Enslaved by the Crown: The Weakest Slave Has the Strongest Ability

He reached the place he’d marked during his earlier search.

The old trading marker was still there.

So were the tracks.

Eldrin crouched beside them.

He ran his fingers lightly through the mud.

Fresh.

Not from the wagon he’d already seen.

These were narrower.

Boots.

Someone had walked through here recently.

More than once.

He followed them for several minutes until they disappeared beside the rear wall of an old warehouse.

Eldrin looked up.

The building had been abandoned long enough for part of its roof to collapse. Most of the windows were broken.

One wasn’t.

A shutter had been closed from the inside.

He stared at it.

Someone’s using the building.

He moved closer.

A faint light leaked through the gap beneath the door.

Eldrin stopped.

He stepped back into the darkness.

Voices.

Two men.

He couldn’t make out the words.

Then the door opened.

A figure stepped outside carrying a lantern.

Eldrin instinctively flattened himself against the wall.

The man looked down the road.

Then behind him.

He wasn’t a guard.

He wasn’t a merchant either.

His clothes were plain, but his movements were careful.

Another person spoke from inside.

"Anything?"

"Nothing."

The man lowered his voice.

"Search the riverbank again."

"The whole thing?"

"Until we find it."

Eldrin’s eyes narrowed.

It.

Are they looking for the ledger.

He waited until the man went back inside.

Then he moved.

Not toward the warehouse.

Around it.

There was a narrow alley behind the building, barely wide enough for a person. He slipped into it and found a second entrance.

Locked.

He touched the handle.

No keyhole on the outside.

Eldrin looked upward.

A shadow stretched beneath the overhang.

He stared at it.

Then at the display in his mind.

Shadow Step — 4%

Enough.

He focused on the darkness.

His body shifted.

For one disorienting instant, the space between them vanished.

Eldrin stumbled out of the shadow on the other side of the wall.

He caught himself before making a sound.

He was inside.

The smell hit him first.

Dust.

Oil.

Wet wood.

And something metallic.

He waited until his eyes adjusted.

The warehouse had been converted into a temporary search room.

Tables stood in rows.

Maps covered one wall.

Several crates had been opened and emptied.

Someone had been searching thoroughly.

Eldrin moved closer.

A list was pinned above one of the tables.

Names.

Times.

Locations.

His eyes moved down the page.

Then stopped.

The merchant company was written at the top.

Below it were three names he didn’t recognize.

One had been crossed out.

Another had a note beside it.

Missing.

Eldrin frowned.

So these weren’t random thieves.

They were connected to the merchant company somehow.

He reached toward the paper.

A floorboard creaked behind him.

Eldrin froze.

He turned.

Nothing.

Then came another sound.

Closer.

Someone was walking through the main room.

Eldrin glanced around.

No time.

He slipped behind a stack of crates.

A man entered.

The same one he’d seen outside.

He walked toward the table and placed something on it.

A small leather pouch.

"Found this near the east bank."

Another voice answered from the far side of the room.

"Courier’s?"

"Looks like it."

A pause.

"Then he was here."

Eldrin’s attention sharpened.

The man opened the pouch.

Inside was a torn strip of cloth and a brass token.

Then the second man spoke.

"Did you find the ledger?"

"No."

A quiet curse.

"We’ve searched the castle. We’ve searched the road. We’ve searched the river."

"Then where did he hide it?"

Silence.

Eldrin slowly leaned closer.

The answer came eventually.

"That’s what we’re going to find out."

A chair scraped across the floor.

"We’re wasting time. If the other group gets it first, we’re finished."

Eldrin’s eyes narrowed.

Other group.

So there were at least two parties searching.

And neither had the ledger.

That was useful.

Very useful.

Because if both groups had failed to find it...

Then perhaps they had both been looking in the wrong place.

Eldrin looked down at the merchant papers spread across the table.

The courier.

The castle.

The river.

The altered route.

Something connected them.

He just hadn’t found the connection yet.

A hand suddenly reached toward the crate behind which he was hiding.

Eldrin’s breath stopped.

The man was about to look directly at him.

He had seconds.

His eyes snapped toward the darkest corner of the warehouse.

A strip of shadow beneath a broken staircase.

Five metres.

Maybe six.

Enough.

Eldrin focused.

The world folded.

He vanished from behind the crates.

A heartbeat later, he stumbled silently into the darkness beneath the staircase.

The man pulled the crate away.

Nothing.

He frowned.

"What’s wrong?"

"I thought I heard something."

Eldrin stayed perfectly still.

His heart was pounding.

That was too close.

He waited.

The men returned to their search.

Eldrin looked once more toward the table.

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