As the mer ambassador departed, I turned and lifted myself off the whale and walked across the open air above the bay back to my waiting comrades. I wondered which of my friends I would endanger this time.

  The AL whispered into my ear. Enchanter Gwydion opens a heroic quest. Mer Prestige changes from level negative five, Awful, to level four Notable. Additions and notes have been added to your Book of Quests that remain unread.

  The AL had never talked about opening a heroic quest before. That could not be good news.

  By the time I arrived at the docks, the crowd had tripled in size, and my guards began getting nervous.

  Biff said, “I have a bad feeling, let’s get back to the shoppe.”

  Before I could say anything, I saw movement in the air and from either side, thrown from the very warehouse rooftops that our archers had rained damage upon the goblins. There were two burning bottles flung toward me and the crowd.

  “Shields up!” Biff yelled.

  And as one, the guards all raised their shields and interlocked them above us. The crowd was pushed back, and several fell, screaming in surprise.

  We were safe from such a simple attack, but the people around us were not.

  I leaped upward and, using the Airy Walk spell, broke above the shielded protection. Biff yelled at me to return, but I had already summoned my staff and called on the power of the tourmaline gem to summon an air elemental directed to sweep the bottles out into the sea and away from the crowd.

  It was a very close thing. The closer of the two bottles only got a yard from the top of the shield wall, where it would have exploded out and sent burning liquid all over the nearby crowd.

  The other was further away and was captured around twenty feet above the ground. It would have struck in the crowd and would not have quite reached the shield because the warehouse roof was further away in that direction.

  The air elemental swept them both out into the bay and slammed them into each other. With the whirling air, the explosion of both bottles was impressive.

  I looked back and both figures, dressed in black, jumped and began to slide rapidly down the backside of the roof. I leapt after the closer.

  Biff yelled, but I was focused on the bad guys.

  Bella shouted, It is a trap!

  I pulled myself up suddenly, anger flashing through my blood. I wanted to catch those who would attack innocents and find out who was behind all of this.

  Get back down, Gwydion. Hurry! Bella insisted.

  I returned to the guards who pushed me into their center and began moving at a rapid pace away from the docks and back to the shoppe.

  “They had time to plan this!” One of the guards announced.

  Biff replied, “Left on Wharf!”

  “Vertical would be faster.” Another shouted, but they moved as ordered.

  Biff replied. “Heads up. They will have planned for all three exits. The South Tower Bridge gets us into the open to see them coming faster than the other routes.”

  As we passed by warehouses on both sides, a dozen men, half on each side of the road, threw down bottles at us, but they were not burning this time.

  Poison gas! Bella alerted me.

  “Don’t breathe!” I shouted. “Poison gas!” I managed a quick breath just before the first bottles smashed against the shields, followed in quick succession by many others.

  The gas stung my eyes, but we moved forward, led by those in front. No more verbal commands were given.

  I had already used my larger air elemental from the staff, but I had rings, lots of rings.

  I summoned a smaller air elemental to sweep the gas up into the air to drift safely away from us and anyone around us.

  It is safe to breathe. Bella said, and I could sense concern in her voice.

  “We can breathe now!” I shouted.

  There were deep gasps, but not a single guard had slowed down or moved out of position.

  Biff yelled. “Halt! Back and to the docks!”

  I thought he was crazy, but the guards all stopped, turned around seamlessly, and we made our way quickly to the wharf again.

  “This was planned, and they will have moved into position for their backup. We throw them off guard.” He said.

  I was not sure that running back into the same trap was a good idea, but as we did, there were no further attacks on us from the warehouse rooftops. They had departed and either fled or moved to their next positions.

  We turned north on Vertical, and the guards in front yelled for people to hide in the shelter. People scattered out of our way.

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  Vertical was a very, very long road with buildings on both sides. Unless we dove into a shop along the way, there was no option but to move forward.

  As we neared the end, we could hear explosions on the rooftops before us.

  Keep moving! You are safe! Bella shouted in my head.

  “Keep moving, Biff, we are safe!” I yelled.

  He kept us going.

  Bella cheered. It’s Isaac. He is clearing your way. Oh, he is angry. She added.

  “The Majordomo is clearing our way, best speed to the shoppe!” I said loudly and noticed that Biff did not have a weapon out but had clasped my arm tightly in a grip that would not let me fly off on my own again.

  “Biff, I need that arm,” I said.

  He looked at me, eyes intense but not panicked. He smiled, showing his teeth in more of a growl than a grin. “When we get to the shoppe.”

  And we ran on.

  The explosions stopped a little after we departed Vertical Street and turned west and wound our way up into Barricade Park and then onto St. Michael's Way.

  We expected another attack close to the shoppe and we were not mistaken.

  They are in the sewers! Bella told us as we neared the halfway spot between St. Michael’s and the Round.

  What are they planning? I asked.

  Poison darts and crossbows.

  I told Biff who ordered, “Shields out and low. Bend down.”

  But I was not going to just run by and let them take pot shots. They relied on surprise. It was my turn.

  “I’ll give us some cover fire,” I said.

  “You stay with us,” Biff ordered and renewed his grip.

  “I will. I mean, I am going to give us cover, fire.” I emphasized.

  “Oh, you need your arm?” He asked.

  “And my hands.”

  He flashed me an even more fierce grin. “Fry them!”

  I used one ring to send out a minor fire elemental to burn anyone in the water overflows on the same side of the street as our shoppe, and a bigger one from my staff to do the same with the one across from the shoppe.

  The front ranks had crossbow bolts slam against the Dwarven Copper shields, but the shouts of fear and pain that followed told us the elementals were doing their work.

  The area in front of the shop erupted in blinding and blurry light all around us, and we passed through.

  “That’s my Wilma!” Biff shouted in pride.

  We all managed to make it into the shoppe unharmed.

  Bella was waiting for us in her solid form.

  “Are you hurt?” She asked me.

  I think you’d know. I sent back to her.

  Biff barred the door after shouting for Wilma to get back inside.

  She came in, out of breath. “I ran up from the lower level. All the other journeymen were out at the Academy or on other errands.” She explained. “It was just me!”

  Biff hugged her. “You were brilliant. Literally.”

  She laughed and hugged him back.

  He let her go, nodded to me, and said, “We need to talk.” To the others, he said, “Debrief in five minutes in the Map room.”

  And without saying another word, he marched into meeting room one.

  Wilma looked at me in concern. “I tried to go after them alone,” I said.

  “Oh.” She replied. “He is not going to like that.”

  “I’ll go take my medicine,” I said and walked into the map room.

  “Close the door.” He said as I entered.

  I did.

  “Have a seat.”

  I did in one of the only two chairs in the room behind the two desks that Red and Simon used.

  I was going to say he was right, I understand, and it won’t happen again, but I just remained silent. This was his show.

  He looked at me. “You realize that was a foolish move to go after them on your own, right?”

  “I do. You saved my life, Biff.”

  He stared hard at me and nodded once. “Then that’s that.”

  I blinked. “You are not going to yell at me?”

  He smirked. “You want me to?”

  “Well, not really, no,” I said. “It’s just that you are really angry and I thought I’d get an earful.”

  “You lived, and you know that had you not listened to me, you would not have. We have bigger fish to fry.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Those were professionals. Whether they were thieves or assassins, or a mix of both, they had a plan and knew what they were doing. They had backups for their backups. They knew how the guards worked, how we would react, and they were ready for us. They drove us into their crucible, and it was only because of Bella, you, and Isaac that we lived.

  “It was luck and coincidence that saved you. It won’t work a second time. They revealed their hand, and there were a lot more of them than we had first considered. A committed assassin will eliminate its target.” He said it as if it were an axiom. “Brawlers are committed bodyguards, but we know that it is not always possible to save our clients. You just moved to the top shelf as a target. Someone really, really didn’t want you using that staff to bring in the elves.”

  “Or the Mer?” I asked.

  “They may have just been an object of opportunity. They will have planned for you to visit the Shoppe, Tower, Academy, Harbor, Duke’s residence, and the Watch’s Keep. It’s what I would do, and they are far better at this than I am. We need help.”

  “What do you have in mind?” I asked.

  He told me.

  “You are insane!” I said.

  “Isaac and I spoke the other day, and he concurs,” Biff replied, stubbornly.

  “Then he is insane! How do you know that they have not been infiltrated?” I blurted.

  “Isaac is certain that they have not.” He said.

  “But how could you pull it off?” I asked, still unwilling to accept the idea.

  “Trust us.” He said quietly.

  “I do. You know I do.”

  “Then you do your thing, and we will handle this thing.”

  “I don’t like it,” I said. And the fact that Bella was silent told me she wasn’t a fan either. But neither was she arguing against it.

  You need help. She said.

  I know, but seriously? I asked pleadingly.

  Tens of thousands of lives are on the line. Your life is one of several linchpins that direct their destiny. You must make decisions that are unpleasant. She argued quietly.

  But I must also follow my conscience.

  Then do both. Allow those sworn to protect you to do their work, and you do your work. You do need to get back to the Elves soon. They are already concerned for you. She added.

  Don’t try to change the subject. I said. But okay. I will go along with this. For now. I emphasized the last word without committing to a long-term agreement.

  There was a knock at the door.

  “They are early,” Biff said.

  It’s Isaac. Bella informed me.

  “It’s Isaac,” I said.

  Biff rose and opened the door.

  The Majordomo came in swiftly. “You are okay?”

  “Thanks to you, Biff and Bella. Yes.”

  He nodded his head and looked to Biff. “It’s time. Did you tell him the plan?”

  I answered. “Oh yes. And I think you are both crazy. But I won’t interfere. Besides, I need to get back to the elves. I have an army and supplies to bring back.”

  He relaxed. “I have an idea about that as well.” And he explained his thoughts.

  “This idea I like,” I said. “We need more ideas like this one and fewer like the other.”

  They didn’t argue with me.