Chapter Sixteen

[cityofthehand]

<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>

---

Chapter Sixteen



After Maira made quick introductions, they sat together in the living room, Naran beside her on the couch. She half expected him to reach over and take her hand like they were forbidden lovers confessing to their disapproving parents.

“I owe you and your mother an apology, Captain,” Maira said, inclining her head.
“So she told me. Have you discovered what Lord Shadow wants with you yet?” Yena asked, like it was one of her guessing games and she already knew the answer.

“No. He didn’t tell me.”

“And yet he released you.”

“I didn’t exactly give him a choice.”

Kei-zi didn’t hide his surprise as well as Yena did. He raised a dark green brow and folded his arms over his chest, crossing his legs under his loose skirt. His partner remained characteristically unfazed. “You did not use physical force,” she said. It was not question.

“No. Please apologize to your mother for me. I was desperate. I couldn’t stay there. I had to.”

“What would that have to do with the ambassador?” Kei-zi asked. Knowing that even he lagged behind his partner’s keen mind came as a relief. Perhaps the ambassador alone could keep up with her brilliant daughter.

Yena answered before Maira got a chance. “She used my mother’s name for credibility, to threaten Lord Shadow. Where she lacked strength, she borrowed on another’s. Lord Shadow, however, would have needed a specific threat. I’m curious to know what you said.”

“Yeah. Uh. Well, I may have said that I told your mother the secret the professor told me and that if Lord Shadow didn’t let me go, your mother would send letter saying I’d tell the secret to the first person to bring me his head.”

The cold calm on Yena’s face made Maira’s entire body clench with dread. Each silent, unreadable moment that passed built dread that pressed against her.

“A bold strategy.”

“I know it was wrong. Especially since you’ve both helped me. If there’s anything I can do, just say it. Is there any kind of apology-gift or service I can do? Do the Pahali have honor taking ceremonies? I’m all right with being shamed publicly,. she said, searched for any flicker of emotion on Yena’s face. The woman was nothing but a statue with a rope dart and scarily accurate deductive powers. Which she came by honestly, apparently.

“What do you think, a flogging then?” Kei-zi asked, quietly.

“Mother doesn’t care for blood. A water pressing, however…” Maira winced. The process involved tying a person to a heavy wooden block, lowering it face down into the water and pressing them with great force and bringing them up just before they drowned. Repeatedly.

“A bit cold for that isn’t it?”

“True. Firebedding perhaps?”

Maira had no idea what that was, but the word ‘fire’ sufficed as a description. Her mind constructed images of being roasted like a bird before an audience of politely clapping Pahali nobles. Amends needed to be made, quickly. The ambassador might hunt her down if she didn’t go willingly, and even Lord Shadow had no power on Pahali lands.

Yena’s face changed from cold to laughing in a half second and Kei-zi with her. She hid her mouth behind her hand but it did nothing to quiet her giggling.

“You are a terrible woman, Yena,” Kei-zi said between convulsions of laughter. He stomped the floor in his amusement, chunky high heels thudding.

“Forgive us, Maira, but your face! Don’t worry. Hearing her name used to threaten Lord Shadow will delight her for years to come. I appreciate the respect, but the only thing you have to fear is an invitation to her New Year’s feast. ”

“Oh, don’t scare her, Yena,” Kei-zi said, still giggling. “Flogging’s one thing, but sipping tea with a bunch of Pahali diplomats? You’ll give the poor woman nightmares.”

“I’ll convey your earnest apologies, however. Mother will enjoy them as well,” she said and gathered herself, sitting straighter and taking deep breaths to staunch her laughter. “In all honesty, I am very glad you escaped him for the moment. We’ve told his agents the safe house isn’t to be violated for any reason.”
“You spoke to him?” Maira asked.

“No. I spoke to the agents who are watching the house. You did know that Lord Shadow was having you followed, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t see any Asna’isi when I came here,” Naran remarked.

“He does have more than just Asna’isi working for him. He’s a Tract lord. He can get people just about anywhere,” Kei-zi replied. “They’re hanging back. Don’t be surprised if you see a really skinny person with an eyepatch in a tree outside.”

“Are they going to take me back?” she said and looked to Naran. He shrugged. Not that he could outright tell her in front of the two Red Hand guards if he’d made some kind of further deal with Lord Shadow.

“Not unless they want trouble with the Red Hand. I’ll be communicating to Lord Shadow that while you’re our witness, he’ll have to ask permission before taking you anywhere.”

“I wish you’d communicated that last night.”

“Speaking of,” Kei-zi said. “We need to ask a few more questions. You said you fought with killer?”

Maira dared not look to Naran, even for a quick glance. She set her eyes on Kei-zi and hoped they didn’t already know that part. “It happened fast.”

“Yes, but you did fight them.”

“Just for a few moments.”
“Describe them again. What did they look like, what did they wear. What kind of talisman was used?” Yena asked. She leaned forward and took some folded papers from the inside of her jacket, but didn’t unfold them. “Think very carefully, start from the beginning.”

“Human, I think,” she said slowly, to buy thinking time. How to give a description without pointing to Naran? “Dark hair, not very short, but not long. Past the ears. Medium complexion. Somewhere between you and me.”

“Could you guess his ethnicity?”

“Uh. Tienic? Alaja?” she lied. Even before she knew him, she’d guessed Naran to be Rumadi. The peoples she named shared features like his, enough to be plausible substitutes. The Tienic were shorter with single-lidded eyes like Yena’s and her mother’s, but they had the same hair and skin tone as Naran. The Alaja, especially sa’Alaja were darker and more reddish as a rule, but they had the right eyes and height.

“Did they speak with an accent?” Yena probed.

Maira pretended to think for a few moments. “It happened so fast, I couldn’t tell.”

“Not even when you were stunned with magic?” Yena asked. “Most human sorcerers use spoken words in their magic. I’m surprised you don’t remember even a few words or sounds.”

“Sorry,” Maira replied, a little more sharply than she should. She rubbed her forehead. Lying had to be one of the most exhausting tasks in the world.

“Take a look at these, then.” Yena unfolded the papers she held and gave them to Maira. Rows of colorful sketches of talismans, done in vivid inks and labeled neatly, covered the thick white papers. handed them over. “We thought you might recognize the talisman itself.”

“I didn’t really get a look.”

“It can’t hurt to look, can it? Besides, where have you got to go?” Kei-zi asked. Maira examined the pages closely, more focused on the bright colors than remembering anything. Naran’s talisman had been nothing but a bright flash that night, and the other one wasn’t on these pages. She raised an eyebrow at a talisman described as being able to strike abject lust into it’s target, drawn beside another that caused either uncontrollable laughing or weeping. Maria wondered what would happen if one used multiple talismans on a person.

“I don’t recognize any of these. Sorry.”

Yena took the drawings back, refolded them with care and put them back in her pocket. “I’m going to be very direct with you now, Maira. I think there are things you aren’t telling us about that night.”

“Like what?”

Yena pointed to her hands. “The obvious. Our sorcerers say you were in contact the blood a long time. If you didn’t know him and he wasn’t saying anything, why do that? You must have known he wouldn’t survive and a burn that bad could cost you your hands. Or your life. I do not think altruism was your motive.”

“Because workhouse filth like me aren’t really capable of things like that, right?” she scoffed. At least Motswa had been kind enough to call her cautious rather than just soulless and Naran had the excuse of being so angry he’d say anything.

“Hey, no. We’re not saying that,” Kei-zi reassured her, uncrossing his legs and leaning forward. His eyes held kindness in the direct stare. “We’re saying you’re clever. You had to know that the wounds were fatal.”

“Your burns were excruciating. Who would endure that for a complete stranger?” Yena asked, very carefully.

Maira reminded herself that she was tired and not completely clear headed, and she made herself breathe deeply several times to stop herself cursing and accusing Kei-zi of fornicating with animals, his relatives, and then suggesting he do the same to himself. “I did.”

“For a complete stranger?”

“Yes, for a complete stranger!” she yelled. “You ever been garbage? I don’t mean called garbage. I mean actually been garbage. Because I have. I know what it’s like to have people just walk by you and not care if you died right in front of them. People would just walk by the workhouses, they’d see us getting beat or chained up. And they’d walk right past, not even look,” she said, only distantly aware of clenching her teeth, and scowling with such contempt that it burned her throat like bile. “When I escaped, I swore I wasn’t going to be like that. I held on and I tried to save a complete stranger because I’d want someone to do that for me. If you don’t understand why then you have no business being prefects.”

For the first time ever, Maira saw Yena avert her eyes. She didn’t realize the woman could feel shame, much less show it. “I apologize, I was wrong,” she said. No excuse, no defense, just an apology.

Maira frowned and sighed deeply. “It’s fine. Look, if you want to know something ask Lord Shadow. Not me.”

Instantly, Yena perked up. “Did he say something?”

“No. He didn’t. That’s the point. Everyone’s asked me about the professor. He didn’t even seem curious. And he sent his Prime to get me. That’s pretty serious, don’t you think?”

“She’s right,” Kei-zi said, leaning toward his partner. “Maybe he needs Maira off the streets for a very specific reason. He’s got human agents and Rok who can pass for human.”

Yena considered this. “Possible. A simple spell could make an agent look human, too.”

“Not even a spell. Hair coloring, some make up, the right clothes. Use a talisman just to complete the disguise.”

“This would explain why the attacker chose not to use the talisman until after he and Maira had fought,” Yena replied, her eyes glossy and distant with the thoughts racing around in her unbelieveably sharp mind. Maira took a second to glance over to Naran. He remained convincingly neutral and interested looking.

“Yeah, but that still leaves the question, doesn’t it?” Kei-zi said. He tapped his pointy-toed heels against the floor in a nothing rhythm, biting his lower lip.

“True. It remains a mystery.”

“What remains a mystery?” Maira asked. She had a feeling she knew. They were wondering why the hypothetical killers used sorcerery first and then resorted to crude stabbing.

“If Decaran was murdered by a sorcerer, why would the killer have resorted to stabbing? It makes no sense when more elegant means were at hand. For that matter, why allow you to live? Are you certain you saw no one on the street at all? Even a shadow of a person, perhaps someone looking through a window, anything?” Yena asked.

Maira shook her head and looked again at Naran. How he kept so calm hearing his act of mercy called murder she couldn’t guess. “If there was someone else, if they were a sorcerer, couldn’t they have teleported before I got there? Did they even have to be in the house at all?”

Instantly, Yena’s eyes focused sharply. “Our sorcerers have said this much is possible. What makes you think there were other sorcerers involved?”

“Because,” she blurted, quickly. “Wasn’t the professor very powerful?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know about magic, but it doesn’t seem like you could walk into a powerful sorcerer’s house and just stab him to death. Wouldn’t the professor have used his magic?”

Yena nodded. “This is all very true. And we’ve considered it. Tell me, Maira, if you were in our position, what would you do next?”

“I’m not a prefect. I don’t know.”

“Yes, but in this case an outside opinion from someone who sees the world in a completely different way could be useful. It creates new paths of thought, new connections,” she explained.

With a weary sigh, Maira twitched her nose and thought about it. Pain throbbed dully behind her eyes from trying to think of all that she knew, all that Yena knew, and what to say. She thought about the way the entire situation looked to them and everything that had happened so far. “It’ll sound foolish to you.”

“What’s the harm. Go ahead, sound foolish. I already have today,” Yena said.

“There’s only really three reasons to kill somebody, right? They have something you want, they’re going to do something you don’t want, or you’re so upset you attack them.”

“It’s not always that simple, but true enough.”

“If somebody wanted something from him, they failed. And if they wanted to stop him, they succeeded. I’d watch his house, see if anyone goes back or attacks one of his friends. Maybe someone has a problem that isn’t there anymore. Like, maybe they suddenly have a lot of money that came from nowhere.”

“As clever as that is, there are rather a lot of people in this city, and even more in the Domain. We can’t watch them all,” Kei-zi reminded her.

“People that knew him, that’s what I meant. He didn’t get killed by a stranger.”

“You’re sure about that?” he challenged.

“Why else would anyone kill him? You can’t want to kill someone you don’t know, right?” she asked. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she’d overstepped, thinking she could play prefect like some child with wood sword and a scrap cloth cape.

Or maybe Yena was luring her in, pretending to care about her suggestions but using them against her.

“Again, mostly true, but until we have more evidence, this is the only path the pursue. We know you witnessed someone stabbing him to death, and that person can answer all our questions.”

Maira said nothing, she nodded. “I wish I could be more help.”

“Well,” Kei-zi said, looking chipper as he stood up. “I think that’s all. You look bushed, get some rest. We’ve got to go start an interracial incident and piss off a Tract Lord. Always good times.”

“It’s not so bad. I got new clothes after I threatened him,” Maira said with a hopeful shrug. Sympathetic dread panged through her as the thought of them facing Lord Shadow. Especially Yena. She would be in a difficult position.

“As much as I’d love a wardrobe update, I don’t think we’re going to get that lucky,” Kei-zi replied, buttoning his outer jacket and straightening his cuffs before smoothing down his skirt.

Yena broke a slight grin at the remark and stood as well. “We will come by in the late afternoon to see that you’re safe. Try not to get kidnapped before then.”

Maira promised to do her very best.