Prologue
Shadow-creatures spiraled around the dancing figures on the raised glowing marble dance-floor and soft music washed over the entire room, filling the inhabitants with a restless energy. The dancers moved with a controlled frenzy, gyrating to the seemingly simple melodies that wove around themselves in ever more complex patterns. The music was disconcerting yet compelling.
Raven stood in the shadows at the edge of the crowd, a smoldering cigarette tucked against his bottom lip. His dull gray eyes watched the dancing pairs in the center of the room. Even he, disinterested as he seemed, tapped his soft-soled leather boot softly against the strangely colorless marble floor of the dimly lit room.
Even distracted as he was, he did not seem the least bit surprised when a clawed hand settled on his shoulder. He turned calmly to face the tall, reptilian-scaled creature that had appeared behind him through the solid gray wall. “What do you want, Gaur-jahn?” Raven asked with disdain, brushing the clawed hand off his shoulder.
The Gaur-jahn grinned; a sinister curling of the lips that added to the creature’s already dangerously predatory appearance. “Raven knows what Giranji wants.” Its voice rose an fell with the music in what would have been a pleasant cadence if it were not for the alien, almost undetectable, sharpness in the inflection of his words—as if it’s mouth were not built to speak words but to shred them.
“Running errands for Rhasti again?” Raven quipped casually, his tone touched with smug assurance, reaching for a glass of silver liquid on the table beside him. The creature flinched slightly, claws sliding together with a dry rasp. Raven hid a satisfied smile in his drink.
“Master should not trust Raven with his hidden-name,” Giranji said. “If Raven were to use it. . .”
Raven’s mouth curled upwards in contempt. “He doesn’t trust me, which is why he keeps sending me on dangerous errands, in the hope that I’ll find my end. However, the fact that I was able to find his name is more than indication of my skills. He can use me. I’m more than willing to take his money and give him names.” Raven’s eyes flicked towards Gianji, his own voice sharpening to match Giranji’s. “I don’t use names. I merely find them for other people. And they pay me—well. I have little interest in the petty power-struggles of the outside. I just deal in knowledge.” He grinned. “And he pays me more than enough to make it worth my while not to give his name to anyone else. It’s wonderful how well it all works out for me.” His teeth glinted in the dim light. “Knowledge is power.” He tossed back what was left of his drink.
The Gaur-jahn’s eyes narrowed into glittering slits, it’s mouth widened to show even more teeth, and it’s body coiled. “Giranji was told that you were good at what you do.”
Raven’s mouth tightened into a predatory smile of his own. “I am.” he said flatly. “If you didn’t have a message for me I wouldn’t hesitate to kill you. Don’t think I couldn’t, I know your kind.”
The creature’s green-gold eyes blinked and a narrow purple tongue flicked between it’s teeth as if it were tasting its chances. “Giranji is expendable.” It’s voice lowered, cutting the words to a whisper. “He can come back from the other side.”
Raven chuckled. “There are ways to send even your kind past the point of return, but I only do that to real enemies. Remember; even for your kind the passage through the hub is painful. Kirani is a long way away.”
“These idle threats take us nowhere,” the creature said with a tight grimace, that might have passed for an attempted smile, and an uncomfortable shrug of his shoulders.
Raven’s face hardened. “I never make idle threats,” he said, purposefully holding the creature’s gaze. He paused for a moment, his hand hovering near the knife that hung on his belt. When the creature flinched, he relaxed. “What does your master want?” Raven said, leaning casually against the balcony rail, his back to the surging crowd below.
“My master wishes a name.” Giranji’s claws clicked together carefully, and his voice seemed, if not subdued, at least restrained.
“Who does he want? And how much is he willing to pay?” Raven said, nodding.
“He does not ask the name of anyone who is yet important,” Giranji said.
Raven’s face betrayed interest. “Continue.”
“A new power is manifesting in the outer districts. The council does not know of her yet. But Giranji’s master has information. The balance of the planes is in question. The power structure might change forever if she is not controlled before she has fully come into her power.” The creature waved Raven to silence as he was about to interject. “Do not ask for his sources. We know nothing but what we are told. All we can give you is the target.”
“And?”
“She is sixteen years old. She lives as a servant in the house of the mayor of Eldale.”
“Is there anything else?” Raven asked, fingering his collar.
“She is known as Underfoot.” These words ended in a stiff choking noise as a dagger plunged into the creature’s neck. Giranji glared at Raven with a vicious fire in his eyes as his physical form was sucked away by an unseen power.
Raven turned with a suppressed grin on his face. He suspected that Giranji would be back, sometime in the future, with a grudge. When that happened he would be able to send him all the way.
<-Previous Next->