The door shut behind them with a click as final as a prison door.

Faint light illuminated the space, peeking through dilapidated shutters.

The ruffians’ young leader glanced at the bald man who watched Birger intently.

“I take it you have something to show me, old father?” he asked.

“Will you be my ‘moneychanger’, then?” Birger slowly dug the Red Mouse’s coin from his pocket, placing it in the palm of his hand.

The grey-clad Irtyshenans whistled.

“I can hardly believe it,” the bald man said. “Are you really Birger of Kymiland?”

“Who’s that?” a squat thief asked.

The bald man shook his head. “The young don’t pay much attention to their history. That’s why our heroes of the past die away, and their names are forgotten. Birger of Kymiland was here at the very start of it all; he worked with our founder, Kelda. The very first Red Mouse.”

“Sounds like old things meant for old dusty books,” another ruffian said. “But, a Coin of Silent Friends is a Coin of Silent Friends, I suppose. So, what do we do?” He looked at the young woman who’d been leading them.

“Who are all of you?” she asked, nodding to Alex, Theresa and Bjorgrund.

“I’m Alexander Roth,” the young wizard paused. He’d introduced himself by his full name, something he rarely did. He mostly used Alex, but there was something about this situation…it felt like he shouldn’t be so casual. “This is my partner, Theresa Lu and her cerberus Brutus.”

“And I’m Bjorgrund,” the young giant said, his accent thick as he spoke the Low Irtyshenan tongue.

“And who are they to you?” she asked Birger.

“My son and my companions; it’s on their behalf that I’m here to ask for a favour.”

“Right,” she said. “I’ll have to check the old ledgers.”

“Don’t bother,” the bald man said. “Birger of Kymiland’s name is in there, he’s one of the first five holders of a Coin of Silent Friends. I’ll vouch for that.”

“Suit yourself, as long as it’s not my skin on the line,” she said. “Come on then, follow me.”

Alex took a step forward before the leader’s hand rose, stopping him in his tracks.

“Just the old man,” she said. “He’s the one holding the coin, not you three.”

“I’m not letting my father follow you alo—”

“Son, stay here, I’ll be back soon,” Birger said. “Trust me.”

The young giant stared at his father for a moment. “If you say so,” he didn't sound convinced.

Birger turned to Alex. “I’ll be back.”

“We’ll be waiting for you,” the young wizard said.

Together, the old firbolg followed the young leader to the back of the hut, where she paused at a stone wall and pressed three rocks in rapid succession. There came a grinding sound, and a section of wall shifted, sliding down into the floor, revealing a staircase.

The woman stepped onto a landing, leading the way as Birger limped behind her, her four companions remained behind.

The wall slid back into place with a soft click.

Alex closed his eyes, concentrating, feeling for the energy below them he’d felt earlier; that bit of Hannah’s power.

The power suddenly flared.

He reached out to it.

A pair of images flashed before his eyes.

The first was of Birger and the ruffian’s young leader, standing at a sealed, stone door. When she touched it, the Traveller’s power surged, and she and Birger vanished.

Another doorway abruptly appeared in Alex’s mind, heavy with Hannah’s power—their destination reached out from a direction far south, well beyond the city walls, perhaps beyond the Empire’s borders.

He couldn’t know for sure, and as he was considering where it could be, the second image appeared, taking his focus.

Birger and the young woman stood in a foyer with walls of stone painted blood red. Men and women lingered around the doorway they’d come through. A breath later, the image was gone.

‘Seems the guild’s a good distance from the city,’ Alex thought. ‘It might even be outside the Empire. That would explain why they haven’t been found by the authorities after all this time…Kelda used Hannah’s power to create gates in the city that leads to a base far away from here. Perhaps she did something similar with her sanctum; maybe the reason no one’s found it is because it's not located anywhere near here…’

His eyes narrowed. ‘There’s a doorway in Hannah’s cave that we know about, but maybe there’s more…’

“I’d offer you a chair,” the bald man spoke up. “But there aren’t any. You might as well find yourselves a comfortable piece of floor like the rest of us. We might be here awhile.”

###

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It was well into the afternoon when Alex felt Hannah’s power flare again. He’d been sitting with his back against a wall—leaning on Theresa—when the image of Birger flashed in his mind, coming from a gate in the company of a long, lanky man.

The stranger wore red from head to toe, the lower part of his face was hidden by a scarlet mask.

“They’re back,” Alex said, getting to his feet and helping Theresa to hers, while Brutus stretched.

Bjorgrund jumped up, the grey-clad ruffians followed.

Birger’s crutch echoed on the stone steps, coming closer until the wall suddenly slid away; the firbolg’s face was a mask of concern when he entered the room with the man in red.

They were not alone. Four figures dressed in grey followed close behind, broad-shouldered, with swords sheathed at their hips. Their appearance was quite ordinary, yet they moved with the silence of bandits, and the stealth of seasoned warriors.

Sharp eyes studied Alex and company beneath rough spun woollen hoods, grey cloaks draped their lean forms.

“This is the man I spoke of,” Birger said, raising his chin toward Alex. “He needs your help to find Kelda’s sanctum.”

The man in red’s eyes met Alex’s above his face covering, catching the young wizard off guard.Heavy eyelids surrounded gems where irises should have been, faceted red jewels shaped like human eyes, glittered in the gloom of the dimly lit room.

When he blinked, he neither flinched nor cried out, showing no sign of discomfort.

“I am Warder,” he announced, his voice hovering barely above a whisper.

“I am Alexander.” Alex nodded.

“And I understand you are the latest Fool of Thameland?” Warder asked.

“Yes,” Alex said. “Did Birger tell you why I’m here and why he wanted to use the Coin of Silent Friends to help me?”

“He did,” Warder said, watching Alex through his flashing eyes. “Is it also true that you have inherited the founder’s ability to travel from place to place in an instant? With no use of spellcraft?”

Warder’s voice held a hungry note that he tried to conceal.

The Fool of Thameland drew himself up, adjusted his posture then vanished.

Appearing on the opposite side of the room.

The four ruffians stumbled back, swearing. Warder’s guards reached for their swords, but the masked man held up a hand.

“Is that proof enough for you?” Alex asked.

“Yes.” A smile touched Warder’s voice. “Yes it is.” He looked at Birger. “Old father, what you said is true, it seems. An heir to our founder’s legacy has come.”

“So you will help him, then?” the old giant asked. “You will tell him where Kelda’s sanctum is, if you know?”

Silence.

Alex held his breath.

He heard Theresa’s breath catch.

This was it. If Warder said yes, then they could go to Kelda’s sanctum and discover what she’d learned, bringing him closer to the Mark of the General.

Closer to true freedom, free from the Fool’s constraints.

Warder spoke. “I do not know where it is…precisely.”

“Precisely?” Alex’s hope fell.

“Precisely,” Warder repeated. “We maintain archives containing much of our history from the early days, including maps and charts that could be helpful to you, since some indicate the general location of the founder’s sanctum. You can narrow your search to an area of only a handful of square miles. You should be able to find it within there.”

Hope, tinged with suspicion, rose in the young wizard’s chest.

“Wait, so why hasn’t the guild gone there, since you know the area where the sanctum can be found?” Alex asked.

“We lack the tools to reach the founder’s sanctum,” Warder said. “Her ways of hiding it were far beyond anything we have ever matched. But, if you share her power, you will be able to find it; she wrote that her power is the key to finding it.”

“I see,” Alex said.

“Why didn’t your predecessors tell me this?” Birger asked.

Warder shook his head. “Loyalty. All those who lived during our founder’s time were loyal to her wishes to a fault; she never told anyone the exact location of her sanctum, only its general location. And that general location was only shared with the guild. If she did not share it with you in life, they would not have wished to share it with you in death. …but things have changed.”

“Changed enough that you’re going against Kelda’s wishes?” Birger asked, a mix of emotions in his voice.

“The founder is history now. History that has long turned to dust,” Warder said grimly. “We respect her and her memory…but her memory cannot feed us. It cannot clothe us. It cannot make us strong or hide us away from the guards of the Empire. It cannot fill our coffers or our treasuries.”

Something clicked in Alex’s mind.

“But, I obviously can,” he said sourly. “The second thing you asked me is if I shared her power: the ability to teleport places without using a spell. This is a transaction, isn’t it? You want me to do something for you—something that only someone with my power can.”

Warder laughed, the sound was cruel and grating. “Wisely deduced, Alexander,” his eyes flashed. “Dedication to a founder’s memory is all good and fine, but the Guild of the Red Mouse is about business, not a hall to either honour—or violate—the wishes of the dead. We know our trade well, and have earned our position by not freely handing out favours to those we owe nothing to.”

“What’s happening?” Theresa asked Alex in the common tongue. “I don’t understand what he’s saying.”

“He’s not giving us the location,” the young wizard said. “He wants us to do something for him first.”

“Now hold on,” Bjorgrund growled, pointing at the coin in his father’s hand. “By your own rules, my father can call on your guild for a favour, isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work?”

“And he did,” Warder said slyly, in the common tongue. “And we granted him a favour by revealing ourselves to those of you not remotely involved with the Guild.” Alex caught a glint in the red gems that were his eyes. “You now know more about the Guild of the Red Mouse than most of its associates, young giant, and that would normally mean you’d all be below six inches of river ice with your throats slit. We’ve compromised our safety and our secrets to complete strangers.”

He looked at Birger’s coin. “That is favour enough, old father. If you wish for another favour in the future, come back and ask. Though, next time, we might need something from you in return.”

Warder bowed deeply to the ancient firbolg, then turned to Alex. “But the location of the founder’s sanctum is a well guarded secret, and—while I would not be opposed to revealing it to her heir, so to speak—I cannot do it and then receive nothing in return. The guild owes you nothing, Alexander, and we deal in trade, not charity.”

He pointed at Alex’s heart. “You have our founder’s gift; the most wondrous ability that any thief anywhere could wish for. Gods, what I could do with that…” he said, a yearning returning to his voice.

Alex watched him closely, measuring the man. “Well, I know what I can do with it…so I gather you want me to go somewhere you’d have trouble getting into.”

Warder gave a dark chuckle. “Right again. We have a client who needs a difficult job done. There are certain books in the library of Brightfire University; we’ve been trying to access them for months, but their security measures have made the task…dangerous. More dangerous than we’d like it to be. But Kelda was able to go anywhere at any time; it’s said that sheentered Brightfire’s most secret chambers undetected.”

Alex remembered that Kelda had been in the university of Generasi’s library. She’d written in a book there.

Three hundred years ago she’d entered the building without anyone knowing.

“So you’re saying you want me to do what she did,” Alex’s voice was flat.

“Precisely. Do it and the Guild will give you the location you desire.”

Alex shook his head. “Oh no. I expect more than just that.” He nodded at Birger’s hand. “I want one of those coins.”

A pause.

“That…can be arranged,” Warder said, after briefly considering the wizard’s demand.

“And one other thing,” Alex said, thinking about the wealth of lore contained in ancient, magical libraries…the kinds of spells only found on the lower floors of Generasi’s library. Floors he didn’t have access to yet.

Mighty spells and lore that could help him reverse the Mark could be waiting in the Irtyshenan library.

“Anything I take for myself is mine and mine alone,” Alex said.

Warder paused, finally nodding. “I think that’s fair.”

“Good. When do we begin?”

“When can you start?”