They didn’t laugh at that either. Maybe the Ash on their faces made them irritable. I didn’t feel much like laughing myself. I kept seeing the body of the Master Servant on the floor of Carnelian Silkstar’s office. I didn’t even know her name. I didn’t know if she had a family or friends. Did she like reading books and visiting the theatre, or did she like dining at the tavernas on Bayview Plaza, where you could look right down over the white roofs of the city to the glittering waters of Erastes Bay, without having to smell the sewage that emptied beyond the harbour wall? Whatever she was passionate about, she wouldn’t be doing it again, and I couldn’t help thinking I was to blame. My bad ankle throbbed with every step, and I stamped harder. It stopped me thinking too much.
I had lost sight of Benny almost immediately. Unlike me, he hadn’t warranted a squad of Ash Guard. The last I’d seen was him being manacled by the City Watch and led off.
Dammit, Benny! Why couldn’t you have stuck to robbing ordinary rich people? Why did you have to steal from a high mage? And why hadn’t I spotted the booby trap?
I forced the thought away. Feeling guilty was the last thing I needed here.
The cobbled square in front of the Ash Guard fortress was empty except for a few pedestrians hurrying by, heads down. There were none of the usual hawkers or entertainers you would expect to see in a city square. No one, mage or ordinary citizen, wanted to be near the headquarters of the Ash Guard. A dead rat lay in the gutter, body half gnawed. Distantly, I heard shouts from the docks and the hoarse protesting of gulls. The faint wind brought the smell of fish drying on racks on the docks.
The Ash Guard marched me inexorably on.
The entrance to the fortress consisted of double doors made of heavy, old wood still studded with iron. Inside, a well-lit passageway led into the building. I stumbled along, half dragged by my guards. About twenty feet in, the walls changed. Now, they were constructed of oddly-speckled bricks, where Ash had been baked into them. I suspected there was Ash in the mortar between the bricks, too. The whole place was a magical dead zone. I couldn’t help but feel a rush of despair as I was led deeper.
I was taken to a large, circular chamber. Smooth, high walls reached up to what appeared to be viewing galleries. I squinted to see if anyone was up there, but the ceiling was made of strutted glass, and the glare of the sun made it impossible to tell. If I had access to my magic…
There was a sturdy table in the middle of the room, with comfortable, padded chairs on either side and a plate of flatbreads, along with a pot and two cups, dead centre. The captain saw me looking.
“Help yourself,” she said.
The flatbread was still warm under my hand. My stomach gurgled at the smell rising from it, and I shot the Ash Guard captain an embarrassed look. The pot contained a light, yellow-green tea.
“It’ll settle your stomach,” she told me. “Now, wait here. I’ll be back.”
This wasn’t what I had been expecting. I had heard terrible stories of what went on in the fortress, admittedly from people who had never been inside, but still. This hospitality made me immediately suspicious. In my experience, people were only nice to you if they wanted something. I wasn’t in the mood for giving it to them, breakfast or no breakfast.
It’s their job to deal with mages, I reminded myself. Most mages saw themselves as being rather important in society. How better to take down their defences than to make them think they were just around for morning tea?
I didn’t let it stop me helping myself to tea and flatbreads the moment the captain had gone, but I told myself I was remaining suspicious. The tea was wonderful, and it did settle my stomach. When I started eating the flatbreads, I couldn’t stop until there was nothing left but crumbs.
They hadn’t been foolish enough to leave me a knife for the bread, though, and two of the Ash Guard remained at the door.
I was starting to feel almost human again, although bruised, exhausted, and weak, when the captain reappeared. She pulled out a chair opposite and slapped a file on the table.
I reached instinctively for power, to ready myself, and wanted to throw up again.
The captain raised an eyebrow.
“Worth a try,” I muttered.
“So. You’re Mennik Thorn, a freelance mage. How’s that going for you?”
“I prefer Nik. And until this morning, not too bad.”
Her eyebrow rose even higher. I found myself wondering if it was just going to keep going up her forehead and over the back of her head.
“Really? Over the last six months you’ve earned a grand total of three crowns, five shields, and seven pieces. I’ve met beggars who earn more than that.” I must have looked shocked, because she added, “What? You’re a mage. We’re the Ash Guard. We keep a close eye on all of you, particularly ‘freelance’ mages.”
“You follow me around?” I desperately tried to remember if I’d noticed anyone lurking about too often. I sincerely hoped they hadn’t witnessed that unfortunate incident in Blackheart Plaza, because what had been left of my clothing hadn’t been enough to protect anyone’s modesty, even mine.
A smile twitched under the Ash. “We do have other things to do, you know, and you’re hardly the most dangerous mage in the city.” She glanced down at the file. “Although you do find yourself in interesting situations.” That was a polite way of putting it. “But we know who you’ve worked for — or not worked, in your case — and what you’ve been up to.” She reached for a cup, poured herself some of the tea, then set it back down. “Here’s what I don’t understand about you. You’re a mage.”
“Bit late to deny it, I suppose.”
She didn’t laugh. “You could be rich. You could have power, influence. You don’t have to be broke.”
I shrugged. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say to that. Mages were power hungry bastards. Not all of them, of course, but I had seen it in enough of them. Depths, I’d seen it in the Countess. Something about having that power demanded ever more of it, and what they would do to get it, well, that was a slope I didn’t want to slip down. For a while, just a very short while, years ago I had felt that urge, too. It had revolted me. I had seen where it would take me and the price I would have to pay, and I couldn’t do it.
“Other young mages attach themselves to high mages,” the Ash Guard captain continued, “and if they don’t like the idea of that, they work directly for the Senate or they get a position with a wealthy merchant or a prominent family. You’re nowhere near the most powerful mage in the city, but there are plenty of worse mages doing better for themselves. And you had a position with the Countess. You were set, but you gave it all up to work for a few copper hands for anyone who wanted to employ you. Help me understand.”
“Guess I’m just a people person.”
Except that wasn’t it at all. Leaving the Countess’s service had been the best thing I had ever done, no matter how poor it had left me. It might have been the only reason I was still alive, but I wasn’t about to share that with the Ash Guard.
After a moment she nodded. “All right. Shall we get on with the interview?”
I waved a gracious hand. Or it would have been gracious if I hadn’t ended up scattering crumbs across the table.
“I am Captain Meroi Gale,” the Ash Guard captain said, “and I would really like to know what you were doing at the Silkstar Palace.”
Yeah, I bet you would, I thought.
The truth hurt, they said. In this case, that hurt would be literal. The penalties for theft in Agatos were severe, although they didn’t seem to have much effect on the crime rate. If admitting to theft got me off from murder, maybe it would be worth it. Still, I wasn’t ready to let them chop off my hands.
“It’s the Feast of Parata,” I said. “Thousand Walls always opens up for the Feast of Parata. We were just paying our religious devotions.”
She snorted. “The courtyard opens up. Not the private house. Your companion, Benyon Field, is a known thief.”
“Benny’s neve
r been convicted of anything. He’s just unlucky.”
This time her expression of disbelief was clear through the Ash.
“Something you’ve got in common,” she said. “All right. Quiz time. Do you know how many mages I’ve had sit in that chair and tell me they didn’t do it, honest, Captain? And do you know how many of them walked out again?”
“All of them?” I said, hopefully.
Her eyebrow made another dart for her forehead.
“After they’ve realised that protestations of innocence don’t gather any stones,” she said, “they threaten and bluster. The stupid ones threaten me with their own magic, even though magic doesn’t work in here. The slightly cleverer ones threaten me with their patron high mages, if they have one. A high mage could bring Giuffria’s Spear crashing down and flatten the whole fortress, killing every Ash Guard inside without getting close enough to have their magic disrupted. You would think that would be an effective threat, wouldn’t you? Except it never happens. Not once in hundreds of years. You want to know why it never happens, no matter how closely a suspect might be connected to a high mage?”
No, I thought, but found myself nodding anyway. Bloody, traitorous body.
“Because it only takes one Ash Guard with one pouch of Ash. That’s all. Just one. And you can never be sure you’ve got all of us. Anyone who pulls a stunt like that knows that the survivors — and there will be survivors, because we never keep all our knives in one sheath — will come for them and we will kill them, whoever they are and whatever they can do. No question. You know why I’m telling you this?”
I shook my head. Somehow it felt loose, like it might just bobble off and go rolling over the desk to plop down on her lap. I imagined her picking it up by the hair and continuing to lecture me.
“It’s because I’ve been up all night, and I’m tired, and I was supposed to be off shift two hours ago, and I’d really rather not go through all of that. How does that sound?”
“Uh…” I cleared my throat. “Good?”
“Fabulous. And just so we both understand, you have no rights here and no powers. Whether you leave is entirely up to me. None of your colleagues can rescue you.” She tapped the file. “Although you don’t actually have any friends among the city’s mages, do you?”
I shrugged. “They’re just jealous of my good looks.” I was trying for flippant, but my heart was racing and I could feel panic twisting and biting inside me. Keep calm.
“You look like shit.”
“Ouch.”
“A woman is dead, murdered with magic. We do not consider this a joke. The Ash Guard will defend Agatos. Do not think your life is anywhere near as important as that.”
I felt like she’d dumped a bucket of icy water over my head.
Think it through, Nik, I told myself. Logically. I knew I hadn’t murdered the Master Servant, and I didn’t think it was a coincidence that a magical murder had happened at exactly the time I was setting off the booby trap.
I wasn’t talking my way out of this. I would have to gamble and hope the Ash Guard had bigger things to worry over than a bout of thievery.
I raised my hands. “All right, all right. Benny and I were there to steal a ledger from Carnelian Silkstar, but the ledger was booby-trapped, and I didn’t see the trap until it was too late. That’s all I know.”
Captain Gale leaned forwards. “We’ve spoken to Carnelian Silkstar. He told us that there was a curse on a ledger, but all it would have done was to give you a bad case of the shits. It certainly wasn’t booby-trapped. Unless you had a particularly explosive case of the shits, something else caused the damage.”
My jaw dropped.
“I felt it trigger,” I said. “It was booby-trapped. I know what I felt.”
She tilted her head to one side, inquisitively. “You’re saying someone snuck into Silkstar’s library and set a booby trap without him noticing? A high mage’s library.”
“Or he lied,” I muttered.
It sounded weak, even to me, and I still didn’t understand how the Master Servant had died.
All hints of humour had deserted the captain now.
“Shall I tell you what I think? I think you murdered Master Servant Rush, but I think you made a mess of it. I think the blow-back from a badly cast spell almost took you out, too, and wrecked the library.”
I was already shaking my head. There had been a booby trap tied to that curse. I wasn’t wrong. Why, though? Why booby-trap that ledger? Whoever had done it could hardly have been after Silkstar. The explosion had nearly taken me out, but a high mage would have brushed it off like stray dandruff.
Someone had hired Benny to go after this very ledger. They had warned him about the curse. They must have known of his association with me and known Benny would come to me for help. When I broke the curse, the booby trap would explode and I would be dead.
Someone tried to kill you! Not by accident, not in the heat of the moment. It had been deliberate, careful, planned.
The thought made my whole body flush cold, despite the heat pouring in through the glass ceiling. My hands shivered uncontrollably. I quickly clasped them beneath the table. I felt sweat spring up on my cold skin. My lips were dry.
Dead. Why would anyone want me dead? The enormity of it sent my mind flailing for a moment before I could bring it under control. I knew I pissed people off, but this was extreme and dangerous, and if they got it wrong, they would have a high mage after them.
No. Stop. Calm down. It didn’t have to be personal. Maybe they just (just!) wanted to frame someone for the Master Servant’s murder. Maybe anyone would have done as long as that person could take the blame. It would be so much easier to frame someone who wasn’t around to protest their innocence. A shredded body caught in the act. The perfect patsy. Maybe they had set the booby trap, given Benny a deadline, and waited for us to spring it. Then, they had magically murdered the Master Servant and made themselves scarce, leaving people to draw the wrong conclusions from the scene.
Like the captain had.
Except we hadn’t died. We had got lucky — really lucky — and we had survived. Then the Ash Guard had turned up. They had been there fast. The explosion had knocked me out cold, but if I had been unconscious for more than a couple of minutes, Benny would have dragged me out of there. It had taken half an hour for the Ash Guard to march me back from Thousand Walls to their fortress, most of that downhill. Getting there would have taken almost as long, particularly uphill. The Ash Guard didn’t routinely patrol wearing Ash, because Ash destroyed all magic, good, bad, or harmless, that it came close to. Too much of the city relied on magic for that to be an option. Someone must have tipped them off that something was going to happen nearby, and the Ash Guard must have been waiting. Whoever had planned this had been thorough. When we didn’t die, the fallback plan had been waiting, smeared in Ash and brutal judgement.
Captain Gale must have seen something in my expression, because she suddenly leaned back in her chair with a sigh. She slapped a palm on the file in front of her.
“Our assessment is that you don’t have the power to pull something like this off.”
I perked up. That was … unexpectedly good news. “So I can go?”
“Our assessments have been wrong before.”
I slumped back. “Great.”
“But you can go for now.”
Bet you didn’t plan for that, you bastard! I thought. Whoever had set me up had made a mistake.
As if she were reading my mind, Captain Gale shook her head. “You may not have had the power for this, but you are involved, somehow. I hope for your sake that your involvement is entirely innocent and accidental. If not, we will discover who you were working with and we will come for you.”
That wasn’t the most reassuring thing anyone had said to me today. I shivered all over again.
No, I told myself. They couldn’t get anything on me, because I didn’t have anything to do with it. If you’re not involved, you’ve got not
hing to be afraid of. Which was a pile of steaming goat shit, because someone had worked really hard to make it look like Benny and I were involved.
I pushed my chair back and headed for the door. Maybe this hadn’t been personal, but someone had tried to kill me and Benny, and they had tried to frame us. I was going to find out who, and they were going to pay.
“Your friend,” Captain Gale said.
I turned. “Benny?”
“We don’t have him. He’s not a mage, so he’s not our jurisdiction. He’s in the custody of the City Watch.” Was that sympathy in the captain’s voice? Why sympathy? “You should know that he will be found guilty, no matter the evidence.”
I wasn’t naïve, but that still took me aback. How could they just find him guilty? And of what?
“Mr. Field has pushed his luck too far this time. You can’t rob a high mage and walk away from it. Carnelian Silkstar may have no influence in here” — she gestured at the Ash Guard fortress around us — “but the magistrates and the City Watch know on which side of their face the sun shines. You did try to steal from him.”
Benny had been caught red-handed, or as close to red-handed as he could be. What did I think was going to happen? What a fucking idiot I had been. I should never have got into this.
Goat shit, I told myself. This is not your fault. Benny got you into this, not the other way around.
Except I knew I wasn’t going to abandon him.
You don’t let your friends down. You don’t cut them loose. I might not know much, but I knew that. You just didn’t.
My legs were shaking as two Ash Guard men led me out of the chamber. I had a sudden wobble going through the door and almost bumped into the doorjamb. I did a little dance to make it look like I’d meant to do it, which only made the whole thing more obvious.
The truth was, I hadn’t been sure I would be walking out of the Ash Guard fortress at all. There was nothing quite so pathetic as a mage without his powers. I had acted confident, and I knew I was innocent (kind of innocent), but the Ash Guard answered to no one except their own strict laws, and if they had decided I was staying, stay I would.
Shadow of a Dead God: A Mennik Thorn Novel Page 5
