The Palace Job

by Patrick Weekes

  "Kail?"

  "Yes, Voyant?"

  "Please stop snowing me."

  "Yes, Voyant."

  "I'm a much better liar than you are, and I hate to see it done badly."

  "The captain really appreciates this, Voyant."

  "That's immensely reassuring, Kail."

  "Care for another beer? I can probably dig up another slice of lime."

  "I'm sure you can," Cevirt said acidly. "They're my limes." "We should prime the area with a harmonic diffusion mist," Hessler said.

  "To slow the ward-incursion response." Desidora nodded. "I wonder if Tern has any powdered yvkefer? That would provide us with a larger window of opportunity to safely interrupt the ward."

  A small pouch sailed over the vault's half-open door without comment and landed at Desidora's feet.

  "She's such a dear," Desidora murmured as she picked up the bag. Cevirt took a couple of casual steps to see into the vault, and was able to confirm that Tern was making a terrible but hilarious face while tapping some sort of crystal against the walls.

  "You've got an exceptional grasp of aural pattern manipulation," Hessler said earnestly, making the sparkles do some sort of dance between his fingers.

  "It comes with the training." Desidora winked and gave Hessler a mischievous smile. "Before I turned to Byn-kodar, I was a love-priestess of Tasheveth."

  "That is so hot," Kail murmured.

  Inside the vault, Cevirt caught the sound of Tern breaking her crystal against the wall, followed by a muttered curse.

  Desidora tossed a pinch of silvery powder into the air over the vault door, and she and Hessler began a rapid chant. Cevirt took an involuntary step backward as the healthy tan bled from Desidora's skin, leaving flawless white behind. Her hair darkened to glossy black, as did her dress, and the pattern on Tern's pouch, which Cevirt remembered as being horses in a meadow, took on a skull-and-spider motif.

  A moment later, the crystalline lights in the ceiling shot sparks, flared with blinding intensity, and then went out. In the darkness, Cevirt saw only purple afterimages but heard a sudden loud crash.

  After a few moments of blinking, he realized that there was still some light in the chamber. It came from Desidora and Hessler, who appeared to be frozen in a glowing blue nimbus of energy.

  After another moment, Cevirt realized that the vault door had slammed shut.

  "The captain really appreciates this, Voyant," said Kail, draining the last of his tankard.

  "I think, Kail," said Cevirt, digging around in his pocket for the warding crystal that would let him free his god-daughter's friends, "that I will have another beer."

  The summons summons had come from Archvoyant Silestin, but Justicar Pyvic had seen only his secretary so far. The two men stood in one of the airship hangars, Pyvic with his hands in his trouser pockets, the secretary shivering in the cold afternoon air.

  "Did he say when he'd be here?" Pyvic asked after a moment. He had leads, and leads didn't generally get warmer while he sat around waiting.

  "The Archvoyant is exceedingly busy in these difficult times," the secretary said crisply.

  "Listen..." Pyvic paused. "I didn't get your name."

  "No," said the secretary with a pleased, fussy little smile, "you didn't."

  Pyvic waited. The secretary remained silent.

  Pyvic shrugged and started to walk away.

  "Wait!" cried the secretary behind him. "What are you doing? You can't just walk away from Archvoyant Silestin!"

  Pyvic stopped, turned, and gave the secretary a hard smile. "If Archvoyant Silestin wants to show up late to yank my leash, he has that power. But if his secretary gives me lip, I've got better things to do than sit and wait."

  "I would hate," the secretary said with a sniff, "to think that a justicar would be so short-tempered as to stalk off when his personal needs weren't made the highest priority."

  "I would hate," Pyvic said evenly, "to include a mention of Silestin's secretary failing to provide information pertinent to my investigation in my formal report to the Voyancy."

  The secretary bristled, then controlled himself with an effort and said, "Archvoyant Silestin is currently at an important meeting with the Eastern—"

  "Eastern Mining Council, a large group of landed gentry with some nobles kept on a tight leash to give the illusion of tradition. We're waiting here because after Silestin gives away a long-term mining contract in exchange for political support in the coming election, he's on his way down earthside to give a speech at an Urujar school about the virtues of education and make the first throw in a local league game of aelaciel." The secretary's eyes went wide as Pyvic continued. "After he makes nice with the locals, he's putting in the warding keystone at a nearby wizard's university and hearing what they have to offer to swing his vote on the conjuration referendum currently working its way through the Sub-Committee on Ethics and Magic." Pyvic smiled. "I'm aware of the Archvoyant's affairs. I didn't ask where he was. I asked when he'd bother to show up for the meeting he initiated."

  "Well, Pyvic, it's hard to keep these things on a schedule," came a lazy drawl from behind him. Pyvic managed to avoid wincing as he turned around.

  "Archvoyant Silestin," he said with a crisp nod. "Reporting as ordered."

  "You play suf-gesuf, Justicar?" Silestin smiled. "You've got the face for it... if not the mouth."

  "I've got an airship navigator who can tell me who fell off where, provided I can walk him through the town," Pyvic said. "I've got a diviner of Ael-meseth who thinks he can tell me which way the death priestess went, but I need to meet personally with priests of Jairytnef and Tasheveth to obtain clearance to request the rite. I've got people on the street to befriend, harass, or bribe. Right now, I'm doing none of those things."

  "Sounds busy," Silestin observed. "Got to put in an effort, make them see that it wasn't your fault when everything went into Byn-kodar's teeth a few mornings back."

  "If you'd wanted me off the case," Pyvic said politely, "I'd be sweeping floors by now."

  Silestin laughed. "Again, Justicar, the face but not the mouth!" He stepped in. "Tricky to say, though, why you came out with a few bumps and bruises while all those other men died. Could make a man wonder."

  "Not my problem," Pyvic said, and because he was being prodded, and because there were few things he hated more than being prodded, he added, "I'm not in politics. All that matters is whether the job gets done."

  Silestin raised an eyebrow. "Be careful, Justicar. You lost my men."

  "Orris lost your men, Archvoyant."

  "I'm putting additional forces on this," Silestin said smoothly, ignoring Pyvic's last remark. "Unofficially, of course. This is still your case."

  "Unofficially in this case meaning that you're not obtaining formal clearances?" Pyvic asked, and then saw anger flash in Silestin's eyes.

  "Pushing, Pyvic. You want to report it, you'll wish you'd stayed on the ship with that wind-daemon tearing loose." Silestin turned away. "They won't be in your way. Keep me informed of your progress. I'll let you know if they find anything."

  Pyvic remained silent as Silestin stalked off to his personal airship. The Archvoyant turned at the end with a wolfish look that had even Pyvic nervous until he realized that it wasn't aimed at him.

  "And Elkinsair," Silestin added, carefully enunciating the name, "don't anger my justicar needlessly."

  Then the Archvoyant hiked up the gangplank and shook hands with the captain, and Pyvic stalked out of the hangar to get back to work.

  In the one brief glance he spared Elkinsair, the little secretary looked furious.

  Loch and the others gathered in the enormous waiting room. Kail was behind the bar again. Ululenia was in horse form—the waiting room was big enough, and she claimed that it was relaxing—munching on carrots that Dairy fed to her while Hessler scowled from a couch. Icy was seated cross-legged on the carpet, and Desidora had an entire sofa to herself, with Ghylspwr resting on one of the pillows. Cevirt sat
on one of his barstools, still looking somewhat bemused as he took them all in.

  Loch stood behind the couch, arms folded, a glass of red wine on a pedestal nearby, and scowled at Tern, who was standing at the center of everyone's attention, save possibly Ululenia, who was whickering and nudging Dairy.

  "So," said Tern finally after finishing her fruity drink, "not much from what passes for the guild up here about the general security. Nobody's been able to bribe his guards."

  "There's always a guard you can bribe," Kail said.

  "I know, right?" Tern tried to sip her drink, looked down, and blinked at the empty glass. "But that's what everyone said. Totally unbribable. And beyond normal guards, Silestin has his Blades—trained assassins and bodyguards."

  "I've heard rumors of those who cause trouble for Silestin dying under mysterious circumstances." Cevirt shook his head. "I assumed it was the usual hyperbole."

  "So we avoid the Blades." Loch nodded. "What about the vault?"

  "I have mixed news."

  "Like good and bad?" Kail asked, pouring himself a drink. "Like bad, very bad, hell no, and maybe," Tern clarified. "Desidora and I were ensnared in an extremely uncomfortable warding field," Hessler groused.

  "See?" Tern smiled. "Not all bad."

  "Excellent team spirit, Aitha," Cevirt said, sipping his drink. Loch gestured to Tern. "Go ahead."

  "There are three layers of security around these palace vaults," Tern began, then stopped to sip her already-empty drink, which made the straw rattle noisily, until Kail got up to make her another one. "First, a ward on the door that checks for an aura specifically bestowed upon current Voyancy members. I'll let the death priestess field this one."

  Desidora raised a fluted glass in Tern's direction. "Impossible to duplicate well enough to fool the ward."

  Loch pursed her lips. "That's it?"

  Desidora nodded. "It's simply too complex, even for a skilled aura manipulator."

  Loch's eyes narrowed. "I got you up here, Priestess. The assumption was that you'd be useful."

  Desidora paled slightly, which could have been taken as a sign of fear, except that her fluted glass also grew a couple of skull-faced gargoyles. "Try anyone else you like, Loch. No one can imitate that aura."

  Loch glanced at Kail, who shrugged. "Okay. Tern, next?"

  Tern blinked. "Honestly, I sort of thought that one was a show stopper."

  Kail snorted. Dairy looked confused.

  If the lake is frozen over, Ululenia broadcast to the room, drink from the river that feeds it.

  "Exactly. I think." Loch pointed at Hessler. "What runs the thing that checks the aura?"

  "The thing?" Hessler looked outraged. "To call a complex crystal lattice still functioning since the days of the Ancients a thing is—"

  "The Lapitemperum in the middle of the city," Tern chimed in, coming to Hessler's rescue. "It's the big building where pretty much everything that relates to the Ancient systems is monitored. Even if they don't control it directly, they'll have the schematics that tell us where the... thing... that controls the auras is controlled from."

  "I'll go in and take a look around," Kail suggested.

  "They've got guards," Hessler said with the tiniest trace of a sneer.

  "Which would make it difficult," Kail said, swiping Hessler's drink with a quick movement and pouring him another one, "which, correct me if I'm wrong, Magister, is better than impossible."

  "Tern," Loch said, pointing back at the apple-cheeked woman who was sipping her fruity drink and watching the argument, "next?"

  "Once we're inside the chamber," Tern said, "we need Archvoyant Silestin's personal aural signature to open the door."

  Loch looked at Desidora. Desidora shook her head, and Loch lost it slightly. "Oh, come on!"

  The personal aura of an individual is sacrosanct, Ululenia broadcast. Even those with the gifts of the gods cannot duplicate such a thing.

  "Crap," Loch muttered. "Why the hell do we even have a death-priestess, anyway?" Desidora's gown went flat black, as did the upholstery on her couch. The legs of the couch grew little clawed feet, and tiny silver spikes popped out in lines near the seams.

  "Well, if you need a few zombies or something..." Tern ventured.

  "Kutesosh gajair'is!"

  "Just try it, big guy." Tern glared at the warhammer. "I've sold better artifacts than you for scrap metal."

  "Ghyl, that's not necessary." Desidora laid an alabaster hand on the hammer.

  "Kun-kabynalti osu fuir'is," Ghylspwr muttered.

  "Can we crack the personal aura deal from the Lapitemperum?" Loch asked.

  Hessler shook his head. "It's on the vault itself."

  "Actually," Desidora said, "speaking of zombies..." Her skin was slowly regrowing its healthy tan.

  "I told you!" Tern shouted.

  "Oh, for the love of..." Loch pinched the bridge of her nose. "What have you got for me, Priestess?"

  "Voyant Cevirt," Desidora said, smiling, "you told me that Archvoyant Silestin is not the first of his family to bear the title?"

  Cevirt nodded. "His great-grandfather, I believe, was also Archvoyant."

  "Which just goes to show you what a sham the supposed democratic election process is," Hessler said to Dairy, "since all the Voyants and Archvoyants come from the noble families—"

  "And all Archvoyants are buried in the mausoleum on the Archvoyant's palace grounds?" Desidora asked.

  Cevirt nodded again, then paused. "You're not suggesting—"

  "With the aura of the grandfather," Desidora said, smiling winsomely, "I can duplicate the aura of Silestin." She went just a touch pale and added, "Would that be suitably useful, Loch?"

  Loch glanced at Ululenia. "Any chance of you getting the Archvoyant to open it himself for us?"

  I would need to test his defenses, Ululenia broadcast, whickering and nosing Dairy.

  "Do it. Desidora, visit the mausoleum and check the defenses. You're our backup plan." Desidora smiled, and Loch turned back to Tern. "Next?"

  "Last order of business," Tern said, "is the lock itself, which uses a combination that changes every few seconds. It seems to use a code that relies on two very large prime numbers to..." She trailed off as Loch made a get-on-with-it gesture. "Okay, short version: I've got no way to crack it—"

  "Kind of a pessimistic team you've built, here, Captain," Cevirt observed.

  "—unless we can steal a matching encryption crystal," Tern finished. "Get me that crystal, and I think I can figure out the combination from that."

  Loch nodded slowly. "Cevirt?"

  He frowned. "It will be on him," he said after a moment's thought, "or with his secretary, at best."

  "Good." She turned to Kail. "Set up a watch on him. Find me a weakness. He's a Voyant, so he'll have a lot of public speaking events. Up here, security will be lighter. Maybe a short con." She took a sip of her wine, finally, which was damn good wine after all that. "So what does that tell us?"

  "That I should have stayed in my damn cell," Hessler muttered.

  "I believe," said Icy, "that this information necessitates a change in plan. We were prepared for a short investigation of the palace security followed by a break-in utilizing our skills as necessary. Instead, we must now target Archvoyant Silestin specifically."

  "Exactly," said Loch. "This just ceased to be a grab-and-run. It's an operation now."

  "When does it become too dangerous?" Hessler grimaced. "Not that I'm not grateful, but there have to be better jobs out there, if you examine the profit-to-risk ratio."

  Loch bared her teeth in a hard grin. "Magister, if you see me running past you, that'll be me telling you that it's time for us to get out."

  The captain knew to halt the ship's descent when he saw the telltale gleam of black crystal coming up toward them from below. He waited, of course. Archvoyant Silestin encouraged displays of initiative in very limited ways.

  But when the Archvoyant gave the order, the captain had merely to nod his
head, and the navigator followed the captain's pre-arranged orders and brought the airship to a halt, hovering in the sky hundreds of feet below the Spire.

  Their steady presence allowed it to approach.

  It was all black, and the captain thought it was made of crystal, though it did not glitter in the late afternoon sun. It seemed to suck in the light, and the air around it rippled. It was shaped like a broad "V", or like a pair of outstretched bird's wings.

  It sliced cleanly through the air and came to a halt before the captain's ship.

  "One moment," said Silestin, as he always did. "And if you don't mind, rd appreciate a bit of privacy," which he always added.

  Once, a crewman had snuck close to listen. He'd been found dead in his bed a few days later, his chest covered with stab wounds that formed the words "too curious" in his lacerated flesh. The captain did not have to order his men away after that.

  He watched as the Archvoyant stepped to the black crystal ship. A hole opened in its side, and in the deeper darkness the captain could see something. A ripple of black on black, nothing more. He looked away.

  He looked up again when the Archvoyant stomped noisily back his way. "Excuses," the Archvoyant said with a sniff. "Like assholes, Captain. Everybody has one."

  "And they all stink, Archvoyant," the captain ventured. The black crystal ship was gone, but the air near the ship still rippled.

  The Archvoyant rewarded him with a smile. "Indeed, Captain. Now let's get this boat moving, shall we?"

  Eleven

  A few days later, Archvoyant Silestin walked down Voyancy Street. He wore a military uniform that glittered with medals. Dairy looked until his eyes hurt.

  "Gedesar's fingers, kid, you don't need to stare that hard." Mister Kail elbowed Dairy. They were sitting at a table outside a kahva-house, which Mister Kail had said was a good vantage point on account of its good view of the street and its excellent kahva.

  "I thought we had to look hard so Ululenia could get the picture from our minds," Dairy said, risking a quick glance back up. There were two men with the Archvoyant, but he couldn't see them through the crowded street.