Chapter 5

C.M.G.

"Ne-Nesander... How did you..?"

"Find you, my dear? That's not important. What is important is that I found you sooner than your father had hoped." Nesander paused. "Why are you dressed that way, Harley? I- I can't believe it. The rumors were true. That's it. You're coming with me!"

Harley scowled at Nesander, ignoring his question

"Found me! I wasn't lost, you idiot! And I am certainly not going anywhere with you! Especially not home!"

Harley pushed past Nesander and continued on her way as if the two had never spoke

"Harley, is this some kind of joke? Because I don't think it's very humorous... Harley?"

Harley continued on her way once again, ignoring Nesander's inane question. Realizing that Harley was, in fact, serious about her previous statement, Nesander quickly chased after her.

"Play time is over Harley, you're coming with me!" Nesander grabbed her right arm firmly. "I have gone through a lot to find you… Including doing some things I am not proud of."

Harley tried to jerk her arm free, but Nesander was much stronger than she anticipated. "Don't cause a scene here, Nesander, you may end up dead."

"Dead?!" Nesander chortled. "From who, these peasants and thieves?" He laughed even harder.

Loryn, on the other hand, was much more aware of his surroundings and noticed the handful of shady individuals paying close attention to Nesander's antics.

"Perhaps her words ring true," Loryn said quietly.

Nesander now, too, was aware of their situation, and decided that perhaps doing things his way might not be appropriate.

"We need to talk, Harley. In private."

"Fine, we can talk, but you're not going to convince me to go back with you."

The trio made their way to one of the undercity's watering holes. The place was rank and it obviously offended Nesander's and Loryn's more refined olfactory senses. They sat down at a table closer to the corner of the tavern in order to keep their conversation quiet. A homely barmaid approached the group and asked for their orders.

"Ale," answered Nesander. Loryn motioned with his hand to indicate that he didn't want anything, still keeping a watchful eye on his new surroundings.

"I'll have an ale, also," replied Harley.

"Since when do you drink ale?" Nesander seemed appalled at the thought as the barmaid went to gather their orders.

It was quite obvious that Harley was uncomfortable, because she kept staring intently at the tavern's back room. Loryn took notice of this and changed his focus from his surroundings to Harley, anticipating when she was going to run for it. Nesander, on the other hand, went on and on about their travels - about the mercenaries they joined up with, and about the caravan guards they killed to keep their cover in order to get to this point. Harley lifted her hand to her mouth, covering her yawn at Nesander's stories, but otherwise kept quiet during the telling. After a while the barmaid returned, and as she placed the drinks on the table Harley saw her chance. Harley reached for her own ale but pushed it over into Nesander's lap, trying to look clumsy. Immediately Harley and Loryn stood up to help Nesander, and Nesander stood up as well to the let the fluid drip onto the floor. She took the opening and pushed Nesander onto Loryn, causing the pair to crash into the table and tumble to the ground. She quickly sprinted to the backroom of the tavern, pushing over barrels and shelves to block her would-be pursuers. Nesander and Loryn stood up as quickly as they could and gave chase. Harley exited the tavern and darted towards the Ghost Harpies' Den while grasping for something in her pocket. As she leapt up onto the Harpies' porch she handed one a tiny gem.

"Being followed," she said urgently.

The Illusionist took the payment and muttered a minor incantation, transforming Harley into a female dwarf. Harley took a seat on the porch in her new form and watched as Nesander and Loryn ran by, completely oblivious to her.

"What was that about?" The Harpy muttered coyly.

"You know when an ex-boyfriend just doesn't understand that it's over? When it definetly is? It's something like that. "Do you mind if I hang out here for awhile?"

"Not at all. In fact, I was just going to make lunch. Care to join me?"

"You know, that sounds great. You're a good friend, Dinar!"

"Honey, everyone's a good friend for the right price in this town." Harley cracked a smile at the jest and entered the Den, happy for the moment and looking forward to the coming meal.

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Nesander and Loryn wandered about the undercity for hours with no luck.

"This is ridiculous Nesander, we will never find her now."

"Yes we will, even if we have to join the accursed thieves guild here. We will find her and bring her home."

"Can I be honest with you, Nesander?" Loryn continued without waiting for a response. "Why not just tell her the truth?"

Nesander stormed towards Loryn. "Are you mad? Do you what could happen to us if...?" Nesander stopped his sentence short when he noticed Loryn's gaze turn from him to their new company.

Four hooded figures stepped from the shadows, making their way towards the pair and doing their best to form a circle around them.

"Perfect! Just perfect!" Nesander exclaimed. " I suppose you four want our money or our lives, right?"

The four men said nothing, and began moving their hands in a conjuring fashion.

"They're casting!" yelled Loryn.

Nesander, not waiting to find out what they had planned, leapt towards one and skewered him with his blade, then promptly let go of the sword and slumped to the ground in a heap. Loryn's keen elven ears picked up the subtle sound of snoring coming from Nesanders lips.

"Damned sleep spells." Annoyed that he would have to face three opponents alone, and at such close range, he drew his short sword and dagger. He flicked the smaller blade at his foe to the right, hitting its mark square between the eyes, then lunged forward at his second target, dispatching him quickly. Loryn turned to face his last foe, only to see him lying in a pool of his own blood. A platinum-haired man was standing above the attacker's body, cleaning the blood off his sword.

"Th-thank you stranger," Loryn said, puzzled.

"I should be thanking you, my elven friend. Ye see, these four here have a bounty on their heads, and you and your sleeping friend saved me a lot of work. Where are my manners? The name's Kemper. And you are?"

"Loryn. And the sleeping one is Nesander."

"Nice to meet you. So, you're pretty good with that blade. You looking for work?" Kemper asked as he started to rifle through the attackers' belongings.

"Well," Loryn paused and thought briefly about what he was about to say. "Now that you mention it, we were looking to join a guild." Loryn paused again, realizing how stupid that sounded.

"Alright." Kemper stood and sized up Loryn, then shook his head. "Well, it's a good thing for you that my boss doesn't ask a lot of questions. So, why don't you wake up your lazy friend and follow me? I think I could use you two. Got a big job coming up, and I don't think my latest recruit is up for the fight."

Loryn knelt down to Nesanders sleeping body and slapped him around a bit until he came to. He then whispered into Nesander's ear.

"I think we just joined a thieves guild."

Nesander was still very groggy from the sleep spell, but was able to get to his feet with Loryn's help.

"Did we win?" Nesander slurred, then abruptly passed out again, falling forward into Kemper and knocking him to the ground.

"That was no regular sleep spell, my friend," Kemper groaned as he stood and dusted himself off. "Let me help you carry him back to my guild. I think I have an elixir there that will do the trick. Then, if you'd like, we can talk about the job."

The two men did their best to carry Nesander, but it didn't help that he was much larger then both of them. Kemper looked towards Loryn.

"By the way, don't expect everyone at the guild to be this nice. And don't expect to get a cut of the bounty from those men you helped me kill." Loryn just nodded and did his best to shoulder his share of the weight.