6

Getting an invite to Johannes's group, the Voyagers, was easy. He, Willas and Noho had benefitted from my quick work finding the two kids and was happy to invite me to speak about my 'talents'. The meetings were held at what seemed to be a club that Victorians would have joined. The floors were thickly carpeted, servants in dark clothes and white gloves took our coats and offered us wine as we entered. The walls were dark wood panels with mounted heads along them. There were deer, bear and elk that I recognized but there were other stranger animals. There was a what looked like a pug-faced alligator with brown scales, a furry rhinoceros and at the end of the room hanging above the head of the table was the prize of the collection, a dragon skeleton. Johannes laughed as he saw me stare. "It is impressive isn't it? That was a young dragon, barely old enough to bear a man. Looking at it always makes me proud to be a man, we may not have fangs or claws but we rule the beasts!"

I nodded absentmindedly. Even with just the bones it looked dangerous, without the flesh it looked quick, sharp and predatorial. I didn't see how it could fly though, anything with that much weight would need much larger wings. The answer was magic of course and I cursed inwardly at my past complacency. Johannes didn't appear to notice my flagging attention so I followed him and grunted at the appropriate points. The other members of the group were a diverse lot, for every businessman there was a scarred captain or trader wearing the exotic clothes of far off lands. I could hear at least five languages, three of which I didn't recognize and there were small groups clustered around whoever had brought back the most interesting prize. I was just now realizing I was going to be the star attraction for the group and hoped it would go better than Larry Fowler's show.

We eventually sat down around the table, Johannes and I were under one of the dragon's outstretched wings, and some of the members began to stand and give their presentations. They had maps of their travels with notes on each area they traveled through. They were sparse as they started but when they went further afield the details increased dramatically. The current speaker had traveled to the extreme south, past the Summer Islands onto the continent of Sothoryos. He described a land that was straight out of Edgar Rice Burroughs, brindled half-men, giant predatory lizards and abandoned haunted cities. I would have rejected these stories except everything was rigorously documented with sketches, detailed logs and the bones and relics that he brought. When he was done there was a break as we all got up to stare at his treasures. I was tempted to look at the statues with my sight but plundered images of gods from a dead city seemed like the sort of thing to not know the truth of.

Another round went by, this man had gone east along the north side of Essos and mapped it in what he claimed was unprecedented accuracy. There was a lot less discussion as we looked at his maps, he looked like a kid who's classmates had insulted his show and tell item but he was given a glass of wine and a hand of applause which appeared to console him. It had been an enjoyable night, I was half expecting Allan Quatermain to show up and tell the story of King Solomon's mines but then Johannes stood. He launched into a brief introduction then told the crowd about what he'd seen me do to find the necklace. The other members perked up, apparently bones and notes didn't compare to in your face magic they could debunk.

I had anticipated this and had planned ahead with a few magic tricks. I wasn't ready to tell anyone all of what I could really do but after what I'd seen I felt this group was my best bet to learn about the supernatural. I stood and was gratified to see a little surprise at my height. "My name is Harry Dresden, I was stranded here from a land I didn't see on any of your maps and I wouldn't know where it should be on them anyways". They were impassive, I imagine claiming you're from a lost civilization was a pretty common fraud. "As Johannes told you I have some skill in magic of a kind I haven't seen or heard of anywhere in these lands." A few of them were muttering, I thought I recognized one of my past clients in the back and he seemed to be telling his neighbor something. "Beyond the tracking described, fire is at my call."

When I said 'fire' I ignited a ball of flame that burned brighter than the sun in the palm of my hand. The room was suddenly starkly lit with long shadows going back from the leather backed chairs and the closest men were squinting at me. Looking around I decided another trick was needed to cement my reputation, I extinguished the flame and with a gesture and a muttered word froze the wine in all the glasses. It was more than a bit trickier than it sounds to freeze it in a way that wouldn't shatter the glasses, but for such small volumes Elaine and I had managed it one summer. Twenty years later I could do it to a crowd and it caused an uproar.

Fire was something that could be understood and I'm sure half had been thinking of ways they could have faked my trick. Ice in front of them, in glasses that I had never touched, in wine I hadn't poured was much more convincing. Johannes looked overjoyed. I couldn't imagine the fat man taking any role in the expeditions other than financier and now he had come through with the goods. There was a moment of silence then the room erupted in questions.

I didn't answer all of them, enough to give some broad strokes of my magic and to tell them it couldn't be taught without the aptitude and I hadn't encountered anyone in Braavos with it. There was some disappointment but seeing my tricks had put them all in an excellent mood. It was my turn to ask some questions. "Part of the reason I came here, past Johannes's excellent recommendation," he was still preening, "was to ask a few questions about other magic you've seen." I briefly described my encounter with Quaithe, leaving out Maggie, the children and encasing her in ice.

There was more murmuring and then a fellow in the back spoke up. "I don't know about the disappearing act, but 'of the Shadow' can only make me think of Asshai."

"The shadow-binders guard their secrets jealously" another man offered. "I've heard tales of them using blood to summon demons that do their bidding." There was more discussion about the shadow-binders which was accompanied by some outrage, the club wouldn't have liked the White Council's information sharing practices either.

The room was silenced as a sharp featured man at the head of the table stood."Many groups claim true power, the Warlocks of Qarth, the priests of R'hllor, the Green Men on the Isle of Faces. The shadow-binders make no such claims and all know of them. If you seek for this magic you do not know, travel beyond the shadow." He sat and the silence continued. Eventually a few of the braver members asked me more questions but the energy in the room was diminished. People got up and were milling around discussing the events. I felt a little bad for overshadowing the explorer but he was as interested as the rest in my little act. I wanted to talk to the last speaker but he had left in the confusion.

I fielded a few more questions from the crowd before Johannes came back to me still glowing. "I hope you enjoyed yourself, thank you again for speaking."

"It was nothing, I would like to come back sometime. Who was that last guy, the one who talked about the shadow-binders?"

"Him, that was Tregar Antaryon, the brother of the Sealord. They had a falling out when they were young and he sailed far to avoid even hearing Ferrego's name. The gossip is that the death of their father ended their rivalry because that's when he came back to Braavos for the first time in decades." Johannes thought for a second more, "He doesn't usually come to these meetings, perhaps one in five, I think he was here for the Sothoryos expedition."

I now had a name and place to investigate. Anyone related to the Sealord was at the pinnacle of society, my best bet to meet him again and ask more questions would be to return to the club. In the meantime trying to find out more about Asshai and its shadow-binders would be my new goal. I walked out with Johannes, stared down a particularly vicious looking stuffed lion and headed home through the damp streets. Maggie was still up when I got home, she'd eaten dinner at a friends and without supervision had decided she was too old for her bedtime. I utilized my parental veto, caved to her demands for a story and then finally went to my lab to record my notes on the day.

Writing all I learned about Sothoryos and the shadow-binders was depressingly quick so I started dossiers on the people I met at the club. They were wealthy, experienced and influential, knowing them could hardly hurt. I also wanted to bring my press to the attention of the Voyagers, they would certainly see the utility of it for their mission of documenting the world and enough ran businesses it would be helpful for that it would come into common use. It would also make the silversmith Koren and I rich, but I was prepared to accept the burden of wealth.

Going to bed myself I felt better that no one seemed to have the overt magic of my world, seeing Quaithe vanish and the information she'd had made me fear she had equal offensive powers to her apparent skulking abilities. Given the low profile of sorcery in this world I was confident if anyone could destroy armies on their own for the low cost of going mad I'd have heard about it tonight. Just because I had the edge in power didn't mean I was safe though. I'd shown that a little information could be dangerous to those stronger and I'd prefer not to fall to the shadow-binders' uglier, less hard working, evil version of Harry Dresden. He probably had a mustache.