Page 8 of Winds of Darkness
“The Captain? Yes. Two levels below the Baroness.”
“These preparations the female mentioned. What are they?”
“I don’t know.”
Rayner struck, snapping one of the male’s fingers back. The male howled, clutching his hand to his chest. “That was not the answer I was looking for,” Rayner growled.
Tears were leaking from the male’s eyes, beads of sweat forming on his brow. “I don’t know,” he sobbed. “I am not high-ranking enough to know such details.”
“But high-ranking enough to take from the females? Somehow I doubt that.”
“I swear it,” he cried, trying to press back from him more.
“Lie to me again, and I take a kneecap,” Rayner snarled, lifting a hand and letting it fade into ashes.
“I don’t know!” the male cried again. “I don’t know what they have planned for you! I oversee the younglings! That’s my job!”
Rayner paused. “Explain.”
“The Baroness is moving them. Taking them off the islands. My job is to ready the young on transport days,” the sentry said.
“Transport them were?”
“I’m not told that. I take them to a transporting room on the main level.”
Transporting room? That was new. There had never been such a thing when Rayner had resided here.
“Aravis. Do you know who she is?” Rayner demanded.
“I do not know that name,” the sentry said, shaking his head.
“She has been here for over a century. Black hair. Grey eyes. Fire gifts,” Rayner said. “The Baroness would keep her close by.”
“Her most guarded are hidden away. Only a few know where,” the sentry replied, his trembling seeming to have lessened as they spoke.
“Who else would know besides Feris?”
Dread filled the male’s pale blue eyes. “I don’t know,” he whispered.
“Then you are no longer of use to me.”
Rayner’s dagger slashed across the male’s throat. He left him there, choking on his own blood. A quicker death than his companions had received, as promised.
He stepped from the room, moving up a few more levels to the housing block where Feris’s quarters would be. Ashes flitted from his fingertips, drifting along the floor, seeking life or death. He passed what was once his quarters, continuing on to the other end of the level.
And when his ashes started buzzing in anticipation, a cold smile formed on Rayner’s lips.
He had a favorite memory to make.
Chapter 2
The fire burning in Feris’s hearth was more than enough for Rayner to materialize inside his rooms. He took in the space. Dirty uniforms crumpled in a heap in the corner. Unmade bed. Weapons discarded haphazardly across a desk.
He could hear him moving around in the bathing room, and Rayner swiped up one of his daggers, examining it. Shirastone. The upper-level guards were each issued one. The other weapons were of standard make. Steel and practical.
He leaned back against the desk, lifting a palm. Smoke swirled, the arrow from the producing room appearing in his hand. He held it up, studying the arrowhead. That was not shirastone. It was darker, seeming to absorb light. Memories of the same material digging into his skin when he was in a cell flashed in his mind. The Marshal who had let him out had called it deathstone, but Rayner had never seen it on weapons when he was here. Unless this was one way they had prepared for his return.
The sound of shuffling feet told him Feris was coming. Rayner didn’t even bother to look up. When he heard the muffled curse though, he slowly raised his head, peering out from beneath his hood.
