Thread Slivers (Golden Threads Trilogy), page 19
Duke’s eyes narrowed and he walked straight at Genne, who stood his ground. Genne was a large man, but Duke still towered over him easily by two hands. Ladro was amazed that Genne could so stoically stand, staring up into Duke’s eyes full-on. He also noticed a number of Daggers tensed, with hands on weapons, at the scene. Guess if you have your back covered by the very best it would be easier. Still it takes courage and self-confidence to stand against Duke. Of course the real questions are: do they prepare to back Duke or Genne; if Duke is still credited with creating the Daggers; and if they remember he can command the actions of the alliance?
“Magus Vestul was my friend, and I am going to personally shred anyone I find out was involved with his murder.”
“Duke please, we don’ traffic in dat sorta work. Ya should know dat.”
“A lot can change in a few hundred years.”
Genne actually stood stiffer and taller. “Not da rules.”
“Boy, don’t talk to me about your rules! I was here when we laid them out. Someone here knows what happened and possibly why. I am going to find this person.” Duke looked at the silent room. “Daggers out, you’re hired, all of you. Find out who killed Magus Vestul in Drillian Alley. Find out why. Find out who paid for it. Twenty crowns for each answer, ten crosses a week each. Get moving!”
Ladro watched as six Dagger teams stood, pulling their daggers from the holders, each calling out their acceptance.
Duke looked at the ones who didn’t accept coldly. “Very well, each of you are to report to me personally in the morning. Any other Dagger that wishes to accept has one more day to report in.” Duke looked at Genne. “You can take damages from my counting. I’ll be back, and I expect my table to be prepared.” Turning, Duke walked out of the Dolphin. “It’s time to remind this hellishly hot little ‘burg who helped fucking build it.”
Once they were a good distance from the Dolphin, Ladro sensed Duke was in a slightly better mood. Very quietly he asked, “Sir, why didn’t you just identify the person you followed there?”
“Because someone there was smoking damned carmine-laced tobac. I won’t be able to identify any odors for at least three days; it will be at least two weeks before I can track by scent again, three or four before I am back to my full tracking ability.”
“Sir, shouldn’t we have told the Daggers where to come to report in?”
Duke actually laughed at that. “Ladro, if they can’t find me to report in, I don’t want to hire them.”
Chapter 9
Daggers in the air
A WOEFUL HOWL RATTLED THE WINDOWS and shocked Lebuin wide awake. Sitting up, he saw in the thin light coming through the barely cracked shutters that Ditani was already peeking out the window as the howl continued.
“That sounds like it is just outside the window.”
“No, M’lord, but the few on the street are covering their ears. It must be tremendously loud out there. These are thick windows and walls.”
Getting out of bed, Lebuin stumbled to the window in the near darkness. Looking over Ditani’s shoulder he saw a few people on the street begin to run away. The howling stopped, but it was followed by the occasional bark of a dog. A sense of dread came over Lebuin.
“Do you think that has something do with us? Could it be a demon hound summoned to track us?”
Ditani slipped around him. “I don’t believe in demon hounds. Whatever it was it has stopped, and we are safer than most here. This has been a very trying day. With your leave, I’d like to get back to sleep.”
Closing the shutter tight, Lebuin moved carefully in the dark back to his bed and lay down.
One day only since I was drinking hundred-year-old sharre with the head of the Guildhouse. All I wanted was to roam the library freely, to try to find new ways to improve the independence incantations. I was such a fool to not have seen all that was there. He traced the scar in the middle of his chest with his finger. I almost died today. All that passed before was nothing; today I truly fought for my life. If I had given up I wouldn’t be here. Who — or maybe better, what — was that entity that helped me? I am sure I was in the ethereal realm. Was that a God? I wonder if it was Argos Himself.
Lebuin walked the day in his mind, unable to sleep. The High Priestess used some kind of powerful artifact on me to help me live. I remember there were others there too. Powerful women. I am sure one was the High Priestess; the other that waited, perhaps that was Ticca; so who was the third powerful woman? There was a very powerful man too. This would be easier if I were still there, my mind was so clear. There were so many stories and books on metaphysical or spiritual travel and meditation in the library. I really wish I hadn’t just shoved them aside as a waste of time. If I live I can examine them and maybe find a way to purposefully move between the realms.
The bed moved slightly, and a muffled crashing sound woke him up. Lebuin sat up, realizing he had fallen asleep again. Ditani was sleeping and everything was quiet again. He listened and didn’t hear anything more. Someone must have dropped a tray in the hall. Laying back down he was glad to find sleep came easily.
Someone was knocking on the door to his chamber, except this was an annoying person who didn’t stop and in fact alternated the loudness of the knock. “I’m sleeping, go away.”
Someone moved inside his room, alarming him. Lebuin rolled over and opened his eyes, trying to strengthen his shield, except there was no shield to strengthen. What happened to my shield? To answer that his mind groggily recalled the events of being stabbed, wearing an old sack shirt and purposefully rubbing river sludge on his fine boots. His hand came up and found the scar on his chest. Sitting up fully awake now, Lebuin saw he was in the room at the Blue Dolphin and not his chamber at the Guildhouse. He had on a loose pair of brown pants and a soft, carefully patched cotton shirt lay on the floor next to him. His boots were cleaned but would never again be the same. His emotions stirred inside and oddly he felt a deep sense of joy at the lessons in front of him. Smiling, he touched his ruined boots. This is all I have to protect myself, simple cotton clothes and dirty leather boots, just like the majority of the rest of the world. Yet I feel a joy, like I am finally on the right path.
Ditani had gotten out of his bed and walked to the door. “Who is it?” he asked softly to whoever was still knocking.
“Ditani, open up, this tray is heavy!” That voice, it’s the Dagger I thought I dreamed. Ticca, she said her name was Ticca.
Ditani opened the door and Ticca strolled into the room wearing a light green, soft cotton tunic over a pair of black leggings. On her wide belt were more knives than he could count at first glance; somehow they were arranged so as to be complimentary to her look. Ticca’s boots had changed into shiny black, very expensive-looking but functional riding boots. Her dagger was still set in the front of the belt at an angle, to allow motion while keeping it as straight as possible. This lady has some very good taste; she manages to look dangerous and casually put together and yet still would fit in with any group of royals. She was carrying a large tray of food which included a carafe being kept warm with a small candle and five mugs. Ticca put the tray down on the table, poured a mug of arit and grabbed a roll from the stack. She turned towards him and he smiled thanks, reaching out his hand. Instead of handing the roll and arit to him she sat down, picking up the mug and taking a drink of it herself.
“M’lord, I should warn you, I don’t do domestic stuff. So don’t expect it.”
Ditani quickly made up for Ticca’s lack of service by putting a mug on the night stand next to Lebuin and handing him a roll and some cut fruit. “Master, you should eat.”
“Ditani, please just call me Lebuin, you too, Ticca.” His voice matched his oddly joyful mood and he chuckled. Taking a bite of the roll he was surprised with its quality.
“Well you two, while you slept some rather odd things have been happening. None of it good, I think.” Looking at Ditani, she added, “And you should have been a bit more precise in your details. Vestul didn’t just come down here to meet a duke; he came down here to meet the Duke.”
Ditani looked confused. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. I never meet the duke, and I think I told you everything.”
Looking at Ditani like he was hiding something, she swallowed some more arit. Taking a bite of her roll, she stared waiting for something. Ditani ate some fruit and was avoiding looking directly at Ticca. A few minutes of increasingly uncomfortable silence passed as they all ate breakfast.
It was Ticca who relented first. She sighed and then continued, “Right, well, now we know Vestul came here to meet the Duke. So now we need to move out of here as fast as possible, before things get really ugly. We three will be leaving early this evening, so we have about three marks’ travel time before dark.”
Ditani was looking at her with a blank face and Lebuin decided to help out. “Ticca, I am sorry, you are moving a bit fast and I am not fully awake yet. Who is this duke and what is going to get ugly?”
Ticca looked at both of them for a moment before shrugging. “Short version for now, if we live another day we can talk more over the campfire. Did you two hear a strange noise last night and a crash sometime after?” Seeing that they both nodded, she continued, “Well, the howling was obviously Duke. I can say this because Genne is right this minute having two brand new doors put on the front of this inn to replace the two that Duke decided were in his way, and waiting to open them would take too much time. Word is he just walked through them as if they were not there, shattering one into small kindling and breaking the other in half, as well as ripping it and part of the door way clean off the building. Duke then had a fairly short argument with Genne, which technically he won, but Genne will debate that endlessly, so don’t mention it in his presence. He then calmly announced he was pissed off, which was really no surprise, and that he wanted answers about who, why, and how Vestul was killed. He placed a bounty of twenty crowns for each answer and he hired every Dagger in the room at ten crosses a week.”
The arit he just swallowed went down the wrong way at that last statement. Coughing, he put the mug down. “Wait, he offered a bounty of twenty crowns and hired every Dagger in the room? Who is this Duke, and what is he the Duke of to have so much coin? Is he a Magus? I mean, how did he destroy the doors?”
Ticca shook her head. “Lebuin, listen to me. This isn’t a man. This is a creature that calls itself Duke. It is ancient in the extreme. It talks, it gambles, it drinks, it claims to be one of the oldest creatures in the world, second only to the Gods themselves, and it also claims it was human and a real duke a very long time ago. About five hundred years ago Duke left Llino for Greyrhan far to the north. But for thousands of years prior, Duke roamed these streets and also most of the kingdoms around here, conducting his business of smashing things he didn’t like and acquiring things he did. As I recall, he had something to do with the Night Market too.”
Lebuin remembered an old tale. “Wait, I recall a legend that Damega had a companion called Duke that was a wolf larger than any horse. Didn’t they have a fight over something, and Damega killed it?”
“Not exactly. Damega and Duke did do a number of things together; in fact they worked together to build this very inn as the first Dagger Home. Duke taught Damega the Dagger code and morals and together they established the Daggers as we are today. But each had his own agenda and they finally had a pretty bad falling out. Duke left for the north and hasn’t been seen since. There are some stories that Duke did show up for the war to help defend the kingdoms. This makes sense because he is part of the covenant that created these kingdoms. In fact Duke is the alliance’s military commander as well as the most senior Dagger commander. But I haven’t heard anything other than stories on that side.”
Ditani leaned forward. “So this Duke was the wolf we heard howling last night?”
Ticca nodded. “I knew your Duke was looking for Vestul since he missed the meeting, as I ran into or passed some of his agents making the same inquiries I was. I guess he got tired of waiting in the back of the wagon and decided to get directly involved. I’d bet a cross that that howl was him finding Vestul’s ashes in the alley. He then came straight here to hire a real army. I don’t know how Genne could stand up to a horse-sized talking wolf that was looking to rend someone into small bits for a feast. I think whatever is going on here is going to turn into an open conflict with Daggers, Knives, and who knows what else, taking out whole buildings.” Pointing at the door, she said, “Ditani, would you mind letting them in, please.”
Ditani looked at her for a moment. “Let who in?”
A knock sounded on the door. “Why, our escape plan help of course. I took the liberty of hiring a couple of guard Daggers who like fights. They have been running some errands for us this morning.”
Ditani got up and went to the door.
Before he got to the door Ticca warned, “Please don’t let on we know anything about anything. They are trustworthy, but temporary help at best.”
Ditani nodded, as did Lebuin. Then Ditani opened the door and two Daggers dressed passably well, if a bit rustic, wearing brown leggings wrapped with leather cross straps, knee high riding boots, light brown cloaks, and long cream-colored cotton shirts over mail coats with leather capitano hats. They both had knives and swords on wide belts. The taller was cleanly shaven while the shorter sported a neatly trimmed box beard. They both looked like they had recent haircuts. The larger one’s clothes looked new, yet as if he slept in them and they had a ruffled, unkempt feel. They both wore a dagger on the front of their belts as Ticca did. Their daggers were a matched set with wide winged hand guards, hilts wrapped with blacked iron cord, and simple circular pommels. Overall the effect made Lebuin think of the warriors in sporting games or of hardnosed guardsmen who wouldn’t take any backtalk. They smiled and put down their packs in the middle of the floor. The larger one spoke first. “Journeyman Lebuin, I am Risy, Dagger in your service. This is my partner.”
The shorter Dagger did a half bow. “Journeyman Lebuin, I am Nigan, Dagger in your service.”
Ticca smiled, pointing at the food and extra mugs. “Thanks boys, and help yourselves. Did you get everything done?”
They took seats at the table. Risy answered while pouring out two mugs of arit. “Indeed we did, everything you asked for is in our packs. We already dropped off our own sacks in our room upstairs. Your horses will be in the stables later today as per your instructions, and a bath is being drawn for me so I can apply the dye. Hope the herbalist got it right, I’d hate to end up looking like a ripe cherry.” Both men chuckled at that.
Lebuin looked at them and then at Ticca. “Ticca, what exactly do you have in mind?”
She looked at him for a moment. “Isn’t obvious? You four are going to switch places. We’ll let the Knives attack Hair...uh...Nigan, and Risy here, while I escort you safely out of town on your mission.”
“How exactly are we going to trade places? We don’t look anything like them.”
Ticca leaned over and opened one of the packs, then the other. Finding what she sought, she pulled out a wig that looked exactly the color of Risy’s hair and tossed it to Ditani. “Try it on.”
Ditani caught it, and after a moment of examining it pulled it on over his head. Except for the skintone he did look reasonably like Risy, and the wig had been cut to match Risy’s hair, or perhaps the other way around.
“I get it; Risy is going to color his skin. But…”
Ticca held up her hand. “We have the whole day to go over the details while I get you two ready. In the meantime, I need you to write that letter you mentioned last night and a couple of others which we’ll leave with them.”
“Do we really need to get out so fast?”
“With Duke hiring an army to hunt down and kill some Knives, and with Knives trying to put a blade between your shoulders or poison in your drinks, yes, I would say we should get out of here as fast as possible without leaving a trail. If we go take care of your mission it will give things time to cool here.” Looking at the other Daggers, she added, “Which reminds me, are you sure you don’t want to take up Duke’s coin?”
Nigan and Risy both shook their heads no. Risy answered, “No, thank you. I’ll enjoy springing a trap on a Knife, or three, doing this; the all-out fight doesn’t sound like a good idea to us. He is the Supreme Commander and all, but we aren’t at war. Besides, I don’t like dogs, and so working directly for a ten-foot-tall wolf just isn’t a reasonable choice for me.”
Nigan nodded. “That goes double for me.”
Ticca stood up and went to the desk, pulling out paper, ink, and a pen. “Lebuin, if you please, I need you to write a few letters. One to your father as you planned, except the stated destination should be Breorchy, and you want to leave tomorrow afternoon, even if you need to divert a smaller merchant ship. Then you need to write a very short note to your father telling him to pretend Nigan is you and to see them off on the merchantman, and a third letter to the Guild. It should indicate that you are following a solid report on an odd type of magic by a shaman near Breorchy that comes from some papers you got from Magus Vestul’s notes.”
Lebuin looked at her for a moment. “Breorchy? I thought we…”
Ticca cut him off. “Yes, Breorchy, because that is exactly the opposite direction from where we are really going.”
Looking at the two new Daggers, he thought, I get it, she is planting false information everywhere. Breorchy is actually only slightly off-course from Algan, but should these two get caught and forced to talk the lead would still be wrong. She must have studied a lot of strategy to be able to come up with cunning stuff like this. I need to pay attention; this is a far better education than any day sitting in a classroom just reading about tactics. He stood and went to the desk and began to write.
“I assume these are going to be delivered by Risy and Nigan, acting as Ditani and myself?”
