Hunting Page 12

  Rhoi Arun shook his head. "None at all! I've been trying to get Thorn to move out of that cupboard since autumn. Now he can't refuse. But that's hardly enough. Something for yourself, boy. Is there not something you particularly desire, something you would be pleased to own?"

  Would he insist she put a value on Heran's life? "If..." She paused, looked doubtful. "If you would allow me, Ser Rhoi, I would like to read the books in the Rhoi's Library. Or, at least, the interesting ones."

  "Only the interesting ones? Well, that shouldn't take you more than a decade." The Rhoi embraced her formally, much to Ash's discomfort. "With my blessing, Ash Lenthard. You will always have use of the Rhoi's Library." He looked over at Thornaster as he released her. "Take care of this one, Thorn. I predict he'll make you proud."

  Thornaster took Ash by the elbow, leading her across to the fire and providing her with some steaming cuts from the remains of a haunch that had been roasted there.

  "I predict you'll make me burst a blood vessel with that so-innocent expression of yours," he told her cordially.

  She grinned greasily, looking around. "Where's Cloud Cat?"

  "Not far away. Don't worry yourself; I haven't let her walk off a cliff while you were admiring the waterfall. Did it occur to you that you could have asked Arun to give you that mare?"

  "Yes. But she's not his to give is she? And you're not the one sleeping on the floor, so don't complain about my priorities."

  Thornaster made a strangled noise, and then lifted his hands. "Well, I inflicted you on myself. I suppose I shouldn't protest while you change my living arrangements. Is there anything else you'd like, while we're on the subject? Your own suite? A carpet of rose petals scattered before you whenever you make your progress?"

  "A booking for one of the private bathing rooms? I'm a little too betwixt and between to use the group ones without someone telling me I'm in the wrong place." Her attention was on the arrangements for carrying the Veirhoi home. "He said he thought a snake had bitten his horse. He didn't know who was near him at the time, only that he was trying to catch up to the first seruilis." She gratefully accepted the skin of watered wine Thornaster handed her. "I told him about the arrow wound because it wasn't fair not to. He'll need to know why he's got more security. I think I'm going to tell him more about what's really going on – it's stupid that his brother's keeping it from him."

  "You must have been a most horrific infant."

  "I climbed up my bedroom chimney when I was four," she said, reminiscently. "My parents only realised when the fires were lit and I started howling."

  Thornaster shook his head. "Most definitely a creature of nightmare. Cloud Cat and Arth are just beyond that whitebark. I'll catch you up."

  Ash went quietly. She was tired, happy to lean against Arth's warm flank and play with Cloud Cat's whiskers until Thornaster came back. And her abandoned tabard cut the night chill just a fraction. Why had she taken it off?

  When the Visel returned she climbed into the saddle and didn't say a word for the entire, dreamlike ride back.

  Chapter Sixteen

  A hand, shaking her. "Wake up."

  Ash sighed gustily, and blinked at the shadowy outline of Thornaster. "What's wrong?" If he wanted her to fetch things for him, she swore she'd hit him. She hadn't had enough sleep for a sense of humour.

  "There's been another murder."

  "Oh." She sat up. "Who?"

  "A woman by name of Prentice. Ran a store on Broad Street."

  "Arianne." Ash shut her eyes.

  "You don't have to come if you can't face it, stripling."

  "Just give me a moment to get dressed," she said, shaking off the comforting hand.

  Thornaster withdrew, letting the curtain fall back over her alcove, and Ash bit into her own hand in frustration, wanting to hurt someone. Arianne, who sold as many vegetables as herbs? Ash had barely considered her a probable target. And Sonia? She ached to get hold of the killer, all her fury over Genevieve returning triple-fold.

  Running her fingers through her hair, Ash found Thornaster scraping his face clean, and left their rooms to make her own morning toilet. Investigator Verel was waiting for them at the stables, and led them grimly through the early-morning bustle of the city to the southern sprawl of the Commons: Soward. Ash chewed her lip until she saw the little storefront Arianne had put such effort into making bright and friendly. A Watchman was standing before it, big and bluff and out of place. He looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.

  "Who found her?" the Investigator asked tersely, cutting through the Guardsman's awkward attempt at greeting them.

  "Holder opposite," the man said, nodding to a chandler's store. "Friends of a sort. When the lass didn't answer a morning call, Holder had her husband to break the door down. They've been keeping an eye on her ever since the killing started up. We made sure t'herblist was past help and sent right for you. Haven't touched a thing."

  "Gerint, who was it set to watch this one?" the Investigator asked, turning to one of her men.

  "Vaisy, Sera Verel."

  "Find out where he is."

  "Yes, Sera." The Guardsman hurried away.

  "Captain, make sure that crowd doesn't get any closer."

  Having divested herself of the Watchman, Verel led the way into the tiny store, took a brief look around, and then went on through to the even smaller room beyond. Arianne had not been wealthy. Her entire world was crammed into the storefront and one other room, plus the garden out back. Her body lay in a tangle of blood-spattered bedclothes. Like Genevieve, death had come to her during sleep.

  Ash bit her lip, searching the room for the other body, seeing only the frugal possessions that Arianne had gathered through hard work and determination. A bed, a table and single chair, a brazier and cooking utensils. The tools and wares of a herbalist. A small, discarded shoe.

  Shivering just a little, Ash slipped past the other occupants of the room, and stared down at Arianne's pale face, a strand of black hair draggling across the brow. She dropped to one knee and looked under the bed, then, finding nothing, twitched back the covers a little from the body, just to be sure.

  "Boy! You're not to touch anything!" Annoyance and admonition in the Investigator's voice, but Ash ignored it, turning wide, distressed eyes on her.

  "Where's Sonia?" she asked, then thought of the garden and twisted past them to unlock the back door and step out into row upon row of carefully-tended plants. But then, if the door was locked, Sonia couldn't have come out there. Trying to control herself, she turned back to the Investigator. "Arianne had a three year-old daughter. She's not here."

  The Investigator exchanged a startled glance with her Guardsman, then gestured him to the front of the building. "Go get that Captain."

  The shutter above Arianne's bed was resting closed, but wasn't fastened. Gingerly, Ash tried to look out of it, but found only an alleyway beyond. She was prevented from going out to inspect the alleyway by Thornaster, who took her by the arm and made her go into the garden and sit down on an overturned bucket until she could control some of her horror and fury. She tolerated this because she noticed she was shaking.

  "I'm sorry," she said, eventually, watching through the open back door as the Guard moved about the house. "It's just that I was there when Sonia was born. She's so..."

  "There's no need to explain, Ash," Thornaster said. "I quite understand." He stood, dusting damp leaves and dirt from his knees as the Investigator came out the back door.

  "Not in the house, not with the neighbours," Verel said, in her brief way. "Not a trace. The chandler woman confirms that she was with the mother yesterday, so she hasn't been sent off to relatives."

  "Arianne doesn't have any relatives who'll acknowledge her existence," Ash said, unhappily. "They threw her out when she got pregnant."

  The Investigator nodded. "Vaisy, the man I had stationed on the neighbouring roof, is dead. Throat slit in the usual way, no sign of struggle. We'll just go up to see if she's left any
traces here."

  There was more of the grey dust. Ash watched in silence while the Investigator sat with closed eyes in a ring of chalked symbols.

  "I'd say the woman's a hired professional," Verel said, eventually. "There's no sense of any personal involvement, no anger or strong ambition. Light-colour hair. Probably foreign, since we don't get much in the way of assassin-mages here. Imported for the job."

  Verel and Thornaster talked about mage craft for a little while, and the possibilities of checking any border movements of known assassins. Thornaster was apparently able to get information on any who might have departed Aremal in recent months, though it would take weeks for the answer to come. Ash watched a body being removed from the roof of the building next door – only a short hop away across a narrow alley. If she'd posted the Huntsmen to watch Genevieve's roof, would one of them be dead now, as well? Should she come out at night, and cover one of the last few remaining roofs herself?

  "Is there anywhere you know of where this child might go?" the Investigator asked her, breaking into her reverie. "Friends? Favoured places?"

  Ash shook her head. "She clung to her mother's side like a limpet, and Arianne rarely went out. A stick-thin rag doll of a child who looks too small to even be walking. Huge black eyes. Hardly ever talks. The killer couldn't have taken her, could she? This spell she uses, would it let her take Sonia to the roof?"

  "No. And she definitely used the return capability. So we've got a terrified three year-old running the streets who might be the only person to have seen our assassin and survived. I'll have her name added to the missing children's list and the Watch can come hard on the places runaways usually end up in, though she's young for that line. She can't have gone far. Do you require anything else, Visel Thornaster?"

  He shook his head and they headed back to their horses.

  "Can I have the rest of the morning?" Ash asked, as soon as they were out of the street. Seruilisi had an afternoon free from the demands of the Mern once a week, but that had been taken up by the hunt yesterday and what they did with the time depended on their masters anyway.

  Thornaster gave her a Look. "Do you know of a place this child might have gone?"

  "No, I want to set more people to looking for her."

  "Indeed. I think I shall need to ask you about your street gang, some day soon. No, I hadn't forgotten Captain Garton mentioning them. Yes, you may have the rest of the morning free. And I suppose the afternoon will be devoted to transferring to a different part of the palace, so I will send your apologies to the Mern."

  Ash nodded and turned the mare away without another word, heading deeper into the Commons, running through strategies until the twining stalks of the Three Vines Bakery's sign came into sight.

  She looped Cloud Cat's reins around a post, positioning her so that she would be able to see the mare even within the shop. Heading inside, she had to struggle with the odour of fresh baking, which combined very badly with her empty, sick stomach.

  "Ash!" Lark's mother, Tanar Rogadney, folded her into a floury embrace. "You look dreadful! What have you been doing? Is it true, you saved the Veirhoi's life? Have you had breakfast? Here, sit down. Lincy! Lincy! Go out front and take care of Ash's horse. Mind you don't get yourself stood on."

  "Ash!" Larkin appeared, dusting his hands. "Have you stopped being a seruilis already? Ma, you'll let Ash stay if he's nowhere to go, won't you?"

  "If that's what's needed," Landhold Rogadney said. "Here, child, drink this while I spread some butter on a roll for you. I swear you've lost weight. Doesn't he look like he hasn't eaten for days, Larkin? You'd think in a great huge palace like that they'd manage to feed growing boys properly. What can Mirramar be thinking?"

  "I'm still a seruilis, Lark," Ash said, being used to Landhold Rogadney's verbal barrage. She took a sip of sweet, thick Firuvari chocolate, savouring the rare treat. "I need to talk to you for a measure or so. Can you come?"

  "Of course. Just let me get cleaned up." Lark disappeared through the inner door and was replaced by a row of blue-eyed, blonde-haired girls of varying heights.

  "You look...different," sixteen year-old Arras told her, blushing.

  Linnet, eight and a good deal more forthright, climbed onto Ash's lap and examined the tabard briefly. "Did you really jump off a cliff and catch the Veirhoi before he plungered to his death?"

  "I think the word you're looking for is plunged, Linnet," Ash said, setting her back on the ground. The girl immediately dashed into the back of the shop.

  "What's he look like? The Veirhoi? I've never seen him. Is it true that he's more beautiful than any of the women at Landsmeet? And his hair is more golden than wheat in the sunlight? And his eyes are violet? What's his voice like? Did he thank you for saving his life?" Thirteen year-old Asaen had her mother's way with words.

  "We didn't talk about it," Ash said.

  "Look, Ash," said Lincy, returning. "Still burning!" She held up a lantern using a feather instead of a candle.

  Bitty, third-eldest of the Rogadneys, and one of the newer members of the Huntsmen – much to Lark's dismay – gave Ash a brief nod as she took her mother's place at the serving counter, while Tanar Rogadney returned almost immediately, handing Ash two buttered rolls.

  "Put that back where people can't see it, Lincy. Do you want it stolen? And didn't I tell you to go look after Ash's horse? Leave the boy be while he's eating. Do you need anything, lad?" But then Landhold Rogadney inhaled sharply, and darted into the bakery's depths. "Who's looking after the oven? If you children have let a batch burn...!"

  "Why didn't you talk about it?" Asaen continued. "How did you get to be a seruilis anyway? Are these that foreign Holder's colours? What's he like?"

  "Leave him be, Asa!" Larkin said, pushing her away unceremoniously as he returned. "You finished with that?"

  Ash nodded and hastily put the cup down, escaping the room before Asaen could begin another volley. Linnet was standing out the front of the store, a good five feet away from Cloud Cat. "This is a big horse," she announced.

  "Too true!" Larkin said, mussing her blonde curls. "You can go back in now, Lincy. I hope you don't expect me to get up on that, Ash. I'm not nutty about horses at the best of times, let alone ones twice the size they should be."

  "No, we'll walk," Ash said. "It's not far."

  She unwound the reins and led Cloud and Larkin away from the bakery. Linnet stayed where she was, gravely watching them till they were out of sight.

  "What's wrong?" Larkin asked, as they turned the corner.

  "Another murder. Arianne, the herbalist over in the Soward. Her daughter, Sonia, do you remember me telling you about her? She's missing. Out the window, probably. The killer mightn't even know she exists, or might be hunting for her. I don't know."

  "You want us to look for her?"

  "Yes. But the Soward's not our territory, so it'll need to be more than that." She led Cloud down the alley beside Genevieve's still empty house. "Landhold Dunn must be fuming to have the house shut up like this," she remarked.

  "Can't say she's been in the best mood lately. But she gets it in two more days, apparently."

  "Just in time, then," Ash said, using Cloud Cat to boost herself over the fence. "I'll be a little while, sorry," she said.

  Fetching the spare key from under a handy stone, Ash went into the house. The bed had been stripped of even its mattress, but she could still smell the blood. This would always be the place Genevieve had died.

  A visit to the stillroom later, she returned outside and, businesslike, began harvesting.

  Back over the fence, she handed Lark two stuffed bags. "The left can go to Ketter's Tavern. And the right to Tye Varden. He's the only reputable herbalist left in the city – I hear he's hired bodyguards. Both of them will give a fair price for this if you say it's from me. Use what it brings to offer a reward for Sonia."

  Larkin hefted the bags, and grunted. "Right now, half the city would look for free. But this'll help with the rest o
f them."

  Ash leaned wearily against Cloud Cat's neck and described Sonia carefully. The child had one distinguishing mark – a semi-circular scar on one knee where she'd fallen on a shovel in the garden. It would do to prevent mistakes.

  "Ash, you're strung out," Lark said. "If half of what I've heard you did yesterday is true, I'm surprised you're standing. Let's go somewhere and sit down for a while."

  "Where do you want to go?"

  Larkin eyed Cloud Cat doubtfully. "Well, we can't go the skyways with this lummox in tow and we'd be begging for it if we went into the Shambles afoot. We're keeping out of there at the moment anyway – there's another skarl been sighted. Lammer's Field?"

  Ash shrugged and suggested collecting Melar, the third of the Huntsmen's unofficial leaders, for the quick walk to a patch of common ground on the slope of the nearest foothill. Nothing but grass, rocks and stray children.

  Melar, nondescript and whip-smart, narrowed his eyes after she'd caught them up on the investigation, and asked: "Do you believe this Thornaster? About Karaelsur?"

  "At this stage, I've no reason to doubt him. I asked, if the old Sun really does keep coming back, why it's not common knowledge, why the Aremish Rhoi doesn't warn everyone–"

  "Bad idea," Melar said. "You'd have folk saying Karaelsur is the true Sun and that Astenar is an usurper. Which is technically true, forgetting the whole nearly-destroyed-Luin thing, and ignoring the soul collecting, if that's really what's happening. Still, not in the Estarrels' interest to admit to any remnant of Karaelsur still existing. Besides, Karaelsur must offer these accomplices some particularly tempting advantage." He stretched, and then began ticking off points on his fingers.

  "So, we have a probably foreign mage killing herbalists, possibly as clumsy prelude to poisoning the Rhoi. But there's been no move against the Rhoi. There've been two not-quite-accidental attempts on the Veirhoi. The former Rhoi told the Aremish Rhoi that Montmoth was out of Balance and asked for help. A Yurefaen told your Visel Thornaster that it could 'smell' Karaelsur here. Karaelsur is damned, and in the past has tried to use human souls to gain strength. People have been going missing – more than usually go missing in spring. You want us to find out more about foreigners who arrived this spring, particularly women. Find the missing child. Don't go missing ourselves, or get our throats cut. Anything else?"