“You still haven’t told me what position that was,” I noted.
She shrugged. “I gather information and send it on to where the others can use it.”
“And the healers?”
She glared at the men on the bed. “Some men think they have a right to more than they’ve paid for,” she said. “Women get hurt. We take care of them.”
There was more to it, but I didn’t push. Partly because I had secrets of my own and I wouldn’t have wanted Talia to push for them, but mostly because I didn’t think that Talia would share. “Then why would Carth be here?” I asked.
Talia shook her head. “I don’t know. As far as I know, she shouldn’t be. And if someone knew with enough notice to hire you, then she’s in danger.”
I grunted. “I doubt that.”
Talia cocked her head and frowned.
“I’ve seen Carth in action. She doesn’t have too much to worry about.”
The wider man started to moan, telling me that the coxberry had finally started to wear off. In another moment or two, it would be out of his system enough for him to talk. I stood and grabbed one of his knives before facing him.
Talia watched me, her eyes dark with a question written in them. “She knows why you were hired?” she finally asked.
The man kicked against the bindings. With the knot I used, it would only pull tighter. “She knows. After I told her, she brought me to the place of healing. When I found her again—”
“You found her twice?” Talia asked. She didn’t bother to hide the surprise in her voice.
I shrugged. I’d thought that I’d found her the first time, but maybe she had come after me. The second time, she’d clearly come to me and made no point of hiding her presence. I still didn’t really know why. “As I said, the second time, she took me to her ship and made a point of showing me the women she was rescuing from the city. That was when I learned about her network.”
Talia’s eyes tightened slightly when I mentioned the ship. She pushed away from the wall and started toward me, resting a warm hand on my arm. “What will you do when you’re finished with these two?” she asked.
“Depends on what they tell me,” I said.
“And then?”
That was what she really wanted to know. She needed to know whether she needed to fear me trying to abduct Carth and bring her before Orly. “Depends on what they tell me,” I said.
Talia nodded and slipped out the door, leaving me with the two men, now both awake.
7
My questioning of the two men told me only that Natash had been offered ten silvers for each prostitute they brought in. I still didn’t know if it mattered which women they chose, or whether Natash knew of Carth’s spies.
How had they found me? Usually, I made a point of being difficult to find and had expected at least one of them to give up how they had known, but neither had been willing.
Talia offered to take care of them for me. Now that I knew she was more than a barkeep, I wondered exactly what she’d meant by that. If she was trained by Carth, or at least those like Carth, would that mean that she’d kill them and dispose of their bodies? The thought of them dead didn’t bother me nearly as much as the idea of Talia being the one to do it. In my mind, I preferred a different image of her, but that might not be any more accurate than the image she had of me.
I stood on the shores of the Narahn River, studying the ships in the harbor and searching for signs of Carth. The red and black ship that she had shown me remained moored at the dock. Other ships had taller masts, most as if trying to make a statement, but the deep-keeled ship of Carth’s seemed suited to speed.
Why would she have come by ship? And then, why would she have allowed me to see it?
Nothing made sense any longer. For some reason, I felt like I was being used by both sides, neither of which had any real reason. Orly likely wanted Carth because he’d learned about her network of spies, but why would Carth have come to me? The more I thought about it, the more likely it was that she was the one who had planted information in my ear about where to find her. That meant that she’d been ready for me when I first found her, and that she’d known who I was from the beginning.
If she knew that, then she might even know that Orly had sent me after her. Why show me the healers? Why show me the ship? It was almost as if she wanted my help, but what could I do that her network of spies could not?
I still had to contend with the fact that Orly intended for me or someone else to bring Carth to him. If not me, then whoever he would hire would likely make a mess of it. There would be killing and death. Not only women would suffer. In that, Talia was wrong. I did notice the women, especially considering what had happened to my mother.
Movement down the street caught my attention. It was dark and the lanterns on the street weren’t necessary for me, so I could tell that a crowd began gathering in the shadows near the docks. I made my way closer, touching the darts in my pouch and grabbing a set of six. Better to be safe than risk exposing myself. At this hour, a gathering crowd was never a good sign.
A part of me knew better than to head toward them. I usually preferred to hang to the back and observe, but with what I’d been seeing, what Carth had shown me, I was worried.
I wanted answers.
I took to the rooftops. One of the advantages Eban offered was that the roofs were situated close together, making running from roof to roof often quite easy, especially if you were able to jump the distance between them, as I was.
Most of the roofs in this part of town were slate. The heavy rains often found in Eban made solid roofing necessary, and the neighboring mines gave a steady supply. I’d long ago learned to modify my boots so I didn’t slip. Others weren’t clever enough, or perhaps they weren’t agile enough to move easily. There had been many times when I’d been chasing someone and they had simply slipped, falling to the ground below. Most of the times, the falls were fatal.
As I reached the crowd, anger surged through me. Two women—both wearing the heavy paint of the typical tavern prostitute—crouched before four men. One of the women had a split lip that dripped blood down her chin. The other had a crooked leg from a fracture that would need splinting.
Damn this. Could this all be about information? Was that why they had been attacked?
Natash and whoever hired him would pay for this if that was the case.
“Don’ hurt her too bad. Can’t get her to talk if she does.” This was from a tall, slender man who stood slightly apart from the others.
“I don’t think he needs them to talk.”
The others laughed, but not the slender man. “We don’ know why he wants them, so best not to piss him off too much, you know?”
“You think Orly cares if…”
I stopped listening at that point.
Could Orly really have done this to these women? Would he really have placed a bounty on them? What did he think he could do, eliminate Carth’s network? To do that, he’d have to kill dozens of women.
Rage boiled within me. I jumped from the roof, flicking a pair of darts as I did. Both hit, sinking into the nearest men. As the terad set, they dropped. The other two turned quickly, swords unsheathed. I tossed a pair of darts, but only one hit. The slender man swept his sword more quickly than I expected and darted toward me.
As I rolled to the side, flipping a dart, I heard him grunt before falling.
I looked up and saw a hooded figure standing near him. A slender blade was held in his hand.
I’d miscounted.
Two darts remained, and both were terad tipped. The toxin would set quickly, but could I move quickly enough? The first sailed over his head when he ducked. The man slipped closer, holding the long blade like a sword as he danced toward me.
I watched for a moment, tracking his movement before sending my last dart.
It caught him in the hand.
I pulled myself to my feet and made my way toward the hooded figure, moving carefully a
s I did. The women watched me, both with eyes wide. “Go,” I hissed. “Get to safety.”
The woman with the broken leg whimpered as she was lifted. They moved slowly down the street—toward Carth’s ship, I noted—quietly whispering as they did.
When I reached the hooded man, I pushed back his hood with the toe of my boot, not expecting who I saw. And here I’d thought it one more man attacking the women.
The dark-haired woman from the night before lay motionless on the ground, this time with something more toxic than coxberry coursing through her veins. I pulled the dart from her hand. Terad tipped, there was no coming back from that, not without a significant healing ability.
Something like the narcass leaves I had in my pouch.
I could leave her here. There was a price for the work I did and risks I suspected she understood, but I suspected the only reason she had come was to protect those women. It was the same reason I’d dropped from the rooftops. Had it not been for me, I suspect she would have stopped the men just as well. Now she would die.
Unless I attempted to revive her.
Narcass was rare and difficult to acquire. Few places possessed it in much quantity. If I used it now, I’d either have to do without or I’d need to make a journey outside Eban. It was possible that I might find a merchant able to bring it to me, but something like that would take months, time that left me in danger.
If I didn’t do anything, she’d be dead in another minute.
I reached into my pouch and found the leaves, wrapped in waxed paper. Unfolding the paper, I pulled out two. That left one remaining, possibly not even enough to save me if I were to need it, but two leaves were needed to reverse the terad. I crushed them and smeared the dust on the inside of the woman’s mouth.
Then I lifted her and slung her over my shoulder.
The streets were quiet as we made our way along them, almost strangely so. When I reached the street where I’d last seen Carth, I felt the weight of eyes on me. I stopped in the middle of the street and lowered the woman to the ground.
“Help her.” I spoke into the darkened buildings. “She was poisoned by terad, but given narcass. She should pull through, but she’ll need healing.”
Then I left the woman lying there on the street. I knew that someone would come for her.
8
Carth found me for a third time, though this time I knew that she would. I stood on the rooftop, barely three buildings away from where I’d left the woman I’d poisoned, making a point of standing, unmoving, out in the open. Either I’d be attacked or someone like Carth would come find me.
“You did not have to restore her,” Carth said.
I grunted. “It was my fault. She shouldn’t die for trying to help,” I said.
Carth stepped toward me, appearing out of the darkness and dressed in black leather that would blend into the night. Only the soft glow of her skin would give her away to someone else, but even that might not give enough notice, especially with as quickly as I’d seen her move.
“You sedated her last night,” Carth remarked.
“I had questions.”
“Had?”
I grunted again. “The questions remain, but they are different.”
Carth nodded. “You are a difficult man to understand, Galen of Elaeavn.”
“You knew that I’d been hired,” I said.
“I told you that I trade in information.”
“What were you trying to show me?” It had taken me too long to realize that had been her intent, but I still didn’t understand why.
“You’ve seen what I wanted to show you.”
“The women?” I asked. “That’s what this is about?”
She stepped lightly across the roof toward me. I didn’t even hear her feet. I chuckled softly. The times I had heard her had been intentional, like so much else with her. “From what I’ve seen, you are capable enough of keeping them safe.”
“You have a certain reputation, Galen.”
“I thought I did. I’m not so certain it’s earned.”
She stopped next to me. She smelled of heat and sweat, but also of bitter spice mixed with floral undertones. It was a powerful combination, one that forced me to shake off the effects.
“You healed one not your own. You saved when it was not needed. You have restraint. For an assassin, that is remarkable.” She twisted and faced me. “Tell me, Galen of Elaeavn, why the thief-master Orly would summon Carth of C’than to your city.”
C’than. I filed the name into my mind, vowing to learn where that might be. Since my exile, I’d traveled many places, had seen many cities, but none were known as C’than, and none had women as powerful as Carth.
“Orly didn’t summon you to the city.”
She tipped her head to the side. “Did he not ask you to bring me before him?”
“Seeing as you ask, I suspect you already know the answer.” I paused and considered. “Why would you say that he summoned you?”
“The answer is as I’ve shown you.”
“The women?” I asked, feeling a fool for not seeing it sooner. Orly was a bastard, but a calculating bastard. Attacking women he thought might be spies was just the sort of thing that he would do, especially if he thought it would get Carth’s attention.
She nodded.
“And you thought that by showing me, that I would what? Be convinced that I should not take on the job? That’s not how Orly works, Carth. If it’s not me, he will hire another.”
She smiled. “You think that I fear another?”
“You fear me?”
She hesitated. “I respect you. That is enough, I think.”
“So you came to Eban because Orly had these women attacked? You allowed yourself to be drawn out?”
“I came to Eban for you, Galen of Elaeavn. Another would have served as well had it only been about bringing the Binders to safety.”
Binders. Another word I filed away. I doubted that Carth would explain that to me now, and there were other, more pressing issues.
“Why me?” I asked.
“Because he fears you,” she answered.
“Orly? He doesn’t fear anyone in Eban, and certainly not me. He’s too well-protected to fear me.”
Her smile changed, becoming darker and more wolfish. “I never said that he was stupid. He knows to keep those he fears close to him. You are useful to him. This time, I think, you will be useful to me.”
I shook my head. “I know Orly. It won’t end simply because you want it to.”
She tipped her head as she studied me. “No. It will end because you want it to. You will suggest that he ends the needless attacks. If he does not, then you will have no choice but to complete the task that I will ask of you.”
“You think that I can get close enough to Orly?”
Carth leaned close. Her breath smelled bitter, almost the scent of scallot powder, a rare plant that grew to the north that I’d only once smelled. Isander kept it, mostly for demonstration. The plant itself was said to be near impossible to find in the wild and would not grow otherwise. There were many uses for it, not the least the enhanced senses it offered.
“I think you have already shown that you can eliminate one of the city’s thief-masters. Orly knows to fear you.”
“What you ask will only place a bounty on my head.” That wasn’t what I feared. Most of the assassins in the city were handled easily enough, but I didn’t want to leave Eban. Not yet. Not until I learned the reason Isander had claimed I needed to come here.
“You remember how I told you of the game Tsatsun?” I nodded. “This is much like the game. Orly cannot move without fearing that I will strike. I will not risk moving unless he makes the move necessary.”
“And I am the piece in the middle? The Farist? You will sacrifice me for what you want?”
She smiled. “No longer the Farist, I think. Now you are more like the Tsa. A valuable piece, and one I would not risk needlessly.”
I thought about how I
would tell Orly, and what his reaction might be. I doubted he would take it well, but Carth was right: He would not risk himself without knowing enough. Seeing how Carth had remained one step ahead of him, I doubted that he would act anytime soon. It exposed him to risk.
“So this was nothing more than you recruiting me to be your piece?”
I should have been more upset, but mostly I was impressed. I didn’t care about Carth’s network of spies, but I did care about the needless beatings. If I could be the Tsa that stopped it, then I would do so.
Carth smiled and stepped to the edge of the wall, then dropped something that landed with a loud clink onto the roof before jumping to the ground and quickly disappearing.
I didn’t need my Sight to know that she’d left me payment. From the sound of it, what she’d left was much more than Orly had promised, enough to keep me from needing to take any additional jobs.
Why did I have the feeling that it still wouldn’t be enough?
9
“Give me the reason that I shouldn’t have you killed.”
I sat across the table from Orly, the ales set in front of us untouched, rolling a dart between my fingers. I might manage to throw it if he had the two men standing behind me attack, but I didn’t like my chances afterward. The tavern was one of his, and everyone in the place would defend him.
The soft sounds of a single lute cut through the other voices in the Lonely Cross. The musician played near one end of the tavern, near the door leading up to the inn. I’d already learned the man playing the lute was one of Orly’s, and the lute somehow a weapon that he could use.
The door to the outside was to my left, but I would need to fight through a tableful of men dicing, each seemingly drunk. The stiff way that most of them sat told me that they were less intoxicated than they appeared.
Even the serving girl posed a risk. She carried a long, slender blade beneath her serving tray and made a point to come to the table often and check if we needed anything.
The Binder's Game (The Sighted Assassin Book 1) Page 6