Page 8 of The Empty Throne

Before he could look for secrets, though, heneeded to secure transport for the first stage of the journey.Thankfully, money provided solutions to every problem.

Well, almost every.

It took him just over an hour, and tryingseven different options, but finally Bittersea secured passage witha transport hauling soda ash to glassmakers in Faldisio. It didn'thurt he wore armor and carried knives. Many of them, though hereally only needed two to resolve a problem, when that problemcouldn't be resolved with money.

Two problems down, two left to go. Suppliesand a room for the night.

He started with the room, securing somethingat a passable place nearby. Extra coin got him a clean bed in aroom he didn't have to share, breakfast, and a hot bath once hereturned.

With that addressed, it was time to replenishhis supplies. He started with food, and a new waterskin to replacehis current one, which hadn't fared well on the journey back toCremisio.

Next up was a glove shop, to have his currentpair repaired, and damn the stupid sailor who'd damaged them. Heleft the general goods shop, bell tinkling as he left, grimacingslightly against the bracing wind that rushed by him.

Soon winter would make most travelimpossible. Winter bit hard in the area known broadly as Camara,which included Kenten and Terek to the north, Cremisio in themiddle, and Everage and Boltane to the south, the quartet at theheart of two continents, and Cremisio the only safe and reliableway for many to travel between them, as the Dead Sea made travelingby sea along the west edge of the continents impossible, and to theeast was a very limited range of coastline, the rest of itimpassable because of mountains, glaciers, rocky shorelines withmore than a hundred ships already claimed, and all the way to thenortheast of Boltane was a volcano, making going anywhere nearthere a fool's game.

That left the narrow sea passage that led toCremisio, and from there merchants and more could reach the wholeof two continents.

"Buy a lantern for Endless Night, prettysir?" a raspy voice said.

Bittersea glanced at the merchant, slowinghis step.

She sat on a stool behind the counter of herstall, which was packed with softly glowing lanterns in a rainbowof colors. Mage lights, that particular glow could come fromnothing else, and the lanterns themselves ranged from cheap paperall the way to enameled glass. They were a common sight duringEndless Night, that time of year when winter settled hard and thesun could not be bothered to rise, and the twin moons, small andinsignificant, did not provide sufficient light in its stead.

Constantly keeping candles and fires goingthat long grew expensive, and was flat out impossible for most. Sothey bought mage lights or hired a mage to install the lightsdirectly in their homes, and survived three months of unending darksurrounded by softly glowing rainbows.

Bittersea flipped her a coin. "I'll buy onefor Shatar."

"Her Blessing be upon you," the woman said asshe deftly caught the coin and tucked it away.

Bittersea continued on until he reached thefirst glove shop that looked worth his time. The place smelled ofleather and glove oil, another good sign, with several displaypairs set out, and racks of fabric options for customerperusal.

"Can I help you, good sir?" a man asked as hecame from the back.

"I need a pair of gloves repaired, ifpossible. I'm leaving first thing tomorrow, so it needs to be donequickly. I'll pay what's necessary."

The man settled a pair of spectacles on hisnose, hooking the arms behind his ears. "Let's see these glovesthen."

Bittersea pulled his gloves from his pocketand set them on the counter. They were made of black dragonleather, imported from Randamar, fingerless and tightly fitted, butflexible enough that wearing them was like wearing a secondskin.

"These are beautiful," the man said, making asoft, approving noise as he took in the maker's stamp inside theright glove. He carefully examined where a nasty barbed fishhookhad caught and torn the back, right by the thumb, all the way up toslice open the first finger hole.

Bittersea had never wanted to pitch somebodyoverboard so badly in his life. He was a murderer, but he didn'tkill idly or casually, that was his one rule. That stupid sailorhad come very close to being his first breaking of it.

Setting the gloves down, the man said, "I canfix it. One senar and they'll be good as new by dawn."

"Perfect. I'll return at dawn then. Good day,sir." He set the requested senar on the counter and left, back intothe dusk and increasingly frigid air.

He hadn't gotten halfway to his inn when henoticed the shadow in the alleyway. Either Fazekas was attemptingto have him watched, which seemed unlikely, or another one ofQuenta's precious lackeys was attempting to follow him.

Bittersea weighed his options and settled onignoring the problem for now. What were they going to learn? Thathe was going to bed? He would have noticed if they'd found himsooner, so they had no way of knowing who to ask about where he wasgoing. So what if they did?

No, there was nothing for them to learn, noway they could ruin his plans, and so they were best ignored.

If they proved to be more of a problem, he'ddeal with them then.

Once he reached the inn, Bittersea arrangedfood, tea, and his bath, then headed upstairs to his room, takingthe supplies he'd had sent on, which were waiting for him at thecounter.

In his room, he set all his packages and bagsaside, then went and finallysat. Oh, to be home again, infront of a fire with not a single problem to deal with, delightfulthough it always was to have blood to spill. Even heartlessassassins needed a damned break every now and then.

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