Beside him walked Fulk, who never should have been there. The Evening Watch mage wore a chain with a gem that sparked in the torchlight. Its blue and orange fires rivaled the fever in his eyes. Somehow the greasy cuddy had gotten a fire opal.
Behind Crookshank and Fulk came mots and coves armed with crossbows, staves, and swords. These were hard customers. Some I knew from the Mantel and Pullet and the streets, all soldiers and members of the Palace Guard. With the rest of their group having the same look, I guessed they were more of the same, off-duty fighters Crookshank had hired. I did a fast count. He’d brought near forty folk with him. What were they doing? They had no business in the Court of the Rogue!
“Now it comes out!” Crookshank screamed, walking up to Kayfer. “Now the whole kingdom will know you for the Shadow Snake! Where is my grandson? Where is Herun?”
I couldn’t breathe. Herun? The Snake had Tansy’s husband now? I’d feared for Tansy, mayhap her babe when it was born – not her man!
Kayfer stood. “You cracknob old skinflint, what are you doing here with this army?”
The archers spread along the wall and across the door, their crossbows ready. There would be more at the gate, I guessed. They’d have been needed to hold the guards.
Now the raiders armed with swords and staves walked through the room. They thrust the mots and coves of the Court against the wall. More raiders stripped the rogues of their weapons.
“Don’t lie, Kayfer!” Crookshank yelled. “You’re the Shadow Snake! You took Herun to get my treasure! You won’t have it, you scummer-lapping maggot! I’ll see you in the cages! You’ll die on Executioner’s Hill if you don’t give back my boy!”
As easy as if she folded sheets, Kora picked up her cards. “Another time, friend,” she told her customer.
“I could see it wasn’t goin’ well anyway.” He got up and offered Kora a hand to help her to her feet. She took it and rose. They both moved to the wall as a soldier we all knew came toward us to disarm the Rogue’s folk nearby.
As the soldier passed us, Tunstall murmured, “What are you doing?”
“Gettin’ paid very well,” the soldier replied. His lips barely moved. “Crookshank said he’d give two gold each t’ tweak the Rogue’s nose.”
Goodwin whistled. I felt sick. He was paying eighty gold just to them in this room. That didn’t count the other fighters he had outside. And I’d wager half a year’s earnings he’d gotten Fulk for a fire opal or two.
I looked at Kayfer. Crookshank was there, trading hot whispers with him. He clutched the Rogue with a claw of a hand.
Kayfer shook him off. “You’re raving!” he cried. “I’m no child’s tale – there’s no Shadow Snake! And you’re cracked straight down the middle, to bring outsiders here!”
“You kidnapped a young man of standing,” Fulk told Kayfer. “On Master Ammon Lofts’ behalf, as concerned people of the city, these men and women and I will search for him.” Fulk smirked. “I’m sure we’ll find something for our trouble.”
The soldier turned Kora and the thief to the wall. As he searched them, he said to Tunstall, “Get out.”
Goodwin and Tunstall nodded. We made for the door. The raiders were happy to let us leave. “More for us,” one of them said as we passed them.
Once in the hall outside, Goodwin asked Tunstall, “Now what?”
“Get work as Players?” Tunstall said. He dodged Goodwin’s kick. “What can we do? Crookshank’s set the Court of the Rogue on its head. We warn the others, we collect the Bag another day, and we have extra time to see if we can find where Crookshank does his digging.”
Goodwin shook her head. “Bets on how long Fulk lives after this night?”
“No bets,” Tunstall said. “He’s a mage. He’ll use the opal Crookshank gave him to take the next ship out of Port Caynn. Kayfer’s not Rogue enough even to douse Fulk, though I’d pay to watch.”
Goodwin looked at me. I shrugged. “I hate Fulk. I hope he dies. But I won’t bet on a mage,” I said.
“So let’s finish our watch,” Goodwin said. “I hope we get to collect that Bag soon, or it’ll be a lean week for the Dogs with families.”
We headed for the meeting place to give the Happy Bags to the Dogs who take them to the kennel. We could tell they’d had no whiff of Crookshank’s raid. They sat around a fire, not expecting us for a time.
“Wake up,” Tunstall said. “You won’t believe what’s happened.”
They listened to him, jaws agape. I couldn’t blame them. I’d never heard of such a thing happening at the Court. I wondered how many of those off-duty fighters would live to spend their gold and how many of them we’d be scraping from the gutters.
“So there’s no Bag tonight, but news to spread,” Goodwin said when Tunstall was done. “Two more things. We know the Shadow Snake’s real. It’s not Kayfer. If Crookshank’s not having waking dreams, the Snake’s got Herun. He’s a nice lad and doesn’t deserve to die. And we’re looking for Jens. He’s a rusher hired by Crookshank or one of Crookshank’s folk. If you find Jens, don’t let him know you’re seeking. Don’t hobble him. He’s got a mage mark on him that’ll kill him the moment he’s caught. Just tell us what he looks like and where he may be found.”
“Warn all our Dogs,” Tunstall said. “It’s going to be a strange night.”
“Them soldiers shoulda took sick as soon as they found out where they were goin’,” grumbled one of the Dogs. “I woulda done.”
“Get moving,” Goodwin said. “Spread the news.”
“You know how these skewed nights work – the world goes mad, or it goes quiet,” Tunstall said. “Our lads and lasses need to be awake for both.”
The others took to their horses. We put out their fire. After that, we followed our regular patrol route. Walking along, I found my brain was abuzz. The Snake had taken Herun Lofts. “I was wondering…,” I mumbled to the road.
“Speak up, Cooper,” Goodwin said.
“Crookshank’s rushers were with his boughten search party,” I said. “So who’s at Crookshank’s? If the Snake took Herun, mayhap he left some trace of his coming and going at the house.”
For a moment they were quiet. Then Goodwin told Tunstall, “All right. I was against having a Puppy. I thought she’d be a lot of work and a lot of trouble. But I have to say, you were right.” She looked back at me. “Let’s have a toddle over to Crookshank’s house, on advice from the sharpest Puppy in the whole litter.”
It felt good to hear that from her.
Crookshank’s house looked deserted. The front door torches were out. The mourning wreath for Rolond hung off one of its nails, some of its ribbons torn from their anchors. Pounce trotted around the side of the house. We took the same path, bound for the kitchen door. The side gate was unlocked and open, which was not right. Anyone might come in as we did.
The kitchen door was open, too. All three of us took out our batons. Inside, the room was dark, the inner door shut. Tunstall went through first, noiseless for all his size. He held the door open and motioned us through.
Two maids, the cook, and a manservant were bound on the kitchen floor. Goodwin motioned for me to cut the cook’s gag. “Soft,” I whispered in her ear.
“He’s got Mistress Annis and Mistress Tansy in the master’s rooms,” the cook told me. “He come in wi’ a knife to Tansy’s throat and had me bind the others, then had her bind me. Then he had her call Mistress Annis. He was talkin’ about treasure.”
Goodwin knelt beside us. “Just one man?”
The cook said, “Aye.”
We left the servants there and trotted up the back stair, trying to keep our steps light. It still smelled of smoke from the old fire the night of our last visit. As we reached the rear landing, Goodwin whispered in my ear, “Servants’ door.”
I remembered it. Crookshank’s rooms had another entry. We’d seen it last time. I watched her and Tunstall run behind Pounce to the main door to Crookshank’s chamber. Pounce beat them inside. I raced
across the servants’ landing to the second door and had my hand on the latch when I heard Pounce roar.
At least, I think it was Pounce. It was the most fearful thing I’d ever heard, a roar that echoed through the house. It was the sound of a far bigger creature, one that was mayhap related to a cat. The hairs stood on the back of my neck.
A man shouted in surprise.
A moment later he yanked the servants’ door open. I slammed him in the belly with my baton. He stumbled back into Tunstall’s grip.
Tunstall wrapped one arm around the Rat’s neck and used the other to twist the man’s arm up behind his back. Swinging the Rat around, Tunstall rammed him headfirst into the bedpost, then dropped him face-first onto the floor. It was done and Tunstall was kneeling beside the Rat before I’d closed the servants’ door.
“Well done, Cooper,” Goodwin said from the other side of the bedroom.
Tunstall twisted the Rat half to the side to take his dagger and look at his face. He smiled. “Clary, here we were saying we were getting lonesome for the old faces, and the gods took pity on us.”
Goodwin spotted Tansy and Annis, tied up and left by the hearth. She jerked her head toward them in a silent order for me to free them, then knelt beside Tunstall and the Rat. “Gunnar Espeksra, you revolting piece of bug dung. I thought you and Yates Noll were joined at the hip.”
I glanced at our prize.
“Your friends aren’t getting any more comfortable whilst you stare, Cooper,” said Tunstall. “Is he more handsome than Ersken Westover or Rosto the Piper?”
“There’s pigs on butchers’ meat hooks that’s more handsome,” I said. “I think he was with Yates when we saw him earlier tonight.”
“What treasure were you looking for, Gunnar?” Tunstall wanted to know. “Only a looby would think Crookshank kept it here, where anyone might walk in and lift it.”
“Pox on yer privates if ye think I’ve a word for ye,” Gunnar said. “An’ Yates has naught t’ do wif it.” He looked away as he said it, lying through his teeth.
“Maybe Mistress Annis and Mistress Tansy know something,” Goodwin said.
I cut Tansy’s gag first. She was weeping. “What do I care about what he wants? Herun’s been kidnapped by the Shadow Snake! You’re not searching for him!”
I cut the rest of her bonds. “Are you sure it’s the Shadow Snake?” I asked. “Not your grandfather-in-law thinking that’s who’s done it now, after the Snake taking Rolond? Because so far as we know, the Snake only takes little ones.” I cut off Annis’s gag.
“We saw the note, before Father stuffed it in his tunic,” said Annis. Her eyes were puffed from weeping, but she wasn’t in Tansy’s state, for all Herun was her son. “It’s the same as the ones that came for Rolond. The very same. Herun took receipts to the Goldsmith’s Bank, and he never returned. Father came home to dress for a merchants’ supper, and the note was on his bed. Then…We were beside ourselves, after Father ran screaming from the house. Tansy went to search without telling anyone. I’d only just noticed she was gone when she came back with him.” She could only jerk her chin at Gunnar. I was still hacking at her ropes.
“Stupid doxies,” he said. “All ye had to do was say where he keeps them sparklin’ stones and I’da been gone!”
Tunstall thumped Gunnar’s head on the floor. “How do you know about sparkling stones, a gutter crawler like you?” he asked.
Gunnar didn’t say, though Tunstall bounced his head several times more.
“Save it,” Goodwin said. “Let the questioners get it out of Gunnar. We already know he’ll lead us to Yates Noll.” She put the hobbles on our Rat.
“Bad idea,” Gunnar told us. “Ye don’t want to go crossin’ Yates, not ever.”
Tunstall flicked Gunnar’s head with his finger, using his thumb to give the small blow force. “Nobody asked the opinions of a fawning scut like you, Gunnar,” he said. He sounded outright friendly. “Either tell us what we’re asking for or swallow your tongue. We’ve no real druthers about which.” He got up.
“Mayhap it’s no accident he’s here tonight,” I said. “Mayhap he knew the household would be in an uproar or even out searching the streets.”
“Hmm.” Goodwin had finished the hobbles. Now she sat on the backs of Gunnar’s knees. “And mayhap you and Yates and your other Rat friend took Herun yourselves. There’s a good trick. You lure the old man out, not to mention his household, so you can rob the place. Or did you just hear of the kidnapping, and come to help yourself?”
Annis and Tansy watched, their faces hard. There’s scant mercy in Lower City folk. I would have been startled if they had told my Dogs to stop hurting Gunnar when he’d kept his knife to Tansy’s throat for so long. I could see a red, swollen ridge where he’d cut her and the line of dried blood he’d left.
“I’m on my own,” Gunnar cried. “And that’s my last word! Torture me all you want!”
“Not us,” Tunstall said. “We’d stain our uniforms. The cage Dogs, though – they get leather aprons, special issue. It cuts down on their laundering expenses.”
Most street Dogs don’t care for torture. The cage Dogs go in for that. That was partly how they made their extras. We have the Happy Bags to share. Cage dogs get paid direct, by families and patrons of the Rats, and by the crown for what they can get from Rats in pain.
Knowing the cage Dogs waited didn’t loosen Gunnar’s tongue. He kept silent after that. We took down details of what he’d done as we untied the servants, then found the cage cart and dropped him off.
Then we went back to the Cesspool and our regular patrol. By then word of Crookshank’s raid on the Court of the Rogue had reached the kennel. All around us, runners slipped by with a wink or a wave. They were lads or gixies like I was once, picked because they had sense and they knew the Lower City. It was their job to get the news to the Dogs on watch without being caught by Rats or cracknob cityfolk.
By the time we took supper, the Cesspool was still. The rushers, doxies, spintries, and drunks had all gone to ground. Everyone wanted to see what the Rogue would command once the invaders had left his Court. There were no cockfights or dogfights, no corner dice games, and scarce tavern business. I’d never seen it so unnatural.
We poked around three of Crookshank’s buildings for signs of cellar digging or the smells of rotting dead, without luck. We’d thought to look at one more, since most folk were off the streets. A pack of pit dogs growling behind the place discouraged us. Perched atop the rear wall to look at them, I could see their chains did not look securely fastened to stakes in the ground. We’d have to return with sleep dust for these four-legged brothers. Pounce, sitting on the wall beside me, did not care to get involved this time. We gave up and headed off down Charry Orchard.
“Crookshank’s search must still go on,” Goodwin said when we saw the Red Feather gang wasn’t holding their nightly dice game at their usual corner. “That’s why we’ve seen no one from the Court.”
Tunstall listened to a far-off watchman call the quarter hour. “I’d like a word with Mistress Noll. See if she knows where we might find her boy Yates.”
“You think he’ll make a run out of Corus?” Goodwin asked, thinking out loud. “To his brother in Port Caynn, or the one in Blue Harbor?”
Tunstall was shaking his head. “Not those two. They want to look respectable. Both of them would send Yates home in a sack.”
“So busy working, building it all up, she never noticed what a Rat her littlest lad turned out to be,” Goodwin muttered. “There’s a mother’s lot for you.”
Pounce jumped up on my shoulder as we entered the Nightmarket.
“Deirdry Noll’s got five good children, Clary,” Tunstall said. “Every barrel has one rotten one. Yates is hers.”
Mistress Noll had plenty of customers. Gemma was there to help. We hung back, watching as Gemma served while Mistress Noll cooked. The old mot worked fast, but then she’d been doing this longer than I’d been alive. She was a baker’s
daughter who’d married another baker. Watching her, I wondered if she dreamed of flour.
The custom thinned out. My Dogs stepped up to the counter. Gemma said, “Ma.”
Mistress Noll turned. “My favorite pair.” She reached for the patties without thinking, then stopped herself. “But somehow I think it’s not for our wares.” She wiped her face and neck of sweat with a cloth she kept over one shoulder, then leaned on the counter. Now she looked as hard as her arms. “What may I do for you, Guardsman?”
Tunstall asked her about Yates’s whereabouts. She denied knowledge. My attention was on her necklaces, disordered when she wiped her neck. Among her beads and brass chains was a thin chain that looked like real gold, with a lily pendant made of green and white enamel.
What is it about that necklace that seems familiar? I’ve never seen it before, I am certain.
“I told Yates Gunnar Espeksra is worm scummer.” Mistress Noll’s voice was sharp. “Why do you bother my boy, with Herun Lofts missing and poor Tansy mad with fear? Such a sweet child. She’s had a lifetime of trouble in two scant months.”
“Your boy’s friend put a knife to sweet Tansy’s throat this evening,” Goodwin said. “We think he may have told Yates what he was looking for. Surely that’s harmless enough.”
“Nothing’s harmless when you hand a cove to the cage Dogs,” Mistress Noll said.
“We don’t mean to hobble Yates,” Goodwin told her. “Unless he’s done aught to be hobbled for?”
“I’ve not seen him in five days,” Mistress Noll said, her voice iron hard. “Nor would I tell you if I had. No mother would.”
I looked around. My tripes itched me like fire. I know that feeling from sifting pigeon and spinner gleanings. Something that matters had crossed my attention just recently – two somethings. If I let go, try not to think about them, sometimes they become clear.
Tunstall sighed. “Mother, I know you’re not thinking kindly of us, but we’re only doing our work,” he said, keeping his voice low. “And here’s some advice you’ll thank me for. Close early. You and Gemma go home with the crowd. Better still, find a strong fellow to take you home. There may be trouble with the Rogue.”