Prologue
Irritation bubbled within Fes, and he crept forward through the alley carefully, trying to make as little sound as possible. In all the time that he’d been living in the slums, he had grown especially skilled at moving quietly.
The alleyway was narrow, and the smooth walls of the neighboring buildings rose up on either side of him. They were damp, unpleasantly so, especially considering the last rain had been over a week ago. An awful stench filled the air, that of rot or something worse, and he fought the urge to look down and make sure he wasn’t stepping into something nasty.
He glanced back to see Alison trailing him. He wished that she wouldn’t have come after him, especially as she knew that he preferred to work alone, and she knew that he didn’t like having her follow him, but even if he objected to her presence, he doubted she’d listen to his arguments.
He spun, pushing his back up against the neighboring building, and made a motion toward Alison. He was far enough into the depths of the shadows that it was unlikely she could even see him, but he was determined to try to get her attention.
Skies of Fire, but she needed to leave him to this assignment. If he failed, Horus would be angry, and Fes couldn’t risk angering the man again. Another mistake and Horus would likely send Fes away, and it was hard enough finding jobs in the slums as it was. Most of them were run by men like Horus, men who coordinated all the activity within the area they controlled.
When he reached the end of the alley, he glanced back to see if Alison still followed him. It was difficult to tell if she did as her dark hair and her black cloak seemed to blend into the shadows, making her practically invisible. Fes didn’t have the same dark hair. His brown hair was dark enough, and no one could see his blue eyes glimmering in the darkness. And he wasn’t foolish enough to wear brightly colored clothing. He kept the deep brown cloak covering his face, trying to conceal himself in the shadows.
There was a door here, and Fes unsheathed one of his daggers, slipping the tip into the lock. He wasn’t nearly as skilled as Alison at picking locks, but then again, he didn’t need to be. With these daggers, dragonglass that was nearly indestructible, he was able to get past almost any lock. There probably wasn’t a single one within the city he couldn’t get past by jamming his dagger into it.
The lock snapped with a loud crack.
That was the only downside to the way that he forced his way into doors. Others could make it much more quietly, but quiet had never really been Fes’s strong suit. He did his best, and he tried to remain as silent as possible, but there were too many times when he didn’t manage to do so as effectively as he thought he should.
The other side of the room was dimly lit. There was a lantern somewhere that cast enough light for him to see a hazy outline of everything in front of him, but not much more than that. Fes had good eyesight, but even the best eyesight couldn’t pierce through this darkness. The air was warm enough that a fire had to be burning nearby, drying out the air.
He crept forward, moving slowly through the hallway. His footsteps were the only sound here, a soft thudding along the wooden floor. Fes tried to keep his breathing silent, but it still sounded loud in his ears.
If Horus was right, then the item he was after—his prize—would be in here, at the end of a hallway and inside a large room behind a cabinet. A jewel of value. And all Fes had to do was grab it. It should be easy, especially now that he was inside, and it would give him a chance to prove himself to Horus.
There was sound at the door he’d come through, and Fes glanced back to see the door swinging open. He jumped back against the edge of the wall, holding onto his dagger, prepared for the possibility that he might need to use it. If he did, he needed to maintain control of himself. It was too easy for him to lose control, and when he lost control… well, things started to go badly. He couldn’t afford to have things go that way, not in a place like this, and not on the job for Horus.
Alison stepped forward, separating from the shadows.
“What are you doing?” he hissed.
“What do you think I’m doing? I’m helping you with this job.”
“I don’t need help.”
“Someone seems to think you do.”
Had Horus sent her after him? He wouldn’t put it past the man. Horus had a soft spot for Alison, though it was more of a fatherly thing than anything more. And since the two of them had gotten close, Horus had tolerated Fes a whole lot more than he ever had before. Then again, he preferred to use Fes for the violent side Fes tried to keep hidden.
Could that have been why Horus sent him on this job?
He shook that thought away. Horus knew that Fes had a temper, but it was only a temper that he had when someone tried to hurt those he cared about. Fes made a point of trying not to care for anyone, especially after what had happened with his brother. It was bad enough that he’d gotten close to Alison. Other than her, the only other person he cared about had managed to get out of the slums and was no longer in danger.
“You have to let me do this job. He needs to know I can do this.”
“I think he knows,” she said.
“If he knows, then why did he send you?”
Alison shook her head, stepping toward him. She smelled nice, clean, and with a hint of lilac. How did she ever manage to find such fragrances in the slums?
“Listen, Fezarn—”
Fes raised his hand, quieting her. “Don’t use that name.”
“I don’t know why you don’t like it. I think it’s nice.”
Fes squeezed his eyes closed. “You know why I don’t like it.”
“I know that your parents choose to use it. That should be reason enough for you to want others to.”
“Hearing it only makes me think of them. And it’s still hard.”
She took his hand and squeezed. He smiled over at her, wishing that things in Anuhr were easier than they were, but they were in the slums, a part of the capital of the Arashn Empire that made the emperor prefer to look the other way, a place where even his fire mages rarely came. It was left to men like Horus to keep the slums running smoothly. If not for Horus, Fes would’ve starved to death long ago.
“I’m sorry. I won’t use it again. I still think it’s nice.”
“It reminds me of my mother.”
Her gaze flicked down to his dagger before looking up at his face. She was the only person who knew that his daggers were the last memory he had of his parents. They had belonged to both his mother and father and when they had died—been killed, really—Fes had recovered them. They were precious to him.
“Go and finish this job. Return the prize to Horus and get the credit.”
“Just like that?”
“I don’t need the credit. Horus…” She shook her head, looking up at Fes. “It doesn’t matter. Just go and do what you need to in order to keep him happy. But make sure you get the right thing.”
Fes nodded. “Did he give you any idea how?” If what he’d heard about this place was right, there would be several items of value, but he was only supposed to grab one. He stared at the door at the end of the hallway. It was hard to completely make out, but that had to be where he was supposed to go.
She planted one hand on her hip and stared at him. “Now you want my help?”
“I don’t want your help, I just… Fine. I want your help.”
Her face clouded. “I was only supposed to keep track of you, and if you got in trouble, I was to—”
“Supposed to what?”
“To make sure the prize got back to him.”
“Just the prize? Not me?”
“I don’t think Horus worries so much about you. You’ve proven that there’s no reason to do so.”
That was true, and Fes hated that it was true. He had proven himself, thanks to that part of himself that he wished he didn’t depend on, but when it came to fighting, it wasn’t so much that he was good at it, it was more that it seemed to come naturally.
“We shouldn’t spend any more time in here,” Fes said, looking around the hall. He could see barely nothing, just the hazy outline, but with the faint lantern light in the distance, he had to believe he was heading in the right direction. What else would be down there?
They crept along the hallway, and Fes moved slowly but not nearly as silently as Alison. In that way, she was a much more skilled thief than him. It was why Horus usually preferred her. It made Alison safe in a way that Fes was not. Few people could ever really claim safety, at least not in the slums. And he felt particularly unsettled. Horus favored him now, but that was because he was tied to Alison. What happened if their relationship failed?
Alison looked over at him, almost as if knowing his thoughts. Fes forced a smile, hating that those thoughts rolled through him but unable to get rid of them entirely. He was no different than anyone else in the slum and wanted out, a way to a better life. For most, that meant working for one of the crime lords, using that as a way to leverage themselves to safety. Considering Fes’s reputation, he wasn’t sure that he would always be able to find safety.
As he made his way along the hallway, something pulled on him, drawing him toward one of the doorways. He paused in front of it, running his hands along the surface.
Why should he be drawn here? It was ahead of him that mattered, not behind the door. But there was no questioning that he felt something here.
As he stood there, his hand just above the surface of the door, he traced the heat on the other side. It was faint, but definitely there.
“Fes? What are you doing?”
Fes nodded at the door. “I don’t know. It’s just…” How could he explain it to Alison? It was almost as if he were meant to open the store, and that whatever he wanted to find would be behind here, but that wasn’t what Horus had sent him after. Horus had sent them after a prize, and it would be worth nearly two coppers. That was enough money to feed Fes for a week, especially if he stretched it.
“It’s down at the end of the hall.”
“Are you sure?”
“Fes, I know what we’re after.”
“I know what we’re after too, but if it’s so valuable, why do we bring it to Horus?”
“Because if we don’t, we’re dead. Besides, anything of value needs to be sold, and neither of us knows how to do that.”
Fes rested his hand on the door handle. It was locked. “I’m just going see what’s behind here.”
Alison glared at him. “Don’t be stupid. We’ve already been here too long.”
“Why don’t you go down the hall and I’ll meet you.”
“If I take care of this job and Horus learns of it—”
“How will Horus learn of it unless you tell him?”
Alison stared at him.
“You’d tell him?”
“Why wouldn’t I? He needs to know that I can take care of my assignments, too.”
“Even if that means that I fail?”
“Then don’t fail,” she said. “Don’t get distracted, Fes.”
He stared at the door. He couldn’t shake the sense that there was something behind there that he needed to know and he unsheathed his dagger, shoving it into the lock. With a sharp twist, the lock snapped, and he shoved the door open.
Alison stared at him a moment before hurrying down the hallway.
What was he thinking? This was the reason that people like Horus didn’t trust him with jobs. He failed to follow instructions, and when he got into buildings like this, merchant buildings outside the edge of the slums Horus controlled, buildings that he should know better than to enter, he went off on his own even when he knew that he shouldn’t.
And now?
He was in a strange storage room. There was a table at the center of the room, and shelves lined the walls. On the shelves were various odd sculptures. Fes approached the nearest shelf, and his jaw dropped open.
Not sculptures. Bones.
He could think of only one reason that there would be a place full of bones like this.
They were dragon bones.
Bones like this were valuable to the fire mages.
Could this be a fire mage’s warehouse?
That wasn’t where he was supposed to go. It was a merchant home, nothing more than that, and it wasn’t supposed to be guarded.
Horus wouldn’t have sent them into a place where they’d risk the fire mages. Not with Alison after him.
No. Something like that would be foolish and would be bound to draw attention to them, the kind of attention that even Horus was loath to attract.
Fes picked up one of the bones. It was long and slender and had a strange weight to it. The entire thing was cold, and the surface of it was smooth. Everything he’d heard about dragon bones said they were supposed to be warm unless one of the fire mages had already used them. There was power stored within the bones, and the fire mages used that power to perform their spells, magic that rivaled that of even the dragons they came from.
Fes set down the bone he was holding and replaced it on the shelf. If it was a real dragon bone—and forgeries were far too common—it had already been used. The used dragon bone might have some value, but not enough to risk angering a fire mage if that’s what this place was.
Fes continued to make his way around the room, staring at the shelves. Alison was right: He was taking far too much time here. He knew better than to linger. If he were caught here, the punishment would be severe. He would be outside of the slums, and because of that, Horus’s reach would be limited, if he even cared enough to try to help Fes.
Fes would be subject to the whims of the Dragon Guard. They were dangerous, soldiers who trained from a young age to become frighteningly skilled, the defenders of the empire. They were different than the commissioned army, though Fes would never serve in the army to know. At sixteen, he was of the right age, but he refused to submit himself to the empire. If they couldn’t take care of orphans like him, why should he bother fighting on behalf of them?
On the far side of the room, something seemed to shimmer.
Fes frowned as he approached it. Like the other items in this room, it was a bone, but it looked different than the others. There were striations of color to it, and when he lifted it, he found it warm.
Could this be an actual dragon bone? Could it still be active?
If he brought this to Horus, he would be rewarded. He would have to be.
Fes stuffed the bone into his pocket.
He hurried back out of the room and found Alison waiting for him in the hallway. He pulled the door closed.
“I don’t understand what you were doing.”
“You wouldn’t guess what I saw in there.”
Alison pulled a necklace from her pocket, holding it up. A blue jewel at the center reflected the light. The rest of the necklace was cast in gold, and it seemed to glow. “This is the prize. This is what Horus wanted us to come for.”
Fes patted his pocket, feeling the warmth from the bone. “We should—”
Footsteps thudded from the far end of the hallway, and Fes glanced over at Alison. She shook her head and swore under her breath, grabbing his arm and dragging him behind her. “See? We’ve taken too long. If we get caught, we have to worry about more than the Dragon Guard.”
They reached the door leading to the alley, and as they pushed it open, Fes thought he felt a strange stirring of warmth, and he glanced over his shoulder. He caught sight of a flash of crimson, followed by a blast of heat that dried his mouth. Before he had a chance to think about it, Alison shoved him forward into the alley. They raced ahead, reaching the street, where she dragged him all the way back through the slums and to Horus’s home.
“I can’t believe you, Fes,” Alison said as they went.
“Why can’t you believe me?”
“After everything that you’ve gone through, you let me get this first?”
“Maybe I wanted you to be rewarded. Maybe I didn’t want to be the one to claim the prize.”
“Don’t be stupid,” she said.
“Why is that stupid? How long have we known each other?”
“It’s been a year, Fes, but you can’t keep doing this.” She glanced over at him before entering Horus’s home. It was much nicer than others within the slums. He had a thick carpet across the floor, something that Fes had never seen anywhere else. The table and chairs resting near the hearth both matched, and from somewhere in the back came the smell of baking bread, a savory scent that made Fes’s mouth water. He doubted Horus would allow him to have any, especially now that he wasn’t the one to have completed the job.
Horus emerged from a back room, dressed almost regally in a chocolate-colored jacket and pants, smiling warmly at Alison before turning to Fes. “Did you get it?” he asked. He had a deep voice and flat gray eyes. He had to be in his fifties, but he was still fit, and he was still intimidating.
“We got it,” Alison said.
“The two of you?” Horus asked.
Alison pulled the necklace from her pocket and handed it over to Horus. “We got it.”
Fes glanced over at her guiltily. She was giving him too much credit. Seeing the way that Horus’s eyes lit up when he saw the necklace, Fes didn’t know if it was because of the gold or whether it was the jewel at the center. Either way, the necklace was far more valuable than the few coppers that Horus had offered for it.
Reaching into his pocket, he felt for the bone. It was warm, and it pressed against his thigh. How much would Horus offer for something like this?
Probably not nearly what it was worth.
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