Old Man's Ghosts

by Tom Lloyd

  ‘We do not take orders from a coward. At least you do not deny what you have done – for that I would have shot you where you stood. Step forward, Lawbringer Narin, meet your death with what bravery a low born can muster. You will tell us where my cousin hides. Do so willingly and I will let you die with sword in hand. Continue to hide her and you will choke on your balls as you’re dragged through the streets.’

  ‘This is a matter of honour?’ Rhe interrupted in a level voice.

  ‘It is. Even an Eagle nobleman should understand that. You will stand back, Lawbringer. You know what must happen when a low caste spits on the honour of a warrior family.’

  ‘Oh, I understand honour, but there are many kinds. With regret, I cannot yield.’

  ‘This man has dishonoured my family, and he must die for it,’ the Wyvern snarled. ‘Do you deny my rights?’

  Rhe turned so his gun was pointing at the man. ‘I deny nothing, but still I cannot yield. He is a Lawbringer and entitled to my presence at his side. You have not declared your name, have not issued challenge, so this is no formal duel where he stands alone.’

  ‘He is low caste!’ the Wyvern roared. ‘He will hear my name as his life drains from his body, I need offer no formality.’

  Rhe cocked his head to one side and looked past the leader to the woman with the gun at Irato’s head. ‘Narin is right, though, I really wouldn’t do that if I were you.’

  The Wyvern glanced back at his comrade – most likely a sister or cousin, given that this was a matter of family honour. ‘This man was following us. He’s lucky we have not broken his legs already.’

  ‘Still, I reckon you’re making a mistake there,’ Narin said, taking a step forward and slowly drawing his sword.

  ‘He will not be harmed if you tell me where she is; upon my honour.’

  ‘Honour,’ Rhe echoed, ‘but not formality. Irato, Narin – allow me to educate you on the form that is to be observed here.’

  ‘There is no form to be observed,’ the Wyvern snarled, drawing his own sword. It was a long straight blade that tapered to a short point – a two-handed weapon that had reach over Narin’s.

  ‘Indeed not,’ Rhe said as he shot the man through the eye.

  The gunshot was deafening in the enclosed space and Narin still saw the muzzle-flash despite closing his eyes just in time. By the time he opened them Irato had already moved. The grip his captor had on him seemed not to make any difference as he jerked around with unnatural speed and broke her arm. The gun went off as he did so, but Irato was out of the way by then. In the next moment he slammed a forearm into her face as he dragged her second gun from her waist. The woman staggered backwards and he followed her, using her body as a shield as he fired the pistol at some hidden figure.

  Narin rounded the pillar ahead with sword leading, cutting down at the gun he assumed was waiting for him. His blade sliced flesh before he saw the man in the darkness. The flash of the pistol half-blinded Narin, but he swung up at the man’s face without hesitation and felt his weapon bite before the Wyvern fell away.

  More gunshots echoed around him. Half-dazed, he reeled from the bright flashes coming from left and right. From nowhere a massive figure appeared in front of him, pistols in hand. Narin saw the guns come up and felt a moment of pure terror before the Wyvern hesitated then continued the movement and hurled his spent weapons away.

  Narin ducked, but felt one of the weapons smack against the side of his head. As stars burst blackly in his vision, he watched the Wyvern draw his own sword. Narin backed away but found himself with his back to a pillar. Before the Wyvern could close Irato barrelled into the man’s side and the pair went sprawling. The sword was lost on the ground but the Wyvern barely paused. Despite his size the man was quick. He hauled himself on top of his attacker and punched Irato first in the shoulder then in the gut with his ham-sized fists. The former goshe lay on his back and could only swat at the descending fists with palms that crackled with tiny threads of lightning.

  The Wyvern pressed his advantage and punched down into Irato’s face. The impact rocked his head back and cracked it against the floor, but as Narin moved to help, the light around Irato’s hands became a spitting corona. His own wild blow was enough to startle the Wyvern and Irato jumped up as the man scrabbled sideways.

  With brutal efficiency he slapped a lightning-wreathed palm against the man’s ear and followed it up with a knee to the face that snapped the man’s head back. He fell, limp before he hit the ground, but Irato was taking no chances and slammed his knuckles down into the man’s throat. There was an audible crack as a bone snapped under the force of impact.

  Panting, Irato looked down at the man for a moment then turned and cocked his head at Narin.

  ‘Reckon they know, then?’

  Narin winced as he checked around and realised that it had all gone quiet in the ancient cellar. The peppery stink of gunpowder filled his nose, a haze of smoke lingering in the chill air.

  ‘I preferred you when you were mindless,’ he growled and extended an arm to the former goshe.

  Irato took it and stood. ‘You made me this way,’ he pointed out. ‘Only got yourself to blame.’

  ‘Yes,’ said a voice behind him. ‘Let us discuss blame.’

  Narin didn’t need to turn to know it was Rhe behind him and his heart sank.

  ‘Please, not now,’ he said wearily as he turned to face the aristocratic Lawbringer.

  ‘Really? Men have just tried to kill me and it’s not convenient for you?’

  Narin felt a growl of anger in his stomach. ‘They tried to kill me first,’ he snapped, ‘and that wasn’t the bit you objected to, was it?’

  ‘Hey now,’ Irato warned, ‘let’s not do this here.’

  ‘You have a point, Lawbringer?’ Rhe said coldly, ignoring Irato.

  ‘They want to kill me for honour, aye. I’ll take some blame in this, but let’s not piss around. It’s not my fucking caste system that made ’em want to kill me. Might be I’ve done some things I’m not proud of, but life ain’t perfect and that doesn’t give those bastards the right to hunt me down like a dog. But you’d likely have done the same in their place – and you’d have stepped aside if I’d not been a Lawbringer. A commoner like me doesn’t actually mean shit to you, does it?’

  Rhe didn’t speak for a long moment, all emotion hidden in his pale face.

  ‘You believed everything I said to that man?’ he asked quietly. ‘Narin, I had thought better of you.’

  Narin snorted and turned his back, sheathing his sword as he stalked towards the exit. ‘It’s your damn caste system, not mine. Those are the rules that say I can be killed by these men and breaking them isn’t something I’m going to apologise for.’

  ‘Did I ask you to?’ Rhe called.

  Narin stopped and hesitated before turning. His time in training under Rhe had taught him enough about losing his temper. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a long breath, realising his hand was trembling slightly with the elation and panic of the day.

  ‘No,’ he admitted as he swallowed the fear-born anger inside him. ‘Sorry. But what slights these men consider worth killing for aren’t on me. I’m not high caste. I’m sorry you were dragged into the mess I created, but don’t blame me for these men trying to kill you today.’

  To Narin’s astonishment, Rhe inclined his head to him. ‘Then I shall not. I believe I deserve an explanation, though. I was proposing to stand beside you again over the next few days, so it is reasonable to ask what I’m dealing with, no?’

  ‘I … I suppose so. Ah, well, this is mostly it. There’ll be Wyverns trying to kill me. If they fail, there’ll probably be some official complaint against me at court which will lead to my disgrace and expulsion from the Lawbringers.’

  ‘Lord Vanden of House Wyvern?’ Rhe inquired.

  ‘Aye, he’ll be the one.’

  ‘Is there news I’ve not heard yet?’

  Narin ignored the sound of Irato snorting in the s
hadows as he went about fetching his weapons, and no doubt helping himself to the purses of the dead warrior castes. ‘I doubt it’s yet common knowledge. His wife fled his palazzo in the night, left him.’

  ‘The Lady Kine Vanden Wyvern,’ Rhe said slowly. ‘A most beautiful woman, as I recall.’

  Narin flushed and said nothing.

  ‘She was pregnant, if memory serves?’

  ‘She was.’

  ‘Close to giving birth?’

  ‘She had a little girl in the night.’

  ‘And she was not quite the colour Lord Vanden expected?’

  ‘Lord Vanden’s out of the city, has been this last week.’

  ‘It seems I am still missing a detail then,’ Rhe said after a moment’s thought.

  Narin winced. ‘He wouldn’t have needed to see the baby, not after that attack Enchei and I saved him from.’

  ‘I see. Do you have a plan to get out of this alive?’ Rhe made a disapproving sound. ‘Does one of your more unusual friends have a plan to get you out of this?’

  ‘Of a fashion.’

  Rhe sighed. ‘I recall how many died last time you cooked up such a plan.’

  ‘That won’t happen this time.’

  ‘But in the meantime Lord Vanden is returning to the city and will ruin you when he arrives, assuming you’re not dead of course.’ Rhe shrugged and began to reload one of his pistols, hands moving through the motions almost as though unbidden. ‘We’d best be quick, then.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘I need you and your friends to stop this summoner, remember?’ There was a trace of humour in Rhe’s voice as he spoke – as much as ever came from the aloof aristocrat – but Narin heard the chilly overtones all the same. ‘We should get this case solved before you’re dead or disgraced.’

  ‘I, ah, I suppose so.’

  ‘Good. Well then, I believe congratulations are in order.’

  Narin’s surprised laughter echoed through the room.

  CHAPTER 10

  A brief wail broke through the fog of sleep that filled Kine’s mind. She opened her eyes and blinked at the unfamiliar room, dimmed by the closed shutters of the window. The best that could be said for it was that it was clean. Narin’s aging friend had seen to that. Whitewashed walls and mis-matched rugs on the floor diminished the house’s shabby air, but it remained a dismal and cramped sight to a woman so used to a palazzo.

  Beside her, Dov squinted up at the ceiling and gave another stuttering cry. With weary hands Kine leaned over and cradled her daughter. Instead of being soothed, Dov’s cries increased and Kine felt a now-familiar sense of panic at the anguished sound. She fumbled at the robe she wore, opening it up to expose one breast and nudging her daughter towards the nipple.

  A hot sense of shame washed over Kine as she tried to get Dov to feed. Her success had been mixed and what had come had been a result of Enchei’s assistance. The old man had manhandled child and breast in a manner Kine would have considered unthinkable just a day previously, but she’d silently endured it and seen some form of reward at the end.

  Doing her best to copy what she’d seen, Kine ignored the ache in her back and gently teased her daughter’s mouth open. The ache was nothing compared to her pain elsewhere, pain she was scarcely able to admit to in a man’s presence, but she bore them both with a mantra of sorts running through her head.

  Dov is all that matters. Whatever the price, I will pay it.

  Kine blinked back the tears, her discomfort nothing compared to her fear for her daughter – gifted with an uncertain and dangerous life. She looked down and adjusted Dov’s head, the wrinkled little face working hard to feed but half turned away from her goal.

  There came a knock at the door and Kine flinched. As she tried to drag her robe across her naked breast and belly, Dov slipped a little and began to bawl.

  Dov is all that matters she said again and again in her mind as the tears spilled down her cheeks. In a small, choked voice, Kine called ‘come’, to whoever was behind the door before hunching low over the baby.

  Myken appeared around the door and stood half in the room, blocking the view from behind her. The woman had cut her hair short, Kine realised with shock – long braids hacked away until it was as short as a boy’s, off the shoulder and tied up at the back in a small topknot.

  ‘Your hair,’ she croaked, but couldn’t find the words to continue. Myken’s red warrior caste collar remained, but all other signs of their House had been removed from her person.

  ‘It is what I am now,’ Myken stated, her face a mask against the world. ‘There are many Wyvern sell-swords in the city; there is no sense in pretending I am still a House knight.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  Myken hesitated, her usual implacable calm wavering slightly. Just the sight of that made Kine hate herself for what she’d done to the woman. However much she knew that knights were taught not to be self-serving, that as a noblewoman’s bodyguard Myken had accepted all it might entail, Kine’s actions had still put Myken in disgrace.

  Most likely she would be disowned from her family, struck out of the records and never spoken of again. Before that could happen, Myken had herself cut away the ties of her past – removed the House symbols she’d bled for and the marks of tradition and honour that had been part of her entire life.

  ‘I serve you until death,’ Myken said finally. ‘No true warrior fears a harder life and those who matter will not curse me. It remains my honour to stand here. Had I abandoned or turned on you my cadre siblings would have rightly hunted me down as a traitor and coward.’

  Kine closed her eyes, unable to reply in the face of such conviction and strength. Myken had always been a woman she’d admired and now Kine realised the depth of that feeling.

  ‘Enchei has brought you soup,’ Myken added after a moment. ‘You should eat.’

  Kine swallowed and nodded. Just the mention of food was enough to make her realise how exhausted and drained she felt. She had barely eaten since getting here, but for Dov’s sake she would force something down.

  Myken opened the door further and stepped aside to admit Enchei. The greying man carried in a thick clay bowl and set it to one side, seeing Dov was feeding.

  ‘How is she doing?’

  Kine looked away and let her robe slip. Enchei gave an assessing grunt and adjusted Kine’s arm before restoring the fold of cloth.

  ‘Hurts?’

  She shook her head, still unable to meet his eye.

  ‘Good. When it does, tell me and I’ll give you something for it.’

  To Kine’s astonishment, Enchei then pulled out a handful of large iron nails and headed to the window. Belatedly she noticed a hammer hanging from his belt and with swift efficiency the old man drove five nails in regular spaces around the window. That done he fixed one end of a coil of copper wire to the topmost and wound it all the way round the five nails, creating an uneven circle before using the rest of the wire to form a five-pointed star-shape that covered the window.

  ‘Sorry about the noise,’ he commented, nodding to the nails, ‘just a precaution.’

  ‘Who will that stop?’ Myken asked, assessing the man’s work. ‘The wire’s too thin to do more than trip any intruder.’

  ‘Don’t you worry about it,’ Enchei said with a shrug and a smile, ‘the window frames are strong enough to stop people. Would you indulge a superstitious old man, though?’

  From another pocket he retrieved a small leather pouch cinched tight and hung it off the top nail.

  ‘A hex bag?’

  Enchei stiffened at the tone of Myken’s voice. ‘Like I said, indulge an old man.’

  Myken made an angry sound in her throat that Kine recognised and she raised a hand to ward off any argument.

  ‘Please, Myken, let him be. There can be no harm.’

  ‘As you wish, my Lady.’ Myken bowed. ‘We should let you rest now.’

  The warrior gestured for Enchei to leave with her but instead Enchei sat o
n the side of the bed, ignoring her entirely. Kine gave such a start at his abruptness she almost jerked Dov off the breast. Such familiarity had never happened in her life, but Enchei seemed unaware of even basic politeness, let alone caste protocol. She gaped for a moment, but caught Myken’s eye as her bodyguard started forward. With a tilt of the head she asked the woman to leave and Myken, face tight with disapproval, nodded and backed out again.

  Once they were alone Kine took a moment to scrutinise the veteran to whom Narin had entrusted her life. She knew there was more to him than was obvious at first sight, but still Enchei seemed an unlikely protector and his pagan beliefs were hardly encouraging. From his face she guessed he was from some House like Raven or Ghost, but even a man born on the edges of civilisation would surely have learned something of custom in the Imperial City?

  Enchei’s eyes were sharp and bright, but crow’s feet surrounded them and the grey of age was in cheek and hair alike. Shorter than the tall Wyvern warriors, he had a spry, wiry look to him rather than thick slabs of muscle. To a woman brought up within the Dragon hegemony, where physical power was so prized, it was an effort of will to accept he was Myken’s equal.

  ‘Thank you,’ Kine said at last, realising they had been inspecting each other in a rather unseemly manner. She tried not to wonder what he saw; a noblewoman helpless without her servants, a betrayer of her husband, or just an exhausted mess. ‘I had not thought this would be so hard. I had hoped my body would know what to do.’

  ‘You’d have figured it out,’ Enchei said with a smile. ‘Best way to learn something is to be given no choice but get it done. Think my father said that once. You’ve had one hell of a night, rest a few days before expecting to be able to think straight. Just don’t be too noble-caste about it, hear me? Won’t do this little one any good if you get all reserved or proper when you need help.’

  Kine lowered her eyes, knowing full well what he meant. Having a strange, low-caste man show her how to breastfeed had strained against every rule of her rigid upbringing and she was already steeling herself to ask a favour of Kesh, who was at least female in a way her stern, muscular bodyguard somehow wasn’t.