10 Chapter 10

(What gems?)

Reskeme was waiting for Enises spy to come to escort him on his mission. After twenty minutes of sitting around waiting, Enis entered with two people: a man and a woman. One was older, the man he had thin greyish hair and a short grey beard. Enis pointed the man over towards Reskeme and pointed the woman over towards the two girls.

"These are two people who you don't need to know." said Enis crossing his arms.

" We did not want to know them, anyway." said Reskeme.

"Reskeme follow this man. He will show you the shop and describe the target to you."

Gesturing towards the two girls, Enis said," Eliya and Trisha follow me". Reskeme was excited, he finally got to leave the guild house. He walked over to the inconspicuous old man. He was a head taller than Reskeme and started leaving right after he handed Reskeme a small knife. Reskeme hid the knife in his clothes and followed the man as he left the Training hall. The man headed past the food hall, Reskeme jogging to keep up with him.

Exiting the outer doors, Reskeme hopped along as he had never been this way. He had only been in the inner parts of the massive guild house. The big double doors opened when the man pushed on them, to Reskemes disgust the doors had paint on them. Realizing it was not his place to judge, Reskeme kept jogging after the man. After Reskeme stepped out the door, he realized he had missed being out in the streets. It was much more open than the halls of the guild house. The rank smell and bustle of the city made him relax slightly.

The roads were packed with passers-by. People in carts leading horses, riding donkeys and so many other modes of transportation. Reskeme realized he had forgotten how loud it was to be in the streets. The clatter of so many people on the move was deafening compared to the quiet guild house. People were yelling, kids were crying, and not to mention the smell. Reskeme realized he had missed this, taking a moment Reskeme almost lost sight of his escort. Before he focused and ran after the old man, the man was moving towards the merchant district.

Reskeme was now in his element, he was in the crowd. This was how he had lived for years, running through the crowd. He would give someone a friendly elbow to the ribs and in return when someone wanted to squeeze past him, they would return the favour. Reskeme was good at sneaking through legs and dodging animals it was what had helped him survive for so many years alone.

He ran after the man for thirty minutes while getting yelled at by everyone that he almost ran into. Reskeme stopped to pant for breath, grinning ear to ear. The flow of traffic wasn't as bad in this district, and most people walking through here had clean, sometimes bright clothes. The houses were bigger and had expensive goods in the windows that a boy like Reskeme could never afford.

"I will point out the man when he enters his shop, it's your job after that." said The Old Guy.

Reskeme and the older man just stood around and leaned against the wall, waiting. This wasn't unusual. Many people were sitting on the edge of the streets. There were beggars on every corner and guards patrolling by occasionally, the guards were in groups of three. In the slums of the city, the guards were always in groups of ten or more, as people would sometimes attack them.

Reskeme was getting bored, his leg had fallen asleep and to make things worse he had to channel his mana two separate times. By the time he cast four spells of the day on his head, the Old man said.

"There, that's the man". A man was entering the shop. He had a tall black hat. The man smoothed his head and straightened his coat. The man was definitely a merchant. Reskeme eyed up the man. When he felt he could recognize the man on site, he turned to the older man only to realize the damn guy had already left without him noticing.

Oh well, Reskeme thought. He leaned back for some more waiting, Reskeme Channeled his mana changing the colour of his face and eyes. The second layer of the spell was difficult for him, replacing it every ten minutes had been what had taken him so long to get here. Reskeme had an Idea. If he could cut the man's pouch off and make an illusion of the same pouch on the man's waist, he could get away with the theft for a couple of minutes.

Reskemes leg was falling asleep when the man finally left the shop he had taken some time and Reskeme wasn't sure if he could Refresh his illusion. Last time he had cast the spell, he hadn't been able to add the second layer. Reskemes channelling just hadn't been enough to make the second part, so now Reskeme had to steal from the man.

Reskemes stomach growled. That was odd, he had just eaten three hours ago. Reskeme saw the man leave the building and immediately put aside food thoughts. He got up almost and almost fell over, grimacing he had to shake out his leg before he could finally walk. Reskeme moved towards his target and spotted the man's purse. It was on the man's left side; the man had it attached to his bright blue belt. The purse was small and Reskeme could only guess how much money was in it. He assumed it was only the rubies.

Now for the risky part, Reskeme thought as he moved in to do what we called a bump and grab. Reskeme pulled the small knife out of his cloak, he held it in his sleeve, and began channelling his mana. Right as the man was walking past, Reskeme bumped into his side.

With a quick cut, Reskeme severed the purse from the belt and channelled his mana into a circle around where the old purse had been. The picture wasn't perfect and looked a little different from the original, but Reskeme gust kept going, and pretending as though nothing had happened. He put the pouch inside his cloak and hid the knife. Counting the spoils in the street was the quickest way to get himself caught.

Reskeme was already halfway down the street before he heard the merchant yelling, Guards! Guards! Someone stole from me it was a pickpocket. The man was shouting; He heard the whistle of the guards from up ahead. Reskeme kept walking if he rushed he would be the first person targeted by the guards. The patrol as expected ran right past him towards the shouting man. After their backs were turned, Reskeme ran into a side alley. He made his way back towards the guild in a roundabout manner, back to the guildhall.

When Reskeme was about ten feet into the alley, the sound of metal boots on stone reverberated down the alley. Oh crap, they were coming back in his direction, Reskeme knew he had little time. Spotting a small box, Reskeme sat beside the box and channelled as much mana as he could hold. He formed a pattern that wrapped around his entire body, willing himself to look like the box.

His pattern was in place but it was a big pattern and of course, it wouldn't last long. Reskeme hadn't channelled enough mana to make a pattern this size before. The guards, three men in shiny metal with spears in hand and swords on their belt Rounded the corner.

One said," I saw the kid walk past us he must run ". The men ran past, not even taking more than a glance at the two crates on the side of the alley.

If any of the guards would have been paying attention instead of focusing on the chase, they would have surely seen that the box had holes all over it. Luckily for Reskeme, the illusion was good enough to pass the casual glance test, and the guards rounded the next bend.

Reskeme walked down the alley and took a long way around in the opposite direction of the guards. Hopefully, they would think he was headed to the slums. When he was actually headed to the guild house. Reskeme took his time and made his way slowly through back allies. Reskeme was covered in mud and something foul. He grimaced gagging as he hid under some trash when a patrol and come through the alley looking for him. The guards were on high alert, looking for a boy in a grey cloak. This made him cautious as he made his way out into the road. Bundling up, he walked across the street to the enormous doors of the Felhunter guild.

Reskeme glanced around to make sure there were no guards watching and pushed open the enormous doors. He stepped in the hall, shutting the door and let out a long relieved sigh. He had finally made it back, Reskeme was sure that Rufus wouldn't want his cloak back. He wouldn't want the cloak after today. It had dung stains, mud stains, rat pee stains and trash stains the thing smelled awful. The only reason he had kept it was because he needed the disguise. Reskeme quickly made his way to his room before removing the cloak and dipping it into his cleaning bowl. He scrubbed the thing, Dumped out the water, scrubbed the cloak again and repeated the process.

After rinsing the cloak four times Reskeme decided it was mostly clean, that one stain on the back wouldn't come out but all the rest had so it was a win. Scrubbing something furious was what Reskeme needed to relieve some tension. All that running and hiding had been nerve-racking. The only reason that Reskeme had gotten away on two separate occasions was his illusion magic.

Reskeme was now feeling exhausted the adrenaline of the day had worn off and he was shaking from all the stress he had gone thru. Reskeme took a few minutes of alone time before he cleaned himself up as well. He didn't want to be wet and cold, but that was better than being smelly as a pig stye or a three week old latrine.

Reskeme scrubbed his body and with a shudder at the cold washed off his own body with the cold water. Before he put on his clothes, Reskeme checked the pouch. To his disappointment it only had Three red rocks. They must be the rubies that Enis had talked about? Reskeme only hoped three would be enough for the ritual. Reskeme pulled his cloths on with difficulty, while shivering he made his way to the mage yard. Reskeme hoped the guild master was done setting up the summoning ritual. Reskeme grinned at the thought of a familiar. He wanted to see the ritual getting made.

Reskeme passed students in the halls that either glared at him or outright pretended that he didn't exist. Some bumping into him and walking by as though he wasn't there. Reskeme was in too good of a mood to let that get to him. Making sure the pouch was still in his pocket, he made his way down the hall toward the brightly painted door of the mage's training yard.

Reskeme opened the double doors and gaped at the sight: Marks covered the entire courtyard. Reskeme entered and felt an ominous presence. It was much more intense than the last time he had been here. He decided it was probably the runes. Rufus was on one edge of the massive painting with a huge brush. The man stood crouched over, looking at a massive scroll he had placed on a stand in front of him.

Reskeme asked, "What does the rune do"?

"Oh, your back right on time. I need you to go grab the pail in the corner and cut yourself to bleed in it". Rufus Replied, with a straight face, Reskeme gritted his teeth, his heart raced wildly. Arguing with the mage never went well, so he got the pail from the corner. Reskeme breathed deeply and held his hand over the bucket before taking out the little knife.

He gave himself a minor cut but winced at the pain. Seeing only the tiny amount of blood, Reskeme was disappointed.

"I need enough blood to create a small diagram so feel it up quarter way, I will cut you if you can't make yourself do it." said Rufus casually.

Reskeme closed his eyes and pressed down, feeling the steel cut himself into his arm. This made him groan at the sudden pain. Reskeme opened his eyes and watched as the blood pooled on his arm before falling into the bucket, his arm leaking like a stream. Reskeme was panicking when he remembered if he channelled his mana he could repair the wound, albeit painfully.

Reskeme decided he should wait until he filled the tiny bucket as much as he needed to, so he didn't have to cut himself again. After ten more seconds, he swayed lightheaded and decided that was enough blood. About 20% of the bucket full and should be enough for this. Reskeme channelled his mana, focusing on his self-inflicted cut. He made a layer of mana around the wound and locked it together. This time it only took him five seconds to channel enough mana to create the first layer of the healing spell.

The wound had a green glow and was visibly closing. He bit his lower lip hard. The pain got intense for a couple of seconds before fading. Reskeme remembered what had happened last time. And moved his arm away from the pail so the waste of the wound would fall on a bare piece of stone. The smell of the waste from his wound smelled like burning trash, sizzling and toxic.

Rufus must have finished what he was doing because he walked over and checked the blood.

"Good, this should be enough." Before, he pointed to the close side of the massive circle.

"Sit here and don't move." ordered Rufus as he began drawing with blood. He was painting a complex nine sided star with a marking in the tip of each star.

Rufus said, " I have finished the blood runes for the ritual. The summoning circle makes little sense. Whoever the J A was is an odd character. We just need Enis to arrive. He should be here in ten minutes".