Chapter 12
For all the supposed secrecy of the new organisation, the headquarters of the Shadow Corps was easily found. Greg was manning the ostentatious archway which marked their gate, looking uncharacteristically smart in his new uniform. The deep blue jacket had the Imperial crest embroidered on the breast pocket, and the matching trousers were edged with silver piping. He beckoned Eleanor into the guard room as soon as he recognised her and closed the door, bolting it behind them.
“What are you doing here?” He sounded somewhat alarmed.
“We’re still in the amnesty, aren’t we? I came to see Raf.” It was honest, even if it wasn’t the whole truth, and he’d easily believe it.
“You shouldn’t have come. I know we’ve got this amnesty, but we’ve been given lists. Anyone from the old council is ‘kill on sight,’ if you didn’t come straight across with us.”
“Regardless of the amnesty?”
“Something like that. You’re marked – you can’t be seen. And I don’t want to have to kill you.”
“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let you.” She smiled to let him know she was teasing, though she felt nothing but cold inside. Would the others be killed before they managed to escape the city? She wished there was some way to send a message, but she’d blow her cover if she tried it. “Seriously, though, if they’re not honouring the amnesty then you have to help me out. I made the wrong decision.”
“What?”
“The old Association is crumbling, they’re fighting each other, there’s no sense of direction... I realised I should’ve come with you in the first place. I didn’t think I’d be too late to change my mind.”
“Really? Well, Raf will be thrilled when he gets back – you can’t imagine how much he misses you.”
“Where is he?”
“Off somewhere... working. We don’t get told much, that’s the one disadvantage to the Shadow Corps over the old ways. It’s all a bit military: too much hierarchy, too much interference from the Empress’s favourite generals, and they never tell us anything. Anyway, he should be back in a few weeks. He’ll be delighted to see you.”
A few weeks? Her heart sank; she hoped it wouldn’t take that long to achieve her goals here. Still, she couldn’t afford to be distracted by personal concerns. “You’ll help me, then? I don’t know who I need to see.”
“Hide in here – don’t let anyone in – and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks Greg. You’ve probably saved my life.” Her gratitude was entirely genuine: at the very least, he’d saved her a fight she wasn’t looking for.
He stepped outside and she bolted the door behind him, then took advantage of the time alone to take a look around the guard room. There wasn’t a great deal to see; an inventory of equipment, a rota for gate duties (listing a slew of familiar names, mostly the Association’s younger defectors), and a couple of maps of the city were pinned to the whitewashed walls. The blue jacket of someone’s Shadow Corps uniform hung on the back of the door, there were two plain wooden chairs, and a couple of crossbows and quivers of arrows had been slung in a corner. Other than that, the space was clear and impersonal. She tucked her own bag under one of the chairs and sat down to wait.
The knock at the door made her jump, and suddenly she realised just how vulnerable she was in this dead-end room. There wasn’t even a window to escape through if the wrong person chose to force his way in.
“Open up, El, it’s me!”
She unlocked the door with her hand on the hilt of her dagger, just in case, but it was indeed Greg and there was no sign of a trap.
“Eleanor!” Ivan was following just behind, and pulled her into a tight embrace as soon as he stepped inside the guard room. “It’s true, then? You’ve finally seen sense?”
“Something like that. Greg was worried I might be too late, though.”
“Nah, we’re still in amnesty – though I wouldn’t recommend going out on your own before everyone knows you’ve come back to us, if you know what I mean. I wouldn’t want you to end up hurting any of my men.”
He winked at her, and she suddenly felt sick at what she was about to do. Was this a worse betrayal than the general slaughter that was about to break out? It felt more personal.
“You’ll be okay with me, though,” he went on. “And of course you’re fine to change your mind, how could we refuse? Come on, let’s get you kitted out.”
He took her arm and led her round the corner to a small cupboard stacked full of folded uniforms.
“You’ll need the smallest size, of course, and even then you might need to make some adjustments...” He fished out a pair of trousers and held the waistline level with her waist; the hems trailed on the floor. “Well, these are the smallest we’ve got, I’m afraid. Not to worry, you can turn them up until you’ve got time to sew them.”
“No tailor here?” she asked, amused at the idea that the Shadow Corps might be less well resourced than the remnants of the Association.
“I’m sure there will be, eventually, but at the moment we’re still setting up.” He rifled through the piles of linen and passed her a second pair of trousers, three matching shirts, and a cloak in the same shade of blue. “Now, we’re going to have to decide what rank to make you. Where d’you think you’d be up to by now if you’d gone military after school?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it.”
“Well, have a couple of stars, that’s what we gave Raf.” He handed her a jacket with two silver stars riveted above the crest; she noted his own had three. “It’s probably about right, though I’m sure it won’t take you long to get promoted once you find your feet. I assume you’ve still got all your weapons?”
“Of course.”
“Good girl.” He clapped her on the back. “I’m glad to see you here, Eleanor, I really am. I knew you were a pragmatist at heart. The dreamers have always picked out a dangerous path for their ideals, but this time more than usual, if you ask me. Come on, you can get changed in the guard room and then I’ll show you round. You’ll be safer once you’re in uniform.”
Greg and Ivan waited outside while she changed. As she straightened her jacket, she thought how useful it would be to take these clothes with her when she went back to the caves. A Shadow Corps uniform was likely to be a safe disguise in much of the Empire, and possibly a terrifying one, if the Shadows lived up to the initial whispers of their reputation.
She pinned the cloak around her shoulders, stuffed her own clothes into her pack along with the uniform spares, and went out to see what was what.
“Looking good, El.” Greg smiled at her as she emerged into the gatehouse.
“I definitely need to take up these trousers.” She’d folded the hems for now, but that wasn’t a solution that would hold if she had to do any running or climbing. She felt vulnerable just wearing such ill-fitting clothes.
“Don’t worry,” Ivan said. “We won’t make you do any real work until you’ve had chance to settle in and sort yourself out. But let me show you the barracks, you can see your room, and we’ll have a walk around the training grounds.”
“Thanks.”
She followed him into the cobbled courtyard, through another arch at the back, and into the low U-shaped building which surrounded the second quadrangle.
“It’s not a patch on our Association quarters, I’m afraid. Everything here’s a bit military, it’s all bunks and barracks and horrible food, but there are enough good people here. We’ll make it our own in time.”
He hesitated for a moment, then pushed open one of the many identical doors spaced along the corridor.
“Thought so. This room’s free – no point worrying about where you’re based, they’re all the same. Well, except for the commander and his deputies, but they have suites up at the palace.”
It was a plain, whitewashed room with a sleeping pallet and a small trunk. She put her pack on the floor, thankful that she wouldn’t have to live in this characterl
ess box for long. However basic the accommodations in the Black Wolf Caves might be, at least it would feel like a home once the Association moved in.
“Who’s in charge round here, then?”
“Nicholas is commander. Then almost everyone who was on the council is three-starred, except you youngsters who’ve got two. Haven’t really worked out who gets a single star yet – at the moment, all the others are just foot-soldiers. But, like I said, we haven’t really bedded in yet. I’m sure it’ll all make a lot more sense when we’ve been here a while.”
“It’s going to take a bit of getting used to, that’s for certain.” She came back into the corridor and closed the door, wondering what features she could use to remember which room was hers. “I’m not used to anyone telling me what to do.”
“I’ll make sure you’re under me,” Ivan said. “And I know I can trust you, so I won’t be doing that much ordering. You’ll get your third star in no time, but I think it’s better to start you off with two, then no-one can question that you’ve earned it.”
They took a short tour of the buildings; aside from seemingly-endless corridors of identical cubicles, there was a large dining hall and a gymnasium. The armoury was tucked away in a corner.
“But they’re military weapons,” Ivan explained. “Not so beautifully crafted as ours, so you’ll want to hang on to yours as long as they last. And maybe one day we’ll get our smithy back. Harold’s the man I’m most disappointed to lose, out of all this.”
They looped around and made their way back to the guard room, where Greg was handing over to a youth that Eleanor didn’t recognise.
“Did you get a good tour?” Greg asked.
“Yes, thanks. This is going to be very different, isn’t it?”
“It’s military,” he agreed. That seemed to be everyone’s favourite word. “Takes a bit of getting used to, but you’ll get the hang of it. Should we put your name down for shifts on the gate?”
“No,” Ivan said, before Eleanor had chance to guess at an answer. “She’s going to be working for me.”
“Oh. Oh, well. That’s different.” Greg turned back to Eleanor. “In that case, we won’t. I’m sure Ivan can keep you very busy without any gate duties.”
“Any chance of a drink?” Eleanor asked. “I think I could do with a little something.”
“A few of us usually go out about now,” Greg said. “You’re welcome to come.”
“Actually, I think you should come with me,” Ivan said. “You’ll excuse us, won’t you, Gregory? I’ve got a plan.”
Greg nodded. “Catch up soon, El.”
“Let’s go up to the commander’s rooms,” Ivan said, resting his arm across Eleanor’s shoulders and steering her out into the street. “He’s got a much more civilized apartment, and I’m sure he’ll have spring nectar or wine if you fancy a drop.”
“Won’t he mind?” she asked. She felt a few cold spots as flakes of snow landed on her nose, but nothing was sticking on the ground yet. She pulled her cloak more tightly closed anyway.
“Not at all. In fact, I’m sure he’ll be delighted to hear your news.”
Ivan nodded at the guard on the palace gate, who waved them through without a challenge, and led Eleanor into a nearby tower. Nicholas opened the door almost immediately when they knocked.
“Ivan, what a delight. And you’ve brought... Eleanor? What are you doing here?”
“The girl’s seen sense,” Ivan said. “I thought you’d like to know.”
“Ahhh, I see. Well, that’s very welcome news. Come in, sit down. What can I do for you?”
“I’m sure we’d both like to raise a large glass of nectar to the Empress’s health,” Ivan said, ushering Eleanor ahead of him into the room and taking her cloak from her.
Nicholas returned a moment later with a bottle and three glasses, and sat down before pouring generous measures for each of them.
“So, I see you’ve already given young Eleanor some stars,” he said as he handed one glass across to her and another to Ivan.
“To the Empire,” she said, deliberately amending Ivan’s suggested toast.
“The Empire,” they echoed.
“Two stars,” Nicholas continued. “That might be a bit stingy, for such a feisty girl. It’d look good to have a woman in the higher ranks if we’re moving into the general assignment process. We’re strongly unbalanced as it stands. Anyway, we can discuss that later, but I take it you’re here to ask my opinion on where she should be slotted in.”
“Actually, she’s going to work for me.”
“Really?” He stared at Eleanor for a long moment, and she met his gaze steadily, wondering what he was thinking about. “And has Ivan told you what his little area of responsibility is, Eleanor?”
“Not yet.”
“Ahhhh. Well, Ivan, don’t you think you should enlighten your newest recruit? You can’t expect her to work in the dark.”
“It’s simple enough,” Ivan said, and took a large mouthful of his drink before elucidating. “Eliminating the traitors.”
It took a moment for her to work out what that meant. “You mean...”
“He means everyone who’s stayed with the Association, yes,” Nicholas said. “It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it.”
“Anyway, we know Eleanor and Raf make a great team, so I thought I’d assign them together once he gets back.”
“That may not be possible. We may have a more important job for your girl. Is she totally reliable?”
“Of course. She’s practically one of us.”
Again, Eleanor felt her stomach knot up. It was strange to hear them talking as if she wasn’t there, and stranger still to hear Ivan praising her when she was plotting to betray them. But she wasn’t here to kill ‘traitors’ – only to get the key. And there was no going back without that.
“Good.” He turned back to her. “Now, Eleanor, the most important question: did you tell anyone you were coming here?”
“What?” She was momentarily blindsided by the question. “No, of course not. They wouldn’t have let me leave.”
“Excellent. The thing is, I think we’ll have to ask you to go back. You’re the only one of the Shadows who could possibly slip back into the heart of the Association. Yes, Ivan, she definitely needs to work for your division.”
“But how can I go back?” She felt her chance to find the key slipping away. “What can I say to them? They’ll kill me.”
“I’m sure a girl of your calibre can think of a suitable excuse for a short absence. And you’ll have your third star the moment you get back here.”
Eleanor nodded. These were people who knew how much she enjoyed a challenge; a refusal would destroy her cover immediately. She took another sip of her drink and forced a smile. “Tell me exactly what you need me to do.”
“Ivan can fill you in on his strategy later,” Nicholas said. “But at the moment we’ve been working one stroke of luck at a time. We can’t mount a full-out assault in the amnesty period, and of course the Association’s leaders are being very careful. But they’ll have to move eventually – they can’t defend the old headquarters if we send in the full weight of the Specials.”
“What do you think they’ll do?”
“That’s what I want you to find out. You were on the council – hasn’t the planning started already?”
“It’s chaos,” she said. “No-one can agree on the most minor of things, let alone a big question like what to do next.”
“Well, they know they’ve got a deadline,” Nicholas said. “They must know we’ll attack if they don’t move.”
“So you want me to find out where they go?”
“That, and then some,” Ivan said. “We’ll need to know every possible weakness of their new base, wherever that is. When we move the armies in, we need to be absolutely prepared. Yes, Nicholas is quite right – you’re the secret weapon we’ve been waiting for.”
Eleanor downed what was left of her nectar in o
ne large gulp, and picked up the bottle to refill all their glasses.
“To success,” she said, raising her drink and being careful not to specify whose success she was toasting.
“Success,” Ivan echoed. “Welcome home, Ellie.”
They lapsed into general chit-chat for a while before Nicholas steered the conversation back to asking about the disputes at the heart of the Association. Eleanor made up some more stories of fighting and general dissatisfaction, gaining a little silent enjoyment from the opportunity to blame Daniel for a couple of the imaginary problems. She hoped that if the Shadows believed the Association was crumbling, they’d be more likely to make dangerous mistakes later.
“I was thinking about what I can say to the others,” she said to Ivan as they walked back to the barracks. “If I tell them I came here to spy on you, is there anything I can give them to make them believe me?”
“What are you thinking?”
“Something like the layout of your buildings. I don’t think it’ll help them much, but at least it’d sound like I’ve been doing something useful.”
“I don’t see any problem with that. We’re going to destroy them by spring, anyway.”
“Okay, great.” That would buy her at least a day of plausibly wandering around the new buildings before she needed to go back to the Association, although she’d have to leave before the end of the amnesty. It remained to be seen whether it would be long enough to get the key.
As she lay on her pallet that night, she grasped her pendant with cold fingers and wondered what Raf would do. But, she soon realised, that was obvious. He was doing it. He wasn’t the one playing double-agent games. He’d accepted his place in Ivan’s division and was already off on some mission to that end. And if she hadn’t happened to come across to the Shadows, maybe she’d be his next target.
She flung the pendant across the room. It made a satisfying clattering sound as it bounced off the far wall and onto the flagstones.
Raf was one of ‘them’ now. The enemy. However much she wanted to persuade herself otherwise, they’d picked different sides, and that was it. That he was off “eliminating the traitors” only highlighted the gulf between them. It was better that he wasn’t expected back for a few weeks. At least then she wouldn’t be tempted.
She picked the pendant up the next morning. One of the emeralds had fallen from its setting, and it took her a long time searching the floor before she finally found where it had rolled into one of the cracks.
She tucked both pendant and gemstone safely in a corner of her pack; she’d get Harold to mend it later. It would be a shame to waste a beautiful piece of jewellery just because it reminded her of Raf’s decision. If nothing else, she could sell it for a small fortune.
She sat with Greg and Hal at breakfast, then went for another walk around the compound, still feeling uncomfortable in her oversized new uniform. By lunchtime she had a good idea of how all the buildings fitted together, but she was no closer to getting the key from wherever Nicholas might have hidden it.
By the next morning, however, she’d got no further – and Ivan came to encourage her to go back to the Association buildings as soon as she could.
“You can leave most of your things here,” he said. “Just take whatever weapons you need, leave the rest in your room. And make sure you change out of that uniform.”
“Okay.” She tried not to sound disappointed; the uniform would have been the most useful thing she could have packed. But since she was returning without the key, she’d have to plan to come back here. This was looking likely to be a very long game.
As she walked back home, she turned the situation over in her mind. Perhaps this could be twisted into an even greater advantage. If the Association could set up a suitably convincing retreat, into a new headquarters with suitably enticing flaws, then perhaps they could draw out the Shadows in force. Meanwhile, she’d have plenty of time to think about how to get the key from Nicholas when she went back to feed him the details. By the time she reached the Association grounds, she was ready to summon the council and lay out her plan.
But there was no-one there to summon.
She checked the dining hall, the council chamber, and a few bedrooms at random. There was little sign the buildings had ever been inhabited. They’d already moved on to the caves, then. Well, that simplified matters.
She ran all the way back to the Shadow Corps headquarters, and banged at Ivan’s door.
“Eleanor? I thought you’d left. What’s happened?”
“They’ve gone!” She was breathless from her sprint, and hoped she managed to sound surprised. “I got there, and it’s empty. Deserted.”
“Shit.” He sat at one end of his pallet. “Come in, and shut the door.”
She pulled the door until it clicked closed, and stood with her hands clasped behind her back, waiting. Was she about to find out what the military-style response to failure looked like? Ivan just looked sad, and tired.
“Sit down,” he said. “And tell me everything.”
“I went back to the old buildings, and there’s simply no-one there. They’ve all gone.”
“And you’ve no idea where they might be?”
“No.”
“Nick was convinced that you were going to be the solution to all our problems. But you can’t be our insider if you can’t find them.”
“I can start a search,” she said. “Some places are more likely than others. But I thought it was best to come back here first and see if anyone had any ideas. You were on the council before I was, and some of the others long before that – if anyone had made fallback plans, someone here must know.”
“Of course, you did the right thing. This isn’t your fault. We’ll talk to Nick, see if he has any ideas before you start from nothing.”
They walked up to the commander’s suite in silence.
“Let me do the talking,” Ivan said as they waited outside. He looked nervous, and Eleanor felt a creeping anxiety herself.
“Bad news, Nick,” Ivan said when Nicholas eventually came to the door. “They’ve gone.”
Anger flashed across his face, but it was gone in a moment. “Of course they have,” he said. “Would you stay in a place where your enemies know every inch of the grounds? No, we cannot be surprised. It’s just unfortunate that they suddenly managed to get organised so quickly.”
“I wondered if you knew where they might fall back to,” Eleanor said. “Has anyone ever drawn up emergency plans?”
“A plan was made decades ago,” he said. “In the earliest days of the Empire, when the Association’s elders suspected they might one day be driven underground. Before my time, of course, and well before you were even born. So yes, there were plans.”
“Do you know where they’ve gone, then?” Ivan asked.
“Even if I did, despatching Eleanor there would only give away our knowledge – it’s evident they’ve given up on her. But no, things are never that simple. Our predecessors were far more subtle than that. There’s no way the remnants of the Association can have followed through with that old plan, because I hold one of the keys to it.”
He reached under his shirt and brought out an intricate silver key which hung from a chain around his neck. Eleanor had to suppress a smile that would have seemed highly inappropriate. But they’d been right: he hadn’t handed it over.
“There’s a vault in the old silver mines at Flintmoor, you see, locked with three keys. I hold this one on behalf of Venncastle; Nathaniel and Ragal have the others. So they can’t have gone there.”
“Might they try to break into the vault?” Eleanor asked.
“I suppose it’s possible. That would be a fool’s errand, though, and I don’t rate them as fools.”
“No,” Ivan agreed. “It would all be much easier if they were.”
“What next, then? If we don’t know where they’ve gone.”
“They’ll turn up,” Nicholas said. “And I’m sure Ivan can find plenty of thin
gs to occupy you in the meanwhile.”
“I’m sure he can.” And she was quite sure she’d be occupying herself, trying to work out how to get that key from around his neck. She wouldn’t risk an open attack within the palace, though. Not if there was any possibility of succeeding by a subtler method.
“You should take some time to settle in properly,” Ivan said as they walked down to the barracks again. “We won’t be busy till the traitors dare to raise their heads again.”
“Where do you think they’ve gone?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“But what’s your instinct?”
“If it was me... Well, if it was me, I’d make use of Venncastle, but of course they don’t have that option. They’ll be looking for somewhere with strong defences, though, as a first priority. They want to be sure of surviving while they work out a new strategy.”
“And I guess they’ll be trying to get that key from Nicholas, one way or another?” She studied his face closely as she spoke but if he suspected anything, he gave nothing away.
“We’ll be ready for them if they try anything. Meanwhile, we’ll wait and see.”