Cal and Jason kept an eye on the journalist for a minute longer. The man moved away from them and began peering in the windows of the nearby restaurants. When it became apparent that he was going to look in the windows of every restaurant on Blinkset Street, Cal and Jason decided to leave him to it. They headed into Randall’s.

“Evening, gentlemen,” said an immaculately dressed goblin standing behind a gleaming reception desk. “I’m afraid the auction is finished for the evening. Is there something else I can help you with?”

The lobby of Randall’s was opulent to the point of tastelessness. A luxuriant carpet of deep purple weave covered the floor, gleaming wood panelling glowed as if fresh-polished from every wall, and chandeliers loaded with huge candles filled the whole space with warm light. On the left, a set of wide double doors led into the auction hall, and on the right, a smaller door was marked Private, the message reinforced with a red rope strung across the doorway between two brass posts.

The goblin and his gorgeous reception table were right in the middle, between the two doors. The goblin was alone, every detail of him as perfectly turned-out and as gleamingly opulent as the rest of the room.

Cal knew that despite his perfect looks, this goblin was not just here for show. He would be able to handle himself. Sometimes there could be trouble before, after, or even during auctions. The lobby and its attendant gave the impression of genteel luxury, and a single person welcoming visitors alone was part of that illusion. If necessary, however, this beautifully turned out goblin would likely be well-equipped to fling troublemakers out onto the street on their backsides singlehanded, all with immaculate form and without knocking a hair out of place.

The goblin was looking at Cal and Jason now with an alert, penetrating gaze, and definitely - though he gave no outward sign of it - sizing them up as potential troublemakers.

“Good evening,” Cal said in his smoothest, politest voice. “My name is Cal Markwyrth, and this is my friend Jason, the well-known stone singer.”

Jason tried not to smile. He was hardly well-known, but it did sound good. He bowed politely and the goblin acknowledged them both with a nod.

“I had hoped,” Cal continued, keeping his formal tone in place, “to speak with Mr Randall. I purchased a shop from the auction house some time ago, and I’m interested in asking some follow-up questions about the property and the block where it’s situated. I’d wondered if Mr Randall might be available for a chat on the subject?”

“Ah, I remember you!” the goblin said, suddenly dropping his tense, watchful air and becoming friendly. “You’re the lad that out-bid old Mephisterion, eh? Hah! That was a sight to see. We talked about it for days afterward, Randall and me did. Some issue with the shop, then? Up near High Market square, wasn’t it?”

“Sandweaver Street,” Cal said with a smile, “near the old Northwood Brewery.” He felt himself relax, pleased by the goblin’s memory of him, and his sudden change of attitude.

“Aye, I remember the place,” the goblin said. “Nice area, and the shop was a steal at the price, even if it was in a bit of a rundown state. But I'm afraid if there’s any problem we won’t be able to do anything about it. We’re just the auctioneer, we can’t be held responsible for any issues with the building. You need the sales agent if you’ve a complaint.”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that,” Cal said hastily. “There’s no problem. Actually, I’m really happy with my purchase.”

“Oh? What, then?”

“Well, the thing is,” Cal said confidentially, “there’s another lot nearby that I’m interested in, and I’d like to find out about it. By rights it should be for sale, but it doesn't seem to ever have been listed, and I was wondering if Mr Randall bight be able to recommend where I should go to find out a bit more about this other place.”

“Ah, I see,” the goblin said, nodding sagely. He looked interested and seemed inclined to help. “That sounds fair enough. Glad it’s going well for you, well enough to think about expanding already! Problem is, Mr Randall ain’t here. Gone away on holiday, he has, just for a couple of days. Down to the southlands to visit relatives in Tain. Won’t be back until day after tomorrow. Deputy auctioneer’s been running things, young Mr Timms, the march ectoplasm. Good at the job, though between us, a bit too sticky for the gavel… but I’m speaking out of turn, and the march ectoplasm does as well as he can, given his nature. Anyway, Mr Randall’s like to be in first thing day after tomorrow. How about this, I’ll put a note in the book that you’re going to come by and see him here at, say, 9.30 in the morning? How would that suit you?”

“That would be great,” Cal said. “Thanks!”

“My pleasure,” the goblin beamed. “The front door won't be open, but you just bang on the door, and I’ll come and let you in. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I must just lock up and do the last bits and pieces of cleaning. This carpet won’t sweep itself, and the wood paneling needs polished too. And the gavel needs a good scrub. Goodnight, gents.”

And with that, he bustled them out and locked the door behind them, giving them a cheery wave as they stepped out into the night.

“The weather’ dropped colder while we were in there,” Jason said, pulling his collar up. “What d’you want to do? I guess we’ve given that journalist fellow the slip for now. Is it too late to go over to Blue Mile and see your friend Maddie?”

Cal looked at Jason’s face in the lamplight. He looked okay. There was some color in his cheeks, his voice was firm, and his eyes were bright. He seemed entirely to have recovered from his fainting fit.

“You’re feeling better?” Cal asked.

Jason nodded. “Fine,” he said. “I just pushed things a bit too hard, and I think you’re right about mixing magic and alcohol. It’s a lesson for the future.”

“Oaky,” Cal said. “Well, in that case I think we should go see Maddie. She’ll want to know what we’ve discovered, and it may change her plans, so we should let her know as soon as possible.”

“Cab rank is this way,” Jason said, pointing up a side street that led away from the auction house and from Blinkset street. They walked together up this small street, Cal struck by the sudden change in the feel of the area. Here, there were no restaurants. During the day, this would likely be a busy little throughfare; tonight, it was deserted and empty, a stark contrast to the bustling atmosphere of Blinkset Street, only a few yards away. The shops seemed to be mostly fabric shops and boutique specialist clothing stores, very narrow shop fronts with tall glass display windows now covered with metal shutters for the night. Cal spotted the glint of enchantments in the metal.

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They turned a corner out of this strangely silent little street and found themselves on a wider road where closed shops jostled side by side with open, bustling restaurants. On the corner of this road was a cab rank, where a steady stream of wyvern cabs were leaving with customers or arriving to drop fares off.

Cal and Jason got in the queue and waited only a few minutes before it was their turn to take a cab. As Cal climbed up into the box, he happened to glance to his left, down the street and back toward the alley they’d just come from.

He stopped halfway into the cab, blinking in surprise. There was a clip-clip of horse’s hooves and he saw the unmistakable shape of the reputable cab he’d caught earlier that same day, the strange little cab with the unpleasant interior and the outrageously grumpy driver.

One instinct suggested to him that he should catch the unusual cab again and ride it back to Maddie’s place, just for the strange symmetry of the thing. At the same time, another more cautious and stronger instinct told him that it was too much of a coincidence.

An involuntary shiver ran over his body. How rare it was to see an old-fashioned horse drawn cab in the middle of Jutlyn! How much rarer still to see the same one twice in one day.

Suddenly, instead of the fanciful notion of catching the same cab again, Cal felt sure not only that he did not want to catch the cab, but that he did not even want to be seen by the cab driver. Who was this man? Was he following Cal? Was it truly just coincidence or was there some sinister undertone to the fact that he had seen the same cab driver twice in one day?

In a moment, he slipped into the box of the wyvern cab, and Jason jumped in next to him, closing the door with a reassuring click.

“You alright?” Jason asked.

Cal called the address to the wyvern through the front window and the cab pulled smartly away from the rank. As they moved onto Elm Street and turned right, Cal glanced through the side window and back up the street where they’d just been, but there was no sign of his mysterious horse-drawn cab.

Had it been his imagination?

“Cal?” Jason asked again. “What’s up? You seem distracted.”

“I thought I saw something,” Cal said. “Something weird.”

Quickly, Cal sketched his earlier encounter with the unusual cab, and told Jason how he had thought that he had just seen the same strange figure again.

“It does seem odd,” Jason agreed, “but surely it’s unlikely you’re being followed. After all, who would want to? And if they did want to, who would use such a distinctive and unusual spy to do the following? Surely it would make more sense to use somebody more discreet.”

“That’s true, at least,” Cal said, smiling and laughing. “I hadn’t thought of that. No, you’re right, I’m probably just being paranoid. I guess I was put on edge by having to run away from that journalist. I’m not used to that kind of attention.”

“You might find yourself getting a bit more of that kind of attention if you cause a stir with your new product. You’re likely to catch the attention of the papers at least.”

“That’s true,” Cal said. “I hadn’t thought of that. But I suppose it’s a good thing, really. If we’re going to cause a stir and sell lots of the new product, a bit of publicity will help. I just want to make sure that it’s on my own terms, you know?”

Jason nodded. “Definitely,” he said. “That kind of thing is very much a two-edged sword.”

“A what?” Cal asked.

“A two-edged sword. You haven’t heard that expression?”

Cal shook his head.

Jason laughed. “Interesting. It comes from the older days, I guess, when swords were a bit more in fashion. I’m not sure where I picked it up. Perhaps from one of the dwarven sagas, though they’re more likely to use axes than swords. It just means something that can be good or bad depending how you use it, like a blade that can cut your enemy or yourself, having an edge on both sides rather than just on one.”

Cal nodded, looking out the window. “A two-edged sword,” he mused. “Yes, that about sums it up. I confess I’d never really considered becoming a publicly known face, but I suppose if I become a successful entrepreneur in enchanting and the creation of new items, that’s something that is going to happen whether I like it or not.”

They lapsed into silence, both absorbed in their own thoughts. Before long, the wyvern pulled up in front of the address in Blue Mile, and Cal got out and paid the fare.

Before he approached Maddie’s front door, Cal took a good look up and down the street. Jason realized what he was doing and did the same.

“No sign of anybody out here,” Jason said. “Certainly not any suspicious cab drivers.”

Cal nodded, but he couldn’t help feeling strangely unsettled. Still, Jason was right. There was no sign of anybody else in the street except for the wyvern who they had just paid, rattling sedately away toward the nearest cab rank.

A glance up at Maddie’s windows showed a light on in the workshop and darkness in every other window of her apartment. Cal stepped to the door and pressed the bell. Immediately, a shadow passed across the lit workshop window, and he saw the silhouette of the fabric merchant framed for a moment against the golden rectangle of warm light. A few seconds later, they heard the patter of footsteps and the rattle of keys in the lock.

The door opened a crack and they saw Maddie’s face peering out at them, her expression surprised and a bit uncertain.

“Cal?” she said. “I thought it was you when I looked out the window. Is everything alright? Who’s this?”

She opened the door a little more, but still not wide enough for them to enter. She looked piercingly at Jason.

“This is one of my oldest friends,” Cal said. “We used to work together, and he helped me buy my shop. Maddie, Jason. Jason, this is Maddie Turner.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Jason said, bowing politely.

Maddie opened the door a little further. “Likewise,” she said, a little stiffly, but made no move to let them in. “What’s going on, Cal? I wasn’t expecting you, and it’s a little late for visitors.”

Her eyes were still on Jason, and Cal saw the return of the stiffer, more closed version of Maddie. She didn’t take to strangers quickly, and though she and Cal had now developed quite a firm friendship and a sense of ease together, the introduction of somebody she had not met before into the situation changed her dramatically.

“I’ve got some exciting news,” Cal said. “May we come in, please? I know it’s late, but I thought you would want to know this straight away. It might change our plans; my friend here has played a crucial part in the new developments.”

“Of course, of course,” Maddie said, glancing up at Jason. After a moment’s more hesitation, she pulled the door wide enough for Cal and Jason to step through one at a time.

“Shoes off,” she reminded them, and they both knelt to undo their laces and leave their boots on the mat by the door while she relocked the outer door.

“Come on up,” she said, leading them up the stairs. She pushed the door of her apartment open, and they followed her in. She closed the apartment door. It clicked solidly shut and she turned the key in the lock.

“Now then,” she said, facing them and placing her hands on her hips as she looked them up and down. “Just what exactly is this big news?”