"Why did you kill them?" she murmured, keeping her voice low. "There was no reason for it."
The mask concealed his face, but she imagined his lip curling in contempt. "Because there was no reason not to. You don't leave live enemies behind you, girl. You've learned to kill, but you're still too soft for this." He gestured at the slaves. "Besides, are you going to argue that they didn't deserve to die?"
Caina had no answer for that.
Riogan helped himself to Marl's sword and handed her a ring of iron keys. "This is going to be the hardest part. Get the slaves moving."
Caina unlocked the iron door and stepped into the cage. The slaves had been chained to metal rings set in the wall, and she moved down the line, unlocking them as quickly as she could.
"Get on your feet and start moving," she told the slaves. "And keep quiet! Your lives depend on it."
They obeyed, for the most part, though the children kept whimpering.
Riogan pushed open the doors, and they hurried across Macrinius's gardens, making a straight line for the gate. Four men still stood guard at the gate. There had been no clever way to neutralize the gate guards, no way to sneak past them or avoid them.
They were going to have to fight their way out.
Like Riogan had said, the hardest part.
"Stay together," said Caina. "Anyone who runs off on their own is going to die."
The guards turned, eyes widening as they noticed the mob of escaping slaves, and reached for their weapons.
Riogan moved first.
He sprang forward with a bloodcurdling yell, sword in both hands, and struck. The blade crunched into an astonished guard's neck, blood welling over the gleaming steel. But by then the other men had their swords out, and they came at Riogan in a rush.
Caina was ready for them.
Her throwing knife lashed out, struck a guard's armored chest, bounced away. But the blow distracted the man long enough for Caina to jump onto his back and rip her dagger across his throat. But then another guard was on her. She managed to kick free of the dying man in time to avoid the first sword blow, but the pommel caught her on the temple, and she fell hard to the ground. The guard's sword plunged down, and she managed to roll aside. Behind them, she saw Riogan locked in a furious duel with the final guard. He couldn't help her.
And Caina had to face her guard in a fair fight.
Not good.
So she would make the fight a little less fair.
Her hand dipped into one of the pouches at her belt, drawing out a handful of black powder, and she flung it into the guard's face. Luck was with her, and some of the powder connected with the guard's eyes, and the man screamed in sudden agony.
She darted close, her dagger ending to his pain.
Another scream, and Riogan finished his guard.
"Move!" he growled, gesturing at the slaves with the bloody sword. "Move, damn you, move!"
He pushed open the gates, and the slaves streamed through them.
###
A short walk took them to a watchtower of the Civic Militia. The Militia, Malarae's police and garrison force, had fortified watchtowers scattered throughout the city. And Theodosia had said that Ghosts took care to keep friends among the Militia's officers.
Riogan banged on the tower's door until it swung open. A man in the red surcoat and chain mail of the Civic Militia stepped out, a plumed helmet on his head and a baton of office in his hand. A centurion, then.
And unless Caina missed her guess, the centurion was Tomard, Theodosia's eldest son.
She hid a smile behind her mask.
Theodosia did enjoy pulling strings. Certainly, Tomard did not seem surprised, or even fazed, by fifty naked slaves turning up at his doorstep.
"Aye, then?" Tomard said in Caerish. "What's all this?"
"These slaves escaped at great peril of their lives from the cellars of Lord Macrinius," said Riogan, handing over the ledger that Otton had given them. "I suggest you move at once to seize any evidence before Lord Macrinius destroys it."
Tomard took the ledger, paged through it.
"Mother, Mother," he muttered to himself, "you do have a flair for the dramatic, don't you?" He looked at Riogan. "If you're who I think you are, you'd better disappear, now." He turned and bellowed into the watchtower. "Men! You, you, you! Get blankets and food for these fellows! The rest of you, with me! We get to arrest a lord tonight!"
Riogan and Caina vanished into the night.
###
The Civic Militia arrested Lord Macrinius, despite the furious protests of Lord Haeron Icaraeus and a half-dozen other Restorationist lords, but the evidence was overwhelming. Nearly fifty eyewitnesses, describing their illegal imprisonment in Macrinius's cellar. The ledger the Civic Militia had found with the slaves. And a host of other documents taken from his mansion, proving beyond a doubt that he had been engaged with Istarish slavers, kidnapping Imperial citizens and selling them as slaves.
Lord Haeron and the others withdrew their protests, leaving Macrinius to his fate.
The Emperor himself pronounced Macrinius's sentence, and a few weeks later, Caina stood in the crowd and watched the executioner behead Macrinius in the Grand Market below the Imperial Citadel.
###
"I am disappointed," said Theodosia a few days later, examining herself in the mirror. The rumors that she had been involved in the Lord Macrinius's ignoble downfall had only enhanced her reputation. The Grand Imperial Opera had been full to bursting the past few nights
"Why?" said Caina.
"We got Macrinius," said Theodosia, "but no evidence on Lord Haeron. The man is too clever."
"At least we did get Macrinius," said Caina.
Theodosia glanced at Caina. "And yet that troubles you. What is it?"
Caina hesitated. "You slept with him."
"I did," said Theodosia. She smiled. "And I must say, for a scoundrel and a murderer he was quite a skillful lover. Pity he was involved in slave-trading." She adjusted her hair. "That troubles you, I take it?"
Caina nodded.
"My dear," said Theodosia, "we have spent the last several months arranging Lord Macrinius's death. If I had sent you into the night with a dagger and a vial of poison to see him dead, you would have done it, no?"
"I would have killed him," said Caina. "He deserved it. It's just...seducing him seemed wrong."
Theodosia smiled, took Caina's shoulder, guided her to stand in front of the mirror.
"Caina," said Theodosia, "you've learned to fight with your hands and with your knives and with your mind. And you are a very lovely young woman, even if you don't see that yourself. If you chose, you could destroy a man without raising a finger against him."
"That seems wrong," said Caina.
Theodosia shrugged. "As compared to killing him?"
Caina had no answer for that.
"We are Ghosts," said Theodosia, "and we do what we must, to guard the Empire from tyrannical lords and slavers and corrupt sorcerers. And if we should happen to enjoy it along the way," she smiled, "well...why not?"
"I don't know," said Caina. As a child, she had wanted a family of her own, vowing that she would be a better mother than Laeria Amalas. But that would never happen. She would never have children. And if she could use her body as a weapon against men, why should she not?
Maybe she should have let Lucien seduce her.
"I don't know," said Caina again.
"Well, think on it," said Theodosia. "Meanwhile, help me with my makeup. I have an aria to sing."
###
After the performance, a man waited in Theodosia's room.
Caina stopped, hand dipping into her sleeve for a throwing knife. The man had graying black hair and arms heavy with muscle. He wore the robe and cap of a prosperous merchant, a trimmed beard framing his lips, and...
Caina grinned. "Halfdan!"
"You've grown," said Halfdan, smiling back.
"Well, it's been a year," said Caina.
"T
heodosia told me you did well, very well, with Macrinius."
Theodosia walked into the room, and stopped. "You rogue! You return at last!"
"So," said Halfdan, "I heard you sent Macrinius to heaven before you sent him to hell."
Theodosia actually blushed.
"Well done, both of you," said Halfdan. "Macrinius was one of Haeron Icaraeus's most powerful supporters. Lord Haeron will find his loss a heavy blow."
Theodosia snorted. "Better if we had found evidence to rid ourselves of Lord Haeron, as well."
"He was too careful for that," said Halfdan. "But we will have him, sooner or later." He looked at Caina. "And it's time for you to have another teacher."
Caina bit her lip and nodded.
"Ah, you will take her from me?" said Theodosia. "I do not know what I will do without her."
"You can apply your own makeup," said Caina.
"Yes, but I do not want to," said Theodosia. She laughed, and hugged Caina. "Be careful, child. You have great things ahead of you, I think. And you are welcome to attend my performances at any time. Just so long as you don't try to sing."
Caina hugged Theodosia back, and left with Halfdan.
Chapter 19 - Countess Marianna Nereide
Halfdan was disguised as a jewel merchant, Basil Callenius of Marsis, and so he took her to an expensive inn. He had his own coach and footman, and a pair of servants to look after his clothes and goods.
"This is a nicer disguise than Marcus Antali," Caina murmured.
"A jewel merchant is a superb disguise for spying upon the nobility," said Halfdan. "Nobles love jewels, after all."
The next morning they took the coach from the inn. Halfdan had given Caina a new gown to wear, blue with black trim, and she was startled to find herself admiring her reflection in the coach's window.
Theodosia must have worn off on her.
"Who is to be my next teacher?" said Caina.
Halfdan looked up from the coach's window. "Your last teacher. You're almost ready."
"Who, then?" said Caina.
"The circlemaster of Malarae," said Halfdan.
Caina frowned. "Theodosia is the circlemaster of Malarae."
"One of Malarae's circlemasters," said Halfdan. "As I'm sure you've observed, Malarae is a rather large place. Over a million people live here, and tens of thousands of visitors at any one time. Keeping track of everything that the Ghosts need to know about is...difficult. So Malarae has multiple circles, covering different parts of the city. Theodosia is circlemaster of one, but there are others."
Caina nodded. "What will this circlemaster teach me?"
"How to be a noblewoman," said Halfdan.
Caina laughed. "My father was Lord of House Amalas and Harbormaster of Aretia. Technically, I am a noblewoman."
"Yes, but you don't know how to act like a noblewoman," said Halfdan.
Caina shrugged. "Theodosia taught me to masquerade as one."
"I'm sure she did," said Halfdan. "But masquerading is one thing. The Emperor and the Ghosts have many enemies among the nobility, and we need more eyes and ears among them. You might know how to masquerade a Nighmarian noblewoman of high birth, but do you know how to act like one? You've spent a third of your life around spies, assassins, and opera singers, and I rather doubt your mother took the time to instruct you in social graces."
"She didn't," said Caina.
"So if you are to spy for us among the nobles," said Halfdan, "you need to learn these things. How to dress, how to speak, how to walk. The forms of etiquette and courtesy the nobility require. How to command servants. How to dance."
"Theodosia taught me to dance," said Caina. "She even had me on stage a few times."
Halfdan laughed. "Aye? Well, believe me, the sort of dancing you can do on stage at the opera is rather different than the sort of dancing that is acceptable at a noble ball."
A short time later the coach stopped before townhouse, smaller than Macrinius's sprawling pile of a mansion, but much less ostentatious. A small garden, full of flowering bushes, ringed the townhouse, threaded with paths of white stone. Caina followed Halfdan from the coach, and a footman in livery greeted them at the door.
"Basil Callenius, master merchant of the Collegium of Jewelers, and his daughter Anna to see Lady Julia Morenna," said Halfdan.
"Of course, sir," said the footman. "I shall announce you at once."
The footman led them up a flight of stairs and into a sitting room with high windows overlooking the garden. A woman sat in a chair, looking out the windows, a distant look on her face. She was a little older than Theodosia, and much smaller, with black hair well on its way to gray. A maid stood besides her, holding a silver tray with a teapot upon it.
"Lady Julia," said Halfdan. "I am honored to see you once again."
The maid busied herself pouring out three cups of tea.
"Of course you are, Basil," said Julia, extending a thin hand. Halfdan bowed over it and kissed the heavy gold ring on one finger. "Whenever you appear, I always wind up spending entirely too much upon jewelry. It's positively scandalous." She spoke High Nighmarian with cool precision. "This is the daughter I've heard so much about?"
"Aye," said Halfdan. The maid handed a teacup to Caina, the fine porcelain warm against her fingers.
Julia nodded. "Leave us," she commanded, and the footman and the maid bowed and withdrew.
Something in that imperious voice irritated Caina.
"So," said Lady Julia, after the servants withdrew. "I heard you've been busy."
"Well," said Halfdan, "I do like to keep occupied."
Julia smiled. "Lord Macrinius had such a...dramatic fall, didn't he? Who would have thought that he would be foolish enough to smuggle slaves into the Imperial capital? Or that the slaves would be bold enough to break free, escape their chains, and report his crimes to the Civic Militia? One wonders if the slaves had some help."
"I wouldn't know about that," said Halfdan.
Again that little smile crossed Julia's face. "Of course not. Though I do wonder. Why did Macrinius do something so stupid?" She sighed and took a sip of the tea. "Though he was, if you will forgive the phrase, never the sharpest sword in the armory."
"A common trait among Restorationist nobles," said Halfdan.
"Sadly true," said Julia. "Yet why risk bringing slaves into the city? For the principle of the thing? Macrinius did not seem the sort of man to lay his life down over principle. For money, perhaps? But surely he could not earn enough money trading slaves to justify the risk."
"Almost certainly Macrinius bought those slaves because Haeron Icaraeus ordered him to do so," said Halfdan, "and Haeron wants to give those slaves to Maglarion."
Julia blinked, once. Evidently Halfdan hadn't told her about that part yet.
"Maglarion is here?" said Julia.
"He's allied himself with Haeron Icaraeus," said Halfdan. "I don't yet know the details of their pact. I suppose Maglarion promised to kill Haeron's foes or to put him upon the throne; he's made such deals before. And in exchange, Haeron provides Maglarion with slaves."
"Why?" said Julia.
"Raw material," said Caina, her voice quiet as she remembered. "Maglarion's a necromancer. He uses the blood of living victims to fuel his spells. Evidently he finds it easier to get slaves from someone like Lord Icaraeus than to go out and kidnap them himself."
"But why do this in the Imperial capital?" said Julia. "Necromancy is practiced openly in Anub-Kha, or in Anshan. Slavery is legal in Istarinmul and the Cyrican provinces. Maglarion could carry out his...experiments in peace there, without fear of the Ghosts. Why do such things here?"
"I don't know," said Halfdan, "and that's what you're going to find out. I know that Haeron Icaraeus is gaining allies among the nobility, and that his followers invariably wind up dabbling in the slave trade. None of the other Ghost circles are in a position to infiltrate Haeron's meetings. You are, however. Find what Maglarion wants. Whatever he promised Haeron is bad enough.
Whatever Maglarion wants for himself is probably much worse. Caina will help you."
Julia's gray eyes shifted to Caina.
"Train her to act as a proper young Nighmarian noblewoman," said Halfdan. "She'll help you. And she has variety of skills you will find most useful."
"As you wish," said Julia.
"Caina, do as Julia bids you, just as you did for your previous circlemaster," said Halfdan.
"I shall," said Caina.
Halfdan bowed, kissed Julia's ring once, and left.
Caina and Julia stared at each other for a moment.
"You don't like me very much," said Julia, "do you?"
Caina blinked. "I...just met you. That seems premature."
"But," said Julia, lifting a finger, "you don't like me. Do you."
"No," said Caina.
"Why not, if I might ask?" said Julia.
"You...remind me of my mother," said Caina.
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