Scars and Swindlers

by Val Saintcrowe

  “We’re practicing an awful lot for Haid,” said Cadon.

  “It’s not for Haid,” said Pairce. “It’s for us.”

  Cadon gestured around. “This is all him. This is his plan. He tells us what to do and we hustle to do his bidding. It’s…” He shook his head.

  “It’s not for Haid,” Pairce insisted. “It’s for us. All the money we’re going to get? It will mean we can do what we like, and you can open your blacksmith shop, and it’s for our future.” Cadon had been spending the last few months doing various things with his hands. He liked creating things, and he had attempted numerous different activities before settling on metalwork as what he most liked. His strength was a bonus, and he found the work gratifying. They would open up their own shops and they would work together and come home to each other at night.

  It would be a simple life, but Pairce thought she would very much like it.

  “Besides,” she said, “I’ve never been to Rzymn.”

  He straightened. “Oh, haven’t you?”

  “No,” she said. “I’m told it’s a beautiful city.”

  “It is,” he said, grinning. “Will we have time to do some sightseeing, do you think?”

  “I’m going to demand it,” said Pairce. “I’ll tell Haid we won’t help unless he sets the time aside.”

  Cadon smiled. “Oh, can I watch this discussion between the two of you? I like it when you put him in his place.”

  “Yes,” she said. “Now. Reset the room. And faster this time.”

  He only shook his head at her. “You’re lucky that I like you a lot, or I wouldn’t stand for this sort of abuse from you.”

  “I’ll show you abuse if you don’t watch it,” she said, gliding over to him, standing on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his chin.

  He pulled her close and kissed her deeply.

  She wriggled away. “Reset the room.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “YOU USED THE Lily Maneuver again.” Haid was working at his neckbow. He and Sefoni were in an inn in Allemonde. It was late winter. Spring was right around the corner, and so was the job. The matches to qualify for the tournament in Rzymn had begun and he and Sefoni were now traveling throughout the realm to play in these matches.

  Sefoni had to advance in the ranks and so did the right people. Haid had certain people who needed to end up in the final rounds and some who did not. In order to even make these wins plausible, they’d had to sell a fiction about Sefoni’s shanj playing, which was that her genius could be averted when she was emotionally upset.

  So, occasionally, he and Sefoni would stage public arguments which generally settled on some sort of jealousy on either his part or hers—he was always accusing her of flirting with some man or other and she was always bringing up his sordid past.

  He had thought it would play better if there was a hint of truth to the whole thing, he supposed. Or maybe he did want to punish himself. Maybe he thought he deserved to wonder if she meant those things she yelled at him.

  Anyway, after one of these rows, she would usually lose a game or two, which was how he was maneuvering several drunken louses up the ranks of the tournament. And no one was noticing.

  Madigain was advancing properly, and Haid wasn’t leaving that to chance, because he made sure that the people who Madigain played matches against were ones he would never lose against, also through Sefoni’s strategic wins and losses.

  However, this meant that they never had a chance to see Madigain play against a proper opponent, and Madigain also had been careful never to play in public except during the tournament. This bothered Haid, because he would have liked more time to study Madigain’s game, to dissect his strategies. But that wasn’t possible, and Sefoni was a genius.

  It would all work.

  It was only that Madigain was currently watching all of Sefoni’s games, going so far as to have several men noting every single one of her moves in the games she won and the games she lost.

  For Sefoni’s part, she was quite clever at losing, Haid thought. She did so with the same sort of genius that marked her wins, making it look as if she had made honest mistakes, making the games seem quite as though they were genuine efforts.

  “The Lily Maneuver is a classic for a reason.” Sefoni was sprawled out on the bed in the inn. Her maid had already helped her into her nightdress. She looked exhausted. “Since when don’t you approve of it?”

  “I’m not saying that,” he said, tossing aside his neckbow and going to work on his waistcoat. “It’s only that it’s becoming a pattern for you. It’s what you used against the king, and it’s predictable. You need to be careful. You need to vary your strategies. You know that Madigain is watching everything we do.”

  “All right,” she said, sighing. She rolled over, putting her face into the pillow.

  “You’re tired,” he muttered, sitting down at the foot of the bed. “I’m sorry. We can talk of it in the morning.”

  “Before or after we fight over breakfast in the main room?” Her voice was muffled by the pillow. “Which of these men’s wives have you rutted with?” Sometimes, he told her this, which only made the arguments more convincing.

  Maybe he shouldn’t tell her such things. Why was he doing this to the both of them? Why were they even doing the job? If he asked her to, she’d go into Madigain’s Rzymn home and burn their way to the tiara.

  “Maybe we don’t have to fight,” he said.

  She lifted her gaze.

  “We could simply not dine together. Or dine together and not speak, glaring at each other. It would be enough.”

  She rolled onto her side, facing him. “The Braoness Gaild, perhaps? She looks like she’s your type.”

  He couldn’t meet her gaze.

  “Oh, I’m right, then.” She snorted, turning back away.

  “No,” he said.

  Now, she turned back.

  “No,” he insisted. “Honestly, I don’t think there’s anyone you don’t know of at this point.”

  “Don’t think,” she said. “But you don’t know, because you don’t really remember, do you?”

  “Oh, that’s good.” He got up from the bed and began unbuttoning his shirt. “Use that at breakfast tomorrow.”

  “Yes,” she muttered. “As long as it serves the job, it’s all fine with Haid.”

  He didn’t say anything. He shrugged out of his shirt instead.

  “Actually, that’s not why you do it,” said Sefoni. “Because we could be arguing about anything at all, I suppose, but you pick this, of course. And here I am, falling into it for you.” She groaned. “I’m not going to do it anymore. I’m not even angry with you about it.”

  He sat back down on the bed. “Not angry about what?”

  “About your being with all those women before me,” she said.

  “Aren’t you?”

  “I’ve been angry about it so many times that I’m just bored of the anger.”

  He scoffed. “I don’t believe that. You don’t just get over something like that because you’re bored.”

  “I do,” she said. “I have.”

  He eyed her, furrowing his brow. “Truly?”

  “Yes,” she said, snuggling into her pillow, getting comfortable. “And it’s stupid, anyway, because you’re devoted to me, and I know it. You said that thing once about how I’d always be me and you’d always be you and that even though it felt as though we merged, we didn’t. And you were wrong.”

  He looked down at his hands. “Perhaps.”

  “We do belong to each other,” she said.

  “We do,” he agreed, and his voice thickened as he said it with the emotion he felt for her.

  “If I asked you to give the job up and take me back to Olaimpis, you’d do it.”

  “Of course I would.” There was no hesitation there. He settled down on the bed, lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. Just as he was certain she would burn Madigain’s house down for him, he would give this up for her. It would eve
n be a relief in some ways, to have an excuse to do it. He could never choose it for himself, but for her?

  With pleasure.

  Immediately.

  “Is that what you wish, then?” He let out a little breathy sigh.

  “You know it’s not.” She rolled onto her back too. “I would never do that to you. I know how important this is to you. It would hurt you, and that would hurt me too. But you would do it for me, if I needed you to.”

  “It’s not even a question, love.”

  They were quiet.

  He was one to break the silence. “So, why do I do it, then, if not for the job?”

  “You hate yourself,” she said. “You want to suffer, and you like it when I make you suffer.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “I understand the inclination,” she said. “I have felt it also. But I broke free of it that night when I burned the Cowntess. It’s gone now, that desire for my own destruction. I don’t know what will help you, Haid, but I am only hoping it is this job.”

  He swallowed. He wanted to deny it, but that was perhaps foolish. “I don’t like suffering,” he managed.

  “You like punishment,” she said.

  “I—”

  “I don’t mean spanking.”

  His mouth was dry.

  She chuckled knowingly. “You like to call it atonement, but I see it for what it is.”

  He turned on his side to look at her. “Sefoni…” But then he didn’t finish.

  She chuckled again. “I won’t do it. I absolve you, Haid Vortinen, for all your past sins. I refuse to be jealous or hurt by any of it. I refuse to play this little game with you.”

  His nostrils flared. Blazes, why were his eyes stinging?

  She turned to face him. She took his face between her hands and she kissed his forehead and then the bridge of his nose. “Tomorrow, I’ll fight with you at breakfast if that’s what you think we need to do. But know that I don’t mean any of the things I say. And know that I don’t appreciate being manipulated like a shanj piece, moved about so that you can flog yourself. Hurt yourself if you must, Haid, but don’t use me to do it.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  IT WAS SPRINGTIME in Rzymn, and Pairce had never seen a more beautiful city.

  She stood gripping the railing on the ship that was approaching the island city, sea breeze blowing her hair back from her face, and she could not stop smiling.

  They were here.

  It was time.

  The final phases of the shanj tournament would commence on the morrow, and they were all arriving together on this ship. There had been some discussion initially about hiding their arrival or pretending that they weren’t working together. But Madigain knew that they were coming for him. He might not have been certain of the time or the place, but his watching of Sefoni’s shanj games indicated that he likely had a good idea.

  What was the point in hiding?

  Indeed, it was better if it was all done in plain sight.

  So, they’d traveled together, all boarding a ship in Mercett together, and each taking up residence in cabins that sat side by side in the belly of the ship.

  Haid was quiet most of the time, head down, expression grave, as if he was worried about the job. Sefoni, on the other hand, ran all over the ship with Tristanne, the two women giggling together like silly girls while Mairli watched them with a stony expression on her face.

  Was Mairli jealous?

  Pairce didn’t think there was anything between Tristanne and Sefoni except friendship, despite the reported strain between Haid and Sefoni, who were always arguing in public, something every gossip rag in Laironn liked to gleefully report. Pairce wasn’t in on Haid’s plans, but she suspected it was a ruse, because she knew Haid well enough to know that he would never argue in public.

  Haid Vortinen might be a lot of things, but he was intensely private. He didn’t air his weaknesses easily, and so this “weakness” was calculated for some reason or other.

  Pairce simply wasn’t sure what it was all about.

  Cadon was impossible to hide, of course, and he was rather recognizable as the Orc, but luckily most of the men on the ship had no notion of the fights that had gone on in Laironn. He was saved from the indignity of having been that monstrous fighting brute, but he was still distinctive and enormous and obvious.

  He seemed shy about it, and had spent too much of the journey below decks.

  But he was with her now, standing next to her at the railing, and he was explaining to her the history of Rzymn. “Once it was only peopled by the brothers of the Order of the Flamme,” he said. “It was a small island and the brothers wished to be separate from the rest of the world in order to properly communicate with the holy blaze.”

  “Back then, when all of the brothers had magic?” she said.

  “Yes, indeed,” said Cadon. “Then, they lived a simple life, as their vows dictate. They adhered to poverty and chastity. They only had simple shacks that they built. Even the temples they built to the blaze were small, wooden structures.”

  “So, how did it get like this?” She could see the city gleaming in the morning light. It was swathed in mist, but as they grew closer, it was easier to see the individual spires and towers, the domes of cathedrals and other buildings, all of them gleaming and glittering. It was beautiful.

  “It took a long time, but as the influence of the Order grew, their magic dwindled. And without magic, they began to seek other outward signs of their power. They built these magnificent structures here, supposedly as a testament to the power of the blaze, but I think they did it to awe us all into submission.” He was gaping at the city ahead of them. “It is beautiful.”

  “How can one doubt magic and splendor in the presence of such magnificence?” she whispered. Truly, the buildings were so intricately wrought, the stone and metals so fine, that they seemed too perfect to be quite real. When she looked at them, her own eyes rebelled, demanding that such a thing could not possibly exist.

  “The city grew and grew, and its borders expanded beyond the edges of the island, but this didn’t stop the enterprising citizens of Rzymn. Instead, they built houses out over the water.”

  “They’re on stilts!” This delighted Pairce.

  “There are whole parts of the city which can only be navigated by canals and boats,” said Cadon. “In fact, my favorite place to get jilato is out in the Trisaccio section of town. We’ll have to go there.”

  “What’s jilato?”

  “It’s like frozen sweet cream, but better,” said Cadon.

  “And how many times have you been to Rzymn?”

  “I don’t know,” said Cadon. “We used to come every year as a child, for the high holy days, to pay our respect to the patriarch. I loved it. We would stay at an inn that was built on the water, and it had an enclosed pool of sea water in the midst of it that guests were permitted to swim in. I spent every moment I was allowed in that pool, I think.” He smiled, remembering.

  “Ah, Cadon as a little boy,” she said, grinning at him. “I should have liked to see you when you were young.”

  He smiled back. “Do you think we would have been playmates as children?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “I didn’t much like boys, I have to admit.”

  He snorted.

  She leaned into him.

  He put his arm around her. “Rzymn is a magical city, it’s true. But it’s also dangerous. The underbelly of the city is run by several crime families, and you mustn’t venture out into the Barrens. It’s not safe there.”

  “Not safe for us? But we’re here to commit a crime.”

  Cadon laughed. “Well, from what I understand, Haid wants us to pretend as if we’re really just here for the shanj tournament with the rest of the aristocracy, not to go gallivanting around in the seedy parts of the city.”

  “Well, I think I could handle myself,” said Pairce. “You underestimate me.”

  He inclined his head. “Pe
rhaps. Please accept my apologies?”

  She grinned at him and went back to looking out at the city spread out in front of her. She felt it within her, a building sense of excitement.

  Finally, after all this time, all this preparation, they were here.

  CADON WATCHED AS Haid spoke to his valet, giving him instructions for the inn where they had reserved rooms. They’d be staying there for the duration of their stay. They stood on the docks of Rzymn, having just disembarked from their ship. The sea air tickled Cadon’s nose. Overhead, gulls dipped down to the gleaming water, calling to each other as they soared.

  Abruptly, Haid turned to him. “You and everyone else can wait at the inn for Sefoni and me. We have to go directly to Madigain’s house. Sefoni has a game in less than an hour, and she’ll need time to prepare.”

  “Fine,” said Cadon. “But what are we doing today?”

  “Well, Sefoni is going to play in the tournament,” said Haid.

  “So, the rest of the us? What are we doing?”

  “Nothing, I suppose,” said Haid. “But I will explain it all to you. I promise.”

  “I think you keep things to yourself for so long because you enjoy annoying us all,” spoke up Pairce.

  Haid shot her a tight look. “That’s it exactly,” he said sarcastically.

  “If there’s nothing, we’re going to go sightseeing,” said Cadon. “I have things I want to show Pairce in Rzymn.”

  “Sightseeing?” Haid obviously didn’t like this idea. “You realize this isn’t a pleasure trip, don’t you?”

  “I don’t see what the harm is.”

  “Oh, I want to go sightseeing,” spoke up Tristanne. “I’ve never seen anything like this place. Can you believe it? I thought the cathedral in Laironn was nice, but these here?” She pointed into the distance. “Can we go look at those?”

  “We can go to Holy Blaze Square,” said Cadon to her. “Certainly. If you want to wait in line, you can even go into the patriarch’s home, and look about at all the things people have given him over the years. He’s been given a lot of very glittery things. Jewels and gold and sculptures and—”