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It took much less time to be guided by someone who knew the alleyways. Thadus had discovered this out through Linden, unfortunately. This held true with this youth, too.

As guides, the wind sprites did not care about directions much, most earth sprites could only tell the hollows from the solids, a water spirit could have gone anywhere, and fire would merely have created its own way.

Besides the shorter time spent finding his way, Thadus found it was comfortably quiet, unlike when walking with the little devil. It was tranquil. The youth made little noise.

Even after getting to the Northern Market District, Thadus just held the youth by the back of the collar and dragged it along as the wind spirit was made to find the way back to the array.

As soon as Thadus saw the glow, he let the wind spirit go, and the wood was turned brittle and fell off of his sceptre. He instead lit a flame with it and then half-shoved the youth into Linden’s arms the moment he saw them.

“You deal with that thing. I only owe it fifty silver.”

“Does Lord Thadus have fifty silver?” Linden inquired as they looked over the filthy thing, as if to examine if it had been injured.

The insult!

He did not harm living creatures, however lowly!

Had he not wanted to leave Rockforge as soon as possible, he would have made sure the fiend knew how inappropriate their behaviour was. What did they think he was? A brute?! How dare they!

Thadus swallowed down his angered. “Naturally, I do have such a minimal sum. I am always aware of what I keep on me at any time.” He removed his house seal and about a dozen excess coins from his purse, leaving the fifty he promised in it. He tossed it over, keeping his distance. Linden caught it, weighing it with their hand before placing into the youth’s hands.

“Now, may Lord Thadus offer me some insight,” they said, looking mildly amused, “what am I supposed to do with a random person from the slums?”

“It’s the filthy vermin that stole my ornament,” Thadus commented.

The youth immediately started trembling.

“Oh, I see now. And you would like it returned to you, Lord Thadus?”

“No, I already took it back. Make the vermin stop inconveniencing people through thievery.”

Linden was silent, then let out a soft laugh. “Very well. I shall handle this matter for Lord Thadus. I have a few ideas. But for now, let us return to the tavern. Mayhap we can ask for some leftover bread for the child, too.”

“‘We’? Why must I come along?” Thadus asked, indignant. “This has nothing to do with me, personally.”

“This child is your thief.”

“It’s yours now.”

“Then consider this an opportunity to observe what us mortals do to handle these matters,” Linden suggested. “Even if there is nothing to learn from it and spellcasters have better ways, knowledge of other habits can be helpful in discourse.”

Thadus huffed. He had no wish to learn of these things. Let all these vermin deal with themselves!

The mortal turned to the youth. “Child, I know this Lord is frightening, but as long as you do not cross him, he will not harm you. As this is the case, would you mind waiting around the corner? Whatever you do, you must not watch nor try to run away, or this Lord here will be cross.”

What had Thadus done to be treated as a deterrent? He had done nothing wrong! He was an upright spellcaster! Had he not been extremely magnanimous to this youngling?!

The youth looked over at Thadus, then Linden, before scurrying over to the corner and hiding in the alley around it.

Thadus walked over to the fiend and took out the leather case. He placed it in Linden’s hand.

They opened the case and looked it over before putting it within their lapels.

Seeing that they accepted it, Thadus said, “I have done rather much for you, mortal. You owe me a lot.”

“However, I shall handle the matter with the child,” the Linden argued.

“That’s neither here nor there. This is not a favour that can be continuously traded for another. You gained copper coins to retrieve your memento, all due to my decent character. You take care of the filth in return for that matter alone. Nothing else. Do not attempt to conflate one for another. Each debt is a debt, each favour is a favour. One cannot be considered equal to the other.”

Linden smiled and then scraped and bowed. “Lord Thadus is correct. I owe him twice over. I will handle the matter of the child as a favour in return for the copper.”

Thadus huffed and took out a clean handkerchief to wipe his hands thoroughly of dirt. He was disgusted about having touched the youth, but it was his responsibility to ensure this matter was properly handled if mortals in Rockforge would not.

As he did this, Linden gathered all the dust into the array and held their hand out.

“Dust, it is I, the Horde Master. I command and you obey. Return Dart to me.”

The array changed colour once more and the purple light started gathering in Linden’s hand, then turned violet. A broken dart formed in their palm and they put two halves together. Cyan light rose from the array in a thin strand that wrapped around the object as a solid thread, restoring it to its former condition.

The light then faded.

“Why does your summon return the sacrificed item to you?” Thadus asked as Linden spun the dart into a copper pipe.

“Because they are one and the same,” the fiend replied as they put the object back into their boot. “Dart is Dust and Dust is Dart.”

“Then, why is your summon’s vessel a broken, enchanted object?”

“Lord Thadus, this matter is complex and will require a discussion. Let us discuss this after some rest. It is late at night and I still have one more task to handle.”

Thadus sniffed and tossed the dirtied handkerchief to the wind. He was not accepting these terms.

The vermin, however, went to get the youth and then told Thadus to come as well.

Thadus had no choice. He did, after all, have a debt to collect.