Month of the Shephard, Second Tenday, 8th Day, 767KD

Only two days have passed since my ordeal on the mountain, and once again I find my life in jeopardy. At least this time I am warm, and I have a platter full of food and bottle of spiced wine in front of me.

I could think of many worse ways to spend an evening, if not for the man standing behind me who awaits the order to kill me. To make matters worse, he appears to enjoy idly playing with the steel dagger that he will likely use to slit open my throat, or perhaps thrust into my heart.

Rany and Alec have proven to be a rather dangerous combination. Rany, I have learned, has a neverending supply of foolhardy schemes in his head, and Alec lacks the good sense to reject them.

After lengthy discussion of various capers involving robbery, swindling, bounty hunting and kidnapping, it was decided that Rany would arrange a meeting between Alec and a noble woman named Sylvera. Rany had heard that she paid handsomely for certain jobs to be done.

Making contact with the woman was a delicate matter due to the her prominent stature in the city. I am unable to relate in these pages how it was done, as I was kept in the dark.

The meeting took place at a party in a very large, lavish manor in the palace district. It was a part of the city I had not yet explored during my previous day's misadventures. Once again, I found myself in what seemed like a different city. We crossed a bridge into Crille's far eastern quadrant, riding in the back of a gilded carriage. On the other side of the bridge was opulance and grandeur beyond my wildest dreams. The streets were wider, cleaner and newer, not a single missing cobblestone to be found. Not a trace of manure. The massive buildings were all either centuries old and majestic or new and modern. The shops were elegant and extravagantly decorated, with merchants standing outside looking as important as kings.

We rode in a very expensive golden carriage - Rany's idea - down the extragant boulevards, arriving at a home that looked larger than the inn at which we were staying. It had a long private drive that went in a half circle around the front, and in between the house and the main boulevard lay an elegant manicured lawn the size of a small park, complete with a pond and fountains. The house looked more like a work of art than a place where anyone might live.

Armed men accepted our invitations - procured by Rany - and allowed the carriage to proceed through the iron gate. The carriage traversed fifty yards of the drive before hitting a bit of traffic, and we had to wait for the vehicles ahead of us to drop off their passengers. Alec grumbled, impatient as ever and scarcely able to sit still in the velvet seat of the carriage interior, but even he seemed a bit impressed by it all, turning his head to take in the splendor.

I looked down at my unfamiliar new attire. I was dressed in the finest clothing I had ever worn, and it was supposedly the clothing of a servant. Rany's clothing was identical to mine. The tailor used the same colors - gray and crimson - and sewed an emblem on our sleeves, which was now Alec Braun's creed. Alec himself was dressed in silk and armor that made him look like a prince.

Rany had given us a lecture on Crille politics. The local gentry in the city was fascinated with the outlanders. Parties were a nightly occurrence among this elite upper class, typically lasting well into the night. Word traveled to Rany - as word apparently tended to do - that outlanders were welcome at any party they wished to attend. Rany had thus acquired invitations with little trouble. The invitations had our names on them, engraved in gold. Mine read, "Handice, Son of Randol the Brave, of Shirin Mills." It gave me a strange feeling of pride to look at it.

When our carriage reached the front of the line, the valets - dressed in immaculate evening attire - opened the carriage door for us to exit, welcoming us warmly.

We proceeded among a crowd of well dressed guests, down a long stone walkway, through yet another gate manned by armed guards who nodded respectfully to Alec, and into a grand courtyard. It was decorated with flowers and fountains and a small waterfall at the end of a stream which meandered around the manor. More servants milled about, carrying trays with drinks and morsels of food, most of it unidentifiable to me, but smelling pleasant enough.

A dozen minstrels played, the music quiet and unobtrusive, but even the music sounded as if it was special somehow, as if it was meant only for wealthy or noble ears.

It was early night. Fires blazed. A breeze blew. Crickets chirped from their hiding places in the courtyard. The weather had warmed and the air was pleasant. It felt like the gods were giving us a taste of the Spring weather to come. The sky was crystal clear, black, the stars sparkling and the moon white and large, hanging low overhead.

Most of the guests lingered in the courtyard, sipping drinks, nibbling at the morsels of food, greeting each other and laughing. Many nodded and smiled at Alec. Rany and I seemed to be invisible.

Alec kept right on walking, not returning the nods or smiles, not even slowing down, crossing the courtyard and walking through the open double doors of the manor, the doorway ten feet wide and thirty feet high, large enough for a giant to walk through without any trouble.

Inside, more minstrels performed. They seemed to be everywhere.

Alec glanced around. "Rany, steal anything that isn't fucking nailed down," he said. "Handy, don't get too plowed. I'll be back."

With that, the three of us went separate ways. All of this had been meticulously planned by Rany.

I wandered the place, feeling self conscious, despite the fact that almost no one looked at me. I was just another servant, and servants were everywhere.

I went from one room to another. It almost seemed as if there was a different party in each one. In one room, there was a man juggling fire. Was it magic? I did not think so, but I watched for quite some time.

In another room, three women danced together in a lurid rhythm, naked from head to toe, their bodies painted. I stared, for I know not how long.

"Of course I would find you here," Rany said.

How long had he been standing there?

"What do you mean by that?" I asked Rany.

He scoffed. "Never mind. Time to get to work. I found the woman."

Once I saw her, I knew at once she was the one we were looking for. She had the look of a queen (or what I imagined a queen to look like). She stood out even among the scores of lavishly attired nobles. She wore a gown that looked as if it were stitched right over her body, made to fit her alone. Her skin was smooth and perfectly pale, her eyes a dazzling green, every strand of her chestnut hair perfectly placed, elaborately coiled atop her head. Above all, it was the poise with which she carried herself that was most striking. She possessed an absolute confidence, a serenity, as if nothing worldly could ever perturb her. She possessed grace, and perhaps courage.

She was surrounded by nobles hoping to catch a moment of her attention or even to attract a glance from her. Beside her stood a tall, lean man who adeptly kept others at bay, while two armed guards loomed behind her, their eyes taking in everyone, ready to pounce at any moment.

Rany approached first. He bowed as if he had done so a thousand times, as if he belonged in a royal court. He spoke to the tall man, who nodded with some reluctance and motioned with his head, a quick, impatient gesture.

Rany beckoned Alec forward.

“My Lady Sylvera,” Rany said. “May I present to you Alec Braun, outlander and monster slayer.”

Sylvera's smile was warm, her eyes seeming to sparkle. "A pleasure," she said, her voice smooth like the velvet of her gown. "I was just speaking to an outlander earlier this evening. She said she came from a place called Kan-tuck-ee. Do you know it?"

“Yeah, I’ve been there. It’s a fucking shithole. You got a job for me or what?”

Time seemed to stand slow down. I saw Rany's face freeze, the obsequious broad grin a mask to his own despair, Alec Braun fouling up the entire plan, for the gods know what reason.

Lady Sylvera's smile disappeared and her eyes flashed cold for just a moment, before returning to their unreadable placidity.

“Roane," she said. "Give them the details.”

She glided away, her guards just behind her as she carved a neat path through the crowd.

The tall man, Roane, remained. He fixed Alec with a piercing gaze, teeth bared in an unfriendly smile. “You displeased her.”

“Sorry.”

“Sylvera is not someone to displease, not even for a fucking outlander like you. Better pray you do not find that out.”

“Yeah, is there a goddamn job for me, or isn’t there?”

“There is,” said Roane. “It’s not that difficult, nor important, and it pays more than it should. There is a young woman in the dungeon of the city keep. She is imprisoned there, and Sylvera has decided she should not be, for reasons you have no need to understand. You are to free her. You are then to see that she arrives safely in Meridea, where you will take her to the Sanctuary. A certain ‘friend’ of Sylvera will make contact with you there. Do you accept?”

“How much?”

Roane laughed. “I suppose gaining an important patron in Sylvera is not enough for the likes of you. You will be paid five hundred gold once we have word the prisoner is free. Five hundred more when she arrives – alive – at her destination.”

“Seven fifty now. Fifteen hundred more at the end.”

“There are a dozen of your outlander people here that would kill for this assignment. The payment is not negotiable. And Sylvera will pay nothing in advance. If you wish, leave your man with us. I will personally put the coin in his hand the moment I receive word of the escape.”

“Whatever. I guess that works.”

“Very good. Know that if you fail, you will never again gain audience with Sylvera. Or with me.”

“Like I give a shit. Anything else?”

Roane’s mouth formed a smile. Yet his eyes blazed with hot anger. “For now, no. Another time, perhaps we will have more to discuss, outlander.”

Alec had already walked away before Roane finished his sentence.

That is how I found myself in this room, in the basement of the manor. Lars is here to keep me company, but he says very little.

Of course, I did not understand the danger when first I came down here. I stayed and enjoyed the party while Rany and Alec left to do the job. They had not been away long when a house guard, Lars, approached me and said that Roane had invited me for some special entertainment. I followed without much thought. He brought me to this room, which I found nicely furnished and well supplied with food and drink, but lacking in other guests. Nevertheless, I had no inkling that I was in danger until Roane himself came down to see me.

“How are you faring?” he asked me with that bared teeth smile.

“Fine sir.”

“You are comfortable?”

“Quite.”

“Excellent. The food and drink up to your standards?”

“Of course. Far better than I am accustomed.”

“Anything else you require? A woman perhaps?”

“No sir. Yet I am curious – where is the entertainment that Lars mentioned?”

Roane laughed. “Lars must not have been clear, or perhaps you misunderstood. You are the entertainment."

“I fear I do not understand.”

“You do not?” Roane’s eyebrows arched in surprise. He shook his head. “What a pity. The outlander risks your life with reckless abandon, and you are too young and naïve to even see it.”

“But Alec is taking all the risk, sir. Well, he and Rany.”

“Is he? He did not tell you what might happen, should his endeavor fail? Perhaps he did not know. Did not strike me as a very intelligent man.”

“He will not fail.”

“Good, good. A positive attitude. Such faith in your master. “ He laughed.

I began to realize he sincerely believed I had no more worth than a dog, and that this amused him.

I wanted to respond but could think of no retort.

Roane said, “Pray that your faith is well placed. If the rescue plot fails, no one can know that Sylvera was behind it. To ensure that, you cannot leave this room alive.

“But no worry," Roane smiled that frightening smile, the firelight reflecting in his eye. "I am sure your valiant master shall succeed.”