Gorinthians (54 page)

“
Dered, go fetch your
brother and haul this rubbish outside, before the guard shows up,”
Delila shouted back through the kitchen door. She turned back to
Morindessa and Ferrich and began making her way to them. At the
same time, Riah came rushing down the stairs, daggers drawn and
death in her cat-like eyes. She rushed past the round figure of the
innkeeper and up to their table.

“
What happened?” Riah
demanded, turning to study the bodies on the floor.

“
We had a few rowdy
patrons,” Morindessa told Riah dryly. “I think that someone
recognized our companion here.”

Ferrich was frowning, his
brow creased in thought. “The guard at the gates said that my
sister, Sentina, was in charge at the palace. Out of all of my
siblings, I would not have thought she would be the one to survive
the succession. I cannot believe that she would try to have me
killed.”

“
If she thinks you killed
your father, then she might not see you in the same light as she
did before,” Riah observed pointedly. “Especially if she knows you
left Shalilayo with Morindessa.”

“
I think I need to have a
little chat with your sister,” Morindessa said grimly, “and explain
a few rules to her.”

“
Don’t hurt her,” Ferrich
said firmly. “I have no interest in running the kingdom, and if she
dies, there will be a succession that will make our little family
get-together look like a picnic.”

“
Of course not,” Morindessa
said with a toss of her head. “I just want to persuade her that it
would be in her best interest to play nicely.”

Delila was waiting at a
discrete distance from their table for an opening in their
conversation. Morindessa waved her over with a smile. “I am sorry
for the trouble Delila. The company that I keep seems to attract
enemies.”

Delila had been staring at
Riah, along with everyone else in the room, but at Morindessa’s
comment, she looked at Ferrich. She jumped slightly, and then
dropped into a deep curtsy. “Your highness, forgive me. I did not
recognize you.”

“
Quite alright, good
mistress,” Ferrich murmured with a glance at the bodies that were
being hauled out by two of her servants. “It seems that anonymity
has its limits.”

Some of the other patrons
were growing curious after seeing the innkeeper curtsy so deeply to
Ferrich. They began craning their necks, trying to see around Riah
and Delila. The servant girl emerged from the kitchen with a
steaming chicken on a platter. She practically ran to their table,
pushing the roasted bird in front of Morindessa, and then hurriedly
retreated to the kitchen.

“
What’s gotten into that
girl?” the innkeeper muttered to herself, frowning at the girl's
retreating back. “I’ll have to have words with her later about
manners.”

Ferrich stared pointedly at
Morindessa. She returned a bland look, daring him to
answer.

“
We might not be staying
the night after all,” Morindessa told Delila. “I am going to make a
stop at the palace, and then come back for my
companions.”

“
I understand, Mistress
Shellna,” Delila replied sadly. “You be careful up there. Scheming
lot of slippery eels, nobles.” She suddenly remembered that Ferrich
was at the table. “Begging your pardon, you’re Highness. I surely
did not mean yourself.”

Ferrich laughed around a
mouthful of chicken. “What a perfect description! I will try to
remember it.”

Morindessa, turned to Riah,
“Will you look after him until I return?”

Riah tousled her hair, the
way she had when she was a little girl. “You don’t need to worry
about a thing. Between myself and father, I don’t think anyone will
have chance of coming close to young Ferrich here.”

“
Young?” Ferrich protested
indignantly.

“
Speaking in relative terms
of course,” Riah said with a grin. “Why don’t you bring what’s left
of that poor bird up to the room.”

Ferrich stared down at the
demolished remains of his roasted chicken. “I guess I was a little
hungry.”

“
A little,” Morindessa
agreed with a small smile. Leaning down, she kissed Ferrich on the
cheek. “Don’t die while I am gone, you’re Highness.”

Ferrich’s face had lit up
like a torch. “I’ll make a special effort of it,” he mumbled. He
stared up at her, unable to take his deep blue eyes from her own
dark-eyed gaze.

Morindessa turned and
walked past the remaining patrons to the front door. Most of the
patrons had returned to staring at Riah. The night air was cool,
with the smell of salt from the ocean blowing through the well-lit
streets. It only took her ten minutes to return to the inner city
gate. Rather than deal with the guards at the gate, she wrapped
herself in a light curtain with her
yar
. Once again, her image
disappeared, as well as her shadow. She moved quietly past the gate
guards, who were playing dice on a small table under the archway.
There was not very much traffic between the inner city and the
outer city after dark. The houses grew steadily larger the closer
she came to the palace. The streets of the inner city were
decorated with ornate fountains and delicately manicured hedges.
Many of the larger houses were walled in and resembled miniature
palaces more than houses. The inner city of Shalilayo was a wonder
to most of the continent. Beside the marble colonnades that lined
the street, with lamps sticking out of them to light the streets,
the inner city was also the host of many of the University’s more
glamorous accomplishments. Large walkways rose above the street,
supported by the marble colonnades, making it possible for the
residents to show off their homes inside their walls. Along the
elevated walkway was an open waterway that flowed down from the
University, branching out to the many botanical projects, like
veins in a leaf. The result created the musical effect of a walk in
a mountain meadow next to a small creek.

Morindessa enjoyed walking
along the scenic pathway. From the moment that Riah had taken her
through the inner city, she had determined that she would live in
Shalilayo. There were a few servants in the street below, as well
as a few nobles transported on divans borne by slaves. In the
daylight, the inner city was always bustling with activity.
Nighttime was reserved primarily for scheming and parties. Around
midnight, there would be a short burst of traffic as many of the
revelers were transported back to their miniature palaces, but the
rest of the night usually remained quiet. Nighttime was
Morindessa’s element. She had spent most of her life sleeping in
the morning, and organizing the evening’s work throughout the
afternoon.

The palace was lit up like
a piece of Prenium, glowing from hundreds of lanterns and torches.
There was quite a bit of activity, more than likely resulting from
the arrival of Thistledown’s party. The palace gates were kept
closed, requiring proof of identity before the royal guard would
admit anyone. Morindessa moved up to the sturdy wooden gates, and
once again began changing their resonance until they resembled a
liquid substance, held in place by the force of her
yar
alone. She pushed
herself against the wood, and it opened around her as she squeezed
through the now malleable substance.

“
Did you see that?” one of
the royal guards asked his fellow in astonishment.

“
See what?”

“
The gate just split open,
and then closed!” the first guard exclaimed.

There was a laugh from
behind the two guards. “It sounds like someone has been visiting
the botanical shops.”

“
I didn’t imagine it!” the
first guard insisted angrily.

“
Did you want us to go wake
up Sergeant Grinther?” the second guard inquired in an amused tone.
“I am sure he will be fascinated by your story.”

The first guard grumbled
for a moment before settling down. Morindessa smiled. The citizens
of Shalilayo were not accustomed to what they called ‘the arcane
arts’. If they had been more aware of their
yar
, they would have sensed what
their eyes could not see.

“
What are you doing here?”
a voice asked quietly, right next to her ear.

Morindessa’s heart skipped
a beat before she realized that it was Thistledown. How does the
little man move around without using his
yar
? Morindessa wondered in
irritation.

“
I need to have a little
talk with Sentina,” Morindessa replied, trying to hide her previous
surprise. “She has Ferrich on her hit list.”

“
Hmmm.” Thistledown was
quite for a moment. “You weren’t planning on doing anything
permanent to her, were you?”

“
Not really,” Morindessa
replied with a smile. “I thought that we would just have a little
chat where I could explain some ground rules for moving
forward.”

“
Is Ferrich all right?”
Thistledown inquired.

“
Yes,” Morindessa answered
with another smile. “He has Riah and Lochnar watching over him. I
don’t think he is in any immediate danger.”

“
Good,” Thistledown
murmured. “I have the children set up in some rooms inside the
palace. We are going to make the announcement in the morning, when
more of the nobles arrive.”

Morindessa nodded,
forgetting that he could not see her. Then again, maybe he could
see her. Who knew what Terrance and Thistledown were capable
of?

“
I’ll see you in the
morning then,” Thistledown said by way of farewell. “Let me know if
you have any trouble with Sentina.”

“
She won’t be any trouble,”
Morindessa replied confidently. “We’ve met before. Her older
brother hired someone to kill her when she was still a child. I was
on a job that night, and I did not like the idea of someone killing
a child. You might say that Sentina owes me one.”

Morindessa moved up the
stairs to the palace and walked through the broad opening. The
security in the palace was tighter than Morindessa had ever seen it
before. There seemed to be a guard on every corner. Morindessa
slipped past all of them silently and began making her way up the
round staircase that led to Sentina’s quarters at the top of the
tower. Guards were stationed at regular intervals along the
spiraling staircase. Sentina was certainly not taking any chances.
Morindessa felt a familiar resonance ahead of her with her
yar
. It was a former
pupil of sorts. Denrik sought out Morindessa after learning about
her reputation. She had only acceded to teaching him a few
techniques when she found him hanging over a palace wall; he was
hiding from several royal guards. He had run out of strength and
would have fallen had Morindessa not pulled him up. For some
reason, he had never been able to feel his
yar
. Lochnar had told her the
majority of humans could not use their
yar
.

Denrik was standing behind a
statue that stood in an alcove. His eyes were searching the open
space on the stairs, as if he were expecting someone. Morindessa
had no doubt Denrik was Sentina’s main contact for hiring
assassins. He was an opportunist and latching on to a powerful
noble was his way. Morindessa decided to wait for Sentina to
appear. A little more information on what the two of them had
arranged might prove to be useful. Morindessa took up the place
across the stairs from Denrik, watching him silently as he
continued searching the empty stairs below them. He was definitely
nervous about something.

A half an hour later,
Sentina appeared, making her way up the stairs with an escort of
four guards. She had grown up with the same broad-featured face
that she had as a child. No one would ever accuse her of being
beautiful, but she was not ugly. Her soft, brown eyes were her best
feature. She wore a blue silk dress, with a large red ruby dangling
between her breasts. One of the guards nearly tripped over
Morindessa’s foot as he passed by. The small procession stopped at
the entrance to Sentina’s chambers and two of the guards went
inside. After several moments, they both returned.

“
It’s clear, my lady,” one
of the guards reported.

Sentina nodded and moved
inside. Two of the guards stationed themselves outside of her
chambers. The remaining two moved back down the stairs. Several
moments passed before Denrik quietly moved out from behind the
statue. He walked up to where the guards stood in front of
Sentina’s door and made a curious salute. The two guards stepped
aside and opened the door.

“
A visitor, my lady,” one
of the guards announced.

“
Send him in,” Sentina’s
voice called from inside.

Morindessa moved to follow
Denrik before the door closed. Sentina sat at her mirror, brushing
her long chestnut hair. Morindessa noticed that her hand was
trembling slightly.

“
What has happened?”
Sentina asked coolly, masking her nervousness.

“
Our assassin learned who
his target was with before he attempted to kill him,” Denrik
informed her in a frustrated voice. “He hired three common
mercenaries to rush in after Ferrich instead. Needless to say,
Morindessa killed them in less time than it would take you to
squash a bug.”