It was the second say of sailing on the ship, the Maiden's Voyager. Slith rarely got seasick because the ship was so large that the movement of the ocean barely affected it. Kel, Mirk, and Aubrey sat on the sun filled deck talking and telling tales from old adventures. Brand and Slith wandered the boat in search of something to do. Brand carried his wooden flute with him, just in case he saw a large crowd and wanted to perform.

"Remember lassst time we were here together?" Slith said.

"Yes." Brand smiled. It had been with Lorilie and Caleb. Brand had offered Lorilie and the Winderchaser's Port waitress, Lanie, if they would join him for a drink. Once in the tavern, Brand had gotten into a fight with a drunken wood elf because the elf wanted to "borrow" one of Brand's women. Brand came out off the bar, pulling Lorilie and Lanie, with a back eye.

"That wasss a fun time." Slith shoved his clawed hands into his black robe pockets.

"Yeah, real fun." Brand nodded his head in agreement.

The two continued their walk on the massive ship's deck talking about humorous past times. During on of Slith's stories about him being dared by one of his brothers to run around the platforms of Kelethin naked, a tall wood elf stopped Brand.

"Why if it isn't my young friends Brand and Slith." The wood elf laughed aloud. He had shoulder-length blonde hair and stunningly deep brown eyes. He was very tall for a wood elf, almost six feet, and had a well-built body.

Brand studied the elf's face for a moment longer before smiling widely and clasping hands with him. "Tegid Tethal!"

Slith then accepted Tegid's hand and shook it. "Nice to sssee you again, Tegid."

"Well, boys, it seems we are heading in the same direction again. What exciting travels you on now?" the wood elf began to walk again. Slith and Brand followed.

They had first met Tegid Tethal three years ago. He has accompanied them on their journey and helped save their lived when a sea-craft filled with dark elves attacked. Brand, feeling Tegid had the right to know what they were doing know, began to tell his old friend about the mission they had at hand. The wood elf stroked his chin and thought about what Brand was saying.

"Well, if you don't mind, I wish to join you again to help rescue Lielay." The Druid stopped and waited for a reply.

"You are most welcome!" Brand shouted with excitement filling his voice.

The three began their way back to where the remaining rescue members sat and talked, all the while recalling heroic tales and commented on hoe one another had changed. Once upon reaching Mirk, Aubrey, and Kel, there were no objections weather or not Tegid was allowed to join.

The next day came swiftly, and before the rescuers knew it, they were ushered off the boat and onto the large wooded docks. It was crowded with citizens who tried to sell items to the passengers who had just got off from the Maiden's Voyager. The six immediately began searching for a group that was hired by Papsworth to receive their next clue. But the problem was, that they didn't know who they were looking for. So, they seated themselves on the side of the dock and waited.

Their wait was a short one. Five minutes after their had sat, a group of five boys, about the age of nine, stopped in from of Brand and his friends with their little arms crossed. The two groups surveyed the other with cocked brows and questionable looks spread across their faces. Finally, Brand stood and extended his hand for the young leader to shake. The boy accepted it and nodded his head in a professional manner.

"So, you're the ones Papsworth hired to help us on our quest." Brand stated.

"Yeah. The high elf gave us a big bag of money that we're saving till we're older so we can travel the world." The little boy was a half-elf like Brand.

"A bunch of children?" Mirk whispered fiercely. "What doesss he think he'sss doing?" the iksar was clearly frustrated with Papsworth's choice of lackeys.

"What do we have to do?" Aubrey knelt on his knees and smiled.

"We're playing hide-and-go-seek. We hide and you come find us. We promise to stay in the city and we wont hide in houses or stores." The little half-elven boy grinned widely. He reminded Brand of himself.

"Rrright........." Kel murmured while scanning the children.

"The game starts...now! You count to five hundred, then come and find us all and bring us back to the docks." The five boys raced off the dock and disappeared in the crowd.

The count to five hundred began. The group, at first, thought about just following the boys, but they knew the little ones would be counting too. Every smart child who played hide-and-go-seek knew that they have to count too to make sure that the "seekers" wouldn't cheat. Brand did the counting out loud because he just felt like talking and no one else was going to count. Clouds lazily passed overhead leaving a light wispy trail behind them. People walked by the group of rescuers and eyed them in curiosity. Hey thought it was strange to see a griffin, two iksars, a human, a wood elf, and a half-elf, who was counting aloud, sitting on the docks.

Then, a horrible thought flashed through Brand's mind; he didn't know anything about the city and those boys were raised there. Brand stumbled in his counting, making the others raise their brows in question. He swallowed hard and forced himself to continue. He had only fifty more seconds to count. His friends began to gather their packs before traveling in a group off the docks. Without words, they each headed a different direction, except Kel who went with Slith.

The sun shone down brutally on Brand's exposed arms and neck. The bard rubbed the back of his neck as he pushed his way through the thick stream of people. He was shoved and pushed his own fair share too. The half-elf muttered to himself about not even knowing all five faces of the children. He sighed and ducked into an alley where the sunrays penetrated the ground in light colors.

A cluster of barrels stood in the middle of the alley, looking very suspicious. Brand smirked and slowly made his way over to them. He was certain that once of the boys hid in one of the barrels; at least, he would have if he were hiding. Quickly, Brand popped off all the lids and let out a small yell to startle the child. There was no one in ant of the barrels though. Brand's cheeks grew a reddish color and he was thankful that no one was around to see his foolish attempt. A small giggle reached Brand's pointed ears. The half-elf whirled around and raced to a small gap between two buildings and looked inside. One of the five boys hid in the gap in the shadows.

"Got you." Brand smiled and led the boy back into the sunlight. He had found his charge and was heading back to the docks t wait for his friends and their findings.

Slith's eyes adjusted to the dim light of the underground passages faster than Kel's did. The two had received information from a vendor right outside the entrance that a small boy had run into the tunnel. The iksar was already fed-up with the game rapidly searched every dark corner and crevice for the silly child. Kel watched all the shadows that moved around him closely. None of the shadows belonged to the boy they were looking for.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are." Slith said in a singsong voice, but with a deathly chill added. "I'm going to make you my sssupper when I find you if you don't come out right now." Slith hissed menacingly.

A small boy with sandy brown hair jumped out of a thin crevice in the wall with a scared look on his face. He was shaking and staring at Slith with pure horror. "Please, don't eat me." The words stumbled out of the boy's mouth.

"I wasssn't. Little boy meat is too tender and fatty." The iksar and griffin laughed as they escorted the child to the docks.

It took an hour and a half to find the remaining three boys. Aubrey was the third to return and said that his youngster was on top of a merchant's tent. Mirk came next with his boy looking like he had seen Death. Mirk whispered to the others that he threaten to fry him and eat him, Slith laughed the loudest and said he made a similar threat. Tegid took a while to return to the docks, at first, he had no boy with him. He carried a bag full of newly bought Druid supplies. He had stopped, looked at his friends' faces, then the four boys, and turned right back around to go find the last one without a word spoken.

Once the five boys were reunited, the half-elf boy stepped forward and handed Brand a letter that he pulled from his pant's pocket. Then, the boys scurried off the docks and vanished from sight, not wanting to linger by the group of rescuers. Brand opened the letter and read the contents quickly.

"It says we have to dive in this bay for the next clue." Brand growled. "I guess Papsworth didn't trust the boys to relay the message correctly to us."

"I'm diving this time." Slith stood and said to his father.

Not waiting for a reply, Slith crossed to the edge of the docks, pulled off his robe, and dove gracefully into the darkened waters. He swam with ease through the water, looking for Papsworth's glowing orb. Countless fish were scattered about and flitted in his view in attempts to swim away quickly. Slith surfaced for air only once before spotting the orb at the bottom of the bay. He grabbed it the moment his lungs began to burn. He propelled himself to the surface and swam back to the docks where he handed the orb to Brand so he could read the letter, as he always did.

"Short and simple this time. In the mill in Lake of Ill Omen, a loose stone reveals to you your next clue in this wild adventure. Signed Papsworth." Brand sighed and shoved the letter in his pack.

"When is this going to end?" Aubrey said to the others, but mostly to himself.

"I find this to be a great experience!" Tegid wore a wide grin on his handsome face. "Well, let's get going to Lake of Ill Omen. We can reach the mill in about a day, if we hurry." Tegid was eager about the quest.

The others groaned as they grabbed their faded packs and trudged slowly through the grand city of Firiona Vie.