It was two weeks before Garon heard it. Firebrand. He nearly tripped over his feet in shock. Recovering, he deliberately slowed his pace to match that of the two unsavory-looking characters who walked nearby on the crowded street. One of them had said it. They weren’t the kind of people he would want to be caught following; they looked like the type to take it personally. Worse, he’d seen their type in Laed enough to know they’d respond to perceived insult with force. Still, they would be unlikely to suspect he had any interest in them. He was obviously busy, dragging a cart full of crates.

“We could just make the Rounds somewhere else,” the taller man said. “The Firebrand can’t watch everywhere.”

“The boss thinks that’d be letting her win,” the other replied as he shoulder-bumped an old woman who had been walking too slow for his pace. She stumbled and he huffed in amusement at her struggling to keep her feet. “That’d make the Outsiders look weak, if we lose to a woman. One woman, who no one’s ever even heard of.”

“People have heard of her. She was in Westfall,” the tall man argued. “Heath heard the dock rats talking about her. They said that’s no ordinary woman, more like some kind of Eldan spirit or something. No shame cutting your losses when it’s the smart move. And it’s not a loss, anyway. Just relocating.”

“The boss won’t buy it.” He bumped into another woman. Garon ground his teeth together. What a pig. “It’s on her terms.”

“That’s not her terms,” his friend argued. “She said no more Rounds. We’d still be doing Rounds.”

The other shook his head and answered. “It’s not going to work. The boss isn’t going to be satisfied unless we get rid of the Firebrand.” And then he sidestepped into a narrow alley, and his tall friend followed. Garon, who had not been expecting this move, paused just a moment as he passed to look down the alley. He saw the first man, who had kept bumping into women, empty two small coin purses into the others’ hand and then toss the empty purses on the ground. As the tall man slipped the money into his pocket, he checked the street behind him. He looked right at Garon.

Garon immediately moved away. He hated to do it. He desperately wanted to hear more about the Firebrand, but he knew it wasn’t a good idea to stay. If they realized he’d been following them it would go badly for him, all the more so now it turned out they’d been pickpocketing. He quickened his pace and moved away toward the next destination on his list, breathing a sigh of relief that the two unpleasant men seemed not to have taken an interest in him.

It was silly to be afraid of the Market. Despite her previous experience there, everyone assured her it was one of the safer places in the city. Kiri knew this, but she still felt tense. Strange that she should be afraid of this place, where she had never been in any danger, but she had confidently walked the roofs of the shacks outside the walls these past nights without a hint of fear. Maybe she was afraid now because Yensa was walking beside her. Since Gilliam, she had always been more afraid something would happen to the people beside her than of something happening to herself.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“First the list, and then I have some things to buy for myself,” Yensa said, and then misreading Kiri’s unhappy expression, quickly added, “If you don’t have time, I can do it later. If it’s a problem.”

“What? No.” Kiri said. “No, that’s fine. What are you thinking of buying?”

“Well, it’s not really for me,” Yensa said. “A gift for my mother, actually. She loves glass.”

“Really?” Kiri perked up. “Me too. I know the perfect artisan. His work is so beautiful. If I weren’t a poor student I would’ve bought something myself.”

“Great,” Yensa said. She waved the parchment in her hand. “We’ll finish the Master’s list first, then see the glass artisan.”

Kiri nodded, glad to have something to look forward to.

It took longer than either of them had expected to fill the Master’s orders. They had to go to nearly every paper vendor on the Market to find the specific weights that he wanted. No wonder he had sent the two of them instead of going himself. But finally the last item was crossed out, and Yensa and Kiri crossed over to the artisan’s area of the Market.

It took Kiri a while to find the right tent. Though the tents varied in size and color, there was a sameness to them that made it hard to get your bearings or to be sure if what you were looking at was new or a place you recognized. But finally she found it. She held aside the curtain so Yensa could go first, wanting to see her reaction. Yensa stopped two steps in and stared around for a long moment before she turned back to Kiri with a broad smile.

“You’re right,” she said. “This is amazing.”

Kiri stepped in and let the curtain fall closed at the same time as the little old man by the door said in his wavering voice. “Glad you like it. It’s for pretty girls like you.” His eyebrows went up as Kiri turned to him. “Ah! The girl who wanted to catch my thief! Are you going to buy something this time?”

“I am,” Yensa answered from behind Kiri. “But first I want to hear more about the thief. Shaela mentioned it, but I’d like to hear the full story. I didn’t know she tried to catch him!”

“She is modest, as a young lady should be, of course. But I will tell you all about it. It was a stupid boy,” the old man said. “All of the artisans are paid up, but still he tried to steal from me?” The man shook his head slightly, his white hair wavering with the movement. “This girl started to chase him, but I told her she need not bother. The Enforcer’s dogs got him by now. Foolish boy.”

“Dogs?” Kiri said. “Do you mean the men that took him?”

“No, not men,” he said. “Not really dogs, either. Too big. Nobody I heard of has seen them up close to see what they really are--not and lived to tell about it.”

“So they…” Kiri trailed off.

“Dinner,” said the old man, miming biting his own arm with a faux snarl on his face. “Are you buying that, then?” he pointed over Kiri’s shoulder at Yensa, who was holding a twisting candlestick.

Yensa smiled and nodded as though the conversation hadn’t bothered her at all and stepped forward to pay. Apparently man-eating dogs were not news in Laed.