by Joe Jackson
There were proud smiles on all of the faces before her, and Kari's heart calmed down a little bit. “What you say sounds anything but selfish,” Master MacDonald said. “But it sounds very dangerous, and even if your goal is to rescue this girl with subtlety, the presence of a Hand of Zalkar in the underworld may rouse the attention of the kings.”
“I understand, and I agree, Master,” Kari said. “This isn’t something I’d even consider if I didn’t get reliable, useful information first. That’s why I’ve had one of the syrinthians we’ve captured held apart from her friends. I’d like to bring her before you for questioning, to see what she’ll tell us about Se’ceria’s daughter and where we might find her. Then I’d like to speak with Amastri and see what she’s willing and able to tell us, and we can compare what the two have to say. If they give us different or sloppy details, then I’ll wait until we can find a better way. But if they can tell us where to find Se’sasha and how to rescue her without getting into trouble, then that’s what I’d like to do.”
“Your promotion was clearly well-deserved,” Master Perez said. “I don’t believe we have said as much to you, but it is an absolute pleasure to have you among us, Lady Vanador. Have this syrinthian girl brought before us, and we will see what she has to say.”
Kari smiled and saluted her superiors, and she made her way from the chamber to go retrieve Se’lucia Liria Alaristis.
Chapter II – Alternatives
After a couple of mostly fruitless hours trying to get information out of Liria and then some of her companions, Kari left the campus with her mother-in-law. It had seemed odd at first that the syrinthians would stay silent in the face of their potential executions, but Kari recalled the tale that Eli and Danilynn had told her. Doubtless the syrinthians’ families were being held close by Sekassus, to be tortured and executed if the infiltrators failed or betrayed him. If that were so, then Sekassus was likely to kill Liria’s family, along with those of her companions, simply because they had been caught. Despite her usual feelings about syrinthians, Kari had no intentions of letting that happen.
Kari left instructions for the syrinthians to be held, but to await her command before anything else was done with them. Her interrogations, aided by the Council, had yielded nearly no information about Sekassus, the underworld, or what orders the serpentine king had given his syrinthian spies, but they hadn’t been entirely useless. Two things had come to light as a result: that the syrinthians had not been ordered to kill Kari – and thus Irressa had acted of her own accord; and that their mission was one way – they were not expected or expecting to ever return home. On top of all that, Kari had deduced that there had to be an outside agent that was passing their reports on to Sekassus; the syrinthians wouldn’t say anything about it one way or another.
Kari figured if she could find that outside agent and capture or kill them before they could report to Sekassus, that might spare the syrinthians’ families and make them more willing to talk. Kari wasn’t sure how quickly word would reach the agent that the Demonhunter Order had rounded up syrinthian spies. She had to hope that if she assigned her brother-in-law Aeligos and his girlfriend Eryn Olgaryn to finding and eliminating this outside agent, they could do so in time to make a difference. Kari had no doubt the two could accomplish the task, but getting it done quickly and on short notice was a tall order, even for the two masters of espionage.
Such a proposition still left Kari very uncomfortable. If she asked Eryn for her help along with that of her Guild, it would mean Kari was effectively contracting an assassins’ guild to do her work for her. After everything she’d found out already regarding Jason Bosimar and his connections to syrinthians, demons, and other unscrupulous types, Kari was leery about getting wrapped up with any of those same entities. It was why she was hesitant to go speak with Amastri – whether she was a demon or not, why she wasn’t sure what the end result would be of saving Se’sasha from Sekassus’ clutches, and why she was extremely nervous about involving the Blood Order in any of her work. If it came to light that Kari had hired the Blood Order – even to catch a dangerous underworld agent – it could make it seem as though the Demonhunter Order was in league with assassins.
Kyrie glanced at Kari now and then while they walked, and Kari knew her mother-in-law was keeping her protests silent out of respect. Obviously, Kyrie was not happy with Kari’s plan to visit the underworld, and Kari knew the rest of her family would be just as unhappy – and a lot more vocal. Kari wasn’t sure if they’d be more unsettled or more accepting of that plan once they found out she wanted some of them to go with her. When she met Kyrie’s gaze at last, her mother-in-law touched her shoulder briefly but said nothing. There would be plenty of time to get everyone’s input; Kari had yet to go see Amastri or get any useful information regarding the underworld or traveling there and back safely. For the moment, going to the underworld wasn't so much a plan as just an idea.
At last they reached their destination: the temple of Kaelariel, where Kyrie was the high priestess. Kari had managed to arrange a meeting with Aeligos and Eryn on short notice, but they opted to meet at Kaelariel's temple rather than at the campus of the Order or at Kyrie's home. While Kyrie didn't mind having Eryn visit her home as Aeligos' girlfriend, the half-brys woman was one of the highest-ranking members of the Blood Order, the city's resident assassins' guild. To have Eryn meet Kari and Kyrie either at the Order's campus or the priestess' home under an official capacity would have looked very bad in the eyes of the common citizens; Kari had to imagine it already looked bad that Eryn occasionally visited Kyrie’s home. However, while Kaelariel was the god of freedom and death, as head of the pantheon he was rarely judgmental, so Eryn was able to enter his temple without condemnation.
As requested, Aeligos and Eryn were both inside already, standing to the side, speaking quietly while they awaited Kari's arrival. Every time Kari saw them together, she was still struck by the stark difference just in their appearance: Aeligos was half-guardian, and though he wasn't overly muscular, he still stood about six-foot-one and was well toned. Eryn, by comparison, was half-brys, and she didn't even reach five feet tall standing straight. She was tiny standing next to her boyfriend, but Kari knew that slight frame and its wiry muscles were only half the picture. Eryn was a highly-trained killer, one of the greatest among her guild, and likely beyond.
Eryn's greeting was short and cordial, as was typical for her kind. Half-brys, like their full-blooded brys forebears, were rarely overtly warm or friendly, and they were blunt in nearly everything. Eryn was dressed for business, armored in a detailed but unrestrictive leather outfit with a pair of sabres at her hips and a bow across her shoulders. It made little sense for Eryn to bother trying to blend in with the citizens given her stature and the fact that everyone knew who she was. As much as the city watch would have doubtless liked to arrest her and get her to snitch on the rest of her guild to bring it down, Eryn was feared, and no one seemed in any hurry to accost her, even when she was dressed to kill on the streets under daylight.
Aeligos hugged Kari, clearly glad she had returned safely from her work in Barcon, but he was perturbed by the reports of the attack in their home, and he didn't bother to hide it. He absently brushed the sculpted strands of his hair back into place, his ebon eyes fixed squarely on Kari’s own. “So what's this about a jackal demon in our house?” he asked quietly. “How did it get past the wards you put around it, mom?”
“I'm afraid that was my own doing,” Kyrie admitted with a sigh. She glanced at Kari. “I hadn't suspected it at the time. Little Gray asked if his friend, “the Fuzzy Man,” could come in the house…I just assumed it was an imaginary friend. Had I even suspected he was actually speaking of some invisible, hidden creature…”
“I guess it's a good thing you didn't, considering he saved my life,” Kari assured her. “If you'd detected him and we got rid of him…who knows how things would've played out with Irressa and these syrinthian spies.”
“I sh
ould have been more suspicious after you felt his presence in the bedroom that day, though,” Kyrie said apologetically. “Rest assured, if any of us even suspects something is in that house in the future, I will be making every effort to root it out, friend or foe.”
“The Guild is already aware that some infiltrators were discovered among the Order,” Eryn said. “Officials are trying to keep it from spreading among the commoners, but that's not going to work for very long. Tell us what you need done.”
Kari paused to put her thoughts in order. “Including the girl who tried to kill me, there were twelve syrinthians altogether,” she said. “But I don't think they were passing along their reports to Sekassus directly. I think there's someone else in the city that was in charge of passing along information to Sekassus. I know it's a lot to ask, but I need the two of you to see if you can find out who it is and either capture or kill them before they can tell Sekassus we've captured his spies. And the trouble is, you can't ask the syrinthians about it. Or, I suppose you could, but they're not going to talk. Even the threat of death didn't make them talk to us. Any ideas where you might start?”
“What about that gnoll, Tormaar?” Aeligos suggested. “Doesn't seem likely it's him, but he might know someone based on all the times he and his friends tangled with syrinthians.”
Kari nodded. “That might be a good place to start. I'm supposed to go meet with some woman who works for a demon king, so I can see if she knows of any others like herself in the city. If she works for Koursturaux and this other spy works for Sekassus, she might be all too happy to turn them in to us.”
“Don't count on it being that simple,” Eryn said.
Aeligos shook his head. “No, I have to figure if she knew about any of the syrinthians, she'd have let someone know to get them captured or killed. I'll check with my contacts, but my guess is Eryn's people will be better connected to figure this out. Anyone contacting a demon king to pass on info has to be some sort of practitioner of the arcane, yet keeping a low profile.”
“And those are exactly the type of people Tarek has us keep a very close watch on,” Eryn added, dropping the alias of the Blood Order's leader rather casually. She folded her arms across her chest. “Do you just want this person dead, or do you want them captured if possible?”
“Captured, if possible,” Kari said. “We have a warded prison on campus that can hold them and keep them from contacting anyone by magic, so unless there’s a risk they might get away, try to take them into custody.”
The assassin nodded, but then she held her hand out and poked her palm with a finger rapidly. “This service will not come cheaply, Kari,” she said. “I can't order anyone from the Guild to help your people. It's got to be a bounty.”
Kari grimaced, but she understood where Eryn was coming from. If the Guild looked like it was helping the Demonhunter Order for free, it would cost them face just as much as it made the Order look bad. Kari wasn't thrilled with the prospect of “hiring” the Blood Order to capture or kill someone, but having her own people handle the matter would almost assuredly tip off their mark and, consequently, Sekassus. The families of Kari's captives would probably be slaughtered, the spy who passed along reports to Sekassus would either flee or maybe even kill himself, and the Order would have gotten virtually nothing in return. To top it off, they'd also have nearly a dozen angry, uncooperative captives that they had to get rid of, and execution would likely be the only viable option. It was a rotten prospect all around.
“How much money are we talking about? I can get a bounty put on this spy officially by the Order, and pay your people indirectly,” Kari said at last. A bounty was the most obvious choice to better blur any connection between the Order and the Guild. There was still that minor connection there, and Kari wasn’t happy about it, but if she offered a bounty and a member of the Guild happened to be the one who collected on it, there wasn’t too much anyone could say.
Eryn waved a hand dismissively. “If it's a bounty, five thousand ought to do it.”
Only five thousand? Kari thought sarcastically. It was astounding to her just how much coin switched hands over even a single death. Kari had been hunting demons for most of two lifetimes, had hundreds if not thousands of kills to her credit, and never had she earned even a shadow of that kind of money doing so legitimately. The more she thought about it, though, the more she realized she'd want to be paid an exorbitant amount of money if she was being asked to kill someone in cold blood and possibly face capture and execution for someone else's ambition.
“I think we can manage that,” Kari said. It was a lot to post as a bounty, doubly so when she considered what she hoped to get from it. Paying a bounty for the capture or killing of a demon – or something considered a demon, anyway – was one thing, but doing so in hopes of sparing syrinthians…Kari wasn’t sure how she could explain it to the Council. She was going to tell them either way, though: she was determined not to be the type of leader that had to hide what she was doing, whether it made sense to people or not. “All right, the two of you see if you can find and deal with this…person. I’ll make sure the Council is willing to pay out a bounty when it’s done, as soon as I can get back to the campus.”
“Where are you headed now?” Aeligos asked.
“I’ll explain that at dinner,” Kari said, motioning for them not to press on the matter. Kyrie held her tongue, and Kari was glad for that. She wasn’t looking forward to dinner tonight and explaining things to her family; she certainly didn’t want their potentially vocal protests to happen in the middle of a temple. As she thought about it, she realized the only thing she was looking forward to at this point was going to bed. Meeting with Amastri didn’t rate very high on her list, and having to then explain everything she found out to the Council and her family was bordering on overwhelming.
“Well, let me know if I can help,” Aeligos offered.
“The best way you can help me is to find this person,” Kari said, and the rogue nodded. “Once the wards are replaced around the house, I think we’ll all feel a lot safer. So mom, I’ll leave you to that and these two to their task. I’ve got to go meet with Eli and Danilynn and see what else I can dig up.”
With their agreement, Kari left the temple and made her way south to the main square that fronted the Archmage’s tower. There, in the most opulent of all the city’s market squares, was the upscale inn known as the Silver Chalice. Kari knew the place fairly well: Kyrie sang there on weekends sometimes, enthralling the citizenry with an opera-quality voice and ballads about the pantheon and its history. The inn was known for its expensive, rich cuisine and its entertainment, which typically included bard troupes and even the occasional illusionist or jester. It’d been some time since Kari had visited the place; she found herself spending less and less time away from home that wasn’t work-related since Little Gray had been born. Unfortunately, just as with nearly everything else she had to do today, she wasn’t able to look forward to the visit on account of why she had to go there.
The fact that this Amastri could typically be found in the city’s most upscale inn told Kari a bit about her already. The inn’s reputation and creature comforts gave Kari some insight into the type of woman – if such was the right term – Amastri was before they’d even met. Kari’s days as a homeless, fruit-pilfering teenager on the streets of Solaris had taught her a great deal about laying low. She’d learned further tricks of the trade from Aeligos, who was the spy and infiltrator among the Silver Blades, and from Eryn. Kari understood how to keep a low profile and stay out of the public eye when one spent a good deal of time where they didn’t belong.
And so it confused her that Amastri would spend all of her time in one of the most lavish and highly-frequented inns in one of the busiest cities in the kingdom. If the ‘demoness’ sought to keep a low profile and try not to attract attention, Kari couldn’t understand why she decided to stay right in plain sight for years. Certainly hiding in plain sight was a trick of the trade, and quite
an effective one, but only under the right circumstances. A spy pretending to be a peasant and spending time in an enemy capital was one thing; a demon spending time six blocks away from the campus of the Demonhunter Order was quite another. That, too, gave Kari some insight into what Amastri was probably like.
The inn was already filling up as the dinner hour approached, and Kari wondered which of its most sought-after bards would be performing this night. Kari had always appreciated the antics of Caedric the Jester, though she knew the innkeeper wasn’t always as happy with the comedic bard’s performances. As often as not, he ended up damaging the inn in some way with his tricks. Kari scanned the crowd and saw that Eli and Danilynn were sitting at the bar.
Eli waved Kari over when he spotted her in the doorway, and Kari cut her way through the crowd carefully, trying not to buffet people with her wings. “Want a drink?” he asked when Kari reached him.
“Never on the job,” Kari said quietly. “Is Amastri here?”
Eli motioned toward the corner with his eyes but didn’t look that way, and Kari resisted the temptation to turn and stare at the ‘demoness.’ After a moment, she reconsidered hesitating. Amastri surely knew who Kari was – not to mention Eli and Danilynn – and if Kari was there to talk to her, there was no sense avoiding eye contact. She turned and looked in the direction Eli had indicated, and the woman seated at the corner table was not at all what Kari expected.
