"Where are we going?" Numi asked as she galloped beside Alice's heels.

Alice didn't answer her right away, or any other questions her dragon’s asked. She just focused on getting as far and as fast away as possible.

Unfortunately, that was a lot easier said than done, considering that the city was left in shambles after the attack.

Many of the buildings near the harbor had taken on the brunt of the wind. They'd either had their roofs entirely ripped off, windows shattered in or had collapsed completely. Others were on fire, thanks to the lightning spawn.

Farther into the city, it looked like the wind had either abated or more likely, they'd had more protection from the high-classers. More of the buildings stood tall, with only superficial damage. However, the streets were still littered with debris — fallen branches and trees that made the narrow lanes tricky, if not impassable. Carts full of goods had been overturned and abandoned in a hurry, and the poor animals that had been yoked to them were either hurt or soaked in sweat from fear.

A part of Alice that had worked in the kennels and the stables for years as a General Laborer wished that she could stop to help.

But she had to run. She had to get away from the man who had halfway discovered her secrets.

Hurrying along, she only had the presence of mind to tell her dragons to keep as concealed as possible. That was well within Prim and Numi's abilities, but Iggy and Spark had no concealment skills. Worse, they both had flashy scales. They had to stay close to Alice, flying right behind her shoulders, to fall under Prim's illusion skill.

People glanced at her as they passed in a hurry, but many were rightfully more concerned about how they were going to put their lives back together again. No one yelled about suddenly seeing a dragon.

Alice and her dragons had just made it around a thatch of prickly shrubs that had been somehow uprooted and thrown right in the middle of the street. She had just come around the other side when a woman stepped out of an alleyway ahead, striding confidently toward her.

She was clad in striking purple from head to foot. Her overcoat had a high neck that nearly reached her ears and was open in the front, revealing more skin than Alice would have felt comfortable showing, herself. Especially after a storm. Her tall purple heels gave her additional height.

And she glared straight at Alice with unsettling purple eyes.

"You," she said, lifting a hand that was tipped with purple, claw-like nails, "stay right there."

Alice froze in shock. The tag above the woman's head read, Sorceress.

This was a high-classer.

"Miss?" Alice asked.

"What are you? Apprentice merchant? Then what are those?" the woman demanded, and her unsettling gaze fixed on Prim, Iggy, and Spark.

She didn't so much as glance at Numi, as the green dragon had scuttled off into the shadows. But the woman could see straight through Prim's illusions.

Of course she can. She's a high-class sorceress, Alice thought, with rising alarm. And poor dear Prim has only started to level her illusion skill.

She wanted to come up with a clever lie, but her tongue was numb with fear. "They're with me," Alice said. “They’re mine.”

"Yes, but that's obvious, isn't it? Don’t think about moving." A purple light gathered in the woman's palm. She thrust it upward, and a beam of light lit the sky—a signal to others.

But that signal died before it even hit the top of the next building. It was encased in a shield of air and immediately sputtered out.

"That's quite enough of that, Samantha," Oliver drawled, walking in from behind Alice. Had he been following her all along? "There's no reason to call in a higher Guild member. This girl is on the side of good and I witnessed her defending other citizens. She had her tamed beasts fighting against the lightning minions."

"Those are dragons. Open your eyes, idiot," Samantha snapped back at him. "She's no doubt a dark-class sorcerer's apprentice. That could have been her master up there!"

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"Oh yes, she's so dark that her dragons were stopping lightning spawn from setting fires up and down the harbor," Oliver said. His voice had gone clipped and flat, very much the same way Alice remembered from him the first time they'd met, back on the Earl's estate.

It was a sign of displeasure, and that was reinforced by the fact that Oliver and Samantha were glaring daggers at one another.

"I'm not a dark class," Alice said, though her voice was so weak it was embarrassing. Prim shifted her weight and pressed the side of her head against Alice's cheek in comfort.

"But then those aren't dragons? Where did you get them?" Samantha asked.

"Don't answer that," Oliver said to Alice, then looked at Samantha with high disapproval. "I know you have no grace, Samantha, but it's rude to ask someone of their class secrets.”

"She needs to be taken in for questioning. I see no Guild badges on her, no allegiances, or alliances," Samantha said, but she didn't so much as glance at Alice. All of her venom was directed straight at Oliver.

Taken in for questioning? Terrified, Alice blurted out, “My dragons are not like the others. They're sweet. They wouldn't hurt anything, well, except for those terrible lightning beasts. And I just started in my class. As you can see, I'm a type of apprentice merchant,” she invented, wildly.

That got Samantha's attention. "And your rank?"

Oliver bristled at the question, but Alice readily replied, "One."

Samantha sneered. “You're still a baby. Why are you out here fighting? Thought you would play hero?"

"No, I was caught out when the mercantile I worked in fell apart around my ears," Alice lied, like her life depended on it. Which, she suspected, it did.

“A mercantile," Samantha said the word as if it were a slur. Then her attention snapped back to Oliver. "Well, it seems you haven't divorced yourself from your family's bad habits, after all."

She looked back at Alice with pure disdain. "Girly, you're going to want to watch yourself around this family. The word is that they like to dip their wick in the other classes."

Oliver began to turn red, and so did Alice.

"Samantha, that is quite enough," Oliver said, strangled.

She laughed sharply. "Well, since you're willing to vouch for her, I guess that does say something. Not much, but something. You will know that I will tell the rest of the others about this. And I expect you to make your oaths to the side of good, soon," she said to Alice.

And with that, and another spiteful look at Oliver, she turned away. A purple light glowed under her feet, lifting her into the air.

The moment she was out of sight, Oliver turned to Alice. "I apologize, sincerely," he said. "You did nothing to deserve that kind of treatment. And though your companions—your dragons—are a little... unusual..."

"It's okay," Alice said, wanting to get this painful conversation over with. "But you've been very kind, but I must leave. I have a family to check up on."

He brightened. "I can help you get across the city if you need."

"No," she said. "I mean no offense, but I’m quite able to take care of myself. And considering the mercantile's destruction... I think it's best that I tell them alone."

He nodded but appeared troubled. “I know that you're new to this, as am I, but Samantha was right about one thing. Considering the… uh, unusual nature of your tamed animals, it's best if you did take your oaths with the Guild of Light—or any guild on the side of good."

"Alice is already very good. She doesn't need to promise oaths to anybody else," Iggy rumbled.

"Oh, you're quite an opinionated little creature," Oliver observed. "It's nice to see, but the only reason why Samantha dropped this is she could see she likely has insights into your levels, and at rank one... there's no way you could have been involved with the dark classer who just attacked the city. But if you grow stronger, you might find yourself a scapegoat."

"Yes, I can see that," Alice said, tightly. Now that Samantha was gone, some anger was beginning to replace the fear. How dare Samantha talk to her like that? She’d done nothing wrong! Her dragons were heroes!

Oliver frowned as if he could read her mind. "Samantha was completely out of order, but please do give her some grace. I'm sure you've heard the stories about sorceresses. She's also had to defend herself and her honor and take her own oaths to prove she is also on the side of good. And since you have dragons..." He looked at her seriously. "It's best you demonstrate which side you're on sooner rather than later."

Alice had never taken an oath before. As a General Laborer, there had never been any question of her honor—it came through whomever she was working for. And such high considerations were well above her station.

“I will strongly consider it,” she said.

He bowed to her, quickly. “Until we meet again," he said, flashing her a smile.

Then, a very thin shield appeared under his feet and lifted him in the air, much the same way that Samantha had with her purple light. He rose a dozen feet, then raised his hand back toward the way that they had come. “Sir, do you need help?” he asked someone out of sight before he floated down the street back in the way that they had come.

Alice quickly moved on, glancing over her shoulder after every corner. But there was no indication Oliver had continued to follow her.

"You don't like the idea of oaths," Prim said in her mind.

"I've only heard about them in stories," Alice replied quietly. "You give your oath to show your good intentions to a Guild or a cause... but they always ask something of you in return."

And she wanted nothing to do with the noble classers. Judging by Samantha's reaction to her, they wanted nothing to do with her either. That suited Alice just fine.

"What do we do now?" Prim asked. "Find another hotel?"

Alice looked around the city that was just starting to get over the shock of the attack. This was the time when people would be focused on repairing their lives and perhaps not taking note of what else was going on around them.

Meanwhile, a high-class sorceress had seen through Prim's illusions as if they had been nothing at all, and her dragons were growing in size and number.

"We’re leaving the city,” she said. "Now."