"Let me go!"

Alys ignored the man, continuing to tie his wrists together tightly. With her small, one-handed crossbow tucked between her elbow and her side, she managed to keep the arrow jabbed into his back to discourage him from struggling. Not that his struggling had done him much good, anyway; Alys was small and a bit lean, true, but she was well-muscled and skilled enough to easily overcome an aging, somewhat rotund merchant like Danollen Haverson. Not that Danollen seemed terribly afraid; she had to give him that. His protests were primarily sputters of indignation at being treated in such a manner. Most of Alys' targets behaved very differently when she found them.

The young woman hauled Danollen to his feet and jabbed him again with the crossbow after transferring it to her right hand. Another crossbow just like it remained tucked into its leather holder on her belt, next to her pouch.

The streets were fairly deserted at this hour of the night, and fortunately Danollen didn't try to raise an alarm by shouting; the crossbow digging into his side discouraged that. He did try to hold a conversation, however, and though his voice shook, he was able to remain reasonably calm.

"Is it really so necessary to turn me over to them?"

Alys shrugged. "I don't get paid till they get you. Sorry, that's the way it works."

"And I couldn't change your mind?"

She let out a sharp, low laugh. "You couldn't afford it, old man. I know you're not all that successful a merchant."

He seemed to bristle a bit at being called old; men of four or five decades, as Danollen seemed to be, often did, in Alys' experience. Not that she cared much. She said what she thought, and they would simply have to deal with it.

They were drawing closer to the designated site for the trade-off, an old, abandoned and boarded-up shop on a rather lonely back street. Danollen seemed to recognize it as they approached, sighing in frustration. After remaining silent for a minute or two, he finally spoke again. "Look, I understand that this is your business and all, so I won't hold it against you. But would you mind doing me a favor? There's something that I'd rather not leave just lying around, and if you could get it and keep an eye on it for me, I'd be very grateful. I might pick it up later, and I might not; you didn't say what these, ah, friends of yours wanted with me, now did you? Well, I don't know either. But I do know I'd rather someone were holding this item for me, just so I know it's safe. What do you say?"

Alys frowned, her green eyes glowing like a cat's in the moonlight. "I don't know. Just how hard would it be to get a hold of? What is it?"

They stopped at the door, and Alys waited impatiently for him to finish so they could go in to meet with her employers. Danollen shook his head and said in a low, hurried voice, "It's a brown envelope. You'll find it under the window in the private dining room of the Rivendell Inn. Just feel around for the loose wall tile and remove it. The envelope is hidden behind it."

Alys watched him dubiously for a moment, then finally nodded. "All right, fine. I'll keep it for you. Now we'd better go in...they won't like it if I'm late." Danollen's face fell, and Alys hesitated. She gruffly continued, "Well...good luck to you, anyway."

Danollen gave her a shaky smile before Alys frowned and opened the door, nudging him with the crossbow to signal him to enter.

Just get it over with, Alys, she thought to herself. Just get it done, get paid, and get out. If you do it enough, you can get out of town again, get back to the road, continue traveling.

The road called. She shut it out of her mind for now. When the time was right, she'd answer that call. Then she'd follow the wind once more.

Her pouch clinking with coins, Alys hurried down the street, moving quickly but trying to avoid the shadows. Walking openly in the moonlight was safer, and less likely to arouse suspicion if she should meet one of the patrolling Guardsmen. She made a beeline for the tavern district. At the end of main road, lined with inns and common rooms, was the large, stone building known as Rivendell, the oldest, most well-known, and most popular inn in the city of RavensDale. She went in through the door into the warm, firelit common room, nodded briefly and politely to the barkeep, and ducked down the hallway and into the private dining room. Crossing the room, she knelt next to the window and felt around. Sure enough, a loose tile came away in her hand. Reaching in, she pulled out a tattered, brown envelope bound with string. Undoing the string, she pulled out an old, yellowed piece of parchment.

It was a map. Carefully penned ink in faded colors designated roads, rivers, seashores, hills, and mountains. Some notes were written in the corners in an old-fashioned script that was difficult to read.

The wind-swept road called suddenly, more strongly than before, singing to her. Alys stared at the map, wondering what it led to, trying to use some common sense to quell that annoying sense of adventure that pleaded with her to find out. Finally, with an exasperated sigh, she stuffed the map back into the envelope and stood up.

"Hey, what's going on?"

Alys jumped like a startled rabbit, then let out a relieved breath and scowled at the young man standing in the doorway. "Drat it, you scared me! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Ryan Xander gave her an annoyingly cocky grin and crossed the room to inspect the envelope. "What is that?" Opening it, he gave a low whistle as he scanned the map. "Wow. How'd you find this?"

"Are you going after this? I mean, whatever it leads to?"

"No, I'm not."

Xander gave her that infuriating grin again. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

He laughed. "Sure you aren't." He handed the envelope back and strolled out of the private dining room, heading for his table in the common room, still chuckling to himself.

After tucking the envelope into her jacket, Alys followed, muttering darkly under her breath about cocky young men. Maybe some stormwinds wine would cool her temper, even if it wouldn't do anything for her curiosity.

Where did the map lead, anyway? And how badly did Alys want to find out the answer?