I threw myself down the stairs, leaping down them three and four at a time until I made it to the main hall. Time was of the essence! I had to reach Raina before it was too late.

No time to duck through back halls and servant’s entrances. I ran straight for the main door. Lord Erik was pacing back and forth, no doubt anxious about the state of the assassination attempt being committed with every second that passed.

I slowed, panic sending my heart beating faster and faster. I needed to get through, but, if he tried to stop me, the fight would be swift and unspectacular. But…

My worried musings were interrupted by a thunderous BOOM that echoed through the main hall. In an instant, Erik was at the door, pulling it open to greet the person who lay beyond.

This was my chance! The door was open, there would never be a better chance to slip past the unsuspecting lord. I launched myself forward, running with all my might towards the winding gap between the door and the feet of the hulking, stomping, two-legged humans.

“Erik,” greeted the sweet voice of Lizzie. “I hope you don’t mind, I brought a bottle to help get through the meeting.”

“We’ll need it to reach any sort of consensus, I think,” he agreed. Lizzie wrapped an arm around the lord’s shoulder.

I made my move, streaking towards the gap in the door before either of the high-level heroes noticed. I brushed by both sets of boots! They’d never catch me! I was too quick, too sleek, too graceful to ever be-

Whiplash shot through my body as a grip like iron wrapped around my middle and lifted me off the ground. My focus on Telekinesis was violently broken, sending my book tumbling to the ground.

“Now, what do we have here?” mused Lizzie as I squirmed to break free of her arms. “Malzy, is that you?”

No! Lizzie! You’ll give away my identity! Erik will know that I’m here and that I know of his secret, diabolical plan to murder my summoner! Let me go! Put me down!

“You know this cat?” Erik asked.

“Yeah, he’s actually our new inspector,” she explained. “He’s a souled familiar belonging to Raina Whitehex.”

“Whitehex?”

“Thought that would catch your interest.” Lizzie smiled mischievously at the lord. “She came to the guild about two weeks after word of her mother’s death reached me.”

Lord Erik nodded somberly. “Yes, I heard. I did not realize until recently, however, that she had a daughter.”

I hissed at the lord. His gaze was too intense. He wanted Raina dead, I knew it! I was the only one who could stop it! Lizzie let me go!

“Hey! Ouch!” she cried as I sank my teeth into Lizzie’s hand. “Malzy, what’s gotten into you? What’s wrong?”

I wanted nothing more than to tell her everything. Had I real words with which to speak, I would tell her about Lord Erik’s treachery! I would tell her of the plot in his son’s secret study! I would tell her about how her so-called friend was scheming to murder my Raina!

Except, I didn’t have words with which to speak. I had no way to communicate with the pink-haired barkeep. My bite had barely even broken the surface of her skin. She was so much more powerful than me.

Lizzie held me up, her hands hooked under my forelimbs as she stared into my eyes. Suddenly, everything was quiet. Even my own panicked thoughts were pushed aside by an overwhelming sense of calm forced upon me from outside myself. I stopped squirming, and just stared into the barkeep’s eyes, hoping desperately that she would know the fear and urgency in me.

“He’s afraid of something,” she whispered. “It’s a panic far beyond anything mundane. There’s a life at stake. I’m certain.”

“I’ll get my sword,” Erik said. Lizzie held me close again, stroking my ears as I trembled in her arms.

I wasn’t sure about this. Erik was the enemy. What was stopping him from arriving at the scene of the crime, and attacking Raina instead of helping?

Then again…what was stopping him from just doing the deed himself? He was a noble with twenty-four more levels than Raina and me. Why would he need assassins in the first place? If he wanted us dead, he could do it easily, and it would be his word against any potential witnesses.

“It’s going to be okay, Malzy,” Lizzie whispered. “I trust Erik with my life. We’ll see it sorted out, just you see.”

I sincerely hoped she was right. Otherwise, Raina would pay the price.

A moment later, Erik returned with a sword and shield in hand. Though he wasn’t wearing his full armor, he looked more than capable of handling himself.

“When Ser Rivan comes, tell him the meeting is cancelled,” he called to a servant. “Tell him that something came up and that Lizzie and I will reschedule for tomorrow!” The servant bowed.

Lizzie released me onto the floor. “Alright, Malzy. Where do you want us to go?”

I blinked my thanks once, then turned and sprinted into the night. Lizzie and Erik followed at my heels. We ran right past the gates and down into the streets of Aldar.

If there was anywhere Raina would be, it would be the Laughing Lute. I made my way there, wishing that I were faster. Maybe it would be worth putting a few points into Internal, if only to have it for situations like this.

Allocating 2 Points to Internal

Spell Discovered: Endurance I

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Mana surged into my body, charging every muscle with a painful tension that I shoved aside as I continued to run. The cramping screamed to be acknowledged, but I growled and howled in determination. I would not be defeated by a stupid increase to aptitude! Amsiii, do your worst!

The pain lessened as the changes from my mana took hold. I felt my breaths come more evenly as Endurance fueled me. It wasn’t what I needed though.

If Internal-typed spells increased my body’s ability to perform various feats of strength, then I could add Energetics to it the same way I’d created fire. I forced the manas to mix inside me, pushing my paws to move forward faster and faster.

Spell Discovered: Speed I

I raced ahead, certain that Lizzie and Erik were still behind me as I sprinted down the street, past the Church of Valencia, and to the Laughing Lute.

Without even stopping, I shoved the door open with telekinesis and leapt onto the nearest table to see. I whipped my head around, searching for Raina amidst the sea of adventurers. At our party’s usual table, only Cithrael and Aelisra waited, the latter downing a tankard of ale.

“Raina!” I called. She didn’t answer. I puffed my tail out, darting back and forth across the table as I frantically searched for my witch.

“What is it, Malzy?” Lizzie asked. I didn’t have any way to tell her. I didn’t have a way to communicate that I needed to find Raina before she was hurt! “Erik, watch him. I’ll get the rest of their party.” She began making her way over to the others.

Raina was not here. She must have left. I leapt off the table and darted outside, trying to pick up a trace of her scent amidst the myriad scents of the town. I searched desperately for the scent of herbs and earth, opening my mouth to taste them as much as smell.

“He is panicked,” Cithrael concluded upon arriving with Lizzie. “Though, the only one who can understand his words is Raina herself.”

“Do you know where she went?” Erik asked.

Cithrael shook his head. “Terrowin asked to see the city from an insider’s perspective, but they didn’t say where they were going.”

“They could be anywhere, then,” he muttered. “Alright, Lizzie, you search the Guardian Tree, I’ll rally the guard to find the girl. Young man, you stay with the cat and let us know if you find anything.”

Cithrael nodded. Lizzie took his hand and placed a tiny glowing pearl in it.

“Put this in your ear,” she said. “It’s a whispearl, and I want it back in the morning.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Cithrael agreed. He put the object in his ear just as Lizzie handed another one to Erik before putting one in her own. It must have been a pretty expensive object, given the stern tone Lizzie took with Cithrael, who was easily more responsible than any of the hench-humans.

“Just tap the pearl and speak. We’ll hear you if you have anything to report,” she explained.

“Yes, ma’am.” A moment later, the older adventurers were gone, each one racing off in a different direction. Cithrael knelt next to me. “Aelisra can barely stand, right now. I guess it’s just you and me.”

At least I had the most reliable of my servants. I paced back and forth, trying to catch even a trace of Raina’s scent, or even Terrowin’s, but there were just too many smells. They wove into a confusing tapestry of city life that twisted and turned on itself. I couldn’t decipher anything in the muddled mess.

“Maybe they went to the market?” Cithrael suggested. “They both needed new cloaks after the scorpion bombs.”

It was better than standing around trying to make sense of the scent web. I took off, racing on my own four paws rather than riding on the elf’s shoulders. I just…needed to move on my own. I couldn’t stand the idea of letting him do all the work.

We sprinted with all that Speed I had to offer. My paws pounded the cobblestones as we streaked through the streets. I desperately hoped that Raina had the good sense to keep Terrowin from navigating, otherwise we’d never find them.

Market Square is the beating heart of Aldar. Located between three different residential districts, it serves as the center of all trade for goods and services both domestic and commercial. In fact, so much business is done in the “square” that it spans a good quarter turn around the hill upon which Aldar was built. The massive stretch of road was normally filled with a constantly shifting set of pop-up stalls selling everything from adventuring gear to spicy kivagoat on a stick.

However, at this time of night, many of the stalls had packed up their carts and left for the farms and businesses outside the city until the morning, leaving only the handful of wealthy shopfronts that made up the outside edge of the square. Few people wandered between these, but a few lights on in the windows showed that business was still happening.

“If I were a directionally challenged knight and his witch escort, where would I be?” I wondered. I imagined briefly that Cithrael could hear me, and gave one of his small smiles of amusement, but that was not to be. Instead, he scanned the small crowds, looking out for a mop of mint-green and a longer tangle of blond.

Tension was thick in the air. Something was wrong. The air tingled and shifted. I released my hold over Speed I to conserve mana while I opened my nose and mouth to the scents around. As soon as mana began to trickle back into my pool, I recognized it.

The air here was filled with mana, way more than there should have been at the center of town. It felt hot like fire, somehow more sinister, as corruption resistance filtered out the impurities. There was so much of it…it couldn’t possibly be safe, even for the so-called holy casters and civilians who still filled the square.

Raina was in trouble…I needed to get to her now! If she was here, then she was at risk.

Cithrael reached down and scratched my ears. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll find them. Do you smell them?”

He was right. Focus. Focus on the problem, Malzy. You haven’t felt Raina pull on our mana pool, she’s probably just trying on a new cloak and wondering if she can make a spell to repel cat hair or something silly like that. Focus first on finding her, then deal with the absurdly high amount of mana in the air.

I focused on my senses as I began trotting through the market. There were so many here, too, but I only needed one. If they were here, they wouldn’t have come through all that long ago. The scent should be easier to pick out than before. Just…focus…

There! Grass! Terrowin! And next to it was Raina’s herbs and soil.

I howled at Cithrael before sprinting in the direction where the scent was stronger. He was on my tail in an instant.

“Lizzie,” he said, tapping the whispearl in his ear. “I think we might have a lead on Raina. Market Square, west side. Malzy caught a scent.”

I darted between legs, calling again on the power of Speed I to push me forward.

Speed I upgraded to Speed II.

Spell capped due to insufficient aptitude.

That’s fine. I’d deal with that later. The stones raced by as I followed the smells of grass and herbs down the long, busy street. Cithrael followed as closely as he could while trying to run around the various crowds that were too dense for his larger form to pass.

Soon, I found myself in front of a shopfront where the scent was strong. I was no bloodhound, but I could tell they’d spent time in front of the shop. The trail was so strong, I must have been close now.

But…where were they? I whipped my head around, trying to find them, but there was nothing. My trail ended here. Had they gone inside? Or gone somewhere else? Where were they?

My ears pricked to the side as a scream met my ears from across the street. Cithrael’s bow was in his hand with an arrow already on the string.

If there was a scream, then maybe we weren’t too late! We could still save her! I raced ahead, calling a ball of fire to my side. Screams of shock at the sight of a magic-wielding black cat racing across the lamp-illuminated stones followed me. Civilians parted in terror before me, as they rightly should.

“Raina!” I called as the blond hair of my witch finally came into view. She and Terrowin were backed into a dark corner of the market square by four shadow-cloaked figures.

The two were back-to-back. The knight’s glaive was bared as he swiped at the nearest of the shadowy assailants.

Without a second thought, Cithrael and I threw ourselves into the fight.