I was sorting through all of the random stuff I’d gotten from the swarm event when I got the message.

  We have a problem. There’s a Collector working with Jason David. And he’s plotting to kill his father soon. Some kid got kidnapped and is going to be used to lure the man into the quarry. I’ve got a lead on where Paige is and I’m following it. Do with that information what you want.

  “Shit.” I said out loud.

  “What is it?” Deacon asked, setting down what looked suspiciously like a sharpened shovel.

  “There’s a Collector working with Jason. He’s kidnapped a kid and is luring Charles David out to the quarry to kill him.” I relayed the message. “We need to warn him.”

  Deacon’s face had gone grim. “There’s not a lot we can do. You need to be here, and I need to be where you are. Porter has to stay with Calmar…”

  “And if we send Elayne and Zaion?” I asked, already standing up. I started pacing, “If we send them in a carriage with Sam, it should be easy to get there in enough time to maybe do something.”

  “By themselves? That’s also risking Sam and the carriage.” Deacon set the shovel aside and turned his gaze upward, “But… what if they weren’t alone?”

  I turned to him, “What do you mean?”

  “That party we met, if they’re still around we send them with. They might be able to hold off whoever was hired.” Deacon said, standing up to head for the door. He held it open for me.

  “But aren’t the Collector’s strong?” I asked as I stepped past him. A maid was walking by and I turned to her, “I need to see Grimoire, Cal, Zaion, Elayne, and Sam as soon as possible. Whatever their doing, tell them to drop it, it’s an emergency.”

  The maid nodded and ran off, and Deacon gave me a strange look, “You sure you want to put this much weight on keeping Lord David alive? His son is…”

  “A spoiled arrogant prick, but his father doesn’t deserve to die for it.” I said, moving for the foyer. “And if a Collector is involved, there is more going on than we know.”

  We waited in silence and Grimoire was the first to arrive. “What is the emergency, my lady?”

  “Jason David is attempting to have his father killed.” I explained. “They’re using a kidnapping to lure him away from Davesville to kill him, as far as my source knows.”

  “Source?” Grimoire asked.

  “I hired someone to search for Paige. He followed Jason.” I said as Cal and Porter came by next, followed soon after by Sam. “This is something we might still have time to stop, and could be another avenue to rescue Paige.”

  “I’m in.” Elayne said as she made her way to the foyer with Zaion. The elf nodded as well and I smiled at the two of them.

  “What is your plan?” Calmar asked.

  “Grimoire, I suspect you can beat Sam to the guild, correct?” Grimoire nodded, “I need you to get a message there. You are looking for an adventurer by the name of Tingle. I’ll offer them anything they want from what I’ve collected from the swarm event, as well as five thousand each. They’re going with Elayne and Zaion if they accept. Find him, give him the answer and tell him to meet at the gate closest to Davesville.”

  With a nod Grimoire took a step… and just vanished. I heard the door swing lazily shut behind me and turned to see the curtains on the nearby windows billowing slightly. “O…kay then.”

  I shook my head and pointed to Sam, “Sam, how fast can the carriage go?”

  He seemed to stumbled backwards from my sudden attention. “Depends on how much mana is applied, Lady Danielle.”

  I reached into my pocket, “Can it use PEC?” When he nodded, I tossed him a strange looking crystal that seemed halfway between violet and some silvery grey color. “Use that. It’s twenty-five hundred. Use as much as you can safely control.”

  He fumbled the catch before staring at the crystal, “A-are you sure?”

  “Yes, get it ready.” I said and he ran off. I turned to look at Calmar, “Any objections?”

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  “None.” He said, and he was actually smiling at me with a large amount of pride. He turned to look at Porter, “Can you make arrangements for a rental carriage?”

  The body guard shrugged, “Sure. You sure you don’t want me to go with?” The last part was addressed to me.

  I shook my head, “You need to keep Cal safe at the party.” Especially after what I plan to do. I added mentally.

  He nodded and headed off. Elayne and Zaion ran off as well to go gather the stuff they needed and equip any armor they’d wear. I let out a sigh and turned to look out the window. “I hope this works.” I mumbled.

  A hand rested on my shoulder and I tensed, resisting the urge to grab it and put the person on the floor. I looked and saw it was Calmar, “It’ll work out.”

  I took a deep breath and let it out before smiling at him, “I hope so. It’s… taking a lot of effort to not just go myself. I could probably get there in a few hours.”

  “And do what?” Deacon asked. “You’d be alone, and while you are currently absurdly powerful, you don’t know how to use any of it.”

  “The Rosecrest name wouldn’t protect you, either.” Calmar said. “They could probably even spin it that you died fighting Lord David.” He considered it, “Actually, that’s what I”d probably do. You went there out of revenge, having heard a rumor Paige was being kept on his estate. There was a fight, you killed the lord and someone was able to catch you unawares.”

  I leaned away from Calmar and stared at him, “You thought of that just now?”

  He shrugged, “If you can’t fight, you think. I may be useless with a sword, but I do notice things as an Investigative Accountant.”

  “Wait, is that actually your class?” Deacon said, smirking. “I didn’t think you could get that outside of a merchant path.”

  “It just requires a high Mathematics skill, a lot of mental stats, and a few investigation based skills. I’ve got Detect Forgery, Accounting, and Research all at Tier 3.” He admitted.

  My eyebrows rose as he spoke, “Void, that’s actually impressive. I only have Mathematics and Speed Reading and those are both leveling slow even though I use them a lot.”

  Calmar looked both surprised and a little uncomfortable at the praise. “I… well, I got most of it before I became your brother… the guy who owned me made me learn, since he couldn’t be bothered keeping his own books.”

  I blinked, “Wait, you were a slave?”

  “Yea… Technically still am, but… to myself? It’s weird.” He stepped back and turned around as he lifted his shirt up to expose his back. Strange, angular markings were visible, seeming to crisscross along his spine and up his back. It wasn’t as intricate as the ones I’d seen before, more paired down. “This was from a different person after the first one died.”

  Deacon looked horrified, even as Calmar tucked his shirt back in. “Gods above and below, how’d you get out of that?”

  Calmar let out a bitter laugh, “Conflict between my innate title and orders. Something about it snapped the connection between me and my ‘master’. Before they could fix it, I had already ran.”

  “Cal…” I said in a low whisper. I didn’t really have anything to say about it. “Are you sure you want to talk about this?”

  The bitter laugh from him was concerning, “Why not? You’ll hear all about it at the party, I’m sure. It’s not a secret. Neither is my mother having her own seal on her, despite your father and my best efforts to fix it.”

  I walked up and hugged him. There weren’t a lot of other things I could think to do at the moment, words weren’t really appropriate here. I tried anyway, even if it didn’t feel… right. “I’m sorry you went through that.”

  He was tense at first before wrapping his arms around me. Calmar held me close, and I chose to ignore the subtle shaking as he held back sobs. Deacon walked over and patted him on the shoulder, “Are they dead?”

  Calmar laughed, “Oh yea. I couldn’t even tell your father where they were when he learned about it, since I knew he’d kill them. I’m told you can still find glass where they had made their base of operations and nothing will grow there.”

  I laughed and pulled away from him, “I’m looking forward to meeting him. He sounds like a good man.”

  The carriage screeched to a halt at the gate. Sam had almost hit a few people, but he was desperate to do his job right. Elayne and Zaion had been sitting in the driving bench with him, and he liked the company, even if they weren’t talking. He missed talking with Lady Danielle, though he recognized she was different now. He’d still do whatever he could for her though.

  A man still tightening straps for his arm guards ran up to the carriage. He was followed by a man who fit the definition of ranger and a woman whose pants showed off her legs, despite the robes that seemed to keep moving even when she came to a stop. The man saw Zaion and Elayne and waved, “Mind if we catch a ride? Davesville is a bit of a hike.”

  Elyane snorted and hopped down to clasp the man’s hand, “Tingle, we’re going into a dangerous situation, you sure?”

  The man with the bow spoke up, “There’s a kid in trouble. I’d do it for free.”

  “I’ll take his share!” The woman piped up as she hopped up into the carriage. The ranger followed after, with a complaint.

  Tingle laughed, “Dani helped me out, and seems like a good person. If she asks for help, what else am I supposed to do? I can’t be a proper Paladin without following my heart and helping those in need.” He hopped in after his teammates.

  “Talk to Dani about that after. Maybe she can help you get there.” Elayne said, climbing in after him. “Especially if we pull this off.”

  Once everyone was settled in, there were two taps on the wooden panel between Sam and the interior, followed by Elayne saying, “See how fast this thing can go, Sam!”

  His eyes lit up and Zaion instinctively held on as the red haired boy pulled out hte PEC Lady Danielle had given him. He guided the carriage out of the city before putting it into a slot next to the mana receptor. A concerning grin spread across his face as he pulled on a pair of goggles, “Hold onto your lunch!”

  The carriage lurched forward, going from near stationary to faster than any strider he’d seen in less than a second. It was all Sam could do to keep it on the road.

  He let out a whooping cheer, soon followed by maniacal laughter as they sped off towards Davesville.