by Jason Parker
They arrived at the station about forty minutes prior to their departure time. The station teemed and bustled with activity. People, horses, and coaches zigged and zagged in every direction and a persistent din filled the air like a swarm of locusts. The depot lanes for cargo coaches were filled to capacity while teams of workers busily loaded and unloaded an array of goods. Queues of waiting coaches sat, often impatiently, while waiting for their turn. Shadow and Shroud walked to the passenger lanes and located their steam coach. The horses were in the process of being swapped and the steam engine was being inspected. The driver said he expected to depart on time.
As they each gazed at the bustling people, Shroud noticed an attractive brunette disembarking from a stagecoach in the next lane over. The woman caught his eye in a moment of remembering.
“Hey,” Shroud said, grabbing Shadow’s arm. “Look,” he half-pointed and nodded his head at the coach, “I recognize her. She’s an instructor from the Science Institute named Ambernifer.”
Shadow followed his imaginary line of nods to the woman in question.
“You’re right, I remember seeing her there. This is strange…why would she be here in Crossroads? Aren’t classes about to start? Why is she here and not there preparing for her students?” Shadow asked.
“Who knows and who cares?” he responded with a shrug. “Maybe she’s here to pick up some supplies.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” she said shaking her head. “I know from my brief time working at the Institute last spring that coaches are in and out of Camber several times a week taking and filling supply orders for the Institute. There’s no reason she’d have to make a supply run personally.”
Shroud shrugged once more. “Again, why should we care? I just mentioned her because she was familiar. I’m sure there are a number of reasons why she might be here.”
Ambernifer walked in the direction of the main station building. Soon she would intermingle with the crowd and disappear from sight. Shadow stared at her back as she moved away. Her brother was probably right, but something just felt wrong and she had learned long ago to trust her feelings.
Shadow pointed in the direction of Ambernifer. “Call it a hunch, call it intuition, or maybe I’m just crazy, but she’s up to something. I’m going to follow her.”
“You’re what?” Shroud exclaimed and grabbed her arm. “You don’t have time for that. Our coach leaves in a half hour.”
“I know, I’ll be back in time.” She pulled her arm away and stood on her toes to give him a quick peck on the cheek. She hurried off before he could protest further and called out, “I’ll be in touch.” She pointed to her head and smiled.
“You know we’re totally screwed if we’re not on that steam coach,” he interjected into her mind.
“I know, I know. You worry too much. I’ll keep you posted,” she projected back and scampered toward Ambernifer.
She expected to hear more of his objections fill her head, but Shroud was silent. He likely realized he could not stop her: he knew her well.
She quickened her pace as Ambernifer entered the main stream of foot traffic. Dressed in a brown shirt and tan pants, Ambernifer blended with what most everyone else was wearing. Shadow struggled to keep eyes on her. She fought with her humidity crazed hair as it continually flopped in her face. Finally she gave up, pulled her hair back and tied it with a leather cord as she dodged and maneuvered around people trying to keep Ambernifer in sight.
Ambernifer reached the main station building at the intersection point of the roads and headed northeast along the road to Egenton. After a few blocks the swell of people began to thin, which was a mixed blessing. The crowd made it difficult to keep track of Ambernifer, but it also provided cover for herself. If Ambernifer was paying attention, which the frequent glances over her shoulder suggested, then Shadow’s cover could be compromised.
The stony buildings that emerged on the street were primarily two stories and housed an assortment of inns and taverns along with a few shops. Most buildings abutted each other but some had narrow alleys cobbled with lanes of mud and dirt and grass. Several blocks further up the road was the start of Crossroads’ infamous red lantern district and home to whores, gamblers, thieves and the lowest mucks in all of Gandany.
“She’s heading up the Egenton road. Kind of interesting considering what’s a few blocks ahead,” Shadow projected to her brother.
“Twenty-eight minutes,” was the response she received.
She was about to send back a derogatory comment but saw Ambernifer look back in her direction. She needed to get off the street. She ducked into an alley between buildings, lurched into a full sprint, and then she jumped like a spider onto the side of one building. In a fluid motion, Shadow pressed her hands against the stone and pushed off across to the building on the other side. She ricocheted back and forth, back and forth, back and forth—progressing upward until her fingers grabbed the ledge at the top of the building on the northeastern side.
She pulled herself up to the roof, walked to the street side and saw Ambernifer continuing onward several yards ahead. She jogged along the roof tops easily skipping across alleys until she reached an intersecting side street. The street was twenty feet wide. She gauged, then stepped back a few feet and sprinted to the edge. She launched herself across the street and glided to the roof on the opposite side with plenty of room to spare. Her heart pumped hard and her skin was beaded with sweat.
She jumped and maneuvered and careened for a few more blocks until Ambernifer turned down a side street right at the fringe of the red lantern district. Shadow was familiar with the street. A short street with warehouses on both sides. Ironic placement but it housed the only church in Crossroads at the end. The people of Delon, and Crossroads in particular, were not staunch followers of Keyaul.
The church, a converted warehouse, faced down the street toward the Egenton road. It was recognizable as a church only by the bell tower on the roof adorned with a brass diamond within a circle symbol of Keyaul. The pastor of the church was Priest Dennan. Shadow remembered when he was a member of the Church High Council. She met him shortly after his arrival in Crossroads, but hadn’t asked about his descent from the top of the Church hierarchy to the cellar. Regardless, she was impressed with his warmth and sincerity. He truly believed in the work he was doing. Despite the challenges of an uninterested and transient population, Dennan had managed to build a respectable congregation in the seven or eight months since he had arrived in town and opened the church doors.
Shadow scampered to the last warehouse on the street and watched as Ambernifer approached the church. Upon reaching the church door, Ambernifer scanned the area, then opened the door and slid inside.
“Ambernifer just went in the church,” she communicated to her brother.
“Good. Now that you know where she went, you can get back here,” Shroud responded.
“No, she’s acting nervous and suspicious,” she conveyed back. “I’m going to wait for a bit.”
“Twenty-two minutes,” she heard in her head.
“Asshole,” she returned. “I can make it back in five traveling by roof top.”
Shadow stared at the church and listened intently. A few moments went by—nothing. It didn’t make sense for Ambernifer to be here. This church wasn’t her church. If she wanted to go to church there was one much closer to the Institute in Camber. Perhaps she needed anonymity. Perhaps she was in some sort of trouble. Perhaps she was aware of Dennan’s reputation and preferred to seek his guidance. Perhaps, perhaps…
“Fifteen minutes,” her brother conveyed, interrupting her thoughts.
“Will you shut up about the time?” she shot back.
A few minutes later Ambernifer emerged from the church, glanced quickly from side to side, and then abruptly started walking down the street back to the Egenton road.
“Okay. She’s leaving, still looking nervous,” Shadow projected. “Hold on, it looks like she has blood on her arm. Damn,
I wish you were here to keep an eye on her. I’m going into the church. Something is definitely wrong.”
“Fine, but be quick about it. You’ve got eleven minutes,” he returned.
She ran to the edge of the roof, pulled a rope with a small grapple from her backpack, and then secured it to the ledge and slid down the rope to the ground. Without pausing, she quickly made her way to the church and burst through the doors.
“Priest Dennan,” she yelled. No answer. “Priest Dennan,” she called once more. Again, no response.
She quickly scanned the chapel. A candle was burning on the stand in front of the statue of Keyaul, but the room was unoccupied. She ran through the doors at the back of the chapel where the offices and living quarters were located. Traces of blood from a sloppy cleanup job were on the floor in front of a closed door. Dreading what she might find, she reluctantly pushed opened the door and saw two bodies piled in the right corner. She rushed over to them and checked both for a pulse on each but found no sign of life.
“Oh, shit,” she conveyed placing her palms on her temples. “Dennan and the old priest who’s been hanging around are both dead.”
“What?” her brother responded.
“They’re both dead,” she reiterated. “I’m going after Ambernifer. I’m not letting the bitch get away with this.” She slammed her fist against the wall.
“You’ll never find her. By now, she’s got too much of a head start on you and the coach leaves in seven minutes. There’s no time to search for her. We’ll have to deal with this later,” he projected.
“You go. I’ll take the next steam coach. Dennan was a good man. He deserves better than this,” she returned as tears began to fill her eyes.
“I agree,” he responded. “But even if you find her in the station crowd, what are you going to do? Accuse her? Make a public scene? Kill her?”
“I don’t know, maybe,” she conveyed feeling her frustration rise. “Or I could at least haul her ass to the authorities.”
“You’re not thinking straight,” he sent. “You can’t kill her. The authorities turn a blind eye to us when we dispose of riff raff and low-lifes. Hell, we’re doing their job for them…but if you kill a Scientist who is also an Institute instructor, there is no way they will look past that. If you try to report her for murder, she could easily point the finger back at you. Who are the authorities going to believe, a Scientist or a reputed assassin? We know where she’s going to be. Let’s finish this job and then deal with her.”
“Okay…okay,” she returned as she wiped her eyes. “I suppose you’re right. I’m on the way back.”
He wisely chose not to tell her how much time she had. She quickly left the church and scrambled up the rope to the adjacent warehouse roof. She traveled like lightning over the roof tops back to the station and then leapt her way across the awnings over the depot lanes. A few people noticed her and gawked or pointed, but she ignored them. Instead, she futilely searched the swarm of humanity for Ambernifer. Nothing.
When she reached the passenger lanes, she dropped down from an awning, landing behind her coach. As she walked toward the horses and rounded the front of the coach, she saw Shroud pleading with the driver who was shaking his head and starting to walk away. Her brother had the charisma of a toad.
“Ah, there you are,” he said noticing her and looking relieved. “I thought you had fallen in.”
The driver grunted looking none too amused and impatiently motioned for them to board the coach. They were soon on their way to Brighton to officially meet the young Scientist Nightlocke.
CHAPTER 26
“That’s a nasty cut you’ve got there, Jeffers,” Jhenna said as she walked into the infirmary examination room from her office.
Vynnera was awkwardly dabbing antiseptic on a two-inch cut on Jeffers’s forearm. Every time she touched the wound, he grimaced and tugged on his thick moustache with his free hand. Despite her clumsiness, Vynnera had managed to clean the wound well and the bleeding abated.
“So what happened?” Jhenna asked.
“It’s a little embarrassing, Priestess,” he said looking at the floor. “I’d prefer not to say.”
“It’s okay,” she reassured, “I just need to know how you injured yourself so I can treat it properly.”
“Okay,” he sighed. “The housekeeping staff asked if I would help hang a tapestry that had just been cleaned. Rather than taking the time to find a ladder, I stupidly grabbed a nearby stool. When I tried to put the tapestry rod in the mounting bracket, I couldn’t quite reach, so I tossed the rod up sort of and ended up missing the bracket. The tapestry fell over my head, I lost my balance, and then fell against the wall. I sliced my arm on the end of a nail as I went down.”
Vynnera put a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle.
Jhenna could visualize the comical chain of events, but she just smiled and said, “I was expecting something much more humiliating than that. You’re lucky a cut arm is the only injury you sustained.”
He raised his eyebrows and chuckled softly, “I suppose you’re right about that.”
Jhenna walked to a nearby shelf and after a brief scan, selected a small glass jar labeled iron amalgam. She stocked a variety of pre-made salves for treating cuts and scrapes caused by materials such as wood, glass, and metals. She opened the jar and scooped out a small portion of the ointment with her index finger.
“This will sting,” she warned as she gently spread the salve over the cut.
Jeffers tensed up as she held his arm and closed her eyes. She opened her mind, silently asking for strength from Keyaul—she then felt her essence merge with the salve, vanquishing traces of infection and mending the wound. When she opened her eyes, the cut was still a little raw, but it was on the path to recovery.
“Vynnera, apply a dressing to the wound and give him a few spares to take with him.” Turning her attention to Jeffers she added, “Keep it bandaged for a couple of days and you’ll be as good as new.”
“Many thanks, Priestess,” he said with a nod. “Oh, and you won’t tell Skenan about what happened, will you?”
Jhenna laughed, “No, your secret is safe with me.”
“Much appreciated,” he said with obvious relief.
Knowledge of her relationship with Skenan was spreading amongst the Triumvirate Guard as well as the castle watch and staff. She wasn’t quite comfortable with it, but she supposed there was nothing to be done about it now. They had gone out together twice since their initial date at the Silver Chalice. He was handsome, witty, and more intelligent than she originally suspected. He was extremely respectful of her boundaries and let her dictate the pace of the relationship. Not once had he attempted to push things beyond where she was comfortable. She never believed she could have a romantic relationship with a man and feel happy and secure.
“Priestess,” a voice called from the infirmary entrance, interrupting her thoughts.
“Yes, may I help you?” she asked the young flame-haired girl dressed in the black and red livery of the Triumvirate.
“I was sent to tell you a visitor is waiting for you in the main reception area,” the girl replied.
“Do you know the visitor’s name?” Jhenna asked.
“She said her name was Anita Lay,” the girl wrinkled her nose. “She has blue hair.”
Jhenna half-smirked at the fake name, but the blue hair erased any doubt about her visitor’s identity. Ghost was here to see her. She had hoped for this, but truly never expected it. “Thank you, please let her know I’ll be with her soon.”
The girl departed with a quick curtsy and Jhenna hurried to her office. Before treating Jeffers she had been reading a note Skenan had slipped her earlier in the morning when he made his daily delivery of fresh flowers. The note said that a member of the castle watch had witnessed a group of men wrestle a pale crazy looking man down the hall from Wexworth’s main lab. They placed him in a smaller auxiliary room. The watchman said even with the crazed man bound and gagge
d he thrashed around so much he broke one man’s nose. Skenan’s final remark was that the man sounded like one of the infected they had spoken about at the Silver Chalice.
After securing the note safely away she closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet scent of the lavender lilies and magenta carnations in the vase on her desk. She smiled and walked back into the infirmary. She told Vynnera she would be back soon and quickly patted Jeffers on the back. He smiled and bowed and turned away from her down the hallway. As she walked, she muddled over the contents of the note and of Wexworth possessing one of the poor infected souls. If it were true, she needed to find a way to gain access to the labs. She desperately wanted to understand the nature of the disease and see if she could provide a cure.
When she reached the main reception area and saw Ghost leaning against a wall next to a set of chairs, she noted the ensemble of the sore thumb of a girl. She was wearing an oversized white t-shirt, tan military pants, and black boots. Her shock of disheveled blue hair and overdone makeup caused everyone who passed by to do a double take or just outright stare. Ghost just stood there, oblivious to the attention, cleaning the dirt from her nails.
“Hello, ‘Anita’,” Jhenna said, waving at her.
Ghost looked up with a snicker and walked toward her and stopped. Jhenna turned to the proper looking young lady behind the reception desk. Her light brown hair was neatly pulled into a bun with no visible hairs out of place. She wore a smile on her face—frozen in place. “Is she all signed in?” Jhenna asked pointing toward Ghost.
“Yes Priestess, if you could please just sign your name next to hers, you’ll be all set,” the receptionist replied, her smile unwavering.
Jhenna signed the visitor’s log and motioned for Ghost to follow her. Some interview rooms used to screen petitioners before they were allowed to address the Triumvirate were around the corner and down the hall. The Triumvirate held court on Thursdays and since today was Tuesday she suspected the rooms would be unoccupied. They could use one to speak in private. As they walked, she noticed Ghost was carefully observing their route.