The Mage of Dockside

What Hera woke up to was not the feeling of someone pulling aside her bed sheets, or the sound of her door slowly opening.

It was a smell that awoke her. The unmistakable smell of frying bacon.

Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Hera got dressed and went out to investigate. One of her questions from yesterday appeared to be answered when she found the teenage servant Milo in the tiny kitchen, cooking.

Somehow sensing he was being observed, Milo turned around.

"Breakfast is almost ready." He said. "You can wait in the living room and I will be right out."

Hera had expected Morgan to be there, waiting for her. But the living room was empty, so she simply reclaimed her chair from yesterday.

She also expected Morgan to emerge from his room when the food was brought out. But he didn't show up, nor did Milo go to retrieve him or bring him food directly. The small size of the house meant that there was only the single hallway, so she could clearly see anyone coming or going.

Hera was almost completely done with her plate when Morgan came strolling through the front door.

"Ah, I am either right on time or only ever so slightly late." He said, taking off a coat and placing it on a clothing hook.

Milo said nothing, simply handed him a plate as the Mage of Dockside sat down in his tall backed chair.

"Where were you?" Hera dared ask.

"Would you believe me if I said I had a very late date last night?" He answered, greedily digging into his breakfast.

Could Hera believe he did that sort of thing? Of course. But the more likely explanation was that Morgan had gone out because of her. She could imagine him asking around, trying to find out who knew what about her. To discover something about this woman who showed up out of nowhere looking for Raphael Richter.

"You know, one of my favorite things about living in a port city like Dockside?" Morgan stated more than he asked. "It's that you can have oranges pretty much every single day. Fruits are such a common trade good, especially amongst sea ships, that you can get them for a fraction of the cost you might get deeper inland."

Hera wasn't exactly listening, or more accurately she was not invested in his opinion on what was best served for breakfast. It did however give her the opportunity to ask a question that might get him back on track.

"What is the worst part about living in Dockside?" She said, waiting for him to finish eating.

"Hmmm. It sounds trite, but it really is the crime." Answer the Mage of Dockside. "The worst parts of Dockside are so much poorer, so much more brutal than pretty much any part of any city back in Avaloche. I once witnessed a man get stabbed in the middle of the street for the coins in his pocket."

"But we are skipping ahead." He said while cleaning his hands. "I am sure you have heard stories, tales about my exploits. But what is next on my journey is a day that changed the course of my stay here, and is a story you are likely the first person to hear since it happened."

"Because some things are best left in the dark." Morgan promised.

*****

I went back to the courier guild the evening of the day after seeing Ellena, expecting the note she was going to leave me for our next meeting.

Instead there was a note from someone else entirely.

Looking to hire you for a job. Discretion required. Meet at our previous location.

Will Stone

Will Stone was the information broker who worked for the Gala family. The one I had done the small job for, investigating his murder suspect barrel maker.

The note intrigued me. I was definitely looking for work, and I had quite the leg up on the mundane investigators of Dockside. But to have this note here meant that he had addressed it to Morgan the Mage. And to the best of my knowledge, I never revealed or hinted at my magical talents when working with Will.

It was, as I said, already late. But since the location that I had been meeting him at was a bar, it didn't feel unusual going a little out of my way to check it out.

When I asked the barman if he knew where I could find Will Stone, I was expecting directions. Or maybe to be told what hours he frequented as a customer. Instead a young boy was sent as a runner. With how quickly they returned I got the feeling that WIll either lived or had an office very close by.

"Mister Morgan, am I glad to see you." He said while ushering me to follow him. We went through a door and I found out that his officewasinside the bar.

"You got my note I presume?" Will asked me, offering me a chair.

"I did. Although I have to ask, why address it to Morgan the Mage?" I asked him.

"Well it was a guess and a hope. With how easily you solved my little mystery that first time, I thought there was a good chance magic was involved. And as it turns out I desperately need the services of both someone from outside the familiesanda mage."

He had impressed me. "Well, I won't insult you by denying it. Especially since..."

"Since you have opened up a courier box identifying yourself as one?" He responded with a smile.

"Yes. I am curious though, about the job of course. What were you needing?"

Will looked at me for a long moment before saying:

"You need to understand. I was given this task by the head of the Wain family himself, Allen Wain. And he made it clear to me that not another soul was to know about it. That it would be better that the job fail then knowledge of it to become public."

"I see. So by telling me you not only risk your own reputation but also the wrath of a powerful family."

Will nodded gravely, then said:

"Let me give you a rough idea of what you would need to do before I give you more details. So you could turn me down if it doesn't seem possible, and I can keep my promise about not telling anyone else."

"Seems logical."

"Alright. This is a manhunt. I can give you his name and some likely locations. But because of the nature of this job, you can't ask around. Not a single person can know you are looking for him."

"Not even other members of the Wain family?" I asked, thinking of Ellena's friend, Trohd Wain.

"Nobody." He emphasized. "And it gets worse. There is reason to believe that magic might be at play here, that our missing man has been... I'm not sure of the term."

"Enspelled." I offered.

"Yes. So in all likelihood you will be facing off against another magi on this job. Somebody who is trying to keep our man hidden away, possibly forever."

Standing up, Will said to me:

"Those are the terms, before I can tell you anything else. So, will you do it?Canyou do it?"

I let out a sigh before responding. "Well, first let us talk about payment. Because honestly Will, I'm not sure you can pay me what I would want for a job this risky. Whichnormallywouldn't be a problem, because I would be willing to accept alternate forms of payment. Such as the deep gratitude of the father of one of the families. But if this job has to be a secret, then would I get any credit at all?"

Will shook his head. "No, even if we come back with this guy intact Wain would want to keep it a secret. I can't let him know we even had this conversation."

I leaned back in my chair slightly. "So, what can you offer me?"

"When you first came to me, you wanted to make it clear that you were not a threat. That the Gala family didn't need to worry about you as a spy or assassin or anything else they might fear from a foreign agent on their soil." Will said with dead seriousness.

"I did. "

"I can do that for you. I won't tell them about this job obviously, but I will make it clear to every contact I have with the familiesandthe guilds that you are an honest operator. That you are a solo operator, out not to disrupt the power balance or start any trouble. I would tell them all that if they needed something from a neutral mage, one with exceptional skills and no ties to anyone else, they should come to you."

It was exactly what I was hoping for. So I stood up myself and said:

"Well then. I cannot promise you we will find this man. I can only promise you my discretion, and that I will try."

Will reached out and we shook hands.

"Okay. You are looking for Oskar Wain. I sayyou'llbe looking for him because I can't risk even being seen with you out in public until he is found."

"Understood, so he is part of the Wain family?" I asked him as we both sat down again.

"He is the sixteen year old nephew of Allen Wain. He has been missing for a week now, possibly slightly more. He was last seen by his magic tutor, who reported him missing to the Wain family patron."

"Oskar is magically talented? Do you know what spells he is capable of?"

"I don't. I can only tell you what Allen Wain told me, that the magic tutor said that Oskar had been seeing someone, a young woman who was also a mage. But this woman was not working for one of the guilds or the families. The tutor was worried that she has, as you put it, enspelled young Oskar."

"More to the point, they are worried about two things." He clarified. "First, that if he simply sent out some of his runners they might never find the young man, working against a mage. They are also concerned that Oskar doesn'twantto be found."

"I understand. This is about avoiding embarrassment to the family. Oskar could be a hostage, he could be dead. Or he could be simply hold up in a bungalow with a pretty girl wrapped around his waist."

"Exactly. Wain wants Oskar just to show back up, like he got home from a long drunken vacation. He doesn't want rumors flying around about... well... whatever it is the young man hasactuallygotten himself into."

"Hmm, tricky, yes." I told him. "I can't say I have seen this exact job before, but you were right to come to me. The noble families of Avaloche are often the same, just as concerned about the secrecy of a job as they are about the end results."

"I was hoping you would say that." Will told me with a smile. A smile that died as he added:

"One last thing. If you go out right now and find him, rescue operation or not, he can't know it was you."

"Ah, even Oskar can't know he was being looked for." I realized. "Or else he might tell Allen Wain about it and suddenly he suspects or outright knows you didn't keep his secret."

"Yes. I know it is a lot to ask, but can you do it?"

As mysteriously as I could, I told him:

"That actually might be the easiest part."

*****

Will gave me all the information he could. Some last known locations, associates, likely suspects, and even a decent drawing of Oskar himself.

As I left he repeated once again that I couldn't question anyone about him. Not even a casualhey have you seen Oskar around?.

But he could not have picked a better man for this job. It was relatively simple for me to put a few key people under an enchantment spell to question them. That let me ask the questions I needed to ask, and nobody would ever know I even asked them.

The last resort was going to be questioning the magic tutor himself. Because as you know there is nobody quite as resilient to enchantment magic than another magi, even an amateur one.

That turned out not to be necessary. My break came when I questioned one of Oskar's close friends. I don't remember the friend's name, so I will call him Bill.

"Has Oskar told you about a new girl he has been seeing?" I asked Bill.

"Oh yeah, Vellanova? He told me about her, about how she was showing him all kinds of magic nobody else would. Plus she sounded hot, like more than normal hot." Bill answered while under my spell.

"I see. Do you know where I can find this Vellanova?" I asked him.

"No."

That kind of abrupt answer was common with enchantment magic. It happened when you didn't ask the right question.

"Ifyouwanted to find this Vellanova, how would you start?" I said, wording it differently.

"Oh, probably at the club where he met her. Oskar said that is where they would go to meet while he was trying to get her back to a room he was renting out."

That confirmed one of my suspicions. Vellanova was clearly not her real name. There is a character from the bookSulliedthat was, as the book called her, a witch. She used magic to attract and lure young men to their deaths.

It sounded like this woman might have been doing the exact same thing. I was able to get Bill to recount to me in more detail what Oskar had told him about her appearance. It was likely not too accurate, but would be enough to ask around.

It was easier to search for Vellanova than it was Oskar, because I could just openly question people about her. I really wasn't that surprised when I found the club Bill had told me to check out. It was the kind of dive that I imagine many young male members of the families went to in hopes of experiencing new things with women and alcohol.

It was also easy to play off my questioning there as well, as I asked the barman:

"I saw a woman in here last week. Curly black hair, purple eyes. I think her name was Vella-something?"

"Nope, never seen her." He said with certainty, polishing a glass.

Perfect.I thought to myself. I knew he was lying, I'd already confirmed with another patron that a woman of that description would occasionally come by.

And if he was lying, he had a reason to.

"I see." I told him. "Well it will obviously be a while before it gets busy. Do you have anything sealed, a drink I can buy for the road?"

"Hmph, maybe in the back." He said with a grunt.

I placed about half a crown worth of coins on the counter.

"I'll go check." He said, suddenly more willing.

To anyone else it was just me and him heading into the back, probably for a quick break. The barman didn't even realize I was following him. Didn't realize what was happening until the enchantment spell hit.

Vellanova as it turned out had paid this man a decent amount of coin herself to keep him quiet. He didn't know what she was doing with the young men she was courting, and he didn't care. She just wanted him to forget seeing around, even knowing anything about her.

I discovered through him that she lived close, within minutes of the club. I was also able to get a much more detailed description of her than I was from Bill.

Then it became a simple game of going around and asking the local inns and apartments if they had seen her. A few of these people I enchanted as well, just to make sure.

I had brought Jared along with me on this trip, mostly for him to watch my back. It was extremely useful to have someone on the lookout for someone else barging in while you magically questioned someone.

It was Jared who had the bright idea to ask one of the apartment owners:

"If someone wanted to keep a secret place, like a room to do some crimes out of, where would be the best around here?"

"Aline rents some rooms out of the basement of her store. Nobody ever notices people coming and going from there, I think she had a couple drug dealers down there once." Answered the man, deep under my enchantment spell.

And just like that Jared and I found ourselves in the basement of the Aline food shop. Jared stayed by the stairs as I walked the hallway.

At this point I wasn't entirely certain how to proceed. There are of course some magical talents, some spells that could have helped hone in on the right location. But I had neither the ability or knowledge to attempt them.

So in the end I saw there were only four doors down in the basement and decided to try them each in turn.

The first door was locked. I considered my options and decided that transmutation was my best bet at getting in. All I needed to do was magically create a hole large enough to get my hand to the other side and open the latch.

Once successful I opened up the door, motioned Jared to stay where he was, and crept inside. It was a dark, dank apartment that was also warm and dead quiet. I glanced around, saw an empty bed and a few strewn clothing items.

I was about to check the closet as well, just to be sure, when I heard Jared speak up.

"Hey." He said, somewhat casually.

I was instantly moving back to the door, already crafting a spell.

"What are you...?" I heard the female voice ask from in the hallway.

Dashing into the hallway next to her, I cast the kinetic spell which let me push her up against the wall. I say push because it was meant to slam, but I held back at the last moment when I saw light colored hair.

Thankfully my spell took her by surprise and knocked the wind out of her, so there was only a muffled grunt as she hit the wall. I then quickly covered her mouth with my hand.

I was afraid she would start screaming, but instead her eyes just went wide with terror. An invisible, magical force was pinning her up against the wall from her perspective. The only part of her I personally touched was her mouth.

"I'm looking for Vellanova." I whispered to her. "Black curly hair, purple eyes."

She looked down the hall, to the door ending on the right.

"Is she in there now?" I asked.

The woman thought, then nodded ever so slightly. Which I took to mean as she thought so. I carefully, slowly lowered her down with my magic until she was standing against the wall.

"I'm going to let go of you now. If you move or make any noise, my associate here will be very angry."

At that moment I wondered if it would have been better to have Jared carrying a knife. But we had just used magic on her, and she didn't know that Jared wasn't also a magi. So she felt threatened enough.

Jared nodded and I crept over to the door. I repeated my transmutation spell to break inside, praying that we had not alerted her to our presence already.

I will tell you, at that moment I considered just leaving. I thought about either telling Will where he could find the woman himself and wish him luck, or just tell him we couldn't find anything. My heart was racing in my chest.

With my magic I would have made quite the cat burglar. I had told Jared I was a thief, but not this kind of thief. This was exactly the kind of danger I was trying to avoid.

So, steeling myself, I slowly opened the door. Immediately I could tell someone was inside. I could both see and barely hear someone on top of the mattress in the corner. I crept in, doing my best impression of a burglar, wondering to myself what magic I could prepare and not risk waking them up.

As I got closer it became obvious that it wasn't Vellanova, I could tell that through the darkness. But the moment I felt a sense of relief I heard something behind me. This apartment was apparently larger, not just a studio flat but with a whole separate room as well.

From the door of that room came Vellanova herself. And with her a torrent of fire as she blasted me with a wave of evocation magic.

I don't know if you have or will ever be in magical combat with another mage. But if I were to give any advice about it at all, it is don't use a flame evocation. If she had used really any other kind of offensive magic, I would likely be dead right now.

Instead I could feel the flames surrounding me, burning at me as I, in a panic, sent out my own hastily crafted spell. It was probably the roughest, clumsiest kinetic spell I had ever cast. But it did the trick, reaching out with enough force to slam into her and knock her to the ground.

I could both see and hear her focusing her animus as she tried to craft another spell. I didn't know what it was, I didn't care. I simply rushed over and jumped atop her, slamming her in the face as I landed.

Her magic was likely already in tatters, but I was in a rush of adrenaline and already punching her, again and again right in her face.

"Boss! Are you okay?" I heard Jared call out as he rushed into the room. His words caused my mind to focus.