Iskander got up from the long bench and stretched his arms wide.

“Got yourself free all right?” asked Iskander rhetorically. “I wasn’t concerned, but your lady here was worried mad. But I told her all you had to do was show that fancy badge and you’d walk out, no problem.”

“It went fine, but we should’ve done better in the marketplace and with the guards.”

Iskander was surprised.

“What do you mean? We caught Pecca, extracted a confession from him before the demon escaped, got a lead for Vranik, and no innocent people were killed. I think that’s a very good result,” said Iskander. Jaxine, sitting behind him, nodded, but her attention seemed to be elsewhere as she absentmindedly picked at a speck of dirt on her boot with her dagger.

“He has a point,” said Florencia, while looking away and still gripping my arm.

“Now that you’re free,” said Iskander. “I think we should go to Lottie as fast as possible.”

Jaxine’s ears perked up and she only lazily poked at the dirt. But we could not leave Caffria yet. I explained to them that captain Leze asked us to come with him to Pecca’s home, just in case. Everyone was eager to do that, except for Jaxine.

“Can’t they do it themselves?” she asked, half whining.

The four of us explained all the ways why we had to go, and make sure to tie up all loose ends, but she gave no answer and was now angrily digging her dagger into the wooden bench. We gathered our gear, dressed, and made ready to leave.

And while our day had been long, and I did feel tired, I could ignore it well enough. It was only a matter of directing the sensation of exhaustion back into itself, where it rolled around impotently—something Florencia taught me one evening while traveling to Caffria. She said that using this method; the exhaustion bothered her little and didn’t get in the way of thinking clearly and doing physical work. She said that she could use that skill to stay awake for over three days.

“I’ve managed three days a few times,” said Jace as we walked towards the exit. “But I usually can’t go over two. By the third day, it doesn’t work on me. What about you, Iskander?”

“I just do what needs to be done,” said Iskander rather gruffly. “I can’t sleep much, anyway.”

I wondered if that’s why he looks so disheveled all the time.

“Alright, then. If we’re ready, then let’s go. I don’t know what we might find in Pecca’s home, so we better be on guard,” said Florencia. She sounded much happier than she had been a moment before, but still she didn’t let go of my arm. To her words, Iskander waved his hand to let her know she didn’t have to say that, that it was an obvious thing.

It was the deep of the night when we left the old castle that was the barracks of the Caffrian guard.

The moon hid itself somewhere far away, leaving the streets in a heavy veil of darkness with only very little light to guide us. Few souls ventured outside during this time, but I did catch a glimpse of a maintenance worker attending to the streetlights, slowly moving from post to post, setting up his ladder and refilling the large oil tanks. But apart from them, and the occasional passing of a guard patrol, the city was deserted.

As we went onward, a troubling thought began to weigh on my mind—our time in Caffria had to be brief. We could not linger here longer than necessary. But despite the urgency and importance of this realization, I had to set it aside for the moment and focus on the danger that Pecca might have set up in his home.

The five of us sat in a modest carriage, along with captain Leze, and he brought along another team that went into the second wagon that followed ours. Pecca lived in the eastern outskirts of Caffria. That surprised no one except for the captain himself. It would be hard to kidnap and hold people in the middle of the city.

“When we get there,” I said to the captain. “Keep your men back and let us go in first.”

“Is it really that dangerous?” asked Ugo and the carnage the empowered thralls carried out in Scorro flashed before my eyes.

“Dark magic is extremely dangerous,” said Florencia, sensing that I was far away in my thoughts. “You should command your men to touch nothing, not read any strange symbols they find, not eat anything, or not take anything home. Everything might be tainted.”

“Tainted, what do you mean by that?”

“We don’t know for sure,” said Florencia. “But there is some dark magic that can…”

“How much do I tell him?” she asked me.

“Just the basic. Don’t reveal all,” I replied and luckily, the captain was as blunt as one could be. He had noticed nothing.

“That kind of dark magic can kill with only a touch,” said Florencia.

“By the gods…” mumbled the captain. “What is that we are dealing with?”

“It is some new evil that we have to handle very carefully,” I said, feeling better again and more focused. “Every one of us must be very cautious. After we’re done, it’s better to burn everything down.”

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“Like I was told to do with Veneiea.”

“That’s right. We spoke with sergeant Grasso a few days ago. He asked for fresh men, food, and drink. Maybe some entertainment.”

“I was told that the fewer men I send there, the better,” said the captain. “It’s a bad job, that kind of burning. I don’t think I could do it, but someone has to. I sent some new recruits there, those who failed their exams. If they come back broken, that’s not a big loss for me. If they come back strong, that’s even better.”

I saw Iskander and Jace frown and sensed their displeasure.

“Then maybe better wine and food,” said Jace, also disturbed by the captain’s pragmatism. “And maybe a priestess from the church to ease their troubles?”

“Not that Zyla lunatic,” said the captain quickly. “But someone else, perhaps.”

Captain Leze then pried to find out more details about the demonic threat. But to his frustration, we said what we already told him—that it’s dangerous and to never touch or read or even think about it. Just burn it down and forget it. This bothered the captain more than he let on, but I felt it leave a sour taste.

*

We reached the borders of Caffria, and the buildings here were older and less maintained. The darkness seemed to be ever deeper here, and most streets were a mix of gravel and dirt. Only the wider ones were paved with wide squared stones, and even the streetlights were limited. Most windows we passed were pitch black, with no signs of life, and a strange silence lay everywhere.

“Ain’t this a cheery place?” asked Iskander rhetorically.

“Most trouble in the city comes from this area,” said the captain. “I didn’t know Pecca lived here. Not a very suitable place for a guard. But now it all fits.”

And though the area exuded an air of menace, my sense of danger was not piqued. I felt anxious but did not feel the sharp bite of precognition that something was wrong. But I was not the only one restless, as I saw Iskander’s leg constantly fidgeting up and down against Jaxine’s leg until she punched it.

“Stop it!” whispered Jaxine.

“What?” asked Iskander absent-mindedly, but stopped when he realized what he had been doing.

Soon after that, the horses stopped, and we had arrived. Captain Leze jumped out of the carriage before I could warn against that.

“There’s people everywhere,” said the captain, after noticing that I wanted him inside the wagon. “I would bet my life that I’m safe here on the street. I have ten of my best men with me.”

“He has a point,” I told Florencia, but she replied by rolling her eyes—something that she did most wonderfully, and I never minded seeing her do it—and pursed her lips. She had already dismissed the captain, categorizing him as someone of little use. But I was more fond of the old man. He had to fight against an enemy he did not understand.

The captain explained to his men, who stood in a half-circle before him, all clad in dark cloaks and grim expressions, that they had to wait and hold back until I went in first with my team.

“What?” “Why them!” “I trained with Pecca. I know him the best!” These were the complaints, but the captain was firm.

“No. Mr. Espian goes in first,” captain Leze was resolute. “And when he has deemed the place safe, and only then can we enter. Also, touch nothing, read nothing, and if you find anything strange or odd, let them know.”

Some more grumbling followed. The major complaint that echoed through the guards was: “Taking orders from outsiders…”

Usually, such an argument would be justified, as they were the authority of the city. However, today was the exception.

“Are you ready?” asked Florencia, and I nodded, still holding her soft hand. It just felt comforting, and that was all I needed.

The building before us was a wide house, its faded blue-colored roof bearing marks of many long years, its once vibrant paint now weathered and worn. Dark clay tiles lay beneath, some cracked, others missing. Looking at this structure before me, I could almost imagine its former glory, at a time when it stood proud and pretty, sheltering some wealthy family for generations until the passage of time had degenerated it into this sorry, miserable state it was now. This passing of time had left its mark, as the once noble facade had been hastily masked with a dull grey paste. This had in itself succumbed to the ruthless tests of time, now cracked and mold-covered.

We steadied ourselves and approached the tall and dark building. Even from here, it seemed to breathe a malevolent aura, and the hairs on my neck stood up. The entrance was an aged wooden door that led into a desolate staircase and had a large, broken glass window in the middle of it.

From behind, I heard a guard speak as he was looking at the lightless windows: “Ugh! It’s so cold.”

“Oh shut up,” snapped another. “Always complaining about this and that. Why can’t you just stop talking for once?”

But the first guard was right. There was an undeniable chill that permeated the air. It was a piercing cold, and I shot Florencia a meaningful look. She nodded.

“Something’s up there,” she said. “What do you sense?”

I extended my mind and the physical world that I saw and could touch turned into the winding, spiraling sea of all things and thoughts and emotions.

“What’s he doing?” asked another guard that stood beside the captain. “Standing and looking stupid like that?”

“Stop talking!”

“No, why don’t you stop your whining? On and on, always complaining. Who do you think you are?”

“Like you’re so much better, with your…”

I stopped paying attention to their petty argument and instead tried to have a sense of what was waiting for us in that dark and gloomy building. Has Pecca sewn a trap for us? Could he even foresee this turn of events? Has the demon corrupted this space so thoroughly that we could not gather any information?

My focus was before me, and from the building, I could only sense old and malicious energies that circled around itself. But it lacked the immediate vigor of life, without the biting cold or stink of danger. Instead, there was only a lingering, repugnant aura that persisted.

I wanted to take a bath again.

“Goxhandar, do you sense anything?”

“Nothing, master. Remnants of activity. Passivity, finality, ending. Much pain that still lingers here. Nothing of interest to me.”

I came back into my own and shook my head at Florencia and the others and I went inside, palming Rors’ knife. Summoning Goxhandar here would be excessive, and it agreed but was ready nonetheless to spring into action.

Cautiously, I stepped into the narrow staircase that had no lights anywhere—no candles, no lanterns, no light beads, no nothing. Inside it was totally pitch black and with a freezing breeze going from the ground until the last storey.

And as I climbed the stairs, I wondered how the guards below would manage coming up here, as I had no trouble seeing through the veil of blackness. I saw the worn-down steps, and the walls covered in ancient plaster that were now cracked and molded over.

Then, as I was almost on the top floor, a familiar smell came. A sour, sickly smell of rotten stuff and a strange, metallic stunk that mixed very strangely with the rot. I opened the door with only a firm push, the rusty lock acting as no hindrance to my will.

Then, I almost vomited at the sight that was before me.

I covered my nose and mouth with my handkerchief. There was never a need to hurry. All Pecca’s victims were here, in this small apartment, lying around in a grotesque tapestry of horror.