Domajor greeted Coin and the others as they reached the mansion. He bowed stiffly to the group and rose to his full height. “I trust you had a good day today?”

  “It was certainly productive,” Coin said.

  “Very good, ser,” Domajor replied, his face and voice surgically devoid of emotion. “The cook are already preparing tonight’s dinner.” His gaze shifted to Essine. “Are you... expecting any instruction tonight?”

  Esine froze, her ears briefly flattening against the sides of her head. “It is likely to happen tonight, unless Scylla has business elsewhere.” The witch had been happy to accept Coin’s offer in providing her instruction in using Sheol magic, being one of the few scholars on the continent who could claim any expertise on the subject. Thus, over the past month, she had made a visit twice per week to cultivate Essine’s knowledge.

  It remained a very daunting prospect for Essine, who feared her own power. But she also knew how dangerous their lives were these days, and her power would be a necessity to keep them all safe.

  “If this one must, then this one shall.”

  “I shall have Leonid keep an eye, then. The magical seals that were placed on the exterior of the manor will block her from just... strolling in as if she owns the place.” She had done that once and nearly given Domajor a heart attack.

  “Of course,” said Coin.

  Dinner that night was a pleasant affair, as it so often was when it came to the expert work of the chefs. Strips of fried auroch back beef, dusted with spices of the far south, and served with a fine vegetable soup. It had, admittedly, been a while since Coin had had a chance to eat ‘raw’ (and it shamed him to say it, but eating people just felt good to him) but he was always happy to eat the work of the chefs.

  He made for the parlour in the aftermath, combing slowly through one of Elijah’s old ledgers, while Pearl busied herself composing a new song. The bard glanced out the window, occasionally, just to see if Scylla would be paying them a visit.

  “I trust you have a customer lined up already?”she asked, plucking at the strings of her lute.

  “Of course,” Coin said, offering her a faint smirk. He flicked to the next page and was assaulted by a brick wall of figures and statistics, all written in Elijah’s spidery handwriting. “Lady Greatglow herself has agreed to work with us.”

  “The gnome?” Pearl lifted a brow. “I would have assumed she’d be wary. You know, seeing how your last job with her ended up with you almost dying in a cursed city.”

  Coin shrugged. “That aspect of things didn’t impact her too much. As far as she’s concerned, us doing business with Gilly Froth without being fleeced by him, and paying her what she wanted? That’s all she cared for.”

  “I suppose that’s the rich and famous for you,” Pearl said. “Well, what’s she looking for?”

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  “She has a whole store room full old sculptures and paintings that she wants to be rid of. She has different buyers set up on the settlements beyond Sentinel, so our drivers will be heading out that way.”

  “And security?” Pearl cocked her head. “Road’s still aren’t safe. Every day I hear more tales of attacks on the roads, goblins and ogres doing their best to cause chaos.”

  “I’m aware, I’m aware,” Coin said, raising a hand to calm her. “We’re checking candidates for the role of caravan security. I may even travel with a few of them myself, just to be on the safe side. But I certainly don’t intend on sending those men out on the road without guards.”

  “Decent security doesn’t come cheap, you know.” There was no shortage of farmboys with swords who thought themselves capable of becoming mighty warriors. The bones of such young men had lined many shallow roadside graves.

  “I’m not going to be cheap about it,” Coin said. “Admittedly I still hate spending money but I’ll lose a lot more money if our deliveries fall through, and-” He froze as he glanced out the window, watching as a disc of shadow suddenly blossomed to live just beyond the gates of the manor. Leonid, who had been standing and waiting by a nearby bush, yelped and fell ass-backward into the hedges in his surprise.

  Pearl set her lute aside. “How does she do that?”

  Coin shrugged and sauntered to the door. “No idea. And I doubt she’d be in a hurry to tell us.”

  They ventured through the door in time to see Scylla helping Leonid to his feet. As ever the witch wore her eerily calm expression, a ghost of a smile touching on her lips. “I must say you’ve taken to wealth like an eagle to the skies,” she said.

  “Yeah. It suits me.” Coin smirked. “Nice to see you again, Scylla.”

  “Of course. I would never miss out on a chance to educate young Essine.” She paused, her cold eyes meeting his. “And you, Coin? Have you kept up your studies?”

  “Here and there,” Coin said, giving an uncertain shrug. “I’ve been browsing that grimoire you gave me when I have the time, and trying to cultivate my magic power. I think I’ve gotten good at it.” It didn’t hurt that he absorbed the power of any magi he ate, leaving him with a rather large wellspring to tap into.

  “Oh Coin. It breaks my heart to see potential not being realised.”

  He shrugged, a blank look on his face. “Magic is nice and all, but money is where all my attention goes.” And he’d soon be getting a windfall of more cash.

  Scylla stared at him for several moment, her chin resting on her palm. “You look tired,” she eventually said. Her gaze grew sharper, and Coin found himself tensing under it. “No, more than that... there’s a burden on your mind.”

  Well, she wasn’t wrong. Launching a business was a rather stressful endeavour. The seemingly endless paper work, the constant number crunching, the threat of failure that dangled over the entire venture. But, if he was being honest with himself, the new business wasn’t the biggest source of worry he felt. And somehow he was sure Scylla knew that.

  “Join me for a moment. You don’t have to start teaching Essine right away, do you?”

  “Well, I’m sure Essine won’t mind a bit of respite,” Pearl said, shrugging.

  She let the two stride off, giving them their solitude. Partially because it was the mannerly thing to do, and partially because no sane person wanted to eavesdrop on the conversations of magi. It was considered bad for ones health.

  The two entered Elijah’s old weapon hall, where the rows of weapon cases seemed to flank their every movement. Scylla said nothing, watching Vash with a cold and unreadable expression.

  “I’ve been having... dreams lately. I can’t remember anything that happens in them, but I know they’re happening. Like... like someone is trying to talk to me. But I can only barely hear that they say, and the words blow away like sand when I wake. And yet... the words are growing louder, more insistent. And then, when I’m awake...”

  Coin trailed off, his gaze affixed to his reflection in one of the display cases. “When I’m awake, there’s this... feeling. It comes over me sometimes, like a... what’s the word? When your mind feels like it wanders off?”

  “A trance?” Scylla suggested.

  “Yeah. One of those. And when this trance hits, it’s like... It’s like something is calling out to me, and the voice is so distinct that it overtakes everything else.” He turned, slowly, and met Scylla’s eyes. Her expression betrayed nothing. “Am I going nuts?”

  She was silent for some time. She reached over, lazily brushing a finger over a blade on the nearby wall. “No, Coin, you aren’t going insane, or anything like that. Would that you were. It would make things so much... easier for everyone.” Her eyes suddenly met his, and the newfound intensity in her pupils made Coin’s posture stiffen. “There is something out there alright, something... massive and inhuman. And it’s getting closer.”