Blade and bone, p.4
Blade and Bone, page 4
The crowd moved past where she hid in the alley. Not just a dozen. There were probably fifteen, maybe eighteen Dogs. All of that for the wagons.
With her knife, she hurriedly carved off the man’s fingers one by one, then stuffed them into a pouch. She’d have to clean them later, but if it came down to it, she wasn’t going to end up with the Dogs overrunning her just because she wasn’t prepared to use her skills.
Lily wouldn’t be able to get back to the wagon on the street, and if she did nothing, the Dogs were going to take over the wagons. Jal would be able to protect them to a certain degree, but there were limits to what he could do, limits to how much he could offer them.
She decided to go to the rooftops again, where she might be able to slow some of them. But by how much?
She had a few different options.
Once on the roof, she raced along, jumping from building to building. The wagons were not far from her, and Jal made a valiant effort of trying to bring down as many of the Dogs as he could. Lily knew that the fog diffusing through the streets made it difficult for him to be able to see much of anything. He was talented, but he needed to be able to see in order to target the shots.
Which meant that she might have to use her other skills.
She reached into her pouch. There was a reason she didn’t let Jal handle it. He was foolish enough that he might end up blowing himself up. Kanar probably wouldn’t kill himself, but he would ask questions. Questions about her past, how she ended up in Sanaron. Questions she didn’t want to answer.
She doubted that Jal would understand. He was like an open book. Kanar, on the other hand, had his own demons. He had come to the city after leaving the Realmsguard, and she’d been searching for information about what had happened to him and why he had left, but she’d found it difficult to get anything on him. There were other soldiers from Reyand here, but none of them would speak to her.
Maybe Kanar had bought their silence. She would get his secrets. She was determined to do so. And when she did, then maybe she would share her own.
The throng of Dogs below moved through the street and headed toward the wagons. They seemed unconcerned as they raced forward, and as far as Lily could tell, all of them were armed with crossbows and swords.
Once she got to a point where she was looking down upon them, she reached into her pouch until she found the specific bone fragment she was looking for. When she pulled it out, she twisted it in her fingers and ran her thumb along it. Then she took out a knife, jabbed it into her thumb, and smeared a layer of blood across the bone. She murmured the necessary words and tossed it down onto the street.
Smoke streamed from it as it dropped. It wasn’t going to be a subtle effect, but she didn’t need subtlety.
The bone exploded. As soon as it did, the jarring pain that came from that explosion burned through her. She paused on the edge of the rooftop, gritting her teeth and waiting for that pain to pass. When it finally did, the Dogs had already started to scatter.
She had other bones like that, at least similar enough that they would explode if she added what was necessary, but she didn’t really want to use them. Not here, and not with the cost it incurred.
Lily scrambled forward and reached the wagons as they rumbled along the street. As soon as she did, she swung down. She jerked the grappling hook from the roof, stuffed it into her pouch, and darted toward Jal.
“What in the name of Isan do you think you’re doing?” she said.
Jal looked over. “There you are. I’ve been waiting for you. Did you find the Dogs?”
He had to have heard the explosions. He certainly saw things well enough, and she figured he could hear things just as well.
“You had an entire throng of them chasing you,” Lily said.
He furrowed his brow. “We did? What happened?”
“They must’ve gotten distracted by the fog.” She waved her hand behind her. “But you’re going in the wrong direction,” she said, pointing off to her right. “That’s the seashore.”
“That’s the seashore all right,” he said, “but in order for us to get there, we have to head this way.”
“Why?”
He shrugged.
She didn’t share Kanar’s appreciation of Jal’s hunches, but then again, she hadn’t been privy to some of the more impressive circumstances with it. Kanar always loved to take Jal with him when he was gambling, as if Jal would somehow afford him winnings that he wouldn’t have on his own. And unfortunately, it had worked, more often than not. She hated that it did. More than that, she hated that she hated it.
“So what else is your instinct telling you we need to do?” she asked.
“Well, we need to go a little further this way, and once we reach the next road, we’re going to take a hard right, and then we’re going to go straight along it until we get to the dock.” He grinned, then fired an arrow. It flew back in the direction she had come from and struck a man perched on the rooftop.
Had that man seen what she had done? How many Dogs might she have missed? And would they have known it was her? There weren’t too many people who would recognize her use of magic, but there might be some.
“Are you ready?” Jal asked.
“I’m ready,” she muttered, shaking her head. “But if you get me killed…”
“If I get you killed, Kanar is going to kill me. And if we don’t complete the job, I think Malory is going to kill all of us.”
“It’s kind of a stupid job.”
“For what she’s paying?”
“Oh, she could pay more than she did,” Lily said. “But I doubt Kanar will push her.”
“Why not?”
“He’s afraid of her,” she said.
Jal watched her, a hint of a grin on his face. His eyes went wide, and then he drew another arrow and fired. Another Dog was down.
All of this for a caravan? Just how many had been sent after them?
This was too much. There was something going on here. Even if Kanar didn’t want to dig into it, Lily wasn’t about to let it drop.
“I don’t think Kanar is afraid of anyone,” Jal said. “Certainly not Malory.”
Lily bit back any retort she might have. She could imagine Jal falling under Malory’s spell all too easily. He was exactly the kind of person she would use her charms on, and one who would never know they had been seduced by her. Kanar, on the other hand, likely knew better than to allow himself to risk that seduction. More than that, Malory probably appreciated that about him, which made her work all the harder at Kanar.
Lily had known women like that, and when she had been training, those women had worked to get her to end up like that. She had resisted, but she knew how that technique worked, especially on somebody like Jal.
“Now,” he said, and the wagon driver suddenly turned, veering the wagons off to the right.
She watched the rooftops. There had been attackers all along the last pathway, as well as the gaggle of Dogs that had chased them until she dropped her explosive in the middle of them. So far, there had been no sign of any further stragglers, but she wouldn’t put it past the Dogs to keep chasing, especially if they thought it gave them an opportunity to capture these wagons.
There was no sign of them.
The street was nearly empty. There were the usual people out and about—merchants, shoppers, and even some fishmongers coming in from a day out at sea—but no Dogs. It was almost as if turning that street corner had left them all behind.
Lily glanced over to Jal. His hunch, huh? She had never really given much stock to it, but maybe there was something to it. Who was she to question, anyway?
When they reached the dock, they raced forward to pier number seven, and then she finally allowed herself to relax. There weren’t going to be any attackers out here. The Dogs weren’t stupid enough to attack on the dock. This was a no-contact zone that would draw the attention of the watch, and that was something even the Prophet made a point of avoiding.
The wagons slowed, and she jumped down when she saw Kanar. He was talking to Honaaz and Heatharn. Was that relief that swept over his face when he saw her?
Lily whistled, and Kanar made his way over to them.
“You got here,” he said.
“We got here,” she replied. “Now what?”
“Time to go. Get paid, get a drink, and let Jal clean up. He stinks.”
Chapter Four
KANAR
Kanar never liked his visits with Malory.
She offered jobs, made sure he got paid, and provided a measure of protection in a city where he was something of an outsider, but he still didn’t trust her. Not because she was a woman—there were plenty of people in Sanaron who dismissed Malory for that reason, to their own detriment—but because she had a cruel streak that he never cared for.
Kanar struggled to avoid the Kalenwatch as he made his way from the docks. Dozens upon dozens of men swarmed and filled the streets, stopping everyone they came across. They forced him to duck into an alley and loop around the long way before getting to Malory. He didn’t like the idea of dealing with questions, nor did he care for the possibility that he might be checked for weapons.
At least the watch had finally decided to get involved. After the Dogs’ attack on the caravan, he had expected more of a response. Normally, they kept things better locked down.
One more thing to talk to Malory about.
She had an apartment above the Painted Nails brothel near the Mill district. The location offered easy access to the docks, but it also offered her an air of legitimacy that she wouldn’t have otherwise. She could pull from those with no money—dock workers, fishers, street thieves all among them—as well as some of the well-off merchants.
The brothel itself tended to do brisk business, and the women were all attractive, if pushy, which was typical for what he’d seen of similar places in Sanaron. Getting to Malory’s apartment meant that he had to go through the brothel with its dim lantern light and plush purple carpet, then past the guards hiding in the smoke-filled shadows, and up a narrow staircase in the back. Anyone else would be stopped before they even reached the stairs.
Kanar took them two at a time. At the top of the stairs, he knocked on the door.
A small slat in the door opened, revealing a round face. The frown on the full lips quickly faded. “Good to see you again, Kanar.”
“And you, Bec. She in?”
It was always best to get to business here. The workers tried to seduce everyone out of the last coin they could, even when they knew they’d fail, as they would with Kanar.
“She’s not in a good mood, but she’s here.”
“What happened?” Kanar asked.
“You don’t want to know.”
He didn’t, but dealing with Malory meant that he was at a natural disadvantage. If she was in a foul mood, having any insight about what had happened would put him on better footing.
“Sure I do. Maybe I can do something about it.”
“Don’t go making promises you can’t keep,” Bec purred.
She pulled the door open, revealing a darkened hall that led to another door at the far end. The brothel rooms were in a different section, but Malory made a point of keeping up appearances so that if the Painted Nails was ever raided, they could make it look like Malory was nothing more than another of their girls.
Bec leaned on the door and watched him with a curl to her lips, the sheer white gown she wore clinging to her curves. “Sounds like she missed out on a job she’d been angling for. You know how she gets.”
Unfortunately, he did. That was how he knew Malory could be cruel.
Whoever had pulled a job out from under her would suffer the consequences. He only hoped that he wouldn’t be asked to be a part of it.
“Do you want to let her know I’m here?” Kanar said.
“She knows,” a hard voice replied from the end of the hall.
Kanar pulled his gaze away from Bec and tipped his head politely to Malory. She expected polite. Despite—or perhaps because of—the fact that she was a brothel mistress, Malory carried herself with a measure of authority. She also dressed in a far more distinguished way than anybody else in this part of the city ever dared. It was more chaste, as well. Today she wore a flowing high-necked dress with a single gold band hanging from her neck.
“Job is done,” he said.
Malory’s eyes narrowed and she flicked her gaze past him to Bec, who stepped onto the staircase and closed the door behind her. Kanar couldn’t help but feel trapped, though he wasn’t.
Unlike most people who came to the Nails, he wasn’t searched for weapons and didn’t have to check in with anyone at the entrance. He was a known entity. Trusted. That didn’t mean he would ever make the mistake of crossing Malory. He might get out alive, but he wouldn’t stay that way long.
“Why do you sound like you had to kill a cat?” Malory said.
He sniffed. “Dog. Rabid ones. Probably a dozen of those bastards, maybe more.”
She watched him for a long moment before waving for him to follow.
Kanar made his way down the hall. Malory was selective with how often she invited him back, and when she did, it usually meant a business discussion. Kanar wasn’t sure he was ready for another discussion at this point. He had just finished the last job, and considering how poorly it had gone, he wasn’t terribly eager to jump into another right away.
He’d only ever seen the outer room of her apartment, which was elegantly appointed. A pair of high-backed chairs were angled toward a hearth that always crackled with a warm flame. Two oil lanterns glowed with soft orange light, and a sheer maroon veil draped over them made the light shift, giving it a hint of red. The air hung with a lilac fragrance that was mixed with rose and even a bit of mint, though it took him a few moments to pick up on that. She motioned for him to take a seat, which he did, however reluctantly. It meant that he would be staying for a while. All he wanted was to get paid and then get to the others. They were waiting for him to celebrate.
Malory stopped at a shelf on the far side of the room, and he heard the soft clinking of coins. When she turned back, she set a small purse on the table between the two chairs. She rested her hands on the back of the empty chair, though she didn’t take a seat. “Tell me.”
He liked to think that he was all business when he came to the Nails, but Malory was always business first.
“The job was easy,” he said, “at least until we got close to the city. A few highwaymen jumped us, but they were easy enough to dispatch.”
She frowned, shifting her navy-blue dress. “I wouldn’t expect you to have trouble with any simple highwaymen. Unless…” She frowned, tipping her head to the side, and Kanar could practically see the gears in her mind starting to work. She was smart. One of the smartest people he had ever been around. “I see. They sent word back to the city. That’s where the real trouble was.”
“Right,” Kanar said. “We got pinched in the warehouse district.”
“Why did you take that way?”
“Better to mask our approach.”
She nodded.
“They had men on roofs, a few more in one of the buildings, and there were a couple explosions.” He looked up at her carefully then. He hadn’t told Lily or Jal about the explosions, though he suspected they had heard them. Of everything he had dealt with, that was what he was most concerned about.
“The Dogs don’t deal with magic,” Malory said.
“Are you sure about that? Besides, can’t say that they were all magic.”
Her brow furrowed, and her lips pressed into a tighter line. “Not as sure as I would like to be.” She took a deep breath and straightened her spine, patting the back of the chair with one hand. “You got away. You got the cargo to the ship. Except for one small item Heatharn had procured. An exotic marmoset, from what I understand.”
Damn you, Jal.
He’d probably snuck the creature away during the fight.
Which meant he’d left Lily unprotected.
“You already knew,” Kanar said.
“Of course I knew. The moment you reached the dock, a runner sent word.”
He shook his head. Kanar never had a chance to keep anything from her, not that he actually would. He wouldn’t dare conceal anything from Malory. The consequences would be too dire.
“What else was he transporting?” he asked.
“That’s not part of the job, Kanar.”
“Not usually. But I also don’t usually have a dozen Dogs chasing me down when I’m trying to escort a caravan to the city.”
“You were hired for protection,” Malory said. “You provided it. That was the job.”
“You hired me to protect Alainsith relics. Who are you moving them for?”
She said nothing.
“The Prophet is after them,” Kanar said. “They nearly killed us to get to those relics.”
“There are always people who are after power. And it doesn’t matter. Heatharn came looking for protection, and it was easy enough to push him to pay a premium, especially given the kind of cargo he had. He tried to renegotiate after his pet went missing, but I passed.”
She had known—and she hadn’t said anything to him. It was enough to anger him, if it weren’t for the fact that he still needed her and her jobs.
That was about all the admission he was going to get from her about how much Heatharn had paid for Kanar’s protection. It would be more than what Kanar was paid. Malory took her cut, and most of the time he didn’t care. That was the price of doing business, especially in a place like Sanaron. In this case, though, it wasn’t just the Dogs that worried him. It was the use of magic.
An open use of magic.
“If someone’s using magic in Sanaron—”
“That’s none of our concern,” Malory said.
“It is. I’ve been around enough magic in my day.”
Her smile turned darker, more dangerous. “Would you like to talk about it?”
