The Hollow Chancellor

Chancellor Vess of the Sixth Ward is the most respected man in Ondsfeld. He is also, since last winter, hollow-his soul eaten and worn by the courteous thing the council keeps beneath the city. He signs well. He presides well. He no longer knows his wife's name. Junior clerk Nias saw his reflection look the wrong way; city-guard sergeant Arem has chased the same mugging down the same alley four times, and every case ends politely. The thing wearing the Chancellor is not a monster. It is a civil servant-and it has decided the two of them are the best the city has. A classic high fantasy metropolis, an urban undercity with its own treaty law, and a thriller that ends not with a sword but with an audit.