I thought that I had pieced together what happened, but not why.
Orly had hired me to grab Carth. When that failed, he’d hired the Hjan to retrieve this book. And the Neelish sellswords to grab Talia, presumably to make certain I would stay involved.
But maybe that wasn’t the case.
There was another reason Orly might want Talia.
Had he learned how high she sat within the Binders?
That would be a reason to grab Talia, especially if there was something in the book that he wanted, and if he thought Carth might trade for her. But what would it be?
I didn’t know. And maybe it didn’t matter.
I’d spent so long angry that Talia had abused our friendship, but hadn’t I done the same? I didn’t share with her everything that I was involved with, thinking to protect her. And now… now I had lost the opportunity.
Whatever Orly was after was related to the Binders, that much I was certain of. And if he went to this much trouble to acquire it, that meant that he thought it would give him an advantage.
If he was willing to use me, and my friend, then it was an advantage I would just as soon make sure he didn’t have.
The lutist still stared at me, as if waiting for an answer.
I flicked a coxberry dart at him, watching him sink to the floor as it set in.
I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer.
26
I didn’t have to search long to find the sellswords. Now that I knew Orly was involved, I didn’t bother looking too far. Wherever he had taken Talia and the others would be under his control.
The fog lifted slightly, so I stood on the rooftop staring down at one of Orly’s many buildings in this part of the city. Pretty much this entire part of the city was under his control. Were he to manage to secure access to the city guard, he would have purview over the entire city, as well as a certain legitimacy. For now, he remained a thief-master, though the only one with centralized power.
The cloak I wore fit better than I would have expected.
I had taken Heln’s cloak after checking for hidden weapons and his pulse. I didn’t think he could have survived the terad, but then I didn’t think that he would have been so difficult for me to follow. When I stripped his cloak and the strange shimmery shirt off him, leaving his pale chest exposed, I jabbed one of his knives into his chest to be certain.
Doing so left me feeling foolish, and not a little superstitious, but I wouldn’t take any chances.
The cloak deflected my eyes and caught the shadows of the night around me much better than the usual cloak I wore. In my line of work, there was value in that. And in what I planned tonight, I might need the impression that I was one of the Hjan, even if I couldn’t maintain the illusion for long.
Light stirred in the window of the small building. Men moved through the light, casting shadows of different heights. At least three, but there could be more. I didn’t think any were the sellswords.
They wouldn’t be so easy to find.
One would be with Orly. If I were to be successful with this, I wouldn’t be able to leave any of them living. I’d have to find a way before this was over to take care of that, too.
Instinctively I checked my supply of darts. I had restocked, grabbing two dozen of the smooth darts Carth had provided me, making a point of tipping all but five in terad. Those five were coxberry, but I didn’t expect to be using them. The rest might be needed just to get to Talia.
I didn’t like the thought of Orly’s reaction after I was done. He would be angry, possibly angry enough that I would be forced to leave Eban.
But I would get to Talia.
Taking another look around, I leapt from the rooftop and landed on the street as softly as I could.
Reaching the door, I grabbed the handle and paused before pushing it open.
The man nearest the door spun toward me, crossbow in hand. He fell with a dart in his neck. The wiry man next to him started to unsheathe his sword, but didn’t have time. Terad stopped him.
The last man I recognized. Davun had always been pleasant, and I knew him to have a wife and a young daughter. His eyes widened slightly when he saw me, and he started toward his sword.
I paused long enough to reach for a coxberry dart. “I’m sorry,” I whispered as I threw it. Davun sunk to the ground.
The way into the house was open.
At the long hall leading into the rest of the house, I paused. No one moved, and the shadows along the hall didn’t reveal anyone else. I started forward.
A blur of motion out of the corner of my eye sent me spinning toward the wall, slamming my back against it. One of the Neelish sellswords spun into the hall, his sword swinging in a sharp motion. He was fast, but the slight movement had been enough to prepare me.
I didn’t make the same mistake as I had with Heln. Three darts went flying at him.
He went down. Two hit, catching him in the arm and the ear. He’d managed to slice the third in half, cutting it neatly as it soared through the air as he fell. At least the Neelish resistance to poison didn’t extend to terad.
I took his sword and leather scabbard. Darts were my preferred weapon, but I wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to possess a Neelish blade. Their swordsmiths were reported to be some of the best. As long as I was careful with the blade—always coated in poison by the swordsman—it would be valuable.
Moving more carefully now, mostly because I knew I was close, but partly because the sellsword had nearly caught me off guard, I glanced down the hall. Nothing else moved.
A soft thud of boot on wood came from the other direction.
Checking my darts, I moved forward.
According to the lutist, there had been three sellswords. One was with Orly, protecting him. One was now down. That left one remaining. I expected him guarding Talia and the women.
I was wrong.
As I stepped forward, a blade arced toward me.
I pulled my arm back, but not fast enough. The sword caught me and I winced.
Three darts left my hand, but I didn’t have time to see if they hit as I pulled back into the hall.
How long did I have?
I wasn’t sure what poison they used. During my training, I had experience with most poisons and thought that I should be able to recognize it. Slipping into shadows, I hoped the cloak would shroud me well enough that I wouldn’t be seen.
A shuffle of a foot on the floor, barely enough to notice, caught my attention. Gripping the edges of the cloak, I wrapped it around me. My heart hammered too fast, likely driving the poison through my blood. I needed time to reach for the narcass leaf I kept with me.
The sword sliced toward me again.
I saw only the reflection of the blade and traced it to the man holding it.
He stood in a doorway I’d missed. With two handfuls of darts, I attacked, flipping one after the other, forcing myself to ignore the pain in my arm and the fact that I was dying.
He swiped most out of the air before they hit, but with Carth’s supplies, I had enough to keep throwing. One managed to get past him and caught him, burying in his leg.
The sellsword went down.
I leaned against the wall, steadying my breathing.
Two now gone. I didn’t know what else to expect. And maybe it didn’t matter. The sellsword had caught my arm. Regardless of whether I reached Talia, I was dying.
I staggered forward, fumbling for my pouch before pausing long enough to pull the sleeve of the cloak up. A purple welt already formed on my arm, but the skin was intact.
I frowned, fingering the soft fabric of the cloak. Had this managed to stop the sword?
Questions for later.
Maybe I wasn’t dying.
A soft grunt whispered up from below me.
I looked around and found a stair leading down. The sellswords had been protecting the way below, but what would I find when I went down there?
Taking the stairs two at a time, I reach
ed a stout door at the bottom. I kicked it in, sending the door splintering inside, and surveyed what I saw.
Two men stood watch over three women. Talia was with them.
Her eyes widened when she saw me.
I didn’t give the men a chance to react. Darts went at them at the same time. They fell, terad taking hold before they could even react.
As I started toward the nearest man, Talia’s eyes widened.
I dropped and rolled, sending a pair of darts flying. A guard I hadn’t seen fell.
I scanned the room, searching for signs of anyone else I might have missed. The room was otherwise empty.
When the bands holding the women were removed, I led them up the stairs.
“This was you?” Talia whispered at the top of the stairs, noting the sellsword.
“Yes.”
“Why?” she asked. We reached the end of the hall where I’d first entered. Davun moved slightly. I hoped he wouldn’t come at me when this was over. He was skilled enough that I’d probably have to kill him if he did.
I glanced down the street and led Talia and the two other women with me. As we disappeared down an alley, she pulled on my arm, forcing me to stop.
“Why, Galen?” she asked.
“You’re my friend.”
“That’s the only reason?” she asked.
“Talia—”
She stood on her toes, not waiting for the answer, and leaned toward me, kissing me softly. “Thanks.”
When we reached Carth’s healing center, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t what I saw. Carth stood in the street with a shadowed figure next to her, dressed in a cloak much like mine. Chains bound his hands, but he stood with a straight back, staring defiantly at Carth.
“Carth,” I said with a nod.
Carth took in Talia and the other two women, motioning for them to leave. The two women disappeared into one of the nearby buildings, leaving Talia with Carth. Then Carth turned to me and tipped her head in a nod. “Galen of Elaeavn. You are dressed differently than when I last saw you.”
“You were expecting me,” I noted.
“You were seen coming.”
I glanced at the rooftops, once a place I thought my own, but now I wondered how many knew them as well as I did. How many of Carth’s Binders wandered the skies as I did?
“And him?”
Carth glanced to the Hjan. “He was hired for a job. He failed.”
The man snorted. “You would be best not to—”
Carth jerked on the chains binding him. “I think we can agree that you violated the accords when you accepted this job.”
He fell silent but turned his attention to me. “Heln?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry.” I wasn’t, but didn’t really know what else to say to the man.
“Which poison did you use?” Carth asked.
“Terad.”
The other Hjan started to smile.
“And a knife in his chest.”
The smile faded and Carth laughed softly. “I think all have underestimated you, Galen of Elaeavn.”
“You said I was the Farist in your game of Tsatsun,” I reminded her.
Talia chuckled. “The Farist? Surely he deserves more credit than that, Carth,” she said.
“I seem to remember telling you that you had become the Tsa.”
Talia looked at me appraisingly and nodded.
“What happens now?” I asked Carth. “Why has this all been about a ledger?”
I didn’t tell her that Orly had asked me to retrieve it, but I suspect that I didn’t have to.
Carth reached into her pocket and pulled out a slender book. “This contains information that could be… disturbing to certain members of your city council, as well as dozens of others within the city.”
“That’s all that this has been about?” I asked. “Orly wants a way to coerce those in power? Why would he even think that would work?”
“Because it worked for Benahg.”
I suddenly understood how Benahg had managed to rise so quickly to power. I knew little of Benahg, only of his unusually fast rise in Eban. “And Benahg acquired the ledger?”
Carth’s eyes flashed with a hint of anger as she nodded.
“And Orly thinks to do the same,” I said. Was that all that Orly wanted? Had this only been about acquiring power? “And the ledger? I take it that it’s something of the Binders?”
“As I’ve told you, Galen of Elaeavn, I work with information. Such information is valuable and dangerous. Now you see why.”
Now that Carth had it back, I wondered what would happen next. I didn’t expect her to do what she did.
She tossed the book to me.
“You will watch it for now,” she said.
I caught it out of the air and examined the leather cover. There was nothing that would make it appear out of the ordinary, nothing other than what it obviously contained inside.
“Why me? What if I decide to use the information inside?”
“From what I have seen, Galen of Elaeavn, I think that unlikely.”
I looked to Talia as I slipped the book into my pocket. “Why not Talia?”
Carth focused on Talia and shook her head. “She was responsible, but now I think that it is time for Talia to depart,” she said.
Talia looked at me, sadness turning her eyes. “I’m sorry, Galen.”
I reached for her and she allowed me to take her hands. I held her for a moment, and then leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “I wish…”
I couldn’t finish. I didn’t really know what I wished, only that we had more time to find out what might have been. Instead, I was left with a friend.
She pressed a finger to my lips. “I wish, too.”
Talia released my hands and stepped away, and then disappeared into the building.
“What of you?” I asked Carth.
She smiled, flashing her teeth at me. “I think you were hired for a job, Galen of Elaeavn. It is time you collect.”
27
Orly lurched to his feet when I entered the tavern. The men along the walls, as well as the Neelish sellsword, all took a step toward me. None looked at me.
All stared at Carth.
She followed me into the tavern with empty hands. When Orly saw her, he nodded at the others around him, and they all relaxed.
“You surprise me, Galen,” Orly said, taking a seat.
I stood at the table, waiting for Carth to sit, before I did as well. “You hired me for a job.”
Orly’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not the job—”
“If I recall, you requested that I bring the slaver Carth to you. Now, I think you have the slaver part wrong, but this is Carth.”
“I can see that,” Orly said. He picked up the dice on the table and shook them out. They came up Watcher’s Eyes.
Carth glanced at them. “You will stop your foolish attacks in this city.”
Orly ignored her. “You were hired to acquire a certain book.”
“And I have.”
“Where is it?”
I smiled. “Someplace safe.”
Orly scooped the dice off the table and shook them, sending them sliding again. Watcher’s Eyes. “That wasn’t the job.”
“No? You told me to acquire the ledger, which I have done.”
Orly flicked his eyes to a man along the wall. He disappeared.
Carth leaned back in her chair, completely at ease. I wondered how much difficulty she would have if Orly decided to attack her. Not nearly as much as me, I suspected. She had managed to capture one of the Hjan twice. What I did required much less skill.
“Interesting that you find this tavern as a place to hold your meetings,” Carth observed.
Orly rolled the dice again. Again, he rolled the Watcher’s Eyes. Either the dice were weighted—a trick known by most gamblers—or, more likely, Orly somehow managed to influence the odds with the dice. I didn’t know the trick of it, and wasn’t sure that I cared.<
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“Interesting that the Binders don’t control it or that it’s a tavern?” Orly asked.
Carth smiled.
Orly’s man returned, running back into the tavern and skidding to a stop. He leaned and whispered in Orly’s ear and flicked his eyes toward me.
When he made his way back to the wall, I set my hands on the table. “This the way you plan to do business, Orly?”
He stared at me, dice not moving in his hand.
“I imagine your man told you how I went to your building. The men inside are dead. Well, not Davun. Someone needed to confirm what happened.” Let Orly think that the reason I had allowed Davun to live. “The sellswords posed little trouble,” I went on, shifting my gaze to the remaining Neelish sellsword behind Orly. I made a point of opening the cloak to reveal the sword I now carried. “And the women are free.”
I leaned forward and the anger I felt at what Orly had done, not only to Talia, but his willingness to hurt other women simply to get to Carth finally bubbled to the surface.
The dart held between my fingers rolled slightly. Terad tipped, like so many that I’d used today.
Orly’s men leaned forward, ready to attack, but Carth sat up. The sudden motion caught their attention and they stopped.
“You will not harm anyone I care about,” I whispered.
Orly glanced from my dart to Carth, and then finally to me. “I thought you were a professional, Galen.”
“I am.”
“Yet you failed.”
“No. You asked for Carth. I have her with me. You requested the ledger, and I have that as well.”
“Where is it?”
I shook my head. “That wasn’t the job. You told me to acquire it, which I did.”
No one spoke for a moment. Then Orly nodded to a different man who stepped forward and set a bag of coins on the table.
“Your payment. You may leave.”
“I think not,” I said. “You see, I promised Carth of C’than safe passage. If you wish to challenge me,” I went on, looking at the men around the tavern, “consider whether you want to see if you can fare better than Heln of the Hjan. I left him lying in a house near the Brite Pot if you’re interested. And two of these sellswords were little trouble.” I made a point of showing a menacing smile as I nodded to the man standing behind Orly.
The Binder's Game (The Sighted Assassin Book 1) Page 17