Chapter 101: Ending Up Right Here After All

That afternoon, Jess went to the docks to ask whether anyone bought naga scales. He sold some small, loose scales to a couple of gnomes working for dwarf blacksmiths and got seven silver coins.

He'd asked several people. Those two gnomes had offered one of the better prices.

On the way home, with the silver in his pocket, he passed a general-goods store. He thought of the naga's pearl bracelet. It wouldn't hurt to ask how much it was worth. Maybe the broken pocket watch he'd found in Westfall could be repaired, too.

"Everyday Goods, for all your needs."

The plump shopkeeper wore glasses and held a book. His welcome was completely flat and emotionless.

He glanced at Jess. "Can I help you?"

"I just wanted to ask something." Jess took the bracelet off his wrist and set it on the counter. "How much could I sell this for?"

"We don't buy jewelry, sir." The shopkeeper adjusted his glasses. Even so, he took the bracelet and examined it.

"Colored pearls. Beautiful things you can only get from the deep sea. But these are small, and a little cloudy. Almost as though something has contaminated them. Where did you get this bracelet? And the string itself... it doesn't look like something made in the Kingdom of Stormwind."

The shopkeeper turned the bracelet over several times, glancing at Jess now and then. After a while, he said, "You could probably sell it for around forty silver coins, sir. But you'd have to ask at a jewelry shop. Turn left until you reach the canal, then follow it. There's a jeweler down that way."

Forty silver coins.

Jess was tempted to sell it. That would pay for paper and ink. With the Orcish exam coming up, he wanted Saeno to translate as much of the Demonic material in that bilingual book as possible. The more Demonic passages he understood, the sooner he could work out what the corresponding Orcish runes meant. That mattered a lot.

In the past, he wouldn't have hesitated.

But the bracelet was a trophy. Remembering how hard he'd fought that night, not to mention the nightmares afterward, Jess felt forty silver couldn't replace the proof of what he'd survived.

"Then, sir, do you think this pocket watch could be repaired?" He placed the watch on the counter.

The shopkeeper looked it over. "Hard to say. You'll need to ask at the watchmaker's shop on the street outside Cathedral Square."

Jess thanked him and took the watch back.

"Please come again," the shopkeeper said.

There was something strange about the man. Jess hadn't bought anything, and he hadn't paid for advice. Why had the shopkeeper been so polite?

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He didn't think much more about it. Following the directions, he headed toward Cathedral Square to look for the watchmaker.

As he walked, he kept feeling that someone was following him. He looked back several times, but only saw ordinary passersby and guards. Nobody seemed suspicious.

Had using too much shadow magic made him paranoid?

He was turning into a narrow alley, wondering whether he'd been abusing shadow spells lately, when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him.

Jess had no weapons. He spun around and shouted, "Who's there?!"

A soldier wearing chain mail and a helmet lunged at him and knocked him to the ground. Jess wasn't about to surrender so easily. He struggled wildly and actually managed to shove the armored soldier aside. Shouting, he scrambled toward the alley's exit, only for someone else to grab his bag after a few steps.

That bag... he absolutely couldn't lose it.

Jess turned and punched the soldier in the face. Unfortunately, his fist struck the man's face-covering helmet. Pain shot through his knuckles so sharply his eyes almost watered.

At the far end of the alley, another guard stood blocking his way with a long staff.

"What is going on?!"

"Give yourself up quietly, thief!"

"Who's a thief?!"

"We received a report—"

Hearing the soldiers speak, Jess finally understood why the shopkeeper had been so friendly. The bastard had decided Jess was trying to sell stolen goods.

But what kind of idiot thief would walk openly into a shop on the main street to sell stolen goods? Wouldn't he ask the local Thieves' Guild down in the sewers first?

"I'm innocent! Those things belong to me!"

"Yes, of course they're yours. Of course you're innocent. Come explain that to the magistrate!"

Jess knew struggling was pointless now. These soldiers were convinced he was a thief.

"I really—"

"Shut up!"

A fist struck his jaw, and everything went black.

Someone patted his cheek. Jess opened his eyes in a panic and shouted, "...I'm not a thief! You can't arrest somebody just because someone says so!"

He felt he hadn't finished his sentence, so he hurried to get all the words out. Only afterward did he realize he'd been unconscious for quite a while. And he wasn't in the alley anymore.

He looked around. The place was dark, almost like a prison cell.

Was this the Stormwind Stockade?

He was tied to a wooden chair with ropes. So they really had dragged him in here.

"He's awake. Bring the merchant in and let him identify the man."

Jess turned toward the voice. A fat man came through the door.

"Are you certain it's him?"

A bearded man in a soldier's blue shirt looked toward the newcomer. Jess recognized the fat man at once.

The shopkeeper!

"That's him!" the shopkeeper said, pointing at Jess. "He's the one who tried to sell stolen goods at my store!"

"Stolen goods?" Jess stared at him. "Did you see me steal anything? Who did I steal from? Who reported something missing? What was stolen?"

"Look at his attitude! He's vicious!" the shopkeeper snapped. "Lord Morse, just look at this poor wretch! He's thin, dark, and dressed in rags. How could someone like him own jewelry that valuable? That string of colored pearls alone is worth a fair bit! And he had a broken pocket watch, too. He might not even be a thief. He could be a robber who beat somebody up and took everything they had!"

"Rags? Why don't you write a novel?" Jess shouted. "Or is that what you've done yourself? Is that why you know so much about it?!"

The man called Morse didn't respond to the shopkeeper right away. He was turning a ring over in his fingers.

Only then did Jess realize what it was.

His new apprentice's insignia!

"That ring is mine!" Jess shouted. "Give it back—"

"Do you know what this is used for?" Morse asked.

Jess was about to answer, but the shopkeeper cut him off.

"He stole a ring too? I bet he was afraid I'd suspect him, so he didn't bring everything out for a price! He's sly, I'll give him that. Good thing I was a step ahead of him."

"Enough noise," Morse said.

He turned back to Jess. "You speak."