"Hey, freak!"
Mendax turned his head slowly to see who had called him.
It was just another fool, trying to act tough by picking on the shortest man in the room.
"What?"
"Why don't you get out of here? Your face is making the beer spoil."
His friends laughed like he'd made a joke, and not a cheap insult.
"I think if you spent more time looking at your drink and less time ogling me, you wouldn't have a problem."
"Whatchu sayin' about me ogling you?!"
The other man raised his fist.
Mendax could have said anything, and the result would have been the same. These men just needed an excuse, and his scaled skin was enough for them.
Dodging the fist, he turned and pushed the man through the table.
The crash of it cracking in half rang throughout the building. The man who'd spoken was out cold.
The others halted in their tracks, their arms half raised.
"I don't look like easy entertainment anymore, do I?"
Mendax took a step towards them, and they scattered.
He missed Nix.
There, he was a known entity. Every idiot wouldn't pick fights. If only because they had already seen such a display.
He saw the other patrons eying him from around the establishment. He grinned. They quickly turned away.
He nodded as he put some coins on the counter for the table, and walked out.
At times like this, his face felt like a mask he wore. Like it was all anyone had or ever would see of him.
It had its uses.
The trip here felt more and more like a dream, forgotten upon waking.
He was not cut out for playing spy, he knew that from the beginning. His intelligence and perception aside, his face was too memorable for him to be of use in that role. There was only so much he could do.
So he knew that he'd been sent as a thug to either intimidate or kill his target. He knew it.
There was nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their roles. The people he dealt with deserved what he meted out.
Not that he understood why he'd been sent after some young woman. Even if she showed little hesitation in harming others.
Usually that had to be trained out of someone. But she still showed some kind of remorse after it.
She hadn't even killed me. It's hard to imagine her a heinous criminal.
But why else would he be sent, if she was innocent?
He gazed up at the sky, clouds obscuring the stars.
Am I reaching too much for something beyond me?
His time for holding back this decision was running out.
———————————————————
Aureum had little chance to recuperate for the next few days. There was the odd feeling of having too much to do and not being able to do it, alongside the other concerns.
Spesavia continued to ignore Aureum's daily messages.
Did she drop it in a volcano?!
That might have happened. If the messages irritated her enough. Aureum could only continue to hope it was at the bottom of her bag, wherever she was.
I could use an ascended sorcerer on my side right now.
Other concerns took the majority of her focus.
After her task of trying to reach Spesavia, she followed the thread of her mana to where Mendax was. Today, he was doing the usual. He waited outside the inn she stayed at.
Within a day of the thread, he went from suspect to guilty.
At least of stalking her.
The second day she woke up, she followed the thread in a panic only to find him lurking on the street outside. She'd let the curtain fall in a panic.
Her first worry was only that the thread would break in her sleep. The night before she'd stayed up late, trying to trace his movements for as long as possible.
Despite her fear of seeing him from the window, he did nothing that day.
Nor the day after that.
After two days of being locked away with nothing to do but layering, she braced herself to leave. For a message to Spesavia if nothing else.
He followed her but stayed out of sight and outside of the library.
After that day, she went about her normal business. Each day the fear dulled as rage chafed.
Is he just watching me? Why? What's he planning?
But she wasn't a lord with a known schedule, and her only daily activity was her trip to the library. The University was a little too secure for that to be a good location to strike. She tried her best to vary her route to it as well.
Is he just gathering info? For who?
The thread became easier to maintain as time went on. Instead of a strain, it felt like a nervous tick feeding mana to it.
Although she could trace where he was, she wasn't aware of the specifics of how he found her. Buying a map of the city did little at first. Figuring out how to translate what she sensed onto the map was a trial of its own.
Even Mendax needed to sleep. It was at this late hour that Aureum could try to figure out where he went without him. Though there she met more obstacles.
Tracing his meandering steps in the dark wasn't the best time to see. Worse, it gave her few clues. He stopped by mundane food stalls, sat in dingy pubs, and even went to a few gambling dens.
She had no idea what he was doing.
Searching his room might give her clearer answers. She also knew where he slept now, after a few nights of trial. The timing would have to be perfect so that he wasn't following her or sleeping in it.
For now, she was trying to buy time by acting ignorant.
If Spesavia returned and was willing, Mendax wouldn't be a problem.
Could I just have one part of my life not collapse in on itself?
Just one?
She sank into the wooden tub.
Of course, he was right outside the inn. It was another one of those days. It was always one of those days.
She let her head sink as she blew bubbles.
I have more to do than play with some pretend monster.
Vitreum and her brother might have entered the city. If her conscience held any value Aureum needed to check on her.
There was no clear path to success.
Perhaps killing him.
With every day it felt like her goals slipped from her. Her ability to reach out silenced as she didn't want to drag this pestilence onto other people's doorsteps. Every second she sat in her room able to do less and less solidified more into fury.
Shall I?
One well-aimed shot before he can see me. No more problems.
But there would be problems, of course.
She couldn't kill him without leaving a mess.
And whoever sent him would know. Whoever they sent next might have a different goal than watching.
Besides, I'm still not accustomed to murder.
As satisfying as it might be to imagine for a moment, the real act would hit hard.
If he was sent at all.
He might just be a creep. Maybe he was working up the courage to act. At least the solution would be direct in that case.
The laws were clear. All she needed was the strength to defend herself.
But that option would require more waiting.
Aureum emerged from the water, gasping. A resolute spark shined in her narrowed eyes.
"What can I do to narrow the possible answers?"
———————————————————
Thud, thud, thud.
Sitis woke to a knocking at his door. As he was already a sorcerer in his own right, he had a room to himself.
He stumbled out of bed.
"Lacuna?"
"You wish," Aureum replied, her small sharp face looking up at him.
"What do you want?"
"Lemme in, I don't want to discuss it all standing in the hallway."
"..."
Sitis stepped aside as Aureum barged in.
"Is this a prison? It's so tiny."
A bed, a wardrobe, and a desk. There was no room for anything else.
"It's just a place to sleep."
"Really? Worse ways of looking at it I guess. Anyways, the worst came to pass, so I'm here for some advice."
"At this hour?"
"It's the only hour I could make it. That creep Mendax is following me."
"Are you certain?"
"Absolutely."
Aureum collected herself. Without her speaking, silence filled the room. It was a dark hour.
"I just wish I knew how! I go different ways to places, and he certainly isn't always following right behind me. Does he have a trail of mana on me too?"
"That cloak, you always wear it?"
"Yes?"
Sitis nodded.
"So all he has to do is ask which direction "the woman with the burgundy and blue swirls cloak" has gone. Then tell them he was your lover or something."
"You think people would believe that?"
"Maybe not your lover. But you understand?"
"Yes, but what can I do?"
"...I'd usually suggest not traveling alone. But..."
Aureum finished the sentence off for him.
"Lacuna is the only person I know, and I'd like to keep her out of this."
"Then stay to crowded places as much as you can."
"Yes. And...?"
Sitis sighed.
"And we will figure out what we'll do."
They spoke long into the night.
———————————————————
In the early hours of the morning, Aureum walked to the gates. It was nerves that brought her there.
The thinking and the wondering of anything she was doing would work. Even if it all went to plan—and when did anything go to plan?—what if the plan wasn't good enough? What had she missed? Was there anything more she could do?
There was little she could do. Soon Mendax would be waiting outside where she should be sleeping. And her best chances of things working would evaporate if he caught wind of her activities.
Why her nerves took her to the gate, she didn't know. Maybe she wanted to flee again.
As she always did.
And what has it brought me?
She wasn't stuck in a dungeon. No, she was free, free to die to anyone with enough power to do it. Is this what she turned back time for? Is this what she traded the trust of her family for?
All those things were necessary.
But she wanted to talk to her sister again, at least. Her mother, who would listen while tending to her garden. Even her father's lectures might be welcome because she knew he would do what he could to fix it.
It might not be her preferred way, but at least she knew he cared.
Now her fate was stuck between Sitis, some friend of a friend, and Mendax, a shadow wearing on her sanity. The one friend she had made, she wouldn't involve in case she got her killed. Or Bonum curse Aureum if Lacuna murdered someone on Aureum's behalf.
What if I asked Spesavia for the potion again? In case anything goes wrong?
Maybe she could fix things a countless number of times.
But I'd probably mess them up each time in a new, more convoluted way.
How many times would I mess things up before that option was lost to me forever?
Her shoulders hunched as she turned more and more into some lost waif. When she had truly sunk into her self-pity, she was yelled at.
"OY! As ye can see, there's nobody passing through here, so if ye're waitin' for ye lost love, ye can BUZZ OFF!"
Of course, Aureum found herself wanting to not "buzz off" at being so accosted by one of the gate guards. Especially a red-faced guard with a gut. She straightened.
"What business is it of yours what I do!"
"Look, lady, just ask us who you're waiting for, we don't want to look at you all day."
This was the second half of the guard pair. The one on the left, shorter and with a sharp nose.
"You would do that?"
"If it'll keep us from seeing your sorry state, we'll do it happily."
Aureum didn't know what wretch had so moved these men into such fear that they would freely offer such a service, but she realized she did have a use for it.
"I'm looking for a Bene—Benedic." She said. "I'm sorry I just get so worked up over him."
Her acting wouldn't convince anyone paying attention, but luckily both guards were too annoyed with her presence to notice small details.
"Yes, and? We can't tell you over just one name."
"Well, he belongs to the Lapis household..."
Aureum struggled to remember some physical features, but all that came to mind was the greasy man who'd walked down beside Benedic.
"He travels with his sister! Vitreum! I'm certain you wouldn't miss him!"
"Young lordings do like to make a splash."
"I'a think I'a hurd about him. Yea, he came through here two nights ago. Ye've missed him."
"Please, tell me where I can find him!"
"Why, there's only one place those lordlings like around here. That would be the Dragon's Burned Hoard. The name appeals to them, or so I hear. I can't afford such robbery."
"Thank you so much!"
Perhaps one worry she could put to rest soon.
"It's on the west side of the city!"
"Thank you again!"