Part 9 (1/2)

'Where is it?' Granger asked the girl.

'Where is what?' Hana replied.

'I'm not going to play any more games with you. Show it to me.'

Mother and daughter looked at each other. 'I don't know what you're talking about,' Hana said.

'All right.' Granger let out a sigh. 'Strip.'

'What?' Hana said. Ianthe looked suddenly fearful.

'Strip,' Granger repeated to Ianthe. 'Take off your clothes and hand them over.'

Hana moved between Granger and their daughter. 'Why are you doing this?'

Granger felt his face fill with blood. 'I'm not going to harm you,' he said through a clenched jaw. 'But if you don't give me the artefact right now, I'll find it myself. Even if that means stripping you naked here and now.'

Ianthe let out a sob. 'I told you what he's like,' she cried. 'He's no better than the others.'

'Don't do this, Tom. Please.'

'Then tell her to do as I say.'

Hana shook her head incredulously. 'You think she stole stole something?' something?'

He said nothing.

'I have no idea what you think she's taken, but you are not not laying one finger on her.' laying one finger on her.'

Granger grabbed Hana by the arm and dragged her away from the girl. Ianthe gasped and scrambled away from him, her eyes wide with fear. He reached for her, but she shrieked and kicked out wildly. Her boot caught his shoulder, causing his old wound to flare in pain. He grunted and surged forward, grabbing her arms to pin her up against the wall. She spat in his face.

'Stop it,' Hana yelled.

Granger was shaking the girl. 'What is it?' he said. 'A ring? A pendant? Show it to me.'

Hana seized him by the neck and head. She was clinging to his back, trying to pull him away, her fingers scrabbling across his sweating face. Ianthe screamed. Granger turned and slammed himself, and Hana, against the wall, again and again until he felt her grip relax. His chest tightened with pain, but he ignored it. He tore her arms loose and pushed her away from him.

Now he was furious. 'Where is it?'

'She doesn't have anything like that,' Hana sobbed.

'Then what is it? How does she know the things she does?'

'She can see through the eyes of others.'

Granger stopped. He was breathing heavily, his lungs straining to suck in air. His shoulder throbbed where the girl had kicked it.

Hana was sobbing. 'She knew about your money because you saw saw it,' she said, 'and she knew what your friend said because you it,' she said, 'and she knew what your friend said because you heard heard him say it. Inny was born with a . . .' For a moment she seemed to struggle to find the right word. 'I suppose it's a gift,' she said at last. 'She can only see and hear things that other people see and hear. It's the same with smell and touch she tunes into their senses. But she can't read their thoughts any more than you or I can.' him say it. Inny was born with a . . .' For a moment she seemed to struggle to find the right word. 'I suppose it's a gift,' she said at last. 'She can only see and hear things that other people see and hear. It's the same with smell and touch she tunes into their senses. But she can't read their thoughts any more than you or I can.'

A brine brine mutation? mutation? Granger considered this. Granger considered this. She didn't see me fill the jug with poison because it was She didn't see me fill the jug with poison because it was dark dark?

'What about the trove?' he demanded 'The Drowned have eyes too,' Hana retorted, 'and their vision is attuned to the gloom. They can see better than any human can. You never notice them, but they're down there. Thousands of them. Tens of thousands.'

Disa.s.sociated perception? Given the right heritage, one in a million conceptions might produce a psychic child, but Granger had never heard of a condition like this not in Awl, not anywhere. His anger egged him to argue with her, to beat the truth from her. He was sick of being lied to. And yet Hana's comment explained everything. 'She can see through my my eyes,' he said, 'listen through eyes,' he said, 'listen through my my ears? Even when I'm somewhere else?' ears? Even when I'm somewhere else?'

'You could be on the other side of the world.'

'And she can do this trick with anyone anyone?'

'Almost any living thing.'

'Haurstaf?'

Hana nodded.

Now Granger understood why she was such a threat to the Guild of Psychics. The Haurstaf openly sold their powers to every warlord who could afford them. In battles it was not uncommon to find telepaths on both sides, each reporting on the other's position. Emperor Hu might rage at Sister Marks, cursing both their expense and their infuriating neutrality, but he was helpless to act against the Guild. If his enemies used their services then so must he.

But if Ianthe could sneak behind the eyes and ears of anyone she chose to, she would be the perfect spy. There could be no secrets while she lived, not even among the Haurstaf themselves. She was worth more to the empire than a hundred psychics. Surveillance was an essential expedient of control. And Ianthe's talents could be turned against anyone.

'Almost any living thing,' Hana repeated. 'But there is one person whose eyes she cannot see through and whose ears she can't hear through.' any living thing,' Hana repeated. 'But there is one person whose eyes she cannot see through and whose ears she can't hear through.'

'Who?'

'Herself,' Hana said. 'Your daughter is deaf and blind.'

CHAPTER 5.

BETRAYAL.

Dear Margaret,Thank you. Mr Swinekicker paid off Maskelyne's Hookman, at least for the time being. Mr Swinekicker says I shouldn't worry about the future. He'll sort something out. Some new prisoners arrived the other day an Evensraum woman and her teenage daughter. It's going to take them time to adjust. It's hard to come to terms with the idea of staying here for the rest of your life. I survive because the money you send makes my life bearable. Without your help, I don't think I could go on.Love,Alfred Granger woke late in the afternoon to the smell of fried eels. Hot suns.h.i.+ne poured into the garret through open windows, throwing ripples across the ceiling. He rubbed his eyes.

Creedy was busy at the stove. 'Six hundred gilders,' he said, turning so that his clockwork eye flashed in the sun.

'Each?'

'Between us,' Creedy replied, returning his attention to the frying pan. 'The pendant wasn't worth s.h.i.+t, and that engine wouldn't even bark. Your share's on that crate.'

Granger got up and stretched. He noted the stack of coins and bills piled on the munitions crate; it was far less than he would have believed possible for a haul like that. He thought about challenging Creedy, but then decided against it. Right now, he needed him. And if the sergeant's help came at a price, at least it was one he could afford. 'What time did you get here?' he asked.

'About an hour ago.'

'Do you ever sleep?'

'I thought we might try for that sea-bottle again.'

Granger shook the fog of sleep from his head. 'Give me a minute.' He went over to the window and took a p.i.s.s, then put a pot of water on the stove to boil. His shoulder still ached from this morning's confrontation. He ran a hand over the tough grey skin. It felt as hard and cracked as a dry riverbed.