The three of them crossed the market square and made their way toward a wide, stone gate on the opposite side. This was nearer the strange animals Will had seen earlier, and as they got closer to the beasts, Will’s eyes became glued to one specifically. It must be another Darkhand Link.

It was an enormous toad. It’s slick black skin looked wet and oily, and all across its body were large purple bumps, each about the size of a plate. Protruding from its mouth were several long and intimidating teeth and occasionally it seemed to chew like a cow. It looked uninterested in everything.

“Checking out the Mukic?” Bet said. “Those are the worst. Extremely dangerous.”

“Really?” Will said. “It’s just sitting there. Looks like it’d be hard to get it to do anything.”

“She’s right,” Ezra said. “I’m sure it doesn’t much care what’s going on at the moment, but if its master were to lead it to do something, and if it has it’s full abilities unlocked… well that definitely wouldn’t be a good time.”

“Oh its abilities are unlocked,” Bet said. “Look at its collar.”

Will noticed a shiny steel collar tightly secured across the bulbous creatures neck.

Ezra grunted and kicked at the dirt in frustration. “Yeah, that complicates things,” he muttered.

“What? What complicates things?” Will said.

“That collar means it’s the property of a an officer… someone here to keep the peace, like the guards we saw at the gate. Only this is worse than the horses. And if it’s the property of an officer, it almost certainly has all its abilities.

Will watched as the toad slipped a fat glowing tongue from its mouth to slowly clean its glassy eyeball. That was the last sight he got before they made their way out of the gate. The three of them traipsed along to an empty dirt road. Then Ezra sat against the wall and Bet dropped her backpack and allowed Pexel to jump from the bag to her shoulder.

“We have a bit of business to discuss,” Ezra said. “We need to decide how to get the funds for your Mender. Once we run the con, we’ll hide your Cakrit and get you in to fix that arm.”

“So which con we running?” Bet pulled at her shirt with the penguin on it as if she were trying to get comfortable.

“I was hoping to just get a bit of honest sympathy. Maybe unwrap his arm, set out a sign and see how quick the money comes in. It’s gotta look horrible by now and he’s just a kid, the coins would come soon enough.”

Will felt irritated at being referred to as “just a kid.” It wasn’t like Bet or Ezra were that much older. Bet might even be younger.

“Unfortunately,” Ezra continued, “That’s not gonna work. Not with the Darkhand guards we’ve already seen. They would shut that down immediately, might even take you in for questioning. We don’t want that.” He twisted his mouth and stared in concentration. “Whatever we do, it’s gotta be quick, and we don’t want the patsies feeling duped. They’ve gotta either not know or think they’ve gotten away with something, otherwise we’ll catch the same heat from the guards.”

“So, what are we doing?”

“Well, I have an idea. We’ve done it before, but we had to clear out of town quick.”

What’s Ezra’s plan?

Fool someone into thinking they had run over Will

Intimidate someone into paying money

Pick-pocket several people in a short amount of time

This Poll is Closed