The Dragon's Path

Marcus



Night in the salt district of Porte Oliva wasn't quiet. Even in the deep night when no moon lit the street, there were sounds. Voices lifted in song or anger, the scuttling and complaints of feral cats. And, in the rooms he and Yardem had hired, the slow, regular breath of the girl, sleeping at last. Marcus had come to know the difference between the way she inhaled when she was sleeping and when she was only willing herself to. It was an intimacy he never spoke of.



Yardem squatted on the floor by the glowing embers of the fire, ears forward, eyes focused on nothing. Marcus had seen the Tralgu sit through whole nights like that; motionless, waiting, aware without insisting upon awareness. Yardem never fell asleep on watch, and he never struggled to rest when he was off duty. Marcus, blanket-wrapped and sleepless, envied him that.



The cold of winter was still on the city, but it wouldn't be many more weeks before the sea lanes opened. A ship from Porte Oliva to Carse would be faster than going overland through Birancour. And as long as he could keep it from captain and crew what exactly they were hauling -



The scraping sound was soft, there and gone again in an eyeblink. Leather sole against stone. Yardem sat up a degree straighter. He looked over at Marcus, then pointed once toward the opaque parchment window, and then at the door. Marcus nodded and rolled slowly off the cot, careful not to let the canvas creak beneath him. He took a slow step toward the window as Yardem shifted toward the door. When Marcus drew his knife, he kept his left thumb against the steel to keep it from singing when it cleared the scabbard. Cithrin snored delicately behind him.



Whoever they were, they'd done this before. The door burst open at the same instant a man leaped through the parchment window. Marcus kicked low, his boot slamming against the man's knee. While the man struggled to regain his balance, Marcus slit his throat, and two more men poured in after him. They had daggers. Swords would have been awkward in so small a space. Marcus had hoped they'd have swords.



Yardem grunted the way he did when he lifted something too heavy, and an unfamiliar voice cried out in pain. The knife man on Marcus's left made a flurry of short swings designed to catch his eye and force him back while the one on the right shifted to flank him. They were thickly built, but not massive. Firstblood or Jasuru rather than Yemmu or Haavirkin. Marcus ignored the false attack, feinting instead to keep the man on his right from getting around him. The first man took the opening and slid his blade in. Marcus felt the pain bloom on his ribs, but he ignored it. Behind him, a bone snapped, but no one screamed.



"We surrender," Marcus said, and slid forward, his ankle hooking behind the rightmost attacker's leg. When he brought his knife out, the man instinctively stepped back, stumbling. Marcus sank his blade in the man's groin, but the effort left him open again. The remaining attacker, having drawn blood once, swooped in for the kill. Marcus twisted, the enemy blade skittering across his shoulder. Marcus dropped his own knife and took a grip on the other man's elbow, but the attacker moved in close, bending Marcus back with a combination of weight and leverage. The hot breath stank of beer and fish. The embers glittered on scaled skin and evil, pointed teeth. Jasuru, then. Marcus felt the tip of the Jasuru's blade prick his belly. Another push and the knife would open him like a trout.



"Yardem?" Marcus grunted.



"Sir?" Yardem said, and then, "Oh. Sorry."



A dagger sprouted from the Jasuru's left eye, the blood sheeting down from the wound, black in the monochrome dimness. The attacker pressed forward even as he died, but Marcus felt the strength leave the man and stepped back to let the body fall.



Three men lay by the torn window, dead or bleeding dry. Another lay motionless on the floor, one arm sprawled into the fire grate and starting to burn, and the last slumped against the wall at Yardem's feet, head at an improbable angle. Five men. Strong and experienced. This, Marcus thought, was very, very bad.



"What's the matter?" Cithrin asked groggily. "Did something happen?"



"Outside," Yardem said, and Marcus heard it too. Retreating footsteps.



"Stay here," Marcus said, and bolted out the ruined window.



The night-black streets blinded him, but he loped forward, committing to each stride and hoping that his foot didn't come down on any icy puddle or unexpected step. Ahead of him, the footsteps slapped against cobbles. Something large and animal hissed as Marcus flew past. His lungs burned, and the blood on his shoulder and side chilled him. The fleeing footsteps skittered, lost balance, and pelted off toward the left. He was getting closer.



The street opened onto a wider square, and there, by starlight, Marcus caught sight of the fleeing figure. It was small and wrapped in a dark cloak with a hood that covered head and hair. The disguise was pointless. By the time he'd seen the fleeing woman take two steps, he knew her as well as if he'd seen her face.



"Opal!" he shouted. "You should stop."



The actress hesitated and then pressed on, pretending she hadn't been recognized. Marcus cursed, gritted his teeth, and kept running. The dark city ignored them. Opal shifted through streets and alleys, trying desperately to confuse or exhaust him. Marcus ignored his wounds and kept after her, one foot in front of the other, until by a wide cistern, Opal stopped, knelt, and put her head in her hands. Her chest was working like a bellows. Marcus tottered up beside her and sat. They were both wheezing like old men. Her pale hair caught the starlight.



"Not," Opal said between gasps. "Not what it looks like. You have to believe me."



"No," Marcus said. "I don't."



I didn't know," Master Kit said. "I should have, but I didn't."



Marcus's former cunning man was still in a striped wool sleeping shift and a close-fit nightcap. That and the fact that he'd been dead asleep in the back of the troupe's wagon when Marcus reached him argued for his innocence. Master Kitap rol Keshmet wasn't the picture of a man preparing to escape with his stolen gold. It was what Marcus had bet on.



The rooms they sat in now had been rented from a brewer. Most of the year, they warehoused the oats and malt of that trade, and the air was still thick with the smell of them. The table was three lengths of plank set across two piles of old brick, and the stools Marcus, Kit, and the disgraced Opal sat on were less than a milkmaid might use. In the flickering light of Master Kit's single candle, Opal's eyes had disappeared in pools of shadow. Her argument that it was all a misunderstanding, that she'd been there to protect Cithrin, vanished like the morning dew as soon as Master Kit had come into the room, and all that was left was her sullen silence.



"You mean to say she came to this herself and no one else in the company had a suspicion," Marcus said.



Master Kit sighed.



"I've traveled with Opal as long as I have with... well, anyone. I think she knows me, and I would guess well enough to know how to deceive me. Captain, if she had even lied about this, I'd have known."



"Leave him be, Wester," Opal said. "This wasn't his. It was mine."



It was the first confession she'd made. Marcus took no pleasure in it.



"But I don't understand why," Master Kit said. He wasn't talking to Marcus any longer. "I'd thought Cithrin was a favorite of yours."



"How many more years do I have?" Opal asked. Her voice was sharp as aged cheese. "You're already thinking of Cary for Lady Kaunitar roles. Another five years, and I'll be strictly witch-and-grandmother, and then the day will come when you and the others leave some shit-stinking village in Elassae and I don't."



"Opal," Master Kit began, but the woman raised a palm to stop him.



"I know how this goes. I've been a player since I was younger than Sandr is now. I've seen it happen. Made a kind of peace with it, really. But then the banker's girl appeared out of the air, and..." Opal shrugged, and it was an actor's movement made of weariness and resignation.



Weariness and resignation, Marcus thought, but not regret.



"All right," Marcus said. "Next problem."



Master Kit turned back toward him. There were tears in the man's eyes, but otherwise his expression was calm.



"I have five corpses," Marcus said. "Maybe three hours to first light. If I go to the queensmen, I have to explain what happened, and what we've got in those boxes that's worth killing over. Any hope of keeping quiet's gone then. Add to that, we'll have to move just in case any of Opal's friends have friends of their own. We've sold the cart. You still have one."



The cut in his shoulder had gone an uncomfortable sort of numb, but the scratch across his ribs tore open each time he took a deep breath. He knew that this was the point at which Master Kit might balk. Marcus had hoped he could avoid a long negotiation. He watched Master Kit's dark eyes as the man weighed his unpleasant options.



"I feel the company owes you something, Captain Wester," he said at last. "What would you have me do?"



An hour later, they were back in the small rooms of the salt quarter. The dead man had been pulled from the grate, and a new fire stoked. Hornet and Smit were somberly pasting lengths of cloth over the rips in the parchment while Cary, Sandr, and Mikel looked at the bodies piled like cordwood against the wall. Master Kit sat on an overturned handcart, his expression grim. Cithrin sat on the cot, her legs drawn up to her chest, her eyes empty. She didn't look at Opal, and Opal didn't look back. The room, small to begin with, felt dangerously crowded.



"There's an opening in the eastern seawall, not far from baker's row," Master Kit said, thoughtfully. "I don't remember much cover, nor any way to explain being there, but I think I could find it again."



"Even in the dark?" Marcus asked.



"Yes. And if there's no reason for us to be there, I think there's little reason for anyone else either."



"They look peaceful," Mikel said. "I didn't think they'd look peaceful."



"All dead men are at peace," Marcus said. "That's what makes them dead. We've got five of these bastards to get rid of. We don't have much time. How far is this place?"



"We'll be seen," Cithrin said. "They'll find us. Ten people carrying five bodies? How does that...?"



The girl shook her head and looked down. Her face was paler even than usual. The others were quiet. If things had gone otherwise, there would only have been three bodies, and hers among them. Marcus could see the knowledge etching the girl's soul, but he didn't have time now to fix that, or any idea how he would have.



"Master Kit?" Cary said thoughtfully. "What about the festival scene in Andricore's Folly?"



"You can't be serious," he said.



"I think I am," Cary said. She turned to Yardem. "Can you carry one by yourself? Over your shoulder?"



The Tralgu crossed his arms, frowning deeply, but nodded. Master Kit's face was still pale, but he rose and turned the handcart back onto its wheels, considering it. By contrast, Cary's face was flushing rose.



"Yardem takes one," she said. "Smit and Hornet can take the small one there. Sandr and Cithrin, the poor fellow with the beard. That puts two on the handcart. Mikel can steady them, and you and the captain haul. Then Opal and I take torches and - "



"Not Opal," Master Kit said. "She stays with us."



"I'll take Cithrin, then," Cary said, hardly missing a breath. "Opal can help Sandr."



"You'll take Cithrin where, exactly?" Marcus said, his voice low.



"To make sure no one is looking at you," Cary said, and she stepped over to the cot, lowering herself beside Cithrin's slight frame. The dark-haired woman put an arm across Cithrin's shoulders and smiled at her gently. "Come on, sister mine. Are you ready to be brave?"



Cithrin blinked back tears.



"Kit?" Marcus said.



"Andricore's Folly. It's a comedy from a poet in Cabral," Master Kit said. "The city prince dies in a brothel, and they have to smuggle his body back into his wife's bed before she wakes."



"And they manage it how?"



"It's a comedy," Master Kit said, shrugging. "Help me with this cart, won't you?"



There were no torches, but two small tin lanterns in the back room came near enough. With a few pins and Cary's direction, their dresses had grown short in the skirt, and half undone at the neck and back. Their hair hung in loose curls, threatening to fall at any moment, like the ruins of some more respectable arrangement. Cary rouged Cithrin's lips and cheeks and the swell of her breast, and in the darkness of the night the pair seemed carved out of sunlight and the promise of sex.



"Count three hundred," Master Kit said to Cary. "Then follow. If I give the sign..."



"We'll start singing," Cary said, and then, to Cithrin, "Shoulders back, sister mine. We're here to be seen."



"Yardem?" Marcus said as the Tralgu hefted a dead man.



"Sir?"



"The day you throw me in a ditch and take the company?"



"I am the company, sir."



"Fair point."



They slipped into the darkness. The cold was bitter, and Marcus's breath fogged before him. The cobbles seemed made from ice, and the smell of death came from the cart, low and coppery and familiar as his own name. At his side, Master Kit pulled, the man's breath coming fast as panting. The living carried the dead through the black streets, guided by starlight and memory. Drying blood caked Marcus's side, plucking at his wounds with every step. He pressed himself forward. It seemed like a slow eternity, pain in his fingers giving way to numbness, and then pain again. Behind him, he heard Cary's voice suddenly rise in bawdy song, and then, like a river reed playing harmony to a trumpet, Cithrin's voice with hers. He looked over his shoulder. A block behind them, their lanterns held high above them, two scantily dressed women faced a patrol of queensmen. Marcus stopped, the handcart slowing as he dropped from the lead.



"Captain," Master Kit whispered urgently.



"This is idiocy," Marcus said. "This isn't your comedy, and that street's not a stage. Those are men with swords and power. Putting women in front of them and hoping for the best is - "



"What we've done, Captain," Master Kit said. "It's what we've done, and this is why. You should pull the cart now."



In the light of the lanterns, Cary twirled once, laughing. One of the queensmen draped a cloak over Cithrin's shoulders. Marcus realized he'd drawn his knife without knowing it. They can't be trusted, Marcus thought, looking at the guardians of civil peace in their cloaks of green and gold. You can't trust them.



"Captain?" Yardem asked.



"Go. Keep going," Marcus said and forced himself to turn away.



The break in the seawall was on the far eastern edge of the city. A stone walkway white with snow and gull droppings and black with ice and night looked out over an invisible ocean. Gulls nested in cracks in the walls around them and on the cliffs below. And there, a single crack, no wider than a doorway where the city had constructed a siege weapon long since turned to rust to defend it against an enemy as dead as the bodies Marcus hauled.



They moved quickly and in silence. Yardem strode to the edge and lofted the corpse from his shoulder and into the grey predawn mist. Then Smit and Hornet, like men helping a drunken companion over the threshold. Then, together, the handcart with its human cargo. And last, Sandr and Opal, the woman limping under the weight of her burden, came to the edge. The last of the knife men vanished. There was no splash. Only the hush of the wind, the complaints of the birds, and faraway muttering of the surf.



"Yardem," Marcus said. "Get back to the rooms. I'll find Cithrin."



"Yes, sir," the Tralgu said, and vanished into the gloom.



"We'll need money to pay their fines," Smit said. "Can we afford that?"



"Seems wrong to charge them for public lewdness," Sandr said. "Most places you have to pay extra for it."



"I think we can do what we must," Master Kit said shortly. "You all go back to the cart. I believe the captain and I have some last business. Opal, please stay with us."



The players stood for a moment and then walked slowly away. Marcus listened to their footsteps fade. Sandr said something, and Smit replied darkly. Marcus couldn't make out the words. Master Kit and Opal stood, deeper black in the gloom all around. Marcus wished he could see their faces, and was also glad that he couldn't.



"I can't take her to the queensmen," Marcus said.



"I know," Master Kit said.



"I didn't tell anyone else," Opal said. "The only people who know about the banker girl's fortune are the ones who knew before."



"Unless one of your swimming friends down there told someone," Marcus said.



"Unless that," Opal admitted.



"It seems to me there are only two choices here, Captain. You won't appeal to the city's justice. Either Opal walks free, or she doesn't."



"That's truth," Marcus said.



"I would very much like you to let her walk away," Master Kit said. "She's already lost her place with me, and we've helped protect your work here. You're hurt, but Yardem Hane isn't. Or Cithrin. I won't say there's no harm done, but I hope there's room for mercy."



"Thank you, Kit," Opal said.



Marcus squinted up. The eastern sky had begun to show the first faint lightening of dawn. The stars in the great arch above him still glittered and shone, but the faintest of them had vanished. More would go out in the next few minutes. He'd been told that, in truth, the stars were always there, only during the day you couldn't see them. He'd heard the same thing said about the souls of the dead. He didn't believe that either.



"I'd need to know she wouldn't come after us again," he said.



"I swear it," Opal said, jumping at his words. "I swear to all the gods that I won't make another try."



Master Kit made a sudden, pained sound, as if someone had struck him. Marcus took a step toward him, but when the man spoke, his voice was clear and strong and unutterably sad.



"Oh, my poor, dear Opal."



"Kit," she said, and there was an intimacy in the way she formed the word that made Marcus reassess everything he thought he knew about the two and their past.



"She's lying, Captain," Master Kit said. "I wish that she wasn't, but you have my word that she is. If she leaves here now, it's with the intention to come back."



"Well, then," Marcus said. "That's a problem."



The shadow that was Opal turned and tried to bolt, but Marcus stepped in front of her. She clawed at his eyes and made an inexpert try to knee his groin.



"Please. He's wrong. Kit's wrong. Please let me go."



The desperation in her voice, the fear, made him want to step aside. He was a soldier and a mercenary, not the kind of feral thug who killed women for the joy of it. He moved half a step back, but then remembered Cithrin again, sitting on the cot with her legs drawn to her knees, facing the swords of the patrol with awkward song. He'd promised to protect her if he could. Not only when it was pleasant.



He knew what had to happen next.



"I'm sorry about this," Marcus said.