| SORCEROUS SIGNALS |
| Written by Shiloh Carroll/ Artwork by Holly Eddy |
| Make a donation to this writer |
| The Truthsayer |
Kayla stared up at the walls surrounding the city of Derby. She was filled with equal parts excitement and
anticipation. On the one hand, she was about to be in the same city as her twin brother again after several years
apart. On the other, she was not here on a pleasure jaunt, but on business.
As the keeper of the first tame gryphon in known history, Kayla had been pressed into the service of the Peace
Keepers and forced to use the gryphon’s magic for law enforcement purposes. The legends that the magic of
gryphons prevented the speaking of lies in their presence had been proven true not long after Kayla had rescued
Liah. As long as the gryphon was within eyeshot of a person, lies would not pass their lips.
It’s moderately amusing to watch people stammer like fish when they’re trying to lie, Kayla thought. Unless, of course, the
person in question is your husband and he’s trying to cover up a wild affair with the barmaid. She shrugged and patted
her horse’s neck. So much had changed when she’d found Liah fluttering around near the base of a cliff, her parents
nowhere in sight. She’d learned later poachers had killed both of them, gryphon bits being quite popular with
charlatans who claimed these bits still had magical properties after being removed from the animal. They tended to do
the same thing with unicorns and other magical creatures, most of which were now extinct or close to it.
Kayla urged the horse back into motion and rode up to the gate. The guards seemed more uptight than she
remembered, but she didn’t think much of it until one of them grabbed her horse’s halter.
“City pass,” the guard barked. He released the horse to hike up his pants, which were being subsumed to his
overhanging belly.
“I don’t have one,” Kayla said. She frowned at him. “Since when do you need a pass to get into the city?”
“Since four wenches’ve gone missing over the last few weeks,” the guard snapped.
“I don’t have a pass. I’m the Truthsayer,” Kayla said.
“Right. I’ve heard of the Truthsayer. She comes with a gryphon.”
The guard looked around, though his gaze never rose higher than the horse’s shoulder. “I don’t see no gryphon.”
Kayla rolled her eyes and fished her whistle out from under her shirt, where it hung on a thong. She put the whistle
to her lips and blew one piercing note on it, enjoying the way it made the guard wince and pull away. She enjoyed
the expression on his face even more when Liah came spiraling down from the thermals she’d been riding to land at
Kayla’s side.
The gryphon was almost as tall at the shoulder as the horse, which, with her leonine body and raptor’s head, was
very imposing to those who didn’t know her. Kayla wasn’t above using Liah’s natural intimidation to her own
advantage. Liah glared down at the guard, obviously having deduced the situation for herself. Kayla still wasn’t quite
sure just how smart Liah was; sometimes she seemed as quick as a cat, and sometimes as dense as a mule. For all
Kayla knew, both were pretense on Liah’s part and the gryphon was constantly laughing to herself.
“Right,” the guard said. His eyes were open so wide that the whites were visible all around the irises. “Go on, then.
But tell the Peacekeepers you’re to get a city pass.”
“I’ll do that,” Kayla said, barely managing to keep her exasperation out of her voice. “Thank you, sirs.”
With another whistle to Liah, this one between her teeth, and a cluck to the horse, Kayla rode into the city.
Her first stop was the Peacekeepers’ station, near the center of the city. It was a nondescript building made of the
same grey stone as the rest of the older parts of the city. Kayla left her horse with the Peacekeepers’ stableboy and
signaled Liah to settle on the roof of the station. Then she presented herself to the Constable.
“We’re glad you’re here,” he said. “We didn’t have time to send an urgent request to Endin for you, but we knew
you’d be along due to our other requests.”
“I’d have been here earlier but for the poisoned well in a town down the road,” Kayla said. “Why? What’s going on?”
“We’re not exactly sure.” The Constable took his cap off and ran his hand along his half-balding head. He had the too-
thin appearance of someone who didn’t eat enough due to stress. “Several missing women. Same circumstances.
They were all pregnant, all disappeared out of their beds sometime late at night. No one heard anything, no one saw
anything.”
“So...you don’t have any witnesses or suspects,” Kayla said.
“Not exactly.” The Constable scratched at his balding spot. “I was hoping maybe you could get something more out of
the families or the neighbors.”
“Not if they honestly haven’t seen anything, but we’ll try,” Kayla said.
“I know you will,” the Constable said. “One of my Peacekeepers will take you to one of the sites so you can question
the residents.”
Kayla saluted.
The Constable made a vague gesture at Kayla’s riding clothes, his nose wrinkled slightly in disapproval. “Might go
better if you’re in uniform.”
“Sorry.” Kayla brushed some imaginary dirt from the leg of her pants.
“Fresh out of clean ones.” She left the Constable’s office and stalked back outside.
A pair of hands covered her eyes and a voice, forced into a lower register than was natural, said, “Guess who.”
“Kelren!” Kayla ducked under his hands and whirled to throw her arms around him. “How did you know I’d be here?”
“Four missing women? Peacekeepers without a clue? Of course you’d be here. I’ve been waiting.”
Kayla leaned back to examine at him more closely. “There’s something different about you,” she said.
“I cut my hair,” Kelren said.
“That’s not it.” Kayla socked him in the arm.
“Oh! I’m the head priest of our order now.” Kelren picked up the ends of the stole that hung around his neck. “This is
new.”
“Good for you!” Kayla said. She linked arms with him and leaned against his side.
Kelren had no time to reply as one of the Peacekeepers, looking harried, motioned Kayla toward her horse.
“I’ll come see you for a proper visit later,” Kayla said as she swung into the saddle. “Oh, your...thingy is crooked.” She
indicated his stole. It was embroidered with the symbols of Yasha in gold thread on the red background, which
contrasted nicely with the white robes.
Kelren adjusted the stole as Kayla and the Peacekeeper rode off, Liah stalking along beside them.
The Peacekeeper led Kayla north, into a quiet, residential area. It wasn’t at all what Kayla had been expecting; crimes
of this nature tended to happen in lower-class neighborhoods. This one looked more like an upper merchant class
neighborhood.
“Here?” Kayla asked the Peacekeeper incredulously.
He nodded. “That house there,” he said, pointing to one of the larger ones on the block. “She’s a cloth merchant’s
wife.”
The Peacekeeper pulled a whistle from beneath his shirt and blew on it; three piercing shrieks that made Liah squall
in answer and pull her head into her shoulders. People began shuffling from their homes, lining up around the
intersection.
“They come just like that?” Kayla said.
“New law,” the Peacekeeper said. “All citizens must respond to a Peacekeeper summons and obey any orders we
give them.”
Kayla frowned. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that. These people weren’t suspects, after all, just
witnesses. They hadn’t done anything wrong, and treating them like prisoners felt odd. On the other hand, it made
her job much easier.
“Hello, everyone,” she said, stepping toward the middle of the intersection. “I’m sure you’ve all heard about the
kidnappings by now. Did anyone see anything?”
No one moved or said anything. Kayla frowned. This was the one problem with Truthsaying; if they didn’t say
anything, they weren’t forced to tell the truth.
“You won’t be in trouble if you did,” Kayla said. “We just want to try to find out who did it.”
A little girl moved away from her mother, one hand stretched out toward Liah. Kayla started to warn her off, but Liah
merely sniffed at the girl’s fingers, then allowed herself to be petted.
“I saw som’fin,” the girl said.
“Drema!” the girl’s mother warned. She looked as though she wanted to pull Drema away from Liah, but was too
afraid of the beak and lashing tail to get too close.
“It’s okay, ma’am,” Kayla said. She knelt next to the girl. “What did you see, honey?”
“Mommy says we’ll be in trouble if we tell,” Drema said. “She says we’ll end up dead, too.”
Kayla glanced up over Drema’s head to her mother, who shifted her feet uncomfortably, but kept her mouth resolutely
closed.
“It’s okay, honey,” Kayla said to Drema. “We won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“Promise?”
Kayla smiled. “Have you ever seen a gryphon before?”
Drema shook her head.
“Well, gryphons are very special animals. They’re magic. No one can lie when they’re near a gryphon. So you can
believe anything I say to you.”
“But do you promise?” Drema insisted.
Kayla chuckled. “I promise,” she said.
“Okay.” Drema motioned for Kayla to come closer. Kayla hunkered down further, and Drema stood on tiptoe to
whisper in her ear. “There were three...” her mouth worked for a moment as she tried to say “men.” She frowned,
but continued. “People. They had on black robes. They carried her out of the house.”
“Did you see anyone’s faces?” Kayla asked.
“No,” Drema whispered.
Kayla nodded. “Thank you for telling us, Drema.” She straightened up as Drema scampered back to her mother. The
rest of the people stared at her stubbornly.
Kayla sighed. She hadn’t wanted to do things the hard way—it tended to make people hostile—but she couldn’t leave
when there was a chance someone knew something. She faced the first person to her right and said, “Do you have
any knowledge of the kidnapping?”
The person—a young man—shook his head frantically.
“Out loud,” Kayla requested.
“No,” the young man squeaked.
Kayla nodded and moved down the line, asking the same question of everyone. Not a single person could claim to
know anything about what was happening except Drema.
“Let’s go,” she told the Peacekeeper as she mounted her horse, and they moved off.
“Black cloaks,” the Peacekeeper said. “And a kid as our only witness.
That’s not really helpful.”
“Let’s move on to the next area, shall we?” Kayla held tightly to her anger at the Peacekeeper. He was right, after all;
it wasn’t really much help. But she had traveled a long way to get here, at the Constable’s request, and it wasn’t her
fault Liah couldn’t give them information that didn’t exist.
I don’t even want to be here, she thought bitterly. I’d rather live in a small town, in a small cottage, and take care of Liah.
It’s not right to exploit her—or me!—like this.
But if Kayla didn’t do it, the Peacekeepers would take Liah away from her, and there was no guarantee the new
Truthsayer would treat her well.
No one in the other three neighborhoods had heard or seen anything, either. Frustrated and exhausted, Kayla and
the Peacekeeper went back to the Station.
“I’ll give our report to the Constable,” the Peacekeeper said. “We’ve arranged quarters for you in the inn down the
street. They’ve got a large stall set aside for the gryphon.”
Kayla nodded her thanks, too tired to speak. She made her way to the inn, Liah close behind her, and made sure the
gryphon was settled in before finding her own room. She accepted the innkeeper’s offer of dinner in her room and set
her dishes outside the door when she was finished. Then she fell, exhausted, into bed and a deep sleep.
She woke what felt like minutes later to a hand over her mouth and a cowled head bending over her. She squeaked,
the only sound she could make past the hand.
“Not a sound,” the person hissed. “I bring a warning. Do not interfere. Take your flying monstrosity and get out of
here.”
Kayla didn’t move, but she took in as much as she could see of the person. The hooded black cloak covered a lot, but
she caught a peek of a white robe underneath it. The man also stank of incense in a way only someone spending
large chunks of time in a temple could. With a low moan, Kayla closed her eyes and sagged back against her pillow.
The man released her and left the room as silently as he had entered.
Priests, Kayla thought, staring at the ceiling. Most orders of priests wore white robes, and the incense smell was too
strong for a casual worshipper.
It was new information, but didn’t help much. There were at least twenty temples in the city, each made to worship a
different—mostly benign—god or goddess. She couldn’t think of a single one that would be involved in kidnapping
and—presumably—murder. The fact the women had all been pregnant provided a link to Yasha—the goddess of
childbirth and pregnancy—but it could just as well be a rival temple trying to turn people against Yasha.
Kayla sat up, pulling her knees to her chin, and rested her forehead on her knees. It wasn’t the first time she had
personally been threatened, but it was the first time someone had come to her room to do so. She felt shaky,
violated, and helpless.
She spent the rest of the night in that position, waiting for the sun to come up.
###
Kayla dodged her responsibilities the next morning and found Kelren at the tavern on Ninth Street. Liah had followed
her and took up residence on the roof of the next building over.
Kelren was on the outer edge of a loose group of people, most of who were engrossed in their food. Kelren motioned
to Kayla to join him, then waved at a barmaid and ordered another drink.
“No, thanks, Kelren,” Kayla said. “I’ve just got a few questions for you.”
“Are you here as a Truthsayer or as my sister?” Kelren asked. He glanced over his shoulder as if expecting to find Liah
standing behind him.
“As your sister, of course.” Kayla told him what had happened the night before. “It was a priest.”
Kelren slowly lowered his tankard and stared at Kayla. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“You know I’m not,” Kayla replied. “I was hoping you could use your connections to help me figure out which temple
and which priests are involved. Hopefully before they do it again.”
“Nobody wants that,” Kelren said.
“Exactly.”
“So why don’t you just get the Peacekeepers to go from temple to temple and ask them?” he said. “You don’t really
need me for this.”
“For one thing, I don’t want people to be afraid of priests who aren’t doing anything. For another, the Peacekeepers
here are...mean. You know about the laws. What will happen if they think someone’s guilty who isn’t?”
“Good points.” Kelren took a drink of his ale. “I’ll see what I can do for you.”
“Thanks, Kelren. I appreciate it.” Kayla stood up from the bench. “I’ll come by the temple tomorrow.”
She spent the rest of the day in the inn stable pampering Liah. They had been on the road for the past few weeks,
and it had been difficult for Kayla to give Liah kind of attention she liked. By evening, Liah was stuffed to the gills, her
fur and feathers gleaming, her beak neatly buffed and trimmed. She looked smug, and Kayla laughed.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll make sure you get this kind of treatment a bit more often. I don’t mean to neglect you. Stupid
Peacekeepers.”
“The stupid Peacekeepers are wondering what you found out yesterday.”
Kayla whirled to see the Constable standing in the doorway. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Liah. “Didn’t the
officer you sent with me tell you?”
“Yes. But I’d like to hear it from you.”
Kayla swiveled around on her heel, her face set in a hostile mask. “Only one person saw anything. A kid. Guys in
robes. No identifying markers.”
“So you have no idea who might be behind this.”
Kayla opened her mouth, only to remember Liah was behind her when nothing came out. The Constable raised an
eyebrow at her. She pursed her lips. “I have an idea, but nothing solid. I don’t want to raise unnecessary suspicions.”
The Constable crossed his arms. “That’s not your job, little lady.”
Kayla felt her face go hot. “I never asked for this job,” she said. “I don’t want it.” She threw the curry brush she’d
been using on Liah’s fur on the floor. “I have a contact looking into my suspicion. If I’m right, you’ll have your people
soon. If not, no innocent people will be treated like criminals.”
The Constable uncrossed his arms, his lips pressed together. “Fine,” he said with a snarl. “But if any more innocent
girls die, it’s on your head.”
“It’s on the head of whoever kills them,” Kayla corrected him. “But think what you want. I’ll see you in the morning.”
###
Kayla slept lightly that night, but no-one came to bother her. Though Kayla was still tired, Liah continued to be smug
because of her good night’s sleep and previous day’s pampering. Her good mood was contagious, and Kayla felt
better after a few minutes with her.
Her good mood was shattered, however, when she arrived at the Peacekeepers’ Station. The crowd around the front
steps was so thick she couldn’t immediately see through it, but when people realized who she was, they made room
for her. The buzz through the crowd told Kayla yet another girl had disappeared during the night. Another young,
pregnant girl. Kayla bit her lip.
Kayla grabbed the arm of the nearest Peacekeeper. “Will you do me a favor? Will you tell the Constable I’m headed to
the temple of Yasha to speak to my contact. Hopefully I’ll have something for him soon.”
The Peacekeeper nodded and headed into the alley next to the Station toward the back door.
Kayla swung back into the saddle and whistled for Liah. The gryphon fluttered down to walk next to her. Kayla
smiled; she liked it when Liah decided to keep her company rather than flying overhead, a distant and unreachable
form in the sky.
The temple of Yasha was a simple affair, a one-story building of gray marble and fragrant woods. The pillars flanking
the doors were engraved with aspects of Yasha in both her human and goddess forms. The doors themselves were
plain, polished wood that opened silently on well-maintained hinges. The interior of the temple was just as simple as
the exterior. The chapel was echoingly empty, an expanse of bare wood from the doors to the altar without a single
chair or pew. The priests of Yasha saw no need for them; Yasha wasn’t worshiped on prescribed days, but whenever
the whim struck her worshipers. Piles of cushions in the corners provided comfortable sitting for the worshipers if they
wanted it.
Kayla’s boots made faint thumps on the hardwood floor, and Liah’s claws clicked against it. The temple smelled faintly
of cedar, pine, and the musk of incense. Liah sneezed, and Kayla chuckled. “It’s okay,” she murmured to the gryphon.
“We won’t be here long.”
Kayla briefly knelt at the altar to make her respects to Yasha, though she herself rarely worshiped the goddess. As
the patron goddess of children, matrons, and childbirth, Yasha had little to offer Kayla at this phase in her life.
“Kayla?” Kelren’s voice echoed in the chapel.
“Hello, Kelren.” Kayla stood and faced her brother, but Kelren’s eyes were on Liah.
“Why did you bring the gryphon?” he asked.
Kayla blinked at him. “She fits in here,” she said. “She goes everywhere she can with me.” She folded her arms and
rested her weight on one leg. “Did you find out anything?”
“I did.” Kelren shot another, annoyed, glance at Liah.
Kayla frowned. “Kelren? What’s wrong?”
Kelren opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He growled; a low, guttural sound that took Kayla aback.
“Kelren?” A horrible thought was beginning to occur to her. “Do you know which temple is responsible?”
“Yes.” Kelren’s jaw was clenched so tightly Kayla could see the muscles jumping. He was obviously saying as little as
possible, trying not to give something away.
A horrible thought occurred to Kayla, and she said, “High Priest Kelren, please tell me you had nothing to do with this.”
Kelren’s eyes met hers, and Kayla knew what his answer would be before he said anything. She felt all the air go out
of her lungs and her limbs turn to liquid. She had to lean on Liah to keep her feet.
“I instigated this,” he said. Something came over him, something dark and horrible. “Yasha is demanding her worship
return to its old form. We have perverted it, watered it down, made it less than what it was.”
“What’s its old form?” Kayla asked.
“Sacrifice,” Kelren said.
“Human sacrifice?” Kayla squeaked. Kelren nodded. “How can human sacrifice possibly please the goddess of
childbearing?” Kayla barely managed to keep her voice below a shriek. Liah mantled, her wings fanning the air.
“Because she’s not the goddess of childbearing, or wasn’t,” Kelren said. His eyes slid over her shoulder, and Kayla
cast a quick glance behind her. The other priests were emerging from the back rooms, surrounding her. A quick look
at the front door showed priests there, too. All the exits were cut off. She was surrounded and alone. She had hoped
her message would bring the Constable running, intent on capturing a suspect—any suspect—but it appeared she
had been wrong.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so rude to him, she thought. A hysterical giggle bubbled up in her throat, but she
suppressed it.
“What was she, then?” Kayla asked. She hoped she could keep him talking, perhaps even talk him out of whatever
he was planning to do to her. She wasn’t sure Liah could take on the thirty or so priests she saw lining the walls of
the chapel.
If I get through this, I’m going to insist I get a sword and the training to go with it, she resolved.
“A lower being,” Kelren said. “She demands the sacrifice of babies, the younger the better.”
“So you had to take their mothers, too? Aren’t there enough women who want to be rid of their babies to help you?”
Kelren snorted. “If they want to be rid of their babies, they’re not the sort of person who would make a good
sacrifice.” Kelren took a step toward her, but Liah hissed at him, stopping him in his tracks. “You know we can’t let
you—or her,” he nodded at Liah, “leave here alive.”
“Liah will tear you to shreds before she’ll let you touch me,” Kayla replied.
“Ah, but can she take on all of us?” Kayla chose to say nothing rather than answer that question. Kelren smirked
knowingly. “I thought not.”
At a signal from him, the priests rushed toward her. Kayla dropped to the floor, her hands over her head, her eyes
closed tight. She could hear Liah’s shrieks, the sound of tearing flesh as her talons ripped through the priests, their
screams. She waited, heart pounding, for one of the priests to get through Liah’s attack and grab her. There were
too many of them; they would overpower Liah eventually.
A new sound broke through the carnage, the thwip-thock of arrows firing and hitting their targets. The screams
changed pitch then stopped altogether. Kayla opened one eye. The floor around her was soaked with blood,
scattered with feathers and bits of white robe.
“Truthsayer?” someone called.
Kayla got to her feet, which was difficult with Liah nudging her as if to be sure she was all right.
“Here,” Kayla managed.
“What the Holle happened here?” The Constable himself picked his way through the blood and other assorted mess
toward her.
“Sir, I have apprehended the murderers,” Kayla said. “Or, rather, Liah did.”
“The priests of Yasha?”
Kayla swept the floor with her gaze, trying to find Kelren—or his body. “Has anyone seen my brother?”
“Your brother?”
“Kelren. High Priest of Yasha,” Kayla said.
“He’s not among the dead?” the Constable asked.
Kayla turned in a small circle, surveying the carnage that surrounded her. “No,” she said. “No, he’s gone.”
The Constable looked sideways at the Peace Keeper behind him. “Alert everyone we have a fugitive,” he said. “High
Priest of Yasha.” He looked back at Kayla. “How involved was he?”
“Ringleader. Instigator,” Kayla said. “He’s dangerous.”
“Proceed with caution if he’s spotted,” the Constable said to the Peacekeeper, who nodded and hurried away. The
Constable nodded at Kayla. “Good work, Truthsayer, if a little reckless.”
Kayla merely nodded, too tired to respond to the unexpected compliment.
“Well, your job here is done,” the Constable said. “Our thanks. You may leave Derby and continue your circuit
whenever you’re ready.”
“Let me know if you have further need of me,” Kayla said. She began checking Liah for wounds. “How are you, baby?”
she murmured. “You did good. You’ll get a big treat when we get back to the inn.” She could find no wounds on the
gryphon, not even under the feathers. “Good. Let’s get you cleaned up, then be on our way. We’ve got lots more
work to do.”
With a final glance behind her, Kayla led Liah out of the temple and mounted her horse.
I hope they find him, she thought. She felt oddly numb, as if it were someone else’s brother who had committed the
atrocities Kelren had. I’ll feel it later. I’m probably in shock. It’s all too immediate to deal with.
Kayla became aware of Peacekeepers and civilians alike staring at her, and realized how much of a mess she and
Liah both were, covered in blood and feathers. Kayla managed to give the onlookers a friendly nod then turned the
horse toward the inn.
“Let’s get going, Liah.”
Liah snorted in agreement, and they left the scene at a moderate walk.
Kayla felt a bit strange, as if she should stick around and help find Kelren, even though that wasn’t part of her job.
The Peacekeepers of Derby were highly skilled, and with their new laws requiring civilian compliance, they ought to be
able to find and apprehend Kelren. Let the Peacekeepers deal with him; she had a gryphon to look after.
anticipation. On the one hand, she was about to be in the same city as her twin brother again after several years
apart. On the other, she was not here on a pleasure jaunt, but on business.
As the keeper of the first tame gryphon in known history, Kayla had been pressed into the service of the Peace
Keepers and forced to use the gryphon’s magic for law enforcement purposes. The legends that the magic of
gryphons prevented the speaking of lies in their presence had been proven true not long after Kayla had rescued
Liah. As long as the gryphon was within eyeshot of a person, lies would not pass their lips.
It’s moderately amusing to watch people stammer like fish when they’re trying to lie, Kayla thought. Unless, of course, the
person in question is your husband and he’s trying to cover up a wild affair with the barmaid. She shrugged and patted
her horse’s neck. So much had changed when she’d found Liah fluttering around near the base of a cliff, her parents
nowhere in sight. She’d learned later poachers had killed both of them, gryphon bits being quite popular with
charlatans who claimed these bits still had magical properties after being removed from the animal. They tended to do
the same thing with unicorns and other magical creatures, most of which were now extinct or close to it.
Kayla urged the horse back into motion and rode up to the gate. The guards seemed more uptight than she
remembered, but she didn’t think much of it until one of them grabbed her horse’s halter.
“City pass,” the guard barked. He released the horse to hike up his pants, which were being subsumed to his
overhanging belly.
“I don’t have one,” Kayla said. She frowned at him. “Since when do you need a pass to get into the city?”
“Since four wenches’ve gone missing over the last few weeks,” the guard snapped.
“I don’t have a pass. I’m the Truthsayer,” Kayla said.
“Right. I’ve heard of the Truthsayer. She comes with a gryphon.”
The guard looked around, though his gaze never rose higher than the horse’s shoulder. “I don’t see no gryphon.”
Kayla rolled her eyes and fished her whistle out from under her shirt, where it hung on a thong. She put the whistle
to her lips and blew one piercing note on it, enjoying the way it made the guard wince and pull away. She enjoyed
the expression on his face even more when Liah came spiraling down from the thermals she’d been riding to land at
Kayla’s side.
The gryphon was almost as tall at the shoulder as the horse, which, with her leonine body and raptor’s head, was
very imposing to those who didn’t know her. Kayla wasn’t above using Liah’s natural intimidation to her own
advantage. Liah glared down at the guard, obviously having deduced the situation for herself. Kayla still wasn’t quite
sure just how smart Liah was; sometimes she seemed as quick as a cat, and sometimes as dense as a mule. For all
Kayla knew, both were pretense on Liah’s part and the gryphon was constantly laughing to herself.
“Right,” the guard said. His eyes were open so wide that the whites were visible all around the irises. “Go on, then.
But tell the Peacekeepers you’re to get a city pass.”
“I’ll do that,” Kayla said, barely managing to keep her exasperation out of her voice. “Thank you, sirs.”
With another whistle to Liah, this one between her teeth, and a cluck to the horse, Kayla rode into the city.
Her first stop was the Peacekeepers’ station, near the center of the city. It was a nondescript building made of the
same grey stone as the rest of the older parts of the city. Kayla left her horse with the Peacekeepers’ stableboy and
signaled Liah to settle on the roof of the station. Then she presented herself to the Constable.
“We’re glad you’re here,” he said. “We didn’t have time to send an urgent request to Endin for you, but we knew
you’d be along due to our other requests.”
“I’d have been here earlier but for the poisoned well in a town down the road,” Kayla said. “Why? What’s going on?”
“We’re not exactly sure.” The Constable took his cap off and ran his hand along his half-balding head. He had the too-
thin appearance of someone who didn’t eat enough due to stress. “Several missing women. Same circumstances.
They were all pregnant, all disappeared out of their beds sometime late at night. No one heard anything, no one saw
anything.”
“So...you don’t have any witnesses or suspects,” Kayla said.
“Not exactly.” The Constable scratched at his balding spot. “I was hoping maybe you could get something more out of
the families or the neighbors.”
“Not if they honestly haven’t seen anything, but we’ll try,” Kayla said.
“I know you will,” the Constable said. “One of my Peacekeepers will take you to one of the sites so you can question
the residents.”
Kayla saluted.
The Constable made a vague gesture at Kayla’s riding clothes, his nose wrinkled slightly in disapproval. “Might go
better if you’re in uniform.”
“Sorry.” Kayla brushed some imaginary dirt from the leg of her pants.
“Fresh out of clean ones.” She left the Constable’s office and stalked back outside.
A pair of hands covered her eyes and a voice, forced into a lower register than was natural, said, “Guess who.”
“Kelren!” Kayla ducked under his hands and whirled to throw her arms around him. “How did you know I’d be here?”
“Four missing women? Peacekeepers without a clue? Of course you’d be here. I’ve been waiting.”
Kayla leaned back to examine at him more closely. “There’s something different about you,” she said.
“I cut my hair,” Kelren said.
“That’s not it.” Kayla socked him in the arm.
“Oh! I’m the head priest of our order now.” Kelren picked up the ends of the stole that hung around his neck. “This is
new.”
“Good for you!” Kayla said. She linked arms with him and leaned against his side.
Kelren had no time to reply as one of the Peacekeepers, looking harried, motioned Kayla toward her horse.
“I’ll come see you for a proper visit later,” Kayla said as she swung into the saddle. “Oh, your...thingy is crooked.” She
indicated his stole. It was embroidered with the symbols of Yasha in gold thread on the red background, which
contrasted nicely with the white robes.
Kelren adjusted the stole as Kayla and the Peacekeeper rode off, Liah stalking along beside them.
The Peacekeeper led Kayla north, into a quiet, residential area. It wasn’t at all what Kayla had been expecting; crimes
of this nature tended to happen in lower-class neighborhoods. This one looked more like an upper merchant class
neighborhood.
“Here?” Kayla asked the Peacekeeper incredulously.
He nodded. “That house there,” he said, pointing to one of the larger ones on the block. “She’s a cloth merchant’s
wife.”
The Peacekeeper pulled a whistle from beneath his shirt and blew on it; three piercing shrieks that made Liah squall
in answer and pull her head into her shoulders. People began shuffling from their homes, lining up around the
intersection.
“They come just like that?” Kayla said.
“New law,” the Peacekeeper said. “All citizens must respond to a Peacekeeper summons and obey any orders we
give them.”
Kayla frowned. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that. These people weren’t suspects, after all, just
witnesses. They hadn’t done anything wrong, and treating them like prisoners felt odd. On the other hand, it made
her job much easier.
“Hello, everyone,” she said, stepping toward the middle of the intersection. “I’m sure you’ve all heard about the
kidnappings by now. Did anyone see anything?”
No one moved or said anything. Kayla frowned. This was the one problem with Truthsaying; if they didn’t say
anything, they weren’t forced to tell the truth.
“You won’t be in trouble if you did,” Kayla said. “We just want to try to find out who did it.”
A little girl moved away from her mother, one hand stretched out toward Liah. Kayla started to warn her off, but Liah
merely sniffed at the girl’s fingers, then allowed herself to be petted.
“I saw som’fin,” the girl said.
“Drema!” the girl’s mother warned. She looked as though she wanted to pull Drema away from Liah, but was too
afraid of the beak and lashing tail to get too close.
“It’s okay, ma’am,” Kayla said. She knelt next to the girl. “What did you see, honey?”
“Mommy says we’ll be in trouble if we tell,” Drema said. “She says we’ll end up dead, too.”
Kayla glanced up over Drema’s head to her mother, who shifted her feet uncomfortably, but kept her mouth resolutely
closed.
“It’s okay, honey,” Kayla said to Drema. “We won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“Promise?”
Kayla smiled. “Have you ever seen a gryphon before?”
Drema shook her head.
“Well, gryphons are very special animals. They’re magic. No one can lie when they’re near a gryphon. So you can
believe anything I say to you.”
“But do you promise?” Drema insisted.
Kayla chuckled. “I promise,” she said.
“Okay.” Drema motioned for Kayla to come closer. Kayla hunkered down further, and Drema stood on tiptoe to
whisper in her ear. “There were three...” her mouth worked for a moment as she tried to say “men.” She frowned,
but continued. “People. They had on black robes. They carried her out of the house.”
“Did you see anyone’s faces?” Kayla asked.
“No,” Drema whispered.
Kayla nodded. “Thank you for telling us, Drema.” She straightened up as Drema scampered back to her mother. The
rest of the people stared at her stubbornly.
Kayla sighed. She hadn’t wanted to do things the hard way—it tended to make people hostile—but she couldn’t leave
when there was a chance someone knew something. She faced the first person to her right and said, “Do you have
any knowledge of the kidnapping?”
The person—a young man—shook his head frantically.
“Out loud,” Kayla requested.
“No,” the young man squeaked.
Kayla nodded and moved down the line, asking the same question of everyone. Not a single person could claim to
know anything about what was happening except Drema.
“Let’s go,” she told the Peacekeeper as she mounted her horse, and they moved off.
“Black cloaks,” the Peacekeeper said. “And a kid as our only witness.
That’s not really helpful.”
“Let’s move on to the next area, shall we?” Kayla held tightly to her anger at the Peacekeeper. He was right, after all;
it wasn’t really much help. But she had traveled a long way to get here, at the Constable’s request, and it wasn’t her
fault Liah couldn’t give them information that didn’t exist.
I don’t even want to be here, she thought bitterly. I’d rather live in a small town, in a small cottage, and take care of Liah.
It’s not right to exploit her—or me!—like this.
But if Kayla didn’t do it, the Peacekeepers would take Liah away from her, and there was no guarantee the new
Truthsayer would treat her well.
No one in the other three neighborhoods had heard or seen anything, either. Frustrated and exhausted, Kayla and
the Peacekeeper went back to the Station.
“I’ll give our report to the Constable,” the Peacekeeper said. “We’ve arranged quarters for you in the inn down the
street. They’ve got a large stall set aside for the gryphon.”
Kayla nodded her thanks, too tired to speak. She made her way to the inn, Liah close behind her, and made sure the
gryphon was settled in before finding her own room. She accepted the innkeeper’s offer of dinner in her room and set
her dishes outside the door when she was finished. Then she fell, exhausted, into bed and a deep sleep.
She woke what felt like minutes later to a hand over her mouth and a cowled head bending over her. She squeaked,
the only sound she could make past the hand.
“Not a sound,” the person hissed. “I bring a warning. Do not interfere. Take your flying monstrosity and get out of
here.”
Kayla didn’t move, but she took in as much as she could see of the person. The hooded black cloak covered a lot, but
she caught a peek of a white robe underneath it. The man also stank of incense in a way only someone spending
large chunks of time in a temple could. With a low moan, Kayla closed her eyes and sagged back against her pillow.
The man released her and left the room as silently as he had entered.
Priests, Kayla thought, staring at the ceiling. Most orders of priests wore white robes, and the incense smell was too
strong for a casual worshipper.
It was new information, but didn’t help much. There were at least twenty temples in the city, each made to worship a
different—mostly benign—god or goddess. She couldn’t think of a single one that would be involved in kidnapping
and—presumably—murder. The fact the women had all been pregnant provided a link to Yasha—the goddess of
childbirth and pregnancy—but it could just as well be a rival temple trying to turn people against Yasha.
Kayla sat up, pulling her knees to her chin, and rested her forehead on her knees. It wasn’t the first time she had
personally been threatened, but it was the first time someone had come to her room to do so. She felt shaky,
violated, and helpless.
She spent the rest of the night in that position, waiting for the sun to come up.
###
Kayla dodged her responsibilities the next morning and found Kelren at the tavern on Ninth Street. Liah had followed
her and took up residence on the roof of the next building over.
Kelren was on the outer edge of a loose group of people, most of who were engrossed in their food. Kelren motioned
to Kayla to join him, then waved at a barmaid and ordered another drink.
“No, thanks, Kelren,” Kayla said. “I’ve just got a few questions for you.”
“Are you here as a Truthsayer or as my sister?” Kelren asked. He glanced over his shoulder as if expecting to find Liah
standing behind him.
“As your sister, of course.” Kayla told him what had happened the night before. “It was a priest.”
Kelren slowly lowered his tankard and stared at Kayla. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“You know I’m not,” Kayla replied. “I was hoping you could use your connections to help me figure out which temple
and which priests are involved. Hopefully before they do it again.”
“Nobody wants that,” Kelren said.
“Exactly.”
“So why don’t you just get the Peacekeepers to go from temple to temple and ask them?” he said. “You don’t really
need me for this.”
“For one thing, I don’t want people to be afraid of priests who aren’t doing anything. For another, the Peacekeepers
here are...mean. You know about the laws. What will happen if they think someone’s guilty who isn’t?”
“Good points.” Kelren took a drink of his ale. “I’ll see what I can do for you.”
“Thanks, Kelren. I appreciate it.” Kayla stood up from the bench. “I’ll come by the temple tomorrow.”
She spent the rest of the day in the inn stable pampering Liah. They had been on the road for the past few weeks,
and it had been difficult for Kayla to give Liah kind of attention she liked. By evening, Liah was stuffed to the gills, her
fur and feathers gleaming, her beak neatly buffed and trimmed. She looked smug, and Kayla laughed.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll make sure you get this kind of treatment a bit more often. I don’t mean to neglect you. Stupid
Peacekeepers.”
“The stupid Peacekeepers are wondering what you found out yesterday.”
Kayla whirled to see the Constable standing in the doorway. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Liah. “Didn’t the
officer you sent with me tell you?”
“Yes. But I’d like to hear it from you.”
Kayla swiveled around on her heel, her face set in a hostile mask. “Only one person saw anything. A kid. Guys in
robes. No identifying markers.”
“So you have no idea who might be behind this.”
Kayla opened her mouth, only to remember Liah was behind her when nothing came out. The Constable raised an
eyebrow at her. She pursed her lips. “I have an idea, but nothing solid. I don’t want to raise unnecessary suspicions.”
The Constable crossed his arms. “That’s not your job, little lady.”
Kayla felt her face go hot. “I never asked for this job,” she said. “I don’t want it.” She threw the curry brush she’d
been using on Liah’s fur on the floor. “I have a contact looking into my suspicion. If I’m right, you’ll have your people
soon. If not, no innocent people will be treated like criminals.”
The Constable uncrossed his arms, his lips pressed together. “Fine,” he said with a snarl. “But if any more innocent
girls die, it’s on your head.”
“It’s on the head of whoever kills them,” Kayla corrected him. “But think what you want. I’ll see you in the morning.”
###
Kayla slept lightly that night, but no-one came to bother her. Though Kayla was still tired, Liah continued to be smug
because of her good night’s sleep and previous day’s pampering. Her good mood was contagious, and Kayla felt
better after a few minutes with her.
Her good mood was shattered, however, when she arrived at the Peacekeepers’ Station. The crowd around the front
steps was so thick she couldn’t immediately see through it, but when people realized who she was, they made room
for her. The buzz through the crowd told Kayla yet another girl had disappeared during the night. Another young,
pregnant girl. Kayla bit her lip.
Kayla grabbed the arm of the nearest Peacekeeper. “Will you do me a favor? Will you tell the Constable I’m headed to
the temple of Yasha to speak to my contact. Hopefully I’ll have something for him soon.”
The Peacekeeper nodded and headed into the alley next to the Station toward the back door.
Kayla swung back into the saddle and whistled for Liah. The gryphon fluttered down to walk next to her. Kayla
smiled; she liked it when Liah decided to keep her company rather than flying overhead, a distant and unreachable
form in the sky.
The temple of Yasha was a simple affair, a one-story building of gray marble and fragrant woods. The pillars flanking
the doors were engraved with aspects of Yasha in both her human and goddess forms. The doors themselves were
plain, polished wood that opened silently on well-maintained hinges. The interior of the temple was just as simple as
the exterior. The chapel was echoingly empty, an expanse of bare wood from the doors to the altar without a single
chair or pew. The priests of Yasha saw no need for them; Yasha wasn’t worshiped on prescribed days, but whenever
the whim struck her worshipers. Piles of cushions in the corners provided comfortable sitting for the worshipers if they
wanted it.
Kayla’s boots made faint thumps on the hardwood floor, and Liah’s claws clicked against it. The temple smelled faintly
of cedar, pine, and the musk of incense. Liah sneezed, and Kayla chuckled. “It’s okay,” she murmured to the gryphon.
“We won’t be here long.”
Kayla briefly knelt at the altar to make her respects to Yasha, though she herself rarely worshiped the goddess. As
the patron goddess of children, matrons, and childbirth, Yasha had little to offer Kayla at this phase in her life.
“Kayla?” Kelren’s voice echoed in the chapel.
“Hello, Kelren.” Kayla stood and faced her brother, but Kelren’s eyes were on Liah.
“Why did you bring the gryphon?” he asked.
Kayla blinked at him. “She fits in here,” she said. “She goes everywhere she can with me.” She folded her arms and
rested her weight on one leg. “Did you find out anything?”
“I did.” Kelren shot another, annoyed, glance at Liah.
Kayla frowned. “Kelren? What’s wrong?”
Kelren opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He growled; a low, guttural sound that took Kayla aback.
“Kelren?” A horrible thought was beginning to occur to her. “Do you know which temple is responsible?”
“Yes.” Kelren’s jaw was clenched so tightly Kayla could see the muscles jumping. He was obviously saying as little as
possible, trying not to give something away.
A horrible thought occurred to Kayla, and she said, “High Priest Kelren, please tell me you had nothing to do with this.”
Kelren’s eyes met hers, and Kayla knew what his answer would be before he said anything. She felt all the air go out
of her lungs and her limbs turn to liquid. She had to lean on Liah to keep her feet.
“I instigated this,” he said. Something came over him, something dark and horrible. “Yasha is demanding her worship
return to its old form. We have perverted it, watered it down, made it less than what it was.”
“What’s its old form?” Kayla asked.
“Sacrifice,” Kelren said.
“Human sacrifice?” Kayla squeaked. Kelren nodded. “How can human sacrifice possibly please the goddess of
childbearing?” Kayla barely managed to keep her voice below a shriek. Liah mantled, her wings fanning the air.
“Because she’s not the goddess of childbearing, or wasn’t,” Kelren said. His eyes slid over her shoulder, and Kayla
cast a quick glance behind her. The other priests were emerging from the back rooms, surrounding her. A quick look
at the front door showed priests there, too. All the exits were cut off. She was surrounded and alone. She had hoped
her message would bring the Constable running, intent on capturing a suspect—any suspect—but it appeared she
had been wrong.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so rude to him, she thought. A hysterical giggle bubbled up in her throat, but she
suppressed it.
“What was she, then?” Kayla asked. She hoped she could keep him talking, perhaps even talk him out of whatever
he was planning to do to her. She wasn’t sure Liah could take on the thirty or so priests she saw lining the walls of
the chapel.
If I get through this, I’m going to insist I get a sword and the training to go with it, she resolved.
“A lower being,” Kelren said. “She demands the sacrifice of babies, the younger the better.”
“So you had to take their mothers, too? Aren’t there enough women who want to be rid of their babies to help you?”
Kelren snorted. “If they want to be rid of their babies, they’re not the sort of person who would make a good
sacrifice.” Kelren took a step toward her, but Liah hissed at him, stopping him in his tracks. “You know we can’t let
you—or her,” he nodded at Liah, “leave here alive.”
“Liah will tear you to shreds before she’ll let you touch me,” Kayla replied.
“Ah, but can she take on all of us?” Kayla chose to say nothing rather than answer that question. Kelren smirked
knowingly. “I thought not.”
At a signal from him, the priests rushed toward her. Kayla dropped to the floor, her hands over her head, her eyes
closed tight. She could hear Liah’s shrieks, the sound of tearing flesh as her talons ripped through the priests, their
screams. She waited, heart pounding, for one of the priests to get through Liah’s attack and grab her. There were
too many of them; they would overpower Liah eventually.
A new sound broke through the carnage, the thwip-thock of arrows firing and hitting their targets. The screams
changed pitch then stopped altogether. Kayla opened one eye. The floor around her was soaked with blood,
scattered with feathers and bits of white robe.
“Truthsayer?” someone called.
Kayla got to her feet, which was difficult with Liah nudging her as if to be sure she was all right.
“Here,” Kayla managed.
“What the Holle happened here?” The Constable himself picked his way through the blood and other assorted mess
toward her.
“Sir, I have apprehended the murderers,” Kayla said. “Or, rather, Liah did.”
“The priests of Yasha?”
Kayla swept the floor with her gaze, trying to find Kelren—or his body. “Has anyone seen my brother?”
“Your brother?”
“Kelren. High Priest of Yasha,” Kayla said.
“He’s not among the dead?” the Constable asked.
Kayla turned in a small circle, surveying the carnage that surrounded her. “No,” she said. “No, he’s gone.”
The Constable looked sideways at the Peace Keeper behind him. “Alert everyone we have a fugitive,” he said. “High
Priest of Yasha.” He looked back at Kayla. “How involved was he?”
“Ringleader. Instigator,” Kayla said. “He’s dangerous.”
“Proceed with caution if he’s spotted,” the Constable said to the Peacekeeper, who nodded and hurried away. The
Constable nodded at Kayla. “Good work, Truthsayer, if a little reckless.”
Kayla merely nodded, too tired to respond to the unexpected compliment.
“Well, your job here is done,” the Constable said. “Our thanks. You may leave Derby and continue your circuit
whenever you’re ready.”
“Let me know if you have further need of me,” Kayla said. She began checking Liah for wounds. “How are you, baby?”
she murmured. “You did good. You’ll get a big treat when we get back to the inn.” She could find no wounds on the
gryphon, not even under the feathers. “Good. Let’s get you cleaned up, then be on our way. We’ve got lots more
work to do.”
With a final glance behind her, Kayla led Liah out of the temple and mounted her horse.
I hope they find him, she thought. She felt oddly numb, as if it were someone else’s brother who had committed the
atrocities Kelren had. I’ll feel it later. I’m probably in shock. It’s all too immediate to deal with.
Kayla became aware of Peacekeepers and civilians alike staring at her, and realized how much of a mess she and
Liah both were, covered in blood and feathers. Kayla managed to give the onlookers a friendly nod then turned the
horse toward the inn.
“Let’s get going, Liah.”
Liah snorted in agreement, and they left the scene at a moderate walk.
Kayla felt a bit strange, as if she should stick around and help find Kelren, even though that wasn’t part of her job.
The Peacekeepers of Derby were highly skilled, and with their new laws requiring civilian compliance, they ought to be
able to find and apprehend Kelren. Let the Peacekeepers deal with him; she had a gryphon to look after.
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