Shev swallowed. ‘It’s the North. Everything’s a bit damp.’
‘Bloody North.’ The scarred one spat. ‘No horses to be had anywhere.’
‘Not for love nor money,’ sang the red-haired one, ‘and believe me, I’ve tried both.’
‘Probably the war,’ said the dark-haired one.
‘It’s the North. There’s always a war.’
Whirrun gave a heavy sigh as he clambered from behind the rock, fastening his belt. ‘’Tis a humbling indictment of our way of life, but one I find I can’t deny.’ And he hefted the Father of Swords over his shoulder and came to stand beside Shev.
‘You aren’t nearly as funny as you think you are,’ said the scarred one.
‘Few of us indeed,’ said Shev, ‘are as funny as we think we are.’
Javre stepped out from behind the rock, and the three women all shifted nervously at the sight of her. Sneers became frowns. Hands crept towards weapons. Shev could feel the violence coming, sure as the grass grows, and she clung tight to that entirely inadequate knife of hers. All the fights she got into, she really should learn to use a sword. Or maybe a spear. She might look taller with a spear. But then you’ve got to carry the bastard around. Something with a chain, maybe, that coiled up small?
‘Javre,’ said the one with the braid.
‘Yes.’ Javre gave the women that fighter’s glance of hers. That careless glance that seemed to say she had taken all their measure in a moment and was not impressed by it.
‘You’re here, then.’
‘Where else would I be but where I am?’
The dark-haired woman raised her sharp chin. ‘Why don’t you introduce everyone?’
‘It feels like a lot of effort, when you will be gone so soon.’
‘Indulge me.’
Javre sighed. ‘This is Golyin, Fourth of the Fifteen. Once a good friend to me.’
‘Still a good friend, I like to think.’
Shev snorted. ‘Would a good friend chase another clear across the Circle of the World?’ Under her breath, she added, ‘Not to mention her good friend’s partner.’
Golyin’s eyes shifted to Shev’s, and there was a sadness in them. ‘If a good friend had sworn to. In the quiet times, perhaps, she would cry that the world was this way, and wring her hands, and ask the Goddess for guidance, but …’ She gave a heavy sigh. ‘She would do it. You must have known we would catch you eventually, Javre.’
Javre shrugged, sinews in her shoulders twitching. ‘I have never been hard to catch. It is once you catch me that your problems begin.’ She nodded towards the scarred one, who was slowly, smoothly, silently easing her way around the top of the canyon to their right. ‘She is Ahum, Eleventh of the Fifteen. Is the scar still sore?’
‘I have a soothing lotion for it,’ she said, curling her lip. ‘And I am Ninth now.’
‘Nothingth soon.’ Javre raised a brow at the red-haired one, working her way around them on the left. ‘Her I do not know.’
‘I am Sarabin Shin, Fourteenth of the Fifteen, and men call me—’
‘No one cares,’ said Javre. ‘I give you all the same two choices I gave Hanama and Birke and Weylen and the others. Go back to the High Priestess and tell her I will be no one’s slave. Not ever. Or I show you the sword.’
There was that familiar popping of joints as Javre shifted her shoulders, scraping into a wider stance and lifting the sword-shaped bundle in her left hand.
Golyin sucked her teeth. ‘You always were so overdramatic, Javre. We would rather take you back than kill you.’
Whirrun gave a little snort of laughter. ‘I could swear we just had this exact conversation.’
‘We did,’ said Javre, ‘and this one will end the same way.’
‘This woman is a murderer, an oathbreaker, a fugitive,’ said Golyin.
‘Meh.’ Whirrun shrugged. ‘Who isn’t?’
‘There is no need for you to die here, man,’ said Sarabin Shin, finding her own fighting crouch.
Whirrun shrugged again. ‘One place is as good for dying as another, and these ladies helped me with an unpleasant situation.’ He pointed out the six corpses scattered across the muddy ground with the pommel of his sword. ‘And my friend Curnden Craw always says it’s poor manners not to return a favour.’
‘You may find this situation of a different order of unpleasantness,’ said the scarred one, drawing her sword. The blade smoked in a deeply unnatural and worrying way, a frosty glitter to the white metal.
Whirrun only smiled as he shrugged his huge sword off his shoulder. ‘I have a tune for every occasion.’
The other two women drew their swords. Golyin’s curved blade appeared to be made of black shadow, curling and twisting so its shape was never sure. Sarabin Shin smiled at Shev and raised her own sword, long, and thin, and smouldering like a blade just drawn from the forge. Shev hated swords, especially ones pointed at her, but she rarely saw one she liked the look of less than that.
She held up the hand that didn’t have the knife in. ‘Please, girls.’ She wasn’t above begging. ‘Please! There really is no upside to this. If we fight, someone will die. They will lose everything. Those who win will be no better off than now.’
‘She is a pretty little thing,’ said the scarred one.
Shev tidied a bloody strand of hair behind her ear. ‘Well, that’s nice to—’
‘But she talks too much,’ said Golyin. ‘Kill them.’
Shev flung her knife. Sarabin Shin swept out her sword and swatted it twittering away into the mist as she charged screaming forward.
Shev rolled, scrambled, ducked, dodged, dived while that smouldering blade carved the air around her, feeling the terrible heat of it on her skin. She tumbled more impressively than she ever had with that travelling show, the flashes of Javre’s sword at the corner of her eye as she fought Golyin, the ringing of metal crashing on her ears as Whirrun and Ahum traded blows.
Shev flung all the knives at her disposal, which was maybe six, then when those were done started snatching up anything to hand, which, after the last fight, was a considerable range of fallen weapons, armour and gear.
Sarabin Shin dodged a hastily flung mace, then an axe, then carved a water-flask in half with a hissing of steam, then stepped around a flapping boot with a hissing of contempt.
The one hit Shev scored was with a Northman’s cloven helmet, which bounced off Shin’s brow opening a little cut, and only appeared to make her more intent on Shev’s destruction than ever.
She ended up using the fallen saddle as a shield, desperately fending off blows while the snarling woman carved smoking chunks from it, leaving her holding an ever smaller lump of leather until, with a final swing, Shin chopped it into two flaming fist-sized pieces and caught Shev by her collar, dragging her close with an almost unbelievable strength, the smoking blade levelled at her face.
‘No more running!’ she snarled through her gritted teeth, pulling back her sword for a thrust.
Shev squeezed her eyes shut, hoping, for the second time that day, that against all odds and the run of luck she would find a way to creep into heaven.
‘Get off my partner!’ came Javre’s furious shriek.
Even through her lids she saw a blinding flash and Shev jerked away, gasping. There was a hiss and something hot brushed gently against Shev’s face. Then the hand on her collar fell away, and she heard something heavy thump against the ground.
‘Well, that is that,’ said Whirrun.
Shev prised one eye open, peered down at herself through the glittering smear Javre’s sword had left across her sight. The headless body of Sarabin Shin lay beside her.
‘God,’ she whimpered, standing stiff with horror, clothes soaked with blood, hair dripping with blood, mouth, eyes, nose full of blood. Again. ‘Oh, God.’
‘Look on the sunny side
,’ said Javre, her sword already sheathed in its ragged scabbard. ‘At least it is not—’
‘Fuck the sunny side!’ screamed Shev. ‘And fuck the North, and fuck you pair of rutting lunatics!’
Whirrun shrugged. ‘That I’m mad is no revelation, I’m known for it. They call me Cracknut because my nut is cracked and that’s a fact.’ With the toe of his boot he poked at the corpse of Ahum, face down beside him, leaking blood. ‘Still, even I can reckon out that these Templars of the Silver Order—’
‘Golden,’ said Javre.
‘Whatever they call themselves, they are not going to stop until they catch you.’
Javre nodded as she looked about at the King of the Northmen’s dead agents. ‘You are right. No more than Bethod will stop pursuing you.’
‘I have nothing pressing,’ said Whirrun. ‘Perhaps we could help each other with our enemies?’
‘Two swords are better than one.’ Javre tapped a forefinger thoughtfully against her lips. ‘And we could fuck some more.’
‘The thought had occurred,’ said Whirrun, grinning. ‘That was just starting to get interesting.’
‘Wonderful.’ Shev winced as she tried to blow the blood from her nose. ‘Do I get a vote?’
‘Henchpeople don’t vote,’ said Javre.
‘And even if you did,’ added Whirrun, giving an apologetic shrug, ‘there are three of us. You’d be outvoted.’
Shev tipped her head back to look up at the careless, iron-grey sky. ‘There’s the trouble with fucking democracy.’
‘So it’s decided!’ Whirrun clapped his hands and gave a boyish caper of enthusiasm. ‘Shall we fuck now, or … ?’
‘Let us make a start while there is still some daylight.’ Javre stared over the fallen corpse of her old friend Golyin, off towards the west. ‘It is a long way to Carleon.’
Whirrun frowned. ‘To Thond first, so I can pay my debt to you.’
Javre puffed up her chest as she turned to face him. ‘I will not hear of it. We deal with Bethod first.’
With a sigh of infinite weariness, Shev sank down beside the puddle, took up the bloody rag she had used earlier and wrung it out.
‘I must insist,’ growled Whirrun.
‘As must I,’ growled Javre.
As though by mutual agreement they seized hold of each other, tumbled wrestling to the ground, snapping, hissing, punching, writhing.
‘This is hell.’ Shev put her head in her hands. ‘This is hell.’
Westport, Spring 580
Canto Silvine finished his morning slice of bread and honey, licked his finger, used it to sweep up the crumbs from the plate, and smiled as he sucked it clean. The quiet joy of routine. It was something Mauthis was very keen on, routine. Canto tried to be keen on the same things powerful people were. He thought, perhaps, that might one day make him like them. He had no other ideas how to achieve it, anyway.
He frowned at a honey spot on his sleeve. ‘Damn it!’ Mauthis would be less keen on that, presentation being key, but any more time dithering and he would be late. And if Mauthis hated one quality above all others in a clerk, it was tardiness. He stood, trying desperately to make no noise, but the legs of his chair caught on the uneven boards and made an awful grinding.
‘Cantolarus!’ hissed Mimi’s voice from the other room, and Canto winced. Only his mother used his full name. Only his mother, and his wife when she meant to give him a lecture. As she padded into the room with their son in her arms she had her serious eyes out, that slight wrinkle between the brows that he’d loved to see before he married her, but which had steadily lost its appeal over the months since. To begin with, that wrinkle had come when she told him how their life would be when they were married. Now it came when she told him how far their actual life fell short of what they had agreed.
‘Yes, my love?’ he said, in a tone that tried to laugh her off and reassure her both at once, and achieved neither.
‘How long do you expect us to stay here?’
‘Well, certainly until I get back from work!’ He gave a nervous titter.
She did not. Rather, that wrinkle deepened. There was a loud bang on the ceiling, followed by the burble of raised voices from above, and Mimi’s eyes rolled up towards it. Damn bad timing, for those bastards to start arguing just then. If Canto was half a man he would have gone up there and had a stern word with them about it. So Mimi told him. But Canto was not half a man. Mimi told him that, too.
‘This was supposed to be temporary,’ she said, and their son gave a quivering stretch as though attempting to pile more guilt on Canto’s sagging shoulders.
‘I know, and it is, it is! But … we can’t afford anything better quite yet. My pay won’t cover it—’
‘Then either your pay must rise or you must find a better-paying position.’ That wrinkling grew harder. ‘You’re a father now, Cantolarus. You have to demand your due. You have to be a man about it.’
‘I am a man!’ he snapped, in the most peevish and effeminate way possible. He forced his voice deeper. ‘I’m due a promotion. Mauthis said so.’
‘He did?’
‘I just said so, didn’t I?’ In fact, Mauthis had not spoken to him directly for three months, and that had been to bloodlessly correct him over a minor error in one of his calculations.
Mimi’s angry frown had turned into a suspicious frown, however, and Canto counted that a victory, however it was managed. ‘He’s said it before,’ she grumbled, hitching their son up a little. He truly was an enormous baby. ‘It hasn’t happened.’
‘It will happen this time, my love. Trust me.’ That’s what he said every time. But it was easier to lie than to have the hard conversation. Much easier. Fortunately, their son chose that moment to give a mew and tug at his mother’s nightshirt. Canto seized his chance. ‘I have to go. I’m late as it is.’
She tipped her face towards him, probably expecting a kiss, but he did not have it in him, and fortunately their son was struggling now, eager to be fed. So instead he flashed a watery smile, and stepped out into the mouldy hallway, and pulled the door rattling to.
A problem left behind was just the same as a problem solved.
Wasn’t it?
Canto flung his ledger shut and started up from his desk, wriggling between a well-heeled merchant and her bodyguard and across the crowded banking floor. ‘Sir! Sir, might I—’
Mauthis’s cold stare flickered over him like a pawnbroker’s over a dead man’s chattels. ‘Yes, Silvine?’
‘Er …’ Canto was wrong-footed, if not to say somewhat flushed with pleasure, at the mere fact of Mauthis knowing who he was. And it was so damned hot in the banking hall today that he found himself quite flustered. His mouth ran away with him. ‘You know my name, sir—?’
‘I know the names of every man and woman employed by the Banking House of Valint and Balk in Styria. Their names, and their roles, and their salaries.’ He narrowed his eyes a fraction. ‘I dislike changes to any of them. What can I do for you?’
Canto swallowed. ‘Well, sir, the thing is …’ Sounds seemed to be echoing at him in a most distracting way. The scratching of clerks’ pens on paper and their rattling in inkwells; the hushed burbling of numbers, terms and rates; the clomp of a ledger being heaved shut felt loud as a door slamming. Nerves, was all, just nerves. He heard Mimi’s voice. You have to be a man about it. Everyone was looking at him, though, the senior clerks with their books held close, and two fur-trimmed merchants who Canto now realised he had interrupted. Have to be a man. He tugged at his collar, trying to get some air in. ‘The thing is—’
‘Time is money, Silvine,’ said Mauthis. ‘I should not have to explain to you that the Banking House of Valint and Balk does not look kindly upon wasted money.’
‘The thing is …’ His tongue felt suddenly twice its usual size. His mouth tasted strange.
‘Give him some air!’ somebody shouted, over in the corner, and Mauthis’s brows drew in, puzzled. Then almost pained.
‘The thing …’
And Mauthis doubled up as though punched in the stomach. Canto took a sharp step back, and for some reason his knee almost gave way. So hot in the banking hall. Like that foundry he once visited with his father.
‘Turn him over!’ came echoing from the back of the hall. Everyone was staring. Faces swimming, fascinated, afraid.
‘Sir? Sir?’ One of the senior clerks had caught his master’s elbow, was guiding him to the floor. Mauthis raised one quivering arm, one bony finger pointing, staring towards a woman in the press. A pale woman whose eyes burned bright behind black hair.
‘Muh,’ he mouthed. ‘Muh …’
He started to flop wildly about on the floor. Canto was troubled by the thought that, plainly, this was not routine. Mauthis had always been such a stickler for routine. Then he was bent over by a sudden and deeply unpleasant coughing fit.
‘Help!’
‘Some air, I said!’
But there was no air. No air in the room at all. Canto sank slowly to his knees, tearing at his collar. Too tight. He could hardly catch a proper breath.
Mauthis lay still, pink foam bubbling from his mouth, his wide eyes staring up unseeing at the black-haired woman while she stared back. Who would Canto talk to now about a raise? But perhaps that was the wrong thing to be worrying about?
‘Plague!’ somebody shouted. A desk crashed over. People were charging this way and that. Canto clawed at someone for help but his fingers would hardly work. A flying knee caught him in the back and he was flung down, face crunching against the tiles, mouth filling with salty blood.
He tried to get up but he could hardly move, everything rigid, shaking, as if he was one enormous cramp. He thought the time had probably come now to cry out, but all that came was a bubbling gurgle. Mimi was right. Even now, he was half a man.
He saw feet stamping, shuffling. A woman screamed as she fell beside him, and the sound seemed to echo from the end of a long tunnel.
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