I pray that no one has seen my actions. Not that it will matter in a day or two, when the Sorcerers’ companions start working their spells, looking for Darius. I’ve just committed a serious crime and I’ve no idea how I’m going to escape the consequences. Without pausing to catch my breath I hurry back upstairs to find Gurd and Tanrose confronting Karlox and six companions. They’ve forced the door, breaking the lock.
Gurd is outraged at the damage to his property, but the Brotherhood men are more interested in the sight of Makri, Lisutaris and Princess Direeva lying on the floor. My room is still thick with thazis smoke and reeks of burnt dwa.
“Been having a party?” rasps Karlox.
I unsheathe my sword and stand beside Gurd. With his axe in his hand the old Barbarian is still a formidable sight.
“Time to leave,” I say.
“Where did you get the dwa?” says Karlox, which is quite a shrewd question for such a stupid guy.
I’m not planning on giving him an answer, though it’s a question I’ll certainly be putting to Makri. I tell Karlox brusquely that he’s got about ten seconds to leave my office or suffer the consequences. He eyes my blade, and Gurd’s axe.
“Why so upset, fat man? We’re just asking a few polite questions about the death of one of our men. You got something to hide? Or are you just wanting some time alone with the doped girls?”
His men guffaw.
“You’ve given me plenty to report,” says Karlox. With that he turns and strides out of the room, followed by his men. I immediately shut the door and place my locking spell on it, for all the good that will do.
“What’s going on?” asks Gurd, but I’m already bending down over Makri. I’m mad as hell at the woman but I don’t want her to expire from dwa. She’s completely inexperienced in its use. Or I thought she was.
Lesada leaves, from the Elvish Isles, serve me mainly as hangover cures but I’ve seen an Elvish healer use them to bring a person out of a dwa trance. I crush a couple in some water and pour some down Makri’s throat. She coughs, sits up and looks around her curiously.
“What’s happening?” she says.
“A good question.”
She looks round the room. I ask her if she notices anything missing.
“Like what?”
“Like a Sorcerer maybe?”
“Right. Darius. Where is he?”
“He’s lying in a snowdrift in the next yard. Did you kill him?”
Makri looks puzzled.
“Of course not. Why would I?”
“Who knows? But when I got here Darius was dead on the floor and your knife was still sticking in his back. The Brotherhood arrived and I had to hide the body. If we don’t move fast we’re all heading for a swift execution. So help me wake up these two and tell me what’s been going on.”
Gurd and Tanrose want to stay and help but I banish them from the room. The less they’re involved the better. I set about trying to revive Princess Direeva, while Makri gets to work on Lisutaris.
“What were you thinking of, taking dwa? You know what happened to Minarixa.”
Makri shrugs.
“I was depressed.”
I don’t have time to be outraged. Makri tells me that after the Assemblage ended Lisutaris said she didn’t want to go back to Thamlin. “She said she’d show Princess Direeva the bad part of town. Direeva seemed keen to accompany us.”
“Why did you bring Darius?”
“He just sort of tagged along. I think he liked Direeva.”
Lisutaris and Direeva come slowly back to consciousness, aided by Lesada leaves and deat, a foul herbal drink traditionally taken to sober up. They’re both confused and don’t yet realise the urgency of the situation.
“I need to sleep,” says Lisutaris.
“You need to sleep? You’ll be going for a very long sleep if we don’t do something about this. As soon as Darius is missed, his Sorcerer buddies will start scanning the city for him. They’ll locate his body soon enough. And when they do they’ll start looking back in time to find out what happened. That might take days or weeks but they’ll succeed in the end. Thanks to you invading my office I’m now involved in this disaster, and if we ever get out of it, next time you want to take dwa and hang around with dead guys, stay well away from me.”
“Yes, fine, it’s an aggravating situation,” says Lisutaris, coldly. “But you ranting isn’t going to help. What are we going to do?”
“Firstly you could tell me who killed Darius Cloud Walker.”
Everyone looks blank. All three claim that he was still alive last time they could remember.
“So someone just waited till you’d conveniently all drugged yourselves into a stupor then snuck into my office and used Makri’s knife to kill him? The Civil Guards are going to love that story.”
“Did you examine the body?” asks Lisutaris.
“Of course not. The Brotherhood were breaking the door down.”
We fall silent. The tale of a mysterious stranger isn’t impressing anyone here. It’s not going to impress the Sorcerers Guild or the Turanian authorities.
“Why did you leave the Assemblage without telling me?”
“You were having such a good time with the Juvalian Sorcerers, that’s why,” says Makri.
“Indeed,” says Princess Direeva. “Such a good time that I do not see how you can criticise others for their pleasures.”
“My pleasures didn’t involve a dead Sorcerer who was second favourite for head of the Guild. Congratulations, Lisutaris, you just lost a rival. Which makes you a pretty good suspect. Anyway, we’ve sat here talking long enough, it’s time to do something.”
“Why must you do anything?” enquires Direeva. As she sits on the couch her hair trails on the floor. It must be inconvenient on occasion.
“To save my own skin.”
I’m mostly concerned about Makri but I’m not about to say that. And lingering at the back of my mind in an annoying manner is the thought that if I’m to help Lisutaris win the election, which I was hired to do, I can’t let her be involved in any of this. Keeping her out of it is not going to be easy, but I never give up on a client.
“Lisutaris, can you put some sort of sorcerous shield over the night’s events? Cover everything so it can’t be looked at?”
The Mistress of the Sky considers this. I know she’s aching for some thazis. If she lights another stick I’ll be tempted to slug her.
“Probably, for a while. I’ve hidden events before. But if the whole Sorcerers Guild starts looking I’m not going to be able to shut them out for long. Even on his own, Old Hasius the Brilliant would get through eventually.”
“I too have hidden events,” says Princess Direeva. “I will add my powers to yours.”
“That will buy us some time. Meanwhile I’ll try and find out who killed Darius. That doesn’t get us off the hook, seeing as we’re concealing a crime, but it will help. If I can find proof against the killer we might be able to divert attention from any of you being involved.”
“How do you know we weren’t?” asks Direeva.
The young Princess doesn’t seem to be treating this as seriously as she should. Possibly she feels that if she finds herself in trouble she can always claim diplomatic immunity and ride back to the Wastelands. Maybe she’s right, but that’s not going to help anyone else.
“I don’t. You’re all suspects. I’m just hoping I can find a better one.”
I rise to my feet.
“Get busy on the spell. I’m going to move the body further away. Even without sorcerous help the Civil Guard aren’t fools. If they find Darius lying dead right next to the Avenging Axe they’ll know for sure I had something to do with it and that will lead back to you. And whatever you do, don’t get stoned again, it will lead to disaster.”