Dagger of Bone by R. K. Thorne

Author:R. K. Thorne [Thorne, R. K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Iron Antler Books
Published: 2019-07-22T16:00:00+00:00

The streets were dark when Nyalin and Su left the restaurant. Torches danced on two street corners, but the city was mostly empty. Only the sounds of muffled conversation and music reached them.

“Let me walk you back,” he said. “I could go find Grel after I see you to the house.”

She shook her head. “I’m not going back yet.”

He winced but tried to hide it.

She only smiled in return. “Besides, Grel’s at a feast with Jylan. He wanted to come along with me instead, trust me, but she was having none of it.”

“I bet.” Jylan wasn’t betrothed to Grel, but everyone wondered if it was coming soon. Her family was the most powerful in the Obsidian Clan next to Grel’s own; her mother ran a vast silk business that had amassed quite a fortune.

“He won’t be back until late. Although I shall likely be later.”

There was mischief in her smile, but he couldn’t return the sentiment. “Tell him I’ll come calling. Tomorrow or the next. Or maybe next week. As soon as I have time.”

“Of course.” She gave him a nod. “Good luck, Nyalin.” She hesitated for a moment, then surprised him with an embrace.

He returned the hug, patting her back, and she turned away with one final wave.

He wove through the streets, not taking the most direct route back. With his long nap, he wasn’t tired, and there were so many parts of this city he had never seen. He’d kept to the Obsidian District most of his life, and it wasn’t like he’d ventured out of his home that much anyway. The city had been built with the six separate districts to encourage peace and cooperation between the clans, without asking anything so crazy as to have them actually live mixed together. They were even buried separately; his mother and Lara’s brother were only buried together because of their status, in the emperor’s royal graveyard specifically set aside for the nobility.

It had never occurred to him to visit the Bone District, whether because of its general poverty or its distance; it was on the other side of the city. People generally stuck to their own districts, and that helped keep the peace too. He followed the road to the river, then doubled back, gradually making his way closer to the Bone Clan manor. Several of the clans maintained large houses or meeting halls nearer the city center, although Elix’s home was deep within the Obsidian District. Why, he had no idea.

The streets were quiet and empty, but the houses and establishments hummed with muffled life: laughter, the cries of children, the coughs and wheezes of the sick and elderly, the occasional worse sound. Lively music drifted from one tavern, shouts of brawling from another. The smell of beer and bread and the less appealing results of tavern visits drifted past him, memorializing the adventures of people strolling or stumbling or racing down this street.

The city was alive and vibrant, a beating, writhing heart. One he stood just to the side of, watched and even admired but never felt fully a part of.

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