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Authors: Ari Marmell
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the other Guildmasters aren’t willing to put you in the field. You frighten them, for some reason.”
“Imagine that,” he muttered. Then, “So I’m to hunt down Corvis Rebaine on my own? No men at all?”
“Those few soldiers we
aren’t
holding in reserve to deal with Cephira will be needed elsewhere. There’s no way we can keep the rumors of Rebaine’s return from spreading; might as well try to cage the wind. We’ll need troops to keep the peace.
“Besides, any large force accompanying you would be impossible to keep secret, and I doubt a tiny handful of soldiers would be of much use against your quarry.”
Jassion couldn’t help but smile, then flinched at the pain in his bruised face. “I’m flattered you think so highly of my abilities, Salia, but—”
“I said you’d be without
soldiers
, Jassion, not without
help.
” She reached down, lifted the box she’d brought with her. Only an observer far closer than the baron would have noted how her flesh shrank from the touch of the wood. Drawing a key from within her belt, she popped open the lid so Jassion might see.
I T WAS A DRAMATIC GESTURE for something so unimpressive. “A dagger?” Jassion scoffed, his disdain rising like bile in the back of his throat. “I’ll need a bit more than … than …” And then he heard it. His voice failed him as he shuddered at the
whispers
in the back of his mind.
“It was recovered,” Mavere told him, her own voice soft, “nearwhere Audriss the Serpent fell. It’s been handled only with tools since then, never by hand. Take it.”
The Baron of Braetlyn feared little in this world, but his soul shrieked a warning, pleading with his reaching fingers not to close about that simple, innocuous hilt.
Jassion didn’t listen. And even as he lifted the weapon, felt it shift and twist and grow within his grasp, the whispers coalesced in the tiny corner of his mind where nightmares dwelt, where a young boy still felt the clammy touch of dead arms and legs pressing against him from all sides. And they spoke to him a name.
Talon
.
He blinked, and that eternal instant was over. Jassion held in his fists not a dagger but a great two-handed flamberge, its scalloped blade nearly five feet in length. For Talon was one of the Kholben Shiar, the demon-forged blades who read any wielder and assumed a form best suited to his heart and soul.
“This should even the odds a bit,” he said with a smirk.
“You’ll also,” Mavere said, “be taking him.”
Jassion frowned as the other fellow once more offered a cheery wave. “Hello again.”
“Salia, I do not—”
“Have any choice in the matter,” she interrupted. “Look, my lord, you’ve already seen some of the magics he has at his disposal. Well, they’re now at
yours
. Unless you think you can find
and
fight someone like Corvis Rebaine without such powers.”
His scowl deepened further, but he nodded. Though it actually, physically pained him, he extended a hand to the young sorcerer. “I’m sure you’ll bring something useful to the journey.”
The other looked at the hand, made no move to take it. “One of us has to,” he said with a faint sneer.
Jassion ground his teeth. “And what am I to call you, my new companion?”
“Oh, I’m certain you’ll be inspired to come up with a great many things to call me.
“But for now, Kaleb will do.”
Chapter Four
T HE C EPHIRANS WORKED THEMSELVES into a right frenzy upon discovering the two murdered guards, but after a few days of scampering, anthill-like activity, they’d discovered precisely nothing. The bodies were found nowhere near the workers’ barracks, and since none of the prisoners had escaped or apparently even freed himself from his shackles, obviously none of them could be the culprit. The soldiers fiercely questioned everyone and doubled patrols in and around the city for more than a week, and stricter curfews made things even more unpleasant for Rahariem’s citizens, but
“Imagine that,” he muttered. Then, “So I’m to hunt down Corvis Rebaine on my own? No men at all?”
“Those few soldiers we
aren’t
holding in reserve to deal with Cephira will be needed elsewhere. There’s no way we can keep the rumors of Rebaine’s return from spreading; might as well try to cage the wind. We’ll need troops to keep the peace.
“Besides, any large force accompanying you would be impossible to keep secret, and I doubt a tiny handful of soldiers would be of much use against your quarry.”
Jassion couldn’t help but smile, then flinched at the pain in his bruised face. “I’m flattered you think so highly of my abilities, Salia, but—”
“I said you’d be without
soldiers
, Jassion, not without
help.
” She reached down, lifted the box she’d brought with her. Only an observer far closer than the baron would have noted how her flesh shrank from the touch of the wood. Drawing a key from within her belt, she popped open the lid so Jassion might see.
I T WAS A DRAMATIC GESTURE for something so unimpressive. “A dagger?” Jassion scoffed, his disdain rising like bile in the back of his throat. “I’ll need a bit more than … than …” And then he heard it. His voice failed him as he shuddered at the
whispers
in the back of his mind.
“It was recovered,” Mavere told him, her own voice soft, “nearwhere Audriss the Serpent fell. It’s been handled only with tools since then, never by hand. Take it.”
The Baron of Braetlyn feared little in this world, but his soul shrieked a warning, pleading with his reaching fingers not to close about that simple, innocuous hilt.
Jassion didn’t listen. And even as he lifted the weapon, felt it shift and twist and grow within his grasp, the whispers coalesced in the tiny corner of his mind where nightmares dwelt, where a young boy still felt the clammy touch of dead arms and legs pressing against him from all sides. And they spoke to him a name.
Talon
.
He blinked, and that eternal instant was over. Jassion held in his fists not a dagger but a great two-handed flamberge, its scalloped blade nearly five feet in length. For Talon was one of the Kholben Shiar, the demon-forged blades who read any wielder and assumed a form best suited to his heart and soul.
“This should even the odds a bit,” he said with a smirk.
“You’ll also,” Mavere said, “be taking him.”
Jassion frowned as the other fellow once more offered a cheery wave. “Hello again.”
“Salia, I do not—”
“Have any choice in the matter,” she interrupted. “Look, my lord, you’ve already seen some of the magics he has at his disposal. Well, they’re now at
yours
. Unless you think you can find
and
fight someone like Corvis Rebaine without such powers.”
His scowl deepened further, but he nodded. Though it actually, physically pained him, he extended a hand to the young sorcerer. “I’m sure you’ll bring something useful to the journey.”
The other looked at the hand, made no move to take it. “One of us has to,” he said with a faint sneer.
Jassion ground his teeth. “And what am I to call you, my new companion?”
“Oh, I’m certain you’ll be inspired to come up with a great many things to call me.
“But for now, Kaleb will do.”
Chapter Four
T HE C EPHIRANS WORKED THEMSELVES into a right frenzy upon discovering the two murdered guards, but after a few days of scampering, anthill-like activity, they’d discovered precisely nothing. The bodies were found nowhere near the workers’ barracks, and since none of the prisoners had escaped or apparently even freed himself from his shackles, obviously none of them could be the culprit. The soldiers fiercely questioned everyone and doubled patrols in and around the city for more than a week, and stricter curfews made things even more unpleasant for Rahariem’s citizens, but
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