Ten of Swords (Draft Only)

Chapter 22

"No way," Samson hissed. "There is no way you are going off on your own without even telling any of us what you're planning."

They had been arguing about if over the past half hour. Elise had told the group that they were to split up. She had something that she ha to take care of on her own, and to save time the others would go with her son to see the thieves. "What's the problem? We all went our separate ways on our day off and you seemed fine with that!"

"That was our day off! You're up to something!" The boy asserted. He was right, of course. It was unusual for Elise to work alone. It was practically impossible to come up with an example of her tending to business without at least one person at her side unless it was sketchy. Truly the only times she had been alone while taking care of something serious was when she had breaking and entering jobs as a thief.

Elise groaned. "It's fine, Sniffs. I just need to go talk to someone."

"Someone important enough for you to want to get it done as quickly as possible, or you would have just waited until we were finished with the guild."

She hated how well he knew her.

"I can go with her," Pollus suggested. "I doubt I would be much help with the thieves anyway."

"I'll come too, then! I don't think they would like me very much." Rell nervously played with her hair, winding and unwinding it.

Elise shook her head. "No. If it makes everyone feel better I will take the mage with me, but you, Rell, should stay with Sam and Legom."

Thankfully no one asked her why. It wouldn't be easy to come up with a lie convincing enough to satisfy people who already knew her. She didn't want to put Rell in danger, when she still hadn't been informed about what was really happening. Elise had neglected to tell her, either being too tired or too distracted to do so at any point during their journey. At least with the elven mage, she knew he could handle himself. Additionally, it should be a lot easier to convince him to wait outside while she waited in line. Rell would want to see what was going on and be a part of it. Samson would want to be by his mother's side when it all went down. Legom would want to be there as morale support. None of them deserved what might happen if the king doesn't like what she has to say.

The plan was finalised by the time that they reached the capital. There would be a few checkpoints that they would have to pass through, making sure they weren't carrying anything hazardous. Weapons were fine, of course. Materials used in certain kinds of alchemy or rituals were banned unless the individual transporting them had the proper permits. Explosives of any kind were not allowed inside the city, and all trading goods had to be declared on cargo manifests and cleared by customs. It was a process that was mainly concerned with controlling the flow and distribution of resources, as well as preventing truly heinous activities. It didn't stop everything, as no process could truly be perfect, but it was just one of the many methods used to maintain law, order, and control.

Since the group weren't carrying anything in large enough quantities to be considered trading goods, it was relatively painless to pass through the checkpoints. They were slowed up a little by Rell having to rifle though documents and produce her permits for the various research materials she had on her. She could have attempted to sneak them past, but since she and Pollus were clearly mages, their things would be searched thoroughly for anything potentially illegal. Producing the documents unprompted helped avoid further delays or conflicts. Additionally, if Pollus had anything on him that he didn't know was against the rules, Rell could claim he was carrying it for her.

The guards didn't even bother with Samson. With the number of people passing through the checkpoints in either direction, they would choose people at random to let through without checking. Good to know. They probably weren't paid enough to be overly concerned unless they let through someone who was high-risk, like a weird elf with a big magic staff and a clean head. By the time they got to the last checkpoint he was visibly annoyed, which made Elise want to laugh. Poor guy.