Loud cries in different languages, splashing water, and the stomping of hundreds of feet battered Artanna’s ears. The Hundred leader made her way through the crowd accompanied by several fighters, cursing to herself the ships arriving that morning. The fair season was coming up, and the traders were off their rocker.

There were so many people. Some of them even had to be elbowed out of the way. Shrain was out in front of Artanna, and he was the one casually knocking everyone to the side as if he was cutting grass. The tangy smells and sounds were making Artanna sick—her head had been bothering her since the morning. But it was a bad premonition that was really on her mind.

They were almost there. Artanna hoped the news Val, her secretary, had brought her that morning was mistaken. She hoped, though there was little positive to make of the combination of circumstances. The cordon of city guards and Guiro’s familiar crimson mantle put paid to any doubts she was still harboring.

Shrain was first to see everything and stopped so suddenly Artanna plowed into his shoulder. The Hundred leader swore, instinctively held her hands to her temples, and tried to push on ahead, though she was stopped by an enormous arm. The giant looked around for a few seconds, studied everything he could see over the heads of the guards, and finally turned to the woman.

“You don’t have to see this.”

“Yes, I do.” The Vagran shoved his arm away.

Guiro held out an arm.

“Artanna, I’m not sure—”

“You’re never sure about anything,” Artanna barked. “Let me by, or I swear, there will be one more body on this street.”

Guiro gave in, shook his head sadly, and motioned for the guards to step aside. The view they opened to the Hundred leader made her head pound even harder. Her stomach flopped, and she very nearly spewed her meager breakfast all over the corpse.

Gaining control, the mercenary woman dropped to her knees next to the body. What had been breathing and cracking jokes the day before, what had once gone by the name of Rianos, had been turned into minced meat. There were too many wounds for one death. It was a chunk of meat spattered with blood, swill, and shit. The only thing left to identify the healer were his long, straw-colored hair and the torn Ennian clothes he was wearing—his favorite tunic, one he’d washed until it was practically worn through. Artanna cleaned the dirt from the surviving cheek and saw the brand.

Val had been right.

“Ri,” the mercenary sighed. “Who could have done this to you?”

“I can’t imagine who would do that kind of thing,” Guiro said softly as he walked by. “I’m sorry, Artanna. I’m really sorry.”

Without taking her hands away from her dead friend’s face, the woman looked up at her lover.

“This wasn’t just a murder, Federigo. It was revenge.”

“Possibly. But for what?”

“How should I know?” snapped the reply. “Rianos had a long story. Where did they find him?”

Guiro motioned in the direction of a wooden house with windows lined by boards cut roughly with an axe.

“Over there, today at dawn. He was in that corner.”

“And nobody saw anything?” Shrain asked, surprise filtering into his tone. “It may not be crowded here, but it’s not abandoned.”

“Nobody.”

“Shit.” Artanna pulled herself to her feet and went over to the house. The cordon parted to let her through.

She took a close look around the area, but there was nothing to be seen besides the remains of old holiday wreaths blown there from the river. She silently collected her thoughts. Who could have had it out for the harmless Ennian? The religious fanatics in Givoi weren’t thrilled with him, but Artanna was the only one who knew about Rianos’ gift for sorcery. And she kept a tight lid on her tongue. The healer had nothing to steal, and nobody really bullied him in the city. She couldn’t figure it out.

Guiro came over to Artanna and pressed a shoulder against her as if by accident. It was the only expression of care he could afford her with people around.

“When did he go missing?” Federigo asked.

“He left yesterday afternoon,” Shrain replied. “When he didn’t come back after dinner, we sent people out looking for him. They checked the herbalist’s since Rianos was supposed to pick up some things there, and they said he stopped by, took what he needed, and headed home.”

“Did they find anyone who might have seen him on the way home?” Artanna rubbed her temples wildly. The pain in her head was growing unbearable, the stench was intolerable, and her stomach continued heaving. “And what could he have been doing here? It’s nowhere near on the way.”

“There are no witnesses,” Vezzam said.

A murmur broke out from the direction of the square. The cordon parted to make way for a squad of armed men wearing the Brotherhood chevron, and the Hundred leader instinctively dropped her hand to the hilt of her sword.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Artanna. Please, just don’t do anything stupid,” Guiro hissed.

Tanor himself, a large, hefty guy covered from head to toe in thick leather, was out in front. His mercenary leader jacket was so tight that it looked ready to burst at the seams. Smiling broadly, Tanor strutted majestically past the Hundred fighters and walked up to Artanna, the sunlight reflecting off his bald head. Two strikingly similar mercenaries right behind Tanor glanced at each other and simultaneously adjusted belts loaded with knives.

“What the hell did you bring the Chironis here for?” Artanna asked in place of a greeting.

Tanor turned to the brothers and shrugged.

“They volunteered themselves. All we want is to pay our respects.” The tiny eyes framed by old scars flashed cunningly before settling on one of the Hundred fighters. “What a loss. Who’s going to patch up your scrawny butt now?”

Artanna measured both Chironis with her eyes. Behind the brothers, a swanky hat and its colorful feather flashed—Piraf. The squad leader waved silently.

“Impressive,” Artanna replied, her voice strained and her eyes meeting Tanor’s. “It’s amazing how fast news travels. After all, I just now confirmed that this chunk of meat is my healer.”

“You’re not wrong—I do like being the first to find things out.” The Brotherhood leader drooped into a playful bow. “How else are you and I going to divvy up our beautiful city? My eyes and ears are everywhere.”

Artanna stepped closer and smiled nastily.

“The whole thing is getting interesting. This is your territory, so my guy met a foul end on your turf. Where were your eyes and ears then?”

Tanor flashed her a lazy smile.

“They may not always be as attentive as they should be. We’re mercenaries, after all, and things happen. Our patrols can’t cover an area as big as mine.”

“Exactly. You’re paid good money for shit work.” The mercenary woman nodded toward the viceroy’s aide. “Signor Guiro, please note that Master Tanor admitted that himself.”

“Oh, so you’re going to accuse me of something now. But of what?” The wide grin bared yellowed teeth.

“My man was killed in your territory,” Artanna replied, spitting out each word and stepping closer to Tanor. “When we split up the city, you swore to the viceroy that you’d keep the peace. The Brotherhood has security for the foundries and the port, and you fell down on the job.”

“Like everything’s so fine and dandy in your parts.”

“Nobody gets hacked to pieces in my quarters,” the mercenary woman hissed. Her fingers tightened around the grip of her sword. “Of course, your people might have just been following orders. You’re the one to profit when my forces are weakened, and robbing the Hundred of our best healer is one slick move.”

Tanor listened to Artanna’s tirade with unfeigned interested until he finally burst out laughing.

“You really did have a few drinks! Have you still not sobered up from last night? I heard quite a bit! From the sound of it, you and Fester turned practically the whole tavern upside down.”

“Wait a second!” Vezzam barked so loudly that Tanor jumped in surprise. The Vagran went over to the body. “He’s holding something…”

“What is it?” Guiro asked.

The Vagran pried Rianos’ fingers apart.

“Curses…”

“Say it, whatever it is,” Artanna ordered. Her voice cracked, and she mentally cursed herself for her weakness. Not there, not then, not in front of the rabble.

“Damn. See for yourself.” Vezzam held out a Brotherhood badge. “And you, Pops, have even more explaining to do.”

“Shit,” boomed Shrain.

“Master Tanor, explain yourself,” barked Guiro.

Artanna ignored the mercenary and turned to Guiro.

“All of you, listen!” The Hundred leader’s voice rose; she jabbed a finger in Pops’ direction. “I, Artanna nar Toll, accuse this man of violating his agreement with the viceroy. I accuse Tanor Sardo of poorly guarding the territory assigned to him, leading to the death of my man. I accuse his people of the murder of an innocent. And I demand the viceroy personally look into the tragedy.”

Alarm rippled through the onlookers. The Brotherhood fighters surrounded their leader and demonstratively placed hands on swords, eliciting a similar and instantaneous response from Shrain, Vezzam, and the few other Hundred mercenaries.

“Slander!” Tanor roared. “Absurd! I don’t know anything about this! It’s a damn setup. She just wants to get her fingers all over my territory—how far is this Vagran whore willing to go before she controls the whole city?”

“No further than she’s permitted.”

Guiro flinched when he heard the viceroy’s familiar voice.

“Signor Kirino.” The mercenary woman bowed in greeting, though she still didn’t relax her grip on her weapon.

Tanor stumbled awkwardly in an attempted show of courtesy.

“Good day, Signor…”

“Silence!” the viceroy shot back viciously. “My condolences to the Hundred.”

The Vagran woman nodded. Signor Kirino, leaving his escorts behind, gestured to the mercenaries to put their weapons away. He then grunted as he crouched next to the body of the healer and started looking over the wounds carefully.

Artanna tracked his every move. They weren’t friends, though they weren’t enemies, either—Kirino had a good idea what the Hundred was up to, and he was certainly not in favor of it. An old man with little strength in him, there was still something left that appearances concealed. Kirino was very much alive, he had a sharp wit, and his memory was incredible. Too incredible, Guiro thought. Sometimes, it caused trouble.

The viceroy placed a hand over his wrinkled face and stroked his gray beard.

“Do you have any hypotheses regarding the killer?” he asked Artanna.

The latter nodded.

“He was holding one of Tanor’s chevrons in his hand. Who exactly it belonged to, I don’t know.”

“Did he have any enemies?”

“None that I’m aware of.”

“But you certainly do, Artanna.”

“You think this was a message for me?”

“For all of us.” The viceroy stood up and glanced over at the alley where Rianos had been found. “Pulling something like this a couple blocks from the town hall… It’s a strong message.”

“And you think somebody’s declaring war on me?”

“Hopefully, just on you, Artanna.” Guiro offered the wobbling viceroy his arm. “But whatever it is, we all need to be careful until we figure out what’s going on.”

Artanna nodded.

“The dead man was a follower of the Way,” she said. “Would you permit us to take his remains and perform the rituals?”

“Of course,” the old man replied. “The ceremony expenses will be paid for out of the city treasury. I’m sorry this happened—we were preparing to give the healer citizenship in a couple years.”

“Thank you, Signor Kirino.”

The Vagran woman took off her cloak and handed it to Shrain, who used it to cover the mutilated body.

“But the fact that a crime like this could be committed on territory under guard does interest me.” The viceroy tugged on his beard, staring at Tanor. “It really does. We’ll figure this out soon, so I’ll be expecting to see you both. In the very near future.”

He glanced at the two mercenary leaders, they nodded, and he headed toward the other side of the square.

Guiro hurried after the viceroy, throwing a worried glance at Artanna as he went. The guard dispersed. When Kirino and Guiro disappeared into the crowd, Tanor finally wiped the fawning smile from his face.

“This is a setup!” The Brotherhood leader pulled out a knife and closed the distance between him and Artanna. “You probably arranged it yourself. What, you think you can get away with anything since Guiro is screwing you?”

The mercenary woman stood motionless, sensing her fighters’ rage.

“Easy, boys,” she said gently, brushing some hair out of her face. “Tanor is a moron, of course, but he understands that any harm he does to the Hundred before the viceroy finishes his investigation will make things worse for him. Isn’t that true, my dear?”

Tanor spat between her legs and stared at her sullenly.

“Only until the investigation.”

Artanna let that go as well, turning to her troops.

“We’ll give the body to the fire in the manor. Call the master. Third, you’re up,” she said wearily to Shrain.

The giant exchanged glances with Vezzam, and the pair rolled the body up in several cloaks. Without much effort, Shrain picked it up and started making his way through the crowd.

They got to the manor without saying a word. Nobody was angry, nobody cried, nobody lamented. Rianos didn’t care, anymore, and the only thing Artanna could do for him was find out what monster could have committed such an abomination.