I Dare Say that the Color of Stars are Blue[Star Piece Quest]

[Demetri Malius]

Although the range of his extra sensing abilities had been greatly shortened, Demetri was able to reach out and try to detect magical presences. Only a few stood out to him nearby. One of the shop owners, one of the guards, and one of the wandering citizens.

The merchant was selling enchanted goods of all sorts, although there were quite a few shops around that did the same. Perhaps she was a mage from above that created her wares and sold them in order to make a living, but then again, perhaps she was only low level and just received shipments like the others.

The guard was most likely the captain of this section of law enforcement, with more offensive capabilities, if anything Demetri would need to watch out for him. Last thing he would need is fireballs flying at him. That or perhaps some debilitating magic that would prevent his escape.

Then there was the wandering one, cloaked in robes and wearing a rather large hat. It seemed almost comical, like they were trying to stand out. It was worth investigating.

“What do you think of this one, Iris?”

“I dunno, they are just standing there in the plaza trying to talk to people.”

“Then allow us to take a closer look.”

They walked alongside the townspeople, making their way to the man, who they found sported a long white beard and was fairly old. He seemed to be surrounded by mostly children.

“Now now, that is not all, here I have a deck of cards. Now here, child, pick one.”

“Okay!” One of the children in front of him looks at the deck of cards displayed out in a fan in front of him. She hesitated twice, before settling on one in the middle.

“Take a look at your card.”

“Okay, I see it.”

“Good, now put it back in, and don’t let me see it.” The young child nodded and did so, a expecting look on her face for what was to come.

“Now let’s see, I will shuffle it a few times.” The wizards did show, displaying his knowledge of these tricks as he fancifully shuffled the cards around in the air. In the moments of awe, Demetri noticed a card slip into the wizards sleeve.

“The sneaky bastard.” He whispered under his breath with a smile.

The sly wizard finished his shuffling. “Are you ready to see your card?”

“Yeah!”

The wizard began to look through his cards. “Hmm… interesting?”

“What?”

“Well dear girl, I don’t seem to see your card in here, do you?”

“Huh? Lemme see!” She stretched to her toes as the wizard spread out the deck, the girl searching for the card she had seen.

“Where is it? Where did it go?”

“Ah, wait I see it, right over here. The Magician.” The wizard reached forwards behind the girl’s ear as he slid the card in his sleeve up to his hand.

“See?” He spoke as he pulled his hand away, showing the last card, the girl’s eyes widening in surprise. ‘WOW! Do it again do it again?”

“Ohohoo…”The wizard chuckled and waved his hand towards a small bucket that held a few gold coins.

“Aww but I ran out of my allowance for today…”

In the meantime, Demetri had began summoning a simple gold coin, and handed it off to Iris, who whirred with excitement as she walked forward.

“May I have a try at it mister wizard man?” Iris asked anxiously.

“Of course, now let’s see.”

Demetri watched as he repeated the process, waiting for his chance. He left his image standing next to his partner and quickly reached into the sleeve of the wizard once he saw an opening, snatching and stashing the card before returning to his previous position.

“Hmmm… how peculiar. Again the card is missing? I wonder…”

“Ah, old wanderer, it appears that the card must have fallen out of your sleeve,” Demetri spoke up as he reached down and pretended to pick up something, quickly flashing the card. “Is this your card Iris?”

“Uh, no it isn’t Creator… that’s The Fool.” Iris spoke up, a bit of concern in her voice.

Demetri was dumbfounded. Had the wizard made a mistake?

“Ah, wait you troublemaker, I see it now.” The wizard gave a smirk and a chuckle.

“You were hiding it behind your ear all along. Ah, I see, The Hanged Man.”

“Impossible I sensed what you-”Demetri stopped his accusation as the wizard reached behind his ear and pulled out the correct card, Iris nearly squealing at the wonder of it all.

“Amazing Creator!”

Another chuckle escaped from the wizards lips. Before he could speak up a nearby guard confronted them.

“That’s enough you old fool, your tricks are nothing to gawk at, simply to entertain children. Shameful that you ask for gold in exchange that is.” The upset guard seemed to hint that this happened often.

“Seems that’s all I have time for today, I must be on my way.

“Yeah, back to Dalaran with you.”

Demetri didn’t have time to mull over what just happened in his mind. The guard stated that the old wizard was heading back to Dalaran. Perhaps he should catch a ride. He pulled Iris aside, whispering the activation word before stealthing and keeping the wizard in his range. Dusk had begun to fall, and he needed the night to cover his tracks.

“Oh dear, can’t have you getting bent, gotta straighten you up a little.” The wizard spoke as he straightened up his Chariot card. “Atta girl.” He seemed to dust it off before giving it a toss, the card growing into a large platform floating just above the ground. This was Demetri’s chance. As the wizard began to ascend, the end of each of Demetri’s chains snagged the corners of the flying card, rocking it slightly.

“Woah there, seems you're having a little of trouble, remind me to iron you when we get home.”

Demetri sighed with relief, this was a very roundabout way of getting up there, but he didn't want to take the chance of summoning a ride and either having to dessumon it at the top or risk it being discovered. Mages were unpredictable, and he needed to stay as hidden as possible.

“You’re being pretty risky here Creator.” Iris whispered as they ascended to the city.

“It bothers me just as much, but we don’t have much choice. Magic has always made my skin crawl, especially when I don’t have much knowledge of it.”

“Understandable.”

It was not too long of a flight, with Demetri waiting until the island was just in reach before retracting his chains and swinging over to the nearest building. The city reeked of magic and tricks. Granted, Demetri could now detect many of the hidden secrets that were around him, but even so, it felt he could not even trust the ground beneath him.

“So now what do we do?”

“We find out where this powerful item is hidden, and we simply take it.”

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