Daryl and Liam walked through the village square which, during the afternoon, as usual, was bustling with villagers. Much like the center at Ironmaw, the square consisted of a wide dirt path and numerous carts filled with various foods attended by merchants. The swordsman recognized quite a few of the people, not just because most of them had been living in Autumnfront their whole lives, but also because many of them were his former customers. What he always found interesting about them was how normal they all seemed on the surface. Some of them were strange on the inside and outside, but the ones who always stuck out to Daryl, ironically enough, were the ones who showed no sort of murderous intent whatsoever. Watching them go about their everyday lives reminded him why he was still holding back his full trust in Liam. He only knew him for a few days at that point, and there was no telling what was really going through his mind. As long as the sorcerer continued to keep secrets and cause trouble with the others, there was no way he would let his guard down around him. Still, Daryl believed that getting Liam to assist him on a job would make for a good first step in earning trust.

Liam looked around the crowd feeling anxious about the fact that they were attracting a lot of eyes. He figured it would get like that being with someone like Daryl the Dauntless, who held such a commanding presence wherever he went, but since it seemed that the people there were used to seeing him, their eyes went to Liam instead. It was as if they were wondering why Daryl was travelling with some redhead wielding a staff. Either way, Liam just tried to keep his eyes forward and slumped his shoulders in an attempt to shrink himself. Not only did the attention make him uncomfortable, but he also did not want them to piece together that he might be a sorcerer. Liam shifted his eyes to Daryl with an irritated look and asked, "Why are we wasting time going on foot again?"

"Because at nighttime we'll have to move more quietly," Daryl explained. "That's when the guards patrol more often. If they hear horses galloping that aren't their own, they'll come after us to ask what we're doing and where we're going."

"So?" Liam countered. "We could've just lied to them. That's what I did the other night."

Daryl narrowed his eyes at him in a stupefied grimace.

"What's that look for?" Liam asked, rubbing his nose partly with exasperation and partly because it was still sore.

Daryl sighed and answered, "You just proved my point, imbecile. If we go on horseback, we'll get caught. And unlike you, I won't be able to get away as easily due to my reputation. No one knows who you are, so lying to them isn't really a problem for you."

"Okay, genius!" Liam responded with ridiculous sarcasm, to which Daryl snarled with annoyance and started glancing around. "Since you're so, incredibly smart, how come you haven't realized that those guards aren't even all that tough, hm? If they give you problems, you should be able to take them in a fight, shouldn't you, Daryl the Dauntless?"

"Lower you voice," Daryl commanded, still shifting his eyes around to make sure none of the villagers had grown too interested in their presence. Seeing that a lot of them averted their eyes once Daryl started looking around, he figured they were safe enough to keep talking. "The guards may be weak, but what matters is the fact that they have connections to the royal authorities. We can't just assault them and expect no repercussions. That's why we do this quietly, understand?"

Liam straightened his face in a silent pout, admitting defeat even after being insulted. "Fine. Your plan makes sense. That doesn't mean I have to like it, though."

After a while of walking down the road in silence, a thought dawned on Daryl and he asked, "Whatever happened to that bag of yours?"

"Oh, right," Liam replied, seeming to have completely forgotten about the possession he was so worried about just a few days ago, "I was gonna tell ya about that, wasn't I? So, the merchant I talked to was kind of a twit. He insisted that if he was gonna tell me anything about the necklace or the Madison kid that I would have to lend him something in return. He wanted my bag, and I told him it's nothing but books and common supplies. He wanted it anyway, so I just gave it to him."

"Why?" Daryl asked, legitimately baffled. "You realize he's just going to sell your stuff, right? He's a black-market merchant."

"Don't worry, Daryl," Liam assured, a grin forming on his face, "I'm not as dumb as you think I am!"

Daryl knit his eyebrows, realizing that Liam was probably up to something. "What are you saying?"

Liam shrugged with pride and answered, "Why tell you when I could show you?"

Daryl looked back ahead and exhaled through his nostrils, not sure if he should be suspicious or curious. Once again, you make me question my partnership with you, sorcerer.

***

A few hours passed by and the sky faded to a bluish black. The two had passed the village square and found themselves at a dirt road with small wooden buildings lined up at either side. The walk was really getting to Liam. His feet ached at the soles and his back was getting stiff, causing him to constantly roll his shoulders around. "Ugh, how long have we been at it?" he groaned.

"I'd say it's been about three hours," Daryl estimated.

"Three hours?" Liam repeated.

"We're almost there," Daryl assured. "Relax."

"Relax? That would be nice, but my feet are killing me, and we're not even done yet, y'know? My nose is still sore too..."

"Shut up about your nose."

Liam pointed an angry finger at Daryl and exclaimed, "I'll have you know that I have a very keen sense of smell, so if you were counting on that then it looks like you're outta luck, pal!"

Daryl stamped his foot in Liam's direction and caused him to jump back a little. Glaring down at him, he commanded in a stern, but hushed tone, "Keep, Your voice. Down."

Liam responded with a droopy frown and a reluctant nod, and then the two continued their walk.

A few moments later, after thinking about Daryl's plan, Liam complained, "So, you're telling me we go there, get the necklace, and then walk back another three hours? That's terrible!"

"It's also not what we're doing," Daryl explained. "I'm used to walks like this, but even I have my limits. We can rest at an inn afterwards. I know of one close to the black market."

"Finally," Liam exhaled, "a good idea."

"Here's a better one," Daryl started, "once we get there, you do all the talking."

"Why?"

"Because you're the one with the connection. Also, if I'm the one interrogating people it'll make them nervous. Not just because of my appearance, but some of them will know exactly who I am and what I do for a living. If I get too vocal, they'll start fearing for their lives."

"Alright...so what will you be doing?"

"What anyone else does at a market: shop."

Liam raised his eyebrows and started to understand the plan. "I get it, so while I try to find the necklace, I'll also be a sort of distraction for you. And I'm assuming you'll be acting completely uninterested in the necklace, right?"

"Yes, but there's one more detail," Daryl pointed out, stopping in his tracks as they reached an intersection that spread into three different paths. He looked to the left path and said, "I'm going in first. You go in about five minutes after. It's better that they don't know we're together."

"Got'cha," Liam confirmed. He looked around to make sure no one else was around, and then he pointed to a building ahead of them. "Want me to wait around that corner?"

"That'll work," Daryl agreed. "Just try not to get spotted."

"Sure." With that, Liam went ahead and stood against the building while Daryl took the left path. Liam peered around the corner to make sure Daryl could get there successfully.

Daryl found the downward pathway between the tall and the short buildings that led to the black market. He followed it, the path curving to the right and leading him to a small neighborhood of huts. There was a cellar by the hut to his very right, or at least that was what it had always been disguised as. Daryl walked up to the cellar and opened the hatch, revealing an underground path below. He climbed down the ladder attached to the side and closed the hatch on his way down. When he reached the bottom, he turned and looked ahead to see the usual merchant who acted as a guard blocking the door to the market.

The merchant tensed up upon seeing Daryl approach. "Hey, what are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Relax," Daryl ordered, continuing to walk forward. "I'm not here to kill anyone, I'm just looking for something."

"I want your word, swordsman!" the merchant commanded.

"I didn't come here to kill," Daryl assured, putting a hand on his heart, "you have my word."

The merchant was skeptical, as he usually was, but since that time would make Daryl's fourth visit there and he did not cause any issues before, the merchant nodded with a warning look. "Alright, but if you cause any trouble, you won't be allowed back! Understand?"

"Of course," Daryl agreed.

After that exchange, the merchant opened the door for Daryl and stepped aside. Daryl entered the market, alit with a yellowish white glow from several lanterns attached to the walls. The place was loud with conversations between customers and merchants. At the front of the market where Daryl was standing, there were set-ups of carts and tables that were filled with all kinds of drugs, poisons, and medicines. Near the back, where there was an open entrance to another room, there were shelves and cabinets set up filled with books and scrolls. Daryl could only assume they were texts of sorcery, or perhaps books that were illegalized because they went against the king's ideals. The place was a perfect safe haven for thieves and criminals, hidden underground from the guards' watchful eyes.

In the next room was where the most valuable items were kept, like various advanced weaponry, explosives, and stolen jewelry. That was where Liam would have to go, as long as he stuck with the objective to retrieve the necklace. Still, the miniature library near the back concerned him with how easy it was for Liam to geek out at certain things.

"Good evening, gentleman!!" a smooth voice interrupted Daryl's thought as he stood by the entrance. A slender man in dark clothing glided his way up to the swordsman with a welcoming gesture of his arms and a shady grin. "Is there something I can show you to pique your interest? Or perhaps..." The man grinned wider as he looked at the symbol on Daryl's robe and he leaned forward to speak closer to his ear. He finished his question with, "...someone?"

Daryl backed his head away from the man and waved his hand in dismissal. "I'm not here to take anyone's life," he assured. His attention went back to the bookshelf at the end and he came up with an idea to clear his concern about Liam getting distracted. He pointed at the section and declared, "I'm interested in that selection of books."

"Ah," the man exhaled with intrigue, "a man of skill and knowledge... Right this way!"

The man escorted Daryl to the end of the room, where the books were watched over by a robust looking merchant who held a stern countenance. His arms were crossed, and he stared intently at the sword strapped to Daryl's side. "Hey there," he greeted, "how much for the sword?"

Daryl's scowl deepened and he grabbed the hilt of his sword in response.

"Not for sale," the merchant acknowledged with disappointment. "My mistake. Anyway, feel free to take a look at anything you're interested in."

Daryl looked to his left where the slender man was standing and realized he was no longer there, as if he had completely vanished. He turned his attention back to the bookshelf in front of him, unable to fully read a single title on the spines. The only word he could recognize among most of them was "the." In any case, Daryl decided to pick up a random one at the end of the top row and hoped it was something that would make sense for a swordsman to read. He opened it up and pretended to skim it.

The merchant raised a curious, baffled eyebrow and remarked, "Interesting choice."

Shortly after Daryl enthralled himself in the maze of random letters, he heard the entrance door open behind him, thankful that he would not have to keep up the façade for much longer. He shifted his gaze away from the text for a split second to confirm that it was Liam who had just walked in.

"Rigby!" Liam greeted the slender man.

"You again," the slender man, supposedly named Rigby, responded with little enthusiasm.

"So, about my bag," Liam started, putting an arm around his shoulder, "where is it?"

"It's in the back," Rigby answered, exasperation in his voice.

"Good! And I trust everything's intact?"

Rigby narrowed his eyes at him with resentment and answered, "You know everything's intact."

"Wonderful!" Liam responded with some devious enthusiasm. "Take me to it, then!"

Rigby shoved Liam's arm off his shoulder and led the way to the next room.

As Liam approached Daryl, the two of them exchanged a quick glance at each other and Daryl went back to reading, or at least pretending to. Liam tried to resist three different urges in that moment: the urge to ignore the collection of books, the urge to ask Daryl why he was even bothering to pretend to know how to read, and the urge to bust out laughing at the book he chose. Liam did not have to read the title to recognize the book the swordsman held: You, Too, Can Become an Independent Woman!

Managing to control his impulsive behavior, Liam made it through to the next room and decided to focus on the mission before retrieving his bag, since the room was filled with jewelry and he had to make sure the necklace was still there. "While I'm here, though, what's the status on that turquoise necklace I asked about?"

"Oh yes," Rigby noted, slowing his stride and pulling it out from a pocket in his garment.

Liam's eyes got big as he gazed at it. It was small, but the gold-plated chain shined bright enough to see his own reflection. At the center of it was the coveted gem, a smooth cut with an attractive glow. "Wait," Liam started, "you had it this whole time?"

"Yes," Rigby answered. "It's like I told you. I was waiting for the expert."

"He's coming tonight, right?" Liam asked.

"He should be here soon, actually," Rigby confirmed, continuing his way to the back. "He'll be coming through the back entrance." Rigby raised an eyebrow at the necklace and then at Liam. "Why are you so interested in this necklace anyway?"

Liam shrugged and answered, "How could I not be? It's gorgeous! Seems like a good gift for my girlfriend!"

Rigby narrowed his eyes at him, appearing to be suspicious of Liam's real intentions, but then shrugged it off. "Right this way then. Here we can get a price for this necklace and get your bag back to you."

"Hey uh," Liam started, scratching the back of his head, "that kid, Madison, he's not gonna show up tonight, is he?"

"He will," Rigby answered. "He needs the money. I could tell when he gave it to me."

Liam felt the color drain from his face, and he gulped. "Oh, alright then..." This is gonna get ugly, isn't it?

Soon after Rigby guided Liam to the back room, another customer entered the market. Daryl glanced back from his book to catch eye of a teenager. He was wearing baggy, dingy clothing and had pale skin. He was rather skinny and had a serious look on his face. Most importantly to Daryl, though, was the color of his eyes: hazel. He's already here. Good. Daryl went back to the book as the kid walked through the next room behind him. A little time after he was gone, Daryl slammed the book shut and said to the merchant watching him, "Excuse me, sir, but I just remembered something."

"Huh? What's that?" the merchant asked, puzzled as he watched Daryl replace the book he had been examining for so long.

Daryl turned away from him and started marching to the next room. "I'm illiterate," he called.

"You're what?" the merchant called back with frustration.

Ignoring the outburst from the merchant, Daryl looked around the room to try and find the target. The room was even more crowded than the previous one and everyone in the room seemed much older than the teenager. Nevertheless, he went around to examine the faces of anyone in raggedy clothing. He got some weird looks in return, understandably so, but he kept looking, unaware that there was a back room.

Meanwhile, Liam was brought into a darker, emptier room with a flight of stone stairs at the end of it that led back to the outside. At one corner of the room rested his bag, to which he was delighted to see that it was just as full and bulky as it was when he handed it over. What pleased him even more was that there was a handwritten sign right above the bag that read: DO NOT TOUCH. "Ah, there it is! Now about this expert..."

Right before they could start another conversation, there was the sound of footsteps coming from the stairs, and there descended an old man with long, white hair and a lengthy beard. He was short and hunched over, and around his neck was a chain with a small, circular object attached at the center. He looked around at the room and spotted Rigby and Liam. The old man smiled and asked, "Someone call for an expert?"

Liam raised his eyebrows.A geezer?

"Richter," Rigby greeted with a smile. "Wonderful timing, sir."

The old man groggily trudged his way over behind a table that was set up in front of the wall to Liam and Rigby's left. He extended a bony hand to Rigby and said, "Alright, let's take a look at it."

Just as Rigby handed over the necklace to the old man, someone else entered the room. Liam looked back at him and instantly knew who it was. Madison...!

"Great!" the boy exclaimed, a look of relief on his face. "It's still here!"

"I presume this is yours?" Richter asked Madison, pulling up the object attached to his chain necklace and raising it to his eye.

"Yes! I mean, now it is..." Madison answered, some guilt forming on his face with a furrowed brow. He shook off his expression and walked up to the table excitedly as Richter examined the turquoise with what Liam assumed was a type of monocular. "It must be worth a lot, huh?"

The expert responded with a long grunt, rotating the gem back and forth with his thumb and index finger, holding it under his monocular.

Liam crossed his arms, some concern forming in his mind. What if it ends up costing too much? Am I gonna have to steal it or something? I might have to... Maybe I can make some kind of diversion if that's the case and take it while everyone's distracted. How am I gonna do that, though?

While the three of them awaited an answer from Richter, Daryl was still looking around the room that was filled with the jewelry already for sale. He grabbed one man's shoulder to see if he was the target, but to no avail.

The man shoved him off and yelled, "Back off!"

"Sorry," Daryl muttered and walked away. Even as he walked off, he could feel the man's glare keeping track of him, as if he was looking for a fight. That was when the amount of weaponry in the room started to bug Daryl. There were explosives, and if anyone was crazy enough, they could use them at any time. The swordsman figured that he should ease back with the search, since he was not looking to anger any potential maniacs in a room full of things that could kill him.

As he got deeper into the crowd, he heard a collective shout followed by some arguing from somewhere in the back right corner of the area. He looked to where it came from and noticed that there was a very narrow hallway that led somewhere. He figured that had to have been where the target disappeared to. The room seemed to get more and more crowded the longer he spent there, though, and weaving through the customers was becoming more arduous than he could have imagined.

Before he could even get close to the hallway, four people emerged from it. At the end of the line was Rigby, casually making his way into the crowd and gliding with baffling ease towards the first room. In front of him was a merry looking Liam, his bag slung over his shoulder as he followed the two in front of him behind a counter stacked with jewelry. The one in front of Liam was the target, who looked rather depressed. Leading them was an old man holding the necklace. He looked uninterested, yet somehow sorrowful. Not only that, but to Daryl, the old man looked vaguely familiar. Daryl brushed it off as a possible coincidence and headed towards them.

"That's just how it is, kid," Richter explained to Madison, holding the necklace above the counter.

Madison looked up from his slumped posture and responded, "I know, sir. Thank you for the help anyway."

Richter dropped the necklace on top of the pile of jewelry on the counter and said, "You can always find something else. It's never too late to..." Before the old man finished his sentence, he looked up for a moment to meet eyes with the swordsman. His eyes widened slowly, his mouth falling open as if he was holding back a scream. It was like he had come face to face with a monstrous grim reaper.

"Uh, Richter?" Liam asked.

"Sir? What's wrong?" Madison questioned.

They both looked to see what was mortifying the old man. When Liam acknowledged that it was Daryl, he, himself, felt his blood run cold. This cannot be good!

Daryl's eyes instantly got big. With the reaction he saw in the old man, there was no doubt about it. That man was exactly who he recognized him as: the former leader of the Scavengers' Guild.

Sweat began to form around the man's wrinkled face, and he backed up against the wall, as if Daryl was coming at him with a sword already. His breathing became erratic, and then he glowered, a look that resembled nothing but unadulterated rage. He gathered his breath and shouted, "Everyone! Listen up!"

Daryl jerked back a little and looked around, noticing that the old man gained the majority of the room's attention with his unexpectedly booming voice.

Richter pointed a shaky finger at the swordsman and announced, "That man! That one right there! I'll award any man who can bring me his corpse with three thousand tokens!"

"What?" Liam and Madison simultaneously yelled.

The swordsman exhaled in a bewildered huff and locked eyes with the man from his past who wanted him dead. The wrinkles in his face had deepened with the glare full of bitter, gruesome memories that sculpted his expression. It was a look that Daryl remembered seeing on his way out of that tower. The old man probably thought back then that the swordsman would not have noticed it, but he did, and deep down he knew that the guild leader would try to bring vengeance on him whenever the chance came. There, at the black market filled with wild criminals and advanced weaponry, the former guild leader could not have asked for a better opportunity. With all that in his mind, Daryl clenched his teeth and grasped his sword, bracing himself for the worst. Of all places for him to show up!