Alice's thoughts remained troubled every time she thought back about the juvenile wood dragon, but there wasn't much she could do for the thing.

Reluctantly, she and her friends headed to the town. The sun was starting to lower in the sky, and if she did not reach civilization soon, she would be forced to spend the night out in the woods.

That was not an appealing prospect, considering that there were wild dragons here.

I am She of Many Dragons, came the thought. What do I have to fear from them?

Well, if not dragons, perhaps wolves, then.

It took her another hour of trudging and hiking to find her way down the last woodland path and into the town.

Just as in the harbor, the streets were not paved. Wheels from carts had carved deep ruts into the ground, and she had to watch her step or else risk turning an ankle. Alice set Numi, Iggy, and Spark to explore -- with many reminders to keep out of sight. Thankfully, it was evening, which meant there wasn't direct sunlight to glimmer off Iggy and Spark's scales.

Prim stayed on her shoulder, concealing herself with her skills as well as slightly altering Alice's features to make her look more refined.

There wasn't much to the town. The tallest building was the town hall at three stories high. Most of the town had buildings built of timber that looked and smelled new. Some of it hadn't even had the chance to get painted, and the raw wood was already starting to crack from the elements.

Alice made her way to a building with a sign over the door that said simply "Inn." The inside was clearly a restaurant that smelled of stale beer, and Alice felt eyes on her as she walked up to the front.

The innkeeper was a woman in her late thirties with dark ringlets of hair and a cynical expression on her face, as if she’d seen it all. Her eyebrows rose as she looked over Alice. "Apprentice merchant, huh? It's not often we see new faces around here."

"I just came off the ferry," Alice said, her hackles rising, "with other passengers. Those people were new."

"Yeah, but they don't stick around, do they? Those are mostly tradesmen. I hope you're not looking for a room. We've been full for two weeks now."

Alice's stomach dropped. "Are there other inns in town?"

"Sorry, girly, this is the one and only so far." She leaned on the counter, looking Alice up and down. "My name’s Matilda. Say, I don't suppose you're here for the trading post?"

"What?"

"Sim's old trading post." She waved a cleaning rag generally toward the east. "You must've seen it as you came in. It's Sim's old place, but he left for the capital some time ago. I hoped that he'd sent an apprentice back. It's almost damned criminal to have a town without a trading post."

"People are looking at you," Prim whispered in Alice's ear.

Alice started to turn around to see who, but then caught herself.

"You okay, dear?" Matilda asked. “You’re jumpier than a flea facing a bath.”

"Yes," Alice said, and on a complete whim she added, "I just wasn't aware that Sim was so well known around here."

She didn't know why she said it, other than it seemed to be a good excuse.

The innkeeper's smile widened, and for the first time, the expression seemed to touch her eyes. "So, he did send you! I'm glad to hear it. I know the trading post has been in rough shape, but you're young, and I'm sure you're full of energy."

"I… haven't had a chance to look at it," Alice said. What had she just gotten herself into? Then again, if this trading post was empty, it might be a safe place for her and her dragons to sleep tonight. "Can you tell me where it is? Give me a description?"

"Right on the edge of town, and the sign says 'Sim's Trading Post. Real imaginative, I know. But you won't miss it." She made a show of looking around, then leaned in as if to impart a secret. "You didn't hear this from me, but when you go to the Town Hall, ask for Cindy, not Bryce. She is more sympathetic to the needs of the town, and Bryce… well, he likes to dot his i's and cross his t's, if you know what I mean." Then she winked at her.

Alice had no idea what the woman was talking about, but nodded. "I appreciate it."

Then, remembering the tips that hotel attendants and ferry workers required, she grabbed a few coppers and slid them across the table.

Matilda took them with a flash of her hand. "Now, like I said, I don't have a room for you, dear, but we do have the finest shepherd's pies in town."

"I'll take two," Alice said, and at Matilda's startled look, she added, "It's been a long day."

And she had dragons to feed.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

****

The price was fair for two shepherd's pies, and they even came in tins so Alice could take them with her.

She did so, walking down the street, noting the different shops — a couple of saloons, a barber, farrier, and a blacksmith, as well as a tailor, and a couple of shops that seemed to be set up for carts and stable masters.

But there wasn't an overall general store, which she found to be quite odd. Matilda let it slip that Sim had been gone for over six months, and surely a mercantile or some other general store would have sprung up in that time.

Then again… a tailor couldn't open a general store. Everybody was bound by their class, weren't they?

But… Why couldn't a tailor open a general store? Stores had clothing in them, right? Was there a system restriction that kept crafters from selling goods of another craft?

She thought for a moment, then shook her head. No, it was far more likely that a crafter would not gain experience by selling, say, a pastry. And a high-end crafter, or someone who was looking to advance in their field... A little experience lost for every sale would eventually translate into a lot of experience lost over the years. Besides, who would ever trust a pastry made by a tailor?

Yes, that must be the reason.

She was so consumed in her thoughts that she nearly walked past Sim's Trading Post... Which was ridiculous because it was nearly the last one on the street and stood out starkly.

If Matilda hadn't told her that Sim had only been gone six months, she wouldn't have believed it. This had been one of the few buildings that had been painted, but now that paint was peeling away, the chips littering the wooden walkway right before it. The sign, too, looked like it had been once painted blue with the letters edged in enough yellow to make it look golden. Now it was sun-faded, and the sign itself hung cockeyed and looked to be in danger of falling. The windows and door were boarded up.

Alice and Prim exchanged a glance, and Alice went around the back.

Sure enough, there was a back door with a heavy padlock across it.

"Numi," Alice called, not knowing exactly where her little dragon was, but confident that she would be close enough to hear.

With the sound of claws and tail skittering over rocks, Numi appeared and gave a happy cry of delight when she saw the lock. Alice bent and picked her up, and Numi immediately went to work, using the tip of her tail as well as one claw to fiddle around in the keyhole. A moment later, the lock opened.

"Aw, I didn't get a skill level up from that one," Numi pouted.

"They do require more experience the more you level," Prim said. "And there are many doors and locks within this village. You may try those later.”

Alice cringed at the thought of burglarizing people's houses, but if Numi didn't take anything...

She'd worry about that later.

Pushing open the door, Alice paused as a wave of musty air rolled over her. It seemed that the roof had been leaking, and by the smell of things, several items in Sim's store had been destroyed.

"Wait for Iggy. It may not be safe," Prim advised.

Alice called softly for her defenders, and Iggy and Spark swooped down out of the air to join them quickly, as if they had been waiting for her.

They flew into the store ahead of Alice, did one sweep around to check for immediate dangers, and immediately came back.

"There's no one inside," Iggy said, "but I do smell several plump rats.”

Rodent activity meant nothing to a girl who had lived in the general laborer barracks. She nodded, and with a quick look around to triple check and make sure that no one was watching, went in and shut the door behind her.

No light came from the boarded-up windows, and it took Alice a few moments for her eyes to adjust.

She found a mess inside.

She could imagine at one time this had been an organized store. There was shelving on all the walls. Several tables stood in the middle, probably to display wares. And there had been once a fine wooden counter at the back of the store with a till.

Well, that till was long gone, and the many of the tables were up-ended with what was left of the merchandise scattered in torn or broken along the floor. The shelves were bare and musty, and she saw evidence of rats nests in several of the corners.

At a glance, she guessed that she was not the only one who had broken in. Others had rifled through the belongings and taken anything of value.

Reaching down, she picked up a shirt that was only large enough to fit a child. It was stiff with mildew.

"Alice, I found a loft up here," Numi called from the above.

Following her voice, Alice's searching hands found a ladder. Unlike the rest of the store, this at least was in good repair and held her weight without the least bit of cracking.

She climbed up and came to a flat, large space.

Prim hopped up off her shoulder and helped her search around. Soon, they found a lamp with oil still sloshing around on the bottom.

Iggy provided a bit of flame to get it lit, and Alice kept it closely shielded in case any light escaped and let someone know that there was somebody inside. She took a look around.

Like the store, this personal area was more of an apartment with separate living spaces. Those had been curtained off from one another — the curtains were now torn down, but the bedding was still there, though ripped and soiled by leaking water.

In the corner stood a fireplace, though she wasn't sure if she trusted the chimney to be clear considering the state of the rest of the store. There was a hook that swung in and out that could handle a pot for soup. That pot was missing. Other random bits of belongings were scattered everywhere.

"Well," Alice murmured to herself. "Times like this, I wish that I still had my old cleaning skill.”

"If you had that, you wouldn't have us," Prim remarked.

"I was just joking, dear," she said. "Numi, do you sense anything of value around here?

"It's all very scattered," Numi said, "but I think there might be something.”

She put her nose down and started sniffing along the floorboards like a dog. They were rather uneven, Alice realized, even more than the warping from water would explain. It was as if somebody had come along and pried out slats of wood at random.

They were looking for something.

And suddenly, the disappearance of the shopkeeper and the fact all the belongings had been scattered took on a more ominous feel.

"Here," Numi said, pointing to a floorboard that had not been pried up. It was in the exact middle of the room and looked the same as the rest, which is why it had probably been overlooked.

Numi scrabbled her claws in and heaved.

The floorboard opened with the click. And inside was a metal strongbox.