by Tom Lloyd
‘How long can we last this way?’ Kine said in a hesitant voice, a moment of hush having fallen over the table. ‘Hunted in two directions? Enchei, it sounds like you were lucky to escape those hellhounds at all.’
He scowled and stared down at his food. ‘Aye, might be getting older than I’d thought, to let ’em get ahead of me like that. Still not sure how I got away in the end. Almost like someone was playing with me.’
‘Perhaps they were,’ Myken spoke up. ‘You said you were given a warning, by magical means. They intended for you to run, to make a game of it.’
He shook his head. ‘Man I got that warning from, he was like a brother to me. If he had to kill me, fair enough, we went our separate ways and he was as good at it as anyone, but to play a game with me? To enjoy himself here? No, I don’t believe it.’
‘It has been twenty years, people do change.’
‘Not that much. If he’d got that messed up in the head, he wouldn’t be allowed out of the home valleys, let alone to come here where trouble’s so easy to find. No, it was a true warning and one I reckon we’ve got to have a chat about.’
Kesh gave a snort. ‘In that case, I second Kine. How long can we go on like this? This is more’n we ever expected to take on. I’m not walking away here but, Gods above, how do we come through this alive looking ahead and back at the same time?’
Narin scraped the last of his food out of the bowl and swallowed it hurriedly. ‘Got something better in mind?’
‘Aye, mebbe. How about we pick a fight?’
‘With who?’
‘The Wyverns.’ She nodded towards Kine. ‘Her family aren’t going to stop, it doesn’t matter how soon Lord Vanden gets here or what your Imperial friend can use to buy him off. They’re out for blood and we don’t need to keep on looking over both shoulders, do we? The four of us, we’ve a good record for holing up and killing anyone who tries to break in. Let’s do that again – make a mistake and let the Wyverns follow you home, Narin.’
‘And if they’re ones working for this summoner, eh?’ Enchei growled, ‘what then? Those two who came for me, one was a woman and I didn’t see Sorpan take a woman off the street. He must have found others; maybe they’re all taken.’
‘Well bloody make sure on the way,’ Kesh said scornfully, ‘you’re meant to be good at this sort of thing, old man. Use those shamans Narin met or something else, it doesn’t matter. All I’m saying is, sort out one problem then focus on the other.’
‘Glad it’s so simple for you,’ Enchei snapped. ‘Meanwhile, those of us at the sharp end find it a little more complex.’
‘You miserable old sod,’ she replied, ‘I’m staying behind because you asked me to – no other reason. I know someone’s got to be here so I’ve not bitched about the women being left safe at home, but don’t you fucking dare throw it in my face!’
Enchei hesitated then his shoulders slumped. ‘Aye, you’re right. That wasn’t fair, wasn’t true. I’m just … unsettled right now. Too many of my ghosts walking these streets and it’s got me on edge. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.’
An uneasy silence settled over the table. Narin looked around at the faces, trying to work out if there was a real problem there, but all he saw was tired sullenness from both Enchei and Kesh. Myken and Irato maintained a stony reserve and Narin realised they had both accepted Kesh’s idea with alarming fatalism.
Only Kine betrayed any anxiety at the suggestion and Narin slipped his arm around her. ‘Don’t worry, love. Kesh’s not planning on putting you in danger, certainly not Dov.’
‘Dov?’ Kesh looked up, alarmed. ‘Seven hells no!’ She reached over and slid a fond finger down the baby’s brown cheek. ‘Don’t you worry there. She, my sister …’ Kesh bit her lip. ‘You know about my adopted sister?’
Kine nodded.
‘She came to us when she was a few years old. I never saw her as a baby, but Emari’s skin was not so different to Dov’s. She was a Greenscale by birth, still such a little thing when the goshe killed her. When I look at her face, it’s too easy to see Emari as a babe. I’d never let anyone hurt her.’
‘House Greenscale,’ Kine echoed in a choked voice, placing a delicate kiss on Dov’s head. ‘I’ve visited their lands several times.’
‘Emari never did,’ Kesh said sadly. ‘Never got a chance to see her homeland. We dreamed about going there once, when I became a ship’s captain and Emari my first mate.’
Shyly, Kine offered over the swaddled baby who had fallen silent and lay staring up at the lines of shadow cast over the ceiling. Kesh took her gratefully and cradled Dov with awkward, but painstaking care, while a tear slid down her face and onto the baby’s cotton wrappings.
‘So when do we kill ’em?’ Irato piped up after a moment of silence, face falling slightly at the glares he roundly received. ‘What?’
Kesh glared at him. ‘Remember we talked about you saying things when the conversation’s tailed off?’
Irato nodded. ‘Something about not doing it.’
‘Exactly.’
‘But I didn’t ask anything personal this time and the argument was over. You looked happy.’
‘Let’s call it a general rule, since you can’t work out tact by yourself.’
‘Fine.’ Irato shrugged. ‘Conversation’s going now though, so when do we do this?’
Despite himself, Enchei laughed. ‘It depends on whether Lord Vanden’s returned to the city yet. Kesh, you up for a trip in the morning?’
On cue the rain began to hammer down harder. ‘Where?’ Kesh said with a small laugh, glancing up towards the roof.
‘Imperial District, before you visit my old rooms in Tale. I need some things from the strongroom, more wardings to put up and mess with those hellhounds. I’ve got to assume they caught my scent on the street and if it happens once, it can happen again. Here I’m hidden, I made sure of that, but I could do with some patches of fog to hide in when I’m outside.’
‘I’m going to play with royal family? Better start practising my bowing and grovelling.’
‘Please do better than earlier,’ Kine said with a smile. ‘Your efforts with Siresse Myken might not please a prince of royal blood.’
Kesh snorted and nodded. ‘Aye, guess you could be right there. Prince Sorote sounds like something of a true bastard.’
‘Just remember he doesn’t need to know the whole story,’ Enchei said. ‘He doesn’t know about me and I’m damned if he finds out today. Narin promised him a summoner and Sorote’s welcome to them, but I don’t fancy swapping pursuers, understand?’
‘He knows nothing about you?’ she asked, surprised. ‘How did you keep that out of your reports, Narin?’
Narin shrugged. ‘No need to mention it. Enchei’s a former soldier, Sorote knows that. Nothing I said to Prince Sorote suggested he was more noticeable than that. Man’s got enough hanging over my head.’
‘And too many people know my history already,’ Enchei snapped. ‘My life’s hanging on the thread of Wyvern loyalty oaths,’ he added, pointing at Myken, ‘and bloody Lawbringer Rhe’s lack of ambition. Not a whole lot needs to change before I’m as good as dead. I’m damn sure I don’t need some Imperial power broker deciding how he could best profit from the situation. Don’t even get me started on the conversation I need to try and have tomorrow, that’s a whole new level of suicidal foolishness right there.’
‘I suppose that means, for once, I’ll be having a better day than most,’ Narin said brightly. ‘A day of trawling shipping records and merchant holdings; it’ll feel like luxury after these days past.’
Enchei smiled nastily at him. ‘Aye, well, you’ll be taking double precautions to help Irato spot any tail you might pick up. They know what you and Rhe look like and they might make a move next time, rather than wait for their hellhounds to catch my scent again. Make sure you tell Lord Cheerful what could be coming, I know he’ll thank you for the added complications to your investigation.’
‘Oh yes,’ Narin said as he
rose and took hold of Dov, ready to turn in for the remaining hours of darkness. ‘You’re a true friend, Enchei.’
‘Hey, we’re all in this together. My day goes to shit and I’m dragging yours down too. Sleep well, my friend.’
In the dead dark of night, with the light of the Gods hidden by cloud and the sound of her passing masked by rain, the Banshee walked the Underways of Raven District. The streets and passages of that place were deserted; not even the cutpurses were out to steer clear of the woman adorned in blood and snow.
The long coppery tresses of her hair were tied back and hidden beneath a scarlet hood, the seams and silver buckles of her bone-white leather coat picked out in red. Her coat was loosely fastened, revealing the red collar of her caste and leaving her guns within easy reach. The coat bulged on one side, a flap of cloth that covered the hilts of her narrow duelling blades, one long, the other short. A tiny stitched sigil of House Siren was visible there and a second lay just below her collar, a sop to convention for all that the warrior cult needed nothing more than their coat and looks to announce them.
She walked with fierce purpose, never pausing to check her surroundings or ponder her path. Driven by some unseen force, she wove an efficient path through the Underways until she reached a sunken marketplace, the doors and windows leading off it all shuttered and dark.
The Banshee went to a jutting doorway and brought her fist down against the wood, a single blow that echoed around the high walls of the marketplace. She waited, near-motionless, until the door was yanked open and a fat man peered out.
‘What the f—’ As he realised what she was, the angry words died in his throat. ‘Ah, didn’t mean no offence, Siresse, you woke me.’ Awkwardly he bowed to the high-caste woman and waited for her to speak.
‘I have a message for the mistress of this place,’ the Banshee rasped. Her voice sounded strange, a mechanism operated by unfamiliar hands.
The man paled and shrank back, gaze dropping nervously to where her weapons distorted the line of her coat. ‘She’s not here, I swear it.’
‘Who is here?’
‘Just, ah, just a couple o’ others.’
She took a step towards him. ‘Nagai? Novices?’
‘Nagai!’ the man said frantically. ‘Performing the night rituals, the appeasements and such!’
She cocked her head at him as though listening to a distant voice. ‘Appeasements? We cannot have that now, can we?’
With a practised movement she flicked up the side flap of her coat and plucked out the straight-bladed parrying dagger that nestled over the hilt of her rapier. Not bothering to draw the longer weapon, she advanced on the fat man who whimpered in fear.
‘You will give a message to your mistress,’ she said.
The man sagged momentarily, relief flooding across his face, but then she darted forward and drove the tip of the dagger into his chest, piercing the lung in one smooth movement. In a flash she withdrew and thrust it into the other with such speed and precision the man had barely time to look astonished. He gave a strangled cry and stumbled back, falling to the ground as much in surprise as under the force of the blow. The blade slipped silently back out, now tipped in red.
The Banshee stared down at the man as he scrabbled and wheezed on the floor, watching him like a beetle crawling past.
She raised the blade again and jabbed once, twice, while the man convulsed and screamed, hands now clutching his ruined eyes. Panic and horror took him over, but the wounds in his chest made every attempt to scream a paralysing agony and all he could manage was a broken, muted gurgle. He writhed and kicked, heels scuffing uselessly on the dirt ground.
‘Let her read this message and carry it far,’ the Banshee whispered. ‘Let her bring the rage of demons out on to the streets. Let this frozen city be consumed by the fire of Dragons as they scrabble for control.’
For Kesh the morning came almost as soon as her head had touched a pillow. One moment she was lying in darkness tucking the folds of blanket under herself, then Enchei was shaking her awake. Once she dragged herself outside, the biting cold jolted her fully awake and at the Tier Bridge she spent a while looking out over the city as it sparkled under a pale morning sun. The rain of night had washed away much of the snow, but in its place was a thick coating of hoar-frost that glistened in the freezing air.
She made good time across the Imperial District and soon found herself at the door Narin had described, the small building that seemed to house Prince Sorote’s personal fiefdom of the Office of the Catacombs. From the Lawbringer’s description, they had surmised the cellar door led elsewhere – but neither the city natives nor Enchei had heard of catacombs beneath the district.
‘Remember, Kesh,’ she said to herself as she approached the door, ‘they’re worse than nobles.’
Before she could reach out and knock, the door jerked abruptly open and Kesh found herself staring, open-mouthed, at a handsome, gold-collared young man wearing a pristine black-spotted fur and gold-chased pistols across his belly.
‘Who in the name of Sailor’s hairy crotch are you?’ the Imperial demanded.
At last Kesh shook off her surprise and knelt, ignoring the damp touch of the cobbled ground as she bowed her head and folded her hands over her chest.
‘A friend of Lawbringer Narin’s,’ she blurted out. ‘My Lord Sun, my apologies, I hadn’t expected you to open the door before I knocked.’
‘Narin, eh?’ The man’s immediate outrage lessened and Kesh guessed this was Prince Kashte, Prince Sorote’s preferred weapon. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Kesh, my Lord Sun.’
‘Ah, the sister.’
She felt a jolt at being described that way, but reminded herself that Narin had been compelled to relate most of what had happened during the Moon’s Artifice affair. Emari’s poisoning and death at the hands of the goshe weren’t the raw wounds they had once been, but to have some stranger casually reference it left a bitter taste in her mouth.
‘You are Prince Kashte, sir?’
‘Excellent, we’re acquainted already,’ Kashte drawled sarcastically. ‘Stand up then, no need for a scene here.’
Kesh did so, careful not to look him directly in the eyes and more focused on the fantastically detailed decoration on his pistol grips and sword hilt. ‘I was sent in search of Prince Sorote.’
‘I’m sure you were, but he’s busy right now.’
Kashte hesitated a moment, half turning back towards the door behind him before apparently changing his mind. He pulled the door completely closed and beckoned Kesh to accompany him as he walked off down the street. At the first corner he turned left, heading north towards the barren shore of the Imperial Island. It took Kesh a moment to remember there was a single barge station there, one used solely by high castes.
‘Narin grows impatient for news, does he?’
‘We have a complication,’ Kesh said cautiously, not knowing what Narin had already told them. ‘We were hoping to cut our list of problems.’
‘Our list?’ Kashte gave her a sideways glance. ‘You’re in this all the way? You bear him an obligation?’
‘He’s a friend who needs help, my Lord Sun,’ she said firmly. ‘One who helped me when I needed it.’
‘That may not have been his primary concern.’
Kesh shook her head. ‘Doesn’t matter, they’re family as far as I’m concerned. Weird annoying cousins, mebbe, but still family.’
‘Certainly I shall not be one to deny a duty to family.’
I’m sure you won’t, not when the Emperor is some sort of distant cousin and the blood of Gods sits in your veins.
‘Narin asks if a certain nobleman has returned to the city.’
‘No need to be coy, girl,’ Kashte said with a small smile. ‘I know about his problems and their names too. As it happens, I’m hoping our Wyvern might be fluttering towards his roost this very day.’
‘And you can talk him down? Kine doesn’t think her family will give up the
chase, whatever Lord Vanden tells them.’
The prince smiled. ‘Ah, the Lady Kine! I do so look forward to meeting this troublesome beauty in due course. As for her opinion, I suspect she’s correct. Vanden bears no direct authority over her family and his rank isn’t so great he can order them to desist – unless he brings the Lady Kine back into his household, which remains unlikely. The Vanden family’s influence is limited even here, more so back in the homeland.’
He paused and turned to face Kesh. ‘Cut down your list of problems? Do you intend to murder your betters?’
‘Of course not, my Lord Sun,’ Kesh replied demurely, ‘but if they try and murder us, we can hardly be blamed for defending ourselves.’
‘Indeed not. However these will not just be goshe apprentices carrying knives. Your friends may have a few advantages in a straight fight, but so far as I’ve discovered, a bullet to the face is the best advantage of all.’
‘We’ll make sure it doesn’t get to that – if we can lure them into a trap, we can stack the odds in our favour.’
‘But first you wish to ensure the Lord Wyvern is mollified, that your problem will not grow beyond a few dead warrior castes failing to protect their family honour?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Lawbringer Narin should have greater faith,’ Kashte said sternly, picking up the pace. ‘When Prince Sorote assures him of a result, he need only have patience.’
‘Ah, my Lord Sun, I think it was more a question of Narin feeling cut-off from the rest o’ the Empire right now. We’re in hiding half the day, might not be hearing everything that’s going on in the city. We’ve got bigger problems than Lady Kine’s family now.’
There was a pause. ‘What sort of problems? Narin’s investigation has taken a dramatic turn? Please don’t tell me he’s blundered into another Empire-spanning conspiracy. We could do with not repeating the events of the summer. Prevailing wisdom is that House Dragon will not be so friendly this time in the face of any threats to their authority in the city.’
Kesh coughed to cover a smile. ‘Blundered’s such a specific word.’
‘Oh merciful Stars of Heaven, what has he done now?’