Artefact Hunters: Ikimono's Mirror

     Hanso felt a strange blend of impatience and trepidation as the wagon inched its way into the main city. The festival trappings he’d seen adorning Kasuma, Chiaki, and even the further reaches of the Imperial City had nothing on what he was passing now. Besides the absolute crush of people, colourful banners and paper lanterns adorned every building and hung high over the streets.

     The sun was inching its way to the far horizon now, and it looked like festivities were starting to pick up. Costumed pets danced to live music or took to roaming the streets, and wagons like the one Hanso and Brynn were on lined those streets, setting up to sell their wares to eager customers.

     Almost as soon as he observed that, his wagon turned down a road that was full of the things and began to slow further as its driver searched out a place to park and unload. Hanso turned and nudged Brynn, who was sitting upright and watching their surroundings intently.

     ‘Looks like this is our stop,’ he bleated, jerking his head back toward the slowly receding main road to get his point across.

     Brynn watched the road for a few more moments, and Hanso started to worry that he hadn’t been clear enough. Before he could formulate a better way to get his idea across, though, she nudged him back and pointed a forepaw at a quieter side street they had just passed.

     Hanso nodded, and together the two of them hopped down from the back of the wagon and ducked into the alley. Somebody shouted something behind them, but they bolted down the street before he could tell whether it was someone witnessing them ditching their “owners.”

     A few festival goers startled as they ran past, but none were suspicious enough to intercept them. So far, at least, the busy city seemed to be on their side.

     The sky was starting to rapidly darken, and Neopians were lighting their lanterns to replace the waning fingers of reaching sunlight. Brynn tried not to let it all distract her, but it really was beautiful. She hoped she and Hanso would have a chance to join the festivities once this mission was over and done with.

     For now, though, it was all she could do to keep from losing him in the crowd. They had continued on the semi-quiet side street for as long as they could, but it hadn’t been long before it stopped at an intersection with one of the larger thoroughfares. Now, they had to hug storefronts as closely as they could while weaving around both merchants and partygoers.

     Brynn spared a brief look up and to her right, where a sheer bit of rock was just visible beyond the buildings and trees. Finding their destination was the easy part. The Imperial Palace was near the very top of Kazeriu’s Roost, with only the great Lunar Temple’s observatory above it. So long as they went uphill, they were on the right track.

     With that in mind, she took a right turn at the next intersection. She then paused, Hanso’s breath hot in her ear as he pressed up against her.

     This road went uphill, all right. It meandered as it did, curving around the harshest slopes and taking an almost zigzagged path to climb the mountain while maintaining a gentle rise. From the angle they were at, it seemed to disappear into the city only to resurface once or twice near the edge of the slopes further above. Brynn wasn’t certain, but she thought she’d seen this street when she and Hanso had first flown into Shenkuu over a week ago, and again from their temporary rooms in the palace.

     Hanso either agreed or figured it was good enough, because he snorted and started forward. Brynn followed close behind him.

     The crowds were even bigger here, and many Neopets were starting to press up against the sides of the street and claim spaces for themselves like they were waiting for something. The two adventurers-turned-Petpets edged past a stand offering sparklers and other festival trinkets and wove around a cluster of tourists whose accents suggested they were visiting from Altador. They were finally forced out toward the middle of the road when the pet Werhond of a seated family of Kacheeks eyed them with a threatening growl.

     By this point, Brynn was starting to hear snatches of drumbeats and the plucking of stringed instruments filtering down from the street above. It sounded like a parade was coming this way. More people were settling down off at the sides, and she thought she could see a festival official trying to clear the centre of the street just up ahead.

     She nudged Hanso in the flank. When he turned to face her, she nodded back to the sidelines with a grunt. Her tail twitched anxiously. She didn’t like how exposed they were getting out here in the open.

     Hanso nodded, and they trotted back to where most pets were sitting or standing. Brynn squeezed past legs, fins, and tails as quickly and discreetly as she could. It was harder now, without the flow of movement in the crowd. She could practically feel the cold or confused stares of Neopets as she pushed past them.

     Then she really did feel something shifting in just the wrong way against her back. It was subtle, and she almost missed it among the press of people. But years of dealing with Hanso’s sticky fingers had honed her senses.

     Brynn twisted around just in time to see a small Mynci pulling his hand back from where he’d been trying to mess with her satchel. She let out a warning snarl at the would-be thief, hackles raised. The Mynci stumbled back, knocking into a Lenny, and a burst of alarm rippled through the surrounding crowd.

     “Thief!” a Quiggle shrieked, pointing at the Mynci.

     “Hey, someone get your Petpets!” someone else called out. “The thief is going after them!”

     Brynn shrank back as a portion of unwanted attention shifted to her and Hanso. She pushed him ahead of her in her desperation to leave this cluster behind and disappear back into the crowd.

     Hanso kept his head low, using his horns to push past festival goers with perhaps a little more force than was wise. His heart was pounding in his chest. What would’ve happened if that Mynci had managed to get Brynn’s satchel open? How many Neopets could have been hit by the mirror? Didn’t that blasted thief know when he should keep his hands to himself?!

     Hanso froze in place, eyes widening and ears drooping. Oh no. This was worse than getting turned into a Nuk. He was starting to turn into a responsible citizen.

     Brynn nudged his side and growled softly in his ear. Not angry or threatening, just a firm reminder that they needed to keep moving. Hanso shook off his existential dread and did just that, squeezing between two families and ducking under a Uni.

     The parade was getting closer, which had at least taken up the crowd’s attention for now. Hanso heard flutes and stringed instruments he couldn’t name among the beating of drums and the reverberation of gongs. From his vantage point, though, all he could see were the assorted lower limbs of the audience, interspersed with occasional Petpets sitting in varying degrees of obedience by their owner’s sides.

     He was giving a side-eye to an overly affectionate-looking Puppyblew when he came upon a solid wall of Skeith. The bulky pet had settled back on her haunches, which was nice for anyone who needed to look over her shoulder but bad for a couple of Petpets trying to slip past. And it looked like she’d brought a similarly sized family.

     Hanso looked around for a moment, and then gave up and tried to find a way behind the Skeith. Surely the crowd would be a bit thinner in the back anyway, right?

     While he was trying to work out a path behind all the legs, he caught the attention of the Puppyblew’s owner. “Hey, whoever has the Nuk and the Biyako should really be keeping them on a leash!” he called out, scooping up his beloved Petpet and eyeing Brynn warily.

     That got the Skeith’s attention, and she turned to peer down at Hanso and Brynn. “Well, they aren’t mine,” she said, reaching out a thick arm. “Go on, shoo!”

     Hanso stumbled backwards, mind racing with the thought that the next hand might reach for him if he didn’t get moving. He bumped into Brynn, and then turned and all but pulled her with him in the only direction that he had available.

     In moments, they had pushed past the last set of legs and out into the open. Hanso could see the parade clearly now. Musicians and dancers and puppeteers cavorted along to a jaunty tune, and a float of some kind loomed up behind them. The parade was also very nearly on top of him and Brynn.

     The stir he’d caused earlier escalated into shouts as the audience realized the same thing. A festival official stepped out onto the street, eyes locked firmly on him and Brynn. At that point, his old criminal instincts took over. He bolted straight up the path that he figured gave them the best chance of getting away.

     Musicians faltered and dancers stumbled as he galloped through their ranks, desperate to break the officials’ lines of sight while still taking advantage of the fact that the parade wasn’t half as tightly packed as its sidelines. A few flashes of yellowish-probably-orange told him that Brynn was keeping pace, taking the more practical but visible route of running just along the sidelines. Either way, the shouts were definitely getting louder now.

     Before Hanso knew it, the float was upon him. Without even registering what it was supposed to be, he leaped up onto the wagon supporting it and bolted past startled entertainers while Brynn ran past at its side. Sensing an opportunity, he veered off to the side as well and jumped back down to rejoin her. It wasn’t like he could cause any more of a ruckus this way.

     Then more officials stepped out ahead of them, trying to cut them off and inadvertently forcing them both to cut across the parade again anyway. Entertainers stumbled or shrieked or burst into startled laughter at the Petpet intruders running past.

     Hanso had long since lost track of how many turns they’d made or how far they were up the mountain. All he knew was that they needed to ditch this parade, and fast. For now, though, he couldn’t think of anything to do but run lest someone finally catch up to him and Brynn and haul them off to some Petpet control centre. Or, worse, open up her bag.

     Hanso and Brynn reached the back of the latest group of musicians, and the parade thinned to make way for a massive puppet. It was one of those traditional, mystical Shenkese dragons that didn’t especially resemble any draconic Neopet or Petpet species. The dragon was almost more costume than puppet, controlled by a whole band of puppeteers. They danced down the street, heedless of the havoc Hanso and Brynn had caused.

     In desperation, Hanso ducked between the legs of the puppeteers. They continued to weave their way around him and Brynn, either too caught up in their performance to notice them or too dedicated to care. He allowed himself a moment to breathe, shielded from view by the dragon as he tried to scope out some kind of exit point from the parade.

     There. Back only a short way from whence they’d come, there was a side street branching off of the main one. The crowd looked ever so slightly thinner by that street, and Hanso thought it still led uphill.

     Hanso stayed low and moved with the dragon puppet, but to Brynn, he let out a small grunt and nodded toward the place. She nodded back almost imperceptibly.

     When the puppeteers wound their way toward the audience in his target spot, Hanso took a deep breath and bolted out of hiding. He pushed through the crowd as quickly as he could, trying to break through before the alarm went up.

     The festival officials had gotten there first.

     “Gotcha!” a burly Eyrie shouted, snatching Hanso off the ground before he had a chance to react. Hanso bucked and thrashed, but the Eyrie manoeuvred him under one arm and grabbed hold of one of his horns before he could knock himself loose.

     Looking around wildly, Hanso just caught a glimpse of Brynn disappearing between two buildings. Whether by careful action, divine intervention, or pure dumb luck, she’d managed to slip away while the officials were busy with him. He thought he could see a pair of small blue eyes turn and peer back out at him from a shadowed corner.

     This was… fine. This was good. Brynn was the one with Ikimono’s Mirror, the one who couldn’t afford to be caught. And she was the one who’d been transformed entirely by accident, while he’d just panicked and done something stupid. She could get to the palace, get herself fixed up, and return for him afterwards. Heck, if Petpet control looked in his bag and found her journal, they might figure it out and send him to her themselves.

     ‘Keep going!’ Hanso bleated, shaking his head at her and waving her on in between obstinate kicks at his captor.

     The eyes vanished, and he tried to be okay with that. Brynn had given him the same kind of instruction regarding herself, in the past. Not that he’d often listened, but she would be proud of him for putting the mission first.

     “Hey Shun, cover for me,” the Eyrie called out to one of his colleagues. “I have to get this Nuk to Petpet control before it does any more damage.”

     Hanso continued struggling as the official turned and started hauling him down a back road, but it was more out of sheer stubbornness than any expectations of getting away. He couldn’t move his head much with the Eyrie’s firm grasp on his horn, and he was in a poor position to connect with his hooves. After everything the Shenkese wilderness had thrown at him and Brynn, everything they’d evaded and survived, this was the end of the line for him.

     It was frustrating and humiliating, but he’d be released in the end. Probably.

     The sounds of the parade faded behind him. There wasn’t anything in the way of festivities happening on this street, and the quiet would have been a welcome change of pace if it wasn’t for the situation Hanso was in. A small, shadowed figure passed on an overhead rooftop, but he wasn’t in the mood to wonder who or what was slinking about out here.

     Then the shadow dropped down. A Biyako, bright-furred and with an oversized satchel on her back, landed hard on the Eyrie’s shoulders and snarled in his ear. The force of the blow made the Eyrie double over, his sheer size the only thing that kept him from collapsing entirely. With his grip loosened, Hanso broke free with a single jerk of the head, landed hard on the stone pavement, and started galloping.

     Brynn was with him a second later, leaving the winded official stumbling ineffectually behind them. After a few moments, the Eyrie gave up and shouted, “Fine then! Just stay away from the festival!”

     Gladly, Hanso thought as he and Brynn darted around a corner that would take them further uphill.

     To be continued…