A bitter wind blew along the side of the cathedral, picking up snow from the boughs of a couple leafless trees on the grounds. The sky was overcast, making for an almost pitch-black night, which would make for perfect conditions if not for the blasted cold. At least she would be going inside soon.


    Zandrue scanned the side of the cathedral. There was a single door here towards the back and a couple of large stained-glass windows. Higher up, there were a couple of regular windows, and each of the two towers on this side had a window even higher up. The door was the obvious way in, but also the way she was most likely to be caught. The cathedral ran a shelter for the homeless, so there were definitely people inside. However, climbing up to any of those higher windows was fraught with its own dangers. On the plus side, no light came from any of those windows, so the rooms beyond were either unoccupied or their inhabitants were asleep.


    “Why are you delaying?” Jorvan asked.


    She looked back at him. “Just debating the best way in. And where they might hide however they send messages. Assuming it’s something that can even be hidden and not just a magic spell or something.”


    “A spell is unlikely,” Jorvan said. “It would indicate a practitioner of a lost discipline, which ought to be impossible.”


    “That’s good. Any idea what it was?”


    “Sounds positively unpleasant.” There always seemed to be something new to worry about. They never got any proper time to rest before something else tried to kill them. First, Darkers. Now, unkillable fire creatures. What next? Felit?a had said something about a prophecy saying demons would come for her this year. Was this creature one of those, or were the demons something else entirely?


    “Okay, thinking aloud. Jump in if you have any ideas to add. If I wanted to hide something in a cathedral, where would I do it? The basement possibly. That’s a good place to hide things. It’s easy to hide entire rooms in basements.”


    Jorvan looked up and then back at her. “Perhaps. I have carried Meleng and Sinit?a before, as well as a girl in Ninifin. However, you are taller even than Sinit?a. Less fat, but more muscle. I suspect you are heavier than any of them. Fevionawishtensen could do it.”


    “I realise,” Jorvan said. “It is a short trip, so I am certain I can manage it. Which tower do you wish me to take you to?”


    That was the question. Four towers to choose from, each one dedicated to one of the gods. Which god would they choose to help hide something like this? If there were Darkers operating here, the Tower of Night would be the perfect irony. But which tower was Night’s? Was there a way to tell from the outside? She was fairly certain it was one of the ones at the back, but the one on this side or the other side?


    Zandrue did as he asked, and he looped his arms around her shoulders tightly.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    “Hold on tight,” he said.


    arcraime hopefuls. It had been a long time, but this would be nothing in comparison.


    Zandrue sniffed, then leaned in closer to each one in turn and sniffed again. All had virtually no scent, which was perhaps not too surprising, as they hadn’t been sweating or doing anything to accentuate their scents. Still, she would have expected some scent of decay, though perhaps the cold was keeping them preserved. Either that or they had died very recently. Or both.


    One of the women was covered in frost and even had bits of ice on her, which indicated she might have been here a while. The other bodies were not similarly frost-covered, though the other woman had dirt smudges in several places. The man’s body was completely clean.


    “Do you have any idea who they are?” Jorvan asked.


    She nodded, then turned her attention back to the bodies. She cautiously ran a finger along the man’s chest. “No hair.” She lifted his arm and looked closely at it. No hair there either. There seemed to be no hair anywhere on his body. A quick check of the two women confirmed they were the same. “They’re all hairless.”


    “You’re right there. Hybrids?”