Moon's Artifice

by Tom Lloyd

  Men and women who were living weapons, from whom even demons fled. The God-Emperor and God-Empress, the first of the Ascendants, had discovered secrets from a time before mankind and used them to conquer half the known world before ascending into the heavens. Thereafter the Imperial regent, brother of the first Emperor, had conquered every accessible part of the map in the name of his young nephew and imposed the strictures of his nation on his new empire, creating the system of Great Houses still in existence.

  It was the Imperial Astaren that had carved the empire from hundreds of small nation states and five centuries ago it had been a new breed that broke the Emperor’s power, while the attention of the Ascendant Gods slowly turned beyond mortal concerns. Only after the Emperor’s own had been slaughtered did the Gods step in, realising at last the Great Houses were about to destroy one another in a struggle for power. And so the Emperor’s position was retained – forever weakened, forever subordinate, but remaining an unbroken blood-line to the greatest of the Gods.

  ‘You really are one of them ?’ Kesh asked quietly. ‘Not a soldier at all ?’

  ‘The Ebalee Trading Company,’ Rhe said suddenly. ‘Did you ever do anything like that ?’

  His words cast a pall over the room. Even Narin, already used to the unspoken idea, felt a chill at the reminder. That was the flip-side of the Astaren. They were the destroyers – unmatched and unstoppable through the known world. When Great Houses went to war, the Astaren were sent in first. They hamstrung armies and burned crops, stirred up insurrection and inflicted terror with impunity. They were the preservers of the present, the immovable rock against which change broke.

  ‘Well ? Did you ?’ Kesh persisted.

  ‘Don’t be soft,’ Enchei said. ‘It was the Dragons who destroyed Ebalee, everyone knows that and they don’t even bother to deny it.’ He raised his pale hand. ‘I look a Dragon to you ?’

  ‘But you’ll have done something similar ?’ Kesh said. ‘Astaren have slaughtered towns, murdered children – softened up entire nations for invasion. Folk say your magic’s learned from demons and that’s the price you pay for it.’

  They all turned to Enchei but he said nothing until he had finished the last stitch of his coat and slipped his arms through the repaired sleeves. Once his coat was on Enchei sat back down and looked around at the four faces staring at him.

  ‘What do you all want from me ?’ the greying man growled. ‘You hear a word and you think you know what it means ? Astaren’s just a name for a dozen different types of magic. You reckon daft stories told round a fire’s got bloody anything to do with the truth ? Piss on the lot o’ you. You know nothing.’

  ‘Enlighten us,’ Rhe said.

  ‘Why ? It’s my business – my life. I learned long ago how to keep a secret.’

  ‘You’re a renegade, not under House orders ?’

  Enchei sighed and stood up to look Rhe in the eye. The Lawbringer was significantly taller than Enchei, broader too, but Narin realised size would mean nothing in a fight between the two. You didn’t need to be the biggest when mage-priests had altered your body and taught you the secrets of their craft.

  ‘There won’t be anyone running in here after me, if that’s what you mean.’

  ‘And what happens if some spy tells his Astaren master ?’ Rhe asked. ‘I doubt even Sight’s End contains as many Astaren as the Imperial City. Even a Lawbringer must acknowledge the dominant power in this city is the House Dragon garrison. So why are you still here, playing your games with us mere mortals ?’

  ‘You know nothing,’ Enchei replied, slowly and deliberately. ‘And I’ve got just as much to lose as the lot of you – more so in fact.’

  ‘Really ? Because they’re trying to kill me !’ Kesh snapped as she moved around Rhe to face Enchei. ‘They have killed my sister and they’re trying to kill my mother, so what in Jester’s name do you have to lose that I don’t ?’

  ‘More,’ Enchei said flatly. ‘And that’s all I’m saying. You want to know about Astaren – here’s one piece for free. They don’t brag, they don’t exaggerate and they don’t get into pissing contests. Those who do, don’t live long.’

  ‘And which sort live to go grey ?’ Rhe asked.

  ‘The ones who’re good at staying alive. Make no mistake though, I ain’t afraid of dying. I’ve lived with a death sentence over my head for years now and when I go, none of you want to be nearby when I do. You want to see what a spiteful old shaman’s got ready for anyone who kills him ? Best you do so from a distance.’

  ‘Yet you remained here,’ Rhe mused, ‘risking exposure when you could have disappeared into the night.’

  Enchei shrugged. ‘I said I wasn’t afraid to die and I ain’t – but I also like what life I do have and Narin’s been a good friend over the last couple years. Most friends I ever had are dead ; the rest’d likely kill me as soon as they set eyes on me. What span I’ve left, I don’t intend to spend it always on the run while I leave friends behind to deal with whatever trouble they’re in.

  ‘The measure of a man’s in the choices he makes, choices he’s willing to live and die by. If the Dragons are taking an interest and my presence’ll only add shit to the storm, I’m gone like a ghost on the wind. In the meantime this old man’s still got a few tricks up his coat-sleeves, so how’s about you stop worrying and never breathe a word of this to anyone, hey ?’

  Rhe didn’t comment. Narin glanced at Kesh and Irato and saw neither had anything to add – not that the goshe seemed to have much to say in any situation. For a man Kesh had described as an arrogant thug when at her boarding house, he had proved almost meek since he’d woken. Whether or not his brains had been scrambled, Narim had at least expected to hear the man’s voice more.

  An effect of the poison ? Narin wondered suddenly. Seems a pretty drastic way of making a man docile, but there’s something there all right. What about if it’s given to babies or children rather than a grown man ? Would it still make them more willing to obey orders ? And who’d notice a personality change in a newborn ? Seven hells, how long have they been doing this ? The goshe order has been around since before I was born ! Are they building an army right under the noses of the Great Houses ?

  ‘Enough of this,’ Narin blurted out, causing all eyes to be turned in his direction. ‘We can worry about Enchei’s past if we survive the next few days. There’s something else I’m more interested in right now. Kesh, the poison was called Moon’s Artifice, yes ? At least two of the assassins out there, I saw their tattoos – they’re House Rain and Irato’s tattoos say House Shadow.’

  ‘What ? You think someone’s engineering a coup ?’

  Narin turned abruptly. ‘Irato, what do you think ?’

  ‘Me ?’ The injured goshe blinked up at him. ‘I don’t … How would I know ? I can’t remember anything. I …’ He tailed off, looking anxiously between Kesh and Narin as though one of them could provide the answers.

  ‘Kesh – does he act like the man you first met ?’ Narin asked.

  She frowned at both of them. ‘Not really, but if I got thrown off a building I might be subdued too.’

  ‘True. Irato, get up.’

  The goshe struggled to his feet, wincing with his free hand pressed against his ribs.

  ‘Sit back down.’

  Irato did so, puzzled at the orders but uncomplaining.

  ‘Enchei – sit.’

  ‘Fuck off.’

  Narin smiled grimly at Kesh. ‘Yours is more obedient than mine.’

  ‘What are you saying ?’ Rhe interjected.

  ‘That Irato’s quiet and obedient – not what I’d expect from an arrogant assassin who’s been made into a killing machine. So what if they’re all like that, all happy to follow any order without question ?’

  ‘En masse they would be a disciplined, fearsome army. Do you believe that’s what they’re building ?’

  Narin nodded as Enchei joined in. ‘And once they’re fully under control, they’re marking ’em wit
h Rain or Shadow tattoos, ready for a coup against House Moon ?’ The tattooist whistled appreciatively. ‘At least the bastards are ambitious then. House Moon might be relatively weak, but I doubt their Astaren are.’

  ‘And if they had a thousand like Irato ?’ Narin asked. ‘Or more ? How many have been poisoned with this ? Have agents like him been poisoning children at birth for decades, readying them for when they needed an army ? How many across the Empire train in Shure run by the goshe ?’

  ‘Tens of thousands,’ Enchei agreed grimly. ‘Enough to hide the obedient soldiers within their ranks. Maybe even enough to deal with House Moon’s Astaren if they knew what they were up against – but you know what prevents all-out war these days ? It ain’t the Gods, not really. It’s uncertainty – not knowing what the other Great Houses have in reserve. Everyone’s heard of the Stone Dragons tearing apart whole armies, but if you think those armoured monsters are the only thing they’ve got in their arsenal you’ll get dead quick enough.’

  ‘So where do the fox-demons fit into all this ?’ Kesh pointed out.

  Narin sighed. ‘I didn’t say I had all the answers,’ he said, ‘but we might be running out of time to find them.’

  Rhe turned towards the door. ‘You are right. Earlier you asked me to be circumspect and you were right to do so.’ He glanced back. ‘The time for that has passed – come.’

  Chapter 11

  It took seven years for the Great Houses to formally ratify the existence of the Lawbringers as protectors of the Emperor and overseers of his law. It took twelve years until a Lawbringer was permitted to make an arrest on House Dragon sovereign soil, despite the treaties they had signed. For a long time, blind and fearless obstinacy proved the greater force and likely it will outlast the laws of men too.

  From A History by Ayel Sorote

  The first light of dawn illuminated a low fog that filled the Imperial City’s veins and arteries. From a balcony, two figures viewed the near-empty expanse of Lostwind plaza. The older of the two warmed his hands around a tall cup of pale red tea that steamed gently in the cool morning air. Opposite them, occupying one side of the hexagonal plaza was the goshe hospital ; its windows dark this early, while white-cloaked figures advanced towards it like vengeful ghosts. The only sound was the muted croak of ravens from their many roosts across the district.

  In the very centre of the plaza was a statue of a man facing west, carved from the same pale local stone as the hospital. The figure was twice the height of a normal man and stood atop a plinth of similar proportions, fetishes engraved into his long hair and detailed in gold. Similarly gilded was the swept hilt of his rapier and grip of his sheathed pistol. The statue watched the horizon where the divine constellations appeared in their endless pursuit around the world ; legs slightly apart and knees part-bent as though ready to leap from its plinth.

  ‘I met him once, did I ever tell you that, Synter ?’ the elderly man said, nodding towards the statue.

  ‘Duellist ?’ his companion asked. She turned to face him. ‘When was that ?’

  ‘Not long before his ascension,’ he replied. Father Jehq sipped his tea while the white-clad Lawbringers arrived at the gate of the hospital, near-silent behind the curtain of fog. ‘It was one of his last duels. I was too young to be present at that of course, but I knew what was going to happen.’

  ‘You knew his opponent ?’

  Jehq inclined his head. ‘My uncle. The man had trained for years ; he spent a decade living like a monk after becoming champion of House Darksky – living and training at the soldier’s temple here solely for the chance one day to give insult to Kiro Raven.’

  Synter smiled and patted the long-knife at her thigh. ‘If he’d just waited a few years, we’d have trained him.’

  ‘Oh no,’ Jehq said with a shake of the head. ‘He founded the goshe, I suppose – created the training school that I turned into the Order – but he would have deplored the teaching of noble arts to commoners such as you.’

  Her smile widened. ‘Maybe for good reason,’ Synter said, ‘given what we’re going to do to his precious noble castes.’ She shrugged. ‘So he survived ? Survived a fight with the man soon to become a God ?’

  ‘By then Duellist had no taste for death. He had moved far beyond that ; no doubt it was why the Gods took an interest in him. Technically, the duel was a draw, if memory serves.’

  ‘A draw ?’

  ‘They drew first blood together,’ Jehq explained. ‘Uncle scraped a shin while Duellist pricked his ribs. They both knew who had the killing stroke, but it was a draw and my uncle retired in glory to retell the duel a thousand times to his eager students.’

  ‘I hope this isn’t just a late revenge,’ Synter commented, ‘upon the God that bested your beloved uncle ?’

  He raised an eyebrow at her and Synter pursed her lips, smothering a smile. Jehq watched her as she returned her attention to the Lawbringers already forcing their way into the goshe hospital. Her skin was ghostly in the dawn twilight, pale blue eyes as arresting as the grace with which she moved.

  Women have always been my weakness, Jehq thought to himself. It’s fortunate I never met one like her in my youth. Who knows what foolishness I’d have managed trying to impress her, not realising the attempt itself would have been my downfall.

  He was strong for his age, he knew, but in recent months had realised she saw him as an old man rather than an elder and teacher. With their varied arcane Blessings they had staved off the advancing years, but now he realised it was all a delay – nothing more, despite the ancient magics they had unearthed so many years ago.

  ‘Perhaps that’s all it is,’ Jehq said, joining in her joke. ‘My travels and research, all the lives we ruined as we created you Detenii – it was all to show the newest of our Gods the true worth of House Darksky !’

  He sighed and shook his head. ‘Even now I still cannot fathom it. That was the pinnacle of my uncle’s life, the moment he worked so hard for. Perhaps he never even believed he could best the man, but just hoped one day he could match him and win glory.’ Jehq made a dismissive gesture. ‘A lifetime of work and who remembers his name now ?’

  ‘You.’

  ‘And after I’m gone ?’

  ‘I thought that was the point. You’d be able to remind Duellist of his name.’

  Jehq’s face softened. Unsuited to much expression, it barely changed as he spoke. ‘And have the other Gods think me gauche ? Now that would mean a wasted life.’

  The Lawbringers disappeared from view, heading inside the hospital, and the pair fell into thoughtful hush once more. The sight of the Emperor’s servants invading their domain reminded Jehq of the news Synter had brought – a worrying and puzzling report they had argued through for an hour until one of his guards brought word of Lawbringers in the plaza.

  Irato’s alive, he mused yet again, knowing his companion was still wondering over the same exact detail.

  Alive and turned against us. I didn’t see that one coming, I must admit.

  It still didn’t make sense. He didn’t disbelieve Synter, he knew better than that, but he’d known Irato for years. The man was a blunt instrument at times, a good team-leader and excellent fighter, but nothing more than that. He had been one of them for decades now ; had enjoyed the skills he’d been given more than the power it brought. Why throw away the reward he knew he’d receive soon ?

  Synter, now her I could imagine turning on us, given the right reward, he realised, looking askance at the lithe woman who commanded the Detenii – a name appropriated from the shadow demons of House Moon folklore.

  She’s bold enough to switch sides, but not Irato. His flaw has always been failing to consider the other path.

  ‘The doctor’s dead ?’ Synter asked. ‘Do I need to do anything there ?’

  Jehq shook his head. ‘He was fetched to attend at the asylum, to dress the wounds of an inmate. Somehow the patient got free and throttled him ; Osseq was buried quietly in the grounds.’

>   ‘Good, it’s bad enough that girl knows your face.’

  Jehq gestured across the plaza ahead of them. ‘A modest risk, there are Shure in every district of the city. It will take the Lawbringers days to search them all and discover I’m at none. Irato’s betrayal brings more complications, but the safehouses are cleared and none were raided.’

  ‘What about the artefact ? That’s still safe ?’

  His face tightened. ‘It is. I’m glad we took the precaution of keeping its location from all you Detenii for fear of demons tearing it from someone’s mind. Normally I would move the artefact on general principle, but where to ? The foxes are scouring the city for it and whatever happened when we lost Irato attracted all sorts of attention. Even getting it to the island is risking too much exposure.’

  ‘Mother Tereil sent you word ?’

  ‘Pallasane.’

  Synter scowled at that, just as Jehq had himself when the messenger had reached him. Each of the Elders, the goshe’s secret ruling circle, had a specific remit. Mother Tereil’s was surveillance of the city ; a network of informers and more arcane methods to keep a wary eye on their various facilities and the city in general. As a result, she was a woman Jehq spoke to often. On the other hand that malevolent dwarf, Father Pallasane, was one they rarely saw or heard from. To most he was merely a madman locked in a tower on the wind-swept outer cliff of Leviathan District and sometimes Jehq wished it were so.

  The interior of Pallasane’s tower was a mesh of interlocking cages and distorted mirrors, a madcap spider’s lair only he could adequately navigate, but from there he listened to the voices of demons on the wind, the distant call of Gods and spirits. How much he understood Jehq had never been sure, but the volume and intensity of voices told enough in this instance.

  ‘Are the Gods getting involved ?’ she growled. ‘Damn him, I should have followed those novices in and killed Irato myself. There’s no telling what damage he could bring down on us.’