Weapon of Fear (32 page)

Enough
of this
.  Arbuckle
gritted his teeth.  He had to know why Nythes was so terrified.  “Sir Calvert,
take your detail for a stroll.  Servants, all of you, leave us.”

The
duke’s eyes snapped to his, surprise clear on his face.  “But milord, there has
been an assassination attempt…”

Arbuckle
smiled to mask his own nervousness.  He was taking a chance here, but he had to
know.  “My good duke, I count you my friend and ally.  Let’s reminisce about
old times.  Verul, you go, too.  Duke Nythes and I have a lot of catching up to
do, and there’s no sense in cluttering up the archives with nonsense about our
personal lives.”

It
pained him to dismiss his scribe after his declarations of a totally open and honest
reign.  But he was realizing that some things were too dangerous be recorded in
the archives.

“Milord?” 
The knight assigned to his guard detail stepped forward, his hand on his
sword.  “You’re sure, milord?”

“I’m
sure, Sir Calvert.”  Arbuckle wasn’t sure at all, but he needed to allay
Nythes’ fears.  He waved them away casually.  “We’ll be fine, and you’ll not be
far away.  The gardens are secure.”  He didn’t know that for certain, of
course, but they had taken every precaution they could think of. 
I can’t
live my life in constant terror.

“Very
well, milord.”  Sir Calvert gathered up his detail by eye and they moved away. 
The footmen and maids retreated as well, Verul with them.

“You
needn’t have done that.”  Nythes’ gaze dropped to his untouched plate.

“No? 
Well, I sometimes get tired of them looming over my shoulder while I eat.”

“But…the
attempt on your life…”

“That’s
why I need to speak to you privately, Nythes.”  He laughed loudly and waved a
hand as if sharing a humorous anecdote, surprised how easily the deception
came.  He leaned forward, imploring the man to open up.  “My father was a
monster
,
which you undoubtedly know, and involved in crimes against the Empire of Tsing
that I could not let come to light.  But he’s gone.  You’re safe.  You can
speak to me.”

“It’s…not
my safety I’m worried about, milord.”  Nythes swallowed, his face pale.

“Who
then?”

“They’ve…taken
people.  My youngest daughter and a few others.”

“What?” 
Arbuckle fought down the horror threatening to rise up his throat.  “Who took
them?  What’s being done to get them back?”

“People…” 
Nythes swallowed hard and clenched his jaw.  “Milord, there are factions in
this empire who use kidnapping and murder to control things.  If one doesn’t go
along with their demands, their loved ones are returned a piece at a time. 
It’s happened before!”

“The
Assassins Guild.” Arbuckle gritted his teeth.  His father’s legacy had risen
from the grave to haunt him.  “Yes.  My father was…involved with them.”

“Then
you know that just by telling you this, just by speaking with you in private,
I’m putting my daughter’s life…
more
than her life at risk.  They have
people everywhere!  Probably in your own personal guard!”

“Not
in my guard, or in my palace.  I’ve made sure of it.”

“You
have?”  Nythes looked astonished, as if such a feat were impossible.  “How?”

“I
can’t reveal my methods, cousin, but let me assure you, the people I have
retained are loyal to me.”  Arbuckle grinned ruefully.  “My own nobility
however…I’m unsure of.”

“You
must understand, milord, I
have
to publicly denounce your policies or
they’ll…”  Nythes words caught in his throat, emerging only in a wracking
cough.  “I’m sorry, milord.”

“Gods
of Light…”  He couldn’t imagine the man’s plight, a daughter held by such
fiends.

The
reason for the abduction seemed obvious: they were pressuring his nobles to
oppose his new policies.  The legacy of terror continued…spreading like a
cancer through his empire.  Throughout his upbringing, the isolated prince
rarely heard any news from the provinces, but the duke’s confession prompted a
memory, a series of murders some years back in Twailin, nobles killed in their
beds, but they had stopped before Duke Mir called for imperial assistance. 
Damn
it, I should have asked Norwood about that
.  Was Duke Mir under pressure
from these criminals as well?  Were all his dukes?  What could he do?  He
clenched his jaw in determination.

“Nythes,
you must outwardly go along with their demands, but know this: I
will
fix this.  Once I’m emperor, I will wipe these vile criminals from the empire
for good.”  He had no idea how he would accomplish this, but resolved to do
so.  He would end his father’s legacy.

“Can
you, milord?”  Nythes sniffed and clenched his jaw.  “I don’t know how.  I’ve
tried.  I swear it, milord, but each time I do, someone beloved to me dies, or
worse.  They’re invisible and untouchable. You say your palace is safe.  Mine
is
not
.  My own City Guard is certainly compromised, and I fear my Royal
Guard too.”

“It
goes that deep?”

“If
a member of my own entourage saw me talking to you thus, someone would
suffer.”  Nythes looked down at his untouched food.  “I can trust no one,
milord.”

“You
can trust
me
, Nythes.  Trust me to never become the monster my father
was, and to wipe this vile stain from our empire.  I swear to you, I’ll do it.”

“I
believe you, milord.”  Nythes straightened in his chair, a measure of calm
returning, though the fear still lurked under the surface.  “I believe that
you’ll try, at least.  You’re lucky, you know.  You’ve no one they can take; no
family.  You were wise never to marry and have children.”

“Was
I?”  Arbuckle realized that the man was right.  He had no one, and nothing to
lose but his life.

Hoseph
materialized in Lady T’s sitting room to find her pacing the floor.  He
steadied himself with a deep breath.  He’d been resting quietly in his
reclusive abode, martialing his strength and trying not to use his talisman
except when necessary.

So
many matters vied for his attention, he seemed to be stretched a dozen
different directions.  He was exhausted from trying to tie up all the loose
ends, and needed rest, but a summons from the Tsing guildmaster trumped his
needs.

Lady
T gave a start, but didn’t point a crossbow at him this time.  “Good.  You got
my summons.”  She put down the tiny chime he’d given her, the one he’d
recovered from the late Baron Patino, that sounded a note in the priest’s mind
when struck.  “I didn’t know if the thing would work.”

“It
works perfectly.”  This was the first time she’d used the simple device.  He’d
made it clear that it was only to be used in emergencies.  “What’s happened?”

“Your
chance to kill Mya has arrived.”  She snatched a sheet of cheap parchment from
her desk and held it out for his examination.  “She wants to meet with me.”

“Excellent.” 
He couldn’t suppress a smile as he read the note.  They were to meet in a tea
shop, of all places.

Things
were finally coming together.  Lady T had set Mya up for him.  It would be
dangerous, but Hoseph was patient; the usurper was as good as dead.  Which
reminded him of their other plans.

“Tessifus’
youngest son.  How is that progressing?”

She
frowned at his question.  “Master Lakshmi knows her job and is good at it.  The
first phase of his conditioning is progressing as planned.  By the time we need
him, the boy will be ours.”

“Good.” 
He rubbed his eyes, trying to scour the pain away.  So many issues…  “There’s
another question I’ve been pondering: Duke Mir is the only provincial duke we
have no control over and the Twailin guild is rebelling.  He’s going to be here
for the coronation.  Is there a reason we shouldn’t kill him?”

“
Numerous
reasons!”  Lady T seemed irritated with him.  “Can we
please
focus on
the matter at hand?”

“There
are numerous matters at hand!” he snapped back.  “Which one?”

“Killing
Mya, of course!  That’s why I
asked
you here!”  She glared at him.  “How
are you going to do it?”

Blessed
shadow of death, soothe me
… 
The woman had such a one-track mind.  She couldn’t think of more than one plan
at a time, while he had to consider everything at once.

Hoseph
dropped the parchment on her desk.  “This is too public a venue, but once I
spot her, I’ll follow her.  She’ll never see me, and I can complete the task
when she thinks she’s safe.”  He retrieved his talisman.  “Keep your
appointment with her.  This is just the opportunity I’ve been waiting for.”

“Good.” 
Lady T took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  “Very good.”

L
ady T entered the elegant little
teahouse like an empress into a ballroom, her armed guards lumbering in close
escort.  The hostess greeted her with a curtsey.  Unfortunately, even with her
keen hearing, Mya couldn’t hear what was said over the clatter and chatter of
Tsing’s gentry taking their afternoon tea.

She
hated busy places like this.  The crowd impeded movement, while noise and
constant motion dampened her ability to scan for threats.  Unfortunately, she’d
chosen the place for the exact same reason; the crowd might keep Hoseph from
popping in and murdering her.  The constabulary was still looking for him in
connection with the emperor’s death.  Materializing in a teahouse and murdering
someone would banish any chance of him ever clearing his name.  At the very
least, there would be screams to warn her.

And
that’s the only warning you’ll get, because you told your spies to stay home.

After
her urchins had disregarded her orders at the plaza, and again at the
Prickly
Pair
, she’d decided to leave them out of this one.  She couldn’t worry
about them when she was worrying about her own safety.  And Hoseph had seen Dee
up close, and might recognize him loitering, so having him help was out.  Paxal
had offered, too, but she’d simply told him no, flat out.  She’d do this alone.

Lady
T’s gaze swept the room as the hostess gestured her guards to a nearby sitting
room.  Mya felt gratified when the guildmaster’s gaze passed her over without recognition. 
Her matronly disguise was holding up.  Only as they approached the table did
Lady T finally recognize her, her eyes widening in surprise.

Mya
stood and curtsied respectfully.  “Lady T.  Thank you so much for accepting my
invitation.”

“My
pleasure, my dear.”  She took her seat.  When the hostess had gone she
continued in a lower tone.  “That’s a different look for you.”

“Do
you like it?”

“No. 
It’s positively dowdy.”

“Good. 
That’s just what I was hoping for.”  Mya had actually been trying for sedate
elegance, and Dee had helped alter one of her traveling dresses.  As long as
she didn’t stand out, it worked.  She couldn’t care less about Lady T’s
opinion.  “We need to discuss a few things.”

“Yes,
we do.”  Lady T smiled at the waitress as she came to take their orders, and
continued without missing a beat once she’d left.  “The most pressing of which
is Hoseph.”

“I
would think the most pressing would be your recent attempt in the Imperial
Plaza.”  Mya narrowed her eyes at the woman.  “It’s good that your man was
sloppy.  He gave me enough time to intervene.”

“So
that
was
you.”  Lady T raised an eyebrow.  “I thought it might have
been.”

“The
important issue is that you don’t seem to realize what would have happened if
he had succeeded.”

“I
know
precisely
what would have happened.”

“Really?” 
Mya allowed her lip to curl in derision.  “So, you and your conspirators have
plans to evacuate the city?”

The
woman’s upper lip twitched.  “What are you talking about?”

Mya
lowered her voice and leaned forward.  “I’m talking about everything north of
the river going up in flames, and I mean
everything
.  The people of this
city are not going to just sit by and watch if their only hope for a future is
destroyed.”

“They
already tried that once, and were put down by the constabulary.”  Lady T cast a
sneer across the table.  “If it happens again, the result will be the same.”

“You
think the Night of Flame was an all-out revolt?  The commoners were
happy
then.  They were celebrating!  Just try making them truly angry, and you’ll
think you’ve died and gone to the Nine Hells.”  Mya sipped her tepid tea with a
thin smile.  “You haven’t been listening to the rumors.  I have.  They love
this prince of theirs, and won’t stand by if he’s taken from them.”

“And
you think the constabulary, military, and Imperial Guard are going to simply
let them wreak havoc?”  Lady T fell silent as the waitress returned with a pot
of tea and two glazed raspberry scones.  When the waitress had gone, the
noblewoman raised her cup and sipped.  “You think I don’t have people listening
to all the scuttlebutt and rumors?  You think I’ll let a revolt take place in
this city and do nothing to prevent it?  How amusing.”

“Tell
that to Baron Ledwig.”  Mya pinched off a bite of scone and popped it into her
mouth.  “A skin of oil and a torch are very simple to wield.  If you think the
guild or the authorities can stand against the entire populace, you’re
delusional.”

“I
would
not
let it happen.  We would nip it in the bud before the first—”

Mya’s
laughter cut her short, earning a glare.  “You
are
delusional.  You’ve
spent too much time in your fancy house, Lady.  The Night of Flame saw a few
hundred troublemakers with torches.  There are a quarter
million
commoners in this city who have been given a taste of justice.  If that’s taken
from them, they’ll all be wielding torches.  You have perhaps five hundred
guildsmen in this city, maybe twice that.  Can you stand against two-hundred
times your number?”

Lady
T pressed her lips together so hard that they blanched white even through the
rouge.  “The plans to eliminate the…this
person,
hinge on Hoseph, not
me.  Eliminate him, and you end the threat to your precious prince.”

Mya
didn’t need to be told the obvious, but Lady T hadn’t been forthcoming in
setting up Hoseph for the kill.  Mya had already decided that warning the crown
prince was the best route to prevent the assassination.  She just needed Lady T
to give her the details of their plot.  She needed more than just the few names
she had picked up from observing their meeting.

“I
don’t give a
damn
about the crown prince; I care about the
guild
! 
Half of the city reduced to ashes will be bad for business. 
Our
business.  You’re going to tell me every bit of the plan Hoseph and you have
concocted.  Who’s involved and when and how are they planning to do it?” 

Lady
T fell silent for a moment, sipping her tea, her eyes fixed on Mya and her features
set in a frame of consternation.  “Very well.”  She fished a cylinder the
length and width of her finger from her bag and put it on the table.  “Here are
the names of all the conspirators.  They plan to use Archmage Duveau.  I don’t
know exactly how, but it’ll happen before the heir is crowned.”

Mya
raised an eyebrow and picked up the cylinder.  “You came prepared.”

“I’m
always
prepared.”  Lady T smiled.  “In fact, I brought you exactly what
you need to solve your greatest problem.  Hoseph knows I’m meeting you here.”

Mya
nearly dropped her teacup.  “You
told
him?”  She fought to keep the
panic out of her voice.

“You
asked
me to set him up for you, and this is the best I could do.  I
don’t know where he lives, and he pops in and out at the most unpredictable
times.”  She sampled her scone and made a face, pushing the little plate away
as if the luscious morsel was not utterly delicious.  “He won’t try to kill you
with so many people around, but given the opportunity, he
will
try. 
When he does, kill him.”

Mya
tried to swallow her fear, tried to think, and failed.  “You make it sound
simple!”

“It
should
be simple.  If you can fight blademasters, you can certainly kill
a priest before he can touch you.”  The lady finished her tea and dropped her
napkin over her plate.  “He doesn’t know you’ll be ready for him.  Give him the
proper opportunity, then strike first.”

Lady
T obviously didn’t know all of Hoseph’s capabilities.  If he used the same
magic that had incapacitated her in the emperor’s torture chamber, she’d be a
sitting duck.  Mya glared at Lady T, trying to transform her terror into anger.

“He’s
going to
kill
me.”  The words came out before she could stop them.

“I
doubt that.”  Smiling, Lady T stood, then leaned down to whisper in Mya’s ear. 
“When Hoseph is dead, I’ll name you Grandmaster.”

As the
guildmaster walked away, Mya thought,
If I didn’t need you, you would be so
dead
.

Unfortunately,
she did need Lady T if she hoped to be Grandmaster, but for that to happen, she
had to survive.  Her worst nightmare had just come true: Hoseph was waiting for
her, ready to pop in with his glowing hand of death and kill her.

Mya
tried to press down her fear, to think, but the memory of that soul-wrenching
jolt of magic dredging up the darkest moments of her life all at once left her
shaking.

Think,
Mya
…  She sipped her
cooling tea, trying to appear calm as she considered her slim options. 
How
do you get out of this?

She
might be able to slip out the back, maybe abscond with a cook’s outfit, but such
an obviously evasive move would alert him to Lady T’s warning, and the
guildmaster’s life would be forfeit.

 “Did
the lady not like the scone, ma’am?”  The waitress startled Mya out of her
thoughts, nearly earning a dagger in her eye for it.

Moving
her hand away from the blade hidden in the bodice of her padded dress, Mya
smiled.  “Lady T has no taste when it comes to fine confections.  The scones
are delicious.”

“Thank
you, ma’am.”  She removed Lady T’s plate and cup, leaving Mya to think in
peace.

I’m
safe in here for now, but I can’t delay.  What will he expect me to do?  Where
should I go?  How do I lose him without looking like I’m trying to?  Where will
he watch from?  How will he attack?

If
she stayed in busy public places, she might be able to thwart him, but that
would only get her so far.  He would expect her to go home, but she couldn’t
let him follow her back to the orphanage.  As a Hunter, she could usually spot
someone prowling, but Hoseph wasn’t an assassin.  He wouldn’t just walk down
the street, not with every constable in Tsing looking for him.  He could blink
around at will, giving him an immense advantage.

His
most likely strategy seemed obvious: pop in behind her, cast that gut-wrenching
spell to stun her, and then kill her with a touch.  Against that, she had no
defense.

Or
do I?

She
knew the spell’s debilitation lasted only a few seconds.  But the magic hadn’t
affected Lad at all.  When they discussed it later, his answer had taken her
aback.

“It
didn’t show me anything I hadn’t already been reliving for weeks.”

In
the midst of his despair for Wiggen, heaping his heart with more guilt had been
like throwing a lit match into a bonfire.  She knew now what to expect if
Hoseph used the magic on her again.  Could she ready herself for it?  How? 

You’ve
faced impossible odds before, Mya.  Twice, in fact!

But
both of those times, against the combined might of the masters of the Twailin
Assassins Guild, and against the emperor’s blademasters, Lad had been with her.

Now
she had to face it alone.

When
her scone was gone, and the tea cold—she really preferred blackbrew—Mya had in
her mind a simple plan.  Stay in the midst of as many people as possible, and
don’t go home until she was sure she’d evaded any possibility of pursuit.  As
far as preparing for Hoseph’s attack, she would just have to be vigilant.  She
knew that Hoseph wasn’t exactly a skilled assassin.  Even Dee had managed to
knock him down before he could invoke his killing magic, but his ability to
flit around like smoke on the breeze made him impossible to predict.  She knew
from Dee’s account that he didn’t appear in an instant, but formed from mist
and shadow.  If she caught a glimpse of his telltale arrival, she needed to
stay out of his reach and put a dagger in his heart, no matter what horrors
from her past his magic dredged up in her mind.

Simple.

Mya
left a gold crown on the table, got up, steeled her nerves, and walked out the
front door as if she hadn’t a care in the world.  Suppressing the desire to
look around for Hoseph, she made her way up the street, alone amid the bustle
of the city.  She strained her senses against the cacophony of a hundred
footsteps clattering on cobbles and wood, hooves clacking and iron-shod wheels
rumbling on the streets.  Voices called out, motion everywhere, a thousand
smells and drafts of fetid air...

Focus!
  She sifted through the morass,
trying to detect her would-be assailant.

With
her senses heightened to a fever-pitch, Mya turned right at the next street, up
into the Heights District instead of down into Midtown toward home, the tip of
her parasol clicking on the cobbles with each step. 
Don’t give him an opportunity… 
Stay in the crowds… Focus!  If he pops in, move, and kill him before he can
touch you!