The Bard and The Ranger: Chapter Two.
The next time Samantha popped past the Pinch Press offices to submit her newest article, a small package was presented to her. Eyeing it suspiciously for traps, she instead found a small, detailed illustration of a fox on the base of the package. Her heart skipped a beat. It had been 3 days since the evening in the tavern, but she had been itching to reconnect with Faelin again since that moment. She couldn’t know for certain of course, but the cryptic sign off seemed to match what she knew of him quite well.
Carefully, she tucked the package into her rucksack and left in a hurry, an impossible to hide smile on her lips. Samantha stepped out into the cool drizzle and felt invigorated by the usually dismal weather. Looking around, she wondered if she was being watched. She thought about the way Faelin’s bright colouring drew everyone’s eyes toward him, and decided he would find it far too difficult to stealth through the streets of the Smoke in as close to daylight as this part of the city ever saw. Putting her hands deep into her coat pockets, the woman strode at an easy pace to her favourite tea shop where she ordered a pot of rosehip and honey tea, and proceeded to sit in her usual secluded corner.
Once the tea had been placed upon the table before her and she had been left alone, Samantha retrieved the package from her rucksack and set it on the table. It was about the size of an apple, but a perfect cube. Wrapped in simple brown paper which could be found across the city, and tied with generic parcel string, it was hard to be certain that it had actually come from him. She was probably getting ahead of herself. Samantha picked it up again and weighed it in her left hand. Not particularly heavy. No rattle to it. Hard to tell what might be inside without looking. Glancing cautiously around the tea shop, nobody seemed to be paying her any mind. Samantha tugged at the string, and carefully pulled back the paper. A simple, light coloured wooden box rested within, far from eye-catching in its design. Samantha quite liked it. What she liked most was that it had no obvious lid, lock, hinge, or method of opening it. A puzzle box. With one hand she picked it up and inspected every edge for hidden switches or buttons. The fingers of the other hand tapped restlessly on the kitsch floral teapot … still too hot.
Ah… a very slight groove hidden almost perfectly along one edge betrayed a potential opening. Samantha wondered briefly whether using Knock might be an acceptable way of opening the box. She thought about the noise that would come with it and decided that would be cheating anyway. Holding it in both hands, she began to gently apply pressure to different corners and edges, wondering if there was a special twist or mechanism. It occurred to her that the puzzle could be arcane, and she thought back to the conversation in case he had given her any clues which she had glossed over in the excitement of the moment.
So many options came flooding into her mind as keywords which could unlock an arcane box. It would have to be something important to the one doing the locking. Samantha raised an eyebrow as she eyed up the paper the box had come wrapped in. The illustration of the fox. “Leena?” She whispered cautiously. No response. Too obvious.
She spoke a few other words but nothing caused a reaction. It might not even be an arcane lock, but the lack of any other signs of entry were frustrating her. She looked back again at the fox illustration. She must be missing something. Sighing with exasperation, Samantha poured the rosehip tea into the cup and inhaled the scent deeply. Maybe it wasn’t even from him. Maybe someone was playing a joke. Maybe it was him and he was playing a joke on her. Her brow furrowed.
“Milk is not so good for foxes.” Samantha mimicked Faelin’s voice with just a hint of sarcasm that was all her own.
Click.
Seriously? Well … at least he had a sense of humour about that whole thing. Of course, she knew foxes shouldn’t drink milk regularly, but as a special treat? The woman checked again for prying eyes, then used her teaspoon to flick open the lid of the box.
Her favourite types of treats were nestled inside. No little chocolates or jewellery for her. Paperwork was neatly folded within the edges of the little wooden box, and a wide smile broke across her face. Impulsively, she pulled the paperwork from the box and began unfolding it and setting it out across the table. It soon became clear that there was a further puzzle to go before she would make any sense of this little gift, and for a second, she hoped that the puzzle had an answer and was not in fact the gift itself. No… there was meaning here. She just had to take the time to see it.
Three sheets of paper. Two playing cards. The queen of diamonds and the two of hearts. Those cards made her breath catch and her blood run cold for a second. He knew more than she remembered telling him. How could he possibly have found that information out in only 3 days? Someone would have had to have talked. The queen of diamonds she knew very well as her own alias. Was he the two of hearts? Or was that the person who talked?
She bit her lip anxiously as she tucked the two cards into the front of her journal. Three pages remained on the table in front of her. One was an article from Pinch Press several years earlier on a historical architect who had been part of designing and developing many significant buildings within the centre of The Smoke. One was a page from a religious text … a quick scan and she could see it spoke about Hermes, a popular deity in the Smoke. The final piece of paper had upon it a hand drawn illustration in the same pen as the fox had been drawn. It looked to be a view of a street but from exceptionally high up. Far higher than she had ever been. Samantha took a sip of her tea, and sighed. She’d missed that perfect drinking temperature, and it was starting to go cold. That meant she’d been taking longer to work out this puzzle than she would usually see as acceptable.
Skim reading the newspaper article on the architect, one of the founding members of the Littlefield Family, Samantha was actually quite interested to learn that he was responsible for the design of several music halls and a museum, but his greatest achievement was the Spires of Enterprise. She hadn’t spent much time there herself, but it was almost impossible for any visitor to The Smoke to miss the towering, beautiful spires of the city’s cathedral. “Huh” expressed Samantha quietly as she drew the page about Hermes closer to the article. “A location then. Clever boy.” She carefully folded the two pages together and tucked them back into the wooden box, still out on the table. A swig of cold tea, the sweetness of the rosehips still refreshing, and another careful study of the last sheet of paper, the illustration.
The perspective, despite being ink on parchment, was dizzying. The tops of buildings lay below the artist’s position, and a wide, busy street separated those smaller buildings from their viewpoint. Samantha shivered and thought of the weakness in her knees when it came to heights. Of course, he would. Had she told him about her vertigo? She didn’t think she’d told him all that much, preferring to ask questions of the enigmatic Eladrin. A deep sigh escaped her chest.
The detail on the illustration was exquisite. A reflection of the artist’s attention to detail, no doubt. She wondered if she could still draw as well as this; it had been a while. Even his shadows were perfect. The shadows… “Huh!” Exclaimed Samantha, slightly louder this time. A time of day as well? If he’d been sat at the Cathedral when drawing this, she should be able to work out a rough time from the direction of the shadows, providing she could work out which side of the cathedral he had been positioned. Her furrowed brow loosened and the smile crept across her lips again. Time for a little stroll, maybe? She had been meaning to finish up writing about the Roma population’s influence on the Slickside, but that could wait. She packed up her things, left her tip of one bit on the table, and set off with new vigour to solve a new puzzle.
