Connor awoke before the sun had even crept over the horizon.

He tiptoed down the passageway as quietly as possible. The others had worked on decoding the documents even after he’d gone to bed, and he didn’t want to disturb them.

He went down the stairs and into the pantry. He didn’t want to wake them with his cooking, so he selected some cold meats, bread, and a bit of cheese and made himself one sandwich after another.

“I’m glad to see you’re treating yourself better,” Adelia said from behind him.

He nearly choked on his food. “I hate it when you do that,” he said.

“I thought you had your fancy sense-heightening potion? You should’ve heard me coming a mile away,” she said.

“It only works if you actually make noise. Besides, I hadn’t taken one. I’m trying to conserve them to keep up my stockpile. The last time I made a potion, my codex helped me find a new one that was within my skill level.

“I want to see if there are any others I could make that might be useful, rather than just making only sense-heightening potions,” he said.

“Okay, so how are you feeling?” she asked.

“Hungry,” he said. He took another bite out of his sandwich.

“You know what I meant,” she said.

“I’m still worried about Victor, but I’m doing better,” he said, “I don’t know what deal you made with the goddess, but my scar is almost gone, and so is the pain.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” she said, “and I’ll tell you all about it, but not right now. We have more important things to do. Like finding Victor and making these bastards pay.”

“Works for me,” he said.

He polished off another sandwich, and the two of them went back to sorting through the documents and trying to break the code.

Korvac had his thieves out looking for any leads, but Connor doubted they’d find anything. With Bvorn dead, the documents from his office were their best hope of finding something that would lead them to where Victor was being held.

Vadik joined them later, and the three of them went through the documents again and again.

They picked out what little they could of the papers from the safe. Whatever they could find of the ones that weren’t just ash. Adelia’s eyesight was particularly helpful with this, so Connor took a sense-heightening potion and gave one to Vadik as well, so they could help her go through them better.

But, even with the potions… it was tough. The pages were covered in soot, and a strange white dust they could only see after they’d taken the potion.

Even the most intact pages had sections that had been burnt away.

And, when part of a word or page was missing, they couldn’t even guess at what lay in the gap. At least, not until they finished breaking the code.

“You should have asked him about the code for these papers,” Vadik grumbled.

“My time with him was cut short, remember?” Connor said.

“And how can you not already know the code? I thought you were working for Bvorn,” Adelia said.

“I was working for Victor to infiltrate The Shadowcloaks,” Vadik corrected, “do you have any idea how long it took me to work up to just be dealing directly with Bvorn?

“And these codes are all for his personal files! What was I supposed to do? Say “Oh hi, Bvorn, could you just tell me the code you use for your personal documents? Why? Oh no reason at all, just curious.” I’d have been killed!”

“Let’s just relax, it is the way it is. We aren’t going to get anything done arguing,” Connor said.

Vadik and Adelia said nothing and went back to the documents, giving the other the occasional glare.

He’d rarely spent time with both of them together before, and he was amazed to see how badly they got along. He had no idea why, but it didn’t matter.

Hopefully, they would have Victor back soon, and then things could go back to the way they were before.

The days flowed from one to the next, until they finally broke the code.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Once that was done, it didn’t take long to create new, decoded papers so they could read them much easier. Their spirits were high… until they finished reading them.

Connor sighed. “This is useless. Most of this has nothing to do with what we want. The only bits that do were all in Bvorn’s safe and all we know is how much he was getting paid for the slaves he was selling to them,” he said.

He rubbed his tired eyes. They weren’t any closer to the answers they needed than they’d been when they started.

“Maybe we should take a break,” Vadik said, “if we still don’t find anything after we come back to it then we can visit Korvac and see if he found anything.”

Connor left the table and stared out the window at the street and the surrounding buildings. It felt good to let his eyes relax for a change.

He took a deep breath, and let his mind wander. Plumes of smoke rose high in the sky from the factories at the far end of the city. A pair of birds chirped and busied themselves with building a nest on a neighboring windowsill.

Wait… factories? He ran back to the table and dug out the burned up, ashen pages.

He looked at them again, this time not focusing on the words, but on what lay on top of the pages.

The fine, white dust that glistened in his heightened vision.

“Adelia,” Connor said, “what is this?”

“I think it’s crystal powder,” she said.

“That’s what I thought…” Connor said, “it’s all over the documents from the safe, but it’s nearly impossible to see with normal human vision. It’s mostly used in creating magical items right?”

“Yes,” she said, “why? What are you thinking?”

“When you were tracking the slaves did you see any enchanters or anywhere that might use magical crystals in the area?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” she said, “I wasn’t really focusing on that. The trails I followed for the longest were concentrated in the Northeastern part of the city, but I couldn’t narrow it down any further. Do you think the crystal dust is a clue?”

“It might be,” Connor said, “I have an idea at least, but I’ll need to look at some city plans. I’m sure Korvac’s got a few tucked away somewhere.”

***

Thankfully, it was already late in the afternoon, so it wasn’t a long wait for the sun to set.

They slunk through the dark streets once more, each of them alert and ready for an ambush. Connor had given Vadik one of his sense-heightening potions as well as taking one himself before they left.

As much as he wanted to conserve them, he figured it was best to have as many heightened senses active as possible.

There wasn’t much point in giving Adelia one though.

The guild was packed with more people than ever before. So much so that they had to squeeze through the crowd to get through. Nobody inside seemed happy either.

Despite there being so many more people, the guild was somehow quieter than usual. Tension hung heavy in the air.

“Something's wrong,” Adelia said, echoing Connor’s thoughts.

The same man stood in front of Korvac’s door, and he was solemn even before he saw them heading toward him.

He bowed deeply and opened the door for them. “T-the Guild Master’s been expecting you,” he stammered.

The neat, bordering on obsessive order of Korvac’s office was now in utter chaos. Papers and books littered the floor and stood in awkward, unbalanced towers on Korvac’s desk. Not just books, but ancient and expensive tomes.

Illyian and Korvac sat opposite each other, and even the usually cheerful elf looked rough around the edges.

“Love what you’ve done with the place,” Vadik said.

Neither Illyian nor Korvac smiled.

Korvac looked at Connor. “I was wondering when you’d be back. What happened to you? You collapsed and then she whisked you away without a word. You’ve been gone for days,” he said.

“My injury took a heavier toll on me than I’d expected,” Connor said, “I’m doing fine now. More importantly, what’s happened while I’ve been away? When we came in… things felt… tense. Now I see your office looks like a hurricane blew through here. What’s going on?”

Korvac sighed heavily. “We’re fairly sure we know what killed Bvorn,” he said.

“And?” Connor asked.

“A geas,” Illyian said.

Adelia inhaled sharply.

“This may sound stupid, but what’s a geas?” Connor asked.

“It’s not stupid. A geas is a magical contract. An oath of sorts, and it can’t be broken. It’s an ancient and complex ritual. One that’s been outlawed for centuries.

“Nobody has seen one in more than a hundred years. It was thought to be lost to time. Even now, we can’t be sure that’s what it is, but I’ve spoken with Maya, and we agree that it seems likely. I wish to the gods it wasn’t, but everything points to that,” Illyian said.

“What makes you so sure it’s a geas?” Connor asked.

“I looked further into the runes on the rods you found, and the style is… ancient. From a time when geasa were still in use. I hit a dead end soon after that, but I’ll keep working on it.

“What’s more… it just fits with the way a geas is said to work. It’s a magical contract, and if you try to break it, you die,” Illyian said.

“So something in Bvorn’s contract involved not saying something?” Connor asked.

“It seems likely,” Illyian said, “it would also explain what happened to the man you questioned at the docks. What’s more… from what I’ve read a geas has to be entered into willingly.”

“So what you’re saying is, The Syndicate can perform high level, banned rituals that nobody has seen in a century, making them more powerful than we first expected. And, they offered Bvorn something so exceptional he’d accept a geas despite the risks,” Connor said.

Illyian nodded gravely.

“That’s disturbing in itself, but why are the men downstairs so on edge? It feels like there’s more you haven’t told us yet,” Connor said.

Korvac smiled softly though it was plain to see he was too exhausted to give it much effort. “You’re more like Victor than you know. You’re right. There’s more.

“While Illyian has been puzzling out what happened to Bvorn, the guild has fallen under attack. Someone’s been targeting my men, along with their friends and family.

“The attacks came out of nowhere soon after you left just a few days ago. We don’t know how many are still alive, or where they’ve been taken, but it has everyone spooked.

“They won’t leave the guild except in large teams now on my orders, and I’ve had them bring their friends and family to the guild hall where we can protect them. I’ve had to use part of my dungeon as living quarters. It’s packed down there, but I don’t know what else to do,” he said.

“You’ve done the right thing. Clearly, The Syndicate won’t be happy until we’re out of their way entirely. Hopefully, we can take the fight to them soon, and get this city back under control.

“Speaking of which, I think we have a lead, but first I need to see your city plans,” Connor said.