NIghtbird (Empire of Masks Book 2)

by Brock Deskins

  Langdon’s head bobbed from side to side. “Yeah, she’ll definitely kill Fred when she finds out he’s behind this. He’s a dead man walking. Is he here?”

  “I don’t think so. He got injured when someone tried to kill him.”

  “Wow, Fred is making a lot of enemies lately. Kind of like you.”

  “It’s not my fault!”

  “It kind of is. You have a way out if you would just take it.”

  Kiera crossed her arms. “I am not working for Rafferty.”

  Langdon gave her a sour look. “But you’ll work for Fred?”

  “I didn’t have a choice! He was going to kill me, kill all three of us, if I didn’t do what he said.”

  “Why would he bother with you? I mean, no offense, you’re tough and all, but why go out of his way to enlist you to do his dirty work?”

  Kiera looked away, her eyes traveling across the crates and ceiling. “I was sort of involved in the attempt on his life.”

  “Why would you try to kill Fred? That’s as dumb as him trying to rob Nimat.”

  “It was inadvertent. I was trying to rob him and accidentally saved his life. He was not grateful.”

  “Gee, I can’t imagine why. It’s so unlike him.”

  Kiera glared. “Are you going to help me or do you just want to stand here and be a smartass?”

  A body dropped just outside the corner in which the two were arguing. Micah looked in and said, “Hey, if you two are going to kiss, can you go on and get it over with. We have this whole other thing going on out here, so…”

  “Are they doing it?” Iggy called out.

  Micah turned his head. “Not yet, but it looks pretty close.”

  Kiera’s face burned. “We are not…! Just…go away and kill someone, will you?”

  Micah tipped his club to his brow and grinned before disappearing.

  Kiera turned back to Langdon. “Please help me. If I can get the stone and return it to Nimat, we all win. I can tell her you helped me retrieve it.”

  “So, I’m supposed to lie to her and my boss so that you get to be a hero.”

  “We’ll both be heroes and I won’t have to worry about Fred or Nimat killing me in the very near future. I call it a win for everyone.”

  “Everyone but Fred.”

  “Screw Fred! It’s his fault we’re killing each other now.”

  Langdon arched his eyebrows. “It’s his fault I’m killing people now. Your being here is all on you.”

  “No it’s…not all on me. Maybe some of it is my fault, but none of this was by intent.”

  “Wow, is that a glimmer of personal growth I see peeking through?”

  Kiera scowled and tightened her grip on her baton. “Are you going to help me or not?”

  Langdon sighed and finally nodded. “All right. What do you need from us?”

  Micah’s head reappeared around the corner. “What’s this us crap? You’re the only one trying to get in her—”

  “No I’m not, and because we’re a team!” Langdon snapped.

  “Team Death Wish, that’s us.”

  “Just…go break someone’s skull.”

  “Yeah, because that’s all big, dumb Iggy and Micah are good for—bashing heads. We couldn’t possibly have opinions, goals, or desires of our own. Duh, Micah smash!”

  Langdon opened his mouth to issue a rebuttal, but Micah vanished again, his disappearance followed by the sound of a club striking flesh and bone. He looked back to Kiera. “The biggest battle looks like it’s going on near the east wall. That’s probably where the arcanstone is.”

  Kiera nodded. “OK, I’ll go up high and see if I can find it. When I do, I need you three to make a hole so I can grab it.”

  “Alright, but, Kiera, you have to give it to Nimat—immediately. If she finds out you have it, she won’t give you time to explain. This thing is extremely important to her.”

  “Trust me. I’ll be standing in front of her door with the thing gift-wrapped for her when she gets home.”

  Kiera pointed her grapnel gun at the roof and launched herself back up into the rafters.

  Iggy appeared with his brother at his side. “Wow, now that is awesome.”

  Langdon looked at the knife thrower on his left arm. “Mine is awesome too.”

  Iggy shrugged. “Yeah, but not that awesome.”

  “You have a stick!”

  Iggy looked at his bloodstained club. “But it’s a nice stick.”

  Langdon gave the big man a shove. “Come on, we have to help Kiera get the damn stone.”

  Micah shook his head. “Kiera’s got some ridiculously high standards. I know prettier girls who would put out for a lot smaller bauble than that.”

  Langdon shoved him after his brother. “Shut up!”

  Kiera climbed through the roof beams and positioned herself over the thickest fray. At least two score of thieves battled to the death below her. She scanned the floor between the jostling, swinging, bleeding bodies but was unable to catch sight of the prize.

  Heads turned when the shrill cry of whistles shrieked above the sounds of battle. A section of the warehouse wall exploded. Grenados arced through the breach and burst amongst the thieves, followed by several gendarme squads. Those not brought down by the grenados turned on the newcomers, putting their personal rivalry aside to battle a common enemy.

  Kiera saw a sparkle of light glinting off an object being kicked around the floor. “Langdon, there!” she shouted, and pointed.

  Langdon looked up and followed her aim. Iggy and Micah acted as a plow, pushing through the shifting mob, drubbing and hurling anyone who got in their way off to the side. The trio found the arcanstone and formed a protective circle around it.

  Kiera swung through the beams until she was directly over the gem and lowered herself to the floor. She bent down to retrieve the stone, but a sudden sidestep from Iggy sent it rolling out of her reach.

  “Hey, watch your big, dumb feet!”

  “Sorry about that,” Iggy replied. “Next time I’ll take a sword to the face so as not to inconvenience you.”

  Kiera ignored his sarcastic rebuttal and chased after the arcanstone. She smiled as she bent down to pick it up, but a voice stopped her cold.

  “That belongs to me, little thief.”

  Kiera stood upright as Nimat appeared, stepping out of the shadows as if crossing through a doorway.

  “It belongs to whoever has the strength to possess it,” a deeper but equally menacing voice said from her other side.

  Kiera’s head whipped back and forth, taking in the two figures with a glance. For reasons she could not fathom, the man’s aura felt far more sinister than a mere hiresword’s should. There was a darkness that seemed to cloak his form, very similar to what she felt while in Nimat’s presence.

  The decision was easy regardless of the fear the man inspired. Better to deal with an evil she knew. Kiera reeled back her leg to kick the stone to Nimat, but a clay grenado landed near her feet with a clunk, its fuse sparking and hissing before vanishing into the housing.

  Kiera leapt away an instant before the grenado exploded. The force of the blast felt like a giant hand that helped propel her through the air before slamming her against the wall. A horrible keening in her ears drowned out most of the sounds of battle. She struggled to a sitting position and sought out the nearest enemy through wavering vision.

  The chief inquisitor and a handful of gendarmes were in a heated battle with Nimat and the ominous mercenary. Dorian’s shadow whip snaked around Bertram’s wrist, preventing him from bringing his pistol to bear. Bertram’s void-steel talwar slashed the magical cord as if it were nothing more than mere rope. He lowered his pistol and fired. The shot elicited sparks when it struck the black aura limning the Necrophage’s form.

  Dorian cursed and stumbled away when the shot pierced his ward and entered his body, albeit with greatly diminished velocity. Accepting his retreat, Nimat focused all of her attention on the meddlesome inquisitor and what
was left of his gendarme squad. The surrounding shadows stretched into tendrils, snatching muskets from hands, wrapping around arms, torsos, and legs.

  Bertram fought the black ethereal vines with his sword, but the waving tentacles pushed him back. Nimat smiled behind her mask and strode toward Kiera. The nightbird tried to scoot away but halted when her hand brushed something heavy. She grabbed ahold of the arcanstone and held it aloft, presenting it to the underlord.

  “I’ll take that,” someone beside her said, and plucked the stone from her hand.

  Kiera looked up into the porcelain face of the man from the counting house. The one who had tried to murder Fred in his sleep. Her head snapped around at Nimat’s outraged cry. The underlord reached inside her cloak, drew an ornate pistol, and fired. Kiera heard the shot strike flesh and bone.

  The masked man grunted in pain and dropped the spring-loaded grenado he was preparing to toss at Nimat. Kiera’s eyes widened to the size of saucers and she kicked at the explosive, sending it rolling away from her. Unfortunately, she kicked it straight at Nimat. Nimat hurled herself to the side, weathered the blast, and rolled to her feet with blades gripped in each hand.

  Kiera took a swipe at Cleary’s legs with her baton as he fled, but she had not fared as well as Nimat had in the explosion. Her sudden movement sent her head spinning once more and she flopped over onto her side. With her face pressed to the floor, Kiera forced her eyes to focus and saw Nimat attempt to give chase, but Bertram and several gendarmes moved to intercept her. The nightbird wanted no part in their battle, wanted no part in any more of the fighting, and crawled deeper into the shadows.

  CHAPTER 25

  Cleary dropped the arcanstone into a pocket and staggered away, pressing a hand against the bloody wound in his shoulder. The area was swarming with men, mostly gendarmes by this time, but the few people who saw him paid him little attention. As long as he did not present himself as a threat, they were satisfied to let him go on his way as they had more urgent business requiring their attention.

  He paused a block away to bandage his shoulder as best he could. It was a grievous wound. The shot had gone clean through his shoulder, leaving shattered bone and destroyed tissue in its flight. He cursed at the pain as well as at not having found Fred, but he did manage to get his hands on what Fred obviously sought. With it, perhaps he could discover the man’s ultimate goal and accomplish more than a simple assassination.

  Cleary looked for a taxi, but just as it had been when he arrived, the streets were conspicuously vacant. Not only were people avoiding the area, but none of the lights in the homes or businesses were lit. Even the streetlights were dark. Given that Nimat appeared to be at the heart of this mess, it did not surprise him. The creature’s power extended far, much further than most people probably realized. Despite all of his research on the underlord, Cleary doubted even he knew the full extent of her authority.

  After a mile of trudging through the city and getting weaker with each step, Cleary paused to catch his breath. His hand reached for his sword when a small figure stepped directly into his path. A bright blue flash of light dazzled his eyes. He hopped back, swiping his sword blindly before him. He blinked away the receding, scintillating spots, spinning around in swift circles, wary of attack.

  None came. He held his breath and listened, but only the sounds of the city’s renewed nightlife reached his ears. Finally, outside of Nimat’s influence, life was returning to normal. It was the wee hours of the morning, so the streets were still nearly void of people, but it was a normal absence, not one born of fear.

  Cleary pointed himself back in the direction of home, sheathed his sword, and reloaded his pistol as he walked. He had just slid the ramrod home when a dark shape plummeted toward him from a nearby roof. Cleary raised his pistol, but a body slammed into him and both he and his attacker crashed to the ground.

  The two rolled across the cobblestones. Cleary tried to bring his pistol to bear, but Kiera gripped his wrist with both hands. Under normal circumstances, Cleary would not have had much of a problem in a brawl with a mere girl, but with his other arm completely useless and sending waves of stabbing agony through his body, he found himself on the defensive.

  Kiera’s knee repeatedly sought out the man’s groin, pistoning her leg in search of a crippling blow. Cleary rolled them both onto their sides, protecting his nether regions as best he could. Kiera let go of his gun hand and delivered two hammer blows to the bullet wound in his shoulder.

  Cleary bit off a scream of pain, gritted his teeth, and heaved the girl aside. With only a single hand gripping his arm, Kiera was forced to relent to his greater strength and rolled several times to put some distance between them before springing to her feet.

  Unable to use both of his arms, Cleary was slower to recover. He struggled to stand and found himself staring down the length of a strange-looking gun. Kiera, a grin splitting her face behind her head wrap, shot first. The grapnel fell to the cobblestones halfway between the combatants and rolled in a half circle before lying still.

  “Crap!” Kiera shouted at the power-depleted device.

  It was Cleary’s turn to smile as he lowered his pistol. Kiera turned and ran, the grapnel bouncing behind her on its tether. Cleary shook his head and chuckled in spite of his pain. He patted the arcanstone still riding heavy in his pocket, lowered his gun, and strode away.

  The last half-mile felt like a league to Cleary’s exhausted body. His feet dragged against the cobblestones as he walked, and it was all he could do to raise them high enough to step over the threshold leading into his home.

  Conner ran to his side when he finally stumbled through the door and helped him to a chair. “Surri, get a surgical kit!”

  The white-robed woman appeared in moments, laid a leather parcel on the table, and unfolded it to reveal an assortment of instruments. Conner carefully removed Cleary’s cloak and jacket and cut the sleeve from his shirt to reveal the gruesome injury.

  “What happened?” Conner asked as Surri went to work cleaning and stitching the wound.

  Cleary winced as Surri ran the needle and thread through his flesh and pulled the edges together. “Another major dustup, only this one made the Switzer fiasco look like a practice run.”

  “You found Fred?”

  Cleary shook his head. “No sign of him, but I think I know what he was after now.”

  “What was it, drugs?”

  Cleary pointed at his coat with his chin. “Nope. Look in my coat pocket.” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he tried to focus past the pain. “It looked to me like Fred was trying to steal that from Nimat. I can’t say for sure he knew who he was robbing, but given the number of men he sent to get it, I think he did.”

  “You saw Nimat?”

  “Yeah, damn near killed her too, but not as near as she did me. It was a heck of a mess, I’ll tell you. Especially after the gendarmes showed up.”

  “Our inquisitor said he does enjoy a fight.”

  “Yeah, him and our little nightbird. I almost lost the thing to her on the way back.”

  Conner picked the coat up off the floor. “Her again?”

  “Yeah, she has a knack for getting herself in over her head. I almost shot her this time. Probably should have after she walloped me in the shoulder.”

  Conner pulled the stone out and held it in his hand. All he could do was stare at it for several seconds, baffled. “Everyone was fighting over this? Why?”

  Cleary opened his eyes, turned his head, and could not help but laugh long and deep. In Conner’s hand was not a priceless, powerful gem, but an ordinary cobblestone.

  ***

  Kiera raced through the city, not bothering with stealth. The stone banged painfully into her side with every step, but she dared not slow. She was almost certain the man in the mask was not pursuing her, but there were still plenty of people out there who would kill to get what she had just stolen. Kiera had told Langdon that she would return it to Nimat and she meant it
, but she could only do that if she could get to safety before someone killed her, and that included Nimat herself.

  She chewed on her lip, hoping that Langdon, Iggy, and Micah fared well. Especially Langdon. Kiera told her brain to shut up. She did not have feelings for Langdon—not strong ones anyway. He was nice to her for the most part, and the twins were okay too. Kiera did not have many friends, but she considered Langdon to be one. She knew he wanted to be more than friends, but that was not something she thought about…much.

  Kiera made it into Blindside without anyone stopping her. Whatever was going on, it appeared that every thief and nightbird in the city was keeping their heads down. That was good news for her. Fewer people to tell Nimat or Fred they might have seen her running through the city like the gendarme was on her heels.

  She sprinted up the gangplank, across the deck, and down into her room. Her breathing came in great heaving gulps, and she fought to get herself under control. Kiera felt the arcanstone inside her shirt, its cold surface pressing against her sweating skin.

  Part of her railed at the fact that she possessed more wealth than she could possibly dream of but knew she could not keep it. Still, at least she could look at it and dream, even if for just one night. Kiera reached inside her shirt, pulled out the glass sphere, and gaped openmouthed at the tiny airship bobbing in the water amidst a pretend dust storm.

  She directed her fury at the floor and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Russel!”

  ***

  Russel held the gleaming arcanstone in his hands, gazing down at it like a mother cradling a newborn babe. However, it was not the power contained within the gem that so enamored him but the girl who had been showing up in his dreams for the past couple of years. It was her dire warnings of impending destruction that had served to keep his scattered thoughts somewhat focused on repairing his airship.

  He set the stone in the gold claw-like setting built into the heart of the airship’s hull. The prongs closed around the heart stone like a spider engulfing a fly. While not a true heart stone in size, its power and purpose warranted the elevated status. Techno-scribings inlaid with gold and mostly hidden behind a clever veneer to keep them out of view from prying eyes began to glow.