‘Your hospitality will be remembered,’ Morandia replied, in a tone frosty enough to make a Valhallan reach for their coat. ‘Now, and before.’

‘I’m so glad,’ Chetta smiled, letting the reference to her dismissal of them in the aftermath of Azariel’s wake bounce off her. She changed her expression to one of slight puzzlement as she noticed that none of their usual shadows were hovering behind them. ‘No aides this evening, Jalamar?’

‘They have duties elsewhere,’ Jalamar replied stiffly. ‘And after all, I’m sure we can count on House Brobantis to accommodate any needs we may have whilst we are within these walls.’

‘Of course,’ Chetta smiled. ‘I understand. I’ve given DeShelle the night off, myself.’

Into the Shadows

Into the Shadows

‘So that’s the last place that we know he was seen alive,’ Krane said, jabbing his large finger at the map displayed on the data-slate that DeShelle was holding. ‘Wexler’s Antiquities Emporium.’ He ran his tongue over his teeth and grunted irritably. ‘And then he disappears, with not a soul able to tell us how or why. A Navigator of Brobantis is simply, what? Swallowed by the shadows? It’s not like he isn’t conspicuous.’

Indeed he was, DeShelle reflected. Avomarr Du-Choi Brobantis displayed little outward sign of his genetic heritage. He had no obvious mutations or deformities, save for his warp eye, which he kept covered. His build, although tall and spare, was certainly not outside the realms of regular humankind. However, he made up for that with his dress sense, which the word ‘flamboyant’ barely began to do justice to. The images she’d seen of him – and which they’d shown to various merchants, shopkeepers and bartenders – depicted a sombre, ruddy-skinned face in the heart of a riot of colours. Feathers, jewels, scales and ribbons, Avomarr had worn them all, often at the same time.

And yet they couldn’t find him.

The vox had come from Lady Chettamandey herself a few hours before, when she’d managed to get a private moment during the dinner House Brobantis were throwing to celebrate the ongoing forging of their new alliance with House Xudine. She’d directed Luc and DeShelle to change their focus and ignore, for now, the two Navigators whom were known to have died. Instead she wanted them to concentrate on this one, newly believed to have gone missing.

‘Well, something must have happened to him,’ DeShelle offered. ‘He’s well known around here, and his usual haunts remember seeing him up until roughly a week ago. He hasn’t been back to the palace since. Someone’s either got to him, or he’s drastically changed his habits all of a sudden, and people don’t do that without a reason.’

‘He’s a Navigator, though,’ Luc muttered. ‘Never try to apply normal human logic to Navigators, DeShelle. They think all twisty. It’s just how they’re made.’