‘Tell me… more,’ Elandor said, gesturing for the elven rangers not currently being held at the edge of a sword to stand down. They lowered their bows at once.

  ‘If release this one,’ Arzak said, nodding to the elf in her arms, ‘you attack again?’

  ‘We will not,’ the enemy leader replied. ‘You have my word. And, as Corminar will attest, your word is sacred, in this business.’

  The orc considered Elandor for a moment before finally releasing her captive, pushing them back towards the rest of the group.

  ‘Please,’ the elf said, gesturing now for Arzak to continue, ‘you were saying you would deliver unto us a Mala, and that Corminar would be returning our up-front payment?’

  ‘No,’ I blurted out. I didn’t quite know where Arzak was going with this. Maybe she was lying, just trying to get us out of trouble. But there was a chance she was being honest—she wasn’t one for deception, normally—and that she truly intended to free Corminar from his debt in this way. I couldn’t have that. Not a Mala. No life was worth a Mala getting into the wrong hands, not even Corminar’s.

  Elandor raised an eyebrow. ‘So quick are you to rescind your offer. Is it your wish that we resume our skirmish?’

  ‘Not a Mala,’ I added. ‘We’ll get you something else—something worth the same, or more—but we won’t get you that.’

  ‘Ah, but you see, it is not the monetary value with which we are concerned. My masters in the south require the creature. They have need for it. There is to be a conference of power that must be disrupted if our business it to survive.’ Elandor sighed. ‘Perhaps I speak too plainly.’

  ‘This is plainly?’ Val retorted.

  ‘It is in your interest to deliver the Mala to us. Beyond this, I can say no more.’

  Arzak looked to me, as though allowing me to make the call. Perhaps she really was shedding herself of the responsibility of leadership.

  ‘We can’t.’

  ‘You cannot, or you will not?’

  I shrugged. ‘The result is the same. What else can we get you? Surely there’s another way we can pay off what Corminar owes?’

  ‘Gold, maybe?’ Val asked. ‘We could do a bank heist for you?’

  Arzak, Lore and I shot Val a perplexed expression, while Corminar seemed completely unphased by the suggestion.

  ‘It would need to be…’ Elandor said, taking a good deal of time about his response. ‘We have gold. A more than sufficient amount, even. Riches do not interest me.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘There are things in this world that have no value. That gold cannot buy. For most’ — he shot Corminar a meaningful look — ‘a Mala is one of them. But perhaps there are… equivalents?’

  I shot Val a nervous glance; I did not want to think about what Elandor considered equivalent to a Mala.

  ‘Go on, then,’ Val said. ‘Like what?’

  ‘I would ask you to use your imagination,’ the Red Thorn leader replied, ‘yet I expect that would only lead to a misunderstanding. Consider the—’

  One of Lore’s sheep headbutted him again.

  Elandor scowled down at it. ‘If you do not restrain your beasts, then I will be forced to—’

  An ear-splitting whistle rang out, coming from Lore’s mouth. ‘Oi, Daisy! Come here, girl.’

  The sheep baa-ed one more irritable baa at Elandor, then turned to strut towards the barbarian.

  ‘Where was I?’ the elf asked.

  ‘You were being insulting and telling us what we could get for you,’ Lore answered with a helpful smile.

  ‘Ah, yes.’ The old elf began to stroll back and forth, as though for show, his hands clasped behind his back. ‘Equivalent in perceived value to a Mala, it must be—for the Red Thorn to retain their image. Perhaps an Elderbeest, I might suggest. Or a greyback. Or, if you are feeling particular adventurous, a bogspawn. Any of—’

  ‘Are you sure we can’t interest you in a bank heist?’ Val asked, clearly eager to move away from the idea of bogspawn; after all, she’d seen one first-hand, and she knew damn well we couldn’t control or overcome one.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  ‘I have already been far more kind to you than I might have been with any of our other contractors—you have Corminar’s history to thank for that. I do, however, still have the Red Thorn’s image to maintain—you must be seen to suffer for your sins. Paying off this debt… it will not be easy. But the alternative, I think you will find, is far worse.’

  ‘We shall get you your creature,’ Corminar said.

  ‘Which creature?’

  ‘Allow us to worry about that,’ the elven ranger said. ‘I assure you, you will not be disappointed.’

  Elandor stared Corminar down for quite a bit longer than was comfortable, as though searching his eyes for any sign of a lie. ‘Very well,’ he eventually said, ‘but you must understand, we cannot take you at your word. We learn from our mistakes, Cladenor.’

  ‘I assure you, I too learn from my mistakes. I would not cross you a second time.’

  ‘Be that as it may…’

  Corminar pushed his hand down the top of his shirt, pulling from it a brass locket. ‘I still have my birth seed,’ he said. ‘If I were to give that to you, might that serve as suitable assurance that I intended to deliver?’

  ‘And just what might any of us elves do with a birth seed?’ Elandor responded. ‘You know as well as I that it is powerless outside of the Dawnwood. You might as well hand me a rock, for all that is worth.’

  Corminar said nothing, his face stoic but—unless I was imagining it—a shade paler than usual.

  ‘No, I think I have seen for myself just what one member of your party values above all else,’ Elandor said.

  ‘It is my debt to pay, not—’

  ‘Did I not see your…’ He searched for a word. ‘...friends all hurry to your aid? Did they not all bare weapons against me? They share in this debt, now.’

  ‘You will not take from—’ Corminar started, but was cut off when Elandor thrusted a hand into the air, snapping his fingers into a clenched fist. At the same moment, purple glows illuminated all around the farm. Portals.

  Val glanced to me for a second, as though she thought I was responsible.

  A chorus of animal squeals followed, as each and every one of Lore’s sheep fell through their own portal. But where they ended up… I could not see. This Elandor was far stronger in the magicks of Worldbending than I was.

  When I looked to Lore, I could see that Arzak was already holding him back—a job easier said than done.

  ‘Oh, do not worry yourself, human,’ Elandor said.

  ‘Where are they?’ Lore shouted, globules of saliva arching from his mouth. ‘What have you done with them?’

  ‘A… pocket space, you might call it,’ the older elf replied. ‘A place in which time passes slowly. A second in there might even be a day out here, in the real world. If you complete your quest quickly, your precious flock might not even notice that they are in there. If you complete it slowly, however… Well, I must inform you that they are not alone in there…’

  ‘You… you…’

  ‘You will have your prize,’ Corminar said, stepping in front of Lore before he could finish whatever insult was about to come out of his mouth. ‘I assure you of that.’

  ‘See that you do,’ Elandor replied. ‘For it is not only the lives of sheep that are at stake.’ With that, the older elf turned and gestured for the elven rangers to follow, which they did at once. They were well trained. Only once he was halfway down the road did Elandor turn. ‘Oh, and I assume you still know where to find me?’

  Corminar nodded.

  ‘Very good.’ Once more, Elandor turned and began to amble away.

  ‘So, Cor,’ Val said, watching the Red Thorn contingent stroll down the path and out of sight, ‘what’s this creature you want us to go capture?’

  The elven ranger kept his eyes fixed firmly on the spot where Elandor had disappeared. ‘I do have one lead. One that I received during my acquisition days.’

  ‘Yes…’ Val prompted him.

  ‘We will need to fetch an artifact first, if we are to control it.’

  ‘Cor, will you just tell us what we’re gonna be doing?’

  ‘Yes,’ Arzak echoed. ‘Tell. Now.’

  Corminar sighed, licking his lips as though he didn’t want to speak the words. ‘We shall acquire a depth-raider.’

  ‘Ah.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘You know,’ Val said, ‘I’d really rather we just went and robbed a bank.’

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