Nimat’s eyes narrowed to slits and her lips pressed into a thin smile. “That is precisely why I have brought the two of you here.” She nodded toward Langdon. “Our young friend claims that Kiera knows who orchestrated the attack against me. Kiera, would you like to elaborate on what young Langdon told me earlier?”
Kiera shifted from foot to foot, and her eyes darted between Top Hat and Nimat. As ridiculous a figure as Top Hat was, he was known to be exceedingly swift with a blade, and she wondered if her reflexes were sufficient to dodge any attack he might make. Kiera wanted to step away from the dangerous man, but she refused to look weak in front of those gathered.
“Were you going to say something, Kiera?” Top Hat asked. “Please, do enlighten us all on what transpired last night so we may catch those responsible.”
Kiera’s anger served as a proper substitute for courage, and she turned her gaze back to Nimat. “I was there when someone tried to kill Fred. Because Fred was hiding out in a ramshackle building, the roof and frame gave out beneath me and I fell through, interrupting the assassination.”
“What were you doing on the roof?” Nimat asked.
“Fred had a lot of money stashed there and I was going to rob him.”
“That sounds like a rather foolish thing to do, little chicken.”
“Yeah, well, desperation is the driving force of stupidity.”
“That is probably the smartest thing you have ever said. Carry on.”
“Fred recognized me before I ran away, and he and Top Hat—”
“It’s Mr. Ridley, if you please,” Top Hat said through clenched teeth.
Kiera glared and curled one corner of her mouth up at him. “Fred and Top Hat paid me a visit soon after and told me if I did not do a job for him he would kill me and my friends.”
Nimat spoke over the sound of Top Hat’s grinding teeth. “What was the job?”
“He didn’t say at that time. Top Hat showed up last night and told me to go to the warehouse and steal whatever was in a blast box.”
Nimat leaned forward, all trace of amusement gone from her visage. “He told you to rob me, and you did not think to come and tell me of it instead?”
“He never told me who I was robbing or what was in the box. When I discovered that it was you, I tried to get the stone for you.”
“What was in it for you to return my property to me?” Nimat asked.
“Nothing. I assumed that when I told you about Fred’s complicity that you would…deal with him.”
Nimat drummed her fingers on the arm of her throne as she penetrated Kiera with her eyes before turning her gaze to Top Hat. “What do you say to these charges, Mr. Ridley?”
Top Hat spread his hands before him. “Almost entirely fantasy, obviously.”
“Tell me your story, Mr. Ridley, and you had best hope I believe it.”
“No story, Underlord, just the truth. If you could enlighten me as to what was stolen, I might be able to help provide some insight into the situation.”
“You know what it was!” Kiera snapped.
Nimat held up a hand. “Mr. Ridley remained silent through your recitation and you shall do the same. It was a large arcanstone, rare, and of great value to me.”
Top Hat ducked his head. “Thank you, Underlord. I think I know what has happened now. We all know someone tried to kill Fred, and Kiera is telling the truth about her unexpected intervention. While it might have been an accident, and she was there to rob my employer, Fred was grateful enough that he made a loan to her friend Wesley in the form of merchandise for him to sell.”
“By merchandise you mean drugs?” Nimat asked.
“Precisely.”
“Kiera, is that true?”
Kiera shuffled her feet. “Yes, but—”
“Continue, Mr. Ridley.”
“It is common knowledge that Wesley is known to partake of the substance himself. It is my theory that he consumed too much of the merchandise to repay what he owed Mr. Switzer, and we know that Fred is not as magnanimous as yourself, Underlord. Kiera likely got scared that he would punish her and her friend for failing to pay back the debt. Somehow, she learned of the transaction taking place last night and decided to concoct a scheme that would satisfy her debt to you and eliminate Fred at the same time by falsely implicating him in the robbery.”
“That’s not true!” Kiera shouted. “How would I even know about it? No one knew!”
“Simple,” Top Hat said, breaking in before Nimat could reprimand Kiera for her interruption. “The underlord tasked Rafferty with providing security on the surface. You are very close to his protégé standing next to you. Seems like an awful lot of coincidences, don’t you think?”
“I didn’t even know what we were doing or who we were doing it for until minutes before reaching the warehouse!” Langdon said.
Top Hat shrugged. “So you say. No one can be certain. We can only make assumptions based on the facts at hand. Those facts are that Kiera owes Fred and Nimat a lot of money and is desperate, as she just stated, to cancel the debt. Only Nimat, Rafferty, and the men paid to deliver the item knew of the transaction taking place. Fred is not a techno-arcanist and would have little interest in an arcanstone, regardless of its rarity beyond its inherent value, and Fred is not desperate for money. Business is all about risk versus reward. The risk to Fred is far greater than the reward could ever be. The same cannot be said for Kiera, who had little to lose at that point.”
Kiera’s teeth ground together loud enough to be heard across the room. “This is all rammox crap! Fred hired me to rob you. I tried to get the stone back to give to you. I swear!”
Top Hat shook his head at Kiera before spreading his arms and bowing toward Nimat. “You have the facts, as well as the nonsense Kiera spewed, Underlord. I can do nothing further but await your righteous judgment.”
Nimat’s black nails tapped against her throne as she thought. “Tell me, Kiera, what would you do if you were in my position?”
“If I were you?”
“Yes, pretend you are me. How would you rule? Be honest. It is your only chance of leaving this room alive.”
“I would kill all three of us just to make sure I got the guilty one, so as to serve as a warning to anyone who thought about crossing me again.”
Langdon’s eyes darted to the side to take in Kiera, his mouth agape.
“That is the only right answer. See, this is why I am so fond of you, little chicken. Unless you have anything to add that might change my mind, that is precisely what I am going to do.”
Nimat gestured over her shoulder. Several forms broke from the shadows against the wall, and advanced with weapons drawn. Kiera’s head twisted from side to side, taking in Langdon and Top Hat. Langdon was reaching to push his sleeve up to free his knife thrower. Top Hat had not moved, but she saw the tenseness in his body and knew that he would not die without a fight as well. They were all futile gestures. Even if they could defeat Nimat’s house guards, which was impossible, the underlord could snuff out their lives on her own if she felt like exerting herself.
“There was someone else there last night!” Kiera shouted.
Nimat raised her hand and forestalled her assassins. “Explain.”
“You saw him, the man wearing the mask. He’s the one who tried to kill Fred and stopped me before I could hand you the stone. I thought he had gotten it and chased him from the warehouse. I caught up with him, but he did not have the stone.”
“How do you know he did not have it?”
“I fought him. The stone is too big to easily conceal. He didn’t have it, and if I had it, why wouldn’t I give it to you just as I had planned? It’s useless to me. I can’t sell it, and I sure as heck can’t use it. If I don’t have it, and Fred doesn’t have it, then what about the man you fought, the one who…was like you?”
Nimat sprang from her throne. “He is nothing like me!” She took several deep breaths before sitting back down. “If he did get the stone, then this ent
ire city is in more danger than it has ever been since the highlords’ reign.”
“Perhaps the gendarme have the stone?” Top Hat supplied.
“No, I would know if they recovered it. In light of the severity of the risk to us all, I am suspending judgment on all of you. We cannot afford infighting when there is a far greater threat loose in my city. All retributions for debts are suspended as well. Do you understand me, Mr. Ridley?”
“Perfectly, Underlord.”
Kiera mounted the dais steps and began pulling out the coin purses she had gotten off her would-be assassins. “I would like to clear my debt with you anyway, Underlord.”
One of Nimat’s guards intercepted her before she made it halfway up the dais, liberated her of her wealth, and handed the pouches to Nimat.
Nimat stared at the money now resting in her lap and smiled. “Would you rather not settle with Fred, seeing as how I am so much more magnanimous?”
Kiera sneered at Top Hat. “Screw Fred.”
Top Hat smiled back at her as his eyes traveled up and down her body. “It would not come close to satisfying your debt, but I will be happy to relay your offer of a down payment.”
Kiera’s hand flashed toward her baton, but Nimat stopped her. “Enough! We have a common enemy, and I will not tolerate any infighting at this time. When I said all debts are suspended I mean grudges as well.”
“Underlord,” Kiera said, “what is this person? How is he a threat to you?”
“He is a being called a Necrophage. They were the scourge of the land before the sorcerers drove them out and all but eradicated them. They wield dark power and exist only to enslave and consume humanity.”
“Do you think he is alone?”
“We had all best pray that he is. Otherwise, our world is about to experience suffering the likes of which it has not witnessed in a millennium.”
CHAPTER 4
Conner waited in the doorway while Surri cleaned and redressed the gruesome wound in Cleary’s shoulder. Her task complete, the Thuum woman packed away her medical kit and nodded to Conner as she departed.
“How are you feeling?” Conner asked as he took a seat in the chair Surri just vacated.
Cleary turned to look at him with dark, hollow eyes. “How do I look?”
“Like shit.”
“Then I look twice as good as I feel.”
Conner chuckled in an attempt to relieve the heavy concern he felt for his friend. “At least you’re conscious. That’s a significant improvement over last night. You gave me quite a scare.”
“Bah, it’ll take a lot more than a pistol shot to the shoulder to do me in. Wasn’t even a big gun. Tiny thing, like what women carry in their purses…or yours,” he said, referring to the small, double-barreled pistol Conner kept concealed in his vest pocket.
“Are you saying I carry a lady gun?”
“I saw a nice handbag at the market yesterday that matched it and your suit perfectly. I was going to go buy it for you today, but, you know.” He tried to shrug and winced at the stabbing pain the movement elicited.
Conner’s laughter was loud and genuine. “It sounds like you will be back on your feet in no time.”
Cleary’s face lost all trace of humor. “Conner, we both know that’s a lie. My use to you has come to an end.”
“Nonsense. You will heal and be back to yourself in no time.”
“That’s rammox shit and you know it. Yeah, I’ll heal, but I can’t do what I was doing for you before. Even if my limb isn’t crippled, which it is, Surri said as much, I’m getting too old. I’ve survived these last ten years by being more wily than the people I went up against, but it isn’t enough anymore. I’m coming out on the losing end more often than the other. Either find me a replacement, or…”
Conner’s face clouded and his voice deepened. “Or what?”
“You move on. Bury your dead once and for all and let the gendarme do the policing.”
“You know I cannot do that!”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both! We have seen the failures in the system. You ran amok, committing all manner of heinous crimes for two decades without prosecution until someone of wealth and power decided you were a liability. Then you were arrested, convicted, and standing on the hangman’s box within days.”
“I know what I’ve done, Conner. You don’t have to remind me.”
“I’m not reminding you of what you’ve done, I’m reminding you why I do what I do, and I need your help to do it.”
“You got a good chief inquisitor now. Let him handle it. That’s his job.”
Conner stood and paced across the room. “He’s chief inquisitor until he gets bored and moves on to something else.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that if you insist on playing this role, you need someone to do the legwork, and my legs are no longer up to the task.”
Conner picked up the chair, moved it a few inches with a heavy thump, and sat back down. “Who am I going to get? Who can I trust and has the skill to do what you do?”
Cleary’s eyebrows rose as his eyes rolled in their sockets. “I have one person in mind.”
Conner cocked his head, his curiosity piqued. “Who?”
“The one who foiled my assassination of Fred and robbed me—twice.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Why not?”
“She’s a fledgling little nightbird, not an infiltrator and certainly not an assassin.”
“Not yet, but she’s young and therefore still trainable. I was near the end of my career when you stole me from the hangman.”
“I knew you through my job as chief inquisitor. I was able to talk to you for days before your execution and saw the decent man you wanted to be.”
“So talk to her. Find out who she wants to be.”
“She’s a child.”
“A child who put me, several thugs, and the chief inquisitor on our asses at least once. She does not lack for talent or courage. With the right training, she could be twice the agent I ever was.”
Conner stood again. “That’s ridiculous. You had a lifetime of experience before I brought you in. You were ready from day one.”
“I was ready to bust heads and cut throats, and are you any closer to finding out who murdered your family, or who sent the killer? Maybe it’s time for another approach.”
“She’s a child,” Conner reiterated.
“She’s a tiny horned devil. Let’s see if we can domesticate her and put her to use.”
Conner sighed. “You know this is insane, right?”
“What isn’t these days?” Cleary replied with a grin.
***
Bertram strode through the palace halls, a slight limp jarring his normally fluid gait. He had not gotten out of the warehouse unscathed, but he had fared far better than more than a dozen of his gendarmes. The raid had been an absolute fiasco, and they had run into far more resistance than any of them had expected. Both sides of the melee had turned on his men, and it was fortunate that he had gathered together a large enough force to prevail in spite of it.
The presence of not just Nimat but another person able to wield similar dark power had nearly spelled disaster for him and almost everyone else caught up in the brawl, and this was why he felt it urgent to report what had happened to his uncle himself. He was just lucky to have inflicted a serious, hopefully fatal, wound to the man opposed to Nimat, and that both of the dangerous creatures had chosen to flee instead of fighting to the last breath.
Then there was the man in the mask. Bertram had only caught a glimpse of him near the end, just prior to Nimat and the other man quitting the fight, as well as the girl. He was certain they were both the same ones in Fred’s room that night. What their role was in all this he could not begin to speculate, but it did not appear as though they were on either side of the battle or even each other’s. That was the lesser mystery at the moment, so he pushed it to the back of his mind.
His uncle’s s
ecretary opened the door at his approach and closed it behind him. Rastus smiled at his nephew as Bertram sat heavily in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
“I see you are up early this morning, although I suspect you have not yet gone to bed,” Rastus said.
“Your assumption is correct, Uncle.”
“Would you like a drink?”
Bertram waved off the invitation. “No thank you, I have quite enough medicinals coursing through my system at the moment.”
Rastus’ head bobbed up and down. “Ah, I heard there was quite a brouhaha near the mooring yards last night. I should have known you would be in the middle of it.”
“Word reaches you quickly.”
“Well, I am the duke. I do have people who tell me things that happen in my city from time to time.”
“Did they tell you Nimat was also there?”
Rastus’ face dropped all hint of amusement. “I had not heard.”
“She was wearing a mask, one I am certain she is not entitled to, just as I am sure that that is the least of her crimes, and I am speaking of only last night.”
“What became of her?”
Bertram shrugged. “Fled back into the sewers most likely.”
“You must be wary when dealing with that one, my boy. Like it or not, she is a power in this city, one of its pillars you might say, and knocking it out could cause a great deal of collateral damage.”
“I know your feelings regarding her existence and the role she played in freeing us from the highlords and highborn in the past, but you will not convince me that the city and its people would not be better off with her gone.”
Rastus sighed, knowing better than to debate the subject with his prideful nephew. “What happened last night?”
Bertram sank into his chair as he gave in to fatigue. “What didn’t happen would be a better question. What I thought was a large but simple smuggling operation turned out to be something much greater and far from simple.”
“What was it?”
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