Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks

entire countryside is overrun with thieves and brigands. Perhaps we should send a whole army of mercenaries along the west highway. I’ll get my damn wine then.”
    “Speaking of, uh, wine,” Potts said. “Our own stores have gotten uncomfortably low. Nearly every seller in Veldaren refuses to deal with us, or part with a single bottle. Not for any price, no matter how outrageous.”
    “I told you they meant to starve me!” Leon howled. His fat shifted in the bath, splashing the two maids. They winced but held their tongues. Potts held his as well, not daring to say that he felt Leon could use a solid week of starvation.
    “It appears Thren has begun a new tactic,” Potts said instead. “Instead of trying to bankrupt us, he’s doing what he can to make our lives miserable. He’s disrupted the Gemcrofts’ caravans as well.”
    “Make us miserable?” Leon fumed. “They live in guttershite and eat out of assholes yet they try to make
me
miserable? Well, he’s succeeding! Remember my wagon of peaches that Thren ambushed on the Kingstrip? He had his men piss all over them before feeding them to herds of swine. I’d love to piss all over that bastard’s head. I’m telling you, Potts, we must strike back. This nonsense has gone on far too long.”
    “Perhaps, if you have a plan, you can bring it up at the Kensgold?” Potts suggested.
    “Ugh,” Leon said, sinking deeper into the bath. More water splashed out the sides. The two maids were thoroughly soaked by now, but if they were disturbed by their contact with Leon and his dirty water, they hid it well. “I grow so tired of these Kensgolds. Didn’t they used to be every four years instead of two?”
    “They did,” Potts said. “But when the Trifect declared war on the guilds, it was decided that meeting more often would be best for coordinating our efforts at destroying them.” The advisor coughed. “It was your idea, master.”
    “Bah. Then I was an idiot.”
    You still are
, thought Potts.
    “One last thing,” Potts said, determined to finish soon. If not, he’d be forced to endure the thoroughly grotesque sight of Leon getting out of the tub, the water dripping down from his fat in a wide circle around the floor. The maids could never get the towels around him fast enough to suppress the horrible spectacle.
    “What’s that?” Leon asked.
    “It appears that the rest of the thief guilds have turned against the Ash Guild. They’ve taken nearly all of their territory except for a few streets.”
    “Really?” Leon asked. “Did their guildmaster die?”
    “No, James Beren still lives. Truly, there doesn’t appear to be any good reason for the cannibalism, not that I have heard.”
    “Hrm.” Leon scratched his chin as he thought. “To have so many guilds attack them implies a severe weakness. Thren must have turned on them. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Try to capture one of the Ash Guild’s members before they’re all dead. We might be able to snag ourselves an ally.”
    “As you wish,” Potts said with a bow. He saw Leon grab the sides of the bath, preparing to stand, so he beat a hasty retreat.
    Kayla sat alone in her room, feeling restless. For whatever reason, Thren had not taken her and Senke with him, only Will and his son. Senke had told her it had something to do with the Ash Guild, but would not elaborate. He had run off to do a spot of wenching, which left her alone, bored, and restless. Ever since she’d rescued Robert Haern from prison, her duties had dwindled to nothing. She figured in a day or two she’d beg for something as simple as leading a caravan robbery, just so she could have something to do.
    She practiced with her daggers to pass the time. She had mentored under an elderly man many years ago, and from him learned many stances and techniques. She ran through them one by one. If she was to serve Thren, she’d need to be at her finest. Her daggerwork was far from the best. If Thren’s life ever depended upon her, mediocre would not do the job.
    How many hours she practiced, she didn’t know, but when she finished her body was coated with sweat and her arms throbbed. She collapsed on the bed and gasped in air. When someone knocked on her door, she was too exhausted to bother getting up.
    “Come in,” she said. “It’s not locked.”
    The door crept open. Kayla had expected Senke or Will, maybe even Thren, but instead Aaron crept inside and quietly shut the door behind him.
    “This is a