'Glustrod digs,' muttered Quai. 'Who knows? In the next one he might even have found what he's looking for.'
'Hmm,' grumbled the First of the Magi, letting the ivy fall back across the wall. He glowered at his apprentice as he stood up, frowning. 'Perhaps, sometimes, the past is better left covered.'
Logen cleared his throat and edged away, ducked quickly under a leaning archway. The wide space beyond was filled with small, knotty trees, planted in rows, but long overgrown. Great weeds and nettles, brown and sagging rotten from the rain, stood almost waist high around the mossy walls.
'Perhaps I should not say it myself,' came Longfoot's cheerful voice, 'but it must be said! My talent for navigation stands alone! It rises above the skills of every other Navigator as the mountain rises over the deep valley!' Logen winced, but it was Bayaz' anger or Longfoot's bragging, and that was no choice at all.
'I have led us across the great plain to the river Aos, without a deviation of even a mile!' The Navigator beamed at Logen and Luthar, as though expecting an avalanche of praise. 'And without a single dangerous encounter, in a land reckoned among the most dangerous under the sun!' He frowned. 'Perhaps a quarter of our epic journey is now safely behind us. I am not sure that you appreciate the difficulty involved. Across the featureless plain, as autumn turns to winter, and without even the stars to reckon by!' He shook his head. 'Huh. Truly, the pinnacle of achievement is a lonely place.'
He turned away and wandered over to one of the trees. 'The lodgings are a little past their best, but at least the fruit trees are still in working order.' Longfoot plucked a green apple from a low hanging branch and began to shine it on his sleeve. 'Nothing like a fine apple, and from the Emperor's orchard, no less.' He grinned to himself. 'Strange, eh? How the plants outlast the greatest works of men.'
Luthar sat down on a fallen statue nearby, slid the longer of his two swords from its sheath and laid it across his knees. Steel glinted mirror-bright as he turned it over in his lap, frowned at it, licked a finger and scrubbed at some invisible blemish. He pulled out his whetstone, spat on it, and carefully set to work on the long, thin blade. The metal rang gently as the stone moved back and forward. It was soothing, somehow, that sound, that ritual, familiar from a thousand campfires of Logen's past.
'Must you?' asked Brother Longfoot. 'Sharpening, polishing, sharpening, polishing, morning and night, it makes my head hurt. It's not as if you've even made any use of them yet. Probably find when you need them that you've sharpened them away to nothing, eh?' He chuckled at his own joke. 'Where will you be then?'
Luthar didn't even bother to look up. 'Why don't you keep your mind on getting us across this damn plain, and leave the swords to those who know the difference?' Logen grinned to himself. An argument between the two most arrogant men he had ever met was well worth watching, in his opinion.
'Huh,' snorted Longfoot, 'show me someone who knows the difference and I'll happily never mention blades again.' He lifted the apple to his mouth, but before he could bite into it, his hand was empty. Luthar had moved almost too fast to follow, and speared it on the glinting point of his sword. 'Give me that back!'
Luthar stood up. 'Of course,' he tossed it off the end of the blade with a practised flick of his wrist. Before Longfoot's reaching hands could close around it, Luthar had snatched his short sword from its sheath and whipped it blurring through the air. The Navigator was left juggling with the two even halves for a moment before dropping them both in the dirt.
'Damn your showing off!' he snapped.
'We can't all have your modesty,' muttered Luthar. Logen chuckled to himself while Longfoot stomped back over to the tree, staring up into the branches for another apple.
'Nice trick,' he grunted, strolling through the weeds to where Luthar was sitting. 'You're quick with those needles.'
The young man gave a modest shrug. 'It has been remarked upon.'
'Mmm.' Stabbing an apple and stabbing a man were two different things, but quickness was some kind of start. Logen looked down at Ferro's sword, turned it over in his hands, then slid it out from its wooden sheath. It was a strange weapon to his mind, grip and blade both gently curved, thicker at the end than at the hilt, sharpened only down one edge, with scarcely any point on it at all. He swung it in the air a couple of times. Strange weight, more like an axe than a sword.
'Odd-looking thing,' muttered Luthar.
Logen checked the edge with his thumb. Rough-feeling, it dragged at the skin. 'Sharp, though.'
'Don't you ever sharpen yours?'
Logen frowned. He reckoned he must have spent weeks of his life, all told, sharpening the weapons he'd carried. Every night, out on the trail, after the meal, men would sit and work at their gear, steel scraping on metal and stone, flashing in the light of the campfires. Sharpening, cleaning, polishing, tightening. His hair might have been caked with mud, his skin stiff with old sweat, his clothes riddled with lice, but his weapons had always gleamed like the new moon.
He took hold of the cold grip and pulled the sword that Bayaz had given him out of its stained scabbard. It looked a slow and ugly thing compared to Luthar's swords, and to Ferro's too, if it came to that. There was hardly any shine on the heavy grey blade at all. He turned it over in his hand. The single silver letter glinted near the hilt. The mark of Kanedias.
'Don't know why, but it doesn't need sharpening. I tried it to begin with, but all it did was wear down the stone.' Longfoot had hauled himself up into one of the trees, and was slithering along a thick branch towards an apple hanging out of reach near its end.
'If you ask me,' grunted the Navigator, 'the weapons suit their owners to the ground. Captain Luthar—flash and fine-looking but never used in combat. The woman Maljinn—sharp and vicious and worrying to look upon. The Northman Ninefingers—heavy, solid, slow and simple. Hah!' he chuckled, dragging himself slightly further down the limb. 'A most fitting metaphor! Juggling with words has always been but one among my many remarkable—'
Logen grunted as he swung the sword over his head. It bit through the branch where it met the trunk, clean through, almost to the other side. More than far enough that Longfoot's weight ripped through the rest, and brought the whole limb, Navigator and all, crashing down into the weeds below. 'Slow and simple enough for you?'
Luthar spluttered with laughter as he sharpened his short sword, and Logen laughed as well. Laughing with a man was a good step forward. First comes the laughter, then the respect, then the trust.
'God's breath!' shouted Longfoot, scrabbling his way out from under the branch. 'Can a man not eat without disturbance?'
'Sharp enough,' chuckled Luthar. 'No doubt.'
Logen hefted the sword in his hand. 'Yes, this Kanedias knew how to make a weapon, alright.'
'Making weapons is what Kanedias did.' Bayaz had stepped through the crumbling archway and into the overgrown orchard. 'He was the Master Maker, after all. The one that you hold is among the very least of what he made, forged to be used in a war against his brothers.'
'Brothers,' snorted Luthar. 'I know exactly how he felt. There's always something. Usually a woman, in my experience.' He gave his short sword one last stroke with the whetstone. 'And where women are concerned, I always come out on top.'
'Is that so?' Bayaz snorted. 'As it happens, a woman did enter the case, but not in the way you're thinking.'
Luthar gave a sickening grin. 'What other way is there to think about women? If you ask me—gah!' A large clod of bird shit splattered against the shoulder of his coat, throwing specks of black and grey all over his hair, his face, his newly cleaned swords. 'What the… ?' He scrambled from his seat and stared up at the wall above him. Ferro was squatting on top, wiping her hand on a spray of ivy. It was hard to tell with the bright sky behind, but Logen wondered if she might not have the trace of a smile on her face.
Luthar certainly wasn't smiling. 'You fucking mad bitch!' he screamed, scraping the white goo from his coat and flinging it at the wall. 'Bunch of bloody s
avages!' And he shoved angrily past and through the fallen arch. Laughter was one thing, it seemed, but the respect might be a while coming.
'In case any of you pinks are interested,' called Ferro, 'the riders are gone.'
'Which way?' asked Bayaz.
'Away east, the way we came, riding hard.'
'Looking for us?'
'Who knows? They didn't have signs. But if they are looking, more than likely they will find our trail.'
The Magus frowned. 'Then you'd best get down from there. We need to move.' He thought about it for a moment. 'And try not to throw any more shit!'
* * *
And Next… My Gold
« ^ »
To Sand dan Glokta,
Superior of Dagoska, and for his eyes alone.
I am most troubled to discover that you think yourself short of both men and money.
As far as soldiers are concerned, you must make do with what you have, or what you can procure. As you are already well aware, the great majority of our strength is committed in Angland. Unfortunately, a certain rebellious temper among the peasantry throughout Midderland is more than occupying what remains.
As to the question of funds, I fear that nothing can he spared. You will not ask again. I advise you to squeeze what you can from the Spicers, from the natives, from anyone else who is to hand. Borrow and make do, Glokta. Demonstrate that resourcefulness that made you so famous in the Kantic War.
I trust that you will not disappoint me.
Sult
Arch Lector of his Majesty's Inquisition.
'Matters proceed with the greatest speed, Superior, if I may say so. Since the gates to the Upper City were opened the work-rate of the natives has tripled! The ditch is down below sea level across the entire peninsula, and deepening every day! Only narrow dams hold back the brine at either end, and at your order the entire business is ready to be flooded!' Vissbruck sat back with a happy smile on his plump face. Quite as if the whole thing had been his idea.
Below them in the Upper City, the morning chanting was beginning. A strange wailing that drifted from the spires of the Great Temple, out over Dagoska and into every building, even here, in the audience chamber of the Citadel. Kahdia calls his people to prayer.
Vurms' lip curled at the sound. 'That time again already? Damn those natives and their bloody superstitions! We should never have let them back into their temple! Damn their bloody chanting, it gives me a headache!'
And it's worth it for that alone. Glokta grinned. 'If it makes Kahdia happy, your headache is something I can live with. Like it or not, we need the natives, and the natives like to chant. Get used to it, is my advice. That or wrap a blanket round your head.'
Vissbruck sat back in his chair and listened while Vurms sulked. 'I have to admit that I find the sound rather soothing, and we cannot deny the effect the Superior's concessions have had on the natives. With their help the land walls are repaired, the gates are replaced, and the scaffolds are already being dismantled. Stone has been acquired for new parapets but, ah, and here is the problem, the masons refuse to work another day without money. My soldiers are on quarter pay, and morale is low. Debt is the problem, Superior.'
'I'll say it is,' muttered Vurms angrily. 'The granaries are close to capacity, and two new wells have been dug in the Lower City, at great expense, but my credit is utterly exhausted. The grain merchants are after my blood!' A damn sight less keenly than every merchant in the city is after mine, I daresay. 'I can scarcely show my face any longer for their clamouring. My reputation is in jeopardy, Superior!'
As if I had no larger concerns than the reputation of this dolt. 'How much do we owe?'
Vurms frowned. 'For food, water, and general equipment, no less than a hundred thousand.' A hundred thousand? The Spicers love making money, but they hate spending it more. Eider will not come up with half so much, if she even chooses to try.
'What about you, General?'
'The cost of hiring mercenaries, excavating the ditch, of the repairs to the walls, of extra weapons, armour, ammunition…' Vissbruck puffed out his cheeks. 'In all, it comes to nearly four hundred thousand marks.'
It was the most Glokta could do to keep from choking on his own tongue. Half a million? A king's ransom and more besides. I doubt that Sult could provide so much, even if he had the mind, and he does not. Men die all the time over debts a fraction of the size. 'Work however you can. Promise whatever you want. The money is on its way, I assure you.'
The General was already collecting his notes. 'I am doing all I can, but people are beginning to doubt that they will ever be paid.'
Vurms was more direct. 'No one trusts us any longer. Without money, we can do nothing.'
'Nothing,' growled Severard. Frost slowly shook his head.
Glokta rubbed at his sore eyes. 'A Superior of the Inquisition vanishes without leaving so much as a smear behind. He retires to his chambers at night, the door is locked. In the morning he does not answer. They break down the door and find…' Nothing. 'The bed has been slept in, but there is no body. Not the slightest sign of a struggle even.'
'Nothing,' muttered Severard.
'What do we know? Davoust suspected a conspiracy within the city, a traitor intending to deliver Dagoska to the Gurkish. He believed a member of the ruling council was involved. It would seem likely that he uncovered the identity of this person, and was somehow silenced.'
'But who?'
We must turn the question on its head. 'If we cannot find our traitor, we must make them come to us. If they work to get the Gurkish in, we need only succeed in keeping them out. Sooner or later, they will show themselves.'
'Rithky,' mumbled Frost. Risky indeed, especially for Dagoska's latest Superior of the Inquisition, but we have no choices.
'So we wait?' asked Severard.
'We wait, and we look to our defences. That and we try to find some money. Do you have any cash, Severard?'
'I did have some. I gave it to a girl, down in the slums.'
'Ah. Shame.'
'Not really, she fucks like a madman. I'd thoroughly recommend her, if you're interested.'
Glokta winced as his knee clicked. 'What a thoroughly heartwarming tale, Severard, I never had you down for a romantic. I'd sing a ballad if I wasn't so short of funds.'
'I could ask around. How much are we talking about?'
'Oh, not much. Say, half a million marks?'
One of the Practical's eyebrows went up sharply. He reached into his pocket, dug around for a moment, pulled his hand out and opened it. A few copper coins shone in his palm.
'Twelve bits,' he said. 'Twelve bits is all I can raise.'
'Twelve thousand is all I can raise,' said Magister Eider. Scarcely a drop in the bucket. 'My Guild are nervous, business has not been good, the great majority of their assets are bound up in ventures of one kind or another. I have little cash to hand either.'
I daresay you have a good deal more than twelve thousand, but what's the difference? I doubt even you have half a million tucked away. There probably isn't that amount in the whole city. 'One would almost think they didn't like me.'
She snorted. 'Turning them out of the temple? Arming the natives? Then demanding money? It might be fair to say you're not their favourite person.'
'Might it be fair to say they're after my blood?' And plenty of it, I shouldn't wonder.
'It might, but for the time being, at least, I think I've managed to convince them that you're a good thing for the city.' She looked levelly at him for a moment. 'You are a good thing, aren't you?'
'If keeping the Gurkish out is your priority.' That is our priority, isn't it? 'More money wouldn't hurt, though.'
'More money never hurts, but that's the trouble with merchants. They much prefer making it to spending it, even when it's in their own best interests.' She gave a heavy sigh, rapped her fingernails on the table, looked down at her hand. She seemed to consider a moment, then she began to pull the rings from her fingers. When she had
finally got them all off, she tossed them into the box along with the coins.
Glokta frowned. 'A winning gesture, Magister, but I could not possibly—'
'I insist,' she said, unclasping her heavy necklace and dropping it into the box. 'I can always get more, once you've saved the city. In any case, they'll do me no good when the Gurkish rip them from my corpse, will they?' She slipped her heavy bracelets off her wrists, yellow gold, studded with green gemstones. They rattled down amongst the rest. 'Take the jewels, before I change my mind. A man lost in the desert should take such water—'
'As he is offered, regardless of the source. Kahdia told me the very same thing.'
'Kahdia is a clever man.'
'He is. I thank you for your generosity, Magister.' Glokta snapped the lid of the box shut.
'The least I could do.' She got up from her chair and walked to the door, her sandals hissing across the carpet. 'I will speak with you soon.'
'He says he must speak with you now.'
'What was his name, Shickel?'
'Mauthis. A banker.'
One more creditor, come clamouring for his money. Sooner or later I'll have to just arrest the pack of them. That will be the end of my little spending spree, but it will almost be worth it to see the looks on their faces. Glokta gave a hopeless shrug. 'Send him in.'
He was a tall man in his fifties, almost ill-looking in his gauntness, hollow-cheeked and sunken-eyed. There was a stern precision to his movements, a steady coldness to his gaze. As though he is weighing the value of all he looks at in silver marks, including me.
'My name is Mauthis.'
'I was informed, but I am afraid that there are no funds available at the present moment.' Unless you count Severard's twelve bits. 'Whatever debt the city has with your bank will have to wait. It will not be for much longer, I assure you.' Just until the sea dries up, the sky falls in, and devils roam the earth.
Before They Are Hanged Page 17