Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks

Senke had cleared away the chairs of the table. Robert Haern knelt at one end. Kayla knelt on the other, a large bruise spreading across her cheek. Senke stood between them, his hands on the hilts of his swords. A heavyset man leaned against the bedpost of the extravagant bed, his arms crossed. He was sweating, often wiping his face with his hands. Aaron had seen him rarely, but the fat man was hard to forget. He was Cregon, a mage who had long been in the employ of his father.
    “Stand here,” Thren ordered, pointing beside Senke. When the guildmaster walked over to Cregon and began talking, Senke whispered down to Aaron.
    “What the fuck did you do?” he asked.
    “I prayed,” Aaron whispered back.
    “Shit,” Senke said, then clammed up. Thren was returning with the mage.
    “Stay still,” Cregon said, his voice thin and reedy. “All of you. If my concentration breaks, I won’t be able to try again until tomorrow.”
    Aaron entertained shouting out a bizarre stream of cusswords to disrupt the mage, but decided otherwise. Instead he watched Cregon cast his spell. The man was a poor mage, in both money and abilities, hence his easy recruitment into the Spider Guild many years ago. He spent most of his days sequestered apart from the rest of the men, reading books and pretending to advance his skills while in reality doing his best to drink the days away.
    Arcane words of power passed through Cregon’s lips, sounding clunky and odd. Aaron had little experience with spellcasters, but he thought their casting should sound more fluent and natural than what he heard.
    Cregon abruptly stopped and wiped his sweating brow. Aaron felt a slight tingle shoot up his back, as if someone were rubbing him with flower petals.
    “There. The spell is in place,” said Cregon.
    “Excellent,” Thren said. “Leave us to our business.”
    The mage looked happy to oblige. Once he left, it was just the five of them. Thren paced before them all, the icy fury of his face gradually growing.
    “Kayla, Robert, I brought you both here because of certain actions by my son. I know the rest of my men well, but you two are new to my home. Too long I have turned a blind eye. No longer. Senke, draw your sword.”
    Senke did as he was told.
    “There is a spell over all of you,” Thren continued. “When you talk, the spell will silence any lies. I will hear only truth on these matters.”
    “Even me?” asked Senke, a wry grin on his face.
    “Test for yourself,” said Thren. Senke shrugged. He said something. Aaron read a few of the words on his lips,
virgin
being one of them, but heard not a sound.
    “I’ll take that as a yes,” Senke said.
    Thren paced before his two prisoners as everyone watched him.
    “Who gave Aaron the amulet?” he asked. For a moment no one spoke. Then Robert glanced upward.
    “I did,” he said.
    “I thought as much. You are a teacher, and as with many teachers, you took your desire to impart knowledge too far.” Thren tossed the amulet he held aside. “If it had been just this, I would have only given you a warning. But instead there is the matter of Delius and his daughter.”
    At this, Aaron’s heart sank. So the truth would come out. None of them could tell a lie. He’d risked everything, and for nothing. His own life might be forfeit for killing a fellow guild member. Thren glared at him, and Aaron averted his eyes.
    “You should have killed her when Kayla killed Delius, but instead she somehow escaped. I now see hesitance where I once saw inexperience. I see mercy where I once saw misjudgment. One of you planted these horrible ideas in my son’s head. I want to know who.”
    Neither Kayla nor Robert said a word.
    “Keep silent, then,” Thren said as he paced. “It is better than lies. I sent Dustin after Delysia, yet he and the girl vanish like ghosts in the barrows. Few knew where Dustin was going. You were one of them, Kayla. So what happened? Did my son come sniveling, crying to you for help?”
    All three of the accused remained silent.
    “Answer me!” shouted Thren. “Whoever killed Dustin dies tonight. Now I will hear a name from one of your lips!”
    Aaron’s eyes flicked between the two of them. He could spare them. If he admitted to requesting information about Dustin, demanding it really, perhaps he’d spare Kayla’s life. The same went for his teacher. It was Aaron who’d come to them. Surely his father would understand that? He opened his mouth to speak, but Kayla