Vagabonds Page 10

  Better yet, Tess had asked, could they make some new weapons with it?

  Now that’d gotten them excited.

  The sound of footsteps cracked her eyes open and her gaze fell upon the door. Her ears morphed, creeping up the sides of her head until they took the completed form of an ebon jackal’s—tall and pointed. They twitched and swiveled, staring just as intently as her eyes. Based on the strides and weight of the steps, it was… yes.

  The door whispered open.

  “Could you please not smoke in here?” said Wophin.

  “Come on, I just lit it.”

  “And you can unlight it. You know Madam doesn’t like it.”

  “She’s not here, is she? First smoke I’ve had all day, and let me tell you, I really fuckin’ need one.”

  “Yes, and the stench lingers for days,” Wophin complained, waving his hands to disperse the tendrils inching towards him, “I can always tell when Madam or Sophia have spoken with you.”

  “I could mark them in other ways,” Tess said with a smirk, letting the cigarette hang from a corner of her lips.

  Wophin drooped like a balloon with a slow leak. “I would rather no marking occur—you won’t be the only one to earn her ire should the stench linger. If you must smoke, please do it outside.”

  Tess spun round once more in her chair, grumbling all the while.

  “Must I?” Wophin said, pointedly.

  “Fine, fine. I’ll go outside,” Tess said, holding up a hand to forestall any unpleasantness.

  “Why do you always make me resort to threats?”

  “Why do you always resort to threats?”

  “Because you leave me with no choice.”

  “Not true! We always have a choice, just we tend to ignore a lot of options. Now then, if you’ll excuse me…”

  On the way out, she ran across Sophia as she was locking up her office. Or rather, she snuck up behind her once she’d spotted the girl.

  “Look who it is!”

  Sophia lurched so hard both her feet left the ground and she dropped the keys. “Damn it, Tess! What are you even doing here?”

  “I could ask the same of you. Another late night, or did you have yourself another nap?”

  “…Did Sejit really tell you that?” Sophia said as she picked up her keys.

  “Among other things. But hey, I don’t care. I know how it can be. Your secret’s safe with me,” Tess leaned in, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

  “I wonder about that,” Sophia said, suspicious.

  “What? You don’t trust me? I’m hurt!” Tess’ wrinkle-free face scrunched up in mock languish, “And after everything we’ve been through!”

  Sophia blinked slowly several times, then, without a word, she turned and walked towards the exit.

  “Hey, hey, hey! You’re just going to ignore me? I’ve raised you better than that.”

  Sophia looked over her shoulder, “Raised? What do you mean raised? I’m 26!”

  “You’re all children as far as I’m concerned,” Tess said, giving her a pat on the head, “And now I’m actually hurt that all my worldly wisdom has fallen upon deaf ears.”

  “Worldly wisdom? I mean, I guess,” Sophia admitted with some difficulty, “But there’s been a lot of bullshit in there, too.”

  “I would never bullshit.”

  “You’re bullshitting right now!”

  “Gakaka, okay, maybe a little.”

  “The first time we met, you told me one of Sejit’s “forgotten” nicknames was “The Lady of the Red River.”

  “What? It’s true.”

  “And you also said that calling her that would bring back memories.”

  “Also true.”

  “But you never said what memories. My life flashed before my eyes!”

  “Hey, that’s your fault. I never told you to run off and call her that.”

  “Then why tell me?”

  They had finally reached the side employee entrance and exit to the museum.

  Tess pushed the door open, emerging out into the cool, damp air. “Because wisdom is what you do with all that knowledge,” she said as she lit up another cigarette.

  An awning protected the pair from the pitter-patter drizzle. The rains had chased away all the usual night business and doings, leaving the streets and sidewalks sparse. Tess sucked down an appreciable length of her cig in one long drag, letting the ashes drift away with the breeze.

  All the while Sophia had been watching her without a word.

  “When people look at me like that, it usually means they want to fight me or fuck me. I’d be down with either right about now.”

  Not all that long ago, Sophia would’ve just mumbled something and sulked off. This time around, she didn’t look away. “You get off on watching people fuck themselves over, don’t you?”

  Tess smiled. She was learning after all. “It’s fun, what can I say?”

  “It’s also a real dick move,” Sophia shot back, but she didn’t necessarily disagree.

  Neither was she in a hurry to get back home.

  They stood in silence, Tess finishing off her smoke and Sophia observing the steady drip of water from the corner of the awning with far too much intensity—the sort of intensity that declared she was so focused because she was trying her damnedest to avoid something else.

  “Out with it,” Tess said as she pulled out a pack for her second smoke.

  “Wellll… Since you asked, when are we going to continue my lessons? It’s been almost a month.”

  “Not much more to teach you.”

  “There has to be something, like what about that close-range stuff you were talking about?”

  “That?” Tess scratched at her chin, “I suppose, but that’s just shit for showing off. The only real thing left for you is combat experience.”

  “But it’s cool! And how would combat experience help?”

  “Mmm, yeah, I suppose it’s a little bit cool,” Tess said, a few hints of smug pride dotting her face, “I suppose next time I’m in town I could show you a few things. That said, it’s one thing to shoot a target that can’t fire back and quite another when it can.”

  Sophia made the complex expression of someone who was overjoyed yet disappointed. She moved to speak but quelled the thought. Instead, she thought for a moment, then asked, “But what about when I was—”

  “No, being tied up isn’t combat. That’s something else entirely,” Tess said, flicking away her spent cigarette. She peered at the nearly-empty pack and made a face as she placed one of the few remaining between her lips and lit it. “Besides, if you never have to draw, consider yourself fortunate.”

  “Then why teach me at all?”

  “Boredom, maybe?” Tess said with a half-hearted shrug.

  Sophia gave her such an eye full of stink it could be smelled a block away. “I don’t get you, sometimes.”

  “Only sometimes? I’ll have to work harder.”

  Sophia scoffed and kicked at a rock, sending it splashing into a puddle.

  The conversation died, leaving the soundtrack of rain to fill the void—until another splash caught her attention. Tess perked up at the sound of someone’s approach. A man with an umbrella and three-piece suit advanced towards her with a pace that was both at ease and unrelentingly methodical. Her pupils dilated.

  “What are you doing here?” A corner of her lip twinged.

  The figure said nothing until he was under the awning and folded up his umbrella, then adjusted his bright yellow tie, which stood out in stark contrast to his black suit. His face was both aged, like a man in his 50s, and so sharp one could cut glass on each feature. Compared to Tess and Sejit, he was shorter, though not by much, and thinner. Much thinner. Not wiry, exactly, but light, like a hawk. He ran a hand through his short-cropped, moused, dark brown hair.

  “I’ve come for a chat,” said Daontys.

  Tess balked. “A chat. You came all this way for a chat? Why not call?”

  Sophia
had backed away as far as she could while staying out of the rain.

  “Yes. Is that so difficult for you to comprehend? Some matters are best discussed in-person.”

  “Considering how pissy you were in our last chat, I expected the next time you’d deign to pay me a visit, you’d ride in like King Asshole, tearing up shit.”

  His put-together face shifted, as if something underneath had attempted to push through. “Make no mistake. I have not forgotten. Rather, I’ve come on other business.”

  “That so?” Tess said, rolling her cig from one corner of her lips to the other, “Well whatever. If you’re looking for Sejit, she’s off on political bullshit.”

  “I am not here to talk with Sejit.”

  Tess cocked a brow, “Wophin, then?”

  “No. I can see where this is going and it makes me question my decision to bother all the more.”

  She took a long drag before responding, “See, I didn’t want to just go and assume you were here for me, because we both know how that shit turns out. Fine. Let’s go somewhere a little more… isolated, shall we? I think I’m actually in the mood for a little one-on-one with you.”

  He held up a skeletal hand and shook his head, “No, it will not be like that. Or are you saying you are unwilling to engage civilly?”

  “…What’s your angle?”

  Daontys gave a weary sigh, “Ever mistrustful. Have I ever deceived you? I will admit I find you distasteful and your interference abhorrent, but I come here as I do not wish the children to suffer the sins of the parent.”

  As soon the words left his mouth, Tess stiffened, rising to her full height. Around them, steam wafted from the puddles. “Do you think I forgot what you pulled on me? A thousand years may have passed, but I’ll never fucking forget. You’re playing a dangerous game,” she growled, voice more beast than woman.

  “Yes, but I did not deceive you, did I? And I play at nothing. We are different than we were then. I do not wish for those innocent to be hurt, such as the young mortal over there,” He attempted an offhand gesture towards the girl, the sort of thing that required the least amount of effort possible, but his gaze lingered on her for a long moment. One eye narrowed, as if he what he expected to see and what he saw were in disagreement.

  “Ha ha ha, please pay no mind to me,” Sophia said, voice approaching something akin to trembling, yet she wasn’t in much a hurry to skitter away to safety.

  “Get on with it,” Tess barked, bringing Daontys’ attention back to her with a long blink and slight shake of the head.

  “Not even a please? Well, no matter. We must sometimes forgive our lessers when they forget their manners.”

  Tess trembled, ready to explode. It wasn’t because he was an arrogant prick, she was used to that. Even liked to taunt him over his haughtiness, throw his defeats at the hands of the supposed lessers in his face. No, he’d brought up that which was never to be mentioned. Not after what he’d done to her before, all those years ago.

  “Though, I suppose this does involve Sejit to some extent as it involves Ifon. Specifically, he’s seeking to exact retribution upon you for that little stunt you pulled in Waruvia. But, rather than attack you, he wishes to hurt you.”

  “Impossible. They’re well-hidden. No one can find them.”

  “Can you?” Daontys asked plainly, looking over his fingernails as he spoke.

  When Tess failed to respond, he looked up at her, meeting her searing gaze with icy calm.

  “Coanphany has an excellent intelligence arm and Ifon has dispatched Phytos to oversee the investigation. He is likely to be the executioner as well.”

  “Lies. Filthy fucking lies. How do you even know this?”

  “I have people in places.”

  This can’t be happening. Not again!

  “So why,” Tess said, forcing her jaw to unclench, “Why tell me? What a load of bullshit. You’d never help me.”

  “I already said as much. Your children should not suffer because of you. Ifon should know better as well. Killing mortals who are as removed from his machinations as possible is not becoming of him. As well…” Daontys lingered, “You do not seek to rule the world.”

  “What? What does that have to do with anything?”

  “It has to do with everything. Sejit and Ifon both wish lord over the world as its masters, and they are both quite capable of succeeding. You, however, seem content to sit on the sidelines. A coach.”

  Tess forced a harsh laugh, “Then you know nothing of capitalism.”

  “Make no mistake, I know it well, and I know I prefer your means to theirs. The invisible hand against the iron fist. Alone, I cannot hope to contend against both of them, yet with enough allies, enough like-minded deities, it would become possible to end this without so much pointless bloodshed.”

  “After all the bullshit, you want my help? Are you fucking serious?”

  “Would you have believed me otherwise?” Daontys asked, arching a manicured brow, “Especially given my indiscretion those years past.”

  “Indiscretion?!” Tess snarled, “You would call the murder of—”

  Daontys interrupted her with unusual softness and calm, “I was desperate and made a mistake. Even if I did not wish to broker an agreement, I would still have informed you of the danger presented to your children as amends for what I did. I would not see it occur again, not when they are innocent.”

  “I fucking bet,” Tess snarled, “And what? I agree to work with you and then suddenly you’ll have more information for me?”

  “No, I have told you all I know. If I learn more I will share it with you regardless of your decision. In fact, I will not expect a decision from you until after your crisis is resolved. I’d hate to force cooperation under duress; that never ends well.”

  Lies. Truth. Which is which. All, both, none?

  “Fine. I’ll consider your generous offer. Get the fuck out of here.”

  He adjusted his tie and unfurled his umbrella with crisp precision. “Very well. I will forgive your disrespect today out of consideration of your circumstances. However, in the future it will not stand.”

  “Get. The. Fuck. Out.”

  Daontys said nothing, but before his departure, he seemed to be straining against something—with his gaze planted upon Sophia. He lingered for a time, as if in thought, then executed a smart pivot and strolled off. When he’d vanished from view, Sophia began to creep away.

  “Hold it.”

  “Y-yes?”

  “Not one breath of this to anyone,” Tess said, her fists clenched tight. She didn’t bother looking at the girl, too focused on where Daontys had gone.

  “Of what? S-sounded like a boring conversation, so I wasn’t really paying attention…”

  “Don’t fuck with me. Not a word.”

  “Right! Bye!” Sophia said, dashing towards the parking lot.

  When she was sure she was alone, Tess hugged herself and shivered.

  A trap? Real? By whom? Why? Why again fuck what do I do?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Another late-night session of bickering, arguing, and shit-slinging in Sioun, the capitol of Yosel. The House of Ministers was packed, a full session on account of the upcoming election. They’d grown complacent in an era where they were appointed and didn’t have to think of power brokering and voting, so now the ministers were in a fevered pitch to form camps and circles within circles.

  Some wanted to continue on the path of modernization and do away antiquated laws, rooted in a religion no one believed in. Others wanted to keep the old ways, for who were they if not for their traditions? They wanted growth, reform, to curtail the rise of dangerous thoughts and habits, and so on and so on.

  Sejit, meanwhile, wanted something to eat.

  Where is Sophia?

  The traditionalists wanted to postpone the election on account of the assassination. This particular group was championed by Vice-Marshal Eventh, who held the reigns of command on the government with Julian deceased.
He’d come up through the lawmaker path, the son of a prominent lawyer and did his time in local government before moving up. Julian had appointed him as his successor to placate a bloc of old money several years ago, and it was no secret the “Vice” bit before his title grated on him to no end.

  This was in contrast to the former marshal, who had come up through a military background—elected to the spot over 20 years ago, before the civil war put such things on hold.

  To the incumbents, Eventh included, elections were a threat to their ambitions, but to attempt to usurp total control and curtail the voting would likely result in another war. In a sense, he was loyal, despite his frequent friction with Julian—as far as Sejit had determined, Eventh acted in good faith much of the time—and in another, it could be viewed that he wasn’t stupid. No sense in being lord of a burning kingdom after all. Thus, it could be said he had tempered ambition.

  That said, old money disliked change and were fond of words like ‘tradition.’ To that end, he was one of the most vocal opponents to Jasmine. A woman in charge of a country, especially one so steeped in tradition as Yosel? Preposterous! The people would never vote for her—never mind the unofficial polls or details of how Julian had lauded her.

  After he stood up to give that little spiel for what was the fourth, maybe fifth time, someone else shot to their feet for a familiar rebuttal.

  Sejit had thought about killing him off before, but now that was out of the question. A double assassination wasn’t going to play well for anyone or the nation. Shame, since murder was such an effective tool at dealing with troublesome mortals. Besides, he was one of the few politicians that had a modicum of spine and the wit to know there’s no sense in burning it all down just to get his way.

  In fact, once she’d won the election and all the follow-up elections dawned on the horizon for the other ministers and officials, she would offer him support in exchange for his.