Huffing deeply and holding her hard-won prize aloft, Kaeleth felt a sense of euphoria rush through her. That sense soon went from something she felt to something she could see. Around her, bolts, rips, and flashes of pure Chaos went off. At first, it flashed around her like fireworks, and she basked in this reward from her source. As though in response to the thought of this being her reward, the visual chaos abruptly redirected to the spine she held in her hands. The grisly, and slightly meaty trophy was swarmed by the motes of chaos as they flew all around it before they dove into it.

  Even as the spine was engulfed in magic, Kaeleth refused to release the spine. Even as the bones and ligaments heated up, even as it became blurred and unknowable to her very senses, she held tight, certain that her magic would cause her no harm… no permanent harm at least.

  Her faith and her actions would be swiftly rewarded. With something akin to a sigh, the spine soon came back into focus, and what she saw astounded her.

  The spine she’d pulled from the dead body snatcher had been black like an infected wound, coated in a thick, equally black liquid, and sparsely coated in bits of muscle, meat, and rough skin.

  What she noticed first was the color change; it was no longer black and instead a mottled mix of black, green, purple, and gray. Then, as she hefted it, she felt its weight and very shape had changed. Its origins as a part of a humanoid body were now an impression and no longer a certainty. The vertebrae were no longer running down it in an unbroken line; instead, they were broken by skin-covered grips with the remaining vertebrae spiked and vicious. The spikes gleamed with a dark liquid that promised an unfortunate end for anyone unlucky enough to survive getting pierced by them. The skull was stripped clean and appeared untouched, but that did nothing to soften its image. The skull was not human; its teeth were pointed and predatory, its cheekbones too prominent, its jaw too sharp, and its eye sockets a little too narrow; everything about it screamed apex predator.

  The spine was now clearly a weapon, so she gave it a swing. As she did, she started to get a feel for it; her skill with weapons helped her, and she adapted in a few swings to it. It moved like a staff, had hand grips like a spear, and was top-heavy like a mace. She stopped, knowing that she would need more time with her new weapon to acclimate to it fully. Satisfied with it, she held it before her with one final thought.

  “What are you?”

  ‘The Spine of Turmoil.’ A sibilant whisper hissed into her very being, accompanied by a sharp pain between her eyes. ‘The folly of Chaos’ enemies and an abject lesson to those who would oppose.’

  She felt a warm trickle run down her nose, and when she wiped it came away bloody. That more than anything let her know the voice had been of Chaos itself. To hear it speak directly to her was completely unexpected; she knew that only those who were to be called upon heard the voice. To be called upon was rare; a true calling had not been heard of in decades. It was a sign of dangerous times.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  She felt her mind spiral with the implications.

  Jaeger heard the voice speak to him and frowned. That name was not known in this realm, and the coincidence of something like this calling him that was unlikely. Not to mention the seven-pupil eye.

  Crouching before the body, he pushed it onto its back and sighed as its insides spilled out of the gaping wound in its back. He began to suspect that Kaeleth didn’t know much about subtle or clean kills. Poking its stomach, he felt around for the lid of the large eye; it had closed with the body’s death, and the almost concave nature of its body made the task difficult. It took a few tries, running his hand all over the stomach, but he found it. Hooking his fingers in, he worked his other hand onto the opposite side and pulled them open. Slowly, with the sluggish strength of an atrophied muscle, the eye opened.

  “Of course.”

  His muttering was followed by an annoyed sigh. The stomach eye socket was empty; held in its shape by thin bone-like fibers running under the eyelid. He would get no further answers here. Standing up, he retrieved his blade and turned to face Kaeleth.

  While he’d been distracted with the body, she’d somehow changed the spine and was now whirling around with it. He watched her; he figured she’d more than earned a few moments to herself; she’d been the one to actually kill the Flesh Trader after all. Finally, she came to a halt, and he moved up to her.

  “Did you find anything when you rolled him earlier?”

  She looked right through him. He raised an eyebrow and waited. She simply stood with an expression of confusion on her face and a distant look in her eyes.

  He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. As he did, her eyes seemed to focus on them, and she began to blink.

  “Jaeger.”

  “Yes. Did you find anything on him?”

  She cocked her head and stared at him, before her eyes followed his gesture towards the body. She slowly shook her head.

  “I never had much of a chance.”

  He nodded.

  “That means his stuff, including the invitation, must be at his home.” He paused before nodding again slowly. “We’ll have to involve the slaves outside.”

  Kaeleth scrunched her eyebrows at that.

  “If we do, we will have to do something with them. If word gets out we killed the Flesh Trader, our invite will be suspect.” She tapped the Spine on the ground. “Death would be a mercy compared to continued slavery.”

  “They come with us, or they die. Death will only be a final solution; missing slaves are more easily ignored than dead ones.” He hated taking a hard stance when it came to slaves, but needs must. “Depending on how slavery his done in this city, they might voluntarily come with us. Nobody wants to be chattel.”

  Kaeleth shrugged.

  “What about this body?”

  Jaeger tapped his arm chain and aimed.

  “Disintegrate.”

  From his outstretched hand, a beam that defied description shot from his hand and hit the body. In a second, nothing remained but blood and damaged surroundings.

  “That was terrifying.”

  Jaeger found himself in agreement; he’d understood what it would do, but to see it was to understand it.

  “I’ve got something for the blood.” Kaeleth shook herself before stepping forward, pulling out an amphora. She poured out a puddle’s worth of liquid before storing the amphora away. She ran a hand down the side of one arm, then the other, before throwing her hands forward with a cry. “Necla.”

  The liquid squirmed before shooting out and coating the room. It seeped into every nook and crevice. As it disappeared, so did the blood and damage. Quickly enough, the room had no signs of battle, and anyone viewing it would assume it was a recently unused storage room.

  “Done and done,” Kaeleth said, leading the way to the door.

  “Useful.”

  “It is certainly no magic tracking, but it is necessary in my line of work.”

  “We all have our specialties.”

  Clearing her throat, Kaeleth pushed forward to the door.

  “Let’s go deal with the slaves.”