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Vahn gave me no chance to back out. I felt his firm hand on my shoulder as he stepped forward, and I reluctantly let myself

be escorted into the chamber. Down the steps, and before what had to be the infamous Circle, who stared at me with flat, hollow

eyes behind their masks of bone. My heart pounded, and I dropped my gaze, staring at the altar. Almost immediately, I wished

I hadn’t. Suspicious brown stains covered the flat surface, and though it was hard to tell exactly what they were in the flickering

torchlight, the implications made my skin crawl.

“Guildmember Sparrow.”

I swallowed hard, raising my head to meet the cold gaze of the figure who had spoken. The eyes behind the skull mask were

human, but the ruthless contempt they held made me bristle and cringe at the same time. I wasn’t a person to this figure,

I was an asset. “Long have we waited for this moment,” it rasped. “Long have we searched for the one who steps outside the

Weave. Now you are here. Now it is time to truly prove your worth.”

Steps outside the Weave? What did that mean? Did it have anything to do with stealing the Tapestry of the World? And if that had just been a test,

what supposedly impossible task did they have in store for me now?

“Guildmember Sparrow,” another voice broke in, female, though no less eerie.

“The Circle has called you here to give you a momentously important task. You have proved your talent by retrieving the Tapestry of the World from the Temple of Fate. Now it is time to undergo the mission you were born for.”

“And what is that?” I asked in a quiet voice. I was no longer intrigued. I no longer wanted to impress the Circle. I just

wanted to leave this chilling place as soon as possible.

“Are you aware of the city that lies beneath Kovass?” the first voice whispered.

I nodded. Kovass had its sewer system, and below the sewers lay the vast, sunken ocean. But there were even darker secrets

lurking below everyone’s feet, unknown and unexplored. According to Vahn, there had been a city before Kovass. A sprawling

metropolis that towered into the sky and made Kovass look like a poor hamlet compared to its glory. It was gone now, of course.

The same cataclysm that had drained the sea had also swallowed the mighty city, burying it beneath the sands. Kovass had been

built on the bones of an ancient metropolis, and everyone had conveniently forgotten that below their feet, an entire dead

civilization slumbered in the darkness.

“The First Kingdom,” the voice went on as if I hadn’t replied. “The time of the Deathless Kings. And it’s most glorious city,

the most beautiful in the world, now lies destroyed and forgotten beneath the sands.”

“But not by all,” whispered the female voice. “We remember. We hold the memories of the First Kingdom close. We have made it our mission to never let its glory fade into nothingness. But now we need your help, Guildmember Sparrow.”

The Deathless Kings again. I snuck a furtive glance at Vahn and saw him staring straight ahead, his eyes hard and his face giving nothing away. I wished

he’d given me a bit more instruction on what to do when meeting the most powerful, dangerous members of the guild. I didn’t

know if I should speak up or just continue waiting in silence. Fortunately, the members of the Circle did not seem to expect

me to answer, and after a heartbeat, the male voice spoke again.

“There is a vault,” the Circle member rasped, “that lies deep within the sunken city. Within the vault is a small stone, no

bigger than your finger, marked with runes.”

I swallowed. This seemed like a dangerous mission to undertake for a single item the size of my finger. I suspected curiosity

was not encouraged here, but I summoned the courage to ask, “And what is this stone?”

The Circle stared at me. I could feel the disapproval in their flat, unamused gazes. Clearly, I was not supposed to ask questions.

But if Vahn didn’t want me to talk, he should’ve said something earlier. Finally, one of the skulls replied in a stiff voice,

“It is a memory stone. It holds the final recollections of the Deathless King who ruled the city. If we can retrieve it, we

will understand more about the First Kingdom and the people who lived there.”

Suspicion and doubt flickered within. The Circle ran the Thieves Guild, the largest institution of organized crime in Kovass.

They weren’t scholars or academics or historians.

They weren’t interested in preserving the past; they were concerned with things like power, profit, and personal wealth.

Unless they were going to sell this memory stone for a ridiculously high price, I couldn’t understand why they would be so eager to get it.

I wasn’t going to ask them to elaborate. That would certainly be pushing any amount of luck I had. I figured I could get away

with one more question before the Circle decided I wasn’t worth the hassle and left my broken body down here for the roaches.

There was a shifting of cloth, and one of the figures drew a rolled-up parchment from beneath its robes. An emerald ring glimmered

briefly on the third finger before the hand set the parchment down and vanished back into the folds of cloth.

“This is a map of the undercity,” the skull told me. “You will need this map to find your way through the sewers to your target,

and then through the city to the vault itself. Beware,” the voice added as I reached for the scroll. “This will not be a simple

stroll through an empty kingdom. The Deathless Kings built their cities on ancient magic and protected their riches with traps

and powerful curses. I would advise caution at all times. The city swallows any who are not supposed to be there.”

Oh, this just sounds better and better. Now I have to be on the lookout for traps and ancient curses as well?

“Succeed, and your reward will be great,” droned the female skull. “Fail, and your reward will be death. Return with the stone

as soon as you are able. Do not disappoint us, Guildmember Sparrow. Yours is not the only life at stake.” The eyes behind

the mask flickered, very briefly, to Vahn, standing quietly at the edge of the dais. My blood chilled, but the figure’s robed

arm lifted in a dismissive gesture. “Now go,” she rasped. “And let us hope you fare better than your predecessors.”

I gave a small bow and turned away, searching for Vahn. He was already striding out of the room without a backward glance. I hurried to catch up, feeling the gazes of the Circle on my back the entire way.

I waited until we had crossed the walkway over the ancient cistern and were firmly back in the sewers before I quickened my

pace to catch up to Vahn. He strode resolutely down the tunnels without looking at me, as if determined to pretend I didn’t

exist.

“Vahn—”

“Don’t,” he said shortly, still not looking at me. “Your mission with the Circle is strictly between you and them. I’m not

allowed to tell you anything about it, or the Circle members, so don’t ask.”

“I know,” I said. “I wasn’t going to. Just...” I remembered the look on his face when I’d presented him with the tapestry,

the words that had haunted me ever since. You have no idea what you have set into motion. Soon, everything you know—your entire world—is going to change.

And then, the final words of the female Circle member: Let us hope you fare better than your predecessors.

“There have been others before me,” I said, and watched the faintest grimace cross Vahn’s face. It had been mostly a guess,

but that tiny flinch confirmed my suspicions. “Others have tried what I’m about to attempt, haven’t they? And I’m guessing

none of them came back.”

Vahn didn’t answer. “And you knew,” I accused him, almost jogging to keep pace now. “You knew what the Circle was going to ask. Maybe not the details, but you knew they were going to send me to a place no one has come back from. So what makes you think I’ll be able to—”

“Sparrow.” Vahn whirled around abruptly and took me by the shoulders. I flinched as his rough grip squeezed my skin. His expression

was conflicted and angry... almost haunted.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t want this for you. When I took you from that hovel, I wanted only to save you from a life

of misery. I never imagined that you would be the one to—” He broke off, his jaw tightening, then sighed. “You will succeed,

Sparrow,” he told me, as if willing the words to be true. “You must succeed. Even if everyone before you has failed, you will be the first to open the vault and retrieve whatever lies within.

I’ve seen you work. I’ve watched you from the moment you took on your first job. You have something no other thief has.”

Unable to meet his intense stare, I dropped my gaze. “Luck,” I muttered, managing to dredge up a smirk.

“There is no such thing as luck,” Vahn said. “Even if there was, what do I keep telling you? Don’t rely on luck—it’s more

fickle than the sands. No, you have something more—something unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s almost as if...” He paused,

deliberately stopping himself.

I frowned. “As if what?” I asked softly.

“It doesn’t matter.” Abruptly, he straightened and turned around, slamming the door on the conversation.

“You have your mission,” he said as we started walking again.

“Be sure you have everything you need to complete it. I’ll come for you tomorrow, after Demon Hour.

Take whatever resources you require from the guild—you have access to anything you think you’ll need. ”

“Really?” Despite my disappointment and repressed fear of the upcoming mission, I grinned. “So those crates of explosives

Amal and Neem stole from the quarry warehouse...”

I didn’t expect him to answer, but when he did, it did not assuage my fears. “Whatever you want,” Vahn said softly, “as long

as you come back with the stone.”