“There was nothing you could have done for those men, you know,” she said
“I know. It was a good thing you were there.”
“Where else would I have been? The cabal was there. I could feel them. They were there, in the Cathedral, watching the proceedings.”
“For what reason?”
“If I had to hazard a guess, I would say they were looking for us.”
He thought about that for a moment. “You think they are as good as Vos believes they are?”
“Yes.”
He groaned. “So what do we do now?”
“Oh, I have an idea,” Adrianna said, and she moved over so that her face was just inches from his. Lucius was acutely aware of the pressure of her breasts on his chest.
“I have a very good idea,” she said, as she pulled herself up to kiss him.
THE SEX HAD been vigorous but brief. Passionate but cold. Adrianna had been skilful, as he had always imagined, in his most candid moments, she would be. But the whole incident had seemed rather abrupt. He sat up in the bed, wondering what to say.
“I want you to join us,” Adrianna said. “Properly, I mean. Stop messing around with your little group of thieves, and start fighting.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Adrianna’s eyes glowed for an instant as the passion took her. “We unite, as an army! With the Shadowmages working together we cannot be defeated! We will smash their soldiers and tear down their precious Cathedral. And then we’ll march on the Citadel itself. Their wizards will not be able to stop us, and this cabal will wither under our assault! The city will be released from the yoke of the Empire, and the people will thank us for it. We’ll then do as we wish!”
“What does Master Forbeck have to say about this?”
Adrianna’s eyes flashed dangerously. “The fool cannot see beyond his own studies,” she said, almost spitting the words. “Look at what he is doing with you. Testing and poking and prodding, trying to unearth some great inner secret. What he should be doing is showing you what power you possess and how to use it!”
Lucius began to get the uneasy feeling that seducing him had been Adrianna’s way of getting him to agree to her plans. If that were indeed true, it was an unusually clumsy move on her part. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, gathering the sheets around his waist.
“Forbeck has been very useful, Aidy,” he said. “I understand far more now about what we do than I ever did before.”
“You still know nothing! There is so much more, Lucius, and I can show it to you. I can be your new teacher. The Master has the talent, yes, but he lacks the vision of what the Shadowmages could be!”
“Are you challenging his leadership?”
She looked at him curiously for a moment. “No. But I do want to show him where he is going wrong. One solid victory from you and me, and the rest will come down on our side. He will have no choice then but to accept what we have done, and then continue the good work. We can do this, you and I.”
Lucius looked into her intense, unblinking eyes. “I can’t.”
He did not see the slap coming, and he staggered under the force of the blow, his cheek stinging hotly.
“Damn you, Lucius! You are deserting us, now of all times?”
Raising a hand, as much to ward off her anger as defend against any further attack, Lucius struggled to keep his voice even.
“In case you had not noticed, Aidy, the thieves have deeper problems right now, and they need me.”
For a moment, just a brief moment, Lucius thought Adrianna would strike him down with a powerful blast of magic. She was furious, and he could see her shaking with barely controlled rage. Abruptly, she turned, facing away from him.
“Look,” he said, trying to find some way of placating her, yet not daring to reach out and touch her shoulder. “Let me get the thieves together. They are good at what they do. We can use them as spies and find out exactly what the Empire is up to. Then we can hit Vos where it really hurts. You and me. Together.”
For a few seconds, Adrianna did not say anything. Then, without a word, she stalked towards the door and flung it open. Her hand still on the handle, she turned back.
“From you, I guess, that will have to do,” she said to him. “You can let yourself out.”
CHAPTER NINE
LUCIUS HUNCHED OVER his tankard, painfully aware that he looked every inch a ruffian not wanting to be spotted. The common room of the Red Lion was busy with quiet conversation, not yet full of the coming evening’s revellers. Known to a few select thieves, the Red Lion and its smooth-talking owner had a long history with the guild. The establishment had provided a safe meeting place for conspiring thieves, a location to store stolen goods and even neutral ground for burglars and their fences. This evening, the inn was serving as the council chamber; or, at least, one of its upper rooms was.
When he entered the tavern, the landlord – Myrklar – had caught his eye, a pre-arranged signal that Lucius should simply sit down at the bar, order a drink and keep a low profile. There was someone in the common room that Myrklar was suspicious of.
More people entered the tavern, demanding drink; a few others left. While pushing three full tankards to a group of tradesmen, Myrklar glanced quickly at Lucius, his blinked signal missed by everyone else in the common room. Standing up, Lucius moved to the back of the tavern and, once out of the lantern light and among the shadows, located the steep wooden stairs and began to climb.
Keeping his footsteps light, knowing that the thin floor could betray him to anyone listening below, he padded to the end of the short hallway. At the far door, he paused, then knocked three times, each with precise pace.
The door opened a few inches, revealing Wendric’s suspicious face. Upon seeing Lucius, the man relaxed. As he followed Wendric into the room, Lucius noticed the man sheathing a dagger.
“A little jumpy, Wendric.”
“You’re late.”
It was a far cry from the council chamber of the guildhouse. Small and dirty, it looked as though Myrklar had used it to store things perhaps best left forgotten. There was no table, just a single fragile looking chair occupied by Elaine. Wendric and Ambrose sat on upturned wooden crates.
As he sat on a barrel, Lucius flicked a glance at Elaine. The lines on her face betrayed the strain she was under and, not for the first time, Lucius found himself half-wishing he had accepted responsibility for leadership of the guild himself. Their relationship would certainly be easier under these circumstances and, perhaps, a lot closer. If he were leader, no one would see anything wrong in him betraying affection with a hug or a kiss. It would be a natural thing for a guildmaster to look after his mistress.
“Myrklar delayed me,” Lucius said, then looked around, frowning. “Where’s Nate?”
Elaine just shrugged, while Ambrose shook his head.
“Like you, he should have been here some time ago,” Wendric said flatly, and there was something in his tone that made Lucius look at him curiously.
Wendric looked as though he were about to continue, but Elaine cut him off. “He may turn up later. We’ll start without him.”
Raising his hands in a helpless gesture, Ambrose said, “Well, where do we start? You have my loyalty as always, Elaine, but what is the Council without a guild?”
“It’s a start,” Lucius said.
“That’s right,” Elaine said. “So long as the leadership is intact, the guild has direction – which is what I have called us here to discuss.”
Clearing his throat, Wendric took the lead. “It’s obvious. The executions in the square were a travesty, one we cannot let go unanswered.”
“What do you suggest?” Ambrose asked.
“We hit back,” Wendric said. “We go after the Vos officers, those fops in the Order of the Swords of Dawn, their wizards, and then the Preacher Divine himself.”
“There are not enough thieves to do that,” said Lucius. “And I am not sure we could execu
te such a large scale attack without some thief turning to Vos and informing them of our plan.”
“I’m surprised to hear you being defeatist,” Wendric said. “Was this not your plan in the thieves’ war, hitting our enemy wherever we could, making them pay for every inch they took from us?”
Lucius looked at him sadly. “This is not the thieves’ war. The Empire is far stronger now than it has ever been, and our guild has not just been damaged, it has been smashed.”
“Then we go slower,” Wendric insisted. “We use only those we trust, we pick our targets carefully. Forget the lower ranks, aim for those who really matter. The commander of the Citadel has been keeping his head low. He’s never revealed himself, and with good reason. We find out who he is, where he is skulking, then finish him off! The Preacher Divine too, while we are at it.”
“The commander of the Citadel?” Ambrose asked. “You are suggesting a target whose name and face we do not even know?”
“He’s right,” said Lucius. “We no longer have the resources to gain that information easily–”
“I never said it would be easy,” Wendric cut in, exasperated. “However, we can–”
This time, it was Lucius’ turn to interrupt. “It’s too dangerous, Wendric! It risks the entire leadership of the guild, and for what?”
“For what? For the blood of our fallen comrades, Lucius. As a sign that the guild is still here. As a rallying call for all those thieves that think we are dead and buried, and have started to drift away.”
“No.” Elaine spoke quietly, but her voice still overrode Wendric’s. “Revenge, however much desired, is not the way forward.”
Wendric bowed his head to stare at the floor, clearly frustrated.
“Is that becoming a problem?” Lucius asked. “Are they starting to leave the guild?”
“It is quite natural,” Ambrose said. “Without the guild around to support them, give them jobs and protection, most will drift off sooner or later and become independents.”
Lucius’ look of dismay made Ambrose chuckle. “They are thieves, Lucius. At the end of the day we deal with people who lie, cheat and steal for a living. You and I may be loyal, but we have a great deal invested in the guild and its members.”
“Is that why Nate is not here?” Lucius asked. “Has he gone?”
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” said Ambrose.
“Bugger Nate,” Wendric said. “If he’s gone independent we’re best rid of him anyway.”
“And if he sets up a rival guild?” Lucius asked.
Elaine shook her head. “He doesn’t have the pulling power to bring enough thieves in to make a serious challenge. He may try but, trust me, it will be the least of our problems.” She changed the subject. “How have your senior thieves done with re-establishing the franchises?”
“They haven’t,” Wendric said. “Things are just too tight right now, the Empire has made it impossible for us to operate. We can’t intimidate a merchant when he knows a shout to the guard will bring an entire squad running, and the streets are so heavily patrolled they might as well be barracks.”
“And I won’t risk my kids in the markets or the square,” Ambrose said. “They have watchers in the towers of both the Citadel and the Cathedral, signalling to guards on the ground as soon as they so much as sniff a thief working the crowd.”
No one said anything after that, and an oppressive silence fell upon all four thieves. Lucius could feel the morale sapping out of the others, and he wondered whether this would be the last meeting of the Council. It was Ambrose who finally broke the quiet, with a short laugh that he quickly suppressed with his hand.
“What’s so funny, Ambrose?” Elaine asked him.
“It’s nothing really. It just occurred to me that this was how the guild first started. A small group of thieves, sitting around, wondering how they could make more money and make it without getting caught.”
It took a few seconds, but Wendric finally began to smile at that thought, and then Elaine joined him.
“That’s it,” she said.
“We operate as if we are starting from scratch. Forget the franchises, at least the larger and more elaborate ones, stay away from the organised stuff. We just offer support for thieves interested in the wider picture.”
“Even if it just starts with us and a few we trust,” Wendric said.
“Right. Random burglaries, pickpocketing, that kind of thing. We organise the fences, create safe houses for thieves on the run, the basic functions any guild should provide. Keep things compartmentalised with the existing cells, but gradually bring things closer together as we start to gain pace.”
Lucius began to smile too. “It could just work. It will be tough, but it could work.”
“It needn’t be that tough,” Elaine said. “After all, we still have at least some of the resources and contacts of the old guild to fall back on, plus the knowledge and experience of the best thieves in the city.”
“Well,” Ambrose said, “count me in. What do you want from us, Elaine?”
“You were right about the markets and the square. So gather your kids, just a couple of teams made from the best, and start running pockets in the streets – Street of Dogs, Lantern Street, the places where there is healthy commerce and plenty of alleys to lose yourselves in. With practice, the kids will be able to alert you to a patrol before it gets within half a mile.”
Lucius found himself enthused with the challenge. Building a new guild from scratch took imagination and experience, and while the grander plans were discounted or at least sidelined, they quickly had a framework of operations that could be enacted by a small number of thieves.
When Elaine finally called an end to the meeting, she caught Lucius’ attention and bade him stay in the room with her for a moment longer.
Making sure that the door was firmly closed, Lucius turned to face her and, for a moment, they were both silent.
“I miss you,” he said.
She smiled and crossed the few paces between them to embrace him. Resting her head on his shoulder, Elaine held him tight.
“You know I feel the same,” she said. “But you also know what I have to do right now. I... I’m not saying the guild is more important...”
“I understand, Elaine, I really do. Whether the guild is more important or not isn’t the issue. It is more important right now, and I do understand that.”
“I do believe we can rebuild the guild,” she said, moving away. “But it will be a lot harder than I let on to the others. I think they know that.”
“They’ll stand with you, whatever happens.”
“Which is why they deserve my full attention. If that means I am less attentive elsewhere...”
“Really, Elaine, as I said, I understand. I know how hard this is for you. But we’ll do this. We’ll succeed. Whatever happens thereafter... we’ll deal with it then.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I need you to do a couple of things for me.”
“Name them.”
“First, find Grennar or Sebastian. We need to get the beggars up and running again. They can do the same thing we are, start from scratch.” She gave a short laugh. “I have a feeling they will find success quicker than we do.”
“Consider it done. What else?”
“I never really understood what your other friends were and how they work. You have powers... well, I don’t begin to understand them, and I don’t know whether your other friends would be willing. But we could use any help they can bring.”
Lucius grimaced, thinking immediately of Adrianna. He opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it. Instead, he said, “It’s possible... but unlikely. I’ll do my best, but such help... well, it may come with a high price.”
“I’ll trust your judgement in the matter,” Elaine said.
He nodded, aware she was placing no small measure of responsibility on his shoulders. Before he left, he cast one last, long look at her. He admired her, standing tall, though her gu
ild was in pieces, arms defiantly crossed over her chest, a determined look on her face. He felt a longing in his heart, a need to sweep her up in his arms, to reassure her that they would come through this, that he could protect her from any who would dare harm her. He realised then that he cared for Elaine a great deal, and that she would forever have his support.
But he did not truly love her.
FORBECK STOOD JUST inches from the edge of the cliff, the harbour of Turnitia far below him. He could see the cranes and lifts that littered the cliff side, though they rested silent from their labours of hauling goods up from and down to the docks. There were no ships currently in the harbour to service.
Beyond the docks and piers, the water was calmed by the immense monolithic blocks that towered at the harbour’s edge, almost as high as the cliffs on which he stood. Their method of construction was a mystery even to the greatest wizards of Vos and Pontaine, though it was generally agreed that the monoliths were ancient Old Race constructions. Together, they formed a complicated pattern that stood as a bulwark against the permanently raging ocean that lay just beyond.
On the cliffs, Forbeck could hear the perpetual storm that broke incessantly against the barrier, expending its energy in a fruitless effort to reach the harbour. For a thousand years, probably more, Forbeck reflected, these monoliths had stood against the sea, and they would likely be around for millennia more.
Forbeck ambled along the cliff’s edge, lost in thoughts of old races, deep magics, and the formation of the world and universe. Here, right at the edge of land, where civilisation met the crashing torrent of endless waves, Forbeck loved to think, to plan, to theorise. Quite apart from his vocation as a Shadowmage, it was why he had first settled in Turnitia, a city ostensibly free and independent in deed as well as thought.
That had changed somewhat with the coming of the Vos Empire.
This was not the first time Vos had been heavy-handed toward the city, and he doubted it would be the last. The Shadowmages had suffered in the past, but they were wiser now. At some point, Vos would overreach itself, and that would be the time to move.
The Shadowmage Trilogy (Twilight of Kerberos: The Shadowmage Books) Page 37
