NoGift

The structure of the top floor was almost like an auditorium.  There was a wide stage where the auctioneer and the items being auctioned would be.  The audience could sit among three seating levels.  The lowest level was for ordinary wealthy merchants, the second level was a balcony where ordinary n.o.bles could be seated, and the highest level was composed of private boxes where VIPs were.   

Argent, Aurum, and Clay were seated at the balcony among with other n.o.bles.  They were all waiting for the auction to start.

"Brother, do you think that snake and that ghost boy managed to get the, you know," Aurum whispered to her brother, not really speaking straight to the point just in case someone was listening in to them.

"I"m sure they did.  Don"t worry too much.  They"re professionals.  They won"t do a half-a.s.s job," Argent said.

"I just can"t help but worry.  Just in case we"re right and he"s really Uncle Jax" you know.  So this thing couldn"t go wrong."  Uncle Jax wasn"t just their mother"s friend, he was like their second father as well.  In fact, he was more of a father to them than that missing guy.

Argent understood what her sister was thinking.  If that elf was really Jaxon"s son, then saving him was the least thing they could do.  For Jaxon.  "We"ll just have to wait and see."

Aurum sighed.  Well, that"s really all they could do right now, wasn"t it?  They just needed to wait until the finale of the auction to know if those two really succeeded.

"The Pope is here," Clay suddenly said.

Both the twins" attention were caught by that.  They turned slightly towards the most important box on the third level.  

They saw a handsome man wearing a simple but elegant priest"s robe.  His hair was golden blond and his eyes were as blue as a cloudless sky.  There was a gentle smile pasted on his lips.  He turned towards towards the crowd below - who was mostly watching him in awe - and then kindly smiled.

Aurum snorted before regaining her gaze back.  "How I"d love to tear off that hypocritical smile on that b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s face.  Maybe I should turn his brain into mush so all these would end.  What do you think, Brother?"

"Maybe you should lower your voice first before suggesting that," Clay commented.

Aurum glanced at him.  "Don"t tell me you"re afraid?"

"Everyone knows how kind the Pope is, why would I be afraid?" Clay said with an obvious sarcasm in his voice.

Aurum chuckled.  "True, why would you be?"

Argent already removed her gaze from the Pope.  Truthfully, just like her sister, she really wanted to slice that b.a.s.t.a.r.d in half.  But this was not the time nor the place.  Frankly speaking, she didn"t really know when was the right time.  Maybe until she"s confident enough that she could really kill him and his minions.  And that her actions wouldn"t affect the people she cared about.

The whole auditorium suddenly darkened then the light centered on the stage.  A man wearing a long-tailed white suit was standing at the center of the stage.  

"Ladies and gentlemen, I"m your auctioneer for tonight," the man said.  "Welcome to the Midnight Auction!"

Aurum furrowed her brows.  The auctioneer"s voice was a bit familiar.  Wait- "Is that the snake?"

"He is," Argent said.  Viper probably used his real voice to let them know that he disguised himself as the auctioneer.  Doing this would probably help in getting the elf out.

"Just how many human skin masks do they have?" Aurum asked in wonder.  Since the two a.s.sa.s.sins came, she probably have seen them changed faces for three times now.

"I know you"ve been waiting for this, so let us start by presenting our first item," Viper started.  Then someone pushed a trolley with a number of books on top of it.  "As you can see, these are not just books.  They"re a rare first edition of the well-loved series, "Adventures of Lyras".  A story about a young priest who saved a country of heretics and became a saint.  The first edition of this series is truly hard to come by.  So I suggest to all the book collectors here not to miss this chance to get a copy of this amazing series.  Our starting bid is 15,000 gold coins."

"17,000 gold coins!" started by a voice at the first level.

Before entering the tower, they were given a crystal where they could say their bid and the sound would be amplified throughout the whole auditorium.  And once they won the bidding, the price they offered would be recorded in the crystal.  Then they had to present the crystal to the people in-charge so they could pay for it and get the item they"d won.

"20,000 gold coins!"

"25,000 gold coins!"

"40,000 gold coins!"

"40,000 gold coins, going once, going twice, and sold to the lady in green!" Viper announced.

"Well, one thing"s for certain.  If he ever gets tired of being an a.s.sa.s.sin, he could just be an auctioneer.  He certainly has the talent for it," Aurum commented.

The next item to be auctioned was a painting that was sold at 300,000 gold coins.  It continued on for the next three hours, auctioning 14 items in total.  The later items were quite rare, making it a lot longer to be sold.  Because people really fought for it.

Then the moment they"re all waiting for, the presentation of the finale item, arrived.

"I heard that our finale item is very special.  I also don"t have any idea what it is.  I just know that it"s very special because it will be presented by a very special person - the one who"s responsible for all of these.  Please, let"s all welcome, His Eminence, Archbishop Stillwell!"

A man wearing an almost over the top priest"s robe walked towards the center of the stage.  His chin was so high up that he almost looked like he was looking at the ceiling.  Following him was a big box covered by a black fabric.  The man pus.h.i.+ng it stopped just beside the Archbishop.

"First of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming here.  As the auctioneer said, this last item is very special.  Something that most of the world hasn"t seen for the past 500 years or so.  But tonight, you"ll have the honor of seeing this special item.  One of you might even be able to possess it."

There"s a murmur of speculation in the audience.  The Archbishop seemed very satisfied by this reaction.  

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you..."  He looked up at the center box at the third seat level - the box where the Pope was.  He smirked arrogantly before taking off the fabric covering the cage.  "An elf!"

Marcus expected surprised gasped and shocked expressions, but what he got instead was silence.  Dread suddenly crept up in his heart.  Slowly, he turned his head and found the cage empty.  

He kneeled down beside the cage, frantically looking inside.  "No... no... no!"

His mind suddenly turned blank when he realized that the elf was really gone.  

"What"s wrong with the Archbishop?"

"What elf was he talking about?"

"Did he become delusional or something?"

When Marcus heard those, he clenched his fists so hard, his nails deeply burried in his palm.  The elf was here!  He made sure of it.  He never left the side of this cage since that a.s.sa.s.sin showed him the elf.  No one came close the cage aside from him.  So why, why did the elf disappeared?  Why?!  

No.  Someone must have done this.  Someone wanted to embarra.s.s him in front of all these people.  He stood up and looked again at the center box.  

Then he just saw red.

----------

Lynx was jumping from building to building with the elf on his back.  He successfuly took him out of the cage when that Archbishop was taking him out on the stage.  They just got out of the G.o.ddess" Tower and was now going to the direction of the Holy Temple.  He needed to be as careful and stealthy as possible so as not to alert the patrolling knights.  

"Where are we going?" the silent elf suddenly asked.

"Somewhere safe."  Or at least it should be.

Lynx was not really sure since the duke only told him that he had to jump at the top of the center of the Holy Temple and he had to do it while using his Gift.  Then he would know what to do after that.  He was extremely dissatisfied with that.  Why could that duke just give him a straight answer?

He could already see the Holy Temple.  He quicken his steps.  They arrived at the center of the Holy Temple and just as he was told, he used his Gift - not forgetting to also surround the elf with his Mana - then jumped.

To his surprise, he just felt his body pa.s.sing through a solid object.  But there was clearly nothing there!  Before he could think more, he and the elf already landed inside the object they pa.s.sed through.

And watching their sudden arrival were two kids - a girl with white hair and a boy with black hair.