Terry had never seen anything like Natchez before he rolled into town. As he navigated the maze of one way streets he felt like he’d stepped back in time. The town was old. It felt like some vestige of old Mississippi was trying to hang on for dear life, for better or worse. The effect was beautiful though. He'd never seen so many buildings and homes crammed so close together. There were mid-century homes slammed next to homes that had stood before the Civil War. The local buildings were a bizarre mix of restored storefronts from before reconstruction and buildings no newer than the 1950's. He'd known Natchez had been spared during the Civil War because of it's Union sympathies, but this was ridiculous.

He had to remind himself this wasn’t a sight seeing tour. Delores and he had business to deal with first.

Terry checked on Elton at a stop light and the man glanced around occasionally but didn’t seem particularly phased by his surroundings. Either he’d been here before or he’d seen a heck of a lot in his life already. Terry shrugged and went back to letting Delores guide him to their destination.

“You need either a GPS for this thing, or a phone mount for the handle bars.” She said as they sat at another light next to a closed tavern.

“I’d need a phone first.” He said to her over his shoulder. She pointed forward and he turned, saw the light was green and drove on.

They came to a stop in front of a brown shotgun house on the outskirts and looked around. It was run down. All the houses and buildings in this area were. Next door was a big abandoned warehouse of some kind and the whole area was overgrown with vegetation and the ever present kudzu vines. This entire area was the worst section he'd seen in town. It didn't escape Terry that most of the people he'd seen out and about were either minorities or Fantastics. As Elton removed his helmet and walked up, Terry thought of something.

“How does this work now?” he asked the bard.

“I’m just here to observe.” Elton replied, waving a tablet at Terry. “Do whatever you were going to do regardless.”

Terry nodded and turned to ask Delores if she was ready. He stopped himself. She looked at the house and then the neighborhood. She looked sad.

“You ok?” he asked.

“I just,” she started. “I don’t know. I wish things weren’t like this.”

Terry tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. She took it as an invitation to continue.

“Look at this place.” She gestured at everything. “We drove by plantation homes and some of the most expensive property I’ve ever seen and now look at this.”

Terry nodded. He’d grown up around homes like this his whole life, but he wasn’t blind to the implications.

She looked at him.

“It isn’t fair. I dunno. Maybe I’m sounding dumb and naive.”

“Why would wanting things to be better for people be dumb?” he said. “They should be. Everyone deserves better than this.” He looked around. “I just don’t know what to do about it.”

He shook his head and started walking to the house when the door opened and a young, blond, white woman stepped onto the small porch. She was older than Terry, but still young enough that he wouldn’t have expected her to have a child.

“Can I help you three?” she asked, both hands gripping the still open screen door. Terry couldn’t help but notice bags under her eyes. He put on his best smile.

“Yes ma’am. Well, sort of. I’m Terry Lingal.” He nodded to his friends. “This is Delores Cody, my partner, and Elton Beasley the Troubadour. We’re from the Order of St. George. WE are actually here to help YOU. We’re here about your daughter.”

She brightened at that.

“Please! Come in! I’m Cindy. My husband Lawrence is inside.”

She led the way into the house but they didn’t need much direction. The house was several rooms all in a row with doors lined up so you could “shoot a shot gun through them”. Terry knew all about shotgun houses.

The inside of the house was in somewhat better shape than the outside. While the outside looked dilapidated, the inside was cleaned quite well. Fresh paint was on most of the walls. The furniture was well kept. They’d obviously been trying to make it a home.

Just after the living room was a kitchen/dining room and sitting at the table was an African American man, not much older than his wife. He was bald and had several dark tattoos. He had his hands clasped in front of him on the table and didn’t look up as they walked in.

Cindy spoke as she led them up to the table.

“Larry, these folks have come about Sarah.” She gestured to seats at the table. Larry sat at the head, so Terry and Delores sat on either side of him.

Elton took a position in the corner and typed quietly. The man, Lawrence, finally looked up at them. First at Delores, then at Terry.

“You’re a knight?” he asked.

“An Errant Apprentice, sir.” Terry replied. He made sure to meet the man’s eyes and tried to project confidence.

Larry looked away to Delores.

“And you’re a mage?” he said. Delores’ jaw worked for a minute so Terry stepped in.

“She’s the best I’ve ever met.” He said. It was the truth, too. He’d only met the one. She looked at him, thankful, but incredulous.

Larry threw his hands up.

“I don’t know why I’m asking at this point. I don’t care if you're all clowns escaping the circus. I just want my little girl back. Do you think you can help us?”

Terry nodded.

“I can. Can you tell me what happened?”

Cindy sat down at the foot of the table. “It was goblins. I saw them running into the woods behind the house with Sarah tied up. I don’t know why.”

Terry rubbed his chin for a moment.

“Did they leave a note?”

“No.” Said Larry. “They didn’t leave anything. The neighbors helped us search the woods but we couldn’t find them or her.”

“How many goblins were there?” Delores asked.

“Three carrying her and one watching their back.” Lawrence said. His hands started to tremble and he clasped them together again.

“I’ll find her.” Terry said watching the man’s hands.

“I don’t mean any offense,” said Cindy, “but how do you plan to find her?”

This time it was Terry’s turn to work his jaw. Delores chimed in with a bright smile all of a sudden.

“Does she have a hairbrush?” she asked. Terry noticed she used the present tense. Good move on her part.

“Yes!” Cindy chirped.

She ran from the room and Delores started digging in an inside pocket of her coat. Terry watched in curiosity. She pulled something out and sat it on the table. It was a small compass. The kind you’d buy for a kid from the dollar store.

In a moment, Cindy was back with the brush and sat it on the table in front of Delores. Delores smiled and started pulling hairs out of the bristles. All of them watched her work.

Delores began by braiding as many hairs as she could into a tiny cord. She then wrapped the cord around the compass in a very deliberate fashion. She tied the dark brown hairs in a special knot. After she’d finished, she placed the compass into the palm of her left hand. Terry noted it was the arm with cotton gauze wrapped around it. The same one she’d held his hand in during the healing. She next held her right palm over the compass.

Delores closed her eyes and they watched as she started to slowly rock back and forth. She started to softly speak words that Terry didn’t recognize. A deep purple light began to glow from both her palms.

Terry leaned back in his seat. Magic again. She was using serious magic. He could feel it. A pulling on his mind and in turn on his body. He tried to turn his head away but his eyes kept going back to that glow. It was reaching out now and lifting the compass between her palms. The light of the mana made his eyes feel like they were being twisted backwards in the sockets.

The compass hovered there and the parents stared in rapt attention. After what felt to Terry like an eternity, but could only have been a few minutes, the glow seemed to flow into the compass and it dropped back into Delores’ palm. Terry took a deep breath. It felt like his first in days.

“What did you do?” Larry asked. As soon as the words left his mouth the needle in the compass seemed to snap in a new direction. It was no longer pointing north. Delores smiled.

“I enchanted the compass.” She said. “For the next few hours it will point straight to your daughter as long as she’s alive.”

Terry smiled. And she said she wasn’t any good at this, he thought.

“That, no, YOU are amazing.” He said.

Delores looked at him and gave him a crooked smile. She actually seemed embarrassed!

Lawrence looked at Delores with a new expression. He finally looked hopeful.

Terry laid his palm on the table and leaned toward the man. He turned to face him.

“I said that I-WE would find her. I promise you. We’ll bring her home safe.”

The man turned his head and Terry looked at Delores. Terry didn’t want to embarrass the man by watching him cry.