Lying Low

With his wanted poster out our heroes are lying low while searching for answers.

Rain tapped lightly on the glass panes of the captain’s quarters as the Eagle Parrot bobbed gently in its slip, hidden for now in a small, forgotten cove just outside a broken port town known only on old maps as Lowwater Square. The buildings there stood lopsided, weather beaten, their windows shuttered like tired eyes that had seen too much.

Elara stood at the window, watching the square through a spyglass. “Too quiet,” she murmured.

Behind her, Darius sat at the old desk, running a finger over a silver chain that had once belonged to his mother. It was a habit he’d taken up again after his magic use had drawn attention from the Vale family.

“You said the informant would be here,” she added.

“He will,” Darius said. “Or he’s already dead.”

Rockford growled low from where he sat by the door.

A knock echoed from the dock outside. Not frantic. Not rushed. Just...deliberate.

Elara tensed. “That doesn’t sound like someone trying to help us.”

Darius stood slowly, pocketing the chain. “No. It doesn’t.”

He stepped onto the deck first, Elara flanking him, weapons hidden but ready. The figure waiting on the dock was cloaked in patchwork leathers, his face hidden by a scarf and wide brimmed hat.

“You’re late,” Elara said.

“No. You’re early,” the man replied. “Which means you haven’t seen what they did to the square.”

Darius narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

The man held up a cracked piece of glass scorched, and stained with something dark. “They’re not looking for you anymore.”

“Then who?” Elara asked.

The man’s voice dropped. “They’re looking for the Eagle Parrot itself.”

Darius and Elara exchanged a glance.

And somewhere, not far beyond the square, church bells tolled like a warning.