Brin still stood on the broken roof of the shelter, one-eyed gaze glittering in the magelight. The halfling looked around at the destruction of the flood, at the bodies of pigs that hadn't managed to swim away, at the bodies of the men killed fighting. He smiled. Savagely. "You stupid dock rat!" he howled. "You want me? You want me? " He pounded a hand against his chest. "You can't take me! You killed Yu Mao-I killed Veseene. And that's just a start!"
He leaped down from the shelter into water that was now barely waist deep on him and splashed toward the table. His eye shone with madness. "You're going to wish-"
Music, magic, and rage twisted together inside Tycho's heart and he sang. Sound buffeted Brin and sent ripples across the water all around him. The halfling staggered, sloshing sideways. His gaze met Tycho's and he staggered on. "You're going to wish," he continued, "that you had never met me. That you had never met hen" His head jerked at Veseene. "No one beats me!" He pounded his chest again. "I beat them. Just like I beat you. Like I beat the curse of Sowl" His hands slapped the surface of the water, splashing Tycho. "Not even the sea can take me! Not a pig around but I'm still alive. I outsmarted the-"
Tycho blasted him again. This time the surface of the water jumped and when Brin looked up, blood was oozing out of his nose. He stared at Tycho. "Is that the best you can do?" He surged forward through the water.
New songs come where you learn them. Veseene's words.
Tycho tipped his head back and drew a deep breath, focusing his mind, focusing his magic-focusing his song. He looked down at Brin and sang a new song. New to him at least. Veseene had been a teacher to the end.
A chill voice answered his song. It wasn't the deep voice that Veseene had commanded, but it didn't need to be. The water behind Brin frothed and surged. The halfling spun around, staring, as an elemental no larger than he was reared up out of the darkness, seized him with liquid limbs, and swept him down into cold seawater. Brin let out a squealing scream-a scream that ended in an explosion of bubbles. Tycho leaned out, watching Brin's struggles and singing until no more bubbles came up.
CHAPTER 16
"Tycho? " The bard looked up as Li climbed down from the roof of the Eel. Li's back was torn and bloody. There were bruises across his face, and he limped as he waded across the water-logged sty. He wore his own coat again. Tycho couldn't imagine it would smell very good after being wrapped around Yu Mao's filthy body, but then he probably didn't smell very good himself.
Li's dao had landed blade-first in the mud. He wrenched it free in passing, washing off the muck by the simple expedient of swishing it through the last of the floodwater. His scabbard was floating under the table. Tycho swung down, grabbed it, and handed it to him. The Shou shook the water out of it and shoved the dao in. "That'll rust," Tycho pointed out.
"I'll clean it later. We should go." Li stared at Brin's pale, wet corpse.
Tycho nodded and turned back to the table.
Laera still knelt atop it, her arms wrapped around Ve-seene. Tycho took the body from her gently, propping Veseene upright as he closed her staring eyes and eased Brin's knife from her head. He looked away as it came free and hurled it as far from him as he could.
There was a ripping sound. When he looked back, Laera was binding a sleeve from her shirt around Veseene's head, hiding the wound. He smiled at her and lifted Veseene awkwardly in his arms.
"Do you want me to carry her?" Li offered.
"No." He turned and took a last look around then followed Li and Laera through what remained of the sty's rail fence.
On the other side, Mosi Anu was struggling to his feet, water running in streams from his robes. He glared at them and started to say something. "Don't," said Li. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of rags. No, Tycho realized, not rags. The remains of the Yellow Silk of Kuang. Still fine fabric, still an extraordinary yellow, but no longer glowing. If he were to hold the scraps, Tycho suspected, he would feel only cool, damp silk instead of the warm energy he had felt before. Mosi looked at the scraps and frowned-then snorted.
"Ruined," he said dourly. He stepped back and shook out his cloak, swirling the wet cloth around him. He vanished in a puff of smoke that smelled of dung fires and wet wool. The magelights hanging over the alley winked out as well, leaving only the rising moon to light the shadows.
"What about the other mage?" asked Laera.
"Hanibaz?" Tycho looked back toward the collapsed shelter. It was hard to see, but none of the shadows there looked man-shaped. "I think he's gone, too. He wouldn't stick around for nothing either."
Li grunted, nodding to the shelter as well. "What about Lander? He was under there."
"Dead or fled, I don't care." Tycho turned away, splashing on through the alley. Laera came with him and, after a moment, Li followed.
They stepped out of the alley and into the street, turning back toward Bakers Lane. They didn't get far. At the very first crossroads, torchlight flared. "What-? " Tycho gasped as city guards came pouring into the intersection from every direction, swords drawn and ready. He froze.
Mard Dantakain stepped out from among his men and women. The captain of the guard was covered in soot. A fresh burn shone red and raw on his face. "Tychoben Ari-saenn and Kuang Li Chien, you are under arrest."
"For?" snarled Tycho.
"Kidnapping," Mard said coldly, "and murder. I went to your rooms looking for my daughter and I found my brother." His eyes were very hard. "I don't think even Magistrate Vanyan will listen to your explanations this time."
"He should," said Laera. Tycho stared as the young woman slipped around him to confront her father. "Tycho and Li haven't done anything."
Mard's hard eyes narrowed. He nodded at two of his men. "Take her home."
"No!" Laera held her chin high, and her voice was defiant. "I ran away. Tycho was looking out for me. And Uncle Jacerryl was killed by a halfling named Brin over abagofbeljurils."
"Brin?" Mard's eyes managed to grow even narrower, darting from Laera to Tycho then Li, finally settling on Veseene. Laera spoke again before he could say anything more.
"Brin killed her, too. He kidnapped her and left Uncle Jacerryl. He would have killed all of us if Tycho and Li hadn't stopped him."
Mard looked back to Tycho. "And Brin is now…?"
"Dead," Tycho said bluntly.
"So this story about beljurils is entirely your word."
"No, it isn't." Laera reached into her belt, pulled out a velvet bag, and dumped its contents into the palm of her hand. Mard stared at the winking gems and even his eyes went wide for a moment, and he scowled. His voice dropped low so none of the guards would hear.
"Give those to me, Laera, and go home."
She closed her hand over the gems. "Not until you let Tycho and Li go," she murmured back.
"They're under arrest!"
"For what? They didn't do anything. The magistrate won't hold them. You taught me the law yourself."
Mard's eyes narrowed again. "Who killed Brin?"
Laera's eyes narrowed just like her father's. "I did." Mard clenched his jaw. Laera raised her eyebrows and smiled thinly. "Or maybe not. You can put me before the magistrate if you like-or you can take my word that Tycho and Li didn't do anything and let them go." She clenched her fist over her heart. "Tyr's truth, father. They're heroes."
"Laera…"
Laera took a deep breath and met his gaze. "Let them go and I'll come home."