Duskfall (32 page)

“The tower will suit our needs, eh? Unless, of course, you would prefer a different location…”

Knot shook his head. “The tower will do.”

Rudak’s grin widened. “Very well, then. Up we go.” Rudak ducked through; the door barely reached his eye-level.

Knot hesitated. Despite the captain’s friendliness, Knot had no reason to trust him. He was about to enter a small, enclosed space with someone who just might qualify as a giant. Even with Knot’s skill, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to maneuver his way out of that fight.

Chewing his cheek, Knot walked through anyway. He couldn’t waste this opportunity to find out about his past.

They walked up a spiral stairway and reached a trapdoor in the ceiling that gave access to the top of the tower. Rudak opened the door and stepped out into the sunlight. Knot shivered. Rudak seemed hardly out of breath; the man was incredibly spry for his size.

Rudak relieved the Borderguard posted at the top of the tower, who saluted, and went through the trapdoor without a word.

Then, Knot and Rudak were alone.

Rudak swung his arm towards Knot, and Knot almost dodged until he realized the man was slapping him on the back. Knot stumbled forward, the weight of Rudak’s arm nearly knocking him off the damn tower.

“Far too long, indeed! Canta’s bones, what kept you? Heading into Roden last time I saw you, you bastard. How in Oblivion did you get back across the border without stopping for a drink?”

Knot regained his balance and stared at Rudak. The man was grinning like a madman. Rudak reached beneath his tabard, and Knot tensed. But Rudak only produced a large flask, twisting off the top. “Navone makes the best brandy north of Triah,” he said, his grin widening. He offered the flask to Knot. “Take a pull.”

Knot took the flask. He wondered briefly whether it was poisoned, but dismissed the idea. Rudak was not one to poison. He would meet his foes head-on. Although Knot’s memory of Rudak did not tell him this, but rather his memory of men
like
Rudak.

“What d’you think, Madzy? Smell the stuff, go on.”

Knot raised the flask to his nose. After a moment, he realized he was smiling. “Charred oak,” he said, swirling the flask, “and cinnamon. Beneath that, a hint of fruit, and sweetness tinged with fire.” He looked at Rudak. “A good year.”

Rudak chuckled. “I knew you’d appreciate it. Dug up a bottle when I heard you were in Navone.”

Knot brought the flask to his lips, fully aware that he had just described brandy like a noble. Apparently spirit-tasting was one more thing that came to him easily, like nautical knots, or driving a cart. Or killing. But Rudak seemed to appreciate Knot’s appraisal, so once he’d swallowed a bit of the brandy, he closed his eyes, nodding.

“A good year, indeed. You chose well, Rudak.”

Knot opened his eyes to see the man’s smile slowly fading. Knot handed the flask back, waiting to see what Rudak would say.

“We have serious things to discuss, you and I,” Rudak said. He took a swig of the brandy himself, then turned to the ramparts, facing out towards the Sorensan Pass. Towards Roden. Knot joined him, leaning on the cold, snow-covered crenel.

“Then let’s discuss them,” Knot said. Rudak put on a light-hearted front, but this was a serious man who knew his business. Knot wondered why he—or Madzin—would befriend such a man. Had Madzin had a similar demeanor? Was it for the mere convenience of knowing a man in the Borderguard?

“I saw you yesterday,” Rudak said, “in the Circle Square. Whole bloody city saw you, you bastard.”

“I know.”

Rudak turned to Knot, leaning against the battlement. “I’m not sure if any of the others recognized you, but Canta rising, I sure as Oblivion did.”

Knot reached for the flask and took another swallow. “Others?”

“Aye. Your other contacts in the city,” Rudak said.

If Knot had other contacts here, would he have them in other cities as well? Did he have them in Cineste? Would he have them in Roden?

“Did you see any of them yesterday?” Knot asked. “In the Circle?”

“Aye. Remfeld was there, along with his thugs. The alchemist, Qan, I think I saw her, too. And at the edge of the crowd that woman, what’s her name? The one that looks like a hero addict. Thin, bruised, hair practically falling out in chunks. Ugly. You know her, you bastard, what’s her name?”

Knot froze. He had no idea who Rudak was talking about. None of the names rang a bell.

“Taille,” Rudak said, slapping the crenel. “Taille’s her name. Anyway, saw all three of them there. They didn’t seem to recognize you, but how should I know?”

A thug, an alchemist, and an addict. And a captain in the Borderguard. Knot saw no common thread.

“What in Oblivion were you doing up there, Madzy? Since when do your like have problems with a Holy Crucible?”

Knot shrugged. Considering the fact that he didn’t know what “like” Rudak was referring to, he couldn’t exactly say. “That was more of a… personal matter,” he said.

Rudak’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t mean that you’re part of all this?” The large man waved his hand back at Navone. From the tower they could see the entire city below them.

Knot shook his head. Losing Rudak’s help because the man thought he was a heretic was not an option. “Let’s just say it’s a bad idea to cross a Holy Crucible, in any situation.”

Rudak looked at Knot for a moment longer, then burst out in laughter. “I should’ve known. Old Madzin tried to bed a Crucible, didn’t he? Looked up the wrong skirt this time, you bastard. Every man worth his balls knows not to get involved with the Ministry. She shut you down before you even said two words, didn’t she?” Knot didn’t say anything—better Rudak think this than know the truth. But Rudak’s suspicion, while ludicrous, couldn’t help but bring a smirk to Knot’s lips. Rudak stared at him. “You didn’t. Madzin Moraine, you bastard, you actually did bed her, didn’t you?” Rudak threw back his head, his laughter echoing off the cliffs. He clapped his meaty hand on Knot’s back, once more nearly sending him toppling off the tower. Knot gripped the crenel to steady himself.

“Canta’s bones, boy. A Holy Crucible. Only you would do something that stupid. I tell you, there are two types of people in this world that are just dumb enough to think they can get away with anything. Assassins and government types. Course, since you’re both, you’re a bad lot either way!” Rudak laughed again.

An assassin and a government agent
, Knot thought. The former confirmed what he’d seen in many of his dreams. He hadn’t considered the latter.

Knot wasn’t sure how much longer he could carry on a conversation with this man without revealing that he had no idea who Madzin was. Best to wrap things up, and get what he came for.

“I do need your help,” Knot said, looking Rudak in the eye. It took effort; Rudak stood more than a head taller than Knot.

“Figured you would,” Rudak muttered. “I’m at your service, Madzin. You know I’m not one to deny you, or the people you work for.”

Knot nodded. “I need to cross the border, discreetly. You can do this?”

Rudak snorted. “Course I can. Done it for you a dozen times over, haven’t I? Safe and smooth, each time.”

“Then I need you to do it again. Tonight, perhaps tomorrow at the latest.”

“Very well. Just you, then? Or is there an entire
cotir
with you this time?”

Knot hesitated. That word—
cotir
—resonated. He couldn’t recall it, but it sounded familiar. Just like some of the words Astrid used. Knot would have to remember to ask her about them. Which brought up another issue: Astrid, he was sure, would insist on tagging along to Roden. And he doubted he could just send Winter and Lian back to Pranna after they had come so far to find him—especially in light of some of the things Lian had told him.

Knot’s jaw set at the thought of Winter. She was here, in Navone, with him. He had not been able to bring himself to share a room with her. He had avoided her, really. He wanted to help her, and he was certainly glad she was safe, but he felt incredible shame at having left her in the first place. He didn’t know how to act around her. Her presence was oddly confusing.

“Not sure,” Knot said. “Maybe just me. Maybe more. Can you prepare for a group, if need be?”

Rudak raised an eyebrow. “That’s a new one,” he said. “You’re not sure how many are crossing. Shouldn’t be a problem, though. Whether it’s you or a group, we can get you across. Of course, by group I mean only a few people, no more than five or six. Even
I
couldn’t get an entire troop through the gates.”

“I know,” Knot said. “That’ll do.” He hesitated. “Some in the group may be tiellans. Will that be a problem?”

Rudak snorted. “Won’t be a problem for me. But good luck moving them around in Roden without getting noticed. I don’t think I need to remind you of the penalties for that, under Rodenese law.”

Knot shook his head. The best they could hope for was immediate deportation, but imprisonment without trial was more common, and, in some cases, the trespassing tiellans—and their companions—were put to death.

Rudak turned back towards the Sorensan Pass. “Tonight will be difficult, especially if it’s a group. Best we plan on tomorrow night. Same time as usual?”

Knot hesitated. He couldn’t agree; then he wouldn’t know when in Oblivion they were meeting. But if he said a random time and it
wasn’t
the “same time as usual” that Rudak referred to…

“Midnight.” A shot in the dark.

Rudak nodded. “Doable. Later than usual, but we can make it work. I’ll meet you near the Roden Gate.”

“Good,” Knot said.
This just might work after all
.

Rudak grinned. “Now let’s get out of this tower. Being up so high gives me shakes.”

“W
HAT DO WE DO
now?” Cinzia asked.

They had gathered old armchairs and benches from the tunnels around a small fire in the main chamber. Jane sat to her left, and Kovac to her right. Across from her stood Knot, the two tiellans, and the girl—the vampire. Winter, the tiellan woman, sat between Knot and Lian. She still looked weak, although her moving around was a good sign. Cinzia, having learned the mechanics of physicianry and healing at the seminary in Triah, had been monitoring Winter. The tiellan did not seem to have suffered any real injury, but her body was obviously recovering from… something. What it was Cinzia did not know, and Winter had refused to say. But when Cinzia looked into the girl’s eyes, she saw a darkness that went beyond the color of her irises.

Cinzia noticed Jane staring at Winter, and not for the first time. Cinzia did not understand Jane’s fascination with the girl; Jane had no medical training, and Cinzia had not told her sister anything she had discerned about Winter—confidentiality was paramount when it came to practicing physicianry. Besides, Cinzia was far more worried about the vampire. Astrid’s eyes glowed in the darkness of the cavern. Cinzia shivered.

Knot’s tiellan companions explained to some extent why he spoke the way he did. Although, strangely, Winter did not seem to speak like a tiellan at all. The group was odd, indeed.

Cinzia and Kovac had called this meeting to establish what they should do next. Part of her feared that Knot and his companions were inclined to turn her and Jane in to the Denomination. Cinzia did not trust Knot, but Kovac seemed to. Kovac said the man knew his way around in a fight, and that they might have a need for such talent. It was terrible to admit it, but Cinzia knew her Goddessguard was not wrong.

Is he even my Goddessguard anymore?
she wondered. Her status as a priestess would not last long, given what happened yesterday. Nayome had surely seen Cinzia helping Jane. Cinzia breathed deep. She could not think of that now. There were more immediate matters.

“We have work to do,” Jane said. She was looking at Cinzia. “We need somewhere to do it. Somewhere safe.”

It was the first time Cinzia had heard anything about
work
. She looked at Jane in confusion.

“Our family is safe,” Jane said. “It is best if they lie low for a time. Who knows what kind of retribution the horrors we saw yesterday will lead to. It is safer for everyone involved if we leave, too.”

Cinzia nodded. She could still barely think about what had happened in the Circle Square. She could not believe the place where she had grown up had become the site of a massacre. And, to make matters worse, no one seemed to have any idea what had happened. Weapons had flown through the air of their own accord; she had seen Sons of Canta themselves careening over the Circle Square, smashing into one another.

And so many people had been killed.

“Perhaps we should follow them to Tinska,” Jane said, suddenly. “We will be safe there.” Tinska was a small town directly west of Navone, on the coast of the Wyndric Ocean.

Cinzia, however, did not think following them was a good idea. Jane was dangerous, whether she realized it or not. Cinzia was not about to expose the rest of her family to more peril.

“I am not sure Tinska is where we should go,” Cinzia said.

“Our family will be there.
We
need to go there, Cinzia, to finish the work Canta has given us.”

Cinzia frowned. “What work? What are you talking about, Jane?”

Jane lowered her gaze, looking into the fire. “I can’t tell you,” she said. “But you will understand in time.”

Cinzia laughed mirthlessly. “No. I have sacrificed too much for you. We have
all
sacrificed too much for you, Jane. I am not doing anything else until you tell me what in Oblivion is going on.”

“My lady,” Kovac said, quietly. He was trying to stop the argument. Cinzia sighed. He was right to do so.

“Yes, Kovac?” Cinzia said.

“Perhaps we should seek to understand what
their
plans are,” Kovac said, nodding towards Knot, “before we decide anything ourselves.”

Cinzia nodded. “Of course.” She looked at Knot, who seemed the de facto leader of the ragtag group. The man’s eyes still bothered Cinzia. The eyes of a dead man. “I’m afraid our destinies are intertwined, at least for a time. Knot, have you and your…” Cinzia paused. The tiellans certainly were not his servants, but if not, what were they? “Your friends,” she said, finally, “decided where you will go from here?”