Stranger of Tempest: Book One of The God Fragments (27 page)

‘So where now?’ she muttered.

The man nearest her gave a start. ‘Eh?’

‘Sorry, talking to myself,’ Sitain gabbled, feeling a fresh burst of panic.

‘Ah. Not to worry.’ The man paused and squinted at her. ‘You okay, miss?’

‘Fine.’

‘Sure? Looks like ya got an elemental on your tail, if ya don’t mind me saying.’

Instinctively, Sitain looked down at her clothes, then pulled her dishevelled hair back into some semblance of order. Whether he was right or not, she didn’t need to be looking like she’d been running away from anything.

‘Bad morning is all,’ she said eventually.

He cocked his head and Sitain took a proper look at the man. A light-skinned Asann with grey eyes and a scrappy beard that failed to hide his gaunt face; under a grubby coat he wore the clothes of an itinerant priest, a Jaian. A brown cassock with bone toggles on one side from waist to shoulder, a belt of five cords like a flat hand and a simple iron pendant of Ulfer’s tusks around his neck.

‘No stranger to the odd bad morning misself,’ the priest said gently. ‘But in my case it’s the drink, more often than not.’

Sitain frowned at the memory of her morning. ‘Mebbe that too, come to think of it.’

The priest laughed and slapped a palm down on to the counter-top. ‘Hah! In that case, the only answer’s more drink. Come, join me.’

‘No, thanks,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Couldn’t stomach more, just need a moment to catch my breath and think.’

‘In trouble?’

‘Just a man, thinks he owns what he don’t,’ Sitain replied.

‘A story old as time,’ the priest said with a sage nod. ‘I’d like to say we mostly grow out of it, but most fools grow into old fools.’

She scowled. ‘Aye, well some don’t take no for an answer.’

‘Then keep clear o’ that one.’ He cackled. ‘An’ keep a knife handy. You cut his balls off an’ I’ll teach him a new path.’

Sitain didn’t join the old man’s mirth. You couldn’t geld an entire Militant Order, just like you couldn’t reason with them. Controlling mages kept them rich and powerful so they didn’t care for the right or wrong of it. Few did when they had the gods on their side.

‘Think I’ll just keep clear,’ Sitain said between mouthfuls, suddenly anxious to be away again. ‘Go where he can’t find me.’

‘May Lord Ulfer guide your path,’ the priest said, lifting his pendant to kiss it as he spoke.

Sitain grunted, biting back her first response. ‘If he could tell me how to reach the Threegates without running into any red-headed bastards, that’d help.’

The priest eased himself off his seat. ‘Well now, guess I’m Ulfer’s appointed servant hereabouts and I recognise a holy charge when I see one.’

‘No, I didn’t—’

‘My god commands, I hear his voice clear as day,’ he said, waving away her protests. The priest winked and plucked one of the remaining two small buns from her plate. ‘But this small tithe wouldn’t go far wrong all the same.’

Sitain found herself smiling at that. ‘Fair enough.’

‘Excellent, ah, delicious.’ He shrugged his coat off to fully reveal his priestly robes and handed it to Sitain. ‘Carry yer own and keep the hood up. More’n a few priests trail acolytes in their wake, nobody’ll look twice.’

‘Thank you.’ She pulled the coat on and bundled her own up with her meagre bag of belongings.

He shrugged. ‘A small act o’ devotion. Name’s Kurobeil, by the way.’

‘Payl,’ she said.

‘Heading back home? I’m guessing ya came to the big city following this boy?’

‘Can’t go home,’ she said sadly, ‘but a friend works up that way. He’ll put me up a night or two ’til I work out where to go.’

‘Fancy life as a wandering priest’s acolyte?’

‘Think I’d prefer to join a mercenary company, if I’m honest.’

Kurobeil laughed. ‘Life’s taking a strange turn if they’re your only options.’

He headed outside, leaving his own pack on the floor before Sitain. She looked at it and sighed, pulled her hood up to hide her face and heaved the pack up.

It didn’t take them long to cross the city and reach the district around Threegates. As they walked Kurobeil maintained a near-constant drone of plainchant prayers while Sitain kept her head low, hoping it was a case of hiding in plain sight. She kept having to remind herself that the Charnelers shouldn’t know what she looked like, that her face wasn’t going to betray her, but the threat they posed remained like a cloud over the city.

They might ask difficult questions of any young woman trying to leave the city alone or have some way of hunting mages, but although they were out in force on the streets she was just one face among hundreds.

At a fork in the road they stopped, one street leading towards Threegates itself while the other headed away towards the Island of the Assayed. In the distance Sitain could see the spires of mage-built mansions and the funicular track marking the hillside behind. It remained a wondrous sight, but her attention was instead grabbed by the road to the gates and the crowd waiting at it. Noticing where her attention lay, Kurobeil broke off from his prayer and cocked his head at her.

‘That’s not for you, is it?’

She shook her head, trying to hide her panic. ‘I don’t know what that’s for.’

Sitain glimpsed a sceptical look on his face but turned away from him, heading towards a side street where a covered bridge connected two buildings. Beyond it, the street opened up into a small courtyard where painted wooden signs for a saddlery and inn hung from the bridge. Brenn’s Saddlery meant nothing to her but the Yellow Hood Inn was what she’d been looking for.

‘Glad to hear it,’ Kurobeil called after her. ‘So, where now?’

‘I find my friend.’

As though to make a point to the itinerant priest, she slipped his pack off her shoulders and pushed her hood back. After a look around at the bustling street she took the coat off and returned it to him. Sitain headed into the shadows of the covered bridge and, stepping to one side to make room for a horse being led around the square, found herself at the door of the inn.

‘There really is a friend?’ He raised a hand as Sitain opened her mouth to speak. ‘Ain’t casting no stones here. We’re all allowed our reasons to go where we like. A man like me lives that way, not suited to much else. Just wonderin’ if an old man can’t be of any more service to a girl in need?’

‘You’ve done enough,’ Sitain said sharply before catching herself. ‘Damn, that came out wrong. I just mean, I think I’ll find my friend here. You’ve done me a good turn, thank you, but I can go from here.’

Kurobeil gave her a long look before shrugging. ‘Like I said, we go where we like, so I pray Ulfer will walk with you.’ He nodded in the direction the gate lay in. ‘For me, I reckon Ulfer wants me out there on the city road. Mebbe I’ll set up at the roadside a few days, give a few blessings to travellers and—’

He didn’t get any further as the door to the inn opened and there was a startled noise.

‘Shit, damn and dark places,’ growled a voice. Before either of them could move a hand emerged from the gloom within and hauled Sitain bodily inside.

Kurobeil yelped and raced to follow as Sitain was roughly dragged through a short corridor. She struggled a moment, trying to reach for the knife at her belt, but had her hand slapped away by a stinging blow. Panic bloomed as she was pulled into a warm smoky room beyond, sensing a flurry of movement as Kurobeil barrelled after her, protesting loudly. Before he could finish, he was also grabbed and slammed against a wall.

Sitain blinked and looked into the cold dead eyes of Teshen. The Knight of Tempest grunted and released her.

‘Afternoon, princess.’

Behind Teshen, Kurobeil whimpered and startled her back to her senses. She dodged around the Knight and threw herself forward, grabbing Kas’s arm to pull it back so the woman’s blade wasn’t pressed against Kurobeil’s cheek.

‘Wait!’ she gasped. ‘He’s with me.’

‘With you?’ Kas’s eyes flashed a moment then she lessened her grip on the priest’s throat. ‘How’s that, then?’

‘He ah … well, guided me here.’

‘Explain,’ Teshen advised, ‘or I’m cutting his throat.’

Kas sheathed her knife and stepped back to allow a shaky Kurobeil to steady himself on a nearby chair.

‘So these’re your friends, eh?’ Kurobeil croaked. ‘Friendly bunch, ain’t they?’

‘We’re the nice ones,’ Kas said nastily.

At that moment a door opened and Reft loomed through, having to duck to get his head under the lintel.

‘Him, on the other hand,’ Kas continued, ‘I’d definitely worry about, if I was you.’

Kurobeil looked the huge muscular man up and down and his face went as pale as Reft’s. ‘Ulfer preserve me.’

Reft offered that wide, humourless smile that showed his gold teeth. Kurobeil shrank back at the sight as Kas chuckled.

‘So, girl,’ Teshen said, ‘what’re you doing here? Who’s this priest? An’ most importantly, do you know how pissed off our Crow-Lord’s going to be?’

Sitain blinked at the man for a moment before she worked out who he was talking about. Crow-Lord was the title Anatin had adopted in the city, given they were masquerading as a company called the Steel Crows.

‘Um, lots I’m guessing, but there wasn’t much I could do.’

‘What with her having all those man problems,’ Kurobeil said, fixing Sitain with a look. ‘Reckon it’s time I was going.’

Kas stepped between Kurobeil and the door. ‘Yeah, not so much.’

‘You reckon I’ll run to those Knights-Charnel out there? Wrong god. Don’t tar us all with that brush.’

‘Who said anything about Charnelers?’

Kurobeil forced a smile. ‘Hope you ain’t a card player, you can’t bluff worth a damn.’

Teshen snorted at that, but before anyone could reply another figure joined them through the rear door. Cigar wedged in the corner of his mouth, Anatin sauntered across to rest one elbow on Kas’s shoulder and blew a cloud of smoke across Kurobeil’s face.

‘She ain’t much of a player, it’s true,’ the commander of the Mercenary Deck agreed. ‘But she can put a half-dozen arrows through yer eye faster’n I can load my gun so best you don’t piss her off.’ Anatin grinned and drew on his cigar again. ‘You’re a card player then, Jaian whatever-your-name-is?’

‘It’s Kurobeil – Jaian Kurobeil. And I’ve played a few hands on my travels, aye.’

The grin grew wider. ‘Excellent! Let’s have ourselves a friendly hand o’ Tashot while we wait, Jaian Kurobeil.’

‘Wait? For what?’

Anatin shrugged and draped an arm around the priest’s shoulders. ‘Sufficient reason not to crack you over the head and dump you in the cellar. C’mon, Ulfer will provide, I’m sure.’

‘I’m a Jaian priest,’ Kurobeil said, indicating his robe. ‘Do I look like I’ve money for cards?’

‘Pot game it is!’ Anatin replied. ‘I’ll spot you a silver, pay me back if you win. Teshen, search our friend here then break out the cards and the copper pieces. Kas, go relieve your latest toy from his post. Tell the bugger to get back here fast as he can.’

Kas nodded and vanished out of the door. Teshen spent an efficient and somewhat intrusive while frisking Kurobeil before he ushered him and Sitain towards a table. One more joined them, the woman with the flame burn on her face, Tyn, and they all sat at a narrow table. A cup was found and silver coins tossed inside, Anatin raising an eyebrow at Sitain until she did the same.

Tashot wasn’t a game she enjoyed, but Sitain had realised she was going to have to learn to put up with it around the mercenaries. By the time she’d settled into her seat a pair of cards had appeared in front of her and Anatin started to announce the table cards as though some of them were blind.

‘So why’re you still here, girly?’ the Prince of Sun added, not even glancing up at Sitain.

She blinked at him. ‘Is now the best time?’

‘Aye.’

She looked at Kurobiel, the startled priest yet to even investigate the cards in front of him. ‘I couldn’t go,’ Sitain said at last, trying to be as vague as possible. ‘Got a bit complicated.’

‘They’re checking wagons leaving the city,’ Kurobiel added. ‘Knights-Charnel of the Long Dusk, not Assayers, which seems odd.’

‘Where’d you meet this one?’

‘At a tea stall. He was already there, eating. We got to talking and he escorted me up here in case anyone was searching for a lone woman.’

‘Because of all the man problems she was telling me about,’ Kurobeil said pointedly. ‘That man being a Knight-Charnel, I’m guessing?’

‘Guess what you like,’ Anatin said. ‘Sure he weren’t following you?’

‘Yes. Someone maybe, I wasn’t sure, but not him unless he’s the luckiest bastard in the Riven Kingdom.’

‘You know they’re looking for you?’

‘Didn’t hang around long enough to find out. Might be it’s something different entirely.’

‘But more likely we got some bad luck in our wake and a highway patrol reached the city,’ Anatin concluded. ‘Unless our missing friend got arrested and offered you up as a deal.’

There was a deep growl in Reft’s throat and Anatin raised a hand to acknowledge the objection. ‘Yeah, I know, but all sorts o’ things are possible. I know our friend ain’t scared of dying quick, but give any man long enough to stare at the noose he’s made for himself, he’ll think twice.’ Anatin nodded at the table. ‘Let’s find how lucky you are, Sitain, I raise it one.’

Teshen turned over a fourth table card; the Four of Stars.

‘Piss on you, Insar,’ Anatin said to the card, ‘no bastard use to anyone you are.’

Sitain frowned and looked down at her cards. She had a Four of Blood to match the Four of Stars and a Thirteen of Snow that matched one of the Tempest cards on the table. Insar’s suit of Stars was help enough to her whatever Anatin said so she raised the bet. With a hard look at Anatin, Kurobeil matched it and so did the mercenary. The other cards did Sitain no favours, but with only one raise coming before the end, she doubted they helped anyone else much.

At the reveal, Kurobeil had a pair of fives and Anatin a solitary Prince of Snow.

‘Looks like your luck’s holding, girly,’ Anatin commented as Teshen turned over Banesh’s card, the one left face down on the table. The Prince of Tempest – help only to Anatin but nothing that could beat Sitain’s two pairs, fours and thirteens.