Surprise cracked Briana’s aristocratic veneer. Her smile wavered and an eyebrow began to work its way upward.
“If I was a Dhukari,” Issa said, distaste twisting her mouth into a grimace, “I might resort to deceit and manipulation in this situation. Let’s be clear: I have been sent to keep an eye on you. Yet I am no spy. I am a Keeper’s Blade, a warrior chosen by the Long Keeper himself. My lady has instructed me to fight beside you. So tell me what battle we face, and my sword is yours to command.” She held up a gauntleted finger. “With the understanding that my first loyalty is to the Keeper’s Blades and my commander, yet knowing that I will fight until my last breath to protect you, as I have been ordered.”
Briana’s eyebrow had risen slowly throughout the young Blade’s speech, but Aisha caught a hint of a smile on the Shalandran girl’s lips. “I see,” she said again. This time, it wasn’t a polite verbal parry, but she seemed at a genuine loss for words.
“Damn!” Laughter bubbled up from Aisha’s chest. “I’m not going to lie, that was the last thing I expected to hear.”
Issa’s eyes darkened, a scowl deepening her face.
“You mistake me.” Aisha held up a placating hand. “I’m not mocking you. It’s just rare to hear someone being that honest.” She shot Briana a wry grin. “No offense to you, Briana, but she’s right when she says that the Dhukari are as deceitful as serpents convincing a mouse to join them for dinner.”
Briana nodded. “It was always my least favorite aspect of my father’s position.” The wary tension around her eyes softened and a small smile broadened her lips. “I appreciate your forthrightness, Issa of the Keeper’s Blades.”
“Just Issa’s fine,” the Blade replied.
“Issa, then.” Briana held out a hand. “I am honored that the Lady of Blades deems us worthy of your help.”
Issa gripped her hand, hard enough to make Briana wince a little. “She believes that, like your father, you are clever enough to uncover secrets.” Her expression grew grim, determined. “Secrets that she intends to use against the Necroseti and the Keeper’s Council.”
Briana’s eyebrows shot up. “Truly?”
Issa nodded. “Her investigation into the events of that night have uncovered the places where the Gatherers entered the palace. Through a secret door that led into the Terrestra, and into a storeroom near the kitchens.” Anger darkened her face. “Lady Callista believes that they could only have done that with help from someone within the Keeper’s Council and their retinue.”
A thought struck Aisha and she sucked in a breath. “What if not all of the Gatherers have split off from the Necroseti?”
Two pairs of eyes turned questioning glances on her.
“Think about it.” The inkling turned into a fully formed idea as she spoke. “The Gatherers are only going to accomplish so much from wherever they’re hiding. But, if some of their number remained in the Hall of the Beyond in the guise of loyal Necroseti, they could be in the perfect place to pass along secrets and information from within the Keeper’s Temple.”
“Or do things no one would suspect them of!” Briana’s eyebrows shot up, and her head whipped around toward Issa. “Like opening a secret gate into the Terrestra or helping assassins sneak through the palace.”
Issa’s frown grew contemplative. “That would be clever, and it could explain how the Gatherers had help from within the palace on the night of the assassination. The priests of the Keeper’s Council had their entire retinue in attendance. Any one of them could be guilty. That confirms what Lady Callista suspects, though it doesn’t identify the culprit.”
A pensive silence fell between the three of them. Aisha replayed their conversations with the Secret Keepers, mining her memories for anything else that could help them.
“Issa,” she said, excitement setting her heart pounding, “you said you were Earaqi before being accepted into the Blades, yes?”
Issa nodded, her expression tight. “Why?”
Aisha exchanged a glance with Briana. “We just returned from speaking with the Secret Keepers loyal to Briana’s father, and they said that the Gatherers were Earaqi. Do you know of anywhere the Gatherers could be hiding?”
Issa’s face went hard, anger blazing in her eyes. “Of course the blame would be laid at the feet of the lower castes! As if they don’t already have problems enough, now they are accused of being Gatherers and—”
“No, it’s not like that!” Briana’s voice cracked like a whip. “Secret Keepers don’t care about caste or rank. My father only accepted becoming Dhukari because it accompanied his position on the Keeper’s Council. He learned to use it, but it was never his priority.” She fixed Issa with a hard stare. “And the same for the rest in the Temple of Whispers. If they say the slain Gatherers were Earaqi, they came to that conclusion only after thorough examination. An unbiased conclusion, like all of their research.”
Issa seemed to struggle with these words. Aisha felt a sudden surge of empathy for the Blade. In a way, she, too, had experienced a similar form of bias—not because of her caste, but because of her situation. She and all the others rescued from the Bloody Hand had been pitied by all in the Night Guild. Journeymen and apprentices had treated them like glass flowers, so delicate they’d shatter at the slightest pressure. Only after the formation of House Phoenix and its successful annexation of Praamis’ brothels had those looks changed from commiseration to respect.
People had looked down on Aisha and the other rescued women as weak, just as people looked down on Issa and the other low-caste Shalandrans because they were somehow lesser because of an accident of birth.
To Issa’s credit, she seemed to accept Briana’s words at face value rather than allowing her own prejudices about the Dhukari color her perception. “As you say.” Her voice was tight but lacked fire, and she inclined her head. “As to your question, I can think of a few places on the Cultivator’s Tier that might suit the Gatherers’ purposes. Many of the houses on the western side, close to the Keeper’s Crypts, are abandoned.” She gave a wry smile. “Most of the Earaqi are superstitious and prefer to remain well away from the dead.”
Aisha’s brow furrowed. Didn’t the Secret Keepers say they found dust that could either be from the Serenii tunnels or the tombs?
The question planted a seed of doubt in the back of her mind. She and Briana had wanted to find a connection between the Gatherers and the Necroseti, one they could potentially use in their war against the Keeper’s Priests. But what if we actually reached the wrong conclusion? What if there is no high-ranked Necroseti guiding them through the tunnels, but they’re really hiding in the Keeper’s Crypts?
Issa’s words about Lady Callista’s suspicions lent weight to the theory about a Necroseti working with the Gatherers. Yet Aisha couldn’t shake the nagging doubt that maybe they’d made a mistake.
Before she could voice the feeling, the door burst open and Kodyn rushed into the room. “I found the assassins, and you’ll never believe who they’re working with!”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kodyn stopped short as his eyes fell on the black-armored Keeper’s Blade in the room with Aisha and Briana. “Oh.” He tensed, suddenly wary, as the realization hit him that he’d just said too much in front of Issa.
“It’s okay.” Aisha thrust her chin at Issa. “She’s joined us.”
Kodyn studied the three of them through narrowed eyes. “Seems I’ve missed a lot.” There was none of the wary tension he’d expect, but an almost casual, friendly atmosphere in the room.
“Issa’s been sent by the Lady of Blades to help us in our fight against the Gatherers and the Necroseti,” Briana explained. “Lady Callista expects her to report back everything we learn that they can use against the Keeper’s Priests, the Council in particular.”
“And we don’t have a problem with that?” Kodyn asked, arching an eyebrow. “I know the Pharus all but came out and said he’d help us, but from what I’ve seen, he and Lady Callista aren’t ex
actly bosom buddies.”
Issa scowled. “Lady Callista acts in the best interests of Shalandra, even if she doesn’t always agree with the Pharus.”
Kodyn stifled a snort. Of course she’d defend her commander. His eyes searched Briana and Aisha’s expressions for any hint of their feelings about Issa. He paid particularly close attention to Aisha. He’d spent enough time around the young Ghandian woman to trust her judgement.
“She’s made it clear,” Aisha told him. “Her first loyalty is to Lady Callista and the Blades, but she’s sworn to help us any way she can. Including getting relevant information we find to people that actually have the power to do something with it.”
“Ooh, then your Lady Callista’s going to love what I have to say.” Kodyn turned a triumphant grin on the three of them. “I have proof that the Keeper’s Council is in league with the Ybrazhe, and very likely the Gatherers as well!”
Six eyebrows shot up and three pairs of eyes widened.
“Proof?” Issa demanded.
“Incontrovertible evidence that can actually be backed up?” Briana put in.
“Yes, thank you, I know what proof means,” Kodyn snapped. His triumphant grin faded to an irritated scowl. “Keeper’s teeth, I’m a thief, not a bloody idi—”
“What proof?” Aisha cut in.
“I followed one of the assassins back to the Keeper’s Tier.” He gave them a self-satisfied smile. “Right to your father’s mansion.”
Briana sucked in a breath. “Angrak!”
“That’s the one.” Kodyn nodded. “I saw the assassin go into the mansion with my own eyes.”
“Wait, what assassins?” Aisha’s brow furrowed. “I thought all of the Gatherers that attacked the palace and Suroth’s mansion were killed.”
“Oh, yeah, that.” Kodyn flushed, embarrassed that he’d forgotten the most important part of the picture. “So, you know how Evren and I were going to check out the hideout where I saw the Gatherers before the attack?” He didn’t wait for the nods before plowing on. “Well, as we expected, it turned out to be useless. We didn’t find anything but a hint of black cloth that meant a Necroseti priest had likely been there at some point.”
The three young women exchanged meaningful glances, as if he’d just confirmed some shared theory.
“Well, we decided the best course of action was to deliver your father’s purse to the Black Widow, as I promised I would.”
Suddenly, he remembered the purse tucked into his clothing. A burning curiosity to open it and find out what lay within gripped him, but he resisted the urge. It could be something they might not want Issa to tell Lady Callista about.
“So, we’re in a meeting with the Black Widow when suddenly a group of thugs storm into the room. One puts a crossbow bolt right into the Black Widow’s chest. Or, at least, the woman pretending to be the Black Widow. Really, she’s just a decoy against things just like this.”
He realized he was rambling and corralled his thoughts. “Anyway, Evren and I jump out the window and take off running, but I get the idea to tail the assassins back to their hideout on the off-chance that they’re Gatherers or, if not, Syndicate thugs working with the Gatherers. But as we’re following them, they split up. Evren followed the big group, the one that went down to the Cultivator’s Tier—”
Aisha, Briana, and Issa exchanged meaningful looks, though Kodyn had no idea what it meant. He continued without slowing.
“—while I broke off to follow the one that headed up Death Row, all the way to the Keeper’s Tier. That’s when I saw him slipping into Angrak’s mansion.”
A stream of curses burst from Briana’s mouth, taking Kodyn by surprise. Even Issa seemed shocked by the invectives heaped on the Councilor’s head by the normally decorous Briana.
“Damn Angrak!” Briana snarled when her curses finally ran out. “And damn the Keeper’s Council! That is definitely proof that the Necroseti are up to no good.” She fixed blazing eyes on Kodyn. “But you said you didn’t know if these assassins were Ybrazhe or Gatherer, right?”
Kodyn nodded. “Yes, but Evren and I had a thought. What if the Syndicate is actually working with the Gatherers? Encouraging or even facilitating the attack on the Pharus in order to destabilize the city so they can expand into the Artisan’s Tier.”
“With no heir, the Pharus’ death would plunge the Dhukari into a war for succession.” Briana’s expression darkened. “The Lady of Blades would oppose whoever the Keeper’s Council chose, and the Necroseti would obviously fight any of Lady Callista’s suggestions. The city would descend into chaos for the weeks or months it took to find the next Pharus.” She swore again. “Chaos that would give the Ybrazhe the perfect chance to solidify their grip on the three lower tiers.”
“Keeper’s teeth!” Issa’s eyes blazed. “And you say this Councilor Angrak is working with the Ybrazhe?”
Kodyn turned his palms up. “I can’t think of any other reason the thug would go straight from murdering the Black Widow to the Keeper’s Tier other than to report to his master.”
“A master that just got elevated to the Keeper’s Council by the Necroseti,” Briana snarled. “Not even a day after my father’s death. They had to have planned that months or years in advance.”
“I suppose it’s too much to hope that you saw Gatherers just hanging around?” Aisha asked, a wry tone to her words.
Kodyn shook his head. “But damn, that would have been nice and neat. We could have solved two problems at once.” He turned toward Issa. “And by we, I mean you and your fellow Blades, maybe with a few hundred Indomitables just to mop up the bastards.”
Issa nodded. “I’m certain Lady Callista will not hesitate to act, provided she has enough evidence to back it up.” Her face fell. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure your eyewitness account will suffice.”
“What?” Kodyn snapped.
“She’s right,” Briana said. “You’re talking about a member of the Keeper’s Council. The moment the Necroseti get wind that Lady Callista is making a move against one of their own, they’re going to throw every shred of political might they have to protect him. Unless she literally finds Angrak standing over the Pharus’ corpse with the bloody knife in his hand and he confesses in front of a hundred witnesses, the Keeper’s Council is going to find a way to protect him.”
Kodyn growled and clenched his fists. This would be a whole lot easier in Praamis! His mother would convince King Ohilmos to let them move against Angrak—or she would just send Errik and his Serpents to kill the bastard, proof be damned. But here they had to be much more cautious.
As always, when he found himself confronted by a problem, he considered what his mother would do in his situation. She hadn’t become Master of the Night Guild by letting obstacles get in her way. She had defeated the Bloody Hand, defied Duke Phonnis, even saved the entire Night Guild from execution against impossible odds.
He knew what his mother would do.
His fingers balled into determined fists. “Then we’re going to break into his mansion and find the damned evidence we need to prove his guilt beyond any shadow of a doubt.”
Issa stiffened, though she said nothing. Briana’s eyes narrowed, but it was Aisha that spoke.
“When we were guarding Briana, you did a sweep of the mansion and said it was secure.” She fixed him with a piercing gaze.
“I know what I said.” Kodyn shrugged. “And I stand by it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t figure out a way around it.” He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.
Aisha gave him the skeptical look she always did when he suggested something she considered foolhardy or dangerous. “You sure about that?”
Kodyn nodded. “I’ve got hours until dark, more than enough time to come up with a plan.” His mother had broken into the most secure room in Praamis. He liked to think he’d inherited her cunning as well as her determination.
He turned to Issa. “If I get you real, tangible proof, you’ll get it to the Lady of Blades?”
“She is expecting to hear from me. I will make sure that your evidence is passed to her so she can take action.” The young Blade’s face hardened as she turned to Briana. “You will have vengeance for your father and the city will be cleansed, on this you have my word.”
“Thank you.” Briana inclined her head, a little smile on her lips.
“Well, then,” Kodyn said with a sigh, “I guess it’s time I sit down and figure out how to break into Suroth’s mansion.”
A task, he knew, that would be far easier said than done.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Worry nagged in Evren’s mind as he approached Briana’s house from the back alleyway. After he and Hailen had snuck in the back way the previous night, he’d expected Lady Briana to post Rothin to guard the back while her Blade watched the front. Yet the back door was unguarded and unlocked. The sole sentry was Leya, who wielded a wooden spoon with a fierce hand and a furious scowl—the mortal enemy of servants looking to snitch a tasty morsel, but far less effective against assassins.
Thankfully, Leya didn’t challenge him. Evidently, Nessa had passed on the news of his “promotion”—from attendant to partner-in-crime—to the servants. Leya actually slipped him a morsel of cold chicken rather than the tongue-lashing she’d given him on their last encounter.
Through the window, Evren caught sight of Rothin standing guard outside the front door, but no sign of the black-armored Blade. Before he could wonder what happened, he glanced up the staircase and found Issa, the young woman warrior, had returned to replace the Archateros.
He’d only met Issa once, but she hadn’t lost her air of menace. She loomed over Briana, a no-nonsense look on her face. The black, spiked plate mail and the huge sword on her back made her appear broader than even Kodyn and Aisha.
Crucible of Fortune: An Epic Fantasy Young Adult Adventure (Heirs of Destiny Book 2) Page 20