“This isn’t anything light I’m going to ask of you, so you’ll definitely deserve more in return than a pair of bracelets. You two need anything else? With enough time, I can get you just about anything. Friends in high places, you know. Well… almost anything.” Makatai held his hands up in front of him. “Wait. Slow down, Rycher. What’s this favour you’re talking about?” “Come with me.” Rycher stood and opened the door to the basement, and they went down past him as he locked it behind them. “Look.” He started as they reached the bottom. “The fact of the matter is that as it stands you two are criminals here. That dagger brands you as one, and you-” He pointed at Ahanu “-will be named as an accomplice. As it happens, I belong to a certain…” He paused for a moment, perhaps to consider his next words. “...group. A group that opposes the current queen and her criminal rule. And my group needs the help of someone like you. You see, the queen has been desperate to keep shamans out because she is in possession of something that is releasing a ridiculous amount of spiritual power kept somewhere below New Camelot, likely beneath High Holden. We only know that it exists because of a shaman who came before you who we managed to find and convince to help us before you two, an older man who called himself Kandan.” At the mention of the name Makatai felt a tremor from deep within himself and sensed discomfort from the spirit of Noaidi residing within him. Makatai too recognised the name, and a grew a tense expression.

“Wait. Hold on. Kandan? Are you certain his name was Kandan?”

“Yes, certain. There’s no chance I’d forget him. He had some horrible eyes. Kept me up at night!”

Ahanu looked over to Makatai, whispering in his ear. “Kandan? As in Kandan the Vulture?”

“I suppose so. Who else could it be?” Makatai whispered back.

“But… Isn’t he made up? He doesn’t exist, right?”

“That’s what they told you. And the rest of the usual villagers too. But we’re taught a different story during our shaman training.”

“Are you… Are you joking?”

Rycher interrupted their hushed discussion with a terse cough. Staring them both down, his vibrant blue eyes clouding and seeming to petrify them where they stood. “He disappeared. Vanished without a trace. Leaving us with nothing more than the knowledge of something we couldn’t do anything about.” He clenched his jaw, turning away and pulling a chair out from the small round table before crashing down into it. He looked up at Makatai who had remained standing, rather unsure of how to behave and rather stunned by the sum of this information. Rycher continued to stare, his eyes fixed on Makatai, and a wide smile slowly split his face. He sprung to his feet and gripped him by the shoulders, shaking him and grinning like a madman.

“But you!” He cried as Ahanu struggled to pull them apart and Makatai writhed under his grip. “You’re just the chance we needed! A gift from the spirits!” Thunderous peals of laughter burst from his throat, mighty and enthused, while bright passion burnt and lightning crashed behind his corneas. The basement echoed from the noise until it finally settled to a halt. Rycher once again became calm, the sudden burst of excitement clearly passing as soon as it had come on, and stood tall facing the others.

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“My apologies.” He said “But I thought it was hopeless. I truly thought it was all hopeless. How could we hope to stand against the might of the entire nation? There was none. None at all!” He paced in circles as he raved, gesturing to himself wildly. “But look here! You can lead us to our salvation!” He spun on his heel to face Makatai again. “But wait, slow down Rycher. Slow down.” He began to mumble to himself, stroking his chin and the tiny blonde hairs around his neck. “Will the baroness agree to put him in danger? She better had, I swear it… And we’ll need a plan, too. Permission for access to High Holden… But they know me, it can’t be too hard… and on top of that we need to look out for the Shards. Shit! The Shards! No, I’m the son of a battlesmiths captain… they wouldn’t station a Shard at my forge. No reason to suspect me of anything. Even then-” “Wait! Wait. Rycher, hold on.” The blacksmith snapped his head around, his eyes reverting to the petrifying, judging gaze they had hosted minutes prior. “What?” The word had just the slightest hint of venom to it, an assassins knife flitting out of view.

“I… We have our own problems.” He looked to Ahanu, who nodded and looked back at Rycher “Makatai’s right. We can’t stay here for long enough to be of any help to you. And anyway my clan will be arriving here soon, in two days at the latest. I am to be married, Rycher! We don’t have the… Don’t have the time to…” He suddenly went very quiet and narrowed his eyes, staring at the floor in intense concentration. “...Ahanu?” The hunter chewed his cheek in silent consideration before looking up again at Rycher “Hold on, brother. Let's take a seat here and think about this.” He pulled out a chair and sat down, elbows on the table and his chin in his hands. Rycher smirked, clearly liking where this was going, and so he followed suit.

Makatai stood still for a moment, taken aback by Ahanu’s suggestion, but cautiously sat alongside them after a moment of pause. “Look. Let me just…” Ahanu was not used to thinking especially hard, always being one to take things as they came. After considering for a minute more, he pointed straight at Rycher. “You said earlier you could give us almost anything we might need?”

“Well not myself directly but yes, I can arrange almost anything for you. Why?”

“How about finding someone? Someone who came through here before us?” It took Makatai a few seconds to realise what he meant. “Wait. Inadu? You think they’ll have a record of him passing through?”

Ahanu shrugged. “We’ve got no other leads. Our trail has gone cold, brother. And even the most skilled hunter needs a nudge in the right direction every once in a while.”

“And we’re going to put our lives on the line for that? They might not even find anything!”

Rycher cleared his throat and put a hand out to interject. “Let me provide some assurance, my friends. If there’s information to be found we’ll find it, that I can promise. So how about this; you promise to help in exchange for us giving you the information and your marriage bracelet things first. I’ll send out the call for information as soon as you agree. What say you?”

Seeing Makatai’s hesitation, Rycher put an arm around his shoulder and smiled. “Come on, Makatai. It’s a day's work in exchange for exactly what you need. And all we want from you is to find something. The risk is on us! So come on. What do you say?”

He stuck out his hand and held it towards the shaman. Makatai looked over to Ahanu who smiled enthusiastically, sighed and shook the blacksmith's hand. “Now!” Rycher’s mouth spread into a titanic grin “Let’s get to business.”