Jonathan Moeller - The Ghosts 08 - Ghost in the Mask (12 page)

There was no one she loved more in the world.

“It is good to see you again,” said Claudia. There were tears in her eyes, and she hated showing weakness in front of Caina, but she did not care. 

“And you,” said Corvalis, smiling back. 

“You are masquerading as a Magisterial Guard now?” said Claudia. “I suppose that is a step up from Master Basil’s caravan guard.”

He grinned. “Actually, I only started doing this two weeks ago. For the last year, instead of masquerading as a caravan guard I have been masquerading as Malarae’s only coffee merchant.” 

“Quite a step up from a merchant’s guard, then,” said Claudia with a laugh. “Or from a Kindred assassin.”

“Well,” said Corvalis. “It’s not that different. I still have to listen to fat merchants talk about their mistresses and their warehouses for hours on end.” 

“And then Caina kills them, I suppose?” said Claudia.

She regretted the words the instant they left her mouth.

“Only if they deserve it,” said Caina, her expression not even flickering. 

“Claudia, dear,” said Komnene, tapping her cane against the floor. “Will you not introduce me to your friend?”

Claudia smiled at the older woman. “He’s not my friend, he’s my brother. Corvalis, this is Komnene.”

Corvalis kept one arm around Claudia’s shoulders, but made a courtly bow in Komnene’s direction. “A pleasure, madam.”

Komnene laughed. “So polite, and so handsome. Well, the most dangerous men I ever met were exquisitely polite. And I am sure you are most dangerous. But Claudia has told me all about you, and the daring things you have done.” She snorted. “You are lucky to be alive, both of you.”

“I will not argue,” said Corvalis. 

“And this,” said Claudia, “is Caina Amalas.” 

Komnene smiled. “Oh, we’ve met before, once or twice.”

“Komnene was one of my teachers when I first joined the Ghosts,” said Caina. “She taught me a great deal about medicines and herbs and poisons, knowledge that proved useful.”

“Knowledge, I hear,” said Komnene, “that you have put to good use.”

“And she taught me other things, as well,” said Caina, “lessons about the dangers of becoming a weapon.” She smiled at the older woman. “Lessons I have only just now begun to heed.”

“Wisdom, however late one comes to it, is still wisdom,” said Komnene. 

“Mistress Komnene has many of those pithy proverbs,” said Claudia. She glanced at Caina. “Did she use them when she taught you?”

“Unceasingly,” said Caina, and they laughed. 

“Ah, the ingratitude of the young,” said Komnene, but she smiled. 

“As glad as I am to see you,” said Caina, “I fear I have not come for a social visit.”

Komnene’s smile faded. “No. No, you have not, have you? Halfdan must have received my letters.” 

“He did,” said Caina, “and he sent us to help.”

The smile returned. “Well, I could not ask for more capable help. And I am glad you are here. The situation has become very serious, and I half-expect to see a battle outside the walls of Calvarium any day now.”

“I fear it is even more serious than that,” said Caina. “Komnene, someone got into Caer Magia and got out again.”

“And,” said Corvalis, “he brought something out with him.”

“But that’s impossible,” said Claudia. “Anyone who passes the Henge dies within seven hundred and seventy-seven heartbeats. That isn’t nearly enough time to reach the city and return.”

“And the undead within the walls would tear any intruders apart,” said Komnene.

“Nevertheless,” said Caina, and she told them about the attack in Malarae, about Jurius and his Dustblade.

Claudia stiffened at the mention of Jurius’s name.

“You know him?” said Caina. “He was here in Calvarium?”

“Aye, I know him,” said Claudia. “From Artifel. He was one of Father’s…agents, I suppose, the one who did the dirty jobs he didn’t contract out to the Kindred. Eventually he became too corrupt for even Father to overlook, and Rhazion expelled him from the Magisterium.”  

“And he was living in Calvarium,” said Komnene. “All sorts of exiles turn up in Calvarium.”

Caina nodded. “Do you have any idea what he did here?”

“He sold his spells to the highest bidder,” said Komnene, “and managed to eke out a living on the edge of the town. Once Lady Maena and Anashir arrived, my informants saw him going to their camps frequently. Then he disappeared about a month ago.” She shrugged. “Lord Martin is more vigorous than the previous Lord Governors, and my first thought was that Jurius had fled Calvarium. Or bandits or the worshippers of Anubankh had killed him.” She shook her head. “Had I known he would go berserk in Malarae, I would have kept a closer eye on him. Then we might have learned how he entered Caer Magia. Or the identity of this mysterious prophet of Anubankh.”

“Did he really believe in Anubankh?” said Claudia. “Or was that simply a pose, an excuse to justify the murder of Septimus Rhazion? It seems odd that even a former brother of the Magisterium would join such an outlandish cult.” 

“The magi believe all sorts of foolish things,” said Caina. Claudia started to respond, then remembered that she was no longer a sister of the Magisterium. “But Jurius…he truly believed in Anubankh, truly believed that the Kingdom of the Rising Sun would return. You could see it in his eyes. He was convinced.”

“Jurius did not seem that sort of man,” said Komnene. 

“Then something happened to change his mind,” said Corvalis. “Perhaps when he entered Caer Magia and returned.”

“He needn’t have entered Caer Magia himself,” said Claudia. “Maybe someone else did, and he simply stole the Dustblade.”

“That is a good point,” said Caina. Claudia felt a flicker of pride at the compliment, which annoyed her. “It is entirely possible someone else entered the city, and Jurius stole the Dustblade. Perhaps at the behest of the prophet of Anubankh.” She stared at the shelves for a moment. “Is it possible that either Anashir or Lady Maena are cultists of Anubankh? Lord Martin didn’t think so.”

“I agree with the Lord Governor,” said Komnene. “Anashir seems like a typical Anshani occultist, obsessed with his own pride and honor. And Lady Maena…she is ruthless and ambitious, I think. She might join the cult of Anubankh to serve her own ends, but never out of conviction.”

“If she is so ruthless and ambitious,” said Caina, “then why is she digging for ancient artifacts from a long-forgotten battle?”

“As a mask,” said Komnene, “to hide something else.” 

“That was my thought,” said Caina. “It seems likely that either Anashir or Maena Tulvius found a way into Caer Magia and retrieved a Dustblade, only to have Jurius abscond with it.”

“Then,” said Corvalis, “our best course of action is to locate whoever knows how to enter Caer Magia, kill them, and make sure their knowledge dies with them.”

Claudia felt a chill at the hardness in his voice. Corvalis was her brother, but he had been a Kindred assassin for years, a trained and proficient killer. He might have left the Kindred, but the skills the Kindred had taught had not left him. 

Komnene frowned. “Is it necessary to kill so quickly?”

“It may be, yes,” said Caina. “The things inside Caer Magia should never see the light of day, and Jurius’s Dust Shadows killed dozens of people. A lot more might die if anyone else finds their way into Caer Magia. If we can stop it here, we should.”

“Very well,” said Komnene. “You are better at this sort of thing than I am. How should we proceed?”

“Do you know where Jurius lived?” said Caina.

“In rooms over a tavern near the southern gate,” said Komnene.

Caina nodded. “I’ll start by looking over his possessions. Perhaps they will tell us something. I have persuaded Lord Martin to hold a banquet in my honor tomorrow night. He’ll invite Lady Maena and Anashir, and perhaps we can learn more from them.”

“You want to look at the rooms right away?” said Komnene.

“Yes,” said Caina. “We’ll keep the carriage here, and I’ll sneak out back in disguise. If anyone asks, we’ll say you are treating Rania Scorneus for a woman’s ailment.”

“Rania Scorneus?” said Claudia, surprised. “You are disguised as Rania Scorneus?”

“You know her?” said Caina.

“I do,” said Claudia. “House Scorneus is powerful in Artifel, and many of its sons and daughters are members of the Magisterium. Rania…Rania even looks a great deal like you. Though her hair is black, not blond.”

“A pity I didn’t know that,” said Caina. “I could have dispensed with the dye. Corvalis. Have Muravin bring the chest into the back room. I’ll need a place to change, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” said Komnene.

Corvalis disappeared into the street, and returned with a villainous-looking Istarish man in black armor of a Magisterial Guard. Together they wrestled a heavy wooden chest into the back room, and Caina followed them.

A moment later a ragged caravan guard emerged from the back room, clad in studded leather armor, worn trousers, dusty boots, and a threadbare brown cloak. Blond hair hung in greasy curtains over the guard’s face, and stubble shaded his jaw. Had Claudia not known better, she would have sworn a caravan guard stood before her, not Caina Amalas.

“I’ll be back before dark,” said Caina.

“Should you go alone?” said Corvalis.

“I can move quicker,” said Caina, “and Rania would keep all her guards nearby. And I think you’d like to catch up.”

She winked at Claudia and disappeared through the back door.

###

Claudia laughed. “He fell?”

Corvalis grinned and took another drink of beer. “Right down the ramp and into the crowd. Lord Titus was there, along with half of the chief nobles and merchants of Malarae. Tanzir Shahan looked like a boulder rolling down the hill.”

Claudia shook her head. “I cannot imagine that strengthened his negotiating position.”

“Well,” said Corvalis, “he had come to obtain peace with the Emperor. It wasn’t as if his negotiating position was that strong.”

They sat in the shop’s back room, a cramped chamber that served as both storeroom and kitchen. Claudia had helped Komnene prepare food and drink for Caina’s fake Magisterial Guards, and now they ate bread and cheese and beer. The Guards filled the main room, while Claudia sat with Corvalis, Komnene, and Muravin in the kitchen. At first she worried that she had offended the Istarish Ghost in some fashion, but soon realized a scowl was simply his normal expression.

Muravin grunted. “Heavy.”

“I’m sorry?” said Claudia.

“Heavy. Tanzir Shahan was heavy,” said Muravin in accented Caerish. “Helped him up the stairs when we fled through the catacombs. Still. Kind to Mahdriva when we hid together below the coffeehouse. For that, I did not kill him.” He shrugged. “Plus, Sonya Tornesti wished him kept alive…and I am not fool enough to cross her!”

“I suppose not,” said Claudia. She looked at Corvalis. “So you are the famous Anton Kularus? Even here in Calvarium, we have heard how Kularus brought coffee to the Empire.”

“I am,” said Corvalis. “Though all the credit belongs to Caina and that slave she brought back from Catekharon. You remember Shaizid? She decides what to do, and then he does it…and between the two of them they have made a fortune.”

“Yet she wants you to take the credit for it,” said Claudia.

Corvalis shrugged. “Why not? We’re spies, dear sister, not coffee merchants. She prefers to remain in the shadows. She says that if everyone underestimates her, it will make her more effective in an hour of crisis.” He took another drink of beer. “And she’s right! You should have seen the look on Tanzir’s face when he realized that Anton Kularus’s mistress had just saved his life.” 

Muravin chuckled.

“But you are happy, living like that?” said Claudia. “Pretending to be something you are not?”

Corvalis thought for a moment. “I am. Certainly it is better than killing Father’s enemies, or running from his enforcers. I am an assassin, sister, and I am good at it. With the Ghosts, at least, I have a chance to do good work. And if I can do that by pretending to be a coffee merchant, so be it.”

“And you are in love,” said Claudia.

He smiled. “I am. That…rather helps.”

“You smile more than you once did,” said Claudia.

“If I may say so,” said Komnene, “I am glad that you are with Caina. She, too, seems happier. When she was younger, she sought to spend her life as a sacrifice to her wrath. Now, perhaps, she has found that life can have some joy to it.”

“You knew her when she was a child?” said Claudia. “What was she like?”

“Angry,” said Komnene. “She was angry. Halfdan and Riogan and I found her soon after her father had been murdered. I thought such a blow might break her…but we turned her into a weapon instead. An effective one.” She took a deep breath. “I regret it, sometimes, but if we had not, there would be no Empire, would there? Millions of people would be dead, if not for her.” She smiled. “I am so proud of her. And I am glad you found each other, Corvalis. I think she is less angry now.”

“Maybe,” rumbled Muravin, “but I still would not cross the Balarigar.”

“What of you, sister?” said Corvalis. “Are you happy here?”

“I am,” said Claudia. “It…I did not think I would be. I thought Halfdan sent me here as a punishment for what happened in Catekharon. But I enjoy medicine, and hope I have not made too many mistakes.”

“Not at all,” said Komnene. “You have been an excellent apprentice, and in a few years you shall be a superb physician.”

“I wanted to save the world,” said Claudia, “to use my powers for good. But now I realize that I really wanted to rule over people for their own good. This is different. I never thought my hands and my brain could be as useful as sorcery, but they are.” 

“Good,” said Corvalis. “I thought you wouldn’t be happy as anything other than a sister of the Magisterium or a noblewoman of the Empire, but I am glad I was wrong.” He reached for another slice of cheese. “Any suitors I need to kill?”

Claudia blinked. “What?”

Komnene laughed. “I fear he is jesting with you.”

“I am, mostly,” said Corvalis. “But not entirely. I’m surprised the physician’s pretty apprentice hasn’t drawn admirers, unwanted or otherwise.”