EternalTruth03

"D, look at that chic over there, is her hair blue? Do you think that's a dye or some kind of mutation…" as usual Lynke was chattering fifty miles an hour, stopping only long enough to stuff fruit into his mouth. Even that did not stop him for long.

D ate in silence. Lynke had insisted on buying breakfast for D that morning and D had agreed, more to stay close to Lynke and his brooch than because he was hungry.

It was Samedi, when most towns set up their market bazaars and had a fair day. Duun was no exception, cloth weavers, tent makers, fishermen, butchers, bakers and many more were busy setting up stalls on Main Street. The sounds of busy people, along with the scent of sweating humans and work animals drifted through the air.

Lynke quickly devoured the rest of his breakfast and announced that he was going to browse the bazaar.

"You might want to be careful with that brooch you won last night. A Samedi fair is almost always crawling with pick pockets. Do you want me to keep track of it for you," D offered. If he could hang on to the brooch he was certain no thief would be able to take it undetected. A good way to meet a thief.

"No thanks D. I hid that brooch someplace safe. I don't think any thieves are going to find it anytime soon," Lynke replied with a wry smile.

D had been with Lynke almost the entire time since he won the brooch. The only time Lynke had been alone was when he had gotten lost searching for the outhouse. Surely he had not had time to find a secure hiding place in just twenty minutes.

D rose to his feet and walked out into the market place, browsing slowly about, occasionally he stopped to look at some wares, but he never purchased anything, and the sellers never tried to approach him. He was the kind of customer that almost everyone tried to avoid.

Eventually he ran into Lynke again. Lynke was arguing the price on a cloak with an elderly salesman.

"The workmanship on this cloak is excellent young man. Many a nobleman would pay such a price for a cloak of such magnificence."

"No nobleman would pay five hundred gold pieces for this cloak as it is. It's true the workmanship is incredible but it is to unadorned for a noble. I have no intention of paying the price you would charge a noble for something no noble would wear."

D leaned over and examined the cloak. The workmanship truly was excellent; the fabric was heavy but fluid, exactly what a vampire looked for in a cloak, perfect for polymorphing. Lynke spoke the truth though. A vampire would also want embroidery and a few more frills.

D touched it lightly, "A little work and you could sell this to any vampire you chose."

"Yes, you see my point young man."

"I see your point, but it doesn't have that extra work done to it yet. I'll give you two hundred."

"Four."

"Three."

"Done."

Lynke procured the gold coins and the man handed him the cloak. Lynke slung it across one shoulder as he walked on. The cloak was made of two parts, a long cloak which would hang to his feet, and a shorter cape which came only to his waist and hung a little wider.

"You drive a hard bargain, that cloak could easily be worth five hundred or more." "I know, but that will require some work on my part. I'll have to do quite a bit of tailoring before any vampire would consider wearing this cloak. Besides, I'm not sure I intend to resell it. I kinda like it."

As he was talking Lynke walked over to woman who was selling an assortment of threads. He began picking through the spools finding threads he liked. Finally he held up three spools a blue, a white, and a light silver. "I'll take three of the silver, two blue and one white, all in your finest embroidery thread."

The woman gathered the spools he wanted from a basket under the table and handed them to Lynke, "Twenty-five copper." Most sellers kept their best products under the table to keep prying hands from "accidentally" walking off with them.

Lynke tossed her the coin and rejoined D, tossing the spools into a bag at his waist. They wandered aimlessly for several minutes until Lynke spotted a bakery stall.

"Have you ever had fruit flowers D?"

D did not answer so Lynke took that as a no.

"Fruit flowers are these little pastries like pies. You have to try one," with no more ado Lynke ducked into the bakery stall to order the pastries. He returned seconds later carrying two of the treats. "Here you go, try this. Be careful they just came out of the oven. They are always best when they're hot."

As he spoke Lynke placed the pastry in D's hand. The fruit flower looked like a piece of pie crust that had been rolled out and cut with five giant leaves, fruit filling had been poured into the center and the leaves had been pulled up over the fruit and the whole thing had been baked. D looked up at Lynke questioningly.

The boy had seated himself gingerly on the edge of the fountain in the center of the town square. He had pulled one of the fruit filled leaves off of the hot pastry and was gingerly blowing on it before testing with his tongue to see if it was cool enough to eat. Apparently he decided it was, or decided he could not wait, for he popped the whole thing in his mouth. His eyes widened as he burned his tongue but he managed not to be rude enough to spit it back into his palm. He maneuvered it around his mouth quickly before he managed to chew it enough to swallow it.

The sight was comical, and had D been anyone else he would have been rolling on the floor laughing. As it was he allowed a small smile to escape before he sat down next to Lynke and pulled the flower apart, although he waited until it was much cooler before he put it in his mouth. By that time Lynke had devoured all of his and returned to his chatter.

Time passed quickly and it was almost noon. D stood quickly, "I have some business to tend to."

Lynke took the hint and did not follow him.

^^^^^

D stood in the corner of Calhoun's third story office and waited for the Shadowalker to arrive. Calhoun paced restlessly behind his desk.

"There are five minutes left 'til noon. The letter we left specifically said he had to return it to us by then. If he doesn't we'll have to come up with a new plan."

Calhoun continued to pace, D watched the hands of the clock on the desk.

11:56

11:57

"If he doesn't show we're out of luck. We don't have a backup plan. And I don't think even you could fight a whole coven."

11:58

11:59

"Where is he, that thief had better show up with that brooch."

"Perhaps you should give him more time." D suggested in a soft whisper. He thought he heard a soft scrabbling outside the window.

"No, no if he couldn't get the job done in the time allotted there's no way we could be certain he would rescue Davin in time. If he doesn't get here by the prescheduled time he doesn't get the job. I don't know how I'm going to get that brooch back from that brat though. There's no telling what he's done with it."

"I put it in the safe," Lynke informed him, pulling up the pane of the window and slipping inside. "I hope you don't mind my using your window, there were too many armed guards on the first floor.

Calhoun stared at him dumfounded, "What safe?"

"The one you're sitting on."

"Th-that's impossible. I'm the only one who has the codes."

"Not anymore. Check it if you don't believe me."

Calhoun pulled back his chair and knelt to pull open a trap door in the floor. D heard the quiet ticking of the safe door as he turned the dial on the safe hidden inside. He stood a moment later with the brooch in hand.

"If you're really the shadowalker, why didn't you check into your room?"

"And find a constable waiting to claim the reward on my head," Lynke snorted. "That would be a pretty trap."

"The shadowalker has been around for years, you're just a boy."

Lynke shrugged.

"How old are you?"

"Older than I look."

"Oh, so you're twenty instead of seventeen. How old."

"Two hundred and twenty-seven," Lynke proclaimed, the look in his eyes warned that further questioning would get no better answers.

Calhoun sighed and gave up.

"I passed your test, what more do you want?"

"You were supposed to steal the brooch, not win it."

"You never specified that, you just said return it. If it makes you feel better though, I anted in with your money."

"What?"

^^^^^^^

Two hours later Lynke and D were on the road again.

"You didn't tell me you were a hunter D. Why not? Isn't it dangerous, I thought hunters usually worked in groups so they could watch each other's backs. Who watches your back?"

"I do." It was the first thing he had said since leaving Duun.

"Well you're talkative…" despite his comment about D's lack of conversation Lynke continued to rattle on for several minutes before falling silent. It had started to rain, more of a drizzle than anything, and Lynke had wrapped himself up in the cloak he had bought earlier that day to ward off the cold.

D stopped his horse suddenly and listened. He thought he heard something.

^D, what is it?^

"Is something wrong D?" Lynke asked, D noticed that he spoke quietly as if he too were listening for something.

"I heard something. Singing."

"Singing? I don't hear anything."

D tuned Lynke out and listened deeper. He picked up the song again and let his mind follow it; it wafted through the forest and originated in a marshland on the border of the forestland. In his minds eye he could see the singer, a beautiful young girl, caught on a log in the middle of a marshland, she turned and seemed to see him.

"Help me…please help me. I'm stuck can't you get me out."

Back on the forest path D suddenly spurred his horse into movement and rushed towards the marshland. Lynke's faster horse caught up and moved to block his way.

"D, don't listen. It's a siren. If you follow her song she'll kill you."

D tried to ride around Lynke.

"D wake up. You've got to snap out of it. I don't know what she made you see, but if you keep going this way she will kill you."

D raised his hand and before Lynke had time to react he had knocked him off his horse and continued on his way.

"D, don't, come back."

Lynke swore at D's galloping horse as he pushed himself up off the muddy path.