Part 27 (1/2)

'Impressed, Vesna?' Lord Isak asked.

'Enough to respect him as an enemy,' the count replied. I [e put bis hand on the hilt of his sword as he continued, 'Rather more im-portantly, it means we cannot forget the threat to Lord Isak. We will have to watch for a.s.sa.s.sins and instruct Mariq-'

'No.' Lord Isak's soft interruption stopped the count, A p.r.i.c.kle went down Vesna's spine as he saw a hunted look in his master's eye. As he looked around the room, he saw they too had felt the change,. a sudden cloud crossing the sun.

'My Lord?'

'He will not send a.s.sa.s.sins.'

'How can you tell?'

'I know, leave it at that.'

Vesna checked his urge to question further. Isak had told them about his dreams, the Yeetatchen girl Xeliath, the soul of Aryn Bwr kept prisoner in his head, even what the dead Ell had claimed about Kastan Styrax being born the Saviour, until he chose his own route Isak had mentioned a connection between the two ol them, but not wanted to go into detail and only a handful ol people had been told that much. Obviously he would explain no further in the prsence of Jachen or Legana, no matter how loyal they professed thctTW l I Vesna did his duty and changed the subject back, '1 eana, what did this necromancer do to Lord Bahl's dreams?'

'He used them to torment Lord Bahl with visions of his lost love, driving him to a certain place on the White Isle, where Lord Styrax could ambush him.'

'Are we to a.s.sume that Zhia is aware of your true allegiance?' Tila asked suddenly, stepping forward from the foot of the stair where she had been observing the conversation.

Legana nodded.

'So she is aware that you are reporting to Lord Isak?'

Legana smiled. 'It is her hope that Lord Isak will kill the necromancer, because he has made some sort of bargain with Mistress Siala and currently resides under her protection.'

'So this could be nothing more than some artifice of Zhia's, to have us do her bidding?'

'I don't believe so,' Legana said plainly, turning to look at the younger woman. 'Mistress Zhia had already come to the conclusion that Mistress Siala was more an obstacle than a help, even before we learned of Lord Isak's presence in the city.'

Vesna watched the two of them. It was rare to see a woman more arrestingly beautiful than Tila. Legana managed to command the room almost as much as Isak, who was a white-eye, and stood a foot and a half taller. To Vesna's experienced eye, Legana was not happy with the attention her beauty brought. White-eyes, he knew, were born to demand attention as entirely natural, and Isak had quickly shaken off the habits of his isolated upbringing, but Legana had obviously never grown too comfortable with the effect she had on a roomful of men.

'You keep saying ”Mistress”,' Tila observed, as though sharing Vesna's thought and taking it a step further. 'That's the form of address demanded by those of the White Circle, Have you have grown attached to the Sisterhood?'

Legana looked startled at the suggestion. 'It has become a habit out of necessity; it would be too easy to make a mistake if I wasn't careful to always keep to the forms and the future of the Circle is hardly one I would want to tie myself to. The White Circle suffered grievous losses in Narkang. They have no expansionist plans at present. Shoring up their defences before they are slaughtered by Narkang and the Farlan is their only goal, and it's Zhia who is effectively in charge of four of Scree's five armies. They are finished as a power in the Land.'

Tila didn't respond, hut her expression was cool and her eyes fixed on Legana. When the agent turned away, Tila gave Isak a small nod and stepped back out of the conversation again.

'So we have an a.s.sociate of Malich's in the city, one who was also involved in the death of Lord Bahl and remains an agent of the Menin.' Isak shrugged. 'It's a simple decision then; we kill him first.'

'My Lord, he is under Siala's protection, and a necromancer is constantly on guard; the attack on his house will have made him doubly watchful'

Isak's eyes flashed. 'I don't care. This necromancer is an enemy of the Farlan and a threat to us all.' He pointed a finger towards Tila. 'Those of you who lack any defence against magic will be the ones hurt in the crossfire when he comes after me.'

A furious hammering on the front door broke off the discussion. They could hear angry voices in the street outside, growing louder, then the person beating at the barred door yelled out above the racket, 'For Vellern's sake, let me in; they're going to kill me!'

'It's Mayel,' Isak said, surprised, 'the kid we brought back here the other night. Let him in.'

The guardsmen raised their glaives and one used the b.u.t.t of his weapon to knock the bolt open and raise the latch. The former novice barrelled through, barging the doors wide open as he rushed in, and Isak caught sight of the figures following him: half a dozen townslolk, armed with clubs and sticks and what looked like meat cleavers. Clearly the madness that had gripped the population was worsening, One guardsman drove his door shut, but the other had moved outside to see what was happening. Seeing the onrus.h.i.+ng mob, In-stepped away and raised his weapon; Vesna shouted for Tila to get up the stairs and pulled out his longsword. Isak had already drawn his, and when the first of the invaders hurtled in, the white-eye spun around as gracefully as a dancer and beheaded him neatly. Blood fountained from the attacker's neck as the body crashed to the marble floor.

As others followed, still shouting and screeching incoherently, they found themselves set upon on from all sides. The guardsmen slammed the door and bolted it against further incursions. By the time they

oined the fight, it was almost all over: Lord Kelet's arrows had taken two down, and a third was gaping down at Legana's knife buried in his chest. Count Vesna had battered aside a club and impaled the owner, while s.h.i.+nir, leaping down from the balcony and swinging around a pillar into the fray, had used her flail and khopesh to good account, trapping a fat man who looked like a butcher and hacking through his collarbone. She left the khopesh there as she tossed her chain flail around one of the remaining two people and yanked hard; the chain caught the astonished invader under the chin and slammed her against the pillar with a sickening snap.

The last man standing, his bloodstained cleaver raised uncertainly, took a step back. He never even saw the guardsmen behind him, swinging their glaives in unison. The room fell silent as they listened for more voices outside. Vesna looked up to Kelet, who had another arrow nocked and ready.

He made his way around the balcony to a window and peered up and down the street outside for a few seconds. Finally the knight from Torl called, 'Looks clear, my Lord.'

's.h.i.+nir, get out to the back and check there,' Jachen said, his voice husky. He had drawn his sword, but he'd not had to fight Lord Isak had made it clear that he had some very effective killers in his personal guard now, and that was not his job. He was to watch for what was going on beyond and around any fight, and to guard Tila from any threat.

'Karkarn's black teeth,' breathed Mayel, eyes widening as he watched s.h.i.+nir scamper up a pillar and vault onto the balcony with consummate ease. 'You're like no mercenaries I've ever met.'

'You were a novice in a monastery; exactly how many mercenaries have you met in your life?' Jachen snapped, advancing on the youth.

'Being a novice doesn't make me brainless,' the boy said. He pointed at s.h.i.+nir. 'No normal woman does that. Maybe a Harlequin could manage it, but no d.a.m.ned soldier.'

'Congratulations, you've just seen a d.a.m.ned soldier do it,' he said sarcastically.

'I say you're not normal mercenaries. No lord's tart- ah, begging your pardon, Miss,' he added hurriedly as he caught Vesna's expression, 'but no lord's mistress is so valuable she's protected by a white-eye his size-' he jabbed a grubby finger in Isak's direction, 'and a woman touched by magic, not both. Not when the city's terrified the entire Farlan Army's going to appear at the walls at any moment.'

'Why are you here?' Lord Isak interjected. 'I thought you were going to see if your cousin survived the other night?' After the chaos of the night at the necromancer's house, Isak had beaten a hasty retreat rather than get entangled in a fight witb the city guard. He'd seen some of the creatures cras.h.i.+ng through the fence and decided on the spur of the minute that it would be too cruel to leave the boy to fend for himself, so he'd dragged Mayel along with him. Mayel had spent half of the next day in shock, huddled in a corner of the room, before he regained some semblance of his normal insouciance. He'd shaken himself all over, like a dog, and announcing he had to find his cousin, he grabbed some food and disappeared before anyone could talk him out of leaving the safety of the house.

'I did, but I hadn't realised the state the city's in. I'd never have made it back here if I'd not known the streets as well as I do. As It was-' Mayel gestured towards the corpses in the middle of the room. 'They came after me because I was alone. No other reason.'

'And your cousin?'

'Dead.' His shoulders fell. 'Dead, with most of his men, when the Dark Place spat out its creatures at them.'

'And he's the only person you know in the city?' Vesna asked, recalling what Ilumene, the supposed King's Man, had said to Isak: a priest on the run. He was beginning to think it was no coincidence that Mayel had been a novice at a monastery. The city was spiralling Into chaos with breathtaking speed, and Vesna was increasingly fearful that it was not by chance. Doranei had already told them Ilumene was now an enemy of Narkang and Morghien had hinted at a shadowy hand behind much to do with Isak too. What if this is only the next Step? Vesna thought.

'Who else could there be?' Mayel replied hotly. 'I've been in a mon-astery for the last few years.'

'IVrhaps someone from that monastery, then?' Vesna pressed. He hadn't sheathed his sword. Now he began to advance on the youth. There was something not right about this boy.

Mayel took a pace back.

'Perhaps someone who needed to hide in the city, someone who needed a native to help them?'

'I don't know what you mean,' Mayel bl.u.s.tered hut his eyes had already betrayed him.

'b.a.l.l.s you don't; you know exactly what I'm on about,' Vesna said angrily. Very deliberately, he tore a strip of clothing from one oi the dead men and used it to wipe his blade clean before sheathing it, Then, before Mayel realised what was happening, he'd stepped for-ward and grabbed the boy by the throat.

'You've been lying to us,' he said, 'so how about you spill what you know or I'll beat seven shades of s.h.i.+t out of you?'

Mayel struggled against Vesna's grip. 'I've not-'

He stopped abruptly as the count punched a fist into his gut, driving the wind from him.

'Not what?' he roared, shaking the youth like a terrier holding a rat. 'You're not going to tell me the truth?'

'I don't-!'