Page 27

Maelin touched one of them, verifying that she was an adult and permitted to read the material she had requested.

Even then, the pages turned reluctantly, slowly, until the last one fell into place.

Now, instead of X’s, there was a dark skull rising from the words beneath, and a bright red “WARNING” flashed above it.

She waited silently. Another touch panel appeared, and she touched it, lightly this time, with her forefinger.

At last the pages settled, and there in front of her, on the left hand side, was the word “Rhovan”—spelled with a silent “h”—and more than a few paragraphs beneath.

She began to read.

RHOVAN. Origin unknown. Bloodline unknown.

(Several facts unverified. Others relying on less-than-rational reports. However, there is no question that the Rhovan existed.)

An ancient, highly adaptive people once associated with the Shrouded Isles and several territories beyond the Duskbound Mountains. Surviving accounts disagree on their origins, but agree on their capacity for terrible violence.

It has been said that they could alter their appearance with extraordinary speed, endure injuries that would kill an ordinary human, and possessed strength far beyond their apparent size. Several military records attribute dismemberment and terrible bodily trauma to Rhovan attacks during the old wars, leading to the supposition that they might have been augmented with partial mechanicals.

Whether such accounts have been exaggerated by fear remains disputed. What is not disputed is that entire settlements vanished during periods of Rhovan activity, and that survivors consistently described the same unsettling feature: no two witnesses could agree on what a Rhovan actually looked like.

Their present status remains unknown.

A chill ran down Maelin’s spine as she read this brief but chilling description of something she’d never heard of before. They were described as ‘people’, but were they? From what she was reading, they should have been classified as something different.

The word ‘monsters’ came to mind.

Leaning back in her chair, she turned the question over in her mind. Caelemar’s past was nothing if not colourful. There had been uprisings, battles, wars, squabbles, land-grabs, and all sorts of other unpleasant behaviours over the centuries. And to be quite honest, it wouldn’t have surprised her to read of a new ‘situation’ on the far side of the Sea of Echoes.

She had no idea who lived there, but odds were pretty good that someone else would want to move in at some point in the next few generations. It was how humans worked. Right or wrong, it was inevitable.

Sighing, she leaned back in her chair. Now she knew what “Rhovan” meant, there was another question that needed answering. “Jerrity”.

Someone’s name? A family?

She closed the reference book, pushed it to one side, and pulled up a Caelemar Dictionary.

Finding the “J’s”, she ran a finger down the columns, but came up blank.

A family name, perhaps. The Caelemar Family Locator also came up with nothing.

Last resort? The complete map of Caelemar, with a dictionary of location references. Neatly engraved on the cover, in gold leaf, the words “All streets, all levels. Caelemar’s most complete map reference volume.”

Once again, Maelin turned to the “J’s”.

And this time she struck gold.

“Jerrity Street. An address in the Gloamtide, comprising several dwellings, a general merchandise shop, and three Velvet Houses.”

She blinked. Gloamtide. The lowest and most notorious district of Caelemar, and one rumoured to be the home of everything that was illegal and violent.

What the Hellforge did Cyrus Drake have to do with a vanished race of apparent monsters and a street of Velvet Houses?

She closed the book, and stared at the cover, not really seeing it, but attempting to sort out the information she’d gleaned. It was a hopeless task.

Her cogitations were interrupted by Darady, who tapped on the door and opened it, peeking at her. “Sorry to disturb you, Miss Mae, but you have...” She opened the door further and held out her hand, revealing a magnificent bouquet of flowers, all blues, whites, and silvers.

“Oooh,” Maelin couldn’t help the murmur of pleasure. “How lovely.”