Uzca repeated himself when his companions didn't respond.

"Bezben! Thad! Something's going on!"

They both blinked but didn't move. He waved a hand in front of their faces. They slowly turned toward him, blinking. "Guys! Snap out of it."

He grabbed them by the shoulders and shook them forcefully.

"Get off, Uzca. What are you doing? I was just enjoying the...show..."

Bezben looked around, taking in everything he already had.

Thad did the same without the complaint.

"This is bad," the mage said.

"What happened?" Uzca asked. "Why are we all frozen? Fixed on the performance that ended...I don't even know."

He touched his plate with a finger. "My food is ice cold."

People slowly started returning to life like they were waking from a dream, shaking their heads and wondering what happened.

"I think it was some kind of magic," Thad said. "Not what that magician was doing, those were just tricks, but I think there was some real magic at play."

"But why?"

Someone shouted. "Where's my wallet!"

"My purse!" a woman yelled.

Soon there was an uproar.

Sure enough, Uzca's coin purse was gone.

"My spear! Where is it?" Bezben said, panicked. Fortunately, he found it under the table, where he had left it.

"I can't believe someone would do this. Using magic to rob common folk? It's unthinkable. What kind of self-respecting mage would stoop so low?"

"They stole from all of us? How? We were watching the whole time," Uzca said.

"Were we, though? Do you remember how they packed up? Do you remember which way they went? I certainly don't."

That was true. Uzca had no idea.

"Blast, they took my purse too!" Thad said. Then he started patting down his robes with more intensity. "Oh no...this bad. This is really, really bad."

"What? What's wrong?"

"What are we waiting for?" Bezben interjected. "We have to go after them."

"Hold on, Bez. We need the facts first. We don't even know where they went."

"Uzca is right, Bezben. We need to investigate. What's wrong is that they took my research supplies, including a pouch I always keep on my person. They apparently searched us while we were...distracted."

The restaurant patrons and people in the streets were still yelling and looking for answers, and general chaos was forming around them. Thad seemed to know what to do and jumped onto a table. He held his right hand high into the air, and a boom issued forth from his open palm. The magic made everyone pause and look toward him.

"Everyone! I believe the troupe we were just watching had a mage with them! They used some powerful magic and entranced all of us with the show they were performing. I don't know how exactly, but I'm quite sure they robbed us all. We need to figure out which way they went and track them down!"

Uzca thought the speech was a good one, and both he and Bezben stood up and let out sounds of support as they thought of them.

They were a little surprised they had been the only ones to do so.

Everyone else averted their eyes.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Bezben leaned into Uzca. "What's happening...why is everyone pretending to be somewhere else?"

"I have no idea."

"Really!?" Thad shouted.

"What do you want us to do about it?" someone shouted. "We're not fighters here."

"Yeah! Besides, if what you said is right, they have a mage with them. How are we supposed to stop them?" someone else said.

"If you haven't noticed," Thad said, "I'm also a mage."

"So? Why don't you and your burly friends find them?"

"Yeah, a mage and two tough-looking guys? You get our coin back!"

Soon the whole restaurant square called for the three of them to go after the troupe.

Honestly, Uzca wanted to do just that. They stole all of their money. They had no hope of making it anywhere near Telestria, let alone back home, without funds. They could make that money back, but it would be weeks of work to recover everything. Now that he thought about it, it made sense that the people would be wary. They lost some coin and maybe some small possessions, but for the most part, these were just people out on the town with homes nearby. They hadn't lost anything worth risking their lives to get back. Maybe Uzca and Bezben hadn't either, but he couldn't let this stand.

Bezben wouldn't be hard to convince. Uzca was surprised his cousin hadn't already run off to try to track down the troupe on his own. It was Thad, who he wasn't sure he could convince to come with, but they needed the mage to have a chance against the troupe's apparent mage.

Uzca was about to ask the mage as he climbed off their table, but he was beaten to the question by Thad himself.

"What do the two of you think? Will you join me in hunting down the troupe? I can't let them keep what they have stolen from me."

"I'm in!" Bezben said immediately.

Uzca met the mage's eyes and gave him a single nod.

"Alright, we need to get out of the immediate area and ask around before all these people decide to leave and start a ruckus."

They grabbed their packs and weapons and immediately went to the northern village entrance since it was closer. They approached a watchman posted at the gate.

"No, I'm sorry, I haven't seen any troupe leaving tonight, not this way," the watchman said.

"Did you experience anything odd?" Thad asked. "Like you were just dozing and distracted without explanation?"

The watchman gave Thad a dark look. "Are you accusing me of falling asleep at my post?"

"N-No, I ju—"

"Save it! Get out of here before I give you something to really be sorry about."

They headed back into the village.

"They had to take one of the roads with that cart of theirs," Thad said.

"Didn't they come from the north? Maybe they were passing through and thought the town would be a good mark." Uzca said.

"We should be able to track them, right?" Bezben asked.

It was true that all the mountain children learned the ins and outs of tracking. It was an essential skill in the mountains, where trails were hard to see and places were dangerous to get lost.

"I don't know, Bez. There's so much traffic on this road. With their numbers, it should be obvious where they left the road, but who knows what that mage is capable of. There's that, and it's dark outside town. We won't have street lamps to light our way."

Thad nodded in agreement. "I can help with lighting once we're out of town, but I agree, we don't know how hard it will be to spot anything through the other mage's illusions."

The guard at the southern gate stared straight ahead, unseeing and unmoving.

"Looks like they came this way! Let's move. Keep up if you can, Thad."

They set out at a run, ignoring the stupefied guard. Uzca knew his cousin was just as in shape as he was. Both of their fathers insisted on a reasonably strict workout regimen, and they had been using it for years.

The moon was full in the sky, providing just enough light to move down the road but not enough to search. Thad helped the situation by conjuring a little ball of light that floated just in front of them, casting a steady light that somehow didn't ruin their night vision.

Thad was surprisingly agile. About the same height as Uzca, he had a lithe grace that Uzca hadn't expected. Even so, half a mile later, the man was panting hard while Uzca and Bezben breathed steadily.

Uzca flagged down Bezben, and they all slowed to a fast walk to catch their breath.

"Sorry. You two can really run."

"Of course, we can. We're men from the mountains!"

"What Bez meant to say is that we've both been doing physical training since we were old enough to walk. Our fathers didn't give us the option to slack in that regard. Not everyone in the mountains is as strong or in shape as we are."

Bezben rolled his eyes at Uzca, and Thad nodded.

"That makes sense. Why don't you two go on ahead a little way? See if they're not nearby while I catch my breath."

Bezben readied himself to run again, but Uzca turned to Thad.

"I don't think we should split up. We could carry you."

"Oh yeah," Bezben said, "log run style?"

Uzca nodded.

"Carry me? I don't like the sound of that."

"It'll just be for a little bit. Hold still."

Uzca picked up Thad, who was significantly smaller than Uzca or Bezben and casually tossed him over a shoulder.

"This is quite uncomfortable!"

"Grab his legs, Bez."

With Thad over their shoulders, they took off at a run. The little ball of conjured light didn't seem to mind Thad's orientation. It floated just in front of the group as they ran.

They crossed a bridge over the river, and the road led into the forest slightly. If the bandits were going to make camp nearby, this forest would be the spot.

Five minutes and about a thousand complaints later, they set Thad down. He had recovered enough to run on his own and wasn't happy with the running arrangement.

"You know...that was...not really...very nice...of you," he said between breaths, picking up the pace once more.

The cousins didn't respond, and after another five minutes, Uzca held out his arms to slow the others. He held a finger to his mouth, motioning for silence.

They heard a wagon and voices laughing just around the bend in the woods ahead.