Masters of Deception

by J C Kang

  Now, this Signore party left little time to Divine both her location and an auspicious time for the Paladins to meet with the Acerbi family. And despite all previous failed attempts to Divine anything about De Lucca, his goals were becoming more and more suspect.

  Motioning for Patrizio, he strolled over to Signore Bianchi, whose face was nuzzled in a courtesan’s cleavage. “Signore Bianchi, allow my steward to take you to a guest room.”

  Bianchi looked up, his grinning face red and stupid.

  With a nod from Cassius, Patrizio hurried over and helped Signore Bianchi to his feet. “Signore, allow me to pour you into a guest bed?”

  Cassius turned to Signore Rossi, who had one prostitute in his bulky lap and another at his side.

  “Signore Rossi, it is getting late. Your carriage is waiting outside.”

  Laughing, the man lifted the girl to her feet and struggled to stand.

  Cassius lent him a hand and pulled him to the door. He gestured to another servant. “Have the dome room cleared, quickly.”

  The servant put two fingers to his forehead and nodded, then scampered off to direct the others.

  Signore Rossi chuckled as he staggered, with Cassius’ and the giggling woman’s support. His speech slurred as he spoke. “I tell you, Signore Cassius, Signore De Lucca’s parties are more fun, but no one sets a table in your style. None have your mastery of spices. No plate compares to the feasts you serve.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “Maybe if you let us share your Aksumi girls, it would be just as fun.” Signore Rossi laughed so hard he broke into a fit of coughing.

  Cassius cast a glance back at Brehane, who turned away from Makeda and locked gazes with him. They undoubtedly wouldn’t be around for the next Signore reception, nor did he have any intention of sharing them with the Signores. To the Bovyans, for ridding Tokahia of the crime families, however…

  The memory of Brehane’s adoring eyes as she watched him cook surfaced. He shook it out of his head and reached the door. Taking a deep breath of the cool evening air, he cleared his nose of Signore Rossi’s wine-heavy breath. The drunkard’s covered coach waited by the steps, the driver jumping down from the seat to open the door.

  One of the guards came over and helped Signore Rossi and De Lucca’s two courtesans in. At least he would get his quim sandwich tonight, even if Cassius would not.

  Cassius let out a long sigh as the coach set off into the night. He turned around to find Brehane and Makeda by the door.

  Makeda took his hand and batted her eyelashes at him. Apparently she didn’t care about whether his Divining skills were suspect. “Cassius, are you ready to retire?”

  His pulse notched up. If only he could! The Iridescent Moon waned toward full, when Heaven’s Accountant claimed less of his soul from Divining…but if he could possibly get the both of them in bed at once, perhaps the task could wait until morning.

  Brehane shuffled on her feet, her eyes going from their joined hands to meet his gaze. She neither frowned nor smiled. The local girls were easy to read and manipulate, but this one… Was a quick tryst possible?

  He reached for her hand.

  “Signore Larusso,” a voice from the door called in a heavy accent.

  Releasing Makeda’s hand, he spun around.

  The male Paladin master stood at the threshold, palms pressed together.

  Cassius looked up at the Iridescent Moon, heading toward full. Almost midnight. “Master Anish. If you are coming to retrieve your apprentice, he already left with Signore De Lucca.”

  “I…with Signore De Lucca?” The Paladin master’s forehead scrunched up.

  “There was a disturbance at his downtown office an hour ago, and he convinced your apprentice that it might lead them to Sohini.”

  Master Anish harrumphed. “That is why I am here. Sameer is young and foolish, and I fear his emotional tie to Sohini will lead to his downfall. I must know her location, at once, before Sameer gets himself into too much trouble.”

  At once? A coincidence that he’d planned on Divining on this very question anyway. Even though he didn’t have to reveal his actual interpretation, he could still milk the urgent request for a larger fee.

  He looked from Master Anish to the two beautiful Mystics. On the Heaven’s Accountant’s balance sheet, the opportunity for a meal for three had been worth the cost of Divining at a more taxing time. Now, considering the additional fee, that pumpernickel chicken sandwich would have to wait. “I am very drained, but when the Iridescent Moon reaches full, I might be able to draw on enough energy to answer these questions. It will cost you.”

  “Do it.” Master Anish’s voice rolled over him like a tidal wave smashing into ships in the harbor.

  Of course, it was a reasonable request. After all, he was going to do it anyway, albeit after a roll between Makeda and Brehane. Cassius turned and headed back to the dome room. Patrizio approached, all the while eyeing the Paladin master. “Signore Bianchi has settled in the guest chambers.”

  “Good. Bring me the large maps of the Tokahia.”

  Patrizio nodded and hurried off.

  When Cassius arrived at the dome room, the servants were just finishing moving the tables and chairs to the storage room. The Divine Whispers rose to a shout in his ears, almost as intense as his megalith circle during a Full Blue Moon.

  He looked up into the heavens. While the layman might appreciate the magnificence of a star-speckled night sky, the beauty of the stars lay in the mysteries they unlocked. Withdrawing Sohini’s pendant that Sameer had given him, the strand of her hair from Anish, as well as two dice, he focused on the painted circle in the dome which showed the phases of the Iridescent Moon. Never tearing his gaze away from the moon, he wrapped the strand of hair around the twenty-sided die. There were only a few more minutes before it reached full, making Divining the most accurate and least draining on his soul. Patrizio had better hurry up with the map.

  As always, the steward was reliable. He and another servant returned and stood at the edge of the floor mosaic map, where they unrolled the map so large that five men could lie on it.

  Standing under the constellation of the Wanderer, which had been ascendant over Sohini’s birthplace at her birth time, Cassius focused on the swirling colors of the Iridescent Moon. It was hypnotic as it waxed fraction by fraction, so much that he had to blink several times not to miss it.

  Just before it reached full, he took a deep breath to suck in the Gods’ Whispers. They surged through him. His fingers and toes tingled. He threw the dice onto the floor. The invisible hands of the gods guided them as they bounced in impossible curves over the mosaic floor map.

  Somewhere behind him, Brehane gasped. “The Resonance,” she whispered.

  The dice and pendant tumbled through the Kingdom of Korynth and over several other of the Estomari city-states. They formed a triangle over Tokahia. The twenty-sider showed the symbol of Kor the Hunter, while the twelve-sider showed Kor’s prey, The White Stag.

  “As I suspected,” Cassius said. “She is in Tokahia.”

  Brehane, Makeda, and Anish all crowded around, though they wouldn’t understand the meaning: Sohini was still here in Tokahia, influenced by both Kor and the White Stag. How interesting a combination; one which meant she was both the hunter and the prey.

  With the Gods’ Whispers still coursing through him, he swept up the dice and pendant and returned to the spot under the Wanderer. He gestured toward Patrizio. “Lay down the city map, centered over Tokahia. Hurry.”

  The steward and the other servant rushed to the middle of the room and spread out the map.

  Cassius cast the dice and pendant onto it.

  Carried on the breaths of the Gods, the pendant ricocheted off the city map and took an impossible meandering roll off the map.

  The dice, on the other hand, landed without a bounce, the twenty-sider in Mafia territory, showing The White Stag. The other fell right on top of the outline of a villa near th
e pyramid. Cassius counted the buildings.

  His villa.

  The shape of the building, with the dome room attached, should have made it obvious. The twelve-sider showed Kor the Hunter.

  His head spun. The only other time he’d gotten such bizarre results was when trying to learn more about De Lucca. Now, with only two items on the city map, it was impossible to triangulate Sohini’s exact location. There was no way to reveal this inconvenience without losing the ability to manipulate the Paladins. It wasn’t as though he was going to tell the real location, anyway.

  “Speak,” Anish said, his voice again roaring like waves. “Tell me where Sohini is.”

  Cassius nodded. It was a reasonable demand. The Paladins had paid, after all. He leaned in and whispered, “She is here, in Tokahia. However, the three objects determine the range of her movement within the near future. With only two dice on the map, I cannot determine her exact location.”

  Frowning, Makeda said something to Brehane in their language. Brehane clasped the crystal around her neck. She shook her head.

  They were doubting his ability, and if they left, the Bovyans wouldn’t honor their deal to destroy the Mafia, and the Mafia would overwhelm the pathetic pyramid honor guard, and the orc gods would return on their flaming chariots… Everything was going wrong. Why had he even revealed his Divining failure, when it was so easy to come up with a glib excuse? He gritted his teeth. “It is like your missing Mystic,” he lied. It was more like De Lucca. “Something prevents me from scrying her.” He turned back to Anish. “I would surmise the Hunter, here on this very building, represents someone searching for her: you. The White Stag represents where she will flee to.”

  “Where is it?” Anish asked.

  “In Mafia-held territory.”

  Brehane blew out a long breath. “Just like Signore De Lucca said.”

  Cassius gave a tentative nod. He was either confirming De Lucca’s honesty, or reinforcing their trust. Maybe this wasn’t a complete failure.

  Anish’s brows clashed together. “What did De Lucca say?”

  “That the Acerbi crime family had captured her,” Brehane said.

  The Paladin turned to Cassius. “Is that what really happened? Tell me.” Again, his voice felt like waves crashing on the beach.

  “It is impossible to Divine at this time.” Embarrassment washed over Cassius. Why had he answered the master’s questions so honestly, again? How humiliating. Just after he’d saved his reputation, the Mystics would doubt his skill. He found them in the corner of his eye.

  Brehane and Makeda exchanged glances, their expressions both contorted in disappointment.

  Cassius clenched and unclenched his fists. If they didn’t trust him, he wouldn’t be able to keep them here long enough to fulfill his end of the deal with the Bovyans; nor string the Paladins along until he could use them.

  “Wait.” He had to prove himself. He withdrew his star globe and twisted the rings to mark the current night sky. Sucking in another breath of the Whispers, his energy flagged. His head wobbled as his neck refused to support it. Fingers barely able to move, he tossed the globe toward the map. It floated in a gentle arc at first, but then dropped sharply. It landed right on Don Acerbi’s headquarters, with the icon of the new Iridescent Moon facing up.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Brehane stared at the star globe, the symbols all gibberish. The shift in the Resonance still hung in the air and sang to her very core. The echo of the Paladin master’s Command and Cassius’ Divining felt like the aftereffect of a master Mystic’s powerful spell.

  It added more evidence to her theory of the similarities of magic.

  Makeda would scoff at the idea. She hadn’t been interested in experiencing this Divining magic, though she’d hung around, probably in hopes of taking Cassius to bed later. Now, she just yawned. She’d made it abundantly clear that the hostilities between the crime families and Signores wasn’t their concern.

  Perhaps a missing Paladin apprentice was just a diversion from finding Melas, but suspicion pricked at Brehane’s neck. Maybe it was more than just a coincidence that both had gone missing in the same city, a wondrous city; but other Mystic adepts had disappeared here, as well. She clasped her necklace and looked up from the star globe to Cassius.

  Everyone else stared at him as well, all eyes expectant.

  He was slumped over, panting, hands on his knees. His voice came out a weak whisper. “Noon tomorrow, at Don Acerbi’s headquarters, is the most auspicious time to confront the crime families.”

  Brehane looked at the Paladin master. Lines formed on his forehead, and his jaw wiggled back and forth. What was he thinking? Casting a Neuromancy spell to read his mind would be too obvious, and her Ayuri language skills might not be good enough to understand his thoughts, anyway. Not to mention, such a difficult spell would drain her for days. She found Makeda in the corner of her eye.

  The ugly assama looked to be lost in deep thought. She met Brehane’s gaze. “So many missing people here.”

  Maybe she was smarter than she looked. Brehane turned to Cassius. “Besides Melas, the Mystic Council lost contact with two other adepts here. Is it possible the crime families are using them in their conflict with your government?”

  “Paladins, too,” Master Anish said. “At least six have gone missing. After I ruled out our rival recruiting them, I wasn’t sure what had happened to them. Now, though, the evidence points to the Mafia.”

  Cassius might’ve already been pale from the draining effect of magic, but he managed to blanch even more. “I must inform the other signores. If the Mafia has hired the services of renegade Mystics and Paladin deserters, then they are even more of a threat to the city and the pyramid.”

  Makeda turned to her. “Cousin, I think this is now our concern.”

  Chapter 15:

  Mistaken Identities

  Gripping one of the knives she’d found in the chest of drawers, Jie set the light bauble behind her back. That way, whoever entered would only see her silhouette.

  A thin young man stepped in, shading his eyes. A sleeveless longcoat made of silk and lace draped over his shoulders. Some kind of cosmetic foundation powdered his face to smooth perfection. Long black hair tumbled over his shoulders.

  He looked like the portrait in the office. And, from the sound of it, Signore De Lucca was alone.

  Every nerve tingled, muscles coiled and ready to leap. She flipped the knife into an underhanded grip.

  “Sister,” he said. “I’m glad you received my summons. I figured it was you trapped in here, though it’s not like you to get spotted. I’ve sent everyone away.”

  Sister? The light at her back must’ve kept him from making out her features, and perhaps she had the same frame as his sibling. Or, he belonged to a clan like the Black Lotus. Could he, too, have been trained by the clan traitor? Jie lowered the knife, but kept the bauble behind her. Behind him, there were no other sounds from Bovyans tromping around.

  He withdrew a folded sheet of paper from an inside pocket of his coat and proffered it. “Here’s the report for Father.”

  What a strange turn of events, and definitely too easy compared to any of her past experiences. Not that it was worth complaining. Fighting the urge to bow Cathayi style, Jie tucked the knife into her sash. She took the letter and stuffed it into her dress where her cleavage would be if she had any.

  “You are unusually silent tonight.” He squinted at her.

  She turned her head slightly, to keep him from getting a good look at her pointed ears. Never having seen or heard De Lucca’s sister before, she had no way of using the Mockingbird’s Deception to imitate her voice. “Sore throat,” she croaked. Hopefully, that would provide a good cover. “I’ll be on my way to deliver your letter.”

  She pocketed the light, plunging the room back into hues of green and grey. His human vision wouldn’t be able to penetrate the darkness. Or could it? His eyes tracked her. He made no move to block her, and she slipped right b
y him, out of the secret room and into the library. Picking up pace, she took the longest strides her short legs could through the hallway. There still weren’t any sounds of other people, though a Bovyan’s back partially blocked the open front door.

  Behind her, De Lucca’s light footsteps trod through the library. Maybe he was suspicious. She had to get out before he called his guard to stop her.

  Two paces behind the Bovyan, she modulated her voice to imitate De Lucca’s. “Come here!”

  As he turned around, Jie ducked low and twisted behind him. If she could rank the sweetness of the cool night air, she’d place it just behind the time after she’d gotten trapped by traitors in a saltpeter mine, and well ahead of escaping insurgents in the hold of a ship. None compared with making it out of a rebel lord’s dungeon, naked, just before she blew up his castle with firepowder.

  She dashed past the open iron gate and into the street, and didn’t look back until she was in the shadows of the row house near the intersection.

  At the entrance, De Lucca’s head swept back and forth. She slunk around the corner and listened and searched for signs of Phobos, the unaccounted-for Nightblade. From what he had said, it sure looked as if the Bovyans had other plans besides just serving as De Lucca’s hired muscle. He naïvely thought to use them against the Mafia, but it looked like they were playing him… But to what end? According to the pimp’s financial records, there weren’t enough to conquer the city. A Bovyan might be worth five normal humans—and when they fought in formation, no army had been able to repel them—but they’d need at least a thousand men.

  With no sign of a tail, she dashed back toward the waterfront. The Paladin masters were staying at the Seafarer, and Sameer would hopefully find his way back there, if he hadn’t first gotten in trouble turning Cassius Larusso’s villa upside down. No, he would be all right, because that had been his muffled voice inside De Lucca’s office earlier.

  Periodically checking to ensure she wasn’t being followed, she made her way through the moonlit streets. Now out of danger, she had to still her shaking hands. How lucky she’d been to avoid capture. In the end, it was almost too easy, with De Lucca just letting her go without confirming her identity in a brighter light. Not only that, but…