The Emperor's Mask (Magebreakers Book 2)

by Ben S. Dobson

  Tane knelt in front of the chair, putting his face in the ex-chancellor’s eyeline. “Chancellor Nieris. Do you remember me?”

  Talaesa laughed bitterly at that, but said nothing.

  Nor did her brother. He just stared ahead as if Tane wasn’t there.

  “You claimed to be with the Knights of the Emperor. I need to know if you’ve heard of someone called the Emperor’s Mask.”

  “Mask,” Nieris mumbled. There was no particular inflection to it. Just a word triggered by some fragment of a broken mind.

  Tane wasn’t sure if he was just repeating what he’d heard, but it was something. “Yes! The Mask. What does he want? What do you know?”

  “Mask,” Nieris said again. His hands trembled slightly, but there was nothing in his eyes. “Emperor is coming.”

  Talaesa made a small noise in her throat. “Talain? Do you understand what he’s asking? Is that you?”

  No answer.

  “The Emperor, that’s right,” Tane said encouragingly. “The Mask says he heralds the coming of the Emperor. But who is it? Is there a plan beyond just killing people?”

  “Kill,” said Chancellor Nieris. A line of drool trickled down his chin. “Audlian.”

  Tane’s heart seized in his chest, and he pushed himself abrubtly to his feet. “Audlian? House Audlian? What about them?”

  “Audlian,” was the only response.

  “Right,” said Tane. “Whatever word gets you talking. Audlian. Mask. Emperor.”

  Nieris was silent.

  Tane gripped him by the shoulder, shook him. “You have to have more than that! What about House Audlian?” But he had a feeling he already knew.

  “That’s enough!” Talaesa pulled Tane away by the arm and put herself between him and her brother. “Leave him alone!”

  It didn’t matter; Tane understood enough. “Spellfire, it makes sense. The first few were practice, or maybe just to get attention, but the real target… Faelir Audlian is the first magicless elf born to a great house in a hundred years. He could be their first Lord Protector since Illuvar Audlian. If he dies at the hands of the Mask, it’s going to be chaos. And Durren is going to tell everyone the threat is gone. No one is going to be ready for it.”

  For a moment, before he remembered that she wasn’t there, he half expected Kadka to answer. But no one did. Talaesa Nieris was ignoring him; she’d knelt before her brother and was murmuring to him in a soft voice, trying to prompt a response. There were tears on her cheeks. Tane couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt over that—Talain had been a madman, but his sister’s affection seemed genuine.

  But there wasn’t time to second guess his actions. The Mask wasn’t going to wait, which meant Tane had a train to catch. He turned on his heel and marched back toward the manor’s front door. As he walked, he dug the sending locket from his pocket, and squeezed it tight in his hand.

  The pressure in his ears came on almost instantly, followed by Indree’s voice. “Tane? What is it?”

  “I’m coming into Stooketon Circle Station on the evening train. Meet me there. I know where the Mask is going to strike next.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  _____

  TANE STAGGERED OFF the train, trembling, and grabbed the railing on the far side of the platform to steady himself. The other passengers disembarking shot him worried looks, but he ignored them, just focused on catching his breath.

  A pair of boots entered his downcast eyeline, stepping near. “Are you going to make it?” Indree’s voice. She laid a hand on his shoulder. When he looked up, there was genuine concern in her eyes.

  “I’m fine,” said Tane. “You know me. I love trains.”

  “I didn’t think anything could get you back on one. I remember trying to get you to come out to the country once, with Allaea and me. You were ready to tie yourself to your bed to get out of it.”

  “If it stops the Mask, it was worth it.”

  Indree smiled slightly. “You’re a mystery, sometimes, Tane Carver. Just when I think you’re the most irresponsible idiot I know, you surprise me.” Her mouth turned downwards. “But we have a problem. Durren is convinced he has the Mask already, and Talain Nieris isn’t exactly a reliable source these days.”

  It was only then that Tane recovered his wits enough to notice that she’d come alone. “He wouldn’t give you the constables we need? That Astra-riven moron! Someone needs to just throw him into the sea—he’d be about as useful as he is now.” He took a breath, tried to gather himself. “What about the Mageblades?”

  Indree shook her head. “Most of them have been recalled now that the case is supposedly solved. There’s only a token patrol left. Lady Abena might listen if I could talk to her, but she’s somewhere on the Continent by now. Getting her a message through proper channels would take days, and I’d need a focus to contact her by direct sending over that distance.”

  “So we’re out of official strings to pull,” said Tane. “Then we need to warn the Audlians ourselves. They can afford to bring in more guardsmen, at least.”

  “It’s not that simple,” said Indree. “You’re forgetting something obvious.”

  “Well, you try thinking clearly when your brains are being rattled around by an ancryst-powered deathtrap,” Tane said, more peevishly than he’d intended. “What did I miss?”

  “More than one Audlian shows up on the list of people who had access to the murder scenes. Including Daalia herself. When you said ‘Mask’, Nieris might have given you the name of the killer, not the victim.”

  “Spellfire,” Tane swore. “I didn’t think…” He shook his head. “But the Audlians have always spoken against magical superiority. I could see them doing this to remove competition for Faelir, but not as Knights of the Emperor. And if they aren’t with the Knights, why would Nieris know about it?”

  “Believe me, it’s not unusual for an elven house to have a fanatic or two for magical purity in the family tree. I would know.” Indree was half-elven, and not everyone on her elven father’s side approved of his marrying a human woman. Tane had comforted her after more than one awkward family gathering in their university days. “And that means we can’t know which of them to trust. Trying to warn them could reveal us to the Mask, maybe even move up the timetable of the next killing.”

  Tane rubbed at the watch casing in his pocket, trying to think. “So… we need to watch the estate ourselves? But we don’t have the people to do that, without the bluecaps or the Mageblades. Maybe Kadka can get the Silver Dawn to help.” He still wasn’t convinced they could be trusted, but he did trust Kadka, and there was no doing this without help. “Except… I don’t know where she is, and without a divination focus you aren’t going to be able to get a sending to her either.”

  “She’ll be waiting at your office if she’s found anything, won’t she?”

  Tane rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I don’t know. We… had an argument last night. She might not want to see me.”

  Indree rolled her eyes. “You really have a way with people, don’t you? Well, we can check, at least.”

  “It’s not enough” said Tane. “Maybe she’s there, and maybe she can get the Silver Dawn on board, but that’s a lot of maybes. And even then, we can’t get onto the Audlian estate past their wards. Whether the Mask is coming or going, we’re going to need a better view than we can get over the walls. I could try to rig something up with Bastian, but it’s already getting dark—” And then it hit him. He could get exactly what he needed, already built. And nearby. “Follow me!” In a near-sprint, he raced down the stairs from the boarding platform and out of the station.

  The sun was just beginning to set, and silver-blue magelamps blinked to life overhead as Tane raced through Stooketon. The Stooke’s townhouse was only a few streets over from Stooketon Circle Station, but he was panting by the time he reached the door.

  Indree was just a step behind him. “The Stookes?” she said, and he envied how easily she was breathing. “How can the
y help?”

  “You’ll… you’ll see,” he gasped, and pressed his thumb against the bell-glyph.

  A moment later, Endo’s voice issued from the mouth of the brass badger mounted on the door. “Who is it?”

  “Endo, it’s Tane. I need your help.”

  “Tane? Come in.” The door swung open.

  Tane led Indree in, and the door closed behind them. On the far side of the small entry hall, the lens mounted in the wall flared silver blue, moving to size them up.

  “Constable Inspector Lovial,” Endo said through the wall panel. “I… didn’t expect you.” They would have met when she’d come to investigate Ulnod’s murder, Tane supposed. “You’ll have to provide a focus to get through the wards.” The small drawer below the lens popped out, and Indree plucked a hair and placed it in one of the small vials. A few short moments later, the inside door opened.

  Endo was waiting in his chair on the other side, a pensive look on his face. “Is this about the Mask?”

  “We know who the next target is,” said Tane.

  Endo frowned. “I’d heard… they’re saying that the Uuthars were behind everything. That you and Miss Kadka helped to stop them.”

  Tane shook his head. “I think the Uuthars were a mislead. A way to lower the guard around the Gryphon’s Roost.” He explained the situation as quickly as he could, his theory about the Uuthars and his meeting with Nieris.

  “I’d hoped you were here to collect your pay,” Endo said. “I thought it was over.” He sounded tired.

  “It can be, if we catch the Mask at the Audlian estate,” said Tane. “That’s where we need your help.”

  Endo went pale. “Me? Surely the constabulary, or the Mageblades—”

  Indree shook her head. “Not an option right now. They think Noana Uuthar and her son are to blame. We’re on our own.”

  “But… if they can’t help, what can I possibly do?” Endo asked.

  “We need your crawlers,” said Tane. “We don’t have the men to watch over the Audlian estate, but a dozen or so crawlers could get it done. And they’re not self-aware—they’ll probably get through the wards.”

  Indree raised an eyebrow. “Crawlers?”

  “Show her,” said Tane.

  Endo nodded, and furrowed his brow a moment in concentration. A moment later, a half-dozen spider-like crawlers skittered along the hall toward the entryway along the walls and ceiling.

  Indree took a step back as they approached. “You said he was working with automatons, but I didn’t realize… I’ve never seen anything like these.” One of the crawlers stopped just above her, focusing on her face with its cyclopean silver-blue lens. She stared back, obviously impressed. “They could work.”

  Endo didn’t look so sure. “I don’t think I can be seen letting them loose on the estate of another Senate house. I want to help, but if it goes wrong… I’m the only one representing my family right now. I have to think about our reputation.”

  “We’ll take care of that,” said Tane. “All you have to do is supply them.”

  “Someone has to control them,” Endo said uncertainly. “It takes an Astral bond to send commands and receive information. That means a mage.”

  “I can do it,” said Indree. “Just show me how.”

  Endo nodded, slightly more confident now. “That won’t take long—the automation spells handle most of it. But they’re calibrated for household tasks and security, not spying. I need to prepare them. Can you wait a half hour or so?”

  “We have at least that long,” said Tane. “The Mask isn’t going to start moving until full dark, and probably some time after, when the streets have cleared. That gives us time to check if Kadka’s waiting at the office, after you’ve shown Indree whatever she needs to know. Can you have the crawlers delivered to us there?”

  “I think I can arrange that,” Endo said.

  “Then let’s get started,” said Indree. “We don’t have a lot of time. Tell me how to work these things.”

  _____

  It was already dark in the narrow streets of Porthaven by the time Tane and Indree reached his office. In the yellow light of a nearby oil-lamp, Tane fumbled for his key, but when he reached for the door handle, he found it unlocked.

  “Kadka must be here,” he said. There was no light in the window, but she could see in the dark—she didn’t always bother turning on the lamp.

  But when he opened the door, he only saw an empty room. He could make out the dim shadows of chairs on either side of the desk, but both were empty. That was strange. Kadka seldom remembered to lock up when she was inside—despite his nagging—but she always did when she left.

  “Something’s wrong,” he said. Could the Mask have… no, I left the ward up. No one gets through my wards. But his heart pulsed wildly in his chest, and he found himself stepping over the threshold, looking for signs of struggle. “Kadka?”

  The office was silent.

  Indree grabbed him by the shoulder a few steps in and moved in front of him, her ancryst pistol in hand. “She’s not here.”

  “She always locks up when she leaves,” he said.

  Indree nodded, and levelled her pistol at the folding screen near the back wall, where Tane’s mattress was hidden. The only place to hide in the small room. She moved forward slowly, cautiously.

  Tane only saw the figure when it detached itself from the darkness. Not behind the screen, but against the wall beside Indree, silent and invisible until it lunged. And in that moment he knew exactly who it was—he’d seen the Mask melt into the darkness once before.

  “Indree! Left!”

  She twisted, saw the movement. A huge black silhouette, some nine feet tall, head nearly scraping the ceiling. Indree fired, a silver flash against the dark. The light illuminated a brass mask with slits for eyes.

  The ancryst ball struck the Mask full in the chest beneath black robes, rang against metal, and ricocheted harmlessly aside.

  Indree had only uttered the first word of a shield spell when the Mask reached her. One huge fist clasped her shoulder. She crumpled to the ground bonelessly. Tane recognized the effect. Like a daze-wand. Another artifact built into the glove.

  Every instinct told Tane to run, but he’d seen the Mask’s speed. He wouldn’t make it far. And he couldn’t leave Indree. Instead he took stock of the distance, moved a half step forward, and crushed the shield charm in his pocket—the last of the charms he’d bought from Bastian.

  He’d judged the radius perfectly. A dome of translucent silver flashed into being, centered on him, but perfectly separating Indree from the Mask along the edge.

  Tane rushed to her side, started dragging her away from the Mask, towards the far side of the shield. For all the good that would do when the charm failed.

  “Who are you?” he demanded. “What do you want? Why bring me and Kadka into this?”

  The Mask made no sound, just lifted two fists and brought them down hard on the shield. It flared bright silver, and held. It wouldn’t hold much longer. If brute strength couldn’t break it, time would—the kind of charm Tane could afford didn’t have the power to last more than sixty seconds. And when it went, he didn’t have any others left.

  Spellfire, there’s no way out. We’re going to die.

  Except… Indree wasn’t dead. She was breathing. She’d been dazed, not stabbed with a spike. And the Mask had taunted the Magebreakers, but never come after Tane and Kadka until now. Maybe…

  Tane’s desk was half inside the shield, and an open inkwell sat at one corner. He put his back against the wood, tried to look like he was backing away in fear. It wasn’t a hard act to sell, in that moment. Behind his back, he palmed the inkwell, slipped it into his trouser pocket. His clothes had always been shabby; he didn’t have much trouble tearing apart one of the pocket’s seams with his finger, just enough to leave a small hole in the bottom corner.

  Again, the Mask pounded against the shield. This time, the silver barrier flickered and failed—it ha
dn’t had long left either way.

  The Mask closed the distance, grasping for Tane with one armored hand. Tane upended the inkwell in his pocket, felt ink running down his leg.

  A heavy hand closed around his arm, and his consciousness fell away.

  Chapter Nineteen

  _____

  IT WAS EVENING when Kadka emerged from the abandoned maintenance tunnels, not long past dusk. The alley was deep in shadow—dark always fell hard over Porthaven’s narrow streets. It wasn’t a problem for her orcish eyes, but there were other things distracting her tonight.

  Not what she’d learned about the Mask—there hadn’t been much of that. A few possible half-glimpses that didn’t add up to a discernable pattern. Worth following up considering how few other leads they had, but she didn’t think it would come to anything.

  No, what Kadka couldn’t put out of her head was how many of the Silver Dawn’s agents had looked at her like she meant something, beyond just muscle or intimidation. And not just the so-called “lesser races”. There had been kobolds and goblins and another orc woman—full-blooded, like Vladak—but a number of humans and dwarves and gnomes had answered Iskar’s call as well. There had even been an ogren, and a pair of enthusiastic sprites. All those people stepping up to fight against something that she’d simply tried to ignore since she’d come to Thaless, and they looked at her like she could do something about it that they couldn’t. Maybe she wasn’t a citizen, but it was getting harder not to see it as her fight.

  Absorbed in her thoughts, she didn’t notice the door until she reached for the handle.

  It was already open.

  Just a crack, but that was enough to raise her hackles and clear her mind. There was no chance Carver had forgotten, not with the Mask still out there. Kadka drew the long knife from behind her back and inched the door open with her foot, peeking into the darkness.

  The office looked empty, and her night-vision didn’t pick up any sign of movement. She pushed the door open the rest of the way and crept inside. A quick search found nobody hiding under the desk or behind the folding screen at the back, but a childhood spent learning to hunt in Sverna had taught Kadka to read tracks and signs.