City
Catt Zago climbed up on the roof of a shack next to the Caravan Depot and surveyed her new surroundings.It was a beautiful morni ...

Signposts
A cobble-paved road led towards the heart of the city from the Caravan Depot. It was lined with signs welcoming visitors."Welcom ...

Blessings
High Priest Lemmy struck the lead barbarian in the face with the Flail of Destiny. He then struck each of the other two barbaria ...

Festival
Catt tucked the book into her pack. She had come here simply because the flier advertising the Polypantheonic Temple seemed like ...

Segna
Catt surveyed the table to see if there was anything she wanted more of. She felt pretty full already.Catt watched some musician ...

Coronation
Segna rose. She felt as if this was a dream. She began walking around the table towards the coronation dancers.The crowd was che ...

Remains
As the winner of the Royal Lots approached the coronation cloth, Senior Executioner Crocken tapped his partner on the shoulder." ...

Reaper
The Reaper sat motionless in a wooden chair in the armory of the guild-hall. The walls were covered with row upon row of axes. A ...

Summons
Five days had passed since the Regicide Feast. Lemmy had been very busy. Most religions had their own calendars that started at ...

Sandwiches
Catt Zago was having a very bad time. She remembered getting very drunk at the festival, and arguing angrily with various people ...

Release
The next executioner to peer through the bars at her was empty-handed.Catt tensed and she reached slowly and smoothly for the py ...

Judge
"Speak politely to the Judge, and you'll be just fine, miss," advised the huge executioner as Catt was led up a flight of stairs ...

Intuition
Exiting the courthouse, Catt found herself again in the square. There were the rows of trees, there was the raised terrace, ther ...

River
An hour later, Catt was an acolyte. She didn't feel any different, and she wasn't dressed any different, but she was carrying a ...

Districts
Later, after they had parted ways with the grateful parents and returned to the Polypantheonic Temple, Catt asked Lemmy, "How mu ...

Advisors
As a professor, Segna Ur-Segna knew that very little in the way of academics would get done in the first week of a new semester. ...

Alone
That afternoon, after an interminable luncheon with representatives of the Farmer's Guild and the Quarrymaster's Guild, each of ...

Bucket
Catt carried the empty bucket down the stairs, four flights. On the ground floor, Catt saw that the Landlady's door was open. Li ...

Measure
Senior Executioner Crocken walked briskly along Sausage Row in the pre-dawn light.Sausage Row was the major street that cut in a ...

Not Food
Catt stared at the Executioner who was crouching on his hands and knees at the side of the street. He was doing something intere ...

Offering
Catt's blood was still pounding in her ears from the altercation. She had reached the sign marking the kitchen complex of the Ou ...

Rain
Catt lay sprawled on a wooden pew in the Polypantheonic Temple. She was resting after a busy day of blessings, religious sing-al ...

Spectacle
As the most important honorary guest to the Rain Festival, King Segna Ur-Segna was the last to be seated. She entered the Grand ...

Glance
Catt and Lemmy had sat in a corner of the Great Sanctuary, among the other invited guests from the smaller temples of the city. ...

Tea
Catt knocked loudly on her Landlady's half-open door. She couldn't see the old woman through the gap, but the knock elicited a r ...

Trunks
Catt peered into the closet. It contained three big wooden trunks, stacked one on top of the other. They took up almost the whol ...

Invitation
"I was invited," said Catt.The butler stared at her."By the King," Catt clarified. Her voice echoed off the polished marble wall ...

Badge
The back of the palace nestled right up to the craggy foothills of the mountains. Zig-zagging staircases were cut into the stone ...

Basket
Catt turned randomly down side streets, unsure if she was being pursued. After a few minutes, she spotted a shop on a corner wit ...

Guest
The dining hall of King Segna's palace was spacious, but it only contained one table.Functionally it was just one table, but it ...

Dinner Magic
Catt Zago ate dinner with the King. It seemed surreal, but it was happening.After the momentary squabble with the Visor, the adv ...

Dessert
Catt followed Segna up a spiral of green marble stairs. She was carrying two small dessert plates laden with large slices of hon ...

Consort
Catt woke up slowly.It took some time for her senses to untangle waking from dreaming.The morning light was dim and strange. The ...

Pennies
"You look happy this morning, dearie!" declared Ms Bethen. She was sitting on the front steps of the apartment house, an embroid ...

Moon
High Priest Lemmy walked up the steep winding switchbacks that led up to the highest hill in the Temple Hill district. This was ...

Shorter
Catt was back in the elevator. The attendant looked at her, as if expecting more conversation, but Catt's mind was elsewhere, co ...

Note Taking
Segna had come to the conclusion that she could not afford to put her faith in the Seneschal of Delays. The Seneschal had encycl ...

Argument
"Catt!" Segna exclaimed, jumping up, "how did you–?""Your walls are incredibly easy to climb," Catt said, dusting herself ...

Tattoo
Catt woke from a dream. She had been on the deck of a ship, pitching in the waves, but instead of the pirates she remembered fro ...

Faithless
Catt had been back to the Immutable Library already. She had found the floors where the non-magical books were kept, and had loc ...

Woodcuts
Pulp Scribe was a small shop wedged between a fashionable bar and a tattoo parlor in the east end of Marketday.The shelves were ...

Wand
The stories were pretty grim.Catt sat near the window of her little apartment intending to read through the whole dreadful thing ...

Best Drinks
"So, tell me, where are the best places to drink in Great Bakak?"The parishioner's bloodshot eyes lit up. "Oh ho ho! There are s ...

Hidden Smile
You didn't have to be an executioner to drink at the Hidden Smile, but you did have to wear a mask.Catt was wearing a red felt m ...

Shortbig House 3
Catt and the Executioner were walking through the streets of Marketday and the Poor Quarter, and chatting as if they were old fr ...

Dance
There was an enterprising person with some kegs of beer on a cart in the corner of the ruins.Catt bought a couple drinks, and sh ...

Theft
"That was the best night ever!" Fullbrite gushed, twirling around as she walked. "I had fun too," said Catt, honestly, but ...

Foray
Catt's first foray into the Guild Hall of the Executioners was nerve-wracking but uneventful.The Guild Hall was a large rectangu ...

Routine
There was an envelope on the desk. It was sealed with a small blob of black wax.Senior Executioner Crocken understood that it wa ...

Filing
The records room was a large meandering irregular space on the second floor. Records only needed to be kept for twelve years bef ...

Prayer
Catt had been keeping a busy schedule. All day she would work with Lemmy at the Polypantheonic Temple. As soon as she finished t ...

Armory
Someone was unlocking the armory door.Catt slowed her pace, and tried so hard to be inconspicuous that it was like she was willi ...

Waiting Up
Segna waited up.She had already finished her dinner, and her dessert, and her nightly note-taking. She was waiting for Catt to a ...

Windfall
Catt was awakened by the chattering of her own teeth. She had no idea how long she had been asleep there under the shelf of shie ...

Disassembly
Segna's stomach had felt sour all day. She had tried to rush through her meetings. She had lost her temper with her advisors and ...

Lost Axe
Crocken stood looming over Ex-Junior Executioner Fullbrite.Fullbrite's father had offered him a chair, but Crocken had declined ...

Drugs
Catt looked around Pulp Scribe. The selection of pamphlets and periodicals had changed, but the shop looked the same. She was ag ...

Difficulty
Catt returned to the palace after a few hours of helping Lemmy with temple work. She wished she could say something to prepare h ...

Suspect
"Sir, have a look at this."Crocken looked up from his reports to see Senior Executioner Brace, and a Junior he didn't recognize. ...

Necromancy
Catt woke up on the big chair. Segna was gone. She had convinced Segna to finish eating, and then Segna had meditated until they ...

Apprehension
There was a distant pounding on the door.Segna startled. It sounded considerably more forceful than the way the servants knocked ...

Together
Catt felt a burgeoning unreal prickle, much stronger than the hands of the executioner grasping at her.Everything except Segna w ...

Caged
Catt felt Segna holding onto her."Did you hear it too?" asked Catt."Yes!" Segna exclaimed.Something dark and insubstantial was p ...

Egress
The narrow staircase twisted upwards. It seemed to go on forever. Catt and Segna kept holding hands. Segna led with her free han ...

Memory
Catt followed Segna down the last few steps on the spiral stair and back into the strange subterranean hall where they had seen ...

Muddy
Catt and Segna emerged from the main door of the Executioner's Guild Hall. They were both wearing masks, which Segna had consent ...

Denomination
The sky was vibrant blue. Yesterday's puddles had been soaked up by the thirsty earth, but there was a hint of it remaining. The ...

Year's End
The year was coming to an end, and the people of Great Bakak were gathered in the square in front of the royal palace for the Re ...

Epilogue
A fruit tree is growing in the alleyway next to a five story apartment in the Poor Quarter. Its roots push aside flagstones and ...