A Chance to Get Rich

Jess couldn't pay much attention during his afternoon Orcish class. He kept thinking about the imp and the trip to Redridge.

When class ended, he hurried home. Saeno was still hard at work.

"I want to understand more about that phase shifting of yours," Jess said.

"Ask away, master," the imp said, without stopping its writing.

Watching the little creature work so hard, Jess almost felt bad for it. He'd never thought he'd feel sympathy for a demon.

"When you phase shift, do you simply turn invisible, or do you actually change where you are? What's the difference between phase shifting and an invisibility spell?"

"There's an enormous difference!" Saeno jumped up. "What mages call invisibility is just using the arcane to bend light, making a space that the blind fools around them won't notice, and sneaking through it. But bending light doesn't change the solid body underneath. Throw a fireball into that invisible space, and boom! Out rolls a roasted mage! Ha! Phase shifting is how weaker demons fade out of the main plane to hide and survive. Only demons born in the Twisting Nether can do it. Not even the eredar can, because we're not mortals!"

"I can understand invisibility, more or less," Jess said. "But I can't imagine how phase shifting works. Suppose I put you in a box and you phase shift. I carry that box about a mile to Stormwind's main gate. When you reappear, will you be inside the box, or back at my house?"

"Inside the box, of course!" the imp said. "How could I just disappear completely that easily?"

"What if I crushed the box? Would you die?" Jess pressed.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Saeno raised a finger. "Depends on the box! If it's a magical cage made by the eredar, and someone puts me inside and crushes it, I'll definitely die and go back to the Twisting Nether! But an ordinary box that can't hold a magical creature? Absolutely not!"

"Phase shifting doesn't let me escape Azeroth, master. It's like hiding in a layer tucked inside the world's main plane. A few harmless influences from the world can still reach me!"

Jess opened his warlock's cloth bag. "Get in. Phase shift."

"Yes!" The imp jumped straight inside and vanished in a flash.

The bag went flat.

"You... come back out."

Pop!

The flat bag suddenly bulged. The imp struggled inside it. "Master, aren't you going to let me out? I've still got work to do!"

"Stay in there," Jess said. "Disappear again."

"Master, stop making me appear and disappear! Every shift costs magical power, and mine's almost gone!"

"Disappear now and don't come out again."

"Understood!"

Arcane energy flickered with a crisp sound, and the bag went flat once more.

Jess opened it. Other than the silver coins he'd put inside and a paper scroll from his earlier notes, there was nothing there. The imp seemed to have vanished completely.

He began to feel uneasy. Maybe he needed some way to detect the imp even while it was gone.

In the game, warlocks and their teammates could still see a faint outline of a phase-shifted imp. Thinking about it now, that was probably just a concession to gameplay.

But if someone in this world could see phase-shifted demons, wouldn't an imp's invisibility be unreliable?

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He'd worry about that if he ever met such a person. For now, the fact that the imp could hide so easily was an advantage worth using.

Just as he was getting ready to go, he spotted the wooden stick in the corner.

It wasn't just a stick anymore. It was a staff made by the eredar.

Now that he knew it was connected to the Shadow Council, Teron Gorefiend, and Gul'dan, touching it made his heart flutter with fear, as though some terrible demon were staring at him.

After thinking it over, Jess took it with him anyway.

He shouldered the warlock's bag and Marin's package, took six silver coins and a few copper ones, strapped on his sword, and pushed all the loose pages, damaged books, and other Orcish and dark-magic materials under the bed. He covered them with cloth, dusted off his hands, and headed for the Mage Quarter stables.

All along the way, he watched where people were looking. None of the novice mages, apprentices, or even fully trained mages seemed to notice there was a demon hidden in his bag.

The few people who did look at him only glanced at the sword at his waist. Perhaps it seemed strange to see someone carrying a sword around the Wizard's Sanctum when he wasn't a battle mage.

At the stables, Jess handed over the note. The stable keeper was an enormously fat middle-aged man. Sitting in his chair, he glanced at the note, then at the badge on Jess's finger.

"Mr. Jess Seso, right? Going to Redridge? Lakeshire or Stonewatch Keep?"

"Stonewatch Keep."

"Come on, then." The man heaved himself to his feet. Jess thought he might be the fattest human he'd seen since coming to this world. Did he secretly eat the horse feed?

The keeper led out a chestnut mare.

"She's traveled between Stormwind, Goldshire, Lakeshire, and Stonewatch Keep for years. Used to be trained as a warhorse, but she was retired because she was too timid. Still, she's braver than most ordinary horses. Don't worry if you run into gnolls. This lady won't panic, and she can certainly outrun them. Take good care of her!"

Jess mounted the tall mare, whose coat shone with health. She felt nothing like the merchants' horses tied up along the streets in Lordaeron. Her steps were strong and steady. Even sitting fully in the saddle, he didn't feel as though every movement would shake him to pieces.

He turned her around and rode along the wall toward the main gate. The ride felt so good that he went too fast, and guards shouted at him to slow down and stop endangering pedestrians.

At the gate, Jess rode through a stream of wagons pulled by packhorses. Sitting so much higher than everyone else, he almost felt like a soldier. Maybe this was what driving an expensive car felt like.

Then the actual Stormwind patrol knights rode past on their warhorses, making him look like a little errand boy.

At the tavern where they'd agreed to meet, Jess tied the mare beside the trough and stroked her mane. When would he have a horse of his own?

He was already hooked on the feeling of that short ride.

"Ha! So this is one of the Mage Quarter's horses? She's beautiful!" Gred came laughing out of the tavern. "Thought some nobleman's son had arrived. Turns out it's you."

Then he noticed the stick on Jess's back.

"You brought that thing too?"

"It's too valuable to leave in my rented room," Jess explained. "I'm not taking it because I want to fight with it. Besides, it makes a perfectly good walking stick. You carried it a long way through Duskwood and thought it was sturdy enough."

"So you know what it is now?" Gred asked curiously.

"Maybe a staff demons made for the orcs," Jess whispered. "Might be common enough among orcs, but it's pretty unusual around here!"

Gred leaned toward his ear. "How much can we sell it for?"

"I've heard there's a group of warlocks in Ironforge," Jess said. "If we get the chance, we could sell it to them. Should be worth a few gold coins."

Gred widened his eyes. "Good thing I didn't sell it to those Bronzebeard idiots in the Dwarven District. Or did they know someone in Ironforge would want it and try to trick me?"

They crouched by the tavern door to organize their luggage.

"Speaking of selling things," Jess said, "I heard about a place that specializes in rare items like these."

Gred took a piece of dried meat from his bag, put it in his mouth, tightened the straps, and shouldered the bag. "Where?"

"Booty Bay."

"That goblin town by the sea in Stranglethorn Vale?"

"Right. They've got an auction house run by goblins. I heard a lot of rare things can fetch huge prices there. Remember the letter we found on that orc's corpse?"

"That letter?" Gred asked. "Are you sure it's a letter now?"

Jess raised his eyebrows. "Know Teron Gorefiend?"

"Of course. Death knight... vanguard of the Horde!"

"That was a letter from Teron Gorefiend to one of his subordinates."

"Really?"

"Really," Jess said. "Think how much it would be worth to collectors who want important artifacts left behind by the orcs. That's Teron Gorefiend we're talking about!"

Gred licked his lips and stared at the ground for a while.

"Damn it. Chances to get rich are everywhere. Maybe we ought to find more of these things while there are still orcs left to kill. Make ourselves some war money. You want to bring your parents to Stormwind, don't you? You'll never afford a house in the city on odd jobs alone."

He scratched his beard. "But Stranglethorn is too far away. Ships from Stormwind Harbor to Booty Bay don't sail often, and tickets aren't cheap. If we don't get the price we want—or can't sell it at all—we'll lose a lot."

"That's true," Jess said. "So let's see how things go. Maybe I can ask around Stormwind for someone willing to buy it. We can visit Booty Bay when we have the chance."

Gred nodded. "Let's get moving. If we don't leave now, we won't reach the Eastvale waystation before dark."