The Old Imperial Hospital in Hemblem was a large, long building made of weathered white brick, with a tall black slate roof, and spires in every corner as it looked, if seen from above, like someone had made a drawing of a snake solely out of multiple straight lines. Inside its ancient vaulted hallways, there was seldom a sound beyond faint crying in the background and the resonant steps of doctors and nurses who went through their beat.

  Clare was sitting in a green chair by one of the walls, her head against the stone. Her eyes were closed and there were still some beats of sweat on her forehead. After the whole day she couldn’t even think properly. She let out a small groan.

  Otto not only had lost his hand. Since they were still at a long distance from the city, Hil applied one of those Elven techniques that can use points in the soul or some bullshit like that that Clare could never really understand, nor cared that much about to be honest, after all, for most people just seeing one of those beings was like seeing a single white wild goat among a pack of the standard black ones. But of course, since they were still far, by the point they arrived at the hospital, his entire arm had changed color, and as far as Clare was concerned, he had most likely ended up losing it. Better that than dying of an infection or blood loss, she guessed, but it was still a shame.

  “Clare!” She heard Hil’s voice, annoyingly cheery, as the Elf rushed up to her side. Her ears were moving a bit. “Otto’s out of the surgery room!”

  She opened her eyes, half-lidded, and looked towards her. “So, how is he?”

  Hil’s pointy ears stopped moving, her eyes looking down. “They had to… um… you know the word. His arm is no longer attached to his body. But outside of that, he’s fine.”

  Clare sighed, put her hands on her knees and rose from the chair. “Where’s the rest of the team?”

  “Finn and Kirm are still in his room, the others are out getting the hotel for all of us and all of that, why?” Hil asked, suddenly returning back to her cheery self. Clare could never get accustomed to how fickle their people was, she had heard that Elves didn’t quite have emotions, but rather it was something that they put on to interact with humans. She didn’t know if it was true, but after some time close to Hil, she found her mood swings to be rather unnerving.

  “Because I am also going to head out.” She glanced towards the hallway and then back at Hil. “If he decides that the team gets to return tomorrow to the capital and we can leave him behind, fine for me, if not don’t look for me, I will return there on my own. If that’s the case, he can send me the bill, he knows the forwarding number to my bank account.”

  She saw Hil nod and immediately took her leave, lest the Elf keeps here there for a single moment more. This was a fantastic parting point with the team for her, because of course the meatheads would never just let Otto stay in the hospital, so they wouldn’t leave the city and thus, she could return and let her covert identity go.

  Just as she was leaving the building, she glanced at a mirror. She had finally become accustomed to that look, and the magical surgery for the next identity may be a bit steep, so surely, she’d ask Yadesh for an inconvenience bonus after having to deal with that faceless mage. In any case, she would put up a complaint to him, and maybe she’d get the surgery done at no cost to herself.

  She stepped into the busy square outside the hospital, there were puddles all over it. It was a small and irregularly-shaped space with a couple of small cafes, a bookshop, a little flower shop, everything to get some cash out of those who went to visit their ill relatives. Clare eyed one of the cafes and quickly stepped in, ordering a cup of sweet redfruit tea and asked if she could use the phone. Of course, they said yes.

  The signal wasn’t great, but she managed to contact her office back in the capital.

  “Olive, did Mr Yadesh pay already?” She asked. There was no sound on the other side for a few seconds, not entirely out of the ordinary for calls at such a distance, but maybe it was one or two too long.

  “Mr Yadesh?” Olive’s voice sounded weak, a bit faded.

  “Yes, Mr Yadesh, the client who hired me and Mr Danlavius along with his company.” She clarified. The signal must be even worse than she thought, probably due to so much rain.

  “Clare, I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Olive said.

  Clare staggered, blinking twice. Maybe Olive hadn’t heard her well. She repeated it again, with pause, loud and clear, vocalizing every word.

  “No. Clare, who is this Mr Yadesh, where are you?” The voice asked from the other side.

  The spy thought it must have been some kind of joke, even if she had never heard Olive prank her at all, she was extremely professional, but what she was hearing was downright ridiculous. “You know, I’ve been out for a while, along with the Danlavius company, we went to the North, and to Lonte and to even Godasse. I’ve been with them for months in and out of the capital, because this Mr Yadesh hired us.”

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  “Clare, this is the first time I hear that name.” There was some silence on the other side of the line, the spy could faintly heard sounds of paper. “The Danlavius company? The one run by that Otto Danlavius guy? The half-Elf?”

  “Yes!” Clare blurted. Feeling quite a bit frustrated. She heard more sounds of paper.

  “The ones that disappeared from the guild three months ago?” Olive asked, she sounded nervous. Clare also staggered, taking a step back, her brow furrowing. She signaled the waiter to hold the tea for a moment and asked Olive what the many storms that came from the eastern seas did she mean by that.

  “The Danlavius guys stopped paying their quota to the guild months ago, they were reported missing. You’ve been with them?” She asked.

  Clare didn’t know what to think or say. But yes, of course she’s been with them, and she told Olive, multiple times. And yet, Otto wasn’t the kind of guy who goes adventuring without having his paperwork in order, and the company didn’t seem at all pressed for money, so why would they not pay their quotas? That didn’t make any sense.

  “Olive, listen.” Clare began. “What you’re telling me is absurd but if that’s the case, I have some strong words to have with the company” And quite strong, since if they had been caught, someone could have discovered she was traveling under a secret identity. “But out of all of that, what do you mean you don’t know who Yadesh is?”

  “This is the first time you’ve mentioned a Yadesh. I’ve seen you like four times in months, Clare, wondering how is our office supposed to pay the rent, trying to get in contact with you. And now out of nowhere you’re telling me you’re out with some adventuring company that’s acting illegally, and having been hired by some guy who…” There was a brief silence. “Is that his first or last name?”

  “Last, I think.” Clare answered, her mind drifting somewhere else.

  “Where’s that name even from? I’ve never heard it.” Olive said. But Clare wasn’t quite there at all anymore.

  “Olive, I need to ask you a favor.” Clare began, “Yadesh’s office is in Dilana Square, number five, third floor. I will be taking the first train tomorrow for the capital, before you close up our office, send them an invoice. A certified one, thank you.” She hung up before her partner could answer, went to the tea, which was now cold in a side table, drunk it in a single gulp, paid and left.

  She had to go back to talk with Otto, right at that very moment. Not that it would change anything, of course, but now that she no longer had to stick with them for any reason, she was going to give him a piece of his mind.

  Or at least that was the idea until she saw Hil standing just out of the main gates of the hospital, she looked scared.

  “Hil? What’s wrong, have they already talked about it and you’re worried about Otto?” She put up a fake, but gentle-looking enough smile.

  The Elf shook her head, slowly. She didn’t just looked scared, Clare could see that this woman who killed a rather large monster in front of her was downright terrified. She grabbed one of her hands, gently, and looked up towards her face.

  “Clare… They’re gone.” She whispered.

  The spy didn’t quite process that. “What?”

  “I…” Tears began to fall from the eyes of the Elf as Clare looked around, noticed a bench and gently pushed her there. They both sat down on the metallic seat, fingers interlocked.

  “I went to the bathroom for a moment, it was just a minute, I… I had to clean my hands before going back to the room to be with Otto. I had just abandoned him to speak with you and then I went to the bathroom. The room is not that far, I…” She was almost stuttering, poor thing. “I got back and they were not there.”

  Clare’s smile, a fa?ade of kindness and understanding, faltered. “Hil, a doctor must have come, and maybe they followed him. It wouldn’t be surprising if they had to run some more tests right now.”

  The Elf shook her head. “I… I asked a nurse, one that had talked with us earlier. She…” She brought her hands to her face. Clare didn’t quite know what to do, but put her hand on Hil’s shoulder and asked her to please continue. “She said that room hadn’t been occupied in days!”

  It came out as almost a scream, Hil’s voice high, squeaky and full of pain. What she was saying didn’t mean any sense and Clare asked her a few more questions to clarify, but it only made things even stranger. She hadn’t gone to the wrong room, Finn’s dagger was on the chair he had sat on. Neither nurses nor a few doctors remembered Otto, or her for that matter. One did remember Clare, however. The spy was at a loss for words.

  First Yadesh and now this. It didn’t make any sense.

  She had briefly, for a fraction of a second, thought that maybe Yadesh had tricked her and the Danlavius company was working directly for him, instead of being hires like her, which would explain some things. If that was the case, it would make sense for them to also disappear when given the chance, as she knew that her employer was a rather secretive person. But then, why would he leave Hil, his own niece, behind? And not only that, leave the hospital while missing an arm.

  And, of course, there was the problem of the faceless mage. If Danlavius was working directly for Yadesh, why put up such a farce?

  Clare asked Hil about everything again, every single little detail, but to no avail. The Elf was as lost as her. The spy sighed.

  “Hil, have the ones that went to look for a hotel come back at some point?” She asked.

  “No.” The Elf replied. It was a short sound, the kind that is made when one doesn’t want to talk about it.

  “Then, you’re coming with me. I’ll get us into an inn and tomorrow we’ll get to the capital. If they return at some point, they’ll probably get in contact with me or my office.” She tapped Hil’s arm, reassuringly. And then helped her up from the bench. The situation both were in was frustrating for her and straight up a nightmare for the Elf, but Clare wanted things to go as well as possible, and she couldn’t just abandon her.

  However, just as they turned a corner, going into a side street from which they could see, in the distance, a beautiful tree-lined square among the many red brick and black roofs of the city, an unnerving shadow passed by the very edge of Clare’s sight. A person in black with a void just as dark where their face would be. They then heard a soft, high voice make a single onomatopoeia.

  “Bang!”