The boy sat up straight, drank some water which Edric gave, and started recollecting his story.

  “Last night, I came down this alleyway to sleep in one of those buildings. I went inside that warehouse building. There was no one. I got some stolen bread and sat by the window. Then I heard a noise, looked out the window to see some shady people in the alleyway.”

  “What do you mean by Shady?” Aeris asked

  “You know, people with masks, looking everywhere to see if people are there. The usual you see around these parts.”

  “Did you hear anything?” Edric asked

  “Nothing much, they were too far. I did hear someone saying something like - use this potion to knock her out, boss asked to the job. Or something like that.”

  Edric gulped, “Then what?”

  “Then they just hid there waiting, they brought a small carriage and covered it. Then, after almost what felt like an hour. Those guys went in the alleyway. I heard some noise, something hitting the wall. Then the noise stopped, and those guys came back with a girl in their hand. They tossed her in the carriage and left”

  “Damn it , it was Xantha”

  “Xantha? Who?” The boy asked.

  “Our friend, we are searching for her,” Aeris said in a calm yet warm tone. Her expression was not shaken

  “Oh , so it must be her,” The boy said.

  Edric grabed the boy by his shoulder. “Listen this is important, did you see anything about them you can tell? Like there face or something”

  “Hmm..” The boy thought hard. Squirting his eyes comicily, as he ratted his little brain. “Well, when they were coming back, one of their sleeves was torn, he had a tattoo. It was like a snake that sat on a crown and some leaf borders”.

  “That's it, anything more” Edirc came closer, squeezing the boy's shoulder too tight.

  “Edric stop , that's enough” Aeris commanded

  “S-Sorry about that” He let the boy go off his shoulders. He handed a gold coin from his pouch, Aeris gave candy and some silver coins.

  “Go get some good clothes and look for a job. “ Aeris said in a gentle voice “you can handle simple tasks… you run quite well”.

  The boy didn’t say much any further. Partially confused on the whole endeavor and partially scared like a boy for his age is. He bowed and thanked them before leaving.

  “Now what. We don’t have any leads” Edirc said

  “No, we got something . The tattoo” Aeris replied.

  “How? You want to search every shady looking guy in the city”

  “It might be a gang symbol.”.

  Edric recalled the time he fought the syndicate and observed that they had matching tattoos . Some mercenaries also had tattoos.

  “So if we find any info about the gang. We can track down Xantha’s location” Edric said. “ But how the hell will we find any info? It’s not like there’s an encyclopedia with every gang tattoo and symbol in it”

  “Not here but in the black market maybe. I know a guy who might help.”

  Yet another convenient thing pops up.Edric awkwardly stares at her for a good second. “ Really?, that’s convenient “

  “Don’t get your hopes up too high. He happens to owe me a favor, otherwise he works in equal exchange” .

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Edric looked at her in a confused expression. Aeris understood from a glance

  “There’s an unwritten rule or etiquette in the black market information guilds. Where each information is either exchanged for equal information or for money.” She starts walking. “Anyway there’s no time. Let’s go”

  Edric followed her..

  Aeris led the way through the streets, her pace brisk and quick. They made their way through the slums into an underground tunnel. From the tunnel they stepped inside a magic wall which led to what looks to be another part of the black market.

  “Where exactly are we going?” Edric asked, trying to keep pace with Aeris.

  “To an information broker I know,” She said in her confident voice. “He sells info on people , weapons and gangs. He goes by the name Vance”

  “Vance?”

  “You won’t like him, he’s a rat like a bastard. Both figuratively and literally.”

  Edric gave a questionable glance.

  “He has a thing for collecting pets” She clarified, wrinkling her nose. “Birds, snakes and especially mice. He says good luck there.”

  Edric shook his head . “And We’re trusting this guy”

  “Were Paying this guy, plus he owes me a favor”

  “A favor? Will that do any good”

  “Nothing much, except some basic info. Anymore we have to pay”

  The two of them wove through the market- an eerie place where merchants whispered their wares under candlelight, and shadowy figures battered in hushed voices. THe deeper they went the thicker the air felt, with a heavy scent of old parchment, ink and something metallic Edric didnt want to think about.

  Aeris finally stopped in front of a cramped stall stuck between spice vendors and a closed down jewelry shop. It barely looked like a shop- just a rusty wooden table with a man hunched over.

  Vance

  A wiry man with darted eyes looked up from the table, he looked more like a weasel than a rat. He took a glance at Aeris recognizing her. “Ah Aeris, haven't seen you in a while thought you were dead”

  “I’m Hard to kill” Aeris crossed her arms “We need information”

  Vance scratched his chin, eyeing Edric he said. “ Who’s this? Your latest pet project?”

  Edric resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “ We need to find a gang with a symbol. A snake wrapped around a crown, bordered leaves.”

  Vance’s finger twitched. He didn’t respond right away, but Edric caught his narrowing gaze. He knew something.

  Aeris didn’t miss it either. “ You know something?”

  “Maybe I do? Maybe I don’t?” the rat shrugged his shoulders, expression in nonchalant defiance. Then started whistling to the air, as he grabbed a paper.

  Aeris sighed. “How much? And don’t I already owe you a favor?”

  “Well that only amounts to a name. Judging by your friend's eye you need more” His voice is creepy but confident. “I give you two options: Pay 20 gold upfront or do a small errand for me”

  “20 Gold that's criminal” Edric muttered. I only have 6 gold and 50 silver. There has to be something.

  Aeris seemed to agree , she moved her hand towards her saber.

  Vance saw through her thoughts. “Intimidation won’t work, besides what use would you have for a dead man”. Aeris growled. His got confidence for one thing.

  Edric slammed his hand on the desk, leaning forward. “Don’t you have some humanity, my friends been kidnapped.”

  “So what? That happens all the time here kid. I would be dead if I cared two shit about that. Besides I doubt you waitress friend is dead”

  Wait waitress. How- Edric looked at Vance , Based on his expression pressing hard is just wasting time.

  “Alright what's the job?” Aeris asked.

  “Let me think hmm…” he grabbed a book and started scrolling through the pages.

  Seriously, what does he want? He observed the table and the mess of books there. Most were about alchemy and weapons. Then he got an idea.

  “Hey, what about this?” He took out his pistol, which immediately captured Vance's interest. “Hmm.. What's to say I let you study my weapon bet you've never seen anything like it. It’s a ranged weapon which can shoot magical projectiles as well as ice projectiles.”

  “Ohh, I like the sound of that.” He goes to grab the pistol but Edirc takes it back immediately.

  “The information”

  “That won’t pay for it but why not this. I can study it for an hour, then you two can steal or should I say get what's mine from a shipment that arrives in two hours. By the time you get back I will have all the things you need in a nice report.”

  Well that’s something. Edric shoots glances at Aeris.

  Aeris nods in approval. “Alright, That would do. But if you don’t hand the info by the time we're back your heads gone.” She turns and walks closer to Edric . In a low voice , “I will go by some stuff, you wait here and don’t lose the sight of our weapon”

  She grabs a paper with Vance set on the desk that has the information on the shipment and walks down the alleyway.

  “Now come inside, and let me study that thing.” He led the way inside, walking down spiraling stairs towards an underground basement. It reeked of chemicals and weird aromas. Edric glanced at the tables with hand chemistry beakers with liquids of various colors on it. There were strange tools on the table, drawings of weapons and so on.

  Vance sat at a table, gestures at a wooden dummy. “ Now shoot it”

  He raises his hand, aims at the torso and pulls a trigger. BOOM, the wooden dummy explodes. Vances shackles in excitement .

  “Give me it, I want sketch it”

  “Sure , but don’t break it.”

  “Fine, fine, you can sit there and see me work if you want.”

  He sat on the opposite side of the table. Vance began observing the pistol, with a paper in his hand he started drawing it out. As time passed Edric grew anxious for Xantha, Vance did some doodles on his papers about the ruins engraved. Aeris hasn’t shown up yet, he looked around for something to distract himself. He finds a book about the history of the empire, he starts reading it.

  An hour passed by, Vance did some sketches, read books on ruins and even had Edric shoot wooden dummies using ice bullets. Edric observes him carefully so that he doesn't sabotage his gun.

  *KNOCK KNOCK*

  Aeris arrives with a bag of items- healing potions , mana potion , food and some items which Edric has know idea what .

  “Let’s go” She gestures him to come

  Edric nods, paces towards Vance and grabs his pistol without saying a word. “Get the information ready by the time we're back” He kept his voice low with an intimidating tone.

  “Alright , Alright . hmph”

  They climbed up the spiral stairs, stepped outside and went through the alleyway to complete the mission.