He shrugged. “I know you hold the courtesans in higher esteem than most. I figured you would be the best equipped to handle this job. It’s one that requires a certain delicacy that others can’t match.”
“I’m not going to bring courtesans to you for you to kill,” I said, thinking of what I’d heard. Who would offer ten silvers for a simple prostitute? Not Orly; he was far too careful with his coin.
Orly’s smile faded. “You took the job.”
“I agreed to bring Carth to you,” I said. “But I’m not sure that you really want me to. Do you really know who she is?”
“Probably more than you, Galen.”
I frowned, wondering what he meant by that. If Orly knew what Carth could do, the way that she’d tracked me through the fog, the strength that she’d demonstrated, or even the skill with the knives, maybe there was a different reason that he wanted her. I wasn’t much of a threat to him, but there were others who were, others where someone with skill that probably matched my own would be useful. And if he managed to hold something over her, could he convince her to help him remove the other thief-masters in the city?
All of that was simple speculation, but with Orly, I’d learned that I couldn’t underestimate the power of speculation. If I could figure out what he intended, if I could stay at least one step ahead of him, then I had a chance of understanding whether the jobs he hired me for—or the jobs where he hired others that I’d occasionally interfered with—were worth the price.
Orly simply watched me as I worked through my options. It was unsettling, especially the way that he seemed to know what I was thinking, almost as if he could Read me, but Orly wasn’t of Elaeavn and wouldn’t have that particular skill. Fearing that Readers knew my thoughts was one thing I didn’t miss from Elaeavn. I’d learned to protect my mind—most people in Elaeavn learned how to—but there was always that part of me that worried about an especially strong Reader managing to slip past those protections.
“She wants to know who searches for her,” I said.
Orly tapped a slender finger against his lips and his brow wrinkled while he sat in thought. “You’ve spoken to her as well.”
I laughed softly. “I’ve spoken to her. You’ll need to become accustomed to my methods if you’re to continue hiring me,” I said.
“I wouldn’t hire you if you weren’t so effective,” Orly said absently, his face clouding. “It’s your methods that present the challenge. Others do not have the same… requirements… that you do.” He smiled darkly. “Then again, others do not have quite the same talent for discretion. You are a unique challenge, Galen.”
I watched him, wondering what else he might know about Carth. Did he know about her room of healing? Did he know that others with her seemed to have abilities beyond what I possessed?
I decided that he probably did. And it was the reason he wanted her brought to him alive. If Orly had no interest in using her, he’d have asked me to simply kill her.
“What would you have me tell her?” I asked.
Orly tapped his mouth another moment and then looked over at the hearth. “You will tell her nothing. The job is unchanged, Galen. If you will not do this, another will be contacted. Time is of the essence here. You have two days or I hire another.”
He lifted the pages and turned his attention back to them, dismissing me.
5
I returned to Carth’s building late in the day. The air held the familiar humidity of the coming rain, making me uncomfortable in my cloak. This time, I stood on the rooftop overlooking the street, waiting. From here, I could make out the pattern throughout the streets. I tried to determine where the underground tunnels would be found, but from where I stood, it seemed that it could take up most of the space beneath these buildings.
If all these building connected, then it was possible that Carth could come and go from anywhere. As far as I knew, she might not have to do anything to slip past me.
Touching my pouch, I made a point of ensuring that my supplies were well stocked. I had brought two vials of terad, a single vial of srirach, and a single tub of coxberry paste. That should be more than enough to give me a chance, unless of course, Carth managed to avoid my darts again.
There came a shuffling sound and I spun, whipping a dart as I did. It flew straight but was swatted out of the air before it could strike. Carth watched me with an amused expression on her face.
“You’ve returned?”
I shrugged. “Job wasn’t done.”
She leaned down and grabbed the dart that she’d knocked out of the air. She brought it to her nose and sniffed before flicking her tongue out to taste the toxin along the needle. Her mouth pursed as she did and then she flipped the dart back to me, letting it spiral in the air. I grabbed it and stuffed it back in my pouch.
“Coxen. The berries are tart and make a nice sleeping draught.”
Given what I’d seen down in the room beneath us, I shouldn’t have been surprised that she would have recognized the coxberry. Add to that the way that she’d simply batted away my dart, and it left me with a growing doubt that I would be able to do anything to capture her anyway. There weren’t many with the talent to confound me, but Carth had enough skill to prevent me from harming her. I wondered if she might be able to capture me were she so inclined.
“It seems that you’ve not been sent to kill me,” she said.
I shrugged. “That’s not always the job.”
“No?”
“Usually, but not always.”
There weren’t many who recognized the different degrees of work that were needed, or how death was sometimes the easiest option. Orly had often hired me to bring him people alive. The first time, I’d mistakenly thought that it was because he wanted to talk to the man—a merchant who’d made a practice of overcharging Orly and his men—only to learn later how Orly had used his time with the man. He’d been allowed to live, but missing both hands and his tongue. I’m not sure that death wouldn’t have been better. Now I made a point of truly understanding Orly’s request before bringing anyone to him. That was why Carth had been such a struggle.
“Who is offering coin for prostitutes?”
She smiled a wolfish smile. “I think that’s how it works, Galen of Elaeavn. Surely even you know—”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”
She considered me for a moment, the smile fading. “Then you will come with me.”
I hesitated. The last time I’d gone with her, she’d shown me the healing center. What did she intend to show me this time?
I could choose to not go with her, but then again, I’m not sure that I would have been able to slow her with one of the darts, and I was certain that I didn’t want to go hand to hand with her. It was unlikely that I’d be able to stop her.
The other possibility was that she might simply attack me. I didn’t think that she would. Had she intended to, she would have done so by now. She’d made it clear that she didn’t fear me, and even clearer that maybe I was the one who should fear her.
But if I didn’t go with her, would I be able to find her again? I suspected that she had come to me with a purpose. More than that, whatever she wanted to show me was likely related to the reason that Orly wanted her. And maybe related to what I’d overheard last night.
“And if I don’t?” I asked.
She tipped her head, watching me. “There is a game from my homeland that you might have heard of. Tsatsun.” I shook my head. “A pity. It is played with pieces, each with a different purpose. Right now, you are like the Farist.”
“What does that do?”
She shrugged. “It is used to test the opponent. Mostly it is sacrificial.”
I didn’t care for what that implied, but there was no doubting that I still had no idea what I was here to do. “Fine. I’ll come.”
She nodded, as if there had been no question. She stepped to the edge of the roof and jumped.
My breath caught. We were a good two
stories up and she’d simply jumped off the roof. I considered myself fearless, but Carth had a different level of fearlessness.
I stopped at the edge of the roof and glanced down. She stood waiting for me, eyes focused on a nearby building. She made a few small gestures with her fingers, and I watched for a moment until I realized that she was signing to someone. I scanned the street, looking for who she might be communicating with, but I couldn’t find them. Either they were hidden or they watched from behind a window.
Unlike Carth, I had to hang from the edge of the roof and then drop to the ground. Even that was more than most would have been able to manage. So far, around Carth I’d seen someone with her abilities, I’d seen a woman who seemed able to scale walls, and now I’d seen her simply jump from a height.
She glanced over at me, her face almost unreadable, but my Sight caught the hint of amusement pulling at her eyes, almost as if she wanted me to ask how she’d managed to jump from the roof. I decided not to give her that.
“Where now?” I asked.
“Come,” she said and started off, twisting through the streets of Eban as if she’d known them her entire life. It had taken me months of stalking the streets to no longer feel lost as I made my way, months spent searching through the alleys, climbing from roof to roof, and lurking in places where I often had to defend myself.
Come to think of it, I’d never heard of Carth in Eban before, but she clearly possessed a well-established system. The tunnels beneath the building weren’t new. They would have taken time to establish, and I didn’t think that she could have simply shown up in Eban and come across buildings like that. From the way that she navigated the streets, it was likely she’d been here before.
Could she be a threat to Orly? Was that why he wanted her brought to him? I didn’t think so—I would have heard of someone like her before now if she was really a threat to the thief-master, but what other reason explained everything that I was seeing?
As I followed her through the streets, I noted that we steadily made our way downward. Eban was worked into a gentle hill, nestled along the bank of the Narahn River. Most of the city sloped down toward the river, working toward the bluffs that looked over the river valley. When I’d first come to Eban, I’d taken a small fishing vessel down the Narahn, letting it take me where it would.
That it would take me to Eban had been chance and luck, or perhaps it had been the hand of Isander still guiding me long after I left his mentoring. I doubted that it was the Great Watcher. There wasn’t any reason for the Great Watcher to look down on me with anything but pain and sorrow. Then again, that had been what I’d found so often in Eban. This was a city of darkness, a place where the thief-masters ruled of much of the city, and a place where many came to disappear. Since I’d settled here, it was a place where I’d caused many to disappear.
“The docks?” I asked.
We’d been walking in silence for the most part, with Carth scanning carefully as we walked, as if expecting an attack at any moment. Eban could be unsafe, but I doubted that she was in any real danger, particularly at this time of day. Once the sun set in full, then she might be, but no more than me. Possibly less, given what I’d seen of her abilities.
“There is something you should see, Galen of Elaeavn,” she said.
“Just Galen,” I said.
She glanced over at me. “You no longer claim your home?” she asked.
I chuckled. “What do you know of Elaeavn?”
Few knew much about Elaeavn. Either you were born to the city or you were not allowed a part of it. There were some who came to the city, but they were men like me in Eban, outsiders, usually smugglers, people living on the wrong side of the law.
“Your city is not welcoming to those like me,” she said.
Something about the way she said it made me wonder exactly what she was. Not of Eban, whatever her knowledge of the city might imply.
“You understand the way the city is ruled?” I asked.
“I do,” she said.
That alone was uncommon. Few knew the intricacies to the way the Elvraeth ruled over the city, choosing five to sit among the council, the same council who would pass judgment. I’d gone before the council many years ago, back when I’d made the mistake of harming one of the Elvraeth. How much different would things have been had I not been exiled? Would I have followed Della, learning all that she learned as a healer, or would I eventually have come to use my knowledge in the same way that I ultimately had? If not for Della, I never would have gone to Isander. If not for my first teacher, I never would have found my next.
“Then you likely understand how some are exiled.”
Her eyes widened in understanding. “You are one of the Forgotten.”
I was not surprised that she knew of the Forgotten, not after what I’d seen from her. “Yes. I am one of the Forgotten,” I said.
I expected her to ask what happened, or why I had been exiled, but she did not. Instead, she turned away and motioned down the street, pointing toward one of the large, deep-keeled boats moored along the docks.
The ship was painted dark red and black. The masthead was shaped something like a young woman, though she had sharp fangs and long, sharp nails on her hands. The sails were rolled and stowed. Ports along the side of the ship for oars were shuttered. Three women, all dressed in leather much like Carth, worked on the deck.
“This is yours?” I asked. “You’re the captain?”
She flashed me a frown. “Captain does not so much describe my role.”
There was too much I didn’t know. What was she to Orly? From what I’d seen, she wasn’t a slaver, but I thought that I understood why Orly would have called her one. Had I learned of the ship first, the most likely reason for her to have a ship was for slaving. I’d found her differently, mostly by chance. A name whispered in a tavern I frequented had led me to her part of town, but even that might have been a setup now that I’d seen what kind of woman Carth was.
She started up the gangway and jumped onto the ship. The three women working on the deck each stopped and stiffened, making a point of nodding to her. Carth made a few small movements with her hands and the women glanced at me before disappearing from the deck.
“What did you say to them?” I asked.
“That you were hired to capture me.”
“And they disappeared?”
A wry smile turned her lips. “They do not fear my capture. If I were gone, another would succeed me. That is how it will always be.”
“Who are you, Carth?” I asked.
“I thought you more worldly than this, Galen of Elaeavn. It disappoints me that you must ask.”
“I’ve disappointed many over the years,” I said. “Rarely have I been as confused as I am.”
She looked over my shoulder, and I turned. Coming up the gangway were two pairs of women carrying a bundle between them. To my surprise, I recognized two of the women. One was the healer that I’d met beneath Carth’s rooms. The other was the woman I’d lost the night before while fighting off the three men. All remnants of paint were removed from her face and her lips were no longer stained a bright red. She eyed me for a moment before turning her attention to Carth and nodding.
The woman they carried between them was covered in bruises, her face completely swollen and her eyes staring unfocused at the deck of the ship. One arm hung limp while the other was a maze of scars. Dried blood covered her clothing, making her look as if she’d been to war.
They carried her below deck and disappeared from view.
The other pair held a woman in much the same shape. She couldn’t even hold her head upright on her own and sagged between the two women carrying her. She was dead weight to the women who struggled to get her below deck.
“What happened to them?” I asked.
“The same as happens to most in their position,” she said.
“I don’t understand.”
Carth grunted. “That is becoming increasingly clear,
Galen of Elaeavn. Had you understood, you might have a different opinion of the man who hired you.”
I’m not sure that would have changed anything. Orly might be many things, but he was not one to attack women like this. If they crossed him, I had no doubt that he would kill them no differently than he killed anyone else, but he had no special pleasure in it, not like many I’d seen.
Then who had injured these women? The ten silvers must be a bounty, but why?
“What do your women do?” I asked.
“They do many things,” she said.
I looked at the door the women had used to go below deck. “Why do they end up like that?”
“There is a price to what we do, Galen of Elaeavn.”
I thought about what I’d seen from the one woman the night before. What reason would a woman with skills like that have for painting herself like that?
If she was skilled, could she not make herself appear to be a prostitute? What better way to get close to someone and take that opportunity to kill them? Any attempts that I made required me to get just as close, only I didn’t have the same benefit that they did of using their sexuality.
“You’re an assassin,” I said, not as a question.
Carth’s eyes narrowed. “You think so little of me that you think I would belittle myself to serve as an assassin?”
“I think that you’ve shown particular abilities that I’ve never seen before. I think that your women have much the same ability. What else would you claim other than assassin?”
“Not assassin. Not death. Information.”
I looked again at that door leading below deck. Information? Could Carth have spies here in Eban? It would fit with Orly wanting me to bring her to him. Women would be able to get places that I could not and would have a reach greater than anything I could manage. They would be able to find information that others would not. They would even be able to make suggestions. Such a network would be powerful. And dangerous.
“Then what has happened to these women?” I asked. “And why are you here?”
The Binder's Game (The Sighted Assassin Book 1) Page 4