The Inquisitives [2] Night of Long Shadows

by Crilley, Paul

  “How dare you—”

  “And please, don’t start with the whole ‘I know powerful people’ routine. You have no idea how much that irritates me. Why don’t we just lay it all out? We know about Anriel. We know about the dragonshard. The man you thought was Salkith? He wasn’t. He was an undercover agent. So we can tie you to the Shadow priest and the stolen shard, which then ties you to the deaths of the professor and the courtesan.”

  Xavien looked afraid, and not a little confused. “What courtesan?” he asked, his voice filled with bewilderment.

  “Please don’t insult me, Lord Xavien. As it stands, you’re taking the blame for everything.”

  Xavien paused. Wren could see him running all the evidence through his mind, trying to decide how damning it actually was. Quite damning, he concluded.

  “Please,” Xavien said, leaning forward on his desk, “you must understand. I didn’t want to get involved. I was threatened. I had no choice.”

  “Involved in what?”

  “It was Tiel. A halfling. He’s in the Boromar clan. He thinks he’s some kind of unrecognized heir of Saidan Boromar.”

  “I know who Tiel is.” Col turned to Wren. “We weren’t sure if he was involved or not. He’s very good at keeping himself clean. All we knew was that Jana did some work for him. That was why I got myself attached to her squad.” He looked back to Xavien. “So what is he up to?”

  “I don’t know. All I did was put him in touch with Anriel. My department is in charge of keeping track of worshipers of the Dark Six, to make sure they don’t try anything dangerous. He threatened me. I had no choice! Surely you can see that?”

  Wren certainly couldn’t. Something wasn’t making sense. If Xavien was lying, he was very good at it, the best he’d ever seen, but something didn’t feel right. He decided to take a risk.

  “And did you also put him in touch with Diadus?” he asked.

  Xavien’s response was astounding. As soon as Wren uttered the name, his eyes fixed on Wren’s and his face broke into a snarl of rage. He yanked open the desk drawer and pulled out a small crossbow. Wren stared in astonishment, too surprised to move.

  Good thing he wasn’t the target. Xavien swung the crossbow at Col, but he was already on his feet and diving across the desk. He grabbed hold of Xavien’s wrist and they went over backward onto the floor. Wren got to his feet and hurried around the desk. Xavien was struggling with Col, trying to free the hand holding the crossbow.

  “To Khyber with you!” shouted Xavien. “You’ll ruin everything!”

  Wren stood on Xavien’s wrist and put his weight on it until the councilor cried out in pain and released his grip on the crossbow. Wren kicked it out of reach. As soon as he did this, Col punched Xavien hard in the stomach, incapacitating him. He looked around.

  “Get me some rope, something to tie him up with.”

  Wren looked around “Where am I going to get rope?”

  “I don’t know! Just find anything!”

  Wren’s glance fell on the curtains. They were made from thick velvet. He yanked one down and cut it into long strips with his knife. Col took them and tied the councilor to his chair. The man was still wheezing in pain from the punch, struggling to take in breath.

  Col stood back once his work was finished. Wren glanced at him. “What was that all about?”

  Col shrugged. “Guess he doesn’t want us to know about Diadus.”

  At the sound of the name, Xavien’s head snapped up. “You’ll never get anything out of me.”

  “We’ll see,” said Col mildly. He sighed. “Why can your lot never make it easy?” He opened up a pouch that was slung over his shoulder and took out a tiny bloodspike.

  “What’s that?” Wren asked.

  “It’s a type of clerical magic,” said Col. “Took our people ages to adapt it this way.” “What does it do?”

  Col held up the small glass vial. “Whoever is injected with this is forced to tell the truth.”

  “Oh.” Wren thought for a moment. “That’s handy.”

  “Extremely. And top secret. So I’m afraid I may have to kill you once this is all done.”

  Wren waited for him to laugh or follow the comment with a joke, but he didn’t. Instead, he turned to Xavien.

  “Last chance,” he said. “These things are still a bit unreliable. I know of a few people who still can’t tell lies, years after they were injected.”

  Xavien glared at Col, but said nothing.

  Col shrugged. “Your choice,” he said, and jabbed it into the councilor’s neck.

  “How long does it take to work?” asked Wren.

  “Lord Xavien,” said Col, “are you currently involved in any criminal activities?”

  “Yes.”

  “How many?”

  “Five projects that are currently active, four more that will soon begin.”

  Col raised his eyebrows at Wren. “Projects. I like that.” He turned back to Xavien. “Tell me about Diadus.”

  “He’s an artificer. Cannith. But he was excoriated when the family found out he was experimenting with creating warforged.”

  “That’s it!” exclaimed Wren. “I knew I’d heard that name before. Remember that warforged mass murderer a few years ago? Just after the war? After he was caught, there were rumors going about that it was this Diadus who created him.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “He disappeared. No one knew where he went.”

  “Looks like we’re about to find out. Xavien, where is Diadus now?”

  “In Fallen. Where the Glass Tower fell.”

  “And what is his involvement?”

  Xavien hesitated. Wren could see the man trying to hold back the words.

  “Xavien,” said Col. “I order you to tell me what Diadus is doing.”

  “He helped Anriel trap the Shadow elemental inside the dragonshard.”

  Wren and Col exchanged glances.

  “Why?” asked Col. “What is the purpose of this dragonshard?”

  “Tiel plans to release the elemental at the Tain gala dinner. The elemental has been ordered to kill Saidan Boromar and then wipe out all the members of the city council.”

  “But that’s absurd!” snapped Wren. “For what purpose?”

  “Tiel got tired of waiting for his father to acknowledge him. He plans on taking over all of Boromar’s business.”

  “And the council?”

  “They will be replaced by politicians who are sympathetic to Tiel.”

  “And grateful,” said Col grimly.

  “Correct.”

  “Are you one of those?”

  Xavien smiled. “Most definitely. You are looking at the next mayor of Sharn.”

  Wren turned and walked to the window. “But this is insane. King Boranel will never stand for it. There will be investigations. Arrests.”

  “Why do you think Tiel used Anriel?” Col asked.

  Wren turned. “Explain.”

  “Anriel is a member of Daask. He has lodgings in Daask’s headquarters, for Khyber’s sake. Tiel has planted enough evidence to let the blame fall on Anriel and the heads of the Daask clan.”

  “Clever,” said Col. “In one swoop, he becomes head of one of the biggest criminal organizations in the land, plants a city council that will never speak out against him, and gets rid of the Boromar clan’s closest rivals.”

  “We have to warn the council.”

  “No point,” said Xavien. “Once the elemental is released, it won’t stop ‘til it’s tracked down each and every one of them.”

  “Then we have to stop Tiel from releasing it.”

  “Good luck. Only Diadus knows where that will happen.”

  Wren was heading for the door, Col close behind.

  “Hey!” Xavien struggled in his chair, straining against the bonds. “What about me?”

  “Don’t worry,” called Col over his shoulder. “I’ll send some watchmen up to take you into custody.”

  Col closed the doo
r, but they could still hear Xavien’s screams of outrage.

  The third day of Long Shadows

  Sar, the 28th day of Vult, 998

  Waves of pain pulsed through Cutter’s head. Every time a wave crested, it felt as though his brain was pushing against his skull, trying to escape through his eye sockets. Then it would slowly subside and he would hope it was finished, hope that the pain had ended, until a few moments later, it started all over again.

  As he struggled through the black depths of unconsciousness, he became aware of another pain, this one in the muscles just below his armpits. This one was constant, a drawn-out stretching feeling that wouldn’t go away no matter how much he tried to ignore it.

  He wondered briefly if he had been drinking last night. That would account for the headache. But what about the arms?

  Freezing cold water hit him in the face. He drew in a huge gulp of air, gasping at the shock of the temperature. His eyes snapped open. He shook the water from his face as his blurry vision slowly focused on the floor below him.

  He looked up. His arms were pulled high above him, tied together by a rope that was thrown over a thick wooden beam, one of many that supported the roof. He scanned down the rope and saw that it was tied around one of the strange pillars. His feet dangled about five feet off the ground.

  “Glad to see you’re finally awake,” said a voice.

  He looked up and wasn’t at all surprised to see Jana standing before him with an empty bucket in her hand. She had a bandage tied around her neck.

  “Host, don’t you ever go away?” said Cutter. “Like I told you five years ago, I’m not interested.”

  The bucket flew through the air. He managed to turn aside just in time to avoid it hitting him full in the face. Instead, it cracked into the side of his head. Blood trickled over his ear.

  He turned and glared at her.

  “That look might scare some of the people you hang out with, Blackbird, but not me. I’ve seen a lot worse.”

  “I know. When you look in the mirror every morning.”

  It was childish. He knew that, but he couldn’t help it. The words were out of his mouth before he could even think about stopping them.

  Jana shook her head and smiled ruefully. “You’re really something, you know that? Here you are, not far from death, and you can still crack a joke. It’s good. It shows character.”

  Cutter glanced up at the knots around his wrist. They looked pretty tight.

  “Don’t bother. You’ll never get out of it. Face it, Blackbird. You’re a dead man breathing. No one’s going to come to your rescue. No one’s going to save you.” Jana walked forward and pulled out a cutthroat razor. She flicked the blade out and turned it this way and that, studying it. “Found this in Tiel’s bath chamber. I learn a lot about people from what they keep in the bath chamber. It looks old. I think the handle is bone of some kind. What are you laughing at?”

  She looked up and saw Cutter laughing painfully.

  “You,” he said. “Going through people’s bath chambers like some kind of pervert.”

  Jana slashed out with the razor, never once breaking eye contact with Cutter. He felt a sharp slice of pain along his stomach, then warmth seeping through his clothes. He stared into her dark eyes, not moving, not giving her the satisfaction of seeing the pain.

  “There’s nothing you can do to me that wasn’t done in Valenar.”

  She smiled. “We’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?”

  “I have no fight with you, Jana. I want Tiel. That’s all.”

  “Oh, but that’s not good for me. Tiel pays me very well. He was most upset that he missed you the other night at the Hanging Garden, by the way. That’s what I was doing there—meeting him about you. Although I didn’t know it then. Would have saved everyone a lot of bother if you’d stayed.” She took a step forward. Cutter tensed, thinking to kick her with his feet, but she was careful to stay out of range. “I’ll make a deal with you—for old time’s sake. Tell me where the money is and I’ll kill you quick.”

  “There never was any money. A couple of hobgoblins got to it before me.”

  She stared thoughtfully at him. “Pity,” she said, and darted in to punch him in the stomach. He didn’t have time to tense his muscles, and Jana knew how to hit hard, jabbing in and backing out quickly. He jerked on the rope, swaying back and forth as he gasped for breath. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. The knot that tied the rope to the pillar shifted as he rocked. He wasn’t sure if the whole rope was moving around the pillar or if the knot was weakening, but it gave him an idea.

  Cutter tensed his shoulder and arm muscles, putting his weight against the rope and pulling himself up. Not much, not so that Jana would notice. At the same time, he grabbed hold of the rope with his bound hands and focused on pulling it down.

  “That’s just for starters,” said Jana. “I’m going to keep you alive for a long time, Cutter.”

  Cutter sucked in great gulps of air. “Why? What did I do?”

  “What did you do? You ruined everything, that’s what you did. Why do you think you were arrested in the first place? For taking some stupid bribes? There isn’t one person in the Sharn Watch who doesn’t take bribes. It’s practically written into your contract. That’s why the pay is so bad. They know we’re going to get some money on the side.”

  “Then what?”

  “You were asking questions about Leto’s death. Questions quite a few of us didn’t want answered.”

  Cutter stared at Jana in surprise. Leto had been his superior when he joined the Watch. It was his job to show Cutter the ropes, make sure he didn’t get himself killed in his first week. Cutter hadn’t liked him much. Leto showed him all the stuff they didn’t teach you anywhere else, the least of which was that taking bribes was not a bad thing. But then one night, he was found floating in the Dagger River, and Cutter had done some digging. Nothing drastic. He didn’t actually care that Leto was dead—Khyber, he’d probably deserved what he got.

  Cutter was arrested and kicked out of the Watch not long after.

  He struggled to think back, but he couldn’t recall uncovering anything that implicated anyone. “But I didn’t even dig that deep. I just thought it was someone with a grudge.”

  “Oh, it was. Me. But we couldn’t take the chance you would find anything.”

  “Why are you telling me this? It was five years ago. I don’t care, Jana.”

  Jana’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You don’t care that I was responsible for getting you kicked off the Watch? If not for that, you wouldn’t have been taken by the Valenar. You were a slave, Cutter.”

  “But if you hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have met Rowen,” he said. “Everything happens for a reason, Jana. What happened back then … it brought me to a place in my life where I was happy.”

  Jana stared at him incredulously. “You getting philosophical on me, Blackbird? Didn’t ever see you as much of a thinker.”

  “I wasn’t. But three years on the Valenar plains, you learn to look inside a bit.”

  She searched his face, curiosity plain on her features. “I’m kind of sad to kill you now, Blackbird. You’ve actually become interesting.”

  Cutter made one last attempt. “Then cut me down. All I want is to get the person who took Rowen from me. All I want is Tiel.”

  For a moment he thought she was actually going to cut him down. Then she broke into a grin, and Cutter felt his hopes drip away like the blood from his wound.

  “No, I don’t think so. Nice try, though.”

  Cutter glanced surreptitiously at the knot. Was it his imagination, or had it unraveled a fraction?

  “You always were pathetic,” he said, turning his attention to Jana and looking as contemptuous as possible.

  Jana looked at him in amazement. “Excuse me?”

  “Why don’t you just admit it? All that stuff about Leto. It’s all rubbish. You did all this because I turned
you down. You wanted me and I said no. You couldn’t handle that.”

  Jana burst out laughing. “That’s some ego you have there, Blackbird.”

  “And do you know why I turned you down? Because you were sad. Here was this old woman—and you practically are an old woman Jana, no matter how much dye you put in your hair—here was this old woman getting drunk and making a pass at the new recruit. It was embarrassing, Jana.”

  “Shut up, Blackbird.”

  “You were so desperate. And you know what? After you left, I actually felt sorry for you. I don’t even think it was about sex. You were just so lonely you didn’t want to wake up alone.”

  “I said shut up!”

  Jana lunged forward and punched him in the stomach again. He didn’t try to kick her. Instead, he went with the punch, subtly moving his legs like a child on a swing to get rocking back and forth. She hit him again. His breath exploded from his lungs, but again, he used the force of the punch to build up his swing.

  He glanced at the knot. It was definitely unraveling, loosening in quick jerks every time his movement carried him backward. He pointed his feet forward in an attempt to get some more power, but Jana saw him and stepped back a pace.

  She looked up at him and shook her head. “Nice try, Blackbird. But you’re not going to get me close enough to try anything.”

  Cutter felt the rope jerk as he moved to the zenith of the swing. He looked at the knot and saw it parting. He pulled himself up and thrust his feet forward, swinging with as much energy as he could. The knot gave way and he sailed through the air, carried by his forward momentum. Jana’s eyes opened wide and she tried to dive out of the way, but she was too late. His feet caught her full in the face and she flew backward, blood spraying from her nose.

  Cutter landed heavily on his back. He struggled for breath and tried to pull his wrists apart, but that knot was still tight.

  He pushed himself to his knees, then to his feet, and staggered over to Jana. She sat against the wall and shook her head dazedly, one hand trying to stop the blood flowing from her nose.

  She looked up as Cutter approached. “You bastard!” she screamed, trying to stand up.