by Peter McLean
Invited.
I was shown into Governor Schulz’s office, and she rose to her feet and gave me a stiff bow.
‘Sir Tomas,’ she said. ‘Thank you for coming.’
I had thought perhaps that she hadn’t fully known who I was the first and only time we had met, when I handed the governorship of Ellinburg over to her. Many people serve the house of law, of course, whether they know that they do or not, but very few of us carry the Queen’s Warrant. It was clear that Schulz knew now all right, and I could see the quiet fear behind her calm grey eyes.
I inclined my head to her, but chose not to bow in return.
‘Governor,’ I said. ‘To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?’
‘Sir Tomas,’ she said, and spread her hands. ‘Forgive me if I was perhaps brusque with you when we last spoke. I fear my . . . our superiors in the house of law failed to mention one or two key facts to me. I meant no disrespect.’
‘None was taken,’ I assured her. ‘We both serve the same house, Governor, after all.’
‘Yes, quite,’ she said. ‘Will you take brandy?’
‘Aye,’ I said, and seated myself in one of the chairs across the desk from her without waiting to be asked.
In matters like this, of hierarchy and respect, it is best to assert yourself early and firmly. Governor Schulz walked to the cupboard and poured for us both herself rather than ringing for a footman to do it, and once more she bowed slightly as she put the glass in my hand.
‘My thanks,’ I said. ‘So, I ask you again: why am I here?’
‘I have received a message for you,’ she said. ‘It came with a military patrol from the capital so is written in plain, but our master in Dannsburg had no address for you. Shall I read it to you?’
‘I would be grateful,’ I said.
She took a small key from her pouch and unlocked a drawer in her desk, and removed a folded paper. Holding it close to the light of her desk lamp, she cleared her throat and began.
‘Tomas, it begins,’ she said. ‘You need fear no more bombings in Dannsburg. Archmagus Reiter may have been innocent, as you told the Old Man, but his house very much is not. The learned magus Alexei Volkov confessed his crimes to Ilse, eventually, and has entered Our Lady’s embrace, as is only to be expected. I do not share your optimistic view of Reiter, but there it is. The matter is done with. Hopefully Governor Schulz brings this message to you. The house of law would appreciate a correspondence address by return. Konrad.’
‘I see,’ I said. ‘Thank you, Governor.’
I gave her my address off Trader’s Row to send back to the house of law, and she dutifully wrote it down. She swallowed brandy, and paused for a moment before she met my eyes.
‘Bombings?’ she asked at last. ‘Are things so bad in the capital?’
I met her gaze, wondering how much I could trust her. Little enough, I supposed, but I was already sure I could trust her more than I could Konrad.
Brother Betrayal.
‘There is civil unrest,’ I admitted, but I stopped short of saying that we had started it ourselves. ‘It has come to light that the queen was assassinated by the Skanians. The house of magicians is possibly implicated. Things are . . . difficult, at the moment, in Dannsburg.’
‘Assassinated?’
Of course, when Schulz had left Dannsburg the queen’s death was still officially secret, and no doubt she had been told some horseshit about an attack of the heart the same as the rest of the populace to begin with. She had obviously heard no further news since, stuck out here in Ellinburg, and that didn’t surprise me.
‘Aye,’ I said. ‘You’ll look to your walls, if you’re wise, Governor, and keep a close eye on the magicians who have come to Ellinburg. I fear war is brewing once more, and who knows who we can trust?’
‘May the gods save us,’ Schulz whispered, and I found I could only agree with her about that.
*
Other than my invitation to the governor’s hall, things were quiet for the weeks after my aunt’s visit. I actually spent time with her out of choice, now that the air that had been dirty between us for the best part of thirty years was finally clear. She was still an old harridan and she always would be, but she no longer looked at me with the thinly veiled hatred that I had become so accustomed to that I had almost stopped seeing it. I saw Jochan and Cutter too, and Bloody Anne and Rosie, entertaining them separately at my big house off Trader’s Row. We got drunk and made merry together like we hadn’t a care in the world, and that was good.
‘What about the magicians, then?’ Jochan asked me that night, after dinner at my house.
He’d been true to his word and not brought the matter up with Enaid or Anne, although it was obvious that he’d told Cutter. They were so close by then I supposed that had been inevitable, but I trusted Cutter to hold his peace about it.
‘Keep an eye on them,’ I told him. ‘If you can forge a bond with the one you went drinking with, do it. I want these people kept friendly. Very friendly, if you can manage it.’
‘I can try,’ my brother said. ‘Fellow certainly seemed to like a drink, for all that he couldn’t hold it. Why, though? Do you seriously think we might need blasting powder?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Not yet, certainly, but who knows? It’s better to have a thing and not need it than to need it and not have it.’
Jochan grinned at me and poured himself another brandy.
‘Aye, well, you’re setting me a task to go out drinking and that’s well and good. The right man for the right job, eh, Tomas?’
Even Cutter laughed at that, and I returned my brother’s grin. That was a good night, and it made me happy to see my brother so relaxed, so content. It had been a long time since I had last seen him like that.
A very long time.
Life was good, for those few brief weeks I was allowed before the next letter came from Dannsburg.
It came to the house this time. It was from Vogel, and nothing good ever came from his desk.
My beloved nephew Tomas,
I have an opportunity for you, one I think you will excel at. I invite you to return home with all speed, to take up your new position. This will greatly further the interests of the family, and be to all of our benefit.
Your Uncle,
V.
An opportunity. I dreaded to fucking think, but it obviously wasn’t optional. When Vogel invited you to do something it was a direct order and no mistake. I sent out houseboys to round up Bloody Anne and Rosie, Oliver and Emil, and bring them to the house. I thought this time I would let Billy stay behind with Mina as the two of them had been inseparable since our return to Ellinburg. I didn’t want to take that away from him again, and in Dannsburg I had enough power now that I thought I could manage without him for a while.
Once the five of us were assembled in my study I told them the news. Anne’s look was stoic, resigned even, and the soldiers said nothing, but Rosie had something on her mind, to speak lightly of it.
‘In this weather?’ she asked. ‘The West Road must have a foot of snow on it by now, if not more, Tomas.’
‘Aye, I dare say it has,’ I said. ‘Too much for carriages, anyway. Looks like we’re riding.’
‘What’s so fucking urgent?’ she demanded, and I wondered if she had ever spoken to Ailsa like this when she had been her secretary.
I looked into Rosie’s flinty eyes, and thought that yes, she probably had. She had a spine, that one, I have to give her that.
‘Lord Vogel has crooked his finger,’ I said, ‘and so we must ride.’
‘Must we, really, Tomas?’ Anne said.
There was a look about her then, a look that told me she was more the head of the Pious Men now than she had ever been before. Bloody Anne had grown into her role, grown into the leadership position as I had hoped she would when I sat her at the head of that table. Using her as an enforcer seemed almost a waste of her talents, but she was the best I had and I didn’t want to be without
her now. But then I had Beast waiting for me in Dannsburg, and he had the makings of an enforcer like none other. I met her eyes, and I decided to give her the choice.
‘You don’t have to come, Anne,’ I said. ‘It’s not been so very long since we came back, after all. You must be neck-deep in Pious Men business, and I know you’re worried about the magicians. I know that and I respect it and I support it. But I need Rosie, and she works for me. She does have to come.’
‘Then so do I,’ Anne said, and she didn’t hesitate for a single second.
The look Rosie gave her then was pure love. It melted my heart to see it and I wished I could have left them both behind in Ellinburg to just be, but I truly did need Rosie with me. She kept my secrets very well, and I didn’t see how any Queen’s Man could operate in Dannsburg without a good secretary. Rosie was superb at what she did, and she still understood the city and how it worked far better than I did.
‘I’m with you, boss,’ Oliver said, and Emil nodded his assent.
Those two were little more than hired muscle, but they had both been with me a good while now and had proved their loyalty numerous times. In my old life I would have been thinking it was time to make them up to the table as Pious Men, but that was done. They were mine now, part of my crew in the Queen’s Men, and Anne wasn’t having them any more than she was having Fat Luka back.
I assumed she grasped that, but I wouldn’t have been prepared to bet gold on it. Luka had worked for the Queen’s Men long before he had been a Pious Man, I had learned, but I didn’t think Anne knew that. Either way, my mind was made up on the matter and I was keeping him.
I nodded at them, and felt pleased with the crew I had surrounded myself with.
‘Good,’ I said. ‘Anne, you’ve the rest of today to settle your affairs. You’ll have to put my aunt back in charge, for all that she won’t like it, but give her my apologies and tell her it’s an order and she’s doing it anyway. We ride at first light tomorrow, and you’ll pack warm clothes for the road if you’re wise.’
Once they were gone I called Billy into the drawing room and told him that I was going away again.
‘I know,’ he said. ‘Mina told me. She knows things, sometimes.’
I swallowed, and looked at him. I loved Billy but I still wasn’t easy with the cunning under my roof.
‘Aye, well,’ I said. ‘You don’t have to come this time, lad. You can stay here with your woman, and all is well.’
‘No,’ Billy said, in that way he had about him when his mind was made up. ‘I’ll be coming too.’
‘I thought perhaps you’d want to stay here, with Mina?’
‘I do,’ Billy confessed, ‘but she says it’s important. When Mina says a thing is important then it is.’
I sighed and crossed to the cupboard to pour myself a brandy, and I turned and looked at the lad. His eyes really were too bright, shining like gems set in the skull that his tight, drawn face so closely resembled.
‘Aye, son,’ I had to say. ‘If that’s what you want, then you can come.’
‘It isn’t,’ he said. ‘It isn’t what I want at all. But Mina says it’s important, so I’ll do it. For her.’
I supposed there wasn’t much I could say to that.
*
The ride back to Dannsburg was cold and miserable, and it took us ten frozen days in the worsening snows, but we made it in the end. We had left the bulk of our newly acquired things at the Bountiful Harvest when we returned to Ellinburg so at least everyone had clean, dry clothes waiting for them to change into once we were back in our rooms and had bathed and generally thawed ourselves out. I gave the innkeeper another couple of gold crowns to top my account up, but I knew by then that he would never kick us out or re-rent our rooms, however long I might be away. I had just about bought his inn, by then, and I considered it coin well spent.
Luka had been both pleased and surprised to see us, and that alone told me that he hadn’t known about Vogel’s letter.
‘Didn’t think I’d see you before the spring, boss,’ he said.
‘Aye, well,’ I said, as we shared brandy in the common room that evening, seated before a blazing fire that was slowly beginning to warm me up again at last. I thought I had forgotten what it felt like to be warm, on the road. ‘The Old Man has an “opportunity” for me, apparently.’
‘That doesn’t sound good,’ Luka said, and I couldn’t help but smile.
We were both remembering life in the army, I knew, and what an ‘opportunity’ had meant then too. Never volunteer for anything, that was the first rule of being a soldier who wanted to stay alive, and ‘opportunities’ were seldom good.
‘Can’t see I’ve any choice,’ I said, and Luka nodded sympathetically.
‘Remember at Messia, when the captain told us he had an opportunity for someone to win a medal for a daring night scouting mission?’ Luka asked me. ‘Fuck wanting a medal, but still. “Petrik, you just volunteered,” he said. Never fucking saw Petrik again, did we?’
‘No,’ I said quietly, although that wasn’t strictly true.
I had seen Petrik again, the next morning when I had been rostered for the dawn patrol with Anne and Kant and Brak and a couple of the other lads. He had been crucified on the city gates, great roofing spikes driven through his wrists and ankles pinning him to the thick oak the same way I had nailed Borys to the table for the Rite of the Betrayer, back in Ellinburg. The poor bastard had still been half alive, until Bloody Anne put a mercy bolt from her crossbow through his forehead and ended it. It’s funny how the crimes of one war become the justice of another, but those were the times we lived in.
‘What is it, anyway?’ Luka asked.
I could only shrug.
‘Don’t know until I speak to him, but he can wait till the morning for all of me. Travelling at this time of year, we’ve all narrowly avoided frostbite. I’m not going out in the cold again tonight. He can fucking well wait until I’ve warmed up and had a proper kip in a real bed.’
Luka looked at me then, and I saw the calculating expression on his face. Luka was a very, very clever man, I had to remind myself. I thought perhaps I should watch what I said about the Provost Marshal in front of Fat Luka. I included him in the very small circle of people I called real friends, but all the same I had to wonder. He had worked for the Queen’s Men since before the war, I reminded myself, and they had paid him to watch me while they had paid me to watch Governor Hauer. I had to wonder how much I could truly trust him, especially in Dannsburg.
That was a sobering thought.
I thought I could trust him. I was sure I could trust him, for Our Lady’s sake. And yet . . . aye, and yet. This was Dannsburg, where no one trusted anyone and the eyes and ears of the Queen’s Men were everywhere. It wasn’t Luka’s city the way it was Rosie’s, no. He was Ellinburg born the same as me. We had even been at school together, after all. But he had worked for the Queen’s Men before he worked for me, and worked for them while he worked for me, and he had never said anything of it. I suppose that meant he was trustworthy as an agent, one who could keep a cover and not betray his employer, but . . . but. Aye, fucking but. Who was his fucking employer now? Me, or Vogel? I only wished I could know for sure.
I looked at Fat Luka, and I smiled and poured us both another drink. I had to admit to myself that I really didn’t know. Suspicion on suspicion, and I had only been back in Dannsburg for twelve hours, if that. This city was poison and no mistake. It was ruin and I could feel what it was doing to me, but right then I couldn’t see my way clear of it.
I hated to admit it but Dannsburg was starting to feel more like home than Ellinburg did. Aye, that first night I had walked into the Tanner’s Arms I thought I had come home, but the changed dynamics of the Pious Men and the furious argument I had had with my aunt the next day when we almost came to violence between us made me question that. I had given up my position in Ellinburg and I had done it willingly, in the service of the Queen’s Men. I couldn’t be two th
ings at once, I realised, and if I was to be a Queen’s Man in truth then, although it pained me to admit it, Dannsburg had to be where I set my heart.
Dannsburg, the city of lies and whispers and treachery. Aye, that probably suited me better than the blunt honesty of Ellinburg, these days. Was that Our Lady’s plan for me? Would I always be torn between the two, and longing for Varnburg and the clean majesty of the sea that I could never have? That was a philosophical question, I supposed, and I was too drunk for philosophy.
‘You got a woman yet?’ I asked Fat Luka, to steer the conversation away from the painful places I didn’t want to go.
Of course he had, some widow from south of the river whose name I don’t remember, and then I had to listen to an hour’s worth of lewd bedtime stories that I didn’t really want to hear, but it was better than thinking about the other thing.
About what Lord Vogel was going to tell me the next morning.
Chapter 43
I reported to Vogel’s office the next morning, and what he told me wasn’t what I had been expecting to hear.
I don’t know what I had been expecting, but it wasn’t this. I suppose I had been steeling myself for some assignment of violence, someone else to arrest or kill. I was Brother Blade, after all, but then he had Konrad to do that sort of thing for him now and I knew that Konrad took far more delight in that kind of work than I ever could. No, this was something different. Something I would never have seen coming in a thousand years.
‘You have been voted into a seat on the governing council, Sir Tomas,’ he said, and he showed me his razor smile. ‘Congratulations, Councillor.’
I could only stare at him.
‘Fucking how?’ I could only say. ‘I never even stood for election. I don’t know how to stand for election to be on the governing council.’
‘Of course you did,’ he said smoothly. ‘Iagin saw to that shortly after Councillor Yanakov unfortunately passed away, and his sudden death naturally triggered an election in the North Ward of the city. You stood, on a platform of staunch support of the house of law and stern opposition to the insidious sedition of the house of magicians, and you won by a landslide. Congratulations, as I say. Your first sitting of the council is tomorrow morning. Wear something formal.’