Jonathan Moeller - The Ghosts 09 - Ghost in the Surge (7 page)

She shuddered

Below, in the vaults below Black Angel Tower, she had fought and killed the Moroaica for the first time. In the Tomb of Scorikhon below the Citadel, Caina had seen Andromache of House Kardamnos possessed by Scorikhon’s spirit. In the Great Market of Marsis Caina had seen the Istarish attack, had lost Nicolai in the swirling chaos of the battle…

She shuddered again, and forced herself to remain still, a bored expression on her face. She did not want to draw the attention of the guards.

“Are you all right?” said Corvalis in a low voice. 

“No,” said Caina. “I’m not. Too many things happened here. Too many bad memories.” She took a deep breath. “But I’ll handle it.”

Corvalis gave her hand a quick squeeze, and their cart rolled up to the gate. The Legionary guards questioned them, and Corvalis answered their questions with ease. The guards laughed and waved him through the gate. Caina listened with half an ear as the cart rattled into the North Gate Plaza. Here, she knew, Ark and the men of the Legion had stood against the attack of the Istarish foot soldiers and the Kyracian ashtairoi. Here Ark had slain the stormdancer Kleistheon in single combat. Caina remembered the awful chaos of that night, fighting Rezir Shahan in the ruined warehouse, the screams of joy and terror as she flung Rezir’s severed head into the shocked mass of his soldiers…

She realized Corvalis was looking at her.

“Sorry,” said Caina. She rubbed her face, feeling the fake stubble of her disguise rasp against her palms. “Sorry. It’s just…every time I’ve visited Marsis, something unpleasant has happened.” 

Corvalis nodded. “I understand. If we ever visit Artifel, I’ll spend half my time scowling and staring at nothing.” He snapped the reins, steering the cart through the traffic on the Avenue of Champions. “Where to?”

“Zorgi’s Inn, a few blocks from the Plaza of the Tower,” said Caina. “He’ll be waiting for us there.” 

Caina’s eyes scanned the crowds going about their business. She had not visited Marsis in two years, not since Rezir Shahan’s defeat, and the city had recovered from the ravages of the attack. The barricades had been cleared away, the burned houses rebuilt. Yet Caina still saw the shadows of the battle, the women and children screaming, Andromache’s lightning falling from the sky. 

If not for her duties, she would never have returned here.

A short time later Corvalis drove the cart through the Plaza of the Tower, past the wealthy shops and prosperous merchant houses, and stopped before Zorgi’s Inn. Flourishing gardens surrounded the inn, and the building itself was a handsome mixture of white stone and polished timbers. Wealthy merchants from across the Empire stayed at Zorgi’s Inn when they came to Marsis for business. 

Caina pushed open the inn’s door, Corvalis following, and stepped into the common room. Long tables ran its length, fires crackling in hearths on either wall. Stairs climbed up to balconies and the guest suites.

A stout Szaldic man in his late forties hurried over, smiling beneath his gray mustache. He had aged considerably in the two years since Caina had met him, but he looked much happier now.

“Welcome, welcome!” said Zorgi in Caerish with a thick Szaldic accent. “Welcome to my inn! Fur traders down from the north, yes? Good, you will find a fine price for your wares. All the raiding has disrupted trade, and…”

“I’m looking for Basil Callenius, master innkeeper,” said Caina.  

“Yes, of course,” said Zorgi, lowering his voice. “He is by the fire. And friends of Master Basil are always welcome at my inn.” 

Caina thanked him and led the way across the common room. A man in his middle fifties sat by the fire, reading a letter. He wore the furred robe and cap of a master merchant, and as he lifted the letter Caina saw his scarred, muscled arm. 

“Master Basil Callenius,” said Caina.

Halfdan, high circlemaster of the Ghosts, the man who used Basil Callenius and a dozen false names, looked up at her and smiled. 

“Ah, you’ve arrived,” he said, his face giving no hint of his thoughts. “I am glad you made it on time. I’ve heard rumors of dire happenings in Varia Province, and I feared you could not arrive with my delivery of furs.” He rose. “Master Zorgi has a dining room where we can discuss our business without unwelcome eavesdroppers.” 

He led them from the common room to a small dining room on the second floor and shut the door. A table filled most of the room, chairs waiting in a circle around it, and a window overlooked the gardens below. Food and drink waited upon the table.

“You’ve wine, thank the gods,” said Corvalis, pouring himself a cup. “I think I swallowed enough dust to make my own damned island.” He offered the cup to Caina, and she shook her head.

“Master Zorgi strives to be a good host,” said Halfdan. “Though I’m surprised you didn’t ask for coffee.”

“Why ask for it when there’s none to be had?” said Corvalis. “We haven’t sold any coffee in Marsis yet. Though I suppose we shall bring the benefits of civilization to these benighted westerners sooner or later.” He laughed and took a drink from the wine. 

“That’s not good,” said Halfdan.

“Why’s that?” said Corvalis. “The wine is really quite good.”

“You’re making jokes,” said Halfdan, “and you only do that when the news is bad.”

Corvalis sighed. “Aye.”

He looked at Caina. 

She told Halfdan what had happened in Varia Province, sparing none of the details. Halfdan started to pace as she described it to him, nodding in places.

Then he sat down and poured himself a cup of wine.

“You’re sure of this?” said Halfdan.

“I am,” said Caina. “Ranarius died in Cyrioch, and Maena Tulvius in Caer Magia. But his spirit took another host, just as the Moroaica’s does. She must have taught him the ability.”

Halfdan shook his head. “Some men make mortal enemies. You, my dear, seem to have a knack for finding enemies that pursue you from beyond the grave.” He sighed. “At least there wasn’t truly a slaver gang operating out of Mornu. Though that is small consolation.”

“Very small,” said Caina, “given that I have a centuries-old assassin and a body-changing necromancer coming to kill me. And that the Moroaica is about to complete her great work.”

“Do you think Ryther was telling the truth?” said Halfdan.

“I don’t see why not,” said Caina. “He thought I was going to die. And I would have, too, if he had been a little smarter and kept me out of reach of the shelves.”

“This is a serious threat,” said Halfdan, “if the Moroaica is truly preparing her great work, and it’s damned inconvenient timing.”

“Why?” said Caina.

“Because,” said Halfdan, “in a few days the Emperor is leaving Malarae to visit New Kyre and make peace with the Assembly.”

Corvalis blinked in surprise, and silence hung over the dining room for a moment.

“How?” said Caina at last. “I thought Lord Corbould was determined to destroy New Kyre, and he had persuaded the Emperor.”

“I am very persuasive,” said Halfdan, “and I had a better argument on my side. Specifically, the conversation you had with Lord Kylon of House Kardamnos in Calvarium. Lord Corbould could convince the Anshani to stop selling grain to the Kyracians, aye. But if he did…”

“If he did,” said Caina, remembering the warning Kylon had given her. “If he did, the Kyracian stormsingers would use their sorcery to alter the weather over the Empire, to stop the rain and cause a famine.”

She wondered if Kylon had been able to cure his betrothed with the blue bloodcrystal from the ruins of Caer Magia. 

“And if we drove the stormsingers to that,” said Halfdan, “then it would be war without end. The Emperor would have no choice but to destroy New Kyre. To do that, the Legions would need to cross Anshan, which would mean war with the Shahenshah. The Istarish would join the war, as would the city-states near Catekharon, and the barbarians north of the Imperial Pale and the horse nomads south of Anshan would surely take part in the chaos. Uncounted thousands would die in the famines, and thousands more in the fighting.”

“I can see how you persuaded the Emperor to your view,” said Caina. 

“It helped that Lord Titus Iconias agreed with me,” said Halfdan. “Kylon of House Kardamnos helped save his life in Catekharon, you will recall, and he therefore has a somewhat higher opinion of the Kyracians than Lord Corbould.” He rubbed his face, and for a moment he looked more tired than Caina had ever seen him. “We persuaded the Emperor to seek peace with New Kyre. Lord Titus agreed to serve as his emissary, and Kylon and the Lord Speaker Tiraedes negotiated on behalf of the Assembly of New Kyre. They exchanged letters back and forth using smugglers.”

“Did they reach an agreement?” said Corvalis.

“They did,” said Halfdan. “The Assembly will admit the attack upon Marsis was unprovoked, and pay a small indemnity to the Emperor for the next five years. In exchange, the Emperor will persuade the Padishah to open the Starfall Straits to Kyracian trade once more, and travel to New Kyre to formally sign the pact.” 

Caina frowned. “Does not the defeated party traditionally visit the victor’s capital?”

“He does,” said Halfdan, “but the journey is a concession on the Emperor’s part. The Kyracians are paying an indemnity and admitting fault. The Emperor’s visit to New Kyre is a concession that allows the Assembly to save face. Perhaps that is for the best. This war benefits no one. New Kyre might have destroyed the Emperor’s western fleet, but the Assembly cannot possibly conquer the Empire. They could not even conquer Marsis. It is within the Empire’s strength to destroy New Kyre, but the cost would beggar the Empire and bring famine to two-thirds of the provinces.”

“The war has been a waste,” said Caina. “Andromache started it under false pretenses, for her own power and aggrandizement. And even that was a lie. The Moroaica and Sicarion deceived her and led her to destruction. Many men have died for nothing.”

“If all goes well,” said Halfdan, “we can put an end to it before the month is out.” He sat up straighter. “I feared the reports of slavers in Varia Province meant the Istarish were reentering the war, or that a faction in the Assembly was conspiring against the peace. But it was Ranarius’s vendetta against you, not a plot from the Assembly or the Padishah.”

“Then that means,” said Caina, “our task is to ensure the Emperor reaches New Kyre safely, concludes the peace, and returns to Malarae.”  

“You understand,” said Halfdan. “Tomorrow we will board one of Lord Titus’s smuggler ships and sail to New Kyre. We should arrive before the Emperor and his escort. We must make certain the Emperor completes the treaty with the Assembly and returns to Malarae, and we must ensure the Assembly and the Archons are safe as well. If the Emperor is assassinated, or one of the Archons, war is inevitable.” 

“Who wants to kill the Emperor?” said Corvalis.

Halfdan shrugged. “It would be easier to recite the people who do not wish him dead. Factions among the Imperial nobility wish to continue the war. The Magisterium wants to continue the war for reasons of its own, and your father has tried to have the Emperor assassinated for years, though he’s always been clever enough to keep his hands clean.”

Corvalis scowled. “He always did like to recruit others to do his dirty work.” 

“And among the Kyracians, I am sure there are fools who want to unleash a famine across the Empire, who think that New Kyre could survive the resultant war,” said Halfdan. “They would have everything to gain from killing the Emperor. Or one of their own Archons, for that matter. The Ghost circle in New Kyre will aid us, but you see the magnitude of the task.”

Corvalis nodded. “Well, you never summon us for easy work.”

“I can’t come,” said Caina.

Both men looked at her.

“Why not?” said Halfdan. 

“You heard what I said,” said Caina. “Sicarion and Ranarius are hunting for me. They are coming to kill me…and they will kill anyone who gets in their way. Ranarius butchered all those people in Mornu just to draw me there. He won’t hesitate to kill the Emperor to get at me, and neither will Sicarion. If I go with you, I will endanger the Emperor and anyone near him.” 

“The Emperor is in danger simply from the fact that he is the Emperor,” said Halfdan. “And I need your help, Caina. I have nightfighters that are better with blades and bows, but none as clever and observant as you.”

“I think you overstate my abilities,” said Caina. “And Ranarius and Sicarion will not scruple at any crime to get at me. The best thing I can do, I think, is go alone and lure them into a trap in an isolated place. Away from anyone else they could hurt.”

Corvalis frowned. “Certainly you will not do it alone.”

“It’s for the best,” said Caina. “Sicarion and Ranarius both want you dead. If you…”

Corvalis started to argue, but Halfdan’s quiet voice cut him off.

“Actually,” said Halfdan, “you could cut your throat right now, and the Emperor would be in just as much danger from the Moroaica’s servants.”

“Why?” said Caina.

“Because,” said Halfdan, “I suspect the Moroaica will cast her great work in New Kyre.”

“Why New Kyre?” said Caina. “Why not Marsis or Malarae?”

“I don’t know,” said Halfdan. “We don’t even know what this ‘great work’ of hers is, properly speaking, a spell or a ritual or something else, only that she means to remake the world and wage war upon the gods.”

“But how do you know it is going to be in New Kyre?” said Caina.

“You met the Order of the Venatorii in Calvarium?” said Halfdan.

“I did.” Caina felt herself scowl. “They thought I was the Moroaica and tried to kill me. But I do not think we could have overcome Rhames and Maena without their help.”

“The high circlemasters of the Ghosts have dealt with the Venatorii in the past,” said Halfdan. “But until you met Talekhris, we never knew that he had founded them to oppose the Moroaica. And it is well you did. I have received a message from Talekhris and the Order.”

“You have?” said Caina, surprised. The Ghosts were the eyes and ears of the Emperor, but the Order of the Venatorii hunted sorcerous predators and corrupt sorcerers. The Venatorii cared little for politics, and nothing at all for the war between the Empire and New Kyre. “What did he say?”