Ghost Nails

By Jonathan Moeller

Caina Amalas is the Ghost circlemaster of Istarinmul, the leader of the Emperor's spies in the city. Deadly danger stalks her at every turn, and Caina needs all the allies she can find.

So when someone tries to murder a powerful magistrate under the roof of one of her allies, Caina must act.

Because if she doesn't, the killer may come for her next...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jonathan Moeller
• Release date: Jan 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310227929

Jonathan Moeller

Standing over six feet tall, Jonathan Moeller has the piercing blue eyes of a Conan of Cimmeria, the bronze-colored hair of a Visigothic warrior-king, and the stern visage of a captain of men, none of which are useful in his career as a computer repairman, alas.He has written the "Demonsouled" trilogy of sword-and-sorcery novels, and continues to write the "Ghosts" sequence about assassin and spy Caina Amalas, the "$0.99 Beginner's Guide" series of computer books, and numerous other works.Visit his website at:http://www.jonathanmoeller.comVisit his technology blog at:http://www.jonathanmoeller.com/screed

Book preview

GHOST NAILS

Jonathan Moeller

***

Description

Caina Amalas is the Ghost circlemaster of Istarinmul, the leader of the Emperor's spies in the city. Deadly danger stalks her at every turn, and Caina needs all the allies she can find.

So when someone tries to murder a powerful magistrate under the roof of one of her allies, Caina must act.

Because if she doesn't, the killer may come for her next...

***

Ghost Nails

Copyright 2015 by Jonathan Moeller.

Smashwords Edition.

Ebook edition published January 2015.

All Rights Reserved.

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author or publisher, except where permitted by law.

***

Chapter 1: The Magistrate’s Cake

My name is Damla, daughter of Torzamus, sister of Agabyzus, wife of Bahlar, and I have endured many losses.

My father owned the finest coffee house in the Cyrican Quarter, once called the House of Torzamus. After he died, the coffee house went to my eldest brother Agabyzus, and so became the House of Agabyzus. I helped him to run the House and took over most of the work, for Agabyzus had a secret. He was a member of the Ghosts, the spies of the Emperor of Nighmar, and was the leader of their circle in the city of Istarinmul. He never spoke of it, and I never asked, though I would not learn the truth for several years.

In time I met Bahlar and he courted me, and Agabyzus consented to our marriage. I miscarried twice, alas, but in time I had two sons, Bahad and Bayram, and they grew up strong and healthy. Bahlar had a good head for the coffee business, and the House of Agabyzus prospered. Those were good years, happy years.

Then the war started.

Bahlar was conscripted into the Padishah’s army and had to go to war, else the emir Rezir Shahan would have seized the House of Agabyzus and sold me and our sons as slaves. My husband fell in the great battle of Marsis, but Rezir Shahan, may the Living Flame roast his black soul, was slain as well. Our misfortunes continued when his brother Tanzir Shahan ended the war. Riots erupted in Istarinmul, inflicting damage upon the coffee house, and my brother Agabyzus was slain in the chaos.

I endured. I had no choice. I carried on, and with the help of my sons, kept the House of Agabyzus running. I vowed that I would make the House of Agabyzus a prosperous business, that when I died I would leave the coffee house to my sons for their livelihoods, that they would not have to become soldiers or laborers or be sold as slaves.

Then fresh disaster struck.

Ulvan of the Slavers’ Brotherhood forged papers, claiming that I owed him money, and he seized my sons as slaves to pay the debt. I didn’t know what to do. I was desperate, and I would have done anything, turned to anyone, to get my sons back.

Instead, Caina helped me.

I did not know what to make of her at first. A madwoman, probably, but she was willing to help me against Ulvan. I thought she would get herself killed, or get me killed, and I wept alone in the House of Agabyzus, certain I would never see my sons again.

Instead, she saved Bahad and Bayram, freeing them from Ulvan’s pens.

She ruined Ulvan, destroying his reputation, stealing most of his fortune, and crippling him in the process.

And she found my brother. Agabyzus had been a prisoner, and Caina snatched him from the Widow’s Tower before it burned.

Later she told me that she was a Ghost of the Empire, sent to rebuild the city’s Ghost circle, and I agreed to help her. I suppose that makes me a traitor to the Most Divine Padishah, but I do not care. The Most Divine Padishah and his magistrates sent my husband to his death, and they did nothing to protect my sons from Ulvan’s greed. I saw the scars the torturers of the Widow’s Tower wrote upon Agabyzus’s flesh.

Caina helped me, and the Padishah did not.

Though serving as a Ghost has brought little change to my life. Sometimes Caina sleeps in my guest rooms. Sometimes she brings other people here to discuss business. Often she asks about rumors or stories I have heard, for many merchants and factors take their coffee at my tables, and they speak of many things. I pass those rumors on to Caina…and sometimes a few days later a master slaver is robbed, or a corrupt merchant experiences a sudden downfall, or an Alchemist is banished from the city.

When that happens, I wonder at the dangerous turn my life has taken. Caina is the most wanted woman in the city, and the Grand Wazir and Grand Master of the College of Alchemists offer a bounty of two million bezants for her, dead or alive. If the secret police and the city watchmen knew that I had aided Caina, my