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On the Run
He sprinted along the path that would eventually lead to the Bythorre. Left and right the steep walls of the Thari Cees doomed over the devastated boy, magnifying his misery. His heart missed a beat when seemingly out of nowhere a deer jumped in sight, then zigzagged off towards the city. Once he caught his breath again Lendear wondered where it had come from and started to examine the area. Indeed, there was a little path, camouflaged by some bushes, leading up into the mountains. On impulse, the boy started to follow the path and soon had made quite some height. Climbing up and up the narrow trail, Lendear ignored his exhaustion, all that mattered was to get away from the place that had become his home, the people he had learned to love and the point where he had failed. Approaching a crossway finally gave the impulse to come to an halt and Lendear scanned his surroundings. Looking back to where he had come from didn’t appeal to him, to the right the trail winded up too steep for him to dare an approach, so Lendear continued left where the path seemingly took a levelled route. In the distance he heard the purling sounds of water. Apparently he was close to one of the many mountain creeks. Coming to realize how thirsty he was, Lendear began to search and soon was greeted by a small rivulet. In the distance he heard the rush of a waterfall and he made up his mind to have a look, but first he had to satisfy his thirst. Leaning down and cupping his hands to draw some water, he slipped, toppled head first into the cold water, banging his head on one of the many rocks.

Meanwhile Turglind had reached the Brigshack and quickly filled his cousin in. Together they hurried to the shop appointing this the best starting point for their search. The shop owner sat behind the counter, clearly not in the best of shapes, helping himself with trembling hands to a serving of some booze.
“We’re closed”, he managed and ignoring the supposed customers he poured himself another drink.
“We’re not here to bargain”, Thealdi began.
“You happen to have something in your possession that rightly belongs to someone else. I suggest you hand it over immediately and spare yourself further troubles.”
“What’ya talking about?”, inquired crooked nose, but he knew quite well what the old man was referring to.
“Well then, if you can’t be persuaded to show a little cooperation I’m quite prepared to use some force. You seem to have had a rough time lately, I am however not reluctant to intensify the poor state, you undoubtedly are in. On the other hand, a little sign of willingness might safe us all the troubles. It’s totally up to you how we shall proceed from here. I suggest you inform us straight about the boy and his belongings. Consider yourself warned, I will not repeat myself.”
The shop owner had no strength left and with a sigh he gave in and confessed his doings. “All right then, I’m not in for another fight. Have had enough of those for a day. Here’s what happened. The chap showed up in my store, wanting to know the whereabouts of an item he must have spotted earlier in the display. Came too late though and that made him angry. Drew a fit, the lad and started to shout and threaten me. Then he attacked me, can you believe it!”
He made a face as if he was reliving the horrors of an innocent citizen who had been assaulted by a brute. Helping himself to another dose of his distillate, he continued.
“I managed to dodge him and a lucky punch knocked him out. Dunno how I did it, you know, I’m no fighter, I hate violence. But I had no choice. Course I was scared as hell.”
He paused as if searching for the right words.
“You know, I’m not on too good terms with the administration.”
He let that linger, seemingly having a little inner debate whether to elaborate further on this delicate matter.
“Well, I thought I better get rid of him, take him away from my shop. Didn’t wanna rock the boat here, understand? So I put him in my cart. Didn’t get far, couple of urchins attacked me, knocked me out cold and buggered off with the cart. That’s all I know.”
Thealdi wasn’t at all pleased with these revelations, but kept his balance.
“Now, that wasn’t too hard, was it? Nevertheless, we shall discuss the details at a later time. I’m afraid I spotted a few areas where you left the path of verity. But now tell me about the people who took your cart. I strongly advise you not to deviate from the truth this time.”
Conjuring a look of lackadaisical indifference, disguising his spinning mind, crooked nose bought himself some time by pouring yet another drink.
‘Was this coming to an good end after all?’, he mused. ‘Can I use him to get rid of my problem? Gotta persuade this old fart to clear the streets of the competition. Gotta come up with something that will make him real angry. Just hope the other jerk won’t get in the way.’
Turglinds patience ran out.
“Yo dork, we ain’t got all day.” Falling into the street slang, he was about to grab the mans collar, but Thealdis raised hand stopped him short.
“Just rummaging through me memories. No need to get all excited now. I’d think they were eight or nine, none of’em of age but certainly older than your boy. Dirty, stinking and in tatters. You know these street gangs, don’t you? They look all the same.
I remember this one lad though. He was the tallest, close your size, black, greasy hair and apparently a fresh broken nose. Will come out looking like me.”
He sniggered, but quickly got hold of himself upon Thealdis displeasing stares.
“Dunno why, but he thrust his dagger through the blanket I had put over the boy. Must have gotten him, took some efforts to retrieve his weapon again and there was blood on it. Just laughed, the bugger. Probably thought I had some meat underneath the blanket. But when they found out what was in the cart, the boy with the dagger just thrust it into the poor laddy once more. Seemed to enjoy it and two others joined in, stabbing just for the fun of it. I tried to stop them, thought they were killing the poor guy, but then one of’em hit me over the head. That’s all I know.”
Horror-struck, the two cousins exchanged brief looks and without further delay hastily left the shop. Thealdi would deal with the shop owner later, now all that mattered was to find the boy. He instructed Turglind to scan the south and east area while he was headed north and via a westwards stretch would meet his cousin again in front of the shop.
Naturally they came up empty handed. If they couldn’t find the boy directly they would have to concentrate on the street gang. Thealdi ordered Turglind to arrange for a search party. Myrtha and Lillyveen were not in reach, but Miglim could be summoned and the librarian Khozo Mas was a definite asset. The old man, momentarily on his own, took a few moments to decide on the next steps. Falling short of a better idea he started to walk the streets again, looking for a young man with a broken nose.

Dazed by the hit he had taken, it was too late when Lendear discovered the immediate danger he was in. The surprisingly strong current dragged him along and despite his efforts to fight against the drift, the water carried him at alarming speed towards the waterfall. Still not fully recovered from the blow, lacking proper coordination and control over his body, Lendear helplessly approached the abyss. His yell went unheard, the thunderous floods of water not only drowning his scream but soon the entire boy; the deep fall however didn’t go entirely unnoticed.