By the time Vakdragnar returned to the bakery it was nearing late-afternoon. The store, remarkably, still had a few patrons making purchases.

It must be an excellent bakery.

Vak waited patiently for Destin Huxley to take a break from behind the counter. He spent the time stealing some clothes off a line, which he told himself he would return once people in this city trusted him.

Thankfully the neighbors to the bakery were a rather rotund couple. Vak found a pair of work pants and a shirt that fit him. At the very least he hoped to be less conspicuous while wearing them. He removed his traditional Huak leathers and hung them up in exchange for the clothing he borrowed.

It’s only fair I give them something of higher value. I am putting them out. Vak looked at his old clothes, and they didn’t look any different. Are these visible now? Is there a delay before they appear? What is the range of this worm?

Vak had no answers for how anything involved with this worm worked. He hoped that his new clothing would not be visible as he slipped on a pant leg. Thinking of the worm only made him remember the little guy up there. It had stopped burning quite so much, and as much of a relief as it was, Vak assumed that meant he had less time left to walk the streets unseen.

The clothes fit weirdly. The shirt barely covered his torso despite how stretched it was from its former owner. He imagined his combat potential suffering from the garments, as they were both too loose and too tight at the same time in different areas.

I should consider myself lucky the pants don’t fall down.

Finally, the shop was empty as he crossed the street. No one was looking his way. Good. I suppose that means no one is seeing floating clothes. He walked past the boarded-up window from his previous fight and slipped into the shop. The bread smelled astonishing, and Vak realized he hadn’t eaten anything yet today.

As quietly as he could, Vak flipped the welcome sign on the door, and then he stalked towards Destin. The boyfriend stood by the money box, counting it. Vak witnessed him slip a small portion into his pocket. Stealing from his own father’s business, or was this how Destin collected his pay?

Vak slipped around behind the counter and checked a room in the back for other employees. The room was full of boxes and bags of flour, but there were no other people working today. It seems the baker had left his son to run the store alone.

Vak smiled, then he pushed a box over and let it crash to the floor. Destin called from the other room. “Who's there?” Cautiously he stepped into the room with a rolling pin in hand. He walked right past where Vak was waiting. “Look, if you give me a few days I can have your money!” Destin said, his voice trembling as he found the box that had fallen. He bent to pick it up, and Vak had him in a chokehold, his hand covering his mouth.

Destin thrashed around, but he was a slight man with no real muscle. Vak held him easily. Now or never. Vak thought.

“Destin Huxley, I am not here for any money,” Vak said as he felt the burning return. His arms went from a dull gray to their standard Mahogany coloring. The worm made a sound, not unlike a scream as it shot out of his nose and right into an open bag of flour.

“Astonishing, I had not even realized I was seeing my skin without color,” Vak said bewildered. “What an odd sensation.”

As if in response, the man he gripped made a gurgling noise as he struggled for breath. Ah, sorry, I was distracted, if you promise not to shout for the guards, I will let you go. Do we have a deal?” After a moment, Destin nodded his head. “Okay, do not make me regret this.” He said, releasing the young man into the storage room. He backed away from Vak, turned and his eyes grew wide staring at Vak.

“I… I don’t have it. I didn’t realize this was a job. Alon told me this was a favor. Please!”

“Stop,” Vak said, clearing his sinuses. “Excuse me, I understand that’s pretty rude, but my entire nasal cavity feels incredibly gross right now. You wouldn’t happen to have a cloth, or a towel or something?”

Destin pointed at the wall. Vak turned to see the towel, and he grabbed it. “Thank you,” Vak said, spinning around just as Destin was making a break for the entrance. Vak pounced on him quickly.

“HEll….mraphhh” Destin said as Vak again covered his mouth.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Alright, no more of that. I did not come here just for a towel. Shhhh. That’s it. Now, same deal, I let you go, you promise to be civil.” Vak told him. Again Destin nodded his head, and Vak released him.

“Who are you?” Destin asked.

“Today, I seem to be an investigator, and I am called Vakdragnar.”

“You’re not with GO?”

“G...o? You mean the Grievspair Organization?” Vak asked. Destin just nodded his head. “No,” Vak confirmed. “I am here independently. I came by this morning to ask you about your girlfriend, Nina Hale. I am looking into her disappearance on behalf of Mr. Flame from the Flame’s Fondness.”

“For… for Roland?”

“That’s right.”

“I… I’m sorry, I just, when you came in this morning I thought you were here to collect.”

“Are you in trouble?”

“I’ll say,” Destin told him. “I screwed up pretty bad. I just wanted things to stay the same. I like my life.”

“Stop. You are again, starting from the middle. Please start from the beginning.”

“About a week ago,” He stammered. “Nina and I were out having a nice night. I’d made her dinner; she always liked my dinners.” Destin started to sob, and Vak felt very uncomfortable. He handed him the towel he’d been using to clear his sinuses. Destin took it and blew his nose.

“Thank you.”

“So, what happened?”

“Well, out of the blue, Nina says she wants to leave the city.”

“Was she in danger?”

“No, nothing like that. She got it in her head that she wanted to be one of those Adventurers. Nina wanted to leave the city and start living out in the forest or something, hunting treasure. I could tell she hadn’t thought it through at ALL.”

“What do you mean?” Vak said, getting a little defensive.

“Well, she reads a lot of books and enjoys the adventure ones the best. She would talk about them for hours, sometimes. I thought, maybe this was just a passing thing.”

“But it was not?”

“No, I told her we should think on it. Nina’s always been very spontaneous. She changes her hair color on a whim. This was just like her, and I figured once she sat down and thought about it, she’d realize how childish she was being.”

“Perhaps, she felt stifled by the city. Did you even consider her request?” Vak said a bit too annoyed. He started to count his breaths. This man didn’t know he was insulting Vak, by calling a spontaneous decision to adventure foolhardy.

“No! Look, you don’t know Nina, she’s not exactly an outdoorsy type. I honestly don’t think she’d last a single night outside the city walls.”

Vak shook his head. “So, how is this Grievspair Organization involved?”

“I hired them… to kidnap her.”

“What!” Vak said, feeling the anger surge through his muscles.

“Look, it's not like that! I mean I didn’t hire them, actually, at least I didn’t think I was. I have a friend, Alon; he works for the Grievspair Organization. I just asked him to scare her. Take her for a few days. Then I could ride in, pretend to beat up the bandits and save the girl. She’d be relieved…”

“And too scared to go adventuring again,” Vak said, slowly counting in his head. It wasn’t working very well. There was a real chance he was going to rip this kids arm off.

“Right! I know it was stupid.”

“And manipulative.”

“I… what choice did I have?”

“Honesty,” Vak said.

“If I had been honest, she might have left me!”

Vak had to stop himself from smacking the idiot. “They set off an explosion in her apartment. The entire thing is in pieces.” Vak said letting that sink in.

“I… didn’t know. They were only supposed to grab her.”

“Well, you obviously don’t know the type of people you got into bed with!” Vak snarled, punching his hand through a bag of flour. Destin began to cry again. Vak slowly counted in his head. He was nearing one hundred by now. “So…” Vak said, changing the subject. “You cannot pay them?”

“No…” He sniffed. “The thing is, I didn’t know I was supposed to! Nobody talked about any kind of price till last night.”

“What happened last night?”

“I got a message to meet them here. They were supposed to grab her yesterday evening and then tell me where she was. But, when I got here, Alon was pissed, said I owed them. They want one thousand gold. I don't have that kind of money, and they said I had better pay, or they were going to send somebody to take it out of my hide.” He sniffed, on the verge of bursting into tears again. “I really like my hide!”

“So, they have her?”

“Yeah. They said if I told anyone I would go to jail too!”

Vak groaned. This had just gotten a lot more complicated. “Alright. Take me to them.”

“What? I can’t go there!”

“Then show me on a map or something,” Vak said, getting irritable; he had no more patience for this bastard.

“You’re really going after her? That’s insane! They have all sorts of people who work for them; you can’t fight them all.”

“I don’t intend to fight them. Hopefully, they will be amenable to trade. Perhaps I can offer my services, something to get her out. But if it comes to it, I can take care of myself.”

“No way, man, you go up against GO, and you are dead, you understand?”

Vak walked over to the open bag of flour. Fished around inside and grabbed the Grue worm. Its color had become a dull pink. He placed it protectively in a small pastry bag and tied it to his belt. Then he stood up to find Destin looking at him like Vak was a madman.

“Well, what choice do we really have?”