CHAPTER 13: IN THE MEANTIME
"Well, that sure worked out great!"
Thomas slammed shut the door to the team's commons room. The others had already returned and Maria, lounging on her chair, her face an otherwise unreadable mask, raised an inquisitive eyebrow in response.
Ricardo, his left arm still in a sling, grunted in frustration. "The hunters have seen neither hide nor hair of him either," his usual cheerful mood quite absent. "No unexpected tracks, no signs of struggle anywhere."
The tired warrior silently moved to the table and dropped into a chair with a grunt. Maria grabbed a mug and the pitcher in front of her and started the motion to fill the mug, only to freeze and reconsider. Putting down the mug again, she pushed the pitcher across the table, where it stopped straight in front of Thomas. Nodding gratefully, Thomas took the pitcher and gulped down much of its contents in one go.
"Aaaah" With an extended sigh tension left him and he slumped into his chair. "Damn." He looked around the room - Ricardo leaned against a wall, arm still in its sling and some other bandages in place. Tow, perching on the corner of his chair, caught between the need to do something, the uncertainty of not knowing what to do and misplaced guilt for not having been able to prevent this. The fidgeting would be rather funny if the situation were less unhappy. Maria, affecting ease and relaxation, lounging in her chair, while fully dressed to move out at any moment. Almost convincing my dear, if you had any control over face. That stony mask says more than any rage-contorted grimace could. It was probably best that the others did not know her as well ... or had not seen the remains of her room. Which left silent Shinji, sitting on the floor with legs crossed, apparently not a care in the world ... almost as if he had not been the first to note the missing boy, or spent most of the day scouring the city for any signs.
Each of us still damaged from the last delve. And now the healer is missing.
Gone in the morning without a trace, none considered Arcanis to have run away. Too late in the training for someone who cannot handle the pressure and pain, too early for somebody wanting to reap the benefits and then running away before paying the bill. Besides, he really did not strike me as someone to do that kind of thing.
So if he did not leave voluntarily, that left ...
"Well, as discussed, I went to the gates." Thomas interrupted his own train of thought. "As you probably guessed, they've seen neither hide nor hair from him since gate opening." He took another swig from the pitcher of beer and shrugged before continuing. "I left a description with them and talked with Marius ..." the captain of the guard "... and he agreed to keep an eye out for him. Within reason."
The warrior drained the pitcher fully, slammed it onto the table - without breaking it - and pushed it away, frustration evident in the motion. "In other words, they won't change their procedures, and they won't do it for too long, but the only way he'll leave the city in the next few days is by being smuggled out in a cart and dodging the inspection.
"So ... we've covered the gates and Ricardo handled alternative exit options as well as able ..." he pointed lazily at Towlar. "... Tow, how was the harbor?"
The young rogue jumped, being directly addressed. "A-all went w-well. I caught t-the Kobayashi bef-fore they set out - captain said no l-last-minute a-additions." he smirked before continuing "I'm- a d-drinking buddy with the purser a-and while he had ba-ad things t-to say about the state of d-disre-repair of the ship, he co-concurred with the ca-captain.
"No other sh-ship left since yesterday, and the harbor guards promised to k-keep an eye out."
Thomas nodded at the introverted youngster - who while bad with crowds was a good judge of character when dealing with individuals. "Thanks Tow. Maria, anything from your side?"
His - usually - fair lady broke out of her mask and gave him a sardonic smirk. "Not much to say here, boss-man. Nobody saw him at the guild, the mercenaries haven't seen him and neither did anybody in the common adventurer digs notice the lad." She started a motion as if to spit on the floor, but then obviously reconsidered before continuing. "Rowan won't give me the time of the day, but he insisted he wouldn't - and didn't - 'let any unclassed non-member kid just stroll into the dungeon'. Which probably is the closest to 'He didn't come in' I'll get out of him."
Thomas nodded in agreement, well aware of the bad blood between the two of them, and then looked pointedly at Shinji, raising one eye-brow questioningly at the Martial Artist. Who looked back and then just silently shook his head in negation.
Tiredly, the warrior leant back into his chair, closing his eyes, calming his mind and thinking things through for a minute. With his mind cleared and plan in hand he stood up, moved to the side of the room and looked at his teammates. "Ok, with that we have done everything we can do for an immediate chance at finding him. Given that we are down until our injuries have healed anyway, I'd say our usual recovery training regimen is in order. Starting tomorrow."
This managed to get a groan out of Ricardo and Tow did not look too enthusiastic either. Maria? impatient, but not disagreeing. Shinji ... well, the small Martial Artist thought about that whatever he did, unreadable from the outside as always.
"In addition to that, rather than our usual spare time freedom we'll be spending more time on the search. Maria: Adventurer guild and communities. Ricardo: Try indirectly stretching your feelers outside of the city and into the villages. Tow: The underworld - see what you can get out of your contacts and observe in the dark side of town. I will try and see what I can get out of my contacts, some of them definitely see more than they usually admit to." Thomas looked frustrated for a moment before continuing. "Guess I'll have to ask another favor of Darkeye, so soon after the last one." He nodded, resigned but resolute before looking at the last team member. "Shinji ... well, you do whatever you do. Can't say I understand just how your abilities work, but now would be a good time for mysterious solutions, if you've got any."
The Martial Artist only nodded in response.
"Alright, daylight's wasting, let's get to it!"
* * *
Great merit the young man had. More than any before him that Kurasawa Shinji had met. Unacceptable his disappearance thus was.
Shinji moved on from one roof to the other, ignoring the shout of anger from the street, beneath him as it was.
Traces, a lack thereof was not. The opposite instead pertained. Signs of merit much there were - whether of greater or lesser, of sin piled high or smaller detriments.
Onwards he moved, from house to house, crossing streets and entire quarters. Complaints deter from his path none would do. A spirit of virtue, lost, was unacceptable.
The moon, bright in the sky, before Shinji returned finally to the begin of his hunt. On their own inn's roof he stood, looking over the street in front of it. Traces of merit, thick they were in front of a place where many lived. Details hard to make out, beyond the means of one unworthy mortal of the Kurasawa line.
If himself unworthy, ask he would be forced to those of great merit, after closure had been met. A sigh he suppressed - tedious and lengthy a task it may be, but a great task with eagerness met should be.
With diligence, pursue it he shall.
Cross-legged he sat down on the highest point of the Inn's roof, closed his eyes and started meditating. Hours later, he still sat there as the first ghostly light appeared.
* * *
Raul woke up, feeling as if somebody had hit him in the face, using a hard wooden plank. Repeatedly. The world was shaking, even before he opened his eyes. The street noise outside meant it was day again. It also meant each individual shout outside drove a murderous spike of pain into his head.
With great effort he managed to open his eyes and take stock of his state and while his point-of-view was surprisingly low, he recognized his own room. Weird perspective, really, he was preeetty sure he should be seeing things from further up.
In a moment of surprising clarity and around all the pounding of head he realized that he was actually lying on the floor. Now why would I be doing that? With much effort he tried to get upright, using his arms and the strength of an adventurer helping him get motion started. The controlled stumbling around set his vision swimming and a deeply nauseous feeling rose in his stomach region. Ah, that is why.
More effort and patience helped him endure his pounding headache and spikes of noise-induced rending pain enough to figure out where his bed was, dragging himself towards it and - after three failed attempts and repeatedly managing barely to not throw up - successfully dumped his carcass on the comfortable piece of furniture. Not perfectly no - he was large enough that more coherence would have been necessary to ensure getting on perfectly - but enough that his back would probably only be annoyed with him when he woke up next, not screaming bloody murder.
Comfortable bliss.
Well, if somebody would just shut up the racket outside and turned off the light, anyway. But yeah, less horrible this way.
With what little energy he had remaining spent, Raul started fading out again. A ghost of a memory scratched the surface of his conscious mind at that moment. Did I really dump some newbie in the lower dungeon levels? But before he could lay more hands on that ghost his consciousness gave out and he drifted off with one last thought.
Nah, no way. Who would murder a kid like that?
* * *
"So, Shinji is still sitting on that roof, huh?" Their resident swashbuckler was leaning back in her chair, absentmindedly twirling a dagger in her left hand.
"Yepp." Thomas sat down on the chair next to her's, settling down before answering her unvoiced question. "And no, I have no idea just what it is he is actually doing. Well ... other than it - probably - being some Parthian thing." He touched Maria's shoulder, noticing the tension, then moved around a bit so he could start massaging both shoulders, draining some of that energy.
All those years, and still she cares he marveled at his boon companion. She may present a cheerful shell, and the occasional cynicism, but deep inside she cares. They exchanged looks and there was something there, lingering between them, warm and comfortable. And hopes, against all odds.
Suddenly, she stood up, moved over and sat on his lap, looking over her shoulder straight at him, giving him a smile of almost feline mischief then leaned back to bump against him. "Do it more" While wiggling her shoulders - and incidentally most of the rest of her body - suggestively at him.
With a small smile he surrendered and obeyed her command, giving the comfort implicitly sought. He did not need to ask the results of her day - in a way her tense shoulders were as eloquent as her mouth - they both had done their part, neither had gotten any further in finding their missing team mate. On second thought, there was that one thing...
Thomas stopped the massage for a moment to hug his fair lady, who in turn used this unobserved moment to snuggle in and luxuriate in the warmth and comfort. He too enjoyed this moment with none of their usual pretenses in place, for a second. Or two. Far too soon for his preference he broke the spell, giving her a squeeze before speaking up again.
"Tried contacting Darkeye, wasn't in, left a message." Maria looked up at him, questioningly.
"Think he knows something? Or can find something out?"
"Well, they call him Darkeye for a reason." he gave her the most reassuring smile he could muster.
"'Well' loverboy, you're the local here." she turned her head enough to look him in the eye, giving him a cheerful smirk. "I'm just the hired help, come from far away." An honest shrug. "I know he is powerful and influential in the region, but little more than that."
"Welll..." he smiled back at her, playing to her teasing of that word he never managed to eliminate from his vocabulary. "He is a bit of a local legend. Been around and a power longer than I have been alive and the usual assumption is that he knows what each scoundrel of the city plans on doing before they do."
Thomas gave a shrug. "Can't say I can guarantee he knows what happened, but he sure is our best hope for now. Even if it is an expensive one."
"Hm" she nodded in acceptance before turning up her slight smile to a wide, suggestive grin. "If that's all we can do for now and all that is left is waiting ..." she rotated on his lap so she could properly hug him back and make it simpler for their eyes to meet. "... we might as well occupy ourselves with something a bit more fun."
Might as well surrender while the surrendering is good. Thomas elected to not even put up a token resistance as she moved in an...
bang bang
They were interrupted by loud knocking on their door, but Maria refused to give up the advantage and distracted Thomas with a long and proper kiss, making sure it was Done Right. Another set of knocks finally ended the spell and with a sigh she broke contact and got off the warrior.
"Best answer that one, loverboy. Somebody wants to talk with you" The swashbuckler gave her boyfriend another grin, having taken her prize.
"What if it is for you?"
She shrugged off his riposte, poking him in his unfortunately armored side. "That's why I made you the team leader." She stretched herself, making sure to outline her figure for him. "Waaay more relaxing this way."
Sighing, Thomas stood up and opened the door just in time to prevent the next hammering. Their visitor turned out to be Seamus, the muscular Innkeeper almost fully filling out the doorframe.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Took you long enough boy!" He grumbled in his deep voice, giving Thomas a stink eye. "Knew you were in, so what are you keeping me waiting for?"
"He was busy." Maria contributed, shouting while having sat down once again on her chair.
"Well, he could have at least yelled something"
"His mouth was busy."
Thomas facepalmed, considering a response to her backrow teasing but giving it up as not worth pursuing. "Well, Seamus, what 'ya got for me?" He eyed the mountain of a man. "Can't say I'd mind a distraction before the audience gets rowdy."
Chuckling, the innkeeper handed over a sealed envelope. "Letter came in for the missing boy. And with that seal, I ain't gonna wait for the lad to turn up with it burning my pocket."
Inspecting the seal on the envelope, the warrior immediately noted the eye symbol. Raising an eyebrow he nodded in agreement before taking it off Seamus' hands. Darkeye, huh. A bit fast for an answer to my request.
He closed the door after the older man moved on, returned to his chair, carefully opened the envelope and placed the letter open on the table so Maria too was able to read the contents. Short and to the point as they were.
Lad
Training Time. Today evening after sundown.
"The Black Rose" Speak with barkeeper, tell him you have a meeting with mister Johnson. Follow his directions.
Master
"Right, you had set up that deal" Maria poked him in the side "Auspicious timing, is it not?"
The party leader could only nod in agreement. "Looks like it." Tapping a bit on the letter as he thought things over "Well, nothing for it, guess I have a meeting to attend this evening."
With a swift motion, the swashbuckler filched both letter and envelop from under Thomas' fingers, then watched him watch her as she with slow and precise movements folded the letter back, put it in the envelope, closed the envelope and put it all on the table. Then pushed it to the other side, outside of the range of her companion. "Nooow" with a predatory gleam in her eyes she went back to straddling him as he still sat on his chair "Time for the pre-meeting.
"After all, the letter never said just when after sundown, did it?"
* * *
Some not insignificant time later, Thomas went to leave the inn and head to The Black Rose - a respectable inn in the trade district. Down in the main room of the Traveler's Rest, Seamus was experiencing a slow afternoon with only a few tables filled yet. Not pausing for small-talk, the warrior was almost to the door to the outside when it was thrown open abruptly and two guards in the Erfurt colors, equipped in heavy armor, marched in, taking position on either side of the steps leading down to the floor level.
Following after them was a refined, elderly gentleman in a black suit, projecting a presence of serene authority. His eyes took in the entire room, calmly assessing everything, completely ignoring the pale reminder of previous grandeur ... or the smell and general demeanor of the current clientele. Finally his eyes focused on Thomas, who had slowed his steps, but not stopped entirely and thus was approaching the trio of newcomers. The adventurer felt himself being assessed and finally the gentleman nodded, as if Thomas had just passed a test and was found satisfactory.
"Thomas Endosi, I presume." It was a statement, not a question, but the warrior still nodded in confirmation. The voice was deep yet solid, betraying none of the years its owner - who had to be in his sixties at the very least - had obviously seen.
"Excellent. I am Ludwig Acron, servant of my Lord, Robert of Erfurt, viceroy of the County of Erfurt. My Lord has expressed a desire to meet with a member of your adventuring team, young Arcanis."
He nodded in recognition at Thomas "If you could produce him and have him accompany me, that would be much appreciated."
* * *
The shadows in the alleys of lower Erfurt were deep and dark, the oncoming sunset casting them into a twilight that made it surprisingly hard to make out distinct shapes with the few moments in the fading sun ruined your perception for the darkness. Not that that was much of a loss, except for those unwary of pickpockets - lower Erfurt, also known as the Erfurt slums, was not known for its scenery. The erratic building placement lead to plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in, the contempt for building codes guaranteeing any fire to have plenty of fuel.
Placed in the northern parts of the city, banished into the shadows behind the lord's castle and his fellow blue-bloods mansions, the people in this part of the city had less opportunities, less chances ... and often less hope. There had been more than one reason he had left the area at a young age, grasping the chance to live with relatives in one of the outlying villages after his parents died in a mugging. It was rather ironic that he would return only a few years later, but changed so much, he might as well be an entirely different person. Especially when his old home seemed to be whole unchanged.
It was a dump.
Keeping to the shadows, he moved unseen by most, avoiding trouble and keeping out of red zones. Red. The color of blood, spilled in anger. Honestly, I could probably pass through the gangs' core territories without worry these days. Still, the young man worked around the core area of the Sisters of Mercy gang, rather than risking conflict. Then again, no point in proving I can when all it earns me is more enemies down the road. He continued on, his eyes automatically assessing all passersby, categorizing them by perceived threat, behavior and ... well, intuition.
Since early childhood, Towlar had had that special tingling sense that would warn him of strangers that meant trouble. Fortunately, today they were silent, the most suspicious people a couple that faked making out, while casing the area. Probably guards in disguise, considering their sweeping eyes and rigid shoulders. And lack of acting ability.
Neither gangs nor guards being his problem to solve, the young rogue moved on, drawing close to his destination. Amidst all those dilapidated buildings, there was one ruin in particular that stood out. It looked as if it had been a manor back in the days when lower Erfurt was not a dump - assuming that had ever actually been that way. As far as the inhabitants knew, lower Erfurt had always been a dumping ground for those less fortunate, but then again ... this particular ruin had always appeared to be a promise of something more in its past. Having gotten around a bit more since his childhood, he was pretty sure that style of architecture was highly atypical for the region - none of the posh places in the center looked similar.
Another point of curiosity was that this ruin was being left alone. There had always been some plan to level the ruin and build something atop it, but for some reason nothing ever came of it. The gangs would claim territory, extort inhabitants, fight amongst each other ... but none would ever take over this lot. The few that had tried that back then vanished within days, with none the wiser - the few survivors refused to speak what happened, no matter the pressure brought on them.
As a child, he too had wondered about this place, but somehow other things had always been more interesting, preventing the kids from spelunking through the rubble. Now that I think about it, I kind of wonder what they did to avoid attention.
Either way, he stepped through the gate arch, past the ruins of two statues that probably at some point displayed some large bird monsters - maybe gargoyles? - and through the hole in the walls that once upon a time probably held the main door of the manor into a large hall. Once upon a time, that had probably been a majestic foyer, overlooked by a second floor mezzanine level. A place to hold parties and receive guests. Maybe. These days, there definitely was no second floor, just the open sky and lots and lots of rubble - trying to dance here would be excellent training for the balance skill.
On the other side of this area, a large mural showed a coat of arms which possibly at some time had been beautifully painted, its design a competition between artistic perfection and deeply meaningful heraldry. These days, a close observer would be able to note a stylized dragon, wings spread wide breathing ... fire. Possibly. The decay made it hard to tell, with all colors gone and only the stone relief remaining.
Moving on, he passed through another doorway, passed through some larger pieces of debris and made his way down some stone stairs until he finally made it out of the ruin and into a hidden garden.
The twilight made the details hard to make out, even at his formidable Night Vision skill, but his memory had no trouble filling in the missing details: The toys, the clothlines, the rotunda with the ancient stone benches, probably predating the current age and still untouched. Wrong time of the day, but his memories filled in the laughter, the cheerful screams, the mock outrage of the sister ...
Shaking his head, Towlar dismissed the illusion, much as he yearned to turn back the clock to that time. On the other side of the garden, lights spilled out of the windows of the large building that was the real reason behind this hidden island of peace in this otherwise inhospitable part of Erfurt. Walking across the grass to reach it, some real echo of the remembered acoustical child-grenade - dampened yells, pottery colliding, a chiding reminder to calm down ... Sounds like dinnertime, huh?
The young rogue opened the door and stepped into the bright room, making no noise at all, as was his professional habit. The expected scene played out, with several dozen children seated at several rows of tables and benches, a pot on each table and plates and utensils in front of most kids. There had apparently been an accident, with a very - very - innocent young lady being quite busy assuring one the three caretakers in the room that she had absolutely nothing to do with the new hat-fashion of the boy next to her.
None of the kids noticed the intruder into their austere, but warm home, thus the chaos continued unabated. "Well, well, well, look at who found his way back into our humble abode." Towlar flinched at the voice coming from behind him, sighed and turned around to face his nemesis - an old woman in the clothes of a Sister of Marwen, the goddess of fertility ... and incidentally patron of orphans.
"W-Well ..." the rogue stuttered while backing off a step, but-
"TOOWWW!!!!!!!!!" Their standoff was interrupted by the children finally noticing their intruder, rushing over and burying him in a most satisfactory group hug. He enjoyed being mobbed for a bit, but ... they just would not stop and after a short time squabbling broke out about who got to get closer to their visitor.
The sister grinned evilly at the pinned down rogue, before finally breaking things up with a loud clap. "Now, now kids, back to your places, dinner is getting cold." Her tone turned decidedly cold "You would not want to let Esmeralda's work go to waste, would you?"
"NOT AT ALL, SISTER!" A shudder went through the pack as they yelled their confirmation and rushed back to their places (with some more shoving, minor accidents and impromptu fisticuffs, but what can you do?).
She turned back to Tow, who had frozen at the command. "You too, kiddo, grab a plate, you should still know how things work, right?!" He nodded and complied quite swiftly.
* * *
"So, what brought you to this disreputable place of ours? If we had a reputation to begin with, that is." The old Sister gave Towlar a rather direct look from the other side of the table "Something we have been going out of our way to ensure we do not."
The young rogue took a sip from his cup of tea before answering. "Yeah, sorry about coming early, didn't want to, but ..." he let some of his pain show in his eyes "... it's for a friend."
She too took a moment to take a sip from her cup, before placing it back on the table in her office, to which the two had retreated after dinner. "I see" was all she said, before gesturing him to continue.
"Our latest team member went missing without a trace and now we are looking all over Erfurt. Didn't find a single trace of him, and ... well, if you don't look out for your friends, what do you have left of yourself? So ..." he looked back at her across the table with a piercing look "... I thought I'd ask 'the kids' whether they have seen or heard something."
She looked back at him, lost in thoughts, taking another few sips while stretching out the silence until Towlar had trouble sitting calmly. He almost interrupted her - despite knowing that that would be the worst move possible - before the sister finally put down the cup in a decisive motion. "Did you bring your brushes?"
* * *
It had taken some time to get done right, but it was not too bad. Painting one wall with in recompense for aid in the search was a fair price and they spotted the colors. His work had not been delayed at all by Tom wanting to paint a hat or Juli helping hold the color palette or little Timothy stumbling over the red pot or Max and Moritz deciding this would be a great moment to play "Tackle the Bandit" or ...
Alright, alright, it took way longer than it would have without the kids, but it was way more fun this way! Stepping back, Tow looked with pride at the finished picture of wonderous adventure - he picked the Goblin assault in the forest, though admittedly, Arcanis hadn't been quite as sorcerous in the original version, but then again, who lets facts interfere with a perfectly good picture?!. Right.
Careful not to wake up Vivienne, who had fallen asleep on his shoulders, he turned around to the old lady. "Fee paid?"
She looked at the painting, before returning her soft smile back to him "Fee paid, indeed." The sister reached up and gently cupped the left side of his face. "I am so glad you have kept up with that passion of yours. Try not to lose your soul out there, in all the pain and grind, the loss ... and the glory."
She nodded to the sleeping girl. "Also thank you for visiting - they do love their big brother, even if you can't visit as often as you would like to." Turning back to the picture, the old lady continued "And with this they also have a constant reminder of you, maybe some inspiration - or warning - for their future, too."
* * *
Thomas stepped into The Black Rose, a well off bar in the Merchant part of town. The place was doing well at the hour, the clientele appreciative of the many discrete sitting options and the sound baffling design of the décor. The light was none too bright, a pianist filled the room with a calming melody that - purely by accident, the warrior was sure - muffled most conversations to the level of being impossible to overhear.
In short, it seemed like a great place for private discussions for the well-heeled.
Not deterred in the least by the few unhappy gazes he caught - he was wearing his best, but that was not saying much in this context - Thomas moved to the bar, where a bartender was drawing a beer into an actual, perfectly clean glass mug. After placing it for the server to pick up and deliver he finally turned to the adventurer with a professional smile and not the least implication, said adventurer might have walked into the wrong establishment, and asked "Welcome to The Black Rose, dear customer, what can I get you?"
"Well, actually I agreed to meet an acquaintance here." Thomas responded with no less perfect a smile "Would mister Johnson already be here? I'm afraid I might have gotten delayed a bit - you know how an unexpected delay can keep you - but I hope he did not leave yet."
"Mister Johnson you say?" the barkeeper performed a flawless thinking posture, as if he actually had things through. "Why, I believe he has not left yet." He turned to the side and pointed at a door on the other side of the main room. "Follow through that door over there, it's the second room on the right, number four."
The warrior nodded in appreciation and left a smaller silver as tip on the counter before moving over to the doorway. The floor behind the door had some a lamp hanging from the ceiling and decorative carpets hung from both walls - one more instance of providing sound muffling, Thomas supposed. The door was hard to miss and he stepped in without knocking.
"Yer late, lad! Don't have all the time in the world, what was the holdup?" The rumbling voice greeted Thomas before he even made it through the doorway. "Alright, I know I'm just a Dwarf and you longlegs look all the same, but me don't think you be the kid that's not my apprentice. Don't think you humans grow quite that fast, anyway!"
Thomas nodded only with a sober look in his eyes. "Well, nope, we don't." The room was small enough and Thomas stepped fully in, closed the door and sat on the only free - and quite comfortable, much appreciated - chair. The Dwarf sat on the other chair, facing Thomas' across a smooth table. "The kid faced some trouble since we brought him in, but nothing beyond the pale. Not the kind of thing to break him, you see."
Darkeye nodded at that, grabbed a mug from the side-table and drew from the small keg placed on it, before pushing the filled up container across the table. "So...?"
"Well, he's gone" Thomas straight out admitted. "No trace at all, we know he stepped out early morning before daybreak - we had the two kids have the Spearman dream at the same time - and that's the last we know." He took a deep swig from his mug, staring at the table, before continuing "He left quite a bit of his stuff in his room, and he didn't take me as the acting kind ... or as one swiftly broken by harsh training." Another swig "So, our team went out and searched, each according to their own skills. Didn't yield much, so I decided to ask you for help, and a few hours later your letter came in. And here we are."
The Dwarf glared at the warrior with crossed arms. "So ye are telling me, that first ye found me a non-apprentice and now ye lost 'im, do ye?" He drained his own mug before sending a disgruntled glare across the table. "Alright then, I'll see what I can find, but!" he pointed with his right index finger straight at Thomas "I find there was some foulup, there be a price to pay."
Standing up he moved over to the keg. "Hurry up lad, that shoddy little keg ain't gonna drain itself!"
* * *
Much later, Thomas managed to make it back to the Traveler's Rest and managed to tiredly pull close the door. The main room of the inn was deserted already and he made his way over to the stairs, only to be intercepted by a grumpy, old, blind lady with a large kitchen spoon held threateningly.
"Now where did you lose my kitchen assistant?"