Emily was currently sitting, lazing on the couch in the common room, with Cupcake glaring daggers at her.

“Look if you wanted food then maybe you should have come with me. There were times when I could have used a big intimidating mutt at my side.”

Cupcake growled at the use of the word ‘mutt’, even though she didn’t understand it, she could feel the negative connotation tied to it.

While enduring her partner's withering glare, Emily also had to contend with Nox’s relentless stream of questions.

“What happened to the side of your head? How did you find this place? And what about how you survived out there alone? Wait—what happened to Atticus and Marth? We couldn’t account for them. But Marth... there were some pretty bad rumors about his disappearance.”

Emily’s eye twitched and she glanced at Nox.

“How about this? Wait until Ashe gets back from the washroom and then we’ll talk. Till then, let's play the shut up game.”

Ashe had been in the washroom for the last hour and as the sun had set for the night, Emily had reached her limit. She was twirling a strand of her hair to calm her nerves, but she’d sooner rip it out if it got the teenager to shut up.

Nox pressed his lips together and after only a short pause open his mouth again.

“Okay, how about some food then?”

Emily sighed and reached into her pack.

She had a small piece of food bar she’d been saving, but if it gave her some peace she'd happily hand it over.

Nox made a face Emily was well familiar with but took the food.

“It’ll have to do.”

Emily gawked.

“Well sorry, there's a significant lack of grocery stores nearby.”

Nox looked like he didn’t understand the reference but shrugged. Emily wanted to strangle him but the door to the washroom opened, releasing a wave of steam and a freshly dressed Ashe.

“I have a bit of cheese in my pack if you want it Nox.”

Noxes eyes widened and he scampered off to go rummage through Ashe's belongings. When the graceful woman came to sit down across from Emily and Cupcake, her eyes fell on Nox with a warm light.

Looking up at Emily she squared her shoulders and taking a breath began to talk.

“Emily, I know it took me all too long to say this, but thank you for what you did for us back there. Thank you for coming to our rescue.”

Emily bit the inside of her cheek and shrugged her shoulders.

“Look, you’re fine, so no need to thank me. I just did it because I needed your help to find Alex.”

Ashe pressed her lips together and nodded, looking more comfortable when Nox came to sit down beside her.

It was just her intuition here, but Emily noticed a deepening of Ashes and Nox's relationship. They seemed more like mother and son than allies forced together out of convenience. When Ashe looked back up at Emily there was a sharp look of worry but also a determination.

“Right, so how in the world did you get access to the preferential treatment of a foreign dignitary living quarters? Please don’t tell me you signed a contract”

This caused Emily to tilt her head.

"Oh, so this is what this place is about. Well, yeah, it makes sense— because I'm pretty sure that's what they think I am right now. And yes, I did sign the contract."

Ashe pressed her lips together and held up her hand to halt Emily. She then began making a series of complex hand gestures. Emily had never seen her use these ones but once she was done she tapped her hand on the armrest of the chair and a faint green ripple spread out across the room.

When it returned Ashe let out a sigh of relief.

“Okay, it looks like there are no recording wards that I can tell, but I can’t be completely certain.”

Emily’s eyes widened, that was a thing? She hadn’t even considered that they might bug her room.

“Back to the contract. We need to find a way to get you out of it immediately. The longer you remain in it the more you will have to pay to get out.”

Emily frowned and shook her head.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“There was no mention of money exchanging hands when we made the contract, so I should be fine.”

But Ashe didn’t look any less worried, in fact, she looked downright scared.

“No, Emily you don’t understand. Even if it didn’t have any coin amount in the promised conditions. In the city of Lorthil, if you make any form of contract an amount is due every two weeks, payable to the city. If you cannot pay the amount, the person who entered into the contract with you is allowed to pay it, and you will end up owing them money.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed at that and she ground her teeth, she had talked back and forth with Ariandel to make sure there were no loopholes in the contract, how was she supposed to know there was one outside of their contract?

“Okay, how much is it?” Emily glanced over to her coin purse. She still had a few square coins left, and if she ended their contract in the first week then she only had to pay half, right?

Ashe didn’t look too confident as she glanced away.

“It's two Pentagrams, per two weeks.”

Emily’s nostrils flared as anger leaked through her connection with Cupcake, causing a rumbling growl to come from her place on the sofa.

“That's ridiculous. How can they even afford to pay that? What if they have multiple contracts in place?!”

Ashe shook her head.

“If a Mage has contributed enough to the city, they may build a tower in its wall, and as long as it stands, they are exempt from the fee. Meaning the only one that has to pay it is you.”

Emily's face twitched as she glanced around the room for something small to kick over but when she found none she crossed her arms and sunk further into the sofa.

“Now I see why Selia hated the idea of this city. So then, the question is how much do you still owe, and how were you able to get out of the city if you hadn’t paid your fee.”

Emily was making an assumption from what she had heard the man saying in the rusty gauntlet, but looking at the evidence it was pretty much a given.

“...forty pentagrams… It took me significantly longer to realize that particular rule, and my Master had no interest in telling me. I only figured it out when he took in another Adept. The dept remains even when one becomes a Mage, and it is notoriously difficult to work off.”

Nox had focused on the conversion now and he looked on sadly. That could have just as easily been him.

Ashe’s eyes blinked away the gathering tears.

“It's horrible. Once you fail to pay they bring in a Will Binder and force you to sign a servitude contract with them. It has you follow every spoken or written command that you hear from your master.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed as her own anger began to subside and be replaced with cold methodical purpose.

“How did you get out last time, how do we get you out now?”

Ashes bottom lip quivered

“My Master was drunk one night. He sent me on a collection mission just outside the city, but he was not exact in his wording as to when I needed to return. So I took that moment to flee, but if he finds me again I’m afraid I won’t escape. I managed to bribe the guard into letting the Mages go quietly, but I don’t know what to do from here…”

Emily could hear absolute despair in her voice, and yet something bothered her.

“If that was the case, then why the fuck would you come back here?”

Some anger appeared on Ashe's face replacing the fear.

“I intended to stay outside but the army outside made that a little hard! My master is a stubborn old man, but he has so many indentured to him he won’t care if one goes missing. But he will punish us if he ever finds us.”

Emily could see the woman's fear and despite that, despite coming back here, she could see Ashe still searching for the silver lining.

“It was not so bad. I still got to study when I wasn’t working.”

Emily didn’t like how quickly she was giving up, and more so than that, she hated the idea that she could be in the same situation.

Giving up her freedom for a second life was one thing. But giving it up for some coin was a good enough reason for Emily to raise this city to the ground if it attempted something like that.

Taking a breath Emily calmed her emotion and nodded.

“Well, I’m seeing Ariandel tomorrow so I’ll see what I can do on my end. In the meantime, you’ll stay hidden here. As luck would have it I have a job for you, I need you to read something and tell me what the heck is going on.”

Fishing in her pack, Emily brought out the light reading material she had gotten from Ariandel and slapped it down in front of Ashe.

Suddenly there was a tightening around Emily’s neck like a noose as she felt the contract kick in. She’d forgotten she wasn’t allowed to show it to anyone and her hand involuntarily snatched the research up.

Coughing and grabbing at her neck, Emily furrowed her brows, waiting for the penalties to subside.

“Shit, Emily did you just go against the contract?!” Ashe’s eyes were saucers.

After a minute to recover Emily frowned down at the pages.

There wasn’t as much wiggle room as she thought.

Taking a breath Emily thought about the workings of the contract for a second and then looked at Ashe and Nox. Both looked incredibly concerned, but Emily had to test the boundaries of the wording and hope that they got it. Closing her eyes she began without intention and erased any doubts from her mind.

Lying to skills was all about intent. If that was the case then there was room to maneuver the wording of a contract. Just like Ashe had used her master's wording to get out from under his thumb, it was interesting to see just how close she could ride this line.

“Alright, guys, I’m really tired. I’m not going to read this any further, but I want you both to know that I am placing this document here in the safety of this house. Neither of you is allowed to read it, if I see you have I will have to react in kind to protect it. I’m going to bed for the evening and will be up at around seven, so this had better be here when I get back.”

As she said this Emily put the stack of documents down on the small table in the center of the room while staring at Ashe.

She could see the message had gotten across but she didn’t think about it too much as she stepped away. There was the briefest feeling of restriction but it smoothed out even as Emily began to walk away.

Emily was taking a chance here, as it was cutting the line so finely. If she did come out here and saw either of them reading it, she would have to attack them to get the research back. But as long as she didn’t see anything then she could believe it was safe. One might compare it to a simple form of self-hypnotism and goal manifestation, whatever one called it, as long as she played by the rules, things should be fine.

Emily glanced back at the common room where the two people sat quietly and nodded, stepping into one of the two bedrooms.

They could fight over the other one, but for now, Emily wanted to get some shut-eye, and by the looks of things, tomorrow was going to be a lot more difficult than she had first anticipated.

Blood points: 305