Powder Mage Trilogy 01 - Promise of Blood

by Brian McClellan

  The carriage rolled to a stop. The driver leapt from his post, thumping to the ground outside, and pulled the door open. The Warden turned to get out and froze.

  It took just a split second for the Warden to turn on Tamas, knife at the ready. Tamas caught the thrust between his wrists and used the leverage of his irons to twist the blade away. Then he was on his back on the carriage bench, lights swimming before his eyes, his ears ringing. He barely even registered the pain in his leg.

  It took him a moment to climb to a sitting position. Every inch was an eternity of agony. His leg screamed. He felt blood on the side of his face; he’d not avoided the knife altogether after all. He braced himself against the side of the carriage, the smell of gunpowder in his nostrils.

  The Warden was gone. There was a Warden-sized hole in the carriage, opposite the door. His body was on the ground outside, one leg still up on the edge of the carriage, caught by a splinter of wood.

  Tamas looked down as Olem deposited a hand cannon on the floor of the carriage. He grunted from the weight, then looked up at Tamas. There was relief in his eyes. “So I stole the right carriage,” he said.

  Olem helped Tamas out of the carriage. They were in an alleyway between two brick buildings. The strong smell of the sea and the sound of waves said they were very close to the water. Adran soldiers filed into the alley within seconds. One tried to take Tamas’s weight from Olem. Olem waved him off.

  “Where’s Sabon?” Tamas asked.

  “Chasing the Privileged, with Vlora,” Olem said. He sounded tired. Could he get tired? “The bastard cut and run when he saw how many of us there were.”

  Tamas’s eyes grew wide as more soldiers filed into the alley. There were more in the streets. “You brought the whole garrison?”

  “As many as were close by,” Olem said.

  “How the pit did you find me?”

  Olem smiled. He glanced down, and for the first time Tamas noticed the hound sitting at his feet, eyes bigger than teacups looking up at him. His tail wagged. Tamas found he couldn’t speak. He leaned over, despite the pain, and patted Hrusch on the head.

  “That’s impossible,” he managed after a moment.

  “Sabon trained Hrusch to find you under any circumstances. Trained him from birth, the damned pup. Had the help of an old farm witch north of the university, a Knacked who can train animals. Hrusch can pick up your scent anywhere, even if you are in a sealed box in the middle of the sea.”

  “I never knew,” Tamas said.

  “It was his little secret. A backup plan,” Olem said. “I wish we’d never had to use it.”

  Tamas felt two days’ worth of fear, anger, and anticipation melt under Olem’s gaze. The bodyguard looked at him as a parent might at a child who’d gone missing. Anger warred with relief in his eyes. Soldiers crowded around with words of concern. Tamas gave them all a grateful smile. After a moment, he collapsed.

  Chapter 27

  The office on the top floor of the House of Nobles seemed old and familiar to Tamas, though he’d occupied it for only a couple of months. It seemed like home, and he ran his fingers over the braided tassels at the edge of the sofa. His hands shook and he leaned heavily on a crutch. The room smelled of lemons. He wondered if it always had.

  Olem watched him from the doorway. Knacked or not, it turned out Olem did need rest. His eyes fluttered like one who longs for sleep, and purple bruises had formed under them. His normally neatly trimmed beard was unruly, his hair a mess. On a regular day, Tamas might have chided him for lax regulation.

  This was not a regular day.

  I should tell him to get some rest. What was it Father used to tell me? “Rest is for the dead.”

  “Yes, sir,” Olem said.

  Tamas glanced at him. “Hmm?”

  “You said, ‘Rest is for the dead,’” Olem said.

  “You look like the dead.”

  “Don’t look so good yourself, sir.” Olem struggled to put a smile on his face. Tamas could see worry in his eyes. “You should rest, sir,” Olem said. “It almost killed you getting up all those stairs.”

  Olem had insisted on helping Tamas up every step, half carrying him at times.

  “I don’t need a nurse,” Tamas said. “There’s work to be done.” He hobbled toward his desk, but halfway there he nearly fell.

  Olem was at his side in a moment, a hand under his elbow. “Sit down, sir,” he said. “Doctor Petrik will be here any minute.” Olem helped Tamas onto the sofa.

  “Bah,” Tamas said. He motioned to a chair. “Have a seat.”

  “I think I’ll stand, sir.”

  “Suit yourself.” Tamas couldn’t let Olem rest yet. He couldn’t let himself rest yet. “I need to know how things went in my absence. How many people know of my capture?”

  “Word spread quickly,” Olem said. “I’m afraid I had other things on my mind. I sent for Sabon as soon as I got back to the hunt, and grabbed Hrusch.” He nodded to the hound, fast asleep in the corner. “Charlemund did his best to keep things quiet. I wouldn’t be surprised if his priestesses talked. I know Brigadier Sabastenien didn’t.”

  “So everyone made it away from Nikslaus safely?”

  Olem nodded. “I almost turned back when I heard the sorcery, sir,” he said. He refused to look Tamas in the eye. “If you need my stripes…”

  “Shut up,” Tamas said. “I won’t take your stripes.”

  “You gave me an order to see the others back to the hunt.”

  “I thought you had.”

  “Not quite, sir. I went on ahead, left the others to find their way back. I wouldn’t wait.”

  “Had I been in your position, I wouldn’t have followed that order. I can’t fault a man for his instincts. Besides, you did your job. You did not turn back. Go on.” Tamas swallowed. He wanted nothing more than to lay his head back and fall asleep, but things needed to be done first. He fought back exhaustion, pain, and nausea.

  “Word has spread of Ryze’s betrayal,” Olem said. “Lady Winceslav wants answers. Rumors are flying.”

  “Put a stop to them,” he said.

  “What?” Olem looked startled.

  “It’s not true.” Tamas struggled to get to his feet. Ryze was a good man. Tamas wouldn’t let him take the blame for this. Olem put a hand on Tamas’s shoulder, gently restraining him.

  Olem said, “I watched him take you off.”

  “You found the bodies, didn’t you?” Tamas asked.

  Olem slowly shook his head. “Blood, yes, but no bodies.”

  “That sorcery you heard as you left—that wasn’t me fighting back. That was Ryze’s men holding off Duke Nikslaus so Ryze could warn me. Ryze was cooked alive.”

  “Are you sure…?”

  “Go to the pit,” Tamas growled. “Don’t patronize me. I haven’t gone mad in an afternoon.”

  “If Ryze wanted to warn you, why did he go to all the trouble?” Olem said. “He could have just sent you a note or come to see you in person.”

  Tamas rubbed his temples. “I don’t remember. I remember he was scared. Angry. Barat had something on him to keep him silent.”

  “Brigadier Barat? You hit your head pretty hard, from the look of that bump.” Olem gave him a weak smile.

  “Don’t be a fool.” Tamas struggled to get up again. His leg burned and he broke into a hot sweat. He gave up. “Send a missive to Lady Winceslav. Tell her Ryze is innocent of all accusations.” He paused. “Bring me Brigadiers Barat and Sabastenien.”

  “I’ll send a man,” Olem said, heading for the door.

  “No,” Tamas grunted. “Get them yourself. I don’t want either of them slipping away. Take a squad with you. And on second thought, don’t tell anyone about Ryze.”

  “But if he’s innocent…”

  Tamas closed his eyes. He’d need strength for what lay ahead. “I’ll deal with that later. Dismissed.”

  “Right away, sir.”

  As soon as Olem was out the door, Tamas let out a gasp of pa
in. His leg had stiffened up in just a few minutes. It throbbed when it didn’t hurt, and when the lances of pain worked their way up his leg each time he moved it, he wished he’d let it throb. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair.

  Tamas forced himself to think. Why had Ryze faked his kidnapping just to tell him about Barat? Tamas wished he had Adamat’s gift.

  His son!

  “Olem!” he yelled. He waited a few moments. Olem didn’t return. He yelled again. A guard poked his head through the door. “What is it, sir?”

  “Kema, is Olem gone?”

  The soldier nodded. “Took off just a minute ago. Looked like he was going to give someone the pit of a time.”

  “Hand me a pen and paper.”

  Kema fetched a fountain pen and some stationery from Tamas’s desk and brought it over. Tamas sketched out a quick note. “Catch up with Olem. Have him do this before the other task.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Kema was gone again in a moment, leaving Tamas alone, when his leg began to throb again. A finger of black powder and he’d feel no pain… if he could use it. He couldn’t even enter a powder trance with the gold star in his leg.

  “Where’s Petrik, damn him?”

  “Right here.” The doctor closed the door quietly behind him. He carried his medical bag in one hand, his coat over the other. He examined Tamas through a pair of spectacles.

  “Pulled me away from a rather good game of bridge,” he said. He looked peeved, but he usually did. The man had been drummed out of most of his postings as a public and private doctor because he completely lacked a bedside manner. What he lacked, however, he made up for in brevity and skill.

  “My apologies,” Tamas said. “I’ll just suffer more, if you’d like to return to it.”

  Dr. Petrik paused. He shrugged, and turned back to the door.

  “Have you no concept of sarcasm, you ancient bastard?”

  Petrik gave Tamas a long, annoyed look and came to his side. He waddled like a man of twenty-five stone, though he was as thin as a rail. He sat down next to Tamas and removed his glasses. He examined Tamas’s face and head through a monocle.

  “Some light scratches,” he said after a moment. “Nothing to be concerned about. Looks like you had a concussion.” He snapped his fingers in front of Tamas’s face, looked into each of his eyes. “You’re fine.” He took Tamas’s leg—none too gently—and lifted it into his lap. He removed the linen wrappings and gave it a clinical look.

  “You’ve seen a doctor already,” he said. There was an edge to his voice.

  “Yes,” Tamas said. “It was the physician with my captors. He’s the one who put the leg back together.”

  “What did it look like before?”

  “I don’t know. I was out for the whole thing.”

  “Lucky. Looks like you shattered the whole leg. He did a good job, whoever he was,” he said grudgingly.

  “I want you to take it apart.”

  Petrik blinked up at him. “Say that again?”

  “My leg. You need to take it apart.”

  Petrik set the leg down gently. “You hit your head harder than I thought.”

  Was that a hint of concern in Petrik’s voice? No, Tamas must have imagined it. “The surgeon inserted a gold sliver before he closed the wound.” Tamas paused, swallowed. Even saying it made him nauseous. “I can’t use my magery.”

  Dr. Petrik returned his spectacles to his face. He took them off, then put them on again. He tucked one fist up under his chin, glaring at the leg. “You’re mad,” he said. “I won’t do it. If you leave it, a cyst will form. That should close the gold away from your bloodstream and let you use your powers again.”

  “Do it,” Tamas said. “That’s an order.”

  “You think that’ll help? If the shock doesn’t kill you, you’ll lose your leg. Which might kill you anyway. You’re not thinking clearly.”

  “Nikslaus said the sliver was in the form of a star. Any time I move, it will tear the tissue, letting the gold touch my blood again. I can feel it in there, working its way around.”

  Petrik hesitated.

  “I appreciate your concern,” Tamas said.

  “Concern?” Petrik said. “Yes, for myself. You know what your lackeys will do to me if you die during the procedure? I saw Olem on his way out of here. I’m not an idiot. You sent him away so he couldn’t protest, and Sabon isn’t back yet. They’d tear me apart.”

  “Who’d tear you apart?”

  Sabon stood in the doorway, paused in the midst of unbuttoning his jacket. The jacket was covered in powder stains, dirt, and burns. It looked like he’d been in a coal mine. He hung it on a peg in the corner. A single cut ran the length of his cheek, the blood already dry, and his hands were dirty and smudged.

  “Did you catch him?” Tamas said.

  Sabon shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

  Tamas bit back a rebuke. Shit. “How’d he get away?”

  “A well-rehearsed route,” Sabon said. “Into a warehouse with a false floor, and down into the sewers. Our men are scouring sewer exits, but I’ll be surprised if they find him. Vlora is still tracking him, but he could come out anywhere in Adopest. It’s as if he expected us to catch up with them.” Sabon made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. He stepped over and gave Tamas’s leg a look-over. “You’ve had better days,” he said.

  “Right. I have.”

  “Will he lose the leg?” Sabon asked Dr. Petrik.

  The doctor ignored Tamas’s look of warning. “He might,” he said, “if he has me open it up, like he wants.”

  “Why?” Sabon looked to Tamas for an explanation.

  Tamas took a deep breath. “Nikslaus’s physician fixed the leg. Before he did, he inserted a golden sliver right up against the bone. It’s star-shaped, to prevent a cyst from forming.”

  Sabon’s eyes widened. “The beast,” he snarled. “I’ll take off his hands when I catch him.”

  Tamas couldn’t disagree with the sentiment. “If we ever catch him,” he said. “Petrik, I want the surgery.”

  The doctor gave Sabon a long look.

  “No,” Sabon said. “If you die, the whole campaign will be at risk.”

  The campaign, Sabon had said. Tamas almost smiled. Sabon would never admit to being concerned.

  “We just got you back,” Sabon said.

  “I won’t go on without my magery,” Tamas said. “Petrik, what are the risks if I don’t have you take it out?”

  The old doctor frowned. “If what you say is true, you’ll be in constant pain. You won’t sleep, and the exhaustion will keep your body from healing naturally.” He didn’t look happy. “We should take it out.”

  Sabon looked from Tamas to the doctor, then sniffed. “Good luck,” he said, leaving the room.

  “You wanted to see me?” Adamat shifted from one foot to the other and examined the row of surgical equipment laid out beside Tamas. Surgery had always made him nervous. Too many things could go wrong and it seemed like every year doctors were coming up with a new and painful way to kill you under the guise of medicine. It was an irrational thought and he knew it. The statistics supported the opposite. The ancient practice of bloodletting was becoming more unpopular, while recent ideas about sterilization had begun to spread in the medical field. Survival rates were higher than they’d been since the Time of Kresimir.

  The field marshal sat on the edge of an operating table, an impromptu surgery set up in a side room in the House of Nobles. He wore nothing but a towel around his waist and Adamat was amazed at the number of old scars crisscrossing Tamas’s chest. Some were from swords, one that looked like a knife wound, and three pink, faded welts from bullet wounds. He had a bump on his head visible even under his graying hair, and his right leg was red and swollen. To one side, a doctor in a white coat examined his instruments with care.

  So Tamas was alive, though the worse for wear. The gossip columns would kill to find out what happened over on Palo Street yesterday a
nd where Tamas had been the two days prior. Adamat decided not to ask.

  Tamas nodded. “Have you found my traitor?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Why not?”

  “Not to offer excuses, but I’m doing the work of twenty men.”

  “We’re paying you well, are we not?”

  “Not exactly, and pay doesn’t make the work go any faster. I have interviews and research to conduct and a great deal of traveling.”

  “ ‘Not exactly’?”

  “I’m investigating the reeve, sir. I’m not going to interrogate him and then ask for a check.”

  Tamas snorted. “Olem, see that the good investigator gets paid.”

  The bodyguard in the corner paused his pacing long enough to give a brisk nod.

  “Surely you have suspicions?”

  “Always,” Adamat said. “But no hard proof.”

  “I have here a letter,” Tamas said, gesturing to his desk, “from my son Taniel. He is at Shouldercrown with the Mountainwatch, helping fend off the Kez attack. It seems he and Privileged Borbador are in agreement that a powerful sorceress has joined the Kez side and seeks to lead the Kez Cabal through the fortress and up to Kresim Kurga, where they will attempt to summon Kresimir.”

  Adamat felt his mouth hanging open. “That’s absurd.”

  “Quite,” Tamas said. “Men under siege can often lose perspective. What’s more, my son is not well.” Tamas did not elaborate on this. “Yet I am forced to make contingencies. The Kez may have developed a new weapon or…” He glanced out the window and grimaced. “This business about Kresimir’s Promise… did you find out anything else about it in your research? Anything to indicate that Kresimir needed to be summoned, or in what manner he would try to seek revenge for his dead king?”

  Adamat said, “No. As I told you, my research came up with nothing. Passages were ripped completely from the books, expunged by someone who didn’t want this information known.” This alone had troubled Adamat from the beginning. But he was not one to speculate. “My knowledge of Kresimir’s Promise comes from Privileged Borbador alone.”