Saldor was scared. He had been sitting here lazily scratching the scar on his finger, when a stabbing pain shot up his back and the entire room went blacker than night. Trying to look around, the only thing Saldor could see was a soft blue glow where he knew his left hand should be. "This can't be the work of a magus, none of them know where I am!" he thought to himself. Right when he was about to really panic the darkness dissipated as fast as it had appeared, leaving him dizzied and nauseous. Staring intently at his left hand, it looked to Saldor as if the beast on his ring was moving. He had always hated the thing; it had the body of a large black bird, the tail of a dragon and the head of a cobra. Nothing in the last eight years had been able to remove the cursed thing, including an attempt to hack his finger off in a fit of rage. Unfortunately all that was left of the instantly healed wound was an ugly, ragged scar to remind him of his troubles. Saldor's hand immediately went to his back to check for blood. Finding none he did what every good thief would do, and began checking about the room. Strangely, his lamp still burned and the papers and scrolls on his desk were just as he had left them. The door was still locked and barred, and his single sleeping mat for sure could not hide anyone or anything. His magus talisman hung like a lead weight around his neck, but otherwise seemed unchanged. Inspecting his sword and dagger, he found nothing different. Everything was completely untouched. "This is going to be a long day!" he grumbled as he started dressing for his meeting with Sharia. ----------------- This is the opening scene from the novel I'm currently writing. I've gotten permission from my editor to post this much to check reader response in this forum.