While the noble district was mostly free from the hustle and bustle that businesses usually bring, a small section near the gates had been aside for the most exclusive shops in town, a parade of tailors, jewelers, and perfumers whose wares were too expensive for the hoi polloi to even consider.

Knowing that Nas̆ru or his men might be keeping an eye on them, the three window-shopped for a few minutes, but there was little to get their interest. Ihra had no use for the fancy tunics and dresses they sold for women, while the fashions for men were a bit more flamboyant than Jasper, a solid jeans-and-t sort of dude, preferred. It didn’t help that the storekeeps barely acknowledged them, judging correctly that the trio were not serious shoppers.

They didn’t even bother entering the jewelry shops, whose windows were filled with such ostentatious displays of wealth that Jasper guessed he’d struggle to buy a single item. They stopped briefly at the store the guard had directed them to, but there was no sign of the captain, so they continued down the lane, and ducked into one of the perfume shops.

Jasper descended into a fit of coughing as they stepped across the threshold. The store’s atmosphere had a visible haze, a soupy mix of every conceivable scent and flavor that walked the line between tantalizing and nauseating. Hundreds of glass vials lined the walls, filled with bright liquids, while below them sat bins piled high with sundry dried herbs and flowers.

Unlike most of the other shopkeepers, the man behind the desk greeted them cheerily as they entered, and shuffled forward. He walked with a slight limp, his leg dragging with every step, but moved with a deceptive speed. “Welcome to Ẹsēn’s Aromatics, my lord. Is there anything you’re looking for?”

There was an eagerness to his voice that pulled on Jasper’s heartstrings, and he started to look at the shelves more closely. “I’m not sure I’m looking for any perfume right now, but I might be interested in some potions.”

The Djinn looked crestfallen for a second but quickly composed his face. “Well, I do have a few potions made by my daughter. She’s just an apprentice alchemist right now, you understand, so she doesn’t know many recipes yet, but the potions she makes work just fine - her mentor double-checks everything we sell.” He escorted Jasper to the front of the store where a row of black jars filled a table.

Most were simple healing potions, which Jasper already had plenty of; healing potions was one area where Ihra, despite her general reluctance to part with gold, never skimped. Plus, thanks to his new healing spell, Jasper hoped to cut down on their consumption.

There were two other potion types, though, whose labels he didn’t recognize. “What do these do?”

“This one,” the shopkeep replied, grabbing the jar closest to Jasper, “is a warming potion. We mostly sell it to hunters who are going to be out for a few days.”

Jasper could see it being useful for Tsia and Ihra who, unlike him, were still susceptible to the cold and snatched two of them up. “And what about the other one?”

The shopkeeper seemed slow to respond. “That is, uh, a potion for the ladies, my lord. Prevents their monthly visitor,” he added with an apologetic glance at Ihra.

“You mean birth control?” Jasper asked for clarification.

The man’s eyes squirreled away. “Call it what you like, my lord.”

Jasper bought the two potions he had already picked up and, much to his surprise, Ihra shelled out several gold coins of her own to buy a number of the second potions. Is she seeing someone? He couldn’t help but be a bit curious, but he held his tongue. Even if Ihra was seeing someone, it wasn’t his place to pry; she'd tell him when she was ready.

With their transactions concluded, the three ventured back to the street and took a second pass by the “Thorn Pricked Finger.” This time, Jasper spied a man in military garb through the tailor’s windows.

When they entered, there was no sign of the shopkeep, but the guard against the front desk. “Lord Yas̆peh, I presume?” he greeted them.

“Captain S̆ams̆ātnu?” Jasper responded.

The man bobbed his head in reply and waved them closer. “I had Abdûl step out for a few minutes so we could talk. From the message Gūla sent me, it sounds like you’re looking for a mage.” He pulled the letter out of his pocket and tapped it against the counter. “But why Selēmuq? He’s been in a town for a few weeks, but hasn't caused any trouble. Has he done something I should be aware of?”

“It’s not the town he’s causing trouble for,” Jasper replied evasively. The captain didn’t need to know their reasons and, frankly, he found the man’s prying annoying. “Do you know where Selēmuq is staying?”

The captain pursed his lips, obviously annoyed that Jasper had ignored his question, but he filled them in anyways. “Mostly in and around the manor of Lord Ayyālu. My men have only seen him leave that estate two or three times.”

“And where's Lord Ayyālu's manor?”

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“If you take this street till it dead ends, and turn to the left, you’ll come across his estate. Just look for the house flying a green banner with a golden stag.”

“And are there any easy ways to, maybe, sneak in and take a long around?” he probed.

“I’m not going to tell you how to break into his house," the captain snorted, taking great delight in being able to reject them. "Gūla paid me for observation, nothing more.”

Jasper shared a look with Ihra, who reluctantly opened the party’s bag of holding, and fished a handful of gold coins out of it. She knew better than to directly offer them to the captain but piled them up on the table with the offer left unstated.

“Are you sure nothing come to mind?” Jasper questioned again.

The man casually swept the coins into his bag and stood up. “Nope, but I’ll take this as payment for your crimes.”

“Crimes?”

“Attempted bribery,” the Djinn replied with a smirk and headed for the exit.

When the door swung shut behind him, Jasper cursed. “Well, he’s an ass.”

“And a thief,” Ihra replied tightly. “Do you think his information’s trustworthy?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I know he’s supposed to be Gūla’s contact, but I didn’t get the impression that he’s committed to any cause but his own. I don't think Gūla has much of a budget, so if the other side pays better, he might be setting us up. But, it's not like we have any other leads .” Suffocating a sigh, he turned and headed for the door.

“And if it is an ambush, we might learn something from the prisoners,” he added as an afterthought.

The captain’s directions, at least, proved accurate. Though a bustling city for trade, Nūr-S̆ams̆a’s noble district was fairly compact. The section of high-end shopping lasted less than a block and a half, after which the street only continued for another two blocks before dead-ending into the city wall as the captain had said.

A wide avenue ran parallel to the wall, trapping about an acre of land between it and the sturdy defenses. It was here that the largest manors in the city had been built. The Djinn mostly favored three-story edifices built around courtyards, and like the famous palazzos of Florence, their austere exteriors hid the luxuries within. Indeed, the only signs of opulence visible to pedestrians were the carefully manicured gardens that wrapped around the homes in a narrow strip, filled with an array of bright flowers.

They passed seven manors before they found the one the captain had described. Like the others, a bright banner hung above the iron gates that enclosed its properly - a rich, verdant green across whose somber forests trekked a deer of shining gold which, upon inspection, Jasper suspected was actual gold thread.

No guards were waiting outside the building but the whole manor was enclosed by a tall iron fence and a pair of closed gates that were barred shut by three long, thick poles that held them in place. Sure, Ihra could have boosted her strength enough to break through them or Jasper could have used Spectral Wings to shuttle them up and over the fence, but not without attracting more attention than they wanted.

Instead, the three continued past the manor and turned down the narrow alleyway that shunted down its side. The alleyway led to an even narrower path at the base of the city walls, but though they skirted around the entire exterior of the manor, they spied no sign of a quieter place to try to break in.

With a huff of frustration, Jasper paused opposite the front gates. “There’s no way there isn’t another entrance,” he complained. “Even normal houses have two doors so you don’t get trapped in a fire, but where the hell did they hide it?”

“Eh,” Ihra shrugged. “We’ll just have to wait for night and sneak over the fence; it won't be too hard."

“Yeah, but if the captain sold us out, that’s what they’re expecting us to do,” Jasper pointed out. “And if I’m going into an ambush, I’d rather it not be at night.”

“Actually-" They both started as Erin, who had barely spoken the entire time, piped up. “I think I might have found a secret entrance.”

“You saw something,” Jasper asked.

“I wouldn't call it seeing,” the scout denied. “But, sort of. You know how one of my skills lets me manipulate wood?”

“We all saw what you could in Ḫengal,” Jasper replied wryly.

“Well, part of that skill includes allowing me to sense wood near me.”

“Did you find a tunnel?” Ihra cut to the chase.

The scout nodded. “I think so.” He led them back toward the left corner of the estate, which nestled close to the wall. “There’s nothing visible here but there’s a bunch of wood buried beneath us, spaced at fairly even intervals. If we follow it, maybe we’ll find the end of the tunnel?”

With no better leads, Jasper and Ihra fell in line behind him. The tunnel, if that’s what it was, extended halfway down the street, before taking an abrupt turn directly into the wall.

“Crap, we’ve got to go outside.”

The noble district had no direct gate to the countryside, so they were forced to head back down the small shopping district and out into the city at large to reach the nearest exit. They galloped around the perimeter of Nūr-S̆ams̆a until they reached the start of the noble district and began to search for the tunnel’s continuation, only to realize they had a bit of a problem.

“There’s a half dozen of them down there,” Erin complained as he scanned the ground. “I don’t know which is which.”

“Was there anything that seemed different about the other one,” Ihra questioned.

He shook his head. “Not really. Maybe…maybe the distance between the support beams? I know I said they were about 10 feet apart.” He turned away from the tunnel he’d been standing over. “I think this one’s beams are closer.”

It took a few minutes to narrow down the suspects but, eventually, he decided on two that he thought were most promising. Picking the first, the three followed the trail of beams five hundred feet out from the walls until they reached a thicket of trees in a fallow field.

Though the snow was beginning to melt, much was still preserved beneath the shadow of the trees, and they were forced to paw through the drifts looking for the door. It wasn’t so bad for Jasper, but Ihra’s and Erin’s hands were raw and shaking by the time they finally uncovered the entrance. It was well hidden, covered in brown grass, fallen leaves, and mud, with a gap between the surrounding sod that was so thin only Ihra was able to perceive it. It was a team effort to pull it open, and it was only when Ihra activated her Still Pond skill that they finally managed to snap the chain that tied it down on the other side. It thumped onto the ground with a heavy thud, revealing nothing but a pool of darkness.

Jasper brushed the muck of his hands and clothes as best as he could before turning to the others. “Well, shall we check it out?”