Barb Hendee - In Shade and Shadow

Several days passed without incident, and Wynn had made little headway with her research. Not that there weren't more shelves of texts to go through, or that she'd ever get through all of them, but what little she found added nothing to what she'd gathered.

At times her thoughts drifted to Miriam, Nikolas, and Dâgmund. She alone understood that the killer was unnatural, and that knowledge felt like a curse. It left her wondering what more she could've done to protect the three young sages. The guilt was almost crippling.

But to know the truth was better, no matter how alone and terrified it left her.

Wynn had visited Nikolas several times. He hadn't awoken but was no worse off by Domin Bitworth's estimate, though the master naturologer could offer no guesses as to what ailed the young apprentice. Bitworth seemed quietly disturbed by Nikolas's new gray hairs.

Premin Sykion made it clear that no one was to whisper any wild notions or spread any rumors until Nikolas woke up and gave his own account of what happened. Silently, Wynn believed an undead had somehow tried to feed upon Nikolas so rapidly that it caused effects akin to premature aging. She researched this, but the archives held nothing concerning the myths of vampires found only in the Farlands.

And the days passed so slowly.

She wanted to practice with the sun crystal, as the only means to protect herself and others. But Domin il'Sänke made her swear not to «toy» with the staff outside of his supervision. And he'd been busy, often locked in his chamber or down in the workshops. Hopefully he would come tonight.

So she sat in her room, reorganizing her notes, though soon she should head to the main hall for supper. If she saw il'Sänke, she might corner him and arrange more time for lessons.

Closing the journal, Wynn headed out, but as she neared the stairs at the passage's end, low, rapid voices made her pause. She crept forward just enough to peek around the corner.

On the bottom landing before the door to the courtyard, three apprentices stood chattering in hushed tones. That nasty Regina Melliny was closest, with her back turned to the stairs, b S th aput the other two wore the gray of cathologers beneath their heavy cloaks. Wynn had seen them both around the guild but didn't know their names.

"What did High-Tower say?" Regina asked.

"Not a blasted thing!" a young man with sloping eyes replied. "I almost fainted when the old stone-face told me to go fetch a folio tonight."

"Watch your tongue," the other warned. "You mustn't talk like that about our domin."

"I don't care!" the first countered. "I'm just glad we made it home… and I wasn't sorry not to carry back a folio. Master a'Seatt can face him for that."

Wynn drew back out of sight.

Not a single folio had been sent out since the night of Miriam's and Dâgmund's deaths. But High-Tower had sent one to the Upright Quill and then sent messengers to retrieve it. What was he thinking?

Wynn tried to lean out again without being seen.

"Well, did Master a'Seatt say anything?" Regina asked—as if it were any business of a naturology student's.

"He just said the work wasn't finished… and he wouldn't hand over anything. He sent us off, and I didn't argue. He scares me more than High-Tower."

The three young sages stepped out, likely headed to the main hall for supper. Wynn waited until their chatter grew faint before she descended. But she paused at the door, mulling their words over and over.

If High-Tower risked sending out another folio, its contents must be important to whatever work was still ongoing. Maybe the passages even connected to those taken from Miriam, Dâgmund, and Nikolas. But it didn't make sense that Master a'Seatt hadn't sent the folio back. His shop had never failed to complete work on time.

And yet, a folio was still at the Upright Quill.

This might be her only chance to see just what, among all the texts, was now targeted by an undead.

Wynn rushed back to her room. She grabbed the crystal out of her cold lamp and then paused near the bed.

What would happen if she were discovered? She'd been ordered more than once to keep away from anything to do with the project.

Magiere wouldn't have let anyone stop her, and neither would Leesil. Chap, as well, had always taken his own course.

Wynn couldn't give up her only chance.

Just past dusk, Chane crouched upon the roof of the Upright Quill scriptorium, listening to all that transpired below. One of the scribe masters had sent the guild's messengers away empty-handed, which meant an unfinished folio was still inside the shop. It was a strange twist, but a fortunate one.

Althou Vwasgh Chane wasn't fluent in the Begaine syllabary, back in Bela, Wynn and Domin Tilswith had explained how it worked. Not an actual alphabet, it was for rendering word parts or syllables. Based on blending and simplifying the strokes of modern Numanese's thirty-eight letters, and combined with additional special marks, it could be used to transcribe almost any known language. It saved space versus almost any other writing system, and for those who could read it, it was faster to take in what was written.

Chane had a passable grasp of spoken Numanese, but he was not fully proficient at reading or writing it. Even in his own notes, any Numanese terms he used were written with Belaskian letters.

The sages' script would be a struggle, but he had to know what kind of texts Wynn had chosen from the vast library of the ice-trapped castle. Especially—specifically—whether any related to the mysterious blacked-out scroll. He had to see what was in the folio, and he waited long before the shop's front door finally creaked open again.

"Out with you," said someone with a reedy voice. "All of you."

"Do you have the key?" a girl asked.

"No, I left it inside to annoy you… now scoot! Master a'Seatt is waiting."

Chane shifted to the roof's edge and peered over the eave.

A dark-haired man in a charcoal jerkin, carrying a wide-brimmed black hat, stood below on the street. An old, balding short man in spectacles shooed scribes from the shop. A young girl with kinky hair and dark skin followed in the old one's hobbling footsteps as they stepped out.

Chane stiffened under a tingle that made him shudder.

Something about the dark-haired man unsettled him. But his extended awareness as an undead had grown dull from his wearing Welstiel's ring for so long.

A key scraped in the lock. Soon all of the shop's staff strode down the street. And Chane lost any hint of that strange sensation. He turned his attention back to the shop below.

Closing his eyes, he lay down and leaned his head all the way over the eave. In a deep inhale, he tried to drink in the scent from the night air—tried to smell for any living thing still inside.

There was nothing but a lingering after-scent. He listened carefully as well, but the scriptorium seemed empty for the night. He pushed back atop the roof, contemplating the best method of entry.

Breaking through the door or a window was not an option. Someone might see or hear him this early at night. There was only one other way. He roused the bestial part of himself that always hungered for a kill.

Hunger surfaced, hardening his fingernails and filling his cold flesh with strength.

Crawling to the shop's rear, Chane dug his fingernails into the roof's shakes.

He pried up and removed seven as quietly as he could and found the underplanking was solid and sound—troublesome but expected. Rising slightly [isiove, he scanned the street once for anyone in sight, and then punched through the planks. He kept at it, clearing a hole large enough to pass through.

As he dropped lightly into the shop's rearmost room, he fully widened his sight. The scribe's workroom was so sealed off from outside light that even he had difficulty. He barely made out worktables, chairs, and the lighter tone of piled parchment and paper.