Mira looked down from her perch on the rooftop. Anyone looking up would have seen only the shadows that the streetlamp made. A month had gone by since rumors of abductions had started, and Mira had scoured every part of the lower city for the perpetrator. Tonight, there were no women of the night working this corner in the lower city. There used to be a dozen of them working here at some point in the evenings, but over time they slowly disappeared. If any of them still lived, they were smart enough to starve at home rather than ply their trade publicly. Mira wasn’t able to see any patterns emerge. There were no cries or screams for help. No crime scenes to scour for clues. No bodies. Nothing. Now rumors said there were women who were abducted from the lower city who weren’t prostitutes. The city wasn’t in hysterics yet, but the prince had to be getting an earful from people. After all, this was a very dark and dangerous world sometimes, and Stonekeep’s citizens were a steely bunch. Still, it was sobering to know that this time the darkness was in the city with us and not lurking in the wilds.

  It was very early in the evening and seeing that nothing was to be gained from sitting on a dark rooftop, Mira decided to do something different. She decided to see what Kromwell’s gang was doing. She knew where all of his toadies lived on the off chance that she needed to exact revenge. Mira made her way back to the upper city unnoticed on the rooftops with barely a whisper of sound coming from her soft-soled boots. She had bought them a month ago because it helped maintain her cover identity and because she didn’t want to be thought of as a child, and adults wore shoes. Well, that, and because she could hide a knife in her boot.

  Mira shifted her crossbow to her other shoulder. She wanted to have a ranged weapon handy in case she saw the kidnapper somewhere. Of course, she had it because she liked to shoot things, too. Mira had put some fleece in her quiver to keep the crossbow bolts from rattling around. The fleece served a double purpose in that it was helping her keep quiet and that it was also a component for some of her illusion spells.

  Mira crept more slowly through the shadows when she got closer to the Surekeels’ house. She thought they would have better security than normal, and she was right. There was a watchful pair of guards in chainmail shirts with steel helms outside the front door. She went down the street a bit and crossed over to the roof of another house on their block. Looking over the edge, she saw another pair of guards at the rear entrance to their house. So much for the easy way. She scouted around the two houses closest to the Surekeel residence and noticed something peculiar. The houses on either side of the Surekeels had windows with heavy drapes that were identical to the drapes on the first floor of the Surekeels’ house. They effectively blocked the sight of whatever was going on within, but she could see dim light in the corners of most of the windows. Most people didn’t burn lamp oil unnecessarily. She thought it was very out of character for these two houses to be identical in this way, but it wasn’t completely impossible. Maybe they bought their drapes together to get a better deal.

  As quietly as she could, Mira crept across the back side of the house, her body parallel to the street, angling for one of the windows on the third floor of the main residence. Nothing going on there. She went up to the fourth and highest floor and peeked inside a window with lacy drapes to see Kromwell sitting in a chair reading a book to his mother. Her back was to the window, so she couldn’t be sure, but it looked like a woman’s sitting room. He looked tired with his red-rimmed eyes. It looked very innocent, all things considered.

  Mira crept away, and went to the next crony’s house, which happened to be Raynold’s. Mira was just as careful there as she was at Kromwell’s house, just in case. When she peeked in all the windows, all she saw was Raynold’s mother washing a dish in the kitchen while his father sat in a chair close by, reading a book. He looked pretty haggard in the dim light, and Mira thought he would hurt his eyes trying to read with only a single lamp in the room. Raynold was upstairs in what must be his bedroom, reading a thick, leather-bound book. He had a couple of other books in there also. His family must be well off. The books looked familiar somehow, but Mira couldn’t remember how. She was too far away to see the titles on the spines of the books, so she shrugged and moved on to the next house. In all, Mira checked every one of Kromwell’s gang members’ homes and found nothing amiss. The only link seemed to be how tired they looked, and that wasn’t a coincidence at all at this time of night.

  “Well, I really expected to find something nefarious going on somewhere, Bandit,” Mira said.

  “Me, too. This wasn’t any fun at all,” came Bandit’s reply from somewhere above her.

  “Well, we’ve tried to keep an eye on the activities of the dealers in the lower city. No luck there. Maybe we should concentrate on the upper city for a while. This is the center of the spiderweb, after all.”

  “If you say so,” Bandit said. “You can find trouble like no one else. It’s one of the reasons we’re such good friends.” Bandit yawned audibly.

  “Let’s get some sleep and try again tomorrow,” Mira said, stifling a yawn.

  -----

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  Three days of fruitless searching followed when tragedy struck close to home. Mira and Bandit came to the Smith’s house for lunch to find Mr. and Mrs. Baker being consoled by Mr. and Mrs. Smith outside the smithy. Everyone looked very upset. Mira loitered nearby, eavesdropping.

  “Have you gone to the constables, Donin?” Dortham asked.

  “Of course! Fay only went to the market for sugar, and that was yesterday after lunch! I went to see the constables at around dinnertime. I’ve got a terrible feeling, Dortham! Terrible!” Donin said.

  “It’s not like her at all! You know Fay, Nora. She always came straight back with the groceries. Always,” Johala said with a cry. She sobbed on Nora’s shoulder, who was weeping herself.

  “Lieutenant Fowler said they’re running double the patrols these days, and he thinks she’ll turn up. Prince Kimorel is finally here with his men to add to the patrols, but no one’s been found yet. Not one! I saw Fowler’s face, Dortham. He tried to comfort me, but he’s as helpless as we are,” Donin said. “There’ve been dozens of kidnappings. Dozens! And now we’ve lost our Fay!”

  “Keep your chin up, Donin. We don’t know anything yet, and it’s the not knowing part that’s the worst. We don’t know that anything truly bad has happened yet,” Dortham said encouragingly. Dortham paused for a moment in thought. “We’ll organize a watch of our own. You and Ennet still have your arms, right?”

  Donin nodded.

  “Then get your gear ready and help us keep watch near this block. Maybe we can help the constables by allowing them to patrol fewer areas more effectively. We could possibly scare the kidnapper away from here, which would help all our neighbors,” Dortham said with conviction.

  “That’s a better idea than any I’ve had. I’ll get Ennet and we’ll start right away,” Donin said.

  Donin collected Johala, and with an arm around her shoulders, they walked back to their house and bakery two doors away. Dortham looked grim as he guided Nora and Mira inside the smithy. He closed the smithy door behind him. Elric, Darek, Bran and I had stopped working when the Bakers came over and we were looking to Dortham with grim expressions as we waited for his thoughts.

  “We’re going to take watches in teams of two. The smithy is closed until further notice. We’ll be fully armed when we do this, sons. Is everyone’s gear in good shape?” Dortham asked.

  Grim nods came from all in attendance.

  “After lunch, Elric and Jeron are on first watch in four-hour increments. Then Darek and Bran. I’ll be around organizing the neighbors to help,” Dortham said.

  “I can help too,” Mira said.

  Dortham eyed her steadily for a moment. “You’ve been patrolling in the evenings, haven’t you?”

  “Yes, sir,” Mira said. “I don’t have anything to go on yet, except that maybe the kidnappers have cleared out the prostitutes and beggars first. I also think that there’s more to this than one lone wolf. People would be struggling and shouting, but nothing’s ever heard. There have to be two or three people working together to disable then carry off each person. If we look for small groups, we may do better. And if Fay and others were taken during the day, then maybe they have a cart or something they’re using.”

  “Good thoughts, Mira,” Dortham said. “Let’s get some lunch and then get to it.”

  -----

  Two more days passed with no success in finding the kidnappers. Juleen was truly saddened at the news that Fay had been taken, and she hoped and prayed that Fay would be found before it was too late. Her eyes misted over a little bit as she thought about the state Mr. and Mrs. Baker were in, but she couldn’t wipe her eyes when her hands were soapy. Juleen concentrated harder on cleaning the dishes where she worked in the family kitchen.

  “I’m going to the market, dear,” Nora said to her. “Do you want anything in particular for dinner tonight?”

  “No, but thanks, mom. It seems wrong to be living a normal life when good people like the Bakers are suffering like they are.”

  “There, there, dear,” Nora said as she brought Juleen into a tender embrace. “I’m sure the prince and his men will find the monster responsible for the madness Stonekeep is going through. This too will pass.”

  “I hope so,” Juleen said softly. “I can’t remember anything like this ever happening here.”

  Juleen took a step back after a moment and pushed some of her long, brown hair behind her ear. She turned back to the stack of dishes in front of her.

  “It’s different from a farmer being taken by a render, but no worse. It only seems worse because it’s happening so frequently, and to people we know,” Nora said kindly. She turned to the door at the stairs to leave.

  “Be safe,” Juleen said.

  “Don’t worry, dear. I have Elric and Jeron to guard me as I go shopping. No one in their right mind would harm me when Elric’s there.”

  “You have a point.”

  Nora opened the door and went down the stairs, and Juleen turned back to her work, taking a quick look through the kitchen window. There was nothing happening in the courtyard behind their home, which made her chores a little less bearable, so she thought for a while about how she believed her military service would go when New Year’s Day came. Maybe she’d find a handsome young man in her unit. The door to the smithy opened behind her, and a light footstep sounded.

  “Back so soon?” Juleen said over her shoulder.

  “Brotag.”

  “What?” Juleen asked.

  Juleen felt something land on her shoulder and suddenly felt a sharp pain at the base of her neck. She tried to reach a soapy hand to slap her shoulder, but she suddenly couldn’t raise her hand. Her eyes went wide as she had a shocked realization that something was terribly wrong, then she collapsed in a heap on the kitchen floor. The dish she was cleaning smashed on the floor along with two forks that were sitting close to the edge of the countertop. Juleen was grabbed by rough hands that lifted her easily. She tried to scream but couldn’t make so much as a whisper. Her head lolled in such a way that she saw Kromwell grinning maliciously at her as he plucked a big spider off of her shoulder. The two men with him moved quickly to the stairs down, carrying her efficiently to the door.

  “About time,” Kromwell said.

  “I told you you’d get your chance,” Bermin said as he carried Juleen’s legs.

  “Shut up and move,” Lerg said, supporting her weight by having his arms under her underarms. He clearly didn’t want to be here a second longer than he had to be.

  “I’m going to enjoy this,” Kromwell said as he followed.

  It was too much for Juleen to take in, and she fainted out of sheer terror.