[Hinterland 02] - The Wolf's Quarry

by K. T. Harding

  Angela came forward to offer Bishop her hand. “Knox dear! So lovely to see you.”

  Bishop kissed her hand. “You’re as lovely as ever, Angela.”

  “And you are as dashing as you are deceptive. What do you want this time?”

  Bishop suppressed a smile. “You always were too clever for your boots, Angela. We want some information on the Guild of Martial Arts.”

  She clucked her tongue. “I don’t know anyone as adept at getting himself into trouble as you, Knox dear. Tell me your charming apprentice here hasn’t convinced you to take on the Guild.”

  “We aren’t taking on the Guild—not yet, anyways. We only want to know what’s going on inside the building. You’ve been there visiting Chairman Kuntz. You can tell us if anything untoward is going on inside. Maybe the Chairman is worried about rogue elements and what they might be up to, or maybe someone is causing a disturbance within the Guild. Anything you can tell us would be most helpful.”

  Angela furrowed her brow. Then her eyebrows flew up. “There was one thing I found odd. Chairman Kuntz is worried about the Musicology election. He said if the wrong man gets into the Chair we’ll all have a big problem on our hands.”

  Bishop brushed that away. “We’re mostly concerned with anything going on inside the building or within the Guild itself. Does the Chairman still have all the same guards around him going in and out of the building?”

  Angela rubbed her chin. All of a sudden, she pointed at Bishop and gasped. “I know what you’re talking about! You’re talking about the construction.”

  “What construction?”

  “Do you remember the big auditorium where we used to conduct our weekly competitions? It’s under construction.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  Angela flapped her hand at the wrist. “Oh, really, Knox dear! I expected you to be more astute than this. No part of the building has been under construction since it was built more than fifteen hundred years ago. My father told me his father and grandfather used to compete in that auditorium. The Guild would have no reason to do any construction on it.”

  “Not even basic maintenance?”

  Angela set her hand on her hip. “Think about it. Can you remember any basic maintenance being done on the Guild building in the years you spent there? The Guild does no maintenance on that building.”

  “How do they keep it standing then?” Raleigh asked.

  “It’s under a magic spell,” Angela told her.

  Raleigh cast a questioning glance at Bishop, but he didn’t seem to find Angela’s statement out of the ordinary. A magic spell—in Hinterland? Just when this crazy world couldn’t get any crazier, Angela had to go and drop a bomb like that.

  “All the Guild buildings are protected by multiple layers of magic,” Angela told her. “One of them keeps the buildings in good shape so the Guilds don’t have to spend time and money and manpower maintaining them.”

  “If that’s true,” Raleigh countered, “we would have to counteract that spell in order to….”

  Bishop cut her off with a ferocious glare. Raleigh shut her mouth with a click.

  “The Guild never had the competition ring under construction, and they don’t have it under construction now,” Angela went on. “I thought it odd when Chairman Kuntz told me, but I never put the pieces together until now.”

  Bishop paced around the room. “That must be where they’re keeping it. This is the missing link. It’s the final key. They must have it there. That’s the only explanation.”

  Angela smiled at Raleigh. “He’s always been like this—talking to himself and whatnot. Don’t give it a second thought.”

  Raleigh almost laughed, but Bishop spun around, and his voice clipped the air. “What else can you tell us, Angela? Did you notice any Guildsmen going in or out of the construction area? Are they working in there at odd hours? Anything out of the ordinary will help our investigation.”

  “I didn’t see any Guildsmen going in or out,” Angela replied, “but there were outsiders going in and out. That’s what made me ask Chairman Kuntz about it. The Guild has a cordon set up for these outsiders to pass into the building without disturbing the Guild’s official activities. The cordon ensures the outsiders don’t set foot in any other part of the building. They come in, they do their work, and they leave. They don’t even talk to Guildsmen.”

  “And let me guess,” Bishop remarked. “No one can see what they’re doing in there.”

  A beatific smile spread over Angela’s face. “Exactly.”

  “What about sounds? Do you hear any sounds of machinery or tools or work being done?”

  Angela shook her head. “No talking, either. There’s absolute silence in that part of the building. None of the Guildsmen in the nearby parts of the building talk, either. They keep quiet. It’s almost eerie. I don’t know if the hierarchy ordered them to keep quiet, or if the nature of the project just makes them want to. No one talks. Everybody whispers around the auditorium. They don’t talk out loud until they get into other areas of the building.”

  Bishop nodded. “Thank you. That’s very helpful. Now we know where they’re keeping it.”

  Angela crossed to the fire. “You didn’t ask, but do you want to know something else that struck me as odd?”

  “Anything.”

  She stared into the flames. “I was standing on the balcony with Chairman Kuntz. We were looking down over the mezzanine to the hall below. The cordon passed right below us. While we were standing there talking about something else, one of the workmen entered through the side door they use. He looked right up at me, and I looked down into his face.”

  “What’s so unusual about that?”

  “It was the expression on his face,” Angela exclaimed. “I never saw any workman looking like that. The only people I’ve seen with those piercing eyes cutting straight through you are Guildsmen—high Guildsmen in all Ten Guilds. No one else dares look at another person like that.”

  Bishop’s piercing eyes drilled her with the same furious intensity. “Are you saying it’s Guildsmen going into this construction area?”

  “Not Guildsmen,” Angela replied. “At least, they’re not Guildsmen of the Martial Arts. I would recognize them if they were. They must be Guildsmen belonging to some other Guild, but they dress as common workmen. You can’t hide your eyes, you know.”

  “Are you sure it wasn’t just one person? Maybe he’s a slipper.”

  “A what?” Raleigh asked.

  “A slipper,” Bishop told her. “That’s someone who has risen in the ranks of one of the Guilds and then quit to become an ordinary citizen.”

  “I saw perhaps fifteen of these workmen I could swear were Guildsmen,” Angela replied, “but I didn’t recognize any of them. Either they belong to other Guilds from out of the area, or they all slipped. How do you explain that?”

  Bishop addressed Raleigh. “Maybe the cabal are all slippers.”

  “You said they would have to have money,” Raleigh pointed out. “You said they would have to be highly placed, and that they would manipulate the Musicology election to make sure they kept the Guild under their control. That doesn’t sound like slippers to me.”

  “They could pretend to slip,” Bishop suggested. “They could be slipping to protect the Guild in case they get caught.”

  Angela’s pealing laughter broke in on their conversation. “I never thought I’d live to hear another person babbling away like Knox here. You two are speaking a private language known only to yourselves.”

  Bishop blushed. He cast his eyes from one woman to the other. “I guess we better go, Raleigh. Thank you, Angela. You told us exactly what we wanted to know.”

  She pressed his hand. “I’m glad I could help, Knox dear. You know I’ll always do anything I can to help you.”

  He peered into her ivory face. “Would you come out of retirement for me? Would you do that to help me?” />
  She turned away. “You know that’s impossible.”

  He planted one last kiss on her knuckles and let her go. “I do. Good-bye. Come on, Raleigh.”

  Chapter 21

  Raleigh lit a lantern in the kitchen and opened the door leading down to the basement. She tripped down the stairs, but when she got down there, she found another lantern already shining from the hook in the ceiling. Dax stood in front of the gun racks. He cradled a long rifle in his arms and checked the flintlock.

  Raleigh smiled. “What are you doing down here? You should be upstairs sharpening your knives.”

  He set the gun back on the rack. “I’m just trying to cover all my bases. You say I won’t need this, but I sure wish I was taking it with me. I don’t like going unarmed.”

  “You won’t be unarmed. Bishop will give you the weapons you need. They’re a lot more powerful than anything you and I have trained with, but you’ll still need a few old-fashioned ones, just in case.” She tapped the breastplate covering her chest. “I wish I had this along last time.”

  “Can’t you give me the weapons? Can’t you show me how to use them now?”

  “I don’t have them to give you. Bishop keeps them…somewhere. I can’t get them myself, but I can show you how to use the ones he gave me. Then you won’t be in the dark when the time comes to use them.”

  She pulled out the cube and showed him the buttons. Then she took out the disc, but she didn’t hand it to him. “You tuck it into your palm like this and aim it at whatever you want to hit.”

  “How do you fire it?”

  Raleigh chuckled. “I can’t explain that to you. You’ll understand when you point it at something and decide to shoot. It sort of happens by itself. That’s the best explanation I can give you.”

  Sudden fire lit up his face. “I can hardly believe this is actually happening. I’m actually going on a hunt!”

  Raleigh winced. “Actually, I haven’t gotten Bishop’s approval yet.” His face fell, and she held out her hand. “But I will. I just need to twist his arm again.”

  Dax took down a pistol from the wall. He checked the hammer and sighted down the barrel like an expert. “I won’t quit. I don’t care what he says. I won’t go back to being on the outside. Now that I’ve tasted what it’s like, I won’t rest until I go along.”

  “You won’t have to. You’ll come with us. I’m not giving up, and neither should you.”

  She started toward the stairs when he laid a hand on her arm. “Thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. You don’t know what it means to me.”

  She patted his hand. “Yes, I do. That’s why I’m doing it, and I’m not finished yet. You belong in Hinterland. We just want to make sure you’re ready for what you find there. We all want that—Bishop, too. He wants it more than anybody. You’ll see. He really cares about you.”

  Dax hung his head. “He’s got a strange way of showing it.”

  “Yeah, he does,” Raleigh agreed. “Don’t worry about that. Just get yourself ready so when I do convince him, you can walk out the door without slowing us down. That’s the important thing.”

  He drifted a step closer to her. “None of this would be possible if it wasn’t for you. You’ve been there for me from the moment you first stepped into this house. You’ve done more for me even than he has, and that’s saying a lot.”

  “Listen, Dax…” she began.

  His face occupied her whole field of view, and his eyes burned into her soul. “I can’t get you out of my mind. I know I shouldn’t think about you that way, but I can’t stop it. No one has ever done anything for me what you have. I…I don’t know how to say what I mean, but…”

  She laid her finger against his lips to silence him. She tried to speak, but it came out as a whisper. “Don’t say it at all. I already know, so don’t say it.”

  His hands appeared around her waist. Before she could stop him, he exerted subtle pressure on her body to move her toward him. “If you only knew how I’ve wanted you, how I’ve dreamed about you…I never believed a woman like you could exist, and you’ve cared about me from the beginning. You’ve touched me…. You kissed me….”

  She wanted to resist, but his smoldering eyes caught her in their undertow. “Dax…”

  The next minute, he kissed her. His arms slipped around her waist and her breasts compressed against his chest. She never anticipated kissing him, not like this, anyways. This went so much farther beyond the friendly kiss she gave him. He wanted her. He wanted her all for himself.

  At that moment, hard bootheels drummed down the stairs. Raleigh hurtled out of Dax’s arms. She just made it back to her place when Bishop trotted down the stairs into the armory. He looked back and forth between Raleigh and Dax. He didn’t suspect a thing.

  Dax’s lips left their indelible mark on her lips. Her cheeks burned and her mind spun in a maelstrom of emotions. Could Bishop see the truth printed on her skin? Did he see the tension killing her from the inside?

  Dax didn’t lower his eyes or turn away like he usually did. He didn’t shrink before Bishop’s commanding glare. He straightened up. He squared his shoulders at Bishop, and he towered over his long-time mentor. His shoulders spread wider and thicker. He was stronger than Bishop. He could defeat Bishop if it came to an all-out brawl.

  Bishop showed no signs of noticing Dax confronting him in all his confident power. Bishop pushed between Dax and Raleigh and plucked a pistol off the rack. “I’ve got your grenades programmed, Raleigh. Come upstairs and I’ll give them to you.”

  “You’ll need to program some for Dax, too,” she told him.

  His head shot up. “Dax isn’t coming.”

  “Of course he is,” Raleigh shot back. “I thought we decided that.”

  “When did we decide that?” Bishop asked. “I’ve been saying all along he would stay behind.”

  Dax interrupted. “Sir…”

  “We decided it when we came back from Angela’s,” Raleigh broke in. “She wouldn’t come out of retirement to help us, and I’m not going back without at least one other person. I told you that. Dax is ready. He can help us. You’re a fool not to take him.”

  “So I’m a fool now, am I?” Bishop asked. “Then I’m a fool, and pretty soon, I’ll be a dead fool and so will you. At least Dax will be alive here. Now come on. I’m finished arguing about this.”

  Dax tried again. “Sir, I just want to say….”

  Raleigh cut him off. “Be quiet, Dax.” She rounded on Bishop. “You’re not finished arguing about it, because I’m not going alone. You want to attack the Guild of Martial Arts all by your lonesome? Go right ahead. We’ve got a perfectly good slayer right here, and you want to leave him behind over some ridiculous notion of paternal protection. He’s ready to fight. He can help us. We’re taking him with us.”

  “You think I’ve got some ridiculous notion of paternal protection?” Bishop returned. “You’ve got some ridiculous notion of maternal homicide, or maybe it’s something more like romantic blindness. You want to keep him with you at all times when you know perfectly well he’s completely untried. I’m the senior here, not you. You made your case, and I made my decision. He’s not coming, and that’s final. Now get upstairs and get your grenades. We’re leaving at sundown.”

  Bishop turned on his heel and thundered up the stairs and away. Raleigh cast a glance in Dax’s direction, but the twisted grimace on his face told him all she needed to know. Bishop knew exactly where to hit her to make his point. Did she want Dax along out of some misguided attraction? Did she really want to see him killed, just to make her point?

  She didn’t try to answer those questions. She already knew the answers, and she read on Dax’s face he knew them, too. She couldn’t contradict Bishop when he talked like that. He was, in fact, in charge here. He put his foot down, and no one could say anything about it.

  Dax didn’t look away. He fixed his gaze on her face and never wavered.
He kissed her. He declared how he felt about her, and he wouldn’t back down on it. Now she had to figure out what to do about it. She loved him, but nowhere near the way she loved Bishop. She couldn’t kiss him like that. She couldn’t return the undying passion burning in his soul.

  When she remembered that kiss, she was glad Bishop refused to bring Dax along. Dax and Bishop together in the same place with her could only lead to conflict. Dax might even try to challenge Bishop for her. That would be a disaster, especially on a mission like this where they already had their hands full against unspeakable odds.

  She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t face this situation. She couldn’t think of one decently intelligent way to handle it, so she raced out of the armory and left Dax behind.

  She ran upstairs and found a pile of six grenades on Bishop’s work table in the lab, but she didn’t see Bishop anywhere. She jammed the grenades into every corner of her clothes where she wouldn’t be likely to detonate them accidentally.

  She hurried back downstairs and found Bishop in the kitchen. He adjusted his shirt collar around his frock coat and screwed his hat down onto his head. Carriage wheels clattered on the cobblestones outside the door, but when Raleigh looked, she saw a strange man sitting in the driver’s seat.

  She didn’t give herself time to question. She hopped aboard with Bishop at her side, and the carriage rumbled away. Where was Dax? He must be still down in the basement. He would know she let him down, that all her promises came to nothing, but she couldn’t go back now.

  She could almost feel glad he wasn’t driving. He could never go back to being Bishop’s driver. If he couldn’t be a slayer and fight with the rest of the slayers, he would be better off somewhere else.

  Bishop must realize this, too. That must be the reason he arranged another driver. He must understand Dax had changed. He’d outgrown his position. What would become of him?

  The carriage clattered through the streets headed back to the Gingerbread House. The driver pulled up outside the saloon and called, “Whoa!” to the horse. Bishop got down. Then Raleigh joined him.