Harlequin Nocturne May 2016 Box Set (19 page)

The Opir nodded once, his mouth slack and his eyes glazed. Isis rose, took a long breath, and moved to the next guard.

The last two required a little more effort, but Isis finished with confidence that the guards would follow her instructions. She met Daniel's gaze.

“I have done what I could,” she said.

“Then we need to go,” Daniel said. He waited for her to pull her cowl over her head, grabbed her hand, and pulled her down the ramp.

“There is much I must tell you,” she said, a little breathless. “How are matters in the human wards?”

“Improving,” he said. “Wiser heads are beginning to prevail.”

At least nobody had tried to storm the towers, Isis thought. Given the anger she had felt among the humans, it would not have shocked her.

“We must find Hannibal,” she said.

He looked at her as if she'd gone mad. “Why?”

“Because he is connected to the disappearance of the humans. We must know why they've been taken, and to what extent Anu is involved.”

“It's too dangerous now.”

“Trust me, Daniel.”

“I wish I could trust you to take care of yourself.”

As they began to slow their pace, Isis checked her hood to make sure it covered most of her face. “Is there any reason that someone might be after you?” she asked.

“I went to talk to Hugh and his band, trying to get them to help,” Daniel said. “I've avoided everyone else on my way here.”

“Then we must keep a very low profile until we can find a way to get Hannibal alone.”

“And if he answers our questions? What do you think Anu will do once Hannibal tells him that we interrogated him?”

“We cannot let him go, Daniel.”

He cast a sharp glance at her. “You mean we'll have to kill him?”

“I don't know.”

“You aren't a murderer, Isis.”

“I hope we can find another way.” With a quick glance left and right, Isis took the back lanes through Hera's ward, where she and Daniel found only small groups of humans huddled in their doorways or watching nervously from shelter. In Bes's ward there was more commotion, but Daniel had been correct; it seemed quieter than it had been when Isis had left for her apartment, and she caught sight of Bes himself talking with a small group of humans who looked as though they had been in a fight.

Avoiding Bes, Isis led Daniel in a roundabout search for Hannibal. They reached her ward and found Anu and several of the Nine addressing a crowd of humans from the steps of the Hall of Justice. Hannibal stood slightly behind Anu, staring down into the crowd. The people moved restlessly as if a breeze were blowing them this way and that.

“It isn't over,” Daniel whispered close to Isis's ear as they crouched at the corner of one of the administrative buildings. “Anu has these people under his spell.”

CHAPTER 20

I
sis didn't want to admit it, but she, too, felt the pull of Anu's power. He could not control the entire city, whatever some humans might believe, but a throng of this size was not beyond his skill. When the humans began to disperse, their expressions relaxed in spite of scratched and dirty faces, Isis and Daniel remained still and watched to see what Anu would do next.

He exchanged a few words with Ishtar, Hera and Hermes, who had been standing with him, and quickly walked down the steps. The other members of the Nine lingered a moment longer and then separated, leaving Hannibal standing on the steps alone.

Daniel hissed through his teeth. “We have him,” he said.

“Now we have to catch him,” Isis said.

“I'll follow him. You stay here. If you aren't with me, no one can claim you were threatening him.”

“And nobody will be with you to help keep him quiet and restrained once he's caught.”

“Damn it,” Daniel breathed. “Isis, you—” He broke off. “Hannibal's moving.” He jumped up from his crouch and ran back through the small strip of garden between their building and the one beside it. Isis ran after him into the alley behind, and they remained parallel to Hannibal as he strode in the direction of the main tower.

Apparently there were no shuttles running, because Isis knew that an Opir as proud as Hannibal would never walk if he could ride. Still they had to wait for the right moment to catch him alone and out of sight of observers—just as he was approaching the ramp to the causeway.

“Hannibal!” Isis called, emerging from her hiding place. “I have been looking for you.”

The Opir stared at her. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Why are you not in your rooms?”

“Why was I excluded from Anu's meeting with the citizens at the Hall of Justice?” she countered.

Hannibal blinked. “Anu is concerned for you,” he said. “You were attacked—”

“But he's not interested in protecting her,” Daniel said, striding out of the shadows. He pushed Hannibal into the slight recess under the ramp. “What
does
he want with her?”

Hannibal tried to shove his way past Daniel, but Daniel knocked the Opir's cowl aside and pinned him to the wall by his throat. “Anu is afraid of Isis, isn't he?” he asked. “Why? Because she's his only true equal in Tanis?”

“That isn't important now,” Isis said. She addressed Hannibal. “I want to know about the humans who have disappeared, and why you keep a list of them in your quarters.”

Eyes widening, Hannibal looked genuinely shocked for a moment, and then broke into a laugh. “You entered Anu's Household without permission?”

“He doesn't even bother to deny it,” Daniel said. He grabbed a handful of Hannibal's collar and twisted it in his fist. “We're betting that Anu doesn't want this getting out to the entire city after what's gone on today. Tell us the truth, and you won't meet with any unfortunate accidents.”

Once again Hannibal fought to escape, using brute Opir strength, but Daniel held him where he was.

“You cannot do this,” he gasped, and Isis sensed that he meant Daniel's unusual capabilities as well as his right to hold and question Hannibal.

“Why was that list of humans in your office?” Daniel asked.

It was not a long interrogation. For all his bluster, Hannibal seemed frightened of Daniel, and Isis could see why. There was a ruthlessness in the human's face and eyes she had never seen before, an absolute commitment to getting answers at any price.

“You will be executed,” Hannibal said in a strangled whisper.

Daniel didn't react. He repeated the question. Hannibal answered—hesitantly, his pale face tinged with green.

When he had finished, Isis felt sick, and Daniel was grimly silent.
Anu and his chosen companions mean ill for the humans of Tanis
, the stranger in the elevator had told her. Isis didn't know what she had expected, but it wasn't this.

“What do we do with him?” Daniel asked, his voice as cold as winter sweeping down from the mountains.

That was the ugly question, Isis thought. They could simply remove his cowl and expose him to the sunlight in the lower city, where the shadow of the dome didn't reach.

But she wasn't ready to kill, despite her hatred. “Where is Anu now?” she asked him.

“He said he was...gathering his worshippers,” Hannibal said, choking and coughing.

Daniel looked at Isis. “His worshippers?” he echoed. “The people he mesmerized at the Hall of Justice?”

“I do not believe so,” Isis said, her gaze turned inward. “That is not worship.”

“What do you mean?” Daniel asked Hannibal.

“He's a god,” Hannibal whispered. “He has...never been satisfied with anything less.”

“I think I understand,” Isis said. “Where does he assemble these worshippers?”

“In an abandoned part of the city,” Hannibal said.

“You're going to show us,” Daniel said.

“If Anu sees you, he will kill you both.”

“And if you don't take us, I'll shove you out into the sun.”

There was no doubt that Hannibal believed Daniel. Isis pulled the Opir's hood over his head, made certain that there were no observers, and gestured for Daniel to bring Hannibal out from under the shadow of the ramp.

Keeping to the less traveled streets between largely abandoned buildings under the dome, Isis and Daniel forced Hannibal to lead them, Daniel's hand locked like a vise around Hannibal's wrist. After a fifteen-minute walk, they reached the completely deserted east side of the city, deep under the dome and far from the nearest two towers. Hannibal became very quiet. With Daniel's less-than-gentle encouragement, he led them along a street almost directly under the causeway. The street passed between two cracked pillars, and beyond the pillars was a heavy gate, firmly closed. The gate did not look old.

“There,” Hannibal said under his breath. “That is where he summons them.”

“What is this place?” Daniel asked, scanning the door.

“The old arena,” Isis said, shivering. “The previous Bloodlords and Bloodmasters, the ones we cast out, used to pit humans against each other in combat.”

“Is there another way in?” Daniel asked Hannibal, his eyes glittering with rage.

“We must wait a little,” Hannibal said.

“For what?” Daniel asked.

“For Anu to set the stage. Only then will you understand.”

“If you're tricking us—”

“Listen,” Isis said. They all held their breaths as the sound of approaching feet broke the silence. The three of them hurried away from the gate and rounded the corner of the wall to hide and watch. Human men and women carrying strange regalia entered the gate. Isis counted over a hundred people. After ten minutes, the last humans entered and barred the door behind them.

Still, Hannibal made it clear that they should wait until it was obvious no more visitors would arrive. Only then did he lead Isis and Daniel along a passageway between an outer wall and the inner one enclosing the arena, stopping at a smaller side door only wide enough for a single man to pass through at a time. It was unlocked. A stairway set into the wall led to some higher level.

“The mezzanine,” Hannibal said.

Shoving the Opir ahead, Daniel began to climb the stairs. Isis followed. She became aware of a droning sound like that of many voices humming or chanting, and when they reached the balcony and peered over the edge, she saw what made the noise.

More than a hundred humans crouched on the ground facing the balcony on the other side of the arena. Anu sat on a richly upholstered throne while, just below him, men wearing sun and demon masks acted out some kind of ritual on the arena floor. They spoke words of praise and awe, bowing to Anu again and again, while the other humans bent their heads to the ground.

“Worship,” Isis murmured. “It
is
what he wants.”

“These people can't be here of their own free will,” Daniel said. “It's no better than slavery.”

“And this is only the beginning,” Hannibal said. “Do you believe Anu will be content with only a hundred worshippers?”

“Do you think any of the other Nine know about this?” Daniel asked.

Certainly not Athena, Bes or Hermes, Isis thought. “If Anu has taken such great pains to hide this,” she said, “they must not.”

“Then either he believes something bad will happen if his extracurricular activities become common knowledge,” Daniel said, “or he's not ready to reveal what he's done.” He stared at the ground. “It all makes sense now. If Anu can provoke humans to fight and then sends the Lawkeepers to arrest them, he can take more humans for himself.” He turned on Hannibal. “You've been part of this from the beginning.”

“Daniel,” Isis said, touching his arm, “we must not remain here any longer.”

His gaze met hers, hard and ruthless. “You're right. Anu knows you'll oppose him with all your strength. I'm going to get you out of Tanis.”

She shook her head. “Few Opiri in Tanis will be sanguine about Anu setting himself up as a true god. They will see—”

“But will they act?” Daniel asked. “Or will they simply let themselves fall back into the old patterns?”

As Isis began to answer, Hannibal jerked free of Daniel's hold and darted away. Daniel made a move to follow, but Isis held him back.

“You will never catch him now,” she said. “And he has betrayed Anu by showing all this to us. I think he will hide until he knows what will come of this.”

“And what
will
come of this, Isis?” Daniel asked.

“You are wrong about the Opiri here. They will not accept what Anu has done. You have met Bes, Athena and her companions, and you know they are not—”

“I've also met the Opir who tried to kill that girl.”

Isis and Daniel stared at each other, painfully at odds in a way Isis could hardly bear.

“I believe that Anu will kill you without hesitation as soon as he learns that you know about the missing humans,” Daniel said. “I can hide among Hugh's Underground.
You
can't.”

“And will you tell the rebels about the disappearances?” Isis asked. “You will only create more chaos that could play right into Anu's hands.”

“They have to know, Isis.”

“Then we must agree on a strategy that will not make things worse.”

Isis touched Daniel's fisted hand, sick with regret and grief. “You must go, Daniel. But I
must
stay.” She stopped his protest with a fingertip against his lips. “Listen to me. I will determine a safe time to approach my allies and explain the circumstances. If it comes to a direct confrontation, some of the Nine will stand with me.”

All Daniel's feelings were in his eyes. “You know I can't leave you,” he said.

“I fear for
you
, Daniel.”

“I can't let you do it. Your life is the most important one in this city. You know it.”

Isis was silent, realizing that she would never convince Daniel to change his mind. She had to play along, see him to safety and then do whatever must be done.

“There is a way out of the city which only a few know of,” she said, “a small, unguarded gate within my ward, off one of the lanes behind the Immigrant Center. That does not mean that it will be easy to access. But it will be simpler than confronting guards who may have been instructed not to let us leave Tanis.” She paused. “We will wait until dusk.”

“We'd better find a place to hide until then,” Daniel said.

Though it wasn't much of a plan, they made their cautious way toward the front of the city. There, in Bes's ward, they found an empty building to wait out the remainder of the day. The streets were quiet now, and no one disturbed them. A little before dusk they emerged and walked with casual confidence toward the Immigrant Center.

Shouts arrested them in their progress, and Isis turned to look toward the depository. Another protest was in progress, but this time a much larger one, attended by fifty or more men and women with signs, chanting slogans and harassing the few Opiri who emerged from the building. One of the Opiri paused to argue, and a human struck him in the face. Other humans dragged the Opir down, crying out with animal-like voices.

Immediately the other Opiri came to his aid, and there were cries of pain and terror. Isis smelled blood. She knew she had to intervene, even at the risk of compromising her plan to get Daniel to safety.

“Wait here,” she said to Daniel before she ran toward the melee. She heard Daniel curse behind her, his low voice gradually lost amid the angry howls of the mob.

A mob that had become a monster. Other Opiri had found their way to the fight, and their greater strength was beginning to leave its mark on the struggling humans.

A few moments later Daniel was there beside her, speaking to the humans in the calm voice of authority she had heard him use before.

This time the humans didn't listen. Isis knew that her influence might stop them. But Anu had demonstrated how easily that power could be turned to evil. If she gave way again...

She had no time to think. As Daniel tried to intervene, Isis fought to save human lives from Opiri whose predatory instincts had been fully aroused, even placing herself physically between one of her people and his prey. More humans arrived, greatly outnumbering the Opiri, and the tide turned again. Opiri's cowls were pulled from their heads, exposing vulnerable skin to the open sky overhead.

Before Isis could move to their aid, a dozen Lawkeepers were surrounding the roiling crowd, grabbing Daniel as they stunned the other humans. Isis cried out for them to stop, but they ignored her, bound the humans—including Daniel—and herded the dazed captives toward the Hall of Justice.