The messenger boy looks at me with a mixture of anger and dread, like I've just ordered him to wash the inside of a chamber pot out with his tongue. I'm not trying to be orcish. I know he can't stand me and has good reason for his dislike. I embarrassed him by knocking him out at the smelter and telling Jet that he freaked out. And that was just the last time I saw him. I embarrassed him before when he came to my tenement. Mistreated him. Threatened to kill him. So yeah. But he's the only messenger in the hideout right now and I need to send a message.

Triel swallows his distaste like it's a live leech.

"Who?" he asks.

"Enturi." His sharp little eyebrows turn up at this. I'm not sure why. Enturi and I work together more often than not lately.

"Where?"

"Ugh," I exhale in exasperation. "I don't know. You're the messenger, you find him."

"What's the message?"

"Red Meadow. Click click. I'm taking him up on his offer." Again with the eyebrows. Heh. Probably burns him pretty bad that he doesn't know the code. "You got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," he mutters. "I got it. Red Meadow, click click, you're taking him up on his offer."

I give him that look that Jet gives me - and everyone else. The 'what are you still standing here for then, you idiot' look. Okay, maybe I'm being a little bit orcish.

"Fine." He heads out the door of the audience hall. I should follow him and find out where Enturi is lurking. But that's one of Jet's rules that I have never cared to break. I'll see Enturi soon enough. The message is simple - meet me at the Red Meadow, one of a couple high level safe houses reserved for Jet's most trusted enforcers, tonight when the rain begins.

I know I'm gonna regret this.

* * *

I'm already there, drinking a mug of my foul-tasting ale, when Enturi arrives. He removes his cloak and hangs it on a battered hook next to mine.

"So," he says, a self-satisfied smirk on his annoying face, "You changed your mind. Find another blood rune that needs to be destroyed?"

"Yes," I say. I refrain from responding sarcastically. Unfortunately, I need Enturi's help. I am more likely to get it if I am civil.

He is surprised. The mocking look on his face vanishes, replaced by serious concern.

"Really? You found another blood rune?"

I nod. He shakes his head.

"Damn," he says. "How many of these runes are there? Were Jeamo and Calmorien doing rituals all over Elftown?"

"I don't know that this one is connected to Jeamo and Calmorien. It's an old rune, been there for many years. But I figure it's better destroyed than left alone."

"You figure? Does Jet know about this?"

"No. Haven't had a chance to tell him. But he approved of how Lynae and I handled the last one."

I can see Enturi absorbing this information, weighing whether he ought to get involved in something not explicitly ordered by Jet. I let him work it out. After a few moments, he nods.

"Fine. Where is it?"

"The old Hall of Law."

His eyes widen. Heh. Surprised him again.

"What? Why were you poking around in there? That place is supposed to be teeming with the restless dead."

"I haven't been poking around in there. Not yet anyway. I saw the rune from outside, through a hole in one of the walls. I need your help to get in."

"You need my help." He looks at me suspiciously. "Why?"

"The place is warded. There's a fog of fear around it. Very powerful. I can't get more than a few steps into it."

"And you think that I can help with this because  . . . ?" His tone is guarded.

I laugh.

"Look Enturi, this isn't my first shift in the tannery. I know you think I'm stupid, but I've got eyes and a mind behind them. I'm not gonna call you the S-word, but I've watched you in action enough to know what you are. You have ways to get into people's minds. Sometimes to convince them to do what you want. Sometimes, like with that half-ogre guard at Jeamo's, to scare them. I saw what you did to him when you touched him. So, I figure maybe it works both ways. If you know how to cause fear, maybe you know how to end it. Or counter-act it."

I grin.

"So I figure maybe if you hold my hand, you can keep the fear away and we can get through the ward." I extend my hand toward him. "What to you say, Enturi? Will you hold my hand?"

He recoils.

"I'm not holding your hand."