Dagger's Edge (Shadow series)

by Logston, Anne

  Teva was on guard patrol there, and it took only a few inquiries to find the burly guardswoman. Teva had already been questioned numerous times about Merchant Daral’s disappearance, and did not appear overly surprised that the High Lord’s daughter would come to question her again. Daral had left the Golden Grape early, shortly after moonrise. He had had a little wine at the Grape—what elf would not?—but was still fairly steady when he left, according to the friends who had been drinking with him. It was his friends’ impression that he was going directly back to his home, and his usual route was a busy street, well lit and well traveled at that hour. Daral had a little money in his purse, but not more than a handful of Moons; like most elves, he was not clever with money and it was commonly known that his small wood-carving shop did not keep him in luxury. He had no known enemies, but many friends; it was his lover, waiting at his home, who reported to the guard that he was missing. Beyond that, Teva knew nothing more.

  Solly would be more difficult to contact, since Jael had no intention of walking into Rivertown alone to try to find a thief; nor could she simply ask about him on the street as she had Teva. There were a few other options, but Jael chose to walk south to the Thieves’ Guild herself. She could leave a message for Solly there, and at the same time she could talk to Aubry.

  The few thieves standing idly at the front of the Guildhouse called cheerily to Jael or waved; Jael was a frequent visitor, in Shadow’s company or alone. Jael found Estar, Aubry’s assistant and treasurer, sipping an ale and poring over the Guild accounts book.

  “Good afternoon, Jael,” Estar said, closing the book with a grin of relief. “I don’t suppose you’ve come looking for an apprenticeship? I hope not. We’re fresh out of apprentice tokens until next week, when the new lot are done.”

  “I don’t think my parents would really like me to become a thief,” Jael said regretfully. “It would be awfully embarrassing for them if the City Guard caught me, wouldn’t it?”

  “I suppose it would,” Estar admitted, chuckling. “What can I do for you, then?”

  “I’d like to talk to Aubry,” Jael said. “And I’d like to leave a message for another Guild member, if I can.”

  “Aubry’s upstairs, and the message will cost you ten coppers,” Estar said, opening the accounts book again with a sigh. “Which Guild member?”

  “Solly,” Jael told her. “He’s the one who found those two elves in Rivertown, isn’t he?”

  Estar grimaced.

  “Yes, he is. That’s a nasty bit of work, isn’t it? And now these others. Some of our members think it’s too much like during the Crimson Plague twenty years ago. Of course, you weren’t even born then, but for our elven members, it’s like yesterday. But what do you want Solly for? Never mind, it’s none of my affair, is it? What’s the message?”

  “Tell him I want to talk to him,” Jael said. “Ask him to send a message to me at the castle, and I’ll meet him anywhere he likes—but not in Rivertown. If he’ll meet me, I’ll treat for ale and pay him, too, for his time. I promise it’s nothing that will make any trouble for him.”

  “Well, I suppose he’ll talk to you,” Estar said, grinning. “He’s the one who used to steal you sweets, wasn’t he, when you were so little Shadow could carry you here on her shoulders?”

  Jael chuckled at the memory.

  “Half the Guild used to steal me sweets,” she said ruefully. “Mother used to scold Shadow for bringing me here. I’d always come back sick-bellied from all the candy. May I go on up to see Aubry?”

  “Yes, go on,” Estar told her. “He’s just looking at his maps. Here, take this wine up with you.”

  It didn’t seem odd to Jael that the Guildmaster’s assistant might expect the High Lord’s daughter to ferry wine upstairs for her. When she’d been younger, Jael had loved to spend her time at the Guild, running errands for the members in exchange for pocket money she didn’t need, or just for the enjoyment of being part of the Guild for a little while. Shadow or Aubry always kept watch over her at first, but their caution soon became unnecessary, as the fumble-footed, bright-eyed child quickly became the pet of the Guild. After her childhood it always amused Jael to remember scarred, vicious-looking thieves carrying her on their shoulders or tossing her, shrieking with laughter, back and forth between them, or dignified elves tickling her with their braid tips, or Guildmaster Aubry sprawled on the dusty floor teaching her ten-stone.

  Aubry was in the small back room he used as an office; as Estar said, he was poring over his maps, as much ink on his fingers and cheek as on the parchment, drawing and scratching out new territories. The entire room was cloudy with the malodorous smoke from Aubry’s pipe.

  “There you are, Estar,” he said grumpily, not looking up. “Did you bring my wine?”

  “Estar sent it up with me,” Jael said. “Fair evening, Uncle Aubry.” She coughed.

  “Jael!” Aubry put down his pen and reached out for her, then looked at his ink-smeared hands and stopped with a grimace. “Sorry, I don’t want to stain your tunic. Sit down and pour a cup for yourself. You haven’t had much time to spend with us lately, little sapling. What can I do for you?”

  “These elves that have been killed—” Jael shrugged. “Mother and Father won’t tell me much. They don’t want to frighten me, but I think it’s my concern, too, as long as I’m not barricaded in the castle. I hoped you could tell me more.”

  “You’re right that it’s every city elf’s concern,” Aubry said, nodding. “I’d advise you to avoid Rivertown, but you’ve known that much for years. Let’s look at my map.”

  Aubry pushed the territory charts aside and pulled out another map. Jael was not surprised to see that he had marked the incidents just as Donya had. This was larger than Donya’s rough map, however, and more detailed.

  “The first two elves, Garric and Crow, were found here,” Aubry said, pointing to an alley marked on the map behind the Fin and Flagon. “Solly found them propped sitting against the wall. He thought they were drunk at first and was going to lift their purses.”

  “Well, nobody would sit quietly against a tavern wall while somebody cut their hearts out,” Jael said slowly.

  “No. They were obviously carried there after they were killed, or the alley would have been covered with blood, and there wasn’t any, just a little on the corpses,” Aubry said. He tapped the map where the Docks were marked. “The woman in the river was Aliss, brought in wine from the forest to sell through the local merchants.”

  “Elven wine in Rivertown?” Jael asked, surprised.

  “No chance of that,” Aubry said, shaking his head. “She didn’t sell direct to the taverns. She had no business in Rivertown, and you can imagine she didn’t go there for pleasure. She wasn’t killed on the Docks, either. She was bled almost dry before she was dumped in the river, and that takes some time, even with her throat slit. The guards in Rivertown have seen enough corpses to know, believe it.”

  “What about Daral, the merchant who vanished?” Jael asked.

  Aubry scowled.

  “‘Vanished’ is a good word,” he said. “If he’d gone back to the forest for some reason, I would have heard by now. All my people knew his shop didn’t make enough money to make it worth the trouble to rob. Someone might have cut his purse, but he certainly never carried enough to make it worthwhile to kill him or carry him off. He was an easy mark, too— careless in a crowd. Any two-copper pickpocket could’ve had all he carried without much trouble, surely without having to harm him to get it.”

  “Evriel didn’t deal in the marketplace, either, did she?” Jael asked. “She sold through that furrier in the Mercantile District—Lasic, isn’t it?”

  Aubry nodded.

  “She spent her free time in the market, though,” he said. “But again, she wasn’t killed in that alley where she was found.” He tapped the spot on the map. “Nessle worked Rivertown, but after dark he usually wandered up toward the market. I think her killers were surprised by old Nessle in
the process of getting rid of the body. Nessle’s old, but he’s fast—has to be, to work Rivertown; they had to stop what they were doing to chase him down, and then by that time it was too risky to go back and finish.

  “They were so preoccupied with Nessle that they left the rug they carried Evriel in,” Aubry continued. “That was sloppy, but they were lucky. The rug was a plain rag weave like you might find anywhere in town, hard to trace, not very old. It was awfully moldy, though. Not much blood on it, either.”

  “Moldy?” Jael repeated. “Not dirty?”

  “According to Zoran, the guard who found Evriel, moldy,” Aubry said, nodding. “So either the rug had been stored unrolled for a long time—”

  “—or it was in a moldy room,” Jael finished.

  “Very good,” Aubry told her. “Then the one last night—”

  “Wait, now,” Jael said quickly. “There was another murder?”

  “Najel, a local jeweler,” Aubrey told her. “I think he was thrown over the wall in the Noble District, because he washed up just north of the Docks—his head did, anyway.”

  “Why would anyone carry a head through the Noble District to get rid of it?” Jael asked, grimacing. “It’d be much easier to go north and drop it in the swamp. Nobody’d ever find it then.”

  “I don’t know,” Aubry said, shrugging. “And what did they do with the body? Maybe they threw it over, too, and it simply sank in the river.”

  “But there’s no way to tell how Najel died?” Jael asked.

  “From a head?” Aubry shook his head. “I’m sure the investigating mages have tried everything on all of the bodies short of necromancy, and nobody but the High Lord or Lady can authorize that.”

  “Are there any necromancers in Allanmere anymore?” Jael asked, surprised. “I thought they were outlawed decades ago.”

  “And assassins have been outlawed in Allanmere since the Compact was signed,” Aubry said patiently. “And thievery is illegal, too.”

  “All right, all right,” Jael conceded. “But if only the High Lord or Lady can authorize necromancy, and the guard have all the—ah—evidence, then what good would any necromancers in Allanmere do anyway?”

  Aubry reached across the table and patted Jael’s hand.

  “Assume for the sake of our conversation that there were necromancers in Allanmere, living in the shadows as the assassins do,” he said. “Assume that such necromancers, by solving a series of murders, might save the lives of many elves, most of whom have kin or friends in the Guild of Thieves, but not without the permission and assistance of the High Lord and Lady. Assume also that the Guild might know of such necromancers, but that neither the necromancers nor the Guild could come forward with that information because necromancy, and dealing with necromancers, is outlawed in Allanmere. What might the Guild do in such a case?”

  “It sounds to me like the Guildmaster might ask the poor daughter of the High Lord and Lady to broach the subject to her parents,” Jael said wryly. “And the poor daughter that I just mentioned might remind the Guildmaster that the High Lord and Lady are having enough trouble with some humans in the city without it being rumored around town that they’re trafficking with necromancers in order to solve the murders of a few elves.”

  “Hmmm. True enough,” Aubry admitted. “I suppose the High Lord and Lady couldn’t be known to be trafficking with necromancers under the best of conditions. I suppose any such dealings would have to be very discreet indeed.”

  “That’s not exactly what I mean,” Jael told him. “What if the necromancers thought to gain something later by threatening to reveal the High Lord and Lady’s involvement?” Gods, Jael, how devious you’re getting, Jael thought.

  “I see the difficulty,” Aubry said slowly. “What do you suggest?”

  “What do the necromancers need?” Jael asked him.

  “My understanding is that some part of the corpse is required,” Aubry told her. “Even a lock of hair will suffice, so long as it’s removed after death.”

  There was no window to look out at the sun, but Jael knew that she would surely be late for her meeting with Tanis.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Jael promised. “But I have to go now. I’m meeting a friend at the market.”

  “I’m glad you won’t be out alone this evening,” Aubry said, relieved. “But I’m certain a few Guild members will be on their way to the market. I’d be less worried if you’d go there with them.”

  That suited Jael well enough, as the two apprentices who walked with her to the market were eager to start their evening’s work and not inclined to follow Jael around. Jael was relieved to see Tanis at the arranged meeting place, and he looked equally relieved to see her.

  “There you are!” he said, lines of worry smoothing from his forehead. “I’ve been here for almost an hour.”

  “Well, you deserve it,” Jael returned. “At least you knew I got back to the castle safely that night. You could have sent a message over, or left a note in my window, or something. I’ve been worried about you all this time.”

  “I’m sorry,” Tanis said with a sigh. “But I had to stay close to Ankaras to see if he talked to anybody.”

  “Did he?” Jael asked eagerly.

  Tanis nodded.

  “Yes,” he said. “But let’s find a quiet place to talk before someone sees us.”

  That made good sense, and this time Jael made Tanis find an alley while she purchased their supper, but found this endeavor more complicated than she’d expected. The first two vendors simply ignored her, and the third growled, “Take your coin elsewhere, elf.” At last, disgusted, Jael had to give Tanis the money to buy their supper—spiced cubes of meat skewered on sticks and fried in hot oil; sweet, juicy melons still dewed from the chilling spell; and starchy tubers, baked, broken open, and liberally drizzled with rich gravy.

  “It’s been confused at the temple since the first sign—the burning water in the market,” Tanis said. “High Priest Urien set Ankaras the task of trying to convince some of the worshippers to return. Since the signs appeared even after High Priest Urien has assumed leadership of the temple, the High Priest says it’s proof from Baaros that the temple still has His favor, despite the change in doctrine, so the worshippers should return.”

  “What do you think?” Jael asked him.

  “I’ve seen the scrolls of Baaros’s teachings,” Tanis shrugged. “Truth to tell, I never found anything about elves in the temple’s records until around the time that Ankaras took the robe as High Priest. I don’t think Baaros would forbid us to deal with elves, or to allow elves into the temple. Frankly I don’t think Baaros minds whether we—ah—breed with them, either.” Tanis flushed. “He’s a god of profitable trade. I imagine that involves elves as much as humans, at least here in Allanmere.”

  “But who did Ankaras talk to?” Jael asked quickly. “Anyone important?”

  “I don’t know who’s important,” Tanis said patiently. “But he spoke to Merchant Gilmar, Merchant Sheesa, Merchant Cherrig, and—”

  “Sheesa,” Jael interrupted. “Isn’t she the daughter of Jannafar, head of the Dyers’ Guild?”

  “I think so,” Tanis said after a moment’s thought. “Yes, I think I’ve heard that. But what of it?”

  “A few days ago, when Aunt Shadow first arrived in town,” Jael said slowly, “I heard Mother telling Aunt Shadow that the Dyers’ Guild was involved somehow with the anti-elven factions in Allanmere. I can’t remember exactly what she said, though.”

  “A good number of our worshippers are from the Dyers’ Guild,” Tanis told her. “Many of them left when High Priest Urien announced the changes in the temple’s policy. Perhaps Ankaras is looking to the Dyers’ Guild for support, if they have an interest in maintaining the prejudice against elves.”

  “I wish I could remember what Mother said,” Jael said, scowling. Was it something about the elves from the Heart-wood bringing gold into the city? Well, that, at least, she could ask her mother outrigh
t, the next time they—

  “But you haven’t told me what you heard about the murders,” Tanis said, interrupting her thoughts.

  Jael pulled out her map and showed it to Tanis, explaining what she had learned. She had no pen and ink to add the new information Aubry had given her, but Tanis raided one of the many fires in the market and brought her a charred stick so she could mark the map at least temporarily. Tanis had heard nothing of the head found on the banks of the Brightwater and was horrified by the thought.

  “To the best we know, the two elves in Rivertown were the first ones found, but likely Aliss was killed first,” Tanis mused, touching the appropriate marking on the map. “Her throat was cut and she was bled. Then the two elves in Rivertown with their hearts cut out.”

  “Merchant Daral disappeared then,” Jael said, moving her finger to the Mercantile District. “But we don’t know what happened to him.”

  “Then there was Evriel, gutted, and found between here and Rivertown,” Tanis said, tapping the spot. “Then Merchant Najel, found north of the Docks, just his head.”

  “From a slit throat to nothing left but the head,” Jael said. “If the murders are linked, the killers are—uh—keeping more.”

  “All of the bodies have been found in or around Rivertown,” Tanis commented.

  “Except Merchant Daral,” Jael pointed out.

  “But he wasn’t found at all. That might not even be related to these killings.”

  “And we know the others were killed somewhere else, too,” Jael said patiently. “Rivertown is just a good place for getting rid of bodies.”

  “But why would anyone do all those things, if the killings are related?” Tanis protested. “An assassin might possibly slit someone’s throat and throw the body in the Brightwater, if they weren’t clever enough to realize it’d just foul up on the pilings or they didn’t care if it was found, but what about the others? Most assassins have their own particular method of killing. If an assassin killed by slitting throats and trying to hide the bodies, then why kill two more by cutting out their hearts and then leave the bodies to be found in Rivertown?”