Old Man's Ghosts

by Tom Lloyd

  Narin gave a bitter laugh. ‘Sorote negotiated it down to one. The noble Lord Vanden will be satisfied if you bleed, if you are left with a scar as his last gift to you.’

  They sat in silence for a long while, Kine’s arm around his waist as Narin held Dov as close to his chest as he could. The baby snuffled and twitched in his arms, eyes half-opening and looking up at him.

  ‘So be it,’ Kine said in a firm voice.

  ‘What?’ Narin looked up at her and saw the determined set to her face. ‘No, you can’t!’

  ‘I can and I will,’ she replied simply. ‘I prayed when Dov was born, prayed to the God-Empress that her life would be spared. I was willing to sacrifice my own if that was the price she demanded. Whether or not this is her will, this is the price demanded for our freedom and I’ll pay it.’

  ‘There has to be another way. Let me take the lashes, a dozen if he wants! You’re still weak, you have a baby to care for—’

  ‘I have had a baby,’ she said with a small smile, ‘and it hurt more than anything I could have imagined. One lash will be nothing compared to that.’

  ‘Kine, no!’

  ‘Would you not still love me?’ she asked pointedly. ‘Would you not still love our child? My shame will be tattooed on my skin, the marks of caste erased to declare that shame to the whole Empire.’

  ‘Of course I’d still love you,’ he protested, ‘but it’s unheard of, to whip a high caste outside of the army. Vanden knows that as well as anyone.’

  ‘Soon I will not be high caste, so I take the good with the bad.’ She touched a finger to Dov’s tiny brow. ‘The good outweighs the bad a hundred-fold. Tell Prince Sorote I will do as he commands.’

  ‘I—’

  She raised a hand to stop him. ‘You will allow me to make my own decision, you are not my lord and master, remember?’ A coquettish smile crept onto her face as she added, ‘Yet.’

  Before Narin could gather his thoughts she prodded his shoulder. ‘Come, we should go downstairs. It sounds like Master Enchei and Mistress Kesh have news of their own. Would you help me up? I’m starting to lose interest in this one room and the company would be welcome.’

  Dumbly, Narin did as instructed and carried Dov slowly down, following Kine. Before she had reached the bottom, Myken was there with hands outstretched to support Kine should she need it.

  ‘Thank you, I can manage, Siresse,’ Kine said gently. ‘The pain is better today.’

  ‘Don’t tell me,’ Enchei called as Narin reached the door of the kitchen, ‘you’ve got good news?’

  Narin shook his head as Kesh rose to allow Kine room at the table. On the stove a large pot bubbled and Narin realised the room was full of warming scents. Judging by the wreckage on the side table beside the stove, Enchei had set about supper as soon as he returned. The veteran was in the process of kneading a large ball of dough with more force than Narin had ever seen him use before.

  ‘My husband has agreed to give up his claim on me,’ Kine announced once she’d eased herself down into a chair. ‘I shall enter the House of the Sun as servant caste and bow gladly to all of you, the price of my freedom being a single lash to my back.’

  ‘He intends to have you whipped?’ Myken stood. ‘In that case I will kill him.’

  ‘You will not!’ Kine exclaimed. ‘I will not have you throw your life away for an insult that I brought down upon myself!’

  ‘You are noble caste by marriage – the law does not permit him to do this,’ Myken insisted, ‘neither Imperial law nor Dragon.’

  ‘But he could beat her within an inch of her life,’ Enchei piped up, ‘quite legally too, so long as he did it all himself. That’s permitted for husbands under House Dragon law, Wyvern too. Don’t even get me started on House Iron law.’

  ‘This is not the same. He wouldn’t be protected from a response by her family or bodyguard in either case.’ There was a cold anger to Myken’s words that told volumes about what might have happened, had Lord Vanden treated his wife that way.

  ‘Aye, lucky for the handful who’re protected that way.’

  ‘Siresse Myken,’ Kine said firmly, ‘you will do nothing. My decision is made, I will accept this retribution and I will be free of blood feuds and noble castes forever.’

  ‘While Vanden gets himself a new wife,’ Narin added bitterly. ‘I hadn’t got around to telling you that part.’

  ‘New wife?’ echoed the entire room almost as one.

  ‘Who?’ Kesh added, faster than the rest. ‘Who would marry someone shamed in the eyes of his House?’

  Now Narin did manage some sort of smile. ‘It turns out we know her, or I’ve seen her at least. Remember the goshe sent their ruling council to the Palace of Law to discuss the attack on us? Remember they brought an Imperial to show how dangerous the investigation could be?’

  ‘Princess Kerata?’ Enchei hazarded. ‘She’s mixed-race you said back then, right? Dragon or one of the major Houses under it. He’s won himself a bloody Imperial caste as wife? He’s going to be related to the Emperor by marriage?’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘For that prize, most noblemen in the entire Empire would have thrown their wives at you, Narin!’

  ‘And she’s likely as docile as Irato,’ Narin said. ‘She’ll be the perfect wife for him. Sorote as good as dammit said he’d arrange for her to get pregnant and give Vanden a legitimate heir.’

  ‘Giving Prince Sorote control over a Wyvern nobleman,’ Myken added. ‘Let’s hope that counts as payment enough for the service he’s extended.’

  ‘I doubt that,’ Narin said. ‘He’s the sort who’ll want to be paid by both sides of a deal – that’s how Imperials work, isn’t it? For all the time he kept my secret, he knows I’m still his to use. I can only hope he and Rhe come to some sort of arrangement that keeps me bloody out of things and counts as another mark on the slate.’

  ‘Rhe?’

  ‘Asked to meet Sorote,’ Narin explained. ‘Rhe got a visit from some Dragon emissary demanding to know what was going on with our investigation. He wants to find out from Sorote what sort of cover the Lawbringers can get at court if they come face to face with Dragon troops. Can’t say I blame him much; when there are guns drawn you don’t want to be the only House Brightlance facing a load of angry Dragons.’

  ‘Astaren,’ Enchei said quietly, pausing in his kneading. ‘It won’t be troops that go after that summoner, it’ll be Astaren – Firewinds scouring the city free of shadows.’

  Narin frowned at him, the veteran apparently lost in his thoughts for a moment, but it didn’t look like Enchei was willing to share them so he carried on. ‘Astaren, then. The point is, Sorote’s been interested in Rhe from day one. I never found out why other than the obvious, Rhe being the most famous of Lawbringers, but bringing those two together might be all he originally intended from me.’

  ‘So that’s all to the good then,’ Enchei declared. ‘I can give you something for the pain, Kine, something that’ll dull it but not make Lord Vanden feel cheated. I for one always rather liked a woman with scars.’

  Kesh snorted and thumped the man on his arm, but that just made him grin more and before anyone could comment further there came a bang on the front door. Narin jumped at the sound, causing Dov to screw her face up and cry, but it was just Irato returning.

  ‘Good news for all of us then,’ Enchei continued as the former goshe stamped in and shook off his snow-laden coat. ‘It doesn’t look like our summoner is sanctioned by my former employers, so whoever’s behind it they don’t have a team of Astaren to back them up.’

  ‘How did you find that out?’ Narin said.

  He nodded towards Kesh. ‘We’ve been jumping at shadows all day, the pair of us, but it turns out they were friendly ones. My daughters are in the city, come to watch over their old man.’

  ‘Your daughters?’ Kine and Narin gasped together.

  ‘Aye, all grown up and a thousand miles from home.’

  ‘And what’s more,’ Kesh broke in, �
�they’re—’

  ‘They’re shy,’ Enchei said loudly over her, ‘which is why they ain’t here, but they brought good news in their wake so I’m glad enough of it. They’ve gone back to Ghost District now, see what help their contacts there might be able to provide.’

  He gave Kesh a look that told Narin there was more to the tale, but given how close the former Astaren kept his secrets among friends, the Lawbringer left it at that. There would be time enough to talk to Enchei in private later, he knew pressing the man would be counter-productive. As though to emphasise that, Enchei cleared his throat and pointedly changed the subject. ‘I take it Kine’s family aren’t going to listen to sense?’

  Narin shook his head. ‘There has to be a way we can turn them back without killing them all.’

  ‘What’s wrong with killing them all, again?’ Irato asked, receiving a sharp look from Kesh in response.

  ‘They’re my family,’ Kine said, ‘I owe them that at least. My brother, Shonrey, will never stop, nor my cousin, Vosain, but the rest will doubtless be with them out of duty and fear of Vosain. He is a very fine duellist and experienced soldier, very dangerous.’

  ‘Could we have killed him already?’

  ‘He is very tall, even for a Wyvern, and broad with it. He has only half an ear and a scar down his cheek after being grazed by a bullet in a battle with House Smoke raiders.’

  ‘Shame,’ Irato said with a shake of the head. ‘One more to die then. Probably two. Hope you’re not too attached to your brother.’

  Kine shook her head gravely. ‘We were never close. When I chose not to be trained as a warrior, I rarely saw him, and of course now I am dead to him. He wouldn’t acknowledge my presence in a room other than to kill me.’ She lowered her head a shade. ‘He is family and I do not wish him harm or my parents the grief of his loss, but we were never close.’

  ‘Fuck him then,’ Irato concluded. ‘When do we do it?’

  ‘Tomorrow if we can,’ Enchei said. ‘Pirish won’t mind me owing her another favour; we can borrow her smokehouse for the ambush. Warrior castes won’t try to burn the place down, that’d be cowardly.’

  ‘Can you not simply follow them?’ Kine pleaded. ‘They will have brought younger cousins with them, boys like Toher who are old enough to bear their own guns under law, but …’ She tailed off, knowing how young men were sent to battle.

  He shook his head. ‘Doubt it. Most likely they’re based up in Dragon District, surrounded by other warrior castes. Might be Irato and I could do it quiet like, but you heard Rhe’s news. If there are Dragon Astaren on alert in the city, it’s not a risk I’m willing to take.’

  ‘I will,’ Myken said. ‘I know both their faces and I have two guns. I can kill them both.’

  ‘Not without dying,’ Enchei pointed out. ‘I know you’re warrior caste and you lot are stupid about fighting, but I’m in charge of any violence that goes on here and I prefer to do things so no one on my side dies. It’s a strange idea I know, but it’s served me well over the years.’

  ‘Who put you in charge?’ she asked coldly.

  ‘The Gods them-bloody-selves,’ Enchei snapped. ‘You’re sworn to protect the caste system of this Empire. Don’t deny it, it’s the principal purpose of the warrior caste.’

  ‘Your point?’

  ‘My point is, might is right in this Empire you’re sworn to protect, and none of you could stop me even if you all came at once. You either agree to obey me now or I’ll put you down and out until it’s over. So what’s it to be?’

  ‘Please, Myken,’ Kine urged, putting a hand on the woman’s arm. ‘Don’t sacrifice yourself, not for me.’

  Myken’s face was tight as she turned to look Kine in the eye. ‘That is my duty,’ she said hoarsely, ‘that is all I know.’

  ‘Well, like the rest of us, you’ll learn new tricks,’ Enchei growled. ‘Trust me, Siresse, there’ll be a place for you after all this – if nothing else then with the Lawbringers, given they’re likely to need all the guns they can muster. In this life there’s always enough duty to go round, enough to make you sick and break you if you let it.’

  ‘Please?’ Kine repeated.

  Myken bowed her head. ‘I will obey you in this.’

  With an effort, Enchei brightened. ‘Good. Now who’s hungry?’

  CHAPTER 25

  Narin woke with a start from a dream about Wyvern warriors. Dark raging faces and brass-fitted pistols, blue braids flying as they pursued him through tiny endless streets. He had Dov in his hands, cradling the child as best he could while he ran. Chunks of stone exploded all around him as his pursuers shot again and again, while his hands were so tangled in Dov’s swaddling he couldn’t free one to grab the pistols he wore in a holster identical to Lawbringer Rhe’s.

  He’d heard Kine calling as he ran, but couldn’t find her no matter which way he went, and as he woke he found his hands still bunched and tangled in the blankets of their bed.

  ‘Narin?’ Kine said sleepily from beside him.

  He stared wildly at the dark room for a long while, gasping for breath until the dawn rays creeping through the shutters finally outlined the room enough for him to shake off the dream. ‘I … Sorry.’

  ‘No matter,’ she purred, tugging at his hand to slide it over the bump of her belly and bring his body closer. ‘I have the rest of the day to sleep.’

  Narin’s brain caught up with reality just enough to allow him to smile then. He eased his head up a little to look at the crib beside the bed. It was totally silent and for a moment he felt a flutter of panic, but then a wheezing snort came from within. He gently settled back down, fitting his body around Kine’s and planting a line of kisses down her shoulder.

  Just that moment of contact seemed to wake his body and he felt himself stiffen against her skin. A flush of embarrassment and desire washed through him as Kine shifted slightly and he realised she felt it too.

  ‘Sorry,’ Narin whispered again.

  ‘For what?’ she said, bringing his fingers up to her mouth to kiss them one by one. ‘For desiring me?’

  ‘No, but I …’

  ‘Will have to wait, yes,’ Kine finished with the ghost of a laugh, ‘given lying still is uncomfortable enough. But so long as you are willing to wait, I’m just glad you still feel that way.’

  ‘Good. Something tells me it won’t stop any time soon.’ Narin smiled.

  ‘Do you have to leave yet?’

  ‘No, my love,’ he murmured into her hair. ‘There’s no rush.’

  ‘I’m glad. I doubt it’ll be long before Dov is hungry, stay until then?’

  ‘I promise.’

  Nestled against her dark skin, Narin drifted off into something approximating sleep – his body more than willing to take any scraps of rest it could gather. A stuttered cry woke him again as Kine lifted his arm gently away.

  ‘I’d hoped not to wake you,’ she whispered. ‘She didn’t cry at first, I thought I had time.’

  Narin pushed himself up and put a hand on Kine’s shoulder. ‘I’ll get her, you sit up.’

  She raised an eyebrow at him. ‘She will need to be changed.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘But fortunately for me you are no proud warrior, fearful of her staining robes or honour.’

  Narin grunted, unable to resist the look on her face. ‘And given you’re some idle high caste, incapable of managing a day without us commoners to wait on you, I’d better jump to it.’

  Kine smile wavered. ‘No longer,’ she whispered. ‘Soon I’ll just be a woman with no skills of any use for the world she inhabits.’

  Realising he’d pushed it too far, Narin went and kissed her. She quickly ushered him away with a dismissive hand and urged him back to the baby, whose cries had grown more insistent.

  It took him a long while to get Dov cleaned up and settled to feeding, but eventually Narin managed to move on to dressing himself. He pulled on his still-damp jacket and headed out with one final look back at the bed, desce
nding the stair as quietly as he could.

  Irato was waiting for him in the kitchen, a misshapen pillow and blanket by the stove showing where he’d spent the night. Clearly he’d slept in his clothes, shucking off just his weapons and stiff leather armour before settling down.

  He even sleeps like Kesh’s dog now, Narin thought idly as he entered and headed for the big black iron kettle to one side of the stove.

  ‘Morning,’ he said as he grabbed a flatbread left over from the previous night and smeared oil over it.

  ‘Going to be a cold day,’ was Irato’s response. ‘Fog’s come in. More snow too.’

  Narin nodded, pouring himself some bitter black tea. He slumped at the table, the earthenware cup grasped like a lifeline as he worried at the bread with his teeth. They sat in silence until he was finished, Irato watching him patiently until he was almost done then rising to pull on the last of his armour. Slotting half a dozen weapons into various sheaths on his body, Irato hauled his heavy sheepskin coat over it all and headed for the main door without waiting for Narin.

  The Lawbringer sat a moment longer, remembering that this was the day he’d be actively encouraging Kine’s vengeful family to follow him. How they were going to stop the other, more terrifying, faction from doing the same was beyond him right now, but Enchei had it all worked out – or so he claimed.

  ‘Come on then,’ he said at last, heaving himself reluctantly up.

  Irato unbarred the front door and together they headed outside into a ghostly world. For a moment Narin wondered if he’d in fact died, struck down by some assassin waiting at the door, and not even felt it. Snow coated every rooftop and open patch of ground, not thickly but with more falling. On top of that there was a thick fog hanging over the city, spreading its chilly fingers through the streets.

  The sounds of the city were distant and unreal as they walked, the towers of Dragon District mere suggestions against the sky. The fog was thick enough that he was forced to take the bridge to the Imperial District, hairs prickling on his neck as he felt hostile eyes on him. The people of the city were up and about early that morning, however. Fearing another heavy snowfall, the citizens were clearly keen to be about their daily tasks while they still could and Narin had company of all castes on the streets.