Litany of Winter

Severin had expected the Master of the Blinded Crown to have a larger door.

The one at the end of the corridor was dark oak with an iron handle and no nameplate. Two Wardens stood outside it. Neither questioned the presence of three newly marked Pilgrims this deep in the administrative wing.

Rafael somehow made his black coat look formal. Madeleine managed the same without trying. Severin spent ten minutes before second bell brushing chalk from one sleeve and still found a pale streak near the cuff on the walk over.

Neumann stopped with them outside the door. ”Try not to embarrass me.”

Severin turned to him. ”Us? We’d never do such a thing.”

”Thanks, Hale. Now I’m even more concerned.”

Rafael adjusted his glove over the mark on his right hand. ”Are you coming in with us?”

”I’m afraid not.”

Neumann staying outside made the meeting feel more serious.

One of the Wardens knocked twice. A man answered from inside. ”Come.”

Severin followed Rafael inside. The room was smaller than he had imagined and busier.

Maps covered most of the writing desk and two side tables, leaving old ink stains visible between their edges. A tactical map occupied the far wall, crowded with pins. The hearth had burned low, its coals barely giving off heat.

There was a window, though it showed no sky. Beyond it was only a shaft of dark rock and an iron ventilation grate.

Two men were inside, and the older one sat behind the desk.

Master Theodor Fischer looked ill enough that Severin understood it before anyone spoke. Other Order members had mentioned Fischer a few times over dinner in the mess hall, enough for Severin to know the name when he heard it. His coat sat loose through the shoulders, and his face had narrowed around the bones.

The skin beneath his sighted eye was pale, with the worn look Severin associated with men who kept working through illness. His blind eye was uncovered. One hand rested beside an open folder, the mark visible where his glove had been removed.

Illness had thinned him, but there was nothing uncertain in the way he looked at the three of them.

The second man stood near the tactical map with a leather document case tucked beneath one arm. He was older than Neumann, though younger than Fischer, dressed in a black coat cut more finely than the ones Severin had seen around the training halls. A black metal guard covered his left eye. He barely moved, yet Severin found his attention returning to him.

Fischer looked past them to Neumann. ”Thank you, Warden.”

The door shut behind Severin. The other man glanced toward it, then back to Fischer. ”I can wait outside.”

”No need. We were finished with His Majesty’s business.”

Severin kept his face still as the man set the document case on a side table.

Fischer gestured toward the open space before his desk. ”Montoro. LeBlanc. Hale.”

They stopped before the desk.

”I wanted to see you before your duties begin properly.”

Fischer spoke quietly, his voice steady, and looked down at the folder.

”Paul Weber. Johann Peters. Anna Richter. Andreas Hoffmann. Thomas Bennett. Martin Keller.”

Nobody moved. Severin had heard all six names called at Gravewatch.

Fischer looked up from the folder.

”Nine of you went to the slab. Three of you survived it. I will not congratulate you for that.”

Madeleine lowered her gaze, one hand settling over Anna’s flask at her belt.

Fischer continued. ”The six who died did not fail the Order. Vhazroth killed them. Remember that when people start making more of your survival than they should.”

Thomas’s coat came back to him first, still hanging near the bench. He remembered Paul trying not to look frightened as his turn approached, then Johann disappearing through the preparation door.

Fischer looked at Rafael. ”Do you regret it?”

Rafael answered at once. ”No, Master.”

Fischer waited.

”I’m sorry. You wanted more than that.”

”Yes. I want the answer you would give if I were not sitting behind this desk.”

”I regret that six people died. I thought I understood the risk before we went down there. I didn’t. But I don’t regret staying.”

Fischer nodded once and turned to Madeleine.

”And you?”

Madeleine touched the glove over her marked hand. ”I’m still trying to understand what happened.”

”That is not what I asked.”

”No.” Madeleine was quiet for a few seconds. ”I don’t regret staying either.”

Fischer gave a small nod and looked at Severin.

”What about you, Hale? Why are you still here?”

Severin expected a question about the mark or his leg, maybe even the near-collapse in training. He had no ready answer for this one.

”Because leaving now would be a waste of a perfectly good blind eye.”

The man by the wall looked at Severin with more interest than before. Fischer did not smile.

Severin shifted his weight. ”I’m sorry. You wanted a real answer.”

”Yes. I did.”

Severin looked down at the maps spread across Fischer’s desk.

Months ago he had been sleeping wherever Blackhaven allowed him to sleep and taking freight work because a few extra silver meant food. Then Hans burned a train, a man grew bone through his own skin, the police decided Severin was an arsonist, and now he was standing in the Master’s office.

”I know what’s out there now,” Severin said. ”Can’t exactly go back to pretending I don’t.”

Fischer waited.

”And here I get fed and I’ve got somewhere to sleep. Someone even pays me for the trouble. I don’t miss the streets in Blackhaven.”

Rafael gave a quiet snort beside him.

Severin glanced over. ”What?”

”Nothing.”

Fischer leaned back, stopped midway, then settled more carefully against the chair.

”I see. You’re a practical man.”

”Most of the time.”

”That will serve you better than enthusiasm.”

A knock came at the door, and a clerk entered carrying a narrow envelope. He crossed directly to the man beside the wall and offered it with both hands.

”Inquisitor Corvane. The Imperial relay office said it was to be delivered into your hand.”

At the name Corvane, Severin’s attention shifted from the clerk to the man beside the wall.

Severin had heard the name more than once since coming to Kronvaal. Corvane served close to Emperor Leopold, and whenever someone mentioned him in the mess hall, the conversation rarely went much further.

Octavian Corvane broke the seal, read the message, and asked, ”How long ago?”

”It came through the upper office eleven minutes ago.”

”Reply that I have it. Nothing else.”

”Yes, Inquisitor.”

The clerk left, and Octavian folded the paper once before slipping it inside his coat.

Fischer said, ”Do you need to go?”

”Not yet.”

Fischer turned back to the three Pilgrims. ”Neumann says you’ve begun learning what the marks can do. He also says all three of you have needed someone to tell you when to stop.”

Severin knew exactly which line in Neumann’s report Fischer meant.

Madeleine said, ”Master, may I ask something?”

”You may.”

Madeleine hesitated, and Severin knew what she was about to ask.

”Can the pact ceremony, or Vhazroth, cause dreams?”

Fischer took a moment before answering. ”What kind of dreams?”

Madeleine’s fingers found the Eternal Ring beneath her collar. ”The one I told some of the others about.”

Severin looked at her, and Rafael turned toward her as well.

Madeleine continued. ”I was somewhere dark. I don’t think it was a room. There were stars, but they were so far apart I couldn’t tell if I was standing anywhere at all.”

Octavian had been reaching for his document case, but his hand stopped on the clasp for a moment. Madeleine kept talking.

”There was a light,” she said. ”I thought it was a sun. It was burning, enormous, bigger than anything should be. There were shapes coming from it like wings, but they weren’t feathers.”

Fischer’s sighted eye remained on her. ”How many of these wings?”

”I don’t know. I couldn’t see all of it.”

”Did it speak to you?”

”There was a voice. I don’t remember what it said.”

Octavian spoke. ”Did anything change when you heard it?”

Madeleine turned toward him. ”The shape inside the sun did. It started twitching and pulsing.”

Fischer looked toward Octavian, then back to Madeleine. ”When did you have this dream?”

”The night before Gravewatch.”

”I see. Have you had it again since?”

”Once. But not as clearly.”

”Was anything different the second time?” Octavian asked.

Madeleine closed her hand around the ring beneath her shirt. ”It was... closer.”

For a moment, neither Fischer nor Octavian spoke, and Severin looked between them.

Fischer reached for the pencil beside the folder and wrote something in the margin.

Madeleine gave a small, uneasy smile. ”I thought it was the Eternal.”

Neither man answered immediately.

Her smile faded. ”You think I’m wrong?”

Fischer set the pencil down. ”I think you experienced something you believe was significant.”

”I’m sorry, Master, but that’s not what I asked.”

”No. But it’s what I think.”

Madeleine looked at Octavian, who had taken his hand from the document case.

”What do you think?”

A few seconds passed before Octavian answered.

”I don’t know what to make of it,” Octavian said. ”What I do know is that if you dream of it again, you should tell Master Fischer before discussing it with anyone else.”

Madeleine frowned. ”May I ask why?”

”Because in our line of work, recurring visions can matter.”

”Does that mean you believe me?”

”I believe you saw something. I can’t tell you what it was.”

”Madeleine,” Fischer said.

She turned back to him.

”Do not let this frighten you. It may have been no more than a dream. You were under considerable strain before Gravewatch.” He paused. ”Octavian is being cautious, and I agree with him. If it happens again, report it to me.”

Her fingers loosened around the ring. ”Yes, Master.”

Fischer closed the folder.

Severin had dealt with Blackhaven police enough to recognize an answer that gave nothing away, and Fischer was better at it. So was Octavian.

Rafael’s good eye moved between Fischer and Octavian, but he said nothing.

Fischer stood, bracing one hand against the desk before straightening.

When he came around the desk, the looseness of his coat was harder to ignore. Severin straightened without meaning to.

”You are Pilgrims now,” he said. ”That comes with duties. It does not mean you understand your marks simply because you survived receiving them.”

He stopped before the three of them.

”Listen to your Wardens. Listen to the healers. If either tells you to stop, stop.”

His gaze settled briefly on Severin.

Severin nodded. ”Understood.”

”Good.”

Fischer offered his marked hand to Rafael first, then Madeleine, welcoming each of them to the Order before finally turning to Severin. Severin took the offered hand and found Fischer’s grip firm.

”Welcome to the Order, Pilgrim Hale. I’m glad you chose to stay.”

With that, Fischer returned to the desk.

”You’re dismissed.”

The three turned for the door, and Severin was almost through when Fischer spoke behind him.

”Corvane.”

Severin slowed despite himself.

”Yes?”

”Close the door.”

Severin stepped into the corridor, and the door shut behind him before he heard anything else.

Neumann waited farther down the passage, his back against the stone wall.

”Well?” he asked.

Severin looked at Madeleine. She was still holding the Eternal Ring through her shirt.

Rafael answered first. ”Well enough. The Master asked each of us a question, then welcomed us to the Order.”

”That’s encouraging.”

Madeleine looked back toward the closed office. ”They knew something.”

Neumann pushed away from the wall. ”About what?”

”My dream. The one with the sun.”

”What makes you think that?”

Madeleine shook her head. ”I don’t know.”

Neumann let the subject drop. ”Hale. Schultz asked Fischer for permission to take you out tomorrow.”

”Wait. Hans is here?”

”He arrived this morning.”

”Good. What’s the assignment?”

”Small one. A village outside Kronvaal. Fischer approved it on the condition that Schultz supervises you.”

Rafael looked at Severin. ”Already?”

”Apparently they’re desperate.”

Neumann ignored the comment. ”Report to the armory before first bell. Black coat, sword, dagger, field kit. Schultz will meet you there.”

They started toward the stairs. Severin looked at Neumann. ”What happened in the village?”

”They keep finding fresh entrails.”

Severin waited a moment. ”And?”

”That’s the problem.” Neumann opened the stairwell door. ”No one is missing.”