"Basen, I know these are your items, but you have to stop selling daggers to children."

"How did you know about that?"

"Kris told me. He didn't appreciate his five year old coming home with a weapon. Also, he wants Michael's shoe back."

"Ah, sorry. I've already resold it."

"To who??"

-A conversation between Reid Aveno and Basen Koh

Two days after our underground meeting, Hav left a letter under my door letting me know all the pieces were in place to kick off our plan. My initial explanation hadn't done much to alleviate either Hav or Teri's worries, but the fact that they didn't need to directly participate in most of the actual criminal parts of my hijinks meant that they were comfortably insulated from the fallout should things go south. In such a situation, people would normally look to the one who would likely find themselves in trouble and try to guess how likely it was that person would rat out their conspirators.

In my case, there would be no reason for me to do so, and I was the mastermind behind the plan anyway. All the blame would fall rightly on my head, and I would be all too happy to let Hav and Teri disappear with my thanks. After talking it through with them for far longer than I would have liked, they came around. It was probably just as likely the pile of gold and promise for more that convinced them, but I like to think that it was my charisma and undeniable intellect that did the trick.

Hav supplied information and a few contacts, as well as set up some additional inside supplies. He was responsible for making sure the paper trail was set up, and that it eventually circled back around into a loop. It was important that it looked like I was guilty, without actually having concrete evidence of it.

Teri's work was riskier, but according to her, it always was. She was the inside man. During the day she worked as a guard at the palace. She claimed to have never abused the position, and I didn't question it. At night she set up jobs for Hav's crew. They did all kinds of petty crimes. Mostly threats and extortion. Pretty much anything that would guarantee they wouldn't be hung or imprisoned for more than a month or two if they were caught.

At this point, you might have noticed some of the faults in my plan, even as I have barely begun to describe it. I would not say that I was incompetent in my younger years, but I had not yet had enough failures to temper my risk tolerance.

To my surprise, when it came time to execute the first phase of my plan, the first plant was none other than the fighting cook from the inn, Faud. To my chagrin, I remembered my critique of his fighting prowess, and I didn't exactly relish the chance to test my mettle against him, even if it was to be a foregone conclusion.

A huge market square is one of Urish's points of pride. It isn't as large or grand as our own market square, but it is located at the center of the inner circle, just in front of the gates to the Imperial Palace grounds. All manner of merchants set up stalls, blankets, and carts with goods for sale. I itched to work my way around and see what was on offer from the merchants, but I had the plan to consider.

The crowds were thick but orderly in the market square. Guards were stationed regularly, so my stunt would be noticed quickly. The key was a combination of location and offense. I couldn't just get arrested for brawling. Tempers needed to flare.

The crowd parted around Faud like the river around a stone. He was unmoving. When I ran into his shoulder with what I thought was enough force to make him stumble, he instead just carefully slid a foot back, absorbing the bump. Then he shoved me. It wasn't a gentle shove, and I ended up on my backside after failing a sad attempt at regaining my balance.

"Watch where you're going, you foreign prick!" Faud shouted, pulling the attention of basically everyone in earshot.

The beginning had been a set exchange, but it was supposed to lead into a less planned fight. The problem was that I didn't want to fight Faud. That shove had knocked the sense out of me, or maybe back into me. The way he adjusted to the body check. He'd been playing at being an awful fighter the other night.

"Please don't break anything," I said under my breath. There wasn't really a hope of him hearing me.

The plan had to proceed. This was the only window before the sale that worked. I got back on my feet and got up into Faud's face.

"Maybe get out of the way next time, pakech!"

Faud tilted his head to either side, cracking his neck after hearing my Urish insult. "We doing this then?"

I had another line. I was supposed to insult him again. Really get his character fired up. Instead I panicked.

Whoever had yelled about Faud's glass jaw at the inn my first night in the city was a liar and an asshole. My wild punch to Faud's chin was like punching granite.

You might be asking yourself, "Weren't you at least a Greater Mage at this point, Basen?" You'd be right to ask and usually correct. The strength that we get from binding magic items only exists while we continue to have those items bound to us and for a limited time afterward. Most people don't think about that because the only reason most people unbind an item is to bind a more powerful item, but the problem was the plan. A foreign Greater Mage wouldn't have been let into the city, let alone brought anywhere near the palace. The plan then dictated that I had only a single one star item bound to me to appear weak and give me options.

Faud might have had some magic items of his own, given the absolute failure of my punch to even phase him, but the plan was the plan. I had to have a good showing regardless of how outclassed I was.

Faud took a step back and rubbed his chin. He made it look like it actually hurt.

"No need for cheap shots. Come on!" the cook said, falling into his casually bad fighting stance.

Then I had a realization. There was a reason Faud had thrown the match the other night. There was a reason Hav had placed him here. Faud was a phenomenal actor. The intro had been sloppy, but that was more of my own lack of skill than his. Once we got into it, I actually felt like I was kicking his ass. Let me tell you, it was just as satisfying as doing it for real. Probably.

It didn't take more than a few exchanges before the guards arrived to break us up.

"What's happening here! In the name of the emperor, stop this at once!"

Faud scrambled back; the few intentional falls he'd taken had bloodied a lip and left him looking like he was on the losing end of the fight. "This guy just came out of nowhere and started attacking me! I might have shoved him, but I thought he was trying to pickpocket me."

"And you?" the guard asked me. I had met one of the guard plants beside Teri, and this wasn't him. I needed to make sure that whatever I said got me locked up in the right place.

"You Urites think you're so high and mighty. That guy is a joke. Your whole city is a joke. Your 'all-seeing' God Emperor is the biggest joke of them all. Get the hell out of my face."

The color of that guard's face was such that I thought I might have gone too far and that I would be gutted on the street. Fortunately, he was disciplined.

"Heresy! I was just going to lock you up for the night for disturbing the peace, but you dare come into our city and then blaspheme our God? You are under arrest for disruption of the peace, blasphemy, assault, and violation of your city entrance permit! Seize him!"

Two more guards seized me roughly by the arms, dragging me straight toward the palace gates. Faud was forgotten as I kicked and screamed my way across the square. A bevy of choice words and more than a few blows to my gut were enough to silence me until we arrived in an interrogation room inside the palace.

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They left me there to stew for an hour. A man walked in and didn't bother introducing himself before beginning to speak.

"Basen Koh. You came into the city just a few days ago and registered as a merchant with minimal nominal goods. Where are your wares now, and for what reason did you begin a fight in the market square?"

The interrogator was more official than guardsman. He sat on the opposite side of the stout wooden table I was chained to. I had enough slack to change position but not to reach the man across from me. My feet were likewise chained, but even if they hadn't been, there wasn't anywhere to go. We were in a tiny interrogation room in the heart of the peacekeeping wing of the palace. Most of the Urish government occupied space within the emperor's home. That happened to include a small dungeon where some of the more disruptive rule breakers were held, blasphemers included.

"Sold them. Then, I gambled my proceeds away. Look. I'm sorry. I've been drinking, gambling, and making all around terrible decisions. Can't we just let this go? I'll leave Urish right away."

The interrogator smiled. "I'm afraid we're past the point of forgiveness. When did you sell the goods, and to whom? And the fight?"

"I don't know. Random people. I set up in a few spots around the city."

It was a partial truth. I'd set up a small shop in a few spots around the city. For some reason people kept finding my prices rather unreasonable.

"As for the fight? I just bumped that guy, and he shoved me. Why isn't he in here? I didn't see them grab him."

"We're here to talk about you, Mr. Koh."

The man scrawled some notes.

"The case against you is quite dire. Blasphemy in a public square is punishable with years of hard labor. Add in your other crimes, including a failure to report the goods you sold, and you're looking at nearly twenty years of imprisonment and hard labor."

The threat didn't mean much to me, but I needed to act like it did.

"For throwing one tantrum? What do I have to do to get out of this? I'm not taking the fall for that idiot starting a fight and getting off without so much as a slap on the wrist while I suffer. Do you call that justice?"

The man frowned. "I do commiserate with you, Mr. Koh. You're young. Mistakes do happen, but we can't just let you go. Even if we say you weren't responsible for that fight and that you intended to pay the taxes on your wares before leaving the city, then we're still left with the issue of your public and quite loud, blasphemy. You can't say you weren't responsible for that. We have a half dozen witnesses, and I don't think finding a dozen more would be a challenge."

"Where does that leave me then? I'm Avennish. My blasphemy means nothing to your people. The damage caused doesn't match the punishment."

"It does not need to. We aren't some brutish society where the best you can hope for is an eye for an eye or some other barbaric nonsense. We have rules, and when you break those rules, there is a prescribed punishment."

"So I'm screwed."

"Bear with me, Mr. Koh. You have come to believe the same fallacies that so many others outside our empire and our faith have come to believe. We have rules and laws that must be followed, but there are provisions for flexibility. Your fate is not as set in stone as you might fear."

I nodded, allowing the worry on my face to mix with some tepid hope.

The man smiled again. That smile wasn't the same thing that someone put on when they were happy to see you. It was the kind of smile that someone wore when they reveled in the feeling of power they held. The satisfaction of knowing I was his to control brought the chilling expression to his lips unbidden.

"We have much to discuss, Mr. Koh, but I think a night in a cell is warranted. I want you to know what you have to look forward to if we can't come to an arrangement."

"So that's it?"

"For today. Until tomorrow, Mr. Koh."

I yelled in anger as he closed the door behind him, as he expected me to do. This wasn't exactly part of the plan. The man had some motives that I knew nothing about. That, in and of itself, was dangerous. If I had simply been thrown in a cell for a week awaiting charges, it would have aligned nicely with my plans. Now I had this to manage.

The door opened, and Teri stepped inside.

She didn't acknowledge me other than to instruct.

"Lift your hands. I'm rebinding you. Any quick movements, and you'll be in a world of hurt in a hurry."

I nodded. The second guard just outside the door observed.

Teri unhooked me from the floor and table. She worked efficiently, standing me up and connecting my hands to a short system of chains behind my back. the shackles on my feet were connected to those on my hands. They had enough room to walk somewhat comfortably.

"Move."

The corridors of the prison area were maze-like, and the pair of guards led me through multiple dead ends and repeated routes to confuse my mental map of the building. They dropped me in a cell, and my hands were unbound.

Teri left without a word, and I nibbled on the single hardest loaf of bread I've ever encountered. I probably could have used it to chisel through the walls had I the time and motivation. I thought about it a few times as the hours stretched into the night. Eventually, the guard rotation returned, collecting my plate and leaving. Teri didn't approach my cell, but I did catch a slight nod when they departed. She must have had the same thought. Whoever that interrogator was, he was dangerous. We needed to get moving before he changed the game.

After two minutes, as expected, the shackles on my feet fell away unlocked. Teri had bound them yesterday and swapped them out when I was being booked. I reached into my pocket and retrieved the ring of Darksight she planted there while getting me out of the interrogation room. Slipping it on, I checked the corners of the cell. A single black disk was hidden in each corner. I bound those immediately.

I slid one disk under the bars of my cell, and it came to rest right in front of the wall across from me. I placed the first disk right next to the door to my cell and stepped onto it.

A brief moment of disorientation later, I was outside my cell. I collected both disks, reaching back inside my cell for the first instead of risking the flash of light that would accompany summoning it.

I should have brought a watch, I thought.

The five minute cooldown was going to be crucial.

Given the information from Hav's informants, I made my way to the records office. It was one floor up, but the stairs would be past the guard station on this level. The cells on this floor were blessedly empty. I would have waited a few hours had that not been the case. No lamps or torches illuminated the corridor; instead, moonlight shining in from the small windows high in each cell lit the passage in a cool blue light.

Reaching the guard station, I carefully pressed an ear to the bottom half of the door. Sitting still has never been my strongest ability, so I decided to risk a look after only a minute of observation. I shimmied open the sliding peephole cover. The slot for viewing the passage beyond was meant to open from the other side, but it still worked. I stopped and dropped quickly when the mechanism squeaked.

My chest pounded, only serving to push my anxiety higher. I tried to listen but couldn't hear anything beyond my own infernal beating heart. I didn't think I heard anything and risked a glance through the open slit. It was dark in the office. Empty.

"Thank you, Teri," I whispered, getting my nerves under control.

The doors were set up to open only from one direction. I slid a transference disk under the door and stepped on the second one. Nothing happened.

"Blast."

I tried every ten seconds until the actual transference worked, startling me. I nearly lost my balance and fell into a desk, but I managed to stay upright. I opened the door from inside and retrieved my disk.

Looking at the room, I found the desk where the rest of my things were to be planted. This hadn't been Teri's doing, and I hadn't met the person who'd done it. The drawer contained two items. A magical brick and a mundane trowel.

The brick didn't need to be bound, but it was more efficient when bound. My potential at the time wasn't enough to support binding everything I needed, so I had to be careful about what I chose to bind. Most people don't bind and unbind items as frequently as I do. One of the issues that isn't well known is that it's impossible to rebind an item that you've unbound within the last hour or two.

Sucking up the cost, I duplicated the brick. A wave of weariness passed over me, but my body recovered quickly.

After many experiments before coming to Urish, I found that the lesser magic boots of stamina helped cover a small portion of the unbound duplicating brick's cost. The boots didn't increase my stamina, but they did make things that took stamina slightly easier. It was a slight diversion from the item text that I would later exploit to great effect, though that is another story.

I moved to the opposite exit. Using the trowel, I carefully hit the brick at an angle until a small chunk broke off. I opened the door and tucked the broken brick into the track where the door latched. After two more attempts, I had it adjusted so the door didn't lock behind me. I had my transference disks, but I didn't want to rely on a five minute wait if I didn't have to.

The next two hallways passed without note, and I found the stairs up. The next level was one that Teri had no control over, but it should also be entirely empty at this time of night.

I moved from doorway to doorway, silent and stealthy. The records room was the forth room on the left. I listened and heard nothing. With great care, I slid my transference disk under the door. I crept back and ducked into a small alcove to leave my second disk. It wouldn't do to just pop back out in the middle of the hallway if I could help it.

After a few false starts, I appeared in the records room. You might be imagining a small room with some filing cabinets, right? Wrong. This was the records room for the entire main branch of the Urish government. It was enormous, which unfortunately meant that I needed to work quickly. I grabbed my transference disk from the floor and, as a first order of business, placed it somewhere out of sight. There was just enough room for me to stand between the eastern row of cabinets and the wall. Getting over the cabinets wasn't as quiet as I'd hoped, but it was doable.

That in place, I began my search. I won't bore you with the details, but I was searching for records related to the God Emperor's second eye. My search led me from some of the oldest records in the facility, to some of the newest. It seemed the eye had been recently moved.

When I found the document outlining who had made the decision to move it, I knew I had what I was looking for. Silently, I checked the hallway outside the records room. Empty.

I grabbed my second transference disk from the alcove I'd left it. Minutes later, I was back in my cell. I hid my trowel and brick under my cot and removed my darksight ring. Now, all I needed to do was wait.