*****
There was a lot of blood.
This wasn’t really a surprise to Zedek, but it was worrying him that the blood wasn’t still in Daeholf. How much could you lose and stay alive? Did the body make more blood somehow? How long would that take? You couldn’t pour blood down his throat, that didn’t work.
The butcher stepped back. On a table beside him was a barbed arrow, and in his hand was a thick needle with thick thread that ran down to the body.
No, not body, that sounded too much like corpse. Down to Daeholf, who was unconscious, but whose chest rose and fell.
“He’ll live. I think. For a while. Well, he has a chance now. I’ve sewn him up as best I can.” The butcher looked at the patient. “Alright, he’s not dead yet, that’s the best I can do.”
“Thank you,” Trimas said, clapping a large hand onto the butcher. “Thank you.”
“And from me too,” Zedek added.
“Yeah, well, let’s hope me wakes up to thank me, that’s the important one.”
“There is a lot of blood,” Zedek wondered out loud.
“It’s a shame we can’t just pour a load into the wound,” Trimas agreed.
“We can’t? No, of course we can’t. Ahem. Alright, let’s get him moved onto some fresh bedding.”
“Perhaps cut the thread?”
“Next time you can do the cutting, and I’ll do the giving orders.”
“Force of habit.”
They picked Daeholf up, all three of them, and carried him over to where clean sheets had been laid out. Once he was rested on here, Zedek covered the wound with a sheet, because looking at it was giving him the chills.
He had a strong stomach, but that was his friend.
“What do we do now?” Zedek asked.
The butcher looked behind him. “Clean this room up. If anyone comes knocking it’ll look like I’ve started butchering in here.”
Trimas was intrigued. “It’s night.”
“The inspectors like to come at night. They reckon that’s when people start chopping the dogs and cats up.”
“Not that you’d know anything about that.”
“This is a legitimate operation. But there is a man…”
“There always is. Someone should stay with him.”
Zedek agreed. “We can both stay with him.”
“That is a better idea by far.”
“Shall I bring you some food?”
“Yes, please. And some wine.”
“Wine?” Zedek was aghast.
“Settles the spirit,” Trimas tried as a defence.
“Don’t get drunk.”
“Not before he dies, no.”
“Alright, that’s the deal.”
They were interrupted by someone hammering on a door.
“Bloody health inspectors. Won’t find any dog here!”
“Get the wine, I’ll go,” Trimas said, and he was soon opening the door. Then he felt his shoulders sagging.
“It’s you again,” he said, as he found Elena standing in the doorway.
“I was thinking the same thing. Have you been on the roofs?”
“Causing trouble?”
“Yes. I have been told…”
“Look, I know you and we didn’t start the best, but you can’t follow us round the city harassing us. Just ’cause something happens doesn’t mean we had anything to do with it.”
“Oh really, so you weren’t on the rooftops then?”
Elena glared at Trimas, daring him to say no.
“Oh we were on them.”
“Waiting for extortionists to kill. Who you will no doubt produce papers for.”
“Bit fucking academic now.”
“Oh, right, it doesn’t matter you were planning an ambush.”
“Not now, no. Not since.”
“Someone got hit by an arrow then.”
“Yes, they did as it fucking happens. My friend was struck by some lunatic wandering about on the fucking rooftops.”
Elena opened her mouth, but her brain was taking control of her pumping red mist. She hadn’t come here to confront these bounty hunters for causing trouble, she had been interested in something else before that.
Something very, very important that must only be temporarily forgot.
“Someone on the roof fired an arrow at you. Someone walking on the roofs.”
“You don’t believe us. Right, fine,” and he reached out, grabbed Elena’s sleeve and pulled her inside. She balled her fists to punch him in the jaw, when she saw a trail of blood on the floor, and let herself be led inside.
There was more blood, so there would be a victim.
But something else caught her attention. Bloody tools taken away from the operation, blood all around where a barbed arrow lay. Elena took advantage of being inside to dash over to it.
“Is this what hit him?”
“He’s called Daeholf. Dae-holf. Not him.”
“Alright, this is what wounded Daeholf?”
“Yes.”
Elena’s pulse had quickened, but the anger was gone, replaced only by hope.
“Can you tell me everything about what happened?”
“So you can arrest us?”
“No, not at all. You are in the clear. The ambush doesn’t matter. What I need to know is who fired this.”
“We were sat waiting, in the cold, and we saw someone on the roof. Acting oddly. They shot at us, hit Daeholf, and we, er, didn’t pursue. He ran off over the roofs.”
“So it was a he?”
“We are certain it was a he. Tall, thin, dressed in dark clothes and good with a bow. That’s all we have.”
“Any details on his face?”
“None. Too far, too dark. Look, does this sound like extortionists?”
“No, it doesn’t. How long ago was this?”
“Daeholf didn’t bleed out. Yet. A bit longer than it takes a man to bleed out.”
“And did you see what direction he ran in?”
“Er, west.”
“Thank you. I hope your friend recovers,” and Elena dashed out of the door, to head west.
Trimas rubbed his chin. “Well I think that went as well as could be expected.”
*****
“It appears to be a full scale war sir.”
The watch captain who had been sent to report to the Governor thought he was being both accurate and literary, and had a shock when the Governor interlocked his fingers, leaned forward and put both elbows on the desk.
“How long have you been a captain?” the Governor asked.
“Half a year, sir.”
“That is probably why you have a little bit more to learn. Luckily, I will help you. My advice, captain, is to never, ever describe anything as a full scale war, especially not to the public, or to the man who organises your payment, unless it is a full scale war.”
“Er…”
“You are a Guard unit, you are supposed to be keep public order. I am a governor, I am supposed to make sure you do this. And, what is rather the opposite of public order?”
“War?”
“Yes. War. The Emperor deals with the wars, and there are no wars here. What we have is one group of criminals fighting another group of criminals in an organised trap. One group is no more. We simply need to arrest the other half. I am sure you, the Guard, and our Thieftaker are on top of it. Criminals fighting each other. Not a war.”
“Yes sir.”
“Believe me, captain, I will let you all know if there is a war in the area. Is that all?”
“No sir, there is a report that just came in. I, er, left before they could digest it back at…”
“What is this report that is so urgent?”
The captain told him, and the Governor raised an eyebrow. “I see. Thank you for telling me. Now, on your way out, please tell my secretary to come in.”
The captain saluted, bowed, scraped his way out, and the private secretary walked in.
“Please order Vika to b
e here immediately.”
Then the Governor walked to a window and looked out at his city. A bustling, successful, loyal city whose geography countered all three. A marvel the place worked. A marvel thanks to people like him. Be good, be effective, get posted to the farthest reaches and freeze while doing the same. One of you will end up as emperor, but that had already happened centuries ago, so just keep things running and you can stay as governor. The second most powerful set of people in an empire full of generals and senators who rather disagreed with that notion.
He remained standing, watching, until he saw the figure of Vika walking briskly through the streets and he turned to the door.
Some people ran when the Governor called them. All people should. Vika kept her own timings, but at least she had gathered the order was urgent and that she wasn’t being summoned for praise and so had better be on time.
The Governor poured a drink, downed the wine for courage, and stood at his full height.
“Come in,” he replied to the knocking on the door.
Vika opened it and stepped inside. She looked, if not tired, like someone who was still working on the rush of being busy all night.
“I see you have been looking into the events of the evening, a struggle at the docks.”
“Indeed I have.”
“I assume that, although the docks are a constant flashpoint of trouble, the reports I’m hearing of a large number of deaths are accurate?”
“Yes sir. I believe a gang tried to enter our city, and were met on the docks by another gang. I am pleased to announce I have already made three arrests, and am working on further leads.”
“Three arrests? Very good. Quick too.”
“You have to act quickly, before people hide.”
“Ah, yes, because if someone has hidden, you would have to hunt them out. What would be a good way to hunt someone Vika?”
Her face, unmoving and cold, didn’t betray her sudden confusion. “Sorry?”
“The rooftops. That would be a good way for someone to hunt, wouldn’t it.”
Oh. He meant that. “I hadn’t considered it sir. Do you want guards on the rooftops?”
“Funny you should ask,” and his smile vanished. “What I don’t want on the rooftops are assassins stalking about in the night! Serial murderers firing arrows at people!”
“I quite agree.”
“It is one thing, Vika, to have a killer stalking our city in the shadows, because people can actually feel quite safe while that is going on.”
“Sir…”
“But when you give them an idea, a sudden strange concept, the mind works against them. We have kept public peace with a killer at large on the streets, but now every man, woman and child is looking at the fucking roofs all the fucking time wondering when an arrow is going to strike them down!”
“I apologise, sir, killers don’t usually change how they work like this.”
“Killers? The habits of killers. I suppose that is your area.” He had calmed. “You catch criminals, killers, what have you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“My area is politics, governance, keeping peace and order.” He began ramping up again. “And I can’t keep order if my thieftaker can’t capture a killer who is walking about in the fucking skies!”
“We will take care of this. Orders have gone out…”
“One man dead, cut up. That could be a fluke. But now reports of another man downed, and the stalker still up there. I would have expected orders to go out the first time, and I really…”
Vika was a consummate politician. She knew how to read people. She saw the Governor was working his way to a very problematic conclusion, and she knew she had to grit her teeth, not riposte with what was in her head, and simply tell herself that his time would come, yes it bloody would, and she would not be spoken to like this anymore.
“Do you have any excuses?” he asked her.
“We have finite resources, and they have been allocated. There are no longer drugs in our city. Gang violence is down, despite last night, and that is in hand. Thievery is affecting the rich less and less. Murders, rapes, wounds and fights are reducing in the areas of the city where the power and the money is wielded. The one thing we have not yet been able to do is find the killer. I have a woman in charge of this, but clearly that situation needs to be examined. I will do so.”
“I am disappointed you would offer me excuses Vika. I thought you better than that.”
“I prefer reasons, but it will not happen again.”
“The excuses or the killings? Go and sort it out, for God’s sake.”
He waved a hand and dismissed her, turned away. She would sort out the problems with this fire lit under her. Some people might get angry and try and arrest him. But Vika wasn’t stupid. If she wanted power, she’d find some other way, that didn’t interfere with him.
*****
Sleep was becoming difficult for Vika, something only the dead did.
She slammed the door to her office open and stormed in, mind focused entirely on the anger she felt towards the Governor and his tone. Only the Emperor could talk to him the way he had spoken to her.
Well, unless you had a legion.
She didn’t. And she wouldn’t, because the military was an arcane subject all of its own. She had the thieves and the thieftakers, and right now she wanted one in particular.
“Go and fetch me Elena,” she barked at a passing assistant. “The woman on the Nightwalker case. Go and fetch her immediately.”
“Where will she be?”
Vika glared at her assistant. “You were hired because you could deduce things. Go deduce them. But I imagine she will either be at her guardhouse, at home, or running around the streets in between them. There is an outside chance she is walking about the rooftops, but look into that last. Guardhouse, yes, go.”
Vika watched the woman run away and realised she was being short with her staff. Anger was one thing, but you had to lead, and that meant being something other than a shouting, belligerent arsehole. That didn’t instil much loyalty.
Even if it was a glorious release.
By now people had queued up between her and her office, waving documents.
“We have arrested seven people…”
“Good, make sure they are kept in separate cells so they can’t talk, or kill each other.”
“We have recovered a number of bodies from the harbour but the exact figure is vague…”
“Send them for cremation, we don’t need to bury invaders in our soil. Actually, see if they can tell us where they’re from, then burn them.”
“A quantity of jewellery was stolen from an apprentice, and we have discovered it was the apprentice themselves.”
“Quick work. What does the master say?”
“He is pleading for leniency.”
“Odd, but it happens. Send them to a normal trial anyway. The magistrate can decide, not the master. The law is above their whims.”
Apprentices. Masters. It was like a pair of sub cities always at war with the other, but they rarely strayed into Vika’s province. Perhaps that was something to consider next.
“Anything else?” she asked.
Heads were shook, so Vika went into her office, closed the door and put a hand to her eyes and rubbed. Nothing ever feels perfect for long. There is always something. One minute you have cleared the city of one problem and another appears.
On the rooftops.
Vika slumped into a chair, poured herself a large glass of water and sank it down, then poured another. Then she turned her chair to look at the map and waited.
A while later, there came a knocking.
“Yes?” Vika called out, standing and smoothing her hair and her dress.
The door opened and an assistant peered in. “Sergeant Elena is here.”
“Send her in.”
Vika turned and looked at the wall, and she didn’t see Elena come in.
“Sergeant.”
; “Thieftaker, I have excellent news.”
“I have heard some news.” She now turned to face Elena. “When I asked you to look into the Nightwalker, they were killing people in the streets.”
“Yes?”
“Now it appears they are killing people on rooftops.”
“Yes, but…”
“Let me rephrase that Elena, since you were asked to arrest the Nightwalker, the situation has become much worse.”
“I do have…”
“I hope you’re going to say ‘a clue’.”
“Yes. I may have witnesses.”
“I see. Who are they?”
“Ex-soldiers, bounty hunters. One was actually shot with an arrow by the Nightwalker, but he lives! Well he did.”
“I see. And they have furnished you with a description?”
“Er, no.”
“A location of a hideout?”
“No. Not yet!”
“Something, anything with which we can search?”
He had nothing to say.
“Don’t say he or she used a bow.”
“I, er…” And Elena had to admit, her previous excitement about witnesses was ebbing. What had she got now, beyond a dying witness who didn’t really see much except the sharp end of an arrow? “It is progress. First a survivor and a sighting, next…”
“I’m pleased you said next. Next is a good thing to discuss.” Vika was smiling, and Elena had never seen anything so cold.
“Next…”
“I am taking you off this search.”
“You’re firing me?”
“Suspending you.”
“But I have…”
“Made only cosmetic progress while the killing has gotten worse.”
Elena looked right into the Thieftaker’s eyes, and thought she saw a woman who regretted doing this, forced into doing this. But that might be her imagination.
“Thieftaker, if I go back…”
“You’ll be a laughing stock among the guard. I know. Which is why you won’t go back for a while. You are, as of this moment, no longer a working guard. This incident … it’s expanding. It needs a resolution. I’ll be in touch when — if — you can return.”
Elena thought she detected something unusual about how that last phrase was spoken. But what else could she do but turn and walk out, past the assistants who smiled at her passing. There was no point in crying and complaining. She would just have to fight her way back.
Knives of Bastion (An Empire Falls Book 2) Page 22