The Palace Job (17 page)

"I wouldn't say that
at all,"
Pyvic said, and sat back to sip his kahva for awhile.

"Hook's baited," Loch said to Kail a few blocks from the kahva-house at the fountain where they'd agreed to meet. "He'll be there." The fountain was bronze, a tall figure holding a walking staff in one hand and a merchant's scales in the other. Gedesar the Wanderer, god of merchants, travelers, and fortune-seekers. And thieves, too, although somehow that hadn't made it into the display. Loch tugged her hair back into its normal ponytail.

"You're sure? Here's your stupid hat." Kail passed her the sword-belt as well. "Last time we got to the Spire, we got out of the crates to see a bunch of guards grinning at us. If we do all this and see the same guards giving us the same grin... well, I'm going to be disappointed, Captain."

"You know, I really
like
this hat," Loch confessed, slapping it back on. "Any word on your end?"

"I asked a few questions around the market. It appears Warden Orris is no longer working groundside." Kail grinned. "One less thing to worry about, anyway."

"I talked to a fence while parting with the last of the trinkets from my vault job," said Desidora as she came out of an alley, Ghylspwr at her side. Her hair was darker than its normal auburn, and her green robe was more of an olive color. "Jyelle spread the word. She wants a meeting. Ninth bell at a fountain in Tratter Square." She smiled, her skin pale even in the bright afternoon light. "The air is thick with their fear."

Loch thought a moment, lips pursed. "Trap?"

"Kutesosh gajair'is,"Ghylspwr
said grimly.

"Of course," Desidora said coldly, then seemed to catch herself. She shut her eyes, and some of the color came back into her cheeks.

"Tratter Square?" Loch glanced at Kail.

"Haven't seen it, Captain. Didn't want to tip anything."

"There were watchers," said Icy as he joined them, "but none were watching the spire of Esa-jolar's nearby temple, which affords an excellent view."

"A pure white dove circling gently through cerulean skies went similarly unobserved," Ululenia agreed, stepping past them to touch her hands to the water of the fountain.

"Well, hell, I was just invisible," Hessler grunted as he and Dairy joined them, and then glared at the fountain. "What are you... are those
lily-pads?"

"Excellent," said Loch. "How does it look?"

"It is located in the poor quarter," Icy said, frowning slightly. "The ground appears muddy and uneven, and the exits are more alleys than roads. The fountain itself is dry and its statue gone. One may still access the pipe system through which the water once flowed, however."

"Ululenia?"

"'Tis a sad place," she said softly, her ash-white hair falling into her face as she stared down into the fountain. "I sense unshed tears in earth long paved with stone and brick and tears and blood."

"That's... slightly less helpful, but thank you for trying. Hessler?"

"Great place for a trap," he said sourly. "It's the kind of forgotten maze where she can hide dozens of her gang."

"Noted. So... the invitation's on the table." Loch grinned. "We can spring the trap or back out."

"Kutesosh gajair'is!"

"Ghylspwr favors springing the trap," Desidora translated, smiling faintly. "As do I." Her hair was back to red now.

Kail squinted. "But isn't that the same thing he said when—"

"There are a lot of subtle tonal differences, Kail. You really have to listen for it."

"I don't like it," Hessler said, "but then, I'm not the one who'll be walking into it."

"Good team spirit, Magister. Icy?"

"Fortune favors the bold, though statistics favor the cautious."

"I have not journeyed so far to retreat to safer pastures now," Ululenia said firmly.

"I don't know, Loch," Kail said. "We've got surprises available, but she
really
hates you. What she did to Alms..."

"Sorry I'm late," Tern called out breathlessly as she dashed out from an alley.

"Pursuit?" Loch asked sharply.

"No," the mousy woman said cheerily. "Just lost track of time. The locals seem pretty riled up about an Urujar woman in a red hat. Any thoughts?"

"Just one." Loch smiled. "We spring the trap."

The fountain in Trailer Square had been torn down years ago.

When the Voyants of Heaven's Spire had chosen Ros-Oanki as one of the few lucky cities it would visit in the course of its migration across the Republic, the city had been a minor trading hub with a small but thriving artistic community and an exotic multicultural presence. Becoming the capitol city of the province had brought in hordes of commerce.

It had also brought in a sizeable military presence, a ton of government contracts, and a seething mass of farmers, crafters, merchants, and servants to keep everyone fed, clothed, trendy, and sexually sated.

Tratter Square was a victim of the city's expansion. Once part of a residential neighborhood where the smells of exotic Imperial-spiced meals would fill the air along with sounds of folksongs from the old country, shouted banter in Urujar, and the distinct but universal cries of young couples in love, the square had long ago had its apartments gutted and converted into warehouses. The square itself served as the back lot for four separate warehouse clusters, and the roads leading to the square were clogged with leftover crates, packing materials, damaged merchandise, and junk.

The ground of the square, untouched for years, was now a very small marsh as a result of the spring rains. Where the fountain had once been, there was now only a grimy, leaf-strewn crater with a wide rusted pipe jutting from the ground in the middle.

It was dark and moonless that night, and the lights of the city left the sky a sooty orange-gray but did little to illuminate Tratter Square itself.

As the ninth bell tolled through the city, Loch carefully eased through the wall of crates and entered the square, blinking and squinting in the darkness. Her hat was cocked jauntily on her head, and her sword was still at her waist.

Jyelle stood on the small raised rim of the old fountain. In the darkness, Loch had no idea whether the years had been kind to her, but it was undoubtedly the woman Loch had trained, trusted, and then left in the woods back during the war. She was mixed race, like Loch, but lighter—able to pass for white if she tried, with hair that had the tight Urujar curls but the old-country color and skin the color of old paper. She wore simple, loose clothes, and held only a quarterstaff.

"Hello, Captain." Jyelle saluted with an elaborate twirl of the quarterstaff. "Get my note?" Her voice was dry, light, mocking.

"How long did you rehearse that?" Loch asked, still moving forward. She drew her sword. "Have you had that one in mind for awhile, or did you come up with it while trying to talk the cold sweats away earlier tonight?"

"You think I'm scared of you?" Jyelle laughed. "I've killed better warriors than you two at a time,
Captain.
I've walked away from bloodbaths that made our little scouting skirmishes look like children playing with sticks."

"Which is why you're now holding one." Loch wondered if she should hop up onto the fountain's edge or stab from below. "Did you train those sailors who came after me? I didn't even draw my sword against them." She decided to stay below. "All I want is to come through, Jyelle. What do
you
want?"

Jyelle laughed. "I spent a long time thinking that I wanted to kill you, Loch." She began spinning her quarterstaff. "But then I realized that that wasn't it. I wanted to
beat
you. That's why I'm holding this little stick. I'm going to break your arms, and your knees, and—"

"That's more detail than I wanted," Loch said, and ran Jyelle through.

Her sword passed clean through the staff, and then clean through the woman's body, with no resistance whatsoever.

The image of Jyelle smiled down at Loch. "Surprise." Then it exploded with a blazing flash of light that ripped into Loch's face like the blinding radiance of the desert sun.

Loch stumbled backward, clutching at her eyes, as the
real
Jyelle stood up from where she had lain inside the fountain.

"It's expensive as hell to have your own pet illusionist," she said conversationally as Loch shook her head frantically, "but in my line of work, it's worth it." Like her illusory double, she had a quarterstaff. "Really kills the night vision if it sneaks up like that, doesn't it?" She lashed out and knocked the blade from Loch's hand. Loch groped for it, and Jyelle swept her legs out with another strike, sending Loch to the ground.

"You can't... my friends..." Loch rolled away as Jyelle brought the staff down where she had lain, then rolled back, clutching desperately at the staff. She got hold of it and used her leverage to wrench it from Jyelle's grasp.

Stumbling to her feet, Loch swung wildly, and Jyelle coolly stepped aside, kicked Loch in the ankle, and drove a fist into her gut.

"You probably can't hear it right now," Jyelle said, "but your friends are being ambushed as we speak." Loch stumbled back, still blinking, and Jyelle paused to retrieve Loch's sword. "You should feel honored, Captain. I'm spending a lot of money tonight. But nothing is too good for old friends like you."

She stabbed at Loch's knee, and Loch barely sidestepped it. Jyelle's follow-up slash just missed Loch's face and sent her red hat flying. "After all," Jyelle went on, "how else could I pay back the woman who made me what I am?"

"I didn't make you a murderer and a coward, Jyelle." Loch put her staff through a defensive spin.
"Fight the enemy, not their people.
It's the first thing we learn."

"Trying to catch me by the sound of my voice, Captain? Maybe keep me talking while your eyes recover?" Jyelle chuckled. "I've learned a few lessons of my own." She stepped in and slashed, and Loch stumbled back, tripping over the edge of the fountain and falling heavily inside.

"Loch, honey, I don't know if you can see me yet, but I'm putting on your hat." Jyelle cocked it at just the right angle as Loch pulled herself upright, using the rough edges of the rusted metal pipe in the center of the fountain for support. "You told everyone to look at you, and I want everyone to see
me
tomorrow, wearing that very same hat, carrying the very same sword, so that
everyone
knows
exactly
what happened."

From behind her, at the edge of the square, came the sound of crashing crates and ripping wood.

Loch hopped up onto the metal pipe that had once fed water into the fountain, one foot on either rusted edge. "Jyelle, honey," she said quietly, "that was more or less the plan."

And she stared right at Jyelle, her vision clean and unwavering, and smiled.

"Prisoner Loch!" came a shout from behind Jyelle.

As Jyelle gasped, Loch jumped lightly into the air, brought her feet and arms together, and dropped down into the pipe, vanishing into the darkness.

"Blinding flashes of light are covered in the first week of the illusion curriculum," came Hessler's voice, just loud enough for Loch and Jyelle to hear it. "Now, creating shields of darkness to protect someone's eyes,
that
you don't get until the advanced classes." Down in the darkness of the pipes, Loch shook her head as Jyelle swung her blade wildly. "Don't embarrass yourself. This is an illusion. I'm actually smirking at you from the roof."

"Prisoner Loch! Surrender yourself now!"

Jyelle could probably have explained herself to the guards, Loch mused. Despite the hat, despite the sword, if she'd had time to talk, she could have explained everything.

Which was why it was probably for the best that Hessler chose that moment to project an excellent impersonation of Jyelle's voice shouting, "I'm not going back, you Republic bastards! You'll never take me alive!"