Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks

ground on either side of her, and their light disrupted her eyes’ attempt to adjust to the dark. She thought she saw another form standing beside Thren. It made no sense, though. She thought she saw a young man, someone twelve, maybe thirteen.
    “I’ve been patient,” Thren said. He crossed his arms and stood directly before her. “I’ve given James Beren plenty of chances to come to my side. Your Ash Guild is strong, and I hold more respect for it than for any other guild. Yet you and James did something stupid, girl. You plotted against me.”
    “No,” she said.
    Thren’s fist smashed her face. Will’s rag was there immediately, soaking in the blood she spat. The rage coupled with kindness only confused her more.
    “Don’t lie to me,” Thren said. “The Worm came to me last morning and told me everything you’d arranged for him to do … for a price, of course.”
    Gileas
, Veliana thought as she felt her stomach sink.
You bastard.
    “Is that why I’m here?” she asked. “Figure a little torture will help make your point to the rest of the guilds?”
    “What I want,” Thren said, leaning closer, “is you.”
    She opened her mouth, closed it.
    “I don’t understand,” she said at last.
    “I need the Ash Guild’s men,” Thren said, pacing before her. “All of the guilds must be united in this plan if we are to crush the Trifect come the Kensgold. For this to happen, the other guildmasters must trust me, and if they are to trust me, they must all join the plan willingly. The second I force loyalty, the other guilds will break away for fear of absorption and disbandment. Now, your dear James has proven stubborn. As satisfying as it would be to kill him, I cannot. Too many whisper of me doing such things as it is. I cannot dignify those mad ramblings with a kernel of truth.”
    “You want
me
to kill him,” she said, guessing where his thoughts were leading. “I take over, bend knee to you, and suddenly the Ash Guild is just a toy in your pocket, to be used whenever necessary.”
    “You’re smart, strong, and beautiful,” Thren said, not denying her accusation. “It wouldn’t be difficult for you to consolidate power should James die by your hands. You already have your reason for it. James had you contact Gileas, hoping to use him to sell information about our plan to the king. Doing so puts all of us at risk. Put an end to him. With but a word, I can declare the Ash Guild a friend, and the rest of the vermin will stop pressing your territory, stealing it away from you street by street. You can rule, Veliana. Do you have the strength to do so?”
    Veliana thought of betraying her guildmaster, and the very idea made her sick. He was a good man. A better man, worlds better, than Thren could ever be. And all for what? So Thren could rely on the Ash Guild’s aid when he launched his suicidal plan?
    “This is folly, Thren,” Veliana insisted. “We’re thieves, thugs, brutes. We’re not an army, yet you would have us launch a combined attack against all three leaders of the Trifect during their Kensgold, the one night when they’re at their most powerful? We’ll be slaughtered and broken.”
    Thren ran a hand through her long red hair.
    “Do not let loyalty cost you everything,” he whispered to her. “Either accept my proposal or suffer the consequences. What is your choice?”
    Any other street rat would have turned on their leader. Veliana was unlike any other member.
    “James has saved me a hundred times,” she said. “Kill me or let me go. I will not turn traitor and knife him in the dark.”
    Thren sighed.
    “A shame. I will not kill you, Veliana. That was not part of the deal. Gileas required you as his price for telling me of your conspiring with Gerand. I had no intention of paying it, but then again, I never thought you’d refuse the position I offered you.”
    A shiver of disgust ran up and down her spine. Now she understood why they’d stripped her naked. They’d even healed the wound on her shoulder where the arrow had pierced clean through. She closed her eyes, trying not to think of the ugly man’s black teeth, twisted face, and stubby fingers. She almost changed her mind. Thren paused, as if waiting for her to break. When she didn’t, he put his back to her.
    “Remember, Aaron,” she heard him say. “Things will never go as you plan. Prepare for anything, and be willing to sacrifice everything, even beauty.”
    Veliana saw the boy standing next to