Aaspaelwin wandered through the empty streets of Toin Caas. Stars glittered above and one of the two moons peeked out behind the dark buildings, just a thin sliver of light. Along the main streets, lanterns glowed, casting pools of yellow light around them. Crickets and other bugs chirped in the night. If he hadn't been alone, he'd found it charming. But now, he nervously eyed every shadow and his heart skipped a beat each time a voice called, laughs escaped from open windows, or he met groups of drunks. He pulled his cloak tight around him, making sure time and again that his hood covered his pale face.

Why behind the bath, he wondered. Couldn't Hapow have picked a more nearby place? Though, perhaps it was closer to him? He glanced into another dark alley. Something moved and he sidestepped, gulping. A laugh followed and a bent old woman stood from beside a huge barrel, dressed in rags. Aaspaelwin sighed in relief but increased his pace regardless. At one point, a group of ikelos and minotaurs blocked the path he'd intended to go. They turned and stared as he approached, their eyes reflecting the light of the lanterns, glowing like demons. Feeling very small, Aaspaelwin stopped, uncertain.

'Who're you?' one of the ikelos barked, making him jump. Yapping laughter erupted from his friends.

'You can't be here,' another hissed, baring its sharp teeth.

'Uh, I'm just passing by. Could you, uh...' he faltered.

'You wanna pass? Sure!' The first ikelos said, smiling widely.

He almost sighed in relief when they blocked the path completely.

'You just gotta pay the fee,' a minotaur added and stepped closer, his huge bulk towering above Aspen.

'Uh, actually, I just recalled. This is the wrong way. So sorry to disturb.' He gave them a weak smile and backed off. Then he turned and bolted. They laughed but didn't follow.

Once safely away from them, he slowed to a walk, panting and hot from the run. He wished again Sekafi had stayed. He didn't blame the thugs, it was hard to get decent jobs in Toin Caas if you weren't human, or at least human-like. He and Sekafi had been lucky that way. But that appeared to have changed. He wondered if they'd be joining the thugs soon, if they couldn't get any reliable work.

Aaspaelwin found the bathhouse, a large lumbering building lit in the front by lanterns. He looked around the empty front yard and grasped the knife in his belt to reassure himself before walking around the side of the big building. The shadows in the narrow alley were so thick he almost couldn't see the ground, but once he stepped out of it to the back of the bath, a single lantern dangled from an opposing building, spreading a weak light. He didn't see anyone here either and stopped, a shiver coursing through him. Maybe Sir Hapow had played him?

Scuffing to the side had Aspen spin around just as a shadow detached from the wall a bit further ahead. His heart leapt into his throat and he staggered back a step. As the figure entered the faint light, he recognized the burly man with his stubble covered caramel skin, dark frowning eyes, and black hair.

'Sir Hapow,' he breathed in relief.

The man smirked. 'Did I startle you, Ghost?'

Aspen crossed his arms and flicked back his hair in annoyance. 'I've got a name.'

The man smiled, almost friendly. 'Beg your pardon, Aaspaelwin.'

He wasn't sure if he meant it, but decided not to push his luck. 'Where were you?'

'Last time?'

'No, the time before that, of course. Yes. You didn't show up, and we waited for hours!' The guard glowered at him and Aspen took a step back, his blood rushing in his ears. Why couldn't he keep his mouth shut?

'Something came up that I couldn't ignore. Unlike you, I've got an important job to maintain.'

The insult burned but he bit back an angry retort and simply stared at him.

'I had to find out what happened to Hiaashaqwi,' Hapow muttered, throwing a glance over his shoulder. 'But I did what you asked me to. It's not looking good.'

Aspen forgot his anger and asked, 'What happened to Hiaashaqwi? What's going on?'

Sir Hapow made a face. 'He got discharged quite suddenly, and I had to find out why. There were claims he'd mismanaged his job, left doors unlocked and unguarded and such bullcrap. Nobody did his job better than him. I had to go find him before he left the city.'

Aspen listened, surprised at this turn of events. He hadn't expected one of the best guards of the Council to get fired on such baseless claims. He knew Lady Hennaja wouldn't have sent these two with him if they weren't good. Though he'd wished they'd been nicer, something clearly wasn't right here.

Sir Hapow continued in a lower voice, 'The Council is in a terrible mess. Many people have died and been fired since Lady Hennaja disappeared. Master Owadro has taken over the top position and Lady Ileena supports it. Always follows his lead. She's acting very strange if you ask me.'

Aspen nodded, recalling how distracted and stressed she'd seemed on their last meeting. 'Do you know why?'

'Not exactly, no. I'm trying to figure things out, but I'm just a guard.' He sneered.

Aspen didn't dare say anything.

'Anyway, I got something for you,' Sir Hapow whispered and pulled something out from a pocket. A small piece of parchment with something scribbled on it. 'I found it in that room. I never saw the corpse though, as I couldn't access it for hours. I believe they overlooked it as just a piece of scrap on the floor. It lay under a chair. I think the man might have dropped it, or it slipped from a pocket or something. Lucky nobody else saw it.'

Aspen leaned in closer, excited and curious. Hapow let him take the note and he hurried to unfold it. Inkblots and the messy handwriting showed it had been written in great haste.

”Grapher, go to Salabil Kadaj in Yaarpa for aid. It's here!!!”

'Grapher?' Sir Hapow, asked in a low tone. 'That you, Ghost?'

Aspen nodded. 'Cartographer, or mapmaker. That's what I am.'

'Then this note is for you.'

Aspen stared at the handwriting. It looked familiar. Lady Hennaja. She must have written it shortly before she got ill. Before she got attacked. Had the annoying man been intercepted, or had he accidentally died right before he could deliver the message? Too much of a coincidence, Aspen thought. It's here! What was here? He barely dared think about it.

'What do we do now?' Sir Hapow asked.

Aaspaelwin almost laughed. Why did he ask him of all people? Had the guard lost his mind? Or was it his way of apologizing? He shrugged. 'I'll have to go and see this Salabil, I assume. But how do I find one woman in an entire city?'

'Maybe she's well known?' Sir Hapow suggested.

'Maybe.'

Silence settled between them for a while as they pondered their options.

'Well, I gotta go, Ghost,' Sir Hapow said, startling Aspen. 'I've got work in the morning, and I'd rather not be seen skulking about. If you need me, leave a message with the innkeeper at the Red Manticore. She can be trusted.' With that he turned and left, his cloak fluttering behind him, merging with the shadows.

Aspen swallowed and glanced about. While he didn't like the man, he'd felt marginally safer in his presence. He watched the note in his hand one more time before crumpling it and stuffing it into a pocket and turning his steps homeward.

The walk through the dark city was no less nerve-racking the second time. Aaspaelwin took a bit of a detour to make sure he wouldn't run into the ikelos and minotaurs again. The longer route, however, confused him and he took a few wrong turns. He ended up having to walk down a long dark alley, to cut through a block and get back on the right path.

Hurrying his steps, he hoped the place would be as empty as it seemed. He glanced at the dark sky where the moon crescent of Anas, the largest moon, glowed faintly and the stars sparkled, carefree and calm ín the heavens. No sungod would watch over him now, he thought nervously and returned his attention to the ground just in time to avoid stepping into a pile of garbage. He jumped sideways and knocked over a wooden board he hadn't seen in the gloom. The resounding crash had him cringe. He stood in silence a few moments as someone shouted a little distance off. Nobody came to investigate the noise however. He breathed out and stepped forward again when scuffing right behind him made him freeze in midstep. The hairs on his neck prickled.

Aspen twisted around, ready for anything, but there was nothing. The alleyway lay dark and empty.

'What?' he breathed in the silence. Positive he'd heard something, he watched every shadow for a while. Nothing moved and he couldn't make anything out in the dark. Swallowing, he grabbed the hilt of his knife and turned to leave again.

Another shuffling.

His entire back tingling with tension, Aspen forced himself to ignore it and keep walking. He fixed his eyes on the bright spot where the alley opened into a wider street. So far away. The noise crept closer. After a few more steps, he couldn't take it and spun around.

He stared.

A dark mass occupied the space between the walls, two yards up into the air, squeezed into the narrow space. The shape lowered, a large elongated form filled with reflective bulges. Eyes. All blinking independently. Aspen opened his mouth to scream but only a faint squeak escaped. He staggered backwards, fumbling for the knife as the monster's jaws unhinged and opened wide like a three-petaled flower of death. Rows of teeth glinted in the faint light and something dark flicked past his face. He recoiled in horror. Its poisonous tongue. The jaws clapped shut and Aspen backpedalled and fell. Numb and frozen with terror, he landed hard in the dust, his hood falling back. The jolt sent him scrambling and he jumped back up with the knife in his hands. And stopped.

Nothing moved in the empty alley and only Aspen's ragged breathing disturbed the silence. His eyes darted from shadow to shadow as sweat trickled down his back. Where had it gone? For a long time, he could do nothing but stand on shaking legs, almost too weak to carry him. Slowly, his frayed nerves calmed enough for him to be able to think again. He watched the walls and the sky carefully. There was no sign of the monster. No claw marks, no movements, no strange shapes. Just an empty alley and shadows. Nothing dangerous. Had he imagined it? Spooked by the darkness and the ominous note from Hennaja? Clutching the knife in his clammy hand, he backed off towards the street and the lanterns' soft glow. Had it really been there? He glanced up again. Nothing. Why hadn't it killed him? Unless it hadn't been there. Had it just been his imagination?

'Are you alright?'

Startled, Aspen spun and lashed out with the knife, missing the man behind him by inches.

'By the Dark Ones, what's your problem?' the man shouted and jumped back. 'I was trying to be nice, asshole.'

Aspen stared at him, faltering for a few seconds before yelling, 'I... Did you see it? Did you see anything in the alley?' He pointed back to the narrow space between the buildings.

The man backed off farther, shaking his head. 'You're crazy! Nothing's there. You're one of them half-breeds aren't you? Can't trust people like you.'

'I'm sorry,' Aspen said, realizing he still held the knife out. He sheathed it, but the man already walked off down the street, cursing loudly about non-humans infesting the city and making life unsafe.

Exhausted and trembling, Aaspaelwin looked after the man, then back to the alley. Had there really been nothing? Was he going insane? He combed his hair back from his sweaty face with a shaking hand, letting the faint breeze cool his skin. Then he moved away from the spot, keeping his eyes on the opening to the alley and the rooftops until he couldn't see them anymore. Then he broke into a run and didn't stop until he arrived at Gaen's shop.