Rae returned with three gold Marks and a glint in her eyes. “That was easy.”
“Looked it,” Ash said. He studied the people passing them; Moneybags, Unsellable, Doting Father, Unsellable, Thinker. He would never have believed, back in Wichden, that people were so easy to divide; now he wondered how he’d never seen it before.
“You know, with all the extra money we’re making, we could go to the Institute by this time next year,” Rae said.
Ash’s stomach jumped. The Institute. He couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather go. “We’d be the greatest magicians ever!”
“I bet they know everything about everything,” Rae said. “Like the name of the monster in the swamp. Or how to make telescopes.”
“Do you think Sim will let us go?” Ash said.
Rae shrugged. “He hasn’t tried to chop us into pieces. I’m starting to think he’s genuinely just a nice person who wants to help us.”
“Me too; even though there are things that don’t make sense, like why he had clothes ready for us.”
“You could ask him.”
Ash held up his hands. “No way. I’m not doing anything annoying or inconvenient. You should ask him.”
Rae chewed on her bottom lip. “It is odd… I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to just ask.”
Ash nodded and gazed off up the road. A commotion of milling people pooled at the head of the street, pushing each other and squeezing against the sides of the buildings.
Rae turned to follow his gaze. “What…?”
Figures in dark robes appeared at the corner, five of them walking, or gliding, in synchronized steps. Everyone else in the street scrambled to get out of their way, clearing a path in the center of the road. Gaping hoods hid the figures’ heads in pools of shadow.
An inexplicable feeling of dread crept across Ash’s skin and settled low in his stomach.
“Faceless.”
A firm hand grabbed Ash’s shoulder and yanked him and Rae back into Sim’s store.
Sim slammed the door shut behind them, his face white, and shoved them deeper into the store until they couldn’t see the front window because of all the shelves.
“Down here!” Sim said. He shoved aside a carpet to reveal a wooden trapdoor. He swung it opened and ushered them down into a dry cellar.
Ash and Rae hurried down the stairs. The last thing they needed was to run into the Faceless Monks.
Sim stayed in the shop above and sweat gleamed on his forehead as he slammed the trapdoor shut. Light filtered through cracks in the floorboards above and Sim’s footsteps shook loose specks of dust.
Ash’s stomach clenched. “They—”
“Shh!” Sim hissed. “Keep quiet.”
Ash snapped his mouth shut and stayed frozen, kneeling at the bottom of the stairs. Rae knelt beside him, her arm giving off a comforting warmth in what had suddenly become a very chilly day.
Ash’s breath formed puffs of mist in the air and goosebumps covered the bare skin of his arms. He hugged his legs closer to his chest and strained his ears for any hint of noise.
Ten minutes later, Sim’s footsteps sounded above them and he opened the trapdoor. “That was too close.”
Light poured down into the cellar and Ash straightened. “Do they come here often?”
“Not usually.”
“But here in the capital, it’s not like in Wichden,” Ash said. “They can’t just invade people’s shops and kill people.”
“The Faceless Monks are the highest law in any of the kingdoms—above even the kingdom rulers themselves. Their sole purpose is to make sure people like you don’t exist, and no one is allowed to get in their way.”
Ash swallowed. He and Rae had faced enough trouble back in Wichden, but Sim seemed terrified.
“You may trick normal people into thinking you’re different ages but the Monks can sense it. They’d know. You must never let them see you, or even get too close.”
“We won’t,” Ash said, voice cracking. “We’ve managed to avoid them so far.”
“I’m serious. They will take you away, torture you, and you will never be seen again. This isn’t a joke, or an exaggeration. Do you understand?”
“We understand,” Rae said, gripping Ash’s arm in a white-knuckled hand.
“I don’t know what they’re even doing in this part of the city.” Some of the madness left Sim’s eyes and he turned back to face the street. “They usually stay near their temple, unless they’re hunting.”
“Hunting?” Rae said.
“Usually for matching artifacts. Despite the harsh punishment you can still find someone who makes or collects twin items. Less often, they’re looking for people…”
Ash and Rae shared a glance, turmoil stirring their stomachs.
“They’re monsters,” Sim whispered.
15
Later that night, Ash, Sim, and Rae sat in silence around a flickering fire in Sim’s kitchen. Barely-touched bowls of stew sat beside each of them, now congealed and cold. The fire did little to lift the shadows looming in the corners of the room or warm the cold dread that had settled over them.
Ash’s stomach squeezed and twisted as if it was rocking on stormy swamp water, and his chest tightened. He took a shuddering breath and let it out slowly, but the tension on his shoulders refused to lift.
Sim sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “I was saving this for The Day of Fel, but I think we could all use a bit of cheering up.” He reached beneath his chair where a package wrapped in brown paper lay hidden in shadow. He grunted as he pulled it up and held it out to Rae and Ash. “It’s for both of you.”
“You didn’t have to—” Rae said.
“It’s nothing. Go ahead, open it.”
The heavy object sat solidly on their legs as Ash and Rae peeled off the brown paper. The sharp, tearing noise filled the silence of the house and echoed back to them.
Inside they found a leather-bound book with embossed letters that reflected the firelight. Healing Herbs and Remedies. It bore the same symbol on its spine as the other one, a circle with two lines through it.
“I figured you know your other book inside out by now,” Sim said.
A flare of excitement rushed through Ash and chased away some of the dread. A new book! He glanced at Rae and she grinned back at him. This book was at least twice as thick as their other one, and it looked decades newer.
“It’s supposed to have all the latest treatments,” Sim said. “I got it from the apothecary. All of the healers there were trained at the Institute. The best of the best.”
“Oh, Sim!” Rae said. She lurched to her feet and wrapped Sim in a warm hug.
Ash followed not far behind so that the three of them formed a huddled mass in front of the fire. Their combined warmth continued to chase away the chill of the day and Ash’s heart lifted.
“There’s no reason for us to be sad or scared,” Ash said. “The Monks weren’t looking for us, were they?”
Ash and Rae stepped back.
Sim frowned. “No. If they knew you were here, they would have found you.”
“There,” Ash said. “So we’ve got nothing to worry about.”
A brief smile flickered over Sim’s face.
“We’ve managed to survive this long without being caught,” Ash said, standing taller. “We’ll be fine.”
Sim rubbed a hand over his wrinkled face and stared into the fire. “Do you know why the Faceless Monks hunt twins and matching objects?”
“Because they’re forbidden,” Rae said.
“Yes, but do you know why?”
Ash chewed on his bottom lip. “The Book of Talon says that…”
Sim waved his hand. “I know what the religious books say, but have you ever heard the real story?”
Ash’s gaze flicked to Rae and then back. “Real story?”
Sim nodded and shifted in his seat. “The religious books are fiction. They don’t tell the real reason for the Faceless Monks. Sit down; it’s something
you should know.”
Ash and Rae settled onto cushions in front of the fire, their new book nestled between them.
“It goes back two thousand years. Magic was more common then and there were no bans on twins or on matching objects. There also were no Faceless Monks.”
Ash’s gaze stayed fixed on Sim. If Sim had the real story behind why Ash and Rae had spent their whole lives being persecuted then he was determined to listen.
“But one day a set of twins came to learn magic and they were more powerful than anyone else. No one knows if they were always evil or if they became corrupted because of their power, but eventually they enslaved all of the kingdoms. They destroyed whole cities and sucked the life out of entire populations.”
Ash’s fingers dug into his knees. The Book of Talon talked about the evil twins but it never explained why they did what they did.
Sim’s gaze stayed locked on the fire, the orange flames reflected from his shining eyes. “It seemed that the whole world was lost. All the armies had failed, none of the noble families remained, and anyone with any strength was enslaved. Then, out of the dust, rose five Faceless Monks. No one knows who they were or where they came from, and they wore their hoods at all times, which is how they got their name.
“The Monks destroyed the twins so completely that their bodies were never found. The Monks then freed the people, but to stop anything like that from happening again, they forbid any twins from being allowed to live. Gradually the other religions rose up, but they all bow before that one rule. And so the Monks search out and destroy twins, which is why they must never see you.”
Ash swallowed and blinked, his eyes stinging.
The fire cast deep shadows across Sim’s face.
“Sim,” Rae whispered.
He blinked and seemed to rouse himself before turning to look at her.
Rae swallowed and fiddled with the hem of her pants. “Are we evil?”
An icy chill swept down Ash’s spine. He’d been wondering the same thing but had been too afraid to ask.
“No, Rae, you’re not evil. No one is born evil, least of all sweet children such as yourselves.”
“But the Book of Truth says that if Ovo and Ava…”
Sim shook his head. “No. Something happened to them to make them that way.”
Ash kept his mouth shut. He couldn’t help feeling that Sim wasn’t telling them something.
“Was it the magic that corrupted them?” Rae said. “Should we stay away from the Institute?”
Sim turned back to the fire and ran a hand through his thin white hair. “I shouldn’t have brought you here. At least in Wichden you were safe.”
“No, we weren’t,” Ash said. “The Faceless Monks came by three times just this year. They would have found us eventually.”
“And we weren’t happy,” Rae said, laying a hand on Sim’s shoulder. “We’d rather be here.”
Sim looked up at her through watery eyes. “But you’re not safe.”
16
Ash studied the people flowing past. Sim had finally given him permission to sell again and he was determined to make the older man proud. A young woman drifted up the street toward him, her eyes lingered on each young man as she went past, as if searching for a familiar face in a crowded room.
“Romantic,” Ash said out of the side of his mouth.
Rae nodded. “Good luck.”
Ash took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, putting himself in the girl’s shoes and then becoming exactly what she was looking for. He opened his eyes again and strode toward her with an open smile. She returned his smile with a crooked grin that wavered, as if she wasn’t sure he was smiling at her.
“How lucky that I found you,” Ash said.
“Me?” she said, looking to either side.
“Of course! I’ve been looking for someone just like you. Let me guess, you’re looking for a special someone?”
The girl’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”
Ash leaned in close. “Do you believe in fate?”
She nodded.
“I happen to have a perfume here that will make any man stop and take notice.”
“Honestly?”
Ash waved her toward the table and picked up a pink bottle, elaborately crafted into the shape of a woman. “Here, try it.”
He dabbed a small amount on the woman’s wrist and she held it near her nose.
“It’s beautiful! It’s like flowers and spring and spices all together.”
“I can already see men looking this way.”
The girl looked over her shoulder and caught a man’s eyes. She blushed and dropped her head. “It really works.”
“Just four silvers.”
The girl bit her lip. “That’s a lot of money.”
“I can go as low as three,” Ash said. He could have made up a lie about Sim beating him if he didn’t get a good price, but he was determined to stick to Sim’s rules, and that included never lying to the customer, the perfume did get men’s attention after-all.
The girl looked over her shoulder again to where the young man whose eye she’d caught was still watching her. “I’ll take it.” She plunged her hand into a pocket at her side and handed over three silver coins.
Ash took them and handed her the bottle with great ceremony. “Good luck.”
She nodded and drifted across the road toward the young man.
“It is a nice perfume,” Rae said.
“Yeah, but that guy was looking at her long before I spoke to her.”
“If it takes some perfume to give her the courage to talk to him, then it’s worth the three silvers.”
“You’re right. Okay, who shall we do next?”
His gaze traced up the street and stopped at the end where a crowd of people milled about. Above the buildings, a black column of smoke drifted up into the air.
“A fire,” Rae said.
“We might be able to help.” Ash scooped everything off their table and into a solid trunk. “That new book Sim gave us had a whole section on burns.”
Rae nodded and helped him load up. They hurried up the street, darting between people and ducking under low-hanging awnings. At the end of the street, they turned right toward the smoke but couldn’t see any flames. The crowd shoved against each other, either trying to get closer to see what the fuss was about, or pushing to get away from trouble.
The smell of sweaty bodies mixed with the growing scent of smoke and burning timber scratched the back of Ash’s throat.
“Hang on.” Rae grabbed Ash’s shoulder.
“What?”
“It’s coming from near Sim’s place.”
“What?” Ash looked up, in the excitement he hadn’t even noticed where they were going, but sure enough, the black smoke rose from the next street over, where Sim’s store was. “He could be hurt!” Ash dropped the trunk and pushed forward.
“Wait!” Rae said, hauling him back. “We don’t know what happened. There might be trouble.”
“He might need our help.”
Rae bit her lip and nodded. “I know; we just have to be careful.” She pushed their trunk into a shadowed alley and, still holding Ash’s hand, led him into the crowd. They moved quickly between the bigger adults but kept their heads low.
They rounded the next street to find men in the blue and gold of the City Watch pouring water onto the charred remains of Sim’s store. Orange flames still licked at some of the timbers but most of it had been reduced to rubble. Black soot stained the neighboring buildings.
Ash and Rae stumbled to a stop. They stared at the wreckage, mouths hanging open.
“What—?” Ash croaked.
“Maybe he survived.”
“We’ll ask the City Watch,” Ash said.
“No!” Rae yanked him back. “We have to be careful. We don’t know what actually happened.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
Rae scanned the crowd. “Ask the Time-Waster standi
ng by the corner. He should be happy to talk.”
Ash’s heart hammered. “We don’t have time to play games! Sim might need our help.”
Rae twisted him around so that she stared straight into his eyes. “We can’t rush this! We have to do it properly.”
Fear chased dark shadows across Rae’s face and her tight grip on Ash’s hand made him pause. She was right; they had to be careful. He took a deep breath and nodded. She released his hands.
Ash took a few seconds to slip into the mindset of a Time-Waster, someone who had nothing better to do than watch someone’s business burn to the ground. He slipped on the personality like a mask and then sauntered across the street to where his fellow Time-Waster leaned against a stone building.
Ash leaned beside him. “What happened?”
Time-Waster shrugged without looking at him. “Faceless Monks. Apparently he was harboring twins.”
Ash’s stomach clenched but he forced his face to remain flat. “Twins? Really?”
The Time-Waster shrugged but another man standing nearby sidled over to them. Ash looked him up and down. A Know-It-All.
“It’s not surprising really. I heard the old man who owned the place used to have twins of his own but they were taken by the Monks decades ago.”
Ash’s heart leapt into his throat and his expressionless mask slipped. Thoughts chased each other through his skull, none of them making sense and all of them vying for attention. Sim had had children of his own? Twins?
Ash swallowed and forced himself to take three breaths before he spoke. Still, his voice came out husky. “What happened to the old man?”
Know-It-All shook his head. “They killed him. Punishment for harboring, you know. He’s lucky they didn’t kill him the first time.”
Ash wanted to collapse, just fall to his knees and cry. He wanted to run into the building and find Sim, to save him. He wanted to hunt down every last Faceless Monk and destroy them all.
“You all right?”
Shadow of a Slave (The Blood Mage Chronicles Book 1) Page 8
