“I’ll wait outside.”
Regis nodded, and gestured to the door, watching the man leave while eyeing his knife like a child.
The door shut, and Regis smiled.
So that was the Nightwalker.
How many people in this city used bronze blades and looked thin enough to maybe be elves, and looked at their tools like a lover?
That was the description Elena had been working on wasn’t it, an elf with a special knife. She didn’t talk much about her cases, but Regis had grasped that much, along with the manner of killing. There were some other details, but he’d not got hold of those.
So the Nightwalker was sat outside. It would be easy for Regis to arrest him, or kill him, and become a hero of the city. He, the laughing stock, could be the hero.
His smile dropped.
Life never worked like that. There were no heroes. There was no glory. No one was going to change their views of Regis if he did something good. People worked such that you had to do something far worse.
And, of course, Regis was doing that. And to do that he needed the Nightwalker alive. As long as that elf out there was killing people, Regis had free rein to kill like a copycat, because no one could tell them apart.
Something nagged at the back of his mind. Some fact he hadn’t got from Elena yet.
Never mind.
He would prepare the Nightwalker’s knife. He would get it perfect, and then his perfect cover could begin again, because for all the chance of a hero, Regis could never, ever give up his new vocation of slaughtering soldiers.
It was unthinkable.
It was the only thing that satisfied him, it was everything he lived for.
People in the churches said revenge was bad for you.
They had never taken revenge.
A noise outside, and a turn of Regis’s head. The Nightwalker was waiting…
Perhaps it would be a good idea to discover where this Nightwalker lived.
*****
Daeholf watched as Trimas came in and sat on the still warm chair.
“So, you engineered Zedek leaving the room for a bit,” Trimas began. “What do you want to talk about?”
“The Nightwalker is an elf…”
“Yes. Yes I think we have to accept that as the situation.”
“No, I don’t mean to discuss whether he is an elf.”
“Okay, er…”
“What do we do with an elf?”
“I guess I assumed Elena would arrest him and he'd go to trial?”
Daeholf sighed. “For a brilliant general you don't half miss the point sometimes.”
“Show me a map and I'll tell you where to fight. Alright, what are you getting at?”
“When we get involved in things, people tend to end up killed. Either we kill them, they jump, you get the picture, and that's fine, that’s fine, because Marlen was a killer and the altered were killers and even Vika was bad. So if we find this elf there is probably going to be a fight, because a psychopathic killer isn't going to surrender, so there's going to be a fight and…”
Trimas had got there. “You worry that Zedek won't be able to fight properly, or at all, when faced with an elf, that the no killing thing will cripple him and leave us exposed if we aren't ready without him.”
“Yes. Yes exactly.”
“Hmm.”
“You’ve known him for longer. Will he fight?”
“I don't know. There has always been something a little disturbing about the way he will kill people, humans, like we do, but swear never to kill an elf. So in all honestly, as much as I trust him, I don't know if he would kill.”
“This Nightwalker needs to be killed. We will not be able to capture and transport someone this brutal. We are at risk doing so when they'll only be hanged anyway.”
Trimas nodded and held his hands up. “Okay, I understand. We do not try an arrest. We do the safe thing.”
“Except Zedek might not agree.”
“Yep.”
“Look, he’s your friend but…”
“Our friend,” Trimas corrected.
“Ours, but yours first.”
“That’s irrelevant now. We’re a trio.”
“Okay, are we prepared to kill an elf in front of our friend?”
“Yes I am. I’d rather have a terribly annoyed Zedek than a dead one.”
“Me too.”
“Was I supposed to stop and think there?”
They laughed and smiled.
“There is something wrong with us,” Daeholf concluded.
“Which is why we’re still alive.”
The door opened and Zedek marched in. “I’ve finished. Hang on, you two look suspicious.”
“Not at all,” Trimas replied smoothly, “we have been talking about Karina.”
“What now…”
“Nothing new, just, do you get the feeling she's taking over this city?”
Zedek sat down with raised eyebrows. “You only have the feeling that a woman who worked out who we are, and who has sent a large amount of wealth and special agents into this city might now be taking it over now we happened to cause a huge power vacuum?”
Trimas nodded, a man who wasn't afraid to look silly to make a point or distract his friend from one.
“Well when you put it like that…”
Daeholf spoke now. “I don't want to work for Karina for much longer.”
“No?”
“I might be a fugitive from the Emperor, but that was personal and I’m not setting myself up as a criminal forevermore.”
“Agreed,” Trimas replied.
“I suspect Karina has more on her resume than crime,” and Zedek began to gesticulate. “I believe she is into politics and culture and all sorts of fascinating avenues which we could get…” He looked at their faces. “No?”
“No.”
“Okay. So… We could work with Elena.”
Zedek didn't see the edges of Daeholf’s mouth curl. He was thinking of investigations.
Trimas leaned forward, sighed, and turned to Zedek. “Oh fuck it. Look, could you kill the Nightwalker if you had to?”
Zedek’s eyes widened. Do what? Er… He thought quickly. They would want him to say yes.
“Good. That was easy.”
Zedek would be able to ponder whether he really could at length, but at least he had pleased his friends.
Daeholf was laughing so hard his chest began to burn. “That’s your approach to politics isn’t it. Avoid the delicate issues and then launch a successful surprise attack.”
“It doesn't work in politics.”
“I said successful, not just surprise.”
“Oh it’s back to this, is it, Mr I Got Trapped In A Siege.”
“That’s low.”
“Well since we’re all getting personal.”
“Perhaps we should go back to Karina?” Zedek suggested.
“Scary person,” Trimas concluded.
“Knows more than I’d like,” Daeholf added.
“But how?” Zedek asked.
“Spies. Agents. We all know there are powerful people with webs along with the emperor. We met one.”
Daeholf snorted at Trimas’s statement. “Met one, we work for one.”
“Yes. I agree with you. We shouldn't do this for long.”
“I’m a bounty hunter!”
The other two looked at the surprised Zedek.
“Yes?”
“We can go bounty hunting!”
“How did you forget that?”
“I was down a rabbit hole of solving crime.”
*****
Elena was a focused woman. Focused on work, focused on her brother, focused on getting them both through the bastards who wanted to destroy them both. She was able to zero in on a crime and pull out deductions, she was able to walk through a guard room of people who hated her and only see the door. She was hunting the Nightwalker and had been given her job back, so she would have been focused on that.
&n
bsp; She would normally have been focused on that.
Because as she sat at her desk, the files and papers of the case in front of her, she wasn't focused on it. In fact she hadn't given it any thought for a while.
A part of her mind was livid that work wasn't being done, but that part had been sent to a cell of its own and told to shut up. The rest of Elena was pondering the Daeholf situation.
Not Daeholf himself. Not the kind, funny man who hid beneath a skin of military hardness and friends killed.
Not the moments she had spent with him, as she had done something for the first time in a long time. Too long a time.
No, the Daeholf situation. Because at some point Regis was going to learn of this affair, and his potential reactions terrified Elena.
So, let's not get ahead, her mind had decided, let's decide if there is a future in this. Maybe Regis would never have to find out.
Elena wasn't going to beat herself up over having slept with a man. She wasn't a noble trophy who had to be shared spotlessly. She was a woman with a life, and Bastion didn’t mind that. It hated her enough for the soldiers anyway, who gave a fuck who she slept with other than to ostracise them too.
But Daeholf might not be staying. His friends were travellers now, and he was running too. They had secrets. They might leave … she didn't want them to, of course, didn't want Daeholf to, hoped he might be persuaded to stay longer.
Would he?
She could flatter herself and say of course he would, she could be cynical and say why would he, enjoy it while it lasted.
Either way … either way she had to speak to Regis didn't she. She wanted to lengthen this, and she couldn't lie. She just couldn't lie.
Elena sighed deeply, stood and began to go home. He'd be there now, she could speak to him now, she could tell him right away.
No lies.
Just honesty.
She couldn't have told him any sooner.
The guardhouse didn't wish her well as she left, and she decided to detour to see the baker on the way home. In there, she would get the best bread he had, and some cake, and she would feed her brother up with the news too.
It might work.
By the time Elena arrived home, arms laden, she could hear the sound of Regis sharpening.
Excellent, part of her thought, I won't have to wait.
Awful, another part thought, I'm going to have to do this.
“Hi Regis,” she called out from the kitchen.
There was no reply.
“Regis, can you come out please?”
“I'm busy,” came a frustrated shout.
“We need to talk, I have bread.”
A moment later her brother appeared, the wound on his face still bright. There was a sly look on him.
“You did bring bread, and cake, this is exc…” The look turned worried. “What's wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? Cake is nothing? Have you been sacked again?”
“That would be a record.”
“Well what's happened? Have you caught the killer?”
“No, no, look, sit down.”
He looked at a chair, perplexed, and dragged it out. Then he slumped on it.
“I…”
“You what?”
“This is hard.”
“You've done something.”
“Yes.”
Regis shrugged. “We all do things.”
“I'm at the start of a relationship.”
“Like … romance relationships? Like lovers?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Regis screwed his face up. “I don't need to know that.”
“Yes, yes you do. I like him, we’re lovers, and … given who he is, you have to know.”
“Look, who you go with isn…” His face hardened suddenly. “Who is it?”
“Daeholf.”
“Daeholf...Daeholf…” His face did something Elena had never seen before. The scared, shameful Regis of so many days vanished, as if a mask had been torn away to reveal a raw, bleeding anger.
He didn't stand, he surged upward, the chair flying back. “The soldier!” He shrieked, slamming his hands on the table so hard they must have stung.
“Wait.”
“Daeholf is the soldier! Three of them, three soldiers, working with you.”
“He’s not like…”
“You fucked a soldier,” and he drew the word out like a curse, “after they fucked me you fucked them!”
“Regis, please.” And Elena stood.
“No, no,” and his face was bright red, blood vessels breaking. “How dare you, how fucking dare you.”
“Calm down,” she hissed out of fear at seeing this reaction. It was worse than she had dreaded.
“You traitor.”
“Regis calm down”
“You open-legged traitor.”
“You will calm the fuck down now,” she shouted with all her authority.
He sneered at her and marched for the door. “I want you out of my sight.”
Elena reached out to stop him, then knew that would mean a fight. Possibly a real fight. Maybe if he walked it off…
She watched the door slam, heard the stamping recede, and turned back to the table.
The best she could say was no one died.
*****
Vesek was sat in the dark.
The general public of Bastion would, if they knew they had an elf among them, probably conclude they lived in the dark or some such shit, but Vesek was sat in the dark because he was trying to pretend no one was in this building, that it was seemingly unused, as everyone suspected it was.
It would be fair to say he was a bit paranoid.
Having your air of invincibility punctured and then being chased through your adopted playground would shake the confidence of many people, and Vesek was not some immune monster with no feeling left. He had a lot when it came to his survival.
He put a hand to his face, felt the cold sweat left after his panic, and pondered what to do. He could stay here and hope no one saw him or…
What he felt now was shame. Utter shame, coming in a wave that felt like drowning. To be reduced to this, cowering in the dark, a shame that brought the old Vesek following behind him.
Right. Action. Do something.
He stood, and turned to the door. First things first, find out if anyone spotted you.
But how to do that?
You couldn’t just walk up to the guard and have a chat about serial killers could you, you’d…
Wait.
Couldn’t you?
The thing Vesek had on his side was he was in a city filled with people and no accurate way for them to describe people. He hadn’t sat for a portrait, and no one was going round waving one at people and asking questions. There would be a description circulating of Vesek the rent defaulter, but no one knew he was the Nightwalker, so he really could…
Now onto the street, feeling the cold air freshen him up, Vesek walked steadily through to the main street and approached the first guard he saw. A slight man, too small for the uniform.
“Excuse me,” Vesek said, heart almost stopped.
“Yes sir?”
Vesek smiled. A deep, genuine smile.
He doesn’t know.
He doesn’t have a clue.
Confidence grew again, the confidence of a man who had sealed the hole with clay and was flooding the pool.
“Are there any leads on the Nightwalker?”
“Oh of course, we are pursuing many leads.” The guard smiled the smile of a terrible liar. It was clear there were no leads.
“No sightings?”
“We are working with many different sightings.” Another lie.
“No locations? Descriptions?”
“I assure you, sir, we are doing everything we can to investigate.”
That was odd, Vesek thought, the guard seemed almost distasteful… “Who is investigating?”
“Sergeant Elena.”
/> There it was again. “And who is she?”
“An, er, expert in, er, difficult cases.”
“You are hunting the Nightwalker with one woman?”
“She has a team. She has guard and she has…”
“Yes?”
“Bounty hunters.”
I have a bounty? “How much is the bounty?”
“The guard are working on this. Bastion is a guard city, there is no bounty.”
“But, bounty hunters…”
“They are helping Elena. I don’t really know how she got them. I think one of them, I don’t know, got injured or something.”
Vesek had been growing ever more into his old self. Now he was confronted by his old self. A bounty hunter who’d been injured … by him.
It didn’t really take much thought did it? He had hit a man lurking on a roof with an arrow. And that man, or his fellow hunters, were helping to catch him.
They had unfinished business in catching him.
Which meant, which begged, which demanded the opposite statement, that he had unfinished business in catching them.
He’d wounded but not killed. The man might not be greedy or lustful, but it still tasted like failure.
A team, headed by a sergeant everyone hated, and helped by a walking failure in Vesek’s career as a killer.
This was … ever so tempting.
“Are you alright sir?”
Vesek snapped round to the guard, internally cursing himself for slipping.
“Yes, yes, sorry to trouble you. Good luck.”
A brisk walk and Vesek was heading back to his base. How hard could it be to find this Sergeant Elena? Although she might not be a target, it sounded like she annoyed everyone, and in this city that meant you were a good person.
But bounty hunters…
They had to be immoral didn’t they. Killing and hunting for money.
For money!
Vesek did it for free and for a good cause. These hunters were agents of a human state.
Oh yes, he could find them, track them down and finish the job.
Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
Only this time, he wouldn’t get surprised partway through.
This time he would be ready.
*****
“I have a confession,” Daeholf said, sitting on the bed.
“What can you possibly have been doing stuck in here that you need to confess to us about?” Zedek said. “You been working out and hurt yourself again?”
Knives of Bastion (An Empire Falls Book 2) Page 53