Blade Singer

by Martha Wells

  "Hey, who do you belong to?" he asked it softly. It twitched an ear at him. Making clucking and kissing noises that were usually effective in getting cats to come and be petted, Manny stepped closer. He held out his hand and the cat sniffed it cautiously. Then it suddenly pulled back, yowling as if mortally offended. Manny flinched, startled, and jerked his hand back as the cat took a swipe at him.

  It jumped from the shelf up to one of the ceiling beams, then wound its way out through a gap in the wall.

  Feeling rejected, Manny turned around. Adriana stood in the doorway, staring at him. He shrugged, flustered. "Guess it's not a pet cat."

  She said, "It's your pet cat. It lives here at the tavern and it's always been attached to you. It sleeps with you sometimes."

  Manny grimaced. "Remy, not me."

  Adriana stepped slowly forward, her brow furrowed, regarding him as intently as the cat had. She said, "Could it be true? This incredible story of yours?"

  "Of course it's true." Manny waved his hands helplessly. "Why would Remy make up this stuff? It's not stopping you or Morrigan from wanting to kill him!"

  "Lady of the Light," she muttered. "If this is true, then where's Remy? Is he dead?"

  "I don't know!" Manny glared, then the obvious answer occurred to him. "He's probably in my body, or something. Where else would he be?" Yeah, he probably is in my body.

  Manny had wondered if his body was just lying there like a dead person, but this made more sense. Or as much sense as anything did. If he found his way home, I hope he's not messing with my stuff. He hoped Remy didn't get Tia Licha and Beto in trouble by stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. What if Remy got Manny's body arrested and sent to juvenile detention? That would be about all Manny needed. And if Remy didn't tell Licha and Beto the truth, they would think Manny was a criminal.

  Adriana lunged forward to grab Manny's arm and shake him. "Tell me where he is! What are you, a Fae sorcerer?"

  "No!" Manny struggled; her grip on his arm was painfully strong. For an instant she didn't look like his mom at all; she was a stranger, her face thinner, her features harsh. He wrenched away and stumbled backward. "I don't know where he is! And I told you who I am! I don't know how to make you believe me. Why would anybody want to be Remy? He's a thief and a liar and that freaky monster Morrigan wants to kill him." His throat went tight, all the fear and anger and frustration welling up, and he had to force the words out. "Why would anybody want that?"

  Adriana stood there, watching him as he took a sharp breath and wiped a hand across his nose. He stared hard at her, but the moment had passed and her face was the same as his mother's, again. Mostly. Maybe her features were a little too sharp, like his mother's would have looked if her life had been much harder. She shook her head finally. "It would certainly explain everything, wouldn't it? Your memory, the strange way you've been behaving, the cat. But why? How did this happen?"

  Sudden hope made Manny's heart pound. If she believed him... It wouldn't make everything better, but it would be one less battle to fight. "It was the magic, the coin in the book, like I told you. It must have been just an accident. I mean..." He shrugged helplessly. "We don't have magic where I come from, or faeries, or monsters or sorcerers. We have stories about them, but they aren't real. At least I thought they weren't real. Whatever made it happen, it must have been something from this world."

  Adriana frowned, but this time she looked more thoughtful than angry. "And you don't know where Remy is?"

  "No. I guess he's in my body. Otherwise I'm in a coma, and maybe he's in somebody else's body. Though then where would the person whose body he's in—"

  Adriana held up a hand. "Enough. If this is true—"

  "It is true!"

  "Then the only way to help him is to help you. Which means speaking to someone learned in magic. And unfortunately, I don't know anyone like that I can approach." She grimaced. "Except Morrigan."

  "That would be a bad idea," Manny agreed.

  She let her breath out in resignation. "And if it is just some spell-caused delusion, then it doesn't change the fact that we have to get away from Morrigan."

  Manny nodded in relief. "Getting away from her sounds good to me."

  "My plan was for us to take ship to Hispania, where we can get help from my family. But I can't afford passage yet, so we'll have to go through with the burglary tonight." Adriana looked sharply at Manny. "I'll need your help, Re— Manny. Can you do that?"

  He started to say yes, then something occurred to him. It would be stealing, even though stealing in a magical world felt less real than stealing from bullies like Gregory. "If I do, will it make me turn into a goblin faster?"

  Adriana looked down at him, and her expression was sad and worried. It made her look even more like his mother than before. "I don't know. It might. But perhaps not enough to make a difference before we leave here."

  He was glad she hadn't lied, or tried to sugar-coat it. "Okay. It's better than getting killed, I guess, and it's not like we have a choice."

  With a wry smile, she said, "True enough."

  ****

  Adriana loaded a small bag with some tools, including a big coil of dark-colored rope, and they set out into the night.

  It was even quieter than it had been earlier on the way to Morrigan's lair. They were heading into a rich neighborhood and everybody seemed to be asleep, tucked behind the solid stone walls of the big houses.

  They reached the house, visible only as a huge looming bulk, the whitewashed stone gleaming faintly in the starlight, the windows all dark. They crept through a back courtyard with a well, between the house and a smaller two-story building that smelled strongly of horse. Manny didn't see any windows in the ground floor of the house, and the two doorways that faced this courtyard had heavy wooden doors.

  Adriana stopped, and pointed up to the third floor. In an almost voiceless whisper, she said, "There, you see it?"

  Luckily Manny had elf eyes that could see in the dark, and he saw the fourth window from the corner. It was a small one barely wider than his shoulders, with a broken pane at the bottom. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Adriana had warned him that the servants who took care of the horses would be sleeping nearby in the stables, and any noise at all might wake them.

  She gave him a little push to get him started, and Manny went to the wall of the house, careful to step quietly on the paved ground. He ran his hands across the wall and was relieved that Adriana had been right: the stone was old and pitted, with gaps in the mortar between the blocks that made good handholds for strong little elf fingers.

  He took a deep breath, gripped the stone, and started to climb. He fumbled a little and slipped once, but the window was getting rapidly closer. In his own body, Manny could never have done this, but as Remy, it was easy. If he could do this, he could do anything. It was like being in a Spiderman comic. Except Spiderman had still gotten beaten up and nearly killed a lot. Manny gritted his teeth and reminded himself not to get too confident.

  He reached the wide wooden sill, pulled himself up onto it, and clung tightly. He put his ear to the broken pane and listened, but he couldn't hear any snoring or movement. He carefully reached through, found the metal latch, and pushed it. The window swung back into the room with a faint squeak.

  Manny climbed inside the pitch dark room, feeling cautiously to make sure he didn't knock anything over. There was a wooden floor underfoot, that was about all he could tell at first. The room felt empty and smelled of dust, and it wasn't much warmer here than it was outside. He pushed the window shut and locked it again.

  His eyes adjusted, and he saw he was in a narrow stairwell, a little light falling from the landing above where there must be another window. Okay, this is good, Manny thought. The stairwell was narrow and plain, with no carpet and bare plaster walls. Adriana had said the window must lead to a corridor or stairwell used only by the servants, since it was so small and no one had bothered to fix it yet.

  Followi
ng Adriana's directions, Manny went down to the second floor landing, stepping softly to keep the boards from creaking. There he opened the door just enough to peek out. The corridor beyond was dark, too, but he could see the shapes of tables against the walls, upholstered chairs, big paintings, unlit candelabra, vases with flowers, and the glitter on silver and glass. He stepped out, shutting the door behind him, feeling the thick softness of a runner carpet under his feet. Manny slunk down the corridor.

  He made his way toward the far side of the house, passing through a confusing maze of dark corridors and big shadowy sitting rooms filled with furniture, his nerves so tense he felt like he was made out of high tension wire. The place was so quiet, so still. He made himself pretend this was just an empty building, that there weren't people sleeping on the floors above.

  He reached a room at the end of the house that smelled flowery and held dozens of vases and containers filled with plants and even small trees; this had to be the right spot. He found the outside wall, and two double wooden doors. He fumbled for a lock and found a bar, and lifted it away. Easing the door open and wincing at the creak, he found a second door made of glass with tiny diamond-shaped panes. He got it open, and stepped out onto a narrow balcony. He looked over the rail down into an empty side courtyard, filled with the dark shapes of trees and bushes and the sound of a trickling fountain.

  Then a rope flew up out of the shadows, the padded weight on the end catching on the railing. Letting his breath out in relief, Manny grabbed it and quickly tied it off. A moment later Adriana climbed rapidly up hand over hand and swung herself over the rail. Manny helped her pull the rope up; they left it coiled on the balcony but still tied to the railing.

  They slipped back inside, and Adriana handed Manny a big bag. Following her out of the garden room, he fished around inside it but it was empty. He belatedly realized it was for carrying the stuff they stole.

  Adriana led the way, not back the way Manny had come, but around toward the front of the house. On the way, she had explained that the richest objects would be in what she had called the public rooms, where the people who lived here gave parties and balls and big dinners. It made sense to Manny.

  They passed through a series of cold dark rooms with high ceilings. Light from the windows gleamed off silver and crystal and finely polished furniture. Manny held the bag for Adriana while she moved swiftly through, scooping up heavy silver candlesticks, fruit bowls, goblets, plates, a couple of small boxes studded with what felt like jewels, and a little miniature painting with an elaborate metal frame. It felt a little creepy and disturbing, like stealing from a museum. Manny's parents had always taught him that museums were sacred territory — no touching, just looking. He reminded himself these were rich people, that they could replace it all, though oddly that didn't help much. It still felt uncomfortably wrong.

  But maybe that was a good thing. Maybe it meant this wasn't helping turn Manny into a goblin.

  The bag was getting heavy and Manny thought they must surely have enough by now. He tugged on Adriana's sleeve, and whispered, "Let's go."

  She nodded, then hesitated. They had paused in an archway opening into another big room. It lay towards the center of the house, with no windows, and looked like just a dark cave. But there was just enough light to see a big table holding a statue about four feet high. Manny couldn't make out much detail in the dimness. It looked like an animal, something sinuous, like a snake or a dragon, and even in the dark it gleamed with jewels. "Just a few of those gems, and then we'll go," Adriana whispered back. She drew a slim knife from her belt and stepped toward it.

  Watching her, Manny suddenly had a bad feeling, and it wasn't just about the stealing. He didn't know what it was: the half-hidden shape of the statue, something about the way the light gleamed enticingly off the jewels even in a windowless unlit room. "Adriana," he whispered urgently. "Wait, something's wrong—"

  She stopped, but she had already put the tip of her knife to one of the jewels.

  A low hiss echoed through the room. Adriana froze, then backed away slowly as the statue started to move.

  Chapter Eleven

  Light glittered along the metal curves as the statue flowed sinuously down off the table. It landed on the wooden floor with a faint metallic click of claws. Manny clutched the bag, heart pounding, riveted to the spot. A foul odor drifted out of the room, a smell like matches striking, like a recently repaved street, sulfur and tar and something sharp like acid. The light around the creature brightened, as if its scales glowed. As it turned toward them he saw it was like a little dragon, with wings and a long reptilian tail, except it had feathers, and there was something weirdly birdlike about its legs and head.

  Still backing away, Adriana bumped into Manny, reaching back to grip his arm.

  The creature stalked toward the doorway on two legs with clawed feet, cocking its head to eye them in a predatory, bird-like way. Her voice low and tense, Adriana said, "When it draws breath, run."

  When it draws breath...? Manny wondered, but then the creature's chest expanded as it whooshed in air. Adriana snapped, "Run!" and pushed him down the corridor.

  Manny stumbled, glancing back to see Adriana ducking away from a sparkling cloud that smelled so bad his stomach nearly turned. His lungs ached just from the scent of it. Covering her mouth, Adriana staggered after him, waving him on.

  Manny ran, looking back to make sure she was following. She was, and the monster was following her, loping down the corridor after them.

  Clutching the heavy bag to his chest, Manny dodged through the next doorway, hoping he remembered the path back through the darkened rooms to the balcony door. The house was just a big square block, so he knew which direction it was in, but if he took the wrong turn and ended up running into a dead end... It'll be a dead end for real, he thought desperately.

  Manny heard a whoosh sound behind him a moment before Adriana shouted, "Manny, down!"

  He ducked and a stream of the poison gas shot right over his head, blocked the doorway he had been about to plunge through, and hung in a big sparkling cloud. Running through it would be a bad idea. He looked back, saw Adriana crouched behind him. The monster was about twenty feet away, braced to leap after them. At least it couldn't seem to run and breathe poison gas at the same time.

  Manny gasped, "This way," and grabbed Adriana's hand as he pushed to his feet. He took the doorway opposite to the blocked one, heading around the front of the house.

  They ran flat out through the big rooms, the creature's claws clacking against the polished wooden floor behind them. Manny heard thumping and yelling upstairs; the whole house must realize they were here now.

  He knew that for sure a moment later as they bolted past the landing of the main grand staircase. Light glowed down it from candles and lamps, and someone yelled, "There they are! After them!"

  Just run, Manny told himself. They barreled through two sitting rooms, Adriana pausing to pull a tall cabinet down behind them to block their pursuers' path. But Manny heard footsteps pounding from the other direction and figured someone was coming from the servants' stairway too.

  He dodged through a passage and then into the garden room, relieved to be so close to the way out. He reached the doorway, fumbling at the catch, and flung the wooden shutters open. Adriana caught up with him a moment later, and together they dragged the glass doors open. Colder air streamed into the room, and safety was so close Manny could taste it. He lifted the bag of loot to pitch it over the balcony railing.

  An explosion rang out behind them as the bag ripped out of Manny's hands, scattering its contents across the floor of the balcony. He staggered, saw a man standing in the garden room doorway holding a smoking musket, framed by the dim starlight from the open doors.

  Adriana grabbed Manny's arm, catapulting them both forward over the rail of the balcony. As they jerked to an abrupt halt, he realized she had grabbed the rope first. Manny gasped and caught the rope too, helping her support their weight. Toge
ther they half-slid, half-fell to the ground, tumbling down to the paved court.

  Shouting from the back of the house told Manny the men sleeping in the stables had been alerted. "Come on!" Adriana said, shoving to her feet. As Manny leapt up, his foot knocked against something metal. He snatched it up a cup from the torn bag of loot. Then a noise from overhead made him look up at the balcony.

  The silver creature was up there, coiled around the railing, its narrow bird head turned to glare down at him with one jeweled eye. Then it tilted its head back and its chest expanded as it took a deep breath. Manny bolted after Adriana.

  Musket shots ricocheted all around them, shattered paving stones. They banged through the courtyard's gate and ran down the street.

  ****

  They made their way back to the tavern on the darkest, most quiet alleys and streets. Every nerve alert and jumping, Manny listened hard for sounds of pursuit, and flinched at every noise. When they were far enough away from the house to have a little breathing space, he asked Adriana, "What was that thing?"

  "You didn't recognize—" She frowned, then said, "That's right, I keep forgetting you really don't know. It was a cockatrice, enspelled to look like a statue. And to trap fools like me. I'm sorry, I've made a ruin of our plan."

  "No, it's not your fault," Manny said. "I knew something was funny about it; it gave me a weird feeling. I should have warned you faster." He had tucked the cup under his shirt, and the metal was cold against his skin. As they paused under a lit window, he pulled it out and studied the twining, delicate etchings that covered its shining silver surface, then showed it to Adriana. "You think this will be enough to get us to Hispania?"