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  Dressed to Kill

  “Were you waiting for us?” Duke smiled at the new addition to our party.

  Raven twirled his cane. “Figured walking in at the side of the new sensation of the Dawnflames would increase my standing.”

  “Like you need it,” Duke rolled his eyes.

  The staircase ended in a hallway similar in design to the other floors. The difference was that this level only had a single entrance. A set of double door which servants attended to.

  There was a line of disciples, all in the liveries of their own clans. Every single one of them was clutching an envelope.

  I frowned. “Was I supposed to bring an invitation?”

  “If you were less favoured,” Duke said.

  He guided us past the line, which caught us more than a few glares…until they saw who was skipping. Then the disciples shuffled out of the way with grace.

  Duke caught the eye of one of the servants—an act made easy because of our height relative to everyone else—and the retainer promptly freed the way inside.

  Etiquette training was part of my upbringing. Still, only once had I attended a feast from another clan which could be considered a ‘high society’ event. I’d been a little girl. The room had loomed over me, the air was stifling, the aura of multiple high realm cultivators condensing like the wrath of an angry deity on my small shoulders.

  This chamber felt twice as large but the air was many times more agreeable. A crystal ball of shifting colours dominated the ceiling. Hundreds of disciples stood at tall, circular tables, drinks in their hands, the noise of their chatter reduced to mere mumbling through devices made for such an occasion. Some tables had disciples of multiple clans, though they were few and far between. More common were tables of a uniform colour.

  “Our section is over there.” Duke pointed left of the blinds at the far back of the ballroom, which was when I realised there was a stage.

  The tables in front of the podium were regular as opposed to the standing version and were not wholly occupied. Judith and Aurille had their own. The two girls were deep in conversation with their clan and didn’t notice us. At the far right sat Vyke. And was that…I peered…Gaje at his table?

  He was wearing a simple flannel shirt and some pants but his hair was unmistakable.

  Erri was here, too, though her clan had an entirely separate area given their physiques. I refrained from staring at them for too long.

  A name tag denoted our table, at which three people were already seated.

  The twins I’d seen during the meeting waved at me.

  “Told you she’d be here,” the boy of the two said to his sister, who shrugged and handed him a coin.

  Both wore the same attire as before: jackets, trousers, boots, all furred-up. But they’d exchanged the grey colour scheme for a white one.

  The third member was the chair balancing girl with the full head of curly hair, who was again using her chair in the same matter. She too had exchanged her robe for a white one-piece with blue waves drawn on top, which hugged the curves of her rear.

  [Shadowfoot - lvl. 16]

  [Shadowfoot - lvl. 16]

  [Wavecaller - lvl. 18]

  Raven tipped his hat at the ensemble as we sat opposite the trio, leaving a single chair between us and them.

  “Should we do a round of introductions?” the twin sister asked.

  “We’ll wait for our last member,” Raven said.

  “She’ll be here shortly now that we’ve arrived,” Duke said.

  My brow raised but the boy didn’t expand.

  His words rang true minutes later. I was facing the front of the room, so I spotted her approach before the others.

  Earrings big enough that they reached the bottom of Kayle’s jaw jingled. They were the same colour as her hair—a shade of red so light it was nearly orange. Her dress (white, of course) covered her from head to toe, which left her curves to the imagination, and the cape fastened to her shoulders hovered inches over the floor through a hidden enchantment in the dress.

  Kayle folded her umbrella, then pushed the back of the wavecaller’s chair with the tip. “Sorry to make you wait, everyone.”

  “You’re not,” Raven sighed.

  The girl smirked and studied me as she took her seat. “You must be Ashe. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I hope these two were not terribly insufferable.”

  “Only insufferable,” I said.

  Duke’s shoulder sagged as he shook his head. “I shouldn’t have worried about you two kicking it off.” He turned to the others. “Who wants to go first?”

  The girl with the permanently bored look was Rin Tidewalker. Hers was a minor clan, Duke whispered in my ear as she introduced herself. They were trying to garner the support of the Dawnflames for a conflict on her home world.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Kiran and Kiaya were the twins. Kiran was the brother. They did not mention a last name nor their reason for joining the main party of the clan.

  Duke didn’t whisper in my ear this time, so he must not have any information. Neither did Raven or Kayle from the looks of it.

  “I think it best if we discuss our classes in some detail,” Raven said.

  Especially since we wouldn’t have any time to train together.

  The twins’s their class—if the name wasn’t enough—was related to stealth. Rin excelled at mid-range combat, using what she called ‘superheated water’ to cut enemies apart. Raven had a harder time putting his into simple terms, so he summoned a small, dark cloud. Sparks flashed within, and the combustion rocked the table.

  He assured us he had full control over where his ‘explosive clouds’ travelled and how big the detonation was.

  “My turn,” Kayle said.

  A five-petalled flower bloomed in her palm, which drifted towards me after she blew on it.

  I held out my hand. Soft and warm was the scent wafting up from the petals. As was the energy sinking into my skin. It relaxed my nerves. But more importantly, the minute cuts from gripping Red Fang vanished.

  “You’re a healer?” I mouthed with reverence.

  “Rare, right?” she smiled.

  Rare indeed. You needed to spend years studying medicine as an unawakened to get a chance of unlocking one. Also, they lacked direct combat options.

  ‘Not an issue if you’re from an influential clan, I suppose.’

  They could always arrange guards for her.

  “That said,” Kayle said, “you have the rarer one of us still.”

  “Your reputation precedes you, Ashbringer,” Duke nodded gravely. “As it should.”

  You could hear glass shuffling over the carpet covering the table.

  “Ashbringer?” Kiaya’s lips curved.

  Cheeks going red, I whirled on Duke. “I did not come up with that!”

  “As is custom,” he said. “I asked for your permission.”

  “Which I didn’t give!”

  He shrugged. “Asking for forgiveness is easier. Besides, it’s out now. Nothing you can do about it.”

  I could barely keep my mouth from hanging open.

  Kayle chuckled. “Still a fan of the bad nicknames, I see. I thought you quit writing?”

  “Every great writer abandons their craft at some point,” he said.

  Raven leaned closed and whispered in my ear. “My condolences.”

  I sighed. “Thanks.” Then I regarded the table. “There’s not much to explain, really.”

  Fingers flourished and opened the gate for one of my chicks…the portal hovered in the air for some seconds, my audience watching on in patience.

  My brow rose. What’s taking so long? I was about to head inside when Saber stepped out.

  I blinked. Huh?

  “…I can open gates to another plane,” I said slowly, eyeing the tiger sitting down beside my feet. Saber licked his fur like nothing was wrong.

  ‘Well, whatever.’

  “You summoned another at the meeting, didn’t you?” Raven said. “How many do you have?”

  “Nine. There’s a tenth on the way.”

  The uncommon core had done the balekin tree good; it was more than halfway to fruition. A rare core would’ve seen it sprout right away, but the Dawnflames had reached the limit of rewards they could give me before I completed the second trial.

  Lights overhead shifted to a darker tone, cutting any further questions Raven had. Disciples at the other tables stood and approached the refreshments at the back of the room. Our table followed suit.

  I stayed seated.

  “I don’t have an appetite,” I answered Duke’s questioning glance.

  He sat back down. “Raven, could you please bring me some grapes.”

  “I’m not your butler.”

  Duke clasped his hands together and winked, leaving the other boy to take off with a scoff.

  The sly smile that crept up Duke’s face sent a shiver down my spine. He wore that same expression when I saw him hanging upside down from the cindertree.

  We chatted. But though our conversation was light, I couldn’t shake the dream from my mind. As we talked, the air grew so cold I rubbed my shoulders. Duke’s pale skin grew darker. More lifeless. Like it was decaying at visible speed. My heart beat faster and faster, until I could no longer hold my tongue.

  “Can I ask you something, Duke?”

  His mouth widened to reveal rotten teeth. Worms writhed in between them. “I knew there was something on your mind! Speak, and this humble servant will answer!”

  I breathed in deep and swallowed the clump of bile rising in my throat. “What is the reason you’re helping me?”

  He leaned with his elbow on the table, supporting his head with his hands which almost twisted his neck unnaturally. “You know how I am. I always chase my new fancy.”

  “The real reason, Duke.”

  Disciples waltzed between the tables. Their mumbling was an incessant hum like that of a fly next to your ear at night.

  I held Duke’s gaze until he straightened and turned to the podium. “I’m just looking for a distraction.”

  My lips pursed. “That’s not—”

  “Have you ever been to Blossomflare?”

  “…no. Is that a city?”

  “The capital of the Sun Disk,” he was still looking away. “The origin of our Dawnflame clan. It’s a place where the sun doesn’t settle. Where buildings reaching into the sky rest beside lush, green fields, and cloudships drift on artificial winds.”

  I closed my eyes and imagined it. “It sounds beautiful.”

  “It’s one of the most suffocating places you’ll ever visit.”

  He rested his head in his hands. “Finding a friend there is like finding a golden nugget in a pile of shit. Everyone is out to profit from one another. No virtues are too sacred if debasing them means crawling your way further up the ladder. It’s a never ending cesspool of debauchery.”

  Slowly, the last of the lighter colours vanished from the crystal ball so the room descended into natural darkness.

  Heels clanged through the dark. The last steps of a girl lost to the shadows.

  “Do you hate your home?” I asked.

  “One can never hate their origin. It’s a part of you.”

  “But?”

  “If I could’ve chosen a different birthplace, I would’ve done so.”

  The others returned to the table. The listless chatter of the disciples died down as the curtains opened. Then disciples began to clap as actors stepped on stage wearing flamboyant dresses and masks, carrying wooden spears and pikes.

  “You’ll see what I mean soon enough,” Duke joined the applause.

  I frowned but he didn’t elaborate.

  Drums lauded the start of the play: The Masks of Emperor Menethil. I knew of it but had never seen it performed.

  The Emperor, it was said, had once united the Clans under a single banner.

  Most of his victories stemmed from romanticised betrayals, heroic generals, and even enemies turned allies in crucial moments. Fittingly, his many battles were named the Flower Wars, for in the shadow of his massacres crimson and black flowers grew from the desecrated soil.

  A thousand years of peace followed his ascension to the Black Throne, a chair twice as tall as myself adorned with the skulls of the Emperor’s most troublesome enemies, one of which was of a dragon.

  Many shot glances at the Dragonflight, but the drakes were unbothered.

  The throne was built atop a mountain outside the capital, Black City. Currently, the play showed Emperor Menethil lounging in his throne. A white mask covered in red paint hid his face while great red robes swallowed his frame. Stars fell through the sky, a cosmic event befitting the ascension of a divine heir. Behind the man, a mass of angry spirits cursed his name. One of them was looking straight at me.

  From somewhere, I heard the jingle of Aedan’s veil.

  My eyelids drooped.

  Emperor Menethil’s sight stayed on the stars as he whispered: “Such is the price.” Then he let out a final sigh.

  The Emperor, despite his great foresight, didn’t leave an heir. A brutal period of civil war sprouted after his death as his generals vied for the rights to succession, which slowly undid the Emperor’s great work.

  The actors received a standing ovation upon the play’s end.

  “I promised someone I’d join their performance,” Duke said. “Will you stay?”

  “No,” I scooted out of my chair. My skull sloshed as I did so. “I’ll be retiring early.”

  “A shame,” he said.

  “She understands the value of a Lady’s sleep.” Kayle unfolded her umbrella. “It was fine meeting all of you. We leave early tomorrow, so do not stay late.”

  “Yes, Mother!” Kiran saluted.

  I turned away from the bit of banter that followed.

  Tomorrow was the start of the Maze, and I better be ready.

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