Ray stood just inside the living area by the balcony of the suite he shared with Allie and Cabe waiting on them to finish getting ready. He spent the time double checking his daggers to ensure there were no blemishes from using them earlier. While he didn't like the cost of enchanted blades they certainly made his life a bit easier as the enchantments helped to preserve the blade so he spent less time trying to sharpen and caring for them.

The door to the bedroom Cabe and Allie were sharing opened and Allie stepped out with Cabe. Ray was surprised to see Allie hadn't put on the traditional Elite force red but had donned an almost black set. He grinned at the couple. They seemed like complete opposites but they seemed to work and enjoyed each other. "Are we ready kids?"

Allie looked at Ray and shook her head. "Yes Ray, we're ready."

Ray grinned as he opened the balcony door and stepped outside. He slipped into the shadow and leapt on top of the stone railing and began climbing down the side of the castle.

Cabe used the same spell he had used earlier and he disappeared with Allie from the balcony and reappeared on the grounds of the castle. Allie grinned and pulled him into the shadow with her. As Ray reached the bottom he looked at the two of them and frowned. "How did you get down here before me?"

Allie and Cabe both chuckled. "Cabe used his magic of course." Allie teased him.

Ray grunted. "Okay, if I remember correctly the Babble Brook is in the far North East corner of the city but I'm a little hazy on its exact location."

Allie smiled. "We can stop by that quarter's Elite force outpost and get directions."

Ray nodded. "I'll follow you as I don't know where that is either."

Allie turned and took off with Cabe and Ray followed behind them.

As they passed out of the walled off area of the castle grounds Ray found they were being followed by two members of the Elite force. Allie frowned when Ray got her attention and she looked back and saw them following along. "What are you two doing?" She said as she stopped and turned to face them.

The woman in the lead smiled. "Taking a midnight stroll. What are you doing?"

Allie rolled her eyes.

The woman laughed lightly. "Fine, we saw you guys leaving and since you were moving through the shadow we thought maybe something was going down."

Allie shook her head. "This isn't a sanctioned event." Allie gestured with her hand while moving it down her body. "Neither Lord Beyon or Lady Paige has approved it."

The two women shrugged. "I knew it and when have we ever been sticklers on something being sanctioned? We want in."

Allie rolled her eyes even as Ray laughed. "Fine, do either of you know where the Babble Brook is?"

The younger of the two women nodded. "I can take you there. Is this about Agger?"

Allie nodded. "He was the one who made the explosive that could have killed Lady Paige and her husband Walter. And he sent an assassin earlier to try and kill them."

The woman nodded before she moved up ahead of everyone and they all began moving through the streets towards the North East.

With being attacked inside of their suite Ralph was having problems trying to get to sleep. Even Walter's sleeping melody wasn't working. Finally he picked him up and carried him back to the master bedroom of the suite. Paige was already in bed when Walter walked in with Ralph. She frowned. "Is something wrong?"

Walter nodded. "Ralph is too worked up by what happened. I figured he might relax if he is in bed with us."

Paige made a gesture with her eyes and Walter nodded as he stepped over to the windows with Ralph and pointed out. "You can see the hotel we were staying in from here. Did you realize that Ralph?"

Ralph shook his head as Paige slipped out from under the covers and pulled on her nightgown. Her head turned to look back at Walter as she heard him growl. "Walter?"

Walter shook his head. "I just saw Cabe and Allie down in the courtyard before they slipped into the shadow."

Paige stepped over and put her arm around him and looked down. "You think they are going to the Babble Brook?"

Walter nodded. "Most likely, I hope this doesn't lead to another mess."

Paige nodded. "Come my love, let's try and get some sleep. We'll worry about them in the morning."

Walter looked at her and bent over and kissed her. "If that is what you want to do. I'm not sure I got the energy to go after them anyway."

Paige smiled as she climbed back into their bed and Walter sat Ralph down and he scooted in close to his Mom before Walter got in. Paige reached over and adjusted the shade for the lamp and the light went out in the room.

Allie, Cabe and Ray came to a stop behind the woman leading them as she turned around. "Okay, Agger operates out of a basement under the Babble Brook. The proprietor of the Babble Brook is a decent enough guy so I am not sure why he allows it but there are two ways of getting in. We can either go through the stairs inside of Babble Brook or through the cellar door outside. We'll be seen either way, outside takes a bit longer as after unlocking the door there is a security lever that has to be turned so it will move a bar inside to allow the door to open."

"I don't like either of those options to be honest. But I don't see a better way. I suppose we go for the quickest way." Allie said as she looked at Cabe.

Cabe shook his head. "Well there is another way. I'm going to guess if Agger is operating out of the basement then the Babble Brook is going to need to store its products some place else." He looked at the woman who brought them there.

She nodded. "There is an outside storehouse that butts up to the side of the window on the other side of the cellar doors."

Cabe nodded. "If there is a place I can work without being seen I can cast and maintain an illusion of a fire burning this storehouse. That should drawn everyone who could see you guys go down into the basement. Or I can cast an illusion over the cellar doors and you guys could enter the illusion in the shadow and no one would see you while you picked the lock and entered or came back out."

Allie kind of made a face. "I don't like the idea of leaving you out here where you could be stumbled upon." She looked at the other woman. "Would you be willing to stay with Cabe and help keep him safe while he casts this illusion?"

She frowned for a moment but nodded. "I suppose this way if you guys get in trouble with Lord Beyon I can deny any knowledge but if he is pleased I can admit I had a role in it."

Allie rolled her eyes. "Okay, so where can we place Cabe so he can do this as safely as possible?"

"How noticeable is what you are going to have to do to cast and maintain this illusion?" The woman who led them here asked.

"Anyone who knows anything about magic will know I am doing some kind of spell." Cabe told her honestly.

She nodded. "The best bet would be the roof of the butcher's. His sign would block most of Cabe from being seen and he'd still be able to see the cellar door over the top of it."

Allie nodded. "Okay, let's get him up there and make sure everything looks good and as safe as possible."

It took them about twenty more minutes to get Cabe into position. Allie's sisters had to use their abilities to stun a couple of people in the shadows so they wouldn't see what they were up to before getting him there. Cabe surveyed the area they were in first and then he looked and he had a decent vantage point. He nodded. "This will work. Though anyone looking around could easily see my head they won't know I am casting a spell let alone where the spell was."

Allie kissed him tenderly. "Be careful. If you need to stop the illusion after we enter the cellar then stop it."

Cabe nodded as they broke their embrace. Cabe pulled several components out of his bag and cast a spell on a copper piece and then held it out to her. "If something happens that I have to stop the illusion open the cellar door just enough to slip this out of it while saying my name. It will give you about twenty seconds of an illusion so you can get out of the cellar door."

Allie took the coin and looked at it before she tucked it into a small pouch in her leathers. Cabe turned and began gesturing again and they watched but nothing seemed to happen. "It is done." Cabe told them.

Allie, Ray and the other sister quickly scaled down the outside of the butcher's and moved quickly towards the Babble Brook. Not seeing anyone on the walkway outside they slipped up on it and moved towards where the cellar doors were and then they jumped over the railing and disappeared into the illusion Cabe had conjured up.

Ray grinned. "This is pretty cool." He pulled out his lock pick and quickly unlocked the door and pulled the lever that allowed him to pull the door up and they quickly moved down the stairs as Ray closed the door behind them. "I'm leaving it unlock and ready to open just in case."

Allie nodded her head as she stepped up to the door inside. She listened quietly for a moment but other than a fire crackling inside she didn't detect anything. She slipped her lock pick into the lock on the door and a moment later they heard it click softly. Allie turned the handle and pushed the door in barely an inch. The area beyond was dark other than the light given off by the fireplace. Allie pushed and the door opened another twelve inches and she slipped in followed by her sister and Ray chose to slip into the shadow and then used it to vanish and appear further into the room.

A light lit up the room and Allie saw four men slip out of the shadow. "Breaking into someone's home is really a bad idea." The larger of the men said.

"So is trying to kill my friends." Allie retorted.

The larger man smiled. "Well then, shall we dance to see whose friend is better protected?"

"That is fine by us." Allie told him as she twirled her daggers about her hands even as her sister did the same.

Three of the men moved up and Ray stunned the fourth. Allie engaged the largest man as her sister engaged the other two. Ray stepped up and gouged one of the other men's eyes real quick and he stumbled about unable to attack. That act was slowly pushing Ray out of the shadow even as the ring of steel on steel from the daggers began ringing out.

A door behind him opened and Ray looked back and saw Agger in his nightshirt. Ray grinned even as Agger's eyes went wide. Agger tried to slam the door shut but Ray had leaped at him and his foot slammed into the door just an inch from clicking in place and the door flew backwards slamming into Agger and knocking him to the ground.

The larger man made the mistake of trying to turn towards the noise and Allie struck as her dagger drove solidly through the side of his neck. She saw the other bodyguard still groping blindly about the room and she stepped behind him and drove her daggers through his back piercing both lungs and he fell to the ground struggling for air as his lungs failed to function.

Ray jumped over and grabbed Agger and pulled him up to his knees by his hair. "You aren't too smart Agger, you survived my last attack and we thought you dead. You could have remained low until we were gone and we never would have known. Sending that Alevar after the Lady Paige and my best friend was so stupid and now you will pay the price for it."

Agger's closed his eyes as he said a silent prayer just before Ray's dagger drove into his chest and pierced his heart. Ray glanced out into the other room and saw two of the bodyguards were down as Allie and her sister fought with the other two.

Ray looked about the room. "Now, I wonder just where would you hide your valuables Agger?" Ray said out loud. He checked the finials of the bed first and found them solid. He quickly moved to a picture and moved it enough to look behind it and saw a normal wall. He turned to the dresser and searched each drawer. He smiled at the bottom one as he found a false bottom. He pulled it out and set it on the bed and after he located and disarmed a trap on it he opened the bottom and found a nice cache of gems and coin. He quickly put it into a bag and put the drawer back and moved out of the bedroom.

Allie and her sister had just finished with the last two guards and Ray smiled at them. "Well, now I feel much better."

Allie looked up at him. "He is dead this time right?"

Ray laughed lightly. "He is most definitely dead, unless he can survive a blade strike to his heart."

Allie walked over and entered the bedroom and checked the body and nodded. She walked out. "Okay, he is gone this time."

Ray pointed towards another room. "Should we investigate the rest of his home?"

Allie frowned. "What purpose would that serve?"

Ray smiled. "He might have formulas and things that Lord Beyon wouldn't want just anyone getting a hold of."

Allie slowly nodded. "That is actually a good idea."

The three of them moved into the other room and began examining all of the items they found. They filled a small bag with several texts and papers that had a lot of math and looked to be alchemical in nature. They slipped back out into the stairwell to the cellar door.

Allie carefully pushed the door up just a bit and peered out. As best she could tell the illusion was still active and she opened the door and climbed out and slipped into the shadow. Ray came out next and her sister followed him. She gently closed the door and moved the lever back to seal it before she slipped into the shadow with Ray and Allie. They made their way to the butcher's and scaled up the wall and Allie slipped out of the shadow even as she grabbed Cabe and kissed him.

"No problems?" Cabe asked as they broke their kiss.

Allie smiled and shook her head. "A few bodyguards but they didn't pose much of a problem for us."

Greetings! Hope this finds you all well! Doing okay here in Indy even if it is cooler, gloomy and raining. lol

Railman - I thought the same thing about that episode, Toby made it seem like it was a couple of blocks away and nope, 2 hour round trip, unless Happy was driving, might have been about 50 minutes round trip then. lol Thank you, so glad you continue to enjoy the story!

Franxine - lol Nailbiter? But the fight was over and everyone was safe! lol

Guest - hehe Never know what will happen in these stories. lol Yes, Alevars are servant spirits, typically always working for a deity of some type. And always as a form of test or punishment. But if an alchemist knows the proper formula they can actually bring 1 into being and force it to serve them in some capacity. We'll have to see what happens next, I know for Lady Paige she's wanting to go to Hesperia to see her parents and introduce Walter to them. So glad you enjoy the Knight stories!

To the Adventure! -Tim