Imperial Spy (33 page)

The King was there, his face grave and lined with a mixture of sadness and anger. A cloth covered a body lying on a long table behind him. The room held a strange odour, but Femke did not want
to think about the mixture of things that caused it.

The Royal Guards saluted the King. Danar and Femke bowed.

‘Thank you,’ King Malo acknowledged, waving the guards to leave and beckoning for Lord Danar to come closer. ‘I’m sorry to call for you so early, but a series of events
occurred last night that concern you closely. I felt I had to put comfort aside and try to get to the bottom of this matter as swiftly as I could.’

‘What’s happened, your Majesty?’ Danar asked curiously. ‘Has there been another murder? If so, how does this involve me? Am I implicated in some way?’

‘Yes, there has been another murder, but the motive for this one was far clearer than the previous ones. At the moment you are not directly implicated. However, given that you arrived
yesterday, the timing of this is rather unfortunate. Ambassador Femke escaped last night.’

‘She did?’ Danar gasped. His shocked voice sounded convincing to Femke. She was impressed, as she had not thought Danar would dissemble well. ‘Is Femke now accused of yet
another murder? Who was the victim this time?’

‘There’s no proof that Ambassador Femke killed anyone this time,’ the King answered carefully. ‘In fact, I find it unlikely. The person killed was a young prison guard
who was on duty outside her cell last night, but Femke did not necessarily kill him. The Ambassador had outside help with her escape. We believe this man aided her,’ he said, pulling back the
sheet that was covering the body on the table. ‘Do you know him?’

‘Alas, yes I do,’ Danar replied sadly, causing the King’s eyes to narrow and Femke to look at him sharply. ‘His name is Ennas and he worked in the Palace in Shandar.
I’ve seen him there, though I’m not entirely sure what his role in the Palace was.’

Femke was stunned on two counts. Seeing the body of a man who had given his life for her freedom was shock enough, but hearing Danar confess to knowing him froze her to the core. What was he
thinking of? Had the sight of her fellow spy, Ennas, his face drained of life and drawn with the pain of his demise, completely unhinged Danar’s common sense?

‘Did you know he was here in Mantor?’ the King asked quietly, continuing to watch Danar’s face closely.

‘No, I didn’t. I don’t remember him being a member of Ambassador Femke’s party. If I remember correctly, she took two servants and two guards with her. I’m sure
Ennas wasn’t among them,’ Danar answered thoughtfully.

Femke was impressed. When Danar had first admitted to knowing Ennas, she thought he had been about to blurt out everything, but instead he was lying with true skill. He was blending the perfect
amount of truth with his fabrications to make the whole believable. She had underestimated him, she realised, her mind still in shock from the sight of Ennas on the table.

‘And what of you, young man? Do you know this Ennas?’ the King asked Femke gently.

‘I’m not sure, your Majesty. His face does look familiar. So many people work at the Imperial Palace that it’s hard to be sure. I haven’t had a chance to meet all of them
yet. I’ve not worked there long.’

The King’s eyes narrowed slightly again as he watched Femke give her answer. Her heart leaped for an instant as she thought the King had seen through her disguise. A flicker that bordered
on recognition dawned in his eyes, then the moment of clarity passed and he nodded his acceptance of her answer.

‘I understand. This Palace is much the same. It takes years to get to know all the house staff, never mind all those who come and go. I still don’t know everyone by name and I make a
positive effort to do so. Don’t fret over it. Ambassador Femke will not be able to run for ever. Sooner or later she’ll face the charges levelled against her. I’ll discuss it
further with your Emperor when he arrives. In the meantime, I suggest you both stay in your rooms as much as possible in case anything else untoward happens.’

‘Of course, your Majesty – whatever you desire. If possible I’d like to discuss things with you further before his Imperial Majesty arrives, but I’ll understand if events
prevent it,’ Danar said graciously.

‘Thank you, Lord Danar. There is much going on here that I don’t understand. I’ll call for you again later. Thank you for coming so promptly. Please, do go now. I need to think
on this turn of events, for there’s much that does not fit together as it should. I’m trying to comprehend what Ambassador Femke hoped to achieve by her actions, but nothing is adding
up. A stroll in the gardens should bring some clarity to my thoughts.’

Danar and Femke bowed and left the room. The two guards were waiting outside and immediately stiffened to attention as the door opened.

‘Do you need us to lead you back to your quarters?’ one of the guards asked Danar.

‘No, there’s no need, thank you,’ Danar answered with a friendly smile. ‘I think I noted the way accurately, and I can always ask someone if I become unsure. The King
spoke of going for a stroll in the grounds. Given the troubled events of the last few weeks, might I suggest it would be more appropriate if you accompanied him on his walk? The Palace has proved a
dangerous place recently. I don’t like to think of his Majesty walking the grounds alone at the moment. Enough damage has been done to relationships between our two countries. Let’s not
run the risk of a total catastrophe, shall we?’

The two guards looked at one another and then back at Lord Danar. They nodded and bowed.

‘We’ll do as you suggest, my Lord,’ said the spokesman of the two. ‘Thank you.’

Danar nodded back and set off down the corridor with Femke once again following a few paces behind. He did not turn to see if she were there, or speak to her at all. He simply walked silently
along the reverse of their route from the visitors’ suite.

Femke understood his silence, for she was deep in thought as well. Part of her mind was mourning Ennas, whilst another was trying to imagine a sequence of events that would lead to his killing a
guard and trying to escape. The image of Ennas on the table in the morgue filled her thoughts. Unfortunately, this lack of focus on her surroundings could not have come at a worse time.

It was the slightest flicker of a movement, but it was enough to break through Femke’s reverie and register in her mind as danger. Without thinking she launched forward into a dive and
shunted Danar to the left. A blade flashed through the air, passing just over Femke and directly through the path Danar had been walking. Someone had leaned around a corner ahead and hurled the
blade with deadly accuracy. Femke landed heavily, her mind leaping to the conclusion that the ‘someone’ had to be Shalidar. The spy was on her feet again in a flash.

‘Get back to the suite,’ she ordered Danar, who had crashed into the wall and fallen to the floor. ‘Don’t open the door without Royal Guards present. I’ll get there
as quickly as I can.’

With that she sprinted off down the corridor and around the corner in pursuit of the assassin. What she was going to do when she caught up with him, Femke was not sure. Shalidar was bound to be
carrying more weapons and she was unarmed, but Femke desperately wanted to catch him. It was now a matter of principle. He had taken the bait. The rest was up to her.

As she turned the corner, Femke caught a glimpse of a running figure disappearing into another side corridor a little way down on the right. Powering forward as fast as she could, Femke raced
after the fleeing figure. As she turned the corner into the side corridor, he was already out of sight again, having made another turn into the small maze of passages that made up this part of the
Palace.

Damn, he’s fast! she thought, zipping ahead to the next intersection where she paused to listen. The thick carpet muffled the sound of the assassin’s footfalls, but it did not
silence them completely. Femke could hear enough to tell that he had turned right again. He’s circling around, she realised with a surge of panic. If Shalidar gets to Danar before he’s
moved, the crafty fox will get a second chance.

The thought that Shalidar would get to Danar before she caught up with him injected even more pace into her legs and she all but flew down the corridor in pursuit. When she reached the next
intersection, the assassin had turned right again and once more she caught a fleeting glimpse of him disappearing around a curve in the corridor ahead.

As Femke passed the place where she had left Danar a minute or so before, she was pleased to find he was no longer there. With luck the assassin would not follow the same path through the Palace
as Danar, she thought. Femke had not noticed the assassin’s knife anywhere along the corridor, so either Shalidar or Danar must have picked it up.

Please let it be Danar, she prayed as she pelted along the corridor, her jaw set with fierce determination.

Suddenly, Femke reached a four-way junction and she skidded to a halt. To her astonishment there was no sign of the assassin anywhere, yet she could see a significant distance in all directions.
Nobody could run that fast.

Trying hard to control her panting breath, Femke strained to listen for signs of the assassin’s footfalls. At first, she thought the blood pounding in her ears was masking his escape, but
as she calmed her breathing still further, Femke realised there was no sound to listen for. Shalidar had disappeared.

‘Damn you, Shalidar!’ she shouted in frustration, punching one fist into her other hand in extreme annoyance. ‘Damn you to hell!’

The assassin must have somehow slipped through one of the many doors along the corridors, but whether she had passed his hiding place, or whether it was further on from the junction, Femke had
no way of knowing. It struck her that although she had not caught the assassin, neither had she come across Lord Danar. This was good, in that Shalidar was also unlikely to have seen him; but
confusing, as she would have expected Danar to return to his room this way. Danar had disappeared as well.

What in Shand’s name is going on? she wondered. What should she do next? Searching the rooms nearby would be dangerous, as Shalidar would lay traps for her. The logical thing to do now was
to return to Danar’s suite.

If she was honest, Femke had not expected to catch Shalidar. Allowing him a chance at a hit without Danar being surrounded by an army of guards had been the riskiest part of the plan. She was
cautiously pleased that it appeared Danar had not been hurt. Shalidar would not get another easy chance. The next phase of the plan was to go to the King and arrange for the Shandese Ambassador to
be surrounded by the most intense security cordon possible. With the tight timescale left for Shalidar to complete his contract, Femke felt sure he would try something risky rather than lose such a
large amount of gold. That was when they would nail him. By displaying Shalidar’s true colours to the King, Femke felt sure she could clear her name and restore some trust to the peace
negotiations she had begun. Failing this, she had a fallback option that was equally as convincing.

There was a niggle in Femke’s mind about the attempted hit that bothered her. The fleeting glimpses she had gained of her enemy teased her that she had missed something vital. Femke could
not define it and this was not the time to be distracted. The spy knew she was vulnerable standing exposed at the junction of the corridors. The need to move away from the place forced her to make
a decision.

Torn briefly between retracing her steps, and going back to the suite, Femke decided on the latter to see if Danar had made his way there by a different route. If Danar was there, then they
could swing straight into the next phase of the plan. If not, then Femke would have to search for him and hope Shalidar did not get to him again.

Danar was not sure if he should be insulted at
Femke treating him like some little boy needing protection. True, she had saved his life by pushing him out of the way of the knife, but then to send him to his room while she ran unarmed after the
assassin did little for his ego.

Femke had disappeared around the corner by the time Danar got to his feet. In a gesture of irritation he brushed at his tunic and hose. Before Danar had finished the gesture a hand suddenly
grabbed him across the mouth from behind and he felt the cold line of a blade resting on his throat.

‘Come this way, Lord Danar. I want to have a little chat before I kill you,’ the sibilant whisper of Shalidar ordered in his right ear.

Danar was stunned, but left with little choice. If he did not cooperate he could be dead in seconds. If he went with the assassin, there was a small chance Shalidar could make a mistake. How had
the assassin gone from being in front of him a few seconds before to behind him? Was he a magician that he could transport himself from place to place? If not, then who was Femke chasing?

Shalidar manoeuvred Danar back up the corridor a short way and through a door into a storage room. The assassin closed the door silently behind them and then remained still, as if waiting for
something. Before long, Danar heard the sound of someone running past at high speed. There was a pause of several seconds and then another person raced past the door and on down the corridor.

‘Now then,’ Shalidar whispered gleefully. ‘We shouldn’t be disturbed for a while. If you try to call out, you’ll not finish the attempt. This knife is
very
sharp and will slice through your windpipe in an instant if you don’t do exactly as I tell you. Do you understand?’

Danar moved his head in the subtlest of nods.

‘Good,’ Shalidar approved, removing the hand from Danar’s mouth. The blade at the young Lord’s throat did not waver. ‘Now that we understand each other, you can
start by filling in a few gaps. What has Femke been cooking up for me?’

‘Femke? How would I know? I’ve only just arrived—’

‘Don’t play innocent with me, Danar,’ interrupted Shalidar with an angry snarl in his voice. ‘I know you sprang her from prison. I know that was her outside in the
corridor a moment ago. What did she hope to gain by having me kill you?’