Ethshar - Night Of Madness Part 9

Quarter; that makes me responsible for them. They can sleep on the floor; I'm sure we can squeeze them all in."

Hanner knew enough of his uncle's tastes to be sure of that; Faran was not the sort: to settle for a mere furnished room for his trysts. Hanner expected a fair-sized apartment.

"I don't-" Alris began.

"Alris," Hanner said, cutting her off, "we'reall going. It's my decision, not yours; if Uncle Faran doesn't like it we can deal with that later. Now, lead the way."

Reluctantly, Alris obeyed, and the entire party trudged out of the torchlit square into0the shadowy streets.

Chapter Ten.

Kennan stood in the corner of the plaza, staring in frustration at the ranked soldiers.

They wouldn't let himnear the Palace. When he had told them he had to speak with the Lord High Magistrate about his stolen son, they had told him that a hundred other people were in line ahead of him, and the overlord wasn't lettinganyone see Lord Karannin.

And then when those people had come flying upArena Street the soldiers hadn't taken them prisoner or tried to kill them- instead they had just sent someone totalk to them. Kennan stood up on his toes, trying to see clearly, as the officer talked to the chubby young man in the fancy tunic.

As he watched, the officer turned and beckoned to another soldier. They spoke quietly for a moment, and then the second soldier began pus.h.i.+ng his way toward the Palace.

Kennan watched, fuming-was that guardsman going to be permitted in, where he, an honest citizen with a legitimate grievance, was not?

But then the guardsman was stopped on the bridge, and his message, whatever it was, was relayed from there.

So even messengers weren't being permitted inside.

Then he couldn't hope to get inside the Palace tonight. He looked at the motley bunch of people gathered at the mouth ofArena Street -the young man in the fancy tunic, the flying wh.o.r.e, the worried-looking guardsman, and the rest.

If the guards could talk to them, Kennan decided, so could he. They might know what was going on, and where Aken had been taken. He began making his way around the side of the square.

By the time he reachedArena Street the others had retreated slightly, and it took a moment before he could locate them again. There were people scattered about, some standing, some sitting against walls, but he couldn't tell which were magicians; no one was hanging in the air anymore.

At last he spotted the redheaded wh.o.r.e perched atop the wall surrounding a mansion onAristocrat Circle . He walked up to her and called up,"Hai! I'd like to talk to you."

She turned and looked down at him.

"Go away," she said. "I'm not available."

Kennan felt his ears redden. "I'm not a customer," he snapped. "I need to ask you something, about my son."

The redhead looked bored. "What name was he using?" she asked.

"He wasn't a customer, either," Kennan said, exasperated. "It's not aboutyou."

"If it's not aboutme, then why are youasking me?" she demanded.

"I saw you flying," Kennan said. "I thought you might know something."

The wh.o.r.e sighed. "Then ask. But I probably don't."

"His name is Aken of the Strong Arm. He was taken from his bed earlier tonight, s.n.a.t.c.hed out the window by magic."

The woman turned up an empty palm. "I never heard of him," she said. "Don't know anything about anyone being s.n.a.t.c.hed out a bedroom window. Sorry." "Is there someone I could ask? Some magician?"

The woman turned up her palm again.

"G.o.ds, woman, don't you have any compa.s.sion?" Kennan shouted. "My son is missing, and I want to know who's responsible!"

"None of usknow who's responsible, old man!" the redhead shouted back. "We don't know you and we don't know your son, and in case you haven't noticed, half the city has gone raving mad tonight, prancing about smas.h.i.+ng shop windows and setting things on fire, and some of us have had this magic thrust upon us, and we don't know any more about it thanyou do!"

Kennan stared up at her in silent anger, fists clenching and unclenching.

"Go away," she said, and Kennan found himself forced back, against his will, toward the plaza.

He fought at first, but it did no good, so at last he turned and walked away under his own power. When he had rounded the corner, out of sight of the woman in red, he stopped, took a deep breath, and collected himself.

He didn't know who those people were, but theyowed him an explanation.

Just then he heard a commotion behind him, and he turned to see a girl in her early teens step out of the lines of soldiers and call, "Hanner?"

Kennan turned and watched as the man in the silk-trimmed tunic appeared out of the shadows and spoke to the girl-who, Kennan realized, must have come from the Palace.

There was something going on here, definitely. All of these people were working together, he was sure of it. He watched them closely, trying to hear as much as he could of their conversation.

'Woone may enter!" the girl said. Kennan couldn't make out her next sentence, but that was clear. He listened and heard her conclude, "No exceptionsat all."

Kennan didn't hear the next exchange, but then the girl said, "It'll be an adventure!" She reached into her purse and showed the man something Kennan couldn't see.

More words Kennan couldn't catch, and then the man raised his voice and called, "Yorn! Rudhira!

Varrin! All of you! Follow me!"

The girl made a protest Kennan couldn't hear, and for a moment the two argued, but the man clearly won. The girl turned and began walking away from the square, into the darkness ofAristocrat Circle .

Several of the people who had been standing or sitting around arose and followed-including the redheaded wh.o.r.e, and two others who flew rather than walked.

Kennan hesitated only briefly, then followed.

"You'll do what I tell you!" Elken the Beggar bellowed, hovering above the Hundred-Foot Field, pointing down at the thirty or so people he had gathered.

"Elken, this is stupid," Tanna the Thief said. "If you're such a powerful magician now, why are you stayinghere}" She pointed at Wall Street. "Why don't you go into the city and make a placethere}"

"Shut up!" Elken said. "I know better than that. Iwent into the city, and I came back. There are hundreds of magicians in the city, and lords ordering them around. Buthere, there's just me- me, and the bunch of you, and you're all going to be my slaves now."

"All right, fine," an old woman said. "What do you want us to do?"

"That's better," Elken said, mollified. "I want you to put together the tents and make a place worthy of me! And I want all the food you've got stashed away. And if anyone has anyoushka, I want that, too."

The others looked at one another. A few whispered comments were exchanged, empty palms turned up.

Twenty minutes later Elken lay on a pile of mismatched bedding-abig pile, collected from at least a dozen of the residents of the Hundred-Foot Field-beneath a canopy made out of Old Man Kelder's tent stretched across the poles from Anaran the Thief's hut. He had a strip of dried salt beef in one hand, a half-full bottle ofoushka in the other.

He took a gulp of liquor and smiled broadly. "The G.o.ds have smiled on me," he said. "It's as if they wanted to pay me back for making me suffer through that nightmare."

The memory of the dream, of the sensations of falling and burning and being buried, was unpleasant; his smile vanished and he took another long draught ofoushka.

"The G.o.ds are just," Tanna said, from where she sat-just out of his reach, deliberately so.

"Of course," Elken said, then drained the rest of the bottle. "Come here, woman."

Reluctantly Tanna came, before Elken could use his mysterious magic to drag her. She cuddled up beside him.

As she had expected, though, he was now too drunk to do anything more than give her a squeeze before falling into a booze-induced stupor. After a few fumbling moments his head rolled back, his eyes closed, and he began snoring.

Tanna waited another five minutes, just to be sure.

Then she took the sharp little paring knife from her belt, reached around, and neatly sliced open Elken's left carotid artery.

He jerked awake, and she cut his throat from ear to ear as he stared up at her and clapped a hand to the initial wound.

She was flung back by his magic, smas.h.i.+ng through the jury-rigged framework of his beggar's palace and landing on hard ground. She rolled aside-she had had years of practice dodging attacks, and a magicalone wasn't really so different.

By the time she got to her feet and made her way cautiously back inside, Elken was still and limp, his eyes staring and lifeless.

"It's all right," she called. "He's dead."

The others emerged from their refuges to gather around her and look at Elken's corpse.

"I'm sorry about the ruined bedding," Tanna said as she stared down at the body. "What a waste!"

No one was sure whether she meant the bloodstained bedding or Elken's magic.

"I can't believe you sent her out there!" Nerra said, staring at her uncle.

Faran pointedly did not stare back, but instead studied the reports Captain Vengar had given him.

"She'll be fine," he said. "She just has to go a few blocks, and she'll have Hanner with her, and then they'll both be safe at my house."

"You really have a house in theNew City ?"

"I really do. I've had it since you were a baby."

"That's where you go when you aren't here and don't take us with you?"

"Usually, yes."

"So Hanner and Alris will live there from now on?"

Faran put down the reports. "I certainly hope not," he said. "I expect Lord Azrad will come to his senses once he's had some sleep and daylight has brightened the World, and then Hanner and Alris will come back here where they belong, and my house will be private again."

"But now they'll know where it is."

Faran sighed. "Nerra, there are scores of people in this city who know where it is. Anyone who really wants to know could find out easily enough. I don't think anyone reallycares, though."

"Then why didn't you ever tellus about it?"

"Because it wasn't any of your concern."

"But. .."

Faran had had enough of her questions-and he hadnot had enough sleep. His temper gave out, and heglared at her as he cut her off.

"Go to sleep, Nerra," he said. "If you reallymust ask me impertinent questions, do it in the morning." He got to his feet and marched into his bedroom.

Nerra watched him go, then looked around, realizing that she was alone in the room.

And she would be alone in her bedroom, with Alris out of the Palace. She would be alone, and these mad magicians, or demons in human guise or whatever they were, were roaming the streets and skies.

The city guard was out in force, keeping the plaza clear-but what could they do against a demon? What good would they be if a mad magician flew across the ca.n.a.l to Nerra's bedroom window?

She shuddered at the thought-but she didn't have much choice. Reluctantly, she wandered back to her own bed, climbed in, closed the curtains, and buried herself under the coverlet, certain she would get no more sleep that night.

Ten minutes later she was snoring quietly.

Chapter Eleven.

Hanner stood in the shadows ofCoronet Street and looked up at the looming black facade beyond the garden wall.

"It's the entire house?" he asked.

"That's what he said," Alris replied.