A Magic of Nightfall

The White Stone

“ My brother. Hirzg Fynn. ”

She had thought herself beyond surprise at this point, but this. ..

She’d been in Firenzcia now for some three years, longer than she’d stayed anywhere in some time, but the work had been good here. She knew some of the history between Allesandra and Fynn ca’Vorl; she’d heard the rumors, but none of them spoke of a resentment this deep in Allesandra. And she herself had witnessed Allesandra saving her brother from an attack.

She found herself puzzled. She didn’t care for uncertainty.

But… that wasn’t her concern. The gold solas in the pouch were real enough, and she had heard Allesandra clearly, and the woman’s white stone sat in her pouch next to the stone of the right eye, the stone that held the souls of all those the White Stone had killed.

Her fingers scissored around the white stone now through the thin, soft leather of the pouch. The touch gave her comfort, and she thought she could hear the faint voices of her victims calling.

“I nearly killed you first… You were so clumsy then…”

“How many more? We grow stronger, each time you add another…”

“Soon you’ll hear us always…”

She took her hand from the stone and the voices stopped. They didn’t always. Sometimes, especially recently, she’d been hearing them even when she didn’t touch the stone.

To kill a Hirzg… This would be a challenge. This would be a test. She would have to plan carefully; she would have to watch him and know him. She would have to become him.

Her fingers were back around the stone again. “You’ve killed the unranked, you’ve killed ce’-and-ci’, and they are easy enough. You’ve killed cu’-and-ca’, and you know they’re far more difficult because with money comes isolation, and with power comes protection. But never this. Never a ruler.”

“You’re afraid…”

“… You doubt yourself…”

“No!” she told them all, angrily. “I can do this. I will do this. You’ll see. You’ll see when the Hirzg is in there with you. You’ll see.”

They’ll know you. The A’Hirzg will know you…

“No, she won’t. People like her don’t even see the unranked, as I was to her. My voice will be different, and my hair, and-most importantly-my attitude. She won’t know me. She won’t.”

With that, she plucked the pouch of golden coins from the bed and placed it in the chest with the other fees. From the chest, she pulled out the battered bronze mirror and looked at her reflection in the polished surface. She touched her hair, looked at the haunted, almost colorless eyes. It was time for her to become someone else. Someone richer, someone more influential.

Someone who could get close enough to the Hirzg…