Sneak Preview of Stone & Silence

This is the first chapter of Stone & Silence, the fourth and final volume of my Barefoot Healer series. The book's due for release in April. Sign up for my newsletter if you'd like to know when it goes on sale.

Spoiler Alert: This chapter gives away some important points of the ending to Death & Magic.

Captain Tagahra of the Kyer Altamar City Watch sat in his office, working his way through the foot-high stack of slates that represented the observations and actions of his Watchmen over the previous day. They told of the usual two or three fights broken up — a stray child reunited with his grateful parents — a complaint about excessive smoke from a smithy — a costermonger to be escorted to a hearing to answer charges of selling short weight.

On the bright side, he hadn’t come across any reports of more unexplained disappearances. But neither had anyone come forward with any information about the ones that had already happened. He made a note to have the patrol check the smithy again in a fortnight, and another to ask Commander Yebran to recommend that the City Assembly authorise a general inspection of all traders’ scales and measures.

There was a hesitant knock at the door. When the door didn’t open after a couple of heartbeats, he called, “Who is it?”

“Peri… Watchman Perinar, Sir.”

“Come in.”

The door opened to reveal the Watch’s newest recruit, a satchel hanging from his shoulder, looking as though he might bolt at any moment. His hand went to his forehead, as though to brush his fringe out of his eyes, and then he seemed to remember his hair had been cut to regulation length, and dropped his hand to his side.

“Don’t fidget, Watchman,” Tagahra said.

“Sorry, Sir.” Perinar shoved his hands behind his back.

“And don’t speak unless it’s necessary. I assume you’ve heard my orders unless it’s obvious you haven’t. Now, report.”

“I, uh, came to see you about the disappearances from the Inland Docks. I’ve read the Watchmen’s reports and the witness statements —”

Tagahra cut him off with, “That was what I told you to do. When I give a man an order, I assume he carries it out.” He gestured for Perinar to sit in the visitor’s chair.

Perinar swallowed nervously as he sat. “The victims all disappeared from dwellings in the streets immediately behind the warehouses, at night or early in the morning.”

Tagahra waved a weary hand. “Watchman Perinar, I am your Captain, not one of your teachers.”

“Yes, Sir,” Perinar said, clearly not understanding.

“Which means you don’t need to tell me things I can read for myself in my men’s reports.”

Perinar glanced at the two stacks of slates on Tagahra’s desk. “Do you read all the reports, Sir?”

Tagahra smirked. “It’s safe to assume I do.”

Perinar cleared his throat. “Well, Sir, five of the six people arrived in the city quite recently — within the last year.”

“So if someone is abducting them, he might be targeting people who wouldn’t be missed for some time after they’ve gone.”

Perinar smiled, perhaps pleased to have finally said something that hadn’t earned him a rebuke.

“I might have thought they’d simply had enough of city life and decided to go home,” Tagahra said, “except that we’ve had so many in such a short time, and no one saw them leave.”

“The dwellings of two victims showed signs of a struggle,” said Perinar, “but none of the doors or windows had been forced. That would suggest the victims knew the abductor, but I obtained lists of their, ah, known associates, is that the term? None of the names matched.”

Tagahra leaned back, gazing at a spot on the wall just above Perinar’s head. “What about the known associates of the other victims?”

“No names in common there either, Sir.”

“Really?” Tagahra straightened. “Six people living that close together, there’d surely be someone that more than one of them is friendly with.”

“The lists were, ah, rather short, Sir.”

Tagahra nodded. Given that the victims had come to the city to work and hadn’t been here long, it stood to reason they wouldn’t know many people. “A wizard could’ve opened the locks without needing a key.”

Perinar shifted awkwardly in his seat.

Tagahra paused, suddenly aware of the possibility of needless offence. “I’m not pointing my finger at any particular wizard, but it is something you learn how to do, isn’t it?”

Perinar glanced at his hands in his lap, as though wondering whether to confess something, then raised his head and stared straight at Tagahra. “It’s not something I was ever taught, Sir, though I was only in my third year when the school closed. I don’t believe Master Degoran would have included such a thing in the later classes.”

Tagahra leaned back again. “I saw Sergeant Adramal do it. Twice.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t know what they teach at Thuren.” He paused. “Where is Adramal these days, Sir?”

Tagahra had thought Perinar would never work up the courage to ask him that. The two young wizards had been smitten with one another at Kyturil, though the fires had cooled when they’d been apart, and they’d broken things off shortly before Adramal had joined the Watch. Tagahra wondered what she’d ever seen in him, but perhaps women from the western wilderness had lower standards than the ladies of Kyer Altamar. Perinar had gone home, but had evidently had second thoughts, as he’d returned to the city a few fortnights later, not long after Adramal had fled to Salmar.

Tagahra considered answering Perinar’s question with, You’re not authorised to know that, but that would only make him more determined to find out. He settled for, “I don’t know,” which, he realised, wasn’t really a lie. Yebran had told him she’d gone to Salmar, but hadn’t said whereabouts in Salmar.

“So,” said Tagahra. “A wizard might’ve used a spell to open the doors of the victims’ homes. He might also have used a silence spell to cover any sounds of a struggle.”

“That wouldn’t explain why no one saw any of the victims disappearing, Sir.”

“It was night,” said Tagahra. “Everyone else was asleep.”

“Not everyone, Sir. The first disappearance was just before dawn on Nerupar’s Day. Four people who were on their way to work at the docks passed by the building in Regent’s Row where the victim lived, over the course of perhaps half an hour. None of them saw him leave.”

“Maybe he went out the back.”

“That building doesn’t have a back exit, Sir,” said Perinar.

“How do we know the time of his disappearance, anyway? He could’ve spent the night somewhere else.”

“At about the same time as those four were passing the building, Watchman Kerekh and Watchman Ethkarn met two men in Tharl Street, heading towards the Western Market. One of them appeared to be very drunk, and the other was supporting him. The drunk man’s description matched our missing man.”

Tharl Street and Regent’s Row were only about a hundred yards apart, so the drunk could well be the victim.

“Odd for someone to be that drunk so early in the morning,” said Tagahra. The taverns closed halfway through fourth watch, and the long autumn nights should give plenty of time to sleep it off. “Why do you say he appeared to be drunk?”

“His movements were consistent with drunkenness, Sir, but neither Watchman smelt any drink on him, and his face was white, not red. The other man said he was taking him home.”

“Did they find out which tavern he’d been in?” said Tagahra. “The landlord shouldn’t have let him get into that state.”

“They didn’t ask, Sir, as they weren’t certain that he was drunk.”

“Any idea who the sober man was?”

“They didn’t recognise him, Sir. I checked the description against files, but didn’t find any likely matches. They said he spoke with an unfamiliar accent.”

“It’d be worth circulating his description to the rest of the Watch,” said Tagahra. “And ask Kerekh and Ethkarn to come and see me at their earliest convenience. I have an idea what that accent might sound like.”

“What might that be, Sir?”

“I want to see if it’s anything like the way Sergeant Galbreth talks.”

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