Fallen Blade 04 - Blade Reforged (28 page)

That was all that I had left of her, but for the first time in seven long years I
was beginning to see that someday, that might be enough.

“A
bsolutely
not!” Maylien slammed her fist down on the table. “Are you fucking insane, Aral?
Why would you even consider trusting your life to some wild-ass story told by Devin
Nightblade!”

Bontrang shrieked a sharp accompaniment to Maylien’s anger when she said that name.
The little gryphinx might not be as bright as Triss, but he was a hell of a lot smarter
than either the eagle or the house cat who supplied his distant antecedents, and he
had a powerful hate for Devin. The rogue Blade had once taken him and Maylien prisoner
and used a threat to his life to control Maylien—kill the familiar, kill the mage.

Prixia didn’t shriek, but she looked even angrier than Maylien and her words came
out low and deadly, “After the disaster on Sanjin Bridge, I can’t imagine letting
you risk more of our troops on another scheme to assassinate Thauvik.” She turned
to Maylien. “I can’t conscience throwing lives away on a mad plan like this one.”

I’d expected resistance, but not this much or so angry.
“It’s not mad, I was able to slay one of the risen using Devin’s swords before, and—”

Maylien cut me off. “And you yourself have said that you don’t know why the magic
of the swords worked for you where it had not for Devin. Look, I sympathize with the
desire to end this short of a war, but there are just too many things that could go
wrong. Devin might be lying. If he isn’t, he might change his mind and not give you
his swords. You told me last time we talked about this that the swords had to come
to you freely. If he does hand them over, and they work, you still don’t know that
you can beat the Kitsune. Your last encounter with her didn’t go so well.”

“True, but that’s no guarantee of how things will go when next we meet. I was surprised
before; unprepared, and off balance from the discovery that she was still alive.”

Maylien shook her head. “Even if it goes perfectly, you’re going to have to pivot
straight from a fight with her to taking on Thauvik, and Devin won’t have any incentive
for you to succeed there. Quite the contrary. What happens if he revokes his permission
to use his swords? Will they continue to work for you then? This is crazy, Aral. Don’t
throw your life away on the word of someone who’s already betrayed you more than once.”

Triss spoke from the place Maylien had made for him at the council table—a bare patch
of white wall with no chair blocking his view. “Maybe they’re right, Aral. Maybe this
is madness and we just can’t see it because we grew up with Devin.”

Heyin nodded, but didn’t add anything more.

I straightened my back and took a deep breath. “I agree with every word you’re saying
about the risks. If anyone knows the cost of Devin’s betrayals, it’s me. But if there’s
any chance his offer is legitimate, we have to at least think about it. Once the war
starts rolling for real, there will be no way to stop it. Thousands will die. Perhaps
tens of thousands.”

I looked straight at Maylien. “And you’re going to have to come out of the shadows
to fight it. An army won’t rally around a queen they can’t see. The second you make
yourself visible, you’re going to be opening yourself up to assassination by the Kitsune.
If I spend every waking second with you, and I see her coming, I might,
might
, be able to stop her. But a betting man wouldn’t put any money on it. My fight with
Devin has reminded me of the dangers of putting mortal steel up against the blades
of the goddess. I can’t protect you by fighting defensively.”

I turned to Heyin. “You’re the commander of Maylien’s guard. If the Kitsune comes
for her, she is almost certainly going to kill her. The only way to stand any real
chance of stopping the Kitsune is to do it before she moves. Tell me that’s not worth
some risks.”

Heyin looked down at the table. “I…dammit, Aral, that’s not a fair argument.”

“No, but that doesn’t make it any less true.” I flicked my gaze to Prixia. “Look,
I fucked up on the bridge about as badly as it’s possible to fuck up. I got your brother
and half a dozen other good soldiers killed. That’s on my soul, and nothing I can
do will bring them back or excuse me for their deaths when I face the lords of judgment.
I can’t begin to express how sorry I am for that. I should have seen the possibility
that Thauvik was risen, full stop. I didn’t because it’s such an insane proposition—that
one of the best-guarded men in the whole world could have been given the curse—and
I fucked it up completely.”

Prixia’s eyes flashed and she half rose out of her seat, but I held up a hand. “Wait,
let me finish. I owe you a blood price for that. Once this is all over, if we’re both
still alive, we can settle the debt however you want. Steel against steel, barehanded,
poison in one glass, wine the other, and blindfolds for both, whatever you choose.
But for right now, you are going to put it aside and you are going to do what needs
to be done for Thauvik to go down. Because otherwise, your brother will have died
for nothing.”

“I…” She took a deep breath and sat back down, though her eyes still burned bright
and furious. “You’re right. I fucked up, too. I trusted you to succeed on the bridge
and I ordered my brother to follow you based on that trust.”

Ouch!
sent Triss.

Yes, but I deserved it.
I felt like the world’s biggest asshole, laying things on Prixia like I had, but
it was true. I needed her to put her grief and anger aside and focus on what had to
be done. That was one of the harder lessons I had learned at the temple, and there
was no gentle way to teach it.
She can hate me all she wants later if we win. Right now I need her help to defeat
Thauvik. If we lose, it’s not going to matter.

Oblivious to my exchange with Triss, Prixia kept right on speaking. “If I’m going
to pay the debt I owe my brother’s memory, I must do as you say for now and focus
on defeating Thauvik. But, and I promise you this, I
will
collect what I am owed from you as well when the time comes.”

“I would expect no less of you, clan leader.” I turned back so that I was squarely
facing Maylien. “This has a real chance of working if Devin comes through. If he doesn’t,
you’ll be out one slightly broken-down assassin and a few good soldiers. That’s a
high price, but not, I think, beyond what a queen must be willing to pay if the need
calls for it.”

I could see that she wanted to swear at me. If we’d been in private, she probably
would have bitten my head clean off. Instead, she gently inclined her own. “Much as
I hate to admit it, you might have a point.” Before I could say a word, she held up
a hand. “Might.”

She turned to her field commander. “Prixia, put together a force for a mission that’s
going to cost a lot of lives even if it goes perfectly to plan. Volunteers only, and
make damn sure they know what they’re getting into. Tell them about what happened
on the bridge. I’m not sure who we can get to command it, since Aral’s going to have
to focus on the Kitsune and Thauvik once they’re inside. That’s going to be a problem.”

“No,” said Heyin, “it won’t. I’ll lead them, and don’t give me that look. If Aral
is right and Devin really needs our help to get out from under the Kitsune, and we
can use that to kill Thauvik, it’s not a suicide mission. If he’s wrong…well, I’m
old and my reflexes are getting slower by the day.
If it comes to war, I’m not likely to see the end of it anyway. This gives me a chance
to save a lot of lives at a cost I don’t begrudge. And, no, I won’t be ordered out
of it, or persuaded.”

Maylien looked like someone had just stabbed her in the heart, but she didn’t argue
with Heyin. Instead she turned her gaze my way, and the message was clear. If I got
Heyin killed for nothing, I was as dead to her as he would be. I met her eyes and
nodded faintly to let her know I understood.

When Maylien spoke next, her voice held not the slightest hint of the pain I knew
she was feeling, and I admired her all the more for it. “Aral, talk to Devin again.
Work out the details. Make damn sure he’s not playing you. If you can convince me
that’s the case, we’ll do this and the credit or blame will fall on your shoulders.”

*

Talking
to Devin was proving to be a lot more trouble than I’d hoped. Before we parted, he’d
given me the location of a message drop where I could leave him a note asking for
a meeting. Since he could only check it as often as he could worm his way free of
Nuriko’s eye, I was supposed to choose a location and wait for him to signal me back
as to when to meet. Of course, I still didn’t trust him as far as I could reasonably
throw Harad’s dragon familiar, so I had picked a location where I could get away easily
if he was trying to set me up.

Unfortunately, the signal never came, and every time I checked behind the loose brick
Devin had picked for the drop, I found the very first message I’d left for him untouched.
And not in a, he’d read it and put it back sort of way—I’d arranged a couple of fragments
of mortar so that if the message was moved I’d be able to tell. No, this was a not-checking-the-drop-at-all
kind of unmoved. After a week, I did a risky circuit around the outer perimeter of
the palace checking for shadow trails, but if either Devin or the Kitsune had come
and gone recently, they’d done so without leaving any traces.

As the two-week mark approached, I really started to worry. Two more circuits on consecutive
nights produced no evidence that Devin was even alive. By then, Maylien was pushing
me hard, saying that if I couldn’t get things set up soon, she was going to cancel
the preparations. And, she didn’t have the resources to let four score of good soldiers
sit idle—the number we’d settled on. Tonight would mark the beginning of a third week
since I’d left my message. If there was no signal and no sign it had been received…

What do you think, Triss?
I asked as I watched the drop from a distance—no way I was going to go in to check
it without making sure no one else was spying on the spot first.

About what?

Assume for a moment Devin hasn’t picked up the message.

Good assumption,
Triss mindspoke dryly.

What do we do then? Head up and make another loop around the palace?
The drop was in the wall of a tenement in the Little Varya neighborhood, about midway
between the palace and the harbor.

That’s freaking dangerous and lousy tradecraft. Do you have any reason to suspect
we’d find anything different this time?
His mind voice sounded deeply skeptical.

No,
I replied.

Are you willing to give this up?

You mean step back and let a war start?

That’s what I thought.
Triss let out a mental sigh.
So, what do you want to do about it? Devin either can’t get out of the palace, or
he simply won’t visit the drop, and we can’t make him do either one.

I think we’re going to have to go into the palace and look for him. We have to find
out what’s keeping him from checking the drop like he said he would.

First, that’s insane. Second, “what’s keeping him from checking the drop like he said
he would”? This is Devin we’re talking about. Betrayed you. Betrayed the order. Betrayed
Namara. He’s not exactly known for keeping his
word. Third, that’s insane. Fourth, did I mention that it’s insane?

I’m getting the sense that you think this plan’s not the best one I’ve ever had, Triss.
So, what’s your alternative? Give up and let the war start?

Sometimes I really hate being your shadow.

Does that mean we’re going to the palace?

Yes, it means we’re going to the palace. As much as I don’t trust Devin, he didn’t
kill us when he had the chance the other night, though it was damned obvious he wanted
to. That suggests he really is in over his head with the Kitsune. Enough of the rest
of his story makes sense on its own, or checks out—we know Thauvik is one of the restless
dead, and we’ve heard Kelos spouting that inherent corruption of governments line—that
I tend to believe him when he says he needs our help. If that means we get one more
shot at ending this short of thousands of gallons of blood spilled in the streets,
we have to try.

Maybe now you’ll admit I’m not so crazy after all.

No, crazy and right aren’t exclusive. I haven’t once said you’re wrong about this,
just that it’s insane. Now shut up and check the drop so we can justify doing the
insane.

Moving from one shadow to another to maximize the effect of my shroud, I slipped down
to the wall. Devin had chosen well, picking a spot behind a small tree that kept it
soaked in shadow no matter what time of day or night one might approach. Now, with
that shadow deepened to impenetrable by Triss, I slipped the brick out and looked
behind it.