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Tell me about the Sword of Midnight. I didn t have the chance to ask you any follow-up questions at
the crime scene.
Actually, you stormed off.
Well, I was angry. And you didn t seem inclined to give me any useful information.
He hesitates. All right. Barbarossa is was more than just a smuggler. She was actually the leader of
a gang of international criminals, who dabble in everything from kidnapping to piracy. They have
chapters in many countries, not always large but well respected it s a sign of prestige to be asked to
join, a sort of criminal elite. They re known as the Crooked Shadows.
How about assassination?
He considers that before answering. Doubtful. The Shadows reserve killing for self-defense or
revenge they believe in stealing as an art form, one that s above murder. That being said, they ve
been known to go to extreme lengths to punish anyone who hurts one of their members there s a story
about a Mafia captain that robbed and killed one of them. The robbery they didn t mind, but they felt
the killing was unjust. They imposed what they call the Beggar s Curse.
I ve run into a lot of variations on magic since I ve been here, but not actual curses. How does that
work?
It s not a curse per se it s a condition. The victim has everything stolen from him, and I mean
everything. His family and friends are driven away, everything he owns is stolen, he s made to lose his
home and his job and then, when he s broke and on the street, they take his sight, his mobility, his
speech . . . you get the idea. They leave only his hearing.
Why?
So that he can still hear music. He doesn t elaborate, and he doesn t have to; music is one of the most
powerful touchstones we have for memories, and the victim of the Beggar s Curse would have only his
memories left memories of everything he had lost. It s one of the grimmest fates I can think of.
If the Crooked Shadows are professional thieves, wouldn t they find the Brigade s weaponry an
irresistible target? I drum my fingers on the dashboard, thinking. And if they re the artists you say
they are, maybe this is all part of an elaborate scam. Maybe the Sword of Midnight isn t as dead as we
thought.
Cassius shakes his head. I thought of that. DNA tests on the brain material confirm it s her, and
forensic animism shows that the only magic used was whatever changed her body into bronze.
That s another thing. Transe s bones were turned into copper, presumably to better hold the electrical
charge. What kind of magic is that?
Alchemy the transmutation of one substance into another.
No one s ever mentioned that one to me before.
That s because it doesn t exist. You can t really change one thing into another its basic nature will
resist. All you can do is introduce a new element and persuade it to become dominant for a while;
that s the basic principle behind lycanthropy.
So the victims bodies were infected with metalthropy?
Essentially. Like most transformations, it s temporary; Eisfanger tells me that the remains will revert,
probably in a few days time. He s going to do another autopsy then, see if we learn anything new.
I think back to the dream meeting I d had with Neil, and the Sword of Midnight comic I d read.
Something rises up in my brain, dancing around like a drunken butterfly I can t quite catch; all I can
pin down is a sense of doomed romance. What do you know about Barbarossa s love life?
That depends.
It s not the answer I expect; I thought he d either make a joke or deny any knowledge, not hand me an
immediate equivocation. On what?
On what you mean by love. Barbarossa was notorious for rarely having an empty bed, but she refused
to get serious about any of them.
I suppose the life of an international thief doesn t leave a lot of room for a husband or kids.
No.
There s something he isn t telling me. Cassius, were you and Barbarossa involved?
He laughs and shakes his head. No, absolutely not. She wasn t interested in pires, and I wasn t
interested in her. I had the feeling she was involved with someone while she was with the Bravos, but I
never found out who.
Lems were sexless, and the only other thrope on the team was female. Any possibility her and the
African Queen had something going?
Unlikely. They didn t particularly get along, and in any case both seemed to prefer men of their own
species.
How about betrayal? Could this be a plot on part of someone close to the Sword another member of
her gang, maybe?
I just don t know, Jace. He sounds frustrated, an emotion I rarely see from Cassius. Despite what
you may think, I don t have all the answers and the ones I do have I m not withholding out of spite.
I m telling you everything I can, all right? If I can t tell you something, I ll tell you that.
You ll be honest about your dishonesty?
He gives me a rueful smile. I ll avoid telling outright lies. Can you work with that?
Guess I ll have to.
Good enough. He pauses, then says, The Shadows have a code of absolute loyalty to their members.
Even if one of them did break it and kill Barbarossa, she would never have betrayed the Bravos and
the killer clearly knows our secrets. Considering the Shadows commitment to retribution, I find it hard
to believe she was targeted at all, let alone by one of their own.
So now we have a gang of über-criminals out for blood to compete with, too. Well, it does lend
credence to the mentally unbalanced theory. The killer either thinks he s invincible, or he s working
toward some goal so important to him that consequences have become irrelevant or secondary.
Any idea what that might be?
When you re dealing with someone living in their own reality, the possibilities can be literally
infinite but I think I can narrow it down a little.
I lean back in my seat, close my eyes, and concentrate. We ll refer to him as he simply because most
serial murderers are male. He s not killing for sexual gratification, but to accumulate power. That s not
all that uncommon, even on my world; many killers believe that each murder makes them stronger in
some mystical way. It s just that here, it s actually true . . .
He s organized. He stages elaborate scenes and leaves few traces behind. The killings appear almost
dispassionate, with little evidence of frenzy or anger Transe was killed by a single well-placed thrust.
The staging of the scenes is important to him, but Eisfanger hasn t been able to find any trace of magic
energy that would suggest this is part of some elaborate spell. The comic book references point to a
number of different concepts: alternate universes, transformation, the interface between the imaginary
and the real.
My voice is steady, the words coming almost without conscious thought. This is my own ritual, my
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