The rest of the day was one of those horrible blurs of shopping. It wasn’t even really buying wherever we were going. Many of the stores we checked in on, and if we didn’t like what we saw, we moved on. The tailor was the worst.

I was used to the idea of going in and finding something that I liked and buying the size that I liked. Sure there were things here that were already made, but they still required adjustments to fit. That meant that we were in with the tailor and his seamstresses for the better part of three hours. When we were done, both Kasidy and Iris had new dresses for traveling. They somehow also got cloaks for all three of us. Then we found the cobbler, and another hour went away as they made the boots for the girls.

Once that was done, we headed over to see about getting traveling food. Waldrake had sold us a map of the area, so we knew that we were looking at about a month longer on the road. The trip would take us up the whole east side of Cloudia and around to the north. There the two passes would bring us into the country.

As we were out and about, I kept getting the feeling that Blink was moving about. She wasn’t close by, but I knew she was in the city. I didn’t have a clue what she was doing. All I knew was she was very pleased with herself. That worried me more than a little, but I wasn’t going to push. If she didn’t get in trouble, then I was not going to ask.

About the time we hit our tenth store, Kasidy whispered to me. “We are being followed by at least 4 guys. They have been at the last three stores.”

I nodded as we walked into yet another store. “Think they are after us or Iris?”

“Likely Iris as we haven’t done much. Unless they are with the guy that we got fired.”

I hummed for a moment. “They could all be related. That guy was working with the bandits, I’m sure of it.”

Iris asked. “What should we do?”

I smiled. “Just keep on. We aren’t in the bad areas of town so we should be okay.”

Then I thought to Blink. “Hey, we need you over here. There’s a group of guys that are following us. I don’t think they will attack but I need you to watch them. If they leave I need to know where they go.”

Blink pulsed back. “Okays daddysss”

Then we headed off to the stable. While the stable was part of the merchant’s guild, the stable owner wasn’t a friend of the current guild master. It was also the only place where we could buy the horse and the wagon.

When we got to the stable, I saw the owner first and waved. He sent someone over to let us through the gate. While we could have opened the latch, it was clear that the polite thing to do was to wait. Then the same boy who let us in before took us over to the office.

The white-haired owner smiled when he saw us. “So, what can I do for you today?”

I spoke up. “We need a small wagon, draft horse and perhaps a riding horse.”

Kasidy sighed and shook her head. “We also need the tack, food and two barrels for water. The wagon should be a medium wagon so that it can have two riders. Do you have one with a covered buck board?”

The owner turned to Kasidy. “I think we can handle all of that. What’s your price range?”

I backed off away from the haggling. I could almost see the mana flowing. I couldn’t, but with everything I had done moving magic and filling items, I could feel it in the skills they were using. It wasn’t the same as being forced to do something, but it seemed like they were both using a skill to haggle with.

Iris was just smiling some. She had talked a lot with Kasidy, and they seemed to get along now. It likely had something to do with her being awake or spending money. It wasn’t a universal truth that women liked spending money, but it felt close. In this realm, it wouldn’t surprise me if there was a goddess of shopping and sales.

After about thirty minutes of haggling and another twenty of looking through stock, we had a wagon and equipment that would be delivered to us the next morning at the inn. The rest of our purchases were also delivered over at the inn. We should be ready to load and go in the morning. At least, that was the plan.

As we left the stable, a group of four guardsmen came up to us. They were all lower leveled, just over 10. The armor they were was a light chainmail with a heavy leather chest piece. All four carried the same club with spikes that I had seen the others with.

The ugliest of the four stepped forward and said with a sneer. “You have to come with us. Can’t just be walking around with all those weapons. Not in the city like this!”

I put my hands out front. “Didn’t mean any harm. I didn’t know that was a law here. I wasn’t told when I came in.”

The big one said. “No excuses. Not knowing doesn’t mean you can do it.”

The other two, who were more on the slight build slide, had started to fan out. I wasn’t liking that they were working on surrounding me. Worse than that, they were separating me from the girls. The problem, of course, was if I fought, that was with the law.

I tried for a disarming smile. “Can I just go back to the inn I am staying in and leave everything in the room? Would that work?”

The ugly one answered. “Nope you need to go see the captain. We have to take your weapons and you need to see the judge tomorrow or pay a fine.”

I nodded. “How much is the fine?”

The big one smiled. “I think the cost is your armor and weapons.”

I laughed and pulled out my medallion. “You sound just like the bandits that I met out on the high road. Surely you aren’t telling me that this is how you treat members of the Adventure’s guild?”

The four guards stopped for just a moment. Then I noticed that the girls were gone. I didn’t know if they had left or if the people following us had taken them. I thought that it was the latter, however.

I thought out to Blink. “Do you see Kasidy?”

Blink sent me her view of Kasidy and Iris in bags over the shoulders of a couple of men. Blink was following but wasn’t attacking since she didn’t want to hurt the girls. I felt her anger at Kasidy being attacked.

I looked at the ugly guard and asked. “So can I go now? Or do I need to file a formal complaint with the guild about the way you treat our members? I thought this was an upstanding city but perhaps it’s not?”

Ugly waved to the other three and said. “We umm. Sorry we heard wrong. Didn’t know you were guild. Might want to keep that where we umm can see.”

I nodded to them, and they left. I saw them looking around, and Ugly had a smile that even his mother wouldn’t love. They quickly moved away, and I broke into a run.

I thought to Blink. “I’m coming. Don’t do anything but follow I want to know where they are going.”

I felt a seething anger from Blink. “I follows. Then I hunts them alls. Kasidy nice!”

We had avoided the bad side of town all day. That said, we had also avoided the good side as well. We weren’t heading for the docks but to the rich area. Each one of these houses had its own stone wall, at least as tall as I was going around it. There were more guards around, but they were posted at the large homes. These guards didn’t wear the city colors but rather had the tabards of the homes they were protecting.

It wasn’t long before I felt Blink stop. So I slowed down as I didn’t want to get into a direct attack which was what I knew would happen if I ran into the home. I had my guess about who took them and where we would find them.

As I slowly closed into where Blink was, I saw the largest house I had seen yet. It wasn’t as big as the castle near the port, but it was as big as some of the warehouses we had seen. It must have been a good 15000 square feet of stone on stone. Three floors with balconies and guards.

I slowly walked by as I muttered to myself. “That place is a fort and the girls are in there.”

I reached out to Blink. “What door did they go into?”

Blink showed me a door that appeared to be all bars. “Arounds back ands underneath. Nots main buildings.”

Once I was past the building, I picked up speed so that I could get around behind. Sure I was an adventure now and so could go armed. However, I still drew more attention than I wanted. I was kicking myself for not wearing the cloak right now.

The under and back meant that I had to leave the good area of town and move down the hill until I got to the door about a quarter mile from home. It was a small unlit gate. There were no guards, just a well-kept lock and iron bars.

I thought to Blink. “Did you follow them through the gate?”

“Yess. Leaves opens. Hunts nows. Lots of preys.”

I looked around and tried the gate. It swung open, and I went in.

* * *