Deep breath. Straight back. Step forward. Turn.

  Gutters was very mechanical at first. He'd never been so self-conscious in his life. It felt like half the room had stopped to watch "the frog" dance. Jane nodded assuringly.

  "Listen to the music, Gutters, that's the secret."

  Gutters listened to the music, feeling the beat, putting the rhythm into his own steps and flourishes. He relaxed a bit. It helped, quite a lot. There was an energy in the music. It carried it's own emotions, its own directions. Gutters had the smallest smile grow wider as he really stepped into the dance.

  "Rip my dress and call me a commoner. He actually learned how to dance."

  Lucille couldn't believe her eyes. She'd expected the most embarrassing, most entertaining thing to ever be on the dance floor. Instead, the weird blue-skinned boy was actually dancing.

  "He's kinda cute."

  Lucille almost fell over. She whipped her head around to see who said that.

  "Cute? He's a freak! I can't believe he got into this school. It's supposed to be for nobles only. What land could a frog own? A swamp?"

  Lucille heard a few sniggers and laughs, but not everybody seemed to be on her side. They were all distracted, watching the smooth and elegant motions of the dancing pair.

  "I love the cape. Why don't the other boys wear capes? Jackets are nice, but they don't flare like that."

  Indeed, as Gutters spin around to face Jane, his cape whipped up backwards, rising up dramatically behind him. The boy's eyes, already wide, widened further.

  "Jane," Gutters hissed.

  "Yes, Gutters?"

  "I just got a skill!"

  "What! No way. A dancing skill? So soon? Gutters you're a natural!"

  "No," Gutters whispered. "Dramatic Cape. Basic."

  Jane blinked.

  "You have a skill called Dramatic Cape."

  Gutters nodded, and twirled again. The cape flew out from him beautifully, even drawing a couple of gasps from the watching crowd. Jane shook her head in wonder.

  "Never in all my life have I heard of such a thing."

  There were tears in Gutters' eyes. Happy tears.

  "I really like capes."

  The two continued to dance through the room, as if nobody was watching. As if it were just them and the music. Eventually Jane felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked over to see a girl dressed in green, with long hoop earrings. She must have come from out of Liston, Jane hadn't seen her before.

  "Excuse me, um, would it be alright if I could have a turn?"

  "Huh?"

  For all her formal training, Jane didn't have an eloquent response.

  "You want to dance with Gutters?"

  The girl blushed.

  "If that's ok."

  Jane looked at Gutters, who gave a tiny shrug, looking a bit helpless. Jane smiled.

  "Of course. I wouldn't hold him all to myself."

  Jane curtsied to the young man who was now the center of attention, and backed away. Other girls, seeing that having a turn was possible, all started clustering around, discussing what it would be like to dance with Gutters.

  "His name is Gutters? How exotic."

  Jane heard one of the girls talking to her friends.

  "I wonder where he's from. That cape is definitely not local. Perhaps the southern borders of Selwyn? Or even from across the sea?"

  There was a collective sigh as the girls imagined Gutters sailing a ship across the ocean, cape billowing in the wind, just to dance with them at the Solstice Ball.

  Jane didn't know whether to laugh, sigh, or shake her head. Gutters was finally being seen for who he was.

  "Teeth!"

  Zig couldn't find the horse anywhere. He was sprinting through the streets. Hot on his heels were angry sailors, spilling out of the warehouse like hornets from a nest. Where was she? Zig would feel a lot safer if he could find Teeth. If he couldn't, well, he'd make his way back to the Broken Leg. But not until he was absolutely sure nobody was following him. He looked over his shoulder.

  There were definitely people following him.

  One sailor lifted a harpoon on a long piece of rope. He twirling it in the air, building momentum. It looked heavy, but the sailor was handling it no problem. Must be a skill. The sailor released, and the harpoon soared through the air. Zig ducked into the nearest alley, and the iron hook sailed past him. Hopefully the rope would tangle some people up.

  Zig turned another corner and came to a dead end. It was a little side alley that was closed off at the end with a brick wall.

  "We got him cornered!"

  Zig heard people running in his direction. He ran all the way up to the brick wall, and smacked it with his club. Instead of a neat hole that Zig could slip through, the whole wall collapsed into a pile of bricks and rubble. Zig hesitated, eying the bricks.

  Close enough?

  He picked up a brick, looking at it, trying to pretend it was a rock. It wasn't really a rock. But it was kinda like a rock. Zig spun and hurled it toward the men approaching. Perhaps...? The brick went clean through one man and smashed a second one down onto the ground.

  Close enough.

  Zig started picking up bricks like a madman, throwing them at the entrance of the alley. When enough people were down, and there were clouds of brick dust filling up the entrance, Zig jumped over the brick pile. He'd meant to jump up onto the pile, but he was still getting used to his new strength. He cleared the pile completely, landing on the other side.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "Well, that should buy some time. Where on earth is my horse?"

  Zig kept running.

  Teeth was utterly confused. She saw a flash of movement, and leapt, biting down. There was nothing there. Then she saw another flash, but on the other side of the street. How were they so fast? Teeth launched herself in that direction, smacking into a the side of a house. The house shook. Nothing again. Teeth pulled a few more needles out of her sides. How many needles did this person have?

  There was one more flash of movement, and another needle sank into Teeth's skin. This time she didn't jump after the movement. Instead, she whipped her head around and charged the opposite side of the street. Either this person could teleport, or...

  There was a second man.

  There was a high-pitched scream as Teeth sank her teeth into a torso. She didn't have time to enjoy it. She twisted her head and ripped out the man's shoulder and part of his lungs. That should do the trick. Teeth spat the shoulder out of her mouth. She was getting a bit sick of poison at this stage, and who knew what the man was carrying.

  "Tarv!"

  The shout came from further down the street. Teeth narrowed her eyes, even as she wobbled a bit. So there were three of them?

  "Shh. Keep going. We can't stop now."

  A man burst out from behind a crate, and sprinted down the road. Teeth ran after him, but found needles hitting her side as she did so.

  Four?

  They had taken her far away from the docks. Teeth hoped Zig was ok. There was no way she could leave these men now. They were the most irritating things she'd ever encountered. A constant stream of stinging needles, vanishing whenever she bit down. They were never where she...

  Teeth turned around without warning. Sure enough, there was a man hiding in her shadow. Teeth lunged and bit, and the man barely jumped out of the way, rolling and springing into the nearby shadows. They knew every move she'd make, and always stayed out of sight. Teeth had never fought anything like it, but she had an idea. If they knew where she was expected to go...

  She simply had to move unexpectedly.

  Lance and Hepp were racing through the town.

  "Guard business, move out of the way!" Hepp shouted at the top of his lungs. People parted and the two raced through the gap. Lance didn't know you could do that.

  "You don't have the authority to say that." Lance panted. He was definitely going to use it in the future, though. Hepp was easily keeping stride with the senior guardsman, despite Lance having leveled up his Endurance skill to Advanced.

  "What kind of monster are you?"

  "The angry kind."

  Hepp was focused. He'd explained it to Lance. His friend may or may not be posing as "the Alchemist", a certain tax-dodger that the guards were told to look out for. He made deals out on the docks. Sailors came and ransacked the weapons arena, kidnapping the Alchemist's friend. Not only was she probably at the docks, but the friend was heading there too, probably into a world of trouble.

  They heard a low boom echo in the city, and changed direction, heading toward it. There was shouting in the distance, along with a cloud of dust drifting up above the rooftops. Lance checked his gear as they ran. Standard issue potion and knife were secured to his belt. Spear in his hand. Caught up in the panic, he'd forgotten to call for backup. Damn. Just him, and one civilian. Lance looked sideways at Hepp. One angry civilian, rumored to have killed twenty people. Lance still needed to investigate that. Another task on the list.

  Lance came around the corner and smacked into someone running the other way. Hard. They both fell back. Lance scrambled up, and lowered his spear into position.

  "Halt—"

  Lance hit the ground a second time as Hepp tackled him. They both rolled a few times.

  "Hepp! I almost killed you!"

  The boy, who Lance realized must be Zig, was standing up, holding a weird glowing club he'd just swung. Hepp was groaning, standing up. Lance realized that Hepp had just saved him from whatever that club did.

  "Ho, Zig, we came to rescue you."

  "Hey, aren't you that boy with the horse?"

  Lance felt like he was swimming in deep waters. Zig looked at him, then back at Hepp.

  "Who's your friend, Hepp?"

  "This is Lance, guardsman, here to help. Zig they took Lucy."

  Zig's face darkened.

  "They did what?"

  They heard running footsteps approach. Zig reached out to grab onto a nearby stone wall. With a tug, he ripped a stone out of the wall. Cracks spiderwebbed out across the wall. Zig turned around and threw the rock. It flew faster than Lance would have believed, and the senior guardsman jumped at the boom of the rock landing.

  "Come on, there's too many to do anything here. Lance, how many guards can you call here?"

  "Uh, a few dozen I suppose."

  Zig nodded.

  "Call them, go to the docks. Raid warehouses and ships. Look for Lucy there. Wait about twenty minutes before you do. Hepp and I will lure the sailors away from the area."

  "Where are you going?"

  "The Broken Leg, first. Then we'll head to Red Mine."

  Gretta had a headache. A big one. As last night's party had progressed, her decision making skills had plummeted. The crowning jewel of it all was trying some of the drink she'd made for Zig. After all, it hadn't affected him at all, had it? She'd had a curious sip.

  Then the alcohol kicked in.

  Then the poison kicked in.

  Then the paralytic kicked in.

  Gretta woke up late. Very late. So late you could almost call it early again, skipping a day.

  "Bleugh." She said unintelligibly. She rolled out of bed and hit the ground with a thump.

  "Bleugh."

  Gretta crawled down the stairs of the inn, into the common room. Knob was there, not looking great himself.

  "Bleh?" Gretta asked.

  "Ho, Gretta, you're feeling it too, huh? Come on, first thing is some food and water."

  The food didn't quite stay down, but the water was welcome. Gretta felt like a withered plant that finally received some rain.

  "Ah. Thanks Knob. What's step two?"

  "Getting the poison out. Did you happen to get any antidote for your mad cocktail?"

  Gretta remembered that she had indeed been given a little pouch of powder with the poison. She stumbled upstairs and fetched it. Coming back down, she stirred the powder into another mug of water, and drank it down. Immediately she started to feel better. Less dying, and more just tired and numb.

  "Knob, you're saving my life. What's step three?"

  "Uh, step two didn't fix everything?"

  "I'm still dizzy and numb. Oh, the paralytic."

  Knob frowned with concern.

  "Gretta, can we just take you to a healer?"

  "Probably best."

  The dwarf leaned on the half-goblin's shoulder, and the two of them left the inn for the Water district.

  Gutters finished the dance with a flourish, spinning his latest partner extra hard so she had no choice but to spin away into the crowd. He was panting. He needed a break.

  "Thank you, my lady."

  He bowed and quickly stepped off the dance floor, moving to the tables of refreshments along the edges of the room.

  "Gutters! You're the star of the night!"

  "I feel like I almost died out there. Even with basic Endurance."

  Gutters was covered in sweat. He grabbed a drink and downed the whole thing at once. It was light pink in color, and probably cost ten silvers on its own. Gutters put down the glass and reached for another. There were some mini sausages wrapped in pastry. Gutters grabbed a handful and stuffed them in his pocket without thinking, then he paused as he reached for a second handful. He looked over at Jane.

  "This isn't proper etiquette, is it?"

  Jane smiled.

  "Not at all. Fun to watch though."

  Gutters grabbed some sausages from his pocket and put a couple in his mouth, trying to move at a normal pace. Growing up in the trash heap, eating fast was a survival skill. Here... Gutters chewed at least twice before swallowing, just for the formality of it. He took another sip of the pink drink.

  "So, how's it feel to be the king of dancing? Every girl can't wait to get a turn."

  Gutters blushed at that.

  "I love it. I really do."

  "The girls, or the dancing?"

  "Bo—ah, the dancing. Definitely the dancing."

  Gutters' blush got redder.

  "Hey, after your snack, want to go see the other rooms? The main hall is just for dancing, no magic or fighting."

  Gutters perked up.

  "There's fighting? More duels?"

  Jane nodded.

  "There should be. It's basically how noblemen hang out. It's all 'you stole my wife, prepare to die', or 'my underwear is too tight, prepare to die!'"

  Gutters chuckled at that.

  "And the ladies?"

  "Their battlefield tends to be the dance floor, and the makeup rooms. You wouldn't believe the way they tear each other down."

  Gutters filled a second pocket with pastries. That's what pockets were for, not decorative clothes. Finished his drink and grabbed a third before walking over with Jane to a side room.

  It was ornate, similar to the main hall, just smaller. In the middle of the room was a circle of red sand someone had poured out, marking a rough dueling arena. They must have just finished a duel, because people were cheering as one person lifted his arms in the air, while another got up off the floor. The cheering faltered a bit as Gutters came into the room. The young men looked at the boy who had been dancing with all their partners throughout the night. The boy who didn't belong. The frog.

  The winner of the recent fight put his arms down, and nodded some kind of signal. Behind Gutters and Jane, the door to the main hall swung shut, suddenly muting the sounds of the dancing outside. Gutters looked at Jane for support, but she looked afraid. This wasn't something normal or expected. One of the boys spoke up, loudly, for everyone to hear.

  "Well, well, well. What do we have here?"