The Guild's Bard, page 9
It would be irritating were it not for the fact that I was never referred to as a baby, given my size. She was just trying to get under my skin, and it simply wasn’t working.
“So you don’t have any interest in telling me anything more?” I asked.
“What makes you think that I would tell you anything? You should figure it out on your own. And I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”
I watched her.
I thought about everything else that had been going on, and the change in the fabrications, but the fabrications were not that significant. If they were, then the Investigators would have said something.
And not only that, but I’d had an opportunity to take a look at those fabrications, and to try to understand what they were, what they could be used for, but I had not felt anything significant from them. Could I have been wrong?
“I could get you help,” I said. “I could get you out of here.”
Talina looked up. The darkness in her eyes changed, and now it seemed to be a hollowness rather than a true darkness.
“What makes you think I want to get out of here?”
“You would rather be trapped here?”
“Trapped?” She started to smile. “Am I?”
“If you were able to escape, you would’ve done it by now.”
I was sure of that, but then again, maybe there was something else to this. Maybe I was missing something.
“If you tell me anything, it will help.”
Talina laughed. “You really aren’t very good at this, are you, baby Blade? It’s a shame. It’s too bad that Waleith didn’t have the time to teach you, but then again, if he had taught you, perhaps you wouldn’t be here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She laughed again. “Oh, to be a fly on the wall when you find out.”
I tried a few more approaches, but she stopped answering questions altogether.
And I had the distinct sense that she wasn’t going to say anything more.
And maybe there was nothing for her to say.
So eventually I stepped out, moved past the guards, who paid no attention to me whatsoever, and then headed down the hall and back out of the palace grounds. I was tempted to say something to the Queen, to imply that there was something going on with Talina, but what was I going to tell her? That she had a dangerous prisoner? The Queen knew that she had a dangerous prisoner.
And there was really nothing that the Queen could do when it came to Talina beyond keeping her imprisoned. And I had nothing else to do, nothing else that I could find. Nothing else that I could feel.
I breathed out.
It was time I went home. I allowed myself to stop thinking about the frustration I had with Talina. She wasn’t wrong. I really wasn’t very good at interrogating people. That was not my gift. Maybe there were other things that I could do, or learn, but interrogation was not something that I necessarily had any interest in. Yet I might need to gain some skill in it, especially if it came down to finding dangerous magic in Busal City. And especially if it came down to understanding whether Talina was involved.
She knew something.
And until I had a better idea about what that was, I could not ignore it.
Which meant that I was going to have to get better at asking questions.
Either that, or I was going to have to hope that Waleith returned to Busal City in time to ask questions together.
Chapter Twelve
The knock at my door surprised me.
I was tired. I hadn’t been sleeping all that well lately, due to my uncertainty about everything that I was finding and now my injury.
When I got to the door, leaning on the walking stick, I found Jos waiting for me.
He let out a shaky sigh. “Oh, Blade. It’s a good thing that you’re here.”
“Jos,” I said. “What is it?”
“Byron sent me to get you. Said he came across something and needed to have you look at it.”
“What kind of thing?”
But I already had a pretty good idea. Some sort of fabrication. That was what they had been looking into, at least primarily.
“More fabrications,” he said. “They have been a little more potent of late.”
“What do you mean by that?”
I turned away from him to grab my blade and strap the sheath to my belt. I also grabbed my jacket.
“Just what I said. They have a greater reserve of power to them. I don’t really understand it. I don’t know enough about fabrications. Most of the ones that we have been finding up until now have been less potent, if that makes any sort of sense.”
“Probably not made by formally trained fabricators,” I said, thinking about Dara and what I suspected of Rianal. I was going to have to deal with that at some point, I knew. And I didn’t really look forward to it, because it meant that I would have to deal with Dara, and whether she knew that she had any role in it. I didn’t know if she did. And if she did, what would that mean for me? What would that mean for her?
The answer was obvious—at least when I thought about it from a practical standpoint. I couldn’t be involved with anybody who was using fabrications in Busal City that were not sanctioned by the Queen. Not in my role as the Queen’s Blade.
But that was the rational side of me.
There was an irrational side of me, a part of me that was trying to make sense of whether I could find a way to maintain the relationship and keep my position. I knew better. And I could easily imagine how Waleith would respond to my relationship with Dara, if he were to learn of it. And in my mind, there was little doubt that Waleith would learn of it, because this was the kind of thing that he would pick up on immediately.
He had already warned me against having any sort of relationship in the city. He had said that I was going to have to leave the city, so he may not want me to form any relationships that would make me reluctant to leave.
“Let’s go,” I said, reaching for the door.
Jos took one look at the cane and frowned. “What happened? Were you attacked?”
“Only by myself,” I said.
“What?”
I snorted. “I was dealing with something at the harbor—”
“Wait. That was you?”
I hesitated. We had stepped outside my door, and I was in the process of closing it, sweeping my gaze along the row of homes here. This was a nice house, and far nicer than I would ever have been able to afford on my own. And the Queen had simply gifted it to me. When Waleith had left the city, I had wondered if I would be expected to stay at the palace, and I was thankful that I did not have to do that. I actually appreciated having some space, my own space, where I could get away from the palace.
And truth be told, I hadn’t been spending all that much time in the palace to begin with. I probably needed to be a greater presence there, especially because I was the Queen’s Blade, but I still felt a little uneasy about that role, and my responsibilities. I didn’t have any idea about how often I needed to have contact with the Queen.
Given the way things were building, I was starting to wonder if I should be checking in with her more often than I had been. She probably needed to know more about what I had been dealing with, to know if there was anything here that I should get her involved in.
But…
But maybe she didn’t need to.
There was a possibility that she needed some measure of deniability. She couldn’t know that she was dealing with such danger in Busal City, or at least she couldn’t have others knowing that.
“What did you hear?” I asked.
“We knew that something had taken place at the harbor. It left our fabrications practically vibrating and guided us to the harbor,” he said, pulling out a small stone fabrication. I didn’t recognize the mark on it, but I suspected that it had been made by Master Matherin, like so many fabrications were. “They stayed like that for a good few hours. We couldn’t find any obvious source. Was that you?”
I shrugged. “I’m still trying to work out the details of what happened, but yes. That was me. And to be honest, I’m not exactly sure whether the Investigators need to be involved.”
Jos nodded, and I could see the disappointment in his eyes.
“But if there is anything, I’m going to make sure to get you involved. If it is affecting the safety of Busal City, the Investigators all need to be a part of it.”
He straightened. I could see a look of eagerness in his eyes.
I had to be careful. I had to offer them a measure of responsibility, because from what I had seen, most of the Investigators wanted to be a part of things, and they were serving because they cared, or at least they wanted to have that measure of distinction, and the honor of serving the Queen.
“So this attack hurt you?” He looked at me as if he was trying to decide how badly I had been injured.
I hadn’t checked underneath the bandages, but I was feeling quite a bit better.
“It hurt, but mostly because I was dealing with a fabrication that was a little more potent than I was expecting it to be. At least, I’m assuming it’s a fabrication.”
“Have you brought it to be tested? When we have strange fabrications that we don’t really understand, we always bring them to the palace. They give us a report, tell us if there’s anything to them that we need to be concerned about, and then they dispose of them.”
“I have not,” I said. “At least, not yet. I was a little preoccupied with a few other things.”
My injury, the powder, and then with what Talina had said.
“Oh,” he said. “Well, if that’s the case, if there is anything that you need, we can help you. We really need to be a part of the investigations. We are Investigators, after all. Waleith didn’t involve us as often as we would’ve liked, and…” He trailed off as if realizing what he was saying.
“I’m not Waleith,” I said.
“I know,” he said. “But I don’t want to sound as if I’m not appreciative of the opportunity that we have, and the opportunity of working with you. It’s just that we like to be a part of things. And too often, the Blades and the Investigators don’t work well together.”
“That seems to be an ongoing trend,” I said.
Jos frowned, guiding me along the street. “Really?”
“I’ve heard the same about the constables.”
His brow furrowed. “Oh. The constables.”
“Not you as well.”
“It’s just that they don’t always appreciate our involvement.”
I shrugged. “I know the head of the constables.”
“Harent. He’s a hard man.”
“But a good one.” When Jos looked over at me, I shrugged. “I served with him in the military.”
“I didn’t take you for a navy man.”
I hadn’t realized that the Investigators knew about Harent’s past, but then again, maybe I should have expected that.
“Not navy, but I served in the army, and oftentimes the navy would transport us. He served on one of the ships I traveled on, and we got along pretty well.”
“Maybe it’s good that you are the Queen’s Blade, then. If you can make things easier with the constables, then that wouldn’t be so bad.”
“Right,” I said. “So long as we’re serving the same purpose, we should get along.”
I leaned on the walking stick, but as we kept making our way through the streets, I found that I needed it less and less. I was going to get it back to Jamie, but I wondered what he would say when he learned that I didn’t really need the walking stick as much as he might expect. He had made it clear he thought that I was going to need it for a little while.
Had he given me a concoction that was far more restorative than he had wanted to acknowledge?
Maybe it was something magical.
There were plenty of stories about magical healing items, though I had never encountered anything like that. And I would not expect Jamie, the Queen’s physic, to use anything so openly like that, but then again, maybe he would have if he’d thought that it was necessary to help me, another servant of the Queen.
By the time we reached the warehouse district, I was feeling only a little tension in my belly.
“You don’t look that hurt,” Jos said.
“I’m feeling better.”
“What happened, anyway? How badly were you hurt?”
“I got punctured in my belly,” I said.
His eyes widened. “We saw a lot of blood,” he said. “There was a trail, and we followed it, but it sort of disappeared.”
I frowned at that. “Well, that might have been mine. I don’t know if there’s anybody else badly injured out there.”
“I’m guessing you made it back to your home.”
“The palace. I had the Queen’s physic help me.”
Jos nodded, as if that was the most obvious answer. “Oh. Of course. Well, constables were following it as well. They’ve been looking into some operation around the harbor. I haven’t been able to figure out what it is.”
“Could it be tied to these fabrications?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Usually we worry about what’s coming into the city. And there have been more fabrications arriving. I know that Byron told you that it’s cyclical, but I think he said that just because he didn’t want you to take away the investigation. It is cyclical, at least from everything that I’ve heard, but this is more than what is normally cycling, if that makes any sense.”
“Considering what I’ve been dealing with, it does make a bit of sense,” I said. “So why don’t we continue to look into it? And you can tell me if there’s anything that we need to know.”
He nodded. “That would be good. We can work together. The way that we’re supposed to.”
We reached the warehouse, and Jos unlocked it and stepped inside.
The moment that we were inside, I began to feel something. It was a strange tingling energy that washed over me, and it left me thinking that whatever was here was potent. It was magical, obviously, but I had no idea about what sort of magic it was, nor about why I was picking up on something so obvious compared to what I had detected in the past. This left me practically trembling, and I wondered if this was what Jos had brought me in for.
“How is your fabrication? Is it vibrating?” I asked.
Jos brought out his navigator stone, and he clutched it briefly. “Not really. It’s not here. It’s just up ahead.”
I expected him to bring me into the room, but he led me into the warehouse instead.
We had to maneuver along rows of shelves, and I found myself looking at all of them. Some of them were marked with letters and symbols that I recognized, but not all of them. There were quite a few that were marked differently, that I couldn’t quite identify.
I was curious about all this, but whatever the reason these were here, they had drawn the attention of the Investigators. I didn’t feel anything from them, though. Either the Investigators had already neutralized them, or they were bringing them here to investigate before letting them back out into the city.
Interesting.
Maybe what I needed to do was spend more time working with the Investigators so that I could know more about what they did, about the types of items they uncovered.
Even if there were benign items coming into the city, shouldn’t I know about that? Especially if they were magical and benign.
Jos stopped in the center of the warehouse, or at least what looked like the center of the warehouse. There was a small, ornately decorated trunk here. The shelves had been repositioned, and it took me a moment to realize why.
They framed the trunk on five sides, as if to contain something inside it. But there was an item on each shelf, and as I stood there, I recognized some energy coming from those items. Fabrications.
“What is this?”
“We set up a containment area,” Byron said, coming from the shadows of a nearby shelving area. “I’m sorry about that, but it was the only thing that we could think of doing. We didn’t want to bring it into the city until we had a better idea about what it was. When Waleith was here, we would get him to help with such cases, and he would usually deactivate anything that we found. We didn’t have to use these containment areas all that often.”
“So you shielded this item?”
That would explain why I wasn’t able to pick up on anything quite as readily as I suspected I should have when I had first come into the warehouse.
“We did. We thought that it would be effective in making sure that nothing was going to escape.”
“You did a good job,” I said. Better than telling him that I was able to pick up on something.
Byron nodded as if he had expected the compliment.
“So what is it?”
“Another fabrication,” he said. “And honestly, we don’t really know what it is or what it is supposed to do. But it is radiating something that is causing our fabrication stones to react to it.”
I strode forward. The moment that I passed through the containment fabrications, I began to feel the tingling of energy all around me. And I had felt it before.
By the time I opened the trunk, I had a pretty good idea about what I was going to find.
There was another orb inside.
The energy from it was a little different from what I had been picking up on, but this one reminded me of the one that I had tried to deactivate, only the sense of it was a little unusual.
“You did well,” I said.
“So are you going to deactivate it?”
I looked over, knowing that my answer was going to reveal a measure of weakness. But I wouldn’t be able to deactivate it. I hadn’t been able to deactivate the other one and had only ended up hurting myself, so I had little doubt that this one would be the same.
“Unfortunately, these are potent.”
“These?”
“I found another one like it,” I said. “Last night. I understand that you picked up on some of the effects of it,” I said.
“Wait,” Byron said. “That was you?”
