A plain gray stone ceiling and bandages that were so tight that he could hardly breathe greeted Huan when he woke up. He sat up, retched, and curled up as a wave of pain broke against his skull. When it passed, he lay back in the bed, his sweat soaking his sheets. He frowned. Tiger?
Sitting up again, Huan snatched at his neck and found that Tiger’s mask was still there. Slumping back, he closed his eyes and found the beast resting deep in a dark corner of his mind.
When Huan’s attention brushed against it, Tiger growled. Wounded. Weak.
Huan retched again and endured another wave of pain. Zeya’s knives had probably been poisoned or something. He’d catch up to her after- Where am I?
He managed to sit up without retching. The room he was in was small, with two lit lamps, no windows, two wooden chairs, a nightstand, and another bed that was… occupied? Huan peered at his roommate and then let out a bark of laughter. It was his sponsor, Lord Kalan, now looking a little better than he had two nights ago. So this is where he’s been.
The door opened. “Good, you’re awake.” Sir Marcus strode into the room.
Huan opened his mouth to say something witty, but then his sister walked in, her clothes covered in soot and ash. She stepped past Sir Marcus, pulled up one of the chairs, and perched in its seat like a bird on a branch.
Huan gripped his sheets, and Tiger stirred. “What happened?”
Mei smelled of death, fire, and magic.
His sister’s eyes drooped. “We tried to track down the thing that attacked him.” She pointed to Lord Kalan. “We found moving dead instead.”
What? Huan’s grip on his sheets tightened. “Why are you helping these people?”
“These people, eh?” Sir Marcus sat down in the other chair.
Huan glared at the knight. “Yeah, ‘these people’. Your problems are not our problems. She should be free and hunting, not getting into fights with moving dead.”
Sir Marcus’s anger curled his fists and clenched his jaw, but he forced it away, his eyebrows drawing together. “How are you feeling?”
Huan looked down. “Sore and hurt.” What’s his angle?
The knight chuckled. “Understandable. So, what did you learn?”
“There’s a woman, a mage, behind all of this, and she lives on the edge of town. If you hurry, you should be able to catch her before-“
“That wasn’t what I meant.” Sir Marcus leaned forward. “I meant ‘Did you learn anything that you could improve on?’ What would you do differently the next time you’re in that situation?”
Huan’s head came up, and he met the knight’s eyes with his own. “Bring my sword.”
“Do you need a sword?” asked Sir Marcus. “You have that.” He pointed to Tiger’s mask.
Tiger’s growl rumbled in Huan’s throat, but Mei was watching Huan like a hawk. Even shaking from exhaustion, she wasn’t going to let the beast have his way.
Sir Marcus sat back in his chair. “By the way, we had to say that your mask was a religious artifact so they wouldn’t cut it off of you. I didn’t want you to bite them. That mask has a mind of its own… So, anything else?”
Huan rolled his eyes, a motion that made his head throb. “With the benefit of hindsight, I’d definitely double check for people sneaking up on me.”
The knight searched Huan’s face. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.” Huan crossed his arms. “Did I pass?”
Sir Marcus’s eyes narrowed. “No, you did not. After all, you missed your biggest mistake: you didn’t ask for help.”
Huan scowled and flopped back onto the bed. “I handled it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” The quaver in Mei’s voice stabbed into Huan’s heart. “I could have helped.”
Huan sat up again, tried to meet his sister’s eyes, and couldn’t. “It’s… I’ll tell you about it later. It’s just I saw an opportunity and I took it.”
“And since you didn’t tell anyone else about this ‘opportunity’,” said Sir Marcus, “the culprit got away, leaving you holding your guts in the street. Was that fair to Barty? To your sister? To yourself?”
Huan jutted out his jaw. “What does fair have to do with it? I can do what I want with my life.”
Sir Marcus’s eyes hardened. “In that case, Barty should withdraw his sponsorship, and I’ll arrest you for traveling within Soura’s borders without permission. Mei here would either have to let you rot in jail, try to find you a new sponsor, or break you out. You said she should be free. Would she if you lost your sponsorship?”
Huan smirked. “That’s nothing. I’ve been to jail. I can handle it.”
“And if she fails, you’ll be back in Tuqu. I’ve never seen anything like that mask before, but something that makes people fight like beasts sounds like their kind of magic, and I’m betting they’ll want it back. Am I wrong?”
Blood drained from Huan’s face, and he looked away.
“Right.” Sir Marcus turned to Mei. “Are you going to stay?”
Mei mumbled something.
“Good.” Sir Marcus stood up and patted Mei on the back. “Make sure you get some sleep. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
He left Huan with his little sister and a comatose man.
After sneaking a glance at the noble mage to make sure he was asleep, Huan whispered, “I think we can escape to Vanuria.”
“Why?”
Huan’s head jerked back. “Y-You don’t want to live under their thumb forever, do you? Emperor’s tits, Sir Marcus just threatened us!”
Mei hugged her legs to her chest. “I don’t want to leave.”
“It’ll be better across the border. There’ll be lots of new animals to hunt, and we’ll be able to do whatever we want.”
“How do you know that?”
Huan gave Mei a look. “It has to be better than here.”
Mei shook her head. “Dwayne doesn’t think so. He hates Vanuria.”
Huan’s stomach clenched. “Are you going to trust him over me?”
“No, but-“
“Then it’s settled.”
His sister went still, her body fading into the shadows cast by the lamps. When she spoke, her voice was barely louder than the flickering flames. “Why did you hunt alone?”
Huan threw his hands up. “You’re not going to scold me too, are you? I saw an opportunity and I took it.”
Mei unfolded from the chair, stood up, and looked Huan in the eye. “You could have died. You didn’t tell anyone. Not Dwayne. Not Marcus. Not me.”
Huan winced. “It’s- It’s just that it’s my problem not yours. That thing, that wraith, stole my passport. I have to get it back.”
Mei rubbed her forehead. “Dwayne can get you another one.”
Huan grit his teeth. “I’m not asking him for help. I can’t show him weakness.” Not again.
“I don’t understand.”
“You nev-!” Huan stopped himself and took a deep breath. “Give me some time, and just go along with whatever they want for now. I’ll get us out of this. Don’t worry.”
“Okay,” Mei said. Then she left.
After the door had closed behind her, Huan glanced at the nightstand. A fresh change of clothes had been set there along with Liraya’s map and a unfamiliar knife. Picking the knife up by its black handle, he studied it, weighing its heft, and feeling its serrated edge with his fingers. Then his arm twinged, and he remembered where the knife had come from. Zeya.
Why didn’t it disappear like the others? Is there a limit to her power?
That didn’t sound right, but if it meant Zeya had one less knife when they fought next, he wasn’t going to complain. Ignoring the swimming room and the shooting pain, Huan slid out of bed, dressed in the plain tunic and trousers, and stumbled to the door. I’m going to chase down that witch and get her to tell me more about Vanuria.
He opened the door, and the posh steward of Walcrest strode in.
The steward blinked. “Ah, you were leaving?”
Huan turned his grimace into a smile. “I was headed to the bathroom.”
The steward’s eyes flickered up and down. “Then I’ll help you. Those wounds look particularly grievous.”
“Thanks.” Damn it.
After the steward had put Huan’s right arm around his shoulders, Huan looked up and jolted back. His sister was standing guard outside of the room, her eyebrow raised, an axe ready.
Where’d she get that? Huan gave her a half-shrug. “Gotta use the bathroom.”
Galkin started down the corridor, practically dragging Huan with him. “Young Master Dwayne wants a report of what happened tonight.”
Between the steward and Mei, Huan couldn’t find a way to escape and track down Liraya. He covered his sigh with a smirk. “Well, I am a great tracker, and so first I found the trail of the wraith that attacked us…”
Admaeus Speaks 
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