The Invisible Hand

by Chris Northern

  The lump of dung that spattered in the street not ten paces in front of me made me jump, hand going to sword hilt and drawing fast and smooth, head turning as I dropped into a defensive crouch. My gaze came to rest on a movement off to my left; a figure stood beside a naked hay rick; it should have been covered in tarp, I noted absently, but doubtless that was being used as a shelter somewhere. The hay would start to moulder if the rain continued, I thought as I straightened into a more relaxed posture. I'd immediately recognised the old man who had thrown dung to get my attention. Somehow I couldn't help feeling it was an appropriate messenger. The old man who looked after the latrines gestured for me to follow and moved away into the shadows. I glanced behind me as I turned full to face that way. The two soldiers stood behind me, back to back and swords drawn, scanning the night for whatever threat had made me react. A lump of dung landing in the street. I'd be jumping at shadows next. I was tired of reacting to events.

  "Relax," I said, and pointed into the gloaming with bared steel. My own sword felt good in my hand. Comforting. Reluctantly I sheathed it and moved off to follow. He was Sapphire’s agent, I remembered. He would be acting at Sapphire’s bidding. The old man led us a twisting path through the deepening shadows, going around huts, staying away from doorways, keeping to the shadows and avoiding even the patrols of my own men. He hesitated every now and again and turned to beckon me on, visibly wincing as I made no effort to hide my movements. After a far longer walk than was necessary, he took us at last, and inevitably, to the latrines and ducked inside, briefly silhouetted by the flickering torchlight from within.

  I tutted under my breath at the trickle of water that ran out through the doorway and stepped into it after him. The latrine had been flooded again, and stank as bad as I'd anticipated. The difference from my last visit under such circumstances was clear. To one side of the room a flagstone had been lifted to reveal a square shaft. Sapphire stood over it, looking down into the shaft at the water which gurgled and moved just below the lip of the hole. He was drenched. On a ledge behind him were laid out clothes, towels, soap and a large bowl of hot water.

  "What," I said, very slowly and carefully, "the fuck is going on?"

  He glanced up and then followed the direction of my gaze to the bathing gear and clean clothes. He was breathing deep but slow and calm. "We have a dinner appointment," he said, casually. "We will be late if you don't hurry."

  The old man moved out of my way but stayed by the door as I stepped further into the chamber and looked down into the hole. There was nothing much to see except moving water. The sound of it filled the room, muted but insistent, echoing from the walls. Sapphire stepped back a half pace and began stripping off his wet clothes. I noted the fresh blood and the scrapes where flesh had been torn from knuckles, elbows and knees. "So what's down there?"

  He tossed his soaked tunic to the floor where it landed with a heavy splat. "Tunnels," he said, shortly.

  I shrugged. "Tunnels filled with water. And that's important because...?"

  "Because they aren't always," Sapphire continued stripping as he spoke. "He can push the water back and uses them to move about the town."

  "Caliran?" I imagined it; a spirit pushing the water back against the walls of the tunnels, pushing water out by displacement. I remembered the freshly mopped floor of Caliran's chambers; the flooding of the latrines. Where else? Well, that could be investigated.

  Sapphire turned away and grabbed a cloth, dunking it in the hot water and making a lather with the soap. "That's the he that I meant. I followed him but had to stay well back." He started to clean up, his voice still calm. "When he knew everyone was out he released the water." I glanced down into the roiling flood. He glanced my way and down into the water. "I'd rather not have to do that again."

  I imagined the dark, the narrow passageway, the heaving water slamming into me and pulling me with it. I decided that I didn't want to do it once. One of the soldiers had moved up beside me. He shuddered and glanced at Sapphire with a mix of awe and respect, his thoughts apparently mirroring my own.

  "Where?"

  "North, about two hundred yards and I'd say somewhere out of sight of the walls. I'd guess Silgar made the tunnels for him at some time. Not too recently, I think. They lead other places, too," he sounded disappointed, "but I couldn't investigate that."

  "So he has been free to move about the whole time."

  Sapphire nodded and returned his attention to getting clean and dry while I mulled this over in my mind. Not only had Caliran had a way to spy on me, and a way to communicate with his agents and allies, he had also had a way to move freely whenever he chose. He had the books of Duprane and some knowledge of the workings of the pattern at Duprane's Keep. I thought of the small, perfect teeth displayed when Caliran smiled. He'd been sneaking out there at night with kidnapped children and using them to bestow physical gifts of health on himself and others, buying allies. If the children survived the process, he'd killed them to hide the evidence. He had been building a rebellion under my nose and I'd suspected none of it. I told Sapphire about Lendrin Treleth's new-found health and vigour, then about the bodies Dannat had discovered and what I had instructed him to do about it.

  Sapphire grunted. "There will be others. Not just Treleth." He grabbed a towel and gave me room, indicating that it was my turn to get cleaned up.

  I let out the sigh that had been building up all day. "Do we have to do this?"

  Sapphire just looked at me, face expressionless.

  "Right," I gave it up. "Get Silgar out of the way. It's one less thing to worry about." As I started to strip I told him about my encounter with Silgar in the temple. "So," I ended it, "if that was you would I be alive?"

  I'd dumped my armor and stripped to the waist as I talked. I had a soapy cloth in one hand but hadn't done anything with it yet. I watched him consider the matter. It took longer than I expected before he shook his head. "You were fully enhanced, granted. And you are a better fighter than when we met..." he shook his head again. "No."

  "That's what I thought," I turned away and started to clean up.

  "Whatever his intent is here, killing you isn't part of it. He came close in the forest when you met Duprane, but didn't so much as cut you. A couple of times before that..." he trailed off. "I think you are right. He's trying to scare you off, not kill you."

  Why? "Why?"

  Sapphire didn't say anything until I'd finished cleaning up and turned with a towel in my hands. He was buckling my belt around his own waist, attention on the doorway where the old man stepped out into the night. I heard his harsh voice call out. "Latrines is flooded ag'in, cain't be used, you. Bugger off an' piss ag'in the wall." Sapphire smiled at the old man's words. He finished buckling on my belt and gave me his as the old man came back in, running his hands over his head to shuck off the rain, and then turned to stand in the doorway and keep a watch.

  "If he's not trying to kill you," Sapphire told me, "then I'll need this more than you will."

  I shrugged. He was welcome to it. "Why?" I asked again.

  "Let's try this," he said. "Duprane told you that Silgar accepted money not to assassinate the masters of the Keeps on Battling Plain, yes?"

  I nodded. "So she said."

  "And we have no reason not to believe it. So shall we surmise that someone had already paid him not to kill you?"

  It was a thought.

  "And if we surmise that," he continued, "then there are very few candidates as to who that might be."

  I blinked as it came clear to me, and the implications of it. "My father." The power play amongst the Patrons that I had, to some extent, already considered. Threads running north into Battling Plain from several families, my own included. And me a pawn in my father's game.

  "That would be my guess. His motives are obvious. He knew you would be coming here. Pretty clear that no matter what happened you would likely put some noses out of joint, and not much of a leap to think they might hire Silgar to make an end
of you." He looked thoughtful for a moment then seemed to dismiss the matter.

  "Of course, that means that he knew more about all of this than he chose to tell you. Specifically, that he knew how to contact Silgar."

  Sapphire nodded. "It does. I'll be sure to ask him about that when I see him. Are you ready?"

  It was obvious that I wasn't. I cleaned up, dried off and dressed without saying another word about it. That didn't stop me thinking, though. I'd always known that my father was a secretive bastard, and a selfish one. But the full extent of that was only now becoming clear to me. He had sent me here without sharing anything of what he knew, or intended, or expected me to achieve. He'd known that I would get involved, take action, cause reactions, play a part on a stage that he had set and that I knew nothing of. Like an actor forced to improvise a role in a play he had not rehearsed, I was struggling, making it up as I went along, fighting to figure out what the intent of the playwright was and what his intended resolution might be.

  Not for the first time, I toyed with the idea of walking to the stables, climbing on a horse and riding away from it all. And if it were only me who would have to live with the consequences of that, I might have. I just hoped I could wrestle some advantage for myself out of the situation and avoid leaving a smoking ruin behind me when I did take my leave. That would have to be soon, now. And I had to find a way to leave some kind of stability behind me, wrestle some kind of gain for myself out of the situation.

  I pulled on the loose black robe that Sapphire had provided and used his belt to strap my sword to my hip. "If Silgar isn't trying to kill me, then will he even make an attempt on my life?"

  Sapphire shrugged. "He isn't the only player in the game. We've set the trap, it would be a waste not to spring it."

  Sapphire, myself and two soldiers, our enhancements fast failing. Some trap.

  "Maybe I should pick up another couple of men at the gate," I said as I headed for the door and passed out into the fine, misting rain that fell out of the darkness.

  "It's not far to the trading post," Sapphire said as he fell in beside me, scanning the night as we walked. "Your sentinels’ vision will be enhanced. They'll be watching us."

  I almost groaned aloud from thinking about it. The enhancements were wearing thin. They might have failed completely by the time any action started. "All I want is a meal, a bed, a book and some wine," I muttered to myself.

  "I expect there are beggars saying the exact same thing."

  I took his point and shut up, took a deep breath and let it out. Then rolled my shoulders to get the kinks out and tensed and relaxed my arms to warm the muscles. I focused on the moment as we passed through the gate. Firebrands on the walls of the trading post danced in reflection off the waters of the lake. Cloud cover killed the light from stars and moon. I couldn't see half-way clearly for more than a few yards and beyond that all was darkness in which the shadow-hugging Silgar might hide, ready to... what? Not kill me. To pretend to try and kill me for reasons I'd hardly begun to think about. I kept myself from scanning the night nervously by thinking it through. Caliran had hired him; that was clear. To make the tunnels, for one. Probably to kidnap children for him without being seen or heard. Why children? Well, Caliran was small. Maybe they were just easier to take. I dismissed it for the moment, and returned to the main thread of my thoughts. Then Silgar, already in Caliran's employ, had been instructed to kill me. But he had already accepted payment not to do so, presumably from my father. Paid by both sides he could satisfy only one, or by trying and failing seem to satisfy both. Accepting that, what would he do now? Caliran doubtless knew, for certain he knew in advance that I was right this moment heading to the trading post almost completely unprotected. I glanced at Sapphire. Well, not completely, but Silgar had tackled Sapphire before and survived. It was a good opportunity; Silgar could not be seen to pass it up without tipping his hand to Caliran. He had to do something. He had to make it look like he was trying to kill me, even though he couldn't. But he could kill someone else while trying, couldn't he? And there was an obvious candidate. I turned to Sapphire and opened my mouth to warn him but he spoke first.

  "Sound travels near water," he said softly.

  It did. The sound of our feet crunching on shards of wet slate was loud in my ears but unavoidable. We had come close to the lake shore and followed its line with the town now behind us and the trading post ahead. Halfway. Voices sounded from the trading post; not the subdued and fearful mutterings of Darklake, but voices confident and filled with robust good cheer. Treleth's people had suffered none of the problems of Darklake. His people were content. The thought of him being more successful than I sickened me, especially now that I knew what evil he was capable of, profiting from the murder of children just as callously as my would-be assassin had so loudly claimed. Caliran was behind that, and behind the assassin, and maybe behind everything; the invisible hand pulling the strings and making the puppets dance. Just like my father, in fact. And it was only with that comparison that I hated Caliran, the emotion rising in me like a tide. My breathing deepened and my body tensed with it. Flushed with anger, my mind focused and my senses sharpened as though there were an enemy before me to fight. The creak of stressed wood came crisp and clear to my ears, my mind interpreted it instantly and I stopped mid stride, started to turn, deliberately fell as both Sapphire and I barked the word in unison.

  "Bows!"

  The sound of the loosed strings thrummed out of the night and the hiss of arrows whined overhead as I broke my fall with both hands and bounced back to my feet moving fast away from the lake against which I knew I was silhouetted, an easy mark. Missed because I had heard and known the sound of bows coming under stress. Because I was angry and tense and ready for action. My blade came to hand fast and strong as I pumped my legs hard, heading into the night almost blind but knowing I needed to close with them before they nocked and drew another flight. To left and right there was movement that I knew was Sapphire and my soldiers coming with me, reacting as fast and as well. A fierce joy flashed through me and I grinned as I ran. Seven, eight, maybe ten bowmen were just about to die in the night and I loved it. I focused on moving, barely able to see in the dark and the drizzle, the rocks merely vague shadows. Just enough contrast to avoid them as I also sought any movement that would betray a bowman come to kill me. Pale face and hands betrayed him as he moved, the creak of a straining bow causing me to dodge right, kick to a stop, turn as the bow thrummed, duck and step as it whistled my way, start as it whipped between my legs and bounced from rock with a distinct clink of steel against stone. Aimed low, he'd missed by nothing more than random chance but I was vaguely aware of other arrows hissing in the air and who knew which one might have struck home had I not ducked? The realisations flashed through my mind as I returned my attention fully to my target, saw him start to move and drop the bow, as I closed on him hard and fast with no shred of mercy in me. Satisfaction, culmination, success, power. Certainty. He knew I was onto him, too close to flee my retribution. He turned back, a long knife in his hand, raised it wildly to block the blow I had already committed to. I turned my blade slightly to strike his wrist, biting deep as the blow bore down his arm and chopped deep into his shoulder, heard the crack of his collarbone breaking, the meaty thunk as the blade dug deep. I caught a glimpse of his face, suddenly blank with shock as I ducked my shoulder, twisted the blade and barged into him, knocking him from his feet and tearing my blade free, hearing the popping sound as some bone in him was dislocated. Without pause, I stepped past him, eyes wide, moving parallel to the shore, seeking and finding shadowy movement not far away. Deep shadow. Black shadow. A stain in the night drifting silently closer. I checked, my heart thudded once then seemed to lie still inside me as my blood ran cold.

  "Silgar," I whispered the word, barely able to breathe. I was alone. If Silgar wanted me dead then I would die here and now. But that wasn't what he wanted, was it? "You," I said, mastering my fear, "do not want to kill me."<
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  The shadows dropped away like a fallen curtain, revealing a man, shorter than I, slender as a knife blade. Pale face, just visible in the light of flickering distant firebrands. Large eyes. Small features. Hands slowly raised out from the body. Slender, small hands. Something glinted in her left hand but I was not distracted. Her lips parted as my expression showed my surprise. "Then I need not pretend to try." Her voice was soft and distinctly feminine. "Caliran will be no more or less disappointed than he would have been."

  A scream of pain sounded in the night, close by. She didn't so much as twitch. Nor did I. She held my full attention, a creature both fascinating and deadly. The knife glittered in her hand. I didn't dare take my gaze from her; she might, after all, change her mind.

  "My father paid you not to kill me." It was a guess, but nothing else made sense. Who else?

  "People do. It sometimes makes my work more complicated."

  "Caliran paid you to kill me."

  She cocked her head to one side, listening, considering. "Caliran retained my services for several purposes, Sumto, but the most relevant to you is the task of protecting him from assassination."

  The problem was clear. "I mean to kill him."

  "And I won't let you." She returned her attention to me. "Sapphire won't be long and I'd rather we not meet again," she spoke softly, intimately. "So here is my word. The north is not for you. The Keeps are roused, a delicate balance disturbed. Caliran's ambitions are not mine, but I will safeguard his life." She took a step backward. "Don't forget to search the body," she said.