'Yes, he is.'
'How… why…?' Diran was barely aware of speaking, but Cathmore answered, stepping closer to Diran and leaning down next to his ear, as if he understood that Diran might have difficulty hearing him.
'How scarcely matters, but I assure you, it wasn't difficult to locate him.'
Diran stared into the raider captain's eyes. The man glared back at him with impotent fury but also, Diran thought, with growing fear. 'What about his crew?'
'They're dead, as I ordered.'
Diran looked at Cathmore, not comprehending what the man said.
'Think of it as a welcoming gift, but this one-his name is Bruk, by the way-I saved for you.'
Diran frowned. 'I–I don't…'
'Remember what I told you? That there was one thing that could make the pain and anger of losing your parents go away? It's called revenge.'
Cathmore turned and walked to the mahogany chest. He flung the doors open and Diran saw that the chest was filled with all manner of weapons mounted inside: swords, maces, spears, hammers, axes, garroting wire, flails, whips, throwing stars… and daggers. So many daggers. Daggers with long blades, short blades, curved blades, straight… Daggers with golden pommels inlaid with jewels, and daggers with simple handles wrapped in leather, but no matter their differences in design and decoration, every one was sharp and deadly.
They were beautiful.
'Come here, boy,' Cathmore said. 'Take a closer look.'
Diran hesitated, but he couldn't help himself. He joined Cathmore at the open chest.
'In your short time here, you've learned that we call ourselves the Brotherhood of the Blade,' Cathmore said, 'and you know what we do.'
Though this was phrased as a statement, Diran understood that a response was required of him. 'Yes. You kill people for money.'
Cathmore looked at Diran for a moment without expression, and Diran feared that he was to be punished for his response, but then Cathmore's mouth stretched into a cold, mirthless smile. 'I'll say one thing for you boy, you're direct. I like that. Allow me to be equally direct in turn. We are a brotherhood of assassins, and these-' Cathmore gestured at the chest's contents-'are the tools of our trade. You may choose any one of these weapons and slay Bruk. You may do the deed swiftly or take as much time as you wish. Whatever you prefer.'
Cathmore reached into the bottom of the chest with both hands and brought forth a black laquer box. He cradled the box with one arm while he opened the lid with his free hand. Inside, resting on a bed of crimson velvet, were a dozen unmarked glass vials, each containing a different color of liquid: cerulean, amber, mauve, aquamarine and more.
'There are many approaches to the dark art of assassination. Some prefer to deal death with steel, while others-such as myself-prefer the refined subtlety to be found in the use of poisons.' Cathmore gazed down upon the vials he displayed to Diran, his eyes gleaming with barely restrained excitement. It took an obvious effort for the master assassin to look up from his beloved poisons and meet Diran's gaze once more. 'Still, as I said, it is your choice.'
Diran pretended to consider his options for several moments, and then he stepped past Cathmore and his vials and reached into the chest. Almost of their own volition, his fingers stroked the cool, sleek metal of a dagger. Gently, almost reverently, he removed the blade from its niche on the inside of the chest door and gripped its handle tight. He expected the dagger's hilt to warm within his hand, but it remained cool, not cold, but soothing, almost as if it were trying to tell him that everything was going to be all right. Diran gazed down upon the blade, drinking in the way light played across the polished surface of the metal.
Then he lifted his head and turned to look at Bruk.
The sea raider remained on his knees, but he no longer glared at Diran. His eyes were now filled with fear and he was trembling. Diran recalled Bruk's face as he rammed his swordpoint into his father's chest, once more heard the cry of agony as blood bubbled past his father's lips… saw the light dim in his father's eyes as death came to claim him. Then Diran remembered what the raiders had done to his mother. Bruk had been the first to use her, but he had been far from the last.
Diran stepped toward Bruk, pulse pounding in his ears, dagger gripped tight in a palm slick with sweat. He stopped before the sea raider and looked deeply into the man's eyes. What he searched for, he didn't know. Some sign of remorse or regret, perhaps. An acknowledgement that here, at the end of his life, Bruk realized the grief he had caused so many and was sorry, but all Diran saw in the man's gaze was raw, naked fear.
He relaxed his grip and the dagger thunked to the wooden floor. He turned to Cathmore. 'I know what this man did… I saw it, but I cannot kill him. To do so would make me no better than him.'
Cathmore's face betrayed no hint of emotion as the master assassin regarded Diran for a long moment. Finally, he nodded and walked over to where Diran stood. Cathmore bent down and picked up the dagger that Diran had dropped. Diran feared that he had failed the assassin's test, and now Cathmore was going to kill him, but Diran didn't turn away, didn't avert his gaze from Cathmore. If the man intended to slay him, then so be it. Death would be preferable to a life as an acolyte in the Brotherhood of the Blade.
Cathmore turned and knelt next to Bruk, and with two swift, efficient strokes of the dagger, severed the bonds around the sea raider's wrists and ankles. Cathmore removed the man's gag, then stood and tossed the dagger onto the floor next to Bruk.
'Kill the boy and you can go free.'
Diran stared at Cathmore in shock. Bruk looked confused for a moment, then he grinned and reached for the dagger.
Ghaji lay next to Diran in the darkness of the ship's hold. His half-orc physiology was doing its best to fight off the effects of the drug the Coldhearts had used on him and Diran, but it was strong stuff, and he had no more success than his friend did, and like his friend, Ghaji found his semiconscious mind drifting on the tides of memory…
Ghaji walked into the clearing, his stride purposeful, head held high. Inwardly, he was afraid, but he knew that if he were to have any chance of surviving the next several moments, he couldn't afford to show it.
It was midmorning after the bloody raid on the wood-wright's cottage. The day was shaping up to be a pleasant one-sunny and mild, with a gentle breeze blowing. The trees were full and lush, their green leaves whispering in the wind. Birds sat on their branches, singing a counterpoint to the trees' whispering, their musical voices light and cheerful. After what the orcs had done last night, Ghaji found the beauty of the day revolting. It should be raining, the air cold, the sky overcast and gloomy. It was as if the world had taken no notice of the deaths of the wood-wright and his family… or worse, as if the world were actually celebrating their murders.
Eggera and Murtt reclined against the thick trunk of an old oak tree, eyes closed, chests rising and falling slowly as if they were napping. Ghaji knew better, though. The two orcs might appear to be resting, but Ghaji had fought alongside them for too many months not to know better. Both were surely aware of his approach and ready to leap up in an instant and fight if need be. Neither had bathed since last night's grisly work, and their clothes and armor were covered with dried blood, their fur matted with it. Flies buzzed around the pair, drawn by the rank stench of old blood, but if the insects bothered the orcs, they did nothing about the pests.
Chagai sat cross-legged in the middle of the clearing, hands on his knees, eyes closed, broadsword unsheathed on the ground at his side. He appeared to be meditating, and while the practice wasn't uncommon among certain orcs, Ghaji had never seen Chagai do it before. He guessed the mercenary leader was simply waiting… for him.
Ghaji crossed the clearing and walked up to Chagai, though he was careful to stop four feet from the orc. Coming any closer would be considered a challenge. Before Ghaji could say anything, Chagai spoke, though he did not open his eyes.
'Where have you been? We'd begun to think that you'd deserted us.'
After the raid on the wood-wright's house, Ghaji hadn't been able to bring himself to spend the night with the other orcs, so he'd gone off on his own. He'd spent the time wandering mostly, though he finally did climb up into the branches of an elm tree a few hours before dawn and catch some fitful, restless sleep.
'Sneaking off in the night would not be honorable.'
In truth Ghaji had contemplated doing that very thing, but while it might have been the wiser course, he hadn't been able to do it. He knew that Chagai and the others would have blamed what they saw as his betrayal on
