Mid-way to obeying the order, I froze.

Someone had started a conversation despite being unable to see me. Sure, it remained a precarious position, but the situation still offered what I had wanted to achieve. I just had to convince them to keep it going.

“A-Any chance we can talk while I stay in the crate?” I pleaded, failing to prevent my voice from trembling.

A chuckle resonated from a different direction. It seemed the man had not come alone. Damn. That significantly lowered my chances of escape.

“Well, people often tell me I talk too much, but… no, I’m not so starving for conversation that I’m willing to talk to a box.” the previous voice replied. “At least, not without a good bottle to justify the awkwardness, and I don’t see any around.”

Thunk.

“So get out, before we decide to break the box.” the man said.

Damn. Damn!

Well, I could guess what would happen once they saw me, so I felt no real rush to comply. The threat of potential violence paled against its certainty.

“I-I would honestly rather not,” I said. “You people have a history of exceedingly poor reactions to my appearance.”

Instead of an answer, I heard a loud sigh.

“Fine, fine… This kind of night, is it?” my mysterious interlocutor said. “Loann, you’d best not let him escape.”

As far as I knew, which, admittedly, kept proving to be frustratingly little, my name was not Loann. Regardless, had the man actually accepted my terms?

Large fingers appeared on the side of my box, disproving my assumption.

“Harrumph!” my tormentor groaned as he exerted himself.

Crrrrrr.

The crate shifted under me, causing me to fall back on my ass. That, more than anything, is what woke me up to the danger I faced. I even hoped I had guessed right, and that I would soon either turn into some huge invincible monster, or reveal myself to have some overwhelming magical power.

Crrrrrr.

No such luck.

I could already see a glimpse of the street ahead. Dared I make a run for it, despite the odds?

“Need a hand, Aostin?” a mocking female voice goaded. Presumably whoever had laughed before.

“Well, no, I’m—” Aostin’s breath run out as he kept pushing, and he had to pause “—pretty much already done by now. I could’ve used the help earlier, though.”

“Thought you could use the exercise. ” the woman shot back. “Something other than sitting in bars, for once. Just to keep you in shape.”

Crrrrrr.

Now that my view had been forcefully extended, I saw a pale, blonde man with a thin beard blocking my escape route to the main street. Loann, I assumed. As I stared at the readied crossbow he aimed at me, I made my decision: no running.

“Alright. That should do it.” Aostin said.

The fingers disappeared.

Loann had come prepared for a fight. His gear reminded me of the one worn by some of the dead bodies from this morning. Indeed, he even sported a breastplate similar to the ones I had failed to procure for myself. He also carried a sword at his belt, but I found myself not too concerned by that particular weapon.

Following my previous experiences meeting face to face with the locals, I expected to be shot on the spot, but while Loann’s face showed some intense concentration, I saw no traces of rage.

“Damn,” he said, still focused on me. “There really isn’t a thing...”

What? Did... Did he not see me, for whatever reason? Well! I was going to waste this chance, then! I started getting back up, reconsidering the likeliness of a successful escape.

“Woah, there! No sudden moves.” Loann warned me, giving his crossbow a slight shake.

I paused, surprised, then winced. Oh. He must have been talking about valuables. Yes, that made more sense.

Now conscious of every movement, I slowly extricated myself from my hiding place. I dared not take my gaze off the crossbow.

Once I stood free of the box, I began to raise my hands in surrender, only to feel a swift tug on the side of my belt. Before I could think better of it, I jerked my head to see what had caused it.

My dagger had disappeared.

“Let’s see what we have here…” Aostin said, standing behind me.

I turned to look around, more carefully this time, to get a better understanding of the situation.

To my left stood the brick wall that had failed to provide me with adequate protection. I gave it no more thought.

In front of me, Loann still held his crossbow at the ready, patiently deciding on whether or not to shoot me. Having seen it again, it took a conscious effort for me to take my eyes off the deadly instrument.

Turning my head further to the right revealed what first appeared to me as some sort of monk. That impression came from the man’s bald and scrawny scalp, and was reinforced by his eccentric attire, which featured an excessive amount of pockets. Each one had a symbol sewed on it, but I recognized none of them. I assumed these went beyond simple decoration. Uncomfortable looking straps were attached to the shoulders, which allowed a wooden square to be held horizontally in front of the man’s belt. The portable surface was slightly wider than his girth, and around five centimeters (2 inches) thick. His black skin shone with sweat, a manifestation of his intense concentration. Indeed, he was working a strange ritual, placing stones from his pockets onto the board, using a logic which escaped me. Despite his evidently specialized role, the man still carried a rapier at his belt, the weapon pushed to an odd angle as it collided with the wooden platform. Since he seemed too lost in his efforts to pay me any mind, I judged him harmless and continued to inspect my surroundings.

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Close to the stone peddler stood a woman with her spear at the ready. Her leather armor was unusually thick around her arms, though I could not figure out why. She had one of the rarer complexions, a pale gray skin with dark green hair. Perhaps it stemmed from further away? I had not seen the likes among the passersby today.

Next to her sat a massive creature that might have been either a dog or an enormous fox. Its fur was a contrast of ginger with a black cape. The darkness extended all the way to, and covered, its fluffy tail. Fortunately, while its master was staring at me with a nervous grin, the animal appeared more interested by the wall behind me.

I finally caught sight of the man who had woken me up. Aostin. Not at all looking like I would have expected. He turned out to be a somewhat overweight man wearing fancy white and gold clothes. It did complement his bronze skin and black hair, but made him look particularly out of place in this group. Even his sword’s scabbard was golden. He held a familiar dagger by the blade, frowning as he rotated it to examine the handle.

“The dagger is one of Vallo’s,” he announced to his companions. He sounded disappointed. “No Binding, obviously.”

After giving the weapon a few tries by attacking the empty air, Aostin turned to the man with too many stones. “Well? Nouel? What’s the holdup?” he asked.

Nouel did not even slow down his strange ritual. “As I am sure everyone here is well aware by now,” he explained, “there is simply nothing to latch onto.” He sighed. “I am currently trying to-“

“Alright, alright.” Aostin interrupted him, raising a hand to emphasize. “This is not the place for another of your lessons. We’ve been here long enough. He looks pretty harmless to me, anyway.” Aostin turned to the spear wielding woman. “Yaelle, you’re up.”

Oh. So Nouel was some kind of mage. That explained the strange behavior. Somewhat. Spells cast from stones on a glorified checkerboard? That did not sound right to me, but I could not claim to be an expert. Why was he unable to cast anything on me, exactly?

Yaelle’s smiling face became serious, and she approached me, her spear still ready to skewer me. The beast followed her. Once reassured I would not fight back, she used the strap attached to her spear to sling it on her shoulder, then retrieved what appeared to be a leash from a pocket at her side. Still not seeing any advantage to be gained by resisting, I let her use the improvised rope to tie my arms behind my back.

“I-Is that really necessary?” I asked, once she was done. “I haven—“

“Yes. It is.” Aostin cut through. “You might look harmless, but we’re not taking any chances.” He turned back to Nouel. “Any way to make him less conspicuous? He’s sure to get noticed on the way back.”

Nouel shrugged, which had the effect of shifting all the stones on his slate. “Provided no one tries to interact with him, the best solution would be some kind of enchanted cloak,” he commented. “Any enchantment would do, really.” He raised a hand to forestall Aostin, who had been about to interrupt. The mage kept thinking for a few seconds more. “Spraying enchanted dust all over him would serve just as well, unless the weather decides to interfere.”

The mage dumped back all his stones into a pocket, then pulled out a small pouch, which he handed to Aostin. “Here’s an odor neutralizing enchantment,” he explained. “I don’t have anything I made myself in powder form, unfortunately, but that should do the trick.” He smiled wickedly. “There’s plenty for two people, I might add.”

Yaelle chuckled at that, and Aostin opted to pour the whole thing all over me.

I had the good sense to close my eyes, knowing I would not be able to rub them with my hands tied. The dust took too long to settle regardless, so I ended up sneezing despite my attempt to not breathe the stuff.

The reaction was immediate. Yaelle unslung her spear, and Aostin put a hand on his sword. Thankfully, it seemed Loann did not have his finger on the trigger.

Seeing I had done nothing untoward, they swiftly returned to their previous posture.

“I think it will work, if we stay near him.” Loann remarked.

Aostin nodded. “Time to move.” he announced, before looking at me straight in the eyes. “You’re a smart guy, right? You won’t try to run.” he said.

“Well, he ain’t undead.” Yaelle cheerfully declared. “You owe me five, Loann.”

“Fine…” Loann grumbled, before tilting his crossbow forward to signal I should start walking.

The group escorted me through the city, as uncaring of witnesses as passersby were of us. I knew better than to try a desperate call for help, so I stayed silent while they led me to their lair.

----------------------------------------

Aostin’s group left me in some cell. I tried to stay positive and see it as a noticeable upgrade over my wooden crate. Indeed, stone bricks offered much better heat retention. It even had an actual bed! Very minimalist in design, which I could appreciate. They let me have a three-legged stool, similarly devoid of any frivolities. And a bucket. Ugh. Fine. It was a terrible situation.

As far as I could tell, this cell was built by simply splitting a regular room with a wall of iron bars. No windows, unfortunately. On the side I could not access were a couple of chairs, a table, and the door to freedom. Nobody had shown up since they dropped me off, either.

I found myself with more time to think, though I would have preferred having a watcher to get some answers from. I understood why they did not bother, for I had no way of breaking out.

So, from what I had overheard, I could deduce that I indeed possessed some kind of immunity to spells. Nouel had advised they could not latch onto me. That all but confirmed one of my earlier theories: if my clothes did not share this protection, a destructive spell could have disintegrated them while leaving me unscathed. However, I realized the flaw in my logic. Invulnerability to magic would have made it impossible for my mind to be tinkered with.

Also, why had they needed to cover me with enchantments? I would have understood the need for illusions to be cast, but the mage had specifically said any sort of enchantment would work. This implied the aim had not been to change my appearance, but only to bury me in magic.

What about the dagger? Aostin had said it presented no binding. That sounded like an odd remark. Was the expected binding something magical? It could explain Aostin’s disappointment, as it meant the only thing of value they had relieved me of proved mundane.

And why had they gone after me in the first place? I did not believe this to be a random act of robbery. The animal hinted at a deliberate effort to find me, specifically. Why put me in a cell? That did not match the modus operandi of bandits, or, at least, not those targeting destitute vagabonds.

As if to prove me wrong, the door opened, letting in a rough-looking man I could totally see play the role of a mugger. His short black hair showed a line of white to the side, which I attributed to a scar. An easy conclusion, considering his light brown face displayed an impressive number of healed cuts. That man was evidently no stranger to violence. He even had the musculature to match. His plain clothes were nothing special, though. Perhaps a futile attempt at not being so discernible in a crowd.

If their intention was to intimidate me, well, they were succeeding.

The brute had left the door open. He took a chair and brought it closer to my cell before sitting there, staring at me with a frown.

I chose to ignore the stool chair and sat on the bed instead. Yes, it would have let me sit nearer to my guest, and yes, I made my decision on that very factor. I stayed quiet, not daring to risk upsetting the man.

Before the silence grew too awkward, Nouel went through the door, closing it behind him. He still wore the strange attire with too many pockets, but there no longer were any straps or board attached to it. The reason for that became clear once the pebble mage took a chair and sat behind the table. No need for the portable version here, I surmised. Once again, Noel ignored me, focusing instead on the only real threat in the room. I did not blame him.

“So,” my interrogator began, “you have a name?”