The Broken Halo

Simon took another careful look at the two demonesses standing outside his rented private combat chamber.

The shorter one held her tray with both hands. Her posture remained respectful, but her dull-violet eyes contained enough restrained hostility to make the disguise of a harmless attendant almost amusing.

The taller demoness looked far more comfortable. A light smile rested on her borrowed face, and the tray in her hand seemed like nothing more than a prop she had already grown bored of carrying.

”Do you intend to keep two ladies standing outside all night?” she asked.

Her voice was relaxed and faintly playful.

Simon stepped aside.

”Not at all. Come in.”

Both demonesses entered.

Simon did not close the door immediately. His Shadow Sense spread along the corridor, through the neighbouring chambers, and across the stairway leading to nearly every section of Red Sand Hall.

He sensed no third presence waiting nearby or scouting his chamber. Or at least no spying presence was careless enough for him to find.

Simon shut the door and activated the chamber’s privacy formation. Pale lines brightened around the frame before fading into the reinforced wall.

The demonesses placed their trays on the low table.

Simon looked from one to the other.

”You are the Voice,” he said, settling his gaze on the shorter demoness. Then he turned toward the taller one. ”Which makes you the Second Claw.”

The taller demoness raised one brow.

”And how did you come to that conclusion?”

”It was not particularly difficult.”

Simon gestured toward the Voice.

”She has been glaring at me since I opened the door. Her posture says she is standing before someone she respects, but the killing intent she keeps hiding is directed entirely at me.”

The Voice’s fingers tightened slightly beside her body.

Simon then looked at the taller demoness.

”You, meanwhile, are enjoying the fact that she wants to kill me. Only one of you could be her superior.”

A soft laugh escaped the Second Claw.

”You should not worry. The Voice likes you.”

Simon’s eyes flickered with a strange and baffled light.

”She likes me? I find that hard to believe.”

The Second Claw’s smile widened when she noticed the tiny reaction.

”She rarely shows this much emotion to anyone except me. Anger, irritation, frustration... those are all forms of attention. Deep within her heart, I believe she may even have a little crush on you.”

”Master!”

The Voice could no longer take it and she shouted at the Second Claw with wide eyes and an embarassed expression on her face.

The Second Claw glanced at her.

”What? I am helping both of you understand your feelings.”

The Voice glared at her.

”I understand mine perfectly.”

”And they are?”

”A desire to see whether he can keep on running off his mouth after it leaves his shoulders.”

Simon recovered from his brief surprise and nodded thoughtfully.

”Yeah. I can see that she definitely likes me,” he said with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

The Second Claw chuckled, while the Voice’s glare became colder.

Simon allowed the amusement to pass before looking at both of their faces again.

”Neither of you intends to show me what you actually look like?”

The Voice replied first.

”You are also wearing another demon’s face.”

Simon nodded without hiding it.

”That is true.”

The Second Claw slowly walked around the low table. Her narrow amber eyes moved over Simon’s short grey hair, two horns, and unremarkable features.

”Then remove it.”

Simon tilted his head slightly.

”Why?”

”Hmm. I don’t know... Maybe because anybody would want to see the real face of the person they’ve been talking to all this while?”

There was no reaction from Simon, then the Second Claw smiled.

”And maybe because I would rather speak to Blackmoon than the face of this stranger you found who knows where.”

The name, Blackmoon, entered the room gently.

The effect it should have created never appeared.

Simon did not stiffen. His breathing remained steady, and no surprise entered his eyes.

He merely watched her.

”Why do you believe I am Blackmoon?”

The Second Claw stopped beside one of the chairs but did not sit.

”Believe?” she repeated with faint amusement. ”That word gives you more uncertainty than you currently deserve.”

The Voice remained silent, allowing her superior to continue.

”The first clue appeared long before the convoy. A report from the Eastern Warden’s ruined cell connected the Outsider to the Kragh who destroyed it.”

Simon’s expression did not change.

”We treated the connection cautiously,” the Second Claw said. ”Blackmoon was supposedly observed during some of the Outsider’s movements, and a Minor Archfiend should not have possessed enough strength to kill the Fifth Needle.”

Her smile became thinner.

”Then Blackmoon returned from the dead as a Supreme Archfiend and claimed an artifact had concealed his true rank.”

Simon’s eyes flickered and he was quite surprised by how quickly information travelled through the Eastern Faction.

One of their pieces had access to Black Horn’s investigation- or to someone who did.

’Or they have access to the guards... Guard Commander Tarvak.’ Simon thought.

The Second Claw lifted one finger.

”Then came the convoy.”

Her tone remained lazy, but each word had been arranged carefully.

”Blackmoon was swallowed with our carrier and the road’s bones. The carrier died. The Outsider disappeared during the same period, then returned with all three cases and knowledge of Korran’s hidden tracking method.”

She lifted a second finger.

”Shortly afterward, Blackmoon walked back into Velmora alive.”

The Voice’s dull-violet eyes never left Simon.

”The timing alone is definitely very off and anybody in the Voice’s position or mine would invesitgate,” the Second Claw said. ”But it is not the most interesting part.”

Simon tilted his head slightly.

”What is?”

The Second Claw’s smile returned.

”Before coming here, we made certain Blackmoon was accounted for.”

Silence entered the chamber.

”He is currently inside Pipeline Inn,” she continued. ”He has remained in his room for hours. Sometimes he cultivates. Sometimes he rests. Once, he left the bed to eat.”

Simon said nothing.

”The demon there has Blackmoon’s face, appearance, and even aura,” the Second Claw added. ”Our observer has not seen him leave the inn.”

She gestured toward Simon’s disguised body.

”Yet the Outsider is standing here.”

The Voice finally spoke, and her tone was cold.

”You demanded that we come without observers. You never said we could not watch Blackmoon before the meeting.”

The Second Claw rested one hand against the back of the chair.

”So now I am curious.”

Her golden eyes were hidden behind an amber disguise, but Simon could still feel the sharp intelligence within them.

”Is the Blackmoon inside Pipeline Inn a clone while the real one stands before us?”

She slowly listed the possibilities.

”Is he another demon wearing your face? Are you the clone, while Blackmoon remains safely inside the inn? Or did you create two appearances so convincing that even our senses cannot distinguish the original?”

The Second Claw’s lips curved into a soft, delighted smile.

”Which is it?”