Masters of Deception

by J C Kang

  She withdrew De Lucca’s message to his father and unfolded it. Even in the dim light, it was clear that it was written in the unreadable runes from before. A coded language, maybe. Perhaps it would reveal more about De Lucca’s operations. Perhaps those Aksumi Mystics, with their magic, could find a way to translate it, though she’d hardly made a good first impression. Not to mention, their illusion baubles suggested they were somehow connected to the conspiracy back home.

  The road to the Seafarer passed by the Regent, the three-story stone behemoth of elegance where Prince Aryn and his entourage were staying. Columns rose to arches, covering balconies. On her way to De Lucca’s office earlier in the evening, she’d slipped past some of the prince’s men, out searching for her. Her heart squeezed. Aryn must be distraught at her disappearance, and it would be nice to let him know she was okay. Heavens, it would be nice to give up on this silly chase and share what was undoubtedly a comfortable bed.

  Alas, duty came first. The Aksumi and their illusion bauble of Princess Kaiya, searching for a missing master. Paladins, too, looking for a lost comrade. And Bovyans, specifically the Nightblade Phobos, who could apparently climb walls and moved with stealth. The convoluted web of connections couldn’t all be coincidence, and no doubt she was a step closer to uncovering the clan traitor.

  She cast a longing glance at the Regent, whose curtained glass windows were all dark. Behind one on the third floor, Aryn slept, hopefully alone and worrying about her. She continued down the road.

  Up ahead, light orbs illuminated a small crowd, dispersing from the front of the Seafarer. At this late hour, it couldn’t be anything good. A fight among drunken ruffians, maybe.

  Then Sameer stumbled out the door. Perhaps it was the light, but he looked abnormally pale for someone so dark.

  Jie slipped through the departing townsfolk and came to his side. “What’s wrong?”

  His eyes fell on her with little focus. Then, recognition bloomed on his face. His voice managed to tremble as he intoned her single-syllable name. “Jie.”

  She nodded. “What happened?”

  “Elder Gitika…she’s dead.” He set his fingers at an angle.

  Dead? Jie’d cleaned and stitched the old woman’s wound. There was little chance of infection, and even if there had been one, it wouldn’t have killed so fast, unless… “Poison?”

  He shook his head. “No. They cut her throat.”

  They… “The Bovyans?”

  “The Acerbi crime family.”

  Jie gawked. It was the family De Lucca had threatened with a scorpion sting. Maybe they’d launched a pre-emptive strike. Still, how could a bunch of mobsters defeat two Paladin masters, even if one were wounded? No, they’d need a Paladin to fight a Paladin, and there was one unaccounted for. “I think you need to consider the possibility that Sohini works for the crime family.”

  Sameer’s face, pale up to now, flushed an interesting shade of red. “Never. She would never do such a thing.”

  Jie held her hands up and took a step back. “Consider this: I saw your master overcome several Bovyans—the best-trained soldiers in the world.” Albeit not the smartest. “I can’t believe a bunch of ruffians could scratch her, let alone overcome both her and Master Anish. And where is he?”

  Sameer’s voice cracked. “Just as we planned, Master Anish had left to meet me at Signore Cassius’ villa. It was a phase before the attack. She was injured and tired. And alone.”

  Lucky timing on the part of the Mafia, to catch an injured Paladin by herself. Jie snorted. No, there was no such thing as luck, and nothing he’d said ruled out Sohini. “I still don’t think a bunch of thugs could beat her.”

  “The innkeeper says they had the help of a Golden Scorpion.”

  Jie’s head spun. With the Mafia and Signores, this city’s power dynamics made little sense already. Now, Madura’s anti-Paladins were thrown into the mix. Perhaps the Mafia was hiring Golden Scorpions to escalate their fight with the Signores. Still, something didn’t add up. “What did the Mafia have to gain by attacking her?”

  “I don’t know.” His eyebrows knitted together. “De Lucca says he sent Sohini to attack the Acerbi family, and they captured her. Maybe they knew we would try to rescue her, and launched a pre-emptive attack.”

  “All right. Still, I can’t believe it is just luck that they attacked when your master was wounded, alone, and undefended. You have to consider that someone is helping them. Who knew Master Anish wouldn’t be there, and who benefits from her death?”

  His brow furrowed. “Nobody knew we’d be coming to this town, not even Master Anish.”

  Jie snorted. It was a town full of Diviners, so somebody had to know something. They might even be able to solve this mystery…if their magic was real in the first place. Really, she’d trust Black Lotus forensics over fortune-telling any day of the week. She pointed her chin at the Seafarer. “Come on. I’m going to check out your room.”

  He followed her, tentatively. Inside, men wearing the black armbands of the Signores’ police looked to be wrapping up their investigation.

  The apparent leader waved toward Sameer. “The priestesses of the Temple of Mortasi are coming to retrieve the remains.”

  Sameer’s hands formed an unfamiliar mudra. “I must clean her corporeal form so it can be cremated at dawn.”

  “They will clean the body, but…” The inspector shuddered. “Only the evil are cremated, to purify their remains.”

  “I need to see her first,” Jie said. “Sameer, take me to your room.”

  He nodded, and when the inspector gestured them through, she followed him up the stairs.

  Inside the large room, the investigators had already mucked up the crime scene. There was no telling if the muddy footprints belonged to the attackers or law enforcement. A shattered ceramic cup lay overturned, its contents seeping into the floor.

  Her eyes locked on the body lying on a bed. She pulled back the sheet. The old woman lay on her back, her legs straight and arms by her side, as if asleep. The gaping throat wound had been poorly executed, hacked instead of slashed, most likely with a large weapon. It ruled out any of these Nightblades.

  There were no other injuries, save for the one she’d sewn up earlier in the day. No smell or skin discoloration suggested poisoning. When Jie placed a hand on the belly, it was warm. She moved one of the arms to find it still pliable. The crime must’ve occurred within a couple of hours.

  She beckoned the inspector. “Is this how the body was found?”

  Staring at her wide-eyed, the inspector harrumphed. “Of course. The only ones who would touch a dead body are the priestesses of Mortasi.”

  And Black Lotus adepts. She pointed to the master’s throat. “Whoever it was used a heavy weapon, not a knife. I don’t think a bunch of ruffians could sneak up here without making enough noise to catch her unawares. It’s possible they killed her first and put her body on the bed, but…” Her eyes strayed back to the broken cup.

  She went over and knelt by the fluid stain. Wiping a finger across, she sniffed it. It was sweet. “What was she drinking?”

  “Tulsi tea,” Sameer said. “It helps relax someone so they heal faster.”

  Perhaps it was too relaxing. If only there was enough for her to taste. Jie sucked on her lower lip. “If not Sohini, what about Master Anish? Can you trust him?”

  Sameer’s jaw gaped wide. “Of course. The council chose him, specifically, to prevent those who gave up their Paladin training from joining Madura’s Golden Scorpions. He is beyond reproach.”

  Was he? He’d been against seeking out the Diviner’s help, or accepting Jie’s assistance. Sameer lacked the objectivity to even consider it. “Your master was killed by a large hacking weapon, like an axe…or a Paladin naga.”

  Sameer scowled. “Both hers and mine are missing. The attackers likely used them, or a Scorpion used his sting. The weapons are similar.”

  Certainly a possibility, but… Jie headed out of the room.
<
br />   “Where are you going?” Sameer called.

  “To talk to the innkeeper.” She made her way down the steps, Sameer’s and the inspector’s footsteps hurrying after her.

  In the foyer, the innkeeper was speaking to a middle-aged woman. “If word gets out…”

  Wringing her hands, she nodded. “No one will ever stay here again.”

  With a sidelong glance at the inspector, Jie cleared her throat. “I hear a band of Acerbi thugs came through here. How many were there?”

  The innkeeper exchanged glances with the woman and counted on his fingers. “Eight? Maybe nine?”

  “Any Ayuri among them?” She tilted her head toward Sameer, just in case they forgot what an Ayuri looked like.

  The innkeeper looked at him and cocked his head. “I…I don’t think so. Unless it was the person in the mask.”

  Jie studied his expression. The answers were vague, but his disconcerted facial expressions and body language didn’t indicate lies or treachery. “Was the one in the mask male, or female?”

  “They were wearing a mask.” The innkeeper squinted at her like she was feebleminded.

  “You couldn’t tell from their, uh…body shape?”

  The innkeeper’s expression went blank. “I…I didn’t notice. I must’ve been looking at the mask.”

  “What were they wearing?”

  “I really don’t remember.” The innkeeper shook his head.

  The inspector harrumphed. “I already asked.”

  Jie looked around and raised her voice. “Did anyone else outside see the attackers?”

  Only blank stares greeted her.

  She turned back to the innkeeper. “Were there any other guests here?”

  He shook his head.

  All dead ends. She turned to Sameer. “The Scorpion might come back, and you don’t have your sword. If your master went to Signore Larusso’s, we should go meet up with him.”

  “What about Elder Gitika’s body?” Sameer gestured up the steps. “In the absence of family, I should be the one to clean it.”

  Jie studied him. His forlorn expression looked like the Black Lotus temple dogs when they got scolded. With a sigh, she nodded. “I will help you.”

  Sameer’s lips first rounded, then turned up into a smile with an uncharacteristic warmth. He bowed his head, and formed his hands up in the mudra. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll go get some water and cloth,” she said.

  “No, wait.” He held up a hand. “We need a mixture of milk, yogurt, clarified butter, and honey.”

  It didn’t seem like time for a snack, and who knew how to clarify butter? Jie raised an eyebrow. “It’s midnight. How will we find that?”

  Sameer’s shoulders slumped. “Then flowers. Collect them to scent water, which has to be boiled first.”

  Now it was Jie’s turn to round her lips. Apparently, the aforementioned food was meant to cleanse the body. “All right, you go with the innkeeper to boil some water, I’ll go out and find some flowers.”

  Outside, the crowds had dispersed. She looked around. There wasn’t much foliage at all, but a patch of dandelions grew between some pavestones. Back home, herbalists would prescribe them for fighting infections, but they’d have to do. She picked those, and caught sight of dawn-blooming everblossoms growing next to the inn. Used for women’s issues, they would bloom too late to be decorative, but maybe they could still infuse water with a sweet scent. She grabbed those as well, and went back into the inn.

  She returned to the room and found Sameer alone, contemplating his master’s body, which was draped in a fresh sheet. Not even the famous poets of the Yu Dynasty could capture in words all the love and respect pregnant in his gaze.

  He looked up, expression hardening. “We need to align her north-to-south, with her head to the south, but I’m so confused by the direction of the Iridescent Moon. It’s not where it is supposed to be.”

  Jie nodded. When she’d first travelled out of her homeland, it had been disconcerting to find the Iridescent Moon, which never moved from its seat in the heavens, in a different spot. Of course, Black Lotus training included many ways to find directions on cloudy days. She pointed south.

  While Sameer pushed and pulled the bed so it was at the right angle, she dropped the flowers into a bucket of steaming water. The pungent scent of dandelions mingled with the sweet aroma of everblossoms.

  “Thank you.” His hands formed up in a mudra. Then he dipped a white cloth into the water and unshrouded the body to the shoulders. Chanting in Ayuri, in what sounded like some kind of prayer, he glided the cloth over her face. Though he was smiling, tears glassed over his eyes.

  He finished washing her shoulders and arms, then wetted the cloth, uncovered her legs, and cleaned those too. Still chanting, he took special care to scrub between her toes. He looked up and passed her the cloth. “Please clean her torso. Chant a mantra while you do so.”

  A mantra? She raised her eyebrow at the Ayuri word.

  “It’s like…a prayer. Something you recite.”

  Black Lotus recitations were mnemonics for toxin names, pressure points, heraldry, and the like. None seemed appropriate for the gravity of the situation. Instead, she chanted the poem of the clan’s three famed young masters. The Architect, Surgeon, and Beauty had all died on a secret mission just before she was born, and the entire clan mourned and venerated them. With Sameer’s back turned, she undraped the body and washed it.

  Emotionally, it shouldn’t have been much different from cleaning the wounds of live people, or modifying corpses with make-up to make a death look less suspicious. Still, Sameer’s chants weighed on her shoulders.

  Halfway through, Jie’s ear twitched. The door to the inn had creaked open downstairs. Footsteps crept up the stairs. Mafia, coming to finish the job? Or the Golden Scorpion? She palmed three throwing spikes. “Sameer, someone’s coming. Close the door.”

  He turned around and reached for his naga, which wasn’t there. He stumbled toward the door.

  The footsteps came closer, the length of their stride and echo on the wood floors suggesting an average male. The Mafia would’ve sent several men, so maybe it was the Scorpion. Jie cocked her spikes back, ready to throw.

  Just before Sameer reached the door, his male master, Anish, turned the corner. He froze in place, hand on his hilt. Then he relaxed. “Sameer! And…Jie. How are you…here?”

  Jie scrutinized him. “Where else would I be?”

  “It’s late, wouldn’t you be back...wherever you came from?” His eyes strayed down, then widened. He ran over and knelt by the body. “By the Thousand Gods! What happened?”

  Sameer came to his side. “Mafia enforcers, assisted by a Golden Scorpion, killed her.”

  “So there really is a Scorpion operating here.” Master Anish’s voice cracked. He looked up, tears in his eyes, hands set in a mudra of sorrow. “If only I had been here.”

  The grief in his tone and expression were either genuine, or worthy of a renowned stage actor. Perhaps Sameer’s assessment of him was correct. Which meant unlucky timing. Anish had left her alone, and Sameer hadn’t even needed him at the Diviner’s villa. Jie looked back down at the dead elder.

  “We should find Prince Dhananad and his Scorpion guard.” Sameer turned to Jie. “Can you find out where he is staying?”

  Jie nodded. It shouldn’t be hard to track down a flamboyant foreigner…one coincidentally linked to the three famed Black Lotus masters.

  “Not yet,” Anish said. “We don’t know how many Scorpions he has at his disposal. There might have been one when we faced the mobsters earlier, blocking Elder Gitika’s power. We are tired, and you don’t even have your naga. It would not be wise to rush in.”

  Jie looked from Anish to Sameer. Rushing in was Sameer’s specialty, but hopefully he would listen to a master.

  “Then what do we do?” Sameer’s hands clenched and unclenched.

  Anish bowed his head toward Gitika’s body. “For now, we finish what
you started.” He extended his hand toward Jie.

  She pressed the cloth into his palm.

  “Thank you.” His head bobbled. A long sigh escaped him as he set about cleaning the body. “I was Master Gitika’s apprentice, too.”

  Sameer nodded. “What was your fondest memory?”

  “We were in Vyara City,” Anish said, dabbing the master’s eyelids. “She was negotiating peace with Madura’s Grand Vizier when young Prince Dhananad was kidnapped. The Madurans accused us of treachery.”

  Jie held in a gasp. Unbeknownst to anyone but the clan, the Black Lotus’ three famed masters, using the guise of trade negotiators, had been involved with that plot against Prince Dhananad. “What happened?”

  “Master Gitika saved me, single-handedly holding three Golden Scorpions at bay.” Wistfulness hung in his voice as he cupped her lifeless cheek. “The impasse broke when the Last Dragon awoke from a thousand years of sleep and flew over the city, on his way to the Ayudra pyramid where he stole our people’s Dragonstone.”

  Feigning awe, Jie nodded. It had all happened a year before she was born, and despite the fact that all the young masters had died soon after, their actions had secured a trade deal which had profited her homeland.

  Anish turned to her, eyes intense. “We need some cord to tie her big toes together, prayer beads to wrap her hands into prayer, and a garland of flowers for her neck. Also a lot of wood, and a place to cremate her by the sea. Can you go find all that before dawn?”

  More flowers, more tasks to do. Somehow she’d gone from elite spy, to prince’s bedmate, and now to errand girl. Still, he’d asked politely, and this was a chance to get away from his scrutinizing stare. Outside, the Iridescent Moon waned to half, indicating three hours until dawn. With a sigh, she bowed her head and headed out.

  Chapter 16:

  Farewells

  As if possible Mafia recruitment of gifted foreigners to assault the pyramid wasn’t headache enough, Cassius now had to put out a literal fire, lest the rest of the signores complain about all the chaos caused by his clients. Every jolt of the carriage’s wheels over uneven pavestones sent his headache from annoying to excruciating. He’d been in such a rush, he hadn’t even gone through his morning ritual of consulting star charts to gauge the day’s risks and opportunities.