There was, of course, no way for either Darus of Haqs or Aurin Kavafis to know exactly how well his scheme had worked. He trusted in Ansel, and the old witch had shown himself to be reliable in the past- but even with Aurin's keen senses, it was damnably hard to spot the spirit in question. Was it ...

Ansel glared at Aurin, though there was no real fire in it. "Old man, old man ." Gerhard groused, as though Aurin had not heard him bemoan the advance of old age a thousand times, "Count yourself lucky that this old man is not ten years younger. Ich reiß dir den Arsch auf! " The...

The old man snorted at Aurin's suggestion. "Trapping a spirit in Imogen's boudoir is a fairly sure way to execute it, I would say. Or... it would be, were it another sort of spirit. She's quite used to seeing these, as I am the only summoner of the sort in the southern forests, to the best of ...

The old Sunsinger frowned at the bound spirit, looking very troubled by the whole situation. "Not without a Demon Gem." the old man said, slowly, "But I wouldn't use that, even if I had one. Such techniques are cruel to the spirits, crueler than you could know." Ansel tramped ar...

Ansel had been somewhat surprised to see Aurin, but he was utterly unfazed by the man's use of different names. Well, that was hardly surprising, was it? For all their affectations and strict hierarchy, the Sunsingers were smugglers and mercenaries first and foremost. Doubtless Gerhard had been req...

Darus' vision fogged and blurred around the edges, shadows swirling and extending little tendrils inward. The ghostwine's taste was bad enough, certainly, but it went much deeper than that- a sense of profound nausea reached down through his gut and sank into his very soul. Perhaps that was unavoid...

That strange meeting was the last time that either Darus or Aurin Kavafis would see the two men for some time, and the circumstances of that fact were... unusual. The next morning, Darus made his way to the train station as they had agreed, and swiftly identified the train in question. There, the c...

The two men looked at each other- Louis serene, Hodgekins plainly apprehensive. Then they nodded, and Louis reached forward to grasp Darus' hand. It was a surprisingly gentle handshake for so huge a man; he didn't try to crush or overpower Aurin at all. However... As Louis leaned forward to shake, ...

"No, no, no." Louis said, and there was undisguised and obvious frustration in his voice, "The Imperial pet has been kept in luxury for decades, and that includes... ah, a harem." "Turtle harem." spat Hodgekins, like a curse, "Ludicrous. A ridiculous thing." ...

"Why, Mr. Darus, I thought you were a merchant, not a highwayman." the huge accountant's words were harsh, but the tone of his protest was mild; the man knew when he was over a barrel. Still, there was no reason to settle for the first offer. "Though it is ridiculous to think that Ha...