Watching Abigail walk around the guild hall and talk to different people, was quite amusing. She told me that a good lie about who the mage is, could really help with the search, so all this time I've wondered what exactly she was telling to these adventurers.

  So I've waited patiently while observing the situation, even though I wasn't able to overhear much. But with all this walking and talking of Abi, I noticed something that wasn't happening often, even among the wealthy adventurers - the hair. In the hall was about twenty people, and about 8 to 10 of them had hair in rare of unnatural colors. Dyeing wasn't unheard of, but it was really rare, because of the method mostly used for making such dye. Most were made from herbs and flowers, but more specifically the petals.

  But a random flower was a useless source, because most of them had a very weak effect, or the essence coming out of such a flower would give a different color all together. Most potent flowers were usually used in high tier alchemy, because the same essence used for a dye, was also used for potions of various effects. That's why a healing potion was red, because the flower it came from was a ruby red. That means there have to be a powerful alchemist, or someone rich enough to so frivolously brew hair dyes for adventurers of all ranks.

  The situation was bizarre enough, that I've decided to get up and approach the guild teller, who currently was drinking tea and looking over some paperwork.

  "Excuse me, but I've got a question. Is there some legendary alchemist living nearby? I see every other person here dyeing their hair." I've rested my elbow on the desk, trying to appear casual, despite my discomfort for being in this place.

  The teller gave me a very annoyed look for disturbing her work, took a sip from the cup.

  "There might be. Some lunatic went through the town selling these expensive dyes for few coppers per bottle. Don't even wanna know where he got them from, but in my opinion stole them from somewhere."

  Listening to her, I've looked over the guild to check the colorful heads.

  "Do you know if he's still in town?"

  "I hope not!" She said loudly, startling me for a second. "A week ago I've spent a small fortune for a good quality color, wanted to get rid of the greying. And just as the dye settled, this..."

  A wave of obscenities started flying around the guild hall, causing the entire floor to grow silent and eyes slowly moving towards us. It went for good 20 seconds, until she stopped and realized the attention she have gotten, turning red in the face. I gave her an awkward smile and walked away, not knowing what to even say at this point. Hopefully I didn't cause problem for this woman, by making her rage at work. But looking across other patrons, they've lowered their heads immediately after she stopped, acting like nothing has happened.

  When I returned to our table, Abi was already waiting for me there, holding in a laugh.

  "Wow, I thought of her of a professional, but this was quite the outburst." The mage said, covering her mouth.

  "Anyway, did you get something?"

  Abigail gave me a nod, quickly going to serious expression, or at least trying. She still didn't master the skill of hiding one's emotion behind a mask, like all the nobility do in the name of etiquette.

  "I did get some juicy gossip, but we'll have to check if it's true. Apparently, in the last week whole two mages have entered the town. First one is obviously me, so we know there's only one other mage around. And now listen to this..."

  She looked around to see if nobody was listening to the conversation, leaned over and continued.

  "The mage is none other than Kastan Thornheart."

  "Am I supposed to know who he is?" Abi sighed.

  "I suppose not. Then I'll explain it in short. Kastan was a mage that rose in prominence for his research on arcane alchemy, a study of controlling magic matter. Forcing magic into objects, or removing it without loss of either."

  "Enchantments?" I've questioned, raising an eyebrow.

  "No, something greater. Enchantments work alongside an object, not within it. If you'll enchant a sword with rune of fire, the sword itself won't burn, but only cause heat transfer on contact. This method is very unreliable, and effect can vary widely based on all sorts of things. But if you forge a sword using arcane alchemy, you can trap an element inside of the weapon. For example, the fire would be living within the sword, using mana as fuel."

  "Huh, now that's something really interesting. I bet item's like that would sell for a fortune. But how do you know so much about it?"

  "Simple, my teacher was himself learning the arcane alchemy. During my tutelage, I've got a broad image of how it works, thought I wouldn't be able to perform it, so don't even ask."

  "Tsk, I hoped for easy money. Now back on the subject. That Kastan is an arcane alchemist, what does it have to do with the subject of him being here?"

  "That's exactly why!" Abi spoke in a loud whisper, as she tapped her finger on the table, checking her surroundings again. "He was forced to escape the capital. During his research, he killed his student and then burnt his body into ash. He was caught mid process, ran away from capital and even killed a guard during his escape. It was a massive scandal in the mage community."

  I've nodded along, just as an entire adventurer team entered the guild hall. The building was slowly getting crowded, so it was time to get going. "We'll continue outside. Got an idea where to go?"

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  "Yes." The magician stood up and led me outside of the guild, and immediately turned left, going towards the town gate.

  It took us few minutes to get out of town, which still surprised me. Abi wanted me to get her lunch, yet kept leading me further and further from any establishment.

  "Now we're alone, can you tell me why you've lead my out here to talk?"

  I still didn't fully trust her, even if I paid for her release and clothes, so my hand was resting on the hilt of my sword, ready to pull on it.

  "Because I've got a reason. Heard that he was last seen leaving the town. One of the adventurer's have passed him on the road." Abi then raised her arms to calm me down, seeing how I was readying to run down the path to catch him. "Now, wait a moment. He wasn't alone. He's with a group of adventurer's, but I don't know if they're just sticking together because they're walking in the same direction, or he paid for their protection."

  I've calmed down a bit hearing the entire line, relaxing my posture and sighing loudly. If what Abigail just said was true, my bounty is a known renegade mage, who's already set a fort on fire, and on top of that is hiring adventurer's as bodyguards. I was confident that I could defeat a group of adventurer's if I surprised them, but a fire mage in a forest was something else. Wherever I looked, there was fuel for him to use to amplify his spells.

  "Alright, then we need a plan. Could you defeat him in a duel if it came to blows?"

  She's looked around the forest, but then at the ground, kicking the dirt, to see that it formed a tiny cloud.

  "No way. Has been dry for some time, maybe even a week without a drop of rain. The air and ground is dry, and water in the trees is behind thick bark, so I doubt I could overpower his fire in a duel."

  That answer didn't really help at all, making the situation problematic. A standard adventurer was athletic beyond normal human limit, often spending a lot of money on basic or even advanced potions that helped him grow stronger, faster and tougher. If I was not mistaken, a silver medal adventurer was the current average, and they could lift an adult oxen on their own, or cut through a tree with a single axe swing.

  "Do you know how many he had around him, and what were their specializations?"

  "Not a clue, he only said it was a small team."

  "Alright, lead the way they took, I'll try to figure something out." And we set off.

  We arrived at an edge of a cabbage field by the evening, hiding within the shadow of the tree line and crouched behind a large bush. This was good enough hiding spot to see all the movement around the farm, which I've exploited by sending Abigail there to scout for me. I was armed and could raise suspicions, but Abi was without a weapon, and till this morning was a dirty, drunken mess. Her new clothing and freshly washed hair could look distinctive enough, that even if Kastan already seen her, he might not recognize her immediately.

  For me, it was a waiting game. I've already knew that there was one man in fairly rich fabrics, with about 4 adventurers. Sadly I could not get all the information from the distance, so my new companion went there personally to make sure it's the target. Of course we also made a signal that she'd give me when coast was clear to approach, and in case of danger. She would mimic a stretch with both hands above her head if it was safe to sneak onto the farm. In case of danger, she'd simply scream at the top of her lungs, so I knew that I should run like the devil was chasing me.

  And so the slow game of observation played out. The farm was composed of three buildings, but only one was really important - the house. It was where the farm workers were right now, alongside the fire mage. Abi was sitting by a campfire with the adventurers, chatting and laughing. Thanks to her initiative, the group was cheerfully presenting their weapons, as if to brag to a pretty girl, what each of them could do with his weapon. Two had swords and shields, one had a bow and one had a spear. A composition focusing on defense over attack, which could be a pain in the ass if they would be in formation with the mage. On the other hand, if they allow themselves to fall asleep, and I could take out the archer first, I could ensure they had massively weakened potential for offense.

  Most importantly, Kastan had to be neutralized immediately, being the target and the biggest source of danger. Killing him would probably be the safest option, but the payout could be terrible in the end. I had no idea why he set the fort on fire, and with his dead the information would be gone as well. The second option, was sucking out his blood and weakening him to the point of unconsciousness. This was tricky in itself, since we were half a day from the town, not to mention that I'd have to explain how a vampire bit him, without being immediately suspected and hunted for being a monster.

  Third and the last option was the most dangerous, as it required me to bind and gag him, getting Abi to ensure he could not cast a spell under no circumstance, and then only transporting him through the night, through the town and into the fort. Each part of this could fail horribly, and I could not really see myself succeeding in that. Especially with the group of adventurers around.

  But suddenly I've realized something important that I completely missed. Abigail was a water mage. Turning water into ice was the base of her skillset, and a farm would be full of water sources for the inhabitants and the animals. If we could only secure at least a bucket of water, she probably could keep Kastan's arms frozen solid until Amandor, and from there we could get the guards to help. Yes, that would work well enough, and even the bodyguards could be frozen up and left to thaw. That could work, and I simply had to inform Abigail before the fight about the plan.

  Abigail was sitting by a campfire, warming her hands on the jumping flames, as the last of 'The Turtles' had gone to his tent. She still could see the fire mage awake, sitting by a table and scribbling a something in a book. It might've been good enough time to signal Karya that she could approach, but then she'd need to be pointed in a direction to strike. So let's begin.

  She walked over to the fire, making sure that she was between the source of light and the mercenary in a straight line, and then she did a big stretch, feeling how her spine popped along it's length. Her arms were outstretched as high as she could get them, even lifting herself on her toes. This should be good enough, so she walked over to the house, where the nice farmer offered her a pillow and a blanket, along a spot on the attic. Very nice older man, hopefully nothing of his will get destroyed in the upcoming battle... Hopefully.

  When she looked over the field of cabbages, she couldn't see much as the moon was hiding behind a cloud. Only dark grey surroundings, with a pitch black shadow moving behind the house. Was it her imagination, or did the girl close roughly 300 yards, in less than 10 seconds? Abigail couldn't really tell, since it was too dark for her to even see if that was a person running in the first place. But just to be sure, she slowly walked over to the farm house. The attic was accessed by a ladder on the side of the building, so she had a reason to go behind it, without being suspected of anything.

  When she turned the corner, Karya was already standing there, and she almost jumped at the realization of how fast the girl was.

  "How fast are you?" Abi whispered, as she struggled to comprehend what she just witnessed.

  "I've got a plan. And it includes a lot of ice." Her red eyes seem to shine in the darkness.