<div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    “So, you’re hoping for an intro to Dezi’s territory?” asked the Citizen with a jovial grin. He tossed back a huge mug of beer, smacking his lips and pulling a small comb from his pocket to comb the foam from his glorious mustache.


    I assumed “Dezi” was Dezcarta, the general in charge of Ironreach, where Ashborn was located. I had learned recently that the island chains surrounding the larger islands where the cities were located were called “domains” and were named after the city they surrounded. We were in the domain of Highhaven, and had BEEN in the domain of Highhaven since arrival. Ashborn, which was the closest village to where my friends had been last I heard from them, was in the domain of Ironreach.


    “Yeah, I’m looking for someone,” I confirmed. “Or, rather, a group of someones. Just a warning, there are also some people looking for ME. I’ll be dealing with a few of them on the way out of town when I leave tomorrow, so if you send a guide with us they might want to hang back."


    He chuckled. “Noted. It shouldn’t be a pro-” he was cut off by a violent rumble beneath our feet. The floor shook, dust fell from the ceiling, and several people fell over (albeit they were mostly pretty drunk). The Citizen’s head snapped up, and he was suddenly on his feet, crossing the room to stare out the window. His face paled, and he cursed, whirling on us. “Was this your doing?” He demanded.


    I blurred to the window, looking out to find a dome of swirling green light manifesting over the city. “Um, no…” I said slowly. “I don’t even know what that is.”


    “It’s the Skylock,” he said sourly. “A method of locking down a city. Malzareth uses it at random intervals to sweep for “dissidents”. Of course, there are no actual dissidents in Highhaven, but it gives him deniability. He warns those of us with friendly relations ahead of time so we can make arrangements. This is WEEKS too early.”


    His implication was that he didn’t believe it was a coincidence, which…well it was fair. The timing was suspicious to me too. I turned to my wife. “Seems like the tower’s misdirect didn’t work. Maybe one of them was smarter than expected. In any case, Malzareth is clearly not friendly to us. Lucky he’s not Perception focused, because if he had some method of tracking us we’d be fucked.”


    Abel, who was clearly expecting trouble, had shifted into his blood body, his form now composed entirely of rippling red. Callie started readying for a fight too, but I was a bit less eager to mix it up with a gang when a C-ranker was hunting for us.


    “Stop,” I told them sharply. “Let’s think this through. We know a few things for sure. First, the cloak didn’t turn on us. If they knew what we were looking for specifically, combined with what we’d been told, they’d have found us here already. They know we’re in the city but not where. Second, while the Citizen looks upset, he doesn’t look AFRAID, just a little nervous.”


    I turned to him solemnly. “You have another way out.” I paused as I said that, turning to Callie. “At least assuming you can’t-” Even as I spoke, the shadow on the floor across the room spat out a shaking, horrified form, and then shortly afterward a chair that smashed into him from behind. I held up a hand as she opened her mouth. “Yeah, shadows blocked, I got it. So we’re back to you. I don’t believe anyone who makes their living as a professional thief actually depends on the kindness of the local government to keep their business in order.”


    The Citizen shrugged. “Maybe I got another way out. Maybe I don’t. Either way I doubt you can pay for it.”


    I reached into my ring, pulling mentally, and a scroll dropped into my hand. I tossed it to him. “That requires payment to function. You can pay us with safe passage for us and our people. If I die, or get captured, the payment won’t be proper compensation, and it won’t work. I get final say on those.”


    This was the backup plan. I’d been trying to avoid exposing my wish power, but at the same time, if I had it and couldn’t use it there was no point. Aside from my own safety, I’d come here to rescue my friends, and getting my OTHER friends kidnapped seemed like a really stupid outcome to that. We needed locals on our side, and preferably ones who knew what they were doing.


    By passing him the scroll free of charge, I essentially forced him to act within the bounds of the wish contract. He had to pay me with our freedom, or I would just turn down the wish. I could do that, though I usually had a parallel handle the interactions with the scrolls because otherwise it could distract me at key times.


    He unfurled the scroll, reading over it, and his eyes widened in shock. “This is…is this real?”


    “It is,” I confirmed. “Not sure if you know what the Wish Curse Palace is, but that’s their seal on the top corner. In fact, you get me and my friends out of this and you can have these two as well.” I produced another pair and tossed them to him.


    He caught them, staring down at them in shock. “I have heard of them,” he admitted. “Outside forces aren’t exactly common drinking topics around here, but we know the big players. If this really is a wish…yes. I’ll help you. These are too valuable to pass up. If, of course, you’re lying to me, I’ll turn you over to Malzareth directly, and I’ll keep some parts for souvenirs when I do it.”


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    The formerly jovial tone had gone hard and cold, a permafrost razor held to our throats. I didn’t mind it much, they were just doing business. We gave him the information about our inn, reasoning that since we were here, and he could just turn us in if needed, he didn’t have a reason to be a threat to our people. Plus Bethy was there, and I didn’t believe anyone aside from the C-ranker could pin her down, and probably not even him.


    After meeting my eyes for a minute or two, he finally nodded. “Alright, Tarn, Skeller, you’ll be going to get their friends. I’ll need you to meet us at the bottling plant.”


    Two men, a red haired man with a thick beard and a large dark skinned man with a bushy mustache nodded silently and then turned to leave. Meanwhile, a muscular women with a scar on one cheek and a rangy man with a ponytail had stepped forward to grab the asshole who had been hitting on Callie, who was now staring listlessly at the wall.


    “Did you, uh…test that whole falling in the dark thing before using it?” I asked her warily.


    She just smirked. “Nope, didn’t come up. Like I said, time to think about his manners. He’s fine though, I’ve spent plenty of time in the shadows, it doesn’t hurt you, it can just be a bit jarring if you’re not ready for it.”


    I shrugged. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Seems fair to me.”


    The Citizen approached us. “My lads are fetching your friends, but you’ll need to come with me. Our only hidden exit from the city is somewhat difficult to access, as you might imagine. You mind telling your rabbit friend to stop…being made of blood? It’s attention grabbing, and quite honestly a bit unsettling.”


    “A bit unsettling?” said Abel outraged. “I’m made of BLOOD. It should be VERY unsettling. At least mildly disconcerting.”


    “Not the time,” I told him with an eye roll. “Do me a solid and…become solid.”


    Scoffing, he dropped his form. I stepped up next to my wife. “Ok, after we’re out of here, I want to check in with my family. You have some way of contacting my grandmother? Other than actually leaving with the bracelet?”


    “She gave me a mirror that connects to one she owns,” my wife said reassuringly. “We figured there might be a need for non emergency contact.”


    I sighed with relief. I had questions about my epiphany, and I wanted to check if they had any better understanding of the infiltrators from out there. Finding out some of them might be ranking up soon was…disturbing. If they could detect that from outside, we might be able to avoid running into one of the god world C-rankers, which I couldn’t see going well.


    With Abel officially powered down, we followed the Citizen to the back of the bar. He walked us into a broom closet off the kitchen, then moved a shelf to one side revealing a bare patch of floor. Pressing it in a specific spot produced a click and the floor tile popped up, exposing a ladder down into the dark.


    “Man, why are secret exits always creepy ladders into dimly lit holes,” complained Abel. “None of you could spring for a spiral staircase or something? Maybe a pole we could slide down?”


    The Citizen shrugged. “Ladders are cheap and easy to install. Stairs take time to carve out or hammer in. More time under construction means more chances someone will see, which defeats the whole purpose of the exit. Come on.”


    He lowered himself down, sitting on the edge of the hole and planting his feet on the ladder before mounting it and descending. I was pretty sure he went first to reassure us this wasn’t a trap, which was both thoughtful and a good idea. I held Callie back, taking up the lead position to descend. “My armor makes me the best choice for Vanguard,” I told her firmly, and I didn’t even need to look to see the fond eye roll.


    Luckily, it was unnecessary. The ladder led down into a cramped but well maintained tunnel. The grey dirt of the Shoals has been dug out and the whole thing was reinforced with wooden braces across the top and sides, forming a series of interlocking archways that propped up the ground.


    The tunnel was EXTREMELY deep, presumably to prevent anyone from easily noticing it, and I was surprised how much work must have gone into establishing it. Robbers or not, the Casual Friends were surprisingly thorough about their preparations. No wonder they were still around when the cloak told us Malzareth had gotten rid of so many other groups.


    We followed the tunnel a few miles, taking several sharp turns doubling back a few times, before finally coming to a metal door set into the dirt.


    The Citizen stepped forward, pulling the door open for us, and then shoved against a flat surface. It was moved away to reveal a huge stack of boxes that we had to climb over, and once we were inside, I was able to identify the new location as a cramped basement. It smelled…weird. Chemical and kind of cloying.


    “This is the Happy Time Spirits Bottling Plant,” he explained as he led us over to a nearby pile of crates, opening one to pull out a large amber bottle. He popped the top and took a long pull. Grimacing, he replaced the cap and the bottle vanished, presumably into a ring. “The plant is under my ownership, through a number of false faces, and the tunnel out of town is here. Your friends will meet us in the basement and then we’ll leave quietly through the back. No muss, no fuss. I’ll have my second, Devon, guide you to Dezi’s place, and our business will be concluded.”


    Nodding, I held out my hand. “Your wishes will be granted, provided they’re nothing too absurd. I have limits on power output, but the scroll should tell you if your wish is within my capacity. I’ll make sure to confirm them for you as soon as we’re safe and away, so don’t make them immediately. I’m officially considering bringing us here, bringing us out, and guiding us to Ironreach each as a separate payment, that should cover you for some decent wishes.”


    He thanked me, and then we settled in to wait. Happily, it wasn’t for long, the rest of our group showed up not long after, and we all moved a big machine aside to reveal another ladder down to an even deeper tunnel leading out of the city. We bid our goodbyes and then descended, heading out into the dark. We couldn’t get out of this damned city fast enough.