Morning sunshine, glaringly bright despite the early hour, lanced through the gaps in Allana’s threadbare curtains like hateful spears of light. The wraith girl groaned and rolled over in bed, trying to bury her eyes into the crook of Tenebres’s arm.

“Make the light go away…” she whined.

Teneberes giggled a little and stroked his fingers through her messy violet hair. “I don’t think I’m high enough level for that quite yet, Lana.”

She groaned louder and rolled over again, burying her face into her pillow instead. “Useless!”

Tenebres sighed and pressed himself to her side. His fingers, so much softer and more delicate than her own, traced over the brand on her shoulder blade, outlining the tear drops and crossed daggers of her two gifts. “You’re always so grumpy in the morning,” he teased her. Any efforts to move her were wasted, his meager frame unable to even slightly budge her more muscular body.

Allana relaxed as he pulled away, her light sigh interrupted by his cry of “Rise and SHINE!” On the last word, he jabbed under her ribs with his fingers.

Allana yelped and flailed into a more or less upright position, glaring at the cute wraith. She had to admit, if only to herself, that there were far worse ways to wake up. Tenebres hadn’t put a shirt back on after last night, and the sunlight made interesting shadows dance over his thin torso. She never got enough of studying the boy’s oddly curvy body. His chest and hips suggested more feminine curves, and his slender muscles were covered by a layer of soft fat. The result was a sort of androgyny Allana had never seen before, one the usually sun-drawn girl found deeply intriguing.

After a moment, Allana noticed his red eyes wandering over her own frame, and she remembered that she had ended up as nude as him by the time they fell asleep the night before. A lazy heat smoldered in Allana’s chest at the feeling of his hungry eyes, and she couldn’t help a little stretch for his benefit.

Her eyes drifted down to a subtle movement in the loose sheets that were draped over his lower half, and she couldn’t help a little smirk. Success.

“Why can’t you ever let me sleep in?” she asked him, picking up the rhythm of her morning complaints as she stood up out of the bed. This time, her stretch was for her own benefit, but she still felt a little surge of satisfaction at the look on Tenebres’s face.

The boy had to swallow a couple times, and blink before his eyes rolled out of his head, before he managed to respond. “Early assassin catches the… I don’t know, worm.”

“Dire worm?” Allana suggested.

Tenebres waved one hand while lifting another to cover a yawn. “Sure, let’s go with that.”

Allana’s eyes furrowed as she noticed something on the boy’s slender arms. The fog of sleep was instantly ripped from her thoughts and she darted forward to grab him before he could cover up. “Have you noticed this?” she asked him.

Tenebres’s only response was a confused, “Hmm?”

Dancing up and down Tenebres’s arms were pale scars, the remnants of his Blood Magic augment. Stronger healing potions could be so potent that they didn’t even leave behind scars, but Tenebres and Allana relied on the cheap, often-watered down healing potions commonly available in Lowrun, which were able to close the open wounds but left behind the numerous silvery scars that covered Tenebres’s limbs.

But something about them had changed. Allana traced her fingers over a series of them, smiling a little at the little goosebumps that ran up Tenebres’s arm from her touch. “They’re connecting…” she observed. “They almost look like letters or something, some sort of symbols.”

“Runes, maybe,” Tenebres suggested. They were straight in some places, almost jagged, while others curved in swooping, serpentine patterns.

Allana looked up at him, her face serious. “Your magic is slowly engraving ominous runes on your skin. That… doesn't seem great.”

Tenebres shrugged and pulled away, sliding his arms under the sheet self-consciously. “Allana, we spent yesterday seeing how many different kinds of malicious demons I could summon and control. By comparison, some new marks on my arms aren’t really shaking me up.”

Allana sighed and stood back up, sorting through the pile of discarded clothing next to the bed. “Just… promise me we’ll look at them with Geoffrey, alright?”

“Sure,” Tenebres agreed, one hand flying up to catch his sleeveless leather tunic as she threw it at him. The tight leather garment emphasized his unique figure instead of hiding it, even leaving the bottom of his smooth stomach bare. “Looks like we might be going to see him today anyways.”

Allana looked at him quizzically, and the boy gestured towards the door with his chin. There, just past the door jam, was a folded note. It was Geoffrey’s most common way to get in touch with them on a day they weren’t expected to drop by his home.

Allana sighed. “What do you think?”

“Only one thing it could be.”

Allana nodded, and started dressing more briskly. It was shaping up to be a long day.

#

“His name is Sloan.” Geoffrey was all business when the two showed up, his usual flamboyant clothing discarded in favor of a tight black ensemble with a cloak draped over top. From the way the cloak hung, occasionally stirring as if in a nonexistent wind, Allana immediately pegged it as a magical garment, and she had no doubt the seemingly simple clothing underneath was enchanted as well. “A fishmonger on Sand Street.”

“Let me guess,” Tenebres said, arching an eyebrow at Allana, “Sand Street isn’t too far from Coral Street, right?”

“Good guess,” Allana confirmed. “Only a couple blocks away.”

“Okay…” Tenebres nodded, thinking things over outloud. “So Ryehardt and his crew are out on a normal fishing trip, but they get attacked by this ‘fishman,’ whatever it was.”

“A merrow,” Geoffrey explained. “That’s the only outsider I know of that fits the description.”

“Okay, so they get attacked by a merrow,” Tenebres continued. “Ryehardt, like everyone else in Lowrun, isn’t exactly on the up and up, so he had some battle-gifted on board, and they managed to kill this thing.”

“Are these things strong?” Allana asked Geoffrey.

“Depends on the kind. If I had to guess, it was likely a lesser monster, though it’s hard to say how strong it was in that rank. Could’ve been up there with that darkmaw you fought, or it could’ve been closer to the bottom of the rank.”

“But either way, an outsider in the bay is a big deal, right?”

Allana nodded. In the time they had known each other, she had come to the conclusion that Tenebres was far, far more intelligent than he acted. He had a mind like a razor, and she was more happy to let him figure this puzzle out while she provided the context he needed.

“The bay has the occasional monster. A ship catches a shellfang or something like that and the wardens have to come down from Highwalk to investigate. But outsiders in the bay are unheard of.”

“So assumably, Ryehardt knows that this outsider is a big deal. He keeps the corpse, and tells his crew to keep quiet about it.”

“Only Telik catches wind anyways,” Allana interjected. As always, the thought of the crimelord stirred up a stew of hate and guilt and anxiety in her chest.

“How?” Tenebres asked.

“Doesn’t matter how,” Geoffrey commented. “He just did.”

“His job is to know things,” Allana pointed out. “I doubt even the Rogue knows all of his sources. What matters is that he found out, and he wanted to keep it quiet too. He told Ryehardt that he was going to buy the corpse off him and get rid of it.”

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“Merrow aren’t usually that dangerous on their own,” Geoffrey said, “but they could indicate something more, a merrow ancient or some other Feral World beast, outsiders strong enough to threaten Telik’s hag partner.”

“And that’s ignoring the business implications,” Allana mused. “An outsider in the bay means official attention. Wardens, merchant guards, Highwalk investigating the port. It’s bad for his business.”

“So he had plenty of reason to want the outsider kept quiet,” Tenebres concluded. “Once Telik’s people took the body away, it would be gone. So this Sloan character attacks the ship in the night, kills the guards, and takes the corpse for himself before Telik can.”

“That fishmonger we talked to knew about the body too,” Allana said. “No matter how hard Ryehardt and Telik tried, there was no way to keep word of something like this from the rumor mill. If Sloan’s a fishmonger, it’s easy enough for him to catch wind and take advantage of it.”

“But why?” Tenebres asked, finally looking at Geoffrey. “Sloan must’ve known he was stirring up trouble doing something like this. “What makes this merrow thing worth the risk?”

“Keep in mind, I’m far from an expert on this,” Geoffrey said. “Merrow get handled most often by Westerlen wardens in the Tidal Wastes. To my understanding, their most unique trait is their ability to manipulate life magic. They can manipulate and control the sea monsters of their home world, and even foster whole clutches of eggs at a time.

“If I had to guess, the uniquely warped life magic of a merrow makes them useful in some way to Sloan’s necromancy. Given how long we’ve been hunting him, he’s likely had time to turn that body into some sort of unique, powerful undead. So… This is going to be a job for all three of us.”

Tenebres nodded, his own face serious. He gave Allana a worried look, his eyes darting down to his arms. They had stopped at a market before coming to Geoffrey's, buying the boy a pair of long gloves that matched his top and covering the worst of the scars. The assassin had launched right into this discussion without noting them–and if things were as bad as he said, this wasn’t the time for figuring out the newest development of Tenebres’s gift.

Tenebres had been right, she supposed, when he claimed that compared to summoning demons, some weird symbols on his arms didn’t really compare. She probably didn’t have anything to worry about.

Right?

“What’s the plan, then?” Allana asked.

“I’m going to give you the directions to Sloan’s shop,” Geoffrey told her. He tossed her a thin bandolier with half a dozen vials of bright blue liquid on it. Focus potions. “You’ll veil yourself and watch for the day. Make sure he’s in there until nightfall, and that he’s alone. There’s a contact tab in there–once the sun is down and he’s the only one in the shop, you break it and Tenebres and I will join you.

“We’ll go in together. I’ll take the biggest undead, whatever he made using the servitor. That’ll leave you two to handle Sloan himself, along with whatever else he has on hand to defend himself.” Geoffrey brandished another couple vials and tossed them to Tenebres. “Restoration and healing potions, the best I could afford. If he has too many other undead, don’t be afraid to call up some imps to deal with them.”

“Right.” Allana could see the anxiety in Tenebres’s eyes, but he slipped the vials into a pocket.

“Try to take him alive, but don’t take any chances,” Geoffrey instructed them. “I haven’t been able to get a good read on his level, but Sloan is likely at least Apprentice, if not Initiate.”

“Initiate?” Tenebres asked, alarm raising his voice by a couple octaves.

Allana reached out to pat his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Initiate or not, my Sneak Attack can get through his defenses. And once my poison is doing its work, it’s just a matter of time.”

“Exactly right,” Geoffrey agreed. “If he proves stronger than Apprentice, just stay on the defensive. Keep him from running and try to let the poison run its course. Once I handle the undead, I’ll step in to help.”

The boy looked far from encouraged, but he nodded shakily. “Right… I’m just playing the distraction. To a necromancer. Who might be two levels higher than me. And who definitely killed his way through an entire ship of alert battle-gifted.”

Allana grimaced and patted his shoulder again. “No, we’re playing distraction. It’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

Tenebres smiled wanly, but his normally gray skin looked even more pale than usual.

“Okay. Any questions?” Geoffrey looked between them. After a moment of silence, he nodded. “Let’s do this then. Allana, you head over now. It’s about a third of the way down Sand Street, there’s an old sign out front. A few buildings down is an abandoned netmender’s shop that Tenebres and I will post up in.”

Allana’s hand slid down Tenebres’s arm, and she briefly wrapped her fingers around his, trying to reassure him. Geoffrey made a point of glancing away from the brief show of affection between the two.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

#

Allana’s watch went off more or less without a hitch. She spent the day lounging in an alley across from Sloan’s Fishery, where a crooked wall was overlapped by the shade of an awning. Combined with her Obscuring Veil, she was all but invisible.

Obscuring Veil–Active, Illusion–Manifest an illusion that partially masks you from conventional senses. Veil is most effective in darkness or other obscuring conditions. Minor focus cost recurs as long as the veil is active.

Every hour or so, she tossed back one of the focus potions Geoffrey had given her, staving off the headache that came from overusing her stealth abilities. Fortunately, she didn’t exactly need her best veil to avoid notice. Like Algus, Sloan’s shop was far from popular, as if passersby could instinctively feel the presence of the fishmonger’s dark magic and went out of their way to avoid it. People seemed to have a habit of turning away before they reached the Fishery, and Allana felt sure that if she couldn’t count the number of people that walked by the shop on her fingers, it was only barely.

She couldn’t help but wonder how things were going for Tenebres. This would be as long as he had ever spent alone with Geoffrey, and it was no doubt awkward and tense for him. She recalled the obvious anxiety on his face and frowned. Once this was over, she’d have to make sure she took care of him for the night, helped him feel better.

That was an odd thought. Not so long ago, the idea of planning to comfort someone would’ve been completely alien to her, but Tenebres had somehow worn through her emotional defenses more quickly than she would’ve thought possible. Idly, she entertained the notion that maybe his obvious feelings for her weren’t so far fetched after all.

Finally, the sun sank towards the horizon, and Allana began composing herself for battle, sinking into the assassin’s mindset. She reached for the last two slots on the bandolier Geoffrey had given her. She drank the last of the focus potions, ensuring she’d be at the top of her form for the coming fight, then snapped the small ceramic contact tab. One of the simplest pieces of artifice in existence, the piece of ceramic was engraved with tiny, simple runes that would transfer the energy of the snap to its twin, which Geoffrey had with him.

The devices were simple, but useful. They had limited range, and couldn’t convey a complex message, but for subtly sending a signal, there was nothing better. Allana knew that even as she broke her tab, Geoffrey’s would do the same, telling him that it was time to move.

Sure enough, it was only minutes before Tenebres and Geoffrey emerged from their own hiding place and briskly made their way down the street.

Allana dropped her veil and stepped out to meet them. Her other concerns were forgotten now, her face neutral and impassive. “He didn’t have any customers all day,” she reported, “but he’s in there. I’ve seen him come up and do some actual work, fileting fish and keeping his chilltops fresh. There’s a door behind the counter, looks like it leads downstairs.”

“Right.” Geoffrey walked towards the door, Allana and Tenebres close behind. Tenebres had his own game face on, and if it wasn’t as solid as Geoffrey and Allana’s, his eerie features made up for the difference. Between his grayish skin, white hair, red eyes, and black leather ensemble, the boy could pass as a necromancer himself.

Allana turned her eyes to Geoffrey. Despite months working with the powerful assassin, she had never truly seen him in action. Even in their practice bouts, or when they had tested Tenebres’s imps, Allana was sure that the Adept assassin had never used his full strength. But this was a real job, a true fight against a necromancer, and she was curious to see the man go all out.

The fishmonger’s door was solid oak. Like storefronts in the area, it was designed to be locked with a drop bar from the inside to prevent robberies. As such, Allana expected Geoffrey to turn to the large window to the side of the entrance, a louder but easier ingress. The powerfully built man didn’t bother to turn his steps, however. He moved his arm in what seemed like a single motion ending with his long, gracefully curved sword held out to one side. There was a brief humming noise and the thick wooden door simply collapsed, falling to the floor in four uneven pieces, and Geoffrey walked in without breaking his stride.

The fishmonger’s store was laid out very traditionally. A low counter cut off the back third of the floor, and a pair of chilltops atop them boasted an array of fish and shellfish, butchered and ready for purchase. A series of black chalk signs proclaimed prices in a sloppy scrawl.

Geoffrey stopped for a moment. He slowly turned his head, surveying the room, and Allana watched the line of his back and shoulder stay perfectly straight, perfectly prepared. When the skeleton finally attacked, Allana barely saw it leap from behind the counter before it too fell to the ground, its barnacle-encrusted skull sheared perfectly down the middle while a half dozen cleaved rib bones fell to the ground.

“Skeleton. That means he has the gift of bone,” Geoffrey told them, his voice calm. No, Allana corrected herself. Not calm. Empty. Toneless. She hadn’t even seen him attack the skeleton. “Tenebres, your magic should be fairly effective against them, they don’t take well to blunt force. Aim for the heads. Allana, veil.”

The master assassin didn’t wait for acknowledgement. He turned immediately to the door behind the counter. Another movement, a humming sound, and that door too collapsed. Allana paused long enough to wrap her Obscuring Veil around herself. At that moment, Geoffrey dashed down the stairs, sword ready. Tenebres licked his lips and ran after him, and Allana invisibly followed behind them, daggers ready.