It is often assumed that channelling ?ther involves drawing elements into the natural realm first so that they may be manipulated. This is not correct, however, as during channelling no element actually leaves the ?ther. Instead, the channeller reaches into the ?ther to manipulate the elements there and it is only when the spell is released that the created pattern enters the natural realm.

  Excerpt from 'Introduction to the Workings of Magic'

  With a displeased grunt Karan turned another page of the spelltome he was holding. He had been working on White Candle's cypher for days now and had yet to gain even the slightest insight into breaking it.

  Truthfully, he knew he was wasting his time because while he would normally have access to all the resources a magic guild could offer, in this haunt he had none of that. He couldn't even try comparative weaving as magic was forbidden here.

  This isn't going anywhere.

  With a sigh he put away the book and fell back on the bed, pondering his current situation. He had not left the haunt since he arrived here, not only because it was unsafe, but also because both his feet had grown to the size of small melons. The long walk on two hard runestones ensured that even standing up was painful, leaving him not only confined to the haunt, but to this room as well. The spelltomes were his only distraction, which was probably the reason he was spending so much time on them, fruitless as his efforts might be.

  There was a soft knock on the door.

  Karan knew immediately that it was Moeke as Siella never knocked and Gieltje, the old man who lived here as well, claimed he couldn't ascend the stairs because of his arthritis.

  “Enter,” Karan said.

  Moeke entered the room with the same soft smile she usually had. She looked around the room, ending her inspection at Karan's feet.

  “How are they?” she asked.

  “Sore and red, as you can see,” Karan replied.

  “Indeed they are,” Moeke said. “The swelling seems to have gone down somewhat, though.”

  “I certainly hope so,” Karan said. Moeke had provided him with an ointment with a peculiar smell for him to rub on his feet. Karan had no idea if it helped alleviate the swelling, but at least it numbed the pain.

  “Well, no need to rush things,” Moeke said, smiling. “I came to tell you that you have a visitor.”

  Karan did not expect that. A visitor? Who could that possibly be? The only person who knows I'm here is...

  “It's not Htanni, is it?” Karan asked with a worried look. Meeting Htanni should be avoided at all costs at the moment. Callium would no doubt have learned of Karan's many visits to Htanni's study, especially the one he made on the morning he escaped.

  By themselves those visits proved nothing, but if Htanni went anywhere it was very likely that he would be followed.

  “No,” Moeke said. “It's not Magister Vae. It's someone you don't know, but you need to see him regardless. He's here because of your stay here.”

  Karan gave Moeke a puzzled look. “I don't quite understand what you mean.”

  “Well,” Moeke said as she beckoned to someone in the hallway, “he had better explain it to you himself.”

  Moeke stepped aside and a slender young man with dark-blond hair and a pale complexion entered the room.

  “Greetings, Magister De Ekkar,” the young man said, bowing slightly. “My name is Niel and I'm here to ask you some questions regarding your stay here.”

  Karan immediately disliked the man. He had the same kind of deceitful aura around him that a lot of the Callium magisters had. Someone filled with grand promises, yet no commitment behind them.

  “My stay here?” Karan asked cautiously.

  “I'll leave you two alone,” Moeke said, leaving the room and closing the door behind her. It was clear she had no intention of getting involved in this.

  Without waiting for an invitation, Niel walked to the sole chair in the room and sat down. “Perhaps I should clarify a little,” he began. “I represent an organization that helps people disappear. I would have been here much sooner, but we weren't informed of your presence here until recently.” He paused as if waiting for a reaction.

  “Help people disappear?” Karan said, narrowing his eyes. “That sounds rather... ominous.”

  Niel waved his hands as if trying to ward off a bad smell. “Oh, no, no,” he said. “We do not dirty ourselves with assassinations, if that's what you are implying. We are strictly dealing with people who express the wish to make themselves scarce for some time. People such as yourself.” He smiled in a disarming manner and gave him a knowing wink.

  Karan regarded him coldly and did not respond to the gesture, so Niel continued. “To clarify further, your arrival here has been unexpected, so I'm here to straighten some things out.”

  “Things like what?” Karan asked. “I was referred here. Do you want coin or something?”

  Again, Niel waved his hands around as if Karan's room was a foul-smelling pigsty. “No, no, nothing like that. While we operate a large web of haunts, we do not retain direct control over most of them. The owners of those haunts have free rein over who they take in and who they refuse. Hence your presence here.” Niel crossed his legs. “That said, we do like to know who entered our web and what their future plans are.”

  “I suppose you know who I am,” Karan said dryly.

  “Oh, indeed,” Niel said. “Everyone in the city is talking about you and your daring theft of White Candle secrets.” His eyes turned towards the stack of books next to Karan's bed. “Those are your ill-gotten gains, I take it?”

  Karan glanced sideways to look at the books. He might know about those already, but if he's just guessing, I'm not going to make him any the wiser.

  “They're just texts that keep me occupied,” Karan lied. “As you can see, I'm not in a state to move around,” he added, gesturing to his swollen feet.

  “They are?” Niel said, glancing only briefly at Karan's feet before returning to the spelltomes. “I would love to hear what you found in that sanctum, though.”

  “Nothing; I wasn't actually in there,” Karan replied. “Whatever you heard, it's all Callium spin trying to throw attention away from what really happened.”

  “The ghast wasn't your doing?”

  “It was not,” Karan said. At least that isn't a lie. “I have no idea exactly what they tried to pull at the White Candle, only that I'm the one taking the blame for all of it.”

  “Well, that's most unfortunate,” Niel said with the appearance of pity.

  I need to change the subject. “You seem to know who I am, but I have yet to hear who you are exactly. Does this organization of yours have a name?”

  “I am part of the Luria Syndicate,” Niel answered without hesitation. “Perhaps you have heard of us?”

  “I have not,” Karan said. Gangs, syndicates and other underworld organizations weren't of any concern to him as he'd never had to deal with them.

  “That's unfortunate. Let me take this chance to state my reason for being here,” Niel said before taking a breath. “We would like to know if you are planning to expand your use of our service. As it stands now, this haunt here is the only place for you to stay. The owners have agreed to shelter you, and that is no business of ours. However, should the need arise for you to leave here, then there would be no other place for you to go.”

  Karan sneered at him. Not unless I buy into what you are selling, I take it? He knew how the conversation would go from here. He wasn't in the mood to go through the motions so he decided to skip to the end instead.

  “How much coin do I need to pay for this service?”

  The suddenness of the question seemed to catch Niel off guard for a moment.

  “Fifteen regals per moon,” he replied.

  Fifteen regals? Karan thought, fuming. I could stay at the best lodging in the city for longer than an entire moon for that amount.

  “That far exceeds the coin I have with me.”

  “That's understandable,” Niel said. “We are also willing to accept other things of value.” His eyes moved back towards the spelltomes.

  “Even if I pay you, what guarantee do I have that you aren't going to turn me over to the Royal Guard?”

  Niel looked shocked, as if the mere suggestion offended him deeply. “We would never do such a thing. Our entire service relies on trust, and if we violated that trust even once then who would ever use our service again?”

  Desperate people, Karan thought, yet he considered the offer all the same. He knew very little about how Rios' underworld operated but the suggestion that it ran on something as easily tossed aside as trust was hard to believe. But what choice do I have? He's right about one thing; having only this place to hide makes for a thin safety net.

  “If you accept other things of value, I only have some runestones,” Karan said. “Would they suffice?”

  “That depends,” Niel said. “I can't appraise such things of their true value, but I can arrange for someone who can.”

  “Good.”

  “I'm glad we could come to an agreement,” Niel said. “Are you perhaps planning to leave the city at some point? We can make arrangements for that as well. Less costly too in the long run.”

  “I'm fine right where I am for the moment,” Karan answered. “Now, if there isn't anything else, I would like some rest. I've been sleeping badly because of my feet.”

  “Very well, then,” Niel said, rising from the chair. “You can expect our appraiser soon. Have a good rest, Magister.” With that, he left the room.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Karan listened as Niel descended the stairs and met with Moeke. They spoke briefly, then he heard the front door closing.

  This isn't good.

  Worried, Karan picked up the top tome of the stack. Niel had been eyeing them throughout the conversation, which made it obvious he didn't believe a word that Karan had said about them. Getting their hands on these tomes would be the next logical step for Niel and his syndicate as their value was immense.

  Surveying this place was probably the reason he was here to begin with, Karan thought, placing the tome back on the pile. I need to hide these somewhere else. Somewhere a good distance away from here.

  However, that was easier said than done. He couldn't go anywhere any time soon, so the only way he could get the tomes out of there was the same way they arrived: with the help of the other residents of this haunt.

  Grimacing at the pain, he slipped into a pair of soft slippers. Just standing up made his feet feel like he was walking on hot charcoal and glass, but this couldn't wait.

  Downstairs he surprised Moeke, who was sitting in front of a window enjoying the sun.

  “Should you be walking?” Moeke said. “Or did the visit rattle you that much?”

  Nothing gets past this woman, does it?

  “It did,” Karan said, sitting down in a nearby chair. “The spelltomes need to be moved somewhere else. Somewhere safe. I can't make anything of them here anyway.”

  “You think someone would break in here to steal them?” Moeke asked incredulously.

  Moeke's reaction confused Karan. “Those tomes represent a significant value,” he said, frowning. ”Why wouldn't someone try to steal them? Especially from an insecure place like this.”

  A faint smile crossed Moeke's wrinkled face. “Insecure, you say? I can assure you, there are few places in the Seventh District, or anywhere else in the city for that matter, that are as secure as this house.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” Karan stated more bluntly than he intended.

  “That's understandable,” Moeke said, looking at him with a hint of pity. “You are someone who deals only with what he can discover and see for himself. Blind to the world that lies beyond.”

  “The ?ther lies beyond,” Karan said. “And that is something that has well-defined laws and rules.”

  “Perhaps. But do you know all of them?” Moeke asked.

  “Probably not,” Karan admitted. “But what does that matter? If you want to convince me that nothing will be taken from this house, then you have to show me some proof.”

  Moeke sighed as she ran a finger across the shiny red leaf of a nearby plant. “Very well. If you can tell me the address of this place, then I will arrange for your spelltomes to be moved somewhere else.”

  Karan initially didn't believe what he was hearing. She just wants to know the address of this place? Well, if that's all then... what was it again...?

  The shadows in the room slowly advanced as Karan tried his hardest to remember. After a while, however, it started to dawn on him that he couldn't. Why the blaze can't I remember? I repeated that address in my mind over a hundred times before I came here so I wouldn't forget it. And now it's gone?

  His astonishment grew as he realized that it wasn't only the address that he couldn't remember. When he tried to recall the memory of arriving here, he drew a blank as well. He could remember stepping inside the house, but everything before that was gone up until the point when he entered the Seventh District.

  “I can't remember,” Karan said finally.

  Moeke did not say anything; she just kept smiling.

  Magic? It has to be. Dream dyad, most likely.

  “A spell that makes people forget where this haunt is located,” Karan said, trying to sound confident. “Very clever. I take it then that Niel is currently suffering from the same effect?”

  Moeke nodded.

  “But that can't be all there is to it,” Karan reasoned. “Htanni knew the address so he could tell me, and someone told Niel as well before he came here. So what about people like them?”

  “The address that you were given and the one Niel was given weren't the same. Each can only be visited once.”

  “An address that can only be visited once?” Karan asked with raised eyebrows. “Even assuming that is true, this haunt is still part of the web Niel was talking about.”

  “It is,” Moeke said. “What about it?”

  “That means that there have to be people who have an address that is still valid. I doubt they would let you be part of their web if they themselves couldn't even find you.”

  “Just knowing a valid address doesn't mean you can enter,” Moeke said. “Only that you can find the right door.”

  What the blaze is she talking about? Hard as he tried, Karan could not make any sense of it. The part about memory loss he could understand, but the part about the changing address eluded his comprehension. How does one make an address valid only once? And what's this about finding the right door but not being able to enter?

  “So,” Moeke said. “Are you convinced now?”

  Karan didn't immediately answer. It was clear to him now that there was far more to this place than he knew, yet that in itself worried him. They had some advanced magic available to them, yet Karan knew they weren't a part of Hyna as the spelltomes had still been here when he arrived. So who were these people and how the blaze does Htanni know them?

  “It takes more than a gap in my memory to convince me,” Karan said. “Trusting you on blind faith alone doesn't suit me.”

  “It doesn't?” Moeke asked. “Then why did you come to us in the first place? Surely you had no proof that this would be a safe place beyond Htanni's word?”

  “That was different,” Karan said. “I had no other choice.”

  “Didn't you?”

  Her piercing voice caused the question to linger in Karan's mind. What else could I have done? Or was it merely convenient for me to believe so?

  He had looked into places to hide before the White Candle incident even started. Nothing concrete, but his flight would not have been without a goal. When he had asked Htanni about a possible haunt, it had just been an offhand question. A formality to make certain he had taken everything into consideration. Looking back on it, he had not really expected Htanni to actually have something for him, but when it turned out he did, Karan had seized it without a second thought.

  “It was the logical choice, then,” Karan bristled. “Sure, I could have fled the city and moved south to Galond, or north to the Wastes. The Trade Assembly wouldn't have cared about my history here and neither would anyone at the Frontier. Both of those options would have been much more difficult than the one Htanni offered.”

  Nonetheless, I may yet have to take one of those options someday soon.

  “Well, don't get too worked up about it,” Moeke said. “You are free to stay here as long as you like. I'm just an old woman prone to rambling.”

  Now that is something I definitely do not believe. However, he did not voice that thought and just nodded, rising from his chair.

  “Does this mean that you have reconsidered your desire to hide the spelltomes?” Moeke asked.

  “I'll take your word for it that this place is safe,” Karan conceded. “However, if you don't mind, I will also take some precautions of my own.”

  Moeke frowned.

  “Non-magical ones,” he added.

  He shuffled towards the kitchen to find Siella, every step sending a jolt of pain up his legs. He had an idea how to make the spelltomes a little harder to find, but he needed a few things first.

  Upon entering the kitchen, Siella glanced at him and sneered. She then resumed cutting her carrots.

  What is her problem?

  Of all the people living here, Siella had been persistently hostile to him. She ignored his privacy, mocked him and basically treated him like he was a flea-infested beggar.

  Up until now, Karan had not challenged her continuous impoliteness as he was a mere guest here, but the pain in his feet fuelled his anger and he finally challenged her.

  “Are you always going to snarl at me like that?” Karan asked as he sat down at the kitchen table. “Because it's getting tiresome.”

  Siella ceased cutting and turned around to scowl at him.

  “I understand you dislike me being here,” Karan said, “but I'm getting fed up with your behaviour.”

  Siella's face darkened even more and her scowl turned into an expression of rage.

  Karan hesitated for a moment, realizing that making a woman like Siella angry while she was holding a large knife probably wasn't a good idea.

  Then again, if she becomes angry enough, she might say what infuriates her so much about me.

  If he was going to leave the spelltomes in this house, he needed to know more about its inhabitants. Especially the one who was openly hostile to him.

  “Is that all you can do? Stand there and display your contempt in silence?”

  “I don't have to tell you anything,” Siella hissed. The knuckles of her hand holding the knife had turned white.

  “No, you don't,” Karan said. “But I'm going to be here a while longer, and I'd prefer to resolve whatever issue you have with me before you decide to kill me in my sleep.”

  The second part was intended as a joke to defuse the tension, yet Siella did not lighten up.

  Instead, she threw the knife into the sink, causing a loud racket. “I'm not a killer! You are!” she shouted, her face red and eyes aflame. “You and the rest of that Callium scum!”

  She stormed out of the kitchen, leaving Karan behind feeling baffled.

  That wasn't helpful, Karan thought, slowly exhaling. She has some beef with Callium? Who doesn't these days?

  “What is happening here?” Moeke said, stepping into the kitchen.

  “Siella was angry,” Karan said with a sense of understatement.

  “What did you say to her?” Moeke demanded.

  “I wanted to know what her problem with me was,” Karan said, trying to appear the victim.

  “I'd prefer that you refrain from taunting her,” Moeke said. “If you have any problems with her behaviour, come to me first.”

  Moeke's subdued scowl caused him to choose his words carefully. “She has been angry with me from the moment I set foot in this haunt. I would prefer to resolve whatever it is that upsets her.”

  “That will be impossible,” Moeke said, taking the knife out of the sink and placing it next to the half-cut carrot. “Your former guild grieved her greatly years ago to the point that she will neither forget nor forgive.”

  “My former guild, exactly,” Karan said. “It's not like I care for them much myself.”

  Moeke turned from the sink to face him. “That doesn't matter; you are not unlike them. You scheme and plot and have ambitions, and you care little about who you hurt along the way. If you weren't that way, you never would have lasted as long as you did there.”

  “Still,” Karan said stubbornly, “she acts like I'm personally responsible for whatever it is that happened to her.”

  “Maybe you were,” Moeke replied coldly. “Remember the food riots sixteen years ago?”

  That shut Karan up. He did remember those. Or more specifically, he remembered the opportunity those riots had presented to some less than ethical experiments the field group had wanted to do. Starving people were far more pliable to certain requests if it meant they could eat.

  “I wasn't involved in that,” Karan finally said. “I was barely a magister back then.”

  “Maybe you weren't involved directly,” Moeke said accusingly. “But at the very least you let it happen. That's damning enough.”

  “What about Htanni then?” Karan retorted. “He was in a better position than me, yet he let it happen as well.”

  “What makes you think he did?” Moeke asked.

  Karan opened his mouth and then closed it again. The more I hear about Htanni, the more I realize that I don't know him at all.

  “Siella suffered greatly because of what happened back then,” Moeke continued. “She lost both her husband and her... ability to gain a new one.” Her scowl vanished and sadness filled her eyes. “I shall speak to her about her behaviour, but that is all I can and will do.”

  Karan simply nodded. He returned to his room, without any food, to consider everything that had happened this eventful morning.

  There were several things he had to think about, but most importantly it had been impressed upon him that he could no longer stay there.

  I've been content with just not being found, Karan thought as he lay down on his bed. But with syndicates looking for my spelltomes and Siella being so hostile, this won't do. I can't just wither away in this room without a purpose or goal. I need to plan my next step.

  He lifted himself to an upright position and stared at the stack of tomes next to the bed.

  Yet what can I do?

  The spelltomes' original purpose as leverage to buy himself into another guild no longer applied. Not with him being a wanted fugitive. In fact, the most logical thing to do would be to leave the city forever, but that plan presented its own problem.

  I don't want to leave.

  He had lived in a nearby village years ago, but after he moved to Rios he had stayed there ever since. Compared to the countryside, the capital was so much more advanced: ?ther-powered carriages; street lights; glass windows; hot running water in most homes, just to name a few things. And this was all made possible by the miracle of rune magic, an advancement he himself had been part of. There was no other place in Gerios where he could enjoy anything close to the level of luxury and intellectual stimulation he had here.

  He lay back on the bed and stared at the wooden beams that held up the ceiling, anger welling up inside him. Why should I have to give up everything when it was that fat bastard Sill who caused all this?

  The thought of that fat bastard sitting in his lavish study fuelled Karan's anger even more.

  If it wasn't for the Royal Guard, I would make certain that the inner circle suffer before I leave the city.

  Allowing his mind to wander, he imagined all the ways he could bring down or at least severely discredit the inner circle's individual members. Magister Tennenbrand would be the easiest, as he had been heavily involved in the experiments during the food riots. Magister Salfazon had been involved in the experiments too, as well as covering up several incidents with servant girls. Magister Akkazon, in turn, had been stealing work from his adepts and passing it off as his own, while Magister Navial ran a lucrative and illegal business involving the sale of runestones to the underworld.

  And finally, at the top of it all, the self-proclaimed Luminary Sill Yerwede had knowledge of all these things and yet turned a wilful blind eye to them as long as he could benefit. The grand mansion he possessed near the coast, formerly belonging to a now impoverished noble family, stood as a testament to that.

  Karan closed his eyes. It really is unfair that I can't do anything with this knowledge while I'm a fugitive. Nobody would believe me without hard proof.

  His eyes sprung back open. Doesn't that mean I just need to get that hard proof? If I can expose Callium as untrustworthy, then their claims of my betrayal would become very thin indeed. Especially since they can't actually prove I was the mastermind behind everything.

  Plans started to form in Karan's head. They would ensure that he wouldn't have to leave the city at all, and instead would ruin Callium's inner circle. It would be a hard path to follow, but it was either that or spend the rest of his life in some backwater place.

  I'm going to need some help, though.

  He eyed the spelltomes next to him once more, and made his decision.