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⬠SGarrogh, do you hear anything?⬠"
His second cocked his head for a long moment, and then his expression fell
into a weary scowl.
⬠SNo . . . nothing.⬠"
⬠SDamn it!⬠" Rodian struck the street with his sword. A quick, sharp scrape
mingled with a steel clang rolling along the vacant avenue.
⬠SWait,⬠" Garrogh whispered, and then pointed. ⬠SThere!⬠"
In the edge of a pool of lantern light lay a leather folio upon the
cobblestones.
Rodian ran for it and snatched it up. The leather lace was broken, snapped
rather than untied, and he flipped the folio open.
All the pages were still inside, but it didn⬠"!t matter. They were fakes,
arranged by High-Tower and a⬠"!Seatt in this effort to lure and trap the
killer.
Rodian raised his eyes, looking through the dark broken pools of lantern
light.
Had their quarry⬠at least the one who⬠"!d gotten away⬠realized the pages
were a ruse? How could anyone have even glanced inside the folio during
flight?
⬠SRuben and Lúcan should have the other in custody,⬠" Garrogh said.
⬠SWe⬠"!ll get some answers out of that one!⬠"
Rodian simply nodded. Turning, he headed back at a trot, all the way to the
Upright Quill. But upon drawing closer to the scriptorium, he slowed in
caution.
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Four of his men lay in the street.
Only Lúcan was on his feet, hovering with sword in hand over Wynn, as the
sage tended Ruben⬠"!s bleeding shoulder.
Shâth lay with limbs askew where he⬠"!d fallen in a bloody mess.
Far to the shop⬠"!s right lay Ecgbryht⬠"!s limp form, his head cocked up
against the shop⬠"!s wall. Nearly all color had faded from his rough face,
making the stubble of his blond beard stand out. His features were frozen in
shock beneath tangled strands of gray-streaked hair. Taméne lay where the
figure had struck him . . . his eyes open, his neck broken.
And the pale-faced man was nowhere in sight.
⬠SWhere is he?⬠" Rodian snarled. ⬠SWhere⬠"!s the other one?⬠"
⬠SAsk her!⬠" Lúcan snapped, nudging the sage with his boot⬠"!s toe.
Wynn held a torn wad of tabard against Ruben⬠"!s bleeding shoulder. She
didn⬠"!t even look up.
⬠SWhat have you done now?⬠" Rodian demanded.
Her shoulders curled forward as if she might collapse in exhaustion. Then she
squeezed her eyes closed in a pained cringe.
⬠SGods damn you!⬠" Rodian snapped, not caring what anyone thought. ⬠SYou are
under arrest.⬠"
Wynn tucked the makeshift bandage inside Ruben⬠"!s split tabard, closing the
edges over it. She rose up to lock eyes with Rodian, and then movement in the
corner of Rodian⬠"!s sight made him jerk around.
A shadow-cloaked figure approached along the deeper darkness of the next
shop⬠"!s awning. Rodian raised his sword, inching toward the silhouette draped
in a black cloak and . . . a hat?
Pawl a⬠"!Seatt stepped out, wearing a black cloak over his matching vestment
and a pressed white shirt.
Upon his head was the flat-topped hat of black felt with a brim almost wide
enough to shield his shoulders. He swept his gaze over the scene, pausing
briefly on the shattered window of his shop.
⬠SWhat are you doing here?⬠" Rodian demanded. ⬠SYou and yours were to keep
away until I told you otherwise.⬠"
Master a⬠"!Seatt didn⬠"!t answer.
⬠SDid you find the dog?⬠" Wynn whispered.
Rodian glanced back in disbelief. Wynn gazed down the empty street like a
child who⬠"!d wandered off and only just realized she was lost. Rodian
didn⬠"!t care.
After all the careful setup and planning, he⬠"!d failed. There had been not
one but two perpetrators here this night, and both had escaped. Three of his
men were dead and another injured⬠and he had nothing to show for it. And it
was all wrapped around one meddling little sage.
⬠SGarrogh, see to the men,⬠" Rodian growled, and he snatched Wynn by the arm,
dragging her down the street.
CHAPTER 11
Wynn sat alone on her cell⬠"!s bunk within the military⬠"!s castle, staring at
a heavy wooden door with no inner handle. On top of everything else that her
superiors held against her, being arrested was going to destroy any grain of
credibility she had left. She took a deep breath, trying to calm thoughts
spinning out of control, but the effort failed.
A shrouded black figure, who could walk through walls, had stolen a folio and
killed three of the Shyldfälches. The city guards had barely slowed it down.
This only strengthened Wynn⬠"!s belief that it was an undead as well as a
powerful mage.
And Chane had appeared in the company of this monster, just as he had with
Welstiel.
Then Chap had bolted out of the dark to protect her⬠only to vanish in
pursuit of the black-robed undead.
It was too much to hold all at once in her head.
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If Chap was here, then where were Magiere and Leesil? Though she ached to find
Chap, to learn why he⬠"!d come, her jumbled thoughts kept turning back to
Chane.
Once a minor noble in life, he was a scholar and sometime warrior who⬠"!d
stood between her and death more than once. He was also another monster, a
killer who fed on the living and had ended or ruined many lives. She⬠"!d tried
to shut him out, to make him leave her once and for all in that forgotten
castle of the Farlands⬠"! highest peaks. Yet here he was again⬠always again
and again.
Wynn slumped, elbows on knees, and buried her face in her hands. Why had she
believed his denial in the street?
She⬠"!d been disoriented by that thing coming out of the wall and the sudden
appearance of Chane . . . and then Chap. Too much had happened in those
panicked moments. Yet, even if Chane was a Noble Dead, he⬠"!d always revered
the guild.
In Bela, across the eastern ocean, before anyone knew what he was, he⬠"!d
often come at night to sit with her and pore over historical texts. Not once
had he shown the slightest threat to her, Domin Tilswith, or the others trying
to establish the bare beginning a new guild branch.
So how and why was he involved with the missing folios? And what had happened
inside the Upright Quill that led to a conflict between him and the cowled
figure? Perhaps Chane was more interested in the work of sages than she⬠"!d
ever guessed.
She stiffened at a metal jangle outside her cell door. The heavy lock clacked,
and the door opened partway.
Rodian hung in the opening, staring at her.
What could she say that would matter at all to him?
Oh, don⬠"!t worry. The wolf was actually an elven dog, a kind you don⬠"!t know
about. And along with a woman you⬠"!ve never met⬠a half undead, half
something you don⬠"!t believe in⬠and a half elf you⬠"!ve never heard of,
they hunt undeads, and . . .
Oh, yes, that would fix everything. They wouldn⬠"!t lock her up for
interfering with the city guard. No, they⬠"!d just stick her in a room in the
city ward until she was cured of madness.
When the captain finally stepped in, Wynn could tell he was calmer than when
he⬠"!d nearly thrown her into the cell. But his neatly bearded face was drawn
tight, and dark rings surrounded his eyes. His jaw muscles bulged slightly as
he ground his teeth.
⬠SYou set a trap,⬠" she said.
Rodian paced before the door, taking only four short steps to cross the cell
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