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

by Matthew Sprange

  Placing a hand on her hip, she looked at him curiously. “And when did you find something to believe in? Where is the selfish Lucius we have come to know and despise, the one who runs from responsibility? They cannot be paying you that much at the moment, I know. If there is no profit, why are you staying to defend them?”

  Lucius opened his mouth to answer, then found precious few words. “That is something of a surprise to me as well,” he finally muttered.

  “If only you had found a similar loyalty for us.”

  “I still may.” The words amazed him as much as they did Adrianna. Somewhere along the line, he found he had decided to stay in the city, to carve his own niche, and no one would be forcing him out. Not the Guild, not Adrianna and definitely not the Shadowmages. Turnitia was after all, his home. He was done with running.

  “What are you saying?” she asked, suspiciously, still expecting a trap somewhere down the line. As it happened, she was not so very wrong.

  “I’ll tell you what I am going to do,” he said. “And I’ll ask a simple request. What happens then is up to you. You will have the chance, at the very least, to protect your employer’s interests, and perhaps deliver victory in this war to them single-handed. That would do much for the reputation of the Shadowmages and herald their return to the city, would it not?”

  “Go on.”

  “Loredo has been clever, building alliances and ensuring he has some of the best thieves in the city on his side. Even his thugs are well-directed and motivated. He has a Shadowmage in his employ, and can call upon the services of demons from the sea. But central to his plans are his ties to the Vos guard.”

  “And these are the enemies you are determined to make?” Adrianna asked. “You have a chance to escape all of this, and there are those within the Shadowmages who would protect you from further harm if you walked away now. Remember, we always look after our own.”

  “In a way, I am counting on that,” Lucius said, but evaded her questioning look. “However, it is plain that we cannot fight them all, not in open battle.”

  He ran a hand through his hair as he debated his next words. If he had misread Adrianna, what he was about to say could finish the Hands before a single attack was launched. Still, he forged ahead, determined to test his own instincts.

  “We are going to strike them down from the shadows, hit the power base of the Guild,” he said. “The enforcers on the streets, the contacts that form their network of spies, the highest earning merchants in their protection rackets, Loredo and Jewel themselves.”

  “You have already tried to take down Jewel,” Adrianna interjected. “That did not go so well.”

  “We’ll be prepared this time, and she won’t have so many allies to call upon when we make the move. I’ll do it myself, if I have to.”

  “Have a care. She is as dangerous as her reputation suggests.”

  “Your concern is touching,” Lucius said, but when he saw Adrianna about to react to that, he waved her fury away. “By the time I reach Jewel, she will have a great many things to occupy her thoughts.”

  “Such as?”

  “This all happens tomorrow evening. The Hands will leave their guildhouse and kill everyone connected with Loredo that can be found.” He was acutely conscious that if Adrianna did not do as he expected, he had just doomed every member of the Hands.

  “How can you be sure you will be able to find all the targets you seek? You know Loredo has moved the location of his guildhouse, specifically to avoid any reprisal like this?”

  He did not know that, and Lucius hesitated before offering up the final part of the plan hatched by the Hands. “We have the beggars on side. They are watching the movements of the Guild, tracking down everyone we have deemed important to Loredo’s operations. They’ll find their new base of power.”

  “The beggars? Clever.” Her compliment was muted, and he could see her mind was ticking away, gauging the threat he and the Hands posed, and how it affected her position with her employer.

  “It was Magnus, not me, that brought the beggars into the fold. And he paid for the alliance with his life.”

  “And what, exactly, is your part in all of this, Lucius?” Adrianna asked.

  “I’ll be there every step of the way, Aidy. I’ll lead the attack.”

  “You realise, of course, that this will likely bring you into direct conflict with another Shadowmage.”

  “I have no quarrel with you, Aidy. I am not looking to fight you.”

  “If you are leading the assault, it becomes damn well near impossible to avoid, doesn’t it?” she said, her anger finally boiling over. “Do you understand what you risk, Lucius? Not the dangers in fighting the Guild, but in taking a stand against us?”

  “I’m not taking a stand against you or the other Shadowmages, Aidy.”

  “My contract with the Guild predates your involvement with the Hands, and so takes precedence!”

  “I have no contract, Aidy. I am here because I have to be, because these people need me. Because they will die without me, and that is not something I can walk away from. I fight because I have to fight.”

  “God damn you, Lucius!” Adrianna spat, and went on cursing him, decrying amateur practitioners and their lack of respect for the Shadowmages’ guild. He let her anger ride out, knowing he risked her striking him down on the spot, but also hoping he had understood how her loyalties ran.

  When her fury was spent, she whirled back on him. “You don’t leave me any damned choice, do you?”

  He waited for her next words, though he found it difficult to hold her stare.

  Closing her eyes, Adrianna sighed, and with the release of breath, so the fire of her rage seemed to dissipate. “It seems you have a personal stake in this war, Lucius, and it is clear that I don’t. I’ll release myself from the contract with the Guild. To continue would risk coming into conflict with another Shadowmage and however agreeable that may be on one level, I will not do it.”

  “Thank you, Aidy,” he said.

  “Oh, don’t thank me, Lucius,” she said. “I am well aware I have been played, and there will be a reckoning after this war is done.”

  He nodded slowly, then played his next card. “After this, I will take up my training in earnest.”

  That made her look twice at him, and she frowned.

  “It is a promise I make to both you and Master Forbeck,” he said. “I will dedicate myself to the Shadowmages, learn all I can, and abide by the rules of the guild.”

  Clearly sceptical, Adrianna cocked her head. “Why?”

  “I am going to stay in this city, Aidy,” he said. “It is going to become my home again. I’ll always have an allegiance to the Hands, but I will also pledge myself to the Shadowmages. I want to learn about our gift. I want to be more than I have been.”

  “Your record in this matter is hardly sterling.”

  “True,” he had to concede. “But please allow that a man can change. I don’t want to be your enemy, Aidy. We should not be enemies.”

  Taking a step closer, Adrianna dark eyes bored into his own, as if trying to plumb the depths of his mind for the truth. “If you do as you say, Lucius, you will have my support. But my God, if you should prove false...”

  “I know,” he said simply.

  She took a step back, preparing to leave. “We have an understanding, then. I will not interfere with your plans, and will henceforth break off contact with Loredo and his Guild.”

  “There was... just one more thing,” Lucius said.

  “Oh, with you there always is,” Adrianna said, but waited patiently to hear him out.

  He took a breath, preparing himself to see how far his relationship with Adrianna truly stretched. “The Hands’ assault on the Guild begins this evening.”

  She frowned. “I thought you said...”

  “Tomorrow is when the Hands move as a whole. In a few hours, however, I will enter the Citadel and strike at the heart of the Vos guard. Their captain, von Minterheim.”<
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  Adrianna just looked at him, mouth open, dumbstruck.

  “That is the signal for the Hands to begin. With the guard paralysed and leaderless, they will be of little aid to the Guild, for a time at least.”

  It took a while for Adrianna to find her voice again. “That... is either incredibly stupid and ill-conceived, or...” She trailed off.

  “Whatever it is, it won’t be easy. However, my request...” He hesitated for a moment before steeling himself to continue. “I wanted to ask you if you would come with me, to fight by my side and ensure the mission’s success.”

  Trying very hard to ignore Adrianna’s dark eyes, Lucius began to explain. “I cannot offer you money or anything that would be the equal of the contract you have lost, but this is important to me Aidy, and–”

  “Fine.”

  “What?”

  “Fine,” she said with a shrug. “I’ll come with you. Then we’ll see just how good a practitioner you have become.”

  Lucius had expected argument, threat and disparagement, but not an easy acquiescence. It caught him off guard.

  “You better tell me what you have planned,” Adrianna said. “Then I can tell you where you are going wrong, and how to fix it.”

  THE CITADEL LAY silhouetted against the giant sphere of Kerberos that hung imposingly across half the evening sky. Bands of clouds raced across its surface like the wake from a ship moving at speed. The Five Markets were quiet, just a few late traders desperately trying to hawk the last of their day’s stock.

  Lucius’ initial plan had been scotched by Adrianna almost immediately in favour of an easier and less complicated approach. He had envisioned an assault upon the walls, a stealthy dash through the courtyard and then a sweep of the keep in order to locate their prey. Instead, the more experienced Shadowmage had suggested they allow von Minterheim to come to them. The changing of the guard was an event undertaken with typical Vos regularity, and it was always overseen by the captain so long as he was present in the city. That meant not a dangerous and probably futile attempt to gain access to the keep, but instead a hard-hitting strike executed in the main courtyard of the Citadel.

  Quickly warming to the idea, Lucius had seen its promise. The point of the attack was not simply to avenge himself and the Hands on von Minterheim, but to shatter the guard. To paralyse their ability to retaliate to the Hands’ next move against the Guild, however briefly. The Vos army could not be destroyed in Turnitia, but it could be made to stumble. The aim therefore, was to eliminate von Minterheim and cause as much disruption as possible while inside the Citadel. It was a mission that two Shadowmages, working in concert, could excel at.

  They shuffled along the short line of people heading toward the southern gate of the Citadel, cloaked and hooded. The others entering the gate were, for the most part, visitors and tourists who often made it a point to witness the precision display the Vos military enacted while changing the guard. In just a few short years since the invasion, it had become as much a part of city life as the Five Markets or the great barriers at the docks. It was a piece of what made Turnitia what it was.

  Lucius had left behind his sword and mail under Adrianna’s guidance. Reluctantly at first, but she had pointed out that everyone entering the Citadel legitimately was searched for weapons and contraband, and it would do their mission no good if they were detained at the gate and forced to fight their way through. Besides, Adrianna had said, a real Shadowmage had no need of mundane weapons.

  Only partly agreeing, Lucius had refused to relinquish the daggers sheathed inside his boots, and he felt grateful for their hard, metallic presence as they paced, ever so slowly, toward the gate.

  The delay was down to the more rigorous than usual searches being performed by the gate guards, halting each person in turn and patting them down before nodding them ahead and turning to the next. The rumour flowing down the line was that the guards had been spooked by a breakout the other night, and their lives depended upon no more trouble erupting in the heart of the Vos military presence. Few believed such an escape attempt was likely, but it made Lucius smile.

  He strode up to one of the guards as they approached the gate, its arch soaring high above them while the eight-inch-thick reinforced greywood gates lay invitingly open. Raising his arms, he felt the guard’s hands sweep over his chest, back and legs, and was thankful he had not tried to smuggle through his armour or sword, as it would have been found immediately. His hood was jerked back, and the guard, barely more than a lad sporting the first wisps of a beard, stared intently into his face. Lucius smiled back pleasantly, playing the part of a curious visitor, and it seemed to work. The guard jerked a thumb over his shoulder, indicating Lucius should continue, and Adrianna stepped up for inspection. Glancing over his shoulder as he crossed the threshold, Lucius had to suppress a smile as her hood was thrown back and a wilful glare dared the young guardsman to get too familiar during his search. Despite his years, it seemed as though the guard had wisdom enough not to take liberties and Adrianna was quickly directed through.

  The courtyard swept before them as they entered, side by side. It was dominated by the keep and the five towers, but was still a vast expanse of open space within a city where real estate was usually at a premium. Around the walls that ringed the courtyard and keep were a myriad of smaller buildings; stables, storehouses, guard quarters, and forges. It was said that the Citadel could be closed for over a year and remain self-sufficient. It was only now that Lucius began to appreciate the grandeur of its design.

  Guardsmen were already assembled across the courtyard, lined up in their respective units as they prepared to hand over the watch, long shadows cast from their stationary positions from the lanterns that bedecked the entire courtyard at strategic points, driving back the darkness. The visitors were shown by other guards to a waiting area in front of a wagon house, but Lucius and Adrianna had already split up, taking positions at either side of the crowd. It was not their intention to involve innocents in the attack, and by avoiding the centre of the onlookers, any reprisals from the guard were less likely to inadvertently catch one of them.

  Taking a step to one side to put some more distance between himself and a family whose two children had thick Vos accents, obviously from the heartlands, Lucius held his breath as a guardsman approached him, arm held out to one side to guide him back into the crowd. Lucius nodded at the man, who immediately spun on his heels to return to his position a few yards away.

  Peering through the crowd, Lucius tried to spy Adrianna, but she had disappeared. She had told him that she would wait for his move, that he would initiate the attack, and he hoped she was merely using subtle magic to conceal her presence, rather than leaving him out to dry. He doubted she lacked sincerity, but he could never quite tell where Adrianna was concerned.

  A cheer went up from the crowd, as they all realised the ceremony was about to begin. This drew some frowns from the guard themselves, particularly the older men, but one young guardsman waved until a superior bawled him out, to the amusement of the onlookers.

  Movement to his left caught Lucius’ eye, and another cheer was raised as the main gates of the keep were opened. From the darkness within strode von Minterheim, flanked by his entourage: six guardsmen in full dress uniform, only slightly less ostentatious than their captain’s breastplate, braids, feathered hat and jewel-encrusted sword. At his appearance, Lucius began to tap into the threads, beckoning them to his reach, but he held his mind steady. It would be too easy for the captain to retreat back into the keep if he struck now.

  He watched as the captain and his men paced the courtyard with solemn duty, passing each assembled unit while inspecting each man. At times, von Minterheim would mutter a word to one of his entourage, and the man would stop in front of some poor guardsman singled out for discipline for some slight in his uniform, while the captain continued his march down the line.

  This continued for some time, as every active member of the guard in the Citadel was
reviewed. Lucius felt some sympathy for the guards who had been on duty for the entire day and were forced to endure this charade in the name of tradition and discipline before they could finally be relieved. Von Minterheim finally rounded the last unit, and strode confidently to the centre of the courtyard, where he nodded to a junior officer. The man gave an order to a unit of trumpeters who rang out a fanfare, the sound piercing the stillness of the evening air. The assembled units began to move, one watch being relieved as another came on duty.

  It was a good a time as any to act, Lucius thought.

  With so much movement going on in the courtyard, no one saw him slip from the crowd as he crept along the wall past the wagon house, and on past a set of stables. The horses whinnied quietly as he stalked past them, and their agitation gave him an idea.

  Stepping inside, he cast about for dry hay, finding it baled near the back of the stables. Looking upwards, he saw more stored in the loft above, and smiled wolfishly.

  Checking once more that no one was nearby, he outstretched a finger and felt the familiar surge as a small jet of flame short forth, instantly igniting a bale. It was a small fire, but it grew hungrily. Even as the horses began to stir, he conjured a ball of fire to his palm before launching it into the loft. There, it flashed briefly as it consumed more hay.

  He smelt smoke rising to his nostrils, and hastened out, not wanting to be anywhere near the conflagration when it was noticed. Continuing his pace along the wall of the Citadel, he closed the distance to the Keep, wanting to cut off von Minterheim’s obvious escape route should the man try to run.

  An cry from the crowd told Lucius that the mission had begun in earnest. Within seconds, guardsmen were charging across the courtyard to the stables. Sergeants screamed orders as buckets were grabbed from one of the storehouses and a chain formed to a well.

  Von Minterheim had remained calm, though the man was scanning the courtyard, obviously searching for the cause of the fire, trying to decide whether it was an accident or something more sinister. As the man’s gaze swept over him, Lucius stopped in his tracks and crouched, tugging on threads to bring the shadows cast by the wall and its outbuildings around him like a second cloak.