Part 27 (2/2)

Mayel's gasping protests were cut off as Vesna slammed him into the wall. Terrified, he cowered, hands held out like a pleading supplicant.

Everyone else in the room kept silent and watched. They had all seen far worse; so far Vesna had been remarkably restrained. Mayel was obviously no trained liar; it wouldn't take much longer to get the truth they so desperately needed to hear.

'Trust me, boy; I can keep this up all day,' Vesna threatened, his voice silky. 'You'll want to give it up long before I do.' He snarled, and punched Mayel sharply.

The boy howled and flopped to the floor, and Vesna picked him up again and pinned him against the wall.

'Ready to tell me yet?'

'All right!' he gasped. 'Please, stop it, and I'll tell you.'

Vesna held him there for a few heartbeats, then let Mayel sink to his knees. He left the boy there as Isak beckoned and led him to a corner of the room where they could speak without being overheard.

Taking that as his cue, Jachen began removing the bodies as noisily as he could.

'Feeling better?' Isak asked softly. 'You've been boiling inside for days, my friend, something I recognise only too well. Now you've hurt someone, does that help?'

Vesna sighed. 'The boy's no good at lying. It looked worse than it really was; I pulled most of my blows. He's not really hurt much. I apologise if I went too far.'

'You were serving me as you should,' Isak said, laying a hand on the count's shoulder. 'It's just novel that I'm the composed one. Is there anything I should know? Not as your lord, but as your friend. What really happened in Tor Milist? Something there shook you up.'

'It's-' Vesna shook his head. 'Now is not the time, hut 1 would like to speak of it. Let us deal with the boy first.'

Isak led the way back to Mayel, who was sitting with his back to the way, grimacing.

He lifted the youth to his feet and inspected the damage. 'You'll have a fine bruise or two, but I don't think he's done much more than rattle your teeth. I'll be glad if I get no more than that before I get out of this city.'

Mayel touched a finger to his rapidly swelling cheek. The man who'd hit him was a strong man, and a fair bit taller. 'You'll be telling me he pulled his punches next,' he muttered, glaring at Vesna around Isak's ma.s.sive body.

'And that shows it's just your pride that's hurt. A wise man once told me that was easily given up to save your life.'

'I'm sure the old sod would feel smug if he saw this then,' Mayel spat.

'I'm sure he would, but you don't get to call him an old sod,' Isak replied, and slapped him sharply on his bruised cheek.

The youth yelped and recoiled.

'Enough of the games. I'm losing patience,' Isak growled, loom-ing over the youth and glowering until he thought Mayel looked frightened enough to tell the truth. 'You had something to tell me.'

Mayel started shaking. Rubbing his cheek, he looked up at the huge white-eye towering over him. He had suddenly realised he was in over his head, and these men were not going to take it easy on him because he was just a scrawny ex-novice. 'Why do you even care about the monastery?' he whispered.

Call it professional interest,' Isak said, watching expressions dance across Mayel's face. Vesna was right; the boy was no accomplished liar. 'A priest was murdered last night, on stage, in front of a cheering crowd, From what I hear that's not the only priest who's been treated with something less than respect by the good citizens of Scree, and I'm curious as to why.'

1 don't know much about that,' Mayel said quickly. 'I came to Scree with the abbot of my monastery. We were hiding from a rogue monk; the prior of our order.'

'Who's called?'

Prior Corci, but everyone called him Jackdaw. We brought some holy relics with us and Jackdaw wants them.' Mayel shuddered visibly as he said quietly, He killed someone trying to get at them, so the abbot decided to flee.' By now all the bl.u.s.ter had disappeared and he was just a frightened boy.

Isak stepped back a pace to give him a bit of s.p.a.ce. 'Do you know what the relics are?' he asked, his voice less angry now.

Mayel shook his head. 'No, the abbot was careful never to let me see them.'

'But you have your suspicions?' Isak pressed.

'I can't be sure, but both Abbot Doren and Jackdaw are mages. When I went looking for news of my cousin, I also tried to visit the abbot, but I was driven off as soon as I entered the grounds. I got a splitting headache no, more than that, it was a pain in my head, but not like anything I've ever felt before. It was as if I could feel his presence all around me, but suddenly he was terrifying, not the sickly old man I know. It felt-' He paused. 'It felt like he'd gone mad, and I could feel his fear.' Mayel scowled at the floor and rubbed his cheek. 'I know that sounds ridiculous but I could taste it on the air before I even reached the house. He was a mage, I suppose.'

'Driven mad by fear?' Isak looked fascinated and worried at the same time, a look that was echoed around the room.

Mayel shrugged. 'The house was quite close to your necromancer's; perhaps the relic attracted one of the daemons when they escaped the grounds. The abbot was really paranoid, right from the moment we left the monastery, so a daemon attacking the house could have pushed him the rest of the way.'

'And what is your plan now?'

Mayel didn't answer at first. Nervously, he looked around at the others in the room and tried in vain to read their expressions.

Isak did the same. The only person showing any emotion was Tila, and she was doing a fair job of hiding her anxiety over Vesna's sudden show of fury. Only the set of her lips and poise betrayed her. He wasn't surprised at the other blank faces; it was second nature for spies and career soldiers to hide their feelings.

'I don't have a plan now,' Mayel said reluctantly. 'My cousin's dead, and I can't go back to the abbot. With the city the way it is, I don't know what I'm going to do. No one's going to be hiring while mobs are roaming the streets. Even my cousin's house has been ransacked by his own men.' There was a trace of indignation in his voice now, and he raised his chin a little defiantly.

'Have you ever considered the life of a fighting man?' said Isak with a grin.

'Not really,' Mayel admitted as he weakly returned the smile. 'People trying to kill me has never appealed; even a monastery sounds better than that.'

'As soon as you go out of that door, people will try to kill you,' Isak said baldly. 'My way, you've at least got a sword in your hand and comrades to keep you alive.'

Relief and suspicion clashed on Mayel's face. 'You mean a sword like that one?' he said hopefully, pointing to Eolis.

'Hah, perhaps not quite like mine,' Isak said with a laugh, instinc-lively jerking the blade away from MayePs attention, 'but I'm sure we can find you something to suit your abilities. One of the men will show you how to avoid sticking yourself with it.'

'Why would you want me?'

'The same reason your abbot did; we're not locals here. We've good Hackers, but none of us are from Scree, so that probably makes you worth feeding.'

He turned to Jachen. 'Take him to whatever dark corner Tiniq and Les.h.i.+ are lurking in. Our newest recruit is going to tell them exactly how to get to his abbot, so they can go and investigate.'

'Of course.' Jachen remembered not to salute, and beckoned for Mayel to follow him.

'My Lord,' Legana said, once Mayel was out of ear-shot, 'what are my orders?'

Isak c.o.c.ked his head, trying to decide whether he should send her hack to Zhia Vukotic's side. And what is our next step? he wondered to himself. Is there anything more to do in this city beyond finding a safe way out? I think we've come too late for much else.

'Hoes the vampire know what is happening in Scree?' he said finally.

'She has her suspicions,' Legana answered. 'She believes the on running the sunken theatre are casting some sort of spell thai is affect-ing the whole city. They're followers of Azaer, if King Emin's men are to he believed.'

'Looking at what's going on outside, there's not going to he a city left for much longer, so their plan must he nearing completion.'

Legana inclined her head in agreement.

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