They say that memories fade over time.

Well, whoever 'they' are... they're liars. I can still remember the first time as clearly as yesterday. I could ALWAYS remember it that way. No matter how many years separated now from then, all I had to do was close my eyes and think about it... and I was there.

I was about 14. I say 'about' because farmers and Magekillers both have more important things to do than keep track of their own birthdays. Either you were old enough to bed a woman... or you weren't. I was, but I hadn't yet. THAT, I can remember, too... so that puts me at 'about' 14.

Much, much too young.

We were boys. I was young, even for an apprentice Magekiller. I had to work hard... really hard... just to use some of the heavier weapons. Full plate-armor was out of the question for somebody my age.

Not that it would have mattered.

The Imperial shock-troops had plate armor, and look what happened to THEM.

We hit the island from three sides. It was supposed to be a simultaneous assault, but the timing was off. Everything had already gone to hell by the time we hit the beach. That ended up being a GOOD thing, because the scuttlers had already shifted out of the sand and were crawling across the dunes like a living wall between us and our objective.

We tore into 'em like starving men on a king's feast.

But with Imperial cannons going off behind us and mage-fire dropping from the sky in front, we really didn't have choice but to be as fast and deadly as possible.

The cannons set up a rolling bombardment that showered us with bits of glass and chunks of silver shrapnel. Everything disappeared into a dark, bloody haze...

...then it got bad.

I was amazed at how many of us made it to the trees. I was one of the last, and then I made the mistake of paying attention. The cannon-fire was wrong. There was a pause, and then screaming. The rhythmic BOOMING of the cannons had become a frantic scattering of single shots. Something was going on. I looked behind me-

They had come out of the water behind us.

...and just like that, our Imperial Artillery Support was gone. Just like that.

Gods, how I wish I had died on that beach along with them. Because if I HAD-

--

-then I wouldn't still be trapped here, staring up into the darkness, listening to that sound that I could not possibly be hearing.

Of all the ways a Magekiller could die, standing frozen with fear while something tore me apart at its leisure was not the way I pictured my own end.

But then, the carnipede wasn't really there.

That's what I was telling myself when the light vanished.

It wasn't really there.

That's what my fear-numbed lips were trying to say when I heard that... that... SOUND of segmented joints bursting into motion toward me-

-click-

-click-

CLICKICKICKICKICK-

I knew I was dead if I didn't move.

I ALSO knew that I was in no danger, because dammit IT WASN'T REALLY THERE!! But if I was in no danger, then WHY was I TERRIFIED!?

The funny thing about fear is that, sometimes... even for Magekillers... it can serve a purpose.

In this case, it saved my life.

If my trembling legs hadn't chosen that particular moment to fold up and drop me onto the dirt like a spineless sack of-

-but they did. And as I fell, something BIG and FAST went past me in the dark.

The wind and stench of its passing was like a solid slap to the face.

My Gods, it really WAS there!!!

Right about now is when people expect the hero of the story to get his senses back, pick up his sword... which I was pretty sure I had dropped somewhere... and slay the beast with one or two mighty strokes.

Had I been the hero of a story, I probably would have done that. But I'm not, so I curled up into a tight ball and tried like hell to WISH myself dead before this thing came around for another slice-

I didn't quite make it.

Something strong and sharp clamped down on my leg just above my ankle. Strong leather laced with silver kept the teeth from my skin, but with one good YANK-

-I expected to either be lifted up into the air, or for my leg to simply come off in a bloody mess of bone and sinew. But instead, something kept pulling at my leg, biting down harder and harder-

"Eh?"

I actually said that.

Maybe memories DO fade... but not this one. THIS one was as fresh as five minutes ago. I could see it clearly, and I knew for a FACT that-

-A carnipede doesn't bite. It doesn't grab. It doesn't yank or pull.

It DISMEMBERS.

That's what it DOES.

So what the hell was going on HERE?!

My arms were folded tightly over my face, and I loosed them just enough to see...

...to see that I COULD see. Light. Light from-

Something big and smelly bit down on my wrist and tried to pull my hand off with hard side-to-side jerks that immediately began to shred my skin.

Just then, the barn door opened and the widow Kerse can streaking out into the grass, screaming like... well, like a woman who'd been staring at her husband's eviscerated corpse for a few seconds too long. The light from the barn spilled out over me-

"THERE! OVER THERE!"

"GET EM!"

The shout came not from the Kerse woman, or from me...

...but from Carder Shaw and his two friends who came running along the side of the barn, weapons and torches ready to do battle with SOMETHING.

"GET BACK INSIDE!" Carder shoved the Kerse woman back toward the open barn door and came running toward me...

...or, more exactly, toward the four hillcats that were trying their damndest to rip the flesh from my arms and legs. The fact that my curled arms were shielding my upper body was the only reason I had a throat left.

The carnipede was gone.

It had never been there.

Of course it hadn't.

The very IDEA seemed ridiculous to me now... now that it was gone... but just a few seconds ago I was so terrified of an imaginary monster that I'd let a pack of hillcats surround me. Had I not fallen down and curled up into a ball at the last moment, the biggest of them would have torn out my throat (along with most of my face) in the first leap. They'd almost gotten the best of me...

But now things were different.

NOW, I was in control of my senses, and NOW-

-NOW I was trembling and vomiting uncontrollably as the top half of my digestive system suddenly reversed directions.

Vivian Sorter had told me not to exert myself, and anyone who ever says that fear and panic aren't hard work is also a liar. Just standing there frozen for a few seconds had drained all the energy that I had... energy that my body was, unknown to me, using to fight off the remains of the infection and the mudstinger poison. I'd been winning that fight. The sickness had been in full retreat... but now the nausea, dizziness and hard, throbbing pain in my head had returned for a second assault. The world spun violently around me... I expected to go flying off of the hilltop at any moment, with hillcats and bits of flesh hanging off of each swinging limb like party ribbons. I didn't have enough strength to move, and each breath became more difficult as the fluid seeped higher and higher in my lungs. And-

Oh, yes... The hillcats.

I heard one of the beasts growl as Shaw and the others approached. The big one... the one gnawing on my leg-armor... released its hold and charged the new prey.

Someone threw a torch at it, and their aim was dead perfect.

The torch COMPLETELY missed the hillcat, but it hit the ground, bounced once, flipped end-over-end, and landed.... perfectly... on my chest.

The sudden arrival of a flaming length of wood startled the remaining cats. They let me go and backed away... preparing to flee. But when they saw their leader attacking, they paused to snarl aggressively at Shaw's boys.

...I could see all of this QUITE clearly thanks to the bonfire on my torso...

The alpha-male cat leapt at Shaw. The boy let the beast come... braced himself.... and then sliced the entrails out of the cat's abdomen just as it came into reach. The fatally wounded but still very much alive cat collided with him and they both went down in a very bloody and ungraceful mess. If I weren't suffocating in my own mucous... and on fire... I would have laughed.

Shaw's friend Perwist began stabbing the squirming beast in the back as the other boy... North... ran toward the other cats, swinging his torch and shouting at the top of his lungs. The beasts resisted their own fear for a moment... long enough to realize that their big brother was as good as dead... and then abandoned the hillside.

I blinked... for several seconds... and when I opened my eyes, Carder Shaw was standing over me with a very concerned look on his face. My other two rescuers huddled behind him, looking down.

"Is he dead?" said Perwist. "He looks dead."

"His eyes are moving," Shaw replied. He didn't seem happy about that. His expression didn't change. What, exactly, was he concerned ABOUT, I wondered... "You still with us Mr. Magekiller?"

"Depends," I managed to whisper. "Am I still on fire?"

Shaw smiled and extended his hand.

"Perhaps I wasn't too clear earlier... playing dead is generally NOT an effective tactic for avoiding hillcats. You might want to write that down so you'll remember next time. Fighting=Good. Freezing like a cornered rabbit=Bad. Help you up?"

Since I was able to talk, I figured that the worst was over and that I probably had the strength to stand... with or without help.

Silly me.

I sat up and managed to roll over onto my hands and knees. I was about to make my triumphant rise to my feet when my elbows turned to rope and I collapsed... face down in a puddle of my own bile.

Thankfully, I passed out again before the laughing started.

---

"What do you mean you won't be with me?"

"I'll be a part of something... else. A separate offensive-"

"You're going after Vestain yourself, aren't you?"

"Not by myself, no. Thirgril will be there. And-"

"Just not with me."

"If that's the way you wish to see it, then yes. Your strengths are better suited to the main offensive."

"That's your way of saying its too dangerous, isn't it."

"Too dangerous? There will BE no safe place on that island, Sheridyn. Not after all this time. If it's battle that you seek then you'll find all you want and more once you've made landing... if you even make it that far."

"Then why not take me with YOU-"

"Because you're not ready!"

"How... how can you say that!? After the raid at the Cradle Row-"

"Cradle Row was NOTHING, boy! Even someone as inexperienced as YOU should know that! Do you... do you even know the MAGNITUDE of what's about to happen?!"

"Of course! I've read the plans. Studied the maps-"

"Read. Studied. That's very well and good, but do you UNDERSTAND? Can you even CONCEIVE of what it will be like out there? ...No, you can't."

"Then tell me! That's why I'm here... to learn! From you!"

"It can't be told, boy. Not by me. Not in a way that will make you understand. I don't have the fancy words that your Threlander friend has, and even HE... even if you did understand, it wouldn't change anything. You'll still be a liability."

"Liability? ME?"

"Yes. You're simply not good enough to go where I'm going."

"But this is nothing we haven't done a thousand times... only on a larger scale! With Imperial CANNONS watching our backs!!"

"Ohhhh, to be so young and so stupid. You don't even know what it is that you don't know. If you did..."

"You're talking in circles! You keep telling me that I don't know... don't understand-"

"Have you read The Accounts?"

"Do you mean the scout reports-"

"No. Not reports. Accounts. THE Accounts. Of Nenphis."

"The Mage's Guild?"

"Most of the men that went into the Grand Hall of the Mage's Guild didn't come out again. Those that did return told tales that had to be kept from public ears, lest the panic get worse than it already was. The Church collected their accounts and shut them away... available only to themselves, Magekillers, and royalty. I'd suggest you spend these last few hours reading those Accounts... those words written and spoken by men who'd been driven quite mad by what happened those catacombs."

"But what does that have to do with-"

"Everything. Nenphis has EVERYTHING to do with EVERYTHING... ESPECIALLY with what is going to happen to you on that island. Scores of mages... the greatest of the great... the most powerful OF the most powerful... locked themselves in a hole to try and figure out what was happening to them. They failed. Then, they turned. Men went in after them, but the monsters who were once men had been in there for weeks... plotting... preparing... And now, generations later, the greatest mage of your time has taken refuge on an island outside of the Empire's reach. He's gathered students and acolytes... mages and apprentices... anyone who believed in his lies. They believed he could save them from the Fall... and from us. But he lied to them. The Fall claimed them and turned them into monsters... and now the Magekillers will storm their island just like those brave fools that battered down the doors at Nenphis. But Sheridyn... the monsters haven't been on that island for weeks. They've been there for MONTHS... YEARS! Years of preparation... years of planning and scheming... preparing for the day they knew was coming once the first of them began to change. The day WE came to claim them. By now, they're insane with hunger. They've already EATEN the weakest of their own, and the rest are twisted into forms too powerful... too swollen with magic... to die of something as mundane as lack of food. So they wait... starving and insane... until that first dot appears on the horizon. That dot is YOUR boat, Sheridyn. And as they watch you drift closer, those that can still form words are thinking only one coherent thought. They're wondering... what took you so long."

"I-"

"Don't say you understand. You won't until you see it for yourself. By then, it'll be too late."

"So w-... what... exactly... should I expect?"

"Horror, Sheridyn. You should expect... horror."

---

"...you've done all you can and the man is clearly in need of more help. My mother-"

"Your mother's the one who DID this to him in the first place! What... you're going to go fetch her so she can finish the job!?"

"Oh, you think you can do better? If you can, I suggest you get started because I'll be back here with a PROPER healer within the hour."

"Carder Shaw, don't you DARE-"

The voices stopped suddenly, and then I heard hurried footsteps. I opened my eyes.

I was stretched out on a low cot, with a blanket pulled up over my chest and folded down just below my chin. The blanket was burlap, but it felt like iron. I couldn't move beneath it... I could barely even breathe. When I tried to draw air into my lungs, my torso rejected it with a fit of violent coughing that stirred up multiple barrages of pain from every extremity.

"Shhhh... relax. Relax..."

Evelyn Kerse's face appeared above mine. Her eyes were dark. They stared down at me, and for a moment I couldn't take my own eyes off of them.

"Wh...wha..." I started. She put a finger to my lips and pressed gently.

"Don't talk. Just breathe slowly... very, very slowly."

She removed her finger, then turned back toward the door where Carder Shaw was watching her with a scowl.

-Evelyn Kerse had very long, black hair. The lamp-light reflected off of it in silky streams-

"He's awake," she informed him.

"Makes no difference," said Shaw. "He was awake before. And from the looks of him he'd be better off asleep."

Shaw paused. He wanted to say something else, but instead he frowned at Evelyn and stepped outside... slamming the door behind him.

There were more voices... Shaw talking to someone outside.

"Where's Perwist?"

"He went to tell-"

"Tell WHO? Tell WHAT? I told you this needed to be kept QUIET!"

"Well... you know Perwist..."

"DAMN! Go find him and SHUT HIM UP! I've got to get my mother back here before a crowd gathers."

Two sets of footsteps hurried off down the muddy path.

Evelyn Kerse was looking at me again.

"What happened?" I managed to slip the words out before she could stop me. "Where am I?"

I could guess the answers to both questions, but I wanted to know what the woman would say. I was intending to question her tonight anyway... my being on the verge of death didn't change anything.

"My house," she said. There was a slight tremble in her voice. She was nervous. Upset.

Concerned.

Interesting.

"Shaw brought you here after... do you remember-"

"Cats," I said.

"They saved your life. You shouldn't have even been out there... you're still very sick."

"You said... Sorter woman... did something to me."

"Oh. You heard that?"

"Yes."

I held my breath for a moment and put the strength I'd been using to breath into lifting myself up. I managed to prop myself up on my elbows... a feat which surprised both me and my caretaker.

"...tell me..." I said. Once the room stopped spinning.

"It's not what you think... I-"

"She... poisoned me..."

"Well I supposed it IS what you think. But not-"

"Just talk," I said. I fell back onto the cot and managed to take a few deep breaths without coughing up a lung. The room was spinning around me again... Evelyn's dark eyes were like pools of stability amid the maelstrom. I blinked... blinked harder... finally I gave up trying to look away and just listened...

"You were poisoned, yes... but it was an attempt to save your life. There's a plant that grows in the swamp... a flower. The roots are very dangerous, even to touch. Some people used to use it as a 'remedy' for their husband's wandering eyes, if that tells you anything. In small doses it causes severe panic. A bit more causes paralysis and a kind of... waking nightmare. Visions... of horrible things. A little bit more and... the visions would become more and more real. Real enough to stop a man's heart just from the fear. There's also a kind of rat in the swamps that would eat these roots... and just about everything else. The poison wouldn't effect it, and neither would the mudstingers. That's where she got the idea. She'd take a tiny bit of that root and use it to treat a man who'd been stung. The poison from the root and the poison from the mudstinger... they don't mix very well. One expels the other, but not without a fight. At least, that's the way she explained it. She must have tried the same with you, but with the number of stings, the amount of root needed must have been enough to.... you saw something out there, didn't you? Before the cats? Something that wasn't really there?"

"Yes."

"She could have killed you," said Evelyn. "Not on purpose. Vivian may be a lot of things, but she's not a murderer. But her 'treatment' is what caused your nightmare. It's also the reason you're still alive. Mudstinger venom is nothing to take lightly. Had she used any less of her 'cure' then you'd be dead."

"You defend her now... but before..."

"Before, I was talking to Shaw and not to you."

"You don't like the Shaws."

"No one in this TOWN likes the Shaws."

"Why?"

"Because they're rich and arrogant and pig-headed! They have no consideration for anything other than themselves and their money! They'll do anything-"

Evelyn caught herself, and looked down at me with a shocked expression. She clenched her hand tightly against her mouth.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "I didn't mean-"

"Truth," I said.

"You're sick. You're very sick... but you're still a Magekiller and I haven't forgotten. I know what it is that you do."

"I kill-"

"Yes. But before then, you twist what people say and use it as evidence against their friends and their neighbors. I've heard stories..."

"Your husband must have heard different stories."

Until that moment, I'd forgotten that this woman was married to the pile of entrails and organs I'd left behind in the barn. The look on her face after I spoke made that connection painfully apparent.

"He sent for me," I finished my thought. "A letter."

"Well,..." Evelyn sniffed and lifted her chin in a classic 'too proud to cry' gesture. "... Sanders didn't send that letter."

"His name was on-"

"My husband is illiterate. I wrote the letter and I put his name on it because a letter from a man carries more weight."

"So you forge a letter to get me here... but when I arrive, you refuse to help."

"I won't help you condemn innocent people, if that's what you expect."

"Someone has to be guilty."

"Isn't there some kind of... test... that you can do?"

If only it were that easy. There are as many different kinds of magic as there are grains of sand in an hourglass, and there is no one way to test for them all. A battery of six simple challenges... mostly involving salt or silver... could uncover traces of most magic, but even a subtle variant could let a guilty man slip past undetected. That would leave a Magekiller in a worse position than if he hadn't administered the trials at all. Besides... administering those tests to an entire town would take a wagon-load of supplies. With the souring of my silver acid, I didn't have the chemicals to test even ONE person properly. And even if I did...

"...who would I test?" I said. "You? Shaw?"

"So what are you going to do?"

"My job. Tell me about your husband's death."

"He was returning from the Shaw outpost... we buy our supplies there. It's easier than going all the way into town-"

"Was he alone?"

"Yes."

"Even though there had already been murders in town... he still went out alone."

"He's a man," said Evelyn. "Men are stupid that way. Some of Shaw's guards found him a few hours after he left. There hadn't been a fight. There were no wounds or blood. He was just... dead."

"There were wounds," I corrected her. "You just couldn't find them."

"No, both Vivian and I-"

"Lack the equipment that I have. Something left marks on his eyes... marks too small to see. He died under a lot of stress, but it wasn't physical."

Evelyn Kerse looked away, and I could tell she was fighting back some swell of emotion. My words had probably stirred up the memory of what she'd found in the barn.

"Is... is that what you found when..."

"Yes," I said. Then I added: "It was necessary. You weren't meant to see it."

"I know."

There was an uncomfortable silence... during which I noticed my strength returning. My apparent 'weakness' must have been a kind of paralysis brought on by the two poisons dueling in my bloodstream. Whatever it was, it was wearing off now. The vague numbness was subsiding, and I was beginning to feel the pain of my wounds more sharply. I used that pain to help clear my head...

The room stopped spinning, and instead settled into a gentle rocking back and forth.

"Was he in pain when..." she asked awkwardly.

"Probably," I replied. "It went in through the eyes. That kind of thing usually hurts. There may have been other marks as well, but my examination was interrupted."

"I'm sorry..."

I sat up on the cot and threw the blanket back. There was a large flat bandage on my chest. The skin beneath it hurt like hell."

"Your armor is burnt," said Evelyn. "Probably ruined-"

"It did its job."

Mages have this thing about fire... I don't know what it is. Every mage from a novice to a full-blown master is gonna start every conversation by tossing a fireball at you. Contrary to what most mages think, I... like most Magekillers... am not stupid. My leather is treated with a fire-resistant oil. All the rain probably washed most of it off... but there was enough to keep the fire from spreading. Not enough to save the armor itself, though. Too bad.

"What about the other murders. Your letter implied-"

"I didn't imply anything. What I said was that they'd all taken place on Shaw's property."

"But that isn't true."

"It is if you look closer than what Riarty Shaw must have told you. He owns this town and everything in it. What he or his family doesn't own, they control in one way or another... and that's the same thing as owning it. Wherever we found a body, Mr. Sheridyn, we also found something with Shaw's name on it nearby."

I checked the map I was carrying around in my head. Riarty Shaw had given me everything I needed to confirm what Evelyn Kerse was saying about him. He personally didn't own property near each of the murders... but between the property that his family owned and the places that somehow had ties to him, the Shaws had roots in every plot of land where someone had turned up dead.

Now that was interesting.

It didn't prove anything, but it was interesting nonetheless.

"For someone who doesn't want their words twisted... you certainly seem to be pointing a lot of fingers."

"I'm not smart enough to figure out who's doing this," she replied. "Riarty Shaw is an old man... bitter and evil, but still old. If Carder Shaw wanted to kill someone, he'd have no use for magic. And as I said earlier, Vivian is not a murderer."

"You seem to know a lot about them," I said. "Especially Sorter."

"I used to work for her."

"Oh? And for Riarty Shaw as well?"

"He... he told you that?"

"Yes. He said he you were his housemaid."

"And Vivian apprentice in the medical arts."

"Oh, so its an 'art' now, is it?"

"I got to know the Shaws quite well, unfortunately. Too well for their liking. I was too good at setting broken bones and wrapping bandages to share a practice with Vivian for very long. She wouldn't let me anywhere near her precious potions, for fear I'd steal them and actually become a competitor. She kicked me out and convinced her uncle to do the same."

"Riarty says fired you because you were too... curious."

"Well he had to come up with SOME reason, didn't he? Said I was bothering his precious maps and papers... like I give a damn about THAT foolishness. All I wanted to do was help people, Mr. Sheridyn. But apparently, all the Shaws want to do is help themselves."

"And the boy... Carder Shaw. You've had dealings with him as well?"

She paused, turning those dark eyes on me for a moment, and then looking quickly away.

"No," she answered. It was the kind of 'No' that meant 'Yes'. The Kerse woman wasn't a very good liar.

"Lying to a Magekiller is punishable by-"

"Death by torture and all manner of evil, I know... but my business is still my own!"

"Did your husband know?"

"We weren't married then. In fact-"

"But did he KNOW?"

Evelyn nodded.

So... the late Sanders Kerse went into marriage knowing full well that he was his wife's SECOND choice. This opened up all manner of possibilities... especially since Evelyn was more than a few years older than Carder Shaw. A rich mother might do anything to keep her son out of a poor older woman's bed. And a poor husband might also do anything to eliminate a rich rival... even a FORMER rival. The fact that Sanders Kerse was dead didn't automatically make him innocent. He could have killed himself... somehow... when he learned of my arrival. It wouldn't be the first time that kind of thing has happened.

But then there those weren't the only possibilities. If I had a copper coin for the number of times a spurned woman has turned to magic, I'd be as rich as Riarty Shaw. And Riarty Shaw himself was not beyond suspicion. A man with his riches was bound to have secrets worth protecting by any means at his disposal... even the arcane arts. If Kerse stumbled across something in that house...

So far, of the five people I'd met (one of them being a corpse), I had four equally viable suspects. The only one who DIDN'T have a motive (yet) was Carder Shaw. But, as Donregarde used to say... when you question your suspects in the rain, the one who stays dry is probably the one you're looking for.

OR it could be someone else entirely.

...just thinking about it all made my head hurt. Worse.

Gods, I hated these kinds of jobs. Why couldn't this have bene a SIMPLE one?! ...find the guy with teeth growing out of his forehead, dismember him, burn the pieces, bury the ashes in a salt-pit, and then go have dinner.

But nooooo....

"My equipment," I said as I got up. It was an unfortunate choice of words considering the fact that I was naked and... well... it happens sometimes.

I guess that was a good sign of returning health.

"Oh," said Evelyn, quickly looking away. "O-over there."

My equipm-... my tools-.... my sword-

My BELONGINGS were at the foot of the bed.

"I'm not going to try and stop you," said Kerse. "From leaving, that is. But you know you shouldn't. You go back out there in the rain, and you'll probably die. If you have another attack, you WILL die... no probably about it. Gods help you if you have to fight-"

"May as well do something constructive in the time I have left," I said as I pulled up my pants. "However long or short it is."

"So what are you going to do now? Are you finished with... m-my husband?"

"No. But studying his corpse won't get me the kind of answers that I need now. Those I can only get from the living."

"Well... if there's anything you need to know-"

"There's quite a bit I need to know. Starting with what you found when you were snooping around Riarty Shaw's mansion."

"I already told you, that was a lie-"

"I've been lied to by people who were a lot better at it than you. Now I couldn't care less about why he fired you or who lied about what.. what I DO care about is what you saw in that house. Lie about THAT, and this conversation will turn unpleasant very quickly."

"Nothing of any interest to you," Evelyn said. "Nothing about magic... and there's NO need to threaten me!"

"So what DID you find? What were you looking for?"

"Evidence."

"Of a crime?"

"Not the kind people go to jail for, no."

"Is there any other kind?"

"Yes. There's the kind of crime that Riarty Shaw has been committing against this the people of this town since he first set foot here. He's a thief and a killer, Mr. Sheridyn... only he kills joy and steals hope. He's been cheating people out of their property since before I was born. He's destroyed entire families with the stroke of a pen. That monstrosity he's built over the hills? Most of that land belonged to good tradesmen who are destitute or just GONE now. No one family owned very much, so Riarty had to destroy a LOT of families to get the land he wanted. And do you want to know how he does it?"

"Not really."

"Shaw controls the prices of just about everything sold in this town, so all he has to do is whisper in the right ear and suddenly a family is paying TWICE what they normally pay just for common supplies. If they keep paying it, then he keeps raising the prices until they can't... until they have to choose between buying food or paying their taxes. But the children NEED food, Mr. Sheridyn.... so the next thing you know, the king has announced pending foreclosure on yet another plot of land."

"Then Shaw buys it when the price is at its lowest," I finished. Shaw had told me THAT bit of the story himself. Evelyn could only nod. The wet gleam in the corners of her eyes told me that she and her husband must have been the latest targets of this scheme... a scheme she knew about because she'd found the papers to prove it. She knew how the story was going to end, but was powerless to stop it. Or maybe not...

Evelyn Kerse must have missed the sudden spark of interest in my face, because she kept right on digging that hole she'd been working on for the past five minutes...

"-that's his favorite trick, you know.... using the law to get what he wants. He doesn't even have to bribe anyone or do anything illegal. All he has to do is whisper a few words... or write a few lines in a ledger... and POOF! Another family destroyed... another competitor out of business... another impediment removed. It's just that easy when you're as rich as he is."

"And how far would you go to stop someone like that?"

"Not THAT far," she said, quickly. "Not as far as magic."

"And do you know who WOULD go that far? The Shaws must have lots of enemies here."

"Not for very long, they don't," she said. "After all these years under Shaw's thumb, this has become a hand-picked town. The only people living here are the people Shaw ALLOWS to live here. As much as I dislike him, I will admit the truth: he is an excellent judge of character. If someone gave him the wrong impression, then they'd be gone the next week. Legally, of course."

"That still leaves the question of murder," I said. "And magic. Someone is killing people, Mrs. Kerse. If Shaw has as much control over this place as you say, then he must know something. And, since the victims are all connected to him, then it'd be in his best interest to use his influence to stop it-"

"You're here, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Haven't you been listening to me? Shaw uses the LAW to take care of his problems. He has a problem with magic... and now, here you are."

"So you don't think he's involved in the killings?"

"No. He doesn't need magic OR murder to get what he wants."

"But everyone else in this down does. Including you."

"I'm an honest woman, Mr. Sheridyn. I know the Law, and I stay on the right side of it."

"Could you say the same for your neighbo-"

"-and I will NOT have my words twisted into testimony against people I grew up with."

"Refusal to answer my questions is punishable by death."

"Well then, the answer is no... I DON'T know anyone who'd use magic against Shaw."

"Yourself included."

"Correct, sir."

"And your husband?"

"My husband is DEAD!"

"Your point being...?"

Evelyn Kerse gave me a very foul look, to which I responded with an ominously blank expression. Whether she liked the question or not, I still expected an answer. After a few seconds of staring at each other, I got one.

"The man couldn't read, Mr. Sheridyn... How do you expect him to learn magic if he can barely recognize his name on a piece of paper?"

"It's been done," I replied.

"But not by my husband."

"So you're saying that... As far as you know... he had no knowledge or intention to possess knowledge of magic."

"Yes."

"You'd swear to that in a court of law."

"Yes."

"And you'd swear to the same concerning yourself."

"Of course."

"Then I think we're done for now. I have some questions for the Shaws."

"But-"

"I'll finish with your husband... and you... later."

"But-"

I didn't give her a chance to finish what she was going to say: that the Shaws were on the way THERE, so if I wanted to speak with them then my best bet would be to sit down and wait. I knew that. What I didn't bother telling HER was that the questions I had for the Shaws weren't the kind that you asked face to face. I needed to take a look around Vivian Sorter's cabin, and what better time to do that than when her and her son were out here in the hills looking for me?

Kerse would probably tell them where I'd gone, and they'd double back to her cabin... where I'd either be just leaving, or waiting to kill them, depending on what I'd found.

Or, if KERSE was the one I was looking for, then I'd probably run into a little trouble out there on the hills before I got back to town. Or maybe she'd have something nasty waiting for me at Sorter' cabin.

...I could only hope.

---

Most of my equipment was still in the barn with the corpse of Sanders Kerse. I didn't have the time or the energy to fetch it, so that meant that I was traveling much lighter than usual. It felt good. It also felt naked... no armor and no pack of supplies on my back. Sick as a dog. I strayed away from the main path... which was now mostly a strip of deep mud winding through the hills.

It was still raining.

Carder Shaw might still be somewhere ahead of me in the darkness. I wanted to slip past him unnoticed, so I didn't carry a light... not that I had one anyway... and navigated my way toward town using only my keen Magekiller's senses-

I fell down a lot, and I was a muddy mess by the time I reached town. Once there, I found a place to hide and I waited.

After only a few minutes, a single horse carrying two riders galloped past me, heading back toward the hills. Whether Shaw and his mother were rushing to save me... or finish killing me... remained to be seen. I didn't have much time, though, so I hurried to Vivian Sorter's cabin and began a thorough search.

A good Magekiller can search a building from top to bottom in surprisingly little time. Of course, that building isn't good for much after we're done, but if we find what we're looking for... and we usually do... we'll be burning it to the ground down anyway, so leaving the contents intact isn't a big concern.

I walked up to the front door and kicked it open. I had lockpicks, but I was short on time. Ordinarily I would have started by smashing the larger pieces of furniture, but I my instincts told me that if there was something to be found here, it wouldn't be hidden inside a hollow table leg.

I started with her secret 'healing' supplies... which were in a small locked room off the main hallway. It may have been a pantry at one time, but now it was more like an alchemist's lab. Shelves containing various supplies and medicinal extracts hugged two of the walls. A long table cluttered with vials and bottles took up the third wall. In all, it looked exactly the way a healer's closet SHOULD look...

...except that there weren't any books. The woman had scrolls and ledgers filled with a feminine handwriting that I assumed was her own. But there weren't any reference books or treatises or diagrams of the human body... nothing like that. In all my travels, I had yet to meet a healer so confident in their own skills that they didn't leave a few books
sitting around just in case. Judging from the things that she'd written in her notes, Vivian Sorter seemed more interested in what medicines she could make from the local plants than in actually HEALING people herself. In fact, she seemed especially focused on using poisons to cure people of various ailments... including the effects of other poisons.

All of that was very interesting, but it wasn't evidence of magic, so I moved on. I found nothing in her bedroom other than clothes and some odd plants growing in the window. Ditto for the other bedrooms. I knocked on the walls and floors in search of hollow spaces... there weren't any. I sifted through the fireplace ashes for signs of any hastily-burned materials... I found nothing. I ripped open the mattresses and pulled out the contents... finding nothing but feathers. I even uprooted some of the larger plants to see if anything incriminating had been buried among the (potentially poisonous) roots. The only thing in those pots was dirt.

I did find a wall-safe hidden behind a mirror in the main room of the house. It took me a few precious minutes to pick the lock, after which I had full access to a handwritten ledger filled with numbers, a hefty pouch of gold coins, and a stack of dried leaves wrapped in sack cloth. Neither the gold nor the ledger was of any interest. The leaves were a very rare medicinal plant that she must have imported for her potions. I didn't know of any magical use for them, but I took one just in case. At the back of the safe, hidden behind the sack of gold, was a tiny scroll. It was a map that seemed to be indicating something out in the swamp. Perhaps the location of a rare plant. Perhaps a demonic altar where she performed her human sacrifices. I took a second to memorize it then replaced the contents of the safe back where they were.

The kitchen table was sturdy, so I dragged it into the main room and climbed on top of it.... muddy boots and all. From there, I could easily grab hold of the cross-beams holding up the roof. I pulled myself up and looked around to be sure nothing had been hidden among the rafters.

The only thing up there was a piece of cloth tucked in a corner where crossbeam met the ceiling. I brought the cloth with me when I came down. There was nothing unusual about it, other than the fact that it was up there to begin with...

...maybe the housemaid had left it up there when dusting. Or maybe something had been hidden in the rafters until recently. I stuffed the cloth into my pocket, nodded politely at the huge carnipede grinning at me from a corner of the room, then climbed down and went back to the kitchen.

That's when I sat down to catch my breath. My heart was pounding, and my chest had begun making a sloshing, gurgling sound whenever I moved. I wasn't doing well. Not well at all.

"Damned bugs," I said.

The room started spinning... sped up... slowed down... stopped...

Then I got up to continue my search.

That's when I heard the sound.

At first I thought it was the imaginary carnipede following me into the kitchen, but no, this sound was from outside.

I crept over to the widow and looked out.

I had a clear view of the muddy road leading down past the entrance to Shaw's estate. There were five people gathered in front of Shaw's gate. All male. None of the carried any lamps or torches and, as a result, one of them had tripped on something and fallen in the mud... thus the splashing sound I'd heard. Now the five of them were just standing there in the rain...

I stepped back from the window... waited a second or two... then looked again. They were gone.

I knew where they went. I knew it just as surely as I knew the exact second to NOT be looking out the window if I didn't want to be seen. The gentlemen in the street were up to something... something that they probably wouldn't be up to if Carder Shaw or Vivian Sorter were at home.

None of this was any of my business...

...but I could MAKE it my business without trying too hard.

By the time I got to the front gate, the rain had obliterated the muddy footprints.... not that I needed them. Instead of going through the gate and 'stumbling' across a pack of thieves (or murderers... or mages...) I kept walking until I reached the corner of the wall surrounding the property. I climbed up-

-ahhh, broken glass and sharp bits of metal imbedded in the brick. Nice-

-and dropped down into a dark (well, darkER) corner of the Shaw estate.

I didn't make a sound as I darted through the garden. I wondered where Shaw's guards were... the only people I could see on the property were myself and the five gentlemen climbing through a bottom window of Shaw's mansion. Shaw SAID he had guards... so either Shaw had a surprise for these men, or THEY had a surprise for HIM.

Or, the third option. Shaw didn't need any guards because he could toss a lightning bolt down a man's throat from thirty yards away.

I approached the same window that the men used to gain entry, but I didn't climb in. I stood out in the rain and listened.

I didn't hear any talking. No talking. No screams or fighting. Nothing.

I thought about going in after them, but-

A noise.

A second later it would have been a shout, but the sound had been cut off during the inhalation, resulting in a stifled hiccup.

I climbed in.

I hadn't been on this side of the house during my earlier visit. This was unfamiliar territory. If I wasn't careful, it would be very easy for me to stumble into... a.... trap.

There was a sword on the floor. It was just laying there... still clutched by the hand that had drawn it. That hand had been bitten off just below the elbow, and the REST of the arm... as well as the body to which it was presumably still attached... had been dragged off down the hallway. There was a trail of blood leading in the general direction of the stairs.

I took a few steps back and listened carefully before drawing my own blade. As far as I could tell, there wasn't anything moving in the house besides me... but SOMETHING had killed one of Shaw's visitors. It had bitten his hand clean off-

Hmmmm....

That's when I began to suspect. I wasn't sure... and I wasn't quite ready to risk any of my own limbs on the theory just yet... but I was definitely thinking it when I marched past the severed arm and turned the corner-

There. On the stairs.

Riarty Shaw and the One-Armed Man... a.k.a. Lawrence Norton. Mr. Norton had apparently come to demand some more respect from Mr. Shaw, and Shaw's response was to bite off Norton's arm and sink a pair of four-inch fangs into Norton's neck. Now Shaw was on all fours, scuttling backwards like a crab up the stairs, dragging Norton's bleeding corpse by the neck. The Shaw-creature saw me-

"WAIT!" someone shouted. Further up the stairs was ANOTHER Riarty Shaw... this one human, wearing a very unflattering sleeping gown and brandishing a stout cane. "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!!!"

"Oh really?" I said calmly. There was no need to get excited... Norton was already dead, and I was probably going to have to kill everyone in the house anyway. "What is it, then?"

"It..." Shaw began. He paused... then: "...is BEHIND YOU!"

"Riiiiight. Now how many times have I heard THAT one-"

"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!"

I spun and slashed at the same time. My sword hit nothing... the damned thing was QUICK! One second it was darting to my left, and the next it came at me from the RIGHT. At first I thought it had thrown something at me, but no... that was just its MOUTH... a circular expanse of darkness surrounded by a ring of curved teeth. I darted backward, and heard the sound of Lawrence Norton's corpse thumping down the stairs as the creature holding it let go. Again, I spun and slashed. The Shaw creature squealed and bounced away... trailing most of its entrails through the hole I'd cut into its abdomen.

"UNNnngh!" I grabbed my chest and fell to my knees. I couldn't breathe. Swinging that damned sword had done it... the room was spinning, and everything was starting to get fuzzy. "...not now... I've got one more..."

I heard it come behind me. Still on my knees, I turned-

"...you!"

A pair of dark eyes stared down at me... then something black and full of teeth engulfed my head and began to squeeze-

-crunch-

---

"AAAAAAAA!"

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the sword. It was resting just under my chin, with the tip of it jabbing painfully against my throat. The other end of the sword was held by firm, unwavering hand of Carder Shaw.

"Would you care to explain yourself now, Magekiller?" said Carder. He did not look happy.

Neither did his mother.

They had come home to find their house thoroughly trashed, with the culprit unconscious on the kitchen floor. I had no idea how long I'd been asleep... but I actually felt pretty good, with the exception of the sword at my throat.

Vivian Sorter was standing behind her son. She was holding a small bowl and a damp cloth... with which I assumed she was going to try and make me feel better. But she wasn't in a very big hurry.

"You do realize you're pointing a sword at an Officer of the Empire," I said.

"And YOU do realize that this is PRIVATE PROPERTY! You can't just go around kicking down doors and destroying private pr-"

"Actually, I can," I corrected him. "I am here on official business... I can search when and where I want."

"I think you push your 'official duties' a bit too far, Magekiller."

"On the contrary... I'd be well within my authority to kill the both of you right now. But I haven't. Yet."

"Bold words for a man with a sword at his throat."

I just looked at the boy. I was speaking boldly because it was the truth... the sword meant nothing.

"Let him go, Carder," said Vivian.

"Mother-"

"Let. Him. Go."

"Mother, this man is dangerous-"

"Exactly why you should let me go," I said.

"Do as he says," came a voice from my dream. Riarty Shaw hobbled into the kitchen, leaning wearily on his cane and looking very much like the spectre of death wearing a nightgown. Same nightgown he wore in the dream.

"Uncle-" Carder began.

"Boy..." That was all Riarty had to say. That one syllable had Carder's sword back in its sheath before the breath was fully out of the elder Shaw's mouth.

"Yes sir," said Carder. I was impressed. That sound in Carder's voice... it was actual, honest-to-Gods respect. The real thing. Amazing.

"Good," I said. I sat upright... and then stood up. "Now that we're all together, we can get to the bottom of this."

"Bottom of what?" said Vivian.

"And what's this about killing my niece and nephew... SURELY you don't suspect-"

"I suspect a great deal, Mr. Shaw," I retorted. "But first lets start with what I know. The woman standing beside you poisoned me. Willingly and knowingly."

"That's not true!"

"Your cure for mudstinger venom?"

"I saved your life!"

"-and almost cost me that same life tonight. Hallucinations? Panic attacks? Paralysis? Any of that sound familiar?"

"None of that would have even happened if you hadn't exerted yourself! I warned you-"

"No, you didn't. I remember our conversation quite clearly, and you did NOT say that I'd been injected with a toxic root that was going to have me seeing imaginary monsters all night. But then, you probably used so much of your 'cure' on me that you didn't know WHAT the side effects would be. I may have simply dropped dead on the street for all you knew."

"But you didn't!" the healer snapped. "And I see you've been talking to that Kerse woman. Who knows how many lies she filled your head with."

"I spoke with her because she wrote a letter just like your uncle's... but HIS version left out the fact that all of the murders took place on or near property that he controls."

"That's not true-" Carder began.

"Actually, it is," said Riarty. "The victims were killed on their own property... but it just so happens that all of them had leased their property to me. For farming, mostly. I didn't want to OWN every dung-heap in the city, but my horses do need a place to graze... so...." Riarty shrugged. "...no crime in that, is there?"

"It is if you withhold information... like the fact that Evelyn Kerse worked for your niece-"

"Oh of what possible significance is THAT!?" said Vivian.

"Or the fact that she was involved with your son."

"What?!" Riarty and Vivian gave each other the same look of confused shock. And, for a second, I thought Carder Shaw was about to draw that damned sword again.

"Involved HOW!?" said Carder. "What LIES is she telling!?"

"So you two weren't..."

"GODS NO! Is THAT what she told you!? And you BELIEVED it!? She's... she's an OLD WOMAN! No offense, mother..."

"None taken."

"So there's no truth to it."

"I should say not!"

"No truth... at all? Not even a little? Not even... a tiny spark..."

Carder scowled at me, then glanced back at his uncle.

"Boy, you can lie to me and your mother all you want... " Riarty pointed at me. "...but lie to that man and he has every legal right to kill you where you stand."

"I'm not afraid of him-"

"ANSWER THE DAMNED QUESTION!" Riarty roared. He had a large voice for such a shriveled old man. He damn near sent Carder Shaw scurrying for the closest corner.

"Son?"

"Well... she... we..." watching an upstart like Carder Shaw squirm was almost worth the trip through the swamp, mudstingers and all. "...just once. I was... well... she..."

What little color Riarty Shaw had in his face drained away, while his great-nephew blushed several shades darker.

"...years ago," Carder continued speaking without actually saying anything. "...we... you know..."

"No," I said. "I don't know."

"We were together ONCE, all right! But then she... started assuming that just because we... you know... that it meant we were together! I wasn't about to have that! Not at ALL! There are FAR too many women out there for me to... well..."

"Might I have a moment?" Vivian Sorter stepped between me and her son. I nodded my permission, whereupon she whirled and slapped her Carder Shaw across the face. She left quite a handprint, too. Then she stepped back into the background and started shaking her head and mumbling to herself the way all angry mothers tend to do.

"...but we weren't INVOLVED, if that's what she said!" Carder muttered. He was stroking the red mark on his face.

"Mr. Sheridyn," said Riarty Shaw. He was using his 'weak old man' voice again. He took one hobbling step forward and spoke quietly to me, although I'm sure Carder heard every word. "I think you and I need to have a few words. Privately."

"It doesn't get much more private than this," I said, pretending not to know what he meant.

"Yes... but... would you care to accompany me back to my library? I believe I may be able to shed some light on your investigation."

I'd been expecting this. As soon as the dirty laundry started to flap around in the breeze, the family elder could usually be expected to step forward and request a 'private chat'. I couldn't see any reason not to indulge the old man...

"I expect both of you to remain here," I said to Carder Shaw and his mother. I got the usual response-

"What?!"

"WHY!?

"Are we under arrest?"

"Not under arrest," I replied. "But you ARE under suspicion."

"You can't possibly think we're involved in these killings!" Vivian snorted. "I'm a HEALER! I HELP people!"

"Like you helped me?"

"I TOLD you, I-"

I held up my hand, and she got the hint.

"We'll get to THAT later," I said. "In the meantime, I'd feel a lot better if I knew where both of you were. Unless, of course, you had plans for tonight... in the rain... in the middle of the night. No? Good... Then I'll expect you to be here when I return to finish my search."

"This... This is outrageous!" Carder objected. "Uncle Riarty!"

"Just do as he says," said the elder Shaw. "Everything will be straightened out soon enough. Mr. Sheridyn...?"

I followed the old man out of the kitchen. He stopped to put on his cloak, and then hobbled out into the rain with a slow, wobbling gait that told me it was going to be a looooong walk back to the mansion. Probably a good bit longer than it had taken him to get here in the first place.

"Thank you for indulging an old man, Mr. Sheridyn," he said.

"I'm only indulging you to the extent that you have something of interest to say."

"Fair enough," he said as he turned toward the estate's main gate. It was now raining hard enough to completely soak me in the first few steps. Shaw was probably still warm and dry beneath his cloak. I had to get me one of those things... "Do you have any children, Mr. Sheridyn?"

"No," I replied. I had no idea where this was going, but I decided to play along for now. I'd heard Evelyn Kerse's side of things... I was more than a little curious to hear what Shaw had to say.

"Ever had any? Children, I mean..."

"No."

"Ahhh, something else we have in common."

"I don't see what this has to do with my investigation-"

"I don't know about you, but I'm extremely grateful for my lack of heirs. Greatness... wisdom... courage... none of that is hereditary, now matter what the kings and poets say. Carder is the closest thing I have to a son, and... well... he is certainly no Riarty Shaw. He's not a disappointment, mind you... he's just too much like his father. The boy has no vision... no capacity for long-term thinking. He's incapable of fixing his mind on anything for more than a few days at the most. And he's a bit too adventurous for his own good. Once, he told me he wanted to be an officer in the royal army. Being the good uncle that I am, I sent him to the best military academy in the kingdom. They promptly sent him right back to me. Insubordination and lack of discipline. Imagine that. Tell me, how's a man like THAT going to run a business, eh?"

"I assume there is a point to this," I said.

"But then, I suppose my father said the same thing about me. Heh... suppose... I KNOW he said it. Said it to my face just before he disinherited me."

"You said you inherited your money."

"No, I said I WORKED for it. Lawrence NORTON said I inherited it, and I just agreed with him because the truth is just none of his damned business. The whole town thinks my father died and left his money to me, but he didn't. The only thing I got from him was a mediocre education and a swift kick to the rear end when I needed it... and sometimes even when I didn't. Everything I have, I have because of my own efforts... but then that isn't exactly true either. There WAS one man who helped me. One man who I'll give equal credit for my success... just as I'm sure he'd give ME equal credit for his."

"And he is?"

"Have you ever heard of Rhodes Transport?"

"Yes." I wasn't lying... I HAD heard the name before, but I couldn't exactly remember where. It was an old name... from old memories.

"Gordon Rhodes and I spent the better part of four decades at each others throats. He was my competition, you see... his company competed with mine for all of the shipping business in this area. We started at about the same time, but hell, I hadn't even HEARD of him until I lost my first customer to the pack of lame mules he called a caravan. I knew then that there wasn't enough profit for both of us, so I had no choice but to try my damndest to run him out of business. And HE had the same choice. So we went at it... head to head, tooth and nail... for years BEFORE the Trade Wars even got started good. And AFTER the wars, things REALLY got serious..."

"So he was your enemy."

"HA!" Shaw cackled. "ENEMY! HA! I had dinner at his house every week right up until the day he died. Fierce competitors, yes, but he was the best friend I ever had. ONLY friend. Heh... and do you know why that is, Mr. Sheridyn? You know why I would have dinner with a man determined to destroy me? Why would I still make the trip to his grave every year? Want to know why?"

"Why?"

"RESPECT! Unlike these ignorant SHEEP I've got living around me now, Gordon Rhodes was a man I could RESPECT! And he didn't have to go around BEGGING for it, either. He was my EQUAL! I'll tell you what kind of man he was, Mr. Sheridyn... he married a young girl out of Holt, where he was born. She was a lovely woman and he loved her with all his heart. She gave him three children before she died... some damned sickness out of the swamps. Horrible way to go... quick, but horrible. Rhodes was heartbroken. Well... it just so happens that we both had several contracts up for negotiation at the time. When I heard Brianna Rhodes had died, I felt so bad for the man that I withdrew my bids from three of the larger customers. I let Rhodes have them... free and clear. I tell you, the next day Gordon Rhodes was at my front door cursing me to my face! How DARE I withdraw my bids! How DARE I give him those contracts out of pity! Who the hell did I think I was insulting him like that! For a moment I thought the man was about to physically ASSAULT me! Our friendship nearly ended that day... and why? Because I took away the only thing that really MATTERED to him besides his wife: A fair game! A good contest! Our competition made him what he was just as surely as it made me what I am... Gordon Rhodes woke up every morning thinking up ways to outsmart me, and he knew full well that I woke up thinking the same thing about him! And we were BOTH the better for it! To take that away from him was... was CRUEL! Cruel and humiliating... I'd be better off plunging a dagger in his heart! THAT'S the kind of man Gordon Rhodes was!"

"That's very interesting," I lied. "But-"

"I'll tell you another story about Rhodes... one you might actually be interested in."

"Is it relevant to the murders?"

"Mmmmm, not likely."

"Then-"

"A messenger came to see me one day. Heh... messenger... a SPY is what he was. I had them in Rhodes' company just like he had spies in mine. Told me that Gordon Rhodes had taken off for some secret meeting with the Transporters Union. Now, this was during the Trade Wars, and the T.U. was the mortal enemy of every honest businessman the Empire! And not only was Gordon Rhodes sneaking off to meet with them, but he supposedly had with him forged documents from the other minor transport companies... including mine... pledging their support for the T.U.! I tell you one thing... I nearly EXPLODED right there on the spot! Gordon Rhodes was not only setting himself up to be KILLED, he was going to take everyone ELSE down with him! Well... I just couldn't let that happen, Mr. Sheridyn. I got on my fastest horse and rode harder than I've ever ridden before. I caught up with Rhodes just outside the Union camp... and that's when I got the full story. Rhodes hadn't lost his mind at all. He wasn't selling us out... he was selling out the Transporters Union! The Empire had contacted him directly for a sort of... plan! They wanted him to get some connections inside the Union and set them up for a trap. Heh, a bag full of forged papers wasn't going to do that, but it would at least get him in the door. He'd pretend to be some sort of middle-man for the other companies, and by the time the Union found out he was bluffing, the Empire would have what they needed to start knocking heads! It was a stupid plan, really, but what do you expect from politicians, eh? But then, if the Union saw that two of the fiercest competitors in the local market were BOTH lined up and waiting to bend over for them, well then maybe we'd be onto something! So in we went! We marched right into the Transporters Union and sat down with Garrison Lord himself! We asked some questions... he gave some answers... and we made a deal. We handed over a sack of the Empire's gold in exchange for the Union's protection of our shipments. Of course, the Empire had already arranged for those shipments to be attacked. Imperial soldiers dressed up like highwaymen started swarming over our wagons the day after they left Holt! When the Union goons started tossing fireballs and lightning bolts... POOF!! Instant proof of Union violations of the Law! THEN guess what happened..."

"The Final Assaults," I said. THAT was where I'd heard the name Rhodes before. I was much too young to know or care about the details... but I do remember that the reason for our assault rested mostly on the sworn testimony of someone named Rhodes.

"...mmmhmm. And that place we met Lord? The Union camp? Care to guess what that was called?"

"Cradle Row."

"We were there just a few days before you," said Shaw. "Took a good look around, we did. Big place."

"Yes. It was."

"Easy for a man to get lost in there... all those twists and turns."

"Not really. We had a..." I stopped. Riarty looked up at me.

"...map?" he finished. "Hope you liked it. Drew it from memory."

"It helped," I said. "But that's all ancient history."

"Is it?" said Shaw. "Have I been rambling again?"

"Yes."

"Well... I'd better get to the relevant part then, eh? I mentioned that Rhodes had children, didn't I?"

"Yes." By now, we'd passed the gates of Shaw's estates and were walking down the row of trees. Ahead, I could see two guards standing on opposite ends of the stone stairs.

"All three of them were born right here-" Shaw pointed at the mansion.

"Your estate?"

"No... HIS estate. All of this belonged to Gordon Rhodes. This house? He saw one like it on one of his caravan trips... some rich trader's mansion... and since he couldn't buy the house, he had one just like it built here. Built it here in MY town just to piss ME off! But he added on a bit of extra space to keep all of his souvenirs. He kept something from just about everywhere he went, and most of it ended up here in this house. Damned place was FULL of junk when I moved in. His children took most of it with them when I kicked them out."

"You... bought his house and put his heirs on the street?"

"Oh yes, I most certainly did!"

"I thought you were his friend."

"I WAS! And that's why he left everything he had to me! His two sons... twins... they were lazy, drunken IDIOTS! And his daughter was a scheming little BITCH from the day she learned to talk! There's no way a respectable man like Rhodes would leave his fortune in the hands of those harpies! ESPECIALLY when it became obvious that the only plan his sons had for the future was to wait for him to die so that they could spend all his money! HA! So we met... with lawyers and witnesses... and he changed his will. Left everything to me, on the conditions that I give NOTHING to his children, and that I keep the house intact in case one of his heirs actually turned out to be worthy of it one day. That hasn't happened yet, and it probably never will."

"What happened to them?"

"One son killed himself when he realized that his free ride through life was over. THAT'S how much of a man HE was. The other is decorating a gutter somewhere in Holt. Hasn't been sober two days in the past five years. And the girl... well... that's where I'm sorry to say I deviated from Rhodes' final wishes. He didn't want me to give them ANYTHING... not one PENNY. But technically, she was still a child, and I couldn't very well kick my best friend's child out onto the streets. I let her take most of the junk from the house. I didn't want any of it, and most of it was worthless anyway. Didn't even look to see what it was she took... just left the door open and out it went! Mostly trash, I'm sure, but at least she'd have something. Eventually she came back, but she didn't come back looking for money... she wanted a job! A JOB! Imagine that! She was a grown woman now, and she wanted to WORK for a living! I was so shocked that I gave her TWO!"

"Your housekeeper... and apprentice to Vivian."

Shaw nodded solemnly. He had stopped walking, and now we were just standing at the edge of the trees.

"But it turns out that all she wanted was to steal."

"You said she didn't steal anything-"

"There's different kinds of stealing, Mr. Sheridyn. The days of Rhodes Transport were long gone... Gordon told me to sell the company and keep the money. He didn't want ME running it any more than those brats of his. But that's what she wanted."

"The company?"

"The name. Rhodes. That name used to mean something around here... the same way that SHAW does now. When she was growing up, all Gordon Rhodes had to do was snap his fingers and she'd have anything she wanted. People paid attention when Gordon spoke... even if they didn't like what he was saying. She wanted that back... but she couldn't have it. So, she decided to settle for the next best thing."

"And that was?"

"Me. First Vivian caught her snooping around in her formulas... copying things down. Told me about it, but I didn't listen. At least, I didn't WANT to listen. But part of me knew something was wrong, so I started watching her. I watched her go through my records and ledgers... looking for something to blackmail me with. I let her keep looking, because I knew she'd never find anything. But then she got desperate... and then she..."

"She what?"

"I'm an old man, Mr. Sheridyn. I'm a very old and lonely old man. I guess she figured that made me weak... and it did, but not in the way SHE thought."

"I don't follow you."

Riarty Shaw turned away from me and found something interesting to look at in the trees. Anything to keep from looking at me.

"She tried to seduce me," he said, finally.

"You didn't-"

"No, I did not! But... I would have. Like I said, Mr. Sheridyn, I'm an old man. If I were ten... twenty years younger... But for her to TEMPT and TAUNT me like she did, with me unable to... do anything about it... that was just the last STRAW! I kicked her out. Vivian had already terminated her apprenticeship... and that was the end of her as far as I was concerned. She must have been with Carder at about the same time. You see what she was trying to do, don't you?"

"No. Tell me."

"She couldn't steal or blackmail her way into power, so she tried to SLEEP her way into it."

"So you say."

"You don't have to believe me. But you wanted the Shaw version of the truth, so there it is. Had I known it was going to come to this, I would have told it to you when we first met. But families have secrets, and... not even Vivian knows about Evelyn and I. Not that there's anything TO know. Obviously she didn't know about Carder, either-"

"So this woman who tried to seduce you AND your nephew for money... fails... and decides to settle for a poor farmer? Moves out to the edge of town to live in poverty?"

"Doesn't sound very likely, does it?"

"No."

"Well... maybe she loved him. Maybe she had some kind of plan. Or maybe she just decided to take what she could get. Kerse had a fair amount of wealth himself before he gambled it all away. He wasn't rich by any stretch of the imagination, but he had more than most."

"So that's your story. All of it."

"Yes. And look here... I've done all this talking and we haven't even made it to the house yet! Would you like to come in anyway? Some tea? REAL tea... none of that swamp rot that Vivian grows..."

"No. Thank you."

"Perhaps I can show you some of the souvenirs that Rhodes left behind. I did keep some of the more interesting pieces for myself. I tell you... that man couldn't cross the STREET without picking up a rock to remind him of the trip! And I do have some actual rocks to prove it! I've got scrolls with Imperial seals on them... those are worth quite a bit, you know. Kept those hidden, I did. Then there's a pair of shoes he stole from a holy man in some town I can't pronounce... heh, even one of those silly powdered wigs they wear in royal court! HA! What ever possessed him to grab one of THOSE, I'll never know. But then, he was always-"

"And what memento did he keep from your trip to Cradle Row?"

"I... well, I think we were both so frightened out of our minds that... I don't know. If he kept anything, he certainly didn't show it to me. Probably illegal, whatever it was. But there are a few odds and ends that I'm not sure WHERE-"

"I need a horse."

"Ehhh... a what?"

"Horse."

"Well... I don't keep very many here. The guards ride in on horses. And then there's Carders' steed-"

"I'll take that one. He won't be needing it."

Having seen Shaw's map earlier, I already knew the way to the stables. I left the old man standing under the trees... I suddenly had somewhere very important to be.

"Wh... where are you going!?" he called after me.

"I think you know..."

---

I rode Carder's horse hard and fast despite the rain. The town flashed past me... and suddenly I was bounding up the large hill leading to the barn. My supplies were still there. I gathered them quickly, and paid absolutely no mind to the multiple chunks of Sanders Kerse that I left behind. This mystery was all but solved now, and I wouldn't need any of Sanders' secrets to take me the rest of the way. I still didn't know exactly how he died... but right now, it didn't matter.

The terrain was too muddy and steep for a gallop, but I galloped anyway... down the hill and across the flat farmland to the tiny house where I'd woken up a few hours before. I rode up to the door, dismounted with a splash and... without knocking... kicked the door off of its hinges.

"WHAT-!?"

Evelyn Rhodes-Kerse came running at me. Then, when she recognized me, quickly backed away.

"You're awake," I said as I stormed into the house. "Expecting someone?"

"There was a crowd here just a few minutes ago... all the excitement you stirred up. I'm only now getting some peace-"

"Before you get your peace," I said with a scowl. I walked over to the woman and stared down into her black eyes. "I have a question for you... Ms. Rhodes."

She could only blink slowly and let her mouth flop open.... like a fish on a hook.

"Shaw... told you?"

"Shaw told me."

"What, exactly did he-"

"He told me enough..." I pointed to the cot where I'd had my 'nap' earlier. "Sit down. Don't move."

She sat.

"What are you going to do?" she said.

I drew my sword. Silver... and very sharp.

"WHAT ARE YOU-"

She looked like she was about to move... but she didn't.

The farmhouse was small. One room, with a cooking area separated by a half-wall. There weren't a lot of places to hide anything... but it had one hell of a sturdy ceiling.

With my sword still drawn, I dragged a chair from the kitchen and placed it at the center of the house. The rafters were directly above me. Standing on the chair, I thrust my sword over my head and ran the blade along the top of the crossbeam.

I hit something. I pushed, and something wide and heavy fell past me, hitting the wooden floor with a loud clap... almost like thunder. Evelyn Rhodes brought her fists to her mouth and trembled as she stared at the thing on the floor.

I got down from the chair.

"What... what IS THAT!?!" she gasped.

"A book." I picked up the heavy leather-bound tome and flipped to one of the interior pages. The parchment was thick and fresh, but it was probably older than I was by at least a generation. Probably several generations. The pages still hummed slightly from the magic used to preserve them, and the twisted symbols they contained seemed to grow rhythmically darker and then lighter... as if pulsing with a kind of anti-light.

"A book of magic," I said. "Possession of which is punishable by immediate execution."

"NO!"

Despite my earlier warning, Evelyn Rhodes... moved.

She came up off of the cot like some kind of coiled spring. She looked like she was either going to attack me... grab the book from my hands... or simply make a run for the door. I didn't give her a chance to do any of the above. Before she was fully on her feet, my hand was on her throat and the back of her head was colliding with the wall beside me. The book was on the floor again. My sword was at Evelyn's throat.

"...please..." she begged. Her eyes... those big, black eyes... were leaking tears down her cheeks. The moisture pooled around my fingers where they had clenched around her soft, feminine throat. Both her hands were free, but if she tried to use them, she'd be dead before the first finger twitched.

"I said I came to ask you a question, Ms. Rhodes. One last question. Now I'm going to loosen my grip just enough for you to breathe once. If I were you, I'd use that breath to tell me why I'm here. Do you understand?"

The look on her face... confusion hidden deep within the stark panic... told me that she didn't understand. I released her throat. She gasped for air... but she didn't gasp TOO vigorously, because my blade was still resting against her skin.

"Now," I said. "You're going to tell me why Riarty Shaw is trying so damned hard to make me kill you..."

[To Be Continued]