While each city that is worthy of the name usually has its own magic guild, these are only considered minor guilds as they are frequently extensions of one of the major guilds in Rios.

  Fourth-tier channellers are rare and thus the amount of magic guilds that could support large numbers of them was never more than a handful. At the end of the Age of Enlightenment, there were only five. The White Candle, Callium Imperatus, Chyn Kotia, the Lyceum and the ever-shrouded Hyna.

  Excerpt from 'Magic Guilds of Rios: The Age of Enlightenment'

  Sitting cross-legged, Felt looked down on the river from the upper parapet of the Crag as the sun began its descent behind her. The approaching dusk painted the many rooftops in a vibrant shade of red.

  Could Cassie be beneath one of those right now?

  The Crag's large shadow slowly crept towards the other side of the river, covering the bridge known as Beggar's Crossing in darkness.

  Not wanting to feel depressed, she leaned back, placed her hands behind her back and stared at the darkening sky instead. The smooth stone beneath her hands was still warm from the heat of the midday sun. She had come here often when she was younger, before she had taken in Cassie, to enjoy the solitude and to look down upon the district that had been her home for her entire life.

  Today she was not alone, however. Miriam, a former member of Felt's old rat pack, was sitting a small distance away surveying the people far beneath them. She was the one who had been hiding Felt for the past few days, and had decided to accompany Felt here for old times' sake.

  Miriam stretched her arms above her head. “It's been a while since I was here. I didn't even realize I missed the view.” Her long, curly, chestnut-brown hair moved about in the gusts of wind. Felt stared at it as the locks danced in the air.

  “What are you looking at?” Miriam asked, grabbing hold of her errant hair.

  “Your hair is so pretty,” Felt said with a hint of envy, taking a lock of her own short bob and rubbing the dark brown hair between her fingers. “I wish I could have long hair like you.”

  “It grows longer you know,” Miriam responded, “so just let it.”

  She raised her hand as if to cut off Felt's response. “Yes I know, having long hair isn't convenient for the kind of work you do; but perhaps you should stop taking jobs like that. It's the reason you're in your current mess to begin with.”

  “I know, but in this case I had no choice in the matter,” Felt replied. “I have to put Cassie first; I don't want her to have the same life as me.”

  Miriam waved her finger at Felt. “How is that going to happen if you continue to stick to that life yourself?”

  How indeed? It was a question she had asked herself many times lately.

  After she had taken custody of Cassie, she had convinced herself that once they had enough money they could leave the city, or at least River's End, and make a proper living instead of her life of crime. This was before Cassie's illness revealed itself, however, and every coin Felt had put aside went to healers and medicine instead.

  “I can't do anything else,” Felt said eventually, readjusting her legs beneath her. “I've been a thief all my life. I started as a pickpocket and just moved up from there.”

  “You have the talent,” Miriam said, “and it's pretty strong too if I'm not mistaken, so there must be something better for you. When we were young you always talked about joining the Daughters and becoming a magistra. What happened to that?”

  A faint smile appeared on Felt's face as she recalled being so impressed with those female magistras in their pretty outfits, but it didn't last.

  “I actually tried that,” Felt said. “Joining the Daughters, that is. But they said my ?ther sensitivity was too high. It was unlike anything they'd seen before. I didn't like the looks they gave me afterwards, though, so I sneaked out of the entrance exam and never looked back. It wasn't until last year that I found out that Cassie is suffering from something similar.”

  Miriam's eyes grew wide. “Really? You could start suffering from the same illness your sister does?”

  Felt shook her head. “As I said, it's not nearly as bad for me as it is for her. Casting spells using runestones is not a problem. Weaving them is.”

  “Why?”

  “To weave spells you need much tighter control over your channelling, and to obtain that control you need to fortify your channels. The magistras at Felados Towers told me that fortification could have damaging effects in cases of high sensitivity.”

  And they were right. Just look at what is happening to Cassie.

  Felt leaned forward and raised her hands to look at them. On the morning after her escape they had been trembling and hurting for the better part of the day; one of the side effects of channelling ?ther for such an extended period of time. The pain had gone away in the end, but Felt knew that she needed to be very careful about lengthy use of ?ther.

  “Did you find out anything about Cassie?” Felt asked, moving the subject away from herself.

  Miriam shook her head. “I'm afraid not. Nobody has seen her or the woman that took her. There's a good chance they left the city or are shacked up in a haunt somewhere.”

  “No talk either?” Felt asked, trying to mask her disappointment.

  “The only talk I hear these days is about what's going on at the White Candle,” Miriam replied, “with the most recent news being the flight of that Callium magister.” She looked at Felt sadly. “I'm sorry Felt, but don't expect anything from this. If you want to find them, you are going to have to take it up with Hyna directly.”

  “I know, but I can't do that,” Felt said, rubbing her forehead. “The city watch may be occupying themselves with this Callium magister, but there's a good chance they are still looking for me as well. If I want to contact Hyna, the Whisper will find out about it for sure, and I have no desire to be locked in the Stockade again.”

  “How did you escape, anyway?” Miriam asked. “You told me somebody helped you, but you never said who it was.”

  You are right. I didn't. Felt briefly recalled Hans' face as she had last seen it, smiling as he closed the hatch above her.

  “It's better if I don't tell you,” Felt said after a short pause. “Not now at least; maybe later when this whole thing blows over.”

  Miriam nodded. She knew the ways of the underworld well even though she was no longer a part of it. “So what's next then? I can't have you hiding in the inn's attic forever, you know. The cook already threw a fit today because some food was missing. It's not that I don't want to help you, Felt, but I don't want to lose my job either.”

  Miriam was the head waitress at the Sunken Cat Inn, which by the standards of River's End was a very nice job for a woman lacking the talent to channel ?ther. Felt couldn't blame her for not wanting to put that at risk. If Miriam was found hiding a fugitive like Felt, she would lose her job and never find work as a waitress again. She would either have to leave the city, return to crime, or start working at one of the many brothels near the harbour.

  “Tonight is the last night,” Felt assured her. “I will find another place to stay afterwards. I can even stay here at the Crag if needs be.”

  “Between the beggars?” Miriam said with disgust. “That's not very hygienic, you know, or safe for that matter. The Red Fang might have collapsed years ago, but this place hasn't become much safer since then. In some ways it's worse.”

  “It will be fine,” Felt said. “I'll stay at one of the upper levels, nobody ever goes there.”

  “Are you sure?” Miriam asked. “There may not be any stairs to the upper levels, but we got up here after all.”

  “There are only a few who know the way,” Felt said. She turned to look back across the Crag's unfinished roof. “I wonder if they ever thought of finishing it; or perhaps they'll tear it down instead.”

  “Tear down the Crag?” Miriam said, bursting into laughter. “Even if they wanted to do that, how could they?” She tapped the stones beneath her. “This entire citadel is made out of relentless granite. Near indestructible as far as anyone knows. How do you think this place survived the Second Bane without a scratch on it?”

  “Relentless granite?”

  “It's a transmogrif of common granite, didn't you know that? This place was originally intended to be a river fort, hence they built it with the strongest material they had. It's also the heaviest material, though, which is why the entire place is slowly sinking into the ground.”

  Felt shrugged. She didn't care much for what amounted to ancient history. In her childhood she had heard the wildest stories about what the Crag was and what it was intended for, but had stopped paying attention to them since. The Crag was there and would always be there; that was enough for her.

  She sighed and got up. Enough with this thinking about pasts long lost. Focus on what's ahead.

  “Are we going back?” Miriam asked, rising to her feet as well.

  “Yes,” Felt said. “I feel better now, and it's getting dark.” She turned to smile at Miriam. “Thanks for coming with me.”

  Miriam blushed slightly. “Don't think too much of it. I do enjoy the view and I rarely have a reason to come here.” She laughed. “Better to do it while I'm still able.”

  “It's not that hard a climb,” Felt said mockingly.

  “Not for you, no. You were always the climber of the pack. Both up and down.”

  “I suppose I was,” Felt said as she threw one last look over the city. She was silent for a moment and then turned back towards Miriam. “I'm going to see Arianne once we get back down.”

  “Arianne? The mediator? Why?” Miriam asked, before almost instantly realizing the answer. “She gave you the Candle job.”

  Felt nodded and started to walk. “It's the only thing I can do right now. Talk to her and see if there is a trail to follow.”

  ”She probably got it from the job board,” Miriam said, as they crossed through the doorway that led back inside the Crag. “There won't be anything there.” Her voice echoed inside the Crag walls.

  “I know,” Felt said, as she grabbed a nearby block of stone and lowered herself into a hole in the floor, “but as I said, it's the only thing I can do right now.”

  It was past sunset when Felt finally arrived at the trade-house and hid herself in a nearby porch. She wasn't going to risk being seen by anyone, so she would have to wait here until Arianne left for home. She waited patiently until a large group of people exited the building, indicating that the trade-house was closing.

  Felt rose from her squatted position. It won't be much longer now.

  The earlier group of people had already dispersed when another small group of three exited the house. It was Arianne and two men Felt recognized as trade-house employees, though she did not know their names.

  They briefly talked with each other in front of the house and then separated. Arianne and one of the two men came down the street in Felt's direction.

  Krat. Why isn't she alone?

  She pressed herself into the darkest corner of the porch as Arianne and her companion passed.

  “I'm glad you're walking me home,” Arianne said. “I don't feel safe anymore these days.”

  “It's no problem,” the man replied. “I'm not too keen on being outside at night either.”

  Oh great. If he walks her home, she won't be alone at all. She licked her teeth in frustration, a habit left over from when she was a young girl plagued by hunger. If Arianne wasn't alone now, then the only time she would be was when she walked to the trade-house in the morning. However, Felt had no idea when that would be and hanging around Arianne's house during daylight was a bad idea anyway.

  She narrowed her eyes, looking at the pair moving away from her. No other way around it, then.

  Felt grabbed hold of the shroud runestone that Miriam had lent her. Unlike the one she had used at the White Candle, this one was large and cumbersome and Felt had some trouble getting it to work. Eventually she did, however, and she dashed out of the porch in pursuit of the mediator. There were only a handful of streetlights along this road and Felt could easily weave between them while maintaining both speed and stealth. It didn't take long before she caught up with Arianne and her companion. She matched their pace a short distance behind.

  The opportunity she was looking for came when the pair entered a short alley that led to the street Arianne lived on.

  Now then.

  Felt closed the remaining gap and retrieved a small bludgeon from one of her pockets. Neither Arianne nor the man noticed anything, despite Felt being right behind them now, the sparse light in the alley combined with the shroud making her effectively invisible.

  Felt struck the back of the man's head with a swift and controlled motion that she had performed countless times before.

  He went down without making a sound, apart from a soft splash as he fell into a puddle. Felt had not waited for him to fall and had already changed positions, covering Arianne's mouth just before she started to scream.

  “Don't scream,” Felt hissed. “It's me, Felt. I need to talk to you.”

  Arianne mumbled something and stared with wide-open eyes at a point behind Felt.

  What's she looking at? Felt thought, before she realized that Arianne couldn't see her as long as the shade spell was active.

  “Arianne, you can't see me, but it's better if I don't show myself, if you understand.”

  Felt could feel Arianne relax her muscles a bit. She no longer struggled or attempted to break free.

  “Are you going to be quiet?” Felt asked, loosening her hold somewhat. “Because if you decide to scream anyway, I'm going to knock you out as well. I just need to ask you something then I'll be gone again.”

  Arianne nodded and Felt let her go.

  “Damn you, Felt,” Arianne cursed in a low voice, looking down at the unconscious man. “Did you have to knock him out?”

  “I'm not in a position to take any chances,” Felt said pointedly. “What I need is to contact Hyna to find out where they took Cassie. Tell me what you know about that job I took.”

  “I only know what I told those Whisper thugs asking me about it,” Arianne replied. “That job was posted on the job board without any name on it and it came in through the drop box.”

  Krat. Even though Felt had expected this, it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

  It looks like I'll have to give myself over to the rumour mill after all.

  “If you want to contact your employers, go back to the place where you spoke to them,” Arianne continued, moving her hands slowly through the air as if to see where Felt was. “Where are you, anyway? Is this one of those invisibility spells?”

  Felt almost didn't realize the implication of what Arianne had said, being distracted by the questions that followed, but when she did realize, its importance hit her like a rock.

  She knows about a way to contact Hyna directly? But that could only mean that...

  “You are with Hyna,” Felt said, dumbfounded.

  “No, I'm not part of Hyna,” Arianne snapped, crushing any suspicion to that end. She started to add something else before pausing. “Wait a moment, Hyna posted that job?”

  “That's not important. Tell me what they said to you,” Felt demanded.

  “They just told me that if you tried to contact me, I should refer you there. So I just did.” Again she looked down upon the unconscious man. “How am I going to get him out of here?”

  “He'll wake up soon enough,” Felt said, trying to focus. Something was definitely strange here. “Is that everything they said to you?”

  “Are you deaf?” Arianne said, bristling with growing impatience. “They said that if you contacted me I should tell you to go to the place where you spoke to their representative. How hard is that to understand?”

  “Why?” Felt asked. She had told the Whisper about that dark cellar, and she was certain they had looked into it. It seemed very unlike Hyna to send her back to a location known by the Whisper.

  “I don't know, nor do I care, Felt,” Arianne snapped. “I've been through enough trouble as it is with that damn job.” She knelt down and started to pull on the man's arm. It was obvious she wanted to leave this entire thing behind her as soon as possible.

  There has to be something more to this, Felt thought, before realizing that there was an easy way to find out.

  “Just one more thing,” Felt said. “Then I'm going to leave you alone.”

  Arianne didn't respond. She knelt on the ground, slapping the man softly in the face.

  “Did Hyna tell you this before or after the ghast was on the loose?”

  Arianne looked up with both surprise and concern in her eyes. She had not expected that question. “The ghast? What does that thing have to do with you? Is that related to this as well? And to Hyna?”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Just answer me,” Felt said.

  “It was the day before that, I think,” Arianne said. “Maybe even two days.”

  Good, that means the Whisper didn't arrange for this. I still was in the Stockade at that point.

  “Thanks, Arianne,” Felt said briefly, before she ran back down the alley, leaving Arianne and her unconscious companion behind.

  Later that evening, Felt found herself looking upon the same abandoned house at the very edge of River's End.

  It was only seven days ago that I was last here; it almost seems like seven moons.

  Her feet had carried her here before she even realized it. Arianne's claim that she had been told about this before Felt's escape suggested that it wasn't a trap from the Whisper, yet Felt couldn't shake the feeling that it was all a bit too convenient. How did they even know she would escape from the Stockade to begin with?

  However, she could imagine that Hyna might want to speak to her desperately enough to take this route. The events that had taken place at the White Candle before today would certainly have their full attention.

  It's simple. Do I want Cassie back or not?

  Having framed it like that, the last doubts Felt had slid away.

  Determined, she paced towards the house and circled around it to the back. As long as she kept the shroud active, nobody would see her enter.

  The cellar door was locked just as it had been last time; but unlike last time, the key was not hidden underneath in a nearby flowerpot.

  That would be too convenient, I suppose.

  A few moments later, she closed the door behind her, putting away her lock picks and descending the creaking stair.

  As she took the last step and set foot on the hard earth floor, a single light lit up in front of her.

  Felt immediately dove into a dark corner and tried to make herself as small as possible, before she realized the light was the same sun sigil she had seen when she was last here. The cellar itself looked the same as well. A table with an empty stool in front of it and a closed door in the far wall.

  Did the light just come on by itself? Or did I trigger it? Is it some kind of warning sigil?

  Far away in the distance she heard the Nightsinger humming a simple tune.

  She glanced up the stairway, but the cellar door remained closed. Nobody was coming down the stairs in an attempt to grab her. Cold started to seep into her limbs and she cursed beneath her breath.

  I better get this over with as soon as possible.

  She turned her head back towards the room, only to find a hooded figure standing behind the table.

  Felt's mouth fell open with astonishment at the sudden appearance. What the blaze? Where did he come from?

  “Felt Terridos?” the person asked with a familiar rasping voice.

  It's him. The old man who gave me the job in the first place.

  He was wearing a different hood, this one a brownish red rather than the grey one from before, but she was quite certain that it was him.

  She did not move a muscle, however, as she retained the lingering feeling that this was all an elaborate trap.

  “You are using a shroud, yes?” the man asked, sitting down at the far end of the table. “A most prudent course of action, I agree, but I have to ask you to dispel it as I need to verify your identity.”

  For a brief moment Felt considered making a run for it, but then she rose from her crouching position and dispelled the shroud.

  If they know I'm here, they must have been expecting me.

  “Ah good, it is you,” the man said. “I'm glad to see you received our message.”

  “Is this a trap?” Felt asked. Her voice sounded tired rather than frightened.

  “It is not,” the man replied.

  “Then why let me come here again? You must know the Whisper knows about this place.”

  “Indeed they do,” the man said. “But they haven't discovered the truth behind this room.”

  The truth behind this room? She wondered if it had anything to do with the man's sudden appearance.

  The man beckoned Felt to sit down at the other end of the table. “And as you say, the Whisper knows of this place already, so were you to be recaptured, you would not be able to tell them about another of our haunts.”

  “Where's Cassie?” Felt asked with a demanding tone as she took a seat across from the man. “You took her and I want her back.”

  The man leaned forward slightly and put his hands together with the tips of his fingers touching his lips. “She's safe.”

  “She'd better be safe,” Felt snapped. Anger was rising inside her. Every bad thing that had happened these past few days had all started with that old geezer across the table. All the frustration she had accumulated by being helplessly tossed around from one bad situation to another started to come out.

  “You are angry,” the man said. “That is understandable.”

  “You don't understand at all!” Felt shouted, rising from her seat and slamming her hands on the table. “I want to know where Cassie is!” She was sick of this. The constant manipulations, the avoidance. All she wanted for both her and Cassie was to be back in her small room and be a family again.

  “Please calm down,” the man said. “Cassie will be returned to you when it's safe to do so. Or do you want her back now while the Whisper is still looking for you?”

  Felt clenched her jaw. She instantly realized that he had a point there, even though she was loath to admit it. Evading the Whisper and the city watch was easy enough as long as it was just her. If Cassie was to join her, however...

  Her anger turned into desperation as she sunk back on the stool and tears started to well up in her eyes. Why can't I get a break? When is this going to end?

  “If you insist on seeing Cassie sooner, we can arrange for that,” the old man said, ignoring her tears. “That would require you to turn yourself over to us, however.”

  Felt's eyes widened and she wiped her eyes. “I can see her then?” she said with sudden hope in her voice.

  “You can,” the man assured her soothingly. “But we will have to make some—”

  He was interrupted by a loud bang from somewhere behind Felt. It was immediately followed by the sound of heavy boots stomping down the stairway.

  Her fear of capture had become a reality. They're here.

  She did not turn around to see who was coming down the stairway. Something in her broke, shattering her mind in a thousand pieces. All the emotion she had felt earlier vanished back into the void where she had originally kept it, leaving her to rest in the cold comfort of a self-inflicted daze. She was now both blind and deaf to the world around her.

  Voices were speaking nearby, but she was no longer able to understand them. The only thing she thought about was Cassie's happy face as she had last seen it combined with a deep sense of loss.

  As time passed by, she dimly realized that nobody had touched her so far. What are you waiting for? Capture me already.

  Still caught in her self-inflicted stupor, she turned her head to the left. There was a man standing next to her; not a guard as she expected, but someone dressed in common citizen clothes. He seemed agitated, but he wasn't even looking at her. Instead he was talking to the man from Hyna.

  Felt narrowed her eyes slightly. Don't I know that man? The numbness in her mind made it hard to think, but she was quite certain she had seen those boisterous eyebrows somewhere before.

  A hand landed softly on her right shoulder and gently gave it a shake.

  “Felt,” a voice said from far away.

  Someone is saying my name? She slowly turned her head the other way.

  The shaking of her shoulder became more urgent. “Felt.”

  On her right side she saw another man. He was dressed similarly to the man on her left, only this one was looking straight at her.

  I know this man too.

  “Felt! What's wrong with you?” Hans said as he shook her again.

  Oh, it's Hans, she realized vaguely. Did he come to save me again?

  She started to smile at him, but her cheeks froze in mid-motion as the shattered pieces of her mind reassembled.

  “Hans?!”

  She recoiled as she said it, almost falling off her stool if it had not been for Hans still holding her by the shoulder.

  What the blaze is going on? Why is he here?!

  “Calm down, Felt,” Hans said, maintaining his hold on her. “You aren't in trouble.”

  “Says you,” Felt said as she tried to wrestle free. She failed to do so, however, and merely flailed around. She still lacked proper control of her limbs.

  “It appears Miss Terridos isn't appreciative of your deceit,” the old man said. He was still sitting at the table as calmly as before with his hands in front of his lips. The sudden invasion of the cellar did not seem to have bothered him in the slightest.

  “It's not like we had any other choice,” the man with the eyebrows said. “It was either this or nothing, so please listen.”

  Felt now remembered where she had seen that man. It was back at the Stockade; she had seen him speaking with her interrogator a couple of times. He was called Raviel, I think. After looking around some more she noticed that he and Hans were the only two people there and she stopped struggling as a result. Maybe they really aren't here for me? But if not, what are they doing here?

  “Look,” Raviel said to the old man at the table. “You say that Hyna had nothing to do with the attack at the White Candle and we are inclined to believe you. However, we do need to know everything you know about this. People are in danger.”

  “I'm well aware,” the hooded man said. “But why should we bother to divulge information to you?”

  “Because even if you act no different to a crime syndicate, Hyna is still an official magic guild,” Raviel retorted. “I've been with ?ther division for a long time and not once have I seen Hyna violate the charter every magic guild has to obey. And that charter says that every magic guild is bound to protect the citizens in times of great distress.”

  They are? That's a laugh, Felt thought, recalling several instances in the past when the magic guilds themselves had caused the distress.

  The hooded man seemed to share her sentiment, as he let out a coughing laugh. “Very astute,” he said after taking a while to recover. “But you know as well as I do that the guild charter is only a vague set of rules that are wide open to interpretation.”

  “True,” Raviel immediately replied. “Nonetheless, you follow it, or you would never have taken the trouble to officially found a magic guild to begin with. Or continue paying your dues to the Crown.”

  The hooded man shrugged. “Regardless of any perceived obligations on your part, it just so happens that we might have reason to share some information with you. In fact, I must say that this invasion of yours may even be a rather fortuitous turn of events.”

  He walked towards the door at the back of the cellar. “I will be gone for a moment. Please wait here.”

  “Wait,” Raviel said as he took a step forward. “How do I know you aren't just leaving?”

  “You don't,” the hooded man answered, opening the door.

  “I cannot allow that,” Raviel said as he further closed in on the man. “This is too important.”

  “You say that as if you believe you can stop me,” the man said as he moved through the doorway and closed the door behind him.

  Raviel bolted forward, grabbing the door handle. He swung it open again only to reveal a blind wall directly behind it.

  “What...?” Raviel stammered, moving his hands across the wall behind the door. “Where did this come from?” He turned around to face Hans and Felt. “There's nothing here but more wall.”

  “That's strange,” Hans said, without a hint of irony in his voice.

  Felt rolled her eyes.

  “When he went through the door this wall definitely wasn't here,” Raviel said, kicking the stone. “Is this a material illusion? Hyna can do things like this?”

  Felt recalled how the man had suddenly appeared in the room without her noticing anything. Even if he had shifted out somehow, how did he shift in? There's no shift anchor here that I can see and why bother using the door in that case?

  She grimaced. No time to worry about that now. I have to take care of myself first.

  “Are you going to let me go?” Felt said to Hans, who was still holding her.

  “If I do, are you going to run away?”

  “That depends on what the blaze is going on here,” she said, still more confused than anything else.

  Hans exchanged a brief glance with Raviel, who nodded.

  “We let you escape so we could come in contact with Hyna,” Hans stated.

  “And we did,” Raviel added, slamming the door shut again. “Briefly.”

  The simpleness of the statement threw Felt off balance for a moment as she recalled everything that had happened.

  Then her face turned red. “You let me escape?” she bristled. “I was almost captured by some Lak thugs while trying to get out.” She glared at Hans. “You know what they would have done to me?!”

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” Hans said as he scratched the back of his head. “The person who was supposed to unlock the sewer exits lost the keys on the way over. By the time he found the spares, you had already passed by.”

  “He's been disciplined,” Raviel added.

  “What do I care that he's been disciplined?” Felt exclaimed. “I could have been raped, killed and dumped in a ditch somewhere.” She sounded angrier than she actually was. The fact that she wasn't about to be taken back to the Stockade damped her rage considerably.

  “We're really sorry about that, Felt,” Hans said. “But that was just bad luck and you got out alright in the end.”

  “Barely,” she sneered. She crossed her arms and stared straight ahead at the door in the far wall. If it was all a trap from the start, she had no obligation to assist Hans in any way. If they weren't planning on recapturing her and their goal indeed was to meet with Hyna, then all that remained was to wait for the old man to return.

  “So what happens now?” Felt said, without looking at either of the men.

  “We'll wait,” Raviel said, ignoring her defiant posture. “There is nothing else we can do.”

  “Can I go, then?”

  “You cannot,” Raviel immediately answered. “If that hooded man doesn't return, we will have further need of you.”

  If he doesn't come back I'm not planning on staying here. She knew she could overpower Hans for certain. He might be stronger than her, but he wasn't much of a fighter and it wouldn't be hard to knock him off balance.

  Raviel, however, would be the real problem. When the hooded man had left, the speed and certainty of his movement towards the door betrayed his martial training.

  Maybe if I combine it with my shroud? There is only one exit, but maybe I can knock him out.

  “We can find you wherever you go, so don't bother running,” Raviel said, as if reading her mind.

  He's far too sharp, Felt thought. Probably been doing this job for years now. He's just waiting for me to make a move.

  She mulled over the possibilities open to her when the meaning behind Raviel's last words hit her.

  Can they really find me wherever I go? Or is that a bluff? she thought as she ran her tongue past her molars. No, I don't think it is. How else did they find me here in the first place? I was under a shroud all the way here and I made certain I wasn't followed. They must indeed have some other way of tracking me.

  “You better stay here, Felt,” Hans said. “It's in your best interest.”

  “Is it now?” Felt said, slapping at his hand still on her shoulder. “How can I believe anything you tell me?” She gave him her most piercing frown.

  Hans looked her in the eyes. “You know me, Felt,” he said. “Do I look like I'm lying to you?”

  “I believed you when you helped me escape from the Stockade,” Felt said. “So you must have become a better liar than I imagined.”

  Hans sighed. “I didn't lie to you back then, Felt. Everything I said to you was the truth.”

  “Half-truths make better lies, right?”

  “It's true we used you as bait, but there are bigger things at stake here, Felt, and you are part of this now whether you like it or not.”

  I know, but still I choose not to like it. She realized she had to resign herself to her current situation. Escaping by force would likely fail, and her original objective in coming here had not changed. Cassie was still out there somewhere, so waiting for the hooded man to return remained the best path to take.

  “Alright,” Felt said, with her resignation clear in her voice. “I will stay.”

  Hans let go of her shoulder in response and Felt leaned forward, laying her head on her arms.

  The rough wood of the table bit into her bare flesh, but she didn't care. The feeling of being a plaything in the hands of bigger forces than herself had fully reasserted itself. Nothing else to do but to ride the flow now.

  Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long for the next current. As Raviel and Hans stood behind her, speaking in hushed tones, the door swung open once more. The blind wall from before was gone and two hooded figures stepped through the opening. One was the man from before; the other was someone much taller and broader with a full brown beard. Like the first man, the hood he wore obscured the upper half of his face.

  “Greetings,” the bearded man said. “I'm Gerro, magister to Hyna.” He raised a hand. “No need to introduce yourselves, I know who you all are.” He walked up to the stool and sat down, leaving the other man to stand behind him.

  “So,” Gerro began. “I understand you wish to obtain some information from us?”

  “We do,” Raviel said, having recovered from the sudden introduction. “We need to know everything you know about the incident at the White Candle.”

  “Which one?” Gerro asked. “There have been several.”

  “All of them,” Raviel said pointedly.

  “That's quite a steep request,” Gerro said. “One we would normally not even entertain. We value our secrecy greatly, as you all know quite well.” He raised his hand and extended a single finger. “However, as it happens, there is one aspect about this entire incident that disturbs us so much that we might be inclined to consider your request.”

  “And what would that be then?” Raviel asked.

  Gerro snapped back the extended finger, leaving a fist. “We have no clue, not even the faintest idea, who was responsible for the attack on the White Candle. The circle therefore deems it prudent to seek outside assistance.”

  That's it? Felt thought as she raised her cheek from the table, rubbing it softly. Nobody knows who those people were, so why is that a problem?

  Raviel seemed to feel the same way as he didn't immediately respond.

  “I'm glad to hear that,” Raviel said eventually, “and I'm confident that with our combined efforts we can find out which of our suspects is the real culprit.”

  Felt twitched her nose. He's clearly decided he doesn't really care what the reason is as long as they help the Whisper.

  “Your suspects?” Gerro said with a slightly mocking tone. “I'm afraid you do not quite understand. We have already determined that anyone you consider a suspect is not responsible for these events.” He spread out his arms and the mocking tone in his voice vanished. “We are talking about an organization here that has somehow managed to remain a complete unknown, even to us. Both before and after the attack on Callium.”

  They're scared, Felt thought. The revelation surprised her, but after giving it some additional consideration she realized it made sense. Hyna operated by having complete control over any information that could be of even remote concern to them, and they were obsessed with remaining hidden. That had always been their way of maintaining their illusive existence, yet now there was an organization capable of pulling off a daring raid without them knowing anything about it. Up until the attack, they probably didn't even know this organization existed.

  Felt raised herself from the table to look at Gerro more attentively. The lack of visible eyes made it hard to read his expression, but the lowered corners of his mouth clearly betrayed his concerns as he spoke.

  “What do you know, then?” Raviel asked. “Tell us about the item that you wanted Felt to steal.”

  “We would like to hear what happened to Miss Terridos first,” Gerro said. “Hearing her story may shape our understanding for the better.”

  Raviel did not protest, so Felt started talking.

  They all listened silently to her story and it did not take long for her to finish. She had had a lot of practise after all, having told the same story countless times back at the Stockade.

  Gerro nodded after she had finished. “Very organized,” he murmured. “As expected.”

  “It's your turn now,” Raviel said impatiently. “What was White Candle doing in their sanctum on the night they disappeared? Did it involve the mystery item?”

  Gerro briefly stroked his beard as if he was deciding whether he should honour his part of the deal.

  “Very well,” he eventually said, followed by a deep breath. “What we know with certainty is that three days before that night, an object was delivered to the White Candle under heavy security. We do not know what it was or what it looks like, only that it spurred every single magister and magistra that wasn't present at the time to return.”

  He underlined his words with deliberate gestures of his hands. “We speculate that they attempted to perform some kind of experiment involving this object, which ended with their disappearance as result.”

  Nothing new there, Felt thought. She herself had already figured out that much, and she could tell from Raviel's expression that he thought the same thing as his displeasure was showing. Hans, on the other hand, was blank-faced as usual.

  He's much better at hiding his emotions in serious situations, Felt thought. Better training, I suppose. Her mind briefly wandered back to memories of her childhood.

  Gerro continued. “With regards to the object itself, the only things we know about it is that it was something from the Second Bane and it was found somewhere beyond the Frontier during one of their expeditions.”

  Raviel cut in. “If they went on an expedition, there should be people who went with them. Pack carriers, rangers, guards. One doesn't cross the Frontier without them.”

  “True,” Gerro agreed. “Unfortunately, we did not look into that. Our influence is not so great that we have eyes and ears that far north.”

  Felt noticed the frown that appeared on Raviel's face. Apparently the Whisper doesn't reach that far either.

  That wasn't strange, though. In theory the Wastes were officially part of Gerios, but in practice they were mostly self-reliant. Just reaching the Crystal River that separated the Wastes from the rest of Gerios would take two weeks at least, and the Frontier itself lay another week beyond that.

  It's not going to be easy to follow up on that, Felt thought. Is this man just leading them on?

  “And the attack on Callium?” Raviel asked, changing the subject.

  “As I said before, the identity of the attackers is a complete mystery to us,” Gerro said, his tone darkening. “Yet we are certain they were there to retrieve the object that White Candle had obtained, or at the very least to find out what happened to it.”

  “Wouldn't that Callium magister know something about it then?” Hans spoke up. “He was inside the sanctum after all, or so Callium claims.”

  “That is a solid possibility,” Gerro said.

  Raviel narrowed his eyes slightly. “You wouldn't happen to know where Karan de Ekkar is, would you? There was talk that he fled the city, but we have been unable to find any evidence that he actually did. Not unless someone helped him.”

  “If you are implying that we assisted Magister De Ekkar in escaping from the city, then I can assure you we did no such thing. We are looking for him ourselves. If we are to find him, we will inform you.”

  Sure you will, Felt thought. Right after you decide there is no longer an advantage in not doing so.

  Felt couldn't tell if Raviel felt the same as he had raised his hand to his chin as if thinking about something.

  “Speaking of letting us know,” Raviel said after a short while, “how do you propose to remain in contact in the future? Do you wish to make this a meeting place?”

  “I'm afraid we will not be able to make use of this location much longer. Miss Terridos will be our liaison in this matter.”

  Felt abruptly snapped to attention. “What?!” she exclaimed, jerking upright. “Hold on a moment here, I'm not your liaison. I'm not even a part of Hyna!”

  “It is true, you are not,” Gerro said, cutting off further objections. “But we would like to keep the involvement of people who know about this as limited as possible, and we are not willing to introduce you to any more of us.” He gestured towards Felt. “Hence the task falls to you, given your current position.”

  Felt bit her lip. My current position? The hold you have over me, you mean. She realized that further objections from her would be pointless so she simply glared at the Hyna magister.

  “Hans here will be our liaison then,” Raviel said. Hans briefly moved his gaze from Gerro to Raviel and then back again. He did not protest.

  “Agreed,” Gerro said, rising from his seat. “And with that I'm afraid I'll have to take my leave. The suddenness of this meeting had me postpone sofme matters that I can no longer ignore.” He gestured towards the man behind him. “Toshen here will take care of any operational questions you may have. He will also provide you with a lead that will be of interest to you.”

  Without pause he opened the door behind him and disappeared through it.

  Felt glimpsed the sight of a regular corridor behind it before Toshen shut the door.

  How do they do that?

  Toshen now sat down, folded his hands together and smiled. “Is there anything else you need to know?”

  “There is,” Raviel said. “I'm going to need some more details about this arrangement.”

  Felt barely heard the rest of the conversation as she was still mulling over her sudden promotion to Hyna liaison.

  Once more she was being tossed around by things that were larger than her, but she did not care about that anymore. The only way she was going to get out of this was to play their game as the forces working against her were simply too great.

  The only option I have left is to go along with them until a better opportunity arrives, Felt thought grimly. Toshen said he was willing to let me meet Cassie, so I should start by arranging that.

  She refocused her attention on the conversation and stared at Toshen with a neutral expression. But don't you think for a moment I will forget any of this. I'll get you back for this in the end.