The Dinner“I’m sorry for the death you had to witness,” Jargus said as theyreached the stairs to house Duremo. “It is the price we pay to serve our queen. She’ll mark our hunt a great success even if we did lose a man.”“Thank you, but I understand.” Treylen followed the others through the hall and out to the courtyard overlooking the city. “I’ve not been long in Iverna, but already I know the importance of your queen’s favor.”“It’s everything,” said Remin. “You’ll see, in time. Just take care not to run afoul of it.”“Heed that,” said Jargus, “Now, this is where we leave you. Oakwren and Roland here will take you to gather your things then see you safely back to Duremo Lodge where we can put a closer watch on you. I hope you understand it’s for your protection. There’s a killer on the loose, after all.”“I’m grateful for it,” Treylen lied, bowing again. “As long as it won’t interfere with me resuming my duties.”“It must,” said Jargus. “There’ll be no touring the mines until after

The Letter       Marziel was gone.Countess Tsoro had ridden to Coal Abbey in person to retrieve him, only to be told that he’d been lost in the mines the same day that he’d seen her messenger. Three days later, he was still missing. To her credit, the Countess had taken it well. She’d even gone so far as to console Cren’pin. The mines of Coal Abbey were extensive. He would not be the first to have been lost this way, nor the first to be found again, should he return. Her own soldiers were looking for him along with the assassins who trained there.When they found him, the queen’s servants would ensure his swift return to Wetherdin for questioning.Treylen wasn’t concerned. There was a small chance that Marziel had truly gotten lost in the mines, but he doubted it. Spymasters were revered by the monks, they would tell whatever lies he asked them to, and they certainly wouldn’t

The Reunion      Treylen peered into the shadows as the steady click of metal onstone drew closer. From a tunnel opposite where they’d entered came a monstrous lowsater. His cloven hooves were shod like an oxen and his frame towered over the doorways of the empty village. Uberetus was tall enough to make the Lowsater he had seen in the mine look small. Treylen had to wonder how a man his size could even manage in the tight tunnels and lifts of the mines.Though his star-speckled coat was more patchy than it had been, and his vest and skirt more threadbare, he still carried himself with the patronly bearing of an elder regent. Perhaps he was once a great leader of his people.“You can come out, Lomish man. I see you perfectly well there in the dark.” His voice was loud but welcoming, deep but silken, and drawled with the cadence of one whose patience knew no end.Uberetus stopped jus

"You look well,” Treylen’s father said, rolling his eyes. "What are you doing here?” Treylen asked.“Your mother thought that you would be glad to see us. Aren't you?” “I’m sure that I would be, but I'm working. How did you even get aninvitation?”“Your aunt has a friend in Count Warren. Oh, my son, you are so important now.” It was dripping with sarcasm, but there was a grain of envy in the words. “What is it you're up to anyway?”“Just admiring the design work here. I’m a bit surprised you built it. This lodge is not your style.”“It's how they wanted it,” his father sighed. “I told them it didn't match the tower. Anyway, Owen Priscus did the drafting and the oversight. He has a protégé of his own now. Less work for me. You could have done the same, but then I suppose that's not quite as grand as being a lord.”“I’m not a lord,” Treylen whispered, looking around. “I serve a higher power. Besides, I wouldn't have built it like

The Watergate      “The glyphs tell us we must first cross the water then travel underit. This would concern me, for the dwarves who first mapped these passages could go far longer than your kind on a breath, but my father suggests it may not be necessary. The paths often change over the years.”Brome held a torch aloft for the humans as they walked around the rim of the underground lake. The hooves of the Lowsater twins crunched on dark sand. On the right, softly rippling black water stretched off into the distance. On the left the collection of old stone buildings grew larger and grander.At last they reach the heart of what had once been a proud city. Most of the buildings here were of cut black stone. It was roughly-hewn and not in any style that he recognized. Treylen had to wonder how a place so grand could fade from history—for despite the crudeness of the cuts, the scale of it all an