Chapter List

hideous darkness fell over the dock as Reina’s robes and face faded to a savage, deathly black. The temperature plummeted. Sheets of painful frost instantly formed over Kenesh’s jerkin, boots and gloves. Sharp splinters of ice began to form in the air and float to the ground. He felt his spine freeze as the Vicereine’s narrow eyes became visible from under her cowl, slowly brightening to the enraged color of glowing blood.

Kenesh saw fangs emerge as she began to speak. The words seemed to be alternately miles away and right next to Kenesh’s ears. Her many voices formed an ocean of shadows beneath them and the edges of the warehouse and wooden platform began to warp and shift.

Whispers slithered into his mind. They spoke of cold and friendless places. A sound like a faraway fight between vicious dogs infiltrated his hearing and pain began to thrum down his neck like a spiderweb of tiny rivers. Voices pried into his consciousness muttering foulness he could have scarcely imagined in his most craven avarice. His throat tightened and he scrambled to escape, but his body refused to obey.

Hidden corners of his being began to drip with shadow. Something alarmingly tall and gangling loomed over the Vicereine. Then it moved. It’s unnatural gaze reached into Kenesh’s throat and began to drain the light from his vision. He turned to run. Raw, desperate, clawing fear locked his joints and the last gulp of air drained from his lungs.

The sound of an open grave groaned through the frosty air as Kenesh Drun scrambled back up the dock. He felt and heard the thumps of huge footsteps. From the deepest pit of his subconscious animal mind, cold claws reached for him. His frozen blood slowed his weakening legs. He couldn’t escape. His life force began to drain through his eyes. He could feel it strengthening the Arcanist. He could feel her satisfaction as she reached deeper, slashing at his thoughts and feeding on the fear that bled from his injured mind. His hair turned white and instantly rotted, falling from his head and taking the skin off his skull with it. He put his hands up to his face and screamed forever.

Nako wheezed and reached up with both hands to pull at Reina’s grip as she lifted him off the ground by the throat. His face bulged with the pain of strangulation. Reina held Shadebane to one side and whispered words of such power that each syllable threatened to weaken the supports of the dock. The skin of Nako’s arms and face began to darken and still the Vicereine tightened her grip. Her voice lowered to a hiss as Nako’s eyes fell back into his rotting head and his hands fell limply to his sides.

Reina flung the skeletal remains of Kenesh’s defeated henchman against the dingy wooden wall, shattering his brittle bones into dozens of pieces, each of which continued to decay as she turned back to Kenesh. He lay on the dock, his body tense with the primal throes of escape, staring directly into the sky. His ghostly face remained frozen as the screams continued to echo through his rapidly deteriorating mind.

Kenesh seemed to notice Reina suddenly and scrabbled backwards. He was unarmed and there was nowhere to run. Reina picked up the broken blade of Kenesh’s knife from the dock, then continued approaching him, robes dragging, as she examined it. Kenesh pushed back, his shoulders scraping the warehouse door as he got to his feet. The dull numbing ache of the bitter air grew with each of her approaching steps.

Reina stopped inches away. Her hands were covered in the poison from the blade. Kenesh watched by the scarce light of the flickering overhead lamp. Her slender, pale hands seemed to heal themselves just as quickly as the poison ate through the skin.

Continue to Chapter Ten

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