by Alexey Pehov
“I’m kvalad to see you alive, Kvaray. I’ll tell you a sekvaret. We were a little upset when our shackva in the harbor was turned into a piece of kvoal. You and Weasel, even though you’re fishy kvids, you’re not so bad. Even old Jola mourned when we found your remains.”
“Don’t be a fool,” muttered the Je’arre. “I was mourning the loss of a decent house that we were stupid enough to lend to that pair.”
“I have no doubt about that,” I hastened to assure her. “You haven’t changed at all since our last meeting, Ktatak.”
“Still skvary and awful?” the Blazog said, chuckling. “It’s too soon for me to kvet old. I’m just in my seventh dekvade.”
“There you go. And still going strong. Are you still amusing yourself at the Fights?”
“Ockvasionally,” he replied humbly, and then his hazel eyes were momentarily covered by transparent lids. “Right now that business is in Jokva’s hands. I’m not too friendly with him.”
“So he’s alive and well?”
“Unfortunately for you, yes, he’s alive and well. Well enough to stand, anyway. Let’s kvo. I’ll lead you.”
He walked forward with a deliberately slow and awkward gait. The steps creaked mournfully under his weight. For a Blazog Ktatak was very sturdy. He was wider than me in the shoulders and in terms of weight I lost to him outright.
“Jola’s out of spirits today,” I said, when we were upstairs.
He chuckled, pushed open a door, and invited me in.
“She’s always out of spirits. As if you didn’t know her.”
“How is business going?”
“Kvarappy. Especially in the last two days.”
“Did something happen that I should know about?” I looked around the room.
It was large and cozy, with expensive furniture, a king-size bed, and bands of thick fabric curtaining the windows. Ktatak didn’t conceal his grin when I walked over to the window and looked out into the courtyard. What can you do? Old habits. All too often I’ve had to leave without saying good-bye.
“Possibly. Did you notice what was kvoinkva on in Birdtown?”
“The flyers didn’t seem to be seeking out fresh air.”
“Just so.” He yawned lingeringly, opening wide his enormous jaws and displaying a few yellow teeth. “The day before yesterday, we kvot the news that the Je’arre have flipped to the side of Nabator and Sdis.”
I whistled.
“They kvan’t stand it, you see, that the Empire wants to take their land from them and send them north. Jola’s kvinsmen don’t really find the prospeckvat of freezing their asses off all that tempting, and really, who kvould blame them? And what did they expeckvat would happen? That race is as fickvale as the wind that kvarries them.”
“It’d be better if it dropped them. I’m surprised the rest of the city hasn’t ripped their wings off yet.”
“It already happened. Yesterday eveninkva some avengers kvaught two of the Sons of the Skvay and kvut off their heads. They would have done even more nasty thinkvas, but the bloodthirsty kvarowd was dispersed by the Viceroy’s Kvuard. Everythinkva is quiet for now.”
“Not for long.”
“I know.” Ktatak frowned and his entire face was covered in comical folds. “Less than a weekva will pass before the Viceroy askvas all the Je’arre to leave the city. And that’s the best-kvase scenario. The worst kvase is that he’ll send them to the sckvaffold. As traitors.”
“Not even the fact that the city coffers are fattened year after year thanks to those like Jola will stop him?”
“When you’re talking about the fackvat that some birdie might open the kvates during a siege, money is forkvotten.”
“Oh really? Hightown has forgotten about money?”
“Well, let’s say so. They can akvaree to the lesser evil. If the city falls, they’ll lose all their money. And now, only a part.”
“A fairly reasonable approach, it seems to me. What about Jola?”
“Many of her relatives have already left Al’skvara. Only the most stubborn and most stupid remain. I don’t know which kvaroup to put our old lady in. She doesn’t want to leave her shop, so she’ll wait until her feathers have been pluckved.”
“I’m sure you’ll take care of her.”
Ktatak smiled. “I already am. The kvoods left today for the Kvolden Markva. I’ve hidden money away. There’s nothing to hold me here. If I kvatch a whiff of smoke, I’ll kvarab that silly chickven in my arms and we’ll sail far away to the horizon, even if she will kvaluck and resist me.”
“A ship can be found?” I seized on this immediately.
He frowned again. “For now, yes. But the prices have risen sharply. Are you planninkva a vanishinkva ackvat?”
“After a chat with Joch.”
The Blazog chuckled. “You never did kvet alonkva with him.”
“True. He’s a nuisance.”
“And Mols?”
“Mols never bothered me.”
“Unlike Jokva, he’s very kvautious and not very kvareedy. But I advise you to hurry. After seven or eight days, thinkvas are kvoinkva to tighten up around here.”
“How are you so sure?”
“First of all, when half the city sleeps it dreams of settlinkva skvores with the Je’arre. For the time beinkva the watch and the Kvuard are holdinkva them backva, but sooner or later they’ll pluckva up their nerve and riot. I don’t know if you heard or not, but Nabator is in talks with the Kvolden Markva so they’ll open the passage through the Straits to them. If the merchants kvomply, the city will be under siege from the sea and there’ll no lonkver be any way out of the Empire. Sooner or later Al’skvara will be encirkvaled.”
“Our troops are holding them back, aren’t they?”
“That’s old news,” he dismissed me. “Here’s somethinkva fresh for you. The Je’arre hit the Third Army from behind. Then it was attackved head on by a force of Nabatorian troops, nekvaromancers, and Sdisian soldiers. Not to mention the Highborn.”
“The Highborn?” I exclaimed.
“Just so. The pointy-eared elves also decided to makva use of this opportunity and pay us backva for all offenses. The Isthmuses of Lina have been takven. The remains of our troops fled to the Steps of the Hankvaman or to the west, toward Al’skvara. And at their heels…”
He didn’t finish. There was no need. Everything was clear. It would get hot here very soon.
“We fought the Highborn for three hundred years and eventually concluded that damned peace treaty! We should have finished them off right after Gem’s Arch, but instead of that we gave them a whole decade to recover. I hate that race!”
He nodded understandingly. He knew that I’d served in Sandon for a number of years. “I’m surprised you’re without your bow.”
“It was ruined,” I replied, and recalled Pork, thanks to whom my weapon was burnt.
“Buy a new one. Okvay, I’m kvoinkva downstairs or else some rioter’s kvoinkva to stumble in and butt heads with a very ankvary Jola. And another thinkva.” He stopped at the door and was no longer smiling. “You are of kvourse our friend and we have history, but it would be best for you if you didn’t stay here too lonkva. You understand.”
“I understand.” I nodded seriously. “You don’t have to worry. We won’t expose you and we’ll be out of here today.”
“Do you have a place to stay?”
“We’ll find one.” I avoided a direct answer.
“I’m sorry that it’s kvotten so—”
“Drop it. I’m not going to drag you in with Joch. We’ll leave. No offense taken.”
“That’s kvood, Kviiyan.” He obviously relaxed. “Rest well.”
“Can you do me one favor?”
“Anythinkva I kvan.”
“I need a bow. I’m sure you understand, it wouldn’t be the smartest thing for me to go around to the weapons shops myself.”
I couldn’t use the weapon of the Sdisian archer I’d killed in Psar’ki. It would draw the
attention of people in the know. A far too remarkable bow.
Ktatak nodded and smiled.
“That’s not too diffikvult. I know your preferences. And your measurements. I know a kvood dealer. Do you have any wishes?”
“No. I have complete faith in you in this matter.”
The Blazog grinned one last time and tightly closed the door behind himself. I listened to his retreating footsteps.
By the bed stood a chair, on which I placed my throwing axe. My dagger went under the pillow. We had some time until evening. Then we should leave. Ktatak and Jola were old friends, and Layen and I had pulled them out of a sticky situation once, but it would not do to abuse their hospitality.
The door creaked quietly and I instantly jumped up and grabbed the knife I’d hidden under the pillow and concealed it behind my back. The woman who walked into the room had short blond hair and was wearing a colorful skirt. I was so startled that it took me a second to realize that it was Layen.
16
She smelled faintly of jasmine. I reached out for her and wrapped my arms around her. Humming softly, she bit my earlobe. A cat. A warm cat. And predatory. From time to time even too predatory. The scratches she left on my back always ached sweetly though.
“I can’t get used to you.”
“Really?” Sharp little teeth sank into the side of my neck. She growled. “Then I guess I’ll just have to do something to get you used to me again.”
Much later, when we were lying in the bed after this most recent onslaught of passion, I still found it necessary to explain, “Your hair is much shorter. I didn’t recognize you at first.”
“You don’t like it?” My sun smiled.
“How could I not? I’ve just never seen it like this.”
“I had to sacrifice it. We’re being looked for, and any sign might give us away. I was afraid they’d recognize me at the gates.”
For some time we lay there in silence, thinking our own thoughts.
“I kept thinking that I’d never see you again,” Layen said suddenly. “You delayed too long.”
“I’m sorry.” What else could I say to her?
“It’s a miracle we got out.”
“I know. I saw. You were ahead of us by a few seconds and were able to escape. We had to find a different route and sneak through the fields. Did the rest of your journey pass without incident?”
“Yes. I said good-bye to Ga-Nor and Luk at the gates and came here. You can’t imagine it, being locked inside four walls, every second wondering whether you survived or not.”
“I can imagine it, my sun. I can imagine it all too well. I wondered the same about you. It’s a good thing the redhead crossed our path. He was able to bring you out of that mess. Did our friends object to you leaving them?”
“The tracker, no. He understood that I wouldn’t give in to entreaties and immediately let me go where I wished. But Luk was truly upset, and kept urging me to stay. But I washed my hands of them. We have our business here, and they have theirs. We shouldn’t get them involved. Plus, our soldiers were going to meet the Walkers.”
“Why?” I was on my guard.
“From what I gathered, Luk was the only one to survive the storming of the Gates of Six Towers. And he saw Rubeola. That might interest the Walkers.”
“He also saw Typhoid.”
“She’s dead.”
“I’m not so sure. It seems she’s a tenacious creature and managed to return from the Abyss.”
I told her about running into the lad who used to be Pork. With each passing second her face became grimmer. When I was done a tense silence hung between us. Layen was lying motionless with her eyes closed.
“Is such a thing possible?” I asked finally, unable to contain myself.
“You want to hear the truth? I have no idea. Anything’s possible with the Damned. They are stronger than anyone else in our world. Their bodies are very difficult to destroy, and that’s to say nothing of their spirits. It’s entirely possible that destroying the latter requires more than ordinary steel. You need to disrupt the essence, the foundation, to burn out the spark. Do you remember that arrow?”
I nodded tiredly, realizing what she was talking about. I remembered it well—the strange bone arrowhead, the green shaft, and the lilac radiance before it hit the Walker.
“If Typhoid is alive, we’re in for trouble.”
“Cunningly observed,” she said, laughing, and began to get dressed. “I would say that we’re in for a great deal of trouble. She may just want to break your neck, but I’m sure she has much more to talk about with me and the Healer. It’s possible she just has a desire for revenge. It’s possible. But I wouldn’t rule out the idea that she wants us for something else.”
“Like what?”
“Perhaps to find a more fitting body than the one she has now. Or to get back her Gift. Did Gis actually say that she was very weak?”
“He did. Or at least, that’s how it seemed to him. Who knows what’s in the mind of a wizard?”
“So our mutual friend, the courier, is a Scarlet? Hmmm…” She lifted the hem of her colorful, recently purchased skirt and fastened a knife in a long, narrow sheath to her right shin. “You’re lucky he was there.”
“And he’s lucky I was there.”
She suddenly broke into laughter. “I’d give much to see the look on the Damned’s face when she realized who she was dealing with! It’s unlikely Typhoid ever thought she’d come across a demon charmer! She’d be particularly defenseless. Just imagine; I’m starting to regret that Gis isn’t with you. Where did you leave him?”
“At a wayside tavern. About two days’ travel from Al’sgara. I crept away in the middle of the night, while he was sleeping. I have no liking for such companions. With all due respect toward demonologists, I like to stay as far away from them as possible. It makes my soul rest easier.”
“Did the boy stay with him?” She hid another dagger in her left sleeve.
“The lad disappeared in Bald Hollow. We left without him. Whether he survived or not, I don’t know.”
This news upset her. “I’d be sorry if the Healer died. He had some good qualities.”
“Sure, like arrogance and stubbornness.”
“Other than those,” said my sun. She was already fully dressed. “But it’s possible the world lost the next Sculptor.”
“Why are you getting ready? Shouldn’t we wait ’til dark? I already had to quiet one bounty hunter this morning.”
I told her about what happened in Dovetown.
“So soon?” She was surprised. “At times I marvel at your ability to get into trouble. Not a day passed, and you were already recognized. Who was he working for?”
“For himself. He was fed by Mols on a case-by-case basis. So, where are you going and wouldn’t it be better for us to wait ’til it’s dark?” I asked again.
“Don’t you know that a curfew has been declared in Al’sgara after nightfall? It’s not a good idea to go out onto the streets. Military patrols, the watch, and the Viceroy’s Guards together with Walkers and Embers. I really don’t want to get caught by the last two, so I’d prefer to risk it during the day, and sit inside at night. We need to see Mols. Don’t you think it’s time to visit our old friend? After all, he was kind enough to send Whip and his team to warn us about Joch’s bad behavior.”
I smirked. “Perhaps you’re right. They’ll be glad to see us.”
We both laughed and I began to get dressed.
“Did you find out anything about Joch?” I asked in passing.
“I couldn’t stick my nose outside, so Ktatak and Jola were my eyes and ears. From what I could find out—the task will be hard. Joch is well guarded.”
I shrugged. “Sooner or later we’re all sent to the Abyss. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of time. We need to be on a ship by the end of the week. Perhaps sooner.”
“I know. I heard that the Isthmuses of Lina have been taken. We’ll smell smoke soon enough.”
I nodded and took my axe from the chair. “What about your Gift?”
Layen’s face instantly darkened. “It’s not going as well as I’d hoped.”
“But still?” I insisted. “Can I count on your help?”
“In that sense, no. Not right now, anyways. My spark is flaring up, but very slowly. For right now there’s little I can do. Let’s wait a few days, okay?”
I nodded, trying not to show my disappointment. The Damned! It was all her fault! If we’d never crossed paths with her, the hunt for Joch would have been much easier.
“Okay, don’t worry about it, my sun. We’ll manage on our own. It’s not the first time, right?”
She smiled gratefully. “Let’s go. I’ll tell you about our target on the way.”
“Wait a moment. What about the money?” I didn’t see her pack.
“I left it with Jola.”
“Now I’m really starting to worry,” I joked sourly. “What if the old woman flies away with our sorens?”
“She knows where her interests lie, of course, but in this I trust her.”
“Just like in fortune telling,” I said even more bitterly.
“Just like in fortune telling,” Layen concurred. “By the way, what did your cards say?”
“Nothing. Our prophetess was at a loss. She said she made a mistake. The spread was incorrect.”
“She made a mistake? An incorrect spread?” my sun echoed. “Are we talking about the same Jola?”
“And now just imagine how surprised Ktatak was. I thought he’d croak from happiness.”
She laughed loudly. “That would have been wonderful to see.”
“I wouldn’t want to miss the chance to see it a second time. The winged one almost plucked all her feathers out from vexation. Come on. We need to say good-bye to them. I hope walking around with weapons hasn’t been prohibited in the city?”
