Despite taking precautions to make sure they weren’t followed, it didn’t take long before they were standing in Connor’s home.

“Nice place,” Vadik said, “I didn’t know you had a house.”

“Hopefully they don’t either,” Connor said.

“So are you going to tell me what this is all about now?” Vadik asked.

Connor took the time to tell Vadik everything.

He told Vadik even more than he’d told Korvac. Vadik was his friend, and he trusted him.

Besides, he needed his help.

As capable as the thieves working for Korvac might be, Connor knew deep down that finding his uncle was going to come down to the three of them.

“He was dead?” Vadik said after Connor told him about how they were ambushed at the docks.

“Yes,” Connor said, “they must have found out. Are you certain there’s no way they might have tied it back to you? Do you think your cover is blown?”

“I don’t think so…” Vadik said, “I was extremely careful, but you can never be completely sure of anything.”

“Let’s hope your cover is intact then,” Connor said, “everything might just depend on that.”

Connor filled in Vadik on everything else that had happened. What little they knew about The Syndicate. Victor’s disappearance. Chamberlain Davison’s power play, and though he hated to give away his secret again, he told Vadik about his alchemy.

They were going to be using his home as a base of operations, and Vadik was bound to go down into the basement at some stage anyway.

This way, he didn’t have to worry about trying to keep it a secret from his friends while also trying to rescue Victor.

Victor would be furious, but he could yell all he wanted after they found and rescued him. Until then, he didn’t need the distraction of trying to keep secrets from the people he depended on.

“So Davison is probably working with The Syndicate? I guess that explains why he put the contract out on you,” Vadik said.

“I still don’t get why he put one out on Adelia though,” Connor said, “or why he wants us alive.”

“He knows you two are friends,” Vadik said, “and maybe he wants the pleasure of killing you himself? He never did like you.”

“I suppose that could be it,” said Connor, “it just seems too simple though.”

“That’s because you’re overthinking it,” Vadik said with a laugh, “So let me get this straight. Victor is missing, presumed taken by some group calling themselves The Syndicate. The Chamberlain has the palace out to get you, and you want my help to break into The Shadowcloaks’ headquarters, while the great assassin over here tracks down where all these slaves are going?”

“That’s the gist of it,” Connor said.

“I’ll tell you one thing. Life with you is never boring,” Vadik said. He ran a hand through his perfect golden hair, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

“I can probably get you inside the building. Provided my cover is still intact, and they don’t murder us the second we step through the door…” he said.

“That’s very comforting,” Connor said.

“Actually, we’ll be lucky if they just kill us. Bvorn tortures people for days if he even suspects them of betraying him. If they kill us, that’ll be the easy part,” Vadik said, “Bvorn is more paranoid than Korvac knows. What’s more, his office is locked up tight with a magical lock, and Bvorn is the only one with a key.”

“I can get through magical locks,” Connor said, “I’ll need time though.”

“Yeah, I remember you saying you could do that…” Vadik said, “how much time will you need?”

“Not sure,” Connor said, “could be anything from a few minutes to half an hour… maybe more.”

Vadik ran another hand through his hair. “No way,” he said, “we can’t stand around outside his office for more than a few minutes before someone comes along. Can’t you make something with your alchemy to break the door down or something?”

“Not really. I’m still a novice, so I can’t do any of the more powerful things yet. How thick is the door? Can we break it down?” Connor said.

“It’s made of several layers of magically-reinforced wood and iron,” Vadik said.

“So… no,” Connor said.

Vadik nodded.

“What about through a window?” Connor asked.

Vadik shook his head. “There’s one in his office, but that thing has more wards on it than the damn door,” he said.

Connor sighed. “So, our best bet is through the door… I’ll see if there isn’t something in my codex to help with that,” he said.

“You do that,” Vadik said, “and while you’re busy, I’m going to have a nap.” He went upstairs with a yawn.

“You should get some sleep too, Connor. You look half-dead,” Adelia said.

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“Thanks,” Connor said dryly, “that makes me feel much better.”

“I’m serious. You need your rest. We’re here for you. If they were going to kill Victor, then they’d have done it already. If he’s still alive, you probably have some time. Let yourself rest and recover. You’re not going to be any good to anyone at this rate,” Adelia said.

“I’ve gone without sleep before,” Connor said, “I can handle it.”

Adelia gave him a dubious look.

“After we get Victor back, I’ll sleep for a week. I promise,” Connor said.

Adelia went upstairs shortly afterward to bathe and get some rest. She’d be out to meet with Korvac’s thieves soon.

Connor sat, hunched over his codex, searching for a way to get into Bvorn’s office.

He flipped through page after page and rubbed his forehead. There were potions and devices that would let him rip through the door like tissue paper, but they were all so far above his level.

If only Victor had told him about alchemy sooner… as it was, he was just so weak.

He rubbed at his tired eyes. “If I could just get a better sense of the magic in the lock I might be able to do it faster,” he muttered.

The codex hummed. It quickly grew louder, and the pages turned by themselves at a phenomenal speed. He watched it with wide eyes.

In seconds, it lay open on a page titled Potion of Magic Sight.

He read the entry it landed on. It seemed to be everything he could’ve wished for. It gave the imbiber the temporary ability to see magic.

With it, he should be able to see his magic as well as the magic in the lock and synch them up much faster.

He read a little further on and almost screamed.

It was an intermediate level potion.

The strength potion he had tried to make was an early beginner stage potion, and it had backfired badly. This would almost certainly kill him if he drank it.

He sighed. “Uh, thank you… but I can’t make potions at this level yet,” he said.

It felt absurd to talk to a book like this, but it must have some degree of awareness, and it had just tried to help him.

As the words left his lips, it hummed again. The script on the page vanished, leaving the smooth, metallic page completely blank.

He shot to his feet, a strangled cry in his throat. What was it doing? He’d said thank you! Why was it erasing itself!

“Sto–“

The text started reappearing.

He frowned. It was the same page he’d just been looking at. Why would it vanish only to reappear exactly as before?

He skimmed through it. The title now said Minor Potion of Magic Sight. He skipped to the difficulty section.

It read as novice.

He grinned. The ingredients were almost the same. The potion was just a weaker, and easier to make version of the original.

The description said that to see the magic, he’d have to concentrate more than with the more advanced potion. It also gave less understanding of what he saw so it would be more obscure.

Hopefully, despite being a weaker potion, it would enable him to get through the lock fast enough.

“Um… thank you?” he said uncertainly.

It hummed again, but only briefly and nothing else happened. Was that codex speak for you’re welcome?

Just how conscious was this thing? It was odd… having something that had an awareness of its own. It didn’t seem to mean him any harm, but it was still… disturbing.

He shook himself out of his thoughts. None of that mattered now.

He had a potion to make.

He splashed some water on his face to wake himself up a bit and went straight down into his hastily set up basement workshop, where he already had a focusing circle drawn.

The formula called for gold, magical crystals, and magic from an innately magical creature.

Gold wasn’t an issue after taking so much from Victor’s workshop, and after some searching, he found the magical crystals he needed among the many things he’d snatched on his way out. The problem was the innately magical creature. He didn’t have any mana worms or other creatures with a high amount of raw magic inside.

The formula said it didn’t need much magic, but he couldn’t just use his alchemical power. It wasn’t the same for some reason, his father even had notes theorizing that the alchemical power might not be magic at all.

But, perhaps he could use his magic as a replacement… did he qualify as an innately magical creature? His magic certainly didn’t seem to work anything like ordinary wizards…

It was worth a try at least.

Soon, he had a mixture bubbling away with a gold coin remaining completely solid at the bottom and magical crystals swirling around in the liquid.

He stood in the center of the focusing circle, his hands raised to either side of the boiling concoction. He reached inside himself, and his alchemy leapt to obey. Red lightning arched from his fingertips and into the liquid, snapping and crackling like a frenzied storm.

He sensed the essences of the different ingredients and separated what he wanted from what he didn’t, slowly picking apart and rebuilding the solution… refining it.

But, he still needed to add the magic.

“Let’s hope this works,” he muttered.

He kept on refining and reached inside for his magic. It resisted him as it always did, but he dragged it down with sheer force of will and channeled a trickle of magic into the mixture while still maintaining his focus on alchemy.

Sweat beaded his brow. Being the source of magic, and the alchemist at the same time made the potion far more difficult than it should be.

Hopefully, he could complete it successfully…

Red lightning sparked and snapped from his fingers and into the mixture. The bubbling mixture swirled and began to glow.

The gold coin broke apart and blended into the rest of the liquid, and the magical crystals followed soon after.

Sweat ran down his back like a river.

He stripped away everything unwanted until it was done, and he was left with a light purple solution.

He could only hope his pathetic magic had been enough…

He checked the description in his codex. It described it as light purple. It seemed he had succeeded. But, was his magic a good enough substitute for an innately magical creature? The last thing he needed was a repeat of what happened with the strength potion.

Especially, without Victor around to save him this time.

He turned off the flame at the base and waited for the potion to cool before pouring it into five vials.

It should be more than enough for what he needed… provided it worked.

He put a stopper in four of the vials, and held the fifth to his lips.

He couldn’t afford to find out the potion didn’t work in the middle of an enemy thieves guild. At least this way, the only one in danger was himself.

He poured the potion down his throat. It had a subtle peppermint flavor. He licked his lips and waited for the effects to kick in.

Nothing happened.

He sighed. At least it hadn’t killed him.

He turned to his codex in case he’d missed something… if he hadn’t then he’d need a magical creature. The second he focused on the codex, it lit up in a brilliant array of colors that almost blinded him.

He squeezed his eyes shut and smiled even as he felt like kicking himself. Of course nothing had happened! He hadn’t been looking at a magical item!

He squinted through his eyelashes at the bright swirls of intricate patterns layered all over the coded.

His stomach turned, and he looked away.

The codex was a bit too complex for such a low-level potion it seemed… hopefully, the lock on the door wouldn’t be nearly as complicated.

What mattered was he’d succeeded!

Admittedly, looking at the codex made his stomach churn, but this was an item capable of understanding him at least to some degree. Surely that was far beyond even the best magical lock Bvorn could get his hands on…

On a whim, he looked down at his hand and pulled on his magic. He forced it down the length of his arm and into his fingertips. A brilliant golden light strained against two other lights. One black and the other silver.

It seemed it wasn’t just his imagination… part of it really was fighting him inside…

He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to worry about his magic. Once they got Victor back, he could focus more on understanding what he was seeing.

Perhaps, it would lead to figuring out how to better use his magic.

He turned back to the potions. If only he had a magic lock to practice on beforehand…

As it was, he’d just have to hope for the best.