Chapter 35

Eastmarket District, Oldtown

As Quinn and Wraith walked along the dimly lit hallways, she mind-spoke—

Wait. Let me lead. I know the way and given your mood; we do not need to end every being we meet.

As you wish. Just get me there.

Her features melted and transformed into a squat female orc. She glared at him, turned and strode confidently down the dim hallway.

Quinn followed.

You know, you can’t hope to defeat a Daoine Royal.

I don’t have to. I just need to distract him and get that little girl out of his hands. Wraith, why did you go back to the brotherhood? When we last met, you were finally free of them.

She scowled.

She scowled again.

Agreed. The brotherhood has him. Now get out of my head.

The two walked up the final flight of stairs.

What is the layout inside?

After she described the room, he shouldered her aside and walked in.

The mirror-like black rectangle of a thinning-portal dominated the room. It was far larger than what Elisabeth or Wraith had described. The gate was almost fully grown.

A tall Daoine Sidhe was pacing back and forth by a table, gesturing to two Daemon-kind who stared at him from the other side of the thinning.

The room reeked of the smell of brimstone and blood.

But it was the Orb swinging from the Daione’s fist that snared Quinn’s attention. He stared at it as if it were a deadly viper poised to strike. Ten years of nightmares flickered in his head like an old-time silent movie.

Wraith’s cool thought speech penetrated his fugue state.

What is wrong with you? Snap out of it. Remember your promise.

But it was Katrinka’s whimper of fear that roused him. He tore his gaze from the orb and swept around the rest of the room.

To his surprise the dragon bank’s pet assassin, the wood-elf he’d seen at the bank stood behind the Daoine.

Another puzzle piece dropped.

Katrinka sat in the corner, staring dully at her feet. She had a torc around her neck that Quinn noticed with surprise was inert. Her eyes flickered a bit as he caught her eyes. Good girl, he thought with pride. She was a tough little thing, aware and waiting for whatever he could pull off to help her. As Wraith followed up behind him, the little girl cocked her head and stared quizzically at her. She had a sudden look of concentration on her little face. Quinn realized she was listening to Wraith’s mind speak.

Very curious. When did that happen?

He turned his attention to the Doaine, but not before he saw Wraith flip one of her blades to the little girl who caught it deftly and tucked it away.

Neither the Daoine nor the wood-elf caught the transfer.

“You are well come here, o mighty Shadow Walker,” he sang mockingly. “I have waited years for this moment. I tell you Shadow Walker, you cannot imagine how the curse boredom presses down on my kind. Day after day down endless years. I must tell you that these last few decades have done much to alleviate my suffering—and I have this as well.”

He held up the orb.

“Mere death is not your fate. I know well your weakness. To begin, I offer you a taste of some recent entertainments.

He dipped his fingers into a black bowl, that Quinn sensed was filled with the blood of a dwarf, muttered a harsh sounding cantrip and Quinn found himself frozen in place—

The glyphs on his back went inert. He lost his connection with the Other as well as the dragon’s razor in his arm.

The Daoine activated the orb. “I like to keep a memento of our meeting, Shadow Walker. It will give me ages of comfort on the long nights. My brother, Goddess shower blessings on him, was always telling me that the best torture is mental. So, let us find out if he was correct.”

The Daoine muttered another cantrip. The orb activated. Quinn’s mind was seized the way it had been in the dungeon all those years ago.