The Viridian Gloves: Part Five

     Harlath froze as a thought occurred to him. It was likely that the empty wagon was still sitting at the abandoned warehouse. If he staked that out instead, it might provide him additional opportunity to get a look at the face of its driver. And if it wasn't there, he would still have plenty of time to make it to Faerieland.

     He leaped up to race to the warehouse, but ran right into the chest of Orig the Great, who had come up beside him unobserved. Orig cleared his throat solemnly. "Harlath. I'm glad I could find you here. I read the report on what you saw in Tyrannia last night. And of course, I met your friend Shalina last night, she was a great help in containing the fire. I'm here to offer you a trade. I was in Tyrannia through blind luck. I get the feeling that you weren't, and that you've cracked the pattern in their heists. I need that information. If you give me that, I'll let you come along, or do your own investigating, without trying to cajole you to stay out of it."

     Harlath gave a sour smile. "You can't stop me from snooping around anyways. Not unless you want to trade in your Defenders badge for a Babysitters of Neopia one."

     "Could be true. Regardless, think of the people you'd be helping if your information could help crack the case."

     Harlath made a great show of pondering this. "Certainly. Tonight the robbery will occur in Faerieland. I won't be there, though."

     Orig shrugged. "Well, per the terms of our agreement, I don't care where you are. You're sure about this, though?"

     "They could always realize they're being too predictable and change the pattern. Barring that, I'm 100 percent sure. You have to follow them to their leader though, catching them in the act alone would be worthless."

     "Oh, I'm aware of that." Orig turned and looked to the south, where many miles away the rebuilt ruins of Faerieland rested. "I'm more concerned with uncovering the method behind the fires. Once I know we can prevent that and keep the houses safe, I'll try to set up an operation to find the Meercas and follow them to their boss. Stay in touch, I may need your guess on the next target again."

     Harlath was in luck! The wagon still sat there, as empty as it had been the night before, with the Alabriss attached seeming to have been freshly fed and watered. He studied the scene for a moment, looking for the best way to position himself to catch a glimpse of the face under the hood. A warm wind whistled through the open windows of the deserted warehouse. Finally, shrugging, he slid himself under the wagon. The criminal mastermind would pass right by, the torchlight by the dilapidated entrance providing the best look Harlath was going to get. Once they reached the wagon, they would have left the lighted area and would have difficulty seeing him in the dirt below. The wagon would drive away, passing right over him with a reasonable margin of inches to spare. If he didn't have anything by then, he'd have to follow it again; hopefully the driver would once again keep a slow pace in hopes of passing unnoticed.

     It was a good thing Harlath had arrived here early, for just a quarter of an hour later the commanding figure appeared from the abandoned warehouse. He strained to make out any features. This time the concealing robe and hood worn by the figure was a dark, regal purple. In the torchlight Harlath made out the gleam of a pair of piercing blue eyes beneath the hood. Then the moment was gone and the cloaked thief was right beside him, then passing by and preparing the mount to pull the wagon. Harlath crawled out from under the wagon in the opposite direction. He ducked inside the warehouse door, quickly examining the room inside for anything that would be of use. Finding nothing, he peered back outside just in time to see the wagon passing over the hill. He followed it quickly, again moving hurriedly but quietly.

     Rather than heading south towards Faerieland, the thief traveled west towards the mountain range separating Neopia Central from Shenkuu. This didn't surprise Harlath – rather than meet near Tyrannia in the south, the previous night had seen the meeting occur north of Neopia Central in Happy Valley. Compared to that roundabout trip, the ride from Faerieland to here would be very short. As the mountains approached, the vehicle turned left and reached the north edge of the Haunted Woods. Harlath took the opportunity to slip under the cover of the trees – the wagon appeared ready to stop, and it wouldn't be hard to spot the young Krawk on the open plains if its driver disembarked or even turned. Sure enough, the wagon did turn to put the front end facing towards the woods, then stopped.

     Hiding behind a tree, he waited.

     Orig had pinpointed the Hidden Tower as the likely target that night, and had mapped out a circle of about half a dozen shops and houses that were likely to catch fire as a distraction. He guessed the crime would begin within an hour, which to be safe gave him only about twenty minutes to guess the correct house and enter it. At the first house, his soft rap at the window had brought an angry Ogrin to the door, complaining about the intrusion. Finding the first house occupied didn't really prove that it was safe, but with a limited time to unearth the threat Orig had no choice but to assume the pattern of unoccupied buildings being torched would continue. At the second house, he knocked, knocked louder, and finally carefully disabled the lock without breaking it. Searching the three rooms, he found only a sleeping Xweetok and silently slipped out. Stealing a key hanging near the door, he relocked it from the outside and slid the key under the crack in the door. Moving onto a neighboring shop, he knocked again, then entered the same way.

     His attention was immediately arrested by a large package at the wall of the room, sitting on a flammable pile of grain. Opening the top, he saw a burning fuse attached to what appeared to be a jar of oil. Orig attempted to snuff out the fuse, but it seemed to continue burning at the center of the wick even as the outside was cleared of flame. Noting the fuse was slow-moving but very short by now, Orig estimated it had been burning for hours, but he only had two minutes now. Figuring out the mechanism to disable the improvised firebomb was a luxury he couldn't afford now – he had to get it away from the village.

     Leaving the shops behind, he rushed to the river. Running out of time and afraid to damage the Healing Springs by tossing the device in, he quickly buried it halfway in mud on the river bank and moved away as quickly as he could. When he was only a dozen steps away, the device went off!

     Luckily the explosive was designed to spread fire, not a damaging shockwave. Orig looked back and saw a house-sized patch of grass was on fire, but it seemed unlikely to spread fast. It would be more important to try and make it back to the hidden tower in time to follow the Meercas. Orig quickly spotted a door facing the conflagration. He pounded on the door, heard someone stirring inside, and raced away. Once the citizen came to the door and saw the flame, they would rouse others to help if need be.

     Reaching the Hidden Tower, Orig saw two guards lying unconscious at the entrance. They seemed to have been looking out across the village at the explosion. Orig imagined that the explosion not occurring in the shop had scrambled the Meercas' plans, causing them to resort to violence. Orig passed into the Hidden Tower's vault and saw it partially emptied. The thieves had slipped through the net again, but it was just as well. Confronting them here would have forced an arrest, letting their boss get away and start over with a new set of henchmen. With a definite fix on how the arson was committed, the next time would be a different story. The Defenders of Neopia would be prepared. Orig shook his head and began setting up a crime scene. He did notice a second pair of customized viridian utility gloves on the floor.

     When the Meerca Brothers arrived, their employer hissed, "You're late."

     "Just a little scuffle with the guards," Meerouladen said easily. "You had to know that sooner or later the guards of valuable places like this would stop running top speed at the fire. They stopped to think for a second. They were connecting the dots, they knew that we were coming to rob them. But no worry, we took care of them, and they saw nothing."

     Harlath tried again to catch a glimpse under the hood in the light of the flashlight Heermeedjet held pointed at the ground. But he could have saved the strain on his eyes, because at that moment a huge gust of wind sent the purple hood flipping away from the master thief's face. Harlath stifled a gasp.

     The pair of fierce blue eyes belonged to a Green Acara, female and possessing a confident, elegant bearing. Her ears were studded with earrings, and a beautiful brooch was seated atop the cloak now flapping in the wind. Harlath knew her right away from all the reading he had done in the library about Defenders of Neopia. Masila, the Mistress of the Double-Cross, had returned to Neopia.

     Harlath had all the information he could get here – it was time to get to safety. Trying to sneak out of the forest was out of the question. He would move further into the forest, travel west within the woods, then try to make it back to Neopia Central before Masila and her wagon. The Defenders were on low alert and might now be able to reach the warehouse in time, but it was worth a try.

     Harlath took a quick step back, but the forest betrayed him! He tripped on a log and sprawled into a pile of leaves, making a huge crash. Masila's ears perked and she immediately made a hand signal to the Meercas, who raced after the source of the noise. Rather than try to flee noisily through the forest, Harlath rolled behind the log, hoping they would run right past without seeing him.

     No such luck. The two henchmen immediately spotted the teenager. Hauling Harlath to his feet, they yanked him back to the wagon. Masila examined him with glittering eyes.

     "Well, well. Whatever do we have here? Don't worry child, we won't hurt you. But you're about to take a little ride with us."

To be continued...