamp."

Pinchpenny yelled at a scribe to fetch him his catalog of rare butterflies and moths. He rapidly flipped through the tattered pages until he matched entries to the two specimens in front of him. "You are correct sir. This is a Giant Tiger-Striped Wood moth. A splendid specimen. And the second is no less impressive. It has all the markings of a Winter Cloud Snow Wing."

"I'll take them both. Fetch this gentleman 10 gold pieces for his troubles." The Baron was staring at the two insects, chortling like a baby with a large piece of candy.

Mordecai cough heavily. "I believe the bounty of these was actually higher. It stated a minimum payment of 5 gold pieces for even one bit of wing, up to 100 gold pieces depending on the condition. These are in perfect shape, and alive to boot. I'm thinking I earned the full 200 gold."

Pinchpenny looked visibly pained at the idea. "Now see here sir! I'm a Baron, and it’s up to me to set my own spending limits."

Mordecai inclined his head. "Yes, your excellency. And it's my right to turn down your offer. There is a merchant in the capitol that will pay 200 gold each for these, alive or dead. I came to you because of your reputation as a collector and how close you were to where these come from." He went to pick up the jars, but Pinchpenny hugged them to his chest.

"No, no, I say! I won't let these pretties go! They are mine now. Guards!"

The guards walked into the room, unsurprised by the scene in front of them. Pinchpenny backed away from the table. "This man is threatening robbery. Take him down to the dungeons and see if that doesn't relieve him of his greed!"

Mordecai shook his head sadly, and raised his hands. "You know, I really didn't need this today. Lead on gentlemen. Let's see the quality of your fine dungeons. Oh, and can someone feed my poor pet? They are with my horse in the stable. She likes fish. "

Neither guard said anything and instead shackled their new prisoner on wrists and ankles before dragging him down the stairs, bumping him into a few things along the way. Few guards of any quality stayed in the Baron's service. Those that did often were the type that liked the feeling of power that came from abusing prisoners who couldn't fight back. These were certainly two of them. Mordecai arrived at the bottom of the tower and was shoved bleeding from two nasty gashes in his scalp into a cell. He pushed himself into a seating position and yelled after the guards. "Good to meet your both. I'm sure we'll see each other quite a bit now that I'm living here."

He looked around the dark room full of cells. Two had occupants whose lack of flesh on their bones indicated they'd been here a long time. Six other cells held families of peasants, with three to six people jammed into one small cell. Next to Mordecai was a man in the robes of a sage, assuming that sage had been living in a dungeon for a month.

Mordecai looked over at the man. "Hi, looks like we're neighbors for a bit. I'm Mordecai. I committed the crime of asking for payment for a delivery. What are you in for?"

The tired looking man smiled ruefully. "Ah, how despicable of you. But I did something worse. I told an avid collector of Lepidoptera that quite a bit of his rare specimens were actually fakes made from common moths that had been painted and glued together to appear as rare species. He didn't like the truth and I've been imprisoned here for a month now. I'd hoped that someone from the university would investigate, but alas, I think I'm on my own."

Mordecai smiled at him. "But now things are looking up for you. I'm here and we can talk to each other to keep ourselves from getting bored. You wouldn't happen to know the layout of the upper floors of the castle, and in particular, where Pinchpenny's collection might be stored? I've got some stories about bugs and other odd creatures that I can entertain you with in return."

There was a commotion from outside, and the screaming of horses. Mordecai shook his head sadly. "I told them to make sure my pet got fed."

"And I tell you, Pinchy did what he always does, gets out of paying by tossing some poor sod into the dungeon on trumped up charges. So, I say we see what's in his saddlebags before anyone else does and get our own little windfall."

Rod wasn't so sure they should. Some of the older guards were mighty territorial about who got what. But the two pennies in his pocket convinced him. He hadn't had a beer in over a week, and they'd been told their pay was going to be late again. It might be time to move on, and a bit of pilfered stuff could help. "Fine, Franky. Let's take a look and then get gone fast."

The two guards walked into the stable that was curiously empty of grooms or stable boys. It was also empty of horses. At the other end of the stable they saw that the door was open, with only scraps of wood to show where it had been torn off its hinges by frightened horses.

A small sound alerted them to something behind them. Both guards turned to see a small wyvern glaring at them. "Fishies?!"

Franky and Rod followed the horses out the door, followed by a hungry pet.