Embers in the Dust

“I don’t see them anymore. They ran through a wall, as if it didn’t exist.”

Leaf watched as Sam’s eyes had turned gray, like storm clouds, as she put her sight into her drake that flew above the city and tried to follow the bandits. Calling Emmi back, her eyes gained their color, and she looked over to him.

“We need to keep you safe. Thankfully you weren’t in your room as they burst through. I’ll start to make a perimeter, so we can look for clues as to who they were.”

Leaf sat on a bench outside of Lyrical Lute as Sam went through the area, taking yellow rope from her pack and placing it around the front of the building and out into the street. He watched as a crowd started to form, confused citizens wanting to see what happened. Soon, Sam was joined with a tabaxi wearing similar Drakewarden armor. Above, a sapphire drake landed on top of the inn, keeping an eye out. Leaf assumed it was this guard’s. He walked over to them both, listening in on the conversation.

“They just went through the wall?” The tabaxi asked.

“That’s what it seemed like. Emmi was above them and was able to watch as they turned into Scorched Ale.”

The tabaxi pulled at a pouch on its belt and brought forth a small stone. He placed it near his face and spoke into it.

“Arc to the Drakewardens. I’m at Lyrical Lute, investigating Sam’s request. They managed to portal their way out, so take to the skies and see what you can find.”

Arc placed the sending stone back in its pouch and looked over to Leaf.

“I’m unsure why they attacked here, but we’ll take a look into it.” He said before looking up at the drake above them. “Zendri! Let’s go.”

The drake spread its wings and propelled itself forward. Arc reached up and grasped at its harness, being pulled into the air until the drake swung him up onto the nearby roof of the building across the street. Within seconds, they were both gone.

Leaf made his way inside, up the stairs, and down the hallway. Each door had large cracks near the locks, where something had broken through each. He looked inside the first room on the left, seeing Primhorn Teafellow inside, angrily throwing things around.

“Do we need to go somewhere safer?” Sam asked him.

“No. I think we should wait until the others arrive before making decisions.”

“Aye! You…” Primhorn pointed his finger at the two of them as he spoke.

“Yes, Mr. Teafellow?” Sam asked.

“I get one day off… Did you catch these thugs, or did they get away again?”

“Sir, they will be found. They tried to attack the Archmage. We will not let that go unchallenged.”

“Did they attack the Archmage? He looks fine to me. Or are they just ransacking my business? The Guild of the Ravenglades have been at this for weeks now.”

“It seems targeted towards the Archmage and this group, seeing that no one else was staying here.”

“But they hit The Nightingale not but a week ago. There wasn’t no precious Archmage there, was there?”

“Mr. Teafellow, was anything of yours stolen? I’d be happy to replace anything that is missing.” Leaf stated, trying to calm down the situation.

“I don’t see anything missing, but the place is a mess now. It’ll take all day to get it cleaned up.”

Mr. Teafellow walked to the edge of the steps, where Sarnorin and Scoria were standing.

“We need to get this cleaned up. Start grabbing brooms and doing whatever witchery you have.”

“Yes sir.”

Leaf walked down the hall to his room. Inside, his bed had been turned over, the drawers of his desk were thrown about, and a decent amount of his clothing and other items that he decided to leave behind were laying on the floor in heaps. Down the hall he heard a familiar voice.

“We were gone for just a few hours, what the hell did they get into?”

Leaf walked out of his room and saw Mr. Muffins and Myla standing down the hall, looking into their rooms. They both carried books, which they set down just inside and looked over to see Leaf approaching them.

“The place was attacked as I was coming back from the Academy.”

“There’s a good chance this was an attack on the Archmage.” Sam stated, curiously looking over the others for ill intent.

“Dammit…” Mr. Muffins sighed as he took a step in his room and picked something up off the floor. He turned and showed a metallic piece from one of his arcana kits to them. It was bent and twisted pretty terribly.

“They broke one of my tools! Shit-eating fuckers…”

Mr. Muffins grabbed two lodestones off his desk and placed the bend item between them. Muttering something, the item straightened immediately, twisting back into its normal shape. Taking a look at it, impressed with his work, he set it in the unrolled pouch on the ground, before rolling it back up and placing it in a holder on his belt.

“What’s up with the cat?” Sam asked.

“That’s messed up to call Mr. Muffins just a cat.” Lyla’s voice rang out from the stairs as she and Rhokhishi made their way into the hallway. “What happened here?”

“Break-in.” Myla answered, coming back out of her room.

“Anything missing?” Rhokhishi questioned.

“Surprisingly no.”

“It’s an illusion someone put there. Don’t worry about it.” Mr. Muffins said as he came back into the hallway and tried to close his door, not being able to close all the way as the lock and doorknob was missing.

“When they made it into my room, they saw me and ran. So, they were either scared of me, or didn’t think I’d be here. Either way, they didn’t take anything of ours either.” Mr. Teafellow’s voice came from his room.

“It doesn’t matter. The Drakewardens have been contacted, and they are looking into it. We should get the Archmage somewhere safer, there are other lodgings in other parts of the city, as well as the dormitories at the Academy.” Sam stated, the authority in their voice coming through.

“Wait, who fucked up and needed a babysitter? We go off and die, and return, and this is what we come back to?”

“Die?” Myla’s eyes opened wide in surprise as she questioned her sister.

“Were you touchin’ shit again?” Mr. Muffins added.

“Surprisingly, no.” Rhokhishi answered. “We were on good behavior.”

“Everything seems safe for the moment. The people who broke in went through a wall at a place not too far from here.” Leaf explained.

“I feel like I have to ask a repetitive question… Are you missing anything, Leaf?”

“No, everything important I kept on me.” He answered, giving a slight gesture to his arcane bag.

Leaf looked around one more time. Most of the things turned over weren’t his, and he was sure that it wouldn’t take long for everyone else to clean up. The doors were the only major issues. Even then, a well placed spell could fix that, and he knew that there were people in the city who provided such services.

“Archmage, is there anyone with motive to attack you?”

Leaf could hear a snort coming from Lyla and Rhokhishi’s room.

“We’ve fought, killed, and upset quite a few people lately.”

“Allegedly!” Lyla’s voice rang out of the room.

“Look, kid.” Mr. Muffins said as he turned his gaze from the mess in his room to Sam. “Have you ever shot a god in the face?”

“No?”

“You might be out of your depth, then.”

“My job is to keep him safe.” Sam said, while pointing to Leaf. “I’ll do whatever I have to, to ensure his safety as my sworn duty as a Drakewarden.”

“Good luck with that.” Lyla said sarcastically as she leaned her head out into the hallway.

“You may have dealt with some things recently, but I’m not useless. I know my way around.”

Myla walked out of Lyla and Rhokhishi’s room. She sighed, then added in.

“I think you’re underestimating the situation, and we may be underestimating the help you could be. First, let’s stop calling Leaf ‘The Archmage’. If someone is after him, saying his title over and over is only going to make it easier to find him. Secondly, we know muching about this guild of thieves. We should use Sam’s knowledge to try and figure this out. What do you know about them, Sam?”

“There have been multiple encounters with the Guild of the Ravenglades. They’ve made trouble in many of the districts, jumping in quickly, taking what they can, then disappearing into the alleyways before they could be captured.”

“Do they seem to have any motive or is there any connection to the places they’ve stolen from?” Leaf asked.

“Not that we know of.”

“Then, we should investigate. If this was an attack, then maybe something has changed, and they could have made a mistake. Let’s go to the alleyway and see what we can find.”

“You want to go into danger?” Sam asked, surprised.

“Nowhere is safe.” Lyla said from the doorway, as Rhokhishi made her way into the hallway as well. “Churches, alleys, and inns. Besides, we’re all gonna die in a year, from what Rhokhishi and I found out, so none of this is safe.”

“Exactly.” Rhokhishi agreed.

“Do you all have such dark and impulsive thoughts?” Sam asked, looking over to Rhokhishi.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She replied with a shrug and a smile. “I’m a ray of sunshine.”