by Tom Lloyd
The sight was common enough in the Imperial City, but Kesh’s small corner of it saw few high-castes ever pass by. Those who came to the harbour did so in barges, eschewing the city streets when there were quicker routes for those who could afford them. At last she turned away and was about to push into the streams of people passing when something else caught her eye.
A flicker of movement in a shadow – a blur of white and rusty-red that seemed to drag her eyes directly towards it. She took a step forward and peered into the dim space below a cart selling pungent, spiced squid. Standing there, seemingly as oblivious of the scents of frying food above it as the cart’s attendant was of it, Kesh saw a fox. The creature stared straight at her, unblinking and completely still now she was looking at it.
A shiver ran down Kesh’s spine as she took a half-step backwards and made the sign of Lord Shield – hands together to form a diamond, fingers pressed against her lips.
‘Shield defend me,’ she whispered between her fingers, ‘Knight guard me.’
The fox didn’t move, concerned by neither the invocation of Gods nor a passerby crossing its view to walk around the back of the cart.
The cart’s owner continued oblivious, deftly turning strips of squid on a hotplate before scooping them up in one movement and depositing them in a pocket of flatbread for a customer. The shifting footsteps around the cart still failed to distract the fox. It kept its gaze fixed on Kesh and her sense of foreboding increased, tales of fox-demons filling her mind. But then the fox broke the contact, for no reason Kesh could tell. It looked away then back at Kesh, long enough to show her it was not spooked, before darting into a narrow alley unnoticed by anyone but the young woman.
Kesh forced herself to swallow, suddenly aware that her mouth had gone dry. She took a few cautious steps towards the narrow alley, one hand pressing against the fold of her jacket to check her father’s knife was still sheathed there. Life on board the merchantman had been difficult at the best of times and she’d been taught to use it on a rope or man with equal skill. What good it would do against a demon she didn’t know, but just the presence of the weapon boosted her resolve. A mantra to Lord Shapeshifter on her lips, Kesh advanced towards the alley.
There was nothing there. Blocked a dozen yards down by a wall, there were two closed doors leading off it and the scattered debris found in any alley – but nowhere for a fox to hide.
‘Maybe I’m going mad,’ Kesh said to herself after a long while of looking.
‘Eh ?’ said the man at the cart, half-turning to check if she was talking to him. ‘Going mad ?’
He wasn’t a local, she could see – neither native to the Imperial City nor a man of House Moon as many in this district were. His skin was far paler than the official’s deep dusty-brown, his face wide and features narrow in a way she’d never seen before in the city.
Some minor House, north of Moon’s own lands ?
The look on his face told Kesh he’d noticed her staring and she lowered her eyes, muttering an apology.
‘Don’t worry yourself, Mistress,’ he said with a laugh. ‘Ain’t many of us in the city, I’m used to curious looks. I’m a Poisontongue, from the snow-line o’ Kettekast – that’s why I don’t look much like most round here. My ancestors are the natives there, not the invaders who colonised the south.’
‘It was still rude of me, I’m sorry.’
He shook his head. ‘Better’n going mad,’ he pointed out. ‘What were you looking for there ?’
‘I … I thought I saw a fox.’
‘Hah ! Round here, during the day ?’ He shook his head. ‘Not likely. Those evil little shadows keep clear of busy streets.’
‘I know. That’s what surprised me.’
He paused and glanced around him. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you ? Bastard things they are, I’d believe anything of ’em. Still remember when we found my cousin out on the snow one morning, miles from the village. The elders said they’d torn his soul out through his eyes – don’t you go chasing after foxes, you hear me ?’
Kesh nodded. ‘Maybe it was nothing ; I can’t see where it would have gone.’
The trader hefted his cleaver, stained red with spice. ‘All the same, you watch out. Keep to the main streets on your way home, case it got your scent. It comes back, I’ll split it in two, I promise.’
Reluctantly, she turned away from the empty alley. The fox was gone, she’d get no answers here and there was a day’s work to be done when she did make it home.
‘First the Palace of Law,’ Kesh reminded herself as she left the junction under the trader’s watchful gaze, ‘then home. Emari better have done her chores today, else she’ll wish foxes had got her.’
Chapter 5
In the chaos that followed the revolution, the victorious Great Houses were more intent on territory than lives. Banditry and famine resulted, but while it was the Dragons who had started the problem, it was also one of them who chose to end it. Loyal to the Emperor he had served for decades, General Toro commanded his remaining Imperial forces out into the country to protect the beleaguered citizens from predation. Carrying only staves, many died, but the Great Houses viewed them as no threat and so the seed of the Lawbringers was sown.
From A History by Ayel Sorote
Narin looked back down the street, counting doorways to double-check they were at the right one. Lawbringer Rhe stood silent behind him, ignoring the curious stares of passersby as he waited. Finally, Narin was satisfied he was correct and rapped his knuckles smartly on the door.
‘Who’s there ?’ called a woman’s voice from inside, followed swiftly by the howl of a baby.
‘Servants of the Emperor’s Law,’ Narin called back in a loud voice, adding, ‘If we could speak to you a moment ?’
‘Law ?’ echoed the woman, her voice tremulous even as it grew nearer. ‘What’s happened ?’
The baby continued to cry, its wails accompanying the woman to the door. She pulled it open with fear on her face, soon looking past Narin to the imposing sight of Rhe behind him.
‘Master Lawbringer, Investigator,’ she said, curtseying as best she could with a large, red-faced infant pressed against her chest – its fists clamped around the long trails of hair that had escaped her scarf. ‘I … Ah, do you want to come in ?’
Narin bowed in response. Though her white scarf declared she was servant caste, Investigators were expected to show respect to all.
‘Thank you – there’s no need to worry, you’re not in any trouble.’ He had to almost shout to make himself heard as the baby found new strength in its lungs and began to howl, but the mother heard enough and stepped back to admit the pair.
‘How can I help you, Master Lawbringer ?’ she said once Rhe was inside, nervously looking from Narin to Rhe as though unsure which she should be addressing.
‘My Investigator has questions for you,’ Rhe replied, ‘for the matter is his puzzle, not mine.’ He paused then reached out his hands. ‘Perhaps I might take the child while you speak ?’
Both the woman and Narin started at the unexpected suggestion. The baby was crying still and showing no sign of stopping, but it was hardly seemly for a Lawbringer to be acting as nurse. That Rhe was unmarried, uninterested in anything bar the service of the law, meant Narin was even more startled than the child’s mother.
‘I will calm the child,’ Rhe stated baldly and the mother wilted under his hard grey stare.
She meekly held it out and the Lawbringer scooped the baby up without a further word, holding the child up to his face to look it in the eye. With one arm supporting it, Rhe ran a callused hand over the baby’s head and down its cheeks. The baby hesitated and stared up at Rhe, its cries faltering as though cowed by the uncompromising Lawbringer’s face.
‘Quiet now,’ Rhe said in his usual stern tone. To Narin’s surprise the baby did exactly that, eyes wide as it took in Rhe’s cold-tinted skin. The Lawbringer looked briefly up. ‘Ask your questions, Investigator. I’m sure the nov
elty of me will wear off soon enough.’
Narin blinked, momentarily dumbstruck by the sight. It seemed so ridiculous but there was no humour in his thoughts, only the clash of cold fear and hot elation at the thought of a child of his own.
Will I ever be able to hold my own child that way ? Stars above, will I even see it ? What I would give to look so strange, as out of place as Rhe does now.
‘Narin ?’ Rhe said, nodding towards the mother.
The Investigator shook himself, fleeing from the burgeoning sense of panic in his chest as visions of Kine, child in hand, appeared in his mind.
‘Ah, right – yes, questions. Ah, Mistress … might I ask your name ?’
‘Intail – Hetesh Intail.’
‘I am Investigator Narin, this is Lawbringer Rhe.’ He saw her eyes widen at the name, and her cheeks paled at the thought of such a famous man looking after her baby. ‘How many of you live here ?’
Narin looked around the small room. It was in one of the poorest areas of House Wolf’s district, the house part of a long row of dilapidated narrow homes. There was a low fire in the hearth, barely more than embers, and a basket of muddy vegetables on a table in the centre of the room.
‘Seven, all told,’ Mistress Hetesh said nervously. ‘My husband and eldest boy are porters on the dock. We share the house with a canal worker and his family – Essa, the wife, is at market with her daughter.’
Narin nodded encouragingly, seeing the rising fear in her eyes. ‘And you were at home two nights past ?’
‘Aye, sir.’
‘Did anything unusual happen that night ?’
‘Unusual ? No, no I don’t think so.’
‘Anyone on your roof perhaps ?’
Mistress Hetesh gasped. ‘On the roof ? Who would be on the roof ? Can’t you tell me what this is about ?’
‘Nothing at all ?’
She frowned. ‘Not that I … Well, the strangest thing that happened was us all having odd dreams and waking in the night.’
‘Waking ? The whole house ?’
‘No, just me and my man,’ she said with a shake of the head. ‘The wind was bangin’ a window ; I must’ve not latched it properly. That’s all I can recall – that and us both having fever dreams. Thought we were all getting sick the next day.’
‘Because of the dreams ?’
She hesitated. ‘Them, and being so tired in the morning my son fair had to drag us from our bed. Whatever it was, it was gone by today.’ She pointed towards the baby in Rhe’s arms, still placid and content. ‘My little one too, Ashar was so quiet that morning it frightened me – couldn’t wake him at first, either.’ She shrugged. ‘Must’ve just been an ill wind though ; he’s been noisy enough today.’
Narin paused and exchanged a look with Rhe before continuing. ‘Mistress Hetesh, do you have friends in the Dragon District or the Fett docks ?’
She looked surprised at that. ‘Dragons ? No, no one from there. A few from Fett, though. Like I said, we share the house with a canal worker. Most o’ his friends work that area – but they don’t mix with the boatmen much, tight-knit bunch are the Crescent boatmen.’
Narin nodded in understanding. As a city native he knew how the barges and boats of the Crescent were traditionally run by a few dozen extended families from Fett. They protected their province with the ferocity of House Dragon’s armies and could recite their boatmen ancestors with a similar pride.
Anyone foolish enough to ply a trade on the Crescent without Fett lineage or official House colours would likely end up drowned one morning – that or their boat would be holed and no craftsmen would agree to repair it. The canal was an entirely separate province in the small world of the city’s boatmen, however. It ran north-south through the middle of the Thumb, that spur of land ending in the Harbour Warrant ; a protected channel that could ferry goods to the city’s largest harbour in a small craft.
‘So no one at all in the Dragon District ?’ Narin confirmed glumly. Two of the addresses were in the low-caste areas of Dragon, but there seemed to be no links between them at all. ‘What about goshe ? Any contact with them ? Your husband is not a member ?’
‘No, sir ; my boy wants to train at one of their schools, but we don’t have the money for such things. I had Ashar at their free hospital ; midwife said he’d not turned right and I went into labour just as we got there to see a goshe doctor. She said they likely saved his life with their learning – even teaching some things to the midwives, she said !’
‘Do you remember the name of the doctor ?’
Her eyes widened. ‘Is that what … ? But there was none of the witchcraft some folk say – they gave me medicine to help me sleep, that’s all. The midwife said they were doctors, that they were more skilled than—’
Narin held up a hand. ‘Don’t worry yourself ; we’re just trying to cover every angle.’
Tears spilled from her face and the woman grabbed at her baby, taking him from Rhe’s arms and hugging the child tight to her chest. ‘My husband said not to go ! He said not to trust the goshe, but I’d lost two ! I couldn’t bear to lose another baby, oh Gods – what’ve they done to him ?’
‘Nothing,’ Rhe said sharply, ‘Your baby looks healthy, do not fear.’
‘But … ? Then why ask about goshe ?’
‘Membership was mentioned at one address we went to, use of the hospital at another,’ he replied. ‘We have a few disparate threads that do not yet warrant an official investigation, that is all. Until we know what is relevant, we must ask for all information that we can. It is not your place to draw conclusions.’
Narin turned to look at Rhe. The Lawbringer’s face was totally expressionless. One woman they had spoken to had mentioned using the goshe hospital, but that was all. The link was in fact that three of the addresses had infants in them, nothing more, but that was the last thing they wanted to reveal to an anxious mother. The one where that hadn’t been the case, neither of the men were sure they had actually gone to the right address – the brief instructions were too open to interpretation in the ramshackle street they’d been led to.
‘Can you remember the doctor’s name ?’ Narin asked more gently.
She shook her head at first. ‘I was in a lot o’ pain, I’m sorry. The young doctor was Pesher – dark-skinned, House Wyvern I’d have guessed – but once he examined me he called another. I don’t remember his name ; I barely saw him, but he seemed in charge of them all. Gave orders and they jumped to it so quick it was like they were puppets on string.’
‘Pesher, I see. Thank you Mistress, we’ll leave you now,’ Narin said, heading for the door.
‘That’s all ? I’m … I’m not in danger am I ? From the goshe ?’
Rhe shook his head as he waited for Narin to open the door. ‘I see no reason to believe so, no. If there was a threat to your family, it is over – most likely it never existed and this is mere coincidence.’
The look on her face told Narin she wasn’t much mollified by the response, but the woman dared not argue with a Lawbringer, certainly not one with Rhe’s reputation, and she curtseyed again as the man joined Narin in the street. She shut the door quickly behind them, sparing only a glance around to see which of her neighbours were watching, and the two men started back the way they had come, heading for the main road that would take them back to their path.
The day was brightening at last, Narin realised. The early mist had long since faded, but as morning progressed the cloud was also breaking up. They walked side-by-side through the rutted, tree-studded streets that were intended to echo the forested homeland of House Wolf, on the very eastern edge of the Empire’s south continent. Narin unconsciously rolled his shoulder as he went, to work the last of the stiffness from it, his mind trying to fit the pieces of what they’d learned together.
‘What is your next move ?’ Rhe asked at last. ‘Where now ?’
‘That’s the last of the addresses,’ Narin said with a sigh. ‘We’ve some sort of connection, but what th
at is I’ve no damn idea.’
‘Nothing that brings you closer to answering Lord Shield’s question,’ Rhe agreed. ‘Who is the moon ? I remember a myth I heard as a child, something about the moon being father of the stars – the lesser stars, of course, not the Gods.’
Without meaning to, Narin glanced upward. The cloud had not thinned enough to see the greater stars as faint grey dots, the constellations of the Gods that were visible on the clearest days. ‘You think one man fathered all those children ? No, it’s impossible – the first two were pure-blood Dragons, skin as dark as anyone’s, but that last had skin as light as its mother’s.’
‘Just so, and his caste-stain read servant caste. Whatever his parentage, whatever possible scandal there might be, they would have not marked it so had they been claiming a higher station – so what need could there be to send an assassin ?’
‘An assassin who only managed to make them feel a bit ill,’ Narin added glumly. ‘So there must be another purpose to the list, but what ?’
Rhe was quiet for a half-dozen heartbeats. ‘We have yet to earn that answer,’ he said at last. ‘All things in good time, Investigator. We will complete our duties for the day then visit this goshe free hospital tomorrow. As yet the puzzle is incomplete. If we shake the tree and something falls out, we may learn more of the shape of it. Until then we must be patient. The stars turn at no man’s bidding, but turn they do.’
It was approaching midday when Kesh returned to the boarding house. Sheets were on the line outside it, lifting and falling in the breeze that ran in off the sea. The house was quiet as she trotted up the steps – the guests all away at work during daylight hours. Only their errant guest, Estan Tokene Shadow, had not kept honest hours during the few months of his stay there. He had said he worked at a tavern in Tale, the neighbouring district, when he couldn’t find anything more lucrative. He hadn’t explained what that had entailed and no one had wanted to ask, but it explained why he returned late and slept through most mornings.
