Dark Empress (3 page)

Ghassan smiled enigmatically.

“She might be right, brother… this is a powerful man. One slip and we could be watching our hands as they’re separated from our arms.”

Samir shook his head.

“Firstly, we’re too good to be caught. Secondly, no one can hold on to me for long; I’m part eel… you know that. Thirdly: we’re children. This man is a family man from the northern cities and they’re all soft and sentimental. A sob or two from Asima and he’ll send us on our way with a smile.”

Ghassan looked distinctly unconvinced but shrugged and then nodded. Asima rolled her eyes and finally gave her consent.

The three took a deep breath and slipped back into the busy street. A few more minutes and the high walls of Trevistus’ compound loomed. Samir had thoroughly checked out the location yesterday. Within the enclosure stood four structures, one at each corner, leaving an open space in the centre that cluttered and emptied with goods and equipment like the tide.

Closest to the single wide and strong gate stood the two storey building with an external staircase that held the offices of the merchant, his factor, and the various clerks in his employ. On the other side of the gate stood the bunk house that catered for the crew of the merchant’s ships when in port, a building busy at all times barring mid evening when the men caroused in the local taverns. In the opposite corner stood the wealthy and elegant house of Trevistus himself, lived in for only a few weeks each year, and maintained the rest of the time by a permanent staff of servants and slaves. The final corner, the object of Samir’s main investigation, was dominated by an enormous warehouse.

Ducking into a narrow side alley, the three crossed to the next street, from where the gateway of the compound was visible, guarded by mercenaries of foreign extraction; powerful and blond. Samir waved his companions back into the shadow of a porch projecting from the front of a smelly building called the Laughing Mermaid.

“Any time now.”

The others nodded and watched with growing nervousness and excitement in roughly equal quantities. Tense moments passed as workers and slaves traipsed past along the road, carrying goods or going about their various tasks, none interested enough to accord the three peasant children more than a passing glance.

Somewhere a horn sounded, announcing the arrival of another vessel at this meeting place of worlds. Samir tapped his foot impatiently and looked up at the sky, trying to gauge the time by the angle of the sunlight hitting the building opposite.

“We’re here on time. They must be late.”

Ghassan, beginning to twitch slightly, pursed his lips and frowned.

“I cannot help but wonder how you came across detailed transport schedules for foreign merchants.”

Asima shrugged.

“Be sure there’s some clerk somewhere wondering where his important papers are, Ghassan.” She turned and smiled knowingly at the smaller brother. “You are a menace, Samir. And possibly a genius.”

Samir grinned and put a finger to his lips, gesturing over his shoulder with a thumb. In the street, four wagons, loaded to a point where the wood groaned uncomfortably, trundled past with interminable slowness, each drawn by an ox with a stoically resigned expression.

“Remember. Quiet until we’re left alone. Take only one thing and nothing that will be missed. This is a game; a test… not a theft.”

Ghassan nodded and pointed.

“The third wagon. No guards; just a driver.”

Samir smiled and stepped backwards into the street, hidden from view of the general populace by the wagon itself. Gripping the side boards, he hauled himself with ease from the murk of the road and tipped over the edge into the mass of grain sacks. Ghassan shared a look for a fleeting moment with Asima.

“He’s going to get us all killed one day”, she said with mock seriousness.

Ghassan glanced past her at the cart and, quick as a flash and with no warning, tipped his head forward and kissed her; a brief peck in the manner of a nervous child, and then he was past her, hauling himself up into the cart.

Asima stood in the shadow for a moment, her eyes wide as she reached up in surprise and touched her lips. The world slowed as her mind reeled.

“Sssss!”

Snapping her head round in the mist of confusion, Asima saw the brothers peeking over the side of the wagon and beckoning as the vehicle had almost rolled on past the tavern. Shaking her head to clear it, she ducked out of the shadows and leapt onto the side of the cart. A hand appeared to help haul her up. She gazed upward into Ghassan’s eyes and, taking a deep breath, clasped her hand in his. Suddenly, Samir was there also, helping haul her in among the sacks of grain, just as the cart passed from the building’s shadow and into the clear view of the public once more.

Asima lay in the sacks, mulling over what had just happened. Above her, apparently unaware of what this meant, both boys peered between the boards to see ahead. Asima touched her lips again. She found herself smiling without the intention of doing so. Somehow, she had been waiting for a year for this to happen and yet had been completely unaware of her yearning until it had occurred. She looked up at Ghassan, unkempt and powerful, his noble brow and serious face intent on the task ahead.

And then Samir turned and unleashed a smile upon her and her surety exploded in splinters and vanished. She frowned as the boy turned back to his contemplation of the compound that rolled toward them with its looming danger. Shaking her head, she gritted her teeth. No time for this now, she chided herself, and clambered across the sacks to a position beside the boys.

The front cart was being led inside, while a clerk went through some papers with the driver of the second vehicle. At a gesture from Samir, the three children nestled down among the comfortable bags, covering themselves as best they could.

Minutes passed as they lay there, staring up into the endless blue while the noises of the port went on around them. And slowly, finally, the cart trundled forward. The three held their breath as the clerk approached, stopping only a few feet from them as he checked the manifest and clearances with the teamster. Such a short time passed and yet to the three of them it seemed an age of man had gone by.

Finally an agreement was made and the cart trundled slowly into the compound. As Samir had explained, drawing on information from his unknown source, the four carts would be drawn into the central space, not far from the warehouse, where there was sufficient space for unloading with the minimal distance to the place of storage. The teamsters, their job done for now, were given a chitty and escorted from the compound where they would visit the nearest tavern while they waited for their carts to be emptied.

With a quick glance, Samir checked the compound over the top board. Someone, presumably an overseer, had gathered the workmen near the lead cart and was speaking to them in quiet tones. The teamsters were departing while the labourers’ instructions were given, and the half-dozen guards at the gate, bored beyond tears, watched the few women pass by in the street outside with half-interest at best.

With a grin, Samir beckoned to the others and clambered over the side of the cart, dropping lightly to the ground and running toward the warehouse, its great wide open doors welcoming him. Ghassan and Asima followed suit, their hearts racing as they slipped from the cart, across the open space unobserved, and into the shadow of the warehouse.

The three ducked around the inside of the doorway and stood with their back to the wooden walls, drawing a deep and relieved breath as they scanned the interior.

“What now?” Ghassan whispered. “They’ll be here in minutes to unload.”

Samir shook his head. ”We have at least ten minutes. They unload the carts onto small trailers and then wheel them in here. It’s a complex business, but we’ve plenty of time to find something and slip out. Besides,” he added with a smile, “it looks like they’ve got some sort of trouble. That man outside is keeping the workers busy.”

“You’ve still not explained how we leave here” Ghassan sighed.

Samir grinned and pointed to the ladders that reached into the darkened upper corners of the warehouse, where they hooked onto the walkways.

“From the top level, we can slip onto the roof. From there we’re the right height to cross the outer wall and drop into the alley.”

“That’s a long drop.”

Samir winked.

“Not where I put the crates ready to drop onto, it isn’t.”

Asima smiled. Samir always claimed to be the quick one, while Ghassan had the family’s brains. To her acute eye, however, it was clear that the brothers shared every talent in equal amounts. For all their differences, they were every bit the match for one another.

Samir wandered along the wall among the crates, peering into occasional ones while trying to decide what trophy was most fitting with which to make off. With a shrug, Ghassan followed suit while Asima remained standing by the doors. There was more to think about today than mere trophies. With a sigh she picked up a small amphora of olive oil. That would do.

Her heart skipped a beat as a man strode into the warehouse mere feet away from where she lurked. She had been so absorbed in their task she’d not heard him approach. Besides, there should be no one coming here yet. Silently, holding her breath, she dropped down behind the crates, cradling her amphora like a newborn. As she vanished from sight, she noted with relief that the boys had already disappeared behind obstructions. They must have sharper hearing than her.

The man was tall; taller even that the nomads of the south, though he was clearly a man from across the sea to the north. Unusually large and imposing, he was dressed in dark leathers and a black shirt, with a finely-crafted chainmail shirt over the top. A curved sword hung at his belt, high and angled across him in the manner of a Pelasian. He had unremarkable brown hair, short and straight, and a neat beard covering a sun-tanned jaw. He walked as though he owned the world upon which he trod, though he was clearly no merchant.

With bated breath, she watched as a second man entered. This person was more than a head shorter and with blond hair, dressed in fine clothes and unarmed, gripped at his elbows by two unsavoury-looking men with Pelasian features and drawn blades. Asima bit her lip as the warehouse doors were closed ominously behind them by an unseen hand. The party of four men stopped in an open area of the warehouse and the rich man was dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

“Trevistus,” the tall man said, shaking his head with mock sadness. “What am I to do with you?”

The smaller man coughed and Asima was shocked to see blood trickle from his mouth, flowing through a gap afforded by two missing teeth.

“I can pay you handsomely, Kaja” the man replied, his gapped teeth whistling unpleasantly. “There’s no need for this antagonism. I’m a man with connections.”

The tall man… Kaja as he had been named, shook his head.

“You used your connections to set a bounty on me; a large and very ostentatious bounty. Things like that can ruin a man’s day. You have piles of money, but then money doesn’t buy me peace of mind or heal my reputation, now does it, Trevistus?”

The merchant, his panicked eyes darting back and forth, stammered. Asima shrank down, fearing that somehow the desperate man would see her through the crates.

“But… wh… what can I do? I’ve sent a message cancelling the bounty. I am a man of means.”

“You were a man of means, Trevistus.”

The merchant’s eyes widened and he assumed the bravado of the cornered man.

“You can’t do this, Kaja! I have friends on Isera; in the government itself. My factor lives in the palace. He knows Minister Sarios… even the Emperor!”

The tall man smiled a horrible, feral smile.

“Emperor Quintus has enough on his plate at the moment. I hear his generals are now in open rebellion. The Empire’s collapsing in on itself, my dear Trevistus, and the time has come for men like us. Men of independent means and supreme self-interest. Well… for men like me at least. Goodbye, my unfortunate friend.”

Asima closed her eyes as a brief whimper gave way to a gasp and was silenced with a slicing noise. There was the dull thud of a padded weight falling to the floor. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard and offered thanks to every God that might be listening that she at least had not seen what just happened.

She almost shrieked as something touched her elbow. Snapping her head round in panic, her eyes met those of Samir, who was gesturing urgently for her to follow him. Beyond him, Ghassan nodded sharply.

The light-stepping journey around the periphery of the warehouse, hidden by crated goods, was tense and slow, and the three heaved a sigh of relief that, by the time they reached the nearest ladder and prepared to climb, the warehouse doors had opened and the occupants had left with their grisly burden.

A gloomy silence accompanied the children on their unnoticed escape.

In which relationships are forged

The next winter would turn the boys’ world upside down. Asima had spent less time with the brothers since the incident at the warehouse and when they had seen her she wore a haunted look. Her eyes had darkened as though she slept little and she had become taciturn. On the few occasions she had visited, she looked uncharacteristically frail and frightened and had taken to sitting wrapped in Ghassan’s arms. Samir had pondered on this for a while, but had finally nodded and accepted that perhaps Asima currently needed Ghassan’s sober strength more than his own optimistic humour.

Then late one evening, as their mother was preparing the main meal and the boys sat alone in the communal room, there was a knock at the door. Knowing that their mother would be too busy to answer and that she would become angry if she had to ask them, Ghassan and Samir rushed to the front of the house where the ill-fitting wooden portal kept the worst of the weather out. A visitor was an exciting prospect. Asima rarely came to the house, and would certainly never knock at the front door where her arrival would be noted by their mother.