The sound of her name made the nape of her neck prickle.

The stranger’s burning gaze was predatory, dangerous. Kailas stepped back, bumping against the support pillar. The old priest had sent this man. She was sure of it. He was here to drag her back to Ithos Darg.

The stranger’s eyes raked over her. ‘Do your work associates know you’re Mealduthian?’

Kailas swallowed, shook her head.

‘Your brown hair goes some way towards hiding your heritage,’ he said cooly. ‘Alas, you cannot do much about the pale skin, although you can get away with it in winter.’ He leant forwards, his tone dry. ‘On closer examination, your eyes have the Ithos Darg cast. That, you will never be able to remove.’

‘What do you want?’ she asked, the hard wood digging into her back. She cast her eyes about for a member of staff, but everyone continued to give the table a wide berth. She tightened her grip on her chalkpen, wondering if it was worth making a lunge for one of the steak knives in the cutlery pot on the table. Her handy dagger was upstairs in her room. Not much good to her there.

‘Why is everyone ignoring you?’ Kailas found her voice. ‘You’re sitting in plain sight but everyone’s acting like you’re not there.’

The stranger’s mouth tweaked up.

‘I am protected by an obscure.’

Kailas didn’t know what an obscure was, but it was apparently there, even if she was the only one who could see through it. The man was no ruffian – there could be no mistaking his refined accent, or the quality of his clothes. His shirt was of a very fine weave with stitched detailing running along the ‘v’ neckline.

The travelling cloak falling from his shoulders was the finest oilskin she had ever seen. It wasn’t heavy, stinking and stiff like the ones the sailors wore down by White Star harbour. Instead, it hung in soft folds with a soft sheen that belied its water-resistant qualities.

‘The shadow of the pillar conceals you from the rest of the room,’ the stranger went on. ‘I ask that you do not move until I have made my purpose clear.’

He broke eye-contact for the first time, as though confident she would do as he bid. His gaze landed on the group at the next table, tucking into a platter of fried chicken with grease shining on their fingers and lips.

‘They eat like dogs,’ he spat.

Kailas cringed in the shadows, waiting for the guests to look round. Her anxiety grew as the stranger pushed back his chair and rose to address the room.

‘Make merry while you can, for your days of easy living are coming to an end.’ His voice rose above the hubbub, deep and powerful. ‘When the storm comes, you will cower and void your bowels in terror. Once the prophecy is fulfilled, not one of you will escape the darkness.’

Kailas watched the one-way exchange with her back pressed to the pillar, aghast at his inflammatory words. But no one reacted or glanced up.

The stranger gave her a cool look as he sat down.

‘Do you understand now, why you are special? Only you can see or hear me.’ He looped an arm round the back of the chair. ‘Your father wanted to cash in on your ability. You broke his heart when you turned your back on the priest.’

‘How do you know this?’ Kailas said with a shudder, remembering the priest’s rotten, gaptoothed smile.

‘I have made it my business.’

‘But…I said no to the priest.’

‘You said no,’ the stranger repeated scornfully. ‘Your future changed the moment he laid eyes on you. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He planned to send his brethren after you, to take you by force. The only reason you’re still running around is because some blackguard knifed him for his purse on the way home, and he ended up in The Orius. You have his murderer to thank for your freedom.’ The corner of his mouth tweaked up. ‘By the time the dredgers recovered his body, you had made your escape. Days later, the Mayqsa reclaimed the priest’s body, and found the unsigned contract safe within the pocket of his oilskin.’

‘So, you’re a spy.’ Kailas glared at the stranger. ‘Were you following me around Mealduth, listening in corners?’

‘I was following the priest long before you met him. That’s all you need to know.’ He leant towards her. ‘The Mayqsa are coming for you, Kailas. They want to finish what the old priest started.’

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‘I’m not going back to Ithos Darg.’ Kailas glared at the stranger, gripping her chalkpen so hard it shattered. ‘If you try and lay a finger on me, I’ll raise hell.’

The stranger was unfazed. ‘I have no desire to touch you.'

‘Then, what -’

‘I’m here to get you to safety, or the whole of Avellion will suffer,’ the stranger cut in. ‘You cannot stay here any longer.’

‘What do they want with me?’ Kailas frowned. ‘They’re a failed religion.’

‘They were great once. And may be so again.’ He paused. ‘Eight hundred years ago, the moon turned red in the sky. It was prophesied the Mayqsa would raise their god that day, but something went wrong. Instead, they raised a vile disease they call the Black Bane. The Ithos Darg forest is cursed forever, unless the prophecy is fulfilled, or their god dies.’

‘How can their god die, if they never raised him?’ Kailas asked.

The stranger stared at her. A muscle twitched in his jaw.

‘They did raise him. Mayaqdor is trapped in the centre of the forest. That is why the Mayqsa are pursuing you with such zeal. They have waited patiently for centuries for a way to put things right. And now they’ve found it.’

The stranger’s stare cut through the buzz of conversation and laughter.

‘I don’t understand,’ Kailas said. ‘And I don’t care. I just want to be left alone.’

‘That’s impossible.’

‘I’ll manage alone.’

‘Kailas, I found you easily. So will they.’

‘You found me easily? I don’t see how. No one knows where I went, once I left the ship at Goldlight Bay. I hid my hair beneath my shawl. I covered my face.’

‘You left on the Governor’s ship. That was your worst blunder. From the moment you stepped aboard, every move you made was duly noted.’ His eyes blazed into her. ‘If you had towed a harpooned whale behind you, it would have left less of a trail.’

Kailas’s throat tightened as he took a slip of paper from his pocket and slid it across the table.

‘The Governor doesn’t like citizens leaving on one-way tickets. Here’s the name of the ship, the berth you took. The address you gave for your father. Once you arrived at Goldlight Bay, spies followed you to the coach you took north. It was an easy matter for me to get this information, a matter of a few gold crowns. The Mayqsa know this, too.’

Kailas struggled to suppress a growing sense of desperation as he laid her mistakes bare. Her head was a muddle of emotions. Part of her wanted to believe the stranger, the other part feared him.

‘Why should I trust you?’

‘Because I act in Avellion’s best interests,’ the stranger replied. ‘I have a longstanding arrangement with the Crown that has worked to our mutual advantage over the years.’

‘You serve The King?’

‘Who I serve is no concern of yours. I am here to save your skin. That’s all you need to know.’

‘You mean, that’s all you want to tell me.’ Anger sparked her words. ‘I’d be better off hiding in the mountains.’

Kailas moved from the shadows and approached the stranger. If the obscure was magical, she could break it and then he would be forced to leave.

The stranger’s eyes blazed, the outer ring of his irises burned white-hot.

‘It would not be wise to come any closer,’ his tone was harsh. ‘If you destroy what makes this conversation private, the people around us will become witnesses. They will have to be silenced.’ He opened his cloak to reveal a set of gleaming throwing daggers. ‘Do you want their blood on your hands?’

Kailas froze, her heart hammering. ‘You would…kill them?’

The stranger’s voice was low and lethal as gave his answer.

‘You want to try me?’

Kailas locked her gaze with his, scared to push him further. She bit back her anger and retreated to the shadow of the pillar.

‘You have some bite, after all,’ the stranger said, sinking back in his chair. ‘You may not like my manner, I do not much like yours, but we are stuck with each other until we get to Ordasius.’ He brushed his forefinger across his lips. ‘We don’t have much time. Over one hundred tajukai are on your trail. Roughly half are travelling by sea, the rest are coming down the Smoke Road, through the Ithos Darg forest.’

‘That’s impossible. No one can enter the forest and survive the Black Bane.’

‘The Mayqsa can, at a cost.’

Kailas frowned at the depth of his knowledge. She remembered the old priest saying his brethren had tried many times to reach their temple.

‘The Mayqsa have split into groups,’ the stranger continued. ‘They are laying their traps. We only have a short time and one possible route to safety. Ordasius is our only hope, and it’s going to be a race between us and them to get there first. Is this clear enough for you?’

At Kailas’s forlorn shake of the head, he went on. ‘Once inside the city, we slam the door in their faces and pray it holds. You must come with me now.’

‘Now? B…but I can’t just leave!’ Kailas rubbed her forehead. ‘I need time to think about it.’

‘You want to wait until the Mayqsa come through the tavern door?’ The stranger raised a golden brow. ‘We leave tonight.’

Kailas twisted her hands together, unable to think straight.

‘I’m here to help, Kailas,’ the stranger’s voice softened for the first time. He held her gaze. ‘But you have to start trusting me.’

Kailas locked eyes with him, trying to fathom his intentions from their golden depths, but the man was unreadable.

‘Well?’

Her chin dropped to her chest. She gave a short, resigned nod.

‘Get your things and meet me at the Mill Street crossroads. We ride for Ordasius. Tell no one you are leaving. Let no one see you go. Do you understand?’

‘I’ll leave as quickly as I can,’ she said, hanging her head.

The stranger got to his feet, fixing her with a steely gaze.

‘If anyone sees you leave, they will pay for it.’

‘You don’t need to keep on with the threats. I understand you.’

‘Circumstances demand it. Once you reach Ordasius, you will find the comfort you are looking for.’

His eyes shifted over her shoulder, and she turned to see Hecton and the manager scouring the tavern.

‘You can move away from the pillar. It is time for me to go.’

He made a subtle gesture. In the next moment, the party by the door pointed to the table and started making their way over. She caught a single glimpse of the stranger’s cloak as he headed for the door, before the crowd absorbed him.

Kailas ground her teeth and moved to seat the diners under the eye of the exasperated manager. She cursed the stranger under her breath, whoever he was.

She didn’t even know his name.