The Alchemy of Chaos: A Novel of Maradaine (Maradaine Novels)

by Marshall Ryan Maresca

  Parsons. Stupid Parsons. One thing he didn’t want to do over the summer was to go to see Parsons. But it meant something to Eittle, and if he had an excuse to come in, he could see how his mother was doing.

  All too much to think about.

  “Oy, you drunk? Or on something?”

  Stick at the mouth of the alley.

  “No, sir,” Veranix said, pulling himself to his feet. “Just . . . got some bad news is all.” There was no hiding the tears on his face, so he just wiped them away.

  The stick looked him over with a discerning eye, just a hint of compassion. “Eh, well. This is no place for that. Find a proper pub to drown it in, or go home. But back alleys ain’t a safe place for decent folk to be. Not here, not tonight.”

  “Right, thanks,” Veranix said. He had seen more Constabulary on the streets today. Maybe what happened on campus was also affecting the neighborhood. Of course, the gang fights in the streets and his own scuffles the past few nights were nothing to ignore. “On my way.”

  “Be quick about it.”

  Veranix made his way to the laundry and press, on a part of Tulip Street that could belong to the Princes or the Knights of Saint Julian, depending on who you asked. Storefronts were closing up, shuttering iron gates. It seemed too early for that. Sun hadn’t even set yet. But then Veranix noticed a pack of Knights walking up the other way, knives on their belts, and blatantly resting their hands on the hilts.

  Spoiling for a fight.

  He reached the laundry and press, where the owners nearly turned him away. He asked about the rented flop, and they groused that it had been taken. He ended up arguing with them for several minutes that the room had been rented for him to use, and they insisting he couldn’t rent it, because it had already been rented out.

  Finally he snapped. “The girl who rented the room. Half-Napolic, came over from the University? She is my friend. She rented the room for me.”

  “I don’t need no doxy work done over my shop!”

  “Nothing of the sort, ma’am. I . . . I just need a room for the summer. She was kind enough to procure it for me.”

  “If I hear doxy work, you’re going to feel the back of my hand, you get?”

  “Got.”

  Veranix took the side stairs—wrought-iron steps in the alley—up to the rooms, following the matron of the laundry and press while her husband finished closing up. She led him to the hallway, and pointed out the door to the rented room. She then noted where their own apartment was, and how easily they could hear anything that went on in there, as well as notice if many people were coming up and down those stairs. Veranix had noticed they squeaked and groaned with every step, so he had to admit it would be hard to sneak in from there.

  He went into the flop, which was just a single room. It was a serviceable enough room, which was good, since he had more or less committed himself to renting it for the whole summer. Clean and bright, if simple. A bed, table and two chairs took up most of the room—functional looking, nothing more.

  Kaiana sat on the bed, thumbing through a book, barely noticing his arrival.

  “Do you have a name?”

  “Cuse Jensett. Which means nothing to me.”

  Kaiana stood up. “Or me, unfortunately.” She pointed to the pile on the table. “All your things to be the Thorn are here. Except the rope.”

  “Except the rope.” Veranix had to accept that couldn’t be helped. He went over to the window. It looked over the alley and the back of some other buildings. It didn’t look like anyone could see it from the main street. He opened it easily enough. So he could slip in and out through here with little difficulty.

  “Anything else?” Kai asked. “I really should get back to campus.”

  He went over to the table and sat down. “You’ve been fantastic, Kai. I . . . I couldn’t do all this—”

  “I know you couldn’t.”

  “I was at Trenn Street Ward just now. On the fifth floor.”

  She quickly sat down. “You . . . but . . . why?”

  “That was where Delmin needed to go, and Eittle wanted to go see Parsons, and . . . I saw my mom. She . . . she recognized me.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “I’m telling you, Kai, she touched my face and started trying to speak.”

  Kai sat in silence for a while. “I really should visit him.”

  “I get why you don’t. That place is . . . harrowing.” The image of blank faces, standing and staring—that wasn’t leaving his mind any time soon.

  “I have tried.” She sighed. “I’ve actually walked down there and stood outside for . . . hours. I just can’t get myself to go inside. If I did, it would be like . . .”

  She trailed off.

  Kai sat silently for a moment. “Do you know what’s strange? I was three when my father brought me here, but I have some very vivid memories of Napoli. The hot sun, the bright blue water, smelling so strongly of salt, a little boy with . . .” She trailed off for a moment in reverie. “The taste of pahapa. The word pahapa. But my mother? Just a blur of some vaguely maternal presence. No face, no voice, just . . . an idea of a person.”

  Veranix kept quiet. She had never spoken about her mother or Napoli before. Only her father, and usually with a bitter tone of barely restrained disdain.

  “I wonder sometimes if she’s still alive, or . . . if she thinks about me. And if somewhere, in the depths of his damaged, broken mind, he’s thinking of me at all. Because he certainly wasn’t in the end.”

  Veranix found her hand tightly gripping his own. She said nothing for a while.

  “How was Phadre’s defense?”

  “He passed quite handily,” Veranix said. “As did Jiarna. Was that what he asked you to do, with the letter?”

  “That’s me, everyone’s delivery girl.”

  “I’ve never—”

  “It’s fine, Veranix. Yes, he asked me to get her over to the defense. Did she get to present?”

  “They did it together, like they were in each other’s heads,” Veranix said.

  “Yes, I suppose that makes sense,” Kaiana said, just a hint of glumness in her voice. “She is pretty damn smart.”

  “True,” Veranix said. Then an idea hit him. “Could you do me another favor?”

  She sighed. “What is that?”

  “Show the rope to Jiarna. She might be able to figure something out that Delmin couldn’t.”

  Kaiana gave a halfhearted nod. “I suppose that makes sense.”

  “Kai,” Veranix said. “I would never be able to do any of this without you. You know that, don’t you?”

  She smiled but didn’t look up, though she squeezed his hand again. “We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?” she finally said. “You need to get ready, I need to get back. You have a plan?”

  “Contact Colin, see if ‘Cuse Jensett’ means anything to him. Failing that, finding some other kids to knock around until they tell me something. Leaning toward Red Rabbits.”

  “You really think he’s in Aventil?”

  “He went south when he left the High Table. He didn’t think he was being chased at the time. And I can’t imagine he’d want to be too far from here.”

  “All right.” She got up from the table. “Stop by the carriage house on your way back. If I don’t see you by dawn, I will do something drastic.”

  “Define ‘drastic.’”

  “People will get punched in the face.”

  “That is my favorite definition of that word.”

  She laughed and suddenly took him in a quick embrace. “Be safe and smart out there.”

  “Why change my style now?” he joked.

  She sighed, and, after patting his cheek, left without another word.

  Veranix stripped off his clothes and went through his equipment. He was surprised to find that K
aiana had included the jar of his grandfather’s muscle ointment with his gear. Still bruised and sore from the past three nights, he liberally applied it on his arms and shoulders.

  Satisfied that he had done as much as he could to ease his aching body, he got dressed in his Thorn outfit. Once he had the vest on, he strapped on the quiver and hooked his bow and staff to the bandolier. He checked that all the quick release clasps were working, able to draw bow and staff at a moment’s notice.

  Finally he put on the cloak, immediately feeling the rush of the influx of numina into his body. He took a moment to relish that, to sense where his own magical strength ended and it began. If he had to, he would push himself to the very limit tonight. Cuse Jensett was out there, and he was going to pay for what he had done on campus. And if Bluejay or any other Deadly Birds got in his way, he would waste no time trifling with them.

  The sun had nearly set. Veranix put his hood up, magicked the shadow over his face, and went out into the night.

  Colin needed many beers, and fortunately the Turnabout was providing that in spades. The whole day had been spent in going up and down to the basements, telling the same damn story over and over. Every boss had questions, and then split up him and Jutie and asked more questions.

  Fortunately, the one thing he wasn’t going to tell them—who the Thorn was—was something they didn’t even question him on. They asked about the Thorn plenty, and they clearly thought Colin had been duped by the Thorn one way or another. They never seemed to suspect Colin was working with the Thorn with his eyes open.

  The whole blazing thing was exhausting.

  Colin nursed his beer, hoping to have satisfied the bosses. Jutie stayed at his side, having clearly been turned out by the whole process. He hadn’t said much all evening, just drank his beer.

  Hotchins came over and sat down. Looked like it was about to start over again.

  “Rabbits just knocked the stuffing out of the Orphans over on Lily,” he said. “You were right about one thing, they’re looking to step up.”

  “I told you.”

  “Something else.” He put a vial of something on the table. It looked almost like effitte, but it was bright red. “Some of Rencie’s crew had a thing near Cantarell with some Rabbits. They found these on the bodies.”

  “What is it?”

  “Rencie and her folk didn’t leave any of them able to answer questions, so we don’t really know. It ain’t effitte, but if I were to guess, it ain’t not effitte either, if you get me.”

  Colin took the vial and opened it, just letting the scent hit his nose before shutting it again. “Color’s wrong, but the scent ain’t.”

  “That’s how I see it,” Hotchins said. “No matter what, Rabbits are making a play, and this stuff is at the center. I don’t want them to get any traction on that.”

  “No, sir,” Jutie said. Colin glanced at him, noticing the kid was all but dead-eyed.

  “All right,” Colin said, turning back to Hotchins. “I take it you want me to handle it.”

  “It’s in your lap, boy. Might as well see it through.” Hotchins sighed, looking out at the street. “Course, the sticks are giving the full show of color tonight. They’re liable to crack your skull if you so much as step out there.”

  Another voice, a faint whisper, invaded Colin’s ear. “Need to talk.”

  “Right,” Colin said, glancing around the Turnabout. That was Veranix, but he saw no sign of the boy. Of course, he could damn well be magicking himself up again, looking like any other bloke. Not that he saw any strange blokes in the place. “We can’t just charge at the Rabbits and crack their skulls. We need a plan.”

  “Then make one,” Hotchins said. “Get some folk together, and figure something out. But tell me what the blazes you’re gonna do before you run off. I want to know if your plan is blazing stupid.”

  “Fine,” Colin said, getting to his feet. Raising his voice a bit louder than he necessarily needed to, he added, “I’m going to hit the backhouses. Then I’ll get on that.”

  “Do what you need to, boy,” Hotchins said. “Just be about it.”

  He went out through the alley door, and hoped Veranix got the message.

  Veranix watched Colin come out the back alley, and whispered some magic to his ear. “Come up to the roof.”

  Colin glanced up, scowling. He checked that no one was watching, and then jumped up to the iron back ladder and climbed up on the roof.

  “I don’t know if you were listening to what’s going on—”

  “I wasn’t.”

  “Well, I don’t have a lot of time. Things are going bad out there. I need to take care of my business, hear?”

  “Heard.” Veranix wasn’t going to push, even though he would want Colin by his side, if possible. “This is different business for me. There’s been attacks on campus—the guy I chased after last night. I need to stop him.”

  “Why do you—” Colin stopped himself. “Never mind. If you do, you do, I get that. It just seems like . . .”

  “I know how it seems. But if I’m going to draw a line and tell Fenmere he can’t cross it, then I can’t let anyone else run all over it. This guy has hurt, and he has killed. And on top of that, he is smart, he can do things that . . .” Veranix didn’t have time to go into it. “The point is, he has to be stopped, and as cocky as it might sound, I might be the only person capable.”

  “But you’re going to be careful about it. I cannot come and back you up. The Princes need me.”

  Veranix clapped his cousin on the shoulder. “Hey, I understand. I’ll be fine.”

  “Fine.” Colin sighed. “So what do you need?”

  “I have a name, and I just need to find him. He must be in Aventil . . .”

  “Why do you even think that?” Colin shook his head and sat down on the roof.

  “This is where he ran to. From the center of campus, where he could have gone anywhere, he went to the south gates.”

  “I suppose that’s a fair point. I don’t know what good it’ll do, but if you have a name, I can see what I can find out. But, really, enough is going on that I don’t think I can do much for you.”

  “The guy’s name is Cuse Jensett.”

  Colin’s face went white. “Did you say Jensett?”

  “That mean something?”

  “Does it—don’t you know?”

  Everyone in Veranix’s life seemed to berate him over things he was supposed to know. “Whatever it is, I don’t.”

  “Look, our dads, when they tried to bring together the neighborhood, they had a bunch of guys working with them. Guys like Vessrin, who called himself the Prince of Rose Street back then, and Charn Hallaran . . .”

  “Who ran Hallaran’s Boys, all right. And?”

  “Yeah, one of those guys was Reb Jensett. But everybody called him . . .”

  Veranix was able to finish the sentence. “The Red Rabbit.”

  “I’ve never heard of Cuse, but Reb had two brothers. Maybe he’s a nephew or a cousin or something. I mean, the name is too much of a coincidence.”

  Veranix couldn’t quite wrap his head around this. “No, this guy, he’s got a vendetta with the University. That’s what he’s been doing.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard some of it,” Colin said. “Blazes, I saw what he did with the horses. But this isn’t a guy who is on his own, you know? He’s got to have some kind of support. He’d need crowns, right? Somebody is being his bank. Maybe it’s the Rabbits. Maybe they’re holing him up somewhere.”

  Veranix nodded. “Delmin says that he would need some kind of large place to do his work. Raw materials, mixing, heat. Special equipment as well.”

  “Like a brewery?”

  Same thing Delmin had said—that got Veranix’s attention. “You know something?”

  “Might be nothing, but a few weeks ago this brewe
r over on Tulip and Waterpath—they just stopped making any beer, and the folks who ran it left town. I didn’t think much of it, but I heard the Rabbits were sniffing around the place.”

  “That could be it,” Veranix said. “All right, I’ll take a look.”

  “There’s something else, something I just heard. The Rabbits, they . . . they’re starting to put something out there. Like effitte, but different.”

  That fit in the whole scheme. “Something new like that would take a real genius, right? Someone who could do real magic with chemicals, you think?”

  “You think it’s from your guy?”

  “I think it’s one more reason to take him down.” He had caused nothing but pain and fear on campus, and he was going to add to the misery that was the effitte trade. Veranix was more than ready to pay all those things back to him.

  Colin stood back up. “You be careful out there, hear? Every gang is rowing tonight. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Sticks are out in force . . .”

  “Not to mention the Deadly Birds. At least one is still out there.”

  “What are you going to do about that?”

  “This.” Veranix shrouded himself. He pushed his voice so it turned into whispers that swirled around Colin. “The last thing I want is for Jensett to see me coming.”

  “Saints,” Colin swore, spinning as if to find exactly where Veranix was. “That’s just unsettling.”

  “You be safe out there tonight, too,” Veranix said. With that, he leaped off the roof of the Turnabout, into the night.

  Chapter 20

  “SO, COLIN, you piss out a plan?” Colin had returned to the Turnabout to find Hotchins and several other Princes staring at him. Time to spin something to turn the heat down.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Colin said.

  “What about that brewery they’ve been sniffing around?” Jutie asked. “We could hit it hard.”

  Colin was tempted to hit the brewery, but that could make things worse for Vee. And for all he knew, the Rabbits weren’t even around there. Could be an empty hunt.

  “Too big, too deep into Orphans’ territory. We go in that far, we could get cut off.” Colin sat down trying to buy another moment to think of something. “Orchid Street.”