Tel shook his head as he walked down the street, Shara beside him waving her hand at her mouth and the hot meat-pie she’d taken a bite out of. “That’s unfortunate,” he said.

“Ya’aight. Dis’s’ooooot,” Shara mumbled while trying to blow the heat out of her mouth.

“Not the… never mind. Is it good?” he asked.

“Delicious,” she said after finally swallowing the mouthful down. Still, she didn’t immediately put the steaming pie back to her lips. “Possibly the best one I’ve ever had. No wonder there was a lineup. Thanks for paying, by the way.”

“You’re welcome, and that’s what happens when you can actually measure ingredients,” Tel said.

“Wow,” Shara said with a respectful nod…to the meat pie. “But I don’t think the food is what you’re talking about, unless you mean it was unfortunate you didn’t get your own? Cause you have to know I’m not sharing this. In fact, after we go talk to your trader-friend, I’m seriously thinking about going back for seconds. Maybe thirds.”

“Be careful, that sounds like a plan,” Tel said, and Shara’s eyes widened. “But no. I was hoping Jeanie, the pie lady, would’ve seen one of the others. Whenever we visited, we’d stop there and get a batch or two to bring back to the others.”

“That’s why you lied and asked if somebody had already been in to place the order?” Shara asked.

“Yes,” Tel said. “That’s two out of three. Just the trader left.”

“How far is he?” she asked, taking another bite out of the pie and then closing her eyes as she chewed. The pies tended to have that effect on people. There was that time Grund had…

Tel shook his head and pushed the memory door in his head firmly shut again before anymore could leak out. “Just around the corner and down the street,” Tel said.

“And he doesn’t know what you all really were?” she asked after looking around, probably to make sure nobody was close enough to overhear.

None of the groups of people on the street were paying any attention to them, but Tel still kept his voice down. “No. We’ve moved goods through him for years, but only sealed crates with fake manifests and addresses.”

“He’s reliable enough to leave a message with?”

“Yes. Our shipments are often...fragile, and other than one damaged shipment a few months back, all his work as been impeccable. From what Grund told me, the…others have been working with this trader for more than a dozen years. No questions asked. If anybody else makes it to town, they’ll go to Jeanie for a snack, and then to Kulio, the trader, for transportation,” Tel explained.

“He moves people too?” Shara asked, the meat pie miraculously entirely gone.

“Not slaves, if that’s what you’re asking,” Tel said as they rounded the corner, and he spotted Kulio’s building not far down the street. “His wagons are constantly moving between the cities, so he sells space to travellers as well.”

“Does everybody here have a license to measure? I was surprised when…what was her name? Jeanie? She had a scale to weigh the coin you gave her,” Shara said, licking her fingertips.

“Just about everybody. There are some things the town sneaks through, like the paved streets and measuring ingredients, but this many merchants without the proper licenses? Even Gravelburg couldn’t get away with that. From what I’ve heard, Kulio is pretty shrewd about business too. You can bet he’s counting his coins’ weight.”

“I see,” Shara said, her finger hovering in front of her mouth for several long seconds before she finally licked off the last crumbs. There was something going on behind her eyes, but she didn’t say anything else, and then they were at the door to Kulio’s.

With a last look a Shara, she was still silent, Tel opened the door, a small bell above ringing to announce their presence, and stepped inside. The store stretched out ahead of him, just as he remembered, with a number of waist-high glass cases lining the room in aisles and displaying all number of boring treasures. Not a single watch or clock to be seen, but to be fair, Kulio would get locked up or executed for openly displaying those.

To Tel’s right stood a monster-of-a-man guard – what was his name? Right, Kulio called him Block – while Kulio himself sat by the far counter, elbow propped on the waxed wood.

Tel gave a quick nod to Block, the man had to be as big as three Tels, maybe four – but he was careful not to be too accurate in his estimation – then shuffled down the aisle to Kulio.

“Tel?” Kulio asked, his voice rising a pitch at the question. “How are you…here? Uh, do you have an order coming in today I forgot about?” he asked, standing up stock straight and then reaching under the counter to pull out a log. With a license to read, the log wasn’t just for show.

“No,” Tel said, his gaze settling on the safety of the log instead of looking at Kulio. Easier to keep his thoughts in order if he didn’t have to make eye contact. “Nothing to pick up today, but did one of the others stop by to place an order or book passage?”

“Others? There are others in town?” Kulio asked, fingers tapping the log where Tel locked his eyes.

“There should be,” Tel said, going back to a similar lie he’d told Jeanie. “There was a problem noticed with the order after they left, and I came to correct it. Have you seen anybody?”

“No,” Kulio said, his tapping stopping and his finger lifting and flicking to the side. “When should I be expecting them? And where are you staying, Tel?”

“We’re at the…” Tel started.

“Tel,” Shara interrupted firmly, and he turned his head to look at her, meeting her eyes.

A pointed look behind him, and he turned even further to see Block standing in front of the door.

“Kulio?” Tel asked, his head swiveling back to the merchant, and the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Block had never done that before, and with his arms crossed like that, his biceps had to be as thick as Tel’s whole chest. Impressive. Intimidating…but impressive.

“I think we know what happened now, Tel,” Shara said, lifting her right hand to casually point at Kulio, palm up, then scratching at her neck. “Here’s your leak.”

“What are you talking about, Shara? Kulio is a friend,” Tel said, though the puzzle pieces clicking together in his head told a different story.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“World doesn’t turn on friends, Tel. Turns on money and fear, one of which the Tailcoats have in plenty, and the other they are very good at providing. What do you think?” Shara asked, still scratching at her neck under a silver chain.

The damaged crates. Kulio must’ve seen what they were shipping. But that was months ago…and months is how long it would take for the Tailcoats to track down their hidden mountain enclave.

“You sold us out. For money,” Tel said.

“Don’t be silly, Tel,” Kulio said in his silky-smooth voice. “I sold you out for a lot of money. More than I make in a year, even with my more enterprising ventures.”

“They’re all dead…for money?” Tel asked, bloody hands pushing open the memory door. Fingers meant for delicate repairs stretched crooked and crimson, their faces following from the darkness frozen in fear, pain, and…blame. Blame at Tel for living. For running. Their agonized screams echoed in his head while the door swung further open, and something far worse glinted silver behind.

More memories. More promises broken. More lives sacrificed so he could live…

“…you fight?” Shara’s voice slithered into his ear while a hand shook his shoulder. “Tel, can you fight?” she said, like it wasn’t the first time she’d asked.

The silver within the door crept forward, the sharp lines of a familiar face forming…

“No!” Tel shouted, his hands going to his head while he slammed the door shut and fell to his knees. That… that couldn’t come out. He couldn’t let it out.

“Well, good thing I got this then,” Shara said, another door opening and Block’s twin brother, Barrel, stepped into the store beside Kulio. “Oh, come on. How are there two of you?”

Tel forced his eyes to stay open. To even blink would be to see inside the memory door. It lurked in the darkness and… no… no, better to see what was about to happen. Kulio was talking with a smile on his face, but Tel couldn’t hear anything over the screaming in his head. Beside the merchant, Barrel stepped out from behind the counter, his meat-hook of a right hand folding into a fist the size of Tel’s head.

They weren’t going to get out of this. Tel, stupid Tel, had led them right back to the people who wanted him dead, and now Shara was going to pay for it too.

Shara… he should apologize to her before he died, but when he looked up, she didn’t even look worried. Instead, she flicked her thumb up, snagging the chain around her neck, and a silver stopwatch popped out of her neckline.

“One warning,” she said, her thumb pushing the plunger before dropping the watch back into her shirt.

The tick, tick, tick of the watch, so faint in reality, still thundered in Tel’s ears, drowning out the screaming as luminescent butterflies burst from under Shara’s shirt to twine around her arms and down her legs. With every passing second, the steady rhythm of the watch pushed back the darkness in his head, closed the door, and sealed it back behind the memory door.

“A sorcerer?” Kulio spat. “Break her!” he ordered his thugs, and Barrel charged forward. From the thumping on the floorboards behind Tel, Block was likely doing the same thing.

But Shara still didn’t seem worried, the butterflies gathering around her hands and feet in swarms of glowing motion. Whatever her magic was, it was focused there.

Barrel swept in, fist coming around with enough force to completely remove Shara’s head from her shoulders, but she simply dropped down and then rolled under it. Butterflies trailed behind her as she sprung to her feet and then leapt up behind the huge man onto the glass case that would never support her weight.

And yet… it did.

Without missing a beat, Shara spun back around, her hip snapping with enough momentum the air itself seemed to pop, and her heel connected with the side of Barrel’s head. Butterflies burst at the blow, whether from her magic or just dislodged by the impact, and the man staggered to the side to crash into another display case.

That glass didn’t support his weight, and his hands went straight through with a shatter and yelp of pain.

Block, meanwhile, flung his arms forward to catch Shara’s legs on the glass case, but she put one foot forward like she was stepping up a stair. Butterflies swirled around the sole of that foot, six inches above the glass case, and she leapt back in a flip to escape the thug’s grasping hands.

More butterflies around her fingertips while she was upside down, and Shara cartwheeled across the empty air. As soon as her feet landed on…nothing…she darted forward and climbed a trio of invisible steps, only to flip forward again and bring her heel down on the back of Block’s square head.

Somehow, with acrobatic ability Tel couldn’t even dream of possessing, Shara never even touched the ground, and a trail of butterflies followed her as she dashed back towards Barrel.

She climbed through the air like running up a slope to bring her to eye level with the man who normally towered above her, his bloody hands still low to catch where she should’ve been. Quick like lightning, her hands snapped out, a barrage of punches cracking into Barrel’s nose and eyes.

Still, the man knew how to take a punch – it was probably one of his hobbies – and he barely registered the blows, bringing a fist up in a vicious uppercut.

Dancing through the air, glowing insects swirling with every motion, Shara avoided the blow and spun around behind him, bringing both her hands to clap in on Barrel’s ears.

“Grah,” the man grunted, again staggering forward to crash into another display case.

“I said break her, not my shop!” Kulio yelled, while Shara ran through the air right over Barrel to drop kick Block as he was rising from his knees.

The soles of both of Shara’s boots crunching into his nose sent Block sprawling on the floor, but only for a second, and he started pushing himself back up almost immediately.

“Surprise is gone, time to go,” Shara said, grabbing Tel under the arm and yanking him to his feet. “You better be able to run.”

With the calm of the ticking stopwatch holding the memory door closed, Tel nodded, clenching his hands together to try and stop the shaking, and let her lead him to the door.

“How? HOW did you let the little girl do that?” Kulio screamed as the huge men picked themselves up.

Blood flowed from their wounds to drip on the floor, Block’s face a waterfall of it, while Barrel looked like he was wearing red gloves up to his elbows. Still, they didn’t hesitate to give chase as Shara threw open the door and dragged Tel out.

“Come on. Come on!” Shara encouraged him, pulling his arm until he was sprinting beside her as best he could. His legs pumped for all they were worth, adrenaline somehow making up for his complete lack of athleticism, and they careened down the street through the surprised crowd.

Getting to the corner, Tel started to turn right, but Shara immediately went left, and his feet skidded on the pavement as he forced his body to change direction. Something twinged in his side, definitely a pulled muscle, probably the only one he had in his whole body, but he managed to get his feet moving again before he crashed into a food cart.

“Hey, watch it!” the merchant scolded, but Tel was more concerned with the two bullish men powering their way through the crowed. Still half a block back, bodies tumbled aside as Block and Barrel shouldered past anybody who got in their way.

“Tel, what are you waiting for?” Shara called from ahead of him, the butterflies around her gone, but her hand waving for him to hurry up.

One more quick glance at their pursuers, and Tel was around the corner and out of sight again. “The inn…” he huffed through burning lungs to her.

“We can’t go back there yet. Need to lose them first,” she said, ducking into a narrow alley.

With barely enough air to breathe, let alone respond, Tel silently followed her off the street. Another sharp turn at the next intersection, and Shara slowed to a confident walk.

“No time to catch your breath, sorry. Walk, don’t run. Running attracts attention,” she said, following her own directions and exiting the alley to another crowded street. “We’ll get away, find a place to hole up for a bit, then double back when we’re sure we’ve lost them. Damn, I guess this means I won’t get seconds of the meat pies after all.”

“I’ll… give you… a dozen… if we survive… this,” Tel said through gritted teeth, forcing himself not to fall to the ground in a gasping heap like a fish out of water. Had anybody measured just how long a fish could…?

“There you are!” a small voice said, and something grabbed Tel’s hand.

Tel looked down to find a small boy pulling him off to the side of the street, the face familiar. Where had he seen…the stableboy from the inn!

“What are you doing here?” Shara asked, following the two. “ButterBee better be okay or there…”

“Your funny-named horse is fine,” the boy said, clearly exasperated at something.

“His name isn’t funny…” Shara seethed, eyes narrowing, but Tel ignored her and focused on the boy.

“Then why are you here? You sounded like you were looking for us,” Tel said, his breathing closer to normal.

“You can’t come back to the inn,” the boy said. “There’s a Tailcoat there waiting for you.”