After the Twenty-Year War ended, the Dust Empire had neither the means nor the intention to pay heed to Gerios, a sentiment shared by then reigning King, Vargarre the Second. During these years, information from the Dust Empire was sketchy at best, with only stories from refugees telling how the clans warred among themselves to carve out their own pieces of the Empire.

  Excerpt from 'Annotated History of the Dust Empire'

  “Where are we going?” Hans asked Felt as they slipped out the back of the warehouse where he had been keeping watch.

  “The boarding house I told you about,” Felt answered. “The tunnel I found leads there, I'm sure of it. If we hurry, we might even catch them.”

  “Catch them doing what?” Hans asked as he matched her hurried pace down the alley.

  “They were speaking about multiple locations, so I think those kareks will be distributed even further. If we can reach the boarding house in time, we might be able to follow them to their final destination.”

  She turned and tapped his shoulder just before they reached the main road. “You might want to cast your shroud first. I sort of tipped off the one that took the kareks.”

  Hans stared at her. “Sort of?”

  “He saw me, but wasn't able to confirm it was anything more than a trick of the light. Even so, he seemed like the cautious type, so we better be cautious too.”

  Hans sighed and reached into his runepouch. “Very well then.”

  He didn't like using a shade shroud as it reminded him of the limits of his talent. As a rank fourteen spell, it sat on the very edge of what he was capable of.

  It was times like this that he envied Felt's ability as she, among other things, was able to blackshift by natural talent alone. It was a feat most magistrae would be hard-pressed to do, and something Hans could never hope to achieve. What's a Blackshift again? Rank twenty-one in Entropy?

  He sighed to himself as he diligently poured ?ther into the sigil, only to see Felt vanish from sight before he was even halfway done.

  How can she be done already? Hans thought, before realizing that Felt's sigil had been charged earlier. Even so, he gritted his teeth in response, trying his utmost to finish charging the spell as soon as possible. The little feedback pulse signifying the completed charge came as a blessed release.

  “Okay, let's go,” Felt said after Hans had cast his shroud. “There is an abandoned workhouse across the street from the boarding house. Signal me when you get there.”

  Before Hans could respond, he heard the sound of soft footsteps moving away from him at a rapid pace. Within a moment he was alone with nothing to hear but the distant rumbling of the sea and the wailing of gulls.

  Is she trying to make me feel lacking on purpose?

  Hans started to move as well, thinking about the shortest route to take. Unlike Felt, he wasn't confident in his ability to move unseen while running; his current brisk pace was the fastest he dared to go.

  As he hurried through the mostly abandoned streets, he pondered what Felt had told him so far. It was certain beyond doubt now that whoever these Dusters worked for was planning a major operation. The big questions were what exactly the operation entailed and how it was related to the incidents surrounding White Candle. The few things Felt had shared with him so far helped little; he could make no sense of it.

  I'll guess we'll just have to see what we find.

  When he arrived at the boarding house he noted that several lights were burning inside, signifying activity. The building itself was a former warehouse, though much smaller than the previous one with only two pairs of loading doors, one of which was hammered shut. On his left, Hans spotted the abandoned workhouse Felt had mentioned. It was a derelict building; all its shutters and glass had been removed or broken, leaving only large gaping holes where the windows used to be, and there appeared to be a hole in the roof as well. Most likely it was gutted during the food riots and had been left abandoned ever since. There remained many of these derelict buildings in Rios and the pace at which they were being torn down and replaced remained as slow as ever.

  Where are you, Felt? Hans thought as he halted near one of the shattered windows. He peered inside and saw that the room was completely empty. Normally one could expect beggars and other squatters in a place like this, but Hans knew that the gang that held this territory strongly disapproved of them so they tended to go elsewhere.

  He reached for his signal stone and sent Felt a general confirmation.

  Felt responded almost immediately. Inside... first floor... east window.

  The front door of the workhouse was just as absent as the windows so Hans easily slipped inside. Glass softly crunched beneath his boots as he made his way through the building and up the stairs.

  The window Felt had indicated was the sole window in what used to be one of the sleeping rooms. Even though the spacious chamber was empty now, Hans could easily imagine what it must have looked like: the walls lined with bunk beds, starving men lying in them, and filth everywhere. Even now, many years later, Hans still caught a whiff of the stench that had once permeated the room.

  His signal stone shook, indicating a question.

  “I'm here,” he whispered, moving closer to the window.

  “I know,” Felt whispered back from somewhere left of him. “I could hear you before you even came up the stairs.”

  Hans ignored the jab of irritation and positioned himself to the right of the window. “Anything happened yet?”

  “Nothing yet, but I'm certain that tunnel led here.”

  “Isn't there a back door we need to watch?”

  “No,” Felt whispered. “This is the only way in or out.”

  “Alright, we'll stay and observe then.”

  Felt did not respond and Hans felt a twinge of worry. “You aren't planning on trying to get in there, are you?”

  “Of course not,” Felt bristled softly. “Only one entrance and who knows how many cinds are inside. If I wanted to throw my life away, I would have gone down that tunnel instead.”

  Hans felt relieved. Good, she isn't planning anything stupid.

  Yet, as the night advanced, Felt became increasingly anxious, pacing across the room and sometimes leaving it entirely.

  She never was one for patience, Hans thought as he raised his head to watch the sky in the east. It's long past midnight already. Dawn can't be more than an hour away.

  When he turned his head back towards the boarding house, he just caught sight of an odd shadow moving past the edge of one of the streetlights. A trick of the light to the untrained eye, but Hans had spent years honing his skills as an observer.

  Someone using a shade shroud just passed by.

  Felt, he realized. It appeared that despite her assurances to the contrary, she had decided she couldn't take it anymore. So impatient.

  He reached for his signal stone.

  Report status... return now.

  “Report what?” Felt's whisper came from somewhere behind him. “How bored I am?”

  Hans' sense of danger immediately flared as his gaze jumped around on the street below. If she's here, then that means that was someone else. He didn't doubt what he had seen. That movement definitely had been a shroud, which at this hour couldn't mean anything but trouble. He clenched his hand around the signal stone as he messaged Felt again.

  Silence... saw shroud below outside... possible enemy.

  There was a brief pause.

  Understood... retreat from window... wait.

  Hans slowly moved away from the window and squatted down against the back wall. It would be best to let Felt deal with this.

  It didn't take long for the signal stone to vibrate.

  Enemy inside building...

  Hans swallowed hard, his throat dry. Are they looking for us? Or are they here for another reason? His already tired legs protested even more loudly now that he was squatting down. Moving wasn't an option, however. Any sound was a potential betrayal.

  More time passed and then Hans heard the soft but distinct creak of one of the wooden floorboards outside the room.

  They're here.

  Another creak, louder this time, coming from near the door. Hans knew it wasn't Felt. She had been pacing around so much that she already knew where all the creaking boards were, and would have avoided them instinctively. He strained his eyes, looking all around the room, knowing full well that it was too dark to see a shrouded person.

  But that's when he saw it.

  It was faint and barely visible; a dim set of moving lights, closely together, in various colours that slowly drifted through the room. Sometimes they disappeared only to reappear a bit further away.

  A scrying stone. Hans realized. He felt himself tense up. Shroud spells left only a small ?ther wake and would not be found out as long as the person using them kept moving. However, Hans had stood at the same spot near the window for a long while before he had moved away. If that location was scried, there was a high chance this person would know something was off.

  He signalled Felt.

  Enemy here... scrying... possible discovery.

  Realistically there was only one suitable course of action, and that was to get out of there. They had no idea who this other shrouded person was, what their intentions were, and most importantly, how many more of them there were. The people who attacked Callium at the White Candle all used shrouds too, and they all had been armed with offensive spells. Hans had not made any preparations for conflict as his original task this night had just been to keep watch. The best spell he had on him was a Sunburst spell. That at least would allow him to get away from here.

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  Felt's reply came back. Stay... no discover.

  Hans had to control himself to avoid making a noise as the light from the scrying stone drifted towards the window a small distance away. What do you mean, they won't find me? How could they not? There was no time to send this to Felt, however, as the lights reached the window and froze there.

  Hans rose up as slowly as he could, keeping his point of gravity in perfect balance. He would need to act very soon.

  The lights shifted away to the other end of the window; there they paused again. Then, after what seemed an eternity to Hans, they started to move again; away from the window this time. Another board creaked as the shrouded person walked past Hans on his way out.

  What the blaze? They didn't notice that wake?

  As if in response to his confusion, the floorboard near the door, the same one the person had stepped on when they entered, wailed with a high-pitched shriek. The lights did not stop, however, and then they vanished from the room.

  Hans' signal stone shook.

  Stay... no discover.

  Hans dared not move. He stood frozen for a while until another message arrived.

  Enemy left... no discover... follow short.

  Hans immediately moved towards the window and looked down. The street below was just as abandoned as it was before, with the streetlights casting only unmoving shadows and not an odd sound to be heard.

  Hans leaned against the wall and started to rub his aching legs. It appears we avoided discovery.

  Nonetheless, he knew they had to leave soon. It was just the two of them here without anyone else knowing where they were. There will be no backup.

  He signalled Felt. Report status... retreat now.

  Felt did not respond immediately, which made Hans anxious. He was about to send another message when the stone vibrated.

  Following... stay at watch... I return shortly.

  Hans shook his head at her stubbornness. What is she thinking? But he knew he would do as she asked; he still felt guilty about what he had put her through, especially the part where she was forced to travel through Lak gang territory. There was no way he would leave here without her.

  After a while, the signal stone gave another message.

  Stay... I return.

  Hans felt a weight released from his shoulders. Once she's back, we can get out of here.

  As he waited for her return, he pondered who that shrouded person could have been. It was obvious they had been looking for something or someone, yet they had not found Hans, which suggested they weren't very skilled at scrying. The lack of silent movement seemed to support that as well. Was it only a novice, perhaps?

  Lost in thought about everything that had happened, Hans felt out of his depth again. Ever since he decided to commit himself fully to ?ther division, he had been pushing those thoughts back, but once more a general sense of uselessness enveloped him.

  As a result, every fibre of his being was screaming that he should leave there right now, but he held the feeling back. We learned several new things so far, but is it enough? We only confirmed that there are a group of Dusters planning something big; we remain clueless about their goals and motivations. With the ever-depleting White Candle sanctum wards, can I really afford to just let it go?

  The answer came to him instantly. I cannot. I committed to doing this and by the ?ther I will see it to the end, whatever happens.

  His signal stone vibrated. Felt had returned.

  “Felt?” Hans whispered.

  “Hey,” Felt's voice answered from somewhere nearby. “I followed that person for a while as they weren't very good at hiding themselves, even with the shroud. They visited all the nearby empty buildings in turn.”

  “You think they were looking for us?”

  “Either that or they were doing a survey of these buildings. Scrying for warning sigils and such.”

  Hans raised an eyebrow, not realizing that Felt wouldn't be able to see his expression. “Speaking of scrying, how did you know I wouldn't be discovered?”

  Felt let out a brief chuckle. “You don't know? If you're enchanted with a shroud yourself, it's near impossible to scry someone else's. You'll only see your own wake.”

  “Really? So they weren't here to find us?”

  “I don't know. As I said, they were a very poor sneak so I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't know about that particular bit of information either. You didn't.”

  There was a moment of silence.

  “You want to leave now?” Felt asked softly.

  “I do,” Hans whispered back, “but only if you are certain there is nothing more for us to do here.”

  “Well,” Felt whispered before hesitating for a moment. “We could wait until the first light of dawn appears, no longer than that.”

  “Agreed,” Hans answered. “But let's move to the ground floor first. I want to be able to get out of here instantly if needed, and no more talking either. We don't know whether that person will come back.”

  After Hans descended the stairs and took up position next to one of the glassless windows, he noticed that something had changed. There was a light burning behind the boarding house entrance, visible through the crack between the bottom of the door and the ground below. Furthermore, a shadow was slowly moving left and right through the light, indicating that at least one person was standing behind the door.

  Hans clenched the signal stone. This might be it.

  The door opened, and three men filed out of the boarding house, setting off in two directions. One man headed south, away from the workhouse, and the other two north, where they would pass Hans' lookout within moments.

  Hans inspected them as they passed by under the light of a nearby lamppost, only a small distance away from the window. Both men were Dusters, that was clear to see, and they each carried a large backpack. The smaller of the two was holding the straps of his backpack tightly in his hands, and his way of walking indicated that whatever was in the backpack, it was heavy.

  Felt signalled him the moment the men passed the workhouse.

  Follow two enemies... target in pack.

  Hans waited a moment for the men to move further away, and then stepped outside the building. Towards the south he could see the third man walking down the street, also carrying a backpack similar to the other two.

  Felt said they transported three objects through the tunnel, and now there are three men here carrying something. It appeared that Felt's instincts had been correct. The kareks were being carried to another location from here.

  Hans started to follow the two men as Felt suggested. Report status, he signalled to her.

  Two enemy follow, the signal stone hummed in response.

  Hans nodded to himself in approval. Felt was following the two men as well.

  Despite their load, the two Dusters kept a brisk pace, and it didn't take long for them to leave the harbour district and enter the Seventh District. Hans kept a safe distance from them, weaving between the sparse lampposts and walking on the balls of his feet to muffle his steps against the flat cobblestones. Shade shroud or not, unlike Felt he wasn't able to move quickly and silently at the same time, and his stiff legs weren't helping either—though it did feel good to move again.

  When the two Dusters reached a crossing that led north into the Sixth District, they separated. The smaller one kept moving straight ahead further into the Seventh District while the other took a right turn towards the north.

  Hans halted when he reached the crossing, standing a good distance away from the sole lamppost that illuminated it. Which one do I follow? He had to make his decision quickly as both men were already disappearing into the ending night.

  As if Felt had read his mind, the signal stone vibrated.

  Follow small enemy... I follow large.

  Hans did not like that. She wants to split up? We can't do that. He grasped the signal stone to send his response, but then stopped himself. No, she's right, he thought, remembering his renewed resolve. These Dusters likely have several other haunts throughout the city. It's better to know the location of two of them rather than one.

  He sent a confirmation signal back to Felt and started trailing the smaller man. Fortunately for Hans, the man's pace had slowed considerably. It seemed now that he was alone he no longer felt compelled to keep up the brisk pace.

  So much the better for me.

  As they moved deeper into the Seventh District, more people started to appear on the streets, most of them workmen.

  Hans looked over his shoulder. The sky in the east had lightened to a shade of dark-grey. As he feared, dawn was coming.

  Almost subconsciously, Hans quickened his pace. As long as the night held, he could move along without much worry. In daylight, however, the shroud would become useless. Instead of hiding him, it would make him stand out, appearing as a human shape covered with a thin layer of transparent black mist.

  The Duster suddenly halted in the middle of the road and Hans froze in place as well.

  The small man produced a handkerchief to wipe his forehead and then resumed his walk.

  Hans again looked over his shoulder to view the rapidly approaching dawn for a few moments.

  I hope he reaches his destination soon. I'm not eager to follow him during daylight.

  When Hans turned back, the Duster was gone.

  What the blaze?

  The street ahead of him was abandoned save for one woman who was walking in his direction carrying a large bag in each hand.

  Hans quickly slid into a dark spot beneath a broken lamppost and looked around. Both sides of the street were lined with wall-to-wall houses. There were no alleys here, and Hans could see that the next crossing was still a good distance up ahead. At the pace the target had been walking, there was no way he could have reached it already.

  He wasn't running either; I would have heard him doing that. And if he used some kind of magic to vanish, that woman would have noticed and shown signs of surprise.

  The woman reached where Hans stood and walked past without seeing him. Her footsteps made a loud racket in the otherwise silent night.

  Hans waited for her to pass and then walked the small distance to the point where he had seen the man last. From there he looked around to see where the man could have gone in the few moments he had been looking away.

  How could I be so careless? Never take your eyes off the target. He blew air out through his nose in frustration. Assuming the man had indeed not simply vanished into the void, he could have entered any of the nearby houses. The question was, which one? All the houses here were constructed in the style typical of most in the Seventh District: two floors, dark red-brick walls and slanted rooftops. Their appearance alone would not yield any clues.

  Hans glanced back towards the broken lamppost. Here in the Seventh District it could take as long as six moons before a defective lamppost was replaced. This one could have been broken for a long time.

  But what if it was broken on purpose? To grant cover to anyone leaving and entering a nearby haunt?

  The door of the house on the left of the lamppost was the closest. Had the lamp been working, that door would have been bathed in light. The door of the house on the right was further away, yet also benefited from the lack of light.

  Retrieving a scrying stone from his pouch, he closed in on the nearest window of the left-hand house. There he waved the stone around carefully, making certain that the readout lights faced away from the window. Six colours of light danced around on the scrying stone, signifying that all six of the elements were active.

  That's odd. ?ther pressure is high here, yet there is no volatility to speak of.

  Hans twitched his mouth in confusion. Normally the use of magic lowered pressure and increased volatility, yet he saw the exact opposite here.

  And why is the pressure so uniform? Isn't it usually just one or two elements that are higher?

  Hans sighed in frustration. He only knew the most basic things about ?ther behaviour and once again he was confronted with the fact that, despite his efforts, he was ill-suited to be part of ?ther division. Raviel would have known what this meant.

  He moved away from the window towards the other house, yet the reading on the scrying stone remained unchanged: six colours dancing over the surface of the stone and staying consistently near the top.

  It's no use. I can't tell anything from this reading. He clenched his fingers around the stone and then realized that he could see his fingers outlined around it.

  The light of dawn had finally reached him.

  Time to leave, Hans thought, backing away from the house. I hope Felt did better than me.

  As fast as he dared, he walked back down the street until he reached a house that had a narrow passageway next to it leading to its backyard. He slipped into it and checked the nearby windows before dispelling the shroud.

  The signal stone in his pocket shook. I return to haunt... I am done.

  Hans grabbed the stone. She's still in signal range? Hans thought, before replying with the same statement. He then tucked away all his stones and straightened himself out. The haunt they were staying at was on the east side of the river, so he still had a long walk ahead of him.

  When he stepped out of the passageway, he almost bumped into someone who was hurrying along the road from Hans' right.

  With a mumbled apology Hans stepped back, allowing the man, who scowled at Hans, to move past him.

  He looked to his right to see if there were any more people coming and then back to resume his walk, when he froze in place as he stared at the back of the man he had just run into.

  The man no longer had the backpack with him, but seeing him from behind left no doubt in Hans' mind. It was the same Duster he had been following earlier.

  Fortunately, the man paid no further attention to him at all, and Hans started to walk slowly in the same direction. He allowed the man to gain a distance on him, even though there was no possible way the Duster could know who he was.

  He doesn't know who I am or what I was doing there, Hans convinced himself. How could he? If anything, this is a good thing because it proves their haunt is definitely one of those houses and that he delivered his burden there.

  He then kicked himself. For a second time, he had managed to miss the opportunity of seeing which house was the haunt. I'm not doing so well.

  Despite his misgivings about his own performance, Hans did not feel too downtrodden. Ultimately, they had gained a wealth of information, far more than expected, so their operation was nothing less than a success. What it all meant, however, was something for others to determine. The only thing Hans was concerned with right now was returning to the haunt and getting some rest; he knew that the coming days were going to be just as busy.