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Zevran Arainai

Oh, Maker, my jaw hurt, but it didn't feel as if any teeth had been loosened. I shook my head, trying to clear it, and winced, as needles of pain lanced through the left side of my skull, a side effect of 'Moonlight Dreams.' I'd been exposed often enough to the various soporifics that supplemented the Crow arsenal of poisons to recognize the hazy warmth it engendered just before it knocked you on your ass. I had, at least, gotten one good punch in before the drugs took full effect. I wondered who I had hit, since whoever threw that dart had been wearing a mask.

"Mierda," I muttered, pulling at the ropes binding my hands. They were lashed behind a stout beam in an empty warehouse. Surprisingly, my legs were free, and I still had my weapons. Though my hands were bound in such a way I couldn't twist a wrist to release the dagger strapped to either forearm.

The warehouse smelled of dust and mold, the way that a place does when it's been closed up for a while. Sunlight filtered through high windows somewhere above me and fell in scattered fragments on the floor.

"Ah, good, you're awake," a familiar voice said.

"Master Stefan."

He touched the side of his face and winced. "Your reflexes are exceptional, Arainai. Remind me not to underestimate them next time."

I leaned my head back against the beam and tried to focus on Master Stefan. He sat on a crate, one hand resting on his dagger hilt. Except that there seemed to be two of him, blending in and out of one another, he looked much as I remembered him.

"Oh, there's going to be a next time? I'd rather thought that might be difficult without my hands. Or is the current fashion to start with the feet? Being gone from Antiva for a while makes it difficult to keep up with the latest trends in torture."

He cocked his head. "Aren't you the least bit curious as to why you're here in an abandoned warehouse?"

I closed my eyes. Seeing two of him made my stomach queasy. "I assumed this was a private party."

To my surprise, he didn't say anything. And honestly, I was curious, especially since I still had my weapons. Of course, it could all be part of some elaborate torture plan. Except that Master Stefan, unlike many masters I've known, didn't seem the type to indulge in such fancies.

I cracked open an eye. Since there only seemed to be one of him, I opened both.

"Well, now that you mention that, it does seem a bit curious."

He gazed at the dusty floor a moment, his hands shifting to rest on top of his thighs. Then he pulled a dark pouch of blue silk from the inner pocket of his vest and held it up.

"Do you remember when I asked you if you believed in seers?"

I glanced at the silk pouch in his hand. He pulled open the tie, and a clear oval crystal, the size of his palm, slid into his hand.

"It's a seeing stone," Master Stefan said. "A very old one, given to me by the person who trained me."

I stared at him. "You're claiming to be a…seer?"

He smiled. "I'm not claiming. I am a seer. Shall I tell you what I've seen?"

When he leaned forward, the crystal fell within a stray spear of sunlight and seemed to glow from within. Or perhaps that was only the lingering effect of the drugs. His voice was low and intense as he continued, and despite my doubts, I found myself listening closely.

"I've seen this Blight, usually in dreams, an Archdemon bellowing on the heights, and you…Zevran Arainai…dancing below it, in the midst of the battle. I saw that before you even bid on the Warden contract." His mouth twitched towards a smile. "So, I think you can assume that you'll survive this meeting with all your limbs intact."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

It's never wise to anger a master, but I'd failed my contract. The Crows had only one answer for that. Since he wasn't typical, there was a chance I could bargain for a clean death. Though I didn't want to betray the oath I'd given my Warden.

His eyes shifted back to the scrying stone. "I saw the battle where you fell." He described in detail the narrow ravine, the fallen tree, the scrapes and bruises he'd seen on my arms and face, and even the approximate time of day from the shape and length of the shadow thrown across me as I lay unconscious. He looked back at me. "I lost the vision when I tried to see who cast the shadow."

I swallowed, a shiver coursing down my spine. Maker, he really was a seer.

I glanced back at the crystal, an exquisite example of the glass blower's art. I'd never seen any fortune teller in the marketplace use one like that.

"What do you want, Master?"

He smiled in a way I didn't expect. Crows don't really smile. The corners of their mouths tilt up in imitation of one, but it's only a mask. This smile, though, was real.

"I want to leave the nest. And I've been informed, by a reliable source, that you are my way out."

I stared at him. "Me? How do I …oh, Maker…" I started laughing. Fortune was playing a very bad joke on me. How could I help him leave when the Crows were after my head for failing a contract?

"You still live, when, by anyone's reckoning, you should be dead," Master Stefan said. "Why did the Wardens spare your life?"

"To be honest, I'm not really sure. I overheard my Warden say something once, that it seemed there had been enough killing that day I…went after him."

Master Stefan's eyes narrowed. "My Warden?"

Too late, I realized my slip. Mierda, I was getting careless, but there was no helping it. The dagger had been drawn, so to speak. "The one in charge, Darrian Tabris."

"Interesting, an elf leads them," he murmured, then looked at me. "And none of the humans traveling with him seem to object?"

I shrugged, deciding he could read that as he wished. No one in our little group openly objected, though they often tended to second-guess his decisions.

"I would like to meet this man."

Of course, Master Stefan could be lying about wanting to leave. This conversation could be nothing more than part of an elaborate plot to fulfill the contract.

"You don't believe me," he said when I stayed silent. He slipped the seeing crystal back into the silk pouch before tucking it inside his vest pocket. "Little reason you should, I suppose. We Crows are not very good when it comes to dealing in truth, are we, Zevran?"

The use of my first name surprised me. If there was one thing masters relished, it was the opportunity to remind underlings of their place, particularly if one was an elf.

"We build lives of deception, of pretence," he continued. "We learn not to trust the surface or what lies below it…ever." He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees and interlacing his fingers. "My whole life has been one of pretence, even before my uncle sold me to the Crows. He thought he was just getting rid of his sister's bastard. A fully human child was embarrassment enough, but one who has elven blood…well, we both know how that is usually resolved within even a minor noble's house, don't we? And we both know what the Guild will do if they find me."

Oh, Maker, Fortune just wasn't laughing at my expense, she was playing dice with me.

"The Crows…they found out about your half-blood."

He nodded. "I don't know exactly how. Let's just say a 'friend' warned me in time. I've also received information that Master Jepheth left Antiva City and should be arriving in Denerim in a few days. He's Chief Enforcer now."

Oh, this just kept getting better and better. My former master had a particularly nasty reputation, even for a Crow. His promotion must have happened after I left. Not that I was very surprised by it. He had a vicious streak that well-suited him to the posting.

"If I may ask, how did you manage to hide the little matter of an elven sire for so long? It's not uncommon for nobles to take elven lovers, after all."

"He was my father, not some animal put out to stud," he said sharply. "As for hiding it, my mother was a very clever woman. And she cultivated a reputation for being…generous with her charms. Whether she ever really was …" He shrugged. "I'm inclined to believe not, but the deception worked in my favor. And since my father functioned as her steward, no one questioned the time they spent together."

The child of an elf and a human always favors the human parent and can be taken for fully human. His mother could have lied to him -as she had apparently lied to everyone else – but she hadn't. A most unusual woman. It explained, at least in part, why he seemed so different from the typical Crow master.

"As for the rest of my history, I would prefer it if this Warden was present, so I don't have to repeat myself. Is he literate?"

"Oh, are you planning on leaving him a ransom note? I'm afraid they don't have much gold. All that running around and gathering an army to stop the darkspawn. Quite expensive, you understand." I grimaced. Maker, some old habits were really hard to shake.

He smiled. "I see why you drove Jepheth to distraction when you were his apprentice. If I didn't despise the man so much, I'd almost feel sorry for him."

I shifted in my bonds, testing them. "If you wish to set up a meeting with the Warden, might I suggest a more congenial place? He's very clever, and this place reeks of a trap…even if one is not intended."

He glanced around. "I agree. There's a rather dodgy alehouse about two blocks east of here even the Crows avoid."

"The Drunken Dog?" He nodded. "I'm familiar with the place," I said.

"I thought you might be. Now, I would prefer not to have to carry you there when I return."

"I understand. I can be discrete."

"Where in the inn are your rooms?"

I told him, and though he surely noticed that my Warden and I shared the same room, he gave no sign.

I supposed it had been too much too hope that he would have released me when he went to deliver his message. It's not like I would have left. I was very curious as to how this little event was going to play out. My Warden seemed willing to take on whatever help he could find. But a House Master on the run from the Guild? I, at least, had the flimsy protection of being assumed dead at the moment. But Master Stefan would be a prime target for any and every Crow looking to make a name, or add to the one they already had. Would even my Warden be willing to take on that risk?

I leaned back and settled to waiting for Master Stefan to return. Either way, it was going to be an interesting morning.