The Shadow Games: The Chronicles of Arianthem VI by Samantha Sabian Page B

skill not been so great. But Raine rivaled the Tavinter in their stealth and she moved by several cohorts without being seen. Her path was guided by instinct, by the ability to separate thought from action when the thought was unproductive and unclear. She simply moved in the direction she needed to go. She stopped when she was where she needed to be.
    “I was wondering when you would respond to my invitation.”
    The tone was low, the voice silky, mesmerizing. The figure was still cloaked and just the outline of the woman could be seen in the shadows.
    “Perhaps you should extend it more explicitly,” Raine said, wary.
    “And yet here you are.”
    As she said this, the woman stepped into the light. Her hood was now lowered and her features were framed with long, black hair that contrasted with her pale eyes. The nearby torchlight reflected in those eyes and gave her features a nocturnal splendor. Now that she was visible, Raine could see she possessed a beauty much like that of her love. Not that Talan and this woman looked alike; they were very different in appearance. But where most tended to shrink and diminish with age, these two had aged superbly.
    “And why am I here?” Raine asked.
    “You are seeking information. I am an Oracle. I provide information.”
    Raine did not wish to confirm or deny the woman’s assertion that she was seeking something. It could have been a fishing expedition, a bluff. Yet still, the woman seemed to know a great deal about her, or at least pretended to.
    “At what cost?”
    “A simple task. Something that would please the Emperor greatly. There is a cave in Digranes. It houses a nest of thieves, brigands. I will provide you a map. Destroy them, and I will tell you what I know.”
    Raine assessed the strange woman who looked at her so expectantly, who clearly wanted to play a game. Thieves and brigands could be handled by imperial soldiers or paid mercenaries.
    “And why do you ask this of me?”
    The oracle gave her another searing, once-over. “Because you are particularly suited for this task. Although,” she said, pausing, “You might want to take more than that elf and that dwarf.”
    The coldness returned to Raine. This woman did know a great deal about her. But she was not one to be intimidated.
    “If the elf and the dwarf are insufficient,” Raine said, “then perhaps I will go alone.”
    Raine did not go alone. She took both Feyden and Lorifal, checked twice to see that they wore their amulets, and ensured she had more than sufficient supply of the ointment Elyara had provided. She rubbed herself with lavender and encouraged her companions to do the same.
    “This feels like a trap,” Feyden said.
    “Of course it’s a trap,” Raine said, a little exasperated. “This is the most obvious trap I’ve ever walked into. I expect this place to be crawling with vampyres, and they probably know we’re coming.”
    Lorifal buried his great axe in the earth and put his hand on his hip. “So I’m guessing you have a plan.”
    “I always do.”
    Feyden watched Raine sneak down a ledge toward the center of the well-lit cave. He did not like this plan at all. They had easily dispatched the four sentries without raising the alarm, and they were indeed vampyre. The good thing about decapitation is that, done properly, it was a quick and quiet death. Raine had garroted the first two with a length of fine wire, he had slit one’s throat with his dagger, then finished with his sword, and Lorifal had taken the last with one blow with his axe from behind, the blade so sharp the cut was clean, and the only sound a gurgle then a splat as the head went to the ground. They stayed long enough to ensure the undead were really dead, then moved on.
    And now Raine was sneaking down into the viper’s nest on her own. Feyden knew she could handle herself; weaker vampyres were no worse than Hyr’rok’kin, but they were a lot smarter, and right now, there were a lot of them in the cave.