Барб Хенди - First and Last Sorcerer

“My father demanded a report on the condition of the prisoners.”

“The emperor ... demanded?” the counselor asked softly.

“Yes. Though I too found the request strange—rare—I passed the signed order to Commander Har’ith without question. You may consult my father in the morning, as, at his word, I have instructed his guards that he is not to be awakened tonight.”

A’Yamin remained silent rather than challenge a prince over possible lies. This led Ounyal’am to believe that his father must still have some lucid moments—in which he might be able to make demands. If so, a’Yamin would remain in a state of doubt over the source of this current crisis.

“I suggest you return to recovering the prisoners,” Ounyal’am said quietly, “before you speak with the emperor again.”

His attempt at assuming control was not lost on the counselor, who grew ... flustered.

“And please keep me apprised,” Ounyal’am added.

“Yes, my prince,” a’Yamin hissed as he turned away somewhat briskly for his apparent age and was followed by his trio of guards in gold sashes. Twice he glanced back, only to find the imperial prince watching from the doorway. And when he was finally gone from sight ...

“Sleep well, my prince.”

Ounyal’am glanced at Nazhif, who bowed his head and, turning, faltered in his first step. Had a brief smile of pleasure barely appeared on the face of his bodyguards’ captain? No, certainly not. Ounyal’am closed the outer door of his chambers and leaned against the wall with a long exhale.

No doubt a’Yamin wondered whether he could reach the emperor this night. All knew the imperial guards—especially those who guarded Kanal’am—were in the counselor’s favor. But if the imperial prince had given them orders concerning his father, would the counselor dare to even ask, let alone challenge, such?

Not for this night.

Ghassan had best make good use of what time was left, for what it had cost ... and what it would cost as yet.

After a further trek through the city, Chap reached their final destination by following the domin—along with Leesil, Magiere, Wayfarer, and Osha. Wynn had gone off another way with Brot’an, Shade, and ... Chane.

Chap was too exhausted to know what to feel at having seen his estranged daughter again—and far too drained to wonder why Wynn’s old Suman mentor was not dressed in a proper sage’s robe. Perhaps this semi-numb feeling also lessened his disgust at the shabby state of the tenement, from its bleached wood to its warped door. But he could still be shocked.

After entering the building, heading upstairs, and going to the end of a dingy passage on the top floor, Chap watched as the domin grasped something—nothing—to the left of a window looking out over a dark alley.

The window vanished as a door appeared and its iron lever handle was gripped in the man’s hand.

Chap instinctively rumbled and stiffened all the way to his hackles as Wayfarer sucked in and held a breath.

“It is all right,” Osha assured in his language. “Follow the domin inside.”

Chap growled at having no choice. As he stepped forward, Wayfarer’s small fingers clenched in his fur. They entered a cluttered but well-furnished room apparently unseen from the outside. Worse, straight ahead past a doorless opening on the right was that same window.

He saw the same view of the building across the alley in the dark and disliked it even more than the door suddenly appearing in the passage’s end. It seemed that the tenement itself was longer when viewed from within this place.

Scrolls and other texts filled shelves along three walls, while several cold lamps with large brass bases provided a little light from their dimly lit crystals. To the room’s left was a round table with three high-backed chairs of dark wood. Folding partitions separated another space near the doorless opening. The floor was covered in fringed carpets and various cushions.

Chap advanced cautiously until he peered through the opening on the right and found that it was a bedchamber. A small chest sat on the floor near a bed at the room’s far end. In a few more steps, the footboard of a second, nearer bed came into his view. With a glance at Leesil, he huffed once and lifted his muzzle toward that room.

Leesil dragged Magiere in there, and Chap followed while trying to comprehend all that had happened this night. It was difficult to accept that they were finally free while facing so many unanswered questions.

Wayfarer hurried to his side, trying to get behind him.

“Be assured that you are safe and will not be found here,” the domin said.

Chap twisted around to see the man hovering in the bedroom’s open archway. The domin suddenly back-stepped, turned halfway, and looked toward the way they had all come.

“Excuse me a moment,” he added and walked off.

Chap was not letting that man out of his sight.

He went to the opening, peeked out, and noticed that the main door looked normal from the inside. The domin grabbed its inner handle, jerked it open, and there was Wynn outside in the dingy passage.

She started slightly with her right hand outstretched as if ready to grab the door’s outer handle, but she did not get a chance. Strange, since that handle would not be there to see or touch—unless the domin had instructed her about its secrets. Her other hand was oddly clenched in a fist.

“Inside, quickly,” the domin urged.

She did so while tucking her fist into her robe’s pocket. When her hand came out, her fingers were open and held nothing.

Chap wondered what she had tucked away in that pocket, and then his daughter, Shade, entered next. He numbed all over for an instant, then saw Shade limping, and inched farther out of the bedchamber. She ignored him and padded off to the main chamber’s far front side, vanishing beyond the folding partition.

Wynn hurried after Shade, and the undead came in next.

At the sight of Chane, Chap could not hold in a low snarl, which dragged on as Brot’an entered last. However, Brot’an was still carrying a large familiar pack and travel chest. Leesil had dropped both near the dock on the day of their arrest.

Brot’an must have somehow retrieved them later, after his escape.

Chap felt no gratitude for that, though he was relieved. The chest held irreplaceable items, such as Magiere’s own thôrhk and the one for the orb of Fire. It was fortunate that Leesil had dropped his burdens that day. Chap did not want to think of the repercussions should that chest have been captured with them and searched.

At least it was safe now.

As Brot’an stepped farther inside, the old shadow-gripper barely glanced at Chap.

Chap didn’t know what he disliked the most—the undead, the aging assassin, or this place.

Chane did not look into those crystalline sky blue eyes watching him from the bedchamber’s entrance. The majay-hì would be unable to sense him as an undead due to the “ring of nothing” he nearly always wore. The small circlet of inscribed brass on his left third finger hid everything but the physical presence of whoever wore it.

Had Chane not been wearing it, Chap would most likely have been unable to control his savage reaction to an undead—and the same would be true of Magiere once she regained her strength.

Chane had no intention of taking off the ring. Still, he could not help feeling uncomfortable in the situation, so he followed Wynn to the room’s other side. At least in that, Chap’s sight line was blocked by the sitting area’s partition. The tall elf called Brot’an paused to catch il’Sänke’s attention, and the two took to whispering. Chane could have heard them if he let hunger rise to heighten his hearing. Instead, he ignored them.