Without any mirrors to see for herself, Isa had to take Mery and Joth at their word that she looked like an out of work sailor. Mery had Isa turn her jacket inside out so that the seams showed. She put a long bandana over Isa’s hair and a short one around her neck. A few stray streaks of dirt on her face, a long scar on the back of one hand, and tar on the webbing of both hands finished the look.

Isa started to touch the scar on her right hand, but Mery clucked at her. “Don’t touch! Not dry yet, and if you touch it before it sets, it will be all mucked up.”

“It’s a scar,” said Joth. “How would anyone know?”

“Hush. I’d know.”

Each of the spellcasters had also gone with a maritime look. Joth decided to stick with wizard but he went old and skinny with a silver sextant tied to his belt. “Navigator for hire,” he said.

Mery made herself look poor, pudgy, and disheveled. Her pants had a tear down one leg, and her jacket - also inside out - was stained under the arms.

Isa winced and said, “Do I look that bad?”

“Honestly?....” Mery looked serious and then laughed. “Can you see the sweat stains?” She lifted her arm and pulled the jacket out to get a better view. “You don’t have sweat stains.”

“Gross,” said Joth.

“Wizards.” Mery rolled her eyes. “Now then, let’s get moving. The clock is tick-tick-ticking.”

She led them through a maze of streets and alleys. Deney seemed to have been organized with no underlying pattern in mind. Several times streets converged with each other creating little triangles of land. The same road would be paved in one spot, dirt in another, and plank logs in a third.

But wherever Isa looked she saw activity. The streets and buildings hummed with life. Dwarves, humans, and halflings all working together, talking, hauling, hammering, and sawing.

“We might get hired off the street,” Isa murmured to Mery. “This place is seriously growing.”

“Yeah, between a clan of dwarves settlin’ in and the shipbuilders getting a new source for wood, Deney is the place to be if you’re looking for work. But, you got to register with a guild first. That’ll be the first thing someone asks is where are our papers.”

“I’ve been to Deney more than a few times,” said Joth, “but I’m very lost. Are we heading to the docks because I don’t--”

“Oh yeah, you weren’t there,” Isa said. “When we met Wat, I mean. Mery cast a spell - what was that?”

“Detect thoughts.”

“Detect thoughts,” Isa repeated. “And she got these crazy impressions I guess. It was all kind of surreal.”

Joth nodded. “Wizards have that spell, too.”

“Why do bards and wizards have the same spells?” Isa looked from Joth to Mery. “That seems awfully efficient.”

“They’re not the same spells,” said Joth.

At almost the same moment Mery said, “Bard and wizards, well that’s like chickens and ducks.” She stopped at a corner and turned back toward Isa. “Maybe dogs and cats is a better example.”

“You both have detect thoughts; you both have disguise self.”

“Yeah but you saw how I cast it,” Mery said. “It was a song! A poem, a ballad about a down-on-her-luck sailor. A lovelorn lass named Michelle who--”

“And I just chanted some words,” Joth added.

Isa shook her head. “It’s still the same magic.”

“Stand this way, love.” Mery held Isa by the upper arms and repositioned her 2 steps to the left. “Now I can see Thorn’s warehouse. And the old man is there! Remember what Wat said?”

“I’m talking about magic.”

“And it’s perfect cover.” Mery nodded and smiled. “Keep going. It’s very interesting.” To Joth she said, “That’s the signal she uses. Old man means that things are good and people - and presumably - cargo are free to come or go.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“So,” said Joth, “we can expect more of the same as we fought at the house in Hanchen?”

“You said it!” Isa clapped her hands together. Joth and Mery looked at her in confusion. “You’re the one,” she pointed at Mery; “You’re the one who said Thorn was a man. I remember now. We were outside the house in Hanchen! When Joth said it just now, I remembered.”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “I remember, too.”

“I found that out after our raid.” Mery shrugged. “Didn’t think to mention it.”

If Mery was lying, Isa couldn’t tell, and why would she lie? “I guess,” Isa said, “it doesn’t really matter. We know she’s doing bad stuff, and we need to stop her. So we’ve seen the warehouse. What’s the plan?”

“You never cased a building before, have you love?” Mery grinned at her. “We’re just getting started. And with all this hand-wringing over Thorn, we’ve only got maybe 30 minutes.” She seemed to think for a moment. “Here we go. Once we’re across the street, by the warehouse, Joth, I want you to act confused. Just follow my lead.”

“Huh?”

“That’s perfect.” With that Mery crossed the road with Isa and Joth tailing behind. As they got closer to the building Isa saw two people standing just inside the entrance to the warehouse. Eyes glittered at her as they passed by.

Once she was across the street, Mery turned so that her back was to the warehouse. In a high voice she said, “I told you were should have gone left! Look where we are.”

“Oh well, oh my, oh dear!” Joth made his voice quaver, and it was hard for Isa to keep from laughing. He was as convincing as a 4th grader in a school play.

“I think we go that way to the guild hall,” Mery pointed farther down the block toward the back of the warehouse. She started walking that way.

The other two followed. At the far end of the block there stood a tall fence. From the corner of her eye Isa noticed another guard. She was getting the hang of this outing. Although it was tempting to try to talk to the guard - maybe under the guise of getting directions, Isa played it safe and glumly followed behind the two principal actors.

“If this is where I think it is….” Joth said in his quavering voice.

“Ah shut it, Gramps. We’re not navigating by the stars here. And you!” Mery called to Isa making her jump. “Don’t straggle. Get left behind, you will.” With that Mery turned the corner, muttering to herself about useless shipmates, and why did she ever agree….

Mery led them away from the warehouse and the docks, which was good since all at once Joth went from skinny old man to plump younger man. Mery’s clothes went from slovenly to neat in the blink of an eye. Isa looked down at her own disguise, her inside out jacket and filthy hands. “Not fair! You both look fine now.”

“You could take off the bandana,” Joth said.

“No, I can’t. My hair’s all flat now.”

“You could turn your jacket right,” Mery said.

Isa glared at them both as she pulled her jacket off and turned it right side in. “I saw 3 guards. I’m sure there were others.”

“Wat said there’s usually 5 at the ready at any given time, and I wanted to see if they change it up.”

“So you’ve been here before?” Joth sounded surprised.

“I haven’t been sitting on my ass, there Jothy. Let’s head back to Cooper’s, and I’ll show you my sketches.”

The journey back to the guild hall was uneventful. Isa had half been expecting shadows to jump out at them as they navigated Deney’s neighborhoods, shadows with sharp knives, but the most exciting thing was Joth startling a fluffy black and white cat. They had turned a corner, and Joth almost stepped on the cat who was sunning itself in a small patch of late afternoon sunlight on the sidewalk. More nimble than he looked, Joth danced past the cat and kept his feet. The cat, for its part, jumped on a window ledge, glared at the 3 of them, and twitched its tail.

Mery led them to her rooms at the guild hall. She was on the 3rd floor with a wide window that opened on to the back courtyard of the building. A single double bed stood to one side, and 2 chairs sat beside a cold fireplace.

Mery sat on the bed and Joth and Isa dragged the chairs over. Mery took a sketch from a book beside the bed and showed them. “Using invisibility and some good luck, I’ve had a chance to peek inside the warehouse.” She pointed at the right hand side of the sketch. “I’m guessing that this is where the kids are kept - it’s a big section of the building, yeah? And the windows along that side are boarded over. One way in or out of that section - I’m pretty sure.”

“And what’s this area?” Isa touched the upper left of the paper. “Is this were the fence is?”

“Yeah,” Mery nodded. “There’s not a visible gate or back entrance, but I’m thinking there has to be one. Thorn wouldn’t not have a back way out. She’s not foolish. I mean, she wouldn’t have gotten this far if she didn’t have contingencies in place.”

“And so,” Joth said, “you want to shut it down, like the house in Hanchen?”

“Yes, one step at a time. We’re blocking her resources, her assets. It’s all I can think to do -- the operation is too big.”

“Are the 3 of us enough?” Isa looked at Mery.

“4! We got Wat, don’t we?” Mery smiled. “He’s a good lad, and he did well with his fight.”

“Tonight?” said Isa.

“Nah, let’s rest up, and finalize plans in the morning.”

“Yes,” Joth stood up. “I have a errands to attend to. When people found out I was coming to Deney, I got a long list of ingredients and items to procure. See you for breakfast at 9?”

Isa avoided Mery’s eyes. Thinking about breakfast automatically made Isa think about what comes before breakfast which so far in Varana had been sleeping, but here in Mery’s room, well, who could say what might happen between now and then? Isa said, quietly, “Sounds fine, I guess.”

“See you then,” said Mery and walked him to the door. After she closed the door she turned to Isa. “Do you like the theater?”