Agents of Artifice p-1

by Ari Marmell

  This wretched stew's hard enough to swallow on its own."

  "I'm not supposed to be here," he told her.

  "And we are? You think I like living here? You think he does?"

  "It's all very well for the two of you," Kallist snapped. "You can walk between whole bloody worlds! You don't like your life? Hey, go find another one."

  "If you truly think it's that simple," she breathed, and suddenly her voice could have frozen the nearby sea itself, "you're the biggest fool I've met on any world."

  "All right, maybe," he replied, moderating his own tone somewhat. "But my point is you're used to being uprooted, to seeing everything you know fall behind you. I was supposed to be with the Consortium for the rest of my life! I liked it there! And then Jace…" He shook his head. "He drags me into a mess deep enough to drown in and he won't even take responsibility for helping me make the best of it. He owes me, Liliana. He owes me a life! But try getting him to see it!"

  "It was my understanding," she said, turning so that the reflected lights flickered like a lover's touch over her face and hair, "that he brought you along because he was trying to do the right thing."

  "The right thing." Kallist scoffed. "We were assassins, Liliana. Since when did that matter? But yeah, Jace has gotten really big on doing the right thing-for Jace. If he stopped to give two seconds' thought as to whether it was the right thing for anyone else, well, that'd be two seconds more than he's ever done before."

  Smiling, Liliana put a hand on his. Kallist couldn't begin to decide if it was just a friendly gesture or something more. "This place isn't that bad, Kallist," she told him seriously. "If you give it some time, I think you'll find-"

  She stopped, her gaze suddenly rising over Kallist's shoulder and out into the street. "Ja-ah, Darrim!" she called to the newcomer, who had been making his way toward the same patio, then slowed his pace as he saw who was waiting there. "Come join us!"

  "Liliana," he greeted her with a smile, sliding between the neighboring tables. "I was just looking for you. It's a fantastic view, isn't it? I'm sorry I missed most of it." He pulled up a chair and glanced to his right, his smile fading like the last of the daylight. "Hello, Kallist," he said more quietly, to be certain he wasn't overheard.

  "Jace. Or Darrim, if you'd like. We were just talking about you."

  "I'm sure you were."

  Despite Liliana's best efforts, the conversation ended soon after.

  Jace pushed open the door of the restaurant where he and Kallist had first encountered Liliana, and to which he'd returned-usually alone-a dozen times since.

  He'd learned more about it, in the weeks since their arrival, so that it was no longer just "that building with the faded sign." The tavern was owned by one Eshton, a man of some local celebrity, and boasted the astoundingly imaginative name of "Eshton's Tavern." Thankfully, Eshton brewed beers, ground sausages, and baked dumplings with far greater skill than he named businesses, and the place was well known and well loved as an establishment where one could get a meal and a drink in relative privacy, for only a very slightly unreasonable fee.

  This time, once he'd allowed his eyes to adjust to the dim light within, Jace saw an opportunity to turn the tables. He swept across the room, waving to one or two of the other regulars, and dropped suddenly into the booth where Liliana was halfheartedly picking at something that could have been pate. Her yelp as he suddenly appeared beside her was almost cute.

  "Turnabout," he said to her, taking a scoop of the pate and then wrinkling his nose at the taste, "is fair play."

  "Oh, Jace, Jace, Jace," she cooed at him. "You have no idea how many games I know."

  Jace winced. "I really wish you'd call me Darrim when we're in public."

  "And you're being silly. Nobody's listening to us. What are you doing here?"

  "Looking for you," he told her. "We haven't really had a lot of time to talk."

  "Haven't we?" she asked archly.

  "Well… Not alone," he amended.

  "I'll tell you what," she told him with a mischievous smile. "Right now, this so-called 'food' is enough to horn in on any conversation. Word to the wise? The sausa ge, the steaks, and the dumplings here are excellent. You should probably avoid anything else."

  "Got it."

  "You go get me something that's actually, say, edible, and I'll be happy to sit and talk with you."

  "Yes, m'lady," he told her.

  "Don't get sassy. That's my job."

  Jace grinned and headed to the bar.

  Liliana watched him go, a thoughtful look in her eyes, and stretched languidly back in her chair. For a few moments she listened to the ambient noise of the restaurant, the clink of glasses and platters, the dull hum of a dozen different unimportant conversations. And she glanced up as a shadow fell over the table, surprised that Jace was back so soon-and couldn't help but roll her eyes heavenward when she saw it wasn't Jace at all.

  It was an unfortunate fact of life, one she'd learned long ago, that in any tavern, any restaurant, any party-sometimes even in temple services! — there was always at least one man convinced that any halfway attractive woman couldn't live without his attentions. Lots of people assumed such things occurred only rarely; these people weren't the women in question. Was it something to do with the powers she commanded? Some unconscious death wish, or an attraction deep in the soul to one who had touched the spirits of so many others? Or was she seeking meaning where there was none, and it really was just a combination of poor upbringing and unabashed lust?

  In any event, Liliana looked up at the fellow standing over the table, leering down at her, and wanted none of it. Though at least this one kept his red beard decently trimmed, had all his teeth, and was clad in a clean outfit (in the usual garish hues of those who wanted to seem richer than they were)-unlike some of the others who'd sought to abuse her hospitality in the past.

  "Now what's a beautiful-" was all he got out before Liliana deliberately yawned in his face and turned away.

  "Just a goddamn minute!" the fellow snarled, reaching across the table. "You're at least gonna do me the courtesy of listening to what I've got to…" And again he stopped, his hand mere inches from her wrist. Liliana looked back, startled despite herself to see the fellow suddenly straighten up and clear his throat.

  "Well, this is awkward," he said, and though his voice was the same, his tone, his inflection, were those of another man entirely. "I mean, here you are trying to enjoy your lunch, and I have to barge over and ruin it for you. I really must apologize."

  She stared, utterly bewildered.

  "It's got to be particularly awkward for your friend," he continued. "I mean, he doesn't know you very well. Would you want him to stay out of it, trusting you to handle it? Or to leap in and beat the crap out of me, even though I've got about fifty pounds on him? He's got to be frantic, trying to figure out the right choice."

  Liliana felt a grin stretching over her face, so wide she was sure it had to reach all the way to her ears. She craned her neck, peering around the newcomer, to see Jace halfway between the table and the bar, his eyes locked on the red-bearded man, his brow furrowed in deep concentration. And she laughed, a throaty, musical sound of pure delight.

  "I think," she told the nearby fellow, though her eyes remained on Jace, "that he's done just fine."

  Jace and his "spokesman" grinned as one; the latter wandered away, shaking his head in puzzlement, while the former returned to the table, two platters of food in hand.

  He tossed, he turned, he flipped the pillow, he punched the mattress, he even contemplated casting a spell on himself. But no matter what he tried, Jace couldn't find his way to sleep.

  Dinner had been a disaster. Before Liliana arrived, Kallist had done nothing but talk about his continual hunt for a job in this miserable district, and about how Jace should be finding one, too, if he wasn't willing to go back to his old methods, about how their stores of gold wouldn't last forever, and blah, blah, blah.

  And after
she'd arrived? Jace, who really wanted to get to know Liliana better than their conversation at Eshton's had allowed, couldn't have forced his way into the conversation with a battering ram. Everything was about Kallist, Kallist's history with the Consortium, the various dangers and hazards he'd overcome in their service. Sure, those often involved Jace as well, but he hadn't realized, until he'd heard someone else tell them, just how much those events had cast him as the sidekick, aiding Kallist in his endeavors.

  When all was said and done, Jace knew no more about Liliana Vess than he had that morning, except that she had a habit of salting damn near everything on the table-and that he really enjoyed watching her eat.

  Finally Jace rolled out of bed, bound and determined to wake Kallist and have himself a good long rant. Whether he just wanted to yell, or actually hoped to clear the air, he couldn't say-because when he entered the center room of the three-room flat, he saw the door to Kallist's chamber standing wide open and empty.

  Jace went back to bed and lay awake for hours more, fighting sleep when finally it deigned to come, until he heard Kallist's steps upon the stair and was certain his friend was returning alone.

  It was roughly a week later when Kallist returned from one of his forays with something approaching good news.

  "Found a job, have you?" Jace inquired.

  "Shift commander in a local merchant's private guard."

  "A guard? You? You're kidding!" Jace couldn't help but laugh and was gratified to see Kallist smile along with him.

  "You'd think so, but no. Seems there's been an increase in crime due to the poor crop growth from the swamp expansion. So the merchants can't rely on the city guard to protect them, and there's some sort of underground merchant war going on over what crops are left… Well, it's all very complex and economical, and you couldn't care less."

  "Not even remotely," Jace agreed, still grinning. "I take it this 'war' means that you'll be doing a little more than guarding?"

  "I might have a few slightly less legal job duties,"

  Kallist admitted, "but hey, they pay better."

  "Well, congratulations, Kallist." Jace honestly meant it, and Kallist was honestly glad to hear it.

  The newfound peace lasted through all of three minutes of further conversation.

  "By all the Eternities!" Jace squelched the urge to hurl something heavy and pointed at his friend. "How many times are we going to go through this?! I've told you more times than there are worlds in the Multiverse, I am not going to risk any hugely ostentatious shows of magic just yet, and I'm certainly not going to lower myself to working some miserable, menial job in a district like Lurias!"

  "I see. So that's reserved for lesser souls like myself, then?"

  "It seems to be what you're good for!" Jace snapped.

  Kallist snarled something incomprehensible and was out the door before Jace could apologize-or even decide if he wanted to.

  A few moments of grumbling, and then Jace, too, left the flat, slamming the door behind him. Without a single conscious thought, he found his feet taking him once more to Eshton's Tavern-about the only place in Lurias where just looking around didn't just piss him off.

  It was abnormally crowded for so early in the day. Jace briefly wondered why, until he remembered hearing something about a local celebration. Celebrating what, he had no idea, and didn't care enough to ask. He shouldered his way through a cluster of people he didn't know, waved halfheartedly at one or two whose names he remembered, and slumped at the nearest empty table like a petulant child. Other than placing his order, he said nothing, looked at nobody, for some minutes. Until, that is, a familiar shape appeared beside the table.

  He looked up in shock. "You work here?!"

  Liliana gave him the same look the bartender might have given had he asked for an entire bottle of irrimberry wine-on credit. "Do I look like a barmaid to you?"

  "Well, that certainly looks like my mincemeat pie you're carrying."

  Liliana tossed the platter onto the table and sat down beside him, elbowing him to move over and give her some room. "I saw you coming," she told him. "This gave me the opportunity to see if you ordered anything I wanted to steal off your plate." She grinned at him. "And it's a powerful reminder to be careful how I spend."

  "Oh? How's that?"

  "It reminds me that if I'm not careful, I might actually have to work for a living." She shuddered theatrically. Jace couldn't help but grin, despite the sensitive topic.

  "So I was going to ask if you minded me joining you," she told him, taking a forkful of buttered tubers from his plate. "Then I saw your miserable expression, and decided I'd better not ask." She smiled at him.

  "There's… a lot going on," Jace said vaguely. Then, "Surely someone with your abilities should have no trouble earning coin."

  Liliana's smile shrank a bit. "Surely. Assuming I wanted to attract all sorts of attention. Mages may not be the rarest things on Ravnica, but they're not exactly common-at least not those with the sort of power you and I wield. So what should I do? Put on shows, conjure spirits for people's amusement? I could work for a merchant family, maybe, but that's not the best way to avoid Consortium attention. Or maybe kill a few hundred peasants until the people pay me off? I don't think I care much for that option either. I could walk somewhere else-thought about it, more than once-but I don't really know anywhere I'd have many more options than Ravnica.

  "I'm a little surprised you haven't thought through the same thing, actually."

  "I have," Jace said with a frown. "I was just hoping you'd come up with something I hadn't."

  She chuckled. "Look at us, 'Darrim.' We're quite possibly two of the most powerful people on this world, and here we are discussing jobs and living expenses. Too bad we can't just turn fungi into gold, right?" "We were gods, once…" Jace quoted under his breath, then merely shook his head at her questioning glance.

  "I can't imagine it's a problem for you," he said, trying to cheer the conversation a bit. "That is, I can't imagine you'd have trouble finding any number of people to put you up for a while."

  He realized precisely what he'd said at about the same time she did, and blushed outrageously. But even as he opened his mouth to stammer an apology, Liliana burst out laughing.

  "You haven't known many women, have you?" she teased him.

  Jace raised an eyebrow. "No, but I've always been a quick study," he replied mockingly.

  She turned demurely away, which was just as well; Jace would have been embarrassed for her to see the grin that nearly split his face.

  In fact, there had been a few women, albeit only a few, during his earlier years-and with most of those, he'd simply pulled their desires and preferences from their minds-and none at all since he'd come to Ravnica. When it came to doing things "the old fashioned way," he was almost as awkward as a pubescent boy.

  Somehow, though, he didn't think he was comfortable admitting that to her.

  For a while longer they talked, Liliana telling Jace a few sparse details of her life. He couldn't help but sympathize, as she spoke of having to leave her home, lest the fears of those she'd once called friends cause her harm.

  "Still," she told him softly, "I think maybe I've had it a little easier than you."

  "Oh?" He glanced over, puzzled, his grin fading. "Why would you say that?"

  "Because I can't do what you can. I'm accustomed to assuming that people won't trust me, or would be frightened of me, once they learn the sort of magic I wield. But you-you have the power to know they are. You can see their mistrust and their fear, or you can lessen yourself to be sure that you don't. I can't think of anything lonelier."

  It was all nonsense, Jace was certain. He'd never felt that way. Never! But he couldn't seem to bury the doubt that began to cloud his thoughts.

  Before he could decide what to say, he heard a familiar voice at the door of Eshton's Tavern, greeting a few of the gathered customers. Jace rose and saw Kallist glancing around as though looking for someone-and that
someone, to judge by his eager expression, was not Jace.

  "At least," Jace said, his own voice suddenly angry, "not everyone has to be as lonely as I apparently am." And with that he was gone, before Liliana could open her mouth to reply.

  When he returned, after many hours of stomping around the city like an angry giant, he was greeted by a wall of sound: music and laughter, drinking and dancing. The celebration of Whatever the Hell Lurias Had to Celebrate was in full swing, and he gave serious thought to coming back some other time. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a cheerful crowd.

  Then he thought about trying to sleep, sighed, and stepped through the door.

  The music that had been merely loud outside was a physical presence within, nearly potent enough to leap bodily on the newcomer and demand his coin purse. The stage was full to bursting, and many of the booths had been dragged aside to provide a larger dance floor. Several dozen customers whirled about in a flesh-and-fabric tornado, accompanied by a pair of minstrels in the corner who struggled to keep up.

  Elbowing and glaring his way through, Jace stopped at the very edge of the dance and waited until the rhythm brought Liliana to him. He was strangely relieved to discover that she wasn't dancing with anyone in particular.

  Their eyes met, and that relief was badly shaken at the ice in her expression. She stepped just far enough outside the ring of celebrants that she wouldn't block their path and glared at him.

  "Yes?" she asked, her voice carrying over the music.

  "Liliana, I wanted…" He trailed off, wondering where Kallist had gone.

  "You wanted?" she prodded coldly.

  "I wanted to apologize!" he shouted, loudly enough that several nearby customers glanced at him, drew their own conclusions, and snickered. "I shouldn't have…" he trailed off and shrugged.

  "Shouldn't have been a rude bastard to someone who was trying to be kind to you?" she demanded.

  "Uh, yes," Jace said, deflating.

  "All right. Apology accepted." Jace saw a brief flash of a grin, a slender arm darting out like a snake, and then he was in the midst of the dancers before he knew what happened.