Sal sat at a table by the hearth with a rather nice red wine and a vegetable pie. The fire crackled merrily, and he almost felt like he hadn’t spent the last several days risking his life and generally running himself ragged. He had finally received all his pay, complete with a significant bonus, from that Ferrous fellow and he was enjoying his newfound wealth at the Golden Apple while servants fetched the things he would need when he left. Kalissa had taken the Dagger back to Inveritus, the Tower would be after him for stealing it, and he had never actually gotten paid for that job. But, all in all, things had worked out a lot better than they could have.

His companion sat down across from him carrying a bottle of wine in each hand. Sarina had ditched the leathers at his request and was wearing a red and gold dress, though she had forgone the corset it was clearly meant to be worn with, so the thing billowed about strangely as she moved. It also didn’t help that it was made for a woman of human proportions, so her legs stuck out from the bottom of it in a way that the designer definitely hadn’t intended.

“If this is high-class, then I think you are doing things backwards,” she said, uncorking one of her bottles of wine and taking a swig. “They didn’t even have proper liquor here.”

Sal grinned at his friend and the looks she was getting from the mostly-noble clientele. “You aren’t exactly giving it a fair shake. You’re meant to sip your wine from a goblet, not down it by the bottle. Besides, what’s the point of having money if you can’t enjoy the finer things in life?”

“I enjoy fine things just fine,” Sarina said. “You humans just have some funny ideas about what should be expensive. Do you know how much this stuff costs per bottle? And it’s bitter and has barely any kick to it. And have you seen what I’m wearing?”

Sal chuckled. “I’ll admit, I probably should have known you weren’t going to like the dress. I just wanted to show you a pleasant evening as thanks for saving my life so many times.”

“Well next time, take me somewhere that sells cocktails, or at least a good whiskey.”

“Noted. There was actually something else I wanted to talk to you about before we go our separate ways.”

“Hmm?” Sarina said around the bottle of wine she was drinking from again.

Sal took a deep breath. “I thought perhaps we could not do that.”

“No, we definitely can. We aren’t shackled together Sal, I checked.”

Sal furrowed his brow, not sure if Sarina was being serious or not. He pressed on. “What I mean is that we might travel together. I don’t have any jobs lined up yet, but I’m sure we can find some. In the meantime, I thought I might go visit the Rintorian hot pools. Have you ever been?”

Sarina raised an eyebrow. “No. It is dangerous? Will you need protecting there?”

“No, nothing like that. I just thought that it might be nice to travel together. If you don’t have somewhere else to be that is.”

Sarina smiled. “I think I should like that.”

There was a pause where the two friends just appreciated one another’s company, then Sarina asked, “What kind of liquor to they have in Rintor?”

*******************************************************************************

“Send the next one in,” Carrus said to a woman who looked exactly like Eve. She showed in the next petitioner, a man named Sarigan Taupe who owned a minority share in the local mine. He was older, with shaggy hair and a moustache, but he carried himself with the air of a much younger man.

“Lord Bermont,” Sarigan said in a confident voice. “It’s wonderful to meet you. Your uncle was always too busy to see me and discuss my concerns.”

Carrus forced friendliness into his voice. “Well that’s over now. What seems to be the problem?”

Sarigan, as it turned out, was having a dispute with one of the orchards about a small tract of land that ran between their two properties. Evidently, they both felt they had claim to it but neither could prove it. It wasn’t particularly valuable, but both parties had become bitter and didn’t want to let the other side have it. Carrus agreed to sit down with both of them and mediate the disagreement. Sarigan was the eighth petitioner that day, and there were apparently several more waiting. Carrus had turned his office at the Snake Pit into a space to meet with the various citizens of Cadersville who Lord Bermont had ignored and had been hearing their grievances every day since.

There were a few whispers of the impropriety of meeting in a brothel, but mostly people just seemed happy to have a lord who actually cared enough to do his job and manage city affairs, rather than stuff his face and ignore them. Besides, Bermont Manor had burned down and would take time to rebuild, what else was Carrus to do?

Carrus hadn’t wanted to be Lord of Cadersville, but now that he was, he was damn sure going to try his best to be a good one. He had big plans, plans that were going to upset a lot of people. He needed to get at least some of the city’s elite on his side before he enacted them, or he would quickly find himself no better off than the previous Lord of Cadersville.

So, he sat through hours of discussions regarding tariffs, city-planning, import exemptions, and road maintenance until he was so bored that he felt his eyes might start bleeding just so he’d have something else to think about.

Eventually the woman who looked like Eve closed the door and said, “That’s the last of them.”

“Good,” Carrus said. “I don’t think I could handle any more.”

“I think you did well,” she said.

Carrus grunted. “How long do you have to keep looking like her?”

Ferrous frowned. “It’s a very useful disguise. No one who isn’t loyal to you, a criminal, or a Shadow, knows that Eve is dead, and she was already your right-hand woman. Many people would have suspected you were also romantically involved. It gives me excellent access to you, as well as allows me to talk to people who wouldn’t open up to a man.”

“I don’t care,” Carrus said. “I don’t want you looking like her for a minute longer than you have to.”

“Very well,” Ferrous said. “If that is your wish, I will establish a plausible reason for Eve to leave Cadersville and create someone who I can appoint as her replacement.”

Carrus winced a little at the word replacement. He hadn’t been sure what Eve was to him when she died, and now he would never know. What he did know was that he didn’t want to replace her. He spent most of his time trying not to think about her death at all, as the edges of those thoughts were still too sharp in his mind. Ferrous wearing her face hadn’t helped with that.

A silence stretched between the two of them. Until Carrus broke it.

“Is this really what you wanted?”

“I wished to serve under someone truly good for a change, yes.” Ferrous said. Ferrous had explained the whole story of the Good King’s death to Carrus. It had been a lot to take in, but he could certainly empathize with what Ferrous had done.

Still, he found it hard to believe this was the extent of Ferrous’s ambitions.

“So, all you want is for me to be Lord of Cadersville? That’s it? No grander scheme? That seems suspicious.”

Ferrous smiled knowingly with Eve’s face, the expression like a sharp knife in Carrus’s heart. “Oh no. That’s not all I want.”

“What else then?”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Right now?” Ferrous asked. “I want some dinner. It’s getting late. Beyond that, you’ll have to wait and see.”

“If you wanted to serve me,” Carrus said. “Shouldn’t you act like it?”

“You’re right of course,” Ferrous said, turning to leave. “You’ll have to wait and see, my lord.”

*******************************************************************************

Darrian sat across from Carrus Bermont, newly minted lord of Cadersville as the latter tried to teach him the rules of a half-remembered game that they apparently played in the marshlands near the Yarrlish border. Something called Chess.

“So, the priest moves like the rook but diagonally?”

“Yes,” Carrus said. “Though they call the priest a ‘bishop’.”

“What in the Creator’s name is a bishop?”

Carrus shrugged. “Nobody there could tell me either. It’s just what they call it.”

“Okay. And the queen can move like any of the other pieces?”

“I think so. I might have that wrong.”

“Probably. Let’s try it anyway, maybe we can figure out what we’re doing wrong by playing.”

They set up the board. The game seemed a bit like Dance of Swords, though much more simplistic. It only had one way to set up the pieces.

A tiny orange imp was humping one of Darrian’s rooks, he ignored it as per usual.

“I’d like to thank you for your hospitality, and assure you I’ll be out of Cadersville shortly,” Darrian said as they began to play. Darrian jumped his queen over his other pieces and out onto the board. “Are you sure the queen moves like this?”

Carrus stared down at the board. “Yeah, that doesn’t look right. You can stay as long as you like. It was partly thanks to you that I’m a lord now rather than a hanging corpse.”

Darrian shook his head. “Branton Vikor is going to be angry once he learns I killed his assassins and let Ferrous go. He’s going to come for me, I wouldn’t want to put your town in the middle of that.”

“The capital is going to take issue with Cadersville anyway,” Carrus said, moving one of his smaller pieces, called a pawn.

“Why would they?”

“Because I refuse to rule a city where people are bought and sold by men who think their power gives them that right.”

“You’re going to abolish slavery?” Darrian asked, then following Carrus’s line of thought

“Amongst other things.”

“The capital won’t be happy with that.”

“I don’t believe it’s up to them.”

Darrian moved another piece. “You’re basically going to declare war on the capital of Salitos?”

“No. I’m going to demonstrate a better way. I’ve offered the Shadows very favourable deals on the Rockspar salt that comes through here, so I think they will help avoid all-out war. But I would feel better if I had a renowned military leader on my side should it come to that.”

“You’re offering me a job?” Darrian asked, moving his rook into position to win the game in six moves.

“I am. Though I suspect that you knew that was why I wanted to meet with you.”

“It had occurred to me. What would this job entail?”

“Well, with the king gone and the Salitian military falling apart without him, I think we could use a proper armed force of our own. You’d be in charge of them, as well as the city’s defence. I can’t afford to pay you very much, Bermont managed his financials poorly and it’s going to take me some time to sort them out.”

“Sounds difficult,” Darrian said. “Raising an army from nothing and defending a city that doesn’t even have walls. Some men would say it can’t be done.”

“I heard you were a man who appreciated a challenge.”

Darrian smiled, moving his queen into the winning position. “Checkmate.”

*******************************************************************************

Kalissa hadn’t left her room in a week, and it was wonderful. After successfully completing her mission in Salitos she had told Vondash she needed at least a month off, with pay, to recover. Since she had secured favourable salt deals with Cadersville and recovered the Frozen Dagger, he wasn’t in any position to deny her. She had been spending the last week sleeping, accelerating her healing, getting through a very interesting book on the debunked theory of plate tectonics, and eating food that Vondash had servants deliver to her room.

She was starting to feel like herself again, though her arm was still full of stiches, and she felt like she might spend the rest of her time off doing something more active. Maybe follow the Academy River down to the lake. She had heard people rented out boats to go sailing or fishing down there. That might be fun. Though there was a public memorial being held for Slymon Askance coming up, and Kalissa felt like she should go. She hadn’t known Carlton well, but she had liked him, and Askance’s memorial was likely the only one he would get.

Her planning was interrupted by a knock at her door. She got out of bed and pulled some clothes on before answering. It was a messenger boy.

“You Kalissa?” he asked, proffering a folded note.

“That’s me,” she said, giving him a small tip.

The note read: Meeting tonight. Usual place. It wasn’t signed, but it was in Master Vondash’s handwriting.

Kalissa was mildly worried. If someone just wanted to give her a commendation or something, then that could wait until after her time off. Calling her in early more likely meant that something was wrong. Kalissa didn’t think there was any way for the Shadows to know she lied about the threat to the salt supply, but it was impossible to be totally sure. It could be any number of other things though. Maybe they just needed her to fill in some more details on the mission, or maybe another Shadow was being sent to Cadersville and they wanted her to fill them in on the situation there. Kalissa had already practiced her story regarding the salt supply a dozen times and considered potential holes and how she could explain them.

So, she decided not to worry, and instead go to the baths for the day and at least be clean for her meeting. Her arm had been dressed for the past week, so she had only been able to clean herself piecemeal. But she had done plenty of accelerated healing in that time, so she removed the dressing and went out to find a hot bath.

After several hours relaxing and getting herself properly clean, she went to get herself some drugu, feeling like it was rather appropriate in a full-circle kind of a way. Then sat by the Academy River to eat.

“Hey Lissa,” Kelvin said, sitting down next to her. “Haven’t seen you around in a while.”

Kalissa swallowed a mouthful of cheese and bread and held up her arm. “Had a run in with a scythe while studying Tavatian crop yields." Kalissa was still officially enrolled in the Academy and, given the breadth of things studied there, it made excellent cover for just about anything.

Kelvin whistled. “That’s going to be quite the scar.”

“How does that affect my ranking?” Kalissa asked with a smirk. “I’m not going to be below Erin am I?”

“Na, Erin got a new haircut. She’s down to ninth place now.”

Kalissa raised an eyebrow at that, not sure if he was kidding.

“So,” Kelvin said. “Want to have dinner with me tonight? I know a place that does the best smoked fish in Inveritus.”

“I have other, non-fish-related, plans tonight I’m afraid,” Kalissa said. Then, after a beat, she added, “But I’m free tomorrow.”

Kelvin smiled. He really did have an excellent smile. “Great. I’ll meet you at your room just after sunset.”

Kalissa left that interaction feeling excited, if a little nervous, though she shifted to just nervous the closer she got to Master Vondash. The decision to call in a threat to the salt supply had seemed the only way to be loyal to Carlton at the time, and it had certainly worked out well. But now she felt the weight of Master Vondash’s broken trust in her gut.

Vondash was waiting for her when she picked his lock, as per usual. He greeted her and ushered her inside.

“What’s so important that it can’t wait till after my time off?” Kalissa said.

“Two things,” Vondash said. “I have news on your next assignment and, while you don’t need to leave right away, you should make contact soonest.”

“What’s the assignment?”

“You’ll be stationed as the Inveritus envoy to Cadersville.”

“That seems like quite a mission,” Kalissa said drily. This was a significant understatement. Kalissa was going from her first real mission under supervision from a senior Shadow, to being placed in a high-level position in one of the largest neighbouring countries.

Vondash chuckled. “It is at that. But you have a relationship with the new Lord. He knows who you are and still seems to trust you. Much easier to get you in when you can just walk in the front door.”

Kalissa nodded. “What’s the second thing.”

“It’s about the Dagger. We sent a group of ambassadors to personally return it to Lhint.”

Kalissa translated that to: we sent a group of Shadows to smooth over the trouble Lukas caused by being a crazy fanatic and impress upon the Lhintish that they had better be bloody grateful for Inveritus’s help. She nodded again.

“There was a problem.”

“What?” Kalissa asked. “Don’t tell me the monks are mad about me killing Lukas, he was certifiable.”

“No. The ambassadors never arrived.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’ve disappeared, along with the Frozen Dagger.”

*******************************************************************************

Harbinger woke from a sleep that had lasted a very long time. He didn’t know exactly how long, but centuries at least. He found resistance against his arms and legs and, when he opened his eyes, he saw that he had somehow wound up at the bottom of an icy crevasse. His skin was iced over and the crevasse walls pressed harshly against his limbs. His wing was completely encased.

Harbinger snarled and tensed his muscles, shattering the icy coating on his arms. Then he thrust his arms against the ice with all the force he could muster. Ice strained and cracked. Far too slowly. He thrashed viciously, trying to give himself room to move his arms.

There was a time when he would have shattered the chasm walls with one blow, taken to the air on his mighty wings and been a hundred miles away within minutes.

But that was then.

The ice gave, small shards breaking off under Harbinger’s assault. He won enough space to move his arms, though they were lacerated from the effort, and started punching the wall that held his wing. He had to hit the ice awkwardly, he had less than a foot to swing his fist and it was across his body. It was going to take a while.

Hours later, hands broken and bloody, Harbinger pulled himself out of the crevasse and stood. He spread his one remaining wing wide, a great leathery span of muscle and scales reaching out to his left. To his right was emptiness, the ragged stump that sat below his right shoulder blade throbbed with ancient pain. His body could repair almost any injury. His hands were healing rapidly and the lacerations on his arms were already gone. But his wing would never heal, never regrow. He would never fly again.

Harbinger roared his frustration at the sky. He was an Archon, or he had been. Now, he wasn’t so sure.

But still, he had a job to do. Perhaps for the last time. He was Messenger, Wordbearer, Truthbringer. Harbinger.

And so, he set off on foot to warn the humans.

To warn them Destroyer was coming.