Chapter List

uch tableware is expensive. I’m sure you understand. My glasses are my business, you see. Perhaps we can come to an agreement? Business is hit or miss these days. I have just the thing here. You’ll be right as rain.”

Reina waited for the multitude of words to subside, much as she might wait for the last glops of sludge to fall from an empty well bucket. Enken’s nose wrinkled as he wondered how anyone could hear the man over the sound of his moustache.

The proprietor held up a short, wide glass as if for auction. “My price for my finest glassware is one copper monarch.”

Unfortunately for the proprietor, naming a price in the presence of Reina of Kulnas was like dangling a canary before a starving alley cat. She approached negotiations like a mongoose. The outcome was never in question. Only the speed and direction of the decisive strike.

The end of the Vicereine’s staff punched the wooden floor of the tavern, making a hollow sound. The very moment those between the door and the proprietor realized she was coming their way, spilled drinks and at least one overturned chair marked their escape.

As Reina slowly walked from the door to the bar, the patrons gave her considerable deference. Her robes scathed the floor. The sound was both unpleasant and ominous. She used her staff as a mountain climber might use a pick.

As hard as he tried, the proprietor still couldn’t see more than Reina’s chin until she reached the bar and raised her head slightly.

“I am not in the habit of paying for simple reagents. Perhaps I can conjure what I need.”

The proprietor’s skin began to crawl.

“Now to the best of my recollection, conjuring a fine drinking glass is a rather complex spell. It requires a living component.”

Reina’s voice lingered over her words, as if she were savoring her advantage. Her eyes met his.

“To complete my work I will require five human teeth.”

The proprietor slammed the base of the glass down on the bar and held on to it as if he were trying to recover from a wave of nausea. A nervous tick was causing his right eye to flutter, and his upper lip curled involuntarily. He pulled his hand away as Reina reached for the glass.

Enken looked over the Vicereine’s shoulder, then moved a chair to make room next to her.

“I will be quick about my business,” she said, taking the glass in her pale hand. His eyes rose, and a fresh wave of sickness overcame him as looked into the face of the jawless skull atop Reina’s staff.

The Vicereine examined the glass carefully, then turned slowly to one side and tossed it lightly into the air. Several people in the room jumped at the shattering sound. The proprietor closed his eyes and muttered to himself.

Reina’s eyes focused on the shards scattered around her feet. She identified the largest piece of glass on the floor, then brought the full measure of her powers to bear, gathering the flickering light from the room and altering it. She reached beyond the physical realm with her mind and one by one, she adjusted each dim beam of light to pass through the broken shards of glass and reveal what was beyond her sight.

The glass shards darkened, and clouds passed through them. Reina was looking down on an ocean at night, with each shard showing a different region of the water. Enken frowned, and then his eyes widened in recognition. A three-masted wooden ship.

“They are underway,” Enken said.

Reina’s mind reached deeper into the darkness, and the ocean faded. When her vision re-focused, she could see six people standing on the deck of the ship. One held a colorful jeweled Lantern. It’s light glowed through the broken glass and brightened the wooden floor of the tavern.

“If we do not reach the Gray Coral Strand in time to greet them, they will not survive,” Reina said quietly.

The Vicereine reached into her coin purse and drew an object from it carefully. She placed a crown-emblazoned silver coin on the bar. A month’s wages for a tavern keeper.

“My apologies for the mess.”

The patrons watched with a combination of dread and curiosity as the dusty-robed woman made her way back to the door and waited for Enken to hold it open. The proprietor finally exhaled as the last of her robes passed the edge of the doorjamb. Enken followed her outside.

Nobody spoke.

Continue to Chapter Seven

Chapter List

ay I present Kenesh Drun,” Thea said non-chalantly, taking her seat at the head of the table opposite the entry. Once situated, she placed the spectacles on the table next to her place setting and looked up.

“Please,” Thea said, indicating an open place at the table for Kenesh.

“I’ll stand,” Kenesh replied.

“Please take a seat,” Thea said, her expression hardening slightly. Kenesh hesitated, glancing down and to his left to indicate the woman by the entry. Finally he pulled a chair from one side of the table and sat down slowly, every muscle in his body tense enough to split firewood. Thea noticed he had chosen a vantage point near two exits from which he could observe all four other people in the room. Nothing in her expression betrayed how impressed she already was with his progress.

“You are known as the Scaled One,” one of the men at the table offered after a few moments of silence. Kenesh did not reply.

“An appropriate nomenclature,” Thea replied. “Our problem is formidable.”

“What is your knowledge of healing magic?” the merchant persisted.

“Look at me,” Kenesh replied without looking. The merchant’s face fell slightly, and he swallowed, realizing the absurdity of the question as he looked at the glassy, off-center gaze. He nervously took a sip of his tea, managing to get the cup all the way back into the saucer before it rattled too much. Kenesh glanced at the merchant then back at Thea.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have hired a scribe?”

“We have made inquiries,” Thea replied with a slight tone of contempt. “There are no scribes with knowledge of the Vicereine’s curses. Those who didn’t flee at the very mention of her name claim her powers are beyond their understanding,” Thea replied.

Kenesh glanced across the table. Sweat glistened on the forehead of one of the merchants.

“I’ll pass,” Kenesh said. The woman at the door straightened, as if insulted. Thea smiled with some apparent effort.

“One hundred monarchs of pure gold for the Vicereine’s chains,” Thea said.

“I avoid arcanists, Thea. I live longer that way,” Kenesh said.

“Two hundred,” Thea said, her smile widening slightly. Kenesh looked at the nearest of the two merchants. Discussions of such large amounts of gold seemed to be quite uncomfortable for them, at least gold paid to someone else. Kenesh guessed Thea was playing with their chips.

“Five thousand,” Kenesh said coolly. One of the merchants sputtered while attempting to sip his tea and the cup slipped. A moment later the china shattered against the wooden floor. A glint of reflected light caught Kenesh’s eye from the narrow staircase opposite the dining room entrance. Fortunately for him, under the table a balanced blade already rested in his right hand.

The guard’s hand froze against the wall with a sickly wet thud and his weapon clattered down the last few wooden steps. He shrieked as the sharpness of the dagger blade impaling his hand registered. The guard was immobilized. Kenesh took his seat again very slowly as he carefully observed the guard’s attempts to free himself. The guard tried again to dislodge the dagger from the wall, and he howled as his failure was rewarded with a barrage of roaring pain.

“Silence,” Thea said quietly. The guard’s voice quieted instantly. Kenesh noticed the woman at the entrance had used the distraction to move a step closer to him. Time was growing short. The guard finally managed to work the dagger free of the doorjamb and he scuttled away back up the narrow staircase.

“Plus the cost of the dagger,” Kenesh added.

For the first time in the negotiations, Thea glanced away from Kenesh at the two merchants.

“Done,” she said, glancing back. The face of the sputtering merchant drained of its color and he gave up on his attempts to clean the tea from his shirt. The merchants’ defeated stares were gratifying for Kenesh, at least momentarily.

“The Vicereine Reina travels the streets of Prince Branven Square openly and brazenly, haggling with our guildsmen and spreading filth,” one of them finally managed. Kenesh did not acknowledge the statement.

The woman crept closer.

“The gold,” Kenesh said, watching Thea’s face carefully. She gestured slightly with her chin and Kenesh looked down. A golden monarch weighing at least four ounces rested in the cup at his place setting. Kenesh retrieved it quickly and took a moment to examine it.

“How will we know you have succeeded?” the other merchant asked.

A serrated knife slid from under the woman’s sleeve and dropped into her right palm, and she twisted her fingers to grip its hilt. One more step was all she needed.

“You’ll still be alive,” Kenesh replied, tossing the coin across the table. Everyone watched it tumble through the air. One of the merchants caught it clumsily against his chest with both hands. The woman turned and drove her knife in a powerfully wicked viper-quick attack.

The back of Kenesh’s empty chair splintered slightly as the knife’s heavy blade punctured it.

Thea closed her eyes and exhaled silently, then took a sip of her tea.

Continue to Chapter Five