Excerpt:

"Got your shadow, boy." The voice rang out across the square. Out of the corner of his eye, Tom saw the people empty from the open area as if by magic. Cowards like these were almost not worth the effort of pillaging.

He looked across at the old man seated whose staff held his shadow tight to the ground. Dressed in a shabby brown coat, there was almost nothing to distinguish this ancient from any other street beggar. Tom knew him well though, if only by reputation. Teagan was the most feared of the Watchers and thus a man well within his rights to detain a petty thief at his whim.

Even so, his own guild's watchers might well be overseeing this exchange and it would not do to have to explain to Master Ojai why he had failed to uphold their honour.