Jeff Inlo - Chain of Bargains

She could reach him. She knew it. She could almost map out his exact path. The waves she gained from the beacon stone confirmed it. She would have to run through busier streets and risk revealing herself to any patrols, but if she angled her path toward the delver, she would have her opportunity.

Fortunately, not a single infern, or even a human guard, blocked her way. Holli made it to the all important crossroads with only a few moments to spare. Pulling the bow from her shoulder, she stopped at the center of a side street with three adjoining alleys in front of her. Ryson would escape through one of them, but she could not be certain which he would choose. If she yelled, he'd probably hear him, but she had to be sure.

She took three arrows from her quiver and fired them in quick succession. They cut through the air in separate paths, and each plunged into the ground at the center of an alley. Her timing was early, but that was far safer than too late.

Ryson increased his speed after the last burst of demon fire. He continued to utilize back alleys, but his path turned more direct. He didn't have to worry about escaping a trailing infern. He had to outrun demon fire, and for that, speed was more critical than a twisting course.

He knew the shortest path to the outskirts of the city and he raced forward with near abandon. Keeping his senses alert to everything around him, he saw an arrow's impact into the ground ahead of him. At first, he wondered if the human guards had entered the chase, but the path of the arrow defied that reasoning. It had been fired as a marker to catch his attention.

Holli.

Placing the trajectory of the arrow in his mind, he followed it back to its source. Instead of remaining in the alleys, he bolted to the far end of the narrow path and out into a wider street. He turned and immediately spied the elf in the center of the road.

Holli wasted no time in issuing her warning.

"Discard the stone!"

"What?"

"The beacon stone in your pocket. Get rid of it!"

Ryson didn't have to ask again. He pulled the rock from his pocket and tossed it aside.

"Get away from it!" Holli commanded.

Ryson didn't question the second order. He sped away just as Holli followed him down the street. Before she reached him, another bright flash scattered the darkness. It burned over the beacon stone.

Holli guided Ryson toward the corner of a merchant's shop and directed him to climb to the roof. She followed quickly as she scanned the surrounding grounds for any signs of guards or inferns.

Their last known position could still be traced to the second discarded stone, so Holli pressed Ryson onward but directed him toward the center of the city. After proceeding several blocks by leaping across rooftops, she finally asked him to stop. They both took one quick moment to ensure that no one was in earshot before they spoke.

They stood upon the flat rooftop of a large storehouse. The surrounding streets remained quiet. They spotted the familiar glow of a handful of inferns, but the half-demons remained in the distance and showed no sign of approach.

Ryson quickly caught his breath. He looked to Holli with appreciation, sensing that she saved his life.

"I was in trouble, wasn't I?"

Holli nodded.

"What actually happened back there?" Ryson asked.

"One of the half-demons must have noticed the beacon stones on you. When you cast away the first stone, it not only alerted me, it also allowed the inferns to follow you no matter where you went."

"They were able to sense the same thing you could?"

"Not exactly the same. It was my spell and so it called to me differently, but they were able to fix on the enchantment. They must have seen you discard the first stone and then took hold of it. When they did, they were able to use it to gain a fix on the stone you continued to hold."

Ryson shook his head as he considered everything he knew. Most of Holli's explanation made sense, but he doubted the following infern saw him discard the first stone. He believed they found it another way.

"You think otherwise?" Holli asked.

"Sort of. I believe you that they found the first stone, but they didn't see me throw it away. One of the inferns said it searched me. It didn't actually physically touch me, but I think it was able to probe me. They say they can taste things, but I think it goes further than that. I think they can sense delvers, the magic that's inside of us naturally. I have a feeling it matched the magic that's part of me against the enchanted stones."

"That would make sense," Holli agreed. "They might have sensed opposing energies upon you. The contrast would allow them to define each magical vibration. That would alert them to the existence of the stones, but they would have still needed one in hand to send their fire through dimensional space."

"Dimensional space?"

"Yes. They did not need a direct line of fire. They were linked to the stone and could strike at you from any where."

The explanation did little to soothe the delvers concerns. If anything, it raised them. He thought of the face of the infern that flew after him. The frowning expression turned into fires of anger and hate, flames the delver could never outrun. He looked about as he sniffed the air. He wondered if he would smell it again, the unnatural scent of demon fire. Unconsciously, he began to pace about the roof, not wanting to remain in one position for too long.

Holli, however, placed her focus on what to do next and quickly developed a strategy to move forward.

"They will know you were not burned. They would feel it if they succeeded. Even from great distances, demon fire would allow them to feed on your flesh. Their hunger will remain unsatisfied and so they will know you have escaped. They will also determine that you no longer hold the second stone. Let them think you dropped it by mistake and that you left town. You will be lost to them unless we are careless and allow them to get too close."

"Let's hope so," Ryson blurted out, not wishing to get near another infern again.

"How did they recognize you?"

"I don't think they did. In fact, one was pretty insistent on asking for my name, so it didn't know who I was."

"Why were they after you?"

"They didn't like me asking questions. They're also registering delvers. I don't know why. I think they've been doing it for a while. They knew I wasn't registered."

"What else did you learn?"

Holli and Ryson shared the information they had gathered over the past three days. Certain facts proved consistent. The goblins plagued most of the city. The inferns maintained control. Some people decided to abandon Ashlan, while many others chose to stay. Those that remained accepted the circumstances, though most did not look upon them with high regard. The leaders of the city endorsed the situation, even strove to stamp out any resistance. Order prevailed throughout Ashlan, but so too did a tense unease.

Other than the enforcement of order by the inferns, there was no major conflict within the city borders. In that regard, Ashlan mimicked the rest of the towns and outlying areas of the Great Valleys. Peace prevailed. It might have been a tense peace, but hostilities were muted nonetheless.

Holli reviewed all of the information, but found few answers. The mystery remained. She could not fathom why goblins were allowed to enter the city or why control was essentially handed over to the inferns. The city was not prospering, neither were the surrounding farmlands. If it had been some grand experiment, it had failed miserably. What she couldn't understand was why the leaders of the city refused to come to the same conclusion.

She also wondered what the goblins hoped to obtain. They were devious creatures and they did not aspire to become farmers in the fields or merchants in some town. They wished only to create chaos, to steal what they wanted, and to cause pain and suffering to weaker creatures. Their muted aggression was as perplexing as the human's withdrawn consent.