The room was full of shadows. Sunlight streamed through the solitary octagonal window, but this light had no power over the darkness. The shadows pooled in the corners of the room, and inky tendrils drifted across the room, obscuring the intricate sigils carved into the floor.

A woman stood by the window, and the shadows clung to her feet like petulant hounds. Though the room was quite warm, the woman kept her long cloak wrapped closely around her body, and her face was hidden by a deep hood. Silently, she stood by the window and stared at the world below, at the district of High Walls almost three thousand feet beneath her. The wind was a constant presence, whistling and howling through the open window. But no matter how powerful these gusts became, they had no effect on the misty shadows that clung to the corners of the chamber or the deep hood that hid the lady’s face.

“Report,” she said. Her voice was a velvet purr—smooth and quiet, yet resonating throughout the chamber.

The man hesitated, surprised. He had just entered the room, and the lady’s back was turned. He had a gift for moving quietly, and with the sound of the wind whistling through the chamber, it seemed impossible for her to have heard his approach.

She turned around, her eyes gleaming in the depths of her hood. “Captain?” she said with a smile.

Captain Grazen inclined his head respectfully. “The workshop has been destroyed, and the mindflayer is dead. The damage was extensive, and we couldn’t find anything of value.”

“I doubt Chyrassk is dead, Grazen,” she said. She lowered a hand toward the floor, and a tendril of mist reached up to embrace it. “It is difficult to kill a child of Xoriat, and Daine lacks the knowledge such a task would require. But its power is broken for the moment. With its tools destroyed and its chief agent slain, I imagine that it will be some time before Chyrassk shows itself again.”

“You aren’t concerned?” Grazen was visibly relieved.

“Not at all. Chyrassk served its purpose—as have my friends in the House of Cannith. The only issue is Flamewind and whether they will make sense of her riddles before it is too late.”

“Why haven’t you eliminated the sphinx, if she poses a threat?”

Green eyes gleamed in the shadows, and for a moment Grazen thought he had overstepped his bounds. But the lady answered. “Until I know what power Flamewind serves, direct action is unwise. But I am not concerned. Everything goes according to my plans. Lei has been driven from her house. Jode is dead. Pierce is beginning to awaken to his true potential. And Daine …” The dark mist swirled around her feet as she smiled. “The game has been in motion for longer than you can imagine, Grazen. Now the endgame begins. Keep an eye on Daine and his companions. Soon it will be time to put them into play.”

She dismissed him with a gesture, and Grazen left the room, running from the shadows and searching for the light.