Quentin was leaning against an apple tree, dark blond hair hanging in his eyes, his normally tanned face blanched pale. I didn’t see any blood on him, which was more than I could say for his opponent. The goblin was sprawled on the grass, one of Quentin’s throwing daggers protruding from his throat.
Phaelan still had one goblin to contend with, and this one was showing more caution than his dead comrade. My cousin was armed with only a dagger, his rapier sticking out of a dead goblin’s chest, probably caught on a rib. I was debating tossing him one of my blades when the remaining goblin attacked, moving faster than I thought any mortal creature had a right to. Phaelan dodged the first swing, and dove for the dead goblin’s saber lying in the grass. He rolled as he hit the ground, the goblin’s scythelike blade whistling past where my cousin’s head had been an instant before. Phaelan grabbed the saber and brought it up, slicing into the creature’s unarmored hip. It wasn’t a killing blow, but it bought him some time.
My opponent had been scarred before I got hold of him. Phaelan’s attacker had the high cheekbones and handsome, angled features of the old blood. There were no scars, and no doubt the goblin was proud of his face. That’s where Phaelan struck. The goblin parried, but it wasn’t a clean deflection. Phaelan’s saber sliced through the creature’s exposed ear. My cousin then followed the goblin’s scream with a solid knee to the nethers.
Silence was no longer anyone’s priority as the goblin writhed on the ground clutching his slashed ear, among other things. Dogs began barking and whistles sounded in the distance as the watch was alerted.
I felt something crawling on the air around us. I looked toward the house.
The goblin shamans had made no move to join us in the garden. They didn’t need to. I couldn’t hear the words of the spell they were weaving, but I could feel what it was doing. A power was building, and we didn’t want to be here when they released it. It was particularly nasty, and would reduce us to smoldering corpses, if not ashes. I had no intention of being made into mulch for Nigel’s roses. There were faster spells, but from the sound of things, the shamans were going for fun over speed.
I could shield us if I had to. I felt confident in my ability to keep us from being fried, but I felt less certain about being able to damage three Khrynsani shamans. This wasn’t a time for a brawl—this was a time to get the hell out of here. But their spell was reaching its conclusion, so it wasn’t my decision to make.
They didn’t expect to be attacked, so they hadn’t wasted any power shielding themselves. Their magical britches weren’t going to be any farther down than they were right now. I didn’t have to break their spell, just their concentration. My nose had already told me that Nigel’s gardener had been fertilizing today; my eyes discovered he’d graciously left a bucket of said fertilizer for my use and enjoyment.
I could move small objects with my mind. A bucket of manure was a small object.
I tossed the bucket—and its contents—toward the balcony. As far as defensive spells went, it wasn’t powerful, it certainly wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done. At the very least, the goblin shamans were distracted. At the most, they were discouraged from trying to roast us. They also looked like turning me into rose mulch was the nicest thing they wanted to do, but I wasn’t going to stick around and find out for sure.
Lights came on in the windows of the houses next door, and more goblins came over the wall beyond the orchard. They wore tooled leather and blued-steel armor, and wielded blades of the same fine steel—the sort of steel and leatherwork only royal retainers could afford. More temple guards joined the shamans on the balcony. Oddly enough, the goblins from the house didn’t look happy to see the goblins from the orchard. Dissent in the ranks? Opposing factions? Either way, we weren’t about to stay around to welcome any newcomers.
Phaelan used his foot to brace against the dead goblin’s body, freed his trapped blade, and made for the wall. Getting over the top was a lot easier the first time, but then again, survival is a powerful motivator. A narrow alley ran on the other side of the wall. Once over, I had a feeling the goblins would only pursue us so far. I knew Mermeia. And Mermeia was teeming with humans and elves who would gladly serve Khrynsani temple guards their cods on a platter.
I swung myself over the top and dropped to the ground, slipping in something I didn’t have the time or inclination to identify. Quentin followed, and I took this opportunity to lay hands on him. They weren’t particularly gentle hands, but then after a fight with goblins who wanted me dead for no other reason than that I knew Quentin, I wasn’t in a particularly gentle mood.
Quentin gasped, trying to get his wind back. “I’ve got to get to Simon Stocken’s.”
“What did you take?”
Quentin’s expression was somewhere between mere panic and basic terror, probably inspired by the goblins, not me. “What do you mean?”
I gave him a shake. “What’s in the box?”
He pulled a chain out of his shirt. On its end spun a plain, silver amulet. “You mean this?”
I winced, expecting a repeat of my alley experience. But there was no pain. No urge to be sick. I also couldn’t believe my eyes.
“What is it with you and necklaces!”
Phaelan dropped down beside us. He couldn’t believe we were still there.
“Go!”
Beyond going to see Simon Stocken, I didn’t know what Quentin’s plans were. But if it involved another extended stay in the Daith Swamp, he was on his own. Friendship only went so far.
Chapter 2
Few things stirred a man’s protective instincts like ill-gotten goods.
To anyone who had no business there, Mermeia’s east waterfront district was a place best avoided after dark. Chances were, if a man had killed to obtain certain objects, he had no qualms over killing to keep them a while longer, at least until he saw fit to sell them for a healthy profit.
The warehouses of the waterfront were full of valuables of questionable ownership, and manned by those whose jobs it was to guard them. Between the three of us, we knew most of them, and they us. But I wasn’t holding my breath counting on any for help. If anyone brought trouble with them to the waterfront, chances were they had brought it on themselves and were expected to deal with it the same way.
Simon Stocken conducted business out of a small warehouse on the central city side of the waterfront. Prime locations backed up to the lagoon for easier and more discreet loading and unloading of cargo, but, as much of Stocken’s business was conducted from the rich coffers of the central city, his less than ideal location suited his needs nicely, as did his front as a wine merchant. If it was a rare vintage, Stocken could get it for you—for a price. Like many merchants in Mermeia, Stocken’s most valuable shipments were never seen by city tax agents.
Mermeia’s central city also had the dubious honor of being the financial center of the seven kingdoms. And where there was money, there were creative uses, and misuses. Mermeian loans financed wars, coups, treasons, assassinations—all the building blocks of civilized society.
We were walking at a fast pace in the shadows of Belacant Way, one block over from Stocken’s warehouse. While the fast pace was healthy at this time of night under normal circumstances, tonight hardly qualified as normal. Normal waterfront hazards included cutpurses and garden-variety murderers, not Khrynsani temple guards and jewelry that made my stomach do flips.
I didn’t sense anyone following us. That was the first good thing to happen all night. It also made it a perfect time to start that talk I wanted to have with Quentin.
“Wait,” I told Quentin and my cousin.
Phaelan stopped. Quentin clearly didn’t want to.
“I need to deliver this to Stocken,” he objected.
“A few more minutes isn’t going to make any difference,” I told him. “And I’m not convinced you should give that thing to Simon Stocken. Phaelan and I are in this, whether we want to be or not—”
“And we don’t,” Phaelan said.
“So I think we deserve to know what’s going on.”
Quentin made no move to enlighten us.
I crossed my arms. “Now would be nice.”
Quentin’s blue eyes darted to the warehouse behind us like he expected goblins to leap out of the walls. I had never seen him this nervous, and we had been in plenty of situations where he’d had ample opportunity. This wasn’t like Quentin at all, and I didn’t like it. His mystery employer just earned a top spot on my list of least-liked people.
“About a week ago, Simon contacted me about a job,” Quentin said, talking fast. “I meet with him, he tells me what the client wants, and how much he’s willing to pay to get it. It was good money. Real good. Then Simon tells me whose house I’d be breaking into. I tell him to forget it, no deal. That’s when he hands me the letter. Tells me the man looking to hire me said to give me the letter if I refuse the job. So I read it.” Quentin paused for air, and his jaw tightened. “Let’s just say the letter changed my mind.”
“What was in it?” Phaelan asked.
“I’m not saying. But it’s got nothing to do with what happened back there.”
I knew that probably wasn’t true, but I wasn’t going to force the issue, at least not now. “Did Stocken tell you who the client was?”
“A man by the name of Dinten Ronk,” Quentin said. “Claimed to be a silversmith from Laerin. Simon had heard of a silversmith by that name. Parts of him were found last month stuffed in a barrel on the Laerin docks. The man who showed up at Simon’s may have been a fake, but his gold was real enough, so Simon didn’t ask too many questions.” He grinned. “Didn’t want to scare away a paying customer.”
“Was the impostor Dinten Ronk also human?” I asked.
Quentin shrugged. “As far as I know. Simon didn’t say otherwise, and he would have at least mentioned it. Not that he has anything against nonhumans. Simon does business with everyone.”