Truth Serum

Gror had already begun moving back up the stairs but Page stopped him and said, "Wait. I'm not leaving until I get what I wanted. I know about your last student, the worst dark wizard, Karkov, who you were forced to kill when he began to threaten you and your workers. We promise we will never use your knowledge as he did, cursing people left and right for small, petty revenge."

"Don't say his name! How do you even know about him!?" she rushed back up and grabbed his collars, their glowing eyes looking at each other.

He brushed off her hands and replied, "it doesn't matter how I know. I assure you, you will never have to kill one of us for we will never let the power get to our heads as he did. Again, we can sign a contract."

"No, a contract under class B is useless, a potion of dissolvement can easily destroy it. I need proof. Show me you won't become a scumbag like him with your new knowledge and power."

"How?"

"Hmm. take a test. The test will prove to me your worth, your honesty, and your reliability. Make me a truth serum, the strongest kind known to us. You will find the ingredients yourself, brew it yourself, and test its reliability. I will tell you what you need to do, but the product depends on you."

"Fine. it's a deal, don't go back on your words."

"Of course not. Give me the sign I just gave you, I'll write down what you will need." she took the sign back and began scratching it with something. There was a slight burning smell in the air but she handed it back to them after a short while and opened the door again for them.

They looked over the ingredients, nine ounces of white milk flower, a giant sapphire rock, one large fairy tongue, and the list goes on. Page read it and said, "many of these items are also for a holy potion. I think this has two uses. She's making us do this much work for herself."

"Page, I didn't know you were a potions master. You knew something even the potions master didn't know."

"Yea, it's not much, I remember those few rather helpful potions. Most of these things can be found around the city, but this one here," he pointed at the name at the bottom, "The roots of a Trickling Tree. They only grow where there is a huge amount of water like beneath a river or something. This place isn't near any huge source of water. There should be seeds imported here but it would take forever to grow one to the proper size. The rest of this can be found or made but with difficulty. The easiest thing should be the white milk flower. Let's go to the markets, they should have some of these."

They walked over to the bustling market they had come across at the front of the village. It was as loud as it had been when they had first come.

Gror looked at the few price tags around baskets full of strange fruits and other items. "Do we have enough money?"

"I have money, but I'm not sure if it's enough. The people here are crazy hagglers, they'll know instantly that we're outsiders and try to wring out as much as they can. We gotta play this smart."

As soon as he said that, a small group of four or five kids ran past them, a few bumping into them.

"Check your pockets to see if anything was stolen. They look like thieves. I strapped all my things closely, nothing is missing."

Zeeth felt around his body, making sure things like the sculpture of him, his spool of self-moving wires or any other of his things were stolen. He had them all wrapped under many layers of slimes so none of them had been stolen, but a few had been moved, forcefully pushed back like something had been trying to move it out and steal it. Gror patted his pockets and exclaimed, "My rock cutter has been stolen!"

"Come on, let's go after them." Page said, annoyed, "I remember the hideout for most of these scamps, they all live somewhere underground near the wall."

"Have you been through this before? You sound awfully calm."

"Yeah, I've been through something like this before. It was such a pain last time, I learned to not make it this time. Too bad it happened to you anyway."

"Sorry about that." Gror kept feeling around, looking truly sorry.

"No, it's nothing to apologize for. I forgot to warn you. Come on, it's not too far."

The secret entrance that Page talked about was just a dirty wooden door on the floor covered with nasty weeds and algae. It was at the side of a busy street, although not nearly as busy as the main one they had just been at. There was an "Out Of Oder" sign next to the door and Zeeth noticed a few people watching them as they approached the door. A few children on rooftops and window sills and even some adults smoking something.

Page whispered to them so that only they could hear, "they have watchout people to make sure no one not in their group opens it. We can either distract them and sneak in or simply break-in. What do you guys want."

"Well, we're just trying to get his knife back, so I think it would be faster if we just bust in," Zeeth said.

"I agree. Do you think we can beat them?"

"Do you have your steel sword?"

"Yes, it was too big for them to steal."

"Then we can. They should be easy peasy. They don't have any substantial magical powers or fantastic strengths, that's why they are all thieves. Well, since they are so weak don't actually hurt them. Just pull out your most showy weapons and scare them into giving us back your stuff. " Page finished his sentence and kicked the door open. A few surprised faces looked up at them. After realizing they weren't part of their group, both the people below and up top charged at them. Gror pulled out his steel sword and channeled electricity around it. The blade turned hot red and little sparks of electricity crackled around it. Zeeth created balls of magma from his hands and Page pulled out a bow from his bag.

"Give us back our items and we'll let you all live." Page pulled back an arrow and aimed it at someone below. Gror saw a little boy clutching his blade closely to his chest right before he turned around and nudged Page a little.

"Hey, you over there." All three of them looked at the kid who quickly turned away to hide the blade. "That's ours. Give it back."

A few more people crowded around the kid to hide him from view and those up top inched toward them. Page jumped down and landed on a string. A spike-covered cage sprung up and trapped him. Zeeth and Gror jumped down and destroyed the cage, turning it into hunks of metal. They noticed that most of them had some form of a weapon, some were normal swords, others were broken and rusty, some even looked homemade out of scrap metal and strange items plastered on. They timidly watched them, everyone dead silent. Page moved to the kid but everyone simply crowded closer around him.

One of the larger kids pointed his small dagger at Page and said with a shaky voice, "It's not yours. We got it, finders keepers."

Gror planted his sword on the ground, "It is mine, and you stole it. If you don't give it back we will hurt you."

"No, leave us alone you midget."

A vein popped up on Gror's head. He clenched his fists and pulled the blade out of the ground, holding it above the kid's head dangerously. The kid began crying and Page had to hold Gror back. He planted his sword back into the ground but his anger wasn't relieved. He placed on a pair of gloves and pounded his fists together. He jumped into the huddle of kids and a cloud of dust rose as kids flew out of it, punches and kicks flying left and right.

It didn't even take five minutes and all the kids around him were unconscious with a large bump on their heads as Gror took back his dagger and put it back in his pocket, wrapping it more securely.

A rock flew out from the side and hit him in the head. A little girl had a pile near her foot and held another two, ready to throw again. A few other kids saw her and followed suit, throwing and flinging rocks and trash at them. A rotten banana landed on Page's head and this time, his forehead had a vein bulge.