Weapon of Vengeance (Weapon of Flesh Trilogy) (15 page)

Wiggen is dead, and Jinny is
still alive
…
for
now
.  Lad turned his attention back to Hensen.  “Sereth’s wife.”

“She’s quite safe,” said Hensen.

“But she won’t stay that way for long.  You said—”

“I
lied
, dear boy!”  Hensen’s bark of
laughter hedged toward hysteria.  “She’s fine until I give the word otherwise. 
If I should die, however...”

“He’s still lying.”  Sereth step forward
menacingly.  “Let me question him.”

“As I said,” Hensen began, looking nervously at the
blade in Sereth’s hand, “Sereth’s wife is my only remaining bargaining chip.” 
His eyes flicked back to Lad.  “So let’s bargain.”

“Jinny is
not
a bargaining chip!”  Sereth’s
dagger moved, but Lad’s hand closed on his wrist before the tip pierced the
back of Hansen’s hand.

“No, Sereth!”  His reaction had been visceral, the
decision made without thought.  Lad could neither stand by while a bound man
was tortured, nor do the job himself.  He would not become another Saliez.  He
drew a deep, cleansing breath, and the revulsion at what he had almost done
ebbed away.  “If we hurt him, we start a war.  If we kill him, your wife
suffers.”  He released his grip on Sereth’s wrist and looked at the master
thief.  “But I’m not going to release you in exchange for Sereth’s wife.”

“No, I didn’t think you’d agree to that.”  Hensen
twisted his lips wistfully.  “And frankly, you need my help to discover who was
truly responsible for your wife’s murder.”

“Your
help
?”  Now it was Lad’s turn to look
skeptical.  “Now you want to help?”

“I’ve been helpful from the very start!  And trust
me, dear boy, I want to know who’s behind this as much as you do.  More,
perhaps.”

“Why?”

“I’ve been betrayed by one of my closest people, and
you ask me that?  Someone used Kiesha to set up the Thieves Guild to take the
blame for your wife’s murder.  Whoever it is might even be trying to start a
war between our guilds.  I want to find out who that is, and you want to find
out who ordered Kiesha to kill your wife.  We’re looking for the same person!”

Who ordered Kiesha
…  If she was acting under
orders, did she really deserve Lad’s vengeance?  He, too, had killed on
orders. 
Only because I couldn’t disobey
.  To find out the truth, they
had to find Kiesha.  Maybe Hensen was right.  Lad needed all the help he could
get.

“What do you want in exchange for this help?”

Hensen lifted his chin and took a deep breath. 
There was relief there, surely, but something else, too.  Resolve, perhaps?  “I
would like an agreement from you, Lad, that you won’t kill Kiesha for what
she’s done.”

“You
what
?”

“I’ve told you the truth about what she said to me. 
Since she had no motivation of her own to kill your wife, and I didn’t tell her
to do it, she must have been following someone else’s orders.”  Hensen looked
up imploringly.  “She was nothing but a weapon, Lad.  Surely you can understand
that.”

Lad understood that better than Hensen knew, but he
still didn’t trust the master thief.  “Why do you care so much about Kiesha?  You
weren’t so concerned about your guards, or Moirin, or even your bed partner for
that matter.”

Hensen opened his mouth, paused, glanced at Sereth,
and said, “I care about her because I created her.”

“
Created
her?  You mean you trained her?”

“I saw to her training, yes, but I mean created.” 
Hensen sighed and closed his eyes.  His face seemed to age in that instant,
sagging with defeat.  “She’s my daughter.”

“That’s ridiculous!  You undressed her right in
front of me!”  Sereth looked to Lad.  “He’s lying through his teeth!”

“I’m
not
lying.  Not about this.”  Hensen
looked up at the Blade with reinforced resolve in his eyes.  “I went to great
lengths to hide her identity, Sereth.  If anyone knew, they would have used her
to get to me.”

“Just as the other masters used Lissa to manipulate
me,” Lad said.

“And just as you’re using Jinny,” Sereth hissed
through clenched teeth.

“Exactly.”  Hensen smirked at the Blade.  “We’re
thieves and murderers, Sereth, not saints.”

A chill invaded Lad’s bones.  Could he believe
Hensen?  If Kiesha was indeed his daughter, then he couldn’t blame the man for
trying to protect her.  But if Lad agreed not to kill her, and it turned out
that Kiesha had been acting on her own initiative…  His vengeance was being
thwarted at every turn.

“Tell us where Sereth’s wife is being held, and I’ll
agree not to kill your daughter, but
only
if she tells me who gave her
the order to kill Wiggen.”

“Very well.”

“And you’ll help me find her.”

“I’ll do everything I can in that regard.  You have
my word.”

“Don’t trust him, Master.”  Hatred honed Sereth’s
words.

“I don’t,” Lad assured the Blade.  “That’s why
Master Hensen will be staying with us for a while.  At least until we find
Kiesha.  And I’m going to bring Enola in to help.  I’m sure she’s got some kind
of potion to make sure he’s not lying to us.”

Sereth frowned, but nodded.  “Yes, Master.”

“If I’m to stay here, I hope you can provide better
accommodations than this.”  Hensen’s cool exterior was back, like a film of ice
over a raging river.  Lad longed to shatter that façade, but didn’t dare risk
their fragile agreement.  Inconceivably, he needed Hensen.

“I’ll arrange something more comfortable
after
we free Sereth’s wife.  Where is she?”

“There is a tailor’s shop on the corner of East
Dunley Street and Bellhaven Avenue.  The proprietor’s name is Rolf Emurry.  Two
of my people are watching over her in the loft above the shop.  Tell them my
package is to be delivered today, and you’re to take charge of it.  They’ll ask
you to pay in advance, and you’ll give them a single silver penny.  Only then
will they release Sereth’s dear Jinny into your hands.”

“If you’re lying—”

“I would have to be
monumentally
stupid to
lie to you,” Hensen said with an indignant look.  “You’d give me to Sereth, and
he’d start cutting off pieces of my very cherished anatomy.”

“That you can count on, Master Hensen.  Dee!”

“Yes sir?”  His assistant was through the door and
down the stairs in an instant.  “I’ve sent runners to Mya and Bemrin.  Did you
need something else?”

“Yes.  Send a runner to Jingles.  Have him send two
Enforcers to watch over our guest.  Send another to Enola.  I need her to tell
me if someone’s lying.  Keep Hensen company until we get back.  Sereth, let’s
go get your wife.”

“Yes,
sir
!”  Sereth sheathed his dagger and,
for the first time since Lad had known the Blade, he smiled.

“What a
lovely
neighborhood.”  Bemrin
squeezed Mya’s arm as they passed yet another well-heeled passerby.  They’d
been walking for fifteen minutes, and the blithe smile had not left his face. 
“Right at the corner and halfway up the block, my dear.”

“I’m not ‘your dear’, Bemrin.”  Mya maintained her
mien of insipid contentment.  “Just because I put on a dress doesn’t mean I
can’t break you in half.”

“I don’t doubt that for an instant, my dear.”  He
gave her a wink.

Mya gritted her teeth and kept smiling.  Bemrin’s
obvious enjoyment of the situation annoyed her even more than the ridiculous
frippery she’d donned for this excursion.  Dressing to walk Barleycorn Heights
was one thing, passing herself off as Hightown gentry was another.

She knew that her fretting about her clothes and
Bemrin’s pomposity resulted from a deeper distress.  A pre-dawn surprise
mission from the guildmaster was bad enough.  Scouring the city for Kiesha had
put her on edge, and the deeper implications of Dee’s note were unsettling.

Sereth
…  With every Inquisitor and
Hunter in the guild searching for Wiggen’s killer, how had a Blade stumbled
upon her?  What did a minor noble have to do with anything, and how did the
Thieves Guild fit in?  And would taking the head of the rival guild as a
prisoner precipitate a war? 
Because that’s all we need
…

But it was the language of the note that had made
Mya’s skin crawl.  She knew Dee, and when he used terms like “
extracted
information
” there was no doubt in her mind what he meant.  She remembered
Hensen from years ago, when she enlisted his help in the search for Lad, and
knew the Master Thief wouldn’t give up information without payment…or inducement.

Lad won’t go there
! her conscience insisted.  Then
she thought about his murder of Yance, and the devil’s advocate at the back of
her mind whispered,
This isn’t the Lad you loved
.  If he had crossed the
line into torture, he was truly lost. 

Mya tried to distract herself by admiring the
scenery.  Baron Patino lived in one of the richest sections of Hightown. 
Marble façades and polished brass carriage lamps shone in the mid-morning sun,
just as the people they passed glowed in their silk and satin finery.

Bemrin leaned close.  “You really should see a
proper tailor about your gown, by the way.  That’s more than three years out of
style and doesn’t quite fit.”

“That’s because its five years old, and I haven’t
worn it in that long.”  It was also the only one she owned with a high neck and
long sleeves to cover her tattoos.  In fact, the last time she’d worn this
gown, she’d been casing nobles for Lad to murder.  She had been a different
person then, terrified in the shadow of the Grandfather.

And now I’m terrified in the
shadow of Lad
.

“You’ve been Master Hunter for five
years
,
and you haven’t bought a new gown?”  Bemrin sounded incredulous.

“I’ve had no reason to.  I have others to do my
spying for me.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”  He squeezed her arm
again and beamed.  “Just relax, and do try to remember that we’re on the same
side.”

“Right.  I keep
forgetting
that part.”

Truth be told, if the Inquisitor didn’t annoy her so
much, she would have congratulated him on the speed with which his people had
unearthed the location of Baron Patino’s townhouse, as well as details about
his estates, title, money, and social life.  His Inquisitors were still out
canvassing the city, digging up information on Patino, while her Hunters
tracked down Kiesha.  The two masters had reserved Baron Patino for
themselves.  Posing as a moneyed couple out strolling among their rich
neighbors, they intended to scout the neighborhood, listen to the gossip, give
Patino’s home a careful look, and perhaps pick up his trail.  If the baron
himself came strolling out today, Mya would stick to him like a tick on a dog. 
Who knows: he might even lead her to Kiesha.  Lad hadn’t given orders to snatch
Patino, but then, a missing noble would precipitate a man-hunt by the Royal
Guard, not so a missing thief.

Rounding the corner, Mya stopped short.  Two Royal
Guard carriages were parked in front of the baron’s townhouse.  Across the
street, a small crowd of well-bred spectators stared at the spectacle and
talked amongst themselves.

“Don’t stop!” Bemrin hissed, tugging her into
motion.  “And wipe that ‘I’m guilty’ look off your face.”

“I do
not
look guilty!”  She followed his
lead, and they resumed their staid pace.  Her face burned with embarrassment at
her gaff.  Master Hunter, and she had gaped like a virgin in a brothel. 
Damn,
I’m out of practice
!

“My dear, if you looked any guiltier, you’d have a
noose around your neck.  Let’s try for mildly curious, shall we?”  The
Inquisitor patted her hand.  “And do try to walk a little more like a lady
instead of a stalking panther, won’t you?”

“Fine.”  Mya cursed him for it, but he was right. 
Smiling again, she adjusted her gait, shortening her step and swaying her hips.

Bemrin squeezed her arm again.  “And please, let me
ask the questions.  Finesse is my forte, after all.  When we need to break
someone in half, I’ll leave it all to you.”