Three years ago

  Meetings like this always stressed Aelfredd out. Especially when he asked for them. When someone else asked to meet with him at least he knew they wanted something from him. When he was the one doing the asking, that went the other way too. Usually, at least.

  This situation was an exception to that rule. True, this guy could help him. But he could help this guy a lot more. Problem was, this guy probably didn’t know that. So he probably thought Aelfredd wanted something. Which he did, but the other guy probably wanted it more. At least as much.

  When he was on the powder Aelfredd had a hard time keeping his mind still, and he had taken a preemptive dose of the fuel ahead of the meeting. Just in case he needed it. He hoped he didn’t, but in his experience one did more often than not in these types of situations. And he had a lot of experience with these types of situations.

  Where was this guy? Had he set him up? Of course he had, there were probably half a dozen guys in this tavern watching his every move. Every jitter. Every time he reached for the ale mug and thought better of it. He needed to keep his edge for this meeting. This guy was just as likely to kill him as talk to him when he saw Aelfredd’s face.

  Hopefully he wasn’t still too angry about the book. It had been a job after all, likely for both of them. Just a job. Nothing worth killing over, now that it was done and in the past. He hoped so, at least. It was for him.

  Stolen story; please report.

  The door opened, letting a blinding sliver of golden light into the murky room quickly growing into the full glare of a blinding midday sun in full summer as the heavy wood plank was flung wide. Aelfredd’s eyes narrowed quickly to slits, but most of the light was blotted out as a massive form stooped down to step under the lintel and into the room.

  Aelfredd did not consider himself a small man, but Hegbert was truly massive. Not in a slothful way either, he was tall – nearly as tall as the members of the King’s Own Guard – and thickly muscled. There was a darkness about the man too, as though his form cast out more of the light than it blocked in space alone.

  As the door slammed closed behind him, casting the room back into a darkness nearly as black as night it seemed in contrast, he quickly scanned the room. His eyes slid briefly past where Aelfredd sat before jumping quickly back as they widened in thinly veiled shock.

  Hegbert crossed the space in three quick steps, taking the seat across from Aelfredd and growling “You?” in that deep timbre he had.

  Taking first a breath, and then a deep pull of his ale–now was the time for it–Aelfredd braced himself to make his pitch. But before he did he caught a brief glimpse of the truth.

  Hegbert was covered with illusions. Smoke magic. Aelfredd had caught no hint of the fuel’s telltale scent, but his senses told him there was magic at work. He burned a bit of his fuel and pushed through the illusion, seeing the truth of the man before him. Hegbert was tall, that much was true, but not quite as tall as he appeared. He was stick thin and wiry though, and looked, in truth, as though a strong wind might blow him over at a glance.

  More importantly, he was sweating profusely. His calm mien was only part of the illusion. He was at least as nervous as Aelfredd. Possibly even more nervous than Aelfredd.

  This was going to go well after all.