The Relic Guild (41 page)

Samuel’s expression soured. ‘I don’t know why Gideon does it to him, Bryant. Gene’s not cut out for that kind of work.’

‘No, he’s not.’ Bryant sighed. ‘And he hasn’t taken it well, Samuel. I went to see him today – you know, to make sure he was all right – but he wasn’t at home. His shop’s not open for business. I guess he doesn’t want to see anyone at the moment.’

‘Well,’ Samuel growled, ‘I’m sure it’ll amuse Gideon to drag him out of hiding soon enough.’ He swallowed his anger and smacked his rolled up hat against his hand. ‘So – what’s going on, Bryant? I was ordered to come and meet you, and here I am.’

Even though the enchanted material of the curtain ensured no one could hear them, Bryant lowered the volume of his voice.

‘There’s someone new on the scene,’ he said. ‘He’s wormed his way into the underworld and trod on more than a few toes. Could be Moor.’

‘Could be?’

‘It’s likely, but we can’t be sure. The trouble is, everyone’s afraid of this newcomer. No one wants to talk about him, no one wants to say his name. Me and Macy, we’ve only found one person willing to open up. Actually, he came to us. But even then, he was too scared to tell us much.’

‘Anyone I know?’

‘Oh yeah. He’s Gil, the owner of the Lazy House.’ Bryant nodded as if agreeing with Samuel’s look of surprise. ‘Not exactly the type to scare easy, is he?’

Samuel agreed. ‘So why did he come to you?’

‘Well, Gil knows me and Macy are well connected. He told us something bad was going on, something bad enough that he asked if we could set up a meeting with the Resident. Of course, we had to tell him we weren’t
that
well connected, but we could probably swing a meeting with someone from the Relic Guild. Which is where you come in.’

Bryant furrowed his brow. ‘I’ve got to warn you, Samuel, whatever Gil has to say to you, he isn’t happy about the Relic Guild being in his club. If anyone in the underworld found out, he could get his throat cut just for inviting you here.’

‘I’ll try to be careful,’ Samuel said.

‘Good. Let’s go and find out what he knows.’

Samuel unrolled his hat, put it back on his head, and followed Bryant out of the alcove. Music and voices hit him in a wash of noise. They skirted around the dance floor to the opposite side of the club. Samuel’s magic pulsed as a few patrons stared at him, undoubtedly wondering whose face lay within the shadows of his hat.

He was surprised by the identity of Bryant’s contact. He knew all about the owner of the Lazy House, though he had never had a reason to deal with him personally in the past. Gil was something of an oddity in the Labyrinth; he was an Aelf, but not a refugee of the war. He had left his House and come to live in Labrys Town many years ago – some claimed he had actually been exiled for past crimes. Whatever the truth, Gil had made a comfortable life for himself by becoming a successful, if not entirely legal, businessman. In the underworld, he was a well-respected figure, and most definitely not easily frightened.

When Bryant had led the way to another curtained alcove, he stopped with his hand on the curtain, and whispered into Samuel’s ear.

‘Remember – you’re the only Relic Guild agent here. And be careful with Gil. He’s jumpy.’

He pulled the curtain aside, and held it open for Samuel step into the alcove. The enchanted material fell back into place, leaving Bryant outside and reducing the noise of the nightclub to a muffled hum.

Gil sat to one side of a semi-circular bench seat upholstered with red leather. His hands were laid on the table that took up most of the alcove. Thick silver rings adorned each of his fingers and thumbs. His face carried a few scars, and his hair was shaved smooth to the scalp. He was a big Aelf, and looked as though he could handle himself, even though his years were advanced. He narrowed his large, Aelfirian eyes at Samuel’s hidden face, but did not speak.

Beside him, Macy sat with her arms folded across her chest. Playing her part as a member of the underworld well, she glared at the Relic Guild agent with as much loathing as she could muster.

‘Thank you for coming,’ Gil said in a low and heavy voice, full of suspicion.

Samuel gave a curt nod. ‘I hear you have something to tell me.’

Gil turned to Macy. ‘Wait outside,’ he told her.

‘Are you sure you want to be alone with him?’ Macy said, still glaring at Samuel. ‘I’d never trust one of these bastards myself.’

‘Oh, I don’t trust him,’ Gil said with a chilly smile, ‘but I think I’ll be safe enough.’

With seeming reluctance, Macy got to her feet, moved around the table, paused to sneer closely at Samuel, and then stepped through the curtain to join her brother.

Alone with Samuel now, Gil’s demeanour relaxed slightly. ‘Why don’t you have a seat?’ he said. ‘We need to talk.’

Samuel sat on the other side of the bench seat, and looked across the table at the Aelf. ‘So talk.’

Gil raised an eyebrow. ‘I hear you boys and girls have been busy these past couple of days,’ he said. ‘You took care of Carrick, a couple of bent constables, and even squeezed in the time to raid the Anger Pitt. Pittman’s still spitting fire over that one, by the way. You killed his cousin.’

‘What’s your point?’

‘A lot of people are pissed off with the Relic Guild.’

Samuel shrugged. ‘That’s nothing new.’

Gil produced a newspaper and slapped it down on the table. ‘But now, to top it all off, I read we have a wild demon on the loose. Having trouble catching it?’

The Aelf’s self-satisfied expression irritated Samuel, but he knew Gil was testing the waters, seeing just how trustworthy this agent of the Relic Guild was.

He leant forward. ‘If you’re looking for assurance that you won’t be exposed as an informant, then I give it to you. You have … amnesty. For now.’

Gil barked a laugh. ‘I’m not your informant, and I never will be. But I supposed you could say my hand has been forced this time.’

‘Then stop dancing around and get to the point. What do you want to talk about?’

The Aelf averted his large eyes and licked his lips. ‘Wild demons are strange creatures, you know. Only the Timewatcher can say where they really come from. They’re beasts. They have no social skills. The only form of communication they understand is violence.’ He drummed his fingers upon the newspaper and his silver rings clinked together. ‘But this demon running around Labrys Town, he can communicate quite civilly. He’s very educated, in fact. Even given himself a name.’

‘What name?’ Samuel said quickly, demandingly.

‘Don’t play me for an idiot,’ Gil retorted. ‘You know damn well what name I’m talking about.’

‘Humour me.’ Samuel’s voice was full of warning.

Gil clucked his tongue. ‘We’re not so different, you and I. We know a wild demon when we see one, right? We also know a magic-user. And I have to say, it’s been a very long time since I met with a magic-user as powerful as Fabian Moor.’

Samuel’s gut tightened. ‘You met him?’

‘A couple of times.’ Gil’s chilly smile returned. ‘Oh, and I’m not the only one. He’s introduced himself to quite a few people. But he came to me wanting a gunsmith, so I brought in a friend of mine, for a commission, of course – a commission I never received. My friend hasn’t been seen since, and he’s not the only one who’s disappeared in the last couple of days—’

‘I don’t give a shit about your friends,’ Samuel said through clenched teeth. If security hadn’t been so tight at the Lazy House, and Samuel had been allowed to keep his weapons with him, he would have already been holding his revolver to the big Aelf’s head. ‘You know how to find Fabian Moor?’

‘No,’ Gil said flatly. ‘He comes and goes as he pleases. You don’t see him unless he wants to be seen.’

‘When was the last time
you
saw him?’

‘Last night … I think.’

‘What do you mean, you
think
?’ Samuel snapped. ‘If you have any sense of self-preservation—’

‘Save your threats!’ Gil shouted. He jabbed a meaty finger at the Relic Guild agent. ‘You don’t understand.’

‘Then explain it to me, Gil. Very quickly.’

For the first time, Samuel saw the fear that Bryant had mentioned on the Lazy House owner’s triangular face.

‘Look,’ he said, ‘I’m not like my
peers
in the underworld. I’m not human. I understand why the Relic Guild is necessary, but most others can’t see the bigger picture like me. I know –
really
know – what would happen if Spiral ever reached Labrys Town.’

Beads of sweat had begun to appear on Gil’s bald head. Samuel held his tongue as the big Aelf paused to wipe them away.

‘I’m Aelfir,’ he continued. ‘I recognise Fabian Moor for what he is, and he’s no wild demon. The underworld might be scared of him, but no one’s going to put a bounty on his head. In fact, most people are rooting for him because …’ Gil shrugged helplessly. ‘Because he wants to take down the Relic Guild.’

Samuel sat back, missing his weapons more than ever.

‘He makes no secret of it,’ Gil added. ‘He wants to take you out, one by one, until he gets all the way to the Resident. He wants control of this town, and he thinks the agents of the Relic Guild can tell him the secret of how to enter the Nightshade.’

‘The Nightshade looks after itself, Gil. We couldn’t get Moor inside even if we wanted to.’

‘That’s not what he thinks.’ The Aelf seemed disturbed. ‘As far as he’s concerned, the Nightshade has left its mark upon you magickers, some residue of its magic, hidden in your heads that even you don’t know about. Moor reckons it’ll expose a crack in the Nightshade’s defences, let him slip inside.’

Was that possible? Samuel wondered.

‘Moor has talked to just about every big boss in the underworld about it,’ Gil continued. ‘He’s trying to find out who you are.’

Samuel leant forwards again, and his voice was low and menacing. ‘But nobody knows our identities – do they, Gil?’

The Aelf wiped more sweat from his head. ‘People have always talked about flushing out the agents of the Relic Guild, placing bounties on your heads. But nobody’s ever been stupid enough to actually try – drunken boasts, mostly.’

‘Mostly?’

Gil looked at his hands, and Samuel again saw fear in his inhumanly large eyes.

‘I do a little digging from time to time, see what turns up,’ he admitted. ‘I thought a little knowledge on the Relic Guild might get me out of a tight spot some day.’

‘Not the smartest thing to think,’ Samuel said.

‘I never learned anything definite – nothing beyond suspicions.’

Samuel’s banged a fist upon the table. ‘My patience is running out, Gil. What did you tell Fabian Moor?’

‘That’s just it, I can’t remember.’ The big Aelf chuckled sourly. ‘Last night, he came to me asking about the Relic Guild. I told him I didn’t know anything, but he called me a liar. He did something to me – used magic – and I blacked out.’ He rubbed his face. ‘I’m pretty sure he extracted information from me. Whatever I know, he knows.’

‘And what do you know, Gil?’ Samuel’s voice was deadpan. ‘What do you
suspect
about us?’

‘Two things,’ he said. ‘One, there’s a Relic Guild agent working as a doctor at the Central District Hospital.’

Samuel swallowed. ‘And the other?’

‘That pompous bastard from the Twilight Bar – Mr Taffin?’

‘What about him?’

‘I’m pretty sure he’s your informant.’

Samuel was silent and his mind raced.

‘I don’t know if any of that is true,’ Gil said. ‘I don’t want to know. But I do know that I don’t want the Labyrinth to fall.’ His expression was almost desperate. ‘I’m telling you now, Fabian Moor wants the Nightshade, and he’s coming for you to get it.’

Samuel got to his feet.

Gil looked up at him and licked his lips. ‘I have amnesty, right?’

‘If I were you, I’d lay low for a while,’ Samuel growled, and he left the alcove, closing the curtain behind him.

Bryant and Macy were waiting outside.

‘We’re in trouble,’ he told them.

The twins shared a look. Macy said, ‘Come on. We’ll take you out the back way.’

Acting as though they were ejecting an unwanted guest from the club, the twins escorted Samuel across the Lazy House. The pounding music and flashing lights were distant things to him as his thoughts danced and swirled.

The Relic Guild knew that Fabian Moor would try to infiltrate the Nightshade and supplant the Resident. But could the agents of the Relic Guild really show him how to succeed? Had the Nightshade unwittingly placed the secrets of its weaknesses into their heads?

Gil’s guesses were correct, but were they enough for the Genii to begin discovering identities of the Relic Guild? Angel and Marney had found Moor’s hiding place. Or had they really stumbled into a trap?

Another, more daunting, thought flared in Samuel’s mind.

The twins led him out of the main club through a side door to a hallway where stairs led to the upper levels. It was deserted. Muffled music came through the door.

‘Well? What did you find out?’ Macy asked.

Samuel tried to rest his hands against his revolver, forgetting it wasn’t holstered to his leg.

‘Fabian Moor’s making his move,’ he said. ‘He’s after the Relic Guild. He’s trying to find out who we are. He thinks we can show him how to enter the Nightshade.’ He held up a hand before either twin could question him further. ‘Bryant, you said you couldn’t find Gene today. Has anyone seen him since last night?’

Bryant shrugged. ‘I don’t think so. Why?’

‘Moor knows Mr Taffin is our informant.’

‘So what?’ Macy said. ‘Taffin doesn’t know our identities.’

‘Maybe not,’ Samuel said, ‘but I use the apothecary shop as our meeting place.’ He cursed. ‘If Moor got to Taffin, then he knows Gene is associated with the Relic Guild.’

Marney lay with her head upon Van Bam’s chest. Thin, inexpensive sheets were twisted and tangled around her legs. The mattress was old and worn, but soft beneath her. In the hazy moments after sex, she felt relaxed and peaceful. It was an unexpected night, a stolen moment in amongst all the chaos, and there was nowhere Marney would have rather been than here in this small and dark attic apartment with the man she loved.