“How was I supposed to know the entire block would catch fire? I only set the bed on fire to slow them down!” Triss waved her hands for emphasis. They’d only made it three or four blocks before an alarm bell had started ringing nearby. A growing stream of oily black smoke rose lazily into the sky behind them. The few people on the street stopped what they were doing to stare at the thin black plume, ignoring completely the two women and one draconic arguing as they walked by.

  “It’s a fire.” Reginald hissed. “Fires burn things. Do I need to teach you how logic works?”

  "That sounds like a waste of time." Naiela opined.

  "Hey, who got us away from the guards and the thugs?" Triss replied.

  "Enough. By the ancient gods." Reginald looked at the sky, a pleading expression on his face.

  "Don't be so dramatic." Triss said. "How much further do we need to go? I want to get off the street before something else happens."

  "Not far. Two more blocks I think." Reginald replied. He led them down the street and then turned down a narrow, dark alley. The hair on the back of Triss's neck rose as the light from the street grew dimmer.

  "Are you sure this place is safe?" She asked Reginald.

  He stopped at a shadowed doorway set into the side of a building. Triss hadn't even noticed it. Reginald knocked hard on the door, shaking it so that it rattled against it's frame. Nothing happened for several long moments, and Reginald hammered the door again, obviously frustrated. The door suddenly moved, creaking loudly open and revealing a darkness that made the alleyway seem almost bright and cheerful in comparison. An ethereal, haunting voice rolled out of the inky black. "Who dares disturb the dead?"

  "Oh fuck off Aleen." Reginald said. Triss looked at him in surprise. She'd never heard him use the expletive, though she'd used it plenty around him. She was almost proud of how he’d used it perfectly. Reginald strode into the dark opening, disappearing from sight.

  "Reginald?" The voice asked in a confused tone. Light bloomed in the doorway, instantly banishing the shadows.

  "I said to warn someone first!" Reginald yelled. Triss could see him now, standing inside a quaint looking room. The floor was made of a smooth wood worn grey with age, the grain of the wood standing out proudly against obvious years of footsteps. The walls were smooth, pale blue, and covered almost completely with bits of yellowed paper pinned in a haphazard manner. A fire, somehow hidden before, burned merrily in a stone hearth at the end of the room. The rich, earthy smell of beef stew combined with tangy wood smoke and drifted out into the alley, reminding Triss that she’d missed breakfast. What time is it? She asked Grounth. The spirit didn’t answer her for some reason, but before she could puzzle out the reasons why, the voice spoke again.

  “What are you doing back so soon? I…oh dear.” An old man, the few tufts of hair on his head so white they were nearly clear shuffled into view. He may have been tall once upon a time, but now his back was so bent he was basically eye level with Reginald. He had a wispy, uneven white beard, and he scratched at it as he spoke. “Has it been longer? I thought it was just last night. Am I losing time again? Hmmm. Interesting.” The old man turned and began shuffling away, muttering as he went. “That one…no that one wouldn’t have done it. Could it be a feedback? Hmm. Possibly-“

  “What are you doing?” Reginald asked, exasperated.

  “Hmm? What? Oh!” The old man turned back to Reginald. “Just running through the experiments I have going. I suspect one has had a temporal effect on me. Hmm. Yes. Explains how I’ve lost the years since you were here last.”

  “Years?”

  “Oh, I should think.” The old man poked a bony finger towards Reginald. “Possibly a decade or more, judging from how you’ve aged. My, but the years can be hard, can’t they?”

  “Aleen, I was here last night.”

  The old man blinked a few times, then pulled a pair of brass spectacles from his pocket. He placed them so they were perched at the end of his nose, reminding Triss of an old, unpleasant schoolteacher she’d once had. The old man stared hard at Reginald for an uncomfortably long moment. “Good heavens.” He said quietly. “You’ve lost it too. You’ve lost the intervening years!” A wide grin suddenly split his face. “Some sort of memory charm? Hmm. Yes. Hmm. I think I had one around here….somewhere.” He turned again and began heading to the other room.

  Triss stepped into the room. “Good morning sir.” She said pleasantly to the elderly man, saving Reginald from pulling his scales off in frustration. As much as she had enjoyed watching Aleen inadvertently annoy Reginald, they had more pressing issues. Like stew.

  Aleen turned to face her, eyes magnified comically large by his glasses. His long eyebrows shot up on seeing her, and a grin creased his crinkled face. “Well, good morning to you too. Who might you be?”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I’m Triss. I’m Percival Arcanus’s apprentice.” She replied, holding out her hand. Aleen reached up and shook it. He had a surprisingly strong grip, though his hand was as cold and dry as a corpse.

  “Percy took an apprentice? Imagine that. Never would have thought it of the stubborn old fool.” His brows furrowed for a minute. “Wait, he’s not…?”

  “No.” Reginald said firmly behind her. “He’s not.”

  “Not what?” Triss asked?

  “Are you really that dense?” Naiela asked, finally stepping into the room.

  “Close the door, Naiela.” Reginald said.

  “Dense?”

  “That’s fine dear.” Aleen took Triss’s hand and patted it reassuringly. “Whatever it takes to find knowledge, eh?”

  “I said he’s not.” Reginald said. Triss gasped, putting a hand to her mouth.

  “Took you long enough.” Naiela smirked.

  “That’s disgusting!” Triss cried. “You’re all gross. All of you.”

  “Enough!” Reginald said loudly. “We’re here for a reason, and we don’t have time to get distracted by idle chatter.”

  “That’s very true. Very.” Triss nodded, not quite having recovered from being accused of…something she wasn’t willing to even think of, but enough to behave herself. “The important thing, Aleen.” She took each of the elderly man’s hands in hers. “Do you happen to have extra of that stew?”

  An insistent buzzing sound filled the room as Aleen pressed the point of a pale wooden wand against the collar on Reginald’s neck. The draconic sat on a small stool with his eyes closed, biting down on large chunk of leather. The buzzing grew in volume and intensity until it was vibrating Triss’s teeth from ten feet away. It almost felt like the old man was using the magical equivalent of a jackhammer on the collar. The sound suddenly rose in pitch, and then vanished completely. The collar fell apart with a soft click, then clattered on the floor in two pieces. Reginald stood and breathed a sigh of relief, rubbing at his scaly neck. Triss could clearly see a slightly red line where the collar had been, standing out against his dark brown scales. “Your turn, miss.” Aleen beamed at Naiela as she took the seat Reginald had vacated.

  “Well, that’s one important thing done.” Reginald said, walking over to stand by Triss.

  “Two important things.” She corrected, pointing at the faint remnants of stew in her bowl.

  “I don’t think a bowl of stew is on par with having your magical powers restored.”

  “You haven’t tasted the stew.”

  Reginald shrugged and went to grab himself a bowl. Aleen had been thrilled at the chance to share his food. “It’s been so long since I had good company.” He had told her with a warm smile.

  “Wasn’t Reginald here last night?” She’d asked.

  “Who?” He’d said, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

  Triss looked up as the vibrating sound stopped again, and watched as the collar fell away from Naiela’s neck and tinkled on the floor. “Oh, that is so much better. You have no idea what it’s like to have your magical taken from you.” Naiela said, groaning and rubbing at her neck.

  Aleen smiled at Naiela, but Triss saw the haunted look hidden behind his eyes. “It must have been terrible. Did you have some stew yet?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Well, then it’s time for seconds! Come along, come along.” He shuffled over to the large black pot that swung in the fireplace and grabbed the ladle out of the thick, warm stew. He swung the ladle over and filled Naiela’s bowl to the brim, coming within inches of dripping hot stew on her hands. “Anyone else?”

  “Oh, me!” Triss said.

  “Well then, come along miss!” He said with a laugh, beckoning her over with the empty ladle and getting gravy spots all over his ceiling.

  Triss sat back with a satisfied groan. “That was amazing. You’re an amazing cook, Aleen.”

  “Oh, you’re too kind.” He said with a genuine smile.

  “We need a little more help, Aleen.” Reginald said, putting his empty bowl on the table. “We need to get out of the city.”

  “Hmmm. Yes, I suppose you do. Yurnash will certainly have the guards out looking for you, eh? Hmm. I can help you with that.”

  “How?” Triss asked. “Do you have a disguise spell you can use?”

  “Oh, no my dear. Much simpler. Much simpler indeed.” He leaned over and whispered in a conspiratorial tone. “I have an escape tunnel.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yes. It’s vital to have a way out should my location be disclosed. I haven’t used it in decades, of course, but it should lead you under the walls and right out into the forest.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful!” Triss exclaimed, clapping her hand. “We won’t need to sneak out!”

  “Maybe you should come with us, Aleen.” Reginald said, glancing at Naiela. “I think you might be discovered soon.”

  “Pah. I’m an old man Reginald. Much too old to go on an adventure.”

  “Didn’t you hear what I said? You’re going to be discovered.”

  “I’m not going to tell.” Naiela said softly. Her expression was soft and vulnerable, and Triss found the expression odd on the council wizard. Her face quickly regained it’s usual cold expression. “I mean, he’s ancient. No risk to the city or the council.” She added, a little too quickly.

  “Quite right, my dear.” Aleen leaned over and patted Naiela’s hand. “Far too old to cause any problems.” He winked surreptitiously at Triss.

  “Wait, what about our supplies? Our horses?” Naiela asked, her brows furrowing. “We need to go back to the inn first.”

  “Which inn were you staying at?” Aleen asked.

  “The Golden Bear.” Naiela replied. “We need to go back for the horses. I can’t leave Nightfang.”

  Reginald shook his head. “There’s no way to get them out. They’ll be watching the inn.”

  “But Nightfang!” Naiela said, her tone pleading. “I can’t leave him!”

  “Come now, Reginald. You can’t expect a girl to leave her horse behind.” Aleen chided. “You’ll need the supplies I gave you too, if you were telling the truth last night.”

  “If we go back we’ll be caught.” Reginald growled. “We can make it to another city and buy horses there. We can forage for food on the way.”

  Aleen held up a hand. “I can have your horses brought to you. Jorsh is an old friend, and he owes me.”

  “Really?” Naiela asked, hope dancing in her eyes.

  “Of course! It will probably take a few days, but I’ll have one of his grooms catch up with you on the road to Vilunta.”

  “Vilunta? I thought we were going to Koponi.” Triss said.

  “Hmm? Oh, well I suppose you could go to Koponi from Vilunta. But my tunnel runs all the way to the western road. To go to Koponi from the tunnel exit would mean passing the city again, and I’m sure there will be patrols. No, my dear, it’s best you go to Vilunta first.” He smiled again. “Besides, the western road is usually much safer than the northern road this time of year.”

  “Usually.” Triss replied flatly, her mind running through all the terrible things Jorsh had told them about the western road.