Prologue

During ancient history my great grandparents had been part of the houndour packs that roamed the canyon now called Eastgate. Explorers and missionaries entered the canyon in service of the Guild, and they built the city of Eastgate and surrounding settlements, and gave the natives a choice: join their civilization or be removed. Most of us went to live in the city, and the children were separated from the adults and placed in boarding schools. Once they graduated, they were free to live and work as naturalized citizens; but since the general public distrusted them, they found it hard to find any but the most menial work, and they wound up restricted to the cheapest housing in the poorest districts of the city.

Natural prejudices resurfaced, and the poor districts were carved up among tribal lines. Gangs of houndour picked fights with poochyena, who had been our enemies in the canyon before. I fell into the gangs and got into my share of scraps. We were kids with nothing to look forward to, confused and distraught as to what our lives were for, trying to recreate a sense of community and identity in the only way we knew how.

That's how I lived, anyway, until one of my friends was beaten so bad we couldn't recognize him. I didn't hear about it until after his friends had taken him to the surgeon: he was heading to the market to pick up some carrots or something for his family when he was ambushed. He lived, but he was disfigured and scarred all over his body, and some of his bones healed in crooked positions. I realized the bed of nails I was lying on and left my home to try for a decent living somewhere else. I headed north, to Ironside, then to the capital city Prosperity, but I wasn't satisfied until I reached the desert frontier, where the trading city of Sandstone provided building material and mineral wealth for all the nation.

The city was nestled into the spot where the C-shaped lake drained into the river, the only spot for miles where green stuff grew. A ring of mountains encircled the region, and along them were chains of settlements where miners turned the mountain stone into building blocks. A river snaked through a valley from Prosperity to Sandstone, about a five day walk. I only made it two before I was joined by another group of travelers.

They approached me casually, walking the road as if we were only incidentally making the trip at the same time. There were four of them, an odd assortment of a golduck, mightyena, lucario and xatu. They caught up with me at just above my walking speed and got on all sides of me, the golduck and mightyena in front and the lucario and xatu behind. Then, still looking forward, the golduck started talking.

"Always pleasant to meet a friend on this road," he said. "What brings you onto the hot sand, pup? Heading to Sandstone?"

I tentatively responded, "Yeah."

"Do you live there, or are you going to see the sights?"

Something about the mightyena caught my attention. His scent was definitely of the desert, but I got a vague sense of something familiar, a trace of Eastgate. I couldn't place him though—even if I had seen him in Eastgate, he could have been a poochyena back then for all I knew.

"I don't live there at the moment," I said, "but I'm headed there now, and I intend to build a life for myself when I get there."

"So you're a pilgrim, like so many of us. I hear you. Sandstone is booming; people are striking it rich out in the wildlands, or finding work in all sorts of other ways. A lot of people left their old lives behind, or moved their whole families in order to be here. I used to be wild myself. There's a slice of prosperity for everyone here, no shortage of opportunities."

The mightyena noticed me staring at him and bared teeth. I pointed my eyes forward.

"People seize prosperity in all sorts of ways," the golduck continued. "How about you? What did you bring to get yourself started?"

I noticed with some discomfort how intently the lucario and xatu were watching me.

"These are all my possessions in the world," I said.

"Are you carrying it all in those shoulder bags? Why don't you put them on the ground, so we can take a look?"

I stopped, and they all stopped with me. I looked around to each of them. They stood silent. I gripped the strap of my shoulder bags in my teeth, placed them on the ground and stepped back. The golduck gave a sign to the lucario, who knelt down and opened one.

"This one's just food. Nothing but nuts and crackers." He crushed some crackers in his paw and threw the pieces into the sand. The mightyena made a scowl of disgust. The lucario left the bag open on the ground and went for the other one.

"Here we go," he said. He showed it around so the others could see the coins inside.

"I almost feel like we're doing you a favor," said the golduck. "This wouldn't have lasted three days in the city, so now you can spare yourself the trouble and go back to mommy and daddy."

The lucario scooped all the coins into his own pouch and stood up. The group broke off.

"Sorry about this, honest," the golduck went on. "We seize prosperity in all sorts of ways."

The mightyena headbutt me in the side as hard as he could. I tumbled over with the wind knocked out of me and lay in the sand for a minute, gasping for air. By the time I collected myself and stood up, they had all disappeared.

I picked up my food bag off the ground. Nuts and crackers littered the sand, and some sand had found its way in the bag, but nonetheless I put it back on my shoulders along with the empty money bag.

That money had been all I had to get by in the city. I had hoped it would buy me food and lodging for at least a few nights, long enough to find a job of some sort, but now I was set to arrive broke and very hungry. I changed course and headed for the southern mountain settlements, which were closer.

Every couple of villages had a Guild station with an officer in charge. The only distinguishing feature of the wooden building, lined up along the street with so many others, was its name painted above its door. It was meant to be a combined office, treasury and living quarters for teams operating in the area, but it was so small that only one team could use it permanently at a time.

The officer was a swampert, who handled administrative duties and bookkeeping from a desk in the main room. He saw me come in, but gestured for me to wait a moment while he finished up whatever he was doing. One end of the room was lined with holding cells, all of them housing one wretched captive awaiting due process of law. I made eye contact with a raggedy growlithe who might have blasted his way out of his cell, but seemed disinterested in anything but lying on the floor and watching me. I guess that swampert sufficiently put the fear in them.

On the wall across from them was the bulletin board where the jobs the teams might undertake were posted. There were all kinds of jobs there, but a significant number were pictures of people's faces, headed with the bolded word, "wanted." Wanted, dead or alive. Sarin, weezing. For robbery and assault. Thirty five silver pieces …

The swampert said, "Is there something I can help you with?

"Yes, sir. I was traveling up the river to the city when I was confronted by a group of four and robbed. The one who seemed to be the leader was a golduck, the others were a mightyena, a lucario and a xatu. They took all my money and destroyed a good portion of my food."

"What's the amount that was stolen?"

"Sixty bronze pieces, sir."

He returned to his papers. "It sounds like it was the Deadeye Gang that got you. They ambush people on the roads and mountains. Sometimes they kill them. At least one of our teams is tracking them right now, and as soon as we find them we'll return what they stole to its owners."

"How long have you been tracking them?"

"There's a lot of ground to cover when it comes to finding people. A lot of criminals have hideouts in the desert or mountains. It might take a bit more time, but we will find them, sooner or later."

"Have you tried scent-tracking? I bet they leave some scent behind at their little crime scenes."

"Of course we've tried it, but a scent only lasts so long before those bits of skin and fur and such get swept away by the wind or buried in the sand. By the time we get there, there's generally nothing left to smell but wood and bones."

"Sir, the money they stole was all the money I had. I need it to be returned as soon as possible."

"We're doing all we can. Thank you for reporting this crime. If you've no more to add, you may go now."

I left the station and walked the streets for a while, thinking about my options. The mightyena had definitely smelled of Eastgate. His scent lingered in my nostrils, and a realization hit me that if I could pick it up again at the spot where they got me, there was no reason I couldn't follow it all the way to their hideout. Back in the canyon I had tracked scents as old as three days, looking for lost friends or hiding enemies, and if I found the Deadeye Gang now, I could not only get my money back but collect the reward from the Guild, who would doubtless be grateful.

By then it was nearly evening, but I took my remaining supplies and set out. I walked along the river until I found the spilled nuts in the sand. I sniffed around—the scent was faint, but I found it. I followed the trail west until the sun had completely set, then I took shelter beneath the branches of an acacia tree and slept. The next day I kept on the trail until it crossed into the mountains.

It was another two days of travel over the rocks, and I was getting tired and hungry, crunching on grains of sand as I stretched out the last of my food. On the evening of the fourth day I came upon a clearing, and I stopped, lowered myself to the rocks and peered over carefully. There was a shack built against the face of a cliff, and the mightyena and lucario were sitting outside enjoying some downtime.

I felt a tap on the back of my shoulder. I nearly jumped.

A smeargle lay prone next to me, pressing a paw to her mouth in a gesture to keep quiet. She whispered, "What's your take on this?"

Bewildered, I gave no answer. That seemed well enough, as she kept her eyes pointed to the clearing below.

"Flint and Lapis. Holly and Wave are probably inside, but it's poor form to expose oneself to surprises. I'll go in first and make a bit of commotion, and we'll see if we can't draw all four of them into the open. You stay here and keep an eye out, and when you see an opportune moment, and not before, you attack. Understood?"

The only thing I could think to do was nod.

She leapt over the rocks and sprinted toward the camp. When the two outside saw her, they jumped from their seats and formed a defensive line. She dropped to all fours in front of them, puffing and wheezing.

"Get yourselves ready for battle as quick as you can," she said. "There's a Guild team on my tail."

"What the hell are you talking about?" said the lucario.

"I'm with the Wroughtiron Crew. You're Holly's team, right? We were hiding out not too far from here when the Guild raided our camp. I managed to get away, but one team chased me. I ran nearly five miles without stopping."

The two glanced at each other, and the lucario waved towards to shack. The golduck and xatu came out.

"Are you Holly?" said the smeargle. "Our leader, Slag, said he knew you, and he told us about this hideout here. Said we could retreat here if ever we—"

"Shut up," said the golduck. "What's this about a Guild team?"

"A Guild team chased me here, sir."

"The Guild wiped out your camp, and you brought them here so they can take us down with you. I've never heard of the Wroughtiron Crew, and I can't think of a reason not to kill you now."

"Slag said he was a friend of yours. He's a golduck like yourself. Ask that fellow, he knows."

She pointed to the mightyena, and the other three turned their gazes toward him.

"I ran with the Wroughtirons on a few jobs," the mightyena told his companions. "They never mentioned knowing you or having a hideout anywhere near here, and they didn't have a smeargle with them either."

"Right," said the golduck. "Frankly I don't give a shit. I don't know the Wroughtirons, I don't run with them, and there's no way I'm taking the fall for them. We'll fight off this Guild team, but as far as I'm concerned, you're—"

The mightyena suddenly shouted, "They're here!"

I cursed. I had tried to approach unseen using the rocks for cover, but he had caught a glimpse or a scent of me, and he watched the ridge intently until he spotted me. I bolted toward him with embers blazing from my mouth. I either hit him or forced him to jump back, and the lucario, who was nearest, launched an aura sphere which blew me off my feet.

A flash of light appeared, so bright that we all were forced to shield our eyes. It came from behind the golduck. It was an electric shock, and when it was over, the golduck fell to the ground.

The smeargle waved a paw toward the lucario, and a razor wind followed and cut his chest open. The mightyena had just time to turn around before she cut his neck with another blow. The xatu took to the sky in attempt to escape, but with a third attack, she sent a gust of wind that brought him crashing to the ground.

From where I lay it looked like this smeargle had simply commanded four hardened criminals to lay down dead. I didn't dare get up off the ground.

She walked up to me and said, "I hid my cart among some rocks nearby. If you wouldn't mind staying with them for a moment, I'll retrieve it."

She walked off, and as promised, she returned a few minutes later with a four-wheeled cart, the sort with a canvas cover so it could be slept in. She pulled it with telekinesis. Once she got the cart into the clearing, she pulled out a length of rope and tied the bodies together in a line, then tied them to the cart so when she pulled it they would drag along the ground like a snake. She took some of the Deadeyes' own firewood and built a fire in their fire pit, then brought out some carrots and asparagus, with a frying pan to roast them.

I decided it was time for answers. "Who are you?" I said.

"I'm Willow," she said. "Yourself?"

"Olive."

"Well, Olive, I have to thank you for your help tonight. You've probably already guessed that I'm a Guild agent, the one charged with tracking these four criminals. I chased them for quite a while, but I was unable to find their hideout until you set your impressive nose to it."

She pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to me. It was the Deadeyes' handbill.

Wanted, dead or alive. The Deadeye Gang. For repeated robbery and murder. Ten gold pieces for Holly, golduck. Two gold pieces for each of his subordinates: Flint, mightyena; Lapis, lucario; and Wave, xatu.

"You followed me?" I said.

"I did. I caught sight of you following a scent trail and decided to see what had you so determined. Now that I've explained myself, why don't you tell me why you were tracking dangerous criminals, and what you planned to do once you found them?"

"The Deadeyes robbed me along the river and took all my money. I reported it at the nearest Guild station, but I needed that money back yesterday, so I decided to find them myself. I thought that if I caught them, I could collect the reward on top of everything."

"So you caught scent of at least one of them during the robbery?"

"Yes."

"It's impressive that you were able to follow a scent for so long across the desert. Not all of the trackers in the Guild could do the same. I have to tell you, though, that those rewards are posted for Guild agents only, and only Guild agents have the authority to use force against criminals. Had you caught them, you would probably have been tried for murder by the Guild and executed."

I sheepishly said, "I'm sorry."

"I'll let it slide," she said with a smile.

"Can I ask you what those moves you used were?"

"Oh, those? Shock wave, vacuum wave, ominous wind. Some techniques I picked up by observing former associates."

"So you have a team?"

"Technically I am part of a team, it's just that presently Team Brushcut has a membership of one. The story of how it came to be that way is a long and no doubt tedious one."

She scooped the vegetables onto plates with a wooden spoon, then set one plate on the ground in front of each of us.

"Where are you headed after this?" she said.

"I don't know. I guess I'll go to the city and start looking for a job."

"Sandstone is a fine place to make a living. Do you have any idea what you're going to do?"

"I figured I'd go work in a mine or something, or find whatever else needs doing."

"Have you considered joining the Guild? You've got some talent, which I believe can be developed into skills we need. I'd love to be the one to have you on my team."

I was blindsided. Joining the Guild had never crossed my mind, and now that the opportunity was in front of me, thoughts of that life flashed through my head all at once. When I went to track the Deadeyes, it was to recover my stolen money, but there had also been a thrill that drew me to do it.

I didn't know her, and I didn't know what I was getting into by joining up with her, but I knew that it didn't suit me to do things cautiously. I summoned my courage and said, "I'll do it."

"Wonderful," she said with a smile.

With Willow at my side, I was sworn in as a member of Team Olivebranch. That was how I became a legal representative and servant of the Guild of Sandstone.