City of Demons (34 page)

Vinir pushed him back down on the bed when he tried to rise. “Oh no, Garet. You wait here and I'll get some hot tea and food for you.” She left at a trot and soon returned with a towel-covered tray. The aroma of stew woke him a bit and he ate with enthusiasm. Vinir pulled up another chair and drank tea nervously.

“Dorict said that you fought three Duelists to protect Salick,” she said. Her hands twisted around her cup, and her eyes shone in the lamp light of the quiet room. Salick murmured in her sleep. The strips of cloth wrapped from the crown of her head to below her jaw gave her a strange, matronly look. Her left cheek was swollen and the folded bandages under the wrappings showed streaks of red.

Garet sat beside her and took her hand until she quieted back into a deeper sleep. He lowered his voice to answer Vinir. “Only two, Salick knocked down the other one. That was the one Dorict and Gonect caught, that Shoronict.” He ground his teeth down on an urge to shout. “They didn't have any reason to attack us! It's Adrix they're mad at.”

Vinir patted his arm to calm him. “They just see the sashes, Garet,” she explained. “They didn't know who it was.” She looked at her friend's wounded face and started to cry, her tears rolling silently down her cheeks.

Garet shook his head. “But they did know, Vinir. We had talked to Shoronict just the day before,” he paused for a moment then rushed on. “And I'm sure the one that cut her was her cousin, Draneck!” He tore furiously at a piece of still-warm bread.

“How do you know that?” Vinir asked, shocked out of her tears. “I thought they were masked.”

“His voice, the way he moved,” Garet replied, speaking around his mouthful of food, “and he called her by name.”

“I know they weren't friendly as children. Salick and I were raised in the same Ward,” she said. Tenderly, she pulled the covers up around the sleeping Bane's shoulders. “She's been my friend for as long as I can remember.” She smiled. “We've looked out for each other.”

Salick turned her head in sleep as if she knew they were speaking of her, and her friends fell silent. He could see Salick first coming in to the Hall, a small, skinny girl, her chin thrust out in a determination to conquer her own doubts, excel at being a Bane, protect her friends, and then growing into the young woman he felt such concern for. He sighed and returned to the other bed. Vinir helped him pull off his boots before she took the tray back to the kitchens. Garet had only enough time to think,
I've dreamed of so much but never of this. So much good and bad together
. But he knew that what he had now was worth more than all his old fantasies put together.

The first thing Garet saw when he woke up late the next day was Salick's blue eyes open and looking over at him. She lay propped up in the bed, changed into a dressing gown with a bowl of porridge balanced on her lap. He rolled out of the covers to stand bare-foot and stupid on the floor between their beds. She smiled then grimaced at the effect of the movement on her cut cheek.

“Banerict used some threads to pull the skin together. And it tugs every time I talk! But I'll heal, so don't worry,” she told him, putting the bowl on the covers. He sat down on the bed beside her and took her hand.

“I'm really all right,” she insisted. Reaching out with her other hand, she touched a light finger to his bruised cheek. “Besides, you probably feel as sore as I do.” She shifted the hand to his other cheek. “Vinir told me what happened after I was injured.”

Garet smiled ruefully. “I could have killed them, I was so angry,” he said and looked down. “I suppose those rages are in my blood.”

Salick lifted his head. “There's more than your father in you, and he's not the biggest part. I have my father's anger too.” She smiled carefully. “You should know that by now! It's how you use that anger that makes you a man or a demon. Remember, Garet, Draneck and I are of the same blood.”

His eyes widened. “You know he was on the bridge?”

She dropped her hand and leaned forward. “I recognized his voice just before he slashed me. Garet, he used his anger to attack me, like we were children again. You used yours to defend me. That's something I will always remember.” She leaned back and put one hand on her bandages, her face pale.

Talking was painful for both of them, so they spent a good hour in companionable silence, each remembering their close call of the night before. Banerict finally came by and shooed Garet out while he changed Salick's bandage.

With nothing else to do, he went up the two flights of steps to the Blue Sashes' rooms, but Marick and Dorict were absent. After a good night's sleep, his nerves were settled enough to want company, and answers. The foremost question in his mind was what would they do with Shoronict. Gonect was supposed to be holding the proud Duelist in the Eighth Ward, but he could not hold him there forever. Would the King punish Shoronict or reward him for attacking them? The only knowledge he had of a Shirath king was from the play he had seen the night before. Was that truly only last night? It seemed an age ago, and the memory was not comforting; the king of that performance was as mad as a crow in winter. Would Trax also prove to be insane?

Garet shook his head and looked out through the room's solitary window. Through the distortions of the wavy glass, the plaza seemed deserted. Even the old men had abandoned their bowling, despite the weak sunlight falling on their pitch. He put his hand on the cold glass. The snow he had felt in the air last night would not be long in coming. Craning his neck, he saw the gardens were likewise empty, and in the distance, the three bridge gates were closed.
Not good
, he thought. The plaza had the feeling of a crop of wheat under a hail-filled sky. As he turned from the window, he caught sight of something that sent him running from the room. The gates of the Banehall's courtyard were closed and chained. Men and women, all Banes, stood in the yard, their spears, tridents and other weapons shining in the winter sun.

Salick was not in her bed, and he stood frozen for a moment before rushing out of the infirmary to find Mandarack. The halls were empty except for Black Sashes trotting back and forth with folded papers and trays of hot tea. None of the non-Bane citizens who worked in the Banehall were visible. Mandarack's door was slightly open, and he breathed a sigh of relief to hear Salick's voice before he knocked.

“Come in,” called the dry voice of the old Bane. He pushed open the door to find the small room crowded with those opposed to Adrix. Master Tarix's wheeled chair was set beside Mandarack's chair with Relict on her other side, one hand on her shoulder. Branet sat hunched beside Relict, his expression grim as he eyed the young Bane at the door. Ranged along the walls were the other Reds and Golds who had been demoted, although they still wore the sashes of their original ranks. Some few others of the higher ranks, whom Garet knew sympathized with Mandarack, had joined them. Dorict, looking uncomfortable in such company, stood by Mandarack's elbow. Salick sat in the only other chair.

“Good, we were looking for you, Garet,” Relict said, smiling and waving him in, though there was barely any space left in the small room.

“There you are!” exclaimed Marick, who had come up behind Garet and now propelled him into the room, following him and closing the door to a tiny crack. The small Bane stood by that crack, one eye on the hall.

Mandarack continued. “Salick has told us much of your courage and skill on the bridge last night. I am pleased to say that those who know you were not surprised and those who didn't were greatly impressed.” He waited to accommodate the murmurs of agreement that rippled around the room.

Tarix beamed at him. “All those hours and bruises paid off, eh Garet?” she laughed. Even Branet smiled with the other Masters but quickly regained his serious expression.

“The attack on you two changes everything. Have you seen the courtyard?” the burly Master asked the assembly. Several Banes nodded, and the rest were soon informed by their neighbours.

“We seem to be preparing for a war,” Relict observed. He stroked his short beard and looked at Mandarack. “A war I'm afraid we will win.”

Several in the room looked at him quizzically, but Mandarack nodded in agreement.

“You are right,” the old Bane said. “Think, all of you; whichever side wins this war, our city will die.”

Garet moved carefully in the silence this remark produced until he fit himself into the small space Vinir had saved for him beside Salick's chair. He remembered Mandarack's lecture on the balance of power in the city. The Banehall, the King with his Ward Lords, and the demons. It seemed all three groups were changing so fast that any balance was doomed.

Branet cleared his throat and looked up from his thick, interlocked fingers. “Would you rather the King and his assassins win?” he asked. Another uncomfortable silence filled the room.

Garet answered, surprising himself with his boldness, but he felt he could no longer remain silent. He had, after all, been on the front lines of this war. “Master Branet, I have been told that there are three forces in Shirath: the Banehall, those we protect, and the demons we fight. If we treat those we protect in the same manner as those we fight, where is the right of it? And if we can no longer win against the demons, where is our purpose?”

Branet looked up at him, surprised at the passion in his voice. Mandarack caught Garet's eyes and nodded for him to continue.

He swallowed, closing his eyes for a moment against the throbbing of his bruised cheek and said, “This fight with the King is like two men gambling in a burning house. No one wins! We must find a way to stop this war before it begins in earnest!” He pushed his black hair back from his eyes. “We are Demonbanes, the only defense against the most powerful threat to Shirath.” He held his hands out, pleading for their understanding. “But if the demons can no longer be found, except by following the trail of their victims, this city will be destroyed.”

The assembled Banes reacted to this speech with reluctant nods and murmurs of protest, perhaps shocked at being instructed by a mere Blue, but Mandarack immediately held up his hand for silence.

“Garet is correct. Adrix has created this distraction with the King for his own purposes, a distraction that must be resolved before our ‘house' burns.” He touched Dorict on the sleeve. The young Bane gave a start. “Dorict, please repeat the news you brought from my brother.”

Dorict stepped a bit forward and began in a somewhat squeaky voice, “Marick and I visited Lord Andarack this morning and assisted him with his testing. We found a rock that stops the effect of a demon's jewel.” The noise that accompanied this announcement was so great that Marick shut the door until it died down. “He is also making a...” words momentarily failed the young Bane, “...device that can be used against a demon.” There was much scratching of heads, Garet's included, at this cryptic statement. Dorict looked at them helplessly, obviously unable to give more details.

“We will keep in contact with the Ward Lord,” Mandarack said. “Marick and Dorict will continue to assist him.” He looked at Marick who was still guarding the door. “But you both must take care. Do not go into the city in your uniforms. Wear the clothes of the mechanicals.”

“That's how we came back, Master,” Marick replied smugly. “It's easy to mix in with all of them. They finally came back to Lord Andarack's house after he sealed the jewel inside a box lined with that rock.” He winked at Garet. “At least now there's no more crushing and sorting to do.”

Garet smiled back, remembering the labour of the previous day. Master Branet stood up.

“I would like to see this stone,” he said to Mandarack. “But I don't see how it could have led to the deaths of my students. The stones of that building were hundreds of years old, and I killed a Shrieker there myself not a dozen years ago, and with no trouble sensing it!”

Mandarack nodded. “I agree, Master Branet. While my brother's discovery may yet help solve this mystery, it is too soon to tell. We cannot as a group, however, leave the Hall at this point. Perhaps when Andarack has his device ready, we can travel secretly to view it.” The old Bane rose. “Remember, for now the best thing we can do is keep up our patrols and try to build support within the Hall. We must bring more people over to our cause.”

“Even if it splits the Hall?” asked Master Bandat.

“The Hall is split, Bandat,” Relict told her. “We now have to work to see what can be saved.”

Sobered by these words, the assorted Banes filed out of the room after Marick checked for any lurkers in the corridor.

Mandarack signalled the four friends to stay behind. “Dorict and Marick will be out of harm's way, I trust,” he eyed Marick sternly, “but you and Salick must also be protected. I don't want you to patrol right now.” He held up his hand to stop Salick's protest. “I know how seriously you both take your responsibilities as Banes, but I fear that the Duelists will try to harm you if you leave the Hall.” He shook his head. “Your help is unnecessary for now. Adrix, and everyone else in the Hall, knows what happened on the bridge. He has doubled the number of Banes on each patrol to provide safety in numbers from any other attacks.” The old man's smile was grim. “He has such a need of bodies now, that he hasn't found time to enforce his demotions.” He helped Salick up from her seat. “Adrix hates both of you. He hates you because your behaviour is truly Bane-like, and that reminds him that his behaviour is not. He also hopes to strike at me through you.” His eyes fixed them both. “Alone, or with a patrol made up of Farix and the like, you would be at Adrix's mercy,” he rasped, “and, I don't want to risk you again.”