Jimmy whistled a happy tune.

The guards at the northern gate of Grom City looked at the man sitting on the cart oddly, but Jimmy paid them no mind. He just smiled, paid the tariffs, and went on his merry way.

It was rare when everything was going his direction, and he couldn't help himself but shed his normally dour outlook.

Chloe and himself had finally made it to Grom City, with Hoaglie's crazy sword safely stowed away. Ulfie and his band of flying thugs were given the slip. Martinez and his demons had been quelled. Finally the Khanate fleet had been reasoned with, and he even made a connection with their Prince to settle scores with a common enemy. Most importantly he had made it through all of this in one piece.

It was just a matter of finding the Baroness, letting her do her voodoo magic on it, and then let Chloe handle it from there. He expected her to put it up for auction at Grom City instead of back to Lower Lueders, since there was a bigger market for magical artifacts there, but he really didn't care. He had some time off coming to him, and he was going to use it. Use it to hunt down Bey Javindar, settle an old score, collect a bounty from the Khanians, and finally put that dark chapter of his life behind him.

While Sammy made the decision to leave him, it gnawed at Jimmy that she would do so for some fop Prince. He never met the man directly, and for all he knew he was a great human being and wonderful person, but Jimmy couldn't, no he wouldn't accept that. This Prince Javindar was given everything to him, his training, his wealth, his fame, and even his woman, and Jimmy couldn't accept that.

Jimmy paused at his own thoughts and he shook his head. He was thinking nonsense now. Reflecting on his anger over Javindar, Jimmy was ashamed. Sammy was her own woman and not his. This wasn't him, this wasn't the way he thought. How could he harbour such hatred for a man he never even met over a decision that wasn't even his?

"So….whatcha thinking?" asked Chloe as she peered his way. His recently departed partner Frederick would have sat quietly with a stern look on his face but Jimmy's young companion was giddy at the sights of Grom City, and practically was hopping in her seat. "Oh, I know. Where are we going to spend all that fat gold once we identify and hawk this sword? Oh no…I got it, where's the best inn with the comfiest beds and the hottest baths, and some handsomest towel boys as well? Am I close?"

Jimmy chuckled. Despite his self-criticism , he had the urge, no, the need to find Prince Javindar and settle things with him. Not necessarily kill him, but maybe just putting his fist through his face a few times, to show that he wasn't better than him.

"Ohhh…I know that look," smiled Chloe. "I like that look. That's the look of violence, the smirk of danger. You're considering that horse lord's offer. You're gonna track that punk that stole your coconut grove girl friend, and show him who's boss."

"You disapprove?" asked Jimmy though his course was set regardless of her opinion.

"Hell no," laughed Chloe. "I find that helluva sexy. I'm into that kind of thing. I'm a mob princess if you hadn't forgotten, I get turned on by violence. Also, I'm part dryad. While I'm not the best representation of my people, I can tell you that having two guys fight over me triggers something primal inside of me. I guess it's partly a survival of the fittest kind of thing. Win or lose, that girl is gonna get wet just thinking about you two slugging it out."

Jimmy was a bit shocked by her crude response, but forgave for her outburst. It had been a trying few weeks considering all they've been through.

"Wait, you're a dryad?" croaked Martinez from the back of the cart. "You don't look like a dryad….I've met some, and I'm pretty sure they're ….taller….and kind of tied to one place."

"I think you should be more concerned about um…hygiene than how tall I am when compared to other dryads," sniffed Chloe as she held her nose up and turned back to Jimmy." Whatever happens, at least we get rid of those two. I know he's your sensei or teacher or ex boss or something, but well…just look at him. He's a hobo, an extraordinarily drunken and smelly one, and considering how many I've met on the streets, that means a lot."

Jimmy sighed. He was apt to agree. Before he tracked down Javindar and settled things with him, there was the matter of Martinez to deal with. He had that demon in him, and it had to be driven out. If his old master couldn't handle it himself, he doubted his own methods would be effective. His first instinct was to let the Baroness deal with it, since she had a better grasp of exorcisms than he did, but that felt so …impersonal. There was a part of him that told him that he had to be there to see it through. Watch the demons driven out of his master before he could settle his own …personal affairs.

Jimmy chuckled. That seemed so easy. Have the Baroness wave her magical fingers and fix things for Martinez, while he had to resort to more physical and violent ways to settle his own accounts.

Maybe he had it in himself to make peace with himself. Maybe he was wrong about it all. He should just walk away from it and forget it.

"Nah, he's going to pay. I won't be second best to anyone."

"Eh? What was that?" asked Chloe.

Jimmy pointed at the silhouette of the great Academy sitting on one of the hills on the edge of Grom City. "We're going to skip the inn. We're going straight to the Baroness and let her identify the blade and then let her get rid of those shadow demons plaguing Martinez."

"Eh? Isn't it a bit late for that? Shouldn't we wait till tommo…"

"She lives in the Academy now. She'll see me."

"Okay, you're the boss," shrugged Chloe." Let me place one more layer of vines on the blade before we reach her. Just to be safe."

Jimmy nodded and reached for his pouch and dug through for his bag of holding. The magic bag was actually hidden under his sleeve, a precaution Martinez taught him , but he did the searching for show in case someone was watching and decided to rob him.

After retrieving the bag, he retrieved the vine wrapped case and passed it his companion. Just in time too as he noted the strands were unusually loose and brittle. Jimmy wouldn't want the sword to go crazy and possess someone just as they were on the verge of getting rid of it.

As Chloe began her ritual, the horses suddenly stopped, almost sending Jimmy flying forward from his seat.

The young blade scanned around and saw that other carts and even people were scattering, even though there was no source of panic around. Though Jimmy was use to fear and terror spells, this was something more subtle. It was like an unconscious fear gripped the populace and sent people away. While rare, Jimmy had encounter this before, normally by a powerful mage that wanted people to avoid his tower or sanctum, but didn't want to use something flashy to drive them off. This however was strange since it was in the middle of main street in Grom City.

"You almost evaded me, and would have done so if there weren't two of you."

Jimmy was trained to project iron control over his will power, but even he turned his head away. Though he was half off the cart, he grabbed the wagon's seat with one hand as he pressed his gaze away from the road.

"Why are you afraid? Why do you not embrace me?"

Jimmy forced his eyes towards the center of the street, and briefly caught a glimpse of a man in yellow robes. Wait a second. Was that one of Prince Vleda's servant?

Before Jimmy could answer, the man was gone and so was his strangely calm compulsion to flee. Just as the crowds parted away from the man, they quickly filled the void he created, with just some odd mumblings about what just transpired. While the incident was definitely strange, it wasn't terror inspiring. The people of Grom City did live under the Demon King after all. Jimmy couldn't begin to recall the strange stories that he's heard and been a part of while in this city. There was bound to be some strangeness once in a while.

"What the hell just happened right there?" gasped Chloe from the back of the cart. While Jimmy was able to hold on to his position, his partner had scrambled out of the driver seat and into the back of the wagon. "It was like a mass fear spell, but not really. I just wanted to turn away and walk in an orderly fashion away…Wait…Crap, Martinez and Rina, err ran off? Is that the right word? I had a feeling I should leave, and did my best to stay here, but I guess those two just reacted to whatever the hell hit us."

Jimmy sighed. It wasn't going to be simple after all. He wasn't the only one that was orientating themselves, as one cart actually ran slammed sideways into a shop while several people had left parcels on the ground. All in a strangely calm and orderly manner. The young blade simply stood on the cart and scanned for his master and his doting helper.

There was no sign of them. While Jimmy and Chloe had resisted the 'gentle' fear with various degrees of success, it seemed that their companions fared worse. Though there wasn't some mad fleeing panic, the two were out of his sight.

"Want to catch them or drop off this sword first?" asked Chloe in a very annoyed tone.

Jimmy took the reins and motioned to the Academy again. "I would prefer finding Martinez and Rina first, but I'm not about to waste time tracking them in this mess. We'll handle this business with the sword, then we'll find those two, and then we'll worry about Vinraji bounties. Besides, they shouldn't be too hard to find. We'll just spread the word amongst the Teamsters to look out for those two. I bet they're probably drinking in a bar somewhere."

Chloe nodded, as she breathed a sigh of relief. She had expected him to do the right thing, but Jimmy was tired of that. Martinez was a big boy, he could take care of himself for a night or two. With the amount of booze that was in Grom City, he was sure that he could have his demon's safely inebriated and pacified before they found him.

"Errr Jimmy…we have another problem….."

Jimmy glanced back at his partner and saw she had a mortified look on her face. At first he thought she spied Ulfgar and his band of marauders again. He half expected them to be in Grom City but was expecting them to be closer to the Academy than in the middle of the city, but he scanned around and saw no signs of the Mage Knight.

"….umm….the sword…its gone…"

"WHAT?"

Jimmy pulled the cart to the side of the road, much to the grumblings of some Grommers he almost knocked over. He scrambled to the back of the cart and as stated by Chloe, the sword case was empty.

"It was here yesterday when I enchanted it, and …and now it's gone…."

At first Jimmy thought she was joking but from the shocked look on her face he knew it wasn't. How could the blade be missing without anyone dieing. It was his understanding that to steal the blade was to invite it to control someone, and given how Chloe and himself had locked it in a box he would have expected one of them would be the first to be killed. Also, he had hidden it in a bag of holding, in his sleeve, while pretending it was in his pouch. Who would know of such a thing? And even if they did, who could possibly steal from him without…..

Martinez!

The sword must have controlled his old master. He wasn't sure how the blade could bypass Chloe's magics, but his old master, regardless of how low he had fallen and how drunk he had gotten, was the only one capable of pilfering it without his notice.

Or maybe…he wasn't that drunk after all. Maybe the demons had taken more control over him than Jimmy had expected, and he was only playing the fool so he could steal the blade.

But…that made no sense. Martinez couldn't have possibly known about it. In fact, he was pretty sure that Jimmy and Chloe found him and not the other way around.

"Hoaglies going to kill us. Hoaglie's going to kill us," chanted Chloe nervously.

"Actually, he's only going to me. You're family remember, he'll probably just punish you or cut off your allowance or something like that," sighed Jimmy.

"Oh yeah. That's right. Thanks, that makes me feel better," sighed Chloe in relief. "Err…I'll make sure I put in a good word for you."