Suduk Za-Ziqni leans forward in his chair, morning light reflecting off his bald head in a way that makes me wonder if he has his servants polish it. His eyes scan over the pages of Jhekata’s Compendium, carefully examining the archaic script and the illustrations. I can’t tell if he recognizes anything, though he looks sincerely curious about what we’re showing him.

“So you say it is somewhere here in Aleria?” he asks, without taking his eyes off the page.

Arcadia nods, as she rubs the corner of her eye with her knuckle, taking a moment to stretch out on one of the two comfy chairs we’re sitting on, facing his desk. We woke up and came straight back to the Za-Ziqni residence this morning, mainly because we realized we aren’t likely to find many other helpful Alerians, given what’s going on in this city.

Suduk’s study has a polished marble floor, much like his dining room downstairs, and the walls are lined with bookshelves. There are odd little tools and devices everywhere, some I recognize, most I don’t. It makes me wonder if mister Za-Ziqni is into the study of magic himself.

“Yes,” says Arcadia. “It’s in the city somewhere, but all we have to help us in our search are these notes and diagrams.”

“Most unfortunate. What was its original purpose?”

“It was a place where a person could…” Arcadia frowns for a moment, pondering her phrasing. “Become awakened to magic. I guess you could call it a kind of baptism.”

“Baptism, you say. Perhaps it was reclaimed by a different religion. Spiritual folk have a penchant for plundering ancient symbols and re-using them.”

Arcadia smiles wryly. “True. If we’re lucky, the building is still in use by someone else.”

“Aleria is home to many religions,” says Suduk. “Both native-born and foreign. You could begin your search by visiting whatever churches or temples will permit you.”

“I guess that narrows it down a bit.”

Suduk Za-Ziqni nods, a thoughtful look on his face as he returns his attention to the book. He slowly turns the page, revealing a large, intricate drawing of the sun and moons. They’re stylized, drawn over a triquetra with the sun on top and the moons beneath it, the three points making a triangle with interlaced arcs between them.

“Ah, that’s likely to be engraved on a wall or a door,” says Arcadia, when she sees it. “The place was originally called The House of the Sun and Moons.”

Suduk doesn’t seem to hear her. He stares at the image, his eyebrows raised, something like alarm in his expression.

“I know this sign,” he says.

“Oh?”

It takes him a moment to answer. He looks up at Arcadia, an apologetic smile on his face. “I do not think you are going to like it.”

Arcadia blinks, gives him a quizzical look. “Why?”

Suduk makes a thoughtful face, then he opens a drawer of his desk and fetches a piece of blank parchment. Then he moves aside Jhekata’s Compendium, placing the parchment in front of him and reaching over to take up his quill pen. He begins to draw, hunched over his desk, glancing occasionally at the still-open Compendium for reference.

When he’s finished, he flips his drawing around and pushes it toward us. Arcadia leans in to have a closer look, as do I, and we see that he’s made a few additions to the original symbol. Fiery coronas have been added to the sun and moons, as have a trio of leering, demonic faces.

“What’s this?” asks Arcadia.

“It is the sign of the Three Devils Gang,” says Suduk.

I smirk. “Sounds like a fun bunch.”

He smirks back at me, and nods. “Indeed. They are one of the oldest gangs in the city, and their leader is reputed to possess supernatural powers.”

Arcadia’s eyebrows rise. “Like what?”

“Uncertain,” says Suduk. “I am not an expert in such things, but I have heard people say he can read minds. Others say he can disappear and reappear somewhere else.”

His description appears to confuse her, as if she were expecting the bit about supernatural powers, but not those specific ones.

“Do you know anything else about this man?” I ask.

Suduk takes a moment to consider my question, before leaning back in his chair and looking at me. “The leader of the Three Devils Gang is called Zasalamel, as he has ever been called. But since their presence here dates back so far in Aleria’s history, it is presumed that Zasalamel is but a title, passed down from the boss to his successor.”

“And where do they stand in this political mess?”

He chuckles, and shrugs his shoulders. “I do not presume to know such things, but if I had to offer a guess, I would say they stand with the merchants. Ecea, after all, has been very bad for business.”

Arcadia gazes out the window while Suduk and I speak, quite plainly lost in thought. She waits until we’re done, before returning her attention to us.

“If the leader of the gang is the one with these magic powers, and they’re passed down from generation to generation, there’s a good chance they know where the House of the Sun and Moons is located. It sounds to me like they’re using it.”

She looks at me. “Want to talk to a bunch of gangsters today?”

I grin back at her. “I feel under-dressed.”

* * * *

So we return to The Dove and I dress for a party.

I don the golden manicae I wore back in our Ecean days, along with the shin guards, and the chain mail shirt I picked up in Kellheim. A long dagger slips into a wrist sheath on my left arm. Sheathed at my belt is a First Legion gladius, looted when we tangled with Metellus Albinus. And strapped to my back, Valgrim. I can’t wait to swing her again. I hope these thugs give me a reason. I have a feeling they will.

As I stride out onto the deck of the ship, armed to the teeth and with no shortage of swagger in my step, I catch Arcadia eyeing me meekly. When she notices me noticing, she bites her lip, blushes, and looks away.

Oh yes. Let’s do this.