Chapter 6

As they looked around and waited, and as Ariel thought back to the Keith's last attempt to convince her she was missing something in life by not giving him a chance to sleep with her, it dawned on her suddenly that she was fingering her swords as she fought to keep her anger down.

Normally, Nathan dealt with Keith, so she had very limited interactions with him other than the last time. Other than Keith seeking her out, she avoided him like a plague.

And since she really didn't go into details about their last conversation with Nathan, and since she shut him down, she didn't think it was something Nathan should kill Keith over. Nathan might not stop with just his killing but the surrounding countryside might also be harmed.

But the real reason she didn't say anything was because she didn't want to cause any stress for Nathan, because she really felt it was her fault that they had to leave their home. If he didn't fear for her life he would still have a home.

And today he asked for both of them to talk to him to see if they would do a job. That is the only reason she was here now. She knew that Keith wasn't stupid enough to pull anything with Nathan standing there.

But as she stood there reflecting she found that her normal quick anger was seemingly strange lately. She found herself actually seeing red more and more as she grew angrier, but thankfully those times was at least few and far in between.

But she couldn't ever remember having that happen before when she got mad.

"My friends, welcome to my home. I hope everything is as it should be with you?" said Keith as he smiled at them both.

As they turned towards the door they saw that Keith had come in the far door behind them and was now headed their way. He stopped in the middle of the room and stood facing them still smiling big.

"Well you sent word by one of your men that you needed to see us today if possible," said Nathan looking at Keith crossing his arms. While Nathan was being social, he wasn't his usual smiling self.

He may be willing to work for Keith from time to time, but he didn't want to hang around him any longer than he needed too.

"Ahh yes. Well I did expect you late in the morning, I hope I didn't pull you away from anything too involving?" asked Keith with a lopsided smile.

Ariel before she realized it blushed, and then she started getting angry.

"We always have a heavy weapons workout first thing in the morning to make sure our skills don't get rusty. Unfortunately after this morning's workout I needed a rest, because Ariel's skill was more than I was able to handle.

"She could kill me with that blade of hers one day if I'm not careful. I'd hate to see what she might do to someone who couldn't fight on par with her" smiled Nathan with a savage smile.

Ariel suddenly took on a predatory smile of her own.

"Uhm, yes, well, lets talk about what I need your help with," stammered Keith as he walked around them headed for his desk with the picture window behind it.

Once he reached it he opened a book, took a seat, and shuffled some papers on his desk around for a minute.

"I wanted to ask before but I didn't, what did you need a tree panther for?" asked Ariel suddenly out of the blue.

"I've always loved panthers and I have wanted one for my own. Don't worry I'll take good care of it," smiled Keith.

"But why did you want a full grown one? If you wanted it for a pet you could have requested we find a baby one for you to raise instead of an adult," said Ariel looking at Keith hard.

"I liked a challenge, and learning to how handle a wild full grown adult would have been a good test of my abilities," said Keith smiling as he leaned forward.

Ariel suddenly scowled at Keith and Nathan frowned.

"Well anyway what is it that you wanted us to do for you?" asked Nathan.

"In a town about a week and a half's journey or so from here on foot someone who lives there has taken from me a gem about the size of my fist. It was stolen from me a few weeks ago and I need it back," smiled Keith.

"How do we know it's yours? You could have just heard of it and you want us to go get it for you," asked Ariel.

Keith spun the book he opened around, turned a page, and it had the picture of an oval cut gem that had multi facets in it. It was yellow and it was seemed to have a light glow to it.

And it was held in Keith's hand in the picture. Keith was standing in front of a well as he smiled for the picture.

"Does that answer your question?" asked Keith smiling.

"How did you... ?" started Nathan pointing at the picture.

They were used to hand painted or drawn portraits as pictures. This one looked almost real. Like a mini 2D picture of Keith in the book. They had never seen or heard of a picture that looked this real.

"It was done by a master mage for me. He is an enchanter and has a process that I have notes on, but I hope to learn how to do one day," said Keith smiling.

It took all of Nathan's control not to ask about the magic involved. He didn't want to give away his interest or knowledge of magic. As such he couldn't even ask how he managed to get the picture.

"Well then, why us and why did they take it?" asked Nathan continuing with the next obvious question.

"I did send a few others to try and retrieve it, but they all failed. But you and Ariel seem more capable than they were. And I believe they stole it to sell to either make themselves fabulously wealthy or maybe they want to improve the squalor they were living in. It seems the entire town is helping them hide it," said Keith smiling.

"So let me guess, that's why you paid us to get increasing more difficult items each time. You wanted to see if we were capable of getting it back. And the tree panther was the last test because of how difficult it would have been to bring it back alive," said Ariel with some irritation to her voice.

"Well, that was a twofold mission. I actually did want the tree panther very badly, but if you were able to bring it back in pristine condition, like you did, then getting the gem back from someone in the town would be a piece of cake you both. I'm sure you can manage to get it back for me," smiled Keith.

"Now let me tell you what the job pays," said Keith leaning back in his chair.

"I tell you Nathan something doesn't feel right. I don't like him and he feels slimy, but the other jobs weren't an issue because they were fetch missions, but this somehow feels off. I just can't put my finger on why," said Ariel as they headed out down the road.

"Love if you tell me you don't want to do this we don't. We certainly don't need the money, and other than to learn local customs that differ from home, we could leave tomorrow. So I trust your judgment about this," said Nathan smiling.

"Well ... I ... I don't know ... I. Let's see what we have once we reach the town. Maybe they are willing to talk to us first," said Ariel smiling back at Nathan.

They both continued down the road headed for the town, as they were still more than a few days out, but they were both lost in their own thoughts about why this might be a bad idea.

As they reached the town the one thing they both noticed was that it was cleaner than they were used to.

There wasn't any trash in the road or in the yards of the houses.

The houses seemed orderly, the yards were well kept and maintained, and there were small children in the dirt road playing.

This was certainly different from almost all poor towns where everyone had to work even tiny children to make ends meet. Keith led them to believe it was stolen by someone here because they were poor.

As they continued on a young girl who was well dressed in home spun clothing, and who was also playing outside, met them in the street.

She was possibly five or six as she walked up to them with wide eyes.

"Hi ya, wha cha doing?" asked the small girl.

"Hi there yourself angel. Is there a mayor or constable in this town?" asked Ariel with a large smile. She kneeled down so that she was able to look the little girl in the eyes.

Ariel thought the best way to get back a theft quickly and safely was to get the help of the local law enforcement officer.

"Uh, huh. His house it the pretty blue one just down the road," said the girl with a smile as she pointed down the road.

Both Nathan and Ariel smiled at her for being helpful

"Those are pretty sword cases," said the little girl pointing to the scabbards at Ariel's waist as her attention drifted to something else.

"Why thank you sweetie," said Ariel with a bigger smile now.

"Why do you want to know where he lived?" asked the girl suddenly changing the subject again.

"Well we need to talk to him about a yellow rock," said Nathan with a smile.

Suddenly the little girls face went blank and it looked like she turned very pale.

Then she ran off screaming "MAMA, MAMA, MAMA, MAMA" into a house that wasn't that far away.

As Ariel stood back up and looked over at Nathan, who was looking back at her, she noticed that a woman came out of the house the little girl went into and quickly looked them over.

Then she went back in and suddenly a small boy sprinted out of the house and went down the road into what looked to be a tavern in the distance.

Both Ariel and Nathan were still stunned by the response. What was going on here?

While they continued to stand there they could hear a bell ringing loudly suddenly, and before they knew it, the street was cleared of all children. Mothers came out of nowhere to scoop up children and run back into their homes.

This wasn't what they expected. What was going on here?

Ariel and Nathan were now sure that they wouldn't be able to talk with someone about Keith's gem. Was the whole town really in on it? And what was with the alarm?

As they started walking again, they could now make out two men slowly making their way down the road to them.

Unlike the other citizens who ran and hid, both of the men had swords strapped to their side. One on the left side and one strapped to his right. But only one of the men as they approached seemed to be smiling at them.

"Yo! What business do you have here in this town?" asked the man with the smile. His voice was a deep baritone. It seemed to rumble as he spoke.

The man who spoke was about Ariel's height at roughly 5'9 and he was stocky, but not enough to be fat. But he didn't waddle or seem sluggish. If anything he seemed to glide as he moved. It appeared that he carried some muscle on him.

He had brown hair and from what they could see as he approached a thin moustache. He had a friendly face about him. Once he was close enough they could see his rich brown eyes.

But it was his movements that Nathan took instant notice of. This wasn't someone who played pretend with his weapon. He moved like he knew where his limbs were at all times.

The other man was slightly taller. He was about an inch or two taller than this companion. He had blonde hair and striking blue eyes. He had delicate features, and immediately gave Nathan the impression that he knew his way around the ladies.

But he too seemed more limber than he should be. He wasn't muscular, he tended to be more lean than anything else, but the way he swung his arms, not far from his sword, said that he was use to keeping his hand close by it.

"We were looking for the Mayor or Constable of this town. We have something that we need to discuss with whoever is in charge here," said Ariel.

As a weapons master she already took note of the two men. What was strange was that while she could tell they were very good with their weapons, she didn't sense that either Nathan or she would need to use their right hands if it came to a fight.

"How do I know that so surely?" wondered Ariel suddenly. "I've always thought that before, but I just know it now!"

"Well I tell you what, maybe if you tell us what you need them for we can help you. Why do you need to meet with them? What's your business with them?" asked the other man darkly as he looked over and spoke to Nathan.

While the second man wasn't smiling, he did seem more irritated than anything else.