Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks

Thren there. Without Thren he’d accomplish nothing.
    As he neared the back of the mansion he heard the sound of a scuffle. Curious, Senke pushed open a door leading into a small but well-lit dining hall. One Serpent member lay dead on the floor, another bleeding as he fought a young man with a dirty gray cloak and a torn mask over his face. Senke felt his jaw drop at the sight.
    “Impossible,” he said.
    His voice drew the Serpent’s attention for the briefest moment, and that was all the young man needed. He slipped closer, jammed his dagger through ribs, and then slashed to the side. His opponent dead, the boy turned and dropped into a combat stance Senke recognized well, considering he’d taught it to him.
    “What are you doing here, Aaron?” Senke asked, not at all fooled by the mask.
    “Not Aaron,” he said. “I’m Haern. Aaron is dead.”
    Senke shook his head, hardly able to believe it.
    “How many have you killed?” Senke asked as he shut the door.
    “Five,” said Haern.
    “Five?” Senke laughed. “You’re out of your mind, Aaron. Sorry.
Haern.
I thought you were with the priests?”
    “I escaped,” Haern said. He dropped his smaller knives and took a larger pair from the bodies, then tore off one man’s cloak and wrapped it around his shoulders. Cleaning the blood off the daggers with the cloak, he tucked them into his belt and tightened the mask over his face. “I’ve come to stop this, Senke. Will you help me? Or must I kill you too?”
    Senke shook his head, torn between horror and hysterics at the boy’s audacity.
    “I won’t help you,” he told him. “But I won’t stop you either. I’m getting out, Haern. Tonight.”
    “Out?” asked Haern. “How?”
    Senke slumped to his rear.
    “I had a feeling Thren’s plan was all a lie, so when he told me the new one, I wasn’t surprised. So for a rather handsome amount of coin, I sold word of it to the king. In about an hour hundreds of soldiers will surround the estate. If there is a god, Thren will be here when they arrive. As for me, well, there’s going to be a big fire and a lot of bodies. No one will bat an eye should I go missing afterward.”
    The way Haern stood, he clearly had not been prepared to hear of such betrayal from as close a friend as Senke.
    “Why would you turn on him?” he asked.
    Senke chuckled.
    “When I joined the Spider Guild, I was in a bad spot. My son died, all because I couldn’t afford for the priests to heal him. My wife blamed it on me, and for good reason. I was lazy. Unreliable. I drank, I slept in alleys, and when I was at my lowest, Thren found me. Something about him, the way he conducts himself, it’s both terrifying and inspiring, and it awoke a fire in me that never died. I climbed the ranks, not because I was better, but because I worked harder than anyone else. I gave the guild everything of me, and Thren saw it and rewarded me accordingly. He likes that, Haern, you know that. It’s because he’s the same way. Nothing matters beyond the narrow focus, the narrow goal, and lately I was watching that goal be crafting you into something terrible. Watching what Thren was doing to you, slowly, methodically killing everything good in his own son…”
    He shook his head.
    “I used to think all this backstabbing and thieving was just a game. We were all crooks, all worthless scum, so who really cares if we killed each other trying to rob rich men who would rather die than lose a single copper? I thought your father was the best at the game, a man who could have been a god at anything he chose, only he chose a criminal empire to be his legacy. He would be servant to none, slave to no system, no laws. At times it was fun, the coin was great, the women easy … but this has gone on too long. Whatever charm Thren had, it’s slowly died over these past five years. And now to watch as he would deny you a childhood, deny you friends, deny you a
life
…”
    Senke rose to his feet, glanced at the door.
    “No man could do that to his own son. Only a monster, and I won’t be a part of his lair anymore. After this, I’m done. I don’t expect much in the way of eternity, but maybe Ashhur will forgive me if I get myself out while there’s still time. Looks like I wasn’t alone in thinking that too.”
    Haern’s cheeks lifted, and Senke could tell the boy was smiling.
    “I survived the priests,” he said, clearly proud. “They can’t defeat me. No one can.”
    “Don’t get cocky; I