Gray carefully opened the cover to Wong’s Encyclopaedia, trying not to think how much a book like this would’ve cost.

The idea that Codder was so desperate to get back into the good graces of Killian that he’d spend hundreds - shit, maybe thousands - of coins on these brand new books, the latest editions, made him wonder what the damn Codder had done.

Gray breathed slow, flicking through the pages, towards the Vs at the end.

Working with Killian. Conscripted to Baldwin’s army. Gray held back a snort.

Gray would’ve told Killian no anyway.

And there were so many ifs.

If Killian got his position back.

If Codder could get Killian to take Codder on again.

If the king didn’t find Gray to be a sorcerer.

Codder was full of hidden agendas, and Gray didn’t trust him one bit. But, if it meant Gray finally had access to these books and he could somehow get the information to Krydon, then that was amazing.

Gray bent over the books as the light became dim in the cell. And then, the guards shouted that it was lights out, and every lamp in the prison snuffed out.

Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the gentle moonlight coming in through the window, Gray kept his finger in the book to mark his place. He’d gone through everything Wong had written about vampiric sorcerers and then some, and now he was going through the northern lullabies, trying to find the one about Gallow’s Alley.

The darkness in the cell was a real problem. Gray was determined to keep researching, but without light, it was impossible.

He could convert simple granite or limestone into a star pebble, if Gray could get his hands on ground firefly wings, dragon hide, and heat. Star pebbles glowed, if done right, which would give him enough light to read by. Gray ran a free hand over his dragon scale vest. The ties were leather. They couldn’t be dragon leather. Could they?

Heart in his mouth, because if Gray was caught doing alchemy he’d be in real trouble, Gray hopped up to the window, to see what insects were nearby, and if there were any granite or limestones he could work loose from the mixed concrete that made up the window sill.

-

Gray’d gotten a small chunk of limestone, but there were no fireflies.

And the window had some pretty serious magical enchantments protecting it.

Gray had gotten zapped twice, cut his knuckles on some of the salt that clung to the building, and used up a whole lot of his precious reading time.

But he’d eventually gotten his hands on a luna moth instead of a firefly, and a luna moth might work.

The luna moth had flown gently through the enchantments on the window, too small and ethereal to register as any kind of threat, right to where Gray was using his palms to reflect moonlight to attract it. The heat he’d used from a patch of exposed pipe underneath the sink was almost as good as a flame. He’d singed his fingertips, holding the limestone wrapped in dragon hide to it to start the transformation, and then he glanced at the luna moth fluttering around his cell.

He couldn’t bring himself to kill it and pull its wings off to complete the transformation.

It was one thing to use these components when they were already separated from the creature, stored in glass jars. It was another thing to damn well kill the glowing moth that so resembled a butterfly, and that preened itself like a cat when it landed on his hand.

Honestly, if Gray couldn’t bring himself to do this, he was screwed.

He'd done way worse than pulling wings off moths, for gods sake. He was pulling a major double standard, and he just had to damn well do it. He was being beyond stupid.

‘Fuck,’ Gray said, dropping the hot limestone wrapped in the severed piece of dragon hide.

He emptied the toothpaste powder from the tiny, unbreakable glass jar that all prisoners were issued with, and captured the luna moth in it.

He angled the lid so that the moth would still have air.

It was no star pebble.

But, the luna moth provided just enough light to read by, if he almost pressed his nose to the page.

'I'm not naming you,' Gray murmured to the moth (that definitely looked like an Evie. Evan if it was a boy.). 'Absolutely not.'

He lay on his stomach on his bed, the jar with the luna moth carefully laid next to him.

Rustling through the pages, Gray found the Gallow’s Alley Lullaby.

It was a translation from an older dialect that was now lost, and Gray wondered briefly if this would matter - if any of the meaning would be changed.

There was a page analysing the meaning and history behind the lullaby - it had come from a legend of a creature that had stalked Krydon - and used as a story for the unexplained deaths of seven people.

Gallow’s Alley Lullaby

Giddy up, Gallowman,

Running through the town,

Hush, hush, bitty baby,

Don’t show him your frown.

He’ll take one who’s brokenhearted,

He’ll take two who’ve hidden fears,

Hush, hush, bitty baby,

He will take all your tears.

Giddy up, Gallowman,

With his fingernails so long,

Hush, hush, bitty baby,

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Don’t sing your wailing song.

Gray skimmed the rest of the lullaby, his heart and mind racing too fast to make him read slowly. Phrases jumped out at him.

He’ll hang one down his alley, he’ll hang two down his way … he wants number three, a sorcerer sets us free …

Until, Gray’s gaze caught on the last verse.

Giddy up, Gallowman,

Back to your post in silence,

Hushed by the bitty baby,

With a curse made by giants.

Gray curled his fists, his breath growing short. Abandoning the books and the luna moth, Gray paced silently in his cell.

There were other books he needed.

Lismere’s Oldest Towns; Past, Present, and Future by Rosie Brown. He’d need that.

Dark Rituals and Darker Beasts. He’d need that.

And while he might’ve been drugged when he’d thought of the mythical swamp vampire having cross-overs with the very real vampiric sorcerer, he still thought it was worth checking out.

Gray thought of another - 1001 Uses for Tears, Blood, Sweat - when a guard started walking towards his cell, the light from his lantern swinging.

Quickly, Gray stashed the luna moth and the abandoned star pebble attempt out of sight underneath his bed, and climbed under the covers, feigning sleep.

-

Gray woke in the dark, covered in sweat.

Nightmare.

He swallowed, rubbing his face, and slowly sat up.

He’d not meant to fall asleep.

The guard had patrolled for so long, and Gray had to fake sleep the whole time, so he must’ve drifted off for real.

Adrenaline ran through him. He pushed his blanket off and silently paced the dark cell. His ankle twinged - it still gave him a hint of trouble, sometimes - and he swore softly and pulled the luna moth out from underneath his bed.

It was resting, slowly fluttering its glowing wings.

Pulling his books towards him, he set himself up on the bed again, cross-legged.

And there he stayed, hunched on the bed, nose to the books, until morning.

That was how Codder found him.

Gray hastily stood when he realised Codder was outside his cell. He hadn’t expected to see him so soon.

‘I have two minutes,’ Codder said. He dragged on a cigarette and let the smoke curl from his lips. ’So talk fast, stray.’

It was so early that the guards hadn’t given anyone breakfast yet. Codder swept his shadowed gaze over Gray’s cell, resting on the luna moth in the tiny jar.

But he didn’t mention it.

Gray rubbed his sore eyes and snatched up the Folksongs and Lullaby tome and flicked to the Gallow’s Alley Lullaby. ‘It’s happened before, see?’

‘Lower your voice, stray. It’s very quiet in here and these walls have ears.’

Gray dropped his voice to a whisper. ’This translation was recorded about seven hundred years ago. Sometime before that, there’d been murders a lot like the one from the vampiric sorcerer happening now. But they called him Gallowman. It’s drawn to fear or melancholy or something. And judging by how the mages were acting, I think it might also be drawn to voices.’

‘It’s drawn to mages,’ drawled Codder, tilting his head and watching as Gray put down the Folksongs book on the ground with the Gallowman page open, and then fumbled with the Complete Guide to Dark Creatures. ‘It enchants them or something.’

‘Yes - yes, I have a theory that it likes the magic of mages, or it wants their tears and voices, but that aside -’

‘There’s no mention of mage tears, here, stray.’ Codder squinted at the open book and flicked ash off the end of his cigarette. ‘Just tears.’

‘Right,’ said Gray, 'but-'

‘It does mention sorcerers,’ said Codder, squinting harder at the book. ’We need a sorcerer to get rid of it? A sorcerer to beat a sorcerer. Heard that before.’

Gray dropped his gaze, discomfort blooming in his chest, ‘I don’t know if we should take everything in the lullaby so literally, and it’s a translation, see-‘

‘Sorcerers are in pretty short supply, what with us killing them off poste-haste whenever we find them. That could be a real problem.’

‘Maybe.’ Gray clutched the Dark Creatures book, frowning.

‘Maybe?’ whispered Codder. ’Sorcerers are rare, they’re notorious for being uncooperative. And right now, they're busy fucking shit up in the kingdom with your cousin.’

‘I know,’ said Gray shortly.

‘If we need a sorcerer to kill this thing, we’re done. It's over. Major won’t be pleased, and I won’t be getting back onto his team by telling him that.’

'We don't know anything for sure yet,' said Gray quickly, alarmed at how quickly Codder was losing his cool.

Codder raised his eyebrows. ‘I need what it wants and how to kill it, stray.’

Gray hesitated. ‘I think it’s trying to perform a ritual. Seven victims. Tears. There are - uses for tears. And some dark creatures, er, you know, consume them. I don’t know about vampiric sorcerers, but, it could maybe be a motivation.’

‘That’s disgusting.’

Gray thought it was a bit rich for Codder to call anything in this world disgusting, but he held his tongue.

‘A ritual,’ said Codder.

‘Maybe,’ said Gray, ‘what with seven being a significant number magically and in alchemy, but I don’t think we should rule out any theory at this point, and if we find a motivation then maybe we can figure out a weakness-‘

‘You haven’t figured out a weakness?’ drawled Codder, his eyebrows lowering and gesturing at the books. ‘What did I spend all this coin for?’

‘It’s a vampiric sorcerer,’ said Gray, ‘I think they’re originally designed to not have any weakness. Immortaly, so.’

‘Everything has a weakness, stray.’

‘I,’ said Gray. ‘I mean, it’s part sorcerer, so it probably has a sorcerer’s weakness.’

‘Which is?’ said Codder.

‘Competition,’ said Gray.

Codder was utterly still. Then he let out a sharp breath of disbelief. ‘Competition over collections,’ Codder said. ‘They’ll kill each other over …’ he trailed off, eyeing Gray, ‘… apprentices.’

‘Not just apprentices,’ said Gray.

Codder paced one step. Came back. ‘A vampiric sorcerer will kick a regular sorcerer’s ass, though, stray.’

‘The problem’s there’s not much information on vampiric sorcerers,’ said Gray, ‘so nobody knows for sure-’

‘Then figure it out,’ said Codder.

‘I,’ said Gray, keeping his temper, because, honestly he had every damn reason to want to figure this out and Codder knew that, ‘I think there might be some cross-over in the legends of swamp vampires and vampiric sorcerers, which might give me more information-‘

‘Swamp vampires?’ Codder’s lips twitched. ‘Pull the other one, stray.’

Gray fumbled with the Dark Creatures book. ‘There’s not much here, because, you know, they’re classified as not real, but Huntsman does mention swamp vampires differing from real vampires for feeding on things other than blood-‘

‘Griffin,’ said Codder, ‘it’s dawn. Spare me the feeding-on-blood talk, yeah?’

‘I think you should look into swamp vampires,’ Gray muttered, ‘but you can’t tell Killian this, he’ll know it came from me.’

‘Yeah, all right, I know how to play it.’ Codder took one last drag from his cigarette and threw the butt onto the ground. ‘You got anything else? I need something really good.’

‘I need - more books. Er, 1001 Uses For Tears, Sweat, and Blood, and Dark Rituals and Darker Beasts-’

‘You need more books, stray,’ said Codder, ‘then the deal’s going to change. This is getting very pricey, and I’m unemployed now.’

Gray barely expected Codder to honour any deal, but he absolutely did not want Codder with any kind of major upper hand.

‘Are the books worth more than your career?’ said Gray.

‘It’s not the career I care about, stray,’ said Codder.

‘The prize money, then.’

Codder sucked on his teeth. A guard called from down the corridor.

‘That’s time up,’ said Codder. ‘Well, that was disappointing, stray.’

‘Disappointing?’ said Gray.

‘Deal’s off. You’re on your own.’

Codder turned to leave. Gray’s stomach plummeted.

‘Wait,’ said Gray, desperately hoping Codder wouldn't just give up and not pass the information on, ‘just wait a second. There’s mention of a curse at the end of the lullaby, right? It might be a solution …’

Gray trailed off as Codder slowly stepped back, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

‘Magic,’ said Codder softly, his face deadpan, ‘to get rid of the vampiric sorcerer. Very enlightening.’

‘There are alchemic curses,’ said Gray. ‘It doesn’t have to be magic.’

Codder folded his arms. He squinted down at the lullaby. ‘You know any giants, stray? Because I’m pretty sure they’re all extinct.’

‘What if giant just means enormous?’ said Gray. ‘Out-of-this-world big?’

Codder kept his gaze down at the lullaby, completely still. 'That's not how I interpret it.'

’Silence, it says,’ continued Gray. ‘And a huge curse. I think this thing uses its voice as part of its power. Maybe that’s why it’s attracted to voices in the first place. It’s stealing what it needs. Growing its power. There was wailing in the streets in Krydon, in the dead of night, for weeks before the first murderer. I mean - I just heard it once. Wailing. And then right before … Ali died. Harriette heard it. Maybe you need to curse its voice.’

Codder was very still. ‘You curse its voice and then this thing goes crawling back home?’

‘I - I mean, it probably doesn’t go crawling back home-‘

‘Obviously,’ said Codder. ‘But it has less power to kill you. Or,’ he continued, rubbing his jaw, ‘less power to beat the sorcerer we pit against it.’

‘Yeah,’ said Gray. ‘I mean, it’s all speculation, but … yeah.’

The guard called again from the end of the corridor, more sharply this time.

‘OK, stray,’ whispered Codder. He hesitated. ‘Everything goes well for me tonight, you just bought yourself two more books. All right?’

Gray hated to be making any kind of deal with Codder, but at least he was finally getting somewhere.

He was going to get the damn thing that had gotten Alistair and Rowan.

Gray looked straight into Codder’s shadowed gaze. ‘All right.’ Gray hesitated. 'How many has it killed? I haven't had - any news here, about it.'

'Why?' said Codder.

Gray ran a hand through his dark hair. 'I don't think we want it to get to seven. Whatever the ritual is, I don't think it'll be good.'

'Yeah,' said Codder, turning to leave. 'No shit.'