A Dance of Blades (Shadowdance 2)

by David Dalglish

  “Vel?” he wondered aloud.

  Then he saw it, a single streak of blood. He followed it to an alley, and when he peered down he saw Veliana kneeling over the body of a fallen man. His clothes were dark, well-worn, and lacking any local guild affiliation. His hair was short and blond, and across his chest was a smear of blood. At first Deathmask thought she’d attacked him, but when he climbed down he was surprised to see her bandaging the man’s wounds.

  “What the Abyss is going on?” he asked.

  “It’s him,” she said, not at all surprised by his arrival. “It has to be. I fought him once, years ago, but who else might the Watcher be? It’s Aaron … Thren Felhorn’s long-dead son.”

  Deathmask’s mouth dropped, and every plan whirling through his head rearranged itself to match this new set of circumstances. He could hardly contain his excitement. Every one of those plans was infinitely better than the last.

  “Take him,” he said. “Hurry. We have so much to discuss.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Haern awoke with his head pounding and no clue where he was. The last thing he remembered was crawling across a rooftop, just before being struck from behind. Then he’d been thrown forward, off the building and to the ground below. Then nothing. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light. He saw stone walls. A dungeon perhaps? No, that didn’t seem right. More of a cellar, windowless, lit by torches.

  “You’re awake.”

  He looked up. A man and a woman stood before him. The man wore a red robe, his dark hair pulled tight behind his head. As for the woman, she looked vaguely familiar, as if he’d seen her before a long time ago, in a dream. It had something to do with the long scar that ran down her face, bloodying her eye. He tried to stand, but he was tied to a chair. Whoever had tied the knots knew what they were doing. There wasn’t the slightest give, and the moment he tested them, various cords across his chest and neck tightened, choking off his breath.

  “Not sure I want to be awake,” he said, doing his best to relax. He’d known this was the fate awaiting him. He couldn’t make enemies of every guild and expect to live forever. Still, it seemed too soon. He’d accomplished so little. He’d die without mourners, without friends, without a legacy. A damn shame.

  “Do you remember me?” the woman asked. “It was during the Bloody Kensgold. You were still a boy then, almost a man. We fought…”

  And then he did remember. He’d seen her twice, once when his father had tried blackmailing her to turn against her guildmaster, then later in the attic of Leon Connington’s mansion. Her name was Veliana, and the last time they’d met she’d nearly killed him.

  “You do remember,” she said, seeing the recognition in his eyes.

  “I could never forget,” he said softly. “You showed me I would never escape. Aaron was dead, yet you never believed me. You refused.”

  She crossed her arms and leaned back against the stone wall. The man beside her remained quiet, seemingly content to let them talk.

  “You could have let the smoke take me,” she said. “Why didn’t you?”

  He shrugged the best he could, given the circumstances.

  “It wasn’t right to. I was there when my father left you to die at the hands of that disgusting … Worm. I couldn’t do so again.”

  His words hung in the air. When she spoke, her tone didn’t seem quite so hard.

  “I spread word of Aaron Felhorn’s death after that night. I told myself I did it to hurt your father, but I was lying. I did it for you, for sparing me. Aaron was dead, and it seemed true enough. What was the name you spoke to me that night? Something plain…”

  “Haern.”

  “That’s right. Is that who you are now? Haern the Watcher? I find it hard to believe you’re that same boy who spared my life. Do you know how many friends of mine you’ve killed? How many associates? You’re still Thren’s son, aren’t you? Perhaps you should adopt your old name, Aaron.”

  “Never call me that,” he said, glaring.

  In the corner the dark-haired man laughed.

  “Such ferocity. Well, there’s no doubt you’re skilled, and Vel here was lucky enough to get the jump on you after you were injured. Seems to corroborate everything we’ve heard about you, other than the demon blood. I’d sense it if that were the case. Still, your father cavorting with a succubus is a rather amusing thought.”

  Haern shifted in his bonds.

  “What do you want from me?” he asked.

  “Before I tell you that, I want you to understand just how powerless you currently are. I could kill you right here, that’s obvious enough. But I could also tell your father you’re still alive. How beautiful a game that would be, watching him tear the city apart house by house until he found where you hid. My curiosity is almost strong enough to see what exactly he’d do. Would he greet you with open arms, or a dagger? Perhaps both?”

  Haern glared. The man saw this and laughed again.

  “Still, I’m in this for the coin and power, not the curiosity. I have a proposition for you, Aaron. Sorry, Watcher. Or would you prefer Haern? So many names, I find myself at a loss.”

  “Haern is fine.”

  “Very well then, Haern, my name is Deathmask, and I have a request of you. This is something I cannot do on my own, nor with just Veliana’s help. But you … you have no loyalties, no weaknesses, no aspirations other than killing. So my request is simple, really: help me end this war between the guilds and the Trifect.”

  This time it was Haern’s turn to laugh.

  “I’ve slaughtered a hundred of you over the years, and even with my help the Trifect has sat on its hands and failed to do what needed to be done. Last night was a start, but it won’t work, we both know that. It’ll just anger them further. The retaliation will be terrible, if it hasn’t happened already. What could I possibly do?”

  “Your name carries weight, believe it or not,” Deathmask continued. “Though really, I should say your reputation does. Every thief fears the night when the mark he goes to rob turns out to be you. Even the guildleaders are frightened of you, except for perhaps Thren. A rampage of dragons wouldn’t make him soil his pants. But you have to understand something. All of these thieves, these underworld rogues, they’ve been trained since birth to survive. That’s all they know. They’ll claw and grab everything they can on their way up, but deep down they just want to live, and live well. If you threaten that, you can turn them to your side.”

  “No guildmaster would step down at my threat,” Haern said. “You’re a fool. They’d rather die than forfeit their wealth.”

  “And that’s the other thing you must understand,” Deathmask said, grinning. “They have no honor, no code. They want wealth, and they want to live, but they won’t live without wealth, not when they’ve at last obtained it. So you must threaten their lives while at the same time offering them a chance to keep everything they’ve gathered. It can work. I know it.”

  Haern leaned back in his chair, still not convinced.

  “What is your plan?” he asked.

  “Do you know how much the Trifect pays to employ those mercenaries? How much money they lose year in and year out from Thren burning their goods, from Kadish slaughtering their help, from Garrick looting their wares? They’re going bankrupt fighting this war, but they can’t stop, they can’t make peace, for Thren won’t let them. No one wants this to continue. Before the guild wars, everyone made a tidy profit and hardly anyone died. We had a system. But Thren took offense, and the Trifect overstepped their bounds. A fair mistake by both, but now everyone’s too stubborn to stop.

  “Now, my plan is very simple; we gather every single guildleader, all three members of the Trifect, and then stick them in a room. No one leaves until they agree to end all this.”

  Only the sheer audacity of it kept Haern from laughing.

  “It’d never work, you have to know that. Who would dare agree to go? Someone would back out, and others would try to execute their enemies while they’re in
the same place. Too much greed, too much mistrust. Someone will turn on another. I expected something more clever from someone so … strange.”

  “You spent five years trying to single-handedly conquer the thief guilds,” Deathmask said. “Yet you want to mock my imagination? But you’re right: such a meeting would instantly fall apart … unless we had an enforcer during the deal. Someone they all fear, so they would know that stepping out of line would result in a quick, efficient death.”

  Haern remained quiet for a long time.

  “Untie me,” he said at last.

  “Will you try to kill me?” Deathmask asked.

  “So little trust for someone who wants me to work for him.”

  The man shrugged. “Fair enough. Cut him loose, Vel.”

  She did so, reluctantly. Haern stood and stretched his muscles, grimacing as his back popped. His arm also ached like mad, the muscles there definitely torn. He glanced about the dim cellar, then turned his attention to Deathmask.

  “Tell me everything,” he said.

  Deathmask seemed all too willing to talk.

  “We’ll let every member of the Trifect, and every thief guildmaster, know in no uncertain language that if they refuse to come to the meeting, they’ll die. After that I’ll work behind the scenes, grease a few wheels, and come up with terms that everyone can accept. Anyone who tries to make a fuss, or tries to refuse those terms, we send you after them. How does that sound?”

  “Insane,” Haern said. He looked for his swords, saw neither. “Were you not out last night? The blood clogs the gutters. They’ll never agree, not to anything. You’re delusional, Deathmask.”

  “If you don’t accept,” Veliana said, stepping in front of the stairs leading upward to daylight, “then we’ll have no choice. You’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”

  “For what?”

  “We’ll tell your father of your new name, and of who you really are,” she said. “How long do you think your little crusade against us will last once he knows? Right now he sees you as a nuisance, a ghost to keep his men on their toes and to cull the weak from his guild. But for Aaron Felhorn to turn against his own flesh and blood…”

  Haern stood before her, staring eye to eye. Even wounded and exhausted, he would not back down.

  “Do it, then,” he said. “But ask yourself who will find who first … my father finding me, or me finding you? Move aside. Now.”

  She tilted her head so she could see Deathmask, who must have made some sort of approving gesture.

  “Very well. It was good to see you, Aaron.”

  He stepped out into the street, winced at the daylight, and then hurried away. With nowhere else to go, he headed for Senke and the mercenaries, hoping he might reach there without any other strange women attacking him.

  “Do you think he’ll change his mind?” Veliana asked once he was gone. Deathmask shrugged.

  “Depends on what you mean. About what I just offered? No. But I never expected him to.”

  Veliana raised an eyebrow. “Care to fill me in?”

  “Of course. Haern will never put his heart behind a plan I created. It needs to be his own, one he feels will be his legacy. We need his pride involved, otherwise he’ll be ineffective and dangerous. I’ve planted the idea, though. He knows many of us desire peace, and that he can be a key part of it all. The idea of an enforcer is what I think will appeal to him most. He’ll return, I assure you, and it will be with a plan far more insane than mine.”

  She sat down on the pile of cushions that had been her bed since Deathmask took her away from the Ash Guild. “Even after we kill Garrick, it’ll be tough getting the rest of the guild to accept any sort of plan involving the Watcher.”

  “I know,” Deathmask said. “Which is why I turned the Spider Guild against them. Why should I have to do all the dirty work?”

  Something about how casually he said it, how amused he seemed, clicked everything into place. Veliana’s mouth dropped.

  “You hope to destroy the Ash Guild, tear it down to nothing but yourself.”

  “Not quite,” Deathmask said. “You’ll be there, as well as two or three others who have the skill to endure the bloodshed to come. I don’t need a guild full of simpletons, children, and the like. I just need enough to put fear into the heart of the guilds, to ensure that all the coin I desire flows to my hands…”

  “Then this was your plan all along? Tear down the Ash Guild and rebuild it with you at the top, and a few of us bowing around your feet?”

  Veliana rubbed her temples, trying to think. Everything she and James Beren had created, it’d been dwindling since Thren killed James, but they’d still held on to shards of it. Might it all vanish? Could she let him do this, destroy the legacy of the Ash Guild forever?

  “You’ll ruin everything I’ve worked for,” she said quietly.

  “I’ll give the Ash Guild a legacy all of Dezrel will one day fear. I don’t expect it to be easy. We’ll have to kill a lot, yes. But if we succeed, think of all that wealth, that respect. We’ll fill every other guild with the fear of retaliation. We’ll never need to guard, only attack. Those who turn against us will meet death, every single one. Once that reputation takes hold, we’ll be gods in this city.”

  “You’re a lunatic.”

  He smiled. “Perhaps. But oh what fun it’ll be in the attempt. Are you getting scared on me, Vel? Aspire to greatness, and damn all others. Garrick took your guild. Help me take it back, and mold it into something never seen before in the history of Dezrel.”

  She still wasn’t sure, but she’d not let Deathmask know.

  “What of the Spider Guild?” she asked. “Weren’t you to meet with Thren?”

  Deathmask’s eyes twinkled, and his grin pulled wider. Despite it, she thought she sensed fear hiding behind the guise.

  “Come with me,” he said. “Hopefully we haven’t missed the show. I discovered something when in Garrick’s audience, and I’ve rethought what Thren’s reaction to our masquerade will be.”

  They removed their cloaks and dressed in drab colors that showed no affiliation. Veliana kept a hood low over her face to hide her scar. Given the cold wind of the morning, no one would think the hood odd. Deathmask led the way, taking a winding path back to the Ash guildhouse. Before they were even halfway there, Veliana could already see the smoke rising.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Careful,” he said, hugging the wall and peering around every turn. “We might have a few more enemies now. Do you remember when the Hawks tried to ambush you, the attempt I broke up when I first met you? Garrick didn’t do anything, did he?”

  “No,” she said. “But what does that—?”

  “The Spider Guild attacked the Hawks barely a day later. Why do you think that, Veliana? Why do you think Garrick suddenly grew testicles and dared challenge your hidden control?”

  The realization hit her like a battering ram.

  “No. That cow-sucking shit-eating motherfucker. I’ll kill him. It’ll hopefully take days, but I’ll kill him.”

  “Assuming he’s still alive,” Deathmask said as he led them into an apartment. They climbed the stairs, stopped at a door on the higher floor, and knocked. When no one answered, Veliana kicked it in. The room was disheveled, what little was left. The occupants appeared to have either fled or died. From the small window they could see the guildhouse. Deathmask looked first, then backed away so Veliana might see. The whole building was in flames. It had already collapsed on its supports, black smoke billowing. Surrounding it was a circle of thieves wearing the cloaks and colors of the Spider.

  While she watched, a man crawled from the wreckage, and even from their distance he looked badly burned. One of the Spiders shot him with an arrow before he could rise to his feet.

  “Unbelievable,” Deathmask said as he took a second look. “An army of mercenaries descends upon us, and without hesitation he massacres a fellow guild, all for a single act of betrayal.”

&nbs
p; “Thren is not one to hesitate.”

  Deathmask muttered and flopped down onto the poorly stuffed bed.

  “We need to establish control of the guild, and now,” he said. “I’d hoped for a bit of backstabbing between the two, a thinning of members, but this … Thren’s viciousness is astounding. We must take over before the guild disbands completely, and the rest of the city moves in on our territory. At least the mercenaries will keep them from doing so for a while. As for Thren … if there’s to be any chance of peace, he’ll need to be dealt with, one way or another. Tell me, where will the remainder of the guild flee now this place has burned?”

  “The old house,” she said. “Below the Split Pig Inn. We expanded their cellars and paid handsomely to do so. They should still be empty, and the owner was a crusty old dog that won’t be intimidated by sellswords.”

  “Then that’s where we’ll go,” he said, retying his mask over his face. “Let them see you alive, let them hear my demands of obedience. As of now, the Ash Guild is under my control.”

  “And if Garrick still lives?”

  Deathmask flashed her a smile, all pretense of fear gone.

  “Then you get your revenge, assuming you’re strong enough to take it.”

  She patted her daggers. “I’ll be fine. Follow me, and keep your eyes open. The last thing I want to do is die before my steel tastes Garrick’s blood.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Ghost woke when the sun shone bright on his face. He stirred, rubbed his eyes, and then forced them open. Midday, he guessed. His stomach rumbled, and his head pounded from the night before. He felt he could sleep another four hours or so, but his body would have to endure. Still, he wasn’t in too much of a hurry. He had a name, after all, a place to search and question. Not much harm in grabbing a bite to eat.