“Sheath your sword in her scabbard?”
“No!” Well, yes, but not just that. “I merely wish to get to her know better.”
“Without clothes on.” Maldynado winked.
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Yes. But I kept Spearcrest from shooting you, so you’re indebted to me.”
“He wasn’t going to shoot me.”
“He had a hand on his pistol,” Maldynado said.
“Yes, but you were the one lounging on the rug like a spoiled hound. Not to mention how much of their food you’ve already eaten.”
Maldynado said nothing, though his mouth formed a silent, “Oh.”
Books sank back in the hard chair, wondering what he was going to tell Vonsha when her father shared the “news” with her.
• • • • •
Amaranthe and Sicarius hiked three or four miles with the trail growing narrower and rougher with each switchback up the slope. Dirty patches of snow hunkered in depressions. Trees rose anywhere there was soil—and sometimes even from rock faces and boulders. Despite the wildness of the land, someone had cut the low branches back from the path, and they even passed a rough-hewn bench in one spot.
Sicarius paused to examine something on the ground. Amaranthe readjusted her rucksack and wiped moisture from her eyes. Though all the training they did kept her breathing slow and her muscles from growing weary, the brisk pace and the steep incline had her sweating. Her shirt stuck to her back, and damp spots bunched beneath the rucksack straps. She would shoot herself with the rifle before complaining about Sicarius’s pace though.
“Anything interesting?” she asked when he stood.
“Fresh prints.”
“Lord Hagcrest, I presume.”
“Perhaps.”
He continued onward without expounding.
The trees thinned, and the trail led them into a clearing. A small, square log cabin rested on a flat stretch of moss and wildflowers. Though simple, the structure appeared in good repair, and the split-cedar shingle roof had yet to fade to gray. A smokehouse tacked with rabbit and raccoon hides shared the clearing, while an outhouse hunkered downhill.
“I guess we should be wary of that threat to shoot trespassers.” Amaranthe pointed to a stuffed bear head mounted under the eaves above the front door. “It seems our homeowner is a decent shot.”
Sicarius was already gliding about the clearing, eyeing tracks, touching trees, and sniffing the wind. Amaranthe headed for the front door. She figured the homeowner was unlikely to shoot a woman whereas a black-clad man roaming the perimeter might make a trigger finger twitchy. Besides, she earned more answers from talking to people than from poking around their properties.
She climbed three wooden steps to a limestone porch. “Hello, Lord Hagcrest? Are you home?”
Amaranthe lifted a hand to knock on the door, but stopped. It stood open a crack. Her nose caught a faint scent: blood.
Sicarius had disappeared. She chewed on her lip a moment, then set her rifle against the wall and drew the pistol. She stood to the side, closed her eyes, and listened. No sound came from the cabin. Pistol ready, she pushed the door open, then flattened herself against the outside wall, so she would not expose herself to anyone inside.
Nothing stirred within. Amaranthe stuck her head around the jamb for a quick peek. When nobody shot at her, she leaned in for a longer examination.
Shutters covered the cabin’s sole window, so the only light slashed in through the doorway, leaving the interior dark. When her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she eased inside.
A bearskin rug stretched before a hearth adorned by a single battered pan hanging on a hook. A lone wooden chair sat before the fireplace, a threadbare cushion its only concession to comfort. In the shadows at the back of the room, a narrow bed rested against the wall.
“Guessing this fellow doesn’t invite many house guests up,” Amaranthe muttered.
Another rug lay on the floor before the bed. No, not a rug.
A body.
The white-haired old man wore a faded nightshirt afflicted with moth holes, and he appeared grouchy and sour even in death, just the sort of fellow who would put up that trespassing warning.
“I guess you are home, Lord Hagcrest,” Amaranthe whispered.
No obvious wounds marked his body, though trails of dried blood rain from his nostrils and the corners of his eyes.
“Just like in the loading bay,” she said.
After a deep breath to brace herself, she crouched and slid her fingers along the cold skin of Hagcrest’s neck. She found what she sought near his hairline: a bump covered with scar tissue. As soon as she touched it, it slithered away without breaking the skin. She yanked her hand back and wiped her fingers on her trousers.
“All right,” she murmured, “who’s making the killer magic doodads that are smart enough to hide themselves at the promise of detection?”
A draft tickled the back of Amaranthe’s neck.
She lunged to her feet, swatting at the skin there. Nothing. She did not lower her arm until she had probed her neck thoroughly. Who knew how these devices had found their way into these men?
“Imagination,” she told herself. Probably just a bug or a breeze from the open door.
A rifle leaned against the wall an arm’s length away, and a powder horn and knife belt hung from the bed post. Hagcrest had not had time to grab either. Perhaps he had never seen his attacker. Had he somehow been implanted with the device without his knowledge, and then it killed him through a remote command? If it was possible to create something like that with the Science, she was impressed. And concerned.
Papers scattered the bed next to an open drawer in a side table. She took them to the door to read in the afternoon light slanting inside. Army promotions and signed certificates for awards for Lord Major Hagcrest. He probably had a stack of medals somewhere. Amaranthe searched the cabin for more interesting paperwork, like the property title, but did not find it.
A shadow blotted out the daylight. Sicarius stepped inside and took in the body without a blink. “Is he the only one who lived here?”
“Looks like it.” Amaranthe waved at the sparse room. “Remember the strange way the man at Farth Textiles died?”
“Yes.”
“Hagcrest had a bump on his neck that moved when I touched it,” she said. “Same killer, it seems.”
“Possibly,” Sicarius said. “Possibly not. An artifact crafted by one practitioner can be used by another. Some can even be used by those ignorant of the mental sciences.”
“So one person could have made a bunch of these killer devices and distributed them to someone else—or to an organization—to be used at will?”
“Yes.”
Amaranthe thought of the note Sicarius had stolen from the gambling house, the one thanking Ellaya for providing the name of an accomplished Maker. Was this an example of that Maker’s work?
“Did you find anything outside?” Amaranthe asked.
“Four sets of fresh footprints.”
“The same ones you noticed on the trail up?”
“There were only two sets of fresh ones on the path.”
“How fresh is fresh?” The smell of death was turning her stomach, so Amaranthe walked out to the porch.
“Early this morning,” Sicarius said. “Maybe late last night.”
She inhaled, appreciating the clean smell of moss and damp leaves. “You can’t tell me the exact hour?” She smiled. “I thought you were better than that.”
Sicarius stepped onto the porch and gazed at her, the faintest crinkle to his brow.
“What?” she asked.
“People don’t tease me.”
“Ever?”
“No.”
Because they were afraid of him. As Books had pointed out once, she was probably foolish not to be. That he tolerated more from her than the others was no proclamation of friendship. At times she wished she did not know that Sespian was his son and not t
he direct heir to the throne, a secret that would throw the empire into civil war if it came out. Sicarius killed those who threatened him, and even if she had sworn to keep the knowledge to herself, he had to see the simple fact of someone else knowing as a threat. Sometimes she wondered how much his sticking around had to do with a belief she could help him clear his name and become someone Sespian wanted to know…and how much he just wanted to keep an eye on her. Would he let her walk away from him with that knowledge in her head?
Amaranthe shook the dark thoughts away and forced her smile back. “No one’s ever teased you? Truly? Not even as a child?”
“To tease is to mock or provoke in a playful way.”
“Yes…” She arched her eyebrows.
“There was nothing playful about my childhood.” Sicarius pointed north. “The tracks lead that way.”
He strode off the porch, heading the indicated direction. Back to business.
“You know…” Amaranthe had to jog to catch up with him. “If you missed out on games and fun as a child, you could try playing now.”
“What do you suggest?”
That he answered surprised her, and she was not sure how to respond.
Two deer browsing on the edge of the clearing started at their approach. They bounded into the trees and disappeared. A game trail led along the hillside, parallel to the river, and Sicarius headed down it. Pockets of mud held footprints.
“You could tease me,” Amaranthe said. “Or, once in a while, do something for no logical reason. Be whimsical.”
“Whimsical.” He said it with all the warmth of a kid discussing spinach.
“Yes, it’s the opposite of what you always are.”
Gray clouds drifted down from the mountaintops. Depending on how long this trek took, they might not make it back to the lorry by dark. She hoped they would not have to spend the night huddled under branches with rain dripping down their collars. Somehow she could not see Sicarius cuddling to share body heat. He would probably suggest pushups to stay warm.
They padded along the trail in silence for a time. The trees grew less dense and the ground more rocky. Far below, the river wound through the valley.
Sicarius stopped beside one of the last trees before a landslide. A meager trail crossed the boulders and loose shale, but one would be in the open crossing the area.
“Think there’s anybody watching the area?” Amaranthe asked.
Sicarius lifted a finger to his lips. He pointed, not across the landslide, but down it. Several hundred feet below, two men were poking around the rock field. One carried what might have been a clipboard.
“Prospectors?” she whispered.
She and Sicarius stayed behind cover and watched. The men continued their poking about for several minutes before heading north. They disappeared into a strip of forest on the far side of the landslide. The faint smoke of a campfire wafted from another open area beyond the trees. Amaranthe bounced on her toes, hoping the men’s presence meant she was close to answers.
Sicarius raised an eyebrow.
“There’s something out here that’s interesting someone.” She winced, realizing how vague and unhelpful that sounded.
“I’ll investigate,” Sicarius said. “Stay here.”
“Wait. Wouldn’t you prefer to have something distracting them while you’re sneaking about, remaining unseen?”
“I don’t need a distraction to remain unseen.”
True.
“But I presume you have some scheme,” he added.
“I brought along some of your earnings, so I could feign interest in purchasing this property. I’ll head in and have a friendly palaver with them, see what I can learn.”
“Palaver.”
“Chat. Discuss. That thing you never do at length.”
“Why put yourself at risk? I can grab someone and we can interrogate him.”
Amaranthe rubbed her face. How was she going to convince good-hearted Sespian to pardon someone whose answer for everything was a dagger to someone’s throat? “That didn’t work in the loading bay, remember? And if more people up here have been injected with those devices… Well, it’s inconvenient to have the person you’re questioning pitch over dead.”
Sicarius grunted a concession.
“Here’s the plan: I’ll go in and palaver while you surround them.”
“Surround them,” he said. “By myself.”
“Just be ready to shoot a warning shot or two when I signal.”
Amaranthe lifted her hand to her forehead to demonstrate, then handed him her rifle and sword belt. She would likely get further if she did not appear threatening. She kept her knife and pistol, adjusting the jacket to hide them. Sicarius watched, face stony. No doubt, he thought walking into the enemy camp was stupid. He was probably right.
“We’ll try your way if my way doesn’t work,” she said.
“If your way doesn’t work, you may be dead.”
“That is a possibility.”
CHAPTER 13
When Vonsha returned, holding a notepad, she said nothing of the marriage discussion. Indeed, she glanced around the room, as if to ensure her father was gone.
“We convinced your old man to leave,” Maldynado said.
Her eyes widened. “You’re the first then.”
She drew a chair close to Books and sat, her knee almost touching his. That faint perfume she wore teased his nostrils, a hint of honey and a bouquet of wildflowers.
An annoying smirk rode Maldynado’s lips.
“Why don’t you go explore the grounds?” Books told him. “Play with the dogs, perhaps.”
“Nah, I’m comfortable here.”
Books glared. Maldynado’s smirk broadened.
Vonsha laid the papers so they rested across her and Books’s knees. Her fingers brushed his thigh, and he gulped, unable to focus on the words on the page. He told himself he was forty-five and far too old to be nervous and flustered around a woman or to need to worry about shifting his jacket to hide—
“What’s this?” He draped his arm across his lap and pointed to the page.
Maldynado snickered under his breath.
“Some notes I took the last time I was home,” Vonsha said. “The reason I was double-checking the lot lines is that Lord Hagcrest, the neighbor across the river, has been up to something. He made an offer on my parents’ land. He lives on the parcel you were looking up.” Her eyes searched Books’s face.
She must wonder if she could trust him or if he was involved somehow.
“I heard it might be for sale,” Books said. Almost the truth.
“People have been snooping around over there, at least one fair-skinned and light-eyed. I’m concerned Hagcrest is working with foreigners, perhaps to allow a toehold into Turgonian territory. These mountains are treacherous, and the only pass for two hundred miles lies through this valley.”
Books thought of the dead woman in the aqueducts whom they believed had been an appraiser. Was it possible this neighbor had called her up to calculate the value of the land, then killed her to keep her from telling anyone? If so, where had the horribly gashed dead men come from? The bodies must have originated in roughly the same area since they had been bumping up against the same grate in the subterranean channel. But if Hagcrest had ordered an appraisal, prior to making an offer, it should have been on the Spearcrest’s land, not his own. Unless he was thinking of selling both lots to foreigners at a profit? Was that permitted? He would have to ask Amaranthe about real estate laws.
“Lord Hagcrest wouldn’t tell me anything when I went to see him,” Vonsha said. “He’s an old grump, worse than my father. I’d actually been thinking of heading east myself after I recovered from the explosion.” She touched the bandage at her neck. “To see what’s going on at the fort. I have a feeling the presence of foreigners in this valley means something vile has happened over there. Perhaps…” She leaned closer and laid a hand on Books’s arm. “If you don’t mind my asking, how are you
involved in all this? I’d like to trust you, but I don’t know who you truly are. You’re…wanted by the law?”
Books licked his lips. How much should he volunteer? His reason for coming here had been to acquire information, not give it away. He looked to Maldynado for an opinion, but a house cat had strolled in, and he was busy coaxing it onto his lap.
“Our leader calls us The Emperor’s Edge…” Books spent the next few minutes explaining Amaranthe’s group and their intent to earn Sespian’s recognition, though he left out names. Sicarius, at the least, would not appreciate being mentioned.
“You roam around the city looking for good deeds to carry out?” Vonsha asked when he finished.
“Uhm.” That sounded more charitable than they truly were, but maybe Vonsha would approve of noble deeds? “Basically.”
“Sometimes we roam outside the city too.” Maldynado petted the cat that purred in his lap, its tail swishing in time with the strokes.
Vonsha considered Books for a long moment, and he feared she would burst into laughter.
Instead she nodded. “You’re what I need then. You should go out to the fort. I’m certain more answers await there, but my father is reluctant to let me go on my own. I’ve no knack with weapons, I fear, and if there are foreign militants about…”
“We’d have to check with the rest of the group,” Books said. “They’re going to see your neighbor.”
“They are?” Vonsha frowned.
Er, maybe he shouldn’t have given out that information. “Is that a problem?”
“No, no.” Vonsha patted his arm. “They’ll just find out for themselves how stubborn and difficult the man is. When they return, perhaps you can convince them of the need to check the fort.”
“What about the enforcers?” Maldynado asked.
“What?” Vonsha asked.
“When the enforcers and soldiers drove away this morning, they went that way.” He pointed toward the mountaintop. “You’d think if something fishy were going on at the other end of the pass, they’d have headed through.”
“I don’t know their assignment,” Vonsha said. “It’s possible their mission is unrelated to the business with Hagcrest’s lot. There are numerous families and towns up in these mountains, as well as mining camps.”