Free A Murder of Mages by Marshall Ryan Maresca

said. “One of many reasons not to live there.” He took another bite, juice dripping down his chin.
    “Lovely,” Satrine said.
    A page ran over to the cookstand, fortunately not the same one who had counted the time in the alley. This one was tall and muscular; he looked almost ready to become a cadet.
    “Inspectors?” he said, crisp and serious. “Senior Page Henterly reporting.” This boy certainly was running for cadet.
    “Go ahead, Page,” Welling said. “What’s your report?”
    “I’ve been briefed on the contents of the file regarding the Mage Circle dubbed ‘Firewings.’”
    Forget cadet, this one was going for station captain.
    “The Circle is fully acknowledged by the Royal Registry of Guilds and Associations, founded in 1045. Their founding chapter is located in Kyst, but they have chapterhouses of acceptable standing in several cities, including Maradaine—”
    “Henterly,” Welling said curtly, “first, where is their chapterhouse?”
    “They have three within the bounds of the city, but the address of the most local one is Jewel 817. I can provide directions or lead you personally.”
    “I know Jewel Street, Henterly,” Welling said. “Brief us on what we can expect from them. Members, goals, charter, and so forth.”
    Henterly nodded, though he looked slightly uncomfortable. “The Firewings have exercised their various rights of privacy, in full accordance with the rules of the Royal Registry of—”
    “Yes,” Satrine snapped. “What can you actually tell us?”
    Anger flashed in Henterly’s eyes, white hot at Satrine, and he focused back on Welling. “In full accordance with the rules of the Royal Registry. Member names are not disclosed. Charter is not disclosed. We have no record of associations with the Firewing Circle, nor do we have record of arrests or altercations involving a known current member.”
    “That’s a lot not disclosed,” Satrine said.
    “They have a right to privacy,” Welling said. Satrine shrugged, certain that there was a records room over at Druth Intelligence that had a file on every Circle in Druthal with every bit of information not disclosed. Right to privacy was a very different matter over there.
    Welling took another bite of his wrap. “Is that all?”
    “There were some notes regarding deceased members. The only ones of note involved the Circle Feuds of 1212. I have memorized—”
    “Not necessary right now,” Welling said. “Write the salient points down and deliver it to Miss Pyle on the inspectors’ floor for my attention. Dismissed.”
    Henterly gave a sharp salute and went back inside the stationhouse.
    “That was useless,” Satrine said. “Except we have the address now.”
    “Which is perfectly useful,” Welling said. “But the rest, not entirely useless. They have invoked full rights of privacy, for one.”
    “Most Mage Circles do.” Though she had only tangential experience—a few Red Wolf associates, mostly.
    “To some degree, but even to the extent of charter and roster is, I believe, uncommon. And they have maintained a clean face, at least as far as our stationhouse is concerned. Given that their chapterhouse is in our district, it is unlikely they could maintain a clandestine,illegal agenda without us getting wind of it.” He signaled for them to start walking.
    “What about the Feuds?” Satrine had read some news of the Circle Feuds when it happened three years ago, but as it had stayed confined to the south side of Maradaine, she didn’t pay it much mind. A handful of Circles were involved in some sort of feud that boiled into the streets.
    “I did not investigate any specific aspect of that at the time. I know that mages of several Circles—I presume the smaller ones—were killed in it. That Firewings had members involved is not distinctive, nor does it give us much insight.”
    “Unless this is connected to the Feuds somehow.”
    Welling shrugged, as if considering it. “It’s not a theory I’ve