The man slowly shook his head.“This is my time to speak,” he said. “Ask your questions when I am done, for I need your ears listening and your mind open. I do not know who prepared your betrayal, but I am sure they are one of the dead at my feet. They are ash now, a fitting end given the name of your guild. Think now on what you see. I handled what seven men of yours could not. Where they died, betrayed, I came and killed the betrayers. I am alone, woman. Now ask yourself, what use might I be to you? Surely I am worth the seven that died.”
“He’s lying,” said Pryor. “He killed them all! Greg, Brendan…he killed them!”
The man shook his head, and his shoulders sagged further.
“Don’t make a fool of yourself. Fools die around me, as is fitting.”
Veliana cried out for her Pryor to stop, but it was too late. He flung a dagger at the stranger, who avoided the hasty throw by a simple tilt of his head. His retaliation came swift, his dagger piercing a lung as it embedded into the thief’s chest. The rest of the Ash Guild prepared to attack, but Veliana snapped at them to remain back.
“Who are you?” she asked. “What is your name?”
For a moment his look shifted, and she saw an incredible sadness lurking behind those eyes. He lifted the gray cloth and let it unfurl from his hand, revealing the eyeholes.
“My real name is lost,” he said. “For it was banished from me by a power I cannot challenge. I have only the name they left me. I am Death, and this is my mask.”
And then he smiled, and she found that just maybe she could find him attractive.
“You’ll start as the lowest rank,” she told him. “You’ll receive no special treatment, no favors. That acceptable?”
He nodded. A quick word from her, and the Ash members hurried forward to grab the crate. ‘Death’ stepped aside, and he watched with disinterest. Veliana chewed her lip as she thought of what exactly she would tell Garrick Lowe, their new guildmaster. He wouldn’t be too thrilled with the loss of men, but at least they still had their merchandise. As for this Death and his mask…