Gavin jerked his hand back, and the glow faded. He looked around, saying, “Do you see any blue specters outfitted for the Godswar?”
Declan looked around himself and shook his head. “No. We seem to be alone. Why?”
“I think that’s what the garrison looks like. Blue…well, ghosts…with the arms and equipment of soldiers in the Army of Valthon during the Godswar.”
“The arena’s Master of the Field?” Declan asked, eyeing Gavin with his right eyebrow quirked upward.
Gavin nodded. “I think so. I think he’s a member of Tel Mivar’s garrison.” Gavin stood and stepped away from the sigil, turning to Declan. “Thank you for indulging me on this detour. You originally wanted to take me somewhere?”
“I did, indeed. This way.”
After a time, they stopped at a structure just off a secondary thoroughfare in the southwestern warrens. Like all buildings in Tel Mivar’s “Old City,” this structure looked to be made of one solid piece of a marble-like stone. Unlike the other buildings around it, though, this building had no lock. There was a metal plate set into the wall beside the door, and the door had a simple handle.
Declan pulled back his left sleeve and pressed his wrist to the plate. Gavin both felt and heard the click as the latch released, and Declan pushed open the door, Gavin following.
The room Gavin entered looked about the size of a modest parlor. There was a hearth against one wall, but there was no firewood or any furniture. The doorway on the far side of the room was an open arch with a simple, black curtain hanging in it.
Declan secured the door through which they’d entered and led Gavin across the room and through the curtain. Stepping through the curtain, Gavin found a room with a polished, metal staircase spiraling down. Declan didn’t even slow as he continued to the staircase and began descending.
The floor below was well lit, still that marble-like stone of the floor above, and Gavin followed Declan in silence, curious as to their ultimate destination. Declan led him down a hallway and turned left into a short corridor that led to an archway with no doors, which in turn opened into a large room. Upon entering the large room, Gavin saw a large round table sitting in the center of the space, the room full of many people all wearing the same style leather armor Declan wore. They were all relaxed or outright lounging in chairs or on tables when Gavin first saw them, but the moment Gavin stepped into the room, everyone there shot to his or her feet and stood at attention.
Gavin was somewhat bewildered by their conduct, and he had not an idea in the world how he should respond. Words floated to the surface of his mind from somewhere deep in the gray fog, and he said, “It’s okay. As you were.”
They all relaxed, though none of them sat, and Declan stopped when he reached the table, turning to face Gavin.
Declan said, “I had hoped it would be many years before I had to tell you of us, but our hopes don’t always come true. We are your final inheritance, Gavin. You now stand in the Tel Mivar chapterhouse of the Wraiths of Kirloth.”
Gavin walked over and sat in a chair near Declan. Everyone else in the room returned to their seats, and Declan took the few steps necessary to lean against the table at Gavin’s side.
“You have questions,” Declan said, making it a statement.
“Of course, I do. For one thing, what do you people do?”
“Whatever you tell us to do,” Declan said.
Gavin frowned, angling his head to one side just a bit as he looked at Declan. “That’s not an answer. I’m serious, Declan; what is it you people do?”
“I was serious, also, Gavin. The Wraiths serve Kirloth without question. If you tell us to go out and kill every third left-handed person we find, we will go and kill every third left-handed person we find…no questions asked. It’s not normally so dire as that, though. By and large, we are Kirloth’s eyes and ears throughout the world, and we have so many places infiltrated at so many levels that it is rare for us not to know something by the time the proper authorities do.”
Declan stopped speaking long enough to look around the room, scanning faces. He settled on one person at last and waved him to approach. As he walked to the table, Gavin saw this new man was older; what hair he had left had long since turned gray, but he possessed an air of authority and efficiency most unlike anything Gavin had encountered.
“Take him, for example,” Declan said. “His most recent infiltration was the estate of the man who turned out to own Kiri when you met her. He was the man’s steward, but for him to be hired as the man’s steward, a vacancy had to be created…if you take my meaning.”
Gavin looked at the man standing a few feet away, and he couldn’t help but get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “I guess that means you killed the previous steward.”
“Personally? No, milord. I infiltrated the estate of an enemy and forged an order to pay for the steward’s murder. I then took the order and posed as a butler tasked with delivering it and its accompanying payment-which I also stole from the enemy-to the Guild of Shadows, who were quite happy to carry out the contract. The disagreement between the two families was flaring up at the time already, so it was plausible that a kill order would be paid for by one side or the other.”
Gavin leaned back in the chair, by all appearances working to assimilate this latest information. After a few moments, Gavin nodded his understanding, a slow, deliberate action.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, milord,” the man said and gave one last nod before returning to his previous place in the room.
Declan scanned the faces again and smiled as his eyes found the face he sought. He gestured for someone else to step forward, and soon, a man stood in front of Gavin that Gavin would never have looked at twice in a crowd. His average build and brown hair was so ‘everyman,’ Gavin pictured him wearing many different outfits and roles with ease. What struck Gavin, though, was the man’s vibrant, blue eyes.
“Some months back, the master-I mean, your mentor-notified us that an escaped Vushaari slave would be arriving in the city and tasked us to ensure she reached wherever she wanted to go unhindered. I found her on East Avenue, South, in the middle of being caught by a slaver. She was trying to run, but the slaver held her by her drawstring bag…despite just being kicked in the privates. I approached the slaver and ensured he would never harm another soul.”
Escaped Vushaari slave…that had to be Kiri. “What made you think he’d just been kicked in his privates?”
“Milord, I have yet to meet a man who doesn’t recognize the hunched-over, weak-kneed collapse of a man who’s just been kicked…whether he saw the act done or not.”
Gavin cocked his head to the right and nodded. “I can’t really argue with that. Thank you for helping her. She’s a friend.”
“We know, Milord. She’s free to travel the city as she wills. Anytime she leaves the College, no less than four of our number travel with her at all times.”
“I’ll encourage her to go for more walks, then.” Gavin scanned the faces looking at him. “Thank you all for watching over her.” Gavin turned to Declan, saying, “I agree; I’d just as soon not have inherited the Wraiths or anything else so soon. I think I’d like to go for a walk; I feel like I could use the time to think.”
Gavin pushed himself to his feet and followed Declan out of the room. The moment Gavin stood, every person in the room snapped to their feet as well. Gavin stopped and nodded his acknowledgement before leaving.