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The sun shone brightly again, this early morning. Scott woke up with a headache from the ale and a sore arm from the tackle he performed last night. He put on his working clothes and shoes and opened the door from its lock. He rubbed his face a bit and combed his hair with his fingers. He stumbled down the staircase. The tavern smelled quite okay, considering the activities of last night. But then again, the bartenders already started cleaning right after closing. Scott went out and breathed the salty air of the harbor. It was a shock to his stomach and he needed some time to recover from the nausea. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stood back up straight. He headed for the blacksmith, but on his way he took the time to grab an apple from the edge of one of the gardens of the rich folk. Once he arrived at the blacksmith, he put on his apron and went to his father's furnace. His father looked at him in a worried manner. "I see you enjoyed yourselves last night?" He said and gestured to Derrick. Scott looked at his friend, whose cheek got swollen quite a bit since last night. Scott nodded. "Yes, it was fun. You know how the carpenters are sometimes." He replied, but his father was not amused. "Rick is a good friend. I am not eager for him to come asking for an explanation of what happened to his sons." He said with a serious tone. Scott looked down, showing regret. His father noticed it. "Ah well, don't feel too sad. I've had the same talks with my own father. Let's start heating up that pit and start forging. Lots of work to do, this week." They started placing the coal and lit it on fire, after which Scott worked the bellows. "What are we making today, father?" He asked. "Armor, and plenty of it." So it was true, what Derrick had told him. "Horse armor, right?" Scott questioned. His father looked up. "I guess Derrick couldn't keep it to himself, eh? Yes, also horse armor, but that's not most of the work." "What is most of the work, then?" Scott asked eagerly. "We have to forge a man's armor, existing of a whole bunch f small parts. It will take days to fit it all together!" Scott wondered why someone would want such a fragile piece of armor, but then it dawned to him. "He's going to enchant it." He said softly to himself in amazement. "What's that you're saying, son? Don't you dare think of meddling in magicians' business. It's dangerous folk as it is already, even without talking to them." Scott nodded, but in his mind he shook his head. This was perhaps his only opportunity to find out more about the lodestone in Sonaris center. They worked the day through, stopping only for a quick lunch. In the end, Scott's father looked satisfied. "That's one shoulder to fingertips done. Since the other smiths are doing well too, we might just make it in time, before the client returns." Good, Scott thought, the sooner he's here, the sooner he'll pay. Since I'm doing the finances, the sooner I get to talk to him. They took off their aprons, gave each other a hug, and then parted, each to his own home. On his way back to the tavern, Scott noticed some carvings in a piece of brick above a trapdoor next to someone's house. It said "A.L. entrance." He shook his head, wondering what it could mean, but didn't pay much attention to it and went on towards the tavern.
"Your weakest ale, please." Scott said, as he sat down, tired, in front of the bar. Kim smiled as she looked at him. But it was a different smile than before. Now it was a smile of "You should've known better." Nevertheless, she went to get him his drink. "So, you've recovered from last night, then?" She giggled. Scott mumbled something in return, affirming her question. "Hm, still, you look a bit tired." SHe added, a bit confused. "Aye, I've been working the bellows all day at my father's furnace." This seemed to interest Kim a lot. She asked further on the topic of the blacksmith. Scott enjoyed this sudden interest in him and was impressed by the charming way she showed it. After a while, Kim was told to do some dishes and she parted, but not before winking at Scott. "Definitely a good choice for a home." He thought to himself and took his ale to one of the more comfortable chairs at a table. He sat down and made himself at home. To his right hung six maps of cities and other places. He looked at them intrigued. One of them appeared to display a city in a desert. Scott had heard of it before, it was one of the town closest to Sonaris, called Lauka. Another showed a part of Sonaris, where the tavern was situated near the harbor. The other four he didn't recognize and he inspected them a little closer. One of them was called "Spirethorn" and it looked as some kind of fortress. It seemed it was located in some mountains, but it was hard to make out from just a drawn top-view of the city. The other was called "Ulntroth" and seemed to be a port-city, just like Sonaris. It seemed to Scott there was also a docking station for airships on the map, but again it was hard to clearly make it out. Another map was called "Ancient Bluff" and showed a very anthropogenic structure. It looked almost mathematical and here, too, was a docking station for airships, as well as a harbor. Then, the last one, was completely different. Mysteriously it was called "Dave's blank map" and showed a snowy island in a sea of blue. The island appeared hilly and there seemed to be a structure on it. Scott wondered why the bartenders would keep such maps on their walls. He asked Boris about it, but he couldn't give any other explanation than that these maps were given to them by several different people and that he just liked the way they looked. While Scott was spending time looking at the maps, the guests for the dinner flowed into the tavern again.
Some of the guest were already drunk from before entering the tavern and made plenty of noise, even before the tavern was a quarter full. Scott sat still at his table and had a plate already served. "Beans and potato's, today?" An old man said, as he sat down in front of Scott. "It seems so." Scott grinned politely. "I guess we can't have meat every day." The old man replied with a disappointed frown, as he stared at Scott's plate. More people joined the table; a family consisting of a man, a woman and three young children, including one baby. The two other kids were a bit older and were playing tag in the crowd of people in the tavern. The couple didn't pay much attention to each other. The woman was mostly occupied with her baby and keeping an eye on her children, while the man didn't stray from looking at his food, which he was eating. The old man started a monologue about the quality of the food in the tavern from the time when he was young until now, directing it to the man. The man just nodded every now and then or made a confirming sound, pretending he was listening. It was very noisy with all these people talking to each other and yelling when they saw someone familiar enter. Everyone was only focused on themselves and their friends. It was so busy and noisy, that you wouldn't notice the quiet trio sitting in a corner of the tavern. It was by mere chance that Scott noticed them, when his eyes accidentally met those of a shady woman in the corner.
All three were wearing clothes with certain similarities, but their postures were very different. The woman who Scott had looked into her eyes looked pretty normal, safe her shady facial expression and clothing. The other two had their backs towards Scott. During the evening Scott casually moved his eyes over their location, so that the woman wouldn't notice he was trying to find out more about these three strangers. Truly, nobody else seemed to notice them or they just didn't care. One of the two with their back towards Scott sat very straight, almost elegant, and seemed rather tall. The hood of this person pricked a bit to the sides around the ears. The other, sitting besides this person, had a rather fat posture. It was a small person, but wide. The only times Scott could hear anything of what they said to each other, was when the small one was talking. His voice was deep and raspy. His beard, visible from the sides of the hood he wore, moved as he talked. This evening there was no fiddler, piper, or lute player. Slowly, as they finished their plates and emptied their mugs, the casual folk went homewards again. The family in front of Scott as well. The old man, under the impression he found someone that would actually listen to what he had to say, left with the family, still continuing his monologue to the man. As the evening grew older, the people who had to work early the next day, like the fishermen, the hunters, and the brewers, went home too. A few drunkards lagged behind, most of them smart enough to leave in time. The left-over drunkards were kicked out, as the bartenders were done with their loudness and awful presence. In the end, it was just Scott and the silent figures, who made sure they could stay by keep ordering expensive drinks and food. Scott didn't want them to become suspicious of him, so he went over to the bar, pretending he was just drinking his time away. When he looked back over his shoulder at them, he was stared back at by six eyes. All three of them noticing his awkward presence, which could have no other reason than the one of a curious nosy boy wanting to know more. Scott quickly looked back, his heart was beating in his throat. "It's not three normal people!" He thought to himself. "It's a Dwarf and an Elf as well!" His adrenaline rushed through his body. He tried to calm himself by having a sip of ale. He sat at the bar, forcing himself to look straight into his mug, hoping they wouldn't pay any more attention to him, but it became awfully silent. Scott was always excited when he saw an Elf or Dwarf in town, but they never gave him much attention. They always looked busy with other things, or too proud to even look at him. Elves and Dwarves were so different than himself, than other Humans. But these were different than the others. But still different than himself. The wheels in his mind gritted. He started to sweat and decided not to push fate any longer. He stood up quickly with his back to the trio and walked towards the stairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he felt relieved, as if they were no longer watching him. Indeed, he could hear them talk again. Being immeasurably curious, he walked only half the stairs and sat down on one of the steps. He was facing the wall, the bartenders and the trio could never see him. He looked at the wall and listened.
"A'ight, t'ey're all gone. Now tell me why ye brought us 'ere." The Dwarf asked, Scott almost couldn't understand the thick accent the Dwarf had. A silence followed, as if they checked if they were truly alone. Then Scott heard the doors of the kitchen, the bartenders leaving the room. "I've asked you to come, because I've received word the Prime are gathering the finest and most loyal for a meeting." This voice sounded rough, though feminine, it must be of the woman Scott had looked into the eyes. "Word from who?" A fair feminine voice asked sharply. "My source is undoubtedly trustworthy and I will say no more." "So we're supposed ta just trust ye shady source?" The Dwarf asked mockingly. "Dear Dwarf, this is Lana Wake, the witch who has lived as Emever. If she trusts anyone, you'd be smart to do so too." The Elf replied, a bit upset. "Aye, and I'm Morad Bulgar, t'e busy Dwarf of t'e mountains of Yore." Scott could hear a chair shove, as if the Dwarf stood up when he spoke these words so angrily and proudly. "Please, my friends, calm down. We all have our titles. Morad, you're rightfully careful. And Zoey, you are right to trust me. No harm done." Again, a chair was shoved and Scott could clearly hear the thud of the fat dwarf sitting down. "What's t'at?" The Dwarf asked out of the blue. "This, my friends, is the letter I've received to come to the council of the Prime. If you would look here, you can see there is a map in this tavern that will lead us there." Again silence, then all chairs shoved away and footsteps. "Via promptu!" The witch spoke. Then some more footsteps in the direction away from Scott. "Here. Point of interest, it says. It looks as if the location is close to here." The Elf spoke, when the footsteps halted. "I didn't notice that map!" Scott thought to himself, worried. "Was that an incantation she just said? Was it magic?" Scott got very excited again, his legs shaking. The trio lowered their voices and Scott couldn't hear any more of what they were saying. While they talked, Scott saw his chance to silently climb up the stairs and go to his room, on his toes. What he just heard amazed him, but he also wanted to know more. He heard their names, he remembered the witch mentioning something called 'The Prime'. This would not end here, Scott thought to himself. He decided to check the walls of the tavern as soon as the trio left.
Scott grabbed his financial notebook and his pencil and went to sit on the top of the steps. There he waited till the three left the tavern. When they did, he quickly sneaked down and ran towards the place where he thought they stood, from hearing their voices before. He grabbed a candle off a table and hold it in the air, towards the wall. Indeed, where once was a plain wall, now was something else. It was as if the map was not on top of the wood, but cut from the wooden wall itself. Scott looked closer. In a foreign font, fair letters showed at the top of the 'map'. "That must say point of interest." Scott thought to himself. Quickly he set the candle on the closest table, sat down himself and opened the notebook. There, at the table, he sketched the map as accurately as he could. He took his time, looking intensely at the map, then drawing what he saw. He wasn't even halfway, when the wood started to return to its normal state. The map slowly faded. With haste, Scott finished the rest of his replica map. He sighed when the map had completely disappeared and looked at his notebook. He closed it and went up the stairs slowly, back to his room. There at candle-light he inspected what he had drawn. "It looks pretty close, indeed, Zoey." He whispered to himself, repeating what the Elf had said. In his hands, he held a sketched map of the forest south of the castle of Sonaris. With a big smile he closed his notebook and stored it together with his pencil in the chest. He got rid of his boots and clothes and slipped himself under the sheets. Again, he took the time to first take a good look at the medallion. It shone so wonderful in the light of the candle, that Scott felt extremely happy to have it in his possession. He tucked it away safely under his bed-shirt and blew out the candle. The moon shone a weak light into the room, and in this darkness he thought over everything he heard. Surely, this event will have a tail, and he fell asleep.