The Shadowbinder

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This is what I got smacked with yesterday. I'm going to try to set this aside and finish one of the things I have much closer to done than this, but since I did write this much, I'm posting it here. I'm also going to be starting a "idea diary" tag, which will probably be locked, so that when I get ideas I can keep them organized, yet easily accessible.

The letter arrived at dusk, just as the sun was slipping beneath the horizon, in the moment when Tessani's shadow was no longer stretching more than three times his height behind him. It arrived when he was no longer calling curls and wisps of his shadow self from the ground to paint themselves on his arms there to remain. His camp was not yet made, his dinner not yet eaten. He preferred to prepare himself, his magic, before settling down for the evening. After the first night he was attacked when he'd neglected to store his magic in his tattoos, he never went without this ritual. It had been a miracle he'd survived then; there was no telling if he could do it again.

As the last umbral curled fixed itself upon his dark brown skin, he heard a leathery flap of wing and looked up sharply. Down from the sky flew a nighthawk; its inky wings were visible now, but in two hours time, when the night had fallen deeply, it would be impossible for most to see. Tessani would still have seen it well, but only after the use of his magic. His right hand carefully drifted to his left hip where his sword was still strapped. Nighthawks were sometimes used as messengers, but it could just as easily have been another mage's familiar. Had Tessani had his own, it would be able to tell him. He cursed the Guild for expelling him before he'd attained one; the ritual to called a familiar to service was left unknown and he was not nearly as strong without one as his peers were with theirs.

Peers no longer, he thought bitterly as the nighthawk settled on a tree branch and eyed him. It looked from him to its leg and back and Tessani relaxed enough to stop reaching for his sword. He stepped forward untying the scrap of parchment tied to the bird's leg. Still Tessani was on his guard. Someone who elected to send a nighthawk suggested they knew him, his hours, or his abilities. It meant someone expected him to be most alert as the night drew close, or the person would have been set an ordinary hawk at dawn.

The nighthawk flew off immediately and Tessani watched it go, surprised it had not waited for a response. He unrolled the parchment and saw why.

Tessani Shadowbinder,

I know you are innocent of the crime that resulted in your expulsion. You were framed with the intent of your execution, not expulsion. If you want to know more, come to Erigos to the Drangonsblood Tavern. Be there two nights hence and I will find you.

It was unsigned, no clues left as to the sender. Tessani's nostrils flared. It had been obvious, to him and him alone it seemed, that he'd been framed for the crime which resulted in his expulsion from the Tenebrous Guild mere months before he was to summon a familiar. No one had believed him however, and his choice was to leave or be executed. He left without further word, thinking everyone against him. The Guild kept to itself however. None would know of his expulsion - nor of his membership - unless they too were a member.

Someone within knew he'd been framed. Someone had information he needed.

Tessani did not make camp. Instead, he started for Erigos.

I like this, but I have other things that need finishing :P