The Copper Assassin by Madolyn Rogers

Author:Madolyn Rogers [Rogers, Madolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

10: Trials

Gorgo stood alone on a deserted street, staring intently into an empty alley between two low buildings. The lane was three feet wide, floored with dirty rock, held one pile of garbage, and appeared to open out into another street some thirty feet down. The alley was in every respect unremarkable, and yet Gorgo hesitated. This side of the alley was Ilkour, the other, the Fence.

He stood in one of the quietest parts of Ilkour. Though the night was still relatively young, few people were abroad. Back here so close to the mountains, the buildings were mostly private residences, probably inhabited by those who worked in the Fence. Gorgo had seen no sign of the golem on his way here. Cockatrice had likely already entered. He needed to hurry, but caution still held him back.

He had never been in the Fence District. From the outside it looked like any other, butted up against the flank of Yahsta’s Claws, bounded by Ilkour on one side and the Catsclaw District on the other. But as its name implied, it was warded off from the rest of the city. Only five streets led into it, and each was barred by a gate, an imposing iron structure guarded by Margays. The physical barrier was the least of a gate’s defenses; powerful spells also strengthened each portal against sorcerous attack. Nonetheless the five gates were the weak points of the Fence boundary, the easiest way in. Regular business passed through them, a steady flow of people during the day, less at night. Everyone who walked through a gate must wear the Fence stamp. For the higher Fence members, it was a permanent sigil tattooed into their flesh; for others, a temporary mark permitting passage. Without it, the Margays would not grant entrance. Still, Gorgo reflected, if you had a superior force and a few sorcerers at your disposal, the best way into the Fence would be to storm a gate.

For those who wanted to enter by stealth it was a different matter. Aside from the gates, there was no way to get in, although the boundary was invisible. You could not walk through an alley into the Fence District, though the way appeared clear. Nor could you climb over a rooftop or slip through a building. The magical wards around the place prevented it. Those who tried such routes soon found themselves back where they had started, exiting the alley or dropping from the rooftop back into the street they had left, with no notion of when they had turned themselves around. This misdirection was the first layer of the Fence wards, the simplest and most benign. More layers lay beyond it, the rumors said; those deeper layers were incorporeal places created by sorcerers, each more dangerous than the last. Gorgo had heard tales of people dying in the attempt to cross them.

But even that was not the real reason he held back. To enter the Fence meant something indefinable, a choice that might be hard to undo.

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