Word of Traitors: Legacy of Dhakaan - Book 2

by Don Bassingthwaite

  “Not now,” he said.

  Ekhaas wasn’t so easily put off. “What’s a Brelish Dark Lantern doing in Darguun?”

  “Getting more involved than I should be for someone whose orders were only to watch,” Aruget said. He gave Midian a gentle shake. “A better question would be what’s an agent of Zilargo doing in Darguun? We found out that Midian had attached himself to Tariic. We already had suspicions that Haruuc was up to something. I was sent to keep an eye on both of them, but I don’t think anyone ever thought it would go this far.”

  Geth looked to Midian. “You work for Zilargo?”

  Somehow Midian managed to look proud. “I work for the Library of Korranberg,” he said. His eyes went to Ekhaas. “That coin was from Bloodrun. You go there and look. You’ll find Koolt Dynasty ruins—”

  His words ended at the touch of the poisoned knife to his throat. “I don’t care who you work for,” said Chetiin. “I want to know about Haruuc. I don’t particularly care that you tried to kill me in the process. I want to know why you killed him.”

  “I think I know,” Ashi said. She moved forward, her eyes wide and thoughtful. “When Esmyssa ir’Korran told me that Zils negotiate instead of fighting wars, she said that Zilargo prefers to deal with stable rulers. Haruuc wanted the Rod of Kings to keep Darguun stable. If Midian helped him find it, Zilargo would have the stable neighbor it wanted and an agent with Haruuc’s trust.” She raised a finger. “But when Haruuc became warlike under the influence of the rod, it didn’t suit Zilargo’s plans, so Haruuc had to be removed. We thought he was killed to keep him from discovering the power of the rod or to prevent a war, but that was only part of it. He was also killed so that a lhesh more sympathetic and less warlike would come to the throne.” A second finger joined the first. “Tariic also trusted Midian. And he’d said that he wanted to bring Darguun into greater contact with the rest of Khorvaire.”

  “Tariic wasn’t Haruuc’s heir,” said Chetiin. “Any warlord could have taken the throne.”

  “But Tariic was in a better position than anyone else.”

  Geth felt a chill in his belly. “Zilargo killed Haruuc? Gnomes were trying to influence the rulers of Darguun?” He looked Midian—who smiled—then at Aruget. “I thought Zilargo was supposed to be Breland’s ally!”

  “In this game, there are no allies and no traitors,” said Aruget, “only opportunities. Haruuc started a small war to avoid a large one; Zilargo killed a king to keep their peace. I doubt if Breland would object to a more pliable lhesh either. If you ask in Zilargo, though, I don’t think you’ll find anyone who would admit to anything more than regret at Haruuc’s assassination.” He gave Midian another shake. “What do you have to say to this?”

  The gnome looked at Ashi. “I’d say you have more imagination than I thought you did.”

  Ashi’s lips pressed tight, and for a moment it seemed that she might lose her temper. She kept her emotions in check, however, and Geth could see Vounn’s influence in that. She raised a third finger. “After the assassination, Midian slipped out of Rhukaan Draal. Whether he actually went to Bloodrun doesn’t matter. He must have anticipated we’d send a messenger for him, though, and he dealt with him. When the city reopened after the mourning period, he returned—and discovered that by killing Haruuc, he’d only made things worse. For a little while, we were all working toward the same goal of finding a way to keep Tariic from succumbing to the curse of the rod.” She cocked her head to one side. “It’s even possible he came up with the idea of a false rod before he found out about the curse. We just gave him the perfect chance to propose it. He may have intended to steal the true rod all along.”

  A growl escaped Geth. “And it might have worked if Tariic hadn’t recognized the false rod!” Another idea occurred to him. “Wait—why dress as Chetiin again to steal the rod? He couldn’t have known that I’d come rushing up from the coronation to get it.”

  “He would have made sure someone else saw him,” said Chetiin. “Saw me. He had the perfect scapegoat.”

  “I think he already knew you were still alive,” Geth said. “I may have given it away to him.”

  “Even better. He would have turned you against me again.”

  Geth felt blood rush into his face and the hate he’d felt since Haruuc’s death turned into a sick feeling of shame in the pit of his stomach. “He did,” he said. “Chetiin, you’re the one I owe an apology to. You’re no traitor.”

  “No, I’m not,” the goblin said, “but I hold no anger for what you thought. You were manipulated. We all were.” He nodded to Midian. “Paatcha. Your plan was cunning.”

  Midian’s eyes danced although there was no warmth in them. “What plan?”

  The gnome’s smug satisfaction burned in Geth. He pushed Chetiin aside, bending down to snarl in Midian’s face. “You think you’re clever, don’t you? You think we can’t beat you. Well, you’re wrong.” He thrust a hand at Tenquis, still leaning against the wall and following everything with weary golden eyes, though color at least had returned to his face. “We know where you hid the Rod of Kings. Tenquis realized that the connection between Wrath and the rod was still active. We followed it.” He stepped back and looked at the others. “He hid the rod in Haruuc’s tomb.”

  Surprise passed across all their faces, but none of it was as sweet as the look of shock and anger that finally broke through Midian’s mask.

  Geth bared his teeth at him. “Yes,” he said, “it was clever, but now you’re not the only one who knows. Now we all do.”

  “So does Tariic.”

  Tenquis’s words—the first he had spoken—were unsteady, but angry and determined. Geth turned sharply to look at him. They all turned. The tiefling shoved himself away from the wall and stood straight, head held high. “I’m sorry, Geth,” he said. “I couldn’t hold back. Horns of Ohr Kaluun, I tried, but I couldn’t in the end.” He drew a shuddering breath. “I gave Tariic what he wanted.”

  The sick feeling returned to Geth’s stomach. “He knows?”

  Tenquis nodded.

  “Clever,” said Midian.

  They walked out through the front gates of Khaar Mbar’ost.

  It was simple. It was direct. The great courtyard within the gates and the plaza beyond it were both crowded with Darguuls prepared for celebration of Dagii’s victorious return. No one paid any attention to them as they passed through, moving in small groups to avoid notice. Ekhaas and Ashi went first, Ashi’s face shadowed by a wide-brimmed hat that Aruget produced from his sack. Chetiin and Tenquis followed, the tiefling hunched beneath a cloak, both of them tottering like frail elders. Geth knew it wasn’t much of an act on Tenquis’s part at the moment. Every few steps, he staggered a little before catching himself. Geth had tried to help him at first, but Tenquis had shaken him off in a flash of temper.

  “I just need to find my balance,” he’d said through his teeth. “I’m used to having a tail behind me.”

  There was deep pain behind the angry words.

  When the other four were safely out of Khaar Mbar’ost, Aruget and Geth struck out. Geth kept his head down and stayed close to Aruget, trusting to the hobgoblin’s bulk to shield him. A cloak draped over his shoulder concealed both his great gauntlet and, held tight in his hand, Wrath. The sword seemed to echo his own simmering rage—and his fear. He could feel the Rod of Kings through the blade, a distant but distinct presence. The rod wasn’t moving. Tariic didn’t have it. Yet.

  His eyes darted to the sack Aruget carried over his shoulder. In spite of having cloaks and hat, gauntlet and sword pulled out of it, the sack was once again full and heavy.

  It shifted a little bit.

  Aruget bounced it on his shoulder to disguise the movement and hissed, “Stop squirming.”

  “I couldn’t feel my leg,” muttered a voice from inside the sack.

  “I could make that permanent, Midian,” Geth said under his breath. “Move again, and you’ll be dead before you hit the ground.”

 
; He’d been in favor of killing the gnome right there in the corridor outside the torture chamber, but others—primarily Midian himself, backed up by Ekhaas, Chetiin, and eventually Aruget—had persuaded him otherwise. Whatever Midian might have done, they all shared an interest in keeping the Rod of Kings out of Tariic’s hands. Only the gnome knew exactly where the rod was hidden in Haruuc’s tomb. If they were too slow in reaching the tomb, every moment might be precious. They needed Midian.

  But not one of them trusted him. He went into Aruget’s sack. Geth couldn’t say that he cared if the gnome ever came out again.

  And there was Aruget. He glanced at the hobgoblin—or rather, at the changeling wearing a hobgoblin’s face. Ashi had pulled him, Ekhaas, and Chetiin aside and whispered the truth to them.

  Agents of Zilargo and Breland, shadows of two nations lurking in the twilight of Darguun.

  “It’s more common than you know,” Aruget said abruptly. It was vaguely disconcerting to hear him speak without his familiar accent. “Everyone has their fingers in the jam jar.”

  Geth blinked, then narrowed his eyes. “You knew what I was thinking?”

  Aruget’s ears twitched. “I’m good at reading faces, and you had the look of someone who just got his first peek behind the curtain at a brothel.” He looked down at Geth. “We won’t be the only agents in Darguun. Every nation, every dragonmarked house has its eyes and its hands here. I’m certain Haruuc knew it. I imagine it pleased him. Being a part of the Shadow War is like a rite of passage—children don’t play these games.”

  “Children don’t assassinate kings,” Geth said. “When did you know it was Midian and not Chetiin?”

  Aruget shrugged, jostling the sack and bringing another soft grunt from Midian. “I suspected Midian was up to something when he made arrangements to leave Rhukaan Draal. I didn’t expect such a direct action, though. Assassination is a last resort. Killing the ruler of a nation is unheard of.” His voice was cool, unflinching.

  “You couldn’t have warned us about him?” Geth asked.

  “My orders were to watch. I work for Breland, not Darguun.”

  Geth clenched his teeth. “Why are you helping us now, then?”

  “Once I had the final piece, the puzzle turned out to be bigger than I thought.”

  The sack chuckled quietly. “We’re cold-hearted bastards, Geth,” said Midian.

  Aruget turned slightly so that the sack swung against the side of a wagon. Midian let out a muffled curse that Aruget covered with a well-timed cough—a cough that turned into a soft curse of his own. He twisted, giving Geth a little more cover, at the same time moving a hand across his face, as if scratching his nose. When he lowered his hand, his features had shifted just enough that he could have been any hobgoblin. “Keep moving but get your head down,” he said. “Tariic’s here!”

  Geth heard the hoofbeats of trotting horses over the noise of the milling crowd in the plaza. He dropped his eyes, feigning great interest in his feet. His hand curled tight around Wrath. When Aruget paused, along with everyone around them, to turn and shout praise to the passing lhesh, he paused, too. He couldn’t bring himself to call Tariic’s name, though. The hoofbeats didn’t slow. When they’d passed, he risked a glance up.

  Tariic rode on into Rhukaan Draal without even acknowledging the cheers of his subjects. Two hobgoblin guards followed him.

  “Now we’re in trouble,” said Aruget. “If he goes to his quarters, he’ll notice that Wrath and your gauntlet are missing.” He quickened his pace.

  Geth risked another glance back at Tariic. Haruuc’s nephew didn’t look happy. “He doesn’t have the rod yet.”

  “It won’t be for want of trying. If he’s here, he’ll have left someone at the tomb. Daavn, probably. Maybe Makka too.”

  Geth allowed himself a grim smile. “Good.”

  Two hobgoblin soldiers guarded the great red stone arch, probably intended more to raise an alarm if anyone approached than to provide actual protection. From his hiding place among the shacks that were the fading edge of Rhukaan Draal, Geth didn’t even see Chetiin slip past the guards, but somehow the shaarat’khesh elder was abruptly behind them. One guard went down with a knife in his back. The other turned, only to meet a second knife as Chetiin dropped down from above.

  “He’s got them both,” Geth growled. “Move.”

  They raced for the cover of the arch. Ekhaas and Ashi took the lead, Geth kept pace with Tenquis, and Aruget stayed close to Midian—now freed from the sack. They all clustered in the shadows of the arch and peered through the open gates to the ridge where Haruuc’s tomb lay.

  Half a dozen bugbears wearing the red corded armbands of Khaar Mbar’ost attacked the dagger-thick stone of the tomb door with picks, hammers, and bars. The banging of their efforts was louder than the rush of the cataract, but so far all they’d managed to do was scar the carving of Haruuc. Daavn and three more hobgoblins watched their slow progress along with Makka and, perched on his shoulder, Pradoor. Horses picketed to a low line cropped the grass close to them.

  Ashi scowled. “Why so many?” she asked quietly. “Tariic could have hired a wizard to get into the tomb with magic, couldn’t he?”

  “One more person who would learn about the rod,” said Aruget. “Tariic doesn’t have to explain himself to servants. And I doubt if anyone except Daavn, Makka, and Pradoor is going to survive long after that door is opened.”

  Ashi’s scowl deepened.

  “There are too many for me to hold with a song,” Ekhaas said.

  “And Pradoor might resist it,” Geth added. His skin crawled a little at the memory of the blind goblin woman chanting her spell in the torture chamber.

  “We don’t have to go through them,” said Midian. “I already have a way in, remember? I always planned on getting the rod out again the same way. I could slip in and get it without anybody knowing.”

  Geth and all of the others only glared at him. The gnome shrugged. “You don’t think I’d bring it back to you? Send Chetiin with me.”

  Chetiin’s jaw twitched. “I don’t value my life so little.” A wounded expression crossed Midian’s face and he hunched back in a sulk.

  A little too far back for Geth’s liking. “Stay where I can see you.”

  Wounded turned to frustrated. “Do you want to hold my hand?” He stuck out his arm.

  “That’s not a bad idea. Does anyone have a piece of rope?”

  Ekhaas did. Geth tied one end around Midian’s wrist and the other around his own. Midian gave him a sour look, but submitted before slouching back.

  “I have a plan.” said Chetiin. He sketched lines in the dust to mark the course of the ridge and touched points along them. “A few of us show ourselves among the rocks of the ridge here and here. Daavn will try to protect the rod. He’ll send his men to hunt us down. Makka will certainly go as well. Once they’re away, the rest of us get up to the tomb.”

  “Who takes the ridge?” asked Geth.

  Chetiin considered. “Ashi, Ekhaas, and Aruget. If they stay close to the wall, they should be able to get into the shelter of the ridge without attracting attention.”

  Ashi peered out at the rough landscape. “I can do it.” Ekhaas and Aruget gave nods of agreement.

  Geth turned—the movement bringing a tug and a grumble of complaint from Midian—to Tenquis. “You’ll be able to get the door open quickly and quietly?”

  The bandaged stub of the tiefling’s tail waggled and his golden eyes narrowed with hate. “I’d rather have a long knifepoint conversation with Daavn,” he said, “but like Grandmother says, there’s more than one way to sour milk.” He gripped the collar of his vest and whispered a word. The embroidery of the vest writhed and the slight bulges of pockets reappeared. “I have everything I need.”

  “Then we’re ready.” He looked to the others. “Rat and Tiger dance for us all.” He stretched out his hands to Ashi and Ekhaas—and felt his left brought up short by the rope tied to Midian’s wrist.


  There was no grumble of complaint and Midian’s arm didn’t yield. Geth turned.

  Midian squatted behind him, unmoving and apparently intent on something in his hand. The rope that should have been tied to his wrist seemed to pass completely through it. Ekhaas hissed and swept a foot across the ground where the gnome crouched.

  And a glittering crystal disk no bigger than a coin bounced off the stone of the arch. Midian vanished. The rope was tied to a bar of the iron gate.

  “Tiger, Wolf, and Rat, I thought we searched him!” Geth snarled. “Where is he?”

  Ashi pointed. “There!”

  The sun shone off a shock of pale hair, just visible above the long grass on the near side of the grazing horses. Midian moved with such stealth that the grass around him barely swayed. It was easy to guess where the Zil was going: his own secret way into the tomb. Maybe he was going to fetch the rod for them just as he’d said, but Geth doubted it.

  “I could stop him,” said Chetiin.

  “No.” Geth drew Wrath. “We’re in a race now. Ekhaas, Ashi, Aruget—go!”

  “Wait. Let’s put honey in the trap.” Aruget grabbed Geth’s chin and turned his face toward him. He studied the shifter, then let him go. Hobgoblin features melted and reformed. Ears shrank and hair grew out. Small eyes become large and wide. In only moments, Geth stared at himself wearing Aruget’s armor. Aruget-Geth smiled and said in eerie mimicry of his growl, “Daavn will be more likely to chase a face he knows. Ko isn’t the only one who can imitate you.”

  He jerked his head and he, Ashi, and Ekhaas stole out of the gate, moving along the low wall in the opposite direction to the way Midian had gone. They ran low and fast, heading for the nearest fold in the ridge. Geth realized he was holding his breath.

  “Midian has seen them,” Chetiin said. Geth swung around to look for the gnome—just in time to see his arm swing as he hurled something back at the horses, then dropped into the grass.

  “Down!” Chetiin said.

  They pressed themselves against the ground. Geth kept his head up just enough to see the hurled object—an ordinary stone—hit one of the horses on the flank. The startled beast reared just a little and danced forward a few steps. The other horses reacted to it, raising their heads and looking around.