Chapter 3: Whispers of the Serpent
Dain took a slow breath, steadying himself. The woman's words lingered in the air, thick with warning. The night was already a mess, and now he was standing in a dark alley, speaking with a stranger who claimed to know more than she should. He wasn't sure if that made her useful or dangerous.
"Start talking," he said, keeping his stance loose but ready. "Who are you, and how do you know about Aldric?"
The woman glanced down the alley, as if expecting someone to be watching. When she spoke, her voice was low, deliberate. "My name is Selene. Aldric was my contact, same as he was yours."
Dain frowned. "That so?"
She nodded. "We were supposed to meet tonight. He was going to hand over something important—something people are willing to kill for."
Dain didn't like where this was going. "And what exactly was he supposed to give you?"
Selene hesitated, her gaze flicking to the darkened street behind him. Then she pulled something from her belt—a small, folded parchment, sealed with a wax emblem. It was the same insignia Dain had seen on the cloaks of the men who had attacked him.
"The Serpent's Coil," she murmured.
Dain exhaled sharply. "That supposed to mean something to me?"
"It should." Selene's fingers tightened around the parchment. "They operate in the shadows. Assassins, spies, manipulators. They control things from behind the scenes, moving pieces across the board while no one realizes there's a game being played."
Dain wasn't easily rattled, but this was different. He had dealt with criminals, warlords, corrupt nobles—but a secret organization that no one even whispered about? That was a different beast entirely.
"And Aldric?" he asked. "How was he mixed up in this?"
"He was working against them," Selene said. "Or at least, trying to. He had information—documents, letters, names. But now he's dead, and that information is missing."
Dain cursed under his breath. "And you think I have it."
She gave him a knowing look. "Do you?"
Dain thought back to the scrap of parchment he had pulled from Aldric's hand. They know. Do not trust the— Whoever Aldric had been trying to warn, he hadn't finished writing the message.
He reached into his tunic and pulled out the note, holding it up for Selene to see. Her eyes darkened as she read it.
"This was meant for me," she murmured. "Aldric knew they were onto him."
Dain tucked the note away. "So what now?"
Selene hesitated, then said, "We find out who killed him. We get the information back. And we finish what Aldric started."
Dain let out a short laugh. "That's a big 'we' for someone I just met."
She met his gaze evenly. "You were there when he died. That makes you a target, whether you want to be or not."
Dain sighed. She wasn't wrong. He could walk away, leave Black Hollow behind—but something told him this wouldn't end just because he turned his back. The Serpent's Coil knew his face now, and that meant there was no going back to the way things were.
"Fine," he said. "But if this goes sideways, I'm not dying for your cause."
Selene smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it."
They moved quickly through the backstreets, avoiding patrols and prying eyes. Black Hollow wasn't a city where people asked too many questions, but that didn't mean danger wasn't lurking around every corner. If the Serpent's Coil had men watching, they needed to move carefully.
Selene led him to a small safehouse, tucked between a smithy and an abandoned warehouse. Inside, the air was thick with the scent of old parchment and burning oil. Maps and documents were scattered across a wooden table, illuminated by a single flickering lantern.
"This is where Aldric and I planned our next steps," she said, moving to the table. "If he had anything important, it would be here."
Dain scanned the room. It was small but secure—no windows, one entrance. He stepped closer, eyeing the maps. Some were of Black Hollow, others of places he didn't recognize. Markings dotted the pages, notes scribbled in the margins.
"This doesn't look like the work of a nobleman," he muttered.
Selene gave him a sidelong glance. "Aldric wasn't just a noble. He was a spymaster."
Dain stiffened. That changed things. Nobles were predictable—greedy, power-hungry, easy to understand. But spymasters? They played a different kind of game, one where the rules changed without warning.
"What exactly was he after?" Dain asked.
Selene picked up a letter, scanning its contents. "A conspiracy. One that goes deeper than either of us realize."
Dain folded his arms. "And now it's our problem."
She nodded. "Unless you'd rather walk away."
He considered it—truly, he did. But something about this didn't sit right. The Serpent's Coil, the murder, the missing documents. There were too many loose threads, and Dain hated loose threads.
"I'm in," he said at last. "But we do this my way."
Selene arched an eyebrow. "And what way is that?"
Dain smirked. "The way that keeps us alive."
The search through Aldric's papers yielded little at first—coded messages, financial records, correspondence that hinted at something bigger but never outright stated it. But then, Selene found something.
A map. Not of Black Hollow, but of an old ruin outside the city walls.
Dain studied the markings. "You think this is where Aldric hid the documents?"
Selene tapped a symbol etched onto the corner of the parchment—a coiled serpent. "I think it's where we'll find our next lead."
Dain exhaled. A secret organization, a spymaster's final mission, and now a forgotten ruin that could hold the answers.
This job was getting worse by the second.
"Guess we're going on a little trip," he muttered.
Selene rolled up the map. "I hope you're good with ancient places."
Dain gave her a dry look. "I'm good at staying alive. That should be enough."
She smiled. "We'll see."
As they left the safehouse, slipping back into the night, a pair of unseen eyes watched from the shadows.
A man in a dark cloak stepped back into the alley, reaching for the dagger at his hip. He didn't need to follow them. He already knew where they were going.
Black Hollow belonged to the Serpent's Coil.
And no one left its grasp alive.