The trees distorted into brown and green blurs as Bleedy ran. Charlie hugged the racooneever closely, tightening his fingers around patches of fur, and leaning flat against Bleedy’s back. The wolf-teeth dentures in Bleedy’s mouth had allowed him to shift to his wolf-like form. Now the two of them, plus Mousifer and Orb, shot through the forests.

It had been Vetica’s plan. The searching magic associated with scarlet hexes was like any other kind of magic. It wasn’t endless, and the caster would have to decide between forming a constant connection with the target, or periodically checking in to make sure they still had the trail. Since Vetica could tell when someone was actively targeting on to them, she was able to discern which strategy the hex knight tracking them was using.

For a while, the connection had been consistent. Then it stopped for a brief period before focusing on them again. Over and over, those periods grew longer and longer, as the tracker became more confident that their prey wasn’t aware the knights were on their trail.

When the tracker took another break, Vetica seized the opportunity to throw them off. They weren’t actually sure which of them was being tracked. Had they heard about Merlin’s exploits in Sange and followed him? Perhaps the guild members of Gemini had set the knights after Vetica. Or, and this was the worst-case scenario, the knights had finally caught wind of Charlie’s trail. If that was the case, evading them just got a lot harder.

For now, they needed to maximize how much time they had to explore Arcadeya. So, they split up in hopes that the knights would be forced to do the same. They might only have the magical equivalent to a trail for the most case. But the wagon left behind a physical trail as well. Now they hoped to take advantage of that.

Merlin continued forward with the wagon and Marvin. Vetica had convinced the horse to go along with the plan for her sake. Marvin had reluctantly agreed. Vetica had taken off into the forest, moving along the treetops. She said she would make sure to leave a trail behind. Some of the knights would be forced to follow the path where members of the party they were following had obviously split from the others. Charlie, Bleedy, Mousifer, and Orb took the opposite direction. All three of them would continue moving towards Arcadeya, but they would take a detour through the forest before meeting up again.

If they split the knights up, it might buy them time. Time would be everything in the search for the researcher.

Charlie looked over his shoulder at Orb floating behind them. Bleedy was quickly outpacing the dungeon core. This new form was way faster than his usual. Charlie could tell Bleedy was stronger like this as well. Though they hadn’t had an opportunity to test that out yet.

“Squeak!” Mousifer said. He held on to the top of Bleedy’s head just in front of Charlie. Mousifer’s tail dangled in the wind and tickled Charlie’s face every once in a wild.

He giggled. “I know!” Charlie called out over the sound of rushing wind all around them. “But just because you didn’t get an evolution already doesn’t mean you won’t someday!”

Mousifer looked back at Charlie and nodded. “Squea!”

Charlie smiled.

“Slow down!” Orb called out. Bleedy howled, and Charlie did his best to mimic the sound.

“Owul!” Charlie screamed into the forest.

“If we tamed some monkey beast, you could be a real Tarzan,” Orb said, finally catching up. “I think this is far enough. We should start moving towards the others again. Vetica told us not to go too far.”

Charlie nodded. “Okay!” he patted Bleedy on the head. “Let’s head back toward the others,” he said.

Bleedy dug his paws into the ground, and they skidded to a halt. The racoonneever took a right and started moving toward Arcadeya again. Bleedy would slowly make his way back toward the main road, where he could rest on Merlin’s wagon. If everything worked out, they would force the knights to split up and waste a little time. If not, well, they’d have a fight on their hands sooner rather than later. Charlie smiled, leaning his head back and feeling the wind once again. He knew he should be more concerned about the knights, but right now, all he could think about was reaching Arcadeya. The city he’d set out on this journey to reach in the first place.

***

“Well, do you think it worked?” Merlin asked. The group had regathered a couple hours later. They all sat in a circle in the back of the wagon. Bleedy’s dentures were air drying in the circle’s center, much to Merlin's disgust. Marvin pulled the wagon forward on his own.

“I’ve been chased by knights before. It won’t throw them off our trail, but it will slow them down. I left several trails myself, so at least one search party should be delayed longer than the others,” Vetica said. She didn’t clarify why exactly she’d been chased by knights before, but considering her previous career path, no one asked any questions. “We’ll be in Arcadeya soon. It depends on the caster a lot, but some searching hexes don’t work as well in dense populations. They’ll be able to follow our trail, but it’ll be much harder.”

Marvin neighed up front.

Charlie couldn’t see over the bench in the wagon's front. He looked at Vetica and Merlin instead. Vetica smiled at him. Merlin’s head fell back, and he let out a sigh of relief. “I hope you’re right about them having a hard time finding us in the city.” He looked back up at Charlie. “We’re here. We’re finally here.”

Charlie’s eyes lit up; he crawled toward the front of the wagon. Merlin followed him and picked Charlie up. He stepped over the bench and sat Charlie down beside him. Vetica hurried forward and joined them up front as well. Mousifer’s head swiveled on Charlie’s shoulder. Orb floated above. Bleedy scurried up and clung to the back of the bench, peering over it.

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

Arcadeya was the most beautiful city Charlie had ever seen. There wasn’t a wall around it, like the other large cities they’d been to. Sirra, and then, of course, Sange. There were no walls, no gates, no guards. Just buildings upon buildings. The streets were finely paved, and in their center, a row of tall trees with blue and gold leaves separated one half of the road from the other.

The buildings had brown slate roofs, and carefully laid stone walls with wooden frames. There were wooden hanging signs that advertised shops. Flower shops, booksellers, and general goods. There was a bakery from which the pleasant smell of freshly baked bread came. Merlin’s stomach growled in response.

Some people walked from building to building. Others just strolled down the city streets. They looked happy. It was a stark contrast to his experiences in Sange.

“Why aren’t there any walls?” Charlie asked. What would the people here do if hex beasts attacked? What about the bandits Merlin was always worried about? Maybe the people of Arcadeya were crazy. They’d allowed trees to grow in the middle of their roads!

“Arcadeya is a city of trade. It’s deep enough in the kingdom that war has never affected it. It’s also unheard of for hex beasts to even approach the city in recent years,” Merlin said.

That was interesting. What would keep monsters from approaching the city?

On their left, a little girl ran out of a building with large glass windows that allowed passerby to see the wares inside. Charlie’s eyes fixated on a stuffed bear with comically long ears displayed behind the window. The little girl was holding a leather bag in her hands and stared up at them in the wagon. She noticed Charlie sitting there and waved before running down the street.

Vetica noticed Charlie’s smile. “At least the kids aren’t in a dungeon here. That’s a good sign.”

“That’s a very low bar,” Orb said. He floated forward when no one was looking and landed in Charlie’s lap. His color dimmed and the dungeon core appeared more and more like a toy ball.

Charlie blinked at him. “Oh no! You aren’t getting sick again, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Nope! But I did finally figure out how to avoid having to hide all the time. Drop me against the bench!” Orb said.

Charlie shrugged and threw Orb down beside him in the seat.

The noise Orb made when he hit the wood sounded just like it a toy ball would. Orb bounced back into the air a few times until the momentum died down. “So, what do you think? Convincing right?” Orb asked.

“That’s pretty good.” Merlin nodded. He picked Orb up and flung him forward into the street.

“You jerk!” Orb cried out as he bounced in front of the wagon. After he’d gone several yards, he slowed to a roll and stopped. Orb waited until the wagon moved over him. Then he floated under it and made his way back into the covered portion of the wagon, when he was sure nobody was watching. “What was that for?!” Orb demanded upon his return.

Merlin shrugged. “Had to be sure you would commit. I wasn’t going to let you stay out in the open if you couldn’t keep up appearances. I’ll allow it for now.”

Orb growled in their minds and landed in Charlie’s lap again.

Charlie tried to focus their attention. “What should we do first? This city looks really big,” he said.

“We need to get off the street and find somewhere to lie low for a little while. If you and Merlin work on finding somewhere for us to stay, I can start looking for leads. We need to find this researcher as soon as possible,” Vetica said.

A sizeable crowd of people was congesting the streets ahead. It seemed like a small market, and people were moving from vendor to vendor. The din of negotiations and conversation growing louder with each step that Marvin pulled them forward.

Vetica pulled Marvin’s reins slightly, and they turned onto a new, less-crowded street and kept moving.

“Richard said that the researcher would find us,” Charlie said.

Vetica and Merlin exchanged a look. “Yes, but how is he supposed to know you’re here? Plus, Richard never accounted for the fact we’d get stuck in Garden, Sirra, and Sange for as long as we did. We should’ve been here a while ago. Even if he sent word ahead somehow, this researcher may have already given up on looking for you. It’s best we take matters into our own hands,” Merlin said.

Charlie frowned. He had to admit it made sense. But he trusted Richard. If he said the researcher would find them, then he believed it. But he understood his friends were concerned. They had a good reason to be. The knights were dangerous, and they would catch up before long. His head shot to the side as a thought hit him.

“Hey Vetica, I know you said that sometimes a searching hex won’t work as good in a city, but if we had someone who could use those, do you think it could help us find the researcher?” he asked.

Vetica looked at him, surprised. “Well, I mean it could. But it might be risky to involve someone we don’t know in this. Besides, a lot of the more talented casters are already associated with guilds and…” She paused, slowly catching on.

Merlin looked over at her. “And what?” he asked. He looked at Charlie and then it hit him, too. “Wait, you don’t mean…Charlie no! That’s insane! We can’t.”

Charlie giggled. “I think it could work! You both want to find him sooner, don’t you? Doesn’t it make sense?” he asked.

“Baby?” Bleedy’s voice came from behind the bench.

“Yeah, I’m confused too. What are we talking about?” Orb asked.

Merlin’s head fell. Vetica smirked.

Charlie looked down at the dungeon core. “We’re going to kidnap one of the hex knights! The one with the scarlet hex! Then we’ll find the researcher in no time at all!” he declared.

“I hate to say it, but I’m with Merlin on this one,” Orb said. “How would we even pull that off?”

Vetica crossed her legs. “Actually, it could work. If we’re careful and coordinated. If we take the searcher hostage, they can’t follow our trail anymore. We lose the knights, find the researcher, and learn what we came here to learn.”

Merlin groaned. “And what if they have more than one person capable of searching? What then?”

Vetica shrugged.

Charlie pumped a fist in the air. “Operation adultnapper is a go!”

Merlin’s head fell into his hands. “I’m going to end up in jail again aren't I?”