The Warrior Returns - Anteros 04

by Allan Cole

  "But some folks dug in, 'stead of foldin'. Raggedy armies popped up in the countryside. Under old Otavi, it turns out. Somebody'd told him what was up and tipped where some arms was to be had, and he roused up all the farmers to join with Hermias.

  "Fought all the way to the gates of Orissa, they did. The sky was on fire night after night.

  "Saw the Lyre Bird herself up there, soarin' across the moon, shootin' down lightnin' and dodgin' bolts thrown back at her.

  'Then somethin' happened. Don't know what. Don't know how. But somebody got close to Hermias. Knifed in the back, it's said. Went after the whole command. Otavi was killed the same way. Went after Palmeras, too. But he got away.

  "Whole thing collapsed after that. Quatervals had to retreat. Lost a lot of men and women. But he got 'em all back to Galana.

  "Heart went outter everybody. Just got down and slunk like worms. And that's when they started killin' Anteros. It was an awful time. Didn't seem like a day passed without we didn't hear news of some poor Antero bein' murdered in her bed.

  "But the Antero Novari seemed to want most was Emilie, yer little niece. And Hermias' darlin' daughter. Scoured the countryside fer her. Burned whole villages tryin' to track her down. Almos' got her more'n once. But ever' time she'd sniff little Emilie out, somethin' would happen to warn us. 'N' we'd get her away to safety.

  "It took some doin', but we finally got her to Cap'n Kele— who died gettin' Emilie up the river to Galana. And yer know the rest."

  "Actually, I don't," I said. "There's many mysteries to be explained. Such as your part in this, Pip. Who tipped Hermias and the Maranon Guard? Who saved Emilie and got her to Kele?"

  Pip actually blushed. He ducked his head and mumbled, "It was me, Cap'n."

  "I thought so," I said. "It appears Orissa owes more than it can ever repay to Cheapside and the King of Thieves."

  Pip shrugged. "Didn't want the job," he said. "Had 'nough stashed to last me whole life. But it was the only way I could think of fightin' Kato and Novari.

  "The rogues think well of old Pip," he said. "Got family ties, too, that made it a natural. It was easy, to tell the truth, Cap'n. I was even a bigger hero in Cheapside than I was in the rest of the city. Bein' a local lad, and all. So I had a whisper here and a whisper there and I twisted some arms and busted some heads and before yer knew it, was runnin' the whole thing."

  He chortled. "It didn't hurt," he said, "that there's nothin' a villain hates more than a hard-fisted crew like this. Hurts business for good honest thieves, it does, when you thumps on regular citizens. They holds onto their purses tighter. Don't trust folks like they usta. Serspicious of ever'body."

  Then he stopped and pointed at the hourglass. It was a few grains past the mark he'd set.

  "Yer'11 soon get a taste of what we been doin' here, Cap'n Antero," he said.

  Then from far off I heard a heavy crump. The chamber shuddered around us. Dust showered, then all was still.

  Pip grinned evilly. "Me lads just got one of the barracks," he said. "With luck maybe fifty or so of the Lyre Bird soldiers just kissed their arses farewell."

  "An explosion?" I marveled. "So large. And without sorcery, it seems. At least I didn't sense any."

  "Nothin' sorcerous about it, Cap'n Antero," Pip chortled. "Plain old horseshit and tar oil. Got the idea from Otavi. Bein' a farmer and all, he knowed that sort of thing. Get the horseshit good and dry, he said. Crumbly. Lots of that stuff layin' around the stables of Orissa. Then soak it good with tar oil and pack it real tight in some barrels. More barrels, bigger the hole in the ground."

  He scratched his head. "I ferget how many we used this time," he said. "But it oughter make a big enough hole to give 'em pause."

  He winked at me. "Only sorry we couldn't get Novari standin' over it when it went off. Send her someplace else to do her goddessin'."

  "I saw the statues of her," I said dryly. "When did she become a goddess?"

  "They done it right off," Pip said. "Kato got her declared a goddess. Swore in the troops. Sacrificed a herd a cattle and sealed off the other temples, like fer Te-Date and Maranonia and such.

  "She's buildin' a new temple fer herself," Pip said. "Just laid the foundation." He stared at me a moment. "She's buildin' it out by yer bruvver's villa. Livin' there, she is. Until the temple's built."

  My stomach roiled, thinking of Novari residing in Amalric's home. Strolling in the garden. Doing whatever she liked with my mother's shrine.

  Pip patted me. "We'll get her outter there, Cap'n Antero," he soothed. "Now that yer with us, I knows we can do it."

  He drew back and sipped his wine. "Anyways, that's the kinder thing us Cheapside villains have been up to. We hit 'em ever' chance we gets.

  "Outside a town we got all the country villains with us.

  With a lot of honest folk bandin' with them. We used them to shuffle little Emilie about and get her to safety.

  "But the biggest help they give us is gettin' weapons and supplies to Galana. We robs barracks and stores here and then smuggle 'em out to the country stiffs. They hide stuff in farm wagons, in their clothes—up their arses, even. And they've dared the Lyre Bird's snoopers and Kato's soldiers ever' hour of ever' day since this whole friggin' thing started."

  His eyes suddenly shot up to the hourglass again. "What's this?" he said. "There was supposed to be another one go off right after the first.

  "Somethin' must a gone wrong. Two barracks was supposed to be hit tonight."

  Pip cursed and smacked his palm with a fist "Must a been the horseshit," he growled. "I was serspicious of its quality, Cap'n. Not crumbly enough, I told the lads."

  He sighed. "It's the details that getcha in this job, Cap'n. If yer don't take care of the horseshit, it won't take care of yer."

  He said it so eamestly that I had to bury a burst of laughter, covering with a loud clearing of my throat and saying my father'd said similar things about merchanting, although without the barnyard reference.

  Then I said, "Pip, I don't think we have much time. The Goddess Maranonia gave me until the first snowfall. I remember her words like it was yesterday, instead of nearly a year ago. 'When next the snow falls in Orissa,' she said, 'the child Emilie will reach the first level of her powers.' And she said Novari was determined to prevent this."

  Pip's eyes narrowed. "First snow can't be more'n a month off," he said.

  "It could be even sooner," I pointed out, "if winter comes early this year. Regardless, considering what we're up against, we've almost no time. I feared it was impossible when I set out for Orissa hundreds of days and thousands of leagues ago. I'm pointing my doubts out to you so you'll completely understand our situation. Our chances are poor, to say the least.

  "When I fought the Lyre Bird before, I was confronting a primitive force with little knowledge and only the raw power of her hatred to drive her. Now she has the knowledge of the Evocators' workshops at her command.

  "The only reason she hasn't succeeded so far is that Palmeras and the few Evocators who escaped with him also have that knowledge. They are using it to block her. But how much longer can they hold out?"

  "If yer don't mind me sayin' so, Cap'n," Pip broke in, "yer on'y lookin' at this from one side. If we're runnin' outta time, so's Novari. Like yer said, first snowfall ain't far off. That means Novari's got as little time to bust the siege as we got to stop her."

  I clapped him on the shoulder. "I can see why your knavish friends made you king, Pip," I said. "That's exactly right. And it cheered me just to hear you say it."

  Pip brushed aside the praise. "Novari's gotter know the same things we know," he said. "And if old Pip was in her skin, I'd be makin' a big push soon. I'd be throwin' ever'thing I had into that seige at Galana."

  "She's probably already started," I said. "I've sniffed around, and Novari's attention definitely seems elsewhere. There's all kinds of spells and magical traps set all over Orissa and the countryside on the way up here from the Delta. Not only was I able to avoi
d them easily, but I had the feeling that if I slipped a little, made a mistake, it might go unnoticed for a time."

  "Which means she's concertratin' on Galana," Pip said. "Exactly."

  "What do we do then?" he asked.

  "What does any self-respecting thief do," I asked, "when he sees a rich man's house left unguarded?"

  "Why, he gets up to all the knavery he can, Cap'n," Pip said.

  "That's what I had in mind, Pip," I said. Pip laughed. "Yer couldn't a found a better villain fer the job, Cap'n Antero," he said.

  "I didn't know that when I set out to find you, Pip."

  I looked around the chamber at the dazzling treasures he'd stuffed it with to make it seem like a pirate's den. And I said, "But I do now."

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The Warriors of Cheapside

  THE DAY AFTER our meeting, Pip gathered his top lieutenants together to launch the first part of our campaign against Novari and Director Kato.

  "Afore old Pip starts yammerin'," he began, "I wanna know if any of yer squints think Cap'n Antero here ain't what I says she is. Which is Rali Antero come back from the dead to stick the Lyre Bird's gizzard." He glared around at the assembled group.

  It was a bizarre gathering. There was Queenie, head of the Thugs' Guild, a big muscular tub of a woman dressed in rich furs and sporting a gem-encrusted tiara. And Garla, the tall, handsome chief of the Beggars' Guild. Pearl, the tawny seductress who headed the Harlots' Guild. Palmer and Lammer, the baroness and baron of the Pickpockets. And Tink, ratboy leader, smaller even than Pip but powerful in presence—since he'd doused himself with perfumes and oils to hide the scent of his specialty, which clung to him no matter how often he bathed. There were others, just as colorful, but those are the ones I remember the most. Probably because they were the ones Pip first pointed out as they assembled and their names stuck more firmly in my mind.

  It was a gathering of Cheapside's most dangerous men and women, but as deadly as this group appeared, they all turned

  away from Pip's steady glare. He didn't let up and the silence grew uncomfortable.

  Finally Queenie cleared her throat. "What'd we do, Pip," she asked, "to make ya think we don't believe ya? She's whatever ya say she is, Pip. Rali Antero, if ya like. Lookin' not a day older'n thirty-six, thirty-seven. Even though she's been gone more'n fifty years. And was that age then, accordin' to all the tales we've heard since we were just wee dabs."

  "Aha!" Pip roared. "So yers don't believe me!"

  Queenie raised a meaty hand in protest "I didn't say that, Pip."

  "Might as well've," Pip growled. "Now, lissen to me. All a yers. Spit it out. Whatcha believe and whatcha don't. Old Pip'11 set yer square."

  More silence. The group obviously was too frightened of Pip to say what they plainly thought, which was that he was crazier than a chimney bird.

  I came forward, raising my golden hand, making it glow like a beacon—emanating power enough to make their hackles rise. I smiled to lessen their fear.

  "Forgive me for what I am about to do, my friends," I said. "But I don't have time for doubts, tricks, or quarrels. You must be with me to the end, no matter where that end lies."

  I chanted:

  "Draw the veil,

  Part the curtain,

  See what's lying tale,

  And what is certain."

  I sliced the air with my etherhand, and it was like a great window swept open. A frigid wind blasted through and the knaves all jumped and cried out in alarm.

  Spread out before them was a wasteland of ice and swirling snow. Perched on the black rocky coast and washed by frozen seas was my citadel of ice, a hunched half globe so white it burnt the eye.

  "My home," I said.

  The rogues shifted and muttered.

  I gestured again and the view changed. We were looking inside the citadel now. There were weapons racks set in the great hall. There was the empty wooden cradle where my silver ship once perched.

  And set in a wide alcove was the tomb with the lid of ice as clear as glass.

  Inside was the sleeping auburn-haired Salimar. My heart wrenched when I saw her, and I felt ashamed for bringing these strangers into our bower. She stirred, and I thought I heard her whisper my name. I wanted to answer but it was too far. And only a vision.

  I gestured at Salimar. "My queen," I said. "And the woman I love above all others."

  I heard the knaves murmur in wonder and sympathy.

  Then Salimar stirred in her tomb. Her lips moved and she called out, quite faint, "Rali, dear. Please. I'm cold. So cold."

  And she stretched out her arms.

  I could bear it no longer. I pawed at the air and the vision collapsed.

  Queenie, leader of the Thugs' Guild, sniffled and wiped her eyes. The others seemed equally affected.

  Only Garla, Master of the Beggars' Guild, seemed unmoved. He had a knowing smirk on his handsome lips.

  Pip must have noticed it, too. "Whatcher problem, Garla?" he snarled. "Yer think what yer saw was just caused by gas from bad eats?"

  Garla shook his head. "Not at all, Pip," he said in surprisingly cultured tones. "I was only admiring the display. I consider myself a master at tugging heartstrings. But that"—he looked at me, sardonic grin growing wider—"was truly the work of genius. I wept a tear myself and I don't mind saying so, Lady Antero."

  "She don't like bein' called 'Lady,'" Pip snapped. "It's Cap'n Antero."

  Garla dipped his head in a slight bow to me. "Captain, is it?" he said. "How... equal of you."

  Pip started to get angry but I waved him down. "Speak your mind," I said. "No one will harm you."

  Garla shrugged. "Oh, I believe you, Captain Rali Antero. Who could deny what they just saw? Coupled, most importantly, with Pip's claim. Which I never doubted from the beginning. No, I'm a strong supporter of the King of Thieves. Who, after all, has seen enough and done enough for a dozen lifetimes, and is definitely no one's fool. You're Captain Antero, all right. Miracle though it may seem."

  "Then why the sneer, my friend?" I asked. "Why the hostility toward me?"

  "Not to you in particular, Captain Antero," he said. "But what you represent" He made an elegant gesture of disdain. "All the lords and ladies who were so quick to desert their fellow Orissans to keep their comforts and win a greater share besides."

  He indicated the rest of the group. "We're all thieves here. We make no pretense we're anything else. But how is it that it's Orissan castoffs who stand for her now, when all else have bowed down or fled?"

  "I can't answer that" I said. "And I must admit it amazed me."

  "What will happen, Captain Antero," Garla continued, "if we win this fight? Who will rule when this lot is gone? The noble families again? A different group, perhaps, but of similar breeding, mind you."

  "What do you want to happen?" I asked.

  Garla raised an eyebrow, surprised. Then he nodded and said, "Why, if I were given the choice, the new leaders would be common folk with uncommon experience and strength." He gestured at Pip. "The King of Thieves would be one such man."

  "If that's what you want" I said, "work to accomplish it when this fight is done. I have no future in Orissa after this.

  Make your own. Just make it fair for all, and you'll have no quarrel from me."

  "That was honestly spoken, Captain Antero," Garla said. "And I'm your man. On your say so now. Not just Pip's."

  He looked around at the others. "Do we all agree?" he asked.

  The ragged chorus of agreement was quite loud.

  IN THE DAYS that followed, Orissa was struck by the greatest wave of knavery in its history. No lord, lady, or merchant baron could walk a public street with purse or person intact. These were the true knaves, as Garla pointed out. And we punished them severely.

  We pilfered their carriages, looted their shops, and when they retreated into their homes, Pip sent his ratboys through the privy entrances and held them hostage while we stole all their worldly goods, carrying th
e loot away in their own carriages.

  The assault was so furious and unprecedented that the nobles and merchants descended on Kato, gnashing their teeth. They demanded that soldiers be deployed, according to our spies. And Director Kato was hard-pressed to explain why he didn't have those soldiers to spare. This was a particularly sore point with the rich families who'd betrayed Orissa's citizens. The expense for keeping the populace down and maintaining the siege at Galana was entirely theirs. They chafed first at the high cost, and second that even with that too dear a cost, they weren't getting their money's worth if they weren't safe in their own homes. Kato promised to do something, but was so vague, our spies said, that the nobles went away grumbling and dissatisfied.

  But harassing those rich traitors, satisfying though it might have been, was not my sole purpose. Not by half it wasn't.

  What Kato lacked in troops, Novari made up for with an elaborate web of spies. They noted every suspicious act or word, endangering every plan Pip had worked out I had to tangle that spy network into knots if any plan was to succeed.

  The series of raids on the rich was a good start on the job. The peeries were pulled from their normal spidery tasks and hurled into the breach to stem the criminal assault.

  At the same time, we created our own network of spies. The beggars and barrow boys and purse cutters were our key to the streets. The jewel thieves and ratboys were our snoops in the enemy's homes. And as the tension among the rich mounted, it spewed out in their vices. The harlots and gamesmen kept us busy listening to their reports from the dark side.

  Those initial gains came as much from the new breed of sorcery as from the fervor of Pip's rogues.

  I created spells for the pickpockets to make their game easier. Usually they worked in teams: a woman such as Palmer, who looked like a great-eyed innocent waif, and a man such as Lammer, who was fleet of foot. I gave the women charms that would make them seem even more appealing, innocently alluring. And I gave the men amulets that would cloud their victim's mind with greater confusion.