Aidan

Aidan Stormcrow was twelve years old when his father went mad.

In hindsight, the Reefolk realized that they had seen the warning signs. Normally steadfast and reliable, Caliban Stormcrow had been behaving strangely for months. He'd grown absent-minded and forgetful and increasingly irritable. Of course, Caliban was well past middle-age for a human and had lived a hard life, so a little irritability was to be expected. Even when his belligerence gave way to sudden bouts of anger and occasional fisticuffs, people dismissed it as a passing mood or the result of strong drink. After all, Caliban had been among them for more than two decades. He was well-liked, and his past as a gladiator made him a celebrity of sorts. He'd married, built a homestead, raised a family here. So the Reefolk forgave and they forgot . . . until the night Caliban took up the gladius he'd sworn never to wield again and nearly slew his entire family before falling on the blade himself.

It was sheer luck that saved Aidan Stormcrow, though some argue whether it was good luck or bad. A traveling minstrel named Dunkirk had become lost on his way back to Ree and stopped at the Stormcrow farm seeking a warm meal and shelter for the night. He discovered Aidan amidst the bodies of his mother, brother, and sisters—the only one with life still in him. Dunkirk knew enough of medicine and of magic to keep Aidan alive until he could get the boy to a proper healer.

After delivering Aidan to safety and informing the town watch of what he'd found, Dunkirk went straight to the Inn of the Twin Dawn. By the time Aidan regained consciousness, all of Ree knew, in bloody detail, what his father had done.

Speculations as to the cause of his father's madness have followed Aidan into adulthood. Had Caliban been hexed by the witches in the south? Cursed by the wizards of the Atheneum? Had he spent too long in unwilling service to the god Shall? Or perhaps he'd angered Shall when he turned his back on the ways of murder and blood, and Shall decided to reclaim him?

Aidan has spent years ignoring the whispers and rumors and innuendos. He knows the Reefolk watch him with a wary eye, looking for any signs of incipient madness, wondering if he inherited his father's curse. And though his father warned him of the dangers of the lands beyond the Gates of Nir, Aidan's desire to leave Ree grows stronger with every passing year.