The Palace Job (35 page)

"Explain to me," Pyvic said to Archvoyant Silestin, "why I shouldn't have you arrested."

"Because my assistants would break your arms," Silestin said, smiling faintly. "And then you'd be out of a job."

"Six justicars died because of your
assistants."
Pyvic took an angry step toward Silestin, narrowing his eyes when the golden-armored man raised a spear.

"Six justicars died because Isafesira de Lochenville, sister of my adopted daughter Naria, refused to come along peacefully," Silestin answered without heat.

"That's garbage, Archvoyant." Pyvic considered the golden-armored man. He'd killed two of Pyvic's friends. "Maybe I'm arresting the wrong person."

"Hunter Mirrkir would be harder to arrest than you think." Silestin was still smiling. "And it doesn't matter what happened in that room. Would you like to know why?"

"Politics," Pyvic said in disgust.

"Politics," Silestin agreed, and then lost his smile. "So listen carefully, boy. You lost six, and that's sad. Those were good men and women serving the Republic. They're heroes." Silestin's voice was as commanding as when he'd led in the field. "Lochenville was lost behind enemy lines. The investigation determined that she'd likely deserted or turned for the Empire. Cevirt had that report changed, ostensibly to protect my daughter Naria. When Lochenville returns, she's arrested trying to break into the Spire. She escapes, then comes back up to the Spire
again,
and you yourself admit that she's planning something aimed at
me.
And when we find her, she's living with Cevirt, who's been blocking the vote on trade sanctions against the Empire for the past few months."

"You think she's an Imperial agent?" Pyvic asked skeptically.

"I don't know
what
in Byn-kodar's hell to think!" Silestin thundered. "But it's my job to
protect
the Republic! If she looks like an Imperial agent, I'm going to do whatever it takes to stop her! If it looks like the Skilled are being bought by the Empire to keep us weak and rudderless, I'm going to push legislation through however I can!" His voice lowered ominously. "And if a justicar tries to stop me, I will
cut off
the justicars like a diseased limb. Do you hear me, Pyvic? You lost six. How many more are in the temples with the Republic paying for their treatments? How many widows are feeding their children on a justicar's pension?" He stepped forward and stood eye-to-eye with Pyvic. "I've got no problem with them, Justicar, but if you force me to choose between protecting the Republic and protecting your people, I will. And you won't like the choice."

They're yours now. Protect them.

"I understand, sir." Pyvic stepped back, lowered his gaze respectfully.

Silestin nodded slowly. "I'm glad we do, Justicar." He smiled. "I mean, Captain. It's interim, I know, but I don't see any reason why it won't be approved."

Pyvic forced the words through the ashes that clogged his throat. "Thank you, sir."

"Dismissed, Captain. Oh, and please feel free to come to the Victory Ball." Silestin gave him a grandfatherly smile. "It'll be a good chance for you to meet people."

They'd all gotten to the garden where they'd first landed. On the way, they'd sneaked past a puppet show and heard the news.

"So," she said to them quietly, "the question is, do we continue?"

Tern gave Loch a stare that, magnified by her spectacles, took up close to half her face. "I thought the question was,
how do we get down?
Or maybe
how long can we hide up here?
Or possibly even
what the hell was I thinking to get involved in this in the first place?"

"You were thinking of money," Hessler said shortly, "or pride, or the challenge of cracking the world's most difficult safe. Don't blame Loch. You got into this yourself, and it's intellectually disingenuous to suggest oth—ow!" He began hopping, holding one shin.

"Are we, in fact, Imperial agents?" Icy asked curiously. "If so, I will adopt the necessary patriotism."

"That's a big if, Icy." Kail looked at Loch, and she must not have kept the hurt and surprise from her face. "Captain, if there's any chance, I'm with you, but if we continue, we're doing it without Cevirt's invitation, without any more research on Cevirt's console, and without any special equipment. We've got a palace full of guards, not to mention Silestin's Blades and everyone who attacked us back at Cevirt's place."

Ululenia looked haggard, and her horn was dim, gray rather than incandescent white. Hessler had one arm bandaged. Loch herself probably looked the worst of all of them.

"You remember how Kail and I got stuck behind Imperial lines?" she asked. "And when we came back, my father's barony was gone?"

Kail grimaced. "Loch, this isn't the time."

"What I failed to mention," Loch went on, "was that the mission that sent me behind the lines was given to me personally by Colonel Silestin. He said it was a secret mission, and that we would meet with his army deep in Imperial territory and use the information I'd gained to plan an even deeper assault."

"Tactically sound," Icy noted.

Loch nodded. "And when we got to the rendezvous point, Silestin's army wasn't there." She grimaced. "We spent a long, ugly time behind enemy lines, then got home and found that we'd been written off as dead or deserted. I talked with a few old friends from other units. There
was no assault plan. Ever."

"He sent you off to die," said Tern in a small voice.

Hessler sniffed. "You expect us to believe that Silestin hated you enough to make up some phony mission?"

"Shut up, Magister," Loch said without looking at him. "While I was
deserting,
my father's well-defended and strongly fortified castle was overrun by
bandits,
and only the incredibly convenient arrival of
Silestin's
forces saved my sister, who was promptly adopted by Silestin so that he, as caretaker for my family's land, could use Lochenville's resources to fund his run for the Voyancy." She finally turned to Hessler. "Connect the damn dots."

Tern shifted, her boots squeaking on the wet grass. "He sounds like a monster. No argument. But I didn't sign on for assassination."

"Neither did I," Loch said firmly. "He killed my parents. He took my barony. I could kill him with a clean conscience. But I'd rather rob him." She looked around at the others. "The elven manuscript is worth more than Silestin could ever understand. If I sell it back to the elves and split it with you all, I can buy enough support to make Silestin pay for his crimes in public. That's all I care about. And in my opinion, Kail,
we can still do it."
She let out a breath. "We had what we needed. The only thing that's changed is that we need a new way into the palace, but with the crowd swarming in for the Victory Ball, I think we can manage something."

"What of our foes?" Ululenia said, her voice shaky. "Their spearman's foul magic overcame me."

Hessler nodded. "And the Glimmering Man stole my illusion and gave it solid form, which... well, either one would be difficult from both an energetic standpoint and a conceptual metamagical perspective..." He coughed, seeing the stares. "He's powerful."

"Agreed." Loch nodded. "If we go forward, we need a way to avoid, distract, or negate them both."

"You can't just agree with me!" Hessler sputtered. "You agree and then act like that's something we tackle later. If we can't tackle it
now,
there
is
no later!"

"But we have to, Mister Hessler!" Dairy exclaimed. "We have to stop these men! Stealing this book won't defeat them, but it will hurt them, right, Miss Loch?" Loch nodded. "Then we have to do it," he finished. "We have to. I'm with you, Miss Loch, whatever anyone else says."

"Where my virgin goes," Ululenia said with a wan smile, "so go I." Loch nodded to her. That made three, or four if Kail stayed.

"You can't... Dairy, you don't have to..." Hessler waved angrily. "This isn't the proper way to.... Fine, I will remain,
pending
a plan for dealing with the spearman and the Glimmering Man and that fellow who was wearing the armor of shadows, which, as I recall, leant its wearer invulnerability and superhuman strength."

"But not flight," Loch said dryly. "He's out of the picture."

"I humbly wish to continue," Icy said without further explanation.

"I'm in," said Desidora.

"Besyn larveth'is!"
Ghylspwr added.

"Oh, of course she is!" Tern said bitterly. "It's a chance for her to raise a zombie for a good cause! Maybe she can steal a few souls while she's at—"

"Want to know the truth about Byn-kodar, Tern?" Desidora asked conversationally. "Want to know why I left Tasheveth the love goddess?" Tern's apple cheeks paled at the death priestess's stare. "The truth is, I
do
make zombies, and I
can
steal souls if I need to." She crossed her arms, and her auburn hair slid to a glossy black. "Want to know something else? Byn-kodar is actually a degradation of the ancient language, as are the names of most gods. Ael-meseth, god of judges, has for a name a corruption of the phrase 'many oaths of trust', for example.

"But the
full
name of Byn-kodar," Desidora continued as twisted thorny tendrils grew from the grass around the hem of her black robes, "is
Byn-kodar'isti kuru'ur."

"With sadness, we steal your life," Hessler translated. "But why 'we'? Or did I conjugate it improperly?"

"The 'we'," Desidora said with a smile that did not warm her alabaster cheeks, "alludes to the fact that
there is no death god.
The power over souls, the power over the dead, is held jointly among all the gods, kept in reserve until they agree that some great danger justifies bringing that power into the world. Then one luckless priest or priestess
loses
her connection to the deity she once served, and becomes what I am, instead."

Tern made a small noise.

"At least they're honest," Desidora continued, and now her eyes were pits of black, and the grass shriveled and died from the palpable aura around her.
"With sadness, we steal your life.
Do you know what I did as a love priestess, Tern? I arranged marriages. I counseled bickering couples. I helped young lovers find each other.
Now,
I raise zombies."

She shut her eyes for a long moment, biting her lower lip as some great struggle took place inside her.

Then, slowly, the color returned to her hair and cheeks. And when she opened her eyes and spoke, it was her again, and not the thing she had been for a moment. "I'm not here for the money! I'm here because the gods told me that the fate of the world depends upon me!" Her voice broke. "I'm here because if I succeed, I
might
get to be a love priestess again."

"Kun-kabynalti osu fuir'is,"
Ghylspwr said gently.

"Shut up, Ghyl." Desidora wiped at her eyes and turned to Loch. "I'm in. We're in." Icy held out an arm, but she waved him off.

Loch nodded. "I can't guarantee that the Glimmering Man will cross our path, but I'm grateful for your help for as long as you're with us."

"When do we start?" Tern asked in a small voice. She was sort of hunched over, and the hair that swept down over her face accentuated the mousy look.

Loch shut her eyes and allowed herself one quiet moment of victory. "Same time as before," she said. "We'll scout the palace until the ball to figure out how to get in."

She looked around at all of them, some angry, some injured, all exhausted. "Thank you."

"Don't
thank
us," Kail said in a shocked, horrified voice. "We're in this for the
money,
Captain."

Kail hadn't been the best of her scouts, but he'd been the one who could always make her laugh. "My mistake," she said primly. "Let's find a place to hide for the next few nights."

Orris drifted in a gray landscape, a place without pain or pleasure. He had forgotten how long he had been here. He could look around the gray landscape, but he could not move his feet. They were pinned to the shadow that lay on the ground behind him. The shadow had spikes on it. That had meant something to him, something important, when he first arrived. He thought.