Smoke and Iron-Legends of Silva-Book 1

Chapter 10-To Catch a Ghost

                                      Andreas

After leaving Tara with her new trinket, I head back to the courtyard to retrieve my gear. Of course my way is constantly blocked by patrolling Blades, forcing me to take alternate routes over walls and fences. Leaving me with aching legs and arms. Eventually I reach the bronze gate, the small groan of the bars is a welcoming sound. Closing the gate I reach into the hidden gap in the wall, and extract my sack filled with my Reaper gear.

Quietly I head to the wall and push on the cold stone, opening the passage into the hidden tunnels below. I look behind me, checking to make sure that I'm alone. When I'm satisfied I step into the passage, the door closing with a groan of stone against stone. Safely hidden from view, I put on my gear including the leather gloves and mask. My leather jacket goes in the sack, and is replaced by my black cloak.

By the light of the single torch in the wall, I take out a thick leather folder with a raven stamped on the cover. Breaking the wax seal, I open the folder and flip through the many papers of reports, schematics and maps. All covering the many robberies and sightings of the Ghost. Information vital to pinpointing this thief's next move.

After scanning the papers with agonizing deliberation, I begin to see a pattern within the many pages of parchment. Each robbery was in the Gold Quarter, a total of twenty residences in the past four months. Items that all came from the same source, a shipwreck recently found on the very edge of the Black Swamp. The ship's origin is still unknown, and the only thing it held within its rotten hull was a chest filled with gems, mirrors, and coins. Objects that possessed a sinister silver glow.

The trove was gathered, and the items sold and scattered across Valdev. The nobles gathered vast quantities of them, just for the sake of owning such rare and unique objects. Now they have become the target for a thief, with an acquired taste for their otherworldly valuables. Leaving three possible targets left for the Ghost to take, and I know exactly where they are. Now all I have to do is guess which one the Ghost will target next.

Putting away the leather folder, I start down the spiral steps and into the tunnel beyond. My route takes me back under the river, and to the intersection of the separate passages. I take the one on the left, the one that will take me to the Gold Quarter and my quarry. Time goes by slowly as the ground beneath becomes dry and cracked, the walls of mossy stone giving way to pillars of granite. The roar of the river, now replaced by the hollow silence of the tunnel.

But it gives me the quiet I need to put my thoughts in order from the past few hours. From the enlightening talk with my father, to the discovery that free mages still exist in Talvos. It has given me a major headache, along with aching ribs, knuckles, and a very sore nose. All from being forced into that bloody ring. So that Mark, a boy that has less sense than a fish, would not be beaten to a pulp. A boy that was no doubt part of the same gang that Tara was.

Tara, a girl who has brought endless trouble whenever she appears. The girl who stole my pendant, blackmailed me, and saved my hide. Whose kiss that I dreamt of last night, along with the scent of sage and cold water that enveloped her warm skin. Her chapped but soft lips brushing across my own. A dream that was gone as soon as it came. Leaving me shaken and suddenly cold, despite the well heated rooms of the Reaper Quarters.

An eerie cold that reminded me of the palace halls after my mother had passed. The cold of my father and his soldiers watching me at all times. A feeling that returns whenever I have a fleeting glimpse of what freedom could be. The freedom of last night, and how I tried to keep it from myself. Lest those cold watchful eyes see it, and drag me back into that dark place of empty promises, lies, and betrayals.

That's why I must keep these thoughts at bay, however different and enticing they are. How I long to be like Ren with no worries that ever cross his mind, and Merrick always calm and silent but sure. However fleeting my encounters with Tara and her band of friends are, even sometimes dangerous. I long for more of it after seeing their world only a couple of times.