“It’s not,” she sighed. “But I know what I’m doing. I won’t spend too much.”
Cadence cleared her throat a little and smiled. “Perhaps you could teach me a trick or two about finances. I’m always spending too much.”
Tarina laughed and took a peek inside Cadence’s basket. “Oh, peaches! I can see why. But that’s okay, we’re all allowed something we like, right? What’s life if you can’t even buy peaches?”
“You are quite correct, ma’am.” She bowed her head. “It’s especially important that I save up this month. I’m making a donation to the Physician’s College. Can’t spend too much on produce, though it all looks lovely.”
Tarina perked up. “Oh? The Physician’s College? In Beralin?”
“Yes, ma’am. To the Anatomy Wing. I heard they have breakthrough research and figured they could use all the support they could get. I admire the hard work of the physicians and doctors in Central Siopenne. We can do nothing but benefit from their findings.”
It seemed that Tarina liked what she heard. She nodded and plucked the last egg from the farmer’s selection for her crate.
“Very noble of you. Many people think their studies are a waste of time. But I rather agree with you. They can never get enough support.” She closed up the crate and paid the farmer with a couple silver stars. “Here, Doyle. For two dozen. Have a wonderful rest of your day.” She turned to Cadence with her sharp smile. “Both of you.”
And then she left. Cadence pursed her lips, watching her disappear out the entrance. If only I had shown up earlier, she thought. She could have had more time. Tarina had told her essentially nothing.
“Ma’am, can I help you make a purchase?” the farmer asked.
“Can you package up one dozen for me, please? I do not have my own crate.”
She paid him, took her purchase, and marched out of the marketplace and back to the Alabaster Bobcat. The problem was not with the method this time, she was sure. It had just been the timing. She had a spark of something. She knew she had it. Tarina likely would have talked more about her feelings toward the Anatomy Wing, feeding her valuable insight in the process, if only she had been there sooner.
She would just have to try something else. Maybe she could try to meet her again the next morning. Holding in a sigh of defeat, she took a carriage back to the boutique to pick up her coat and hat, then resumed course for the Alabaster Bobcat.
Cadence had the idea to give the peaches and eggs to Tillie. A little free food was never lost on a widowed mother, and after noticing the peach pits that had been left on Galen Boyce’s grave stone, she had a feeling the peaches would be a hit.
But when she returned to the Alabaster Bobcat, their room was empty. A note waited for her on the bed.
Cadence,
Possible sighting of Deloren. We’ve gone to Tano Manor.
-Tillie
Cold dread pooled up in Cadence’s stomach immediately. She had to find them.
Chapter 9
One did not just saunter up to Tano Manor, but Cadence didn’t have a doubt in her mind that it was exactly what Tillie and Dane had done. She pictured Tillie knocking on the door and asking whoever answered if it had really been Lord Deloren they saw a second ago. Then stupidly mentioning the attack at the Plaid Bonnet. Then asking if he was okay. Then Dane’s airheaded smile and wave from behind her.
Cadence hoped there was still time to stop them.
She walked up to Tano Manor with thunderous steps. If that family has so much as parted a hair on those two… she didn’t know what she’d do. She was used to thinking clearly, to planning, and to being calm and rational no matter the situation. But now she was furious.
Why had she let protocol and jurisdiction and other stupid things get in her way of stopping the Tano family when everyone knew they practiced Forbidden Arts? The very governor of Riddenholm was too afraid to stop them. Hell, he’d made friends with them!
“Of course he has,” Cadence grumbled under her breath. It was smart, the more she thought about it. Forbidden Arts were powerful. Why make an enemy out of someone who summoned daemons, raised the dead, or turned blood to syrup with nothing but a whisper?
All of Riddenholm had erred on the side of caution when it came to the Tano family. But not Cadence. Not anymore.
She had half a mind to follow in Tillie and Dane’s purported footsteps and bang on the front door, but she stopped herself when she saw a cart pull up to the courtyard behind the manor. Two workhorses came to a halt and one of the two men in the driver’s bench jumped down to meet someone. Cadence strained her eyes. She did not recognize any of them.
But the man from Tano Manor had cargo he was handing off. That much she could tell. Once she had gathered her wits, Cadence took careful steps around the other side of the manor to watch the exchange.
“You came just in time,” the Tano said. “We’re looking to get rid of some stuff. Master Tano wants it tossed in the river. We’d rather you take it to Beralin, first. You understand.”
The cart driver nodded slowly, letting a sigh slip out. “I understand. I don’t suppose Master Tano will see it fit to tip me for this pickup, will he?”
The Tano shrugged his shoulders, then reached in his pocket for a few silver stars. “Come back when it’s done. He’ll have something better for you. If you run into any trouble, cut the job short. And use a sharp blade to do it.” He dropped the silver in the cart driver’s hand, and then Cadence saw the final pieces of cargo.
They loaded up the back of the cart with four large bundles of canvas. Person-sized. Cadence narrowed her eyes.
“Beralin, you said?” the cart driver asked. “Just into the river then? Won’t it just come back down to Riddenholm anyway?”
“You let us worry about that when the time comes. Just get outta town.”
Cadence fled immediately, keeping her steps light and nimble as she could. She had to follow them. There was no way it wasn’t Tillie and Dane in the back of the cart. Were they still alive? She sensed death in the air for some, but not others. There were at least two living beings in the back of the cart as she watched it ease out of Tano Manor’s yard and down the street. It was headed for the port.
“It’s going to board?”
A large cargo ferry was scheduled to leave in the hour. There was no time to waste. The cart rolled down the docks and up a loading ramp. The horses were hesitant to cross with the water just underfoot. Hidden in a sea of passersby, Cadence listened to the hooves prattle on the planks as they gathered the courage to board, ignoring the driver’s barking and shouting.
Usually, Cadence would throw her title around until it got her onboard, but that was not an option here. She didn’t know exactly what the man had meant when he told the driver to cut the job short with a sharp blade, but she was sure her first assumption would be correct enough.
The bodies in the back of the cart that were dead—whomever they may have been—were restless. Their ties had not been severed in any way. Cadence could feel souls in the air, and they were rife with uncertainty. Another problem to fix.
At once she searched for ways to stow away on the cargo ferry, staying out of the cart driver’s line of sight. Riddenholm was not as simple of a place as Beralin. Riddenholm suffered the sickness of Tano, and Cadence could never tell who was a family friend and who was on her side. There was a decent chance that Master Tano and Lord Deloren were already aware of her investigation. Spying eyes could already be upon her, reporting back.
And if she slipped up, Tillie and Dane would die.
If they weren’t dead already.
A line of carts had formed, coming up to board last minute. Boarding was delayed—carts and wagons weren’t parking correctly and workers were frantically trying to rearrange them. That’s when Cadence saw her opening. Towards the end of the line there was a covered wagon with a driver, his face slick with sweat.
She stared him down. He was young and he was nervous, his wide eyes shifting to h
is two patient and still horses, and then to the activity of other carts around him. Something was off. His wagon rocked, just slightly, as though it carried something other than cargo. Cadence breathed in deep and stood tall with all the authority she had before marching over to him.
He wet his lips when he saw her but had no words.
She glanced up at him. “Sir, what is your cargo?”
He cleared his throat a little. “Goods.”
“Of what kind?”
“Ma’am, that business is of the captain’s concern only.”
The sudden smoothness of his words surprised her, but she could tell it was a rehearsed line.
“You are harboring passengers.” Cadence raised her eyebrow. “Fugitives? Or perhaps these are beasts of some kind to be illegally sold as pets when you reach your destination?”
He swallowed hard and averted his eyes. “My cargo is just goods, ma’am.”
Cadence looked up ahead to the Tano driver for just a second, then inched closer to the wagon’s driver, narrowing her eyes.
“What’s your name, kid?”
“Um, A-Avery?”
She climbed up into his seat and leaned into him. “Avery,” she growled, “I am a Bone Priestess from the Botathora Sanctum in Beralin, and I am in the middle of a very important investigation.” She grabbed the collar of his shirt. “Under only one condition will you board that ferry with your ‘goods.’ Do you want to know what that one condition is?”
“S-sure.”
“You hide me with the rest of your illegal cargo.”
“Uh… ma’am?”
“No questions. Do you agree, or do I have to notify authorities?”
Avery shook his head and scooted away from her. “N-no, ma’am, you do not have to notify anyone. Get in the back. Squeeze between the hay and the crates.”
Cadence let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding and nodded. She stepped down from the driver’s seat and tipped her hat to him before walking around to the back of the wagon to see what she was in for.
Two more carts had lined up behind Avery’s wagon, but the drivers of both had gotten out of their seats to chat. Cadence climbed up the back of the wagon and slipped inside while the coast was clear. The entire wagon bed was lined in a thick layer of hay, and six crates were nestled on top. Clever, she thought. The hay seemed to be nothing more than padding to smooth a bumpy ride and preserve whatever was in the crates.
She jostled one around, just to see if she could guess the contents. It was so light, she wasn’t sure there was anything inside, but she could hear the faintest shuffling. Then, she sniffed the air.
“Flowers?” She jostled the crate again. It was filled halfway with flowers. Torn between curiosity and apathy, she decided to let it be and did as she was told, burying herself in the hay underneath the crates.
When she had made herself as close to comfortable as she would get, something brushed up against her, then slithered away. She swore she had felt scales.
“Avery?” Cadence sat up in the hay.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“What is this in here?”
“A miniature Besqi basilisk. She’s had her poison glands removed and her gaze doesn’t paralyze people like the big ones do.”
Cadence huffed. “Do you see a cart up ahead with four large bundles of canvas?”
“Yeah. It’s next in line to board.”
“Good. Make sure it boards and get off wherever it gets off.”
“But I have to travel all the way up to Niji with this thing!”
“Then as soon as you get off and I jump out, you turn around and tell the harbormaster you made a mistake and need to get back on,” Cadence grumbled. “Be stubborn about it and they’ll stop things up to make sure you’re alright.”
There was a long moment of silence, but then Avery replied. “Fine. Canvas guy just made it on the ferry.”
“Thank you.” Cadence laid back down in the hay and waited for movement. First from the basilisk, and then after what felt like eons, the wagon lurched forward as the horses stepped up in line.
Time got away from her as she waited for Avery’s turn to board. Time never got away from her. I’m a Botathoran, she thought angrily. As a follower of the goddess of Death and Time, it was her job to have a solid grip on both. But her mind raced, and her heart tied itself in knots as she thought about Tillie and Dane.
Two of the stupidest people she had ever met, and only because they wouldn’t stay out of her business.
Well, Dane wanted nothing to do with her business and had been trying to get out of it since the beginning. She decided to blame his stupidity on good old-fashioned bad timing. But Tillie had been told again and again what her meddling would get her into, and still she had persisted.
Why? Cadence’s gut writhed with nerves as she tried to figure it out.
This isn’t like me. I need to get out of my head and focus.
Eventually she could feel the gentle movements of the river’s current beneath the ferry. They were on the water and on the way to Beralin.
It was late at night when Avery’s wagon followed the Tano cart off the ferry. When Cadence heard the horses’ hooves clunking down the ramp and onto the docks, her focus came back with a fury. She climbed up over the crates and peered out into the scene with Avery.
“He’s already past inspection,” Avery told her. “Made a turn going west on Academy Road.”
Cadence pressed her hat securely on her head. “Then I will slip out now and continue my pursuit. Thank you for your assistance, Mister Avery. I apologize for the inconvenience, and I do hope your travel to Niji goes smoothly.”
“About that.” Avery cleared his throat and surveyed the nighttime townscape around him. The lanterns along the docks were alight with bright yellow fires like giant lightning bugs. The rocking and creaking of the docks mingled well with the light chatter and musical buskers. “You wouldn’t happen to know a place I could unload Cassie, here, do you?”
Cadence glared at him. “I assure you the sale of miniature Besqi basilisks is illegal in Beralin just the same as it is in Niji, Mister Avery.”
He shrugged. “Thought I’d save myself a trip.”
After a pause and a woeful gaze behind her at the lump of hay hiding “Cassie,” Cadence rolled her eyes and sighed. “However, the illegal sale of beasts and monstrous creatures is outside of my jurisdiction. I will not aid you, but the market here is favorable.”
“That’s right, you said you’re from the Botathora Sanctum, right?”
“I did.”
“Even though she’s had her poison glands removed, Cassie’s saliva melts right through the undead!”
“Mister Avery, just about everything melts right through rotting flesh.”
“But not all undead is rotting flesh. Right? What about vampires?”
Cadence raised a brow. “It works on vampires?”
“Bones, too! Curious thing. Doesn’t matter what it is, so long as it’s undead. Cassie’s spit just eats it away like acid. And don’t think I’m just doing this to make a sale!” Avery waved his hands. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“No, of course not.” Cadence watched the dock workers as she thought. “It is not so outlandish a claim, however. There are conflicting tales about the origin of the Basilisk. It is widely accepted that the creature was created by the fear goddess, Derivachne. But some texts in the Sanctum’s library depict the creature alongside Botathora.”
“I can cut you a good price if you’re interested!”
Cadence grunted before climbing into the passenger chair and jumping out of the wagon altogether. “Enjoy your stay in Beralin, Mister Avery.”
The man watched her vanish into the buzzing crowd of the docks. She was gone. Gone, and off hitching a ride with some other unlucky cart driver strolling down Academy Road in pursuit of the cart from Tano Manor.
Cadence had found a man with a fancy, decorative carriage who gave rides all around town. She�
�d flagged him down and reluctantly he followed her orders to follow the Tano’s cart all the way to a little brick building down a dirty street. A painted wooden sign said “Deloren Sons’ Medical Practice.”
Lord Deloren did not have any sons.
Before her investigation had moved to the head of the Anatomy Wing, Cadence knew he liked to talk up his children to anyone he affiliated with in Riddenholm. But when she did the research, she found he had four daughters. Not a single boy, except a first born who had died right out of the womb.
Cadence ran her tongue over her teeth in thought. “Pull over here. This is fine. Then turn around and tell no one you came this way.”
The driver nodded vigorously. “Yes ma’am.” He let her out at the opposite end of the street. She had just enough time to watch the Tano cart roll into the alley next to Deloren Sons’ Medical Practice before her carriage left.
Whatever was about to happen, Cadence was stunned that someone had the audacity to do it in the same city as the Botathora Sanctum. She checked to make sure she was ready for anything—the silver of her ring was cool and comforting around her index finger; a gun loaded with a silver bullet was at each hip, and more bullets were ready and waiting along her belt; one unassuming silver dagger was hidden in her boot for an emergency. There wasn’t time for anything else.
Maybe she should have taken Avery up on his offer, after all.
Cadence padded silently down the street to the building. A hushed conversation came into earshot as well as the sound of heavy canvas being hoisted up from the cart.
“That idiot brother of Master Tano’s really told you to dump them in the river?”
“Yeah. Pass that along to the lord, will you? Can’t imagine he’ll let it slide. From what I hear, he pays good money to that family and would be pissed for this to go to waste.”
“Especially now that he can’t rely on Colt anymore.”
A back door creaked open. Two men started carrying the canvas bundles inside the building. When the last one was taken inside, Cadence ran over and snuck inside before the back door slammed shut behind them.
Queens of Wings & Storms Page 73