Escana (34 page)

The
Justice interrupted his musings by smoothing things over in his own
inimitable fashion. Thom barely heard the words as they were clearly
meant to placate the beast behind him.

'…
best course of action is for us to reconcile our differences and work
together. Gadtor will lead Thom to the various holes that this Hermit
could have crawled into and root him out, you will then enter the
ensuing fray and apprehend both him and his companions should he
still have any.'

'Ah
my Lord, you simply don't know who you're dealing with this time,'
El-Vador said, the response sending chills up Thom's spine. He
stifled the urge to spin round and slice the thing to ribbons. There
was something in the way he said the man's title that somehow
suggested both deference and mockery.

'Long
have I avoided an encounter with one such as he. The notion that you
would choose to snare him within your walls and flush him out like
some sort of rodent with these two apes is both insulting and
dangerous.' He left them both and glided in silence toward Kelgrimm,
almost beseeching the man. 'My Lord, you wish to capture the renegade
murderers from Escana yet seem to ignore that they have one of The
Six willingly guarding them. This portends a much deeper entanglement
of fate than your own jurisdiction can hope to unravel. There are
genuine dangers in attempting to force this man's hand that even you
cannot foresee.'

Much
like before, if Kelgrimm was surprised he refused to show it. He
extended his arm toward Thom and Gadtor and beckoned them forward.
'If you believe there are inherent dangers involved in apprehending
this man that we are not aware of, why not share them with the
group?'

Thom
knew this wasn't likely, El-Vador would be reluctant to share such
secretive information with mere apes.

'Lord
Kelgrimm, your lack of reticence is perturbing given the history of
the men before you. Whilst this Hermit of yours did indeed play a
part in the unravelled charade that was the Black Quail, his role was
not prominent enough to merit the attempt of capturing him.' It
narrowed its eyes at them as it threw a cold glance over its
shoulder, Thom's bones felt like ice. 'The established company may
well root out The Hermit, but the efforts required to constrain such
a man would result in death and destruction on a scale beyond any
disorder caused by his previous employers.'

Thom
snorted in mirth, building into a solitary laugh that echoed across
the chamber and grew in volume as he witnessed the irritation it
caused El-Vador. He wiped a mock tear from his eye even as he knew he
was putting his life in Kelgrimm's hands by taunting this creature.
'Why not cut to the chase with your admission? We both know why
you're trying to dissuade him from sending us out there. It's not out
of any worry for our sorry hides, you don't give a fuck about us.' He
took a step closer to the creature in defiance. 'You fear The Hermit.
You actually fear him, a mere man. You want nothing to do with him.'

El-Vador
sighed. 'You know of The Six, you know what is capable, why must you
persist in continually defying me?'

The
succinctness of the question momentarily pierced through Thom's hate
of the thing. 'You would rather unveil yourself to me than attempt to
waylay this man?'

Kelgrimm
was looking on intently as El-Vador nodded back at Thom, clearly this
was a breakthrough of much import.

'My
Lord,' El-Vador finally said, looking to him as if the previous
discussion had never happened. 'Would you have me execute these men
for their knowledge of The Six? No man has known as much as they and
lived.'

Kelgrimm
frowned. 'My friend, death is not the only solution in this matter.'

El-Vador
ran a hand over its eyes, clearly frustrated. 'I have warned you my
Lord, not to involve yourself with the apprehension of any this man
has chosen to protect. I am bound to service in this matter and if I
cannot dissuade you then let us at least ruminate on this until a
conclusion is reached that will not result in the destruction of
Urial.'

Kelgrimm
seemed to smile at the thought of Urial going up in flames, Thom
couldn't shake how much that unnerved him.

T
he
sun glowed dimly as it sunk behind the city walls. It had been a long
day.

Jimmy
struggled from the start to keep up with the long-legged gait of The
Hermit as he strode purposefully from door to door, it was with great
relief to his aching legs when the streets that seemed so alike to
him had finally wound their way to the familiar door of their
hideout.

The
Hermit rapped on the door in his trademark fashion and it swung open
to reveal an unfamiliar and withered old face. Jimmy recoiled and
turned to flee when a firm hand and a shake of the head from The
Hermit held him in place.

'You
must be Jimmy,' the crone croaked. 'Do come in, we've been expecting
you for some time.'

She
opened the door wider to reveal Ella sitting by Jakob, she gave him a
faint nod as he was ushered in by The Hermit's arm.

'My
apologies if my appearance startled you young one, I have little care
for looks these days and we must cut straight to the chase.' She
seated herself stiffly on the floor and beckoned him closer. 'I am
Mildred and my time here is very short. I know that you have spent
yours being ushered about the city as the voice of The Hermit to
negotiate with numerous wealthy and influential individuals. What I
ask is that you impart to me as much as you can about their reactions
to your news and proposal.'

Jimmy
looked up at The Hermit and he nodded at him, urging him to continue.
Clearing his throat, he tried his best to look into the old woman's
eyes without stuttering.

He
recalled to her of the pomposity of the first gentleman upon hearing
the news, describing both his mannerisms and as much visual minutiae
as he could remember. The old woman held up her hand to stop him
prior to his describing the next one, who he had discovered was a
council member. 'Yes, yes. I'm well aware of what the old windbags
are like, it's their words I'm interested in.'

It
was as if her displeasure and impatience had unlocked a key to
Jimmy's mind and he was a silent bystander to its report. His memory
a crystal clarity, he found himself repeating the words of the
numerous men verbatim, even affecting the accent of each as he spoke.

He
was finally brought back to himself when he heard a clicking noise
that must have been laughter from the woman opposite him. 'Thank you
my child, that was most informative.'

She
nodded at The Hermit, holding his gaze for a while before he nodded
back at her. Whatever they had exchanged, Jimmy was firmly excluded
and entirely oblivious to it.

She
turned her attentions to the prone form of Jakob now, muttering
faintly to herself and shaking her head. 'Dark spirits possess this
one, his sickness must be driven out before the riots commence.'

Ella
shot a questioning glance at her. 'Riots?'

'Yes
dear, the impending riots. I'm aware that your silent friend and I
have been keeping you entirely out of the loop. It's for your own
good, I assure you.'

The
Hermit frowned at her and she met his displeasure with a wry smile.
'He's most perturbed about my not telling you about them. Odd that
the many other matters he conceals behind those mute lips don't
concern him in the same manner.' She gave him a knowing look, clearly
frustrating the man in spite of his silence. 'The work your young
friend did today as The Hermit's mouthpiece was to drum up support
for an emergency council session to discuss the apprehension of
Falarus. That old trickster may surround himself with poverty but his
influence is unparalleled, many powerful men owe him a great many
favours.'

She
rose ponderously from the floor and hobbled toward Jakob's body,
forcing words out as she did, Ella started to move toward her in
protest but The Hermit barred her way.

'The
men you met today Jimmy are entirely aware of what they owe Falarus,
they also know the consequences of denying such a thing. They will
form together tonight in some high place to discuss the matter
amongst themselves. There will be much chin wagging and bluster but
eventually they will be forced into taking it to the council, who in
turn will take it to Kelgrimm.' She spat out the name with some
distaste as her wrinkled hands settled upon Jakob. 'Yes, he will be
an issue. He knows that there will be civil unrest should he remove
someone like Falarus permanently, yet I can't quite fathom why he
would choose to do so at this time. Perhaps if...'

She
staggered, The Hermit leapt forward and supported her arm. She tried
to wave him away but as she did so her legs buckled underneath her
and she fell to the floor with a thud.

The
Hermit's hands frantically flew across her body, he started to rise
when Mildred's thin arm shot out and pulled him back down toward her.
Jimmy watched in horrified fascination as she whispered something
inaudible in the man's ear between bouts of coughing up blood.

The
Hermit's entire body seemed to slump, when he looked back up from her
now-still form his eyes held a strange mixture of pain and
resignation. He carefully wiped the blood off his ear and shook his
head at both Jimmy and Ella. The old woman was dead.

T
hom
almost cursed aloud this time, another empty room. Looking around the
dark walls in feigned interest he composed himself, instead opting to
ask questions. 'How many of these rooms have you got hidden away in
the city?' He clenched his teeth, there was little point in pushing
the man too hard. He could have his balls later if all the leads were
duds. If Kelgrimm claimed that the man was the head of the former
Black Quail then it stood to reason that he knew where he was going.

Unless
he was being led into a trap.

Gadtor
was already heading back through the door. 'There's about eight more
left that I can recall. There's nowhere else for them to go. They
can't make it past the guards without alerting us and nobody would
harbour them after what the Justice did to the warehouse.'

Thom
nodded, for all these false starts, he did admire the man's
efficiency. They had spoken little in their tiresome hunt, neither of
them seeing the need for words beyond those relating to their task.
That suited Thom just fine. On occasion he had caught the man looking
back at him with his one good eye as they walked through the streets.
He was under no illusions that it wasn't just to make sure he was
being followed. There was something in the look, as if it were trying
to place his face, yet Thom couldn't recall meeting anyone like
Gadtor in his long and colourful past.

He
allowed himself a smirk at that, yes, very colourful. There was no
way he was going to remember all the minor faces from his own
personal history, more than one of which had tried to come back and
haunt him before now.

If
the room proved to be fruitless, he may be forced to kill this man
without preamble. He knew from the observation of Gadtor's lithe
movements that the man would be wary to such a trick, you didn't head
a secretive terrorist movement without some measure of both caution
and luck.

Thom
had learnt the hard way that while there was no way to fully predict
what a potential opponent could do, it was stupid to underestimate
them. He thought back to the flaring green light engulfing that blade
as he ran toward it, it sent chills of trepidation up his spine. No,
he wasn't going to underestimate anyone in Urial again.

'Are
you coming to the next room or not?'

He
woke with a start to the sound of Gadtor's question. He hadn't
realised how rattled he was until he found himself staring at another
empty room, having completely forgotten about their journey there.

'Lead
the way. Seven to go, right?'

Gadtor
eyed him suspiciously. '...right.'

He
could sense the bristling irritation of the man next to him and knew
that his life was in danger.

The
calm certainty with which he proclaimed that The Hermit would be in
one of these rooms sounded hollow and stupid to his own ears. Truth
be told, he hadn't a clue where this elusive man could be tucked
away, he was just hedging his bets by checking all the rooms he could
ever recall using. At least that's what he told himself, the reality
may be that it all rested on The Hermit's assumption that his comrade
in arms would never stoop to working for Kelgrimm.

He
felt a pang deep in his heart, he had been so fucking stupid. To
think that he could somehow lead a rebellion yet couldn't even
discover that the man he trusted most, the linchpin of the whole
operation, was a fraud.

His
head fiercely rebuked him. Now was not that time for worrying about
such things. He had an obligation to finish off the very thing he
helped create, and destroy the mockery it had always been without him
even knowing. Crying over his broken trust wasn't going to help
matters. He had led good men to their deaths over nothing and he
would have to live with that.