"The carriage will probably be here soon. I have to admit I'm dreading it," Lorlen said, draining the last of his wine and sinking deeper into his armchair, a frown clouding his features.

Akkarin swirled his own final mouthful of wine in the delicate glass in his hand, watching his friend carefully. "Nevertheless, it is important that the city Guard know the Guild is closely following these developments," he said carefully, looking about the Administrator's office. His eyes rested on a section of the wall that he knew led to the underground tunnels under the Guild. He had never used it to spy on Lorlen, but he would occasionally check, from the inside, that it hadn't caved in. One never knows when they'll come in useful.

Lorlen sighed and put down his glass just as they both heard Lord Osen's mental communication.

– Administrator? Captain Baran is here to pick you up.

"Better get this over with," Lorlen said, standing up. He gave the High Lord a sidelong glance as they both walked towards the door of his office. "Why do I still have the feeling you know more than I do about these murders?"

"Wishful thinking, my friend," Akkarin replied smoothly, gesturing for Lorlen to exit first. "No one would relish these gruesome visits, but someone needs to do it. And the Guard are better placed than us to investigate. Might I remind you of how ineffectual we were at finding Sonea a few years ago – until Lord Dannyl understood that going undercover was our best course of action."

Lorlen winced as they walked down the corridor and towards the main staircase that led out of the building. "Don't remind me. We're resented for our disruptive presence until we are needed for our power."

"The Purge hardly helps our reputation, my novice tells me. But that is a conversation for another time," Akkarin nodded goodbye to Lorlen as the Administrator headed across the Guild grounds towards the entrance gates, where a carriage was waiting.

The High Lord was just about to walk in the opposite direction towards his residence when he changed his mind and walked back into the University building. It had been some time since he checked the underground tunnels that linked this building to his own residence, and it was growing more important by the day that he, Sonea and Takan had alternative routes out of his residence, should the worst happen. Akkarin pushed aside the dark thought of a slave or an Ichani finding him in the Guild grounds, and walked down the ground floor corridor towards the unused storage room that he knew contained the entrance to the passages.

A few novices were leaving the dining hall, and they bowed and moved out of his way swiftly, a twinge of fear and awe in their eyes. The corner of Akkarin's mouth twitched upwards at the reaction, but he did not glance at them or slow his pace.

With a brief look around to ensure he was alone, he swiftly entered the room and shut the door silently behind him, willing a small globelight into existence. The panel on the wall slid inwards when he used magic to slide open the small latch on the other side, and Akkarin slipped through, carefully re-securing the panel. The temperature was immediately cooler, but he was relieved to see no footsteps had disturbed the dust on the floor for a long time.

As the passage went on beyond the University, the air grew even cooller and damp, and Akkarin knew this section was under the grounds between the University and the Magician's Quarters. Sure enough, soon the passages grew drier and warmer again, indicating he was now beneath the latter building. As Akkarin's eyes had now adjusted to the darkness, he dimmed his globelight to the faintest glimmer.

It was not a moment too soon. He froze as his senses detected via magic that someone was in the passages. They were around a corner and at least twenty paces away, but any closer and Akkarin realised he would have been heard.

He put a strong shield around himself and a sound shield over that. Extinguishing his globelight, he took careful steps towards the direction his magic had indicated an intruder's presence. Whoever they were, they were either a non-magician or they weren't shielding, because they had not detected the power Akkarin had sent forth to probe their whereabouts.

As Akkarin looked around the corner silently, the intruder came into view. The man had his back to him, and he was hiding in a small alcove in the wall. But his pale skin was unmistakably Kyralian.

Akkarin relaxed somewhat, realising he had been expecting a Sachakan. Still, a stranger has discovered the passages under the city, and followed them into the Guild grounds. This was a very bad development, but perhaps the man did not know he had followed the passages until he was under the Guild – and he still thought he was somewhere underneath the city.

Then Akkarin felt like something had knocked the wind out of him when he realised why the intruder was completely still, and hadn't looked back and noticed him. His full attention was on the end of the passage, where the flicker of a blue-white globelight was highlighting the features of a third person who was approaching them. As the owner of the light source stepped closer, Akkarin's heart leapt. Those dark eyes, short black hair, and brown novices' robes were unmistakeable. Sonea! What is she doing here?

The intruder tried to make himself even smaller inside the alcove, clearly hoping Sonea wouldn't look up from the piece of paper in her hand. But Sonea paused mere inches away fromt he intruder, and looked up. Her eyes narrowed, and she seemed to be listening intently, as if she had heard something.

The intruder panicked her at proximity. Before Akkarin could react, he leapt out of the alcove and into Sonea's path, lunging at her with a knife. Sonea gasped and stumbled backwards. Cold fear washed over Akkarin as he leapt out from around the corner and threw a shield around Sonea. Pure rage seemed to take over his faculties as he sent out powerful forcestrikes at the intruder. The passage was blinded with light and grew hot with Akkarin's strikes as he strode down towards the two figures on the floor.

"Stop! Akkarin, stop!" He heard Sonea shout. Her entreaties barely registered as Akkarin continued to pummell the figure on the floor, who was now lying motionless. The faint smell of burnt flesh began to fill the passage.

A strong forcestrike hit Akkarin's shield from the side, breaking his concentration on his attack. Breathing heavily from his nose, he looked around in surprise, as if emerging from a trance. Sonea was sitting with her back against the wall, breathing heavily and clutching her side. She had sent the forcestrike, jolting Akkarin out of his rage and back into the scene in front of him.

The intruder was not only long dead, but terribly burnt from the force and number of Akkarin's strikes.

"Sonea!" Akkarin rasped and crouched down next to her, gathering her into his arms in one swift move.

"I'm alright. I'm okay," Sonea whispered. When Akkarin pulled away, another jolt of fear ran through him to see her face was contorted with pain. He looked down to see her brown robes sticky and wet at the waist with something that looked black in the dim globelight.

Akkarin pressed his trembling hand to the spot and his palm came away dark red with blood under his globelight. He placed his hand back on Sonea's waist and sent out his mind into his body. He grew almost dizzy with relief to see that the knife had cut skin and muscle, but missed all organs.

Sonea, combine your power with what I'm sending you now. We have to heal this fast; you're loosing blood, he sent her mentally through touch.

As Akkarin coaxed the body to push out the impurities the knife had left inside, Sonea began to direct her power to realigning and healing muscle and skin. She stopped once a surface level cut remained.

–No, continue, Akkarin said sharply.

–This is now fine as it is…

Akkarin ignored Sonea's reply and poured more power into her body, until he had guided scar tissue to form over the now fully closed wound and probed everything with his senses one last time to check for any infection.

Then he exhaled the breath that he seemed to have been holding for a while, and slumped against the wall next to her. Sonea was looking at him closely, her eyes betraying a mixture of fear and concern.

After a while, she whispered hesitatingly, "W-what shall we do with the body?"

Akkarin felt like he had been snapped out of a daze. He glanced at the charred body calculatedly, then stood up, extending a hand to Sonea, who took it and stood up next to him. "I will take it along the passages away from the Guild, and leave it in a section of the Thieves' Road. My associate in the city will take care of the rest."

Sonea's eyes were questioning but she eventually said nothing, nodding.

"Go back to the residence," Akkarin nodded in the direction he had come, indicating she should emerge into the University building and head over from there, above ground.

"I can help–"

"Go," Akkarin ordered sharply. When he saw the hint of challenge in the set of Sonea's jaw, he reached out to stroke her cheek, softening his tone. "Please. I must take care of this alone," he added. "I will join you very soon."

Sonea's face softened and she reached up to place her own trembling hand on top of his. The touch felt somehow new. Something much more than a sense of mutual desire seemed to pass between them momentarily.

Akkarin waited until Sonea's footsteps down the passage towards the University had faded away before he leaned heavily against the cold wall. He wasn't exhausted magically, although he had sent a lot of strikes in quick succession. But an immense mental exhaustion washed over him. For a moment there, I thought… I thought…

He drew in a shaking breath to steady his mind: a distressed magician was an out-of-control one. His imagination conjured an image of Sonea bleeding out in the corridor, her eyes glassy, and the explosion of her reserve of power upon the moment of death. Akkarin shook his head and tried to push the horrific picture out of his thoughts.

He floated the corpse ahead of him with magic, trying not to look at the result of his disproportionate attack. I couldn't have been sure he wasn't a magician, he tried to comfort his conscience as he walked down the passages in the direction of the city.

You saw that he drew a knife; something a magician wouldn't have bothered doing, replied an accusing voice in his head. You lost control.

As Akkarin approached a chamber that he knew was more or less under the gates of the Outer Circle, he sent out a call to Takan throught the blood ring.

– Takan?

– Master. Is everything alright? Akkarin sensed concern in Takan's mental voice, and the hint of his own fear, which Takan had clearly felt through the gem.

– Sonea and I were attacked by a dwell, possibly a hired knife, in the passages underneath the Guild. We are both unharmed. I am leaving the man's body in…

He projected a mental image of the room to Takan, and sensed his recognition. His servant knew the passages well after years of being a go-between between the High Lord and the Thieves.

– Let our friend in the city know that the body needs to be disposed of quietly.

– I will do that now, master, and stay in the city overnight to make sure. Breakfast may be delayed.

– Do not worry about that. Thank you, my friend. Stay safe. Akkarin severed the link and left the room swiftly, striding back through the passages towards the Guild as quickly as caution allowed.

He tried to keep his mind present in the silence and darkness of the journey back. But the accusatory voice kept cropping up.

You swore after what you witnessed Kariko do that you would never kill senselessly like he did. You swore never to use the power you drew from him and his innocent slaves against anyone so unevenly matched, the voice said.

Akkarin breathed heavily through his nose, his black robes swirling in agitation as he rounded a corner. The passages grew warm and better kept, and he knew he was now nearly at the door that opened into the underground room of his own residence.

I attacked to protect that which is precious to me, he replied to his conscience. A cold rage thrummed throughout Akkarin's body as he arrived at the door to his underground room. And I would do the same and worse if anyone, whether Thief or Ichani, touched a hair on Sonea's head.

The accusing voice fell silent.