Shadows of the Spotted Swordsman - Chapter 1, Part 1 (Patreon)

I've slowly been working on the sequel to Scars of the Golden Dancer, and I'd like to share a draft of the opening scene for the novel this month.

Fadel reached over to the pitcher and poured some wine into both goblets. “To what honor do I owe your presence?” he asked the man seated across from him in his majlis. I had, as instructed, taken a position standing behind fadel, which struck me as immediately odd. Fadel had never asked me to specifically guard him, which was exactly what I was doing, yet here I was fulfilling the role.

The man, a stripped hyena in a ragged looking cloak had an amused expression on his muzzle as he chuckled softly. He’d pulled down the hood of his cloak after being seated, and that was the first time I got a good look at him. He was older, gray speckling his fur, but I’d immediately noticed there was something about him that spoke of a mismatch to his worn clothing. As he reached for his wine, I noticed his claws are perfectly manicured to be blunt. “Am I not allowed to visit?” he asked.

“You don’t make casual visits,” remarked Fadel. “Not anymore at least.”

“No, not anymore,” he replied.

Fadel reached for his wine and then sat back in his chair, holding the clay goblet. “What brings you here?”

“I need information, but…” the man quirks his muzzle up toward me, “you’ve hired a guard?”

Fadel glances toward me. “Yes.” He focuses back on the striped hyena. “You suggested it.”

“I did. Spots here looks like a good choice. “I frown as the man lifts his goblet, and took a long, delicate sip form his wine, using his tongue to delicately lap at the dark liquid. “Ah, a nice vintage I see. You do spoil me.”

Fadel’s ear flick. He knows that spotted hyenas like myself and stripped hyenas are often in friendly rivalries. I notice though the fennec hasn’t drunk any of his wine yet. “I hardly think the quality of my wine is of note to you.”

At that the man chuckles. “You’d be surprised what I’ve had people attempt to pass off as high quality, but just because it’s expensive doesn’t guarantee it’s good. Anyway, to business.” He focused his gaze on me. “It’s my understanding you were on the bridge during the attack, when the warfire was stolen?”

That catches me completely off guard. “Yes.”

“You saw a woman on the bridge, a painted one, didn’t you?”

I considered my words for a moment. “Yes.”

“I need to find her.”

“The city guard is looking for her. If she’s here, they’ll find her.”

“I’m aware Kiya is looking for her, but as far as I know, she’s had no luck yet. You saw her, so you might recognize her.”

My ears flicked at the mention of the name. Kiya us not head of the city guard, so the fact he knew exactly who was investigating tells me his sources were well placed. “If Kiya can’t find her, I doubt I could find her.”

The striped hyena put down his goblet of wine on the table next to him and pulls out a small coin purse. He casually tosses it to me and I catch it. “You have connections. I need you to try.”

Fadel grumbled. “You can’t just hire him away from me.”

“You are welcome to join him in this. You were there too, although it’s my understanding you didn’t see her.”

I opened the purse and dumped some of the coins out into a hand paw. There are ten gold dinar in this bag. It is not a small amount of money. “This a reasonable amount of money for a request like this,” I say, putting my money back in the bag, “but it’s not enough. I don’t work for people I don’t know who they are,” I respond and toss the bag back to the striped hyena. “Plus, I don’t do work like that anymore.”

He catches the purse with a surprised look, and then gives Fadel a glance. “You didn’t tell him who I was?”

“Why would I?” remarks the fennec. “You don’t make social calls, not anymore at least.”

“You wound me in assuming I would not wish to do that.”

“It’s more a fact then concern.”

He smiledsthem, flashing his fangs. “Very well. I will hopefully endeavor to do so, time permitting of course. You do understand that little of my time is my own now?”

“Yes,” said Fadel. “More than I think you realize.”

He nods, and then looks back at me, He hefts the coin purse and tosses the bag of coins back to me. “Ten dinar now, ten dinar if you can find her, and please sit,” he said, pointed to an empty chair. “I regret my host did not offer you a goblet for yourself, but I see he is not thirsty, so perhaps he will offer you his own goblet, or get us another. Introductions are in order.”

I frown at the coin purse, and glance at the chair he’s pointed to next to Fadel. Making a show of it, I walked over to the divan and unbuckle my sword belt and sit with my sheathed shamshir in my lap. I place the coin purse on the small serving table in front of me.

The stripped hyena looks amused. “You are Naji. I know this, because it is my job to know things like this.” He takes a deep breath. “My name is Yasar, grand vizier to our blessed lord, Sultan Ghazi.”

I felt my ears flick back in surprise, but Fadel just squintes at Yasar. “You still have a flair for the understated I see,” he said.

“It has it’s perks, but it seems even here, you and I are playing a game of tag.”

My mind processes this. The grand vizier? He has the ear of the sultan himself, but there is something off about this. “Where are your guards? You came all the way over here alone?”

He tilts his head as he glances at me. “You are astute. Yes. I did.”

“Why?”

“Ah, an even better question. Fadel, do you want to answer that?”

Fadel gives him a shrug. “I actually have no clue why you came from the palace alone.”

He clicks his tongue. “Your eye for intrigue is slipping,” he respondes.

“I prefer the intrigue here then the intrigue at the palace. My time in the counting house was enough.”

Yasar sighs and takes another sip of his wine. “I guess some things are different up there. There is something though to be said of a good wine in a simple clay goblet. I do miss the simpler pleasures of life sometimes,” he sets it down. “As to your question, I came alone because I don’t know who I can trust in this matter. Someone arranged the original theft of the warfire, and I can only assume that person is well placed. I have confidence Kiya will follow all the threads she can, but not everyone will talk to her, and certainly none of the guilty will. Thus, I need someone who has the chance to be discrete and search the corners she can’t get to.”

“There aren’t that many Takula here, but if this painted one can’t be found, what then?”

“That would be most unfortunate to you. I understand there was a murder a few days before the attack, a man named Aziz. I believe you also knew him. You might know how he died.”

I feel my hackles go up. “Are you threatening me?”

“You, no. There is a jackal though who was seen in the company of Aziz. I think you know which one.”

Fadel gives a low growl before I can respond. “I don’t care how you treat people in the palace, Yasar, but in my house, you will treat my people with respect.”

He looks at Fadel, and gave a soft chuckle. “Anyone else, I might consider having them punished for such insolence, but I understand why you speak so harshly. Fine. then tell Naji to do what I ask, and I will make sure there are no complications for this little incident.”

“Your trying to extort me,” I said icily.

“No, I’m trying to hire you. There is a difference. Plus, you both have a vested interest in making this go away.”

“With words as sharp as blades,” said the fennec, “do we really have a choice.”

“It’s been two months. What makes you think I can find something Kiya can’t? What makes you think this Takula is even still in Aksu?”

“I don’t know where she is at all, but I have a suspicion.” He pauses to take a sip of his wine. “I need to know for sure, and with the right motivation, I know you’ll find out if she is here or not. If we can find her, we can find the missing warfire.”

“I wish you only came to visit for casual reasons,” says Fadel.

Yassar puts the goblet of wine down. “I wish I only had casual reasons to visit. Remember when we played chess that night fifteen years ago, Fadel? When you told me you would be opening the Blue Door?”

Fadel’s ears lowered. “Yes.”

“Your eyes sparkled in the candlelight then, and I thought what bright future lay before you.” Yasar stands up and goes to pick up a date in the table in the center of the room. “Your eyes still sparkle like that. I am glad to see they do, and I do not wish to see that future diminished. I regret I have had to come to you with this, but I need someone I can trust.”

Fadel was quiet for a moment. “This could have been your future.”

He shakes his head. “I knew even when I was young what my future was, back when Ghazi and I were both kids playing hide and seek in the Sultan’s palace. I made my promise then to be by his side, and I have kept my word, even when he ascended to the thrown and my responsibilities grew. Duty comes first. You, like almost no one else I know, understands duty to those you bind yourself to, because you have always had a giving heart. You understand why I do what I do, not because I seek great power, but because I must. On that, I must take my leave.”

“Do you need an escort?” asks Fadel.

He shakes his head. “No. I do have people waiting for me who are wise enough to wait where I tell them.” With that, he walked out of the majlis and closed the door behind him.

Fadel, for his part just sagges back in his chair.

“You…” I searched for the right word, “had relations with the grand vizier?”

Fadel’s ears shot up. “That’s not your business.”

I waved my hand paws at the door. “So what he just said isn’t the words of an old lover?”

Fadel scowls. “It was fifteen years ago. Ghazi has yet to ascend to the throne. I was just a scribe with a promising future in front of me, and he was a really good chess player. He’s married now anyway.”

I give him a side eye. “What else aren’t you telling me?”

The fennec sighs and picked up his goblet of wine. “I’ve told you everything you need to know.”