Assassin's Noon: Ageless Mysteries - Book 4 Page 2

  Kendrick had taken people from their ordinary lives, just grabbed them up and forced them to work for him. Thea could also remember, as clearly as if he was in front of her, the disgust on his face. He had seen his kidnapped victims as things to be used. Not people.

  Stopping Kendrick, and freeing the people left alive, had been the least she could do. The very least. It had given her some satisfaction to know he couldn’t hurt anyone else.

  The thought that Accanter’s merchants wanted the criminal freed was enough to turn her stomach.

  “Yes,” Ware said, swallowing the contents of his glass in one gulp and pouring himself another.

  “They don’t care?” Sutter asked, holding his own glass with a white-knuckled grip.

  Ware didn’t answer at once, staring into his drink. Thea had seen him look that tired only once before. When they had found the forty-six people that Kendrick had been holding. There were no prisons in Accanter. Or so they had thought.

  “They don’t think we had the right,” Ware said at length, voice harsh. “He was a Master Merchant.”

  Thea drew in a sharp breath. “What do they think should have been done instead? A fine?”

  Ware’s mouth turned down, giving her the answer.

  “No, really?” Thea said, her stomach twisting. “One of Accanter’s citizens captured and held over a hundred people across the city, and they think he should just pay a fine?” Her voice had risen to an undignified squeal by the end. She drew a breath, remembering the other thing about Kendrick’s captives. All of them had been non-human. And all the Master Merchants standing outside Ware’s office earlier were human. It was possible that they didn’t care as much about other races. The thought made her stomach turn and she clamped her jaw shut, not wanting the taste of the words in her mouth.

  “Not to mention the magic,” Sutter said, voice as low and hard as Ware’s had been. The Senior Sergeant swallowed the contents of his glass with one gulp, coughing, and held out his glass for more. Ware refilled it without speaking.

  Thea set her still-full glass on the edge of Ware’s desk so that she could grip the arms of her chair. The wood creaked under her fingers and she relaxed her grip a fraction, taking a long, deep breath.

  “But you didn’t agree,” she said, realisation creeping over her. “You didn’t agree to release Kendrick. And so they threatened to disband the Watch,” she concluded. Leaving the ordinary citizens of Accanter with nowhere to go for help.

  “They did,” Ware said, and swallowed another drink. He set his empty glass down on the desk and eyed the bottle. Another shot would have no effect on him, Thea knew. It was the principle of the matter. Even though it was late into the afternoon, it would set a poor example to the rest of the station if the captain was smelling of alcohol.

  “Does this happen often?” Thea asked, brow wrinkling. “People threatening to disband the Watch, I mean. There have been quite a lot of angry people in the building over the past two weeks,” she added by way of explanation.

  “We usually get threatened with closure about once a year,” Sutter said, shaking his head. “But it’s never serious.”

  “The citizens who live in the Citadel perimeter don’t like paying fines,” Ware said, face relaxing into what might have been an attempt at a smile. He leant back in his chair, the wood creaking ominously around him.

  “But this is different,” Thea said slowly. “So, you think the merchants' guild are serious? Or do they have the ability to disband the Watch?”

  “They can’t do it on their own,” Sutter answered, so promptly that Thea knew he’d looked into the matter at least once before. “Only the Citadel itself can disband the Watch.”

  The great fortress that loomed over the city, the home of the land’s ruling elite. The Ageless. Every major city across the empire had a Citadel. This one was different, though, because in this Citadel the Archon, the ruler of them all, had chosen to make her home.

  “We are permitted to operate by the grace of the Archon,” Ware said, his voice flat. Impossible to tell what he was thinking.

  Thea ducked her head to hide her expression. The Archon didn’t care about the citizens of Accanter. Not one bit. What she did care about was that the citizens of her empire obeyed her and her laws, however outrageous they were. The Archon seemed to believe that the citizens of her empire were there to provide her with taxes and warm bodies to fight her never-ending wars. Edris already ruled most of the known worlds, but was not satisfied with what she had.

  Still, having the Watch responsible for the city outside the Citadel’s perimeter was one less task for the Archon’s soldiers and the Ageless. So the Archon and the Ageless seemed to regard the Watch as useful, and left them alone for the most part.

  “The merchants don’t tend to deal well with the Ageless,” she said, picking up her drink and taking a sip. The amber liquid slid down her throat, warming her. “How likely is it that the Ageless will even listen to them?”

  “Normally I would say not very likely,” Ware said. “But they seem more determined this time. I’ve never had five Master Merchants in my office before,” he added, and poured himself another drink.

  “What happened to Kendrick’s property?” Thea asked, curious.

  Ware’s good eye brightened for the first time since she had come into the room, and a genuine smile crossed his face.

  “She’s smart,” he said to Sutter.

  “We knew that already,” the Senior Sergeant said, smiling in turn. He looked across at Thea. “The Citadel has decreed that as Kendrick had no heirs, his property falls to the Ageless. Unless the Archon decides otherwise.”

  “Oh, my,” Thea said, and finished the rest of her drink. “No wonder the merchants are furious.”

  Master Merchant Kendrick had owned a great deal of property across the city, and at least two trading ships that Thea knew of. Thea had no very clear idea of what would normally happen if a merchant was expelled from the guild, but she had a suspicion that at least some of the former merchant’s property would normally be split among the other merchants.

  But the Ageless had taken that option away, along with the vast wealth that Kendrick had accumulated through his life.

  “Indeed,” Ware agreed with her, a broad grin spreading over his face. “Ahem. I mean, it’s terrible for them,” he said, not even trying to be serious.

  “So, let me see. They think that if Kendrick is reinstated, and pays a fine for the things he did, then, what? They will be able to expel him from the guild and claim his property?” Thea speculated, thinking aloud.

  “Something like that,” Ware agreed.

  “They don’t know Kendrick at all, do they?” she said, turning her empty glass in her hands. “There is not a chance that he would surrender his position.”

  “Indeed.” Ware rubbed his eyebrow over his false eye again. “And we can’t risk Kendrick raising another army.”

  “Yes,” Sutter agreed, shifting his position in the chair. He’d been injured by Kendrick’s armed guards, shot with a crossbow bolt. And, as a human, he probably wasn’t fully healed yet.

  Thea flinched at the memory of the armed men that Kendrick had assembled, and who had attacked the Watch. Bladed weapons were forbidden in the city, one of the absolute laws set down by the Ageless which they rigidly enforced. Even the Watch could not carry weapons. And yet, Kendrick had managed to hire a large number of mercenaries. That was not the only forbidden thing he had done. She remembered the corrupt magic he had used. She blinked. The Watch might have an unlikely ally in keeping Kendrick away. The Ageless.

  “How likely is it that the Citadel would set Kendrick free? I mean, even if you dropped the charges, he still used magic.” And not just magic, but borrowed magic, which seemed like something the Ageless would not take kindly to. He had somehow drawn one of the highest-ranking mages in the city into his scheme. Sisley, who had been apprenticed to the Citadel’s seniormost mage, had been helping Kendrick. The Ageless had taken Sisl
ey away. And no one had seen her master, Mage Waters, for some time. As far as Thea knew, the Ageless were still looking for Waters.

  Ware’s face lightened into another genuine smile. “I don’t think the merchants have worked that one out yet,” he said, looking as if he was trying not to laugh.

  Thea turned her own laugh into a not-very-convincing cough, sobering as she realised that, even if the Citadel and the Ageless might refuse to release Kendrick, there was no guarantee that the Ageless would allow the Watch to continue.

  She had an unexpected moment of nostalgia for her old station, where her greatest worry had been the corrupt and lazy Sergeant. It had not been pleasant, but she had understood perfectly where she stood and what she was. It had been so much simpler then. Now she was weighted with concern about the potential disbandment of the entire Watch not to mention the potential release of one of the worst criminals she had ever encountered.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The thought that the Master Merchants of the city had demanded Kendrick’s release weighed on Thea’s mind overnight, and was still troubling her in the morning as she walked through the city.

  Kendrick had been clever, in some ways, in limiting his kidnapping to non-humans in a city that was mostly populated by humans. Perhaps he had calculated that the mostly human population would turn a blind eye. As revolting as the idea was to Thea, she knew there was a real division and suspicion in the city.

  And that was just between the human and non-human populations. The Ageless-born were in a category all of their own. It might only take one Ageless parent to make another Ageless, but most of the children were born without wings, Ageless-born, with no legal rights or citizenship until their twenty-fifth birthdays. Thea had believed that was her, living under the constant threat of Conscription, terrified that she was going to be found and dragged away into the service of the Ageless. Very, very few Ageless-born survived their Conscripted service.

  She shook off bad memories and her own recent discovery. She didn’t want to think about that.

  Even if the city’s people despised the Ageless-born and were often suspicious of the non-humans, she remembered the many, many people who had turned out to help when Kendrick’s awful conduct had been exposed. Ordinary city folk giving what they could in food, clothing and shelter. And some merchants, too, volunteering their vehicles to help transport the victims back to their families. Not everyone in the city was narrow minded.

  But everyone in the city was under the rule of the Archon and the Ageless, and Thea was reminded of that as she took a long, restless walk around the city in the morning.

  There must have been another ship in overnight. There were several ragged, hollow-eyed people on the streets near the docks. A few of them wore tatters of their uniforms, and most of them were injured in some way. More victims of the Archon’s never-ending wars. The Archon’s army was always hungry for new recruits, but had no use or interest in the soldiers once they could no longer fight.

  Thea watched as a man wearing an old uniform jacket, one arm strapped across his chest and half his face raw with healing wounds, tentatively greeted an older woman who was crying as she hugged him. His mother, Thea would guess, and although she clearly loved her son, there was pain in her face as well. Thea understood the bittersweet reunion. The Archon’s empire, and Accanter, were hard places to live for anyone not in perfect health. With so many people seeking employment across the city, employers could pick who they wanted to work for them. And those devastated by war were not the first choice.

  The mother tucked her hand under her son’s good arm and led him away, still crying. Thea could only hope that the family had enough resources to provide for the son. The city was a place of great opportunity for anyone willing and able to work hard, physical jobs. It was unforgiving for everyone else. Even for those people, like the son, who had served in the Archon’s wars.

  Thea could not help glancing over her shoulder at the Ageless Citadel, perched on the edge of the cliffs that loomed over the city. It was impossible to ignore, clearly visible from everywhere in the city. A potent reminder, as if any of the city’s residents needed one, of who was in charge. There were specks of white in the air around the rising towers of the buildings. They looked like birds, but Thea, and every other resident of Accanter, knew what they were. The Ageless in flight.

  She dragged her eyes away. The arrogance of the Ageless was one problem she could not fix.

  Worry about the Watch and Kendrick now twisted with disgust at a reminder of the Archon’s disregard for her citizens, Thea turned another corner and found herself on the path back to Middlefield Watch Station. She was still restless, but she should go back to her desk, or ask Sutter if there was something she could do. Perhaps he needed help with the land dispute that he’d mentioned the day before.

  She had just reached Sutter’s doorway when footsteps on the stairs behind her drew her attention. The newcomer carried with them the trace of frost she associated with one of the Ageless and she turned, not wanting her back to whoever it was. She was somehow not surprised to recognise the figure coming up the stairs wearing the black uniform of one of the Archon’s army. The design stitched in silver thread across his heart showed a pair of wings, telling everyone that he was Ageless, even if he was wearing his human face just now.

  Commander Reardon. Ageless warrior, in charge of one of the garrisons at the Citadel. And her father. She got her height and her dark hair from him, in sharp contrast to her petite, blond mother. In his human aspect he appeared to be somewhere between thirty and forty years old, showing little signs of age on his lightly tanned skin, but the Ageless did not show their years and Thea suspected he was closer to a century old. Relatively young in Ageless terms.

  Old enough to have been marked, though. He had a scar on his temple, which was highly unusual for one of the Ageless as it was difficult to permanently mark them. She was sure there was a story behind that scar.

  She had never found time to ask him about it, and would not do so now. He did not look as if he was in a good mood, brows drawn together, although he was still holding his human aspect, and there was no evidence of his wings.

  Seeing him to unexpectedly chased away the worry and restlessness and replaced it with a mix of feelings she did not have time to fully work through. Her first instinct, borne of years of warnings from her mother, was to turn and leave. She wanted nothing to do with the Ageless. And yet. She did not think he meant her harm, not deliberately. So she stayed where she was, and a moment later was glad she had done so.

  Reardon was followed by a far more welcome figure, wearing the dark robes of a Mage. Niath. Her middle did a weird, not unpleasant, turn, seeing Niath again. It had been a week or so since they had last crossed paths and she had missed his company. They didn’t always agree, but she found she enjoyed their debates and not knowing what he might say next. The mage appeared to be a human in his early thirties, with his bronzed skin, short black hair and bright blue eyes. But he, like Thea and so many others, wore his human aspect as a disguise, hiding his true nature.

  Reardon lifted a hand, beckoning Thea and Sutter forward, but did not check his stride, heading for Ware’s open office door.

  Her irritation at being summoned so casually smothered by curiosity, Thea exchanged glances with Sutter and by mutual agreement they also headed for Ware’s office.

  The captain was standing behind his desk when they reached the door, facing Reardon with square shoulders and a grim expression.

  “What can the Watch do for you, Commander?” Ware asked.

  “There’s been a death,” Reardon said. “It needs investigating.”

  “Where?” the captain asked.

  “The Summer House,” Reardon said.

  Thea’s brows lifted. There were a few grand houses outside the city limits. All of them surrounded by high walls and vast stretches of land, often with memorable names that bore no relation to the houses themselves. The Summer House was one. She ha
d never been to any of the houses, but had heard whispered tales about them and the fabulous wealth that they held.

  “That’s outside the Watch’s jurisdiction,” Ware said, frowning. The Citadel permitted the Watch to operate within the city’s limits. And no further. “And we have plenty of work to do within the city.”

  Reardon’s face tightened further until Thea could almost see the sharper angles of his Ageless aspect through the softer human contours.

  “The dead man is Master Merchant Bordan Hannaford. I understand he was here yesterday.” The Ageless warrior locked eyes with the Watch Captain.

  Ware’s brows had lifted and he seemed startled. “You are remarkably well informed, Commander.”

  “One of the city’s wealthiest citizens is dead,” Reardon said, the words bitten out. “I would have thought that is of concern to the Watch.”

  The two men stared at each other, sending prickles of unease across Thea’s skin. Ware had not agreed to the Commander’s request. And Reardon was not backing down. All of which made Thea wonder just what else was going on.

  “Why do you want us to investigate?” Thea asked.

  “The circumstances of the death are … strange,” Reardon answered, surprising her. She had not really expected him to respond.

  “In what way?” Thea asked, frowning.

  “I would rather not say,” the Ageless said, turning back to Ware. “I don’t want to prejudice your investigation.”

  Thea’s eyes travelled past Reardon to Niath, standing in his customary pose with his hands behind his back. He caught her eyes and nodded a greeting.

  “You suspect something magical, though,” she said, “or you wouldn’t have brought Mage Niath.”

  Reardon’s lips pressed together in what looked like irritation. Not used to being questioned, she thought.

  “I volunteered,” Niath said unexpectedly, a hint of mischief crossing his face. “There’s not much to do at the Citadel just now.”

  “You and Mage Niath have worked well together in the past,” Reardon said to Thea, surprising her again. “If Captain Handerson can spare you,” he added, looking back at Ware.