Shon’s excitement at Tarun’s victory quickly turned to concern as he felt the mood in the room suddenly take a turn for the worse. A few of the woodcutters were impressed by Tarun’s strength, but most of them were just embarrassed and angry that their leader had been beaten so easily. Even without sensing Smitt’s mind, Shon could tell that the captain’s thoughts had turned downright murderous.

Shon also became keenly aware of the thoughts and emotions of Ulysis and his deputies in the room. They could clearly see the destabilizing situation, and were tensing up in preparation for a fight that might be ahead. They didn’t want a fight, but each of them was ready to hit the first thing that made a wrong move.

The large cloaked figure behind Tarun stood perfectly still, and his thoughts were difficult to understand, almost as if he was thinking in another language. But Shon did sense that he felt very worried, almost panicked, about the sudden turn of events. Ever so slightly, Shon thought he could sense the stranger’s focus shift to the nearby exit.

The pieces were all in place, and events were already in motion. Shon could tell that unless something unexpected occurred, a lot of people would be hurt today, and he could very likely be one of them. But what could he do? Perhaps he could mentally tell Tarun to stand up and use that commanding voice of his to tell everyone to calm down? No, many of the men were already angry with Tarun, and it would probably only make things worse if he spoke up.

Shon began to think of the dragon’s bane plant they were carrying, and wonder if there was any way they could use it to their advantage. As he was deep in thought on the matter, Shon saw Smitt stand up, grab Tarun across the table and punch him right across the face. Shon immediately stood up, only to realize that Smitt was still in his chair and Tarun was untouched. Shon had only seen Smitt’s thoughts, and mistaken them for reality.

However in that moment, Shon realized something. Something unexpected had just happened. Nobody in the tavern expected the pale skinny bald kid to be the first one to stand up and start something. Tensions were still high, but there was a feeling that events may not be quite so inevitable as everyone thought. “OK,” Shon thought to himself, “now I’ve just got to do something really unexpected and maybe we can all get out of here without broken noses and black eyes.”

Shon briefly considered jumping on the table and trying to do a dance, or splashing someone’s drink on top of his head, but he decided that would probably only annoy people, not shock them out of their rage. Frustration overcame Shon as he thought how none of this would have happened if they had just been able to find their buyer in the first place.

Suddenly an idea came to Shon, and he acted before he could think better of it. He grasped Stick tightly, and as forcefully as he could manage he broadcast to the entire room the thought, DRAGON!

The reaction was both more immediate and more dramatic than Shon had expected. Nearly every man in the tavern began to duck and cower below tables, chairs, or anything else they could find.

There were only two exceptions to this, other than himself. Tarun immediately rose to his feet and looked towards Shon, and the hooded stranger looked out the window and reached for some unseen object near his waist. Upon turning and seeing that Shon and Tarun were now looking at him, the stranger immediately ran and exited through the door of the tavern. Shon and Tarun both quickly grabbed their packs and ran out into the cool evening air after him, while everyone else stayed in their huddled positions on the floor in shock and confusion.

The sky outside was already considerably darker than when they had entered the inn less than an hour earlier, and it took Tarun and Shon a moment to see the cloaked stranger walking away in the darkness. He was already quite far from them, but seemed to be walking slowly and calmly as he passed the guard next to the gate leading outside of the Duskwood fort.

“Come on,” Shon said to Tarun as he started running towards the stranger, “we can still catch up to him if we hurry.” Tarun ran next to Shon, but their speed was limited by the weight and jostling of their packs. Still, they were fast enough that they began gaining on the stranger, and Shon was confident they would soon catch up to their target.

As soon as they neared the gate where the guard was standing though, Shonrealized why the stranger had been walking so slowly. “Oy!” shouted the guard as he jumped to his feet. “Where are you two headed in such a hurry? Not trying to skip out on the price of your drinks, I hope?”

Shon felt like an idiot. Of course he and Tarun looked suspicious running out of the inn towards the forest this late at night. Shon knew he had to think fast if they were going to have any hope of catching up to the stranger, who was already regaining his distance.

“It’s Smitt,” Shon said through heavy breathing. “He and his woodcutters had too much to drink and they’re causing trouble at the inn. Ulysis told us to come here and get you to help get things under control.” Shon hoped that by using the names he had picked up while listening to the others’ thoughts, he could add some believability to the lie.

“I’ve told Ulysis a hundred times that I don’t work for him,” grumbled the guard. “He’s already deputized half the men in this town anyway. Say, why’d he send you two to get me instead of one of his deputies?”

“They were all too busy helping Ulysis with the woodcutters,” Tarun quickly interjected. “He sent us out to get you because he said you were the only one left in town who could help.”

Shon was surprised how convincingly Tarun had picked up the story, and could see the doubt fade from the guard’s face. “I always knew those ruffians would end up being more trouble than they’re worth,” said the guard, muttering under his breath. And with that he picked up his weapon and began running towards the inn.

As soon as the guard was out of sight, Tarun and Shon quickly ran through the gate into the woods outside. The stranger was nowhere in sight, so they began looking for signs of which way he went.

“Do you think we will have trouble entering the town again now that we’ve lied to the gatekeeper?” asked Tarun.

Shon instantly felt stupid for not thinking of this sooner. “Yes,” Shon replied, “I expect we would. But hopefully this stranger is who I think he is so we won’t have to go back into that town anyway. Though I was looking forward to sleeping on a real bed in that inn.”

Shon was starting to worry that they had completely lost track of the stranger when Tarun spoke up. “Did you notice the dwarf and his wagon are gone?”

Shon looked back and noticed that Tarun was right. The strange dwarf and his green wagon were no longer parked next to the wall of the fort, and there was a pair of deep wheel tracks leading into the forest, roughly in the direction that the stranger had been heading when they last saw him.

Shon didn’t know if this was only coincidence, but he decided it was the best lead they had and acted on it. He grasped Stick with both hands and tried to sense any thoughts coming from the woods in the direction of the woods where the wagon tracks had headed. After a few moments of intense listening, he managed to hear the whisperings of a few strange thoughts coming from that direction.

“Let’s go see if we can find our buyer,” said Shon as he and Tarun walked into the ever-darkening wood.