Zane Halloway: Omnibus Edition

by P. T. Hylton

  Zane saw Lily’s gaze settle on a young woman about her own age weaving a basket. The woman was covered in dirt and missing an eye.

  “I fail to see how this place would provide any work for ferox,” Lily said.

  Danum scratched his chin. “I once felt the same way. When we discovered the underneath, I was sickened. But then I decided I’d spent enough of my life serving the rich. Perhaps the poor could make use of someone with my skills.”

  “Your basket weaving skills?” Lily asked. The blonde ferox, the one Lily had called Gladys, glared at her.

  Danum ignored the comment. “Then I met someone who was working to change things. He had a plan to make things better for these people. You’ll meet him in a moment.” He turned toward the male ferox standing next to him. “Tell Nicholas we’re here.”

  The ferox nodded and hurried off.

  “You said you have a job for me,” Zane said. There was something unsettling about this conversation. Danum had always been a pragmatist. Something had changed him.

  “Yes,” Danum said. “We need you to steal something. Something…difficult to obtain.”

  Zane frowned. “We’re ferox. Not thieves.”

  “You can kill someone along the way if it makes you feel better.”

  Zane bit back a response. This was not the same old bureaucrat he’d known in Langton. “What do you need me to steal?”

  “It’s a ruby—” Danum’s voice cut off suddenly as his gaze drifted over Zane’s shoulders. His eyes lit up. “Ah, Nicholas is here. He’s the one I was telling you about.”

  A deep voice came from behind Zane. “Ferox Halloway and I have already met. But I wonder if he remembers.”

  Zane turned and saw a Cragsman behind him. His hair was different, he wore it in the traditional Craggish bun now, but Zane recognized him. Even after all this time. He was the first Cragsman Zane had ever seen. The Cragsman from that night on the docks eighteen years before. He wore the diamond-shaped shimmer on a thin chain around his neck.

  “I’m Nicholas,” the Cragsman said, “and I believe you and I once again have business to discuss.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  “The issue is not the border itself,” Prince Christopher said. “The issue is the thousands of people living between the border and the river. What you’re asking for could greatly affect their way of life.”

  Prince Christopher was the younger brother of the King of Opel, but it was clear he was inexperienced in matters of diplomacy. He’d repeatedly displayed a tendency to speak bluntly over the past two weeks.

  Gullins, the High Prince of the Crags, leaned forward. “Tell me, Prince Christopher, which will be the greater inconvenience? A few Craggish merchants passing through their lands each week, or Tavel soldiers crossing the border, claiming the territory, and burning down their homes?”

  Lily had been struggling to keep her eyes open for the past hour, but this last statement made her sit up and pay attention. Gullins was here as a formality. As the greatest warrior and current figurehead of the Craggish government, he was expected to be in attendance at the diplomatic table. For the past two weeks, he’d been here on and off, coming and going throughout the day, but he’d hardly spoken a word. He’d looked as bored as Lily felt.

  The fact that he was speaking now showed how far the conversation had deteriorated.

  Lily, Prince Christopher, and the rest of the Opelean diplomatic party were here to negotiate the help of the Craggish army in the war against Tavel. To Lily’s surprise, the first few days of negotiations had been fairly interesting. In fact, it all reminded her a bit of her time as a ferox apprentice. Each side had certain things they wanted and things they were willing to give up to get those things. It was fascinating to watch the way each side revealed pieces of information. The two nations had very different strategies. While Prince Christopher and the Opelean crew tried to play tough, complaining and grumbling over each concession they made, the Cragsmen and Cragswomen used a different tactic, attempting to appear generous, willing to offer anything and everything in their power. It was just that their powers were limited and there were severe strains on what they were able to make happen.

  In a way, each group was mirroring the perceived personality of the other. Most Opeleans thought the Craggish were a strong and unforgiving people, while the Craggish diplomats seemed to think the Opeleans weak. The strange mirroring of strategies led to many dead ends, and Lily eventually lost interest as the progress turned to regress and the arguments doubled back on themselves.

  The current point of contention was around access to the Harken River. The Crags were landlocked, and their most valuable exports were spices, which only grew at extreme elevations. Currently, the spices were transported southeast through Tavel, then up the Gamlond Channel to the Gamlond Sea. However, taking the spices northeast through Opel to the Harken River would give them a more direct path to the Gamlond Sea and would reduce their expenses.

  Prince Christopher didn’t want to give up the rights of passage through southern Opel, at least not without a very hefty tax, and Gullins wasn’t about to send troops to help Opel without it. Round and round it went, progressing by mere inches, if at all.

  Lily sat at the far end of the table with three Craggish abditus. Unlike the Opelean abditus who had no official uniform of their station, they wore a dark forest green, a color uncommon in the rocky, dry climate of the Crags.

  In the last two weeks, they’d said nothing. Not even a greeting when she’d arrived. It was infuriating. The whole reason Lily was here, the official reason anyway, was that an abditus was expected to accompany any diplomatic envoy. They’d even prepared a special place at the table for her. Then they’d promptly ignored her.

  Except for the abditus, who watched her with their blank expressions and their continually disappointed grimaces. It felt like being back under Zane’s tutelage.

  Sometimes she wondered if the Craggish abditus were as bored as she was. Periodically, they would perform some tiny bit of magic: a flame appearing in midair, or a glass of water spontaneously coming to a boil. They reminded her of the kids in Abditus Academy, so impressed with the magic they were learning that they’d spend every spare moment in class idly using the devices they’d created. But these weren’t school children; these were Craggish abditus.

  She wanted to ask them about their magical devices, partly out of curiosity and partly just to kill the boredom, but she thought it might be rude. Jacob had told her to observe the proceedings and to keep her mouth shut, and that was what she intended to do. There were so many rules here, and she sat at this table all day, always aware that she might be unwittingly breaking one of them. There had already been three fights at the negotiation table. Only one resulted in serious injury, which was apparently quite a low number for Craggish negotiations.

  “Cragsmen passing through their land would affect their lives quite a lot,” Prince Christopher said, his voice a bit higher pitched than usual. Lily thought he was probably going for indignant, but he came off sounding like a petulant child. “We simply don’t have the infrastructure in that part of the country to support dozens of merchants passing through each day. The damage to the roads alone would cause a tax burden.”

  “Which would be offset by the commerce our merchants would provide,” Gullins countered.

  Part of the reason Lily was so distracted was she couldn’t stop thinking about the things she had seen the previous night. The outcast Cragsmen and Cragswomen lived underground in conditions which contrasted sharply with the luxury she saw all around her in the royal palace. And why? Because they’d lost a fight. Casting out valuable members of society simply because they’d lost a fight was beyond idiotic.

  “Or it discourages dueling,” Zane had suggested after they’d left. “In a society that prizes strength above all else, that could quickly become a problem. The threat of being outcast would ensure the fights were at least well considered.”

  She’d grudgingly agreed w
ith that point.

  They hadn’t learned much more about the job Nicholas wanted them to do. No, he didn’t want them, Lily reminded herself. He wanted Zane. He wanted a ferox, and she wasn’t a ferox.

  All they knew was he wanted Zane to steal a ruby. A ruby Nicholas felt could help his cause of improving the lives of his fellow outcasts. Zane was supposed to be meeting with Nicholas that day to learn more.

  Zane had seemed a bit strange ever since he’d seen Nicholas. There was something the ferox didn’t like about the man. When Lily had asked him about it, he’d brushed her off. Same old Zane. Always keeping secrets. But she was the same old Lily, too. She’d keep at it until she discovered what he didn’t want her to know.

  Then there was the matter of Caleb. He’d betrayed her, betrayed all of Opel, but he’d said his feelings for her were real. She believed him, in spite of everything. She wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about him. There was anger simmering inside her, always threatening to boil over into rage. Beneath that, there was something else. Something raw. It stung to think about it, so she tried to push it out of her mind.

  The previous night, Danum had promised he’d reveal everything he knew about Caleb, without actually betraying his vow not to describe the exact jobs he’d been hired to do, but after Nicholas had showed up, Danum had refused to discuss the matter any further. Perhaps Zane would find out more information about Caleb when he met with Nicholas.

  One of the abditus across the table was holding a coin in his hand. He noticed Lily looking at it and a coy smile played across his lips. He flipped the coin into the air. When it reached the pinnacle of its ascent he made a strange gesture with his other hand, and it suddenly shot much higher into the air, almost touching the high ceiling before falling back to his hand.

  Lily sat up a bit straighter. That was glide magic. The same type of thing her devices did. Only this Cragsman didn’t seem to be holding a device. Either the coin itself was enchanted, he had a device hidden somewhere on his person, or…No, she wouldn’t allow herself to consider that last possibility. These were Cragsmen, yes, but they were human. A bit taller and broader than Opeleans on average, but still human. None of the many, often gruesome, stories Lily had ever heard about them had even hinted that they might have the elf-like ability to conjure magic from their bare hands.

  The other two abditus had noticed Lily perk up at the display with the coin, and they were all watching her closely now. The one on the right was leaning forward in his chair, as if he was anticipating her doing something.

  Lily had the sudden realization that it might not be boredom driving these abditus to their occasional displays of magic. It was possible there’d been a carefully orchestrated negotiation going on at this end of the table as well. One she hadn’t been aware of until now.

  She casually reached into her boot and pulled out a long knife. She brought it up slowly, in the least possible threatening manner. The last thing she wanted was to have her actions misinterpreted and cause another fight. But she needn’t have worried. The men and women at the other end of the table were absorbed in their passionate debate; the three Craggish abditus were the only ones watching her. And they were practically salivating.

  She took the knife by the blade and gently tossed it into the air. The way she gripped it and the angle at which she released it caused the glide-enhanced knife to perform exactly as she’d designed it to: it spun into the air and paused, twisting unnaturally just before it began its descent. It rocketed straight down at her open palm, point-first, causing one of the Craggish abditus to softly gasp. Then it froze less than an inch above her palm and hovered there. She snatched it out of the air with her other hand and put it back in her boot.

  She looked from one abditus to the next, her face blank, her demeanor saying she didn’t care in the least what they’d thought of her little display. But she did care. For she now realized they’d been anxiously waiting for her to prove herself worthy of their conversation and attention.

  The three abditus exchanged glances, then the one on the left said loudly, “Gracious nobles, it is our great honor that you have included us in the discussion thus far.”

  Prince Christopher stared at the abditus, his mouth wide open and his brow creased with annoyance. He’d been making an impassioned speech about the sanctity of Opelean territory, and King Edward’s brother was not a man who was used to being interrupted.

  Gullins, on the other hand, smiled warmly, as if this interruption was a sign the negotiations were progressing. And perhaps it was.

  The abditus continued, “As you know, the men and women of the Wavering Cloth are not happy unless we are tinkering with our little baubles. As a show of good faith and a gesture of hospitality, we ask that you excuse us, along with the Opelean abditus, from the remainder of these proceedings, that we might give her space to work and perhaps hone all our skills by sharing some of the methods of our craft.”

  Gullins replied immediately. “My dear Calond, you have honored us by participating this long. Please go, and with our blessing. If it’s all right with Prince Christopher, of course.”

  The prince stammered as if he were trying to understand what he was being asked to agree to. “Well, yes, I mean, if it’s agreeable to Miss Rhodes, I imagine she won’t be needed, if of course I have your word that she’ll be kept safe and that she’s allowed to return. If you take my meaning, which I expect you do.”

  The abditus Calond bowed his head graciously, subtly letting the prince out of his obligation to babble further. “You do have my word, Prince Christopher. She will be free to return at her pleasure. In the meantime, we’ll keep her safe as boulders.”

  The prince blinked hard, clearly unfamiliar with the expression. “Yes, well, get on with it, then.”

  The three abditus stood as one and turned toward the door. Lily bowed deeply to the nobles and quickly followed. The abditus led her out into the stone hallway.

  They stopped and introduced themselves. Calond was a broad, well-muscled man who could have passed for a warrior. The second man was the tallest of them, and also the oldest. The bun of hair on top of his head was pure white. His name was Marcus. The third, the one who’d done the coin trick, was the only Cragsman Lily had ever seen wearing spectacles. His name was Bernard.

  After the introductions were made, Calond said, “I must admit, you had us a bit worried. Your lack of response to all the classic openings…we weren’t sure what to make of it. You didn’t respond to demonstrations of fire or water. It was Bernard who suggested you might be making a statement by waiting for air.”

  Lily blinked hard. Classic openings? She silently cursed Jacob. He’d told her she’d only be expected to watch and listen. Why hadn’t he prepared her properly? Unless, perhaps, he hadn’t known. He’d never mentioned coming to the Crags himself, and she’d never asked if he had.

  It was a rare thing for an Opelean abditus to be allowed to interact with a Craggish abditus. Their sect was shrouded with mystery. And here Lily was being invited to work alongside them. It was possible she was going to see things no Opelean abditus ever had.

  Jacob must not have known, Lily decided. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent a mere apprentice. The Cragsmen didn’t know she was an apprentice, of course. And they couldn’t find out. They would see it as a grave disrespect, and negotiations would break down. But apparently the king had decided it was worth the risk; full abditus were too valuable on the battlefield to waste one at the negotiation table.

  Calond continued, “It showed great confidence, holding out like that. It was, in retrospect, a very strong opening maneuver. Tell me, Miss Rhodes, what level are you?”

  Lily’s mouth went dry. She had no idea what he was talking about. Level? Was that something she would learn about after she passed her abditus placement exam?

  She paused, trying to decide how to respond. If she admitted her ignorance, she might give away the fact that she wasn’t a full-fledged abditus. But if she made something up, t
hat could expose her just as quickly. These Cragsmen seemed to like confidence, so she would have to take that route.

  She looked Calond dead in the eye. “Sir, I’ve known you by name for all of five seconds. Levels are not something I’m going to talk about. I believe trust has to be earned before any information can be exchanged.”

  He nodded, his eyes bright. He was clearly impressed. “Indeed. Your philosophy very much echoes our own.” He glanced at Bernard and Marcus. “And, if I may speak for my colleagues, you are well on your way to earning our trust.” He clapped her on the shoulder. “Now then, how about we work on earning some of yours? We have some magic to show you.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Zane walked quickly, doubling his effort to keep up with Nicholas’s much longer strides and purposeful pace. They were ascending a seemingly endless staircase leading up from the underground tunnel system Nicholas and his people called home.

  “It’s a rare bit of irony, this,” the Cragsman said. “We live in the deepest of the depths, but we are connected by a single staircase to the highest heights of the city. That’s what they don’t understand up here. Everything is connected. Even us, the forgotten ones.”

  Zane knew a bit of Craggish culture. He knew that these mountain people prized the peaks above all else. Supposedly, it could be traced back to their rural ancestry, back when tribes would often battle and the high ground was considered the ideal fighting position. Or perhaps it was because the most valuable spices only grew at the highest elevations. Either way, it had carried into modern urban living, and the social status of each person could easily be determined, even by a foreigner like Zane, by simply checking the elevation of his or her home. Gullins, the current warrior head of state, lived in a palace built into the highest peak in the city. Nicholas and his kind lived literally beneath the feet of their betters. Everyone else was somewhere in between.