Moon's Artifice (45 page)

‘And their bodies will die ?’

‘The ones they’ve left, most likely not. The others have been stripped of memories, but not the unconscious parts that remember to breathe and keep the heart beating. Stars in heaven – even if the Astaren did then step in, there are Shure across the entire Empire, a thousand miles away and all open to be touched by the new God. The Astaren would never catch them all, never kill enough to murder this new God even if the Ascendants would permit such a thing !’

Narin tried to shake the muzzy confusion from his mind and sat up a little straighter. ‘What do they need for all this ?’

‘How should I know ?’ Enchei asked. ‘This is all just informed guesswork right now.’

‘Enchei, you’re as close to an expert as we’ve got here. Is this what you think they’re up to ?’

Narin struggled to his feet, wincing as he stretched the bruised muscles and scorched patches of flesh. Right now he didn’t mind it. A sense of renewed purpose flooded through him, washing away the faint helplessness that had been seeping in over the past few days.

‘Aye,’ the tattooist confirmed. ‘I reckon so, and if I’m wrong I’m not far off. The crux of any plan like this has to be how to get away with it once the Astaren find out. The goshe’s answer is simple : to have so many host bodies the ringleaders can’t ever be caught. I might not have the details quite right but not so much as will matter. If you’re just looking to mess their plans up because whatever it is, it’s a threat to the Empire, I’m right enough.’

‘Good enough for me.’ Narin looked around the faces of his three companions just as Irato gave a shudder and a gasp of shock, the demon receding from control of his body once more. ‘I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not going to wait for these bastards to be rewarded for stealing the minds of a few thousand innocents. I don’t know what Lord Shield will do, but I don’t intend to wait around for the Gods to decide.’

‘You think they’d allow it ?’ Kesh said, startled.

‘I don’t know, but Shield’s not exactly been keen to get involved yet. All of a sudden I don’t think their interests are the same as mine. I hope I’m wrong, but you fancy telling Lawbringer Rhe we’re just going to stop and sit back ? There’s a crime and I want to find those who deserve to be punished.’

‘Got a plan ?’ Enchei asked quietly.

Narin shook his head. ‘Not yet, but they’ll start transporting the sick to Confessor’s Island at first light. Some of the fever victims have already died ; they won’t want to wait for the rest. You said there were hundreds afflicted already, more by the morning I’m guessing. If they’ve got goshe from all across the city helping to move the sick they’ll have at least a thousand minds to play with when they are ready, maybe two thousand. Would that be enough ?’

Enchei gave a snort. ‘How’m I supposed to know ?’ he protested. ‘I’ve only just come up with the idea !’

‘Well, think about it.’

‘I, ah … I don’t know. Maybe – they’ve got more members than that spread across the Empire, but might be they need enough together in one place to start the whole thing off – souls to sacrifice for their new God while still keeping enough goshe abroad to hide the God once the Stone Dragons turn up to slaughter every still-breathing body on Confessor’s Island.

‘O’ course, if you’ve got a variant that removes everything but what’s needed to breathe, eat and sleep, could be you’ve halved the number right there. Moon’s Artifice allows you to build sleeper agents over the decades, quiet enough that no one notices, but you keep this nastier one in hand for your endgame.’

‘More importantly,’ Kesh broke in quietly, ‘they’re not running and hiding.’

They all turned to look at her, realisation setting in for each of them at the same time as she continued.

‘They’ve risked exposure and are still going. They wouldn’t do that if they weren’t ready – or at least close enough to be willing to risk it. We either stop them tomorrow or we’re too late.’

Her mouth was an angry, bloodless line as they all contemplated the goshe succeeding in their scheme.

‘So how are we going to do it ?’

‘I don’t want you to come back.’

The words continued to echo through Kesh’s head. As she walked through the thinning mist of dawn she barely noticed the furtive ghosts of other travellers passing. The jangle of emotion inside her was so insistent she only distantly realised many were fleeing the fever, heading east on foot to the city wall. Enchei’s parting words had felt like a punch, unexpected and frightening, and before she’d recovered herself to reply the man had shut the door on her.

Do I want to go back ?

She felt a traitor for even asking herself the question, but Enchei had forced it on her. He’d sowed the seed earlier, but this time had been almost cruel in his words. The suggestion wasn’t her own, but the decision would be – whether or not he’d sparked it.

You’re not a soldier,
came a treacherous voice at the back of her mind.
Your place is at your mother’s side, not trying to stop the birth of some murderous God.

She kept to the main streets, crossing the Tier Bridge without noticing the wind whip through its twisting, bone-white struts or the choppy waters below. Once on the Imperial Island she hurried through its orderly streets, just one grey-coated figure among many, and at last found herself on the paved expanse of Lawbringer’s Square.

As she approached the Palace of Law, Kesh stopped before the statue of Lord Lawbringer, one that stood a little out from the entrance as though forever on guard. Head bowed, stave-tip touched to the ground at his feet, the God looked both humble and threatening to Kesh – his intentions hidden by a stone hood pulled low.

She stood almost directly underneath the statue, staring up at the looming stone figure to look at its cold, expressionless features. It had been carved with great skill. The wide face and small features more than hinted towards the Ascendant God’s heritage, for all that the white marble could hardly be more different to the near-black skin that had been Toro Dragon’s in life.

The statue’s presence was oppressive when viewed from there. Leaning forward, the statue looked as if it was about to topple onto her, but Kesh stayed in its lee as she let the questions run through her mind, unable to go inside yet.

Do I leave them ? Enchei didn’t give me time to argue – but why ? To absolve me of guilt ? Because he doesn’t want me on his conscience ? Does he truly not want me there ? Would I be a liability ? The boat must be easy enough to pilot, they don’t actually need me. Do I risk breaking mother’s heart out of rage – out of grief ?

‘You’re no use, are you ?’ Kesh whispered to the statue above. ‘Lord Lawbringer ; as cold and unfeeling as the statues raised in your honour. Nothing mattered to you except your duty, not after the Ten Day War when you became a traitor to your own House. But I have something to lose ; I have someone to hurt by my selfishness still.’

The statue did not answer, but just that empty stare was enough to cause tears to run down her cheek.

Damn you, Enchei. A bastard buried deep – that’s what Father would have said about you. How can I abandon you ? How can I leave Mother all alone ?

She wiped her face on her sleeve and glanced up, checking for witnesses to her tears but there were none. The cry of seagulls echoed around the square as she ascended the steps, her voice quiet and wavering as she spoke to the sleepy-eyed Lawbringer waiting in the hall beyond. She felt as weak as a child as she walked through the empty corridors, sick with anticipation.

Her escort was very young, a novice few would consider old enough to be a man, but he had the sense not to speak as she shuffled feebly after him. Up one great stairway in silence, down a long vaulted room and into a narrow passage with doors set into each wall. At last the novice found the correct one and knocked gently. Just that small sound made Kesh shrink back, her hand shaking as she reached out to open the latch and go inside. But one look at her mother’s face, at the delight and relief blossoming from sleepy confusion, was enough to give her strength.

They embraced a long time, Kesh’s mother keening as she hugged her girl tight. Only when Teike at last released her daughter, taking hold of her hands instead and bringing her to the small bed for them to sit, did Kesh speak, the words driving a knife into her own heart.

‘I’m sorry, I can’t stay long.’

Law Master Sheven stood at the entrance to an alley overlooking the docks, his white robe flapping in the brisk morning wind. The mass of fishing boats ahead, most painted green with Imperial suns in a variety of forms at the prow, swarmed with activity. Beyond them waited schooners – white or blue according to the trading league they belonged to – alongside tall ships from three different Houses and a pair of massive merchant house barques at the deep-water wharf.

In the distance, the House Eagle warship, upper gun ports open in lazy threat and sky-blue sails furled, kept clear – watching and waiting as it had been since it arrived within sight of the city. Sheven had a clear view of it through the small forest of masts.

‘Lawbringer,’ he said softly, ‘your Investigator’s message expressed concerns about any Dragon involvement, did it not ?’

Rhe nodded, eyes never leaving the crowd of men and women on the main dock. There was barely space to move there ; a narrow path ran down the centre of the road between lines of makeshift stretchers. The sun had been up only an hour, but already half the city seemed to have descended on the Vesis and Darch Harbour Warrant.

Faces masked against infectious vapours, it was a forest of bandits that tended to the sick they had brought on makeshift stretchers in their hundreds. It was impossible to tell the goshe from the anxious relations of the fever-struck – a detail that made both Rhe and Sheven wary. All looked poor, which tallied to the half-finished map of outbreaks Sheven’s aides were compiling, but the lower castes were also the main recruiting ground for the goshe.

‘Perhaps we can ask those two Dragon ships to hold back from the effort,’ Sheven continued, pointing to a pair of red-hulled schooners. ‘We don’t want to provoke that Eagle warship, after all.’

Both men wore scarves around their necks, ready to pull up when they came closer to the sick ; noble purple for Rhe, religious black for Sheven.

‘The schooners only have small deck-guns,’ Rhe pointed out. ‘What threat would they offer ?’

‘None,’ Sheven said, ‘but when both sides are looking for an excuse, are their House colours not enough ?’

‘You might make them even more determined to assist.’

Sheven smiled grimly. ‘Certainly
you
would if the request came from you.’ He looked around for one of the novices he’d suborned to carry messages for him and pointed at one. ‘You ; find me a Lawbringer from Dragon or one of their Major Houses – I have a mission for them.’

‘And the Dragons among us ?’ Rhe asked softly once the novice had raced off. ‘Can we even be sure about them ?’

‘I trust you right now, and that’s about it. You have teams ready in case there are more demons sighted ?’

‘I do, though only one was reported last night and it was quickly hunted down. I doubt we will need any tonight.’

‘But not unreasonable to assign any Dragons of ours to the teams before evening comes ?’

Rhe nodded. ‘It will be done.’

‘Law Master Sheven ?’

Both men turned to find a richly-dressed young man behind them. Of local stock, with pale skin and dark hair, he wore a beautifully brocaded jacket of blue and grey, but more notable was the fat gold collar to that jacket – the sign of the Imperial caste – and the low-slung pistol holster.

Sheven didn’t move for a moment, so surprised was he, but then Rhe bowed and the Law Master followed suit.

‘My Lord Sun,’ Sheven murmured, ‘how may I serve you ?’

From the Imperial’s collar hung a white silk scarf threaded with more gold, draped in a carefully rakish manner to Sheven’s eyes. He was in his early twenties and his eyes glittered dangerously as he nodded an acknowledgment to their bows. Sheven could never remember having before met an Imperial who wore a weapon so casually.

While they were of the highest caste and of course permitted such a thing, custom frowned upon it when the entire warrior caste of the House of the Sun had been banned after the Ten Day War. The youth’s careless arrogance was a gross provocation to any ranked House nobleman – had Rhe’s life followed a different path the Imperial might have soon been dying in a duel.

‘I come to assist you,’ the young man declared magnanimously. ‘My name is Prince Enser Kashte.’

‘Assist ?’ Rhe asked. ‘I believe loading the sick onto boats might be beneath my Lord’s high station.’

‘Oh indeed,’ Prince Kashte said, wrinkling his nose at the idea, ‘but I had something else in mind.’ With a flourish he took something from inside the thick sash around his waist and Sheven caught sight of intricate tattoos on the back of the Imperial’s hands before a folded sheaf of paper was offered forward.

‘I share a mutual acquaintance with your Investigator Narin – this acquaintance sends you this list at the Investigator’s request.’

‘What is it ?’ Sheven asked as he opened the paper to see a column of names in elegant script. ‘Lawbringers ?’

‘If any man was of a mind to wonder who among his colleagues might hold allegiances to other parties, a start must be made somewhere.’ Kashte nodded towards the paper. ‘Furthermore, if the Lawbringers find themselves in a police action of a larger scale than they are used to, certain distant relations of mine and I will be nearby and glad to assist in any service to our cousin, the Emperor, that might be requested of us by his noble representatives.’

Sheven coughed in surprise. ‘You and other members of the Imperial family ?’ He exchanged a look with Rhe. More men with guns being added to the mix – would that be a good thing or disastrous ? ‘Just how many are we talking about here ?’

‘A handful of idle youths such as myself,’ Kashte said with a cold smile. ‘Feckless and of little status among the wider Imperial family as we are, I can bring you thirty whose upbringing has been mostly occupied by swordplay and marksmanship. In the unlikely event you find a use for us, we will be yours to petition for assistance.’

The Law Master blinked at him. ‘And, ah, this acquaintance of yours ?’

‘Prefers to remain nameless, lest he gain a reputation for involving himself in petty matters of civic order.’

‘Where might we find you, if we did indeed have such a request ?’ Rhe asked while Sheven was still lost in the list of names – many of them Lawbringers he respected and trusted.

‘There is a gaming house on the public thoroughfare – the Black Tiles. I have persuaded them to open their doors early to us.’

‘The Black Tiles,’ Rhe confirmed. ‘I know it.’

Kashte smiled and bowed with a flourish. ‘In which case I depart and leave you to your ministrations.’

The Imperial didn’t wait to hear Rhe’s polite reply and the words died unfinished, wasted breath that faded to nothing on the breeze.

‘Didn’t see that coming,’ Sheven admitted once he’d watched the minor prince turn the corner. ‘You ?’

Rhe shook his head. ‘All the more surprising given how careful the Imperial family usually are,’ he said. ‘Does it mean we have a new ally or another player in a game we do not yet understand ?’

‘Narin clearly knows more if he’s arranged this. Does he want us to have an edge or a fighting chance ? Could the goshe have guns to use ? Even with some warriors and nobles in their ranks, it’s a dangerous choice to use guns on us. House Dragon would certainly hear of it and might simply react.’

‘He fears worse than a handful of noble goshe ready to turn their guns on us,’ Rhe replied carefully. ‘As we agreed I’ve kept back details from you and this is one. Narin rightly fears the Dragons will send in their Astaren and that it will all spiral out of control. The goshe possess magic they can use in battle – magic no Astaren would stand to see in the hands of others.’

‘Such as your demons ?’

‘Their elite agents possess unnatural powers, according to the reports I have from Narin and others. I doubt the goshe have a cache of guns – mass-production of weapons is difficult to hide when Astaren across the Empire are watching out for it. But I am certain their elite are more dangerous than any armed warrior caste.’

‘Fortunately we’re planning on making it a surprise,’ Sheven said after a moment of quiet. ‘Whatever their motivation or the provocation it causes, I don’t believe we can turn these Imperials down.’

His attention returned to the sight of masked figures gently loading the stricken onto boats. Not all were unconscious, it turned out ; many were simply weak and delirious with fever, suffering through the early stages perhaps, but the majority were carried on every form of stretcher imaginable.

The steady stream of figures walking out onto the wide stone-packed ground put him in mind of a trail of ants – each bound to the will of others and mindlessly carrying their burden back to the nest. Through the press and disorder he caught occasional glimpses of white-coated goshe doctors moving through the mass, and a few black-garbed goshe too – all carefully modest in their numbers.

As Sheven watched, the first shouts went up from several of the fishing fleet ; their captains unhappy at being called into service by the Emperor’s personal order, but wasting no time to be away once their decks and holds were full of the sick.

‘And so we send them off,’ Sheven muttered, a sick feeling building in his stomach. His hand tightened around the grip of his scimitar until he forced himself to release it. ‘Cast them into the hands of our enemy – to do what with, we do not know.’