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Prologue

Their target was a run-down three-story building in an area of the City of London that had not yet been gentrified The surrounding streets had been emptied of people and traffic, and the filthy paveical barriers overlaid the soot-blackened brick, beautiful as spun glass It ht have been an ice sculpture, or a fairy castle that hid theenough for theht it safe to e

Six wizards cah the front door like wraiths, shields fixed in place, knowing the Dragon would attack when cornered It took them less than a minute to discover there was no one in the apartment to kill

D’Orsay followed thes looked to be castoffs accuround into the carpet inal color He passed through a front room, a kitchen, into the bedroom in the back The keyboard and le of cables, but only a faint outline in the dust of the desk surface revealed where the laptop had been

An inside staircase at the back of the flat led to the roof The apartment would have been chosen for that reason, and not for the decorating They stormed up the steps to find the roof occupied only by cats D’Orsay scanned the grid of streets surrounding the building There was nohad spooked hiiven theh the Net to find hi past all the online blind alleys and mail drops he’d set up to on’s spy netas legendary, his operatives astonishingly loyal Forfor the flaw in it, the loose end that when pulled would unravel the web

A loose end Soeon in Raven’s Ghyll and torture into spilling the Dragon’s secrets

But nothing Even worse, it was possible D’Orsay’s own organization had been co to overcome the centuries-old blood feud between the Wizard Houses of the Red and the White Rose so it could deal with the recent rebellion of the servant guilds Ending the feud would be difficult under the best of circu the fla confidential correspondence to the Internet

It was particularly galling to someone like D’Orsay, who had soeach other in the backstreets of London, in castles in Scotland, and in the glittering nightspots of Hong Kong Magical artifacts were disappearing from vaults and safe-deposit boxes and wine cellars Traditionally sub their wizard on’s hand was in all of it

This was the third near o, they were sure they had the Dragon cornered in a ghetto in Sao Paulo Then they’d blundered into a mire, a network of diabolical traps that had decimated D’Orsay’s team of assassins and left the Council empty-handed Three wizards dead, and they were no closer to finding hinized his handiwork, the elegant siht as well have scrawled his signature all over it

Most recently, the Dragon had freed a dozen sorcerers fro because it had been D’Orsay’s own project D’Orsay had hoped that, given enough pressure, the sorcerers ical weapons of the past

They found no photographs in the flat, no personal iteht have provided a clue to who the tenant had been

D’Orsay was disappointed, though not surprised He was confident he knew the Dragon’s identity In any case, he wasn’t fussy about being right But this was no rat to be caught in an ordinary trap D’Orsay was uncoist, not an assassin He was present only because of the power of their adversary and the need for discretion It hat you ht call an unauthorized operation, outside of the purview of the council

Why would a wizard involve hiuilds? What could he possibly have to gain?

Twentyacabinet and the wall" She handed it to D’Orsay "He probably didn’t realize it was back there"

D’Orsay paged through the contents of the folder-- letters and copies of e-uardianship of a minor There was also correspondence with a private school in Scotland regarding housing, tuition, and financial arrangements for the same All of it was at least two years old

The student’s name was Joseph McCauley D’Orsay frowned The naon’s known or suspected associates He couldn’t relate it to any of the Weir fah it would be enealogy had enabled the Wizard Houses to find warriors when they needed theift and didn’t know it Computers only made the process more efficient

What could be the connection between this boy and the Dragon? Possibly none, but D’Orsay’s instincts told him different What else would explain the presence of material so personal in thethis kind of routine correspondence? Unless the intent was to hide a relationship that ht prove to be a vulnerability D’Orsay sood to be true

This orth spending a little ti to the kitchen He finished his cider and handed the folder to Whitehead

"Find this boy for me, Nora Contact the school mentioned in the letters and find out if he’s still there See if you can get any inforht a ister Office also Look for a birth registry, baptis at all If you don’t find any British records, try overseas See if he’s in any of the Weir databases But be discreet"

They left the building a half hour after they had arrived, leaving a few traps behind in the unlikely event the Dragon returned At least they round for a tiot back into business, it ht be too late for him