The road the warriors chose led straight to the tower, or more specifically the large tents built at the base of the tower. They seemed to be some sort of government buildings. Probably where the clan chiefs met. If they had wizards on call, prying the information they wanted out of the would-be murderers should be simple. Shade had seen Domina and the boss question people from time to time. The memories still gave him shivers.
Nope, couldn’t have the boys talking. Shade fell back a street and hurried to get ahead of his companions. He ran nearly a quarter mile before finding a connecting street. For a moment he’d feared he’d have to cut a path through the tents.
Kneeling at the street corner in the shadows of a tent, he waited for the guards and prisoners to appear. He didn’t have to wait long. The light of the lead guard’s torch appeared less than a minute later. The remaining two guards walked a step behind and on either side of the boys. Getting the second one would be tricky, but nothing he couldn’t handle.
Shade gathered himself when the lead guard passed. The second guard reached a spot directly across from him and Shade sprang.
His daggers flashed and the nearest warrior went down in a spray of blood.
“What—” That was all the far guard could get out before Shade’s dagger buried itself in his throat.
Atar and his friends lunged at the final guard, bringing him down and bashing his head in with the torch.
“What happened?” Shade asked.
“They were waiting inside,” Atar said. “Of the murderer Karn there was no sign.”
“Clever, the guards outside made us think he was inside.” Shade shook his head. “I hadn’t considered that possibility. We must go. Split up and leave the city.”
“This is our home,” Atar said.
“Not anymore. Not if you wish to live. Do you have family outside the city?”
“Some cousins,” Atar said.
“Go to them. Quickly. I’m sorry you didn’t get justice, but now is the time to survive. Good luck.”
With that Shade collected his dagger and took off deeper into the city. He stopped just beyond their view. He’d trail the boys to make sure they escaped before returning to the ship. No one knew about him yet, and Shade planned to keep it that way.
A day had passed since the failed assassination attempt and the tent city remained on edge. Shade wandered here and there, listening to the talk. Most people actually seemed more concerned about the fire than the revenge attack. Most people outside of the Sun Clan that was. The handful of guards Shade passed were all talking about Atar’s failed attempt to avenge his father. Mostly they couldn’t believe someone from the Water Clan would dare disobey the dictates of the Sun Clan. As if the young man was just going to let the murder of his father slide. The arrogance was astonishing.
And useful. When he started cutting throats in the Water Clan district in a couple hours, they’d be sure to blame hot heads in the Sun Clan coming to teach them a lesson. Smiling to himself, Shade angled toward yet another tavern. He’d had his fill of the bitter beer, and was now content to drink water, which was actually more expensive. But when you were paying with stolen money the cost didn’t matter so much.
His current watering hole was in the common area of the city, where people from clans not living in the city tended to congregate. They were the most relaxed, though everywhere had a hint of tension in the air. The city’s transient population had less on the line if the city blew up. They could always flee to their own clans out in the desert.
This tent was nearly half full, easily the busiest of the handful of taverns he’d visited. A woman nodded to him as he made his way to the bar. At least Shade assumed it was a woman from the general build hidden under the robe. He was still getting used to having to guess about that sort of thing as well as whether someone had a weapon hidden under their robe. He just assumed everyone did. Easier that way.
He got his drink and perched on a stool at the bar. This would be as good a place as any to while away the hours until dark.
He’d barely taken two sips of water when the tent flap flew open and an out-of-breath man burst in. “A fight. Water Clan and Sun Clan going at it in the central plaza.”
Everyone rushed to the exit, not wanting to arrive after the brawl ended. Shade fell in with the group. This was too good a chance to pass up.
As the group hurried toward the center of the city Shade couldn’t see much beyond the people surrounding him. It felt like being trapped in a powerful current. Until the group stopped, he was along for the ride.
And it did finally stop. A couple sharp elbows got him to the front of the crowd. In the central plaza ahead, two groups of nomads numbering eight and ten respectively, Sun Clan and Water Clan from their robes, circled each other with their daggers drawn.
Looked like no one wanted to make the first move. It was more dance than battle at this point. For a few seconds the spectators were content to watch in silence, but finally someone shouted, “Get ’em!”
And that was all it took. Soon everyone was shouting for blood. Encouraged by the crowd’s enthusiasm, a Sun Clan warrior slashed at his Water Clan opponent, missing and taking a slice to his extended arm for his trouble.
If the shouts lit the fuse, the sight of blood really got things going. Warriors sliced and slashed. Two men grappled and rolled around in the sand. It was a pathetic display. Shade could have killed everyone out there in five minutes if he’d wanted to.
“Make way!” someone shouted from behind the group.
Shade turned and stared. A sphere of water floated in the air above an old man in wizard robes. He was traveling with a trio of Water Clan warriors armed with the heavy curved swords the locals seemed to favor. The spectators made a path and he marched past.
When the wizard reached the plaza, he gestured and muttered something. The gathered water rushed out and soaked the combatants, hitting some with enough force to knock them to the sand.
“Fools! Idiots!” the wizard shouted. “Are you trying to make things worse? Will you kill each other so your sons can seek revenge and then their sons and on and on forever? There’s been enough death. Enough revenge. Atar and his band have fled. The Sun Clan has agreed to let them go and seek no punishment as long as they don’t return. Let that be enough for all.”
There was some grumbling and plenty of sullen looks, but the combatants separated and stalked off toward their clans’ areas of the city. For now, at least, the war was over, though Shade doubted the wizard had accomplished anything long term. There was too much resentment between the Sun Clan and the smaller clans for anything to change short of a major switch in the way things were run in the city.
The crowd that had come to enjoy the fight dispersed as well. Shade stayed with them for a ways before breaking off and pausing in the shadows of two tents. The wizard should be coming this way soon enough. Shade would be waiting with a proper greeting.
A few minutes later the wizard and his guards appeared. None of them looked overly concerned. The guards didn’t even have a hold of their sword hilts.
Sloppy, but useful for Shade. He held a dagger in each hand in a reverse grip. The sleeves of his robe hid the weapons as he staggered out of his hiding place like a drunk.
“Why’d you stop the fight?” Shade slurred the words and stumbled.
The wizard shook his head and said, “See him off.”
The guards bowed and took a step toward Shade.
That was all they managed. With only five feet separating them, Shade lunged between the guards.
The wizard’s eyes widened. His instant of surprise ensured his death.
Shade’s right dagger slashed his throat and his left drove into the base of the man’s skull, piercing his brain.
Using the guards’ shock to his advantage, Shade recovered and spun into them, stabbing one in the chest and the other in the neck.
In less than ten seconds the wizard and his guards were dead and Shade was walking calmly away, hi
s daggers sheathed like nothing had happened.
It would be dark in an hour and he had a busy night ahead.
The orange glow from the fires Shade set matched the sunset. It was kind of pretty, unless you lived in one of the many tents that now resembled torches. How long had it been since Shade had done a serious bit of arson? He tried to remember but came up blank. It wasn’t his usual trick, he was more of a “cut their throats and fade into the night” sort of assassin, but he knew a few guys back before joining the boss’s cadre that used fire as a murder weapon. They tended to be the sort that didn’t care about collateral damage. Effective, but not terribly professional. On the other hand, if you wanted to kill an entire city it worked great.
Shade stepped away from the burning tent just as a nomad came running up. “Is anyone in there?”
“I didn’t see anyone.” Shade’s dagger appeared in his hand as if by magic and he drove the blade up under the nomad’s chin and into his brain.
He let the man collapse and moved on. Screaming people filled the streets, making it easy to move around. Shade had begun his arson campaign in the Sun Clan’s district since it was the farthest from the Water Clan whose wizards put out the city’s fires. As he moved with the crowd, Shade kept his eyes peeled for anyone with a glowing sphere of water over their heads. He was just playing around the edges until he dealt with the remaining water wizards.
Speaking of whom, there was a blue glow on its way to the first fires he set. Shade left the flow of people and chose an intercept path. He ran between tents, his gaze never wavering from the magical glow. He’d become so focused on reaching the wizard that he nearly walked right into a man with a torch running his way.
“Out of the way!” the newcomer shouted. He had a woman and two little kids with him as he rushed from the burning section of the city.
“Could I borrow that torch?” Shade asked.
“Move!” The man made to shove Shade aside.
Shade caught his wrist and twisted, sending the nomad to his knees. His wife, or at least Shade assumed it was his wife, screamed.
Shade drew his dagger. “Your torch or your life.” Gods, he sounded like some teenage street punk.
“Take it.”
He ripped the torch from the man’s grasp and let him go. “Best get a move on.”
When the family had disappeared into the darkness Shade touched the torch to the nearest tent. Once it had taken off he moved on to the next. When a cluster of four were burning good he tossed the torch aside and hurried after the wizard. The blue glow had moved just a few streets short of the fires. Shade hoped to arrive just as he started casting.
A couple more fleeing families delayed him a fraction, and when he arrived he found one of the remaining wizards using tentacles made of water to pinch out the flames rushing from the tops of a trio of nearby tents. Four big nomads holding bared blades stood guard at his back.
Shade winced. That was more guards than he expected. Not impossible, but definitely tricky. As he planned his line of attack, Shade drew one fighting dagger and one throwing blade.
He took a final breath to steady himself and charged.
The nearest guard spotted him at once and shifted to intercept.
Exactly as Shade wanted. The instant he moved, a narrow path opened between the guards and the wizard.
A flick of his wrist sent the throwing dagger tumbling through it and into the wizard’s back. The old man fell with a pained shout. His water tentacles collapsed into the sand.
Shade had no time to celebrate his victory. All four guards rushed to meet him.
His second dagger cleared its sheath just in time to redirect an incoming sword.
Shade spun and slashed.
Blood sprayed.
A heavy sword caught him with a glancing blow to the leg, thankfully mostly turned aside by his robe and trousers.
Guards died left and right.
And then it was over. Shade stood alone holding blood-drenched daggers and panting for breath. His leg ached, but it wasn’t bad enough to slow his mission.
“It was you.” The wizard held a watery gurgle as he tried to crawl towards Shade. “Why do this?”
Shade walked over to the wizard and crouched beside him. The dagger had taken him in the right lung, thus the gurgling when he talked.
“It’s nothing personal,” Shade said. “My master requires access to the tower and I doubted your people would grant him his wish peacefully.”
“The tower is an evil place. It has remained sealed since the men from across the mountains were destroyed by their own dragons. Once our people got out from under their heel, we said never again. Only the wisest of us understand this gathering’s true purpose.”
“That’s fascinating, but I’ve got some more fires to set so…”
“Don’t do—”
Shade’s dagger plunged into the wizard’s heart, silencing him for good. Whatever plea he was going to make didn’t interest Shade. He was going to clear the boss’s way no matter how many people had to burn and no old story would stop him.
Chapter 9
Yaz thought the City of Bells was big, but Port Steel made it feel like a village. Even from a distance the sprawl of Carttoom’s largest city stunned. It had to cover several square miles at least. Slender towers jutted up nearly as high as the dragonspire. Massive structures like fortresses covered whole city blocks. A high wall surrounded the city on three sides while the ocean protected it on the fourth.
Half a mile ahead of them the Wallowing River emptied into the ocean. Beside the mouth of the river were the first of hundreds of piers where ships of all sizes from river barges to huge three-masted caravels docked. People came and went from the ships in a nonstop stream, carting the gods alone knew what from the depths of their holds.
One item that appeared depressingly common were slaves being driven down ramps with collars around their necks and chains connecting them in a long line. That must be how his parents were unloaded along with all the others. Yaz’s stomach clenched. He wanted to help them but could do nothing. The city was designed around the idea of housing and selling slaves. It was probably the worst possible place for a revolt.
“It’s horrible,” Brigid whispered beside him. She was so upset her body trembled.
Yaz put his arm around her shoulders. “Steady. We just need to get our information and get out. The less time we spend here the better.”
She looked away from the unloading ships and nodded. “How can they do that to other people?”
Yaz didn’t know how to answer her. To buy time he glanced at the other passengers who had gathered near the rail as the barge prepared to tie up. No one paid them the least attention. They all looked eager to get unloaded and probably find somewhere to clean up and rest. To say the trip hadn’t gone smoothly would be an understatement. He didn’t know what the others planned to say about the barge master’s deal with the pirates. Yaz was content to let the matter go since he never planned to take the barge again.
He looked back at Brigid and tried to think of a good answer to her question. He didn’t know what possessed people to take others as slaves. That wasn’t tolerated in the valley, so he had no real experience with slavery. The idea of a lifetime of free labor probably appealed to some and having the power of life and death over another person no doubt appealed to others.
In the end all Yaz could say was, “I don’t know.”
The barge bumped against the pier and a dockworker tied them up. The passengers jostled to be the first off. Yaz and his companions held back to disembark last.
While they waited Yaz asked Silas, “Do you know anything about the city?”
The wizard shrugged. “Not much. I’ve never visited. Too many bounty hunters for my liking. I know many of the guilds are headquartered here along with most of the large merchant groups. They say you can buy anything in Port Steel and I don’t doubt it for a second. The sooner we complete our work and get out of here, the happier
I’ll be.”
“I second that,” Brigid said.
Under other circumstances, Yaz might have liked to see what the city had for a library, but now was certainly not the time or place for sightseeing.
“The Slavers Guild should have the information we need,” Yaz said. “The only question is how best to get it.”
“There’s only one way,” Silas said. “We’ll have to break in and steal it.”
Yaz and Brigid stared at him for a moment, but he clearly wasn’t kidding.
“How, by all the watching gods, can we manage that?” Yaz asked.
Silas shrugged. “No idea, but I promise you that’s what it’ll come down to. No way will the guild sell that sort of information. If word got out it would destroy their reputation.”
Yaz couldn’t deny Silas had a point. As they followed the last passengers up onto the dock Yaz said, “Why don’t we find an inn, eat, sleep, and go scouting first thing in the morning?”
No one argued so they set out. The barge’s dock was only a couple hundred feet long and at the end merged with a street that led deeper into the city proper. The first few blocks after the docks were single-story row houses that had seen better days. The few shops included everything you might want for a sea voyage as well as shacks selling fried fish. The less said about the smell the better.
As they moved deeper into the city, Yaz kept his head on a swivel. His nervousness probably made them stand out, but he couldn’t help it. The city overwhelmed his senses. Danger could come from so many directions it made planning impossible.
“Oh, gods.” Brigid gasped and walked toward a board nailed to a handy post.
“What is it?” Yaz asked as he and Silas hurried to catch up.
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