Hell's Fountain: The Killing Sands

In truth any sword would do, but the short sword was finest fighting blade I had ever held; it almost seemed to have a life of its own. The hazel eyed woman appeared again in the crowd for a brief moment. This time she was smiling, but there was also a sense of urgency about her. The body and its precious clues was waiting for us in the desert. "Besides, the sword was a gift from a friend."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Yosef and I dined that evening in the house of Magister of the Outer Reach, Lord Evgenii. Evgenii was descended from Northern stock and it showed in his heavy boned frame and fair, for the desert, skin. He proclaimed himself a man in touch with his heritage and longed to hear the moon-song of the wolves. He had taken advantage of an ancient blood oath to bring the three hundred men of my troop and our camp followers to Hell’s Fountain for reasons that were not clear to me. I was continuously amazed that the other Magistrates continued to see us as only the police force responsible for maintaining order in the areas just outside the city walls. More suspicious men might have wondered, as I did, why Evgenii felt the need to have a small army of the most sought after mercenary fighters on the continent at his beck and call.

Lord Mai’ron, Magister of the Holy Waters and also a guest at dinner that evening, may have felt no concern since Yosef and the patrolmen of the Blue Watch controlled the gates leading in to the city. I wondered if he might be a partner in whatever plan Evgenii was developing. Those who control gates can open them as easily as close them.

Lord Khepri, Magister of the Inner Court, was a man concerned foremost with gold. He relied heavily on his Guard-Captain and his deputy Magistrate for information on the activities of the other wealthy houses in Hell’s Fountain. Guard-Captain Typhon Menes seemed to prefer to acquire this information by drinking with some of his informants and bedding the rest. Of course most of the noble families in the city had better taste in companions, and for these Khepri had Ahriman, his deputy magistrate. None of the other Magisters had deputies, but then they had competent Guard-Captains. Ahriman, curiously enough, seemed to have his sight set on becoming Guard-Captain of the Inner Court. I suspected his ambition surely would have proven fatal for Menes if it were not for the strict taboo against murder within sight of the waters. Some sort of superstition about angering the water spirits. Troublesome water spirits were a myth of course. Any civilized person knew that it was the mountain spirits that were dangerous.

"You say the body today was in the same state as the others we have found over the past year, Captain Tage?" Evgenii stared at me over the arched fingers of his hands. He never referred to my men and I as Guards.

"Yes my Lord. The boy’s body was mummified. In one hand he held the note and in the other he held the pebble." I motioned toward the objects on the table before the Magistrates. The notes were all written in the same hand and all claimed: The dead are born again. Though they may come, the Waters belong to us. The pebbles we found were always semi-precious gemstones, but the pebbles I gave the Magistrates were always small rocks I picked up from near the bodies. There were other uses for those gemstones than amusing the Magistrates.

"This is really become unacceptable Tage." Khepri whined behind his water goblet.