Vengence!

“Who the fuck are you?” Giggles demanded of the group of strangers he found assembled outside the old fishery. The party had been trying to surreptitiously investigate Gaedren Lamm’s hideout, but they apparently hadn’t been quiet enough. Giggles had burst out of the front door, while simultaneously, Yargin had come out of a side door onto the narrow boardwalk over the Jeggare River. Then Giggles spotted Jax. “You!” he shrieked, and charged to attack, pushing heedlessly past Erin in his fury to get to the ex-Lamb who’d escaped him so many times before. His blow sent splinters flying from the wall of the fishery as it went just over Jax’s head as the rogue ducked. The battle was on!

The Old Fishery

Tomas stood up again. He’d been anxious to see what Madame Zellara’s reading would reveal, but now – well, daylight was wasting. He quickly began to organize the crew, doing a quick inventory of equipment, weapons, and abilities. In short order, he had them ready to set out for Gaedren Lamm’s hideout. “Are you coming with us?” he asked Zellara.

She shook her head. “I’d be worse than useless. But you are welcome to use my home if you need a place to rest. Whether I’m here or not.”

The Harrowing

Tomas smacked the table and stood up. “Great! Let’s get organized.” But Zellara interrupted him.

“Before you begin, would you allow me to perform a Harrow reading?” she asked. “There may be much we can learn from the cards, and it will also help align the spirit world with your quest, to gain their support.”

Everyone looked at each other. Given that Zellara had somehow managed to find all of them, and bring them together by somehow placing Harrow cards on their persons, no one was inclined to doubt the power of the Harrow in her hands. Tomas sat back down.

Weaving the Threads

Tomas slouched in an alley, trying to look like a sleeping bum while he watched the house across the street through slitted eyelids. As soon as he’d found the strange Harrow card with its ominous message, he’d rushed to Lancet Street, arriving hours before the stated rendezvous time so that he could stake the place out, and watch for any suspicious activity. He hoped the card’s promise of vengeance against Gaedren Lamm was genuine, but if this was some sort of trap set by Lamm’s minions, he wouldn’t walk right into it.

So far, he’d seen nothing unusual. The street was a humble residential street; nothing fancy, but certainly no slum. The house he watched was not noticeably different from any of its neighbors, save for the sign showing a fanned Harrow deck above its front door. Since he’d been watching, a number of people had walked by the house, but none had stopped. Children played a little ways down the street, and an old lady slowly swept her steps and cobbles a few doors away.

A young man walked down the street, wearing the robes of a student at the Acadamae, although they were wrinkled and stained. Tomas had seen him pass before, and he tensed with anticipation. The man passed the house, and then approached the old lady. “Excuse me,” Tomas heard him ask. “Do you know if the fortune-teller’s shop is open?”

The woman leaned on her broom. “Well, I’m not sure. I suppose so, but I haven’t seen Madame Zellara in some time. ‘Course I don’t get out much anymore, what with my rheumatism and all.” The young man thanked her, then turned back the way he’d come. He went to the house, paused for a moment, then knocked on the door. It swung open at his knock. “Hello?” Tomas heard him call, pushing the door farther open. “Madame Zellara? Are you home?” If there was an answer, Tomas couldn’t hear it, but the student went inside and shut the door behind him. Tomas stayed where he was – he was a patient hunter.

Prologue

Fate

Is it the gods amusing themselves by playing puppeteer with the lives of mortals? Is it the clockwork mechanism of the universe, ticking slowly towards some inexorable conclusion, heedless of the souls that are ground in its gears? Or is it just a word we assign in retrospect to those whose deeds shape their world? Is the path of those to whom we give the title “Destined” truly written in the stars? Or are they subject to the same vagaries of good fortune and bad luck, inspired insight and poor choices, faith, doubt, courage, and cowardice that afflict us all? History is written by those who survive it, and the stories of those who fall by its wayside hold little interest for the generations that follow.

Six People

with nothing in common save the touch of a monster. Six people who would count themselves cursed. Six people who walk a path that begins in loss and death, and leads to a destination no less murky than that of any other mortal.

Erin  Nelsson. Unable to forgive herself for the disappearance of her sister, she has devoted herself to the service of Iomedae, to protect others who cannot protect themselves, and to steel herself to never again make the kind of mistake that cost her her family.

 

Jax. One of the lucky few to have escaped the notorious child slaver, Gaedren Lamm, he is haunted by the memory of one who did not escape, and the knowledge that she died in his place.

 

Wren. Another former Lamm’s Lamb, she will not speak of how she escaped, nor of the horrors she suffered during her captivity. A devotee of Pharasma, the Lady of Graves, she fears that a world that allows the existence of one such as Gaedren Lamm is a world too painful to live in.

 

Shadow. Outwardly happy-go-lucky and carefree, this half-elf is a former shiver addict, and is tortured by memories of things he did while in thrall to the drug and the terrible cost that others paid as the price of his addiction.

 

Tomas Jentaine. The younger son of a prominent Korvosan family, he brought shame upon his house when he was drummed out of the Sable Company for betraying his oath and duty. His actions were a futile attempt to free his older brother from Lamm’s clutches, and his brother paid with his life.

 

Natan Dorré. Wrongfully imprisoned for a murder he did not commit, Natan lost everything – his mother, his reputation, his place at the Acadamae – to Gaedren Lamm’s vile scheming.

Six People

with nothing connecting them save the black thread that Gaedren Lamm has wrapped around their hearts. Is this thread part of the fabric of fate, woven on the loom of the Gods? Only time – and history – will tell.