Mulldoos blinked, though one eyelid wasn’t cooperative, and it appeared more of wink. “Use? What plaguing use? We got to clear out of here.”
“We do indeed. And that is precisely what I mean to use it for.”
Mulldoos looked at the barred door and then back to Braylar. “What are you plaguing talking about, Cap?”
“We have to get to Darzaak, to let him know what has occurred here. And we will not do that jumping from rooftops. We walk. And to do that, we must needs walk out the front door.”
“We walk.” Mulldoos repeated it slowly, still slurring the edges a little. “Out the front door. Down the street. To Jackal Tower. That’s what you are plaguing telling me, Cap?”
“That is precisely what I am telling you, Lieutenant.”
Vendurro and Rudgi had heard the conversation as well and approached, and Mulldoos appealed to Vendurro. “Never been much good at talking sense into this man. Pretty plaguing lousy at it, in fact. Unless Hewspear was siding with me. But . . . it’s on you now, Ven. Tell Cap here that moseying down the thoroughfare is about the worse plaguing idea you ever heard.”
Perhaps just more diplomatic by nature, or more cautious given Azmorgon’s recent betrayal, Vendurro said, “I’ve heard a lot of lousy ideas. Said a lot of them myself. So it’s steep competition.” He looked at Braylar. “Cynead might have lost the Memoridons. But he’s still emperor. Leastwise, right now. And he’ll have us hung without reprieve if we get captured, assuming we don’t get murdered good on the spot. So . . . why are we walking out the front door, Cap?”
Braylar looked at us and said, “We have no idea what is happening out there. And—”
“We know your sister shat in our soup,” Mulldoos said.
“So she did,” Braylar replied, biting the words off. “And eloquent as always. But we have no idea what effect it has had. Did Cynead’s Memoridons abandon him in the middle of battle or turn on him? Did Thumaar’s troops, trusting that he was alive and undercutting Cynead, overcome the long odds and defeat the emperor anyway? We do not know. But even if Cynead proved victorious and is marching back to the capital, he is considerably weakened now, vulnerable, and we will need to inform Darzaak and act immediately.
“Will our Commander make a play for the throne? Will he throw the Jackals in a coalition of other Towers to seat someone else on it? We simply . . . do not . . . know. But Darzaak cannot operate blindly, and won’t—he will wait until he has obtained intelligence. And I do know we are the only ones who can supply it, yes? So we perform our duties, aid our Tower, and see our way through this, no matter how we have been betrayed or how frayed the original plan is.”
The captain looked at all the Jackals still alive. “So. Unless you have some pigeons in your packs that can carry word to our Commander, we resort to the one recourse we still have available. Our feet. That is why we walk out the front door.”
Mulldoos wasn’t one to talk with his hands much, but he did just then, waving one around as if trying to dispel a stench. “Fine. Somebody can. Just send a runner.”
Rudgi smiled. “I’ll go. Got nothing better going on just now.”
“You most certainly will not, Sergeant,” Braylar replied. He looked at Mulldoos. “I am down enough officers as it is, but more importantly, while we can get word to the man, do you really believe Commander Darzaak is going to believe a runner who tells him our company made the critical mistake of trusting my sister and were all betrayed on the cusp of securing Thumaar his throne again, so now all Memoridons are free to do gods know what? ‘You might have noticed the ones Cynead assigned to your Tower slipping away quietly. Oh, and Thumaar’s dead, our apologies and regrets. As is the vile whoreson Lieutenant Azmorgon who tried to strangle Captain Killcoin and organize an impromptu mutiny with the Eagles, who will surely be our enemies now if word gets out that we led Thumaar to an ambush.’
“Is that what you intend our presumptive runner to say to Commander Darzaak? Assuming the good Commander hasn’t also been struck down by the unbound Memoridon in his employ?”
Vendurro said, “He’s got a point, Mull.”
Mulldoos ground his jaws together. “Gods and devils, but we’re in a bad spot.”
“Yes,” Braylar said, “on that point we definitively agree. But we cannot afford to make it worse by delaying or taking half measures now. We must get to Darzaak immediately to verify his safety and to inform him of what has occurred so we can plot our way clear of this. Yes?”
Grudgingly, Mulldoos nodded. “We go out the plaguing front door. Fine. But how about this, when we get close to Jackal Tower, we send a runner ahead?” Braylar started to object but Mulldoos pushed on. “Not to deliver the plaguing news, but to make sure we ain’t walking into a worse situation. Get the lay of the land, and if Darzaak is alive and kicking like we all hope, then the rest of us follow.”
Braylar nodded. “Very good. Now get some sustenance. But quickly. We leave soon.”
Mulldoos walked away shaking his head, scowling, looking more likely to chew stones than food.
Vendurro said, “You don’t have to tell me twice. Come on, Sergeant. Grub.”
Rudgi looked at him in amazement as they walked towards the pantry. “You eat like a plaguing Deserter but you’re barely bigger than Arki there. Queerest thing.”
“What’s queer is how plaguing hard it is to find a boiled egg when you want one. Really shouldn’t be this plaguing difficult. . .”
Even exhausted and starving, I couldn’t suppress a smile. There was a man who lived in the moment.
True to his word, shortly after we’d stripped off any Leopard paraphernalia and eaten something, Braylar had us assembled by the door. I’d thrown some oatcakes and the salvageable parts of a wrinkled apple down my throat and followed it up with a small beer, so I felt halfway human again, but the heavy tension and lack of sleep made me want to just find a spot on the floor with the fewest blood splatters and fall into the deepest pit in my mind that I could manage. I had a weary revelation then that waking and dreaming were like the drain lake in Roxtiniak, one ever flowing into the next in an endless, mysterious, inexplicable cycle.
Two Jackals pulled the bar clear of the brackets on the door, and Braylar looked at Rudgi. “Send two out, take stock of the street and surrounding area, ascertain what they can, and report back.”
She nodded and walked over to the soldiers by the door, talking quietly to two of them.
My heart was hammering hard when a Jackal pulled the door in, giving the pair enough space to slip out, and closed it behind them. Perhaps nothing had changed out there in the streets of Sunwrack at all. But too many momentous things were happening, and it was impossible not to imagine the horrible ripples today’s events would have.
The rest of us waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally they knocked on the door five times and were let back in. They walked up to the captain and the shorter scout said, “Way seems clear enough, Cap. But rumors are flying wild. Overheard soldiers and Thurvacians. Some are saying Cynead routed Thumaar in the field and had the old wolf’s head on a pike. Which were impossible, him being dead back there in the tower, and not having lost his head at all. Others are saying Cynead was the one who got crushed.”
Braylar asked, “And what of Thumaar’s allies in the field? The Anjurians, the Vortagoi Confederacy?”
The short scout replied, “Some say they were destroyed. Others claim they got wind things were turning, thought of somewhere safer to be and let out. All I know now is, not knowing who is emperoring, or what’s happened with the Mems, the Thurvacians are getting right panicky, smelling blood in the air, heading indoors, bolting their doors.”
Braylar nodded. “Yes. As they should. While they often get the narrative wrong, Thurvacians have been under Syldoon rule long enough to have a sense of when things are about to erupt, and historically have been fairly accurate in predicting bloodletting.” He looked at our small group. “Out we go, then. We do not draw weapons unless a th
reat presents itself. Whether Cynead is alive or dead, the Leopards do not know we have returned yet. They likely discovered the bodies in the Citadel, but will just as likely assume it was a coup attempt by the Eagles. Still, we do not have much time. So we nonchalantly but fairly quickly make our way to Jackal Tower to see what we see. Understood?”
The Jackals all nodded or said “aye,” and I found myself echoing them. Then the door was opened again and we filed out.
I half expected to see the city on fire or madness reigning as Tower battled Tower from street to street. Instead, it was eerily quiet. Dusk was coming on, the sky gray behind the charcoal clouds like a huge tattered and torn flag draped over the world. During any normal day, we still would have seen Thurvacians heading to their homes, merchants closing up shops, men heading to a tavern or brothel or theatre for some form of entertainment, some filing towards the gates before curfew was called. But except for a few stragglers darting inside to some hiding place, we didn’t encounter any of the native inhabitants, and there was a tension in the air. And for the first several streets, we didn’t see Syldoon soldiers of any Tower either.
It was as if the City of Coups was holding its breath, dangerously still, and it felt like we were walking among the catacombs again. That was unnerving, but at least it meant we made quick progress. And then, almost at once, things changed.
Rudgi and another scout who had been checking the streets ahead returned from different directions at the same time. Rudgi said, “There’s a battalion ahead, smallish, but a lot bigger than us. Couldn’t tell which Tower, though. They were moving fast, harried by another group.”
Braylar pulled Bloodsounder off his belt and adjusted the straps on his shield as he looked over his shoulder at our small company. “The order to walk unarmed has been rescinded.”
I slid the curved blade out of the scabbard, careful not to slice myself or anyone around me. The captain asked Rudgi, “How many streets ahead, and heading which direction?”
As if in answer, we heard the distant sounds of battle and shouting as Rudgi said, “Four or five streets, moving west, so not hard to skirt around them. Let the smaller group retreat and make our way behind the bigger.”
Braylar turned to the ginger-haired scout. “And you, soldier? Let me guess, grim tidings as well, yes?”
The Jackal nodded quickly, starting straight ahead, looking uneasy. “Aye, grim and grimmer, Cap. Saw a party near the tanner district. Shields say Falcon Tower, for what that’s worth. Though we know blazonry don’t always mean shit. About thirty, forty men maybe. Got wiped out. Fast.”
The way he said fast made my skin crawl.
Braylar asked, “By which Tower?”
The scout gulped quickly. “Leopards. But they had it easy, Cap. Real easy.” He clearly didn’t want to say more but had no choice. “Two war Mems brought the Falcons to their knees first. Leopards only had to wade through and slit throats. Finished them quick and kept moving east.”
Mulldoos gave Braylar a look that could have been imploring or furious, it was hard to tell, which the captain pointedly ignored.
Vendurro said, “Doesn’t make any sense, Cap. Falcons support the Leopards.”
“Supported,” Braylar corrected. “They supported them. And Cynead in particular. But it appears the Memoridons were not content with simply throwing off their invisible shackles. They are orchestrating a power move here. So until we know the particulars, we cannot trust anyone outside our own Tower.”
No one mentioned Azmorgon and the fact that even that loyalty might be suspect, as the wound was raw and fresh, but I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who thought it.
The captain said, “So. We will have to be doubly sure the route forward is entirely clear. Sergeant Rudgi, take three more men, fan out, and be sure we do not have any unexpected meetings with Syldoon or Memoridons.”
After Rudgi ordered Jackals to accompany, they set off at a jog—three exploring the streets ahead, one falling back to be sure no one came up from the rear.
Vendurro moved closed to Braylar, but I was near enough to hear him say, “Even if we run into another company, Cap, we don’t have numbers. But if it’s the Mems, then—”
“That is precisely why we have scouts, Lieutenant. And our chances of getting trapped or caught treble if we stand here under an awning arguing. We move. Now.”
No one else protested and we started forward again, winding our way slowly towards the great Towers, sometimes having to change direction when one of the scouts returned to report fighting somewhere ahead.
Still, it wasn’t long before we saw the massive curtain wall around the city and the Jackal Tower looming above the much smaller buildings and residences around it. We stopped and sidled alongside a building, waiting for the scouts to investigate the immediate area around the Tower to be sure the way was clear.
Mulldoos moved close enough to the captain that Vendurro and I were the only ones who heard him say, “You know my mind, Cap, and I know knowing it ain’t changing yours none, but I’ve got to say one more time, we ought to hunker down somewhere, cistern tower maybe. Exposed out here. Real plaguing exposed. And I don’t like this one plaguing bit.”
Braylar drummed his fingers on the haft of the flail. “What is to like, Lieutenant? A deposed emperor is dead, a sitting emperor very likely could be, some of our own turned against us, and the Memoridons severed a thousand years of Syldoon control as easily as cutting a single throat. But our Tower still exists, and I would learn what state it is in, and if our Commander yet lives.”
Mulldoos didn’t have a direct answer for that, good or bad, and simply rubbed the back of his neck several times with his big hand, pale eyes hard, the droopy eyelid seeming more weighted down than ever.
And so we waited, backs against the wall of a granary as night came on. Then Rudgi returned. I thought she was alone, but then several Jackals stepped out of the shadows after her, ten or twelve.
The captain approached them, and the closest soldier saluted and stepped forward. He was a thin man with a round moon face and one chin too many. He said, “Plaguing glad to see you again, Cap. Sergeant here told me you and your company were back, but good to see it firsthand. Me and the boys thought—” then stopped himself when he saw how small our group was. “Gods, Cap, are the rest—”
“Winnowed.” The captain stepped forward. “Report, Syldoon. How do things stand?”
Moon-face replied, “Not good, Cap. Not plaguing good at all.”
“Expound. Immediately. Does Commander Darzaak live?”
The soldier looked bewildered as he said, “Aye, Cap. Leastwise, last I saw him. Can’t speak for the interim. But the Mems that used to be ours, then Cynead’s, well, seems they ain’t nobody’s now. They just ain’t nobody’s no more and—”
“Yes, I am painfully aware of that. What of the Commander?”
“They took him, Cap. Him and some of his captains. Captain Grizzwik, Captain Julvers, Captain Bikmoss. Those bitches husked and killed their guards, holed them up in Commander’s quarters. Me and the boys here got out, right as orders come out by way of Julvers to lock the Tower up tight.”
“Took initiative, did you?” Braylar asked, eyes narrowing.
The soldier suddenly froze as if he realized he was standing right next to a hissing viper.
The Jackal said, “We made for Otter Tower, Cap. Figured they might lend a hand. Lieutenant Bortniss told us to. To head to the Otters, that is, to see—”
The captain stepped forward so he was nearly nose to nose with the soldier. “And did Lieutenant Bortniss consider that given that only a handful of Memoridons are holding your most senior captains and Commander captive, it is a reasonable assumption they will not take kindly to your absence, that you are in fact actually risking the lives of your brothers and officers to deliver me this most unwelcome news?”
The solider could only nod once more, round face bobbing. “I can’t speak for what the Lieutenant thought or didn’t thought, Ca
p. Just followed orders. But it made sense. At the time leastwise. Until we got to the Otters.”
The captain rasped, “Let me guess—that Tower was locked down as well, yes?”
Moon-face said, “Aye, Cap, aye. Tighter than a priest’s—”
“That is all, soldier. Join the others.”
Moon-face nodded twice, fast, glad to be moving away from another incensed officer, and led the other Jackals past.
Rudgi approached Braylar, Mulldoos, and Vendurro. “Seen the same thing up and down the wall, Cap. Towers are buttoned up. I saw a group of soldiers slipping out the front of the Serpent Tower, but a Mem struck down most from a window halfway up. The remainder scattered.”
Braylar replied, “If there is one thing my sister’s ilk can do well, it is coordinate and communicate immediately. It seems they have adopted the same strategy across all Towers. Capture the senior officers, order the soldiers to stand down. A clever if dangerous stratagem.”
“No one is likely to storm a Commander’s room, if the Memoridons did exactly that,” I said. “But they also don’t have Bloodsounder.”
Everyone looked at me and I resisted the urge to shuffle my feet as I added, “We took the frame tower because the captain was immune to the memory magic, so long as he wielded his flail. Couldn’t we do the same in the Jackal Tower? Raid Commander Darzaak’s quarters, free him and the others.”
As expected, Mulldoos was the first to shoot the idea down. “Ayyup, sure, easy. If we had an engineer, a squad of sappers, and six months to mine under the solid rock beneath Jackal Tower.”
“I imagined walking through the front door.”
Mulldoos replied, “Might as well imagine ten pretty flying ponies carrying us to the roof. Didn’t you hear? Gate’s locked down tight. Even with a battering ram, you couldn’t break it, as it’s up all those stairs. No plaguing way in the front gate, scribbler.”
“Wouldn’t someone inside be willing to let us slip in?”
Braylar shook his head. “The Memoridons will have one of their own watching the door, Arki. While I applaud your willingness to risk all our lives on a doomed rescue mission, it starts and fails with gaining entry, and that is simply not possible.
Chains of the Heretic Page 51