His face softened, and he smiled at her, “The last fifty years of my existence have been my happiest. It was extremely hard convincing myself I could leave, though, extremely hard. And even when I did escape him and return home, I had no idea he wouldn’t be able to follow me. I just had to leave him; I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Are you happy?”
He glanced down, attempting to gain some control over his emotions, which were undoubtedly visible in his face. “Of course I’m happy. I’m so pleased that you would ask.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You are?”
“No one has asked me how I felt in a long time.”
“Oh.” The realization of that statement sunk in slowly, and she had no idea what else to say. She knew he couldn’t possibly be happy. He didn’t seem happy. He seemed lonely, and a little odd, probably because he had been alone for so long.
“I’m happy that you’re here now,” he said in answer to her thoughts. “Another undead. You are nearly immortal and different from any other zombie I have ever known.”
“I am nearly immortal?” The sudden thought of it terrified her. “What do you mean? How do you know?”
“I have seen many zombies. Although none quite like you, but I presume you will have that same lengthy life-expectancy.”
She imagined herself like Chester, tottering around, mopping up spills, eating cake, lying around the apartment and keeping Edel company forever. She felt a surge of complete panic.
“It wouldn’t be like that.”
Cameo met his eyes, unimpressed. “When you say nearly immortal, what are you saying?”
“Zombies aren’t vampires. They can’t heal themselves—well, apparently there are some exceptions to the rule—but in my experience, zombies continue on until there is nothing left.”
“What, you mean until they disintegrate?”
“Yes. They get brittle and parts just start to fall off until they collapse.”
She rearranged her hair over that little bald patch self-consciously.
“You’re different.”
“Uh huh....”
“You eat, and drink, and hold conversations.” He was at her side quickly, one hand in her hand, “And your skin is warm. Blood still flows in your veins. I have no idea how Haffef did it.”
She pulled away from him, leaving her glove in his hand.
“Oh.” Edel offered her the glove again, “Terribly sorry. I shouldn’t have .... That was presumptuous of me.”
Cameo took the glove, now somewhat depressed. The real reason that he was holding her, or at least the main one, wasn’t so much that she was going to run back to Haffef and bring him to Edel, but that he wanted her to stay so that he would have company. She had no hope of being free again. She was going to disintegrate in that apartment.
“And what would happen to you if you didn’t return to Haffef with Ivy’s bones? Have you considered that?”
She looked up at him coldly.
“He would kill you.”
“Well, he hasn’t so far.”
“What do you think would happen?”
“He would send me back after her bones,” she sighed in resignation.
“Indeed.”
“That is a little different than being killed.”
“If you could not finish the task at hand, he would eventually kill you, or you would simply stay here with me. Might as well cut to the chase, in my opinion.”
She stood up and brushed the snow from her cape. “There is something I don’t understand. Why doesn’t Haffef come here himself?”
“He can’t.”
“Well, why not?”
Edel turned to leave and she followed him. “He can’t cross moving water.”
“Why not?”
“No idea. I just know that he can’t. Once I discovered this truth, I came home.”
“You can though?”
He glanced back to see if she was keeping up with his pace, “So it seems.”
“No wait, you’re wrong. When my friends and I escaped to Kings Basin across the canal, he followed us there. He crossed moving water to get to me.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Yes, Kings Basin is just across the Avon.”
“He didn’t cross it; he walked around the canal.”
She considered that idea for a moment, “He couldn’t have. The canal extends from the Azez deep into the south of Sieunes. It’s over 300 miles long.”
Edel stopped and waited for her to catch up. “Do you know fast he can move? He walked around it, and then came back to find you on the other side.”
“He really can’t come here then?” She actually felt a strange sense of wellbeing wash over her. Edel seemed so certain of what he was saying.
“You are completely safe here.”
She stared at him, in his perfectly tailored dark suit, standing up to his knees in snow. His eyes were silver, and she could see her own image in them. She looked dumbfounded. He bought her here to keep her safe from Haffef? All this time she had simply assumed she was the extra baggage that came along with Ivy’s remains. That the bones were the prize that he needed to keep hidden from Haffef, and she had simply gotten in the way. Now he was claiming that he had taken her to spare her from being Haffef’s thrall, from leading the life he had… and to save her life.
“So,” she said at last, thinking back to a lengthy discussion they’d had only days ago, “you do want my company.”
Edel remained standing very still for a few moments, staring into her eyes. “I cannot deny that I want to frustrate the Master.”
“You do remember the conversation we were having then?”
“Of course.” It had been one of the only conversations that he had been part of in decades. “And of course I wish for your company. How many are there like us wandering the streets? Not many, I assure you.”
She couldn’t remember any.
“And no one else a child of the same Master.”
Cameo wasn’t certain she liked his tone, “Oh, I didn’t realize that.”
“You and I are uniquely each other’s.”
“I… I’m getting cold. We should get back to the fire.”
Edel watched her breath fill the cold air about her face and slip away into the night. She still possessed so many human qualities; he wondered if it was right to keep her with him, away from her companions. He knew that she had been through a lot already in fifty-some short years. “Yes, of course. It is late, and you must be frozen.”
Chapter Seven
“YOU HAVE TO GO BACK with me,” Opal said, inhaling smoke from a clay pipe.
Kyrian watched the smoke encircle Opal and drift up toward the billowing cloud of pipe smoke overhead as he toyed with the pipes in the canister that was left on their table at the dining room of the Lakestar. “If you think it will help, I’ll go.”
Opal grinned at him, “Of course it will, lad. Edel said that it was your aura on the amulet that was so difficult for him to look at. Well, if that was just your amulet, just think how difficult it will be for him to be around you, yourself!”
“Er… yeah.” The lad smiled good naturedly at the backhanded compliment.
“You’ll distract the vampire, and I’ll save the lady, of course.”
“Sounds fair.”
“Yes, yes.” Opal smiled, “I’m starting to feel a bit better about everything now that I’ve had a good rest. Now, we just need some more money… and a change of apparel. I would feel simply tip-top if I had a new set of clothes.”
Kyrian made some sort of grunting sound as he counted the pipes.
“Oh, will you stop that obsessive counting? Are you even listening to me?”
“You’re going to buy clothes, and you’re going to try to talk me into buying new clothes, too.”
“So you were listening.” Opal patted out the hot tobacco and left the pipe sitting on the table as he stood. “Actually we’ve a pawn shop in our near future.”
; The lad sighed as Opal tugged at his sleeve. “Come along, dear boy.”
“I don’t need a new shirt.”
“Yes, yes.”
* * * * *
“Hey you, get up!”
Jules opened his eyes.
There was a grizzled, rough-looking man staring down at him. “We’re at the Port of Villoise now. You should get up.”
He rolled onto his side and sat up, brushing his hair from his face. The last few hours sleeping on the deck of a ship, curled up next to some fishing equipment, had been the only sleep he’d had in days. It was the most comfortable ship he had ever slept on.
Jules smelled his hands as he stomped down the wooden steps and onto the dock. He wasn’t sure if he stank of fish or if it was the city itself.
He was hungry and ached from lying on a cold, wet deck for hours. And then there was the shadow of a man standing in the doorway of a pastry shop. Jules turned to get a better look, though he never stopped walking.
The shadow stood there, motionless, as he passed by. It just turned slightly in his direction, as if it realized that Jules could see it, when no one else could.
The killer looked away nervously. It was like the beings that appeared inside the shed with Haffef. He turned his attention up ahead; the street was lined with businesses for as far as he could see. This was one of the biggest cities that he had traveled to, and with the palace just north of Villoise, it really wasn’t a surprise to him. The royal family would need more items to purchase, and people would feel a need to simply be closer to the family who lived in the white palace on the hill. He suspected it just made people feel more important to be in close proximity to those who seemed important.
“Hey, you!”
Jules stopped and turned as a man running up behind him waved a piece of paper. “You’re Jules Maethelmaf. The killer.”
He pushed away the wanted poster that the man was hitting him in the chest with. “What do you want?”
“You killed my friend.”
“Maybe I did.”
“What did he ever do to you?”
Jules looked around to find a small crowd gathering around him.
“I have no idea,” he said truthfully, having no clue whom the man was referring to.
The man squinted, “What’s wrong with your eyes?”
“What?”
“Where’s the guard?” an older woman asked from behind him. “No one is protecting killers like you anymore. The Association has fallen.”
“Still wearing a cape with an Association badge on it,” someone laughed. “That takes guts.”
“Guard! We need a guard here!”
“No need for a guard—”
“No, let’s string him up ourselves!”
Someone cracked him over the head with a club of some sort, and he fell to his knees. He swayed for a moment as blood trickled into his eyes, blinding him. Before he could stand, the man hit him in the back with the same weapon and drove his body into the snow-covered ground.
* * * * *
The pale jewels glittered as Opal passed one of the brooches he had found at Edel’s apartment to the owner of the pawn shop.
Kyrian was shocked at the size of the shop; he could barely fit inside with the dandy and the shopkeeper. There was just enough room in there for the man behind the counter, a man in front of the counter, and some items for sale. There was something running down the walls, and Kyrian soon surmised that it was a mixture of sweat and dust and released an expression of disgust, unable to hide his true feelings.
The shopkeeper glanced over at the lad, suddenly irritated.
“Ah, yes, the lad. He was living with wild dogs before some hunters found him. A young doctor was trying to socialize him so he could live with civilized folk, but he couldn’t do anything with him and asked me if I would take him in. And being of good nature, I said certainly I would do it. At the time I needed some healthy young men to dig a new sewage pit at my estate in Lockenwood, and so he’s been with me ever since.”
He appraised Kyrian for a moment. “Well, that explains quite a bit.”
“Opal,” Kyrian growled.
Black Opal patted him on the head, “Silly boy.”
“I hate you.”
Opal smirked at the lad and winked.
“These appear to be pretty fair quality, and the craftsmanship ...” he scratched his neck. “I have to admit I’ve never seen anything like it. This must be an antique, but I’ve no knowledge of where it came from.”
“It was in my family.”
“Hmm… indeed. Then why are you selling it? There’s no way I could match the price of the actual worth, you must realize. I generally get nothing but junk in here.”
“Well, then,” Opal leaned in, “I suppose I’m in a generous mood.”
“Uh huh. Well, I won’t argue with you.” He pulled a small chest out from behind his counter, opened it up, and began to count out gold coins, three small stacks. “This isn’t much, but it’s as much as I can afford. Take it or leave it.”
Kyrian had never actually seen that much gold in one place before. He was astonished that Opal was going to take it and probably spend it all on one suit of clothes and a pair of new shoes.
Opal grinned at him, “Lovely doing business with you.”
“You’re headed to the tailor now, aren’t you?” the lad muttered as Opal swept out of the little pawnshop.
“Very clever of you, young man. Did your grandfather’s ghost have anything to do with that premonition or—”
“Guard! Guards!”
Opal paled.
An angry-looking crowd passed them, dragging a man down the street. His head was in a noose, and it was obvious they were headed to the nearest tree with him in tow.
“Guard!”
“Stop calling for the guard,” someone was yelling.
Opal pushed Kyrian back up onto the sidewalk as he tried to put some distance between himself and the mob in front of him.
“Why, that’s… it’s Jules!”
The three of them made eye contact. The rabble stopped right in front of them as one of the king’s guards approached the group.
Opal’s mouth widened. He took Kyrian by the arm and began to walk quickly in the other direction. The lad nearly fell down.
“Let’s go.”
“Hey! You two!” the guard called after them.
Black Opal stopped.
“Are you part of this mob?” He took a couple steps closer.
A small unit of military men came trickling around the corner to see what all the commotion was about.
Opal half turned, “No.”
Kyrian turned around to look right at the guard, innocent, nearly smiling then looked back at the dandy who seemed rooted to the cobblestone. “What’s wrong?”
Opal shoved the purse into his hands. “You don’t know me.”
“What?”
The dandy proceeded to walk away, attempting to get around the corner and dart out of sight.
“I’ve done nothing,” Jules was saying behind him.
“He’s a member of the Association! Jules Maethelmaf. I’ve seen him on the wanted posters.”
The guard passed Kyrian, paying no heed to the din behind him anymore. “Hey, I told you to stop.”
Opal felt a hand on his shoulder, and suddenly the guard was right in front of him. His eyes were full of astonishment, followed by a moment of disbelief. “You?”
“Do I… know you?”
“I can’t believe—” he pulled his dagger suddenly.
Opal pulled his rapier.
“Cubbingthorp, Ives! Get over here!”
“What is it?”
“A ghost.”
“It’s Francois Mond.”
“Couldn’t be.”
“He’s never been found; it could be. Cubbingthorp, you’ve seen him speak dozens of times. It’s him, isn’t it?”
The older guard took a step closer.
“Sir, I assure you
I am most certainly not Francois Mond. You have the wrong man—”
“Oh, that’s him. Bloodthirsty charlatan,” he spat.
Kyrian caught Opal’s eye for one moment. The lad was standing on the sidewalk, astounded, a purse dangling from one hand.
Jules felt the noose around his neck loosen as the crowd began to focus on the guards a few feet away.
“Did they say Francois Mond?”
“It couldn’t be.”
He brushed blood out of one eye and looked over at the rabble that was now reforming around Black Opal. Soon no one was even with him anymore. He simply slipped the noose over his head, dashed off the street, and slid between two shops.
“It is him! Francois had smallpox when he was a boy they say, and look, there are all those scars.”
“Francois, where have you been all this time?” someone in the crowd called out.
“I’m telling you, you’re making a mistake,” Opal said, trying to keep his tone even. “My name is Frederick Black.”
“Well, Frederick Black, we’ll just be taking you in for a little questioning then.” The original guard approached him, dagger pointed at Opal. “And then if you aren’t Francois Mond, they’ll let you go on your way.”
“Just as simple as that,” Opal smiled.
“That’s right.”
“No torture would be involved in retrieving a confession, of course.”
“No, no nothing like that. Why don’t you drop that sword you have there and come along with us?”
“Sorry lads, but I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
The guard he had been talking to reached for his rapier, but Opal cut his belt before he could reach it, and the entire thing dropped to the street with a loud clang.
Opal had his sword point to the man’s throat. “Your dagger, sir.”
Cubbingthorp and Ives moved forward.
“Stand back, fellows, or observe as I dispatch your friend.”
“He’s bluffing,” this coming from the man who had the sword point touching bare skin. After all, Francois Mond was known for his oratory, not for his skill with a rapier.
Cameo and the Highwayman (Trilogy of Shadows Book 2) Page 9
