Scythe shook her head. “That just seems petty on my part.”
“It’s not petty,” he insisted. “I want you to trust me. And I want to tell you. I’ve never told anyone.”
Scythe stayed quiet.
Dagger sighed and ran a hand through his hair, unsure how to carry on. He figured his first option was the only one still available, so he took the chance.
“My mother was strict but kind,” he started. He told Scythe about the occasional hallucinations his mother would have, and how they got worse after his father died. He described how she was lucid now and then, but it was fading, and of their dinner together. He stopped at the moment when his mother pointed the knife at him, remembering the cold metal turn to fire inside him. He didn’t know how to put it into words, but Scythe let him take his time. She listened quietly, and Dagger saw she was coming out of her shell again.
Scythe still didn’t say anything when he finished. There was really nothing to say. He was grateful when she took his hand again.
“We should get a salve for those blisters,” he said, changing the topic.
“I don’t think they work on us. We heal quickly anyway,” Scythe replied, shrugging. “How are your wounds?”
“They’re alright, better than yesterday.”
Scythe just nodded. “Do you want to get some wine?”
“Gods, yes.” He didn’t care that they couldn’t get drunk.
The moonlight glinted off the goblets on the balcony’s crooked table. Scythe had just finished trading a tale of how she tormented a town by killing their Earl, who was an official victim, and riding around the town with his body tied to a horse. The townspeople had been terrified but violent. She eventually left them with half a dozen arrows stuck in her.
“That might have been a grand sight,” Dagger said. “You as a night wraith, not the arrows.”
“That part was funny too. I looked like a damn porcupine.”
It felt good to laugh. Even the holes in his chest didn’t protest as much anymore. Scythe took a sip of wine after the laughter died down. He couldn’t help but admire her neckline as she swallowed, and how her blood red hair sat on her shoulder. She caught him looking and smiled sweetly.
He tried to push away the thoughts of her neck, but they protested. He had to focus; there was one more topic he wanted to discuss.
“So how do we get Nyx on our side?” he asked.
Scythe contemplated the question. “It will be hard to try anything that won’t seem odd or suspicious.”
“My thoughts exactly,” he said. “Maybe we could start small. Wait for another victim to be chosen. When we take the life, we call to her and thank her for giving us a second chance.”
“It’s good to start with, but then what?” Scythe asked. “Asking her over for dinner would seem strange. Does anyone actually include her in anything? I know Maniodes and Phaos have brotherly visits, but does anyone invite Nyx over for a chat?”
“Probably not,” he agreed, “but what if we do something a bit bigger? Offer her a sacrifice, maybe. The harvest moon is rising; it’s almost time for Nukternios. They’re in her honor all across Ichorisis, so it wouldn’t seem out of place.”
“A small sacrifice isn’t enough to make her an ally, but honoring her is a good idea,” Scythe considered. “It would catch her attention.”
They both fell silent for a moment. His eyes kept drifting to Scythe’s neckline.
Scythe sat up suddenly, breaking his gaze.
“What if we throw a ball for Nyx on Nukternios?” Her eyes were wide with excitement.
“That’s a little too big, don’t you think?” he countered. “It would draw too much attention to us.”
“Not if we play our cards right.” Scythe stood, hardly able to contain her excitement. “We invite all of the Incruentus Ferrum. Nyx would be the guest of honor, of course, the night is meant to celebrate her. We’d have to invite Maniodes and Phaos too. If they weren’t included, they’d sense something was wrong. Even the sentries could come, just for the fun of it!”
It was drastic but could work.
“People throw festivals for Nukternios anyway. A ball wouldn’t seem that out of place.”
“Exactly, and as long as you, me, and Axe lay low, no one will notice anything strange about what we’re actually doing. You trust Axe, right?”
That last thought broke her excitement. They hadn’t addressed that yet.
The man seemed a little overeager about new discoveries, but he was smart about it. He did the research in his rooms alone. If Scythe or himself had found that old text, neither of them could have translated it. Dagger had seen the portrait of Axe’s daughter as well. Axe wanted to live anyway he could for her.
“I trust him,” Dagger said, “but the next time we want to recruit someone we talk first.”
Scythe paused before stating, “Fair enough.”
“Besides, I do have someone in mind who could help us spy on Maniodes,” Dagger said.
“And who’s that?” Scythe took her seat again.
“Pitch is Maniodes’s right-hand man. He could inform us of his actions,” he suggested.
“Pitch? He’s twelve,” she countered.
“Yes, but in Ferrum years he’s at least another twenty on top of that.”
“Dagger, I don’t know.”
“Just hear me out. Pitch actively helps Maniodes make his schedules. All Pitch would have to do is send us a message whenever he can. He’s a mature kid; he can handle it.”
“He’s excitable, though. What if he can’t keep his head down enough and tips Maniodes off?” Scythe asked.
“He understands the pressure of the situation. As soon as he heard Nyx and Maniodes talking, he ran to me for help. He’s terrified of dying, just like us.”
Scythe thought for a moment, wine in hand again. “The sentries can’t get close enough to him,” she said, weighing the options, “and it’s too dangerous for Axe as it is.”
“The sentries could still help,” Dagger suggested. “We let them know Pitch is involved, and they’ll keep an eye on him for us.”
“Well, I don’t see how either of us could get that close to Maniodes.”
“We’ll have to be clear to Pitch about the caution. As you said, the kid is excitable,” he admitted.
“If he can stay calm, it would be perfect.”
“So you agree that Pitch should be on board?” Dagger asked. “I see no reason to delay talking to him about it.”
“Yes, but we’ll have to explicitly emphasize the caution,” she said. “You know, speaking of Pitch, he mentioned something weird before.”
“Like what?” Dagger asked, confused.
“He wondered if I felt any different after killing that girl in the hovel, the way you changed at the Paavos’s house,” Scythe explained.
“I haven’t changed,” he defended.
“But you couldn’t kill Basil, you had me do it.”
He fell silent then. He still hadn’t figured out why he couldn’t kill Basil at the time. He just kept thinking of the man’s family, and what the deaths were doing to Marella. Maybe he had changed, but he didn’t like the idea. It felt like his edge was turning dull. At the same time, though, he just hadn’t wanted to hurt that family anymore.
“Did Pitch mention anything else?” Dagger asked.
“No, he just kept picking at his fingernails.” Scythe shrugged, sipping her wine.
“Wait, really?” he insisted.
Scythe eyed him. “He looked nervous. I thought it was because we haven’t talked much.”
“Pitch only does that when he’s anxious about something,” Dagger speculated, “and that’s not often.”
Scythe thought for a moment, then said, “You think Maniodes put him up to something?”
“No idea, and if it was a direct, but secret order, he won’t tell us.”
“Oh, come now, he would tell you,” Scythe said.
“Not if it’s from Maniodes,” D
agger said.
After another pause Scythe lowered her goblet. “Do you think Maniodes has planned something else about us?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t recruit a twelve-year-old to denounce his god,” Scythe speculated.
“No, Pitch will be fine. He’ll be willing to help, I’m sure of it,” Dagger said. “Even if he is hiding something, it can’t be anything deadly against us. Maniodes wouldn’t trust anyone with anything like that.”
“If you’re sure, he will be a good asset in our plans.” Scythe gave in.
“So, it’s decided. A conscious decision made by a couple together.” Dagger raised his wine in a mock salute. “Much easier that way, isn’t it?”
Scythe’s just scoffed.
Chapter 29
Dagger made his way back to Skiachora in the small hours of the night. Scythe had volunteered to stay and watch the sick woman. She didn’t seem particularly happy about staying behind, but it was her idea. It probably had something to do with the bad joke about communication on the balcony. He had meant it as an honest jest, but it must have been too soon. He hoped she didn’t think he was mocking her.
The guard at the ruined front door told him Maniodes was back, but that he had retired to his chambers. The last sentry to see Pitch reported the boy heading back to his own rooms. Dagger clapped the sentry on the shoulder, thanking him. The sentry stood a little taller at that and nodded.
They had been right about Pitch’s whereabouts. The boy opened the door soon after Dagger knocked, scratching an eye.
“Hey, Dagger,” he said in a voice thick with sleep, “whatcha doing?”
“I was wondering if we could talk about something, little man,” Dagger replied. “Did I wake you?”
“Maniodes had me running messages back and forth from a sentry by one of the caves,” Pitch shrugged.
He stepped aside to let Dagger in, closing the door behind him. Dagger had to smile at the room around him. No matter how long Pitch would be a Ferrum, he still died a child. There was an overturned box for him to step onto to reach the bed. The table had been shortened for him and was littered with detailed wooden soldiers. The pitchfork the boy had chosen leaned on the wall beside the bed.
“You keep this place fairly clean for a kid,” Dagger joked, sitting on the bed. Even the chairs had been sized for Pitch’s stature.
“I got tired of losing things,” Pitch replied. “So, what do you want to talk about?”
Pitch sat at the toy-covered table, anxious. The look he gave reminded Dagger of a child not sure if he was going to be scolded. He didn’t want to put Pitch in this situation, but they needed a person on the inside.
“I need to ask you something, little man, ask something of you, really,” Dagger started.
“Like a favor?”
“Yes, like a favor.” He couldn’t help but keep his voice low. Just being in the castle again, knowing Maniodes was back, added the feeling of being watched.
“If you don’t want to do it you don’t have to,” Dagger started. “It is dangerous.”
Pitch sat patiently with his hands clasped between his knees.
“I need you to spy on Maniodes for Scythe and me,” he said. “You don’t really need to do anything special. When you can, send us a bat in secret with anything you think is peculiar. Better yet, send a sentry with a note; any one of them should be willing to help and can be trusted.”
Pitch’s eyes widened like a puppy’s. “Ever since we heard Nyx and Maniodes talking, you’ve been planning something.”
The awe in his voice was inspiring and heartbreaking.
“Can you keep this secret?” Dagger asked.
“Yes, yes. It’s actually not as hard as I thought.”
“Scythe and I are going to take over Skiachora,” he admitted.
Pitch practically jumped out of his chair. “Like a king and queen?”
“Yes, but Pitch, listen—”
Before he could continue, Pitch hollered in joy and scrambled onto the bed beside Dagger. The kid threw his arms around Dagger in a powerful hug before pulling away. “I could be your squire!”
“Pitch, this is not a game,” Dagger held him by the shoulders, making sure their eyes met. “If you get caught, we are all dead.”
Pitch calmed considerably, but the excited light never left his eyes. “I understand.”
“Do you?” Dagger was greatly regretting this idea.
“I’ve been good with the other secret,” he pleaded.
“You have, but this is a little different.”
“I’m not an idiot, I know that.” Pitch shrugged off Dagger’s hands. “All I would have to do is write a letter to you, right?”
“Yes, but if you act suspicious in any way, Maniodes will know something is wrong.”
“I’ll stay quiet. Most of the stuff he does is boring anyway,” Pitch said.
“Alright,” Dagger conceded, “but the moment you want to back out, I won’t hold it against you.”
“I won’t back out or get scared,” Pitch insisted.
“And you can stay calm around Maniodes?”
“Yes, I promise.”
Dagger believed he would try his hardest. He might even find out there was nothing useful in Maniodes’s schedule, but he still wanted to know what Maniodes was doing on certain days.
“There is one day I’d like you to focus on,” Dagger said.
“What’s that?”
“Try to find a clue about what he does on Fridays. Where does he go?”
“Oh, that’s easy. He told me once that he wanders Ichorisis, testing mortals on hospitality and stuff,” Pitch said.
“That may be true, but I’d like to be certain,” Dagger insisted. “Maybe try to keep an eye out for a letter or something he says when he returns.”
“Okay. This is exciting!” Pitch clapped his hands and bounced on the bed.
“It’s not supposed to be exciting!”
Pitch flinched at his tone.
He hated scaring the poor kid, but it had to be done.
“This isn’t a game,” Dagger said slowly. “If he finds out you’re spying for us, we’re all dead.”
The pressure sunk in then. Fear crept into Pitch’s eyes, and he held his hands in his lap again, picking at a nail.
“I will protect you, Pitch,” Dagger said, taking the boy’s hands in his own. They were small and rough. Dagger had expected them to be soft, like a normal child’s skin, but Pitch was being raised on a farm before he died. “The moment you feel something wrong, you tell me.”
Pitch swallowed and nodded.
“I’ll be careful,” Pitch reassured him. “And Nyx said she’d protect me too.”
Dagger was taken aback for a moment. They hadn’t spoken of Nyx.
“Well, good.” He didn’t know what else to say in that regard. “Wait, she told you this specifically? That’s great, but why.”
Pitch’s excitement faded to nervousness, suddenly. He looked down and started picking at his nails again. It was definitely the look of a boy who had said too much.
“Pitch,” Dagger said gently. “Did Nyx ask something of you?”
The conversation he’d had with Scythe was still fresh in his mind. She had said Pitch was acting strange, and now he was trying to hide something.
Pitch looked up, then away again. Finally, he said, “I’m not supposed to say. I think telling you is a good idea though. That way you’ll know what she wants you to learn. I don’t see why things have to be so secret, anyway.”
“Nyx has some plan, which needs to stay quiet, right?”
“She said Maniodes wouldn’t like it. She said it would be stronger if you and Scythe learn about it yourselves. But, I don’t see how you can learn anything if you don’t know what it is,” Pitch argued.
He wasn’t picking at his nails anymore, and he met Dagger’s eye then. The trust the boy showed was innocent and genuine.
“’Cause Nyx said—”
Pitch stopped talking and just looked at him, confusion clear in his eyes.
“If Nyx asked something of you and wanted you to keep it secret, you should. I’d love to know what you and Nyx are doing, but we need to trust her. She wanted you to do something in secret, so you shouldn’t betray that trust,” Dagger said.
“We’re betraying Maniodes,” Pitch said as if Dagger had forgotten the simple fact.
“I know, but Nyx is different. Maniodes doesn’t think much of us, except as his weapons. I thought we were the same to Nyx, but maybe we’re not.”
Pitch said Nyx told him to keep this secret between them. So Maniodes probably didn’t even know what it was, and that meant he probably wouldn’t approve. Pitch wanted to tell him, whatever it was, so maybe it wasn’t too bad. Maybe Nyx was looking out for all of the Incruentus Ferrum in a way. Then what was the point of the order to disband them? Was that just a tactic she used on Maniodes to have him do her bidding while thinking it was his own idea?
The thoughts of who was playing against whom was too convoluted for him to think of right now. He was never one for politics anyway. He’d discuss it with Scythe later, and maybe they could come up with a decent theory together. One thing was certain: Nyx was planning something for him and Scythe. Something less certain, but fairly likely, was that Maniodes wasn’t involved.
“I should head back,” Dagger said, standing. “You just keep your head down, okay? Do whatever it is Nyx wants you to. She’s a step above Maniodes, so we’ll have to be careful around her.”
“I will, Dagger,” Pitch said, smiling then added, “You and Scythe just think of your previous jobs, okay?”
“Alright,” he said, not understanding but trusting the little man.
Chapter 30
Scythe left the servant’s quarters, wiping blood off her hands. She had to check on the woman often, and this time there was blood on the stump. She still had a fever. Scythe cleaned the blood from around the stumps edges and tied a tourniquet above where Dagger had cut.
Scythe tucked the bloodstained cloth into a hidden pocket in her dress. She always made sure her dresses had pockets. She turned into a corridor that eventually led to the main entrance. The garden still needed some tidying, so she headed there, wishing she had gone with Dagger to talk to Pitch.
Dagger and Scythe Page 18
