It was a long and drawn-out scream, the kind that a person makes when they are utterly terrified, and they know they are completely helpless. Mira jumped when the woman’s scream rang out, nearly spilling the wine she was about to sip. Everyone in the Kitchen paused and looked toward the windows to try to glimpse the danger before it got to them. A few of them hurried to the windows, trying to get a look at whatever was happening. No more screams sounded out, so the more hardened pirates present just shrugged and got back to their drinking.

  “That happen often?” Mira asked Jamor.

  “Not that I recall,” Jamor said. “Poor lass.”

  “Poor lass? That was a blood curdling scream, and I’ll bet that whoever screamed like that is dead now,” Mira said. “That means nothing to you?”

  “It means nothing here,” Jamor said defensively, gesturing at the bar patrons. “She may have deserved it. People sometimes don’t pay their debts.”

  Mira began to rethink her present course in life. The people in this town were pirates. Real pirates. They were the type who would even associate with the ogres and goblins in that huge war galley, and everyone knew what blackhearts ogres and goblins were. She set her goblet of wine aside and stood up.

  “I’m heading back to the ship for tonight,” Mira said.

  “I’d like to hang out here for a while longer, I think,” Jamor said. He flicked his gaze upward at the balcony and just as suddenly looked back at Mira before she made eye contact.

  “All right. I’ll see you when you get in,” Mira said, not noticing the glance.

  When Mira left the restaurant, she noticed a few drunken pirates standing around the corpse of a naked woman, making rude comments. Her blood-stained dress and her heart were laying in the dirt road close by. Mira couldn’t help herself. She walked closer and had a closer look for herself. There was no blood in the dirt, though there was blood all over the poor woman’s chest and stomach. Mira saw the wound, a long, deep gash just below the ribs and sternum, and she had a flashback of a memory of when Juleen had suffered the same thing. Juleen looked just like this when Sivash was finished with her. Mira, quite shaken, walked quickly down the street and around the corner. Not seeing anyone immediately, she stepped into the shadow of the casino’s wall and then out of a shadow on the rooftop of the casino.

  It couldn’t be… Could it? Was there another demon worshiping cult operating out of Kraken’s Rock? That woman was murdered just like Juleen and Fayorette had been all those years ago, though only Juleen had had the benefit of a priestess close by to heal her. Juleen had been hurt profoundly by the experience, and though she had been physically healed, mentally, she may as well have been killed that night. She’d never been the same after that, closing herself off from everyone. The emotions of that experience washed over Mira, and she took a few moments to compose herself. Thinking analytically, she knew that the woman didn’t die in the street. She was dumped there. Mira activated her Gravity Adjusting Survival Pendant, or G.A.S.P. for short, and cast her Shadowmeld spell to blend into the shadows and stay out of sight. She walked along the vertical wall sideways like she was walking down the street below, even though she was parallel with the street, and positioned herself directly above the woman’s corpse.

  There was a light on in the room she was above, so she had a peek inside. It was a suite occupied by a single person, a man with horrible scars covering his exposed upper back in little squares like a quilt or a brick wall. He had black hair and wore expensive pants. He had a knife with a black handle in a sheath on his belt, and he held a goblet of wine with a hand that had a gold ring on one finger. It was a signet ring that had a crest of some sort on it, but she couldn’t see well enough to make it out from this far away. There were unlit candles of a dark red hue positioned on the floor around a big bloodstain and there was a pile of familiar looking, demon-shaped, red plate armor on the floor against the wall. The man unhurriedly turned around and walked toward the window. It took everything Mira had in her to make no sound at the sight of him. It was Kromwell Surekeel, her childhood nemesis, the bastard who tried to sack Stonekeep! Knowing now that he had followed in his father’s footsteps, she backed away and moved as stealthily as possible back up to the roof so she could think.

  What in the hells was he doing here? Just as importantly, she wondered how I had not found him yet. Fell Keep was protected from scrying magic, but Kromwell was half the continent away from Fell Keep right now. She wondered briefly if I wasn’t paying attention or something. She ruled that out immediately. Once someone got on my bad side, like Kromwell had, I would’ve dealt with that person with finality. Kromwell had earned my personal enmity many times over by abducting my sister and leading an army to lay siege to Stonekeep. Kromwell had to have gained a magical ability or trinket that protected him from the Amber Throne’s scrying magic. It was the only thing that made sense.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Whatever Kromwell was doing here, it couldn’t be good. She had to figure out what it was, and quickly, then get a message back to the Smith family somehow. Because Kromwell was probably doing the King of Fellton’s business, his presence here could be of national importance. Members of the Smith family were as good as dead if they couldn’t see Kromwell coming, too. Dortham had killed Kromwell’s father and ruined Kromwell’s life in Stonekeep, which was what prompted Kromwell’s alliance with the ogres and Felton for the invasion. Maybe she’d be able to shoot Kromwell dead after she found out what his plans were and put an end to them. Another glance at the corpse below reminded Mira that he’d definitely earned that fate. She needed to know what he was doing here first, however, or Fellton would just send someone else to complete their diabolical plan, whatever it may be.

  Mira closed her eyes and recalled her glimpse of the room. There had been no desks or letters lying about that would illuminate her. Maybe he had accomplices here with him. Mira peeked over the edge of the roof, making sure he wasn’t leaning out of the window. All clear. She crept through the shadows on the roof to the window of the next room over. It was occupied by a man who was just beginning to snore in bed. She slipped through the open window, alert to any changes of his breathing and any upraised and possibly squeaky boards, then walked along the wall and ceiling to get a better look at him in the dim room. Though she could see well in the dark thanks to her affinity to shadows, she sometimes missed details. She nodded to herself, recognizing him. The man in the bed was Bermin, one of Kromwell’s toadies in the gang he ran as a child. He was wearing a gold ring on his finger that looked suspiciously like the one Kromwell was wearing. She entered the room and looked closer, standing on the ceiling and looking down on him, Bermin’s face being only three feet away. He wore a gold signet ring that had the royal seal of Fellton on it. Someone bearing that ring would be able to conduct business in the king’s name, so those sorts of things were not given out lightly. She crept across the ceiling and over to the corner of the room to put a little distance between them, then she took a little magnifying glass out of her vest pocket. Whispering a spell, she peered through the glass and saw that the ring was glowing faintly and intermittently. It was magical, and she could feel it resisting her detection spell. She scanned the rest of the room but saw nothing else of interest. It had to be the ring that protected him from the Throne’s magic.

  Mira slipped out through the window and went from window to window around the top floor of the inn, carefully checking each one. On the opposite side of the building from Kromwell’s room she found a window with the faintest amount of greenish light coming from within. Remembering that the necromantic focus on the Sunset Isles shed a green light, Mira was instantly on alert, and glanced down to make sure she was still cloaked by shadows. She paused to listen but didn’t hear anything. Mira crept closer to the window and peered in using a little mirror on a stick that she retrieved from her vest. It was a trick she’d learned in childhood, and she was glad she used it. There were sets of glowing green eyes all around the room belonging to men in plate armor standing perfectly still. From her time on marshalling grounds in the militia, she knew very well that no one could stand perfectly still for very long in plate armor. Coupled with the fact that they all had glowing green eyes, she guessed they must be the undead minions of a powerful necromancer. Mira pivoted the mirror all around and saw a man in black robes sleeping on top of the bed with his dark-haired head turned the other way.

  Next to the bed was a nightstand with a large book on it and a white staff leaning against it. She withdrew the mirror to think. Those items looked familiar to her. Then her eyes went wide as she recognized the book. It was the necromantic book that Raynold had ended up using during Sivash Surekeel’s plot to destroy Stonekeep from within! The lettering made from tiny bones gave it away. She had seen a staff like that once before, too. It was held by the corpse of Ithion in the cave where the necromantic focus was hidden on the Pirate King’s private island. Surely it couldn’t be the same staff, though. It had been blown to pieces when the focus had been destroyed. Well, whoever had that book and a staff like that one and who could create undead knights was someone she didn’t have the ability to fight. Maybe she couldn’t even kill that person, whether she was able to sneak up on him while he slept or not. Those knights looked extremely dangerous, not to mention alert. She wondered if it was Raynold in that room, but she couldn’t be sure. It was very likely him, though.

  Mira had some investigating to do. She thought it likely that they had just fallen asleep, so she had some time to sleep herself. She didn’t want to try anything risky without being at her best, and she had some spells she needed to review and renew in the morning. Mira made her way across the rooftops back to the warehouse opposite the pier that the Unseen Blade was moored at and carefully scanned everyone and everything at the docks near her ship. She noticed one person who was loitering close by, keeping an unobtrusive eye on the vessel. He looked like the locals, however, and even nodded to one or two dockhands when they passed, so Mira guessed that he was working for whoever ran this shanty town. He didn’t fit in with either Kromwell or the ogres, which was what she was more worried about. If Kromwell or his crew knew of her presence, she’d be in mortal danger, and if they saw the Unseen Blade, it wouldn’t be long before they discovered her.

  Mira had to prepare herself and act quickly. First things first, though, she distracted the lookout with a noise she created with her magic. When he looked behind him, she used her shadow magic to appear on the deck close to the door. Hidden by shadows, she said the command word for the cabin door and slipped inside, locking it securely behind her.

  She was going to have a busy day tomorrow.