Best Laid Plans (27 page)

Footprints led into the trees on the left bank. Shader started to follow them and then drew up as he spotted a pair of boots sticking out of the undergrowth. Taking hold of them he pulled the body out and stood back, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth.

‘Poor old Rodders.’ Podesta removed his hat and stared at the corpse. The neck was twisted grotesquely to one side. ‘I’ll make the stunted bastard pay, lad,’ he said. ‘You have my word. First, though,’ he said, cramming his tricorn back in place, ‘we need to get the boat.’

He started towards the jetty, but Shader placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. About fifty yards distant something large slid down the mud and splashed into the water.

‘Shog me for a stupid cretin,’ Podesta said. ‘Maybe you should go,’ he said to Osric. ‘Never been keen on crocs, myself. Especially not salties.’

Osric floated to the end of the jetty and watched the rippling water in the wake of the crocodile.
‘I cannot cross water without a boat.’

Podesta fished a long knife out of his boot and strained to see the salty. Patting the blade against his palm he reached a decision. ‘If we head back towards the ship through the jungle the crew can pick us up in the other boat.’

Shader shrugged and started towards the mangroves, following the trail of footprints. Podesta and Osric trailed behind. Ned was slumped against a trunk, bleeding out from a slit throat.

Podesta blanched, sweat dripping from his forehead, eyes darting from left to right. ‘Where the shog is Cleto?’ he whispered.

Shader drew his cutlass and the Sword of the Archon and continued on a course parallel with the shore.

‘At least if there are more crocs up here we’ll stand a fighting chance, eh?’ Podesta said, licking his lips. ‘Gods, I need a piss.’

Shader held up a hand to silence him. There were three large salties basking at the edge of the mangroves.

‘Inland a bit?’ Podesta suggested.

The trio moved deeper into the jungle and found Cleto knocked senseless amidst the foliage. He was missing his Aeterna-tech weapon and cutlass. He groaned and began to stir.

‘What happened?’ Shader asked.

‘Bastard hit me from behind. Hit me hard,’ Cleto said, rubbing the back of his head. ‘Where’s my shogging weapons?’

‘You OK to continue?’ Shader asked.

‘Try to stop me.’ Cleto’s eyes hardened as he pushed himself to his feet.

Shader hacked a path through the undergrowth. The thick canopy of leaves shut out the sun and rendered Osric more substantial, but it did nothing to reduce the sweltering humidity. Every few minutes Shader used his shirt to wipe the sweat from his eyes. Podesta shook the perspiration from his hair in a great shower and cursed Osric’s indifference to the heat.

They cut inland for a few hundred yards and then headed west, following the course of the river. Fat black flies buzzed around them, flitting in and out of nostrils and eyes, and tenaciously returning to torment them no matter how many times they were swiped away.

They were halfway down a steep slope when there was a blast followed by a splash. Curses were shouted and they heard the thrumming of arrows through the air, the phwat, phwat, phwat of them striking the water. Shader slipped and slid towards the noise, breaking through the mangroves into the rushes at the water’s edge. Something dark and wet cannoned into him and tumbled away before he could react.

‘That’s him!’ Podesta shouted, struggling back up the bank in pursuit.

‘Wait!’ Shader cried, regaining his feet and scanning the thick vegetation. Heedless, Podesta pressed on and was soon lost to sight.

‘Ain’t good for a Captain to lose his head,’ Cleto said, rubbing his chin and squinting into the trees. ‘Reckon the little shit tried to board the
Placida
. Fired my sodding weapon.’

A low gurgling sound, followed by a heavy thud, came from the mangroves.

Osric drifted alongside Shader.
‘This Shadrak is extremely skilful, it seems.’

Shader’s eyes narrowed. He handed the cutlass to Cleto.

The sailor looked nervous, his eyes darting all over the place. Sending him back up the slope would be testing his newfound loyalty to the limits.

‘Stay here,’ Shader said. ‘Make sure he doesn’t get behind us.’

Cleto grunted, his knuckles whitening from the grip he had on the cutlass.

Shader started up into the trees, willing himself to relax. He let his peripheral vision do the looking.

‘Let me go first,’
Osric said.
‘I doubt even he can slay the dead.’

Shader nodded and glanced uneasily around as the wraith glided into the thicket. He sat cross-legged on the ground and rested the gladius across his lap. His heart was racing in anticipation of the fight, or of a swift and silent stab in the back. Fumbling with the straps on his pack, he pulled out his dog-eared Liber, thumbed through the pages, and then began to read from Aeternam in a soft rhythmic monotone. Years of discipline led him inwards where the stillness gave sway to other senses, finer and keener edged. He could feel the hot air playing over the hairs on the back of his hands, hear the whispers of the water, the gliding of the gulls on the thermals. His breathing stilled; his heart sounded like a ponderous drum in his ears. The gossamer net of his awareness crept through the jungle, caressing bark and stroking leaves.

He did not pause in his prayer as something cold and sharp touched his throat.

‘Ordinarily I’d have stuck you without a word.’ Shader could feel the assassin’s breath on his ear. ‘But you’re already dead.’

Shader smiled. ‘You’ve not noticed the blade a hair’s-breadth from your groin?’

He’d heard the assassin’s approach, felt the air bend around him. The gladius responded to his unformed thought instantly. If he’d wanted Shadrak dead, he would have been.

‘Stalemate,’ the assassin said.

There was a sudden gasp from behind Shader and the knife fell away from his throat.

‘I beg to disagree,’
Osric hissed.

Shader turned and stood. The assassin was little more than three feet tall, pale-faced and with clipped, snow-white hair. His limbs were rigid and shaking, his pink eyes wide as they stared with horror at the ghostly hand protruding from his chest. Osric was hovering behind Shadrak, his head slightly cocked.

‘I wonder if it is unchivalrous,’
Osric withdrew his hand into Shadrak’s ribcage, his eyes narrowing to fiery slits,
‘that my hand can pass through you unhindered, and yet…’
Shadrak started to spasm.
‘…I can curl my fingers around your heart and squeeze it quite palpably.’

Shadrak’s shaking fingers edged towards one of the pouches on his belt.

‘I wouldn’t,’ Shader said, putting his Liber away. ‘I doubt you have the means of harming Osric here, and even if you did, I’d gut you before you could blink.’

Shadrak ceased struggling and hung his head.

‘My statue…’ Shader began.

‘Hardly yours,’ Shadrak said. ‘Unless you’re calling yourself Eingana.’

Shader drew in a deep breath and thumbed the edge of his sword. ‘What happened back there?’

Shadrak was quivering uncontrollably, his eyes fixed on his chest where Osric still had a grip on his heart.

‘Didn’t stay to find out. Did my bit and buggered off before they realized there was fresh meat hanging about.’

Shader lifted the albino’s chin and stared him in the eye. ‘How long have the Sicarii worked for Sektis Gandaw?’

‘They don’t,’ Shadrak said. ‘Just me, and not by choice. If I get my way, I’ll not see that coldblooded shogger again.’

‘Where can I find him?’ Shader asked.

‘Ask the mawgs—’ Shadrak gasped as Osric’s fingers emerged from his chest. ‘I don’t know,’ he rasped. ‘Came to me with magic when the mawgs got me. Only saw the top half of him floating in a sphere. There were pictures behind him—flickering pictures, and dark metal walls. You’ll be lucky to find him in Sahul, I reckon.’

Shader turned away and grimaced. The trail had gone cold. Two pieces of the statue in Cadman’s hands, and the body with Sektis Gandaw. Were they in league? If there really were five pieces of the statue, where were the other two? Maybe Huntsman would know—if he could be found. It had all started out so simply—retrieve the Grey Abbot’s Monas. The longer this went on, the worse things got, the more acutely Shader felt his failure. Ain only knew what had happened to the Grey Abbot. If he was honest, that was the least of Shader’s concerns. There were others he felt responsible for. Others he couldn’t bear to lose.

‘We need to head back,’ Shader said to Osric. ‘Go after Cadman.’

The albino looked up at that. ‘Cadman?’

‘You know him?’ Shader said.

‘He’s the one who started all this. Sent me to Broken Bridge to find out all I could about the statue from some scruffy bard. After that we dragged in an old hermit and took a piece from him—a fang. Cadman wanted me to keep working for him, but the guild wouldn’t have liked it. It was straight after the business with the hermit that mawgs started appearing under the city. Went with a bunch of amateurs to root them out and that’s when I got into this mess with Gandaw.’

‘Does Cadman know about Gandaw?’ Shader asked. ‘Are they working together?’

‘No idea.’ Shadrak gasped and fell to his knees as Osric withdrew his hand and loomed over him.

‘Let us hope not,’
the wraith said.
‘Three pieces of the statue is a lot of power.’

‘Big deal,’ Shadrak said, clutching his chest and taking long stuttering breaths.

‘It will be,’ Shader said, ‘if Gandaw gets the other two. Even a self-centred bastard like you will have to stand up and take notice. Everything is threatened. Everything.’

Shadrak stood and dusted himself down. ‘And I should care, why?’ he said. ‘Shogging world’s screwed in any case, and before you suggest it, I don’t take sides. Show me the money and I’ll consider it, but otherwise take your best shot or let me go.’

Shader’s hand tightened on the hilt of the gladius. Osric’s eyes simmered and he drifted so close to the assassin that Shadrak shivered.

‘You got ’im?’ Cleto called, trudging up the slope. ‘Hold ¼im still and I’ll bleed the little shogger.’

Shadrak dropped into a crouch, eyes flicking dangerously, fingers brushing against his pouches. Shader pushed up close and touched the tip of the gladius to his throat.

‘Am I going to see you again?’ he said with ice in his voice.

‘No one sees me,’ Shadrak said, ‘if I don’t wanna be seen.’

‘You know what I meant.’ Shader pressed harder, breaking the skin.

‘You won’t get no trouble from me. Not without a contract, and I think the chances of that are pretty slim. Reckon your enemies might as well save their money. Cadman and Gandaw can sort you out.’

Shader returned the gladius to its scabbard. ‘If Sektis Gandaw wins, he’ll sort everyone out. Even you, Shadrak.’

The albino touched his thumb to the trickle of blood running down his neck and then pressed it to his lips. ‘Guess I’ll deal with that when it happens.’

Shader nodded and flicked his gaze in the direction of the mangroves. Shadrak gave him a sideways look, patted each of his pouches, and scampered off.

Cleto took a step after him. ‘What, you gonna let him go?’

‘Just did,’ Shader said. ‘You got a problem with that?’

Cleto’s face creased in a silent snarl. ‘Oh, yeah, I got a problem, but like I said, you’re with us now, so I guess my problem can wait.’

Osric drifted alongside Shader as he watched the assassin enter the trees and disappear from sight.
‘Perhaps we should have killed him. Ain does not mind the shedding of evil blood.’

Shader looked sternly at his companion and then shook his head. Maybe Cleto and Osric were right. Every muscle in Shader’s body was stretched taut with the anticipation of cutting Shadrak down. What could you expect? After all, the assassin had stabbed him in the back. Shadrak would have had no compunction about slaying Shader, so why shouldn’t he do the same? Ain, he told himself. Osric was wrong about that, same as Berdini had been. Ain would have minded, otherwise he wasn’t worthy of worship. Shader grimaced. Even after all that had happened, he was still trying to be a Nousian. Not for the first time, he suspected it would be the death of him.