The Beast of the North (14 page)

I wanted to kill him.

But I would not.

Instead, I kicked his face, and his eyes rolled in his head. ‘Larkgrin,’ I whispered; the staff disappeared, and I grasped the gold and pushed my way through the crowd. I took the face of the hunter and nobody noticed in the frenzy. There was a group of guards running by, but I saw they were going uphill for a terrible conflagration, just up the Griffon’s Stride. People were now jostling and pushing each other, and they swarmed the mint to get rich. The Silver Bells rang in the walls, and I heard trumpets blaring in the tower. I ran, looked back and saw an old woman disappearing into the mint. Another was rifling through the Brother’s body.
Hope she stabs him,
I thought and ran until I could not run anymore. I began to walk.

Then, someone tripped me into an alleyway. I fought him off, but I felt a blade rip my coat. I backpedaled away and saw Twitch’s bruised face, his hand stabbing down with wicked steel. ‘I still want my prize, Lord of Lies,’ he hissed. ‘And the gold.’

A spear hit him in his back; a thin point burst from his chest.

I was bleeding, and I saw three figures rushing forth. ‘Here, get him!’ It was Sand, his face covered in soot. ‘Maskan?

‘Take the coin sack,’ Lith said, and she retrieved the spear. She was wearing tight, practical leathers, her hair was wild around her face. And last came another girl, Shaduril, dressed like Lith. ‘Maskan? We know Bear, but nice to meet you. Maskan is your name?’

‘What is she doing here?’ I asked Lith, stunned. ‘Yes, that is my name.’

‘The family owns the Affront, the tavern, Maskan. She is my … sister.’ She did not seem happy about the fact. Shaduril looked away from her in disgust.

‘What?’ I whispered. ‘How did you know it was us?’

Lith looked embarrassed. ‘Sorry, we knew. Always did. Didn’t want to lie, but we were ordered to play along by Balan, our father. The Jesters found your family. We knew as well.’

‘Yes,’ Shaduril said softly. ‘I am sorry as well. Valkai sent a word to the family that they would use you to execute our plan, as soon as you were found. He named the Bear. When Kallir came to Lith, it was like the gods had sent you to us.’

‘Why would you want the Jesters gone?’ Sand asked. ‘They worked with you.’

Lith shrugged. ‘Valkai also demanded much more than they had previously. He asked for too much. We decided it was a good idea to be rid of Valkai after we figured out your plan. A brilliant plan. Sorry for the acting, Maskan. I knew who you were.’

‘We succeeded,’ I said. ‘It was costly.

‘The Jesters will suffer,’ Shaduril agreed. ‘I think you managed that much. Now that they are gone, I hope you will work with us.’

‘Killing royals? Look—’ I began.

Shaduril shook her head. ‘We are not Valkai. We are not forcing you. But we have common enemies, and we are here to help. And I think we did already. You can take your face now,’ she said very gently. She was beautiful, and I obeyed her.

‘Much more handsome than the other face. I dislike mustaches,’ Lith said with a grin and Shaduril shuddered with brief anger. She controlled it and smiled though it was visibly hard to do so. ‘Allies?’ Lith asked.

‘I don’t know,’ I said.

‘Look, you need—’ Sand began, and then I clutched his hand.

‘The family is in danger,’ I told him in panic.

‘How so?’ Sand asked, looking strangely subdued by the two females prowling around us.

‘The Brother said they will find me. Said they know who we are,’ I hissed in pain. ‘He overheard my name. Your father’s title.’

‘Shit,’ Sand cursed and looked distraught. ‘What now? We with the noble bitches?’

Shaduril was eyeing Sand unkindly. ‘Your friend survived his crime, I see. An arsonist.’

‘Barely survived,’ Sand said defensively. ‘There were guards looking for me, just after the house burned. Crawled out of the back window. It was an abandoned one. Nobody should die.’

Lith looked very troubled as she waved Sand down. ‘They know your name?’

‘Yes,’ I said and stood up.

Sand pushed at me. ‘How do you know? The Red Brother is down. Hurt. Dead? I doubt he–’

Shaduril shook her head; her face was concerned. ‘He was up just after the fight, pushing people out of the mint. We saw it. You should have killed him, Maskan. A Mad Watch officer was talking with him. They will burn the Old City, but they will leave no stone unturned to find Bear. And that likely means your family is in genuine danger. Right?’

‘The family is not in the city,’ I said while massaging my neck. ‘He said White Brother has a way to find them, but how could he? They are well hidden. They are … we are criminals, after all. They can hide their tracks. Nobody even knows Bear’s real name. Though they do mine …’

Shaduril leaned on me; her hair was brushing my face, and I saw Lith look away in disgust. ‘But they have spies, Maskan, they will know someone who knows the Bear and where you are holed up. They are better at than Valkai was, even. Believe it. They don’t hunt all the vagabonds in the land, no, but they could catch the most. Someone will always speak up. And this business with the White Brother and your name is bad. You should stay with us. You are safe with us.’

‘What about the White Brother?’

‘He has strange ways,’ Lith said softly. ‘They did not lie. If they know enough about a person they wish to find, he can find them. The White Brother. He will find nearly anything. He has a talent, Maskan, for finding things. Or do you think that wondrous staff of yours is the only item of power? And your skill with face changing the only magical skill in Midgard? They all have something, Danegells.’

‘I thought I was unique, yes,’ I said sullenly.

‘No, it is not an unusual skill,’ she said. ‘We should hurry. Balan, Father, will tell you more about magic later, but your family? Let us go. We will hide you. All of you. They cannot find you while you are with us.’ Lith tapped a finger on an amulet. ‘Because we are well protected as well. Your family is not. I am sorry they are in danger. She leaned on me. ‘I will, unfortunately, stay here to tie up some loose ends. Don’t forget me, Maskan.’

I shook my head, and stone-faced Shaduril led us off, without a word to her sister. We tried to exit the city, but could not. The gates were closed, the walls crawling with men. Nor could we leave that evening. Nor that night. Very early in the morning, we inched for the gates. There were wagons rolling out of the city, filled with corpses.
The Grim Jesters
, I thought. The Bad Man’s scaffolds were filled with hanging corpses, one with conical robes and a female’s face and one vast man.
Valkai? The Horns?
While we stared at the endless number of corpses being taken out, Shaduril got a note, likely from Lith. By late morning, the gates were open again though we had to disguise ourselves as Shaduril’s servants to exit. We rode like the damned for the Hall. Shaduril fingered the note and looked sadly at us.

‘I am sorry,’ she told us. ‘The White Brother found your home.’

I
stared at the burning Green Hall. It was no longer our haven, but a den of death.

It was crackling fiercely; the timbers could only barely be seen amidst the smoke, soot, and flames. A small army of men stood in front of the hall. The Mad Watch, by their red cloaks.

Worse, there were corpses swinging in the haze of smoke and one, I was sure, was the Bear. The man’s back was arched from the pain he no longer felt, for he had died. Then there was Mir, my mother. She was no longer the caring, practical woman I had known, but a sad, small corpse without shoes and she hung forlornly, her hooded face hanging on her chest. I was so happy I could not see her face though I knew her by her clothing.

And Ann.

She was there as well. She was probably gazing up at the sky, her hands lax on her sides and she was gently swirling in the wind, also hooded.

Crows were hopping on Bear’s corpse, but not on the women’s. I was grateful for that as well. The killers were still down there.

Sand was sitting next to me, holding his head with two hands. He had not said a word, and I did not wish to know what he was thinking about. At least he had not rushed forward to a suicidal attack—so far, he hadn’t—but I kept an eye on him. Shaduril was near us, looking grimly at the sight. ‘Your sister is a whore? She slept with Naram,’ I asked her, my mind dazed, and I realized I was blabbering.
Mother was dead. She was dead.

‘No,’ Shaduril said simply and softly. ‘Well. Not with him.’

‘But … ’ I began but went quiet.

She crouched next to me. ‘Naram and the Blacktowers were in a small business deal together. He would bring us a daily bag of stolen golden flans, and we would make them useful. We know the jewelry business. He was too lazy to make the connections by himself and likely too scared. He had a crush on Lith, flirted shamelessly with her, was jealous as any fool of her, of course, but they had nothing like that between them. I don’t want to speak of her. Not now. But you must know that we are pretty much in the same business as you are, Maskan. Or were. I am sorry for your family. It was a risky endeavor.’

‘Too dangerous,’ Sand whispered.

She nodded in full agreement. ‘Your success was Valkai’s bane, and we are grateful for that. He was not trustworthy, and we were fools to work with him. But this is a terrible price to pay.’ Her voice crackled with sorrow, and I nodded gratefully at her.

‘They are dead,’ Sand stated bluntly, in shock.

I grunted. It needed saying. It had to be said. I would not understand it otherwise. It was, probably Mother’s slight body swinging around in the wind. She was dead. No. Yes. ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Why are they dead? It makes no sense.’

‘You robbed from the crown,’ Shaduril said directly. ‘They had your name, and someone knew Bear’s business. He had associates. Likely, someone made a lot of silver for betraying him. The king has a surprising number of spies in Bad Man’s. Or it was the White Brother who learned Bear’s real name. There he is.’

There were Brothers down there on horses, hidden by the smoke. I did not see them right that moment, but Shaduril had seen the White one.

‘No,’ I breathed. ‘I mean why did they hang them? Why not hold them? To get the gold back, to find me?’ I wondered weakly, stunned as Mother’s corpse swung around in the wind. I was numb. So numb. It did not feel real. None of it. A rider appeared from the smoke and Sand hissed. He was a Brother Knight. His tall helmet was glistening in the light of Lifegiver. A white horsehair tail was rustling in the wind. He was staring at the clearing as if unconcerned with the whole business.

‘You said they went for Valkai?’ Sand asked with a hollow voice. ‘He was hung there this morning, no? I saw him, I think.’

Shaduril nodded and showed me the note she had received. ‘They sent a thousand men, Hawk’s Talon down there in the harbor yesterday and this night. They tore into the old city and butchered hundreds of criminals. You saw them being taken out of the city for burial in some hole. Most were Jesters, some others. They did a good job at making sure everyone saw the procession of the corpses being carried out. Then they sealed the tunnels though I doubt that would keep a determined rat at bay. There are dozens of tunnels they will never find.’

‘Valkai?’ I asked her. ‘It was him on the scaffold?’

‘He fought well,’ she said with a small, satisfied grin. ‘The note said he holed in some ancient tavern and killed six men trying to get in, but he was impaled and dragged out by his entrails. They hung him after and will bury him later.’

‘The Horns?’ I went on.

She hesitated. ‘There was a southern woman there,’ Shaduril said cautiously. ‘They said she wore this strange mask. Perhaps it was this … Horns? She killed herself before being captured. They hung her anyway. The filth is gone, Maskan. Thank you.’

I was nodding. ‘He, she … was scheming. Just like you are. To kill Magor. Apparently, she was their leader. Valkai was just—’

‘Yes, we guessed he was not the brains of the outfit. Shady and lucky and savage, but not smart enough,’ Shaduril told me. She was wiping some stray hair from her mouth, and I briefly admired her delicate features and then loathed myself.
Mother and Ann. And Sand’s father. All dead. While I gawked at a woman.

‘As Maskan said, you and this Horns had similar interests,’ Sand growled. ‘You were going to use Maskan here to kill the royals, and now you are here, telling us you have no idea who betrayed us. You claim the king has spies, but you were onto our plan the whole time.’

She looked down in shame. ‘Yes. Lith figured it out as Kallir came to her, asking for a favor.’

Sand spoke on. ‘Someone let us down; that is true. Perhaps you did?’ Sand’s face was turned her way, rage playing on his features. ‘That is my father over there. You played us for fools—’

Shaduril sighed and shook her head forlornly. ‘You can blame everyone for what happened. I feel guilty, Sand, I do. My father will not. It was fate. Believe me; we had no interest in seeing your family hang. We wanted to see you succeed and could have done nothing more to aid you. Right, we hoped to have Maskan help us after. It went wrong.’

‘You wish to kill the king,’ Sand stated with a low growl. ‘And here we are. With no ties to anyone. We only have revenge left. But we cannot do it alone and you—’

She raised a finger and Sand went quiet. ‘You are making quite a fantastic conspiracy theory out of this.’ She laughed bitterly. ‘I said, we couldn’t have done anything more to help you. No. The Bear there had the plan to be rid of the Valkai, and it was a clever one, yes? We liked it. And yes, we helped you. And wanted you to help us after. Things went wrong. It happens. If we had wanted to use your family against you, we would have grabbed them and brought them to the Crimson Apex. That is our ancestral fort and home, the land of the High Hold. Now we only have trust. And we trust you. Remember,’ she said and held my shoulder. ‘We could have grabbed you yesterday in that alley like the Jesters did. But instead we are here, and I am at your mercy.’ Sand was about to argue, but she shook her head at him, and my friend relented and nodded as Shaduril stared at him with pleading eyes. She went on. ‘But can we trust you? You are now reckless, dangerous to you, dangerous to us, and gods know if we can manage to keep you alive. But we shall try. And yes, we shall need you. And you will need me. Us. He has to fall. Magor is merciless and mad. I see him daily and know he is evil.’ She shuddered in hate and loathing, and I felt very sorry for her. She was right. It had been our plan.

The White Brother, the Knight, was joined by two more, both riding from the woods. One was the Black and the other the Red one, and my hand twitched with hate. Red Brother. He had looked kind and brave but had led them to our home.
At least he had put them on the scent,
I thought. The Black Brother was gesturing at a soldier. The man twitched visibly, unsure of what was being asked of him and then, and finally he handed the king’s flag to the knight. The Black Brother took it, drew a long dagger, and hacked off half the pole, leaving the end sharp like a stake. He guided his massive mount forward and stopped at the corpse of the Bear. The crows stared down at him balefully but thought better of making trouble with the large man and took off in a wild flurry of wings. The man heaved the pole forward, impaled the Bear with it, and left the king’s flag there to be seen.

‘Rancid cur,’ Sand cried softly. ‘You shit.’

‘You will kill the queen? And the king?’ I asked darkly.

Shaduril shrugged. ‘Yes, you know we will try. There are a hundred plots by the High King to discredit and even kill kings all around Midgard, but none by the nobles of the Red Midgard. I know Magor works hard to thwart the south, but he thinks the nobles of Dagnar are loyal. We have a chance, it is unexpected, hasn’t been done before. And the Red Brother, Black and White, the evil Brothers, and famous knights down there? They will have to fall as well. I doubt they would serve another. Should you help Balan Blacktower execute regicide and help us bring new glory and stability for us all, perhaps you will see them hanging one day. Or just dead. Even that would comfort you, I think. I cannot promise you will kill them.’

‘Balan. Your father?’ Sand asked her without taking his eyes off the three knights now mustering their troops for a trip back home.

She sighed and turned to speak to me. ‘He is. Balan is our father. This has been a family affair for this year, though, as you know, we had to ask for Valkai to help. They had the resources we do not have though perhaps Maskan will change that now.’

‘How many are there in your family?’ I asked her.

She waved her hand east and west. ‘Father. You know Lithiana, of course. My damned sister. There is Taram, our brother, but he should be kept at arms length from this plot. He has trouble dealing with … with many things.’ She shook her head slowly as if lost in her thoughts until she slapped her knee. ‘But we don’t have the army to fight the king. Some hundreds of men, mostly peasants. Our High Hold has a large population of villagers, of course, but they are not fighters, no. We are training and arming all we can, of course, but that is barely enough. That’s why Valkai’s troop was a godsend. But he was greedy. Too greedy. Don’t worry about that now. We will find men, and perhaps we will be happy to kill the royals alone though that will be the death of me. I would love to see an army take the Tower after I slay the king, but I doubt that can take place.’

‘I am sorry—’ I began.

She interrupted me, looking somber. ‘We will make a pact. If you just agree to do your best for us, we will do so for you. The result will be for the sake of the land and our revenge.’

Sand looked at me feverishly.
I owed him. More, I owed Mother.

‘Yes, we shall make one. I’ll do what needs to be done. We shall … kill the queen. Then you … will slay the king. I am sorry he is interested in you.’

‘It is terrible,’ she breathed. ‘He is old but has been courting me for a while. He is in love. But it gives me the opportunity to kill him.’

I blushed. ‘You are his mistress.’ I cursed myself and looked away.

She shook her head, unwilling to discuss it. It was as if a dark cloud had descended over her, and I could swear there had been a tear in her eye. Finally, she nodded. ‘We all make sacrifices for our family. And we will murder them and hope the blood washes away the shame and the pain.’

‘How will I kill—’

‘Not now,’ she said.

‘How will you kill the king?’ Sand asked ferociously. ‘I wish to know.’

‘Sand—’ I started, but Shaduril waved me down.

She sighed. ‘I will poison him with a deadly hairpin,’ she told me. ‘The Brothers are hovering over him, but not when …’ She went quiet, and we nodded, embarrassed. She went on. ‘When the queen dies, I will try it. No matter if I am alone with him or not. Chances are he is not alone with me. He doesn’t last long in bed. If he is out of the bed, then I will likely die. But I will kill him, and we shall see what happens. If we fail, it doesn’t matter for us any longer. If we succeed, we still have to figure out how to kill the Brothers and Danegell dependents. Father is thinking about the plan, but he will need allies, as we have none currently. So far, it is all pretty shaky. Let him work on that part. We should all do our best for our families and the country, and accept the price shall be high. That way we won’t be disappointed.’ She steeled her voice. ‘The Danegell family has to fall. All of them.’

‘We shall see them die,’ Sand added ferociously. ‘I will see their guts hanging out.’

She was nodding, uncertain. ‘I am not sure what you can do, Sand. But you are welcome in the Apex.’

‘What do you mean?’ he asked with a suspicious voice.

‘Well,’ Shaduril went on. ‘You cannot change your face. You cannot get anywhere near our enemy. Nor can you tie people to our cause. You are a thief. A … thug.’

‘So am I,’ I said abrasively, and she lifted her hands, trying to calm us.

‘You know what I mean,’ she said. ‘Sand does not fit comfortably into this plan. We are above him, and he resents nobles. Perhaps it would be best if he were hidden away.’ She leaned on the shocked Sand. ‘You will smile over the corpses of those men down there, one day. I promise you that.’

‘You don’t want me?’ Sand asked, his face reddening with anger. ‘I’ll not stay out of it. No madam.’