Old Man's Ghosts

by Tom Lloyd

  Narin blinked at her. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean, that’s one beautiful baby,’ she said with a widening smile. ‘I’ve seen a few newborns in my time and that little girl’s gonna grow up lovely.’

  Narin hung his head, embarrassed, ashamed and inordinately pleased all in one go.

  ‘Thank you,’ he mumbled. Before he could say anything more, Enchei smacked him round the back of the head hard enough to thump him into the wall.

  ‘What was that for?’ he snapped, rubbing his head and glaring at the sour-faced veteran.

  ‘To wake you up,’ Enchei said. ‘You’ve not got time to stand there and be smug, not by a long shot.’

  ‘Pretty sure you didn’t have to hit me. You’re stronger than most, remember?’

  That prompted a cold smile on Enchei’s face and Narin realised the old man hadn’t forgotten his supernatural strength for a moment.

  ‘Fine, point made,’ Narin said. ‘What now?’

  ‘Now you go shaman hunting, you and Lord Coldheart Bastard.’

  Narin frowned. ‘You mean Rhe? Why? All of a sudden you’re not so sure about that hellhound being after you?’

  ‘I’m pretty certain, but that makes no difference. Firstly, you ain’t telling Rhe that bit unless you have to. He’s far from a fan o’ mine already. Secondly I need you to find some things out for me. Plus,’ he added nastily, ‘Lord Coldheart don’t like it when he ain’t busy. Even if it’s a raven chase, it’ll keep the pair o’ you busy. That’s your job this afternoon, then you’ve got a man to call on tonight.’

  ‘Man?’

  ‘Your new patron, remember?’

  ‘The Imperial?’ Kesh broke in. ‘That’ll be fun, I’m sure he won’t make you squirm too much before he agrees to negotiate with Kine’s husband.’

  ‘Negotiate?’ Myken said sharply. ‘What makes you think Lord Vanden will negotiate?’

  ‘Well, he can’t just tell a member of the royal family to go jump in the Crescent,’ Kesh said, ‘and Prince Sorote already knows about Narin and Kine’s relationship. We’ve been waiting for a while to hear the blackmail demands, but thus far he’s asked for nothing beyond keeping abreast of Narin’s investigations.’

  ‘You can trust him?’

  ‘Trust him? He’s a bloody Imperial caste! Course we can’t trust him, but he’ll be useful and we’re out of options here.’

  The knight paused a moment, looking around at the four other faces in the room before focusing back on the young girl. ‘You are not their maid?’

  ‘Me?’ Kesh bristled while Enchei chuckled. ‘No I’m bloody well not! I’m … well, I’m a friend o’ Narin’s.’

  ‘Privy to his closest secrets?’ Myken help up a hand. ‘How many friends, Lawbringer Narin, are aware of all this? My Lady remains in danger and I have sworn to protect her with my life, but I see you’re more careless with your secrets. How many others know of this? How far does this risk to her go?’

  Narin shook his head. ‘Kesh’s not just some girl I know,’ he explained. ‘That goshe business in the spring? The ones involved were me, Enchei, Kesh and Irato – they’re not acquaintances, they’re family. They’ve all shed blood for my sake and to do what’s right. I’ve trusted them with my life and I’ll continue to.’

  ‘And Prince Sorote?’

  ‘A powerbroker of some sort, a dealer in secrets. He found out mine and he didn’t reveal it. Whatever he wants, he’s got leverage enough that he’ll get it or I’ll resign in disgrace, but until then there’s not a lot I can do about it. More importantly, if I send some friend to negotiate for Kine’s life, they’ll just be killed. Why would a noble caste give a damn what we could offer when his honour is at stake?’

  Myken nodded slowly. ‘But an Imperial caste must be listened to,’ she said. ‘I understand, but your secrets are spread too widely. If you put my Lady in danger, you will have me to answer to.’

  ‘That’s rather the point, ain’t it?’ Enchei interrupted. ‘You damn Wyverns and your honour? Vanden don’t have an heir to celebrate, he’s got a wife who’s run off with a daughter he’s little use for. Whatever tale he tells others, she’s betrayed him and he’ll want her dead. If we’re to get the assassins called off, we need to negotiate and an Imperial caste friend might be the best prize we could offer anyway.’

  The room fell into silence after that. Eventually Myken bowed her head to acknowledge Enchei’s words. She pointed towards Irato. ‘You – you are a fighter, correct?’

  Irato nodded.

  ‘Watch over the Lawbringer, then, ensure he is not followed. Lord Vanden may well have guessed the truth already.’

  ‘You don’t give the orders here,’ Kesh pointed out. ‘High caste or not, you’re outcast now so you’re as low as the rest of us.’

  That brought Myken up short, but it was only a moment before she recovered.

  ‘Spend as long as you like coming to the same conclusion,’ she said as she turned and headed up the stairs. ‘A baby’s life is nothing compared to your pride, I’m sure.’

  Enchei winked at Kesh as she wrinkled her nose and looked away. ‘She’s going to be fun to have around, this one,’ he said. ‘Now hop it, the pair of you, there’s work to be done. Narin, tell Rhe the people of House Moon like their shadow demons, as do Raven and Salamander if memory serves.’

  ‘That means visiting districts to the north, west and east,’ Narin pointed out as Irato jumped up to fetch his weapons and coat.

  ‘Funny that, I hadn’t noticed. Just as well you like walking eh?’

  Sat in the middle of a boat on the Crescent, Narin watched tiny snowflakes drift past the immovable statue of Lawbringer Rhe ahead. He pulled his winter coat tighter around him and tried to let the moment of relative quiet clear his mind. Behind him the boatman rowed in silence, straining slightly against the incoming tide that swept around the Imperial Island. As much as Narin tried, however, it wasn’t the soothing sight of Kine and Dov that intruded on his thoughts – rather, it was the calculating smile of Prince Sorote of the Imperial House and some vague impression of a shadow-hound stalking the city streets.

  ‘Why Raven District first?’ Narin said eventually, giving up on the effort. ‘Don’t stories of shadow-demons mostly come from House Moon’s lands?’

  Rhe didn’t turn, his head hidden by a hood raised against the cold air. ‘The Detenii?’ There was no emotion in his voice, though Rhe had led many Lawbringers to their deaths against the goshe’s elite, but Narin felt his own hand tighten at the word. He’d had precious little chance to fight back when they had been torturing him and the memory still made him feel sick.

  ‘The only shadow-demons I can remember hearing about. Though the goshe used the name for their elite, the stories are older than that.’

  ‘True.’

  ‘So why?’

  ‘Both hegemonies stand on the edge of the known world,’ Rhe began, ‘Moon to the west, Raven to the east. But Moon’s furthest edge is a coastline – beyond that they have found only ocean, and explorers who try to cross it never return.’

  ‘And Raven’s eastern border is Shadowrain Forest.’

  Rhe inclined his head. ‘Vast and uninhabitable to men, home to monsters and demons. But there is no clear border, no thousand-mile wall to keep the forest at bay. Imperial strictures have only ever rested lightly on the people there. Even on the better streets you can see fetishes and charms on plain show.’

  Narin nodded. ‘So finding a shaman there might not be so hard, or getting one to talk to us. That makes the Underways of Raven our best bet.’

  The crossing was swift and soon the Lawbringers found themselves disembarking at a small jetty in Eagle district. Narin hopped out of the boat and started up a wooden stairway that clung to the side of the abrupt cliff which occupied much of the district’s Crescent shore.

  He’d never liked Eagle District much. It wasn’t so much the rounded eyrie palazzos perched on the cliffs thirty yards above his head, forbidding thou
gh they were, but more the racial purity not on show elsewhere in the city. The natives of the central Imperial isles, original base of the House of the Sun, had tanned skin and dark hair so people such as Narin could be seen all over the Imperial City, mingling freely. In Eagle district however, there were few natives and the vast majority were from the Eagle hegemony. To a man more used to the chaotic mix of the city’s inhabitants, to be presented with a sea of only pale faces was disconcerting – all the more so when a good number looked like Lawbringer Rhe, eyes, hair and skin all as cold as ice.

  They crossed Eagle as quickly as they could, negotiating a range of gifts, salutes, bows and invitations offered to the famous son of House Brightlance before they arrived at the Raven border. The change was immediate – tall buildings and pale banners replaced by layered sets of black-tiled roofs and fluttering black flags. The emblems of Raven and its lesser houses were painted everywhere – ornate and stylised devices of Raven, Crow and Bat in flight, while legions of Threehorns, Rattletails and Greyfangs tramped along the bottom of buildings.

  Towards the centre of the district the buildings became rather more restrained, aiming for elegance of construction and design rather than frenetic decoration, but walking through the high-caste core to the poorer edge of the city itself saw the intricate returned to madcap. The Underways themselves were a series of narrow sunken lanes running parallel to each other with a number of tunnels between and a spiderweb of supports and makeshift bridges spanning them. Stinking gutters ran like streams down the centre of each and cramped frontages lined the lower levels, dug into the ground as far as would support the weight of the buildings above.

  Rhe and Narin stood at the end of the first Underway they reached and surveyed their task. Many of the frontages were shops or taverns of some sort, Narin guessed from the range of signs rattling in the breeze. Few used the Imperial script, however, and his knowledge of Raven’s language was limited. By Rhe’s hesitation, Narin assumed he was faced with a similar problem, but they hadn’t had time to find a native of Raven to accompany them.

  ‘Should we go back to the local station?’ Narin asked Rhe quietly.

  ‘Not yet.’

  Narin took the hint and went back to inspecting the Underway. The locals were a flamboyant lot, now they’d left Eagle district, hair ranging from black to reddish gold but almost every one had some sort of adornment in it – feathers, scarves, fetishes and constellation haircombs, all on show in one glance. All but the very poorest wore a necklace of some sort, many sporting half a dozen pieces all set with coloured stones or semi-precious gems.

  ‘Where do we start, then?’ he wondered under his breath, but in the next moment his gaze alighted on a wooden sign that jutted out above a doorway almost directly ahead of them. ‘Wait, look at that,’ he said, pointing.

  Rhe turned. ‘A crescent moon. What of it?’

  ‘Often a pagan symbol,’ Narin explained, ‘because the moon plays no part in the divine astrologies – but mostly, the bones around it. I’ve seen those before.’

  At the top of the crescent moon the sign depicted a triangle of bones, bound with red twine at the corners. In addition, strings of small bones hung from the pole and base of the hanging sign – all with their upper halves painted black and linked together by fine copper wire.

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Enchei’s always hiding spirit-traps and warding symbols – round his home, round mine, Kesh’s too now. I don’t know what they’re all about, but most likely whatever that place is, they’ll know more about the world of demons and spirits than we do. Might be they can point us in the right direction if we ask in the right way.’

  Rhe gave him a sideways look. ‘Do I detect a note of admonishment?’

  ‘Admonishment, Lawbringer?’ Damn right there was. You storm in and make demands in your posh accent, they’ll clam up.

  ‘Perhaps not, then,’ Rhe said, observing Narin carefully. ‘Either way, a lower-caste Lawbringer might elicit more answers. If you would take the lead?’

  Narin lowered his head in acknowledgement and slipped ahead of Rhe, crossing the street to duck beneath a low overhang and push open the door. He blinked at the dim interior, trying to make it out before blundering forward. It was as cold inside as out, his breath a ghostly cloud that was swallowed up by the darkness. Slowly he made out a room barely four yards in either direction with a low arched exit at the back. The left-hand wall was a mass of cupboards and drawers – mismatched furniture bolted together to create a solid structure. The rest of the room was covered with shelves and tables; all laden with glass jars and fragments of metal Narin couldn’t identify.

  A shuffle of feet came from beyond the arch, then a wizened old woman appeared with a lamp. As its warm orange light spread out over the room he realised every drawer and handle in the room had been scrupulously polished to a brassy shine, while from the ceiling dozens of chunks of crystal were suspended on thin chains.

  ‘Good morning, Mistress,’ Narin ventured.

  ‘Mistress, is it?’ she replied, the croak of her accent difficult to penetrate. ‘Hah. What do you want, Lawbringer?’

  She had once been Narin’s height, he realised, but a stoop now dragged her down. Over ragged trails of thinning hair she wore some sort of net cap threaded with scraps of gold and silver jewellery, while from her neck hung a dozen necklaces of gemstones and bones carved with symbols.

  ‘Well?’ the woman demanded, pale green eyes squinting up at him. Narin flinched and realised he’d been staring at the pendants, rings and other jewellery she was bedecked in.

  ‘We, ah, we’re looking for information, Mistress.’

  ‘Yer come to the wrong place then,’ she snapped. ‘I got nothing for your kind.’

  Narin paused, wondering how best to handle her. Lots of people disliked servants of the law for a variety of reasons and he’d get nowhere if he took the wrong tack. ‘Well, how about you just listen to me a moment then?’

  ‘There’s nothin’ I want ta hear from the likes of you.’

  ‘Well, you’re going to anyway,’ he persisted. ‘We’re not here to cause trouble for you and it might be you like what you hear.’

  ‘I won’t.’

  ‘You’re going to hear me out either way,’ he growled, ‘so maybe you lose the chip on your shoulder and do your community a favour, eh?’

  ‘Community?’ She cackled and with a clatter of bangles brandished a hand towards the street. ‘Piss on the lot of ’em.’

  ‘I wasn’t talking about your neighbours. I’ve seen the symbols on your sign before, the bone fetishes and the rest. I may not know if you’re a shaman, witch or something else entirely, but I’m not the one who’s going to have to deal with how wrong my guesses are, you get me?’

  ‘Threatening an old woman are you, eh?’ she said scornfully and spat at his feet. ‘Oh, very brave.’

  ‘When you get threats, you won’t need to check ’em,’ Narin snapped back. ‘I’m pointing out how the world is and the city’s going to soon get pretty unfriendly towards anyone who deals with the unnatural side of life. Hard to live quietly when it gets out we’re investigating some brutal murders with occult links and the rest of the city’s feeling twitchy. Either we find out where we want to look or we have to go after everyone and see what shakes loose.’ He paused then added, ‘I’m sure the priests’d have a few ideas where we should be starting.’

  The old woman scowled, gaze nervously darting from Narin to Rhe as she considered his words. ‘I hear you,’ she said reluctantly, ‘say yer piece then.’

  ‘Who round here – no, wait. Let me make this clear, I’m not looking to blame or arrest anyone here. I want an expert who’ll tell me what I’m looking for, understand? Good. So, who round here do I talk to about demons?’

  She snorted. ‘Any kid in the street, they know their folklore round here.’

  ‘I’m talking about dealing with demons.’

  ‘Damn Imperials, you don’t know nothing. There’s n
o making friends with a demon, no magical covenant or soul ta sell.’

  ‘That’s a start, then. What else do you have?’

  She gave him a disgusted look. ‘All sorts, but why’d you want ta know about demons?’

  ‘Because a couple just got killed inside their own home by one and I don’t think that’s the end of it. If it happens again folk are going to start looking for someone to blame.’

  ‘Demon did it, you just said that. Nothing ta do with me.’

  Narin scowled. ‘Fancy telling that to an angry mob?’

  The woman’s tone lost its edge almost immediately as she appreciated his point. ‘And what’re you looking for, lawman?’

  ‘The right person to blame.’

  ‘Was a demon did that, you said so yourself.’

  ‘And some demons get summoned. This was no fox-spirit.’

  ‘Summoned? No one round here’s mad enough ta try stuff like that; worst you’ll find is curses that tangle a demon round yer soul. Summoners – that’s not just playin’ wi’ foxes, that’s draggin’ evil from the lower hells.’

  Narin leaned forward, hearing the edge of horror to her voice. ‘So it’s hard and it’s dangerous, right? So what would someone need to do it without getting killed? Supplies for the rituals? Who’d stock that sort of thing?’

  ‘I don’t know, ya don’t get old playing with horrors.’

  ‘So who do we ask about hellhounds? Who’d know the answers or be part of the circles we need to talk to?’

  ‘Pah, who knows? More’n a few fancy themselves as dark mages but none’d be dumb enough to summon anything strong enough ta kill like that. You sure about this?’

  ‘I saw what was left,’ Narin said.

  His stomach tightened at the memory and she saw enough in his face to cut off any further disbelief.

  ‘No Raven’d do such a thing,’ she said, almost in a whisper, ‘it’s madness ta even try. If ya see the true face of a hellhound, it burns yer eyes from yer head. No human can endure such a sight. But I only know my district. Might be someone elsewhere in the city’s got the answers ya need – who knows what madness Leviathans or Salamanders will try? Ya might speak ta Samaleen. If anyone knows she’ll be the one.’