Daezin held herself back from running, but just barely. Aetran kept pace the whole way, not saying a single word. Daezin had a lot of questions but fear kept her mouth closed. Fear that Aetran didn't lie. Fear that she really had seen the future.

Daezin knew she neared the brothel because a crowd of people were gathered around. Half dressed clients and professionals hung about in windows and doorways, others huddled around the door. Whispered conversations floated by in the air. The words “murder” and “blood” floated by many times and a shudder rippled through her body.

Daezin pushed through the gawkers and one of the muscle employed by the business stopped her at the door.

“No one inside. The watch is investigating the crime scene.” His bald head glowed under a sheen of sweat in the light behind him.

“My brother is inside.”

“I’m real sorry, ma’am, but orders are orders.” He did seem genuinely sorry but he was still a wall. A large, bald, sorry wall between Daezin and her brother.

Aetran pressed coins into the man’s hand. “The lady really needs to see her brother. You understand?”

The man checked the hallway behind him and then the color and weight of the coins in his hand. He nodded. “Since it’s family. I suppose I could make an exception.”

He stepped aside long enough for Aetran and Daezin to get past and went back to his living wall duties.

Inside a few quiet working ladies and their clients sat on chairs in the two downstairs rooms. There were a lot fewer clients than she would have expected for this time of night. Daezin suspected that several found an urgent need to be elsewhere when the watch was called in.

Hefler wasn’t down here. Daezin went up the stairs. Knots tied up her stomach. She had hoped to find him down here. Healthy and fully dressed. Upstairs meant he could be half naked--or more--and decidedly unhealthy.

At the top of the stairs it was easy to figure out which way to go. Hefler stood outside a room three doors to the left.

“Hefler.” Daezin rushed over and embraced him.

He returned the hug. His was shaky and too tight but she wouldn’t complain. He was alive. “Sis. Sis, it’s Tansy.”

Daezin let go long enough to look at his face. “What do you mean ‘it’s Tansy’?”

“Tansy. She’s dead. I was the one who found her.” Hefler’s voice broke at the end.

“Tansy’s dead?” Daezin knew she repeated what Hefler said but she couldn’t seem to make an original thought of her own. There was a roaring sound in her head, like a waterfall is just around the corner. The sound took up all the space in her mind. Daezin let go of Hefler and stepped numbly over to the door. She raised her eyes from the floor and saw the room she’d seen before. The same twisted red sheets on the bed. The same white upholstered chair in the corner where clients threw their clothes. The same brass-framed mirror over the cherry wood dressing table.

Arranged on the floor as if she slept, hands clasped on her chest, lay Tansy. A thick red crescent bisected her throat. Her skin pale, her dressing robe neatly open down the front. On her chest, just above her hands, carved in her flesh was that angular spider again. A diamond and eight chevrons.

Daezin cursed. Words and insults gathered up over years of dealing with people from the lowest ranks of life became fodder for the curses.

One of the Watch officers in the room escorted her away from the door. “Miss, you can’t be in here.”

Daezin didn’t stop cursing until she stood back on the street, several blocks away from the brothel. Daezin turned around to where Hefler and Aetran were. They’d silently followed her the whole way. Not once did they interrupt the quiet litany of foul-mouthed curses.

“You knew. You knew that this would happen. Why didn’t you stop it?” Daezin really wanted to punch his chest again. She’d bruise him later and then eat sweets squirreled away for a bad day. If this didn’t count as a bad day, she didn’t know what would.

Aetran shook his head. “I didn’t know. Exactly. I just knew you’d get proof tonight about the visions.”

Hefler looked from the armed man to Daezin and asked, “Sis, who's this and what did he know?”

“This is Aetran and he knew that I saw what happened to Tansy.” Daezin's shoulders slumped. She walked again and explained about the visions, the dreams, and the crystal. She finished the story as they arrived at the Swaying Goose and she didn’t hesitate to invite Aetran up to their rooms. She had no secrets from him anyway and she definitely didn’t want to talk about this where someone could overhear.

Hefler sat next to her on the bed, quiet, his thinking face on. Aetran settled on a low stool by the fire and picked up the poker.

“The crystal. What is it and what does it do?” Daezin asked.

“It focuses your visions. Those dreams you had were unfocused visions of the future. You could say that they were floating out there and your sleeping mind snagged them from the air, like a fisherman’s net.” Aetran added some wood and managed to get the flames going again.

“Can it stop the visions?” I hugged my knees to my chest and leaned against Hefler.

“No.” He said quickly. Too quickly maybe? "Nothing can stop the visions. You need to use them, to help people.”

Daezin snorted. “I can barely help myself. I can’t help anyone else.”

“It’s true.” Hefler said. She glared at him and he shrugged. “What? It’s true.”

Aetran leaned forward, forearms braced on his thighs. “The seers taught me some techniques to help you control the visions. You could have more control over when they come and what you see. With practice and time.”

“You are going through a lot of trouble to help someone you barely knew a long time ago. And I don’t believe people help other people from the goodness of their hearts. What’s in this for you?” Daezin studied Aetran. What game was he running? What did he think this would get him?

He turned back to the fire and fiddled with the poker. “The seers did something for me a while back and I’m returning the favor.”

“What did they do?”

“It’s not important.” He swung his gaze back to Daezin. “I want to know what you know about Tansy’s murder. If you saw her murderer, we can catch him. Make sure he never does something like this again.”

Daezin stood and put her hands on her hips. “No. No murderers. No helping people.” Daezin couldn’t stop the sneer that came with those words. “You can go now.” She pointed to the door.

Aetran stood and strode closer until his chest brushed hers and his nose was less than a finger's length from Daezin's. “You will regret that decision. Mark my words.” He turned on his heel and marched to the door. He turned just before opening it and gave one last parting shot. “Hefler, watch your back.” The door closed behind him with a loud click.

Daezin looked at Hefler sitting on the bed, eyes wide. “He was bluffing. The visions are merely a trick of my mind. Interpreting clues that no one else sees. He’s somehow doing this. It’s some sort of long con. I don’t know how he is doing it but he is. I just wish I knew what he wanted.” She patted Hefler’s knee. “You’re going to be fine. If you weren’t, I’d know right? I mean I wouldn’t know know. But I’d know if you were in danger.”

“Daezin. You’re babbling.” Hefler stood and put his arms around her.

“I know. You’re right. It just seems like a good time to do it. The visions can’t be real. It’s a trick. I don’t know how it’s done but somehow Aetran has to be involved. They started right after he showed up. Those men, Lord, Vigosh, and the Allandai shaman, they were a part of the set up. They were there to sell it.”

“Sis.” He gave her a soft shake until Daezin focused on his face. His dear, hazel-eyed, dimple-chinned face. “Why would he do this to you of all people? Why go through all this trouble?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe it is some sort of sick revenge for escaping the village before the Charkneth invasion. He had a wife and probably a brat or two as well when it happened. For that matter, I don’t know how he survived it. Maybe he became a traitor.” Daezin patted Hefler’s chest. “We can figure out the reason later. For now, we need to figure out how he is giving me these visions and how to stop them.”

“For now, I think you need some sleep. We’ll figure out what we are going to do in the morning. We’ve both had a shock and you, at least, have been busy offending our clients all day. I think sleep is in order. We’ll sit down and formulate a plan over breakfast.”

“I am tired.” Daezin nodded. “We’ll do this your way. But first,” She reached inside her shirt and pulled the crystal over her head. “Can you take this? The bastard gave this to me, to manipulate me or something. I don’t want to wear it anymore.”

“Are you sure?” Hefler cupped my hand with the crystal in it in his.

“Yes. You keep it and I’ll prove that this is all some sort of trick.” Daezin hugged Hefler again and left the crystal in his hand. “Good night.”

Daezin settled into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. She stared at the dark ceiling and fear writhed its way into her belly. It came in quiet and slow, and grew. Soon it was a heavy mass of worms. Daezin flopped to her side and watched the coals in the fireplace grow dimmer.

To distract herself, Daezin used an old trick from her childhood that helped get rid of the nightmares. Brick by brick, She built an image in her mind of a dream she wanted.

A dirt path ran between two hills and ended in a sheltered valley. Cupped in its bowl was a cozy cottage with whitewashed walls and neatly thatched roof. Flowers grew all around the front of the house. Behind it was a sturdy barn and yard where Hefler worked with the horses. Out further was a small pond with cattails growing along the shores. A man, his back to her, tossed yesterday’s leftover bread at a flock of ducks. Finished, he started to turn and...

...Aetran wielded a sword against a giant lizard with ropes of saliva dangling from its wide maw. The lizard swiped Aetran with one black clawed hand and Aetran went flying...

...A large man, stomach oozing onto his lap, sat in a throne at a table with a large map spread across it. He laughed and pointed at a spot on the map. Underneath one well-manicured nail was the word, Corethe. Behind his chair stood an Allandai shaman...

...Flame flickered across an image carved in shiny black stone. The angular spider crawled up the plinth and grew to encompass the entire view...

“No!” Daezin shot out of bed. Her feet hit the cold floor. “Damn it. Not again.” A few more curses escaped her lips before she got herself and her breathing under control. “I can do this. The dreams were on my mind. That’s all. Naturally, I’d dream about them.”

Daezin stared at the bed for a long moment. Unable to make herself get back in, Daezin stirred up the fire again. She got the blankets from the bed and plopped down in front of the fire and wrapped herself inside.

When daylight came, she still sat there, staring into the fire and making plans for how she’d earn extra money. At least until these dreams, visions, delusions, went away.