The odd group of boy, elderly woman, rablin and hippocampus rested at the side of the road while the latter drank his salt water. “Are you feeling better?” Caleb asked.

“Yeah, I’m starting to” Edward said between gulps of water, “I think I just need to stay hydrated.”

“Okay,” Caleb said, reassured. “Just tell us when you start feeling tired again and we can take a break.” Edward nodded in response before resuming his drink.

The road they were on was made of cobblestone, going between fields of open farmland growing crops like corn and grain. The foodstuffs were all they could see until just up ahead, a figure could be seen; a human man who looked to be in his high 30s riding a dark brown horse. Except for five small scar lines that ran diagonally across his face, he looked like an ordinary farmer. Rainbow, wanting to avoid any unnecessary confrontation, hid in the wagon once more before he was too close.

“Hi there!” the guy said to the group, “I don’t think I’ve seen any of you before. Are you all here for the market?”

“The market?” Caleb asked.

The man seemed to be taken aback as he looked at the child, but only for a moment. “Uh, yeah. Today people from all over the region come to town to sell their stuff.”

“Thank you sir, but we really should be on our way,” Sara responded. As if on cue, Edward quickly finished his water. Caleb briefly got out of the wagon to retrieve the water dish the hippocampus had been using as the elder Nieve continued to talk. “We have someplace we need to be.”

“Auria’s not the only place with money,” the scarred man said with a chuckle, “come on, I know the mayor, I can get you a spot. Please, I insist.”

Suddenly, Sara heard a whisper in her ear. It was Rainbow’s voice; she was worried at first but remembered he could use illusions. It was likely throwing his voice like that was a minor magic trick, but she’d have to ask about it later. “Sara, if we go to the market, maybe we can find more info on the mines.” And the rablin did have a point; thanks to Roger’s contacts, they knew Lydia was in the Coldrock Prison Mine System, but perhaps someone here had a map of the complex or some other information that could help them.

“Alright, if you insist” Sara replied with a smile.

“Excellent! I’ll lead the way,” the farmer responded and proceeded to do so. The town of Loucanter seemed like a quaint small town in some ways, it was decidedly urban in others; while not anywhere nearly as big as Thorn, this area did have a good share of activity, especially near Market Square where they wound up.

“The mayor should be...oh, there he is!” Having found who he was looking for, the scarred man dismounted his horse and walked up to who the group assumed was the mayor. “Hey, Bradley!” he exclaimed with a friendly familiarity.

A short man who looked to be in his 80s turned around. “Oh, hi Alan! What can I do for ya?”

“Well, I met these guys on my way here, and thought you’d might have a space for them to sell their stuff. Can you help me out?”

“Oh, sure. Take them to spot 3 on row E, the guy who reserved it backed out.”

“Great, thanks man. Wanna meet up for drinks later?”

“Oh, sure! Listen, I gotta go, the missus asked me to buy some eggs. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

With that, Alan took the group to the spot and took his leave. Once he was gone, Sara gave her instructions to everyone; Caleb was to sell the books using Roger’s price list as a reference, Rainbow would stay hidden but keep an eye on the younger members of the team, and Sara would go around trying to find anything that could be useful for saving Lydia.

And she was doing just that when she approached a stall that had caught her eye. What Sara saw was quite surprising for a place like this; it was...