Son of Avonar

by Carol Berg

  “I’m sure you understand that discretion is, above all, a virtue that my brother prizes.”

  The man was very eager. “I believe I have few rivals in that department.”

  “For example. this whole business with me . . . family business . . .”

  “I’ve not been given leave to discuss it with anyone.”

  “And that would be anyone, no matter how close to the duke.”

  “Of course.”

  “Excellent. You’ll go far.”

  As I disappeared into the crowds outside the service gates, I imagined Garlos staring after me, wondering at himself listening to political advice from one who looked as if she should be scrubbing the palace floors.

  CHAPTER 26

  Hot, sticky, my head jangling with the unaccustomed noise of the city, I shoved my way through the crowded Street of the Cloth Merchants. The sultry air was thick with the acrid stink of simmering dyepots, and everyone had moved out of the stifling shops in search of a breeze. Multicolored awnings stretched across the street like a paint-streaked sky. While sweating tradesmen tossed and stacked bags of fleece and bolts of cloth of every conceivable color and weave, hawkers screamed out the virtues of their threads and yarns, buttons and ribbons.

  I wasn’t sure what to make of Tomas’s story. Guilt was known to haunt and terrify, and Tomas had earned his own particular nightmares. Now I was back in the daylight world, my creeping fancy that Darzid was somehow connected to the world called Gondai seemed ludicrous. He had been Tomas’s aide for sixteen years and served Evard and King Gevron before that. I had no evidence that Darzid or his villainous henchman Maceron were guilty of anything but doing their sworn duty to exterminate sorcerers. Perhaps the Zhid were simply attracted to the most despicable residents of any world. But my brother’s testimony had only strengthened my irrational conviction. Why would Tomas’s dreams stop so abruptly with his separation from Darzid?

  “Seri, girl!”

  I whirled about to see a fluttering red kerchief waved by a white-haired man elbowing his way through the mob toward me. “Jaco, what are you doing here?”

  He mopped his forehead with the kerchief. His grin seemed to wilt in the heat. “Barrels. You’ve heard me tell of my old friend Roger the Ox, the fish-seller? He sent word last week that he was short of barrels. I had the lot from the wreck of the Mimi, so . . .” He shrugged his wide shoulders. “But yourself, girl. What’ve you been about? Have you learned more about our young fool and his business? Has he found his tongue yet? Did you know that Graeme’s in the city?”

  “Rowan’s here?” Though we had seen no evidence of pursuit on our journey from Valleor, D’Natheil had sensed that we were being followed. He wasn’t sure whether it was the sheriff or the Zhid priests . . . or both together.

  “Aye, he’s about, and you’d best stay clear of him. He was like to split his gut when he came back from Grenatte and found you gone. Said you’d best be back before Sufferance Day, and how he’d a few things to ask you himself this year. He was after me to tell what you’d been up to.”

  “You mustn’t tell him anything. That’s why I can’t let you—”

  Jaco’s face bloomed as red as his kerchief. “Don’t say it! Dunfarrie has been wicked dull since you ran off. Made me see what an old fossil I’ve become. Dry-docked, I’ve been, but no more. I’ll feed the horses or polish the boy’s boots or whatever you like, but I’ll not be left out of your adventure.”

  “This is far too dangerous, Jaco.”

  “I’m not doddering yet.”

  Would all of my words come back to haunt me? Tennice would have a good laugh. Mustn’t Jacopo have the right to choose his danger, he’d ask, just like everyone else? “Of course you’re not doddering. I never meant to imply it.”

  Jaco patted my arm and maneuvered me out of the way of a mule team pulling a wool cart much too fast through the crowded street. “Then tell me, where are you bound? What did you learn in Yurevan? Sailors have friends all over—people who could likely help you, if you’ll just tell me what you need.”

  “Not now. I’ve an errand that can’t wait, and we mustn’t be seen together.” With Rowan close, I dared not take Jaco near D’Natheil. But perhaps shutting him out was wrong. If the Dulcé and the Prince failed to translate the map, an experienced navigator or his friends who knew of maps might be valuable. “Tomorrow, Jaco. Get your business done. At midday tomorrow, I’ll tell you everything. . . .”

  We made plans to meet at an ale shop he knew of just inside the west gates. He seemed satisfied, and I waved as he hurried away. I began to make my way through the street again, wandering in and out of the shops and market stalls, watching for any sign of observers as I progressed toward the far end where Baglos and D’Natheil would be waiting.

  I had just stepped into the shade of a bright blue awning when a bull of a man carrying two giant bags of fleece hurried past, forcing everyone to move aside. No sooner had I stepped closer to the shop front than I was knocked off balance by three small boys careening through the crowd, trailing a rainbow of shining ribbons pilfered from an outraged ribbon-seller. When a firm hand gripped my arm, I thought some kindly passerby was helping steady me. But instead of finding myself upright and on my way, I was dragged into a dark alleyway between two buildings. And before I could utter a word of protest, a hand clamped over my mouth from behind.

  “At last!” said a man’s voice, not unfamiliar. “I thought I’d have to chase you across all of the Four Realms just to have a simple word with you.”

  So much for caution. I struggled and kicked, but Graeme Rowan was a good deal stronger than I and determined to hold on. He propelled me deep into the alley, deftly dodging the cats who snarled and raised their hackles at this invasion of their private feasting ground. I bit his fingers hard enough to draw blood. With a curse he yanked his hand away, and I spat out the blood, yelling as loud as I could, “Help me!”

  Rowan immediately slapped his bleeding hand across my mouth and tightened his grip. “Curse it all, are you mad?” He shoved me into a corner of the gloomy alleyway and spun me around to face him. His grim face was flushed, his green eyes glittering. “Promise me you’ll be quiet and listen, and I’ll let go. Do you promise?”

  I nodded, almost twisting my eyes in their sockets in an attempt to glimpse the brass buttons on his coat, wild to see if one was missing. But he stood too close. Tentatively he removed his hand, ready to clamp down again if I made a move to scream. When I stayed quiet, he relaxed his grip on my arm a bit, but not yet enough for me to break away. “I’m sorry if I frightened you,” he said, “but after the miracle of finding you in this hellish city, I’ll not let you get away again.”

  “How did you find me?”

  “I have a friend with an extraordinary gift for following people.”

  Ah, yes. His friends. I could not allow myself to be deceived by his aggrieved sincerity. I was in no position to run, but I did wrench my arm from his grasp. “Are you going to arrest me? Where are your ‘friends’?”

  “I’ve no intention of arresting you. Now I’ve come out ahead on our little game of chase-the-cat, the only spoil of victory I ask is two moments without argument. Would that be at all possible?”

  “I don’t see that I have much choice in the matter.” But I was certainly puzzled. He was a sheriff. No one would take him to task for questioning me. Why lurk in an alleyway?

  He pulled a kerchief from his pocket and twisted it about his bleeding fingers. “You’re acting the fool,” he said in quiet vehemence. “You think you’re so clever sneaking and hiding with your strange friends who do such extraordinary things. But you’re not deceiving anyone. I’m not the only one after you.”

  My flip retort died unspoken as I watched the subtle changes in his features. The sheriff’s unremarkable face with its weather lines and scar had never revealed much of his inner life. But on the few occasions I’d seen him express strong feeling—whether anger, disgust, anxiety, or anything else—
his every action had proclaimed his face a true mirror of his sentiments. And on this hot afternoon, his face told me that he was worried and afraid.

  “What do you want with me?” I said.

  “This is about Jacopo.”

  My hackles rose, along with a rush of guilt at the thought of my recent promise to my old friend. “Jacopo is not involved in my business. Leave him be.”

  “I’m neither a fool nor blind,” snapped the sheriff. “I saw him talking with you not a half-hour since. I just want to know if he understands what he’s doing. Is this some kind of playacting like you did in Grenatte or is he in need of my help?”

  Despite my efforts to dismiss Graeme Rowan and his worries, the day shifted uneasily. “Jaco is in Montevial to sell barrels,” I said. “That’s the truth.” Tell me if you know something more. “Jaco often comes to Montevial to trade.”

  “Don’t lie to me about this. You oughtn’t put him in this kind of danger. As if his keeping such company wasn’t bad enough . . .” Rowan stepped back a bit and rubbed one elbow. “I’m out of my depth, as you well know, but you’d best not be ignorant of the risks you take. It’s naught of a secret that the odd little man was in Dunfarrie those weeks ago, seeking his servant with the bad temper. But do you know who else come hunting the two of them on that day, swearing me silent and claiming the whole business to be some matter of spies? It was your brother’s man, my lady . . . and with him those damnable priests.”

  There it was! Darzid and the priests—the improbable connection, joined in the hunt for D’Natheil and Baglos. But if it were true . . . Dared I believe Rowan just because his tale matched my instincts?

  “This doesn’t surprise you?” he said, wrinkling his brow.

  “Only that you would tell me . . .” But the evidence was stronger than Graeme Rowan’s word or my instinct. Three riders had stayed back at the edge of the meadow when Darzid came hunting . . . and I felt again my inexplicable shudders when I’d noticed them. The priests . . . the Zhid . . .

  Unimpeded by any argument from me, Rowan rushed onward. “They each went their own way after questioning me—the captain and the priests—but I saw them together again in Grenatte. And now the priests are after you and your friends . . . and I see Jacopo helping them along the way, first at your place and then at the house in Valleor. Blessed Annadis, do you have any idea what they did to your friend’s servants?”

  “Jaco help the devil priests? You’re mad!” Why was I allowing Rowan to lure me into his snare? Gods, he was a sheriff! Our lives were forfeit if he uncovered proof of what D’Natheil was, and here I was with explanations on the edge of my tongue. Jaco, the kindest, dearest person on the blasted earth . . . Rowan’s accusation made a lie of everything he’d said already, serving only to remind me of his other secrets and lies.

  “How can I believe you, Sheriff? Perhaps your story might be more trustworthy if you had let me witness this great conspiracy for myself. You were quite anxious to get me out of Grenatte, as I recall. One might think you didn’t want me to see the meetings that took place there.”

  A movement behind the sheriff caught my attention, but I quickly averted my gaze. Rowan had not sensed the tall figure gliding silently down the shadowed alley.

  “I knew enough to guess that your presence in Grenatte was a violation of your parole,” he said. “You couldn’t afford to be anywhere near those people.”

  “And so you successfully defended the law from my depredations, while allowing Giano to go on his way—and yes, I heard what they did to the professor and his servants.”

  “Giano had committed no crime. Not then. You had. Or were about to.”

  “And so I’m to be grateful to the one who saves me from my own perverse wickedness and points the finger of blame everywhere but at himself.” Anger consumed all my uncertainty, making my limbs and voice tremble—fury at a murderer who could come so near convincing me of his honesty and at myself for listening to him. “I’m to confess all my crimes to my generous savior, the upright servant of the law, one who protects us all by exterminating children and scholars. Who else have you murdered, Sheriff? Tell me the names of all your victims.”

  Graeme Rowan flushed the same scarlet as the flaming emblem on his coat, but before he could say more, something large and heavy crashed down on his head. I drew back into the corner of the wall as he toppled into the dirt. Even in the sudden quiet, the street noise seemed as remote as my own woodland, allowing my own doubts and accusations to scream warnings.

  Expressionless, D’Natheil gazed down at the fallen sheriff. Slowly he pressed the tip of his sword into Rowan’s neck, first dimpling, then pricking the tanned skin, blood quickly outlining the steel. I remembered the way he had pressed the dagger into the attacker at Kellea’s shop—smoothly, inexorably, relishing his own lethal prowess. My stomach and spirit rebelled, and I laid my hand on his arm.

  The startled Prince jerked his head around. After a long, defiant glare, he withdrew his blade and slammed it into its sheath.

  I dropped to my knees and rolled the flaccid Rowan onto his back. Blood and dirt covered his left temple. Truth glared up at me from his blue coat. Third from the bottom was a wider space than between the other brass buttons and a dark thread broken off. The remaining buttons were identical to the one I drew from my pocket.

  “Someone’s coming.” The Prince pulled me to my feet and gestured me deeper into the alley, glancing over his shoulder at the street. Rowan’s “friend” was after us again, no doubt.

  Shudders crept up and down my spine as we hurried through the shadowy maze of alleys, past stomach-curdling heaps of refuse, dodging a ragged, toothless woman tending a smoky fire, kicking aside chickens and feral dogs. D’Natheil halted abruptly where the lane opened into a small, weedy courtyard surrounded on all sides by tall warehouses. Beyond a clutter of stained dye vats, splintered crates of empty spools, and a skeletal apparatus that I realized was a broken loom standing on end, was a wooden stair, clinging precariously to one of the buildings. After a moment’s watching, the Prince led me through the courtyard and up the stairs. He tapped three times on the dark-painted door at the top of the stair. A bolt slid, and the Dulcé let us in.

  Mountains of mouse-chewed scraps of yarn and cloth lay about the huge, dim attic, layered thickly with gray dust and a century’s worth of dead flies, moths, and beetles. An entire civilization of spiders had abandoned their webs under the rafters, especially in the low space where the steeply pitched roof met the front and back walls. This was not the same room where I’d left my friends that morning.

  D’Natheil, crouching so as not to knock his head on the downsloping roof, positioned himself by a window with a broken shutter that looked out over the street below. Before I could say a word, he burst out, “You were gone a very long time. Very long.”

  “Well, it’s been quite a day,” I snapped. “But I would have eliminated a few of the more unpleasant encounters, if I’d known they would annoy you.” I was too tired, too hot, and too disturbed to put up with a rude prince, however talented at rescuing he might be.

  He glanced at me briefly, his expression cold, then turned his attention back to the street. “But you’re well.” He wasn’t asking. He was telling me.

  “Your arrival was timely. How did you happen to be there?”

  “You were in need.” He offered no more, and I looked at Baglos for further explanation.

  The Dulcé had rebolted the door and was shoving a pile of broken crates up against it. “Earlier today, as we were returning from the market, we heard men making inquiries up and down the streets of this district, asking after a woman and two men, one man short and dark, one tall and strongly made. So we did not return to the other room, but found this place instead. I waited for you all morning by the palace gates, but you didn’t come, so we met here to think how to find you. After only a short time, D’Natheil ran out the door, saying, ‘She calls. She is taken!’ ”

  “I was careless. Jacopo is i
n the city on business. He wants to help us, and, like an oaf, I stood in the middle of the street talking to him. The sheriff was watching. When he saw me with Jaco, he pounced.” What game was Rowan playing? Why induce me to mistrust Jacopo? I thought they were friends. I rolled the brass button over in my palm, shock and anger tainted by profound unease. “Rowan wasn’t dead?” I hadn’t even checked.

  “No.” It was winter in the corner where the Prince sat peering out of the window. Was he angry that I’d kept him from killing the sheriff?

  I chided myself for lack of resolution. Rowan had been a part of the horror at Ferrante’s. In his blind adherence to the law he had allowed himself to be seduced and corrupted by the very thing he claimed to hate. He was our enemy and deserved to die. But for a moment, he had been very convincing. . . .

  “Now that you are safely with us again, was fortune kind?” said Baglos. “Did you acquire the object of your search?”

  I had almost forgotten the journal. “Yes, I found it.” I pulled the bundle from my pocket and peeled away its threadbare covering. Even the Prince was drawn to see. The three of us gathered around an old crate, the only thing in the room that would serve for a table. All my irritation, all my fears, and all my questions fled in anticipation of revelation.

  “My husband worked for over a year translating this. He got through most of it, though there were some entries he was never certain of, where the meaning of a few words could change the whole sense. We had to destroy his translation, but I suppose the two of you can read this easily.”

  D’Natheil ran his fingers down one page, but yanked his hand away as if it had burned him. “I cannot read the ancient tongue,” he said, curtly, and stood up again.

  Baglos turned a page, examining it closely. “If you command me so, my lord prince, I could translate the entire work.”

  D’Natheil looked at me. “Is that what you want?”

  “The critical part is the map.” Trying not to let anxiety make me heavy-handed, I thumbed through the fragile pages until I found the one where the Writer had sketched the elusive puzzle. D’Natheil returned to the makeshift table and crouched down beside Baglos. As the two of them examined the page, I studied their faces, eager to see the first sign of understanding. It did not come. First one and then the other shook his head.