by Shannah Jay
'Have you - er - spoken to Sen-Sether again about Hollunby and that Elder Sister of theirs?' Met still wasn’t sure that this was a good move.
'Yes. He does my bidding most meekly. I shall get him to send men to search for them in Fen-Halani.'
Robler's sour expression relaxed a little. 'These primitives are very unsophisticated in some ways. Sen-Sether takes everything I say quite literally.'
He enjoyed speaking to Sen-Sether, being addressed as 'dread my lord', being obeyed implicitly. If the wars continued in this sector of space, it might be worth looking into establishing a base on the planet itself. At least down there a man could get satisfaction from his women. Here on the satellite even Lizan, normally a willing partner, had refused him her body lately. She said he had become too rough for her. One day he would show her what rough really was. As Those of the Serpent showed their women.
Met held back a sigh as he saw Robler's frown return.
'You'd better start a grid scan of the Twelve Claims, of the whole blasted continent, in fact, including the new settlements. It's obvious there's nothing much in the other two continents, though you'd better check them out, too. Davred and his little playmates found somewhere to hide in that misty thermal region. The heat there must affect the tracers.'
Met saw that Robler seemed to expect some response, so inclined his head and said, 'Yes, sir.'
'Soo would have known how to do it,' Robler went on, musing aloud. 'That bitch is a good com-engineer, for all her faults.'
'I'll start the scan next watch, sir.'
'Start it now! I don't like people who wait to carry out my orders. And let me know the minute you find something.'
Met clamped his lips together. Robler was Exec. He had the authority. But there was no need for this arrogance. No need at all.
CHAPTER 13 LORD BENNER'S INTERVENTION
While Benjan was visiting the headquarters of the Hashite Guild, Aharri Bel-Ashkaron was entertaining a group of associates to a large and noisy dinner, complete with entertainment. Carryn and Lerina didn’t join them for this meal. Only streetmasters were invited, the men and women who ran the Shambles in Tenebrak, who managed its nefarious activities and who organised forays into the city itself. Most of the streetmasters were rich enough to buy themselves domains in the better parts of Tenebrak by now, but preferred to live in the Shambles, a place less accessible to Those of the Serpent.
Once, a trading master like Aharri would have scorned to offer hospitality to people like these, but nowadays he had no choice. In the eyes of Those of the Serpent, he was as much a criminal as any of these pimps, thieves and murderers. If he wanted to stay free, he had to keep the streetmasters on his side. If he wanted to continue organising the resistance to the Serpent from the shelter of the Shambles and the nearby river docks area, he had to use the skills of people like these - and he had to pay for them, too. The streetmasters did nothing out of altruism.
About a dozen people were seated around a circular table, some of them the worse for wine, others under the heady influence of smokeweed. Outside the house and in the hallway their bodyguards lounged, well-fed but alert and watchful. If Those of the Serpent had tried a foray against the occupants of the house, there would have been enough warning to clear the place through the emergency exits before the Servants of the Shrine even got through the front door. That was how the larger buildings were constructed in the Shambles and always had been. Hidden domains, some called them, for they didn’t always seem much from the street, often having over half their interior rooms below ground.
During a lull in the conversation, a narrow-faced man called Wesrov leaned forward. 'Who are the girls?' he asked.
Aharri stiffened. 'What girls?'
'The two girls you're guarding so carefully.'
Aharri thought rapidly. On the one hand, to admit that Carryn was his daughter was to offer these streetmasters knowledge of a weakness through which he might be attacked. On the other hand, he had to make sure that they knew how he valued Carryn. 'My daughter and foster daughter.'
Wesrov smiled and began picking delicately at the dirt ingrained in his fingernails. 'My source says the other one claims to be your granddaughter.'
Aharri cursed under his breath. There must be a leak in his household arrangements. He would find the culprit before the next day was over. He’d had his doubts about inviting Wesrov tonight, for the man had a reputation for treachery and murder. It was commonly held that he’d be willing to sell his own right arm given a high enough price. But if Aharri hadn’t invited him, Wesrov would have become an outright enemy, so here the fellow lounged, flaunting his power and knowledge.
'So?' Aharri asked coolly.
'So I just wondered what the girls were doing here, considering your present - er - difficulties. You're taking a big risk bringing them into Tenebrak.'
'They're just visiting me. Briefly. They're not here for any special reason. A man likes to see his family now and then. A small self-indulgence.'
Jianti leaned forward. 'Leave be, Wesrov!' She was a plump woman, who managed most of the city's whores, though it was a calling much fallen in profit since Those of the Serpent had taken over. Only those men and women with truly strange sexual tastes paid coin for whores' services nowadays, and for the women clients at least it was so dangerous to go out and visit one of Jianti's houses of assignation that the male whores usually went to the clients' houses. 'A man's family is his own concern here in the Shambles,' Jianti warned, frowning at Wesrov.
He shook his head. 'Not if it gives Those of the Serpent a reason to attack the Shambles, it isn't. In times like these, you have to be very careful. If I can find out about the girls being here, so can others. Aharri's asking us to take quite a few risks for him and his cause. It's not right for him to add to those risks for a whim.'
Aharri leaned forward. 'The girls will be leaving soon. Right?'
'Make that very soon,' snarled Wesrov. 'I've no mind for bits of me to decorate the wall of the Inner Shrine.'
Aharri merely bowed his head, but after the meeting had broken up and the streetmasters had dispersed to their strongholds, Jianti lingered to whisper, 'I'd get those girls out of the city tonight, if I were you, Aharri.
And yourself with them.'
He was startled. 'Why?'
She shrugged. 'Don't know, exactly! Just a feeling. But I never dismiss my feelings. They've saved my life a few times now.'
'Then I thank you for your warning, Jianti my friend, and shall pay heed to it as soon as I can. How may I repay you?'
She grinned. 'I'll call for repayment one day. You're all right, Aharri, for an honest trader. I might need your help to set myself up in business properly when things come right again.'
'Do you think they ever will?' he asked bleakly.
She nodded and patted his arm. 'Oh, yes. Our Brother won't abandon us. But get those two girls away quickly.' She turned and walked off, soft-footed and able to blend with the shadows in the street, so that even her own bodyguard had difficulty keeping up with her. And the bodyguard was from the Hashite Guild, a tall muscular woman, as experienced as you could get.
Aharri made immediate preparations to move. He wasn’t one to take warnings from two sources lightly.
First, however, he slipped out of the house through one of the hidden tunnels to conclude another deal, one that would take only an hour or so, but would set up another resistance cell in the city. He left instructions for his servants to prepare for departure early in the morning.
While he was gone, Benner's guards pounced, led to the house by a woman veiled entirely in black, who didn't wait to see what happened, but padded away to inform her employer that the deed was done.
This was a rather special corps of Benner's guards. Their formal title was the Lord's Personal Guards, but they were known in the city as the Carrion Corps. He’d trained them specially and he had strong holds on their loyalty. The men were nearly all born on his country estate and their families stil
l lived there - lived in the greatest comfort, too, as long as their menfolk remained loyal to their lord.
The members of this corps used the Castle Shrine, for conformity's sake, but their allegiance was to the Lord Claimant and to him alone, not to the Serpent. Only the fact that there were too few members of the Carrion Corps to deploy elsewhere, if he were to stay properly protected, made Benner hire the services of the Hashite Guild to keep watch on the son whom he’d not been able to suborn, the son who hated him even more than Benner had hated his own father.
Without anyone in the Shambles becoming aware of it, the Carrion Corps killed the gateman and slipped inside the domain. Drugged food had been served to the two girls that night, and to their companion Shilla.
The girls didn’t even wake as Benner's guards plucked them from their beds and carried them outside. The only house servant who stumbled upon the intruders died instantly and his body was tossed on to Carryn's bed to keep it out of sight for as long as possible.
When Aharri returned, he didn’t enter via the gate, but used one of the many subterranean tunnels. He went straight to his own room to pass on instructions to a servant with a near perfect memory before he left for Silverhill. It wasn’t until the change of watch, when another gatekeeper went to relieve his friend and found him dead, that the abduction was discovered.
Aharri wasted no time in recriminations, either against himself or against the servants. One maidservant was missing, no doubt the one who had betrayed them, but she’d be found. He’d pay the Hashite Guild well for that. Shilla was still sleeping heavily. Slumberbane, probably, from the sickly-sweet odour on her breath.
The kitchen staff whom he employed when he stayed in Tenebrak would need checking more thoroughly next time, Aharri told his steward, then almost in the same breath he sent his most trusted helpers running to sound the alert in the Shambles.
Huge rewards were offered to anyone who could furnish information about those who’d taken the trading master's daughter. If that information led to the safe return of Aharri's daughter and granddaughter, the informant would be rich for life. If they’d been murdered, Aharri would search out those who’d betrayed them, if it took him the rest of his life.
The word went out and spread rapidly, but in spite of the poorfolk's eagerness to earn the reward, news filtered back slowly. Aharri grew even more gaunt than before with the anguish of the night's worries, and he paced the house like a caged lenril, fretting at the delay. Carryn wasn’t in the Great Shrine. Carryn hadn’t been taken by any of the streetmasters. And Jianti, who had given him warning to leave, said Wesrov wasn’t involved in this. Wesrov, it seemed, had his own quarrel with Those of the Serpent and could be trusted not to deal with them.
When the news was brought to the Hashite Guild, Benjan was still with Viran, having spent the night at the Guild House, as arranged, sharing the tale of his travels with his kithanfolk. Like Aharri, Benjan didn’t give way to his emotions or to self-recrimination. He knew, and the taste of that knowledge was bitter bile in his throat, that he’d failed Carryn.
He realised, too, that this time there might be no chance to rescue her, and even if they did manage to find her, it might be too late. Her mind had nearly torn itself apart after her ravishment in the Great Shrine. How must she be feeling now? How were the abductors treating her? Had they already abused her? And Lerina, gentle Lerina. What would become of that dear child?
'Find her for me,' Benjan said to Viran, his voice husky with emotion, but controlled.
'For you?'
'Yes. For me. Send out a Guild Command. I love Carryn. I had hoped that one day we could marry, when she’s finished her Sister's training. Even Herra didn’t forbid that hope.' He stopped to swallow hard. 'And yesterday, when you named me Prime Craftsman Elect, I thought - I thought it might truly be possible, that I might have an honourable life to offer to Carryn - one day - after we'd vanquished the Serpent.' He bowed his head, running through a quick Discipline of Self Control.
Viran laid a hand on Benjan's shoulder. 'If she's that important to you, I'll be happy to send out a Guild Command.'
Benjan nodded. 'Thank you. I'll leave that to you, Viran. Do it as quickly as you can. You'll find me with Aharri.'
* * *
Carryn woke up feeling weak and disoriented. Her head was pounding, her mouth tasted foul and she couldn’t think clearly.
'Drink this!' said a harsh voice she didn’t recognise.
She began to sense danger, but as she tried to refuse, liquid was tipped into her mouth and her nose pinched shut, so that she either had to swallow it or choke.
'She'll be all right in a minute or two,' said the voice.
'Mmm.' It was impossible to recognise who was speaking.
Carryn realised she was no longer in her father's house, but damped down her panic and concentrated on her body, using the Sisterhood disciplines to speed her recovery, but still feigning weakness. Anger helped. It went coursing round her body, building up red energy that burned to vent itself on something. She’d been kidnapped, but she wasn’t in a shrine. She’d know the smell of a shrine anywhere. She gave a low groan, but kept her eyes closed.
'How long will this take?' growled an irascible voice.
'A few minutes only, lord.'
With a surge of horror, Carryn guessed that her abductor was Benner, the Lord Claimant himself. Fear paralysed her for a moment, then anger welled up again and pushed the fear aside. She’d given in to her fear last time. She would not give in to it again. She, who had been chosen by her Brother, must not show weakness to their enemies. And anyway, Cheral had shown her how to kill herself. She could escape that way, if she had to. This time they wouldn’t use and abuse her on the black altar. But she’d kill herself only as a last resort. There was Lerina to think of, as well as herself.
'She's taking long enough to recover, isn't she?' Benner grumbled.
'Too long.'
Carryn allowed her eyelids to flutter open and shut, and glimpsed her daughter lying bound on the floor at the other side of the room. The child hadn’t started to rouse yet.
A rough hand shook Carryn's shoulder. 'Wake up, you stupid bitch! Come on, we know you're conscious.'
She opened her eyes, shutting them as the light of a lamp stabbed at her. 'Light - hurts,' she stammered, trying to sound muddle-headed.
'You're holding the lantern too near her, you fool!' snapped a voice.
'She's awake enough now for your purpose, lord.'
'Then leave us. Stay nearby. I'll summon you if I need you to waken the other one.'
The man inclined his head and left the room with a soft-footed tread.
Benner, Lord Claimant of Tenebron, reached down to haul Carryn to her feet and thrust her roughly into a chair.
She cried out as she banged her shoulder and head. She need not have cried out. She was well enough trained now to endure pain in silence. But it seemed right to continue to feign weakness and terror.
'Shut up!' he snapped. He pulled her into a roughly upright position against the hard wooden back of the chair, but made no attempt to loosen the bonds that were holding her arms awkwardly behind her.
She found she could force a tear out, to trickle down her cheek, and to her satisfaction the sight of it made Benner chuckle and wipe it away with one fingertip.
'Poor frightened little bird,' he mocked, then his amusement vanished. 'Right, I have some questions to ask and I want some answers from you. If you don't answer, and answer truthfully, I'll hand you over to the Initiates of the Inner Shrine, as I did last time.'
Her shudder was not feigned.
'You are Bel-Ashkaron's daughter, aren't you?'
She nodded.
He slapped her face. 'Answer me properly!'
'Yes, lord. I'm Aharri's daughter.' She kept her voice soft and breathy with fear.
'You've grown up since I saw you last.'
She just stared at him.
Benner was chewing at his thumb. 'Why did he b
ring you back here to Tenebrak? He rescued you and sent you away once before. Why in the name of my family's line did he bring you back? It doesn't make sense. I want to know what he's planning.' He shook her when she did not answer immediately. 'Well, go on! Answer me!'
'He's not planning anything that I know of, lord. We were missing one another, that's all. I wanted to see him so I sent him a message. I wasn't happy where I was. I was brought up in the city. Those distant settlements are - they're primitive. I don't like life there.'
He was staring at her as she spoke, as if he could read the thoughts behind her eyes. 'You're lying.' He walked across to kick Lerina. 'Explain her. Why did he bring her with you? She's not his daughter.'
Carryn couldn’t hold back a cry as he kicked her child a second time. 'Leave her alone! What harm has she done to you?'
'Ahh! So we have the key here to finding the true answers. Roath!' he yelled. 'Roath, come back here!'
Carryn closed her eyes in anguish. She’d betrayed herself so quickly, given him the key to attacking Aharri.
Then she suddenly grew still as she realised that it was a key which might turn two ways.
The harsh-voiced man returned.
'Rouse the other one!' Benner ordered.
In silence, the man gave Lerina a spoonful of liquid from a small dark bottle. When the girl was roused enough to realise what was happening, she turned great frightened eyes towards Carryn, who shook her head as her daughter would have spoken to her.
Lerina closed her mouth, but tears were welling from her eyes, and it was clear from the way she gasped as she was pulled upright that her side was hurting where Benner had kicked her.
'Put her in the other chair, then leave us.'