The Shadowmage Trilogy (Twilight of Kerberos: The Shadowmage Books)

by Matthew Sprange

  Before the table, other members of the Hands jostled for position, seeking to get themselves heard. Each with a different idea of how the guild should continue, or not. Of how they could take instant vengeance, or not. One viciously planted a dagger into the table, promising that if the Council were too weak to take the fight to the enemy, others were not.

  The overall mood, however, was one of despondent failure, a feeling that the time of the Night Hands was at an end. Most expected the guild to be disbanded in this meeting.

  Clearing his throat, Wendric silenced the bickering thieves and all eyes turned toward him.

  “As you will have all heard by now, Magnus has been slain by the Guild. The Council has heard Lucius’ explanation of what happened, and we are satisfied that he is in no way at fault.” At this, Lucius heard someone mutter at the back of the chamber, but he did not catch what was said, and Wendric ignored the interruption. “It was a calculated ambush aided, in part, by the Vos guard. It would have taken a small army to save Magnus. The guildmaster knew the risks when he left this place to forge a new alliance. It is now our duty to continue in his footsteps, to lead the Night Hands to become the kind of organisation for thieves that he always envisioned.”

  “Well, what’s the point?” cried one thief, an old man whose hands shook as he spoke. “We’re beaten. With Magnus and God knows how many others gone, the guild is broken!”

  “You thinking we should all just roll over and join Loredo, is that it, Hengit?” called out another.

  “We split up!” Hengit said, smacking a fist into his palm. “We all go independent. The Guild will never be able to track all of us!”

  “Oh, they will,” Elaine said, bringing attention back to those around the table. “You can be sure of that. They will track each one of you down and either force you to join their Guild or kill you. If we divide our strength–”

  “What’s left of it!”

  “Yes, Hengit, what is left of it,” Elaine said, her anger directed solely at the old thief for a moment. “If we break up the Hands now, we all die. Or, worse, work for a pittance under Loredo. You think he will just welcome you with open arms? He will mistrust all of you, your careers will be broken, doing the worst jobs and taking part in the riskiest operations. No, Hengit, you are far better off among the Night Hands, however long we last.”

  “And how long will that be, then?” called a voice from the back of the chamber.

  “That is what we are here to decide,” said Nate. “Elaine, your hit on Jewel clearly did not work as planned.”

  Elaine sighed audibly. “No. She was spotted on the streets near the merchant quarter but when our agents moved in... well, she either expected their arrival or is far more dangerous than we credited her with.”

  “What were our losses?” Wendric asked.

  “Total.” Elaine’s simple answer triggered a collective intake of breath throughout the assembled crowd. The assassins employed by the Hands were experts in their field, trained killers capable of evading guards, traps and other defences in order to strike a target down within seconds. For a single woman to not only escape their attentions but strike back so effectively was a stunning achievement.

  “After dispatching our agents, she was then able to gather her forces and take down Magnus. We don’t know whether it was a chance encounter, or if they knew where Magnus was–”

  “They knew,” said Grennar. Her voice cut over Elaine’s easily and with a measure of grace. In another time, Lucius might have smiled at the ease with which the girl spoke to the thieves but, at this moment, he simply listened as if she were the equal of any in the chamber. In that, he was not alone.

  “The Vos army has its own network of spies in the city,” Grennar went on to explain. “When Magnus was spotted on the streets, word was quickly passed to the Guild, and the ambush set. Once the guard was used to funnel your guildmaster into a predetermined area, there was nothing anyone could do.”

  In saying that, she cast a brief look at Lucius.

  “So if the Guild has the Vos guard in their pocket, why have they not just finished us off completely?” Nate asked. “It is what I would do. Why not just launch an assault against this guildhouse and wipe us out in one stroke?”

  Nate’s question had been on everyone’s mind and hearing it voiced caused some to start shuffling their feet and looking over their shoulders, as if expecting to see the entire Vos army crash through the door of the council chamber.

  “Because Loredo is no fool,” Grennar said, and Lucius saw Nate colour slightly as the girl looked at him. “Because the Vos guard have no idea where your guildhouse is.”

  “Well, that doesn’t make sense,” Wendric said. “The Vos guard won’t see themselves as junior members in that partnership. They will want to run the Guild, not the other way around.”

  “That is exactly what Loredo fears.”

  “If the Hands fall and only the Guild remains, Loredo wants to retain his independence,” Elaine said. “He does not want his thieves to become stooges for the Empire.”

  “Exactly,” Grennar said. “He is playing a dangerous, but – it has to be said – clever game. He has brought the Vos guard onto his side, and that is a powerful ally for any thieves’ guild to have, normally only possible in the most corrupt Pontaine cities. He is playing things down the middle, taking what support he can easily get from the guard, while giving them as little information as possible.”

  “The guard cannot be happy with that,” said Nate.

  “The captain of the guard, von Minterheim, was seen raging in the Citadel this morning. He has been telling his sergeants to lean on their Guild contacts, to start squeezing them for information. He wants this war over quickly, as it is beginning to make the merchants nervous. If they decide it is safer and more profitable to start trading in another city, Vos’ hold on Turnitia is weakened.”

  Nate gave Grennar a strange look. “And how, exactly, does the Beggars’ Guild know what is happening within the Citadel?”

  She shrugged. “As we told your guildmaster and Lucius here, we have eyes everywhere.”

  “In the Citadel?”

  “Beggars can go where others cannot. No one sees us, and so if a few beggars remain in the courtyard after a hanging or two, well they will be thrown out eventually, but no one is going to hurry to do it.”

  “Magnus was right about you,” Wendric said quietly, and Lucius could see the man had a new appreciation of their ally, despite her young age.

  “So where does that leave us?” another voice in the crowd asked.

  “Without much time,” Elaine answered. “If von Minterheim is pressuring Loredo, he will be forced to move quickly. He doubtless feels we are crippled and defenceless, so his end game will start soon.”

  “One thing is certain; he will want this guildhouse,” Wendric said. “There are too many treasures and secrets within these walls for him to ignore.”

  “A direct assault, then?” Nate asked.

  “That will come sooner or later,” Elaine said. “The streets will become no-go areas for all of us first. And if they discover our relationship with the beggars...”

  “Don’t worry about us,” Grennar said. “We would not enter an agreement with you if it meant suicide. Our presence will be kept hidden, one way or another.”

  “In that case, we go fully defensive,” Elaine said. “We lock down the guildhouse, use only the sewers when moving about the city, and stay away from the areas the Guild controls best – the docks and merchant quarter. This place, we fortify. We’ll get our trapsmiths to work and plunder the armoury for weapons.”

  “Just sit and wait?” Wendric asked.

  “We cannot fight them directly,” Elaine pointed out. “They are too many. However, if we know they have to come here, and our friends among the beggars can tell us when, then we regain an advantage. Superior numbers will mean nothing when the fight is on our territory.”

  “There is a sense in that,” a thief said in
support.

  “We can ensure that any enemy trying to breach these walls, be they thieves or guard, will be hip deep in their own blood within minutes.”

  “That is no way to gain victory,” Wendric said.

  “The first task is to survive. Once we can prove we can defend ourselves, once we show the Guild that they cannot wipe us out without sustaining untenable losses, their attacks will stall.”

  “I agree,” said Nate. “Once we break the back of their main assault, then we can think about hitting back. If we prolong this long enough, their alliance with the Vos guard may break down. Without that support, it is the Guild that becomes vulnerable.”

  “It would be ironic if the guard then decided all thieves were its enemy,” Elaine said, thinking through the course ahead. “Suddenly, it is the Guild that is the most visible, while we are hidden here. When the guard starts hitting back at thieves, they will be targeting the Guild. How long will it be before the Guild is reduced in strength to our level? Suddenly, things become even!”

  A ragged cheer went through the crowd, though only a handful of thieves added to it.

  “That is pretty fanciful,” Wendric said.

  “Yes, of course it is,” Elaine said. “What is important is that we realise that there are many other options open to us, so long as we can survive the next few days. We can make this guildhouse near impregnable. We can play the waiting game now – the Guild cannot.”

  Seeing Nate nod in agreement, Wendric looked down the table. “So, we have a consensus?”

  “No.”

  Lucius had been brooding, following only the gist of the debate at times. He leaned on one elbow as he sat in thought. He was only faintly aware that he had uttered his disagreement, and it was the silence that followed that shook his attention back to the chamber, as the assembled thieves waited for his next words.

  Looking down the table, he saw Wendric raise his eyebrows in surprise, while Nate frowned in frustration. He tried hard to ignore the dangerous look Elaine flashed him, there only for a second, but no less threatening for all that.

  “Make your preparations,” he said. “Build the defences you suggest round the guildhouse. Whether necessary or not, they are certainly prudent. And yes, I agree that no one should leave unless on absolutely essential business. You will need the manpower anyway to defend this place. But I do not suggest that we simply sit here, waiting for the hammer to fall. That, it seems to me, would be a very foolish thing to do.”

  “So, what do you suggest?” Elaine asked, and he could sense the coldness in voice, the faint warning that now was not the time for the Council to be divided, that they could not risk the Hands disbanding.

  Laying his hands flat on the table, Lucius sat straight in his seat, staring at the wood between them. He thought of the attack on Magnus, the guildmaster cut down in the street like an animal. He remembered Markel and Treal, two children who had been butchered by the Guild, just to make a point. The disaster at the docks, and the inhuman allies the Guild had apparently gained, still a secret to those in this chamber. Too much blood, too much killing, and for what? So one group of thieves could run the city the way they saw fit?

  It ended here.

  “I say we attack.”

  The suggestion was met with silence, and Lucius continued, his voice even, measured, dangerous. “We have little else to lose, and they will be at their most confident. We hit them. We hit all of them. We start with Loredo, Jewel, von Minterheim, and work down from there. We kill their leaders, their senior thieves, the guard sergeants, and anyone else who gets in the way. We pay them back for the blood they have stolen from us, drop for drop. In one evening, we finish this war.”

  Silence reigned in the room, until Nate coughed, then laughed.

  “I see,” he said. “We just kill them all. Why didn’t we think of that?”

  “Lucius, we have already tried to hit Jewel, and it failed. Badly,” said Wendric.

  “Then we do it properly this time.”

  “And von Minterheim as well?” Elaine asked. “You suggest we just walk into the Citadel and assassinate the military leader of the city?”

  “Yes,” he said. “That is exactly what I propose.”

  Elaine threw up her hands in disbelief. “And how do you propose we accomplish this great night of murder?”

  “It’s war, Elaine, not murder,” Lucius said. “Never forget that. This is how we avenge Magnus, Caradoc and everyone else taken from us.”

  He stopped for a moment, then cleared his throat. “I’ll make an agreement with you, Elaine. You carry on with your preparations here at the guildhouse. If we fail to end this war, your plan will be the only one open to us anyway. I will take care of von Minterheim. This evening.”

  “By yourself?” Nate asked incredulously.

  “I won’t require any of you to come with me,” Lucius said. He managed not to sound evasive, but he already had an idea of who he could go to for help. “If I succeed, the guard will be thrown into chaos, at least temporarily, and their ties to the Guild will be weakened.”

  “This sounds like madness,” Nate said.

  “I would listen to him, if I were you,” said Grennar. “If I were all of you. If anyone here can reach the captain of the Vos guard, I think it is Lucius.”

  “I agree,” said another woman, and Lucius saw Grayling throw a quick wink at him. “Though if he does need any help, I will gladly volunteer for that mission.”

  He smiled back, but shook his head slowly. No, his gesture said, it would be too dangerous for an ordinary thief. Silently, she nodded in understanding.

  “If I fail, then you will have lost nothing,” Lucius continued, turning his attention back to Elaine. “If I reach him, we go on the attack tomorrow evening. I’ll form the team to strike at Loredo and Jewel myself. The other targets we will divide up amongst us. Grennar, the beggars will act as spotters, watching the Guild’s movements so we can be ready to strike at Loredo when the guard are at their most distracted.”

  “They won’t be able to sneeze without one of us being nearby to see it,” Grennar said. “When the time comes, we’ll have your target in our sights.”

  As arguments between the thieves began to break out, some supporting Lucius’ bold plan, others counselling caution, Lucius looked down the table at the other members of the Council.

  “Do we have an agreement?”

  Wendric looked sideways at Elaine. “We have little to lose. Without being callous about it, we risk only one man.”

  “I think this is the last time I may see you, Lucius,” Elaine said. “But if there is the slightest chance you can succeed... it is an appealing idea. Nate, what say you?”

  “I still think it is madness,” Nate muttered.

  “Then we are agreed,” Elaine said, her voice suddenly hard and sure, carrying across the crowded council chamber. “We will start our reprisal this evening.”

  Lucius stood. “I must prepare.”

  As he strode out of the council chamber, he ignored the looks the thieves threw him, ranging from outright support to complete mistrust. His mind was fixed firmly on reaching von Minterheim. First, however, he had to enlist the help of someone else. And that would not be easy.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CLOSING HIS EYES, Lucius half-smiled to himself as he felt the threads of power buckle and twist slightly, their natural movements disrupted by the approach of another practitioner. He still lacked the finesse to decipher everything they were telling him, but Adrianna’s approach was becoming easier to monitor the closer she came. Whether it was the magnitude of her skill in magic that caused the little fluctuations in the threads, or her emotions at having been summoned once more, Lucius could only guess. He found himself thinking of her anger acting as a bow wave ploughing through their energy, as a ship made its presence felt across the vast ocean.

  The analogy seemed to hold true as she strode across the empty warehouse, dust curling up behind her footsteps.

&nbs
p; “I am not yours to summon and command, Lucius,” she said, contempt evident in her voice. He sighed inwardly, knowing his mission here was not going to be easy.

  “You turn your back on us, ignore the calls of Master Forbeck, abandon the training generously offered to you, and then expect... what? Why have you called me here?”

  “Good evening, Adrianna,” he said, forcing a grim smile.

  “Just get to the point.”

  “Your current employers are finished,” he said. “Within the next day, their hold on the city will be shattered, their members scattered and bleeding.”

  Adrianna’s pace had slowed as she approached him, and now she stopped altogether, her expression a mixture of puzzlement and exasperation.

  “Perhaps you have not been keeping up with recent events,” she said carefully, and he realised she was studying him closely. She had not assumed he was bluffing, instead trying to determine the path he had chosen; she was no longer dismissing him as unimportant. “The Hands are in retreat all over the city, your guildmaster and most of the Council are dead, and you are now just waiting for the end.”

  “I’m waiting for nothing, Aidy. I told you, this war will be over within the next day.”

  “This is not your fight, Lucius. Leave them. Leave the Hands. There is no future there, and your allegiance should not be to a den of thieves. You could be so much more than that.”

  “So you have told me.”

  “Then why stay with the Hands?”

  He smiled wolfishly at her. “I like them.”

  Snorting at that, Adrianna shook her head. “Are they worth dying for?”

  Considering her words, he finally shrugged. “They are certainly worth fighting for, and that is what I intend to do. Without me, they will all die, or otherwise be all but enslaved by the Guild. I can make the difference here, Aidy.”