“A drakken?” Rensik asked in surprise.

  “Yes,” Orn-Kalot responded testily.

  Rensik didn’t know why. She wasn’t responsible for things other drakken did any more than the guard captain was responsible for other trolls.

  She was visiting the city guard after seeing them capture someone trying to stow away on the Divide Crosser. She’d been on board, having just finished examining the passengers one last time in search of the shade before the ship crossed into the mists of the Sea of Fear and swimming back would become impossible, when, through the vessel’s strange invisible windows, she’d spotted several guards escorting a man in shackles away from the docks.

  She’d only caught a glimpse of his face, but thought he might be the shade she was seeking.

  Unfortunately, by the time she’d swam back to dock and made it to the guardhouse, he’d escaped.

  And now she was finding out he wasn’t a shade at all, but a drakken.

  Which was unexpected, to say the least. There was no law against drakken leaving Argalis, nor one preventing them from visiting Arkalis, but as much as the trolls tried to revitalize this place, it paled in comparison to her home city.

  “What was his name?”

  “We didn’t get his name.”

  “You’re sure he was a drakken? I could have sworn—”

  “Absolutely certain.”

  “Hm. Well, I’d be interested in knowing who he is if you catch him.” Maybe they could recruit him to the ministry and get a liaison on Fairwind. Joy had no temples there.

  “We’ll be sure to keep you informed of any development, though the treaty is between our guard unions, so we can’t turn him over to you.”

  “That’s fine. A contingent of them will be arriving shortly to investigate the shade. I am but the vanguard.”

  Orn-Kalot clenched her jaw. “I… see. I look forward to working with them.”

  “Where are we going now?” Zanas asked, rolling his shoulders. “You’re really heavy, by the way.” He was in his insubstantial form, floating next to Ashinaro as he casually made his way through the city.

  “We need a new place to stay.”

  After shifting to himself as a whelp—something he hadn’t known he could do until he’d tried—Ashinaro still hadn’t been small enough to fit through the window, and didn’t have a good memory of himself any younger. Then he’d recalled the whelp who hadn’t been afraid of him and cheered after killing the bonechitterer. In his form, Ashinaro had been small enough to squeeze through the window.

  Luckily Zanas hadn’t needed to climb out of the window, able to draw himself back into Ashinaro through it.

  The chains Ashinaro had been bound with had come off easily once he’d shrunk down, and they were now stored inside Zanas. Which made Ashinaro wish he’d been collared. Collars were expensive. Though without the key, he supposed he wouldn’t get much for one. And he wasn’t sure he’d have been able to use the mask if he were collared. Or Zanas, for that matter. Zanas’s scepter was bound to him like a relic, and that was what collars cut off access to. He could use Zanas even in his humanform, but wasn’t certain a collar wouldn’t interfere with that.

  After escaping, Ashinaro had masked himself as Telermin, who wasn’t likely to visit Arkalis or be recognized. He wasn’t bald, but he did have short enough hair that its color wasn’t obvious. It was probably better anyway since he’d only seen one other person in Arkalis who was bald, while he’d seen several with short-cropped hair. He might blend in better masking himself as someone with brown hair, but the only ones he could think of were Kakoris, who was far too well-known, and a few older drakken who he imagined he’d have trouble getting jobs under the identity of.

  Jobs he would very much need if he was going to earn enough money over the next sixty days to afford passage on the Divide Crosser.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Sixty days to earn more than he’d earned in his entire life.

  But he had relics now, and was a Defender, finally.

  He could do it.

  So long as the priests didn’t find him first.

  It turned out there weren’t any other places to stay—not affordably—so after renting a new room above the clothing shop under his new identity as Telermin, Ashinaro headed to the job hall.

  When he arrived, he found a long line stretching all the way outside.

  Must be all the new godsworn from the ship last night.

  The line moved quickly enough, and within a couple hundred breaths, he was inside.

  Which had changed slightly. Thi-Oric and Ru-Taris were still present, but there was now a large wooden board in one corner with job notices pinned to it.

  The line split into two, one for the board, one for Thi-Oric. Ashinaro got in line for the board.

  “Jobs are there,” Thi-Oric told a Beastkin in battleform. He looked less like a monster than Ashinaro expected from the drawings he’d seen, though did share some similarities with mirewalkers. Fur covered most of his body, but unlike the mirewalker, it covered his face as well. To Ashinaro’s eye, he looked a lot like Ashinaro did in battleform, except covered in fur rather than scales, with a slightly narrower muzzle and much narrower tail, and large triangular ears that twitched as he glared at Thi-Oric. He was also taller than Ashinaro would be even if he wasn’t masked as Telermin, which was a first. Since reaching his full height, he’d never encountered a person larger than he was. Not only was this Beastkin taller, he looked to weigh twice as much.

  If Thi-Oric was intimidated, he wasn’t showing it. “Not going to repeat myself to every new godsworn, am I?” he said mildly to the glaring Beastkin. “If you find a job you want and think you can complete, then come see me.”

  The Beastkin glanced at the job board. Despite being surrounded by others, he was tall enough to have a clear view of it. He let out a growl that might have been a “Fine”.

  But when he tried to push his way to the board, he was scolded by Thi-Oric.

  “None of that now. Wait your turn.”

  “I just did,” the Beastkin growled.

  “There’s two lines.” Thi-Oric pointed to the back of the line where Ashinaro was standing. “You can wait there instead of outside.”

  The Beastkin grumbled something Ashinaro didn’t catch and took his place behind him.

  One of the people in line for Thi-Oric was carrying the corpse of a ropethorn, holding it carefully with a set of large tongs. Ashinaro wondered how much he was getting paid for that. Not that there’d been much left of the one he’d fought, nor had he encountered another since.

  There was enough room for several people to examine the job board at once, so after only about twenty breaths, Ashinaro made it to the front of the line and scanned the board.

  They were all simple and no nonsense, with the task stated clearly as well as the reward, requirements, and suggestions.

  “Ooh,” Zanas said mentally, “one gold. That’s the highest on here that doesn’t require Champion or points you don’t have.”

  “You read all of them already? How?”

  “I’m very good at reading.” Zanas pointed at one of the notices, moving out of the way as an elf excitedly pulled down a contract and hurried to the other line.

  “You can’t move through walls, but what about people?”

  “Can you move through people?”

  “No.”

  “There’s your answer.”

  Ashinaro read the job indicated.

  Job: Locate a sunken crate near the docks and attach a grasper to it so it may be retrieved.

  Pay: Depends on condition of crate. 1 gold minimum. 500 points minimum.

  Requirements: Drakken, or ability to stay underwater longer than a standard breather. Enhanced vision or other senses helpful. Crate heavy enough not to be moved by currents. Water near the docks is deeper than expected, about 10 breaths.

  Point-Requirement: None.

  Suggestions: Champion helpful but not required. Unknown monster attacked and damaged water breather. Diver was Greater Defender and suffered only minor injuries, but the TTC makes no guarantee of the monster’s renown.

  Ashinaro looked at several other notices, but like Zanas had said, it was the highest paying one he was eligible for.

  He pulled down the notice and got in line for Thi-Oric.

  The person about to enter the building tried to prevent him from cutting in front of her, but Thi-Oric shouted at her. “None of that. You’ll have the same chance to check out the job board then see me.”

  She sighed, but stopped trying to prevent Ashinaro from getting in line.

  “You think this is a trap?” Zanas asked.

  “How would it be a trap?”

  “I don’t know, seems suspicious. A job that requires a drakken right after you get captured.”

  “Drakken or ability to stay underwater. And I can’t be the only drakken here.” He hadn’t seen any others yet, but he hadn’t really been looking, nor had he spent much time exploring the city. “Besides, we saw the crate getting dropped into the harbor. And we only just escaped. How would they set up a whole job in such little time?”

  The eyes on Zanas’s mask squinted at Thi-Oric. “That’s what I’d like to know.”