We’d hardly left the square when Taava noticed she had a tail; a second tail, that was—and one not attached to her body.

I was glad Seyari and Salvador had already gone to our inn room to retrieve our stuff. While this tail and whoever they worked for, presumably the Mudrats, probably didn’t know where we were staying, that wouldn’t last. And if things got ugly, I wanted to have our stuff given that we were also nearly broke.

I stayed close to Taava and watched for our tail. She practically had to point him out to me to get me to notice who he was—a young man in worker’s clothes who looked a little less scruffy than the image I had in my head. He had a dark mop of messy hair and sharp features, easily visible as he wore no hood. He followed us up and into the nicest part of Lockmoth I’d seen yet.

I could see our destination when the young man approached us. The Gelles Company’s coat of arms was a shield with a sword crossed over a flowing river, nicely painted on the wooden sign below the name in bold font. Taava held out a hand, bidding me to stop. I did, and I turned to the newcomer, whose happy smile hid the anger I could feel in him as he moved closer and out of the crowd.

The three of us moved to stand at the entrance to a wide alley that smelled strongly of fish guts. I took a position behind Taava and glowered down at the young man. He looked up at me, and his smiling expression twitched. I felt a spike of anger, and I let him have the emotion. I felt the comforting presence of my own wrath, cold and controlled—waiting to be lit ablaze.

“Taava!” the young man greeted her, his friendly smile straining. His eyes, however, stayed on me. “Long time no see! How was Rochewood? Garvin wants ta know why ya haven’t visited yet.”

“Rochewood was fine, Vink,” Taava replied coldly. “I just got back in town—I’ll be by soon.” The hair on her tail stood on end.

“When’s soon?” Vink reached for Taava’s arm.

I blocked the limb casually.

The young man withdrew his hand, putting up a gesture of surrender. “Who’s your new friend here? In fact, I hear you’ve made a few new friends on your trip.”

“You’re right, Vink. She is a friend.” Taava’s voice dripped condescension. “Tell Garvin I’ll meet him at our favorite place tonight, ‘kay?”

Vink glared. “We know you’ve been askin’ ‘round town for someone, Taava. Don’t play dumb.”

“Sorry, Vink, I just wanted ta make sure ya could follow along. Wouldn’t want ya gettin’ confused.” Taava smiled sardonically.

Vink’s anger spiked. Taava wrapped her tail around my leg, right as I was about to drain his anger. I’d told her what I could do, but I was smart enough to take the hint and back down. She can handle this.

Vink didn’t miss my frown. “Whoah now! Keep your big dumb bodyguard in check, Taav.” The young man smiled, but all I could see in his eyes was fury. “Tell me what you’re up to,” he whispered.

“She’s not my bodyguard, Vink.” Taava leaned forward and showed him her canines. “And I’ll tell Garvin myself tonight. At our spot.”

Vink threw a punch in response. Not a sloppy one either; the wiry man quickly shifted his posture to throw his weight behind the blow. I could have moved in time, but I played at being slow, stepping forward as if reacting too slowly. If this jerk wanted to underestimate me, that was all the better.

Taava nimbly ducked under Vink’s punch, then used his own weight against him, tripping him onto the ground. “Charlie!” she called out sweetly, “are you alright? I told you to watch out for loose paving stones. I swear, the roads in this city get worse every year.” Her accent pitched more formal than her usual speech.

Vink, or “Charlie”, scrambled to his feet, ready to wind up another blow.

Taava put a hand on his shoulder and leaned in, whispering, “Unless ya wanna make a scene on Drytown’s high street, I suggest ya let this go and run along back ta Garvin.”

I relaxed my posture when Taava spoke up. I hadn’t been nervous—not truly—although my heart had pounded right when the smart-mouthed kazzel had been about to get punched. Now, I tensed up and looked to the street behind us. A wealthy-looking couple had stopped, noticing Vink’s fall. A few other people were glancing our way.

Grimacing, Vink spat on the ground. “I’m fine, Rose,” he said loudly enough to be overheard easily. “Thanks for helping me up. I’ll see you tonight, okay?” His façade cracked under the extra emphasis he put on the last word.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I chimed in, glancing behind me. The couple had started walking again, the others on the busy street also turned away from our alley’s entrance.

Vink glared at me. I smiled back, dumb as I could make it. He frowned, made a rude gesture, and scurried off back down the busy high street, slipping easily into the crowd and away.

Taava shushed me when I tried to speak up and hurried us along to the Gelles company building. “Vink wasn’t the only one. Garvin’s got at least one shadow watchin’ us right now—heard ‘em up on the rooftops. We’ll talk with the others later, got it?”

I nodded.

Taava hissed softly. “And don’t look around! I like that ya caught on and started playin’ dumb. Keep it up.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I nodded again, and pushed open the door to the Gelles Company building. Like the building itself, the door was made out of a dark wood, heavily varnished to avoid rotting in the moist seaside air. The inside was different than what I had expected: a small space with a couple benches for waiting and a counter at the back.

On the counter was a bell and a sign saying to ring it for assistance. I did so, and took a seat on a bench, appreciating how the sturdy thing didn’t mind my weight at all. Taava plopped down next to me, glancing around at the doors in the room, swiveling her ears and generally looking nervous.

“Something bothering you?” I asked.

Taava shrugged “Kinda, but it’s fine.”

I glanced at her questioningly.

“No, really it’s fine,” she insisted.

Now it was my turn to shrug.

We didn’t have to wait much longer before a middle-aged human man walked behind the counter and waved us up. “Do you two have an appointment?” He asked incredulously, eyeing our rather modest clothing. He wore thick spectacles and had a dark receding hairline that he’d wisely not tried to cover up.

“No,” I shook my head. “We were hoping to join the Gelles Company.”

He looked at me, then at Taava. “Are you now? I don’t know that we’re hiring at the moment…” He looked both Taava and myself up and down—mostly me. “But I can go ask. Please wait here a minute.” He gestured at the bench where we’d been seated.

Several minutes later (by the large clock in the corner) one of the side doors opened. An immense, well-dressed man walked out. His hair was a steely sort of gray—thinning, but not bald—and he had a well-trimmed mustache under a gruff-looking face.

He stepped over to us, looming. “Hmm, well, neither of you are in terrible shape.” He stroked his mustache. “What weapons do you use.”

“Knives,” Taava replied easily. “Thrown and in-hand. I can also use some longer blades and know my way around a crossbow.”

“Do you now?” The large man eyed her.

Taava tilted her head, lowering one ear. “Uh, yeah? S’what I said, ain’t it?”

“Hmph.” The man turned to me. “And you?”

“I’m a fire mage, sir.”

He raised an eyebrow at my honest answer.

I rubbed the back of my neck and continued. “I also know some unarmed combat, and I’m learning the spear, uh, sir.”

“Just because you’re big doesn’t mean you understand how to fight unarmed.” His tone was lecturing, just outside of what I’d consider condescending.

I thought back to how Taava had used Vink’s momentum against him not half an hour earlier. “Understood, sir.”

“Do you?” He replied.

I withered under his gaze.

Before I or Taava could respond he continued. “Bah. A lobby’s no place to test you. You don’t look like a pair of simpering pissants, so as long as you’ll not be useless in a fight or an ass to our clients, we might have a place for you.” He rose and turned, looking over his shoulder at us. “Follow me.”

I rose and took a step after him. “Understood, sir. There are two others who should be here shortly and are with us.”

“Are there?” He looked up at me (only slightly, but still), a bit of a surprised look in his eye. “They can wait in the lobby like everyone else. Follow.”

I nodded. Beside me, Taava rose and brushed the bristled fur of her tail back into place as we followed the older man. I had a pretty good idea of how she would react to someone like this man who hadn’t even given us his name yet. Or did I? I shook the thought away, ducked slightly under the old door after the man and followed him down a corridor past some rather plush-looking meeting rooms.

“My name is Rodrik and I’m the branch manager here in Lockmoth. Dreadfully boring position, except when I can test the new recruits. Like you two. First, we’ll make sure you’ve got ability and skill, then there’ll be a test of the more… social aspects of the job. If you pass muster, of course.”

“I’m Zarenna, sir,” I replied. “What if we pass both parts of recruitment?”

“Good question. Obvious, but good.” Rodrik turned a corner and we followed him through a nice-looking door into a much more pedestrian-looking hallway. “If you pass both parts, then we’ll let you shadow a crew on a job. Do that, and we’ll get you a contract to join up.”

“Understood, sir.” I nodded at the back of his head. I could hear voices up ahead. We turned another corridor and passed by a mess hall. I could see several people seated around the place, chatting loudly. Some turned to watch as we passed. The looks of pity scared me.

“Any other questions?” Rodrik asked as we came to a large, exterior-looking door.

“None from me,” Taava replied. “Name’s Taava, by the way.”

“Will we be provided weapons?” I asked.

“You don’t carry your spear through town, then?” Rodrik asked, and I couldn’t decipher if the intimidating man meant it in jest.

“No, sir. Our friends should have it,” I replied, then continued after a moment’s pause, “but I can use a training weapon.”

“Good.” Rodrik pushed open the doors into a large training field, striding in like he owned the place, (which, come to think of it, he probably did). “I don’t test magic, so I’ll need to get our magic instructor. Yusta!”

An individual came running over. Human, with the typical features for the region, they had a slim build and focused eyes behind all their sweat. “Yes sir!”

“Go get Firalex. Tell them there’s a new hopeful recruit who needs magic testing.”

The young person looked at Taava who tilted her head back at him. With another “Yes sir!” they ran off.

Rodrik turned back to us, looking at Taava. “I’ll test Taava here first. We already have targets set up for throwing knives. I’ll get you a training set, and you can show me what you’ve got in a real scrap after you show me you can throw for beans.”

“Gotcha!” Taava managed to sound enthusiastic.

Maybe she was. She did seem to like to show off, although she abandoned the “bard” story pretty fast. I hoped she wouldn’t stop playing for fun in the evenings—she was pretty good.

Rodrik motioned at a bench, and I took a seat. In front of me, Taava took her place at a line in the sand and started to throw at a series of targets arrayed in front of her. She’s showing off.

Not that I blamed her. Crap, I have to figure out how to reign in my strength. I knew enough about how to avoid breaking everything I touched, but I didn’t have much practice with amounts of force other than the minimum or the maximum. I looked down at my hands, uncalloused and too clean.

I would have to explain this somehow and also modulate my strength. If we’d had more time to prepare, I could have thought of something, but today had been a whirlwind of activity. I could fake enhancing myself with magic (I knew some people could do that), but with the magic instructor here, that might not work and would be a disaster. Not to mention the fact that I usually fought with my claws and tail, neither of which I’d have.

Or, I thought cautiously, I could tell the truth.

Probably not, though. Even without direct influence from the Church of Dhias, demons were near-universally reviled, and for good reason. I almost didn’t want to risk sandbagging, but my actual strength would be impossible to explain otherwise.

What do I do?

Taava finished throwing, and met an excited-looking Rodrik in an earthen ring. The large man had been helped into chain armor and seemed to wear it like a second skin. He explained some sort of ruleset to her, but I wasn’t paying attention. I had to think of a plan, and I had until Rodrik and Taava finished, or the magic instructor got here, whichever came first.

And neither would take much more time.