City of Hope and Despair (10 page)

  "Don't move," she hissed. Probably unnecessary, but she'd hate the embarrassment of the man slitting his own throat by fidgeting or trying something heroic.

  "Kite Guard, we don't want any trouble, but nor are we going to stand around quietly while you catch us in your net and pummel us with your puncheon." She strained to see upwards and thought she caught the suggestion of something moving past just beyond the reach of the street lamps, but couldn't be sure. "So come down here and let's talk things through."

  Rel was back on his feet and, between them, he and M'gruth had managed to get the older man free of the webbing.

  "A Kite Guard, down here?" M'Gruth asked quietly. "Are you sure?"

  Nets dropping from the sky and a flying man kicking people over, what else did he think it could be? "I'm sure."

  "Release the guardsman first," a voice said from above them.

  He was on one of the roofs on the opposite side of the street. Rel and M'Gruth both looked at her, but she shook her head; subtly, slightly. No point in antagonising him by attacking. Strange how the command structure of their little trio had undergone an unspoken adjustment.

  "Happy to let him go, if you agree to come down here and join us. It's not just because of the crick in my neck, I hate talking to someone I can't see – makes me nervous."

  "Let the officer go first," he repeated.

  "Done, if you agree to come down once I have."

  There was a pause. "Very well."

  She withdrew the sword and stepped back. The razzer spun around to glare at her, then crouched to retrieve his puncheon. There was a sigh of displaced air or perhaps of rustling cloth, and a blue uniformed figure landed beside the guard.

  Kat stared. A little. Well, she'd never seen a Kite Guard before. Certainly a step up from the razzers she was used to if this one was anything to go by. He was almost handsome in a clean-cut, well scrubbed sort of way. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

  "I was about to ask you the same thing," he said. "Some strange bodies have turned up, desiccated and withered, and there's been rumour of a dark creature haunting the nights, so we came to investigate."

  The Guard paying attention to petty murders? Would wonders never cease? "They're more than just rumours, but that's not what I meant. What are
you
, a Kite Guard, doing all the way down here in the City Below?"

  He pursed his lips. "Long story, but you might as well get used to it. You'll be seeing a lot more of us here before long."

  "Really? Have the disturbances finally persuaded someone up-City to pay attention to what goes on around here?"

  "Something like that. Now, you still haven't explained who you are or what your business is…?"

  "You're Tattooed Men, aren't you?" the razzer in the dun-coloured uniform said. If Kat had been staring at the Kite Guard, this one was gawping at M'gruth and Rel.

  "Yes, laddie, we are," M'gruth replied.

  "I've heard of you but never…" His attention darted between M'gruth and Kat. "Then you must be…"

  "A Death Queen, yes," she said, growing a little tired of such exclamations.

  "
Death Queen?
" The Kite Guard looked alarmed.

  "Hey, I didn't choose the name, others did. I just have to put up with it, all right?"

  "Fine," he said with a hint of a smile. "Sorry." He looked towards the Watch officer, and she wondered what the two of them would make of all this later. "You still haven't explained your presence here, standing outside a shattered door," he said, presumably in an attempt to reassert some authority.

  "We're hunting the same thing you are. Inside you'll find a traumatised woman and what used to be her husband. We're aiming to track down and kill the monster responsible, the Soul Thief."

  The Watch officer sniggered. "The Soul Thief?"

  "Yes, and despite what you think you know she's no laughing matter." In the face of her glare, the sniggering stopped.

  The Kite Guard looked thoughtful. "If what you say is true, perhaps we should join forces and work together."

  Kat stared in astonishment. Had a razzer really just said that? The world was changing, no question about it. Still, if she were ever going to work with a razzer, she could do a lot worse than team up with this one. "Maybe," she said. "But first you'd better check on what I said, hadn't you?" she nodded towards the open doorway. "And we'd better get back on patrol."

  He looked as if he wanted to argue and insist they waited there, which could prove a little awkward, as Kat had no intention of doing anything of the sort, but in the end he simply nodded. "All right then. See you around."

  "Yeah, you just might."

  As the three of them hurried away, M'gruth said to her, "Chavver will be looking for a good explanation as to why we broke the patrol line, but being rousted by a Kite Guard ought to cover it."

  "Reckon so," Kat agreed. "Interesting times, hey, M'gruth? Interesting times."

  "Yeah. Aren't we the lucky ones?"

SEVEN

 
At Dewar's urging they were up and about early, snatching a hurried breakfast at the inn. Seth was so charming and helpful that Tom found himself regretting his suspicions of the previous evening, which he concluded were just the result of tiredness fuelled by Dewar's assertions. It all seemed so foolish after a night's untroubled sleep and Tom felt embarrassed at giving such paranoia any credence whatsoever.

  Their host was evidently untroubled by their early start and obvious haste, making sure they were well fed on hot oaty porridge with deep-golden honey on the side and great chunks of grainy, still-warm bread which smelt and tasted wonderful. Suitably fortified, they said their goodbyes and set about seeking passage upriver.

  Tom had been looking forward to visiting the wharves, yet it proved a vaguely unsettling experience. He'd lived much of his life in the shadow of somewhere similar – the City Below's counterpart. The Blue Claw's territory ran from market square to docks, and pilfering goods from the warehouses around the latter had been regular practice. So he expected to feel wholly at ease here. In reality, Crosston's wharves proved a mix of the familiar and the strange, just as the Four Spoke Inn had been.

  Even at this hour, the docks were busy. The hustle and bustle, the noise and underlying sense of organised activity that teetered on the verge of tipping over into complete chaos at any moment, were all things he recognised. As he watched, a huge crate was being lifted from a river barge similar to the one they'd arrived on; hoisted high in a web of ropes controlled by a crane – a broadbased contraption of metal and wood that looked far too frail for the job but presumably wasn't, the whole controlled by a man in a raised cabin, his face creased in a frown of concentration as he wrestled with a series of long levers. Behind stood a team of four broad-shouldered oxen, which were harnessed to the mechanism and, in a manner Tom couldn't quite fathom, appeared to be providing much of the actual lifting power for the crane. A second man stood by the animals, directing them via clutched reins, a switch, and shouted commands. The system struck Tom as crude when compared to the great cogs and chains of Thaiburley's fully mechanised hoists.

  Once lifted from the boat, crates were then loaded onto a series of horse-drawn carriages, one per cart, which stood in line awaiting their turn. And here was another major difference. Horses were virtually unknown in the City Below – Tom had never even seen one before – all such draught work being conducted by oxen. He found the great carthorses with their huge feathered feet shifting restlessly, tails twitching and breath snorting, oddly intimidating.

  "What's the matter, boy?" Dewar asked.

  Tom shook his head. "I don't know; this is all just so different."

  "What, missing the stench of rotten fish, sewage and stale smoke, are we?"

  There was that, too, Tom had to admit.

  The big barges didn't tend to venture any further than Crosston, though Tom was never entirely clear whether this was because the going became too shallow for their laden holds further upriver or it was for purely economic reasons, with this being where the Thair met the great trade road. Whatever the truth, their group was forced to seek passage on smaller cargo vessels; something which was proving frustratingly difficult, much to Dewar's obvious annoyance.

  "What's the matter with these brecking yokels?" he muttered at one point. "Aren't they interested in earning some honest coin?"

  Tom tried to hide his sense of satisfaction at seeing the man so agitated, sharing a smirk with Mildra when Dewar's back was turned.

  Once or twice, Tom had the feeling that they might have found passage were it not for Kohn's presence, but each time a captain hesitated as if in consideration, their gaze would flick to the Kayjele, lips would purse and then would come the familiar shake of the head.

  In the space of an hour they'd walked the length of the docks asking at every opportunity, but had failed to secure the berths they were after, and even Dewar was forced to admit that the river was closed to them for now.

  Nor did the man have any more success when it came to buying horses – a prospect which Tom was none too keen on in any case. For all that their self-appointed leader claimed he was primarily interested in beasts of burden to carry the group's provisions, Tom still was still far from disappointed when the dock master, whom they'd consulted on the subject, shook his head in a manner they were getting increasingly used to.

  "But there must be a horse trader somewhere in a town of this size," Dewar insisted.

  "Used to be," the bewhiskered local confirmed, knocking out his briar pipe against the stanchion of an idle crane. "Beaman and Sons." He then set about refilling the pipe from a small cloth bag, evidently paying their party only minimal attention. Dewar looked fit to explode. "Shut up shop some three years gone," the man continued, apparently oblivious to any impatience. "Not enough demand, you see. Most folk who come to Crosston are just passing through, and they tend to bring their own horses with them."

  "So what do the locals do when they want a horse? Buy them from passing merchants?"

  The dock master shrugged. "Some might. Most'll find what they're looking for at the horse market."

  Dewar stared at the man with the sort of look that Tom hoped would never be directed towards him. "You have a horse market." The words emerged as cold as ice.

  "Once a month, every month."

  "And the next one is…?"

  "Oh, not for a good few days yet."

  "Of course it isn't," Dewar muttered.

  Was it Tom's imagination, or had the dock master taken particular pleasure in saying that last? Certainly there was the shadow of a grin on the man's face as they moved away, led by a tight-lipped Dewar. The grin quickly vanished amidst plumes of smoke as he sucked hard on the rekindled pipe.

  While the rest of them were at the docks, Mildra had gone to the market, intent on bolstering their already considerable supply of provisions. She met them at the edge of the wharves, having enjoyed considerably more success than they had.

  Kohn, who thankfully had little by way of personal luggage, was going to have to carry much of their baggage in lieu of a packhorse. He seemed happy enough to do so, an impression which Mildra confirmed.

  So they set off, quickly leaving behind the environs of the docks with its warehouses and dingy dwellings as they followed the river north, passing along the way rows of tall, fine houses, many with neat lawns before them; riverside homes that put anything Tom had ever seen in the City Below to shame.

  As they walked, Tom began to realise the wisdom of Dewar's search for a horse. He'd spent most of his life on his feet, and had grown up dodging razzers and running from disgruntled marks, but that was very different from spending a whole day walking. Especially when this was likely to be the first of a whole load of days filled with the same. If he found this a daunting thought, what about Mildra? How much exercise had she done during all those years tucked away inside Thaissian temples?

  They soon reached the outskirts of Crosston and the blanket of human habitations started to fall away. They now had the river on one side and fields opening up on the other. He felt fine so far but wondered how long it would be before muscles complained at unfamiliar use and feet developed blisters. Mildra had shed her priestess's robe – currently bundled within the luggage carried by Kohn – in the face of what was already proving to be a warm day. In its stead she wore a simple tunic, dyed pale green; presumably as a token concession to her faith. This was the first time Tom had ever seen her without the heavy garment synonymous with her office and he was surprised at how much of a difference it made. She really did look like a girl now, and he found himself wondering how old she actually was. Mildra glanced up at that point and caught him watching her, smiling happily as she did so. Her youth wasn't the only thing made more apparent by the robe's absence; he also couldn't help but note how pretty she was, and it came as bit of a shock to see how feminine a figure had been hidden away beneath those concealing robes.

  For all that Seth had implied the Kayjele were not that uncommon in these parts, enough people had stopped to stare at them that Tom was relieved when they left the town behind and entered the countryside. By the time they took a break for lunch, even the skirt of fields that surrounded Crosston had fallen behind and they were walking through a wooded land of silver-barked trees and more greenery in the form of shrubs and brackens than Tom had ever seen before. He was nearly as glad to be away from the fields as he was the houses; the landscape had been far too exposed for his liking. At least here among the trees there was a comforting sense of enclosure, of protection against all that openness.

  Yet the woods too had their sinister aspect. Noise accompanied the party as they walked. It wasn't just the occasional birdsong; there was a constant rustling murmur from the higher reaches, as if the trees themselves were whispering about these intruders.

  "It's just the wind blowing through the leaves," Mildra assured him.

  In his mind he believed her, but a deeper, more instinctive part of him refused to be convinced. Though, by the end of the day, he'd grown more accustomed to the sound and could almost understand why the Thaistess insisted it was soothing.

  Tom's fears regarding his own fitness became reality as the day wore on, and his legs felt heavy and ached by the time Dewar called a halt. Even his trek across the City Below with Kat hadn't involved this much uninterrupted walking, but he determined not to say anything, refusing to display any such weakness in front of Dewar, or Mildra for that matter; though it was obvious that the Thaistess was finding the going at least as tough as he was.

  When they did eventually stop, in a clearing a little removed from the road they'd been following, the girl sank to the ground, managing to instil a degree of elegance to the manoeuvre which Tom didn't even bother trying to emulate as he slumped down close to her.

  She looked across at Tom and grinned, admitting, "I never thought it was going to be this tough."

  The fact that Tom
had
didn't make his limbs ache any less. "Can you imagine what tomorrow's going to be like – walking on legs that are already stiff and sore?"

  She frowned. "True. Take your trousers off."

  "
What?"

  Her smile this time showed genuine amusement. "Tom, I've already seen you naked."

  Had she? He thought back to when they'd first met. He'd been taken to her temple with that mechanical creature fastened to his back. It was possible. He'd been pretty much out of it at the time and didn't particularly enjoy reliving the memory now. "I was unconscious then."

  She looked at him, suddenly professional and sincere. "Trust me. This is what I do."

  All he could think was how beautiful she looked.

  After an awkward moment he sighed and unbuckled his trousers, pushing them to his ankles and then pulling his shirt down, adjusting his position so he could sit on his shirt and use it to cover himself as much as possible.

  Mildra, clearly amused at his coyness, placed both hands on his left knee. Instantly a sense of warmth flowed from her touch, loosening cramped muscles and banishing aches. Tom closed his eyes and it was all he could do not to moan with the sheer pleasure of relief. After a few seconds the hands were gone, transferring their attention to his other knee before he could even feel disappointed at their absence.

  He tried to concentrate on the warmth and the healing, doing his best not to react to the fact that a beautiful woman had her hands clasped around his naked legs. Yet it was hard, and when those hands moved up to hold his thighs, it became even more so. He jerked away, pulling his legs together and up to his chest for protection, embarrassed by his reaction and feeling the blood rush to his cheeks.

  "Tom, it's all right," Mildra said gently. "I'm just healing your muscles, relieving the aches."

  "I know," he said. "I'm fine."

  He wanted desperately to turn around, to move away from Mildra until the stirrings in his groin subsided, but knew that if he did so, the effect her ministrations had produced in him would be obvious to all, so he stayed where he was, simply wishing that she would leave him alone.

Dewar and Kohn gathered kindling and set a fire, without troubling either Tom or Mildra for help. Tom was almost tempted to believe that their dour leader realised how tired the pair were, though if so he made no comment to that effect. Assuming that was the case it came as something of a surprise to Tom, who would never have suspected Dewar capable of such kindness or tact.

  The short period between stopping and sleeping, during which they ate a meal of bread and salted meat from their provisions, proved an awkward one for Tom. He found it difficult to talk to or even look at Mildra, and was grateful when Dewar suggested they should get some sleep ready for another early start.

  Part of him still wondered what he was doing here, how he, a simple street-nick, had become caught up in all this. His thoughts turned wistfully to his time with the Blue Claw. Deep down he still hankered for the days when his most daunting challenge had been winning the affections of Jezmina, the sweetest, most innocent member of the Claw, whose briefest glance could surely melt any man's heart. It was largely to impress her that he'd accepted the challenge of climbing to the roof of Thaiburley, which, in many ways, had set all this in motion.

  With a pang of guilt, Tom realised that he'd hardly spared Jezmina a thought in recent days and still had no idea what had become of her. There was a time, not so long ago, when he'd have found it difficult to think of anything else. He had attempted to ask about her in the days following the chaos, but these had been no more than half-hearted queries which he then failed to follow up. On reflection, perhaps it was better that he didn't; with all that was happening in his life of late Jezmina was probably better off without him, though part of him still wanted to impress her, to see adoration in those deep, dark eyes once she realised how important he'd become – on personal terms with the prime master no less.