A Song of Snow and Ashes by S.J. Drew

finding the priest's statement discouraging.

  "It shows some progress."

  "Progress for what?" he snapped, annoyed. "Can't you people give straight answers?"

  "Progress toward becoming a proper representative of the Dark One. And yes, we can, but we generally choose not to."

  "Proper representative? That's insultin'. What do you want me to do? Go out and kill people? Destroy stuff? That'll make me a proper representative, and also make me dead pretty damn quick."

  "Right now all I would ask of you is some sign, some demonstration, that you have accepted your power and aren't afraid to use it," Dwyer answered mildly.

  "But I am afraid, and I haven't accepted this," he thought. "So what, do you want me to go flood the river or somethin'?" he asked.

  "While that would be a good demonstration, random destruction is generally a poor idea."

  "Well, then what do you want?"

  He sighed. "I see that I've upset you. Perhaps I shall pray on this matter, and be able to give you a better answer later."

  "I'd watch what you pray for," Donnan replied.

  "Believe me, my Lord, I know the risks of prayer to my god." He pulled several envelopes out of a desk drawer. "These are the letters for you to deliver. Please have them delivered by tomorrow. I also have a list of places for you to go to pick up some letters."

  "You want me to talk to people?"

  "Don't worry, they will be expecting someone to come get the messages."

  "Wait a minute. Who in their right mind would give a message that probably contains some pretty damnin' information to a stranger? How do I know I've found the right person anyway, and won't end up talkin' to a undercover guard?"

  "We're going to leave that up you."

  "Have you told people what I look like?" Donnan demanded, suddenly annoyed and a little scared. He felt the less information people had about him, the less likely they were to figure out who he was.

  "They've been told to expect a young man with a Renfrew drawl to his voice. That's all."

  "Oh, this is great. Just great. I hope you don't have anythin' important ridin' on these messages, 'cause I don't know how I'm goin' to get this done. I can't trust anyone, and no one is goin' to trust me."

  "To help you out, I've acquired a small lie detection spell. It seems simple enough to use, and the instructions don't seem too complicated." He pushed forward a scroll.

  "Won't people know I'm doin' somethin'?"

  "My understanding of arcane magic is that the words and hand gestures are used to help the mage focus their power to get the desired effect. A sufficiently practiced mage need not use the hand gestures or say the words aloud to get that effect."

  "When do you want me to do the pick-up?"

  "I'd like you to bring me the messages in three days. That should give you enough time to practice the spell and understand its effects."

  "I don't like it," he snapped, taking the envelopes and scroll and shoving them in his pack.

  The priest shrugged. "You say you don't like it, but what are you going to do about it?" His statement was quite clearly a challenge.

  He glared at the other man and the temperature in the room dropped several degrees. "You want to start a fight with me? I don't have to do anythin' for you."

  "That is, of course, your choice. We don't have to do anything for you either."

  "I'm the Avatar of your god. You want me to win this stupid fight, right? So you've got to help me out."

  "Of course we want you to win, my Lord. But we don't have to help you out on your terms. We'll help on our terms."

  "For now," he shot back icily, then stormed out of the room. He went back to his apartment and forced himself to calm down before his tutoring session with Aolani. When he was done, he was more frustrated than before since he still had not managed to pull his grade up high enough to take her out.

  "What's wrong, little brother?" Alain asked at dinner.

  "My grade average still isn't high enough."

  "Ah. Well, don't worry, that'll come. You seem to be workin' real hard on it. Maybe too hard."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I know somethin's wrong. I don't know what. You've been actin' funny these past few weeks. I know you said you're workin' for the temple, but they've got you out at odd hours. I know you've spent nights over there."

  He looked up at his older brother in surprise. "You know?"

  "Sure. I'm still lookin' out for you, as best I can. I get the feelin' you're keepin' somethin' from me."

  Donnan looked guilty, but said nothing.

  "That's what I thought. I'm worried. I swear somethin's different about you. You carry yourself differently. You seem kind of sad for some reason. You're actin' all strange and nervous. What's wrong, little brother?" Alain asked.

  "Everythin' Alain, everythin'. But I can't tell you. It'd only make things worse. I don't need to make things worse."

  "Please tell me. You look scared."

  He put his head in his hands. "Gods, I am scared. Things are happening to me, and around me, and I don't know what to do about it," he thought. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

  "Why not?"

  "It's just better this way, and don't ask any more questions. I can't answer them anyway."

  "Donnan, I'm your brother. I'll understand. Whatever's wrong, whatever trouble you got into, I'll help you any way I can."

  "Thanks, but there's just some things I've got to deal with by myself."

  "You sure?"

  "Yes, I'm sure. I've got to deal with things on my own."

  "Alright. Just remember, I'm here if you want to talk."

  "Thanks," he repeated gratefully. He started to clear the dishes away.

  "I expect you'll be goin' out again?"

  "I hadn't decided yet. Are you?"

  "I'm kind of tired, so probably not."

  "Maybe I'll stay here until you go on patrol. We can play cards or somethin'. We haven't done that in a long time," Donnan suggested.

  Alain smiled. "Sounds fine to me, little brother."

  "Well, Donnan, I'm very proud of you," Aolani said at the end of their lesson a week later. She handed him a piece of paper. "With this last quiz, you've pulled up your average to above a ninety-five percent. You must really have been studying hard."

  "Yeah. I spend my afternoons studyin'."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, really. So, this means I can take you out, right?" he asked eagerly.

  She smiled. "Yes, but as friends."

  "So dinner's out?"

  She nodded.

  "How about coffee after the lesson's over one afternoon?" he offered.

  "That sounds alright."

  "How 'bout today?"

  "Sorry, I have plans this evening," she declined, looking amused.

  "Oh. Well, what day's good for you?"

  "We can go after our next tutoring session."

  "If you give me a quiz, and I don't do well enough to keep a ninety-five, will you still go for coffee?"

  "Of course I will," she replied, laughing. "That would just be cruel. I'm not that cruel of a teacher."

  "Oh, good," he said, looking relieved. They packed away their books and went outside.

  "I say, the weather has certainly gotten worse in an hour," she remarked. The cold wind was whipping at her strawberry blond ponytail and long plum-colored dress. Even though it wasn't yet sundown, the sky was dark with heavy black clouds. "It has been a little dry. We could use the rain. Strange how fast the storm came in though."

  Donnan looked at the sky, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling uncomfortably. Something didn't feel right. "Yeah, strange," he echoed.

  "Well, I'll see you next time," she said.

  That pulled his head out of the clouds. "Can I walk you home?"

  "That's sweet, but I'm not going home. I have to meet someone."

  "Oh," he replied lamely, disap
pointed. "Well, I could walk you there."

  "Next time," she repeated firmly, and walked away.

  He watched her go, tempted to follow and see who she was meeting. Thunder rumbling, causing him to jerk his head up to the sky again. When he looked back, she had disappeared. Then he went home.

  "It's goin' to be a nasty night for patrol," Alain remarked. Wind and rain whipped at the windows.

  "Do you have to go out?"

  "Of course I do. It's my job."

  "This is a bad night, Alain. A very bad night."

  "Eh, just another storm. 'Bout time too. It's been awful dry around here."

  "I just don't like it."

  "What, you worried, little brother?"

  "Yeah, I'm worried. I don't know, somethin's not right out there."

  Now Alain was worried. Normally he'd dismiss such a remark, but Donnan seemed oddly sincere. "Well, I'll watch out, then," he replied uncertainly.

  He noticed how Alain was looking at him. "Just don't catch cold," he returned with a shrug, trying to lighten the mood.

  "You goin' out tonight?"

  "I thought about it, but I don't fancy the thought of gettin' soaked through if I don't have to."

  "Good for you," Alain sighed. "Nights like these are hard on my armor." He stood up, gathered his weapons, and left for the evening.

  Donnan cleaned up and pulled out a book, but found he couldn't concentrate. Thunder seemed to rumble constantly, and he felt curiously restless, nor could he shake the feeling that there was something unnatural about the storm outside. Near midnight, he just couldn't stand doing nothing anymore and went outside.

  Lightning forked through the sky, the wind howling so loudly the thunder couldn't be heard. The cold rain was like stinging pellets against his skin. The clouds obscured the moon and stars, the streetlights hadn't been lit or had been blown out, and all the shutters were closed. It was a very dark and eerie night. In less than two