Captain Oblek turned, looking at Norbert, screwing his face up in confusion, turning to the bird that was on Vivienne’s shoulder and back to Norbert, skipping between the two as the Captain’s brain whirred.

“What a surprise! You might have actually been doing your job,” Captain Oblek shouted over to Norbert.

Vivienne shifted her head slightly to Norbert, seeing what the captain was talking about.

Norbert stood there, taking a single step forward, Obsius fluttering onto his shoulder as he looked between the two groups.

“What is he on about?” Vivienne hissed to him.

Captain Oblek turned to Vivienne, eyes wide “Did this dunce convince you he was tagging along with you down here for what … free lodging, protection?” amazement slipped into his voice.

Norbert turned to Vivienne, the weight of the sack digging into his shoulder. “You have been a great help to me, honestly, you have…”

“But?” Vivienne asked Norbert, waiting for Norbert to continue.

“But, I think it would be best not to have another group of people after me,” Norbert told her, stepping towards Captain Oblek and the rest.

“You’re not even going to hand the orb over?”

“That would defeat the purpose of me walking away now. Only slightly.” Norbert told her, taking another step away from the witch.

“You do know you won’t be able to go back and retrieve what you have stored at the mansion,” Vivienne told him, looking to Norbert to see if it would convince him.

“Oh well, I will miss most of that stuff, except for the mask, dearly. But it's still replaceable.”

“That includes Obsius’s coins.” Vivienne crossed her arms in front of her, glowering at Norbert.

PECK

“Ouch, is that necessary, Obsius?” Norbert asked the bird, rubbing his hand on his forehead where the bird had pecked him.

“Do the right thing and stop talking to that witch before she poisons your mind anymore,” Captain Oblek said.

Norbert raised an eyebrow at the man. “Really, ‘Do the right thing?’ Is that the best you have?”

“I don’t need to do any better. I didn’t want to play the order card, but as stated in our first meeting,” Captain Oblek opened his hands and stepped forward away from the semi-circle of troops under his command. “Commander Sally has ordered you to comply with my directions in the matter of finding the thief and bringing them in.”

Norbert turns to Vivienne, “Hey witch, what judiciary power do these guys have?”

Oblek opens his mouth to respond, but Norbert stops him, holding a hand up to stop the man from talking, knowing he would give a biased opinion. He waits for Vivienne to talk and gives her own biased opinion in trying to sway Norbert.

Vivienne turns to them, “There is no jurisdiction outside of this city. They only, truly hold sway when a tournament is on.”

Norbert raised a single eyebrow at Captain Oblek, waiting to see if the man dared speak.

“Will they interrupt anyone from competing?”

Vivienne beckoned for Captain Oblek to answer Norbert’s last question.

“There will be no direct interruption to the tournament and the competitors once they are secured within their rooms.” The Captain quoted from a passage previously memorised.

“But then I’d have another group of people trying to chase after me. And this one even inside the colosseum, that would be very annoying.” Norbert nodded to what Captain Oblek was speaking, tilting his head to the side and behind, waiting for Vivienne to give her counterpoint.

Stolen novel; please report.

Obsius nearly fell off his head in the motion, talons digging into his skin and holding onto his hair with her beak.

“Just ask Luck which choice to make.”

“Pshhh, like a god, even one of that calibre would answer anyone’s prayers.”

Norbert turns to Captain Oblek, “Your idea of convincing me is to insult the goddess I follow?”

Captain Oblek closed his eyes for a moment, breathing out slowly before opening them again. “You follow, out of all the gods, Luck? Just my luck.”

“You know what? That sounds like a wonderful idea, something that hasn’t strayed me in the wrong,” Norbert told them as he picked up a coin from his pouch and flicked it into the air, catching it in one hand and closing it so nobody could see the results.

“Heads, I go with you,” Norbert said, pointing to Captain Oblek before spinning his body around. “And tails with her.”

“You’re putting this to a coin toss?” Captain Oblek asked. Norbert spun back around, seeing the guards had taken a step closer, having formed the semi-circle just a bit tighter around the trio of potential robbers.

“You're making it really easy for me not to hand you over the blood orb right now. Only the annoyance you will provide is stopping me from not giving you this,” Norbert told him, raising the sack slightly.

Captain Oblek’s moustache started quivering in the air. Norbert saw the twirled facial hair shake about as the man tried to comprehend what

“You're flippant. Now get this scam over with and pass the orb over here.” Captain Oblek nearly screamed at Norbert, his face turning beet red and starting to shake about with the moustache.

The guards on either side look to their captain for direction, if they should just go in and take it. Norbert watched as the two sides battled before they finally stilled.

Letting the tension grow in the air, he opened his hand and looked down at the side of the coin facing him.

Smiling, he turned to Vivienne. "You're not going to like this,” he said, taking a step towards Captain Oblek and the guards.

He placed the coin back in his coin pouch and took several more steps until he was in front of Captain Oblek. “I just have two questions?”

Captain Oblek is standing there, the spears no longer pointing towards him, but Vivienne and Norbert are wondering what expression she is currently making. “First, how did you find out we were here?”

“A Tracking spell was placed on the equipment you were wearing when you entered the safe, something a maintenance runer wouldn’t enter unless permission were explicitly given.”

Norbert turns to Vivienne, having his back to Captain Oblek, “Did the great witch not find it?”

“Thought my lucky charm was working.” The witch giving her excuse.

“Now, what’s the second question?” Captain Oblek interrupted the exchange between the two former companions.

“I hate your moustache, the way it wiggles whenever you move your face, like another pair of lips trying to talk over you. It's quite annoying; how do you even keep that clean? I imagine that it will get all over it anytime you have something to eat. Do you always care for it whenever someone isn’t around? Is that why you always seemed annoyed whenever we exchanged, wanting to be somewhere else? Did you picture your placement here as something else? You wouldn’t be stuck in some random city in the middle of a desert with only something going on occasionally. Or are you the expert, coming in from the holiday home that you’ve been living there for over twenty years, the only part of yourself you can properly control being the moustache that you have slowly grown out and is a souvenir of your dedication to the craft?” Norbert asked Captain Oblek, the silence ensuing from

“You are insufferable, and that wasn’t a question.”

“I know. It just sounds better than saying I have a question and a rant about your moustache,” Norbert said, taking another step closer until the two men’s noses were almost touching. “It's not like you will need to care about it for long.”

“What?” The question came from multiple mouths around Norbert.

Stepping forward, Norbert gripped onto the left side of the moustache and pulled down, the captain's head jerking down until he stopped himself from smashing his face into the ground.

AAAAAAAAHHHH

The resulting scream filled the silence, the shuffling of feet as the guards changed their position, now the spears pointing towards him, the hostility apparent on their faces, not liking Norbert’s current reaction at all.

“I’ll never forget the face you're making. Can’t wait to see the other side!” Norbert shouted, taking a runner's start as he shot off from the mark. The face of bewilderment from having his facial hair removed, the welt already forming where the skin had been aggravated from Norbert’s quick removal. Spots of blood appeared, turning the once formal and regal face into one of anger.

Having passed them, Norbert grabbed onto Obsius. He stuffed him inside the jacket, the bird struggling momentarily as Norbert let her go, the white speckles going upwards until they disappeared underneath the cavern ceiling.

I heard shouts from behind as Norbert raced along the streets. He did not care about his direction; he just wanted to get away from the Colosseum. People pointed and shouted at him, and the guard was being chased by the other guards.

Taking a left down a side street, Norbert sprinted across before going down another man, trying to lose them as he went further away from the colosseum. Knowing if he went far enough away, there would be fewer places to hide as the wealthy congregated there.