Sianim 01 - Masques

have to face them alone. Together, we might stand a chance.”
    “You know better than that, Lady.” His tones rang with impatience. “Against two or three maybe, but there are many more than that. You needn’t worry about me, I can keep ahead of them on my own.” Here the wolf paused a moment, as if he were choosing his words carefully. “They will follow me if given a choice between the two of us.”
    “What do you mean by that?” Then, before he could answer, she said, “Cursed obscure Wolf. Never mind. We don’t have time to argue.” It was getting difficult to talk and keep Sheen from bolting as the howls grew nearer.
    He flashed his fangs at her in a mock smile as only a wolf can do. “Lady, this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with them. Nor will it be the last.”
    She didn’t want to leave him. If she hadn’t known he was no ordinary wolf, she wouldn’t have even considered leaving. But, against so many Uriah, she would have been more of a hindrance than a help. She heard the wails of the Uriah increase exponentially as they sighted their prey.
    “Right,” she said abruptly. “I’ll see you in Sianim. But, plague it, Wolf, take care not to let them ruin your fur coat.” With that, she turned Sheen in their original direction and urged him on. The wolf stayed in the path of the Uriah and watched with yellow eyes as they came closer. When the tone of their calls changed and became even more frantic, he broke into a swift run, leading them away from the path taken by his companions. Aralorn, looking back, saw that Wolf had been correct: All of the grotesque, humanoid forms followed the wolf’s trail, ignoring her entirely.
    She wondered, this time without last night’s panic, exactly who Wolf really was. It wasn’t a new puzzle, by any means. She had a list somewhere of possible identities for Wolf. Some of them were vague, others were names of specific people—today she added another name to it: Cain, the ae’Magi’s son. Cain was younger than she’d placed Wolf’s age, and she’d never caught a whiff of human magic off Wolf. She’d be surprised if Cain wasn’t buried with the other people the ae’Magi had been killing, whose magic he had been stealing to use for himself. But wasn’t it interesting the way the ae’Magi’s creatures took off after the wolf?

    Aralorn traveled during the dark and slept, or at least tried to rest, during the day—not because it was safer that way but because she couldn’t stand to wake from her nightmares alone in the dark. Sometimes she traveled for miles without seeing anything. Being alone didn’t bother her; she’d done a lot of traveling on her own.
    She had nothing of value except her warhorse and her sword—and both were as much a deterrent as a prize. On the evening of the third day, she left the forested mountains behind for the gentler hills and valleys of the lowlands. Traveling was faster, and it was only another day until she caught sight of Sianim.
    The fortressed city stood on the top of an artificial plateau in the middle of a large valley. Nothing but grass was allowed to grow within a half mile of the hill, and even that was kept short. The plateau itself was steep-sided, and the road that led to the only gate into the city was narrow and walled, so that only three people could ride side by side through it. Although it was good for defense, the narrow path made it a nightmare to get large groups of soldiers in and out of Sianim.
    The origins of the city were buried in the dust of ages past: Even the oldest known manuscripts mentioned it as a thriving city. Originally it had been a center of trade, but the small armies hired by the merchants to accompany their wagon trains drew mercenaries from all over. People looking for groups of mercenaries to hire began to go to Sianim. Gradually, the mercenaries themselves became the center of Sianim’s economy. A school for teaching the arts of war was founded, and eventually Sianim became a city of professional warriors.
    Mercenaries of Sianim were some of the finest fighters in the world. With the only other military school at Jetaine, which had the minor drawback of allowing no males entrance within its walls, Sianim had little competition. In addition to training its own mercenary troops, Sianim also trained fighters for various kingdoms and principalities for a healthy fee. The elite guard for most of the rulers were Sianim-trained.
    Because politics and war go hand in