4
Murder
Kate fled out into
the market square and saw Artemis being pushed roughly into a cage.
She forced herself to turn away and kept close to the inn’s outer
wall, hoping that no one would see her. There were too many wardens
for her to risk helping him there. She had to find another
way.
The sun shone
straight into her eyes, leaving no shadows in which to hide, so she
kept running, leaping over bird bodies and piles of wood and tools,
and squeezing past a row of traders’ horses that were tied to a
fence, eating hay from a rack. She considered stealing one of them,
but she didn’t know how to ride and, even if she could, a girl
travelling on horseback would look far too conspicuous in the
town.
She ducked amongst
their warm bodies and headed for one of the gaps between the
buildings instead, where a pair of open gates led her into a barrow
alley: a road just wide enough for two horses and carts to squeeze
past each other on their way to and from the market. There was a
high wall on one side and a few tiny shops on the other, but
everything looked abandoned now. Kate checked behind her. Edgar was
pushing his way past the horses, making one of them stamp and
snort, but there was no sign of Kalen. She knocked hard on the
first door she could find and the wood swung back limply against
the weight of her hand. The lock had been smashed and there was no
answer from inside.
‘Come on,’ she said
quietly, stepping forward as the door creaked open and Edgar
followed her through into the dark.
The air smelled of
sage and rosemary and the floor crunched with scattered dry leaves.
Edgar lit a match from a box in his pocket. Tall jars sparkled from
shelves lining the walls and a pair of weighing scales had been
knocked off the curved wooden counter, left dented and broken where
they fell.
Kate stepped over the
scales and crept to the window. The curtains were closed, but she
could see the front pane had shattered, covering the floor beneath
them in fragments of green glass. She pulled the fabric carefully
aside and peered out into the alley.
‘You don’t think
they’re still in here, do you?’ whispered Edgar, shivering as the
match went out and he began to light another.
‘Who?’
‘Whoever lives
here.’
‘The wardens have
already been here. What do you think?’
‘I think this is all
crazy,’ said Edgar, crunching his way over to her. ‘First those
birds, then Artemis gets taken. There are mad guys underground and
wardens everywhere else.’ He looked at Kate and then lowered his
eyes. ‘That old guy. Kalen? What he said back there. It was all
crazy talk. You do know that, right? On a scale of sanity that guy
is completely out of his tree.’
‘I know that,’ said
Kate. She tried to sound confident, but the truth was she did not
know what to think. Even if Kalen had been lying about knowing
Edgar, his behaviour towards the old man had made her realise just
how little she really knew about her friend. ‘Does he know you?’ she asked
tentatively.
Edgar looked away,
refusing to meet her eyes. ‘He’s probably just seen me around
somewhere,’ he said with an awkward smile. ‘Like I said,
crazy.’
Kate wanted to
believe him. ‘That’s what I thought,’ she said.
Kate had known Edgar
for three years, since the very first day he had arrived in
Morvane. He had moved there from somewhere in the south and spent
all his time lurking in the bookshop talking to customers until
Artemis had finally agreed to give him a job. He had never really
talked about his life before he had come to the town. All Kate knew
was that he lived alone in a basement room two streets from the
market square and his family were all gone, just like hers. It had
never crossed her mind that he might have something to hide. He was
just Edgar. Anything else … she was not sure she wanted to know any
more.
The shouts of the
people gathered in the market square carried down the barrow alley
while Kate looked around their new hiding place. She knew the
people who had owned that shop. They had been regular customers at
the bookshop and two of the few people her uncle counted among his
friends. Now they were out there with the wardens - with him - and
everything was falling apart.
‘We should hide
here,’ she said, trying to sound confident. ‘If we stay out of
sight no one will find us.’
Edgar pushed the
front door back into its frame and pressed his hands against it
when the broken lock would not catch. ‘This door’s useless,’ he
said. ‘We need something to push against it.’
‘No,’ said Kate.
‘Leave it. The wardens won’t expect anyone to hide in an open
building. They’ll think it’s empty and won’t search it
again.’
‘What about
Kalen?’
‘I don’t think he’ll
follow us. Not with everything that’s going on. We should be safe
in here until we decide what to do next.’
The next hour in that
shop was the slowest of Kate’s life. They hid behind the counter,
side by side, and Kate sat in silence while Edgar concocted plans
for their escape. He was whispering something about heading back
into the warrens, dodging Kalen and finding their way into one of
the other quarters, but Kate was only half listening. Her own mind
was filled with thoughts, confusion and half-made plans to free
Artemis from the wardens, which all seemed to end with them getting
captured. Edgar must have known she was not listening, but he kept
talking anyway, peering over the counter now and again to check for
any movement outside.
‘Maybe you were
right,’ he said, ducking down as the shop’s clock rang out the
hour, making them both jump. ‘Maybe they won’t find us in
here.’
‘Maybe,’ said Kate.
‘Just wait.’
Then the noises
came.
First there was a
shuffling sound and a sharp tapping noise from somewhere close by,
though neither she nor Edgar were moving an inch. Then it came
again. Shuffle-shuffle-tap .
Shuffle-shuffle-tap. Kate tensed.
Someone was outside, in the alley. Someone was walking along the
cobbles.
‘Did you hear that?’
she whispered.
‘What was
it?’
‘Wait here.’ Kate
crept around the side of the counter and crouched low, making her
way over to the curtained window. Edgar was not about to stand back
and do nothing again and he followed close behind, peering out
silently into the alley beside her. Neither of them spoke as a
limping figure shuffled into sight, but both held their
breath.
Kalen was
back.
The old man’s
shoulders were hunched and his muddy face was stained with trails
of blood. Kate crouched quickly beneath the window and peered over
the window frame. Kalen’s tight lips were drawn back in anger, his
sharp eyes searching every shadow for movement, his ears
scrutinising every sound. Seeing him there, it was hard to imagine
how they could have got so close to him in the tunnels and
survived. Out there in the open he looked more vicious than
ever.
Edgar stood up
quickly against the shop wall, hiding himself in one of the
curtains and Kalen raised his head, sniffing the air like a dog. It
was hard to tell exactly where he was looking. He was just standing
there, waiting, his fingers playing upon the handle of a dagger at
his side.
‘Filthy rats,’ Kalen
grumbled to himself, scraping his tongue under his nose to taste
the dried clots of his own blood. ‘I’ll find ya. Don’t you worry.
Kalen’s comin’.’
Something moved at
the end of the alley and Kalen stood up straight and alert, his
dagger raised ready to strike.
‘No!’ he snarled.
‘Not you. Get back!’
‘Lower your blade,
Kalen, before I drive it through your throat.’ Kate heard the order
before she could see who had given it.
Silas strode into
sight, his grey eyes fixed upon the old man. Edgar tensed behind
the curtain and Kalen shuffled from foot to foot, looking back over
his shoulder, planning his escape.
‘You won’t be able to
run from me this time.’ Silas walked right up to Kalen until he was
close enough for him to stab him if he tried. Kate waited for the
older man to make his move, but he just stood there, hands
quivering, looking down at the ground.
Silas’s dark shadow
swallowed Kalen as he stood over him like a predator. Kalen swiped
his dagger in front of him, trying to force him away, but the
weapon might as well have been made of wood for all the attention
Silas gave it. He kept walking, making Kalen retreat instead. Then
his hand shot out, clutching the old man’s throat, raising him off
the ground and slamming him against the alley wall.
‘Ssssilasss!’ Kalen’s
voice came out as a hiss.
‘Where is
she?’
Kalen grinned beneath
a moustache of clotting blood. ‘Why would I tell you? It’s ’cos of
you I’m stuck in this rotten place. Argh!’
‘Where?’
‘She’s a strong one,’
said Kalen. ‘Oh yes. Maybe I’ll just claim ’er for myself,
eh?’
Silas held Kalen
firmly with one hand and drew a long sword from his belt with the
other. The blade was so blue it was almost black, shining like a
forged night sky. Kalen squirmed, trying to slash out again with
his own blade, but he did not have the strength to land a good
strike.
‘What exactly is your
plan?’ said Silas. ‘Do you plan to kill me, Kalen? Many have tried,
one of them even succeeded. But as you can see, it was not as
permanent a predicament as some would have liked. You told me the
girl would be in the bookshop. Tell me where she really
is.’
Silas loosened his
grip enough for Kalen to wheeze in a thin breath. ‘You’ll … kill me
anyway,’ he said, chuckling horribly with each word.
Silas rested his
blade upon Kalen’s shoulder. ‘And with good reason,’ he said. ‘Who
was it who stood by while the High Council allowed one of the
Skilled into their midst? Who was it who knew what that woman
planned to do and yet said nothing - nothing - about it to me? If you had warned me
about her, I never would have allowed her to get close. So do not
dare to blame me for what has happened
in your life when you had a hand in destroying mine.’
‘What can I say? The
gold was good.’ Kalen grinned, showing off rows of loose cracked
teeth. ‘Course, that’s all spent and gone now. Heh-heh. Worth it,
though. Ah, yes. It’s not my fault ya walked right into ’er
trap.’
Silas’s eyes flashed
with anger. ‘You are the same traitor you have always been,’ he
said. ‘The council stopped looking for you years ago because they
thought you were dead. I should have told them where to find you,
but instead you went free. You owe me far more than your worthless
life. So, for the last time, what have you done with the
girl?’
Kalen’s face twisted
into a look as smug as any man could get with a blade so close to
his neck. ‘Losin’ yer touch eh, friend?’ he said. ‘Time was you’d
have had that little banshee locked up and halfway to Fume by now,
an’ I’d’ve been left dead and cold. Food for the rats, just for
slowin’ you down. Better get a move on. The council won’t thank ya
for keepin’ ’em waitin’.’
‘This one’s not for
the council,’ said Silas, sheathing his sword, but keeping a firm
grip on Kalen’s throat.
‘Then I’d finish ’er
off quick. Dangerous, she is. Better off dead than breathin’.
Wouldn’t take much, I reckon.’
‘This blood,’ said
Silas, noticing the stains across Kalen’s robes. ‘Is it
hers?’
‘Maybe. Maybe not. My
nose took a good bashin’ along the way. She’s got company with ’er,
see. Da’ru’s boy. He did this to me.’
‘Da’ru’s boy?’ Silas
looked surprised. ‘Edgar Rill is here? In this town?’
‘Ha! Didn’t know
that, did ya?’
Kate looked back at
the curtain where Edgar was wrapped up with only his shabby boots
poking out into the room. If he could hear the two men’s
conversation he wasn’t showing any sign of it. Maybe Kalen
had seen him in town somewhere, but how
could a collector know his name?
‘I’ll be sure to
thank him for what he’s done to you when I find him,’ said Silas.
‘It’s just a shame he did not finish what he started.’
Kalen’s face
hardened. ‘Hey, now. You and me. We’re friends, Silas. Soldiers.
Let’s not forget that.’
‘I owe you nothing,’
said Silas. ‘You know what is at stake here. That girl could be the
key to everything and you have let her go. Do you at least have the
book?’
‘Have it? I’ve been
’ere all this time lookin’ for the cursed thing. I’ve been
listenin’ from the cellars, sneakin’ into houses at night. If
anyone was hidin’ it, I would know. It’s gone, Silas. Gone to who
knows where.’
Silas tightened his
grip and the old man whimpered. ‘If you had not lost it in the
first place all of this would already be over,’ he said. ‘I would
be free of this useless life and you might still have full use of
your pathetic little mind.’
‘I tried!’ squeaked
Kalen. ‘It’s not here, I tell ya.’
‘Then you have not
tried hard enough,’ said Silas. ‘How do I know you have not just
been hiding here, doing nothing, cowering away like the filth that
you are?’
‘You don’t.’ Kalen
grinned dangerously. ‘But at least I’m
not some errand boy, trapped under a woman’s heel!’
Kalen’s laugh turned
into a hacking cough and Silas glared at him in fury. ‘The Skilled
are our only link to Wintercraft,’ he
said. ‘That girl is the only one they have not yet hidden from us
and you are wasting my time. You should have stayed in your
tunnels, friend, where rodents like you
belong.’
Kalen’s eyes flashed
to the broken window, spotting Kate’s face before she could duck
out of sight. Silas saw him look and turned towards the shop,
giving Kalen the chance he needed. He swiped his dagger up towards
Silas’s throat, but Silas’s hand moved lightning fast, grabbing the
blade so hard that his palm dripped blood. ‘Too slow,’ he said,
turning the blade inwards towards the old man’s chest. ‘Haven’t you
learned anything, Kalen? The dead cannot die. You, on the other
hand …’
‘Wait!’ Kalen cried,
but it was too late. In one powerful move Silas thrust the blade up
into his robes, driving the metal deep into his heart.
Kate squeaked with
shock and threw a hand over her mouth as she looked
away.
‘One death for
another,’ said Silas, letting Kalen bleed freely until his lifeless
body slumped down on to the cobbles.
Kate looked out to
see Silas crouching down and pressing his hand to Kalen’s forehead.
The air rippled strangely around him, like heat rising from a roof
on a wet summer’s day, and everything seemed to slow down. Kate did
not know what she was seeing. Silas was impossibly still, his eyes
closed, concentrating on something she could not see. Kate had
forgotten to breathe and only when the air settled back to normal
again did the full horror of witnessing a man’s death hit her. Her
knees felt weak and she stumbled back.
‘Kate!’ whispered
Edgar, abandoning his hiding place to help her.
That was all Silas
needed.
He saw Edgar move,
drew his sword and strode towards the broken window. Edgar did not
see him approach. His boots made no sound upon the cobbles and no
shadow crept across the shop floor. Only Kate saw him standing
there just two steps from Edgar’s back, his sword raised ready to
strike.
‘Move!’ she yelled,
pushing Edgar hard into the curtains as the blade pierced down. The
sword missed, the point dug into the wooden floor and the metal
rang out.
Edgar stood frozen
against the wall. Silas was inside the shop, standing right in
front of Kate. Both of his hands were on the sword, but he made no
attempt to free it from the floor. He just stood there, looking at
her.
‘Do you know who I
am?’ he asked.
Kate nodded firmly,
trying not to give away her fear.
‘Then you should know
that no one escapes me once I have set my mind upon their capture.
No bargains are granted, no freedoms or mercy are offered or given.
You have something I want and I believe you can help me find
something I need.’
Kate didn’t know what
he was talking about and she didn’t care. ‘Where is my uncle?’ she
asked, sounding far braver than she actually felt. ‘He’s not one of
the Skilled. He’s not what you’re looking for.’
‘I know that.’ Silas
tugged his sword from the floor and raised it a little, enough to
make Kate flinch. ‘I knew it as soon as I saw his face. The eyes do
not lie, Kate.’
‘How do you know my
name?’
‘I have been ordered
to find you,’ said Silas. ‘And I believe you may be of use to me.
But first …’ He turned to Edgar, whose face was a picture of
terror. ‘First I must put down the boy.’
‘No!’ Kate shouted.
The blue blade whipped up to Edgar’s throat and stopped only a
hair’s breadth from his trembling skin.
‘No?’ said Silas.
‘Why not?’
Kate glanced at the
dead body out in the barrow alley. ‘Because I … I’ll go with you,’
she said. ‘You don’t have to hurt him. He’s not in your way. He
won’t stop you from taking me. Will you, Edgar?’
Edgar shrugged his
shoulders as much as the blade would allow. ‘I was going to give it
a bloody good try, actually.’
‘I’m not going
anywhere if you hurt him,’ said Kate. ‘And I certainly won’t help
you.’
‘You will do as I
say, or you will die right here next to your useless
friend.’
Kate thought fast,
not knowing what to do, but Edgar had a plan.
With Silas distracted
he took his chance, heaving on the green curtain with all his
strength, making the rusted curtain pole break from the wall and
spilling the wooden rings from its end. He had hoped to catch Silas
beneath the fabric, but it was too heavy and the curtain flopped
straight down on top of his own head instead. Edgar scrambled
blindly across the floor, dragging the curtain along with Silas
right behind him. Kate grabbed the weighing scales from the floor
and threw them at Silas’s knees, cracking the metal hard into his
kneecap. The collector did not stop. He did not even limp, he just
strode on, calmly chasing Edgar down until he finally managed to
squirm out of the curtain and bolted straight out of the shop
door.
Silas stopped at the
threshold and Kate watched Edgar skid upon the bloodstained cobbles
as he ran past Kalen’s dead body, fleeing the herb shop without
even looking back. Her heart sank and fear gathered like a lump in
her throat as she realised he was not coming back.
The door at the back
of the shop was blocked by a rack of fallen shelves and a killer
now stood between her and her only chance of escape. She was alone,
unarmed, and there was no way out.
Silas sheathed his
sword and turned on her. ‘The weak always run,’ he said. ‘There is
no honour in killing a coward. Do not disappoint me by trying to do
the same.’
‘You didn’t give him
any choice,’ said Kate, trying to convince herself that it was
true, that somehow Edgar had to leave her behind. ‘What do you
want?’
‘You are a rare girl,
Miss Winters. A diamond in the festering filth that makes up the
rest of this worthless town. I have questions for you and you will
answer them. Answer them to my satisfaction and your life will be
made easy. Defy me and you will find me far less friendly than I
have been thus far.’
‘You just
killed a man,’ said Kate. ‘You burned
my home, took my family and you just tried to kill my
friend.’
‘Yet here you stand,
untouched. Why do you think that is?’ Silas walked towards her, and
with every step the air felt colder. Fear trickled up Kate’s spine,
but there was nowhere to go.
‘You were the one who
brought the bird back to life,’ he said. ‘You are the only one I am
interested in. You will help me find what I need.’
‘I didn’t do
anything,’ said Kate. ‘I don’t know who you think I am. But you’re
wrong.’
Silas’s hand snapped
forward and grabbed Kate’s face, clutching her cheekbones as he
stared into her eyes. His grip was river cold and would not let her
wriggle away. The dead grey of his eyes moved like fog trapped
behind circles of glass and Kate found herself staring at them,
unable to look away.
‘I am not wrong,’ he
said. ‘Your uncle has no more Skill in him than a splinter of rock.
But you … I can see the power inside you. Young power from ancient
blood, raw and untrained. Do you know how many people carry the
Winters name here in Albion? Worthless people with no true link to
the family by blood?’
Kate shook her
head.
‘Hundreds,’ said
Silas. ‘One or two of them showed some small promise, but they were
nothing like you. You are the one I have been looking for and you
will come with me, or I will start slicing off those delicate
fingers of yours. One. By. One.’
Kate felt the chill
of metal against her hand and she tried to snatch it away. There
was a sharp snap of a lock and Silas cuffed one end of a long fine
chain to her wrist, wrapping the remaining length of it around his
hand. ‘A precaution,’ he said. ‘I do not intend to lose you again.
Now, walk.’
Silas dragged Kate to
her feet and pushed her ahead of him out of the shop door. She did
not want to go out there, not after what had happened, and she
deliberately tried not to look at Kalen’s body laid upon the
ground. Silas led her towards it and made her stand beside him as
he toed the fallen man with his boot. He knelt on one knee,
wrenched the dagger from Kalen’s body and wiped it clean on the
dead man’s robes. An engraved letter ‘K’ glinted along the blade.
He pocketed it at once. ‘Unfortunate,’ he said. ‘But
necessary.’
Silas looked up to
the roof of the shop, where his crow was perched patiently upon the
gutter, fluffing its feathers against the wind. ‘Follow the boy,’
he said. ‘Do not leave his side.’
‘Edgar?’ Kate tried
to pull free of her wrist chain, but the metal gripped tight. ‘What
do you want him for? Leave him alone!’
The crow clicked its
beak and leaped into the air.
‘As long as my crow
is with him, I will be able to find him,’ said Silas. ‘The Skilled
may be able to do many things, but I possess a few tricks of my
own. No one can escape me, Kate. Not him. Not you.’ Silas held Kate
still and she watched the bird fly away until its wing beats were
lost across the rooftops of the town. ‘Kalen earned his death many
times over,’ he said. ‘Your friend will have his own judgement to
face. For now, you are my primary concern.’
Silas pushed Kate
further down the barrow alley in the opposite direction to the
market square, heading out into the maze that was the Southern
Quarter’s back streets. Kate looked around, searching for someone
who could help her, but the few people she could see were already
running from the collector, too terrified to challenge him for the
sake of one girl. Her town belonged to him now.
Groups of robed
wardens moved through the streets, herding frightened stragglers in
towards the square, and Silas forced Kate to a stop as a black
horse pulled a closed carriage along the road towards them. The
sides and roof had been red once, but the paint had long since
peeled away, leaving scars of worn red and black. Kate could not
see the driver’s face under the hood of his robes.
The carriage stopped
right beside them and Silas unlatched the door. ‘Get in,’ he
said.