by James Wisher
“I’m done.”
Imogen looked his way. “Me too. There’s no other way in.”
They left the slaughterhouse and crossed the street to the ruined apartments. A little ways down the road a group of residents picked through what remained of the block. They must have just got there as he didn’t remember seeing them when he and Imogen arrived. Alden angled their way.
As they walked he asked, “What’s your problem with Damien anyway? He saved our lives today.”
“Yes, and he didn’t even break a sweat. I had always considered myself strong. Not at the level of the archmage, but still strong. Then I met Damien and saw what strong actually looks like. He does things impossible for anyone else without even trying. And he’s so damn polite. Anyone that powerful should at least be an asshole.”
“So you’d like Damien better if he was weaker or a jerk? You know that sounds insane.”
She managed a weak laugh. “I suppose it does. Since this Connor Blackman business began it’s become clear to me I’m nowhere near as equipped to deal with some of the threats out in the world as I believed I was.”
Alden nodded. “You believed you were closer to Damien’s level and now that he’s shown you what that level is you don’t like him for it. Nothing like getting your illusions shattered to ruin your day.”
“You don’t have to sound so happy about it.”
Alden smiled as they walked up to the residents. “Excuse me. Has anyone seen the linen ladies around?”
A pudgy woman with puffy eyes and a wattle under her chin raised a hand. “I’m Marsha Owens. I work in the linen room. The others were enjoying a night out with their husbands when the quake hit. They haven’t come home yet.”
“Well, maybe you can help us,” Alden said. “We’re trying to find Carmen Warren. She’s not home or at the castle. Since you work with her we hoped you could tell us where we might find her.”
“I don’t know if I can. Carmen isn’t very friendly. Ever since Master Allen put her in charge she’s gotten pretty full of herself. It didn’t help that she started going with that nice-looking guardsman either.”
“Jonathan Linn?”
“That’s right.”
“Why did Dale put her in charge? She’s quite a bit younger than the other ladies. No offense.”
“None taken. Carmen had a knack for fine stitching. Some of her work caught the queen’s eye. Word is the queen spoke to Master Allen and a couple days later Carmen was in charge. That’s the way it goes with the high and mighty.” Marsha shrugged as if to say, ‘what can you do?’
“What about the guardsman? Did Carmen ever brag about somewhere they went or something they did?”
Marsha glanced at the silently glaring Imogen before looking back at Alden. “She basically claimed they’d done it in every inn in the city. How much truth there was to it I couldn’t say. Are we expected to come in today? My uniform’s buried up there somewhere.” She waved vaguely toward the collapsed building.
“I believe Dale is expecting everyone to come in, but I wouldn’t worry about the uniform. Thanks for your help.”
Alden turned and walked away. That had been a complete waste of time.
They hadn’t gone more than a handful of steps when Marsha said, “Did you talk to Jonathan’s best friend yet? Tommy’s a good boy, he could probably help you.”
Alden turned back towards her. “Tommy?”
Marsha nodded. “Tommy Jacobs, he lives in the neighborhood. He was digging out his uncle’s place over on Pullet Street.” She pointed up the street toward the wall.
“Much obliged, Mrs. Owens.”
Alden and Imogen quickstepped it down the street. Pullet Street was marked with a sign shaped like a chicken. Fifty feet down the way five men were busy pulling boards out of a pile that used to be a building.
“Tommy Jacobs?” Alden asked.
A young man in his mid-twenties looked up. The moment he saw Alden and Imogen he went rigid at attention. He clapped his fist to his chest. The rest of the workers had stopped and were staring at him.
“At your service, Legionnaires,” Tommy said.
Alden grinned. Every once in a while you came across a guardsman that still held the legion in awe. “We’re looking for Carmen Warren. Mrs. Owens thought you could help.”
“Sure, Jonny’s girl. One of them anyway.”
“One of them?” Imogen’s voice held its usual edge.
Tommy nodded. “Jonny has three or four at a time as a rule. Carmen’s his current favorite though. She’s the first to last more than a month. Assuming it hasn’t collapsed, you can probably find them at Jonny’s love nest over at the White Stag.”
“My thanks, Guardsman,” Alden said.
The young man bowed. “An honor to be of service.”
Chapter 11
Alden soared into the air and Imogen followed. “You didn’t get an address,” she said.
“No need.” Alden turned toward the city center. “I’ve eaten there a few times. They make the best venison stew I’ve ever tasted.”
“You never mentioned it.”
After a thirty-second flight Alden descended. “We don’t generally talk about anything besides work. I didn’t even know you liked venison stew.”
“I don’t. I find it gamey and tough.”
They landed in front of the inn. It had escaped the worst of the quake. The only visible damage beyond the windows was that the front steps had separated from the building and the stag-shaped sign had fallen to the ground.
Alden led the way up to the landing. They’d barely stepped through the door when someone screamed on the second floor. Alden ran for the stairs.
At the top they found a girl in a white uniform standing in an open doorway, her hand to her mouth and her body trembling. Alden gently guided her to one side.
Lying on the bed was a body. Female, dark hair. He had a sick feeling they’d found Carmen. He gently shook the servant girl until she looked at him. “Please wait downstairs. We need to have a look around the room. Don’t go too far, we might have questions.”
She nodded and rushed away. Alden went to the body while Imogen scanned for signs of corruption. Carmen—Alden planned to operate under the assumption that it was her body—had bruises on her neck from someone’s hands. There was a patch of blood on the headboard where her skull bounced off it.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened here. Carmen came running to Jonny for help and he strangled her before fleeing the scene.
“The room’s clean.” Imogen frowned at the dead girl. “If she had the urn with her it never came out of whatever’s hiding its corruption. Is it Carmen?”
Alden shrugged. “I assume so. She fits the description at least. I’ve never met the woman so I can’t say for certain. Let’s poke around a little more then go talk to the staff. Maybe one of them can identify her.”
Half an hour later they left the room no more enlightened than when they started. Someone, Jonny most likely, had cleaned the place out. There wasn’t so much as a scrap of cloth in the closet or bureau.
Downstairs the second-fattest woman Alden had ever seen was pacing the dining room floor, her three chins jiggling with every step. The moment she spotted them the woman stomped over. “When can you get that body out of here? We’re planning to open soon.”
Her concern touched Alden’s heart. “We’ll move it as soon as we can, Miss…?”
“Stoltz, Miranda Stoltz. I own this place.”
“Who rented that room?” Imogen asked.
“Jonny ‘I’ll fuck anything with a pulse’ Linn. The son of a bitch is a day late on his rent and he knocked up three of my girls in the last two months. Now he leaves a dead body for me to clean up. If you see him tell him he can find a new place to play with his whores.”
“Can you identify the body for us?” Alden asked.
The girl from upstairs raised a trembling hand. Alden offered a hopefully reassuring smile. “Do you know
her, sweetheart?”
“Yes, sir. It’s Carmen. She was Jonny’s favorite. He brought her in a couple times a week.”
Miranda laughed. “That asshole's favorite was whoever he could convince to spread her legs that night.”
The girl blushed and looked away.
Maybe the maid had filled in when Carmen wasn’t available. “Do you have any idea where Jonny might go if he was in trouble?” Alden asked.
“No, sir. We didn’t really talk.”
“When did he leave?” Imogen matched Miranda glare for glare.
“About an hour ago. One of the other guests complained about the noise. Jonny and his slut were more enthusiastic than usual this morning. Really knocking the old headboard.”
“Actually that was him beating her unconscious while he strangled her to death,” Alden said.
The maid let out a squeak and dashed for the kitchen. He winced. The girl was upset enough. He should have been more careful.
“Whatever.”
“Alright. We’ll send someone by to collect the body.”
“Tell them it’ll be in the alley. I won’t have that bitch’s corpse stinking up my place.”
“What a charming woman,” Alden said when they’d left the Stag behind.
Imogen grunted. “What now? We’re about out of places to look.”
“Where’s the nearest gate?”
“Why? They’re all sealed.”
Alden turned toward the north gate, he was pretty sure it was the closest. “You don’t suppose he’d be arrogant enough to think he could talk his way out? One guard helping another?”
They raced into the air. It was a twenty-minute walk, but they could fly it in a few seconds.
Chapter 12
Four guards in blue and silver tabards leaned against the city wall beside the closed portcullis, their spears propped up beside them. They passed a flask between them and one laughed. They were the absolute picture of camaraderie and good cheer. What they weren’t the picture of was alert guardsmen on the watch for trouble.
Imogen landed a little ahead of him and strode toward the guards, a second quake on legs. They scrambled to straighten up and hide the flask. The oldest of the bunch, a bearded fellow with a copper sergeant’s shield pinned to his chest, moved to intercept her.
“Can I help you, ma’am?” he asked.
She turned her piercing gaze on the sergeant, pinning him in place. “Is this how you man your posts when your king orders the city sealed? You stand around drinking?”
While Imogen questioned the sergeant Alden put a block in his head to keep him from lying. It would be interesting to discover what excuses he came up with limited to the truth.
“It’s been quiet. Been quiet all night. Couldn’t see any harm in having a nip to take the chill off.”
“You couldn’t see any harm, could you?” Imogen levitated a foot off the ground glowering down at the sweating man. “I should take your shield for such dereliction during a city-wide emergency.”
“No need to get all riled up—”
One of the guardsmen groaned and collapsed flat on his face.
“Jenson!” another man said a moment before he shuddered and collapsed beside his friend.
Alden pointed at the sergeant. “Check him.”
He went to the still-standing guard and sent a stream of soul force into him. It took only a moment to find the poison gnawing at the guard’s brain. Alden neutralized it and repaired the damage. The man still looked unsteady so Alden helped him sit.
A thump drew Alden’s gaze back to Imogen. The sergeant had plopped down in the dirt, his eyes half closed, a trickle of drool running down his chin. Alden fished the flask out of one of the unconscious men’s pockets and scanned it.
“What did you find?” Imogen asked.
“Poison. How much you want to bet it’s the same stuff they used on us?”
“No bet. Looks like you were right about Jonny stopping for a visit. I bet he’s close.”
“Yeah, probably watching us right now.” Alden glanced at the buildings across the street. He didn’t see or sense anything. Assuming Jonny had seen them he’d probably run for it. The sergeant groaned, tried to stand up, and failed.
“You talk to him,” Imogen said. “I’ll see if I can spot Jonny.”
She shot straight up a hundred yards leaving Alden to deal with the guards. He sent his partner a silent, insincere thank you and turned his attention to the semi-coherent guard sergeant.
“So what happened?”
“Me and the boys were talking, trying to figure why the king would order the gates sealed when up strolls Jonny Linn, just as big as life, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. Jonny says he needs to slip out for a little while and that he’ll be right back. I told him the gates were sealed, no one in, no one out. He puts on this big cock-and-bull story about how no one will ever know. I told him orders were orders. He shrugged, told us to forget about it, and gave us that flask of whiskey. Shit-bird tried to poison us, didn’t he?”
“Actually he succeeded in poisoning you.” The sergeant’s eyes about bugged out of his head. Alden pitied him for half a second. “Don’t worry, it isn’t fatal, though you guys will all have a nasty headache for the rest of the day.”
The sergeant grunted and rubbed his forehead. “Any more good news?”
“Well, you’re not going to be hung for treason because you let a traitor to the crown escape. By the way, did he have anything with him?”
“Just his gear and this strange-looking satchel.”
“Strange how?”
“It had a bunch of weird designs all over it. Never seen nothing like it.”
That had to be where he was keeping the urn. “Okay. We’ll get a replacement squad out here as soon as we can.”
Alden flew up beside Imogen. “See anything?”
“Lots of damaged buildings and even more people out digging through the rubble. He could be hiding anywhere in all this.”
“He’s got a rune-marked satchel with him. That must be what’s hiding the urn’s corruption. We need to get the word out to everyone, guards and regular people both, to be looking for Jonny and that satchel. He’s out of places to run. All he can do now is hide. It’s only a matter of time before we find him.”
Chapter 13
It was only a matter of time before they found him. Jonny Linn carried a bucket filled with rubble away from a damaged meat market. He’d worked his way ten blocks southwest, helping for a minute here, five minutes there, trying to blend in. Plenty of other people filled the streets after the quake and the meager early morning light didn’t hurt his chances of escape. He’d lose that particular advantage in less than an hour.
Once the sun was up and those sorcerers put the word out about him Jonny was doomed. He’d been certain he could talk his way past Fat Garrik and his squad, but they were determined to follow orders. Straight-arrow pricks. He figured the last of his poison would do the trick that pretty words hadn’t, but those stupid legionnaires had showed up before it kicked in. Now he was well and truly screwed.
Stupid walls and guards! He knew people just ten miles south that could help him vanish. They wanted this…whatever it was in the satchel. If Jonny reached them he was set.
“Hey! Give us a hand here.” Two stout workers were trying to wrestle a timber off a groaning man’s leg and losing.
Jonny shrugged and adjusted his sword so the hilt was out of his way. Between the three of them they shifted the timber enough so the trapped man could drag himself clear. The man that had shouted gave Jonny’s hand a firm shake.
“Much obliged, pal. Wasn’t sure if we were going to move that beam or not.”
Jonny slipped into his hale-fellow-well-met routine. “Glad to help. What happened to you gents anyway?”
“Same thing that happens every day of my life: bad luck. We were on our way home from the carter’s shop near the south wall when we decided to stop for a drink. Wouldn’t you know
, ten minutes later the thrice-damned tavern fell on us. Took hours to dig free. We were almost out when some timbers shifted and pinned Dad’s leg. Lucky you came by when you did, Guardsman.”
“Always glad to be of service. I’m on patrol, trying to make sure there aren’t any ways out of the capital. You know the king ordered the city sealed?”
“Really? Why?”
“I heard a prisoner escaped during the quake and they’re trying to keep him from getting away. You don’t know of any ways out of the city, do you?”
“Nope, can’t say as I do.”
The older man on the ground yanked his pant leg. Jonny looked down. “Yes, sir?”
“You might want to check some of the businesses bordering the wall. If they collapsed your man might climb the rubble to freedom.”
What an idiot! Jonny hadn’t even thought about going through one of the businesses near the wall. Most of them weren’t high enough, but several were three stories. If he could climb up on one of their roofs he might be able to jump it. It was certainly better than waiting around to get caught.
“I hadn’t considered that, sir. I’ll be certain to let my superiors know. And thank you for the suggestion.”
The old man puffed himself up. “Not at all. Always glad to help the guard.”
Chapter 14
Damien found Jen and Leah in the throne room with the archmage. His sister carried Damien’s rucksack and she’d fitted his sword and dagger to the new harness Dad gave him. Leah and his master were talking about something, he couldn’t make out what from the door and they fell silent when he drew close.
He took the harness from Jen and buckled it on. Someone must have convinced Uncle Andy to go to bed as Dad and the king had both taken their leave.
“Everything sorted out, Damien?” the archmage asked.
“Yes, Master. They ran into an infestation of demon raccoons. The monsters had Alden and Imogen trapped in a protective bubble. I arrived in time, though from the way she acted I almost think Imogen would have preferred to take her chances with the raccoons. I’m pretty sure their aura was a match for the wolves.”
