Darkblade Guardian

by Andy Peloquin

  “Even though you’re half-demon yourself?” Ilanna asked.

  The Hunter shrugged. “My blood, my mess to clean up.” He thrust a chin at the dead Baronet Wyvern. “When they start doing things like this, or doing what the Bloody Hand did, it’s my job to stop them.”

  “The Bloody Hand?” The words exploded from Ilanna. “You mean to tell me the First was a Keeper-damned demon?”

  The Hunter grinned. “And the Third. Tough bastards to kill, the both of them.”

  Ilanna’s jaw dropped, and the Hunter found matching stunned expressions on every other face in the room. Even the dark-skinned woman seemed shocked to stillness.

  “From what I hear, the Bloody Hand gave you and yours a fair share of trouble.” The Hunter chuckled. “Seems like I took care of that problem for you.”

  Ilanna’s eyes narrowed. “The Bloody Hand, ruled by demons?”

  “Yes.” The Hunter fixed her with a stern gaze. “Now, I answered your question about what brought me to Praamis, so it’s your turn to tell me what you know about that symbol.” He thrust a finger at the mark carved into Baronet Wyvern’s chest.

  Ilanna remained silent for a long moment, as if collecting her thoughts. Finally, she managed to speak. “They’re Serenii symbols.”

  “As I thought,” the Hunter said with a nod. “I recognized them as Serenii writing, though I’ve never seen them before.”

  Ilanna scowled. “Did you know that it’s two symbols instead of just one?”

  The Hunter raised an eyebrow. “Two? Intriguing. Do you know what they mean?”

  “I do.” Ilanna drew in a breath and scrubbed a hand over her face before speaking. “One symbol means ‘death and rebirth’, while the second means ‘life beyond’.”

  The Hunter frowned. He’d hoped that discovering the meaning of the symbol would point him in the direction of the killer, but he had no idea what either of those things meant.

  “According to my people,” Ilanna continued, her scowl turning into a smile just on the polite side of smug, “the symbol and the burn marks have something to do with the worship of the Long Keeper. Death and rebirth into the life beyond, the Sleepless Lands.”

  “Ahh.” The Hunter nodded.

  He’d never placed much stock in the gods or the paradise realm known as the Sleepless Lands. After his discovery in Vothmot and in Enarium—that the “gods” were in truth Serenii worshipped by the primitive humans, and no more divine than the humans themselves—he’d given even less credence to the priests’ concocted tales.

  Yet the gods mattered to the rest of the people on Einan, so he only shattered their human misconceptions when absolutely necessary. It had proven necessary with Kiara, Evren, Hailen, Graeme, and Father Reverentus; in this case, he could leave them with their misguided notions of the gods intact.

  “Have you any idea why those symbols would be carved into these bodies?” the Hunter asked.

  “My people believe it has something to do with worshippers of the Long Keeper.”

  The Hunter frowned. The superstitious Voramians had erected a small onyx altar in Divinity Square in acknowledgment of the god of death, but they feared the sleepless Long Keeper far too much to worship him. “It was my understanding—”

  “That no sane person would draw the Keeper’s attention.” The Guild Master’s lips quirked upward. “It turns out the people of Shalandra are far less sane than most.”

  Shalandra again? Every new clue seemed to point in the direction of the City of the Dead.

  “Evidently the priesthood of the Long Keeper holds a great deal of power in Shalandra,” Ilanna continued. “Until I found Baronet Wyvern lying at your feet, I believed him the one responsible for these deaths. That, in his travels to Shalandra, he might have brought the strange worship of the Long Keeper back to Praamis with him.”

  The Guild Master’s words rolled off the Hunter. He was focused on one word. Priesthood?

  The men he’d seen in the tunnels had been wearing hooded robes—common enough to find, yet given this latest information…

  “What if Baronet Wyvern was responsible for the murders, at least partially?” His mind worked as the words poured from his mouth. “Maybe he did bring back the beliefs with him, but more than that, fellow worshippers.”

  Ilanna seemed taken aback. “Shalandran priests of the Long Keeper? Here in Praamis?”

  The Hunter told her of the ten men he’d seen in the sewer tunnels and the lair he’d found after his confrontation with Tassat.

  “I know a demon is somehow linked to these murders, and this sort of strange death worship would be precisely the thing the creature would use to serve his bloody ends.” He fixed Ilanna with a hard gaze. “When we find the killers, I’ve no doubt we’ll find the demon at their head.”

  Ilanna took a long moment to digest this. “You say you found their lair in the sewers?” she asked finally.

  The Hunter nodded. “I can take you there, show you what I found.”

  “Yes,” Ilanna replied. “Show me.”

  “I take it this means we’re still allied?” The Hunter cocked his head. “Even after what you know about me?”

  The Guild Master actually smiled. “If we really are hunting demons—and, mind you, I’m not saying I fully believe you—if we are, who better than a demon to join the hunt?”

  “Half-demon,” the Hunter put in with a grin of his own.

  “Of course.” Ilanna inclined her head. She shot a glance and a nod at the four assassins, and the Hunter felt the daggers retreat from his back. “Take me to where you found them, and I’ll have my trackers look for anything that could point us in the right direction.”

  “And if we find nothing?” the Hunter asked.

  “Then at least we know what we’re looking for,” Ilanna replied. “Hooded men with strange, secret death rituals, led by a demon in human form.”

  “I’m surprised we haven’t found them already.” The Hunter chuckled.

  “Perhaps now that we’ve joined forces, we’ll have better luck.”

  “The enemy of my enemy and all that.”

  The Hunter found himself liking the Guild Master more and more. Her strength of spirit, self-assurance, and quick wit rivaled Kiara’s. In another circumstance, they might have actually become friendly.

  The Hunter was about to bow and insist Ilanna lead the way to the sewers, but stopped when he caught sight of movement through the open doorway. A young woman with the same kaffe-colored skin and fierce features as Ilanna’s protective companion raced toward them, went straight up to the warrior woman, and whispered in her ear.

  The woman sucked in a breath, her face going pale. “You’re certain?” she demanded.

  “Yes, Master Phoenix.” The young newcomer nodded.

  The warrior woman looked like she wanted to vomit as she turned and spoke to the Guild Master in a low whisper—a whisper loud enough for the Hunter’s keen ears to pick up.

  “Kodyn is missing!”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Ilanna felt as if someone had plunged a dagger into her gut and ripped out her heart. She turned to stare at Ria but could find no words. Her tongue caught in her mouth, her lungs refused to draw breath.

  Ria gripped her arm and steered her from the room, out into the hallway, Aisha beside them. The moment they were clear of Baronet Wyvern’s bedroom, Ria rounded on the young Phoenix. “Tell me everything!”

  “After doing my rounds, I…thought I’d see how Kodyn was faring.” Aisha blushed, embarrassed. “But no one in House Hawk had seen him since he left the Night Guild earlier this evening. Master Hawk knew nothing, nor Darreth. When I heard where the two of you had gone, with Master Serpent as well, I thought he might be with you.”

  Ria shook her head. “We haven’t seen him since then, either. He said he was going to find Sid.”

  “Sid?” Aisha’s forehead wrinkled. “Master Hawk asked me about the young Hawk, but I told him he was probably training with Kodyn.”


  Ilanna’s insides churned, and her stomach heaved, threatening to empty its contents as a sickening wave of fear washed over her. No, not Kodyn!

  The one—or ones, it seemed—killing children had started by murdering grown men, dockhands, sailors, and day laborers. Men far stronger than Kodyn. The fact that they’d killed the Fox apprentice made it clear they wouldn’t hesitate to go after the Night Guild’s people. And now Kodyn was missing. It couldn’t be a coincidence.

  It felt as if someone had sucked all the air from her lungs. Ilanna tried to draw in a deep breath, but managed a faint gasp and swayed.

  “Ilanna!” Ria cried and gripped her arm.

  “Master Gold!” Aisha reached out a hand to steady her.

  Ilanna sucked in a second shuddering breath, then a third. Her last conversation with Kodyn had ended in anger—she’d been trying to protect him, but he’d stormed out of her office. Her sharp words would be the final thing ringing in his mind as he died.

  No! Ilanna pushed back against the feelings of helplessness, fear, and worry for her son. She compressed them into a ball and shoved them down deep in her gut. I will not let him end up like the others!

  Jaw clenched, she spun on her heel and strode back into the room. The Hunter hadn’t moved, his posture still relaxed, but a curious expression burned in the eyes—those horrible, empty black eyes—he fixed on her.

  “Your son?” the Hunter asked.

  Ilanna’s jaw dropped, and whatever she’d been about to say fled her thoughts.

  “Damn!” The Hunter shook his head. “Is he simply missing, or have they found him…like the others?”

  How the hell did he know? Did his demonic heritage—and she was still reeling from that discovery—give him an impossibly keen sense of hearing, or could he read her thoughts?

  “Then we’ve no more time to waste,” the Hunter said. “I’ll take you down into the sewer to the killers’ lair, and you can set your people—”

  “That can wait.” Ilanna cut him off. “We’re going to find my son, even if I have to turn over every rock in Praamis to do it.”

  The Hunter folded his arms across his chest, the set of his jaw stubborn. “If, as you suspect, the murderers have him, our best hope of finding him is locating them. And that room in the sewers is the best way to find out as much about these Keeper’s Priests as possible.”

  Ilanna hated to admit it, but the damned assassin was right. The last thing she wanted was to tour the sewers while Kodyn was missing, perhaps held captive and being killed at that very moment.

  No! Again, she shoved back the thought. I can’t allow myself to think like that, or I’ll never get anything done. If she gave in to the despair, the overwhelming sorrow at the thought that her son was dead, she’d collapse. Losing Kodyn once had nearly killed her; she couldn’t go through that again. I’ll get him back, alive, even if I have to rip him from the Long Keeper’s embrace myself.

  “Let’s go.” Ilanna snapped. “We move fast, so try to keep up.”

  The Hunter grinned and moved toward her. Jarl interposed himself, but the Hunter stared up at the huge Pathfinder without flinching. “We’re on the same side now, big man.”

  Jarl grunted, and Ilanna recognized his loquacious expression of suspicion and threat.

  The Hunter patted Jarl’s huge bicep. “Good talk.” He slipped around the Pathfinder and fell in step beside Ilanna. Ria took up position behind Ilanna, within striking range of the Hunter, and from the corner of her eye, Ilanna saw the Ghandian woman gripping her assegai spear in white-knuckled fingers.

  Ria’s reaction to the Hunter’s revelation had surprised Ilanna. The rest of them had been stunned, but Ria had hurled curses at the assassin—half-demon assassin, what the bloody hell?—that spoke of more than just instinctive fear. She’d said something about Inzayo Okubi, the evil spirit that was Ghandian equivalent of both the Long Keeper and Kharna, the mad god that sought to destroy Einan during the War of Gods.

  “Master Serpent,” she called out as she marched down the staircase to the ground floor of Baronet Wyvern’s mansion.

  Errik slipped up beside her without a word.

  “Send Tassat for the best Hound and Fox to guide us through the sewer,” Ilanna barked an order. “Have them meet us at the place where he found the Hunter.”

  Errik hesitated, his eyes flicking past Ilanna to rest on the Hunter. He looked like he wanted to speak, and Ilanna didn’t need to read minds to know exactly what he was going to say. Errik, like anyone in his profession, had developed a healthy suspicion of the world. He wouldn’t accept the alliance between the Hunter and Ilanna at face value, and the Hunter’s revelation of who he was—what he was—only added to his wariness.

  But right now, with Kodyn’s life on the line, Ilanna had no time for hesitation. She’d use the Hunter to save her son, the Night Guild, and the city from these gruesome murders. He might have a further agenda of his own beyond slaying this demon—another world-shattering revelation that she’d have to process properly once she’d found Kodyn alive—but she’d deal with that when the time came.

  She stopped and fixed him with a stern gaze. “Do it,” she insisted. “Trust me, for Kodyn’s sake.”

  Just a moment of indecision, then Errik nodded and turned back to relay her order to his Serpent Journeyman.

  Three servants peered out of their back rooms as Ilanna and the others descended, but the sight of the Night Guild—and the dark-cloaked, scowling Hunter with them—sent them scurrying away.

  Ilanna found herself hurrying as they exited the mansions. Jarl hurried ahead to open the wicket gate for Ilanna and the others to file out of the nobleman’s mansion.

  The first rays of morning sunlight had just begun to filter over the eastern horizon as Ilanna stepped into the streets of The Gardens. She saw no sign of passersby—the upper-crust areas of Praamis wouldn’t get busy until well after sunrise—but Ilanna didn’t want to risk running into a patrol of Praamian Guards or the Duke’s Arbitors.

  “Let’s move!”

  She broke into a run, her steps leading her south, out of The Gardens. She didn’t look back to see if the Hunter, Ria, and the others followed—she didn’t have time to waste ensuring her people carried out her orders. Right now, Kodyn was all that mattered.

  Just before exiting The Gardens, she ducked into a side alley where a cleverly-concealed rope ladder hung. She scaled it in a hurry and, without waiting for the others to follow, raced across the rooftops toward Vendor’s Block, where she’d find the sewer entrance closest to the Brewster’s old access tunnels—the place where the Hunter had said he found the killers’ lair.

  A twinge of envy panged in her gut as she caught a glimpse of the Hunter racing up behind her. The assassin actually seemed to slow to keep pace with her, and he moved with an easy grace and agility that should be impossible for any normal man. Yet, as she’d seen, normal didn’t come close to describing him.

  The legends of his speed and skill aren’t as exaggerated as I thought. She felt a momentary relief that she hadn’t been forced to send her men to confront the Hunter. He could have killed Jarl in an instant, and he’d taken down Errik far too easily. Not the sort of enemy the Night Guild can afford, now or ever.

  Ria, Aisha, and Errik matched their pace, though Aisha struggled with some of the more difficult climbs—her duties in House Phoenix kept her from spending too much time on the Perch or the Hawk’s Highway. Jarl fell far behind, his huge frame making the crossings difficult, but Ilanna didn’t wait for him to catch up. The Pathfinder knew where she was going and he’d find his own way. He would understand her hurry; he’d grown as fond of her little Hawk as Errik and Darreth.

  Worry thrummed within her chest, but again she forced it down. Focus on the next step, she told herself. Anything to stop from picturing Kodyn lying on Journeyman Rilmine’s table.

  She slid down a rope and into a muddy alleyway, then slithered through the open grate into the sewer tunnels. From her pouch, she
produced a beamer lamp and switched on.

  The Hunter’s boots splashed in the foul-smelling tunnel beside her. “That way,” he said, and pushed past her to lead the way through the sewers.

  Ilanna didn’t need a guide through the maze of tunnels—few in the Night Guild knew them as well as she—but she couldn’t help wondering how the Hunter knew where to go. Had he spent time in the sewer system without her or her people knowing, or was his sense of direction just that good?

  Her gut clenched as she spotted the metal door that led into the Brewster access tunnels.

  “This leads to their lair.” The Hunter pulled open the door and stepped through.

  Ilanna studied the dry walls, ceiling, and dust-covered floors. She’d never actually entered the access tunnels—she preferred to roam free across the Hawk’s Highway rather than travel underground like a worm.

  The Hunter, already twenty paces down the tunnel, cast a glance over his shoulder and stopped when he saw her still standing in the doorway. “I thought we were in a hurry?”

  “We are.” Ilanna ground her teeth. “But we’ve got to wait.”

  “Wait for?” The Hunter raised a bushy eyebrow—is it his real eyebrow, or just another of his strange face-shifting tricks?

  “The people who will set us on the right path,” Ilanna said. “My Hounds can track a butterfly through a forest or a cool breeze across the Windy Plains.” An exaggeration, but if anyone could find clues on the killers here, it would be the Hounds.

  The Hunter chuckled. “That ought to come in handy here, then.” He strode toward her, but before he reached them, Ria gripped Ilanna’s arm and dragged her out of the Brewster’s tunnels and back into the sewer. She didn’t stop dragging until she put thirty paces between Ilanna and the Hunter, who now found himself facing Errik, Aisha, and the two remaining Serpents.

  “You saw what he is as well as I did!” Ria’s eyes blazed. “He is Okanele! A demon, black-eyed spirit of death!”