Gremlin's Greed: Chapter 4 COMPLETE (Patreon)

“I’m going to rip Bartholomew’s disgusting little head right off his shoulders,” Jasper snarled.

Moonlight illuminated several caravans that had set up camp for the night along the enormous walls of Rellen. The guard stationed in front of the nearest set of wagons had a familiar red plume hanging mockingly from his helmet.

“It appears we have encountered a slight problem. Bartholomew got us good,” Ethan agreed, scratching his head in thought. Despite their situation, he couldn’t keep the smirk off his face.

They stood just outside of the gates of Rellen, hidden under the wall’s shadow. Jasper rubbed his hands together and frowned thoughtfully.

“It won’t be a big problem for me to mask our appearance, but it’ll take some effort. If Linna is still with them, she might end up seeing through it,” Jasper said.

“Are you not strong enough to evade her abilities?” Ethan asked, his eyebrows raising slightly.

“Of course I am, you sod,” Jasper barked. “But not for weeks on end. Not with our current situation, anyways.”

Ethan grunted and he unconsciously lifted a hand up to his chest. He clenched his fingers into a fist and pressed it against his body.

“If Linna discovers us, we will deal with it.”

A dull purple spark leapt from Jasper’s hands to Ethan. Energy rippled across the tall man’s body, changing his appearance as it went. Ethan’s skin grew several shades lighter and his hair lengthened so that it reached his shoulders. His nose became hawkish and his other features morphed until he was completely unrecognizable.

Jasper nodded in satisfaction once he had finished with Ethan and directed the energy toward himself. Green skin turned white and he grew several inches taller. His face morphed until all his gremlin features had become human, although his eyes kept the hungry look within them. Once both transformations were complete, Jasper stretched his arms out and took a cautious step away from the wall.

“I hate having to change my height. I don’t know how you can balance on those stilts you call legs,” Jasper whined.

“It is better than being crotch level,” Ethan said dryly. His voice was an octave higher than normal. He pursed his lips.

“Did you have to make my voice this much higher? I sound like I’m going through puberty.”

Jasper just cackled and darted toward the caravan. He promptly tripped over his feet and flopped face first into the ground. The gremlin let a muffled string of curses out into the grass.

Ethan smirked and ambled over, pulling the gremlin back to his feet and wiping the dirt from his shoulders with the back of a calloused hand. The swordsman jerked his chin at the caravan guard, who was snoring loudly and using his spear as a prop to keep himself standing.

“I can see why they need our help,” he said.

Jasper walked over to the sleeping guard, watching his feet to avoid falling a second time. He tapped the man on the shoulder several times, but the only response he received was a slightly louder snore.

“Out like a rock,” Jasper announced. “Do you reckon we could just rob-”

Ethan cut the gremlin off with a sharp glare. Jasper’s shoulders slumped and he sighed. The gremlin gave the guard’s spear a light kick, dislodging the man’s support and causing him to fall.

The guard let out a shriek as his butt hit the ground. He scrambled away from them like a terrified crab, then realized he had forgotten his spear. The man lunged forward, missing the spear completely. Jasper nudged the spear back toward the guard, who managed to grab it after shuffling blindly through the grass for a moment.

“State your name and reason for approaching the Tren Caravan!” He barked as menacingly as he could from the ground. He pointed the wrong end of the spear toward Ethan and waved it around with a trembling hand.

Ethan reached down and removed the spear from the man’s hands effortlessly. He spun it around, so it was properly oriented, and handed it back to the guard.

“Calm yourself, friend! Your caravan master is expecting us,” Ethan said.

The guardsman lowered the spear slightly and gave it a suspicious look. He squinted at them through the darkness and scratched his chin pensively.

“You’re the Visions? You don’t look like Visions,” he said.

“And what does a Vision look like?” Ethan asked.

The guardsman opened his mouth but closed it without responding. He shot one more intense look at the two men that had interrupted his sleep before sighing and rising to his feet. He still looked quite displeased.

“We won’t mention we found you sleeping,” Ethan said with a smirk. The guard’s frown vanished, and he gave them a curt nod.

“Fair enough. Lady Tren did say to expect two Visions. I just didn’t expect you’d arrive at such an ungodly hour. Luckily, we’ve already got a wagon prepared for you.”

The guardsman led Jasper and Ethan down the long line of connected wagons, stopping at the second one from the end. He pushed a tarp flap open with the butt of his spear and waved for them to enter.

“You can rest here until morning, sirs. The Lady will want to talk with you once the sun rises.”

Jasper gave a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders and stepped into the wagon. Ethan flashed a large smile at the guard and followed Jasper in. The tarp fell shut behind them and the guardsman walked back to his post, muttering under his breath about Visions.

It didn’t take long for gentle golden rays to slip under the tarp and enter the wagons. Ethan rose from the thin straw bedroll that the caravan had provided and looked outside. Sunlight trickled into the wagon, and the fresh morning air was filled with curses as Jasper awoke.

Men and women rushed up and down the caravan, carrying piles of goods and dragging crates behind them. Ethan and Jasper slipped out of the wagon, nearly getting knocked over by flustered workers in the process.

“Busy place,” Ethan observed as they slipped through the crowd of workers.

“Too busy. Nobody should be awake this early,” Jasper grumbled.

“Ah, gentlemen! I’m awfully glad to see you. I hope you slept well last night,” a woman’s voice said.

Jasper and Ethan turned to see the stern woman from the mountain pass walking toward them. Her forehead was creased with lines of stress, but her mouth was twisted into a wry smile and her eyes were as sharp as knives.

“Your beds were terri-”

“We found everything quite suitable, thank you,” Ethan said, shooting Jasper a warning glance.

The Vision grunted and nodded grudgingly in agreement. The merchant’s eyes twinkled slightly as she assessed the disguised gremlin, but she didn’t pursue the topic.

“In case you aren’t already aware, my name is Melinda Tren. I’m the owner of this caravan,” the merchant said.

“A pleasure. I am Jackson, and the grumpy man beside me goes by Julian. Jill for short. I’m afraid he isn’t much of a morning person,” Ethan said apologetically.

Jasper sent Ethan a furious glare, but the tall man deflected it with a wide grin and shrugged his shoulders apologetically to Melinda.

“I can see,” Melinda said with a wry smile.

Melinda extended a hand to Ethan, who shook it confidently. She then offered her hand to Jasper. The gremlin glared at her. After a moment, he gingerly reached out and shook her hand with two fingers, as if it were a disgusting limp fish rather than a hand.

“We’ll have three stops on our trip. We’ll first drop by Aaron’s Vale for a day, then we’ll stay at Ringden for half a week before arriving at Stormfront. Are both of you Visions?” Melinda asked.

“Fun, fun. And no, just me,” Jasper said. He peered closely at his nails and picked a fleck of dirt out from under them. “He’s my bodyguard.”

Melinda raised a thinning eyebrow. “What kind of Vision needs a bodyguard?”

“One that doesn’t want a knife making love to his back while he sleeps,” Jasper replied.

“Well, I paid for two Visions,” Melinda said, a furrow appearing in her brow.

“Eth–”

Jasper paused as Ethan shot him a sharp look.

“– Jackson pulls his weight, and I’m more than enough to handle any problems he can’t,” Jasper said.

“Hmm,” Melinda said noncommittally. A wide grin abruptly crossed her face. She clapped the two men on their shoulders and, almost forcefully, led them up the train of wagons.

“I’m sure we can come to an agreement,” she said as they walked. “You see, we’ve run into some problems on the road recently. It generally isn’t anything we can’t handle, but we ran into a pair of bandits just recently that shook us down for just about every gold piece in the caravan.”

“Oh?” Ethan asked with mock surprise. “Just two bandits? How did that happen?”

“At least one of them was a Vision. He humiliated my guards and his partner traipsed through my caravan, taking damn near every piece of gold as well as a young woman.”

Jasper snorted and Melinda pierced him with a sharp glare.

“I do not find the kidnapping of my subordinates amusing, Vision. I don’t care how people treat you normally, but you’re working for me right now. You will treat my workers and I with the same respect that we show you.”

The Gremlin blinked. Melinda held eye contact with him for several seconds. A slight smile crossed Jasper’s face, and he inclined his head.

“Very well. I’m sorry.”

Ethan’s eyebrow twitched slightly, but he had his face back under control before anyone noticed. He cleared his throat to get Melinda’s attention.

“Did you ever recover this kidnapped girl?” He asked innocently.

Melinda nodded. “We did, by some miracle. She reunited with us yesterday, a while before you gentlemen joined us. According to her, the bandits didn’t harm a single hair on her head and even protected her from some sort of mythical beast,” the merchant said with a snort.

“Do you not believe her?” Ethan asked.

“Well, she was unharmed, so she’s telling at least some of the truth. But giant wolf creatures with scorpion tails…” she trailed off with a frown.

“Vodrun,” Jasper said.

Melinda’s head jerked up and her eyes latched onto him.

“That’s what she called them. They’re real?”

“Aye. But rare. And very dangerous. Surviving an encounter with them is quite a feat for a normal human,” Jasper said. “She must have been protected by some very powerful and handsome people.”

Melinda looked at Jasper out of the corners of her eyes, but it wasn’t uncommon for Visions to be eccentric. A frown made its way onto her face and the merchant readjusted a lapel that hung from her breast pocket.

“Ah, about that. She’s not a normal human.”

“Oh? A Vision then?” Ethan asked, once again pretending to be surprised.

“She’s a Vision,” Melinda agreed. “But an untrained one. She awoke during her little excursion away from our caravan.”

They stopped talking as they reached the front of the caravan. A guard near the foremost wagon was fiddling with a horse’s harness. He gave a sharp salute to Melinda when he noticed her. The guard then gave Jasper and Ethan a small nod before returning to his duty.

“An untrained Vision is dangerous. She ought to be studying in Rellen under another Vision’s tutelage,” Jasper said.

Melinda massaged her forehead and sighed.

“I’m aware of standard procedure for Vision training. But Linna is a special case. She’s an islander.”

Jasper shrugged. “Rellen hasn’t cared about that for years. She might run into some trouble from racist fools, but I’m sure it can’t be that hard to disguise her appearance. If she’s got thinner eyes, they can be hidden with a large hat or face wrappings. Covering clothes can hide her skin tone.”

Melinda gritted her teeth. She seemed to fight a battle within herself. After a short silence, the merchant let out another sigh and lifted her hands up helplessly.

“I paid for two Visions, but I got one. You can see where I’m going with this. Besides, nobody in Rellen will take her in,” Melinda said, leaning in closer. “I trust you will keep this between us at the cost of your contract being terminated. Linna is an Asharr.”

“Oh wow! That is a real shocker. I cannot believe it,” Jasper said in a monotone voice. Ethan slapped the gremlin on the shoulder and shook his head with a laugh.

“I apologize for my partner. I’m sure he’ll treat the situation with appropriate care, especially when your girl’s safety is involved,” Ethan said. His hand tightened on Jasper’s shoulder.

“Right, sorry. I’ll be nice and quiet,” Jasper said.

“Ensure that you do. But as for Linna-” Melinda started.

Jasper made a beckoning motion with his hand. The ground beneath him writhed and bulged upwards, forming itself into a chair. The Vision sat down casually, but his eyes were like shards of ice.

“There aren’t many Visions around today. They probably don’t even make up one percent of the population. Despite that, Visions run into each other quite often. Do you know why that is?” The gremlin asked seriously.

Melinda pressed her lips together and shook her head. Jasper extended his arm toward the merchant, his hand facing upwards. A tendril of dirt wound its way up from the ground and into his palm, where it formed itself into two small and featureless figures.

“We act as a grindstone for each other,” Jasper said.

The dirt figures in his hand lunged at each other. Small clods of dirt went flying as the gremlin’s creations fought. They struggled for several seconds before one of them got a firm grip on the other’s head and ripped it off.

The defeated combatant slumped to the ground while the victor raised its damaged arms to the sky in victory. Dirt flowed from the fallen figure to the survivor, repairing its wounds and making it slightly larger.

“Conflict makes us grow stronger. Some Visions will group together for strength while others set out on their own. But only a few will teach another Vision. Do you know why?”

Melinda shook her head again. The dirt man in Jasper’s hand separated into two smaller figures, one slightly larger than the other. The larger figure held a book out to the smaller one.

“The goal of a student is to eventually outperform their master. I think you can imagine why this would be an issue for a group of people as violent as Visions,” Jasper said with a smirk.

The smaller dirt figure took the book from its larger compatriot. In the same motion, a small blade formed in its hand. The student plunged its weapon into its master, killing it. Jasper closed his hand into a fist and the dirt cascaded back to the ground.

“Do you understand?” Jasper asked. “Training a Vision is almost akin to preparing someone that will try to kill me.”

Melinda’s mouth hung slightly open in shock. She snapped it closed and ran a hand through her hair.

“Barbaric. I’ve known Linna for several months now. She’s nothing like that!” The merchant protested.

“You used to know Linna,” Jasper corrected. “She’s a Vision now.”

Melinda harrumphed. “We’ll see about that. But I assume this means you won’t be teaching her?”

“Eh. I’ll do it,” Jasper said with a careless shrug of his shoulders.

“What? Then why did you tell me all that?” Melinda’s nose wrinkled. Jasper gave the merchant a coy smile and waved his hand dismissively.

“Just so you were aware of how much of a favor I’m doing you,” Jasper said.

His earthen chair crumbled to the ground as Jasper stood up. He brushed the dirt off his pants and pointed an accusatory finger at Melinda.

“But don’t forget you owe me for this. A lot,” Jasper said. He bared his teeth to the merchant, a gesture which likely would have been a good bit more intimidating if he hadn’t been disguised as a human.

Melinda swallowed. Jasper let a smile cross his face and he bobbed his head up and down eagerly.

“Well, glad that’s out of the way! I’m going to go find my protégée,” he said, clapping his hands together like a gleeful toddler.

He ambled off down the line of wagons, whistling a merry tune to himself. Melinda pursed her lips as she watched Jasper go. The Vision entered the growing crowd of caravan workers and vanished without a trace.

Melinda turned to Ethan and pursed her lips.

“I get the feeling I made a mistake, but I don’t know what it is,” She said.

“You’re probably right,” Ethan agreed. “But don’t worry too much. I’ll make sure she survives Jas- ah, Jill, at the very least.”

“Thank you, Jackson. Say, I never introduced you to Linna. How will Jill know what she looks like?” Melinda asked.

“Unless you have a lot of young islander women working with your caravan, I suspect he will just look-”

The air shattered as a sonic blast tore through the early morning. People dropped to the ground and covered their ears.

“Bring me Lima!” Jasper’s voice boomed out from the center of the camp. Melinda winced and covered her ears with her hands.

Shouts of confusion and anger rang out from among the caravan workers. Once all the guards got back to their feet, they drew their swords and warily made their way toward the source of the commotion.

“You can’t be serious,” Melinda muttered in a mixture of shock and fury.

“I should probably go find him before something unfortunate happens,” Ethan suggested as he failed to suppress a smile.

The merchant looked over to her fallen workers and all the cargo they had dropped. She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, muttering under her breath.

“That might be best,” she said curtly.

A large crowd had formed around Jasper by the time Ethan arrived. To his surprise, the gremlin had yet to assault any of them. The swordsman pushed his way through the sea of people until he reached the center.

A very confused guard was standing beside Jasper. The Vision was scratching his chin furiously, his tongue protruding slightly from his mouth. He suddenly raised a finger to the air victoriously.

“Linen!”

“Nope. Nobody here by that name either,” the guard said.

Jasper let out a string of curses and pursed his lips in concentration.

“The woman we are looking for is called Linna,” Ethan said as he walked over to stand beside Jasper.

“No, I don’t think that’s it,” the Vision said as a frown crossed his face.

“We do have a young woman by the name of Linna in the fourth wagon from the back,” the guard said after thinking for a short while.

“Wrong one, I reckon,” Jasper said.

“We’ll take our chances,” Ethan said. He picked Jasper up by his collar and gave the guard a nod before slicing through the crowd toward the back of the caravan.

“Put me down, you overgrown beanpole!” Jasper snarled, kicking his feet helplessly.

“I have no idea how you’ve managed to survive this long,” Ethan said as he dropped Jasper to the ground. The gremlin landed on his feet and taught the swordsman a few new words in the gremlin language.

“I was just trying to find out where Linda is!” Jasper said.

“Linna,” Ethan corrected. “Why are you pretending not to know her name?”

“So she doesn’t figure out who we are. The Jasper she met knows her name,” Jasper whispered with a conspiratorial wink.

“You have to be kidding me,” Ethan said as he desperately tried to keep his face straight.

Jasper wiggled his eyebrows and Ethan lost his composure, letting out a laugh before he covered his mouth and shook his head.

“Jokes aside, we do need to keep our identities hidden,” Jasper said. “The girl seemed nice enough, but she’s an Asharr pirate. We don’t know if she’ll toss us under and get Bartholomew’s contract broken. I don’t want that fat monster coming after our key,” Jasper said.

“Really? The gremlin is labeling someone as untrustworthy? That’s ironic,” Ethan observed.

Jasper winced, but he didn’t change his stance.

“Fair point. We can disregard the Asharr part, but the issue still stands. We can’t take any risks. Not now. We’re at the end of the line, Ethan. If Linna proves herself to be trustworthy, we tell her. Otherwise…”

Ethan sighed but nodded in agreement. Jasper started to walk again, but then he paused and glanced over his shoulder at the tall man.

“Are you sure her name is Linna?” He asked.

“Yes,” Ethan replied curtly. “Don’t make me hit you.”

“Fine, fine. Let’s get this over with,” Jasper said.

They approached Linna’s wagon together. Ethan rapped his knuckles on the wood several times and stepped back to wait for a response. There was a rustle from within the wagon. Several seconds later, Linna’s head poked out from the tarp.

“Can I help you?” She asked politely.

Jasper had to admit that the girl would have difficulty blending in as a mainlander. He hadn’t paid attention to it before, but her voice had enough of an accent to stick out to anyone looking for it. Her brown eyes had a distinct slant and her skin was tanned darker than that of most mainlanders due to exposure to the sun from voyages.

Jasper walked up to the edge of the wagon. Linna’s head was a good bit higher up than he was, so the Vision had to crane his neck up to look at her.

“No,” Jasper said.

Linna blinked and drew back slightly in confusion. Ethan rolled his eyes and stepped forward, extending his hand in greeting to the baffled woman.

“My name is Jackson, and this is Jill. We’re here to-”

“Sorry, I’m not interested. Please tell your boss that I don’t want to buy any rugs, and the endless solicitation is getting annoying,” Linna said.

She pulled back, disappearing within the wagon. Jasper stared at the tarp in disbelief, his mouth forming a small o shape. He jerked a thumb over at the cart and send a sideways glance at Ethan.

“Did she just call me a rug salesman?”

“Oh, wonderful,” Ethan muttered. The swordsman took several steps back and positioned himself behind a wagon as an impressive string of curses flowed nonstop out of Jasper’s mouth. He carried on for an entire minute before finally running out of breath.

Linna’s head slowly emerged from between the tarp flaps. Jasper was hunched over panting, but he straightened his back in a vain attempt to hide his exhaustion when he saw she was watching.

“I’m here at the request of Mephilla,” Jasper said. “I’m not a damned rug salesman.”

“I gathered that from your…impressive vocabulary,” Linna agreed. “I don’t think a rug salesman would know half of those words. And do you mean Melinda?”

“Potato, tomato,” Jasper said, waving his hand dismissively. “The lady wants me to teach you how to be a Vision.”

Linna froze. She peered closer at Jasper with a small frown. The Vision’s eye twitched slightly, but he didn’t say anything. Linna rocked back on her heels and chewed her bottom lip.

“You don’t look like a Vision,” she said.

Jasper’s features tightened. He raised an eyebrow and gestured to himself aggressively.

“And what do you expect a Vision to look like?”

“I don’t know… maybe more like him?” Linna pointed over to Ethan, who was making his way back over toward them. The swordsman paused as Jasper turned to look at him, then shrugged and walked the rest of the way over.

“Well, he’s not a Vision. I am,” Jasper said through gritted teeth. Linna shrugged, but she didn’t look too convinced.

“I’ve seen a Vision before, and he was a lot more intimidating than you are,” Linna said.

A small smirk played across Ethan’s face. Jasper prodded the taller man in the side before returning his attention to Linna. He lifted a hand to the sky, and a pillar of earth formed under him, raising him up until he was looking down at the woman.

“Does this convince you?” He asked.

“Hmm. I’m not sure,” Linna said, a smirk flickering across her face. “Can you do anything cooler?”

“I can blow your wagon up,” Jasper offered.

“You know, I think I believe you,” Linna said. She climbed out of the wagon and offered Jasper her hand with a wry smile.

“Let’s start over. I’m Linna. No surname. I’m sorry for calling you a rug salesman. They’re ridiculously persistent and have already dropped by twice today.”

“Apology accepted,” Ethan said, stepping in before Jasper could say anything. “Before we continue, could we move to a more private place? This might take some time.”

“Oh, of course!” Linna said, stepping aside and pulling the tarp open to reveal the inside of her wagon. “Please come inside.”

The inside of Linna’s wagon was plain. There was a straw bed with a green blanket at the far end of it. Wooden crates lined much of the wall space, and Linna’s backpack rested near the entrance. Linna pushed some of the boxes out of the way and gestured for them to sit.

Once they had all settled down, Jasper scratched his chin in thought for a few moments. Linna watched him silently, her dark eyes scanning him intrusively as she waited for the short Vision to talk.

“What do you know about being a Vision?” Jasper finally asked when he realized that the woman fully willing to sit there forever.

“Not much,” Linna admitted. “It’s got something to do with having faith in yourself.”

Jasper and Ethan both flinched. Linna looked taken aback at their reaction.

“Did I say something bad? I’m sorry.”

“Not faith in yourself,” Jasper said. “That’s a whole new problem.”

“Visions draw their power from having faith in something. There is a certain rare type of Vision that draws power from faith in themselves. They’re incredibly dangerous and we’ve had some unfortunate encounters with them,” Ethan explained.

Jasper stood up and started pacing around the small wagon, wringing his hands impatiently. He stopped behind Linna, forcing her to crane her neck so she could see him.

“There are two main things you need to do in order to call yourself a Vision,” Jasper said, holding up two fingers. “First, you need to figure out what your vision is. And second, you need to believe in it.”

“My vision?”

“What you have faith in,” Ethan said helpfully.

“Ah. How am I supposed to figure out what it is?” Linna asked.

“You don’t know?” Jasper asked in shock. “It should be obvious. Something you’re suddenly finding especially important. Ridiculously important.”

There was a knock on the wood post at the back of the wagon they were in. Jasper frowned and looked back at the tarp as someone impatiently cleared their throat from behind it. The disguised gremlin made his way over to the tarp and peered out of it. A short man with sandy yellow hair stood at the foot of the wagon. A wicker basket nearly the size of his body was slung over his back and packed full of wrapped goods. He wrung his hands as he waited for Jasper to say something.

“What do you want? We’re busy,” Jasper barked.

“Oh, hello sir. I was just dropping by to see if anyone was interested in purchasing a very high-quality rug for the travel. It would help alleviate the bumpiness of the wooden floor when the wagon is moving, or you could just use it to clean your shoes,” the short man said enthusiastically.

Jasper pulled his hood back slightly and let the disguise concealing his features drop for a moment. He gave the man a wide smile, revealing his needle-sharp teeth.

“I said we we’re busy. Get lost before I get hungry,” Jasper growled.

The salesman yelped and darted away as fast as his legs would carry him. The gremlin chuckled as the illusion covered his features again. He walked back into the wagon and sat down nonchalantly.

“Have you had any time to figure out what your Vision is yet?” Jasper asked.

“How did you get rid of the salesman so easily? The last time he came around, I threatened to cut his head off and he just said that would cost extra!” Linna exclaimed.

“Vision things. You’ll figure them out soon enough. Now, your Vision?”

Linna considered his words for a few seconds. She closed her eyes and her nose twisted in concentration. Then she shrugged.

“Well, I’ve got a strong craving for a nice steak, but I doubt that’s it. Nothing’s any different from before I became a Vision,” Linna said.

“You aren’t thinking hard enough. Try harder,” Jasper said.

Linna sat there for nearly an hour with Jasper offering useless advice, but it was fruitless. As far as any of them could tell, she wasn’t a Vision at all.

As Jasper paced the wagon muttering his thoughts out loud, the floor suddenly jerked forward. Jasper stumbled over Ethan’s legs and topped to the ground, managing to get several swears off before he hit the ground. Linna burst into laughter which she unsuccessfully tried to cover up behind her hand.

“They should have warned me before they moved this stupid wooden box,” Jasper complained, massaging his nose gingerly.

“If you applied half the energy you spent cursing to staying upright, you wouldn’t fall so often,” Ethan said.

Jasper turned his furious glare onto the swordsman, but Ethan was more than used to it by now. He just gave the Vision a shrug and pulled his cloak tighter around himself. The gremlin muttered a few words of annoyance under his breath and leaned against a crate.

“Well, I’m not sure what to do. I’ve never heard of a Vision that doesn’t have a vision,” he said slowly. “I suppose we’ll have a little fun trying to figure it out when the caravan stops.”

“And what exactly does that entail?” Linna asked.

A slow grin crossed Jasper’s face and the temperature in the wagon seemed to drop a few degrees.