The God of Assassins (Wine of the Gods Book 11)

by Pam Uphoff

  Deena glanced at the papers, looked embarrassed. "Quicksilver assures me that there are bubbles containing the suspects attached to them."

  Easterly was leaning against the wall, looking blank and stupid. "The problem is, not one of them impressed me as . . . a leader. Pack of brutal minions, in my opinion."

  Staven scanned the sheets. "You didn't get Ricardo?"

  "No, he wasn't there. And two of t'women escaped. Bad news is—they had a corridor of their own."

  "Damn." Staven looked up as the others approached.

  "Where shall we start?" Lebonift scanned the papers.

  Rufi tapped one. "Ronnie. This is the first time he's . . . come to our attention. He may be new enough to talk to us. Then we'll know what to ask Heso and Zap."

  Lebonift took the sheet of paper to the other table. "He's a wizard. Without sunlight, he'll run out of power quickly."

  Never nodded. "I'll hold some shields, so everyone else needs to stay back."

  Twicecutt made a ripping motion, and stepped back as a man staggered out of nowhere.

  They gave the man a few moments to absorb the obvious change of venue.

  "Well, Ronnie. Fancy meeting you here." The man's eyes jerked away from the guards and the cell to look at Lebonift. And then Twicecutt, and he paled a bit.

  Knows a powerful magician when he sees one. Or does he recognize this one in particular?

  His eyes tracked further, to the witch, Rufi, Staven. He paled further.

  "Now, these fellows are going to search you, just in case you've got some weapons concealed . . . "

  Staven could see the flashes of not-really-light as Never blocked a succession of spells and watched the wizard run out of power, out of the sunlight, panic and pull a knife.

  Kester's men took it away from him and searched him with no attempts to be polite or gentle about it.

  "And now you are going to tell us all about the assassination." Lebonift smiled as the man looked around for escape, any way away.

  "You can't make me."

  Twicecutt snorted. "Your obvious complicity in the murder of a royal prince removes any sort of professional courtesy I might accord a fellow magician. I don't even have to worry about damaging you, since they'll most likely execute you next week."

  Never made a slight gesture. A flick of not-really-light.

  "That was a spell to impede the creative process so necessary for lying. Never slipped that in so easily." Deena's voice was barely breathed. "She is so strong and so experienced . . . "

  "Ricardo will rescue me."

  Flick.

  "Was that to encourage babbling?" Easterly could see it too.

  Twicecutt seemed to be taking over the questioning. Ronnie's afraid of him.

  "Ricardo doesn't know that anything has happened to you. It wasn't quite clear to me whether you guys were also Whores de Combat or merely Hors de Combat. Whose idea was that?"

  That's right, get him started talking.

  "Huh? I'm not a whore, even if Ricardo sometimes needs a quick fuck."

  "Umm, you must miss Rip Crossing."

  Ronnie glared. "Old Gods! No one was supposed to recognize us, we should have been able to go back any time we wanted."

  "Pity, that. You shouldn't have let those two witches into your orgy."

  "Hey, they were pretty and they could honestly say they'd never seen the Prince. They didn't know us, either. Precious Little Darlings who got away from overprotective mamas for a night."

  "I see. You were getting tired of fucking whores and just deepening the same old ruts."

  Ronnie snickered. "Ruts, heh, heh. Don't let them hear you say that."

  "Who planned the murder?"

  "I don't know what you are talking about." There was an edge of panic in his voice.

  "No, of course not. It's not like they ever really trusted you."

  Ronnie cursed him, full blown panic taking over. "He'll kill me, kill me slowly. I can't tell you anything about him."

  "Then tell me about the Edge of the World."

  "Ricardo made it, he just sat there and it like, grew up out of the ground. I've heard about the old ones being able to get together and do it. Well, Ricardo's a god. He did it all alone. He put holes down and made geysers right where he wanted them. Jeri, Jeri's an old buddy of mine from Gemstone, he knew about managing things, so Ricardo put him in charge of the place. And then he got us to talk it up in Rip, so we'd get some people coming and going and gossip about us making the rounds. Old Gods! I felt like a pimp, pulling in customers for the girls. Those Auralians pulled in more people than the orgies, all the dirty miners wanting to get cleaned up and have an elegant dinner with music and dancing . . . of course then they usually came out to the pools and joined in the orgies, but if it weren't for the dinners I think they'd have just bought a whore in Two Trees."

  "How long has Ricardo been killing people?"

  "Umm, he said his first was three years ago."

  "How many people has he murdered?"

  Shrug. "Five that I saw. Before . . . "

  "When was the first time Ricardo lured someone to the Edge of the World to kill?"

  "Oh, six months ago, some rich guy from Havwee. He was a stingy tipper, the women were glad to get rid of him. He had a heart attack in bed. Heh, heh, heh."

  "The next one?"

  Ronnie choked and coughed, but couldn't stop himself. "The Prince. Rebo was an old friend, he and Ricardo liked hitting the orgies together. Ricardo swings both ways, see? And so did the prince. They used to meet in Karista for some fun with whores, until he got dragooned into the army."

  "When was this?"

  Ronnie didn't know exactly, but prodded, mentioned a number of dates when he didn't know where Ricardo was.

  "And how did he get Rebo out to the Edge of the World?"

  "He set it up through a mutual friend, that Kevin fellow, or Keith, or whatever his real name was and laid on the entertainment to distract the minder."

  Ronnie squirmed and reached for any possible life saver. "He would have been a lousy king, we were practically doing the world a favor, here. And we gave him a good send off, you know? Fucked ten women, deflowered two of them. Ricardo led them off to the lower pools and they both raped Kevin before they killed him and threw him to the lizards. At least that's what Ricardo said. They threw him to the lizards, and while Rebo was laughing Ricardo pushed him in too."

  I am going to kill that son of a . . .

  "What about Staven?"

  "Ricardo was pissed. But they didn't want the alarm raised until the lizards had eaten the evidence, so the whore walked him out the front door and Ricardo killed him, too. We were on the way out when this witch went tearing by on a horse. In Havwee, we heard something about Prince Staven. An officer was forming up troops to head for Two Trees. Ricardo went back to make sure Staven was dead." Ronnie laughed nastily. "And that Xen was right there, Ricardo said he regrets not rushing in with his sword ready. He really hates that weirdo."

  Or claims to, to hide a relationship?

  "Who else does he hate?"

  That got them a pretty long string.

  "Who does he talk to, to get all his information?"

  Blank. The blankness of ignorance, no other barriers needed.

  "Who hired him?"

  Blank.

  "Who are his friends?"

  "We are. He says we're the only people he can trust."

  "You and the Whores. Auralians and Veronians."

  Ronnie shrugged. "They're useful. The accents are kinda cute."

  Lebonift looked over enquiringly at Kester, who shook his head.

  Never cast a spell, bright, then dim. Dimmer. Ronnie's faint gleam disappeared.

  Easterly caught his breath. "The Chain."

  Then Dydit made a tossing gesture, and Ronnie disappeared. The wizard made a pressing motion on the piece of paper and, presumably, handed the prisoner back to the colonel.

  "Shall we get the other Gemstone fellow out of t
he way? I expect the Rip Crossing pair will know more."

  "Right. Eldon Kissison. Seventeen years old." Janic eyed the labels on the other papers and handed one over, before he retreated to observe.

  Dydit shook his head at the young man he extracted. "I thought better of you, Eldon. Cold blooded murder?"

  Same age as Ricardo, so young to be so venal.

  "I'm not . . . " His shoulders slumped. "I didn't know they were killing people. I just went to their orgy, and away with them the next morning. When I heard about the princes . . . I should have left, gone to the King's Own . . . I got drunk instead. And now I'm no better than they are." He stared wearily around the room. There were no barriers in his mind.

  "Where is Ricardo now?"

  "He's sticking close to the tavern, to pick up information. He's wormed in with some noble family, probably with illusions, knowing him. Living in the lap of luxury, waiting till someone prays to him. He really is a god, you know? Everything they say in the books about the collective subconscious, you can see it in him. Sometimes he doesn't even remember being a kid. It's . . . strange. Even when I'm sober."

  Stupid drunken kid. Old Gods, and now you'll hang with the rest of them.

  "Why did Ricardo try to ensure that one of the outsider witches only had sex with Prince Rebo? And then why did he try to kidnap her?"

  "Oh. When she showed up, he had a sudden idea. She's from the same witch line as his mother, and there must have been matching genes in various fathers up and down the bloodlines. Ricardo figured he could change just a few genes and it'd be just like he and Rebo had a baby. They both thought it was hysterical. Rebo said something about raising the kid as a mascot for the gang." Eldon frowned. "I don't understand. If he loved Rebo, why did he kill him? Prayers can't be that powerful, can they?"

  "You are asking us that? Don't you know why he did it?"

  He shook his head. "I don't know how he could . . . just kill people. I don't think it was even for the thrill. They said that sometimes he laughed while he was killing someone, if it was really embarrassing or stupid." He slumped. "But mostly, they said he was just like a cook cutting up vegetables. All business, and so expert he barely paid attention to what he was doing."

  "You knew he was killing people?"

  He shook his head. "I just went to parties . . . After they killed Rebo, they told me all about it. Like they were telling an initiate all the secrets of the cult."

  "And after that? Who did they kill up in the Divide?"

  "No one . . . yet. Ricardo said the right man would come along soon enough. He never mentioned a name." He looked away. "Now I'll never know if . . . I would have had the nerve to try and stop them."

  He was pathetic. Never chained him and Dydit bubbled him.

  "Heso and Zap, damn it, I know their parents. Havi and Rustle's friends from childhood."

  Zap started sweating in fear immediately, and said not a single word.

  The wizards stepped away for a low voiced conference with Janic, Kester and Wacolm.

  Never was frowning. "His mind is barricaded, whole sections walled off. An outside source, for those. Nasty fool probably doesn't even realize they are there. I suggest we try the other one, and see if he'll give us a better handle on the spells."

  Twicecutt put him back in his bubble.

  Heso played tough. Claimed to know nothing, to be helping friends build an Inn, and how dare they interfere?

  "I thought Rebo was your friend?"

  Tense silence.

  "You've been whoring with him for years. You gave him a hell of a manhood party, didn't you?"

  Heso sat as if frozen.

  "What hold does Ricardo have over you, that you would kill a friend?" Never stood and looked deep into his eyes. "We know he's calling himself a god. Do you believe that?"

  "It's true. He really is a god, and when he needs our help, we give it to him." Heso panted and sweated. The last barriers were coming down, assailed from inside and out. "I told him, I told him not Rebo, but he laughed. He said his worshiper had prayed so it had to be done. 'We'll send him off with style.' he said."

  "Who was this worshiper?"

  Shrug.

  "Where is Ricardo now?"

  Heso opened his mouth to reply, then his eyes rolled up and he collapsed. Never cursed and spells flew. Heso finally responded to the Guards' resuscitation efforts.

  "Old Gods! I'll bet Zap's got triggers like that as well." Never slipped on the Chain spell, and checked that he was still breathing.

  "Can we question him again?" Kestler frowned down at the wizard.

  "Let him recover normally, then we'll see if he's had a change of heart."

  The troops carried him off to the prison infirmary.

  They brought Zap out again. And removed the same spells from him.

  Not that it helped. He didn't know who had hired them to kill the Prince.

  The first of the Auralian whores was the one who had tried to kill Staven. She cursed and spat. Never stepped in closer, probably thinking to intimidate her . . . stepped back, folding over with an exclamation, but threw up an arm to block the second blow coming toward her head, turned to get her knee away from a kick . . . The whore went suddenly limp, drooling a bit from a slack mouth.

  Never rubbed her stomach, and cursed under her breath. Or perhaps it was a spell. She straightened.

  "Well, I didn't expect that! Let's tie her up and then I'll release her mind."

  Bound, the woman snapped alert. Glared.

  "Well, you're pretty well trained. How'd you hide that for so long?"

  The woman curled a lip. "Hoon chose us to come with her, because of our training. And she taught us a lot. Good hostesses, good little whores! Ha! And take care of an occasional problem for a whole lot of money."

  Staven shivered. Never isn't being subtle with this one, she's got no mental brakes at all.

  "How'd you meet those men?"

  She shrugged. "Ricardo showed up one day, and said we were his kind of people. Without Hoon, we needed help. We hadn't realized how much we needed the magic."

  "Brought you customers, did he?"

  She shrugged. "Victims. He said that how he found clients was none of our business. Of course we tried to follow him. But how do you follow someone who disappears right in front of you?"

  "Where does he live?"

  Shrug.

  "Who was he going to kill, in the Divide."

  Shrug. They bubbled her and brought out the next woman.

  The Guards stuck close and tied up the other two before they had a chance to attack anyone. They had no idea who the client was. "Ricardo never tells."

  The two Veronian witches just cowered in terror, staring at her. "Miserable training," Never muttered. They just shivered. Fear of her, fear of Ricardo, fear of something in their childhood.

  Never stepped away, but Lefty wasn't able to get any information out of them either. She put two last Chain spells on them.

  "Well, unless they're a whole lot stronger than I think, they're safe for anyone to handle now. It looks like Ricardo only put barriers and traps on the two who'd grown up with him. Which probably means he didn't tell the others much."

  Kestler nodded. "Thank you. I'll see if the professionals can get anything more."

  Dydit snorted. "They are just tools. We didn't get much."

  "Well, other than everyone's belief that Ricardo's the leader, a god for . . . gods sake." Lebonift shifted uneasily.

  Kester nodded. "And those, Old Gods save me, Hors de Combat, didn't even know that. They were just setting up a business."

  "I wonder who he was going to murder, on the road between Farofo and the Veronian empire? Assuming that was the business they were in. I suppose it might have just been a cathouse." Never tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "As soon as those women who got away get to him he'll move again. If the women used the corridor to Karista it's probably already too late."

  Deena smiled thinly. "The two who escaped were poo
rly trained witches like the last two women. They may not even try to contact him. I think Quicksilver and Yellow scared them. We need to try and find all his eyes and ears. Hanging around the Tavern? We'll see about that."

  Rufi shook his head. "Even more important is to find out who hired them. This 'worshiper.' Easterly, that teenage girlfriend, Teri or whatever her name is, drop some false information. Something she'll pass on to Ricardo, something he might pass on to the employer. If it gets back to us, perhaps we can trace it. Ricardo . . . If what everyone says is true, we'd better hit him with the heaviest magic users we can ask nicely to come help."

  Chapter Seventeen

  Winter 1393, day 11

  Karista, Kingdom of the West

  Staven was delighted to find Damien Malder dining with his mother.

  "Join us. Nazar is off with girlfriends and Martin is already in bed. Probably with a book." She sent a censorious look toward Uncle Day.

  The man just grinned. "After I heard that he'd started hiding under the covers with a candle, I gave him a, umm, magic light. Battery powered, actually."

  A maid hustled in with a glass and setting of silver.

  Staven snorted. "I'm sure I never came close to burning the house down, when I was sixteen. Uncle Day, I need to pick your brain. See if you can see anything I'm missing."

  Another girl with a plate. The rare roast beef was already cut up. Staven refused to show that he'd noticed.

  The Earther nodded. "I take it you're getting enough information to be getting someplace?"

  "Oh yeah. We nabbed almost all of the minions. I'm just back from sitting in on their initial questioning." Staven glanced at his mother. She was looking pale. "Sorry, Mom. Not nice table talk."

  "No, go ahead. I . . . hate not knowing anything, but I know I shouldn't bother anyone, either. I . . . hadn't heard of any arrests."

  "I think Rufi wants this kept quiet, so maybe the . . . person that hired them won't hear about it."

  His mother and Uncle Day both nodded their understanding.