Allowing the shadows to envelope him, Lucius held his breath as another patrol of Vos guards marched past his position, their red tabards appearing almost black in the half-light of Kerberos. With a second's concentration, he summoned the shadows of the alley to completely cloak him, but it was an unnecessary precaution, for the attention of the guards was fixed firmly across the Square of True Believers and the grand edifice that was nearing the last stages of completion.
When Vos had swept through Turnitia in its grand war of conquest which was intended to break the back of Pontaine, its arrival had been heralded by a rise in the Final Faith. It had started with preachers appearing on street corners, haranguing the crowds as to the fate of their souls. Soon enough, the Final Faith was using the support of converts, who were acting as a network of spies and scouts, marking those in power, officially or not, for the Vos captains to hunt down when their armies moved into the city. The capitulation of the city was therefore accomplished quickly and without many losses among the armies; the people of the city were the ones who suffered.
That the Faith was able to annihilate its rivals, the Brotherhood of the Divine Path, was more than a bonus for the Anointed Lord and her followers. It allowed them to start with a clean slate in the city, making their faith the official religion of Turnitia as much as it was in the rest of the Vos Empire.
In recognition of the efforts the Final Faith had extended during the occupation, the Empire had permitted the creation of the Square of True Believers, the site of a new church dedicated to the dominant religion. Though most of the resources used in the reconstruction of Turnitia were swallowed by the Citadel and its expansion, the followers of the Final Faith had taken what they could from the authorities and then tackled a great deal of the work themselves. They pulled down the houses that stood where their church would rise, excavating the foundations and then piling stone upon stone to create their place of worship.
It was said the square was wide enough to accommodate the entire population of the city, for the conversion of all was the Final Faith's stated aim. The church itself was not yet completed, and scaffolding would surround its southern tower for another year or two at the least. However, the nave was complete and, as far as the priesthood was concerned, that made the church open for business.
Far from alienating itself from the population after the riots it had started before the Empire arrived in force, the Final Faith had worked hard to ingratiate itself within the city. The people of Turnitia had traditionally carried their own beliefs lightly, as befitted a free city, but instead of being a hindrance to conversion it had meant there were no doctrinal barriers for the priests to break down. Once established, the Final Faith had dispensed food and money to the poor, offered shelter to those forced from their homes by the armies and, most of all, created a sense of community centred on the Square of True Believers.
While the people of Turnitia would never become fanatics, in the way those of Scholten were often described, living in the shadow of the Faith's great cathedral, most would now describe themselves as followers, even if they did not observe every holy day on the calendar. As a result, the money started to flow into the coffers of the new church from those seeking to help those less fortunate or those wishing an easy path into the afterlife. This was the reason that Lucius was now staking out the square.
As the patrol moved past his hiding place, Lucius recalled some of the lessons his father had tried to teach him of the Brotherhood and its beliefs. He had never really embraced religion in his youth, and his father had never forced it upon him, believing instead that his son should find his own path in life, and for that Lucius was grateful.
The Brotherhood, Lucius learned, had splintered from the Faith a century earlier, a dispute arising between two factions over the excesses one saw in the other. However, the schism was rooted in just one difference of interpretation of ancient texts. The Faith believed mankind had to be led on a tight and narrow path towards complete unity, in order to achieve salvation of all and ascendance to the next plane of existence. To this end, the priesthood was known to play politics at the highest levels, influencing cities and nations in an attempt to bind the peninsula into one cohesive organism.
Indeed, it was said that the Faith was the prime motivator behind the last war, seeking to make the Empire of Vos dominant over its old rival, Pontaine. That past Anointed Lords had tried to make Pontaine ascendant over Vos did not seem to strike any true believer as contradictory.
The Brotherhood believed Mankind was already on this path, and merely had to suffer war, bloodshed and terror as part of the process it was already fated to follow. The rituals and observances differed between the two religions, of course, but this was the centre of their dispute, the one difference responsible for so many deaths over the past hundred years.
Scanning the square, Lucius saw another patrol on the far side, and began to time their approach. Just gaining entry to the church would be problematic, he realised, for the priests clearly had enough friends within the Citadel to ensure the square was watched at all times.
He was confident that a man of his… abilities could do it but he suspected only the most accomplished of thieves would succeed, and they would likely not be interested in the risk/reward ratio of breaking into the church, the ultimate calculation every good thief lived by. Once inside, the pillars, statues and altars, along with the shadows they created, would be his allies, but everything rested upon crossing the open square without catching the attention of the guard. He began to look upwards at the roofs of the nearest buildings, wondering if a more vertical approach would be appropriate, though the closest structure lay over a hundred yards away from the church, which seemed an impossible chasm to cross.
"So, you are running with the Hands now."
The female voice behind him made Lucius start with a fright, and he was ashamed to find that all the excuses he had rehearsed for the event of getting caught by a patrol momentarily fled his thoughts. He caught himself and turned round, his mind working once more as it recognised the voice.
"Aidy, you are forever creeping up on me," he whispered.
Her eyes, dark on the brightest of days and virtually invisible in the shadows, looked at him with what he guessed was utter contempt.
"There is no need to keep your voice low," she said, and he thought something approaching loathing was in her words. "The guards cannot hear us."
Lucius tilted his head to one side as he concentrated on the flow of magic he now realised filled the alley. Adrianna was using her mastery of stealth to ensure a passer by would neither see nor hear them. He finally nodded in understanding.
"Your training has all but deserted you," she said scornfully.
Not wanting to engage in another verbal duel, Lucius tried to change the subject. "How did you find me?" His question drew a hiss of frustration.
"I told you before, you are like a beacon to me. I can feel your presence from half a city away."
Becoming irritated at her superior manner, Lucius snapped back. "So, what do you want?"
She took a step closer, looking straight into his eyes. Of matching height, he could feel anger radiating from her in waves, and he fought to return her stare without blinking.
"You have caused me no end of problems lately. Do you consider yourself a thief now?"
"I am a thief, Aidy."
"So far the mighty fall," she said.
It was his turn to show anger. "I told you before why I had come back to the city. I'm doing alright at the moment, and I'll thank you to stay out of my business. You'll just have to endure my presence a little longer, then I'll be gone."
"Unless, of course, you make yourself too comfortable where you are," she pointed out, then seemed to change tact. "And as it happens, you are not doing me the courtesy of staying out of my business."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm working a contract with the Guild of Coin and Enterprise."
Things suddenly clicked for Lucius. "It was you there that night. In Brink's house. How can you be working for those bastards, Aidy? Do you have any idea what they are doing?"
"Don't be such a bloody idiot. People like you and I have greater allegiances than the petty concerns of thieves. Or, at least, we should. They are but a means to an end, Lucius."
"They are my friends."
"A man like you has no friends," she said caustically.
Once again, anger flared in him. "You don't know a damn thing about me now, Aidy. Whatever you thought of me before was wrong, and you are no closer to the truth now. People died in that house, and I am willing to bet you were in a position to stop that happening."
"I raised the alarm, nothing more. I had thought the mercenaries we had brought in would be able to handle a bunch of rouges with few problems. They probably would have, had a Shadowmage not been among them."
"Well, you could have done something about that, surely," he said. "You are clearly greater than I, so why not just kill me and let the mercenaries deal with the rest of us?"
She looked at him as though he were being particularly stupid, an expression he was beginning to resent a great deal. "Are you deaf, or just wilfully ignoring what I tell you?"
"Was there something you wanted, Aidy, or did you just come here to torment me?"
Adrianna stopped for a moment, then sighed heavily. When she spoke, it sounded as though she were almost spitting the words.
"If you are going to continue working in the city, there are going to have to be some rules."
"Damned if there will be!"
Her hand shot out of the darkness to close, painfully, around his arm. "Listen to me, idiot! I don't want this conversation any more than you do but, as I have been trying to tell you, there are larger things at work here. Now, shut up and follow me!"
Saying that, she spun on her heel and stalked into the depths of the alley, disappearing from sight almost immediately. Casting a last look back at the church, Lucius groaned inwardly and raced to follow her. The Final Faith would have to wait at least another day.
Lucius had visited the docks earlier, and this time his ears became accustomed to the crashing sea far quicker. The noise was relentless, with immense waves breaking against the grey stone defences that rose from the water like monoliths.
Before men had laid the foundations of Turnitia, the sea had already carved a wide bay from the cliffs, hacking away at the land over aeons. The origins of the architects of the defences that were built across the mouth of the bay were lost in antiquity. Merchants and dockmasters, certainly, couldn't care less about the effort that must have gone into building the immense structures, and scholars had long since moved on to investigating the mysteries of the Sardenne and the world's Ridge Mountains, explaining the construction away as the product of ancient magic and, therefore, unknowable. Some tales suggested the barriers were older than the race of men, though Lucius put little credence in children's tales.
Standing on the edge of the cliffs, he looked down as the water surged against the granite harbour. A complex array of winches, lifts and ropes were fixed to the sheer wall of rock, allowing goods brought in from the sea to be brought up to the city, where they could be traded in the merchants quarter and, finally, the Five Markets. A dozen ships lay in the bay, heaving constantly as the water surged beneath them. They remained in relative safety, so long as their anchors and the ropes that bound them to the harbour did not break their grip and send the vessels crashing into the barriers or cliffs. After gold had changed hands with one of the dockmasters, Lucius had learned earlier that the captains were waiting for the sea to subside a few degrees before risking an egress that would take them beyond the barriers and into the violent waves. Few risked such voyages, preferring the safety of travel over land. But for those willing to risk the churning waters, rogue waves and, so tales went, immense serpents, the rewards could be great.
Looking out to sea, Lucius wondered what life must be like in that hostile wilderness, trusting chance as much as personal skill. The seamen of Allantia were renowned for their ability to master the waves, as were the barbaric savages of the Sarcre Islands, but there were few truly civilised men who were adept at reading the ebb and flow of the sea, and thus have a chance of making their destinations safely. Even the best captains kept close to shore, and no one knew for certain what lay beyond the horizon.
Adrianna had sped through the city to reach this place, and Lucius had been pushed hard to match her long, determined stride. They had not spoken further, and resentment once again began to flow through him as he realised she was dangling him on the end of a rope, possibly for her own amusement.
She stood, back straight and arms folded, as Lucius had seen her in the window of Brink's house. Not looking at him, she too stared out to sea, though he thought her mind was elsewhere. After a few minutes, his boredom got the better of him.
"Well?" he asked, not without a little sarcasm.
"Wait," she said.
Lucius sighed and turned to walk slowly along the cliff. The immediate area was filled with cranes that leaned over the edge and a wide road that served as a loading area for wagons and carts, separating the cliffs from the row upon row of warehouses. He began to wonder whether his father's warehouses were close by — and who owned them now — when a pungent and heady odour filled his nostrils.
It reminded him of the scent that hung in the air after a storm but, looking back at Adrianna, he saw she had either not sensed it or was ignoring it. A low crackle reached his ears, and it seemed to come from all around. Looking around he tried to locate the source of the sound, but it proved elusive.
A brilliant blue-white flash in front of his eyes made him react, taking a step back. The dull light from Kerberos seemed to dim further for a moment, then another flash followed, this time from the side of one of the nearby warehouses. Lightning crackled around the walls of one of the buildings, shards of light playing across the wood and stone with a sizzling of high energy. With a low rumble of thunder, the electrical discharges coalesced into a tightly packed ball a yard from the ground.
Holding a hand over his eyes to shield himself from the glare, Lucius saw something move within the dancing light, a dark shape stepping through the flashes and sparks. He saw the form of a man walking down to the ground as if on a short flight of stairs. As he placed a foot on the cobbles, the lightning disappeared with the pop of air rushing into a vacant space.
The man was in his later years and wore a tightly-trimmed beard shot through with grey streaks but was otherwise completely bald. Dressed in the jacket and pantaloons of a wealthy merchant, he walked with a limp, leaning on a cane as he crossed the road to face Lucius. Still looking out to sea, Adrianna introduced the newcomer.
"Lucius, this is the Master of Shadows, Forbeck Torquelle."
Eyeing the man warily, Lucius nodded slowly in greeting, but his suspicion seemed to bounce off the man.
"My dear boy," the man said, extending an hand. "I am so very pleased to meet you. Adrianna has told me a great deal about you."
"I'll bet," Lucius said cautiously as he accepted the man's hand and shook it. The Master's voice had the distinct ring of a Pontaine accent, which Lucius found attractive in women, but slightly effeminate in men. Despite the man's careful politeness, Lucius could sense the underlying power in his demeanour. This was someone who was used to getting what he wanted, smothering his iron hard will with a veneer of courtesy.
"I hope you will forgive my showy entrance," Forbeck said apologetically. "I normally reserve such things for weak-minded and superstitious fools, but I wanted there to be no doubt in your mind as to who I am and why I asked for this meeting."
"And why is that?"
"We all felt your presence when you came back to the city, Mr Kane. We didn't know what was happening or what portent it held, until Adrianna first tracked you down. But once we discovered the truth, we just had to make contact."
"We?"
Adrianna turned back to face Lucius. "There is a new guild in the city. The Shadowmages are returning, and are slowly regaining both their numbers and their power."
Lucius smiled at this and began to shake his head, raising a hand to forestall any argument. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time — "
Forbeck overrode Lucius, speaking quietly but firmly. "This is a new guild, Mr Kane, with a new attitude. We have been reforged from the disaster of Vos conquering this city and wiping out our old infrastructure. Not to mention many of the original members."
"I already belong to a guild," Lucius said.
"Yes, I know that. But ours is the only one of its type in the entire peninsula. Please, Mr Kane, walk with us for a moment."
Forbeck turned and there was something in his voice that commanded Lucius to obey, despite his better judgement.
As they walked along the cliff top, deviating only to avoid cranes or piles of empty boxes, Lucius heard Adrianna's measured footsteps behind him as he kept pace with Forbeck.
"You see, Mr Kane, Shadowmages are unique individuals, having not only the very aptitude for stealth and secrecy that has lead you to find a place within the Night Hands, but also a natural affinity for magic. And I mean natural — it takes many men years and years of study and practice to harness the most basic of spells, if they are even capable of it in the first place. Men like you and I — and, sorry Adrianna, ladies too — can control the magic as easily as we breathe." He laughed. "Well, perhaps with a little more effort than that, but you do take my point."
"I do," said Lucius, wondering where this was going. He knew an offer to join the guild was looming, but he was perplexed as to why. He had already made his case for solitude to Adrianna, and he could not imagine for one moment that she had spoken up for him.
"The combination of stealth and magic is a powerful one, as our predecessors realised, but they never understood its potential. Mr Kane, a Shadowmage, properly trained and in full control of his abilities makes for an excellent — no, he makes for the very best — scout, infiltrator, thief, spy… assassin. The Empire of Vos fears us precisely because of this. That was why they worked so hard to eradicate our kind."
"Well, I have those abilities now, plus the support of a decent guild."
Forbeck shook his head. "The Hands are decent enough, far easier to deal with than those rogues from the Guild of Coin and Enterprise, as Adrianna has recently discovered. But you are quite wrong in thinking you are anywhere near as good as you can be."
He stopped suddenly, catching Lucius by surprise. His gaze was one of passionate intensity as he spoke. "I see such potential in you, Mr Kane. I can feel the power and possibilities emanating from you as you stand there now. You have no idea of what you are really capable of."
Coughing, Forbeck looked down at the ground briefly before raising his head again to Lucius. "This is the purpose of the guild, you see. We need no guildhouse, membership roll, or shady deals to survive. Our magic and other abilities compensate for all of that, in one way or another. But we can work together for a common cause, and that, Mr Kane, is why you should be with us."
"And just what is the common cause?" Lucius asked.
"That we share information on the practices of stealth and magic both, and through the accumulated wisdom of our members, we become an institution valued and respected. Imagine, Mr Kane, no more disguising the fact that you are more than a mere thief. Think of the lords and nobles who will line up to hire one of our number to engage in the most secret of commissions. Whether it is riches or arcane knowledge that motivates you, you will find it among fellow Shadowmages, not thieves."
"I am not sure I would like serving two masters — remember, I already belong to the Hands."
"Oh, you misunderstand me," Forbeck said, brushing aside the argument with a hand. "Stay with the Hands, you could not do better. I am sure you will learn many techniques in their service that will be of great interest to other Shadowmages. We have no dues to pay, and no chores to fulfil, Mr Kane. Our organisation is one of common accord, nothing more. We only have one ultimate directive."
"Which is?"
"One Shadowmage may never strike at another directly, even if they find themselves on opposing sides of a contract. We have suffered too much in recent years, and to fight among ourselves is folly of the highest order." At this, Lucius noticed Forbeck throw a quick glance at Adrianna. "The consequences of such an attack must, by necessity, be dire. We take an oath to that effect."
Lucius was silent for a moment, thoughts churning through his head. He was fairly sure he did not need another level of complication in his life, particularly one that involved the bitter Adrianna. He had continued to think that his stay in the city would be brief, that he would make his money, and then leave to continue his adventures elsewhere. Yet, he had made himself comfortable among the Night Hands and, if he was utterly truthful with himself, he had made no plans to leave in the near future. There was also that hard edge behind Forbeck's calm exterior that troubled him, and he decided to test his theory.
"You are not going to let me simply walk away, are you?"
Forbeck gave him a grim smile. "You are very perceptive, Mr Kane. We cannot have a rogue Shadowmage at work in this city, risking everything we have worked for so far. Imagine a loose wheel on a wagon — sooner or later, it is going to fall off and bring everything crashing to the ground around it. That's you."
"So my choices are what, join you or die?"
"We are not completely cold-blooded, Mr Kane, and we find it repugnant to be forced to attack one of our own. Think of yourself as a troublesome child who would have to be forced out into the wider world for both your safety and our own."
"Join you or leave then," Lucius said flatly.
"Please, do not think of it in those terms," Forbeck said. "Think of what we can offer you. Support when you most need it, friendship beyond that of thieves. But most of all, training to bring your full potential to light. I was not merely playing you before, Mr Kane. You do have something within you that could be most magnificent. I do not know quite what it is yet, but it will be a fascinating journey of discovery for both of us, I am sure."
Sighing, Lucius shook his head. "You leave me with little choice. How will this work then?"
"After taking the Oath of the Shadowmages to never strike directly at another, you will enter my tutelage immediately."
Beside Lucius, Adrianna gasped in shock. "You cannot be serious!"
"Adrianna — " Forbeck began.
"You don't know this man, Master," she said, her voice dark and loaded with menace. "He cannot be trusted — he has already betrayed the guild once!"
"I would remind you that was the former guild," Forbeck said, before turning back to Lucius. "You must forgive Adrianna. By allowing me to restart your training, you will also be ensuring that you two see a great deal more of one another."
Lucius caught Adrianna muttering something about seeing him first, but ignored it. He took a breath, wondering what fate he was sealing for himself, and whether he would soon be fighting someone else's battles.
"Do I have to call you master?" he asked.
Forbeck smiled back wolfishly. "When you feel ready to, Mr Kane. When you feel ready."