City of Demons (47 page)

“Do you think it's gone?” Garet asked.

“Perhaps the stars have shifted into a less dangerous zone,” Salick replied and deepened her voice to add, “dearie.” Marick grabbed his neck, as if choking.

Garet had already become heartily sick of staying in bed during his last visit to the infirmary and was even more vocal about it this time, so Banerict soon gave him permission to travel anywhere on the main floor as long as he used the crutches and rested his leg wherever he ended up. He got in many people's way until he found a bench in the Green gym. There, he watched Master Branet limp bear-like around the room, yelling at the sweating Greens and assuring each one that, “any demon that catches you out in the fields is welcome to you, as none of you is any use to the Banehall until you can thrust that trident like a real Green!”

Garet watched and trembled, hoping he would do well enough to please this demanding Master. He came back often to try to learn what he could before he had to perform with the others. Branet, busy with his cajoling and disappointments, mostly ignored him.

As his wound began to heal, he leaned on a single crutch and practiced with his rope-hammer in the infirmary garden, aiming at rocks Marick or Dorict placed on top of the low wall for him to hit. This activity was eventually stopped by Banerict, who complained that the noise was driving his patients back to their duties before they were fully healed.

Garet sighed and wished for active employment. Salick answered this wish by sending him to help Master Arict search for information about the Caller Demon in the oldest records of the Hall. This was the research she herself had attempted earlier at Mandarack's orders, without much success. After a week of dust and shouting, and cryptic references that after much reflection actually meant nothing at all, he stopped making wishes.

Several Banes came by to speak to him: Blues he had trained with, several Greens and Golds who worked under Masters sympathetic to Mandarack, and some he did not even recognize. Vinir stopped by between patrols, smiling and bringing him treats from the kitchen. They spoke of the progress the Ward Lords had made in finding ways to alert the Hall if the Caller Demon returned.

“They have citizen patrols to bolster the Ward Guards,” she told him. “My old Granny is out every evening with her friends, peering into every alley and scaring the life out of couples looking for a quiet place to kiss.” She laughed at his sudden blush. “I suppose you and Salick will have to be careful!”

Garet's embarrassment deepened. He and Salick had not yet kissed, but it was very much on his mind.

“I never guessed she would lose her heart so soon,” Vinir continued. “And to someone from the Midlands, when all she could ever talk about was the Shirath Hall and the duty of the Shirath Banes.” She shook her head in wonder.

“I don't know why she, we...” Garet faltered.

Banerict came by with a tray of cordials for the aged Banes clustered around the hearth at the far end of the infirmary. He smiled at them but did not stop to chat.

“Don't you?” Vinir asked, grinning. “Well, at least you're not puffed up! She chose you because you came from outside, idiot!” she said. “You don't fit into her expectations of other Banes, which are rarely met, I might add. When Master Mandarack chose her, many said it was because both were from noble families, and she really didn't deserve such a great Bane as a Master. Salick met that resentment and returned it, doubled. It isolated her. Plus, she's always been careful about whom she would allow to get close.” She held up a hand and ticked off fingers. “Myself, mainly because we came from the same Ward, and she saw me as a Ward sister to be protected.” She pulled one finger down. “When I first came here, I was a little mouse...” She giggled at his raised eyebrows. “Yes, yes, I don't seem very shy now, do I? Salick protected me from the cruel ones like Farix. You should have seen her, a Black telling off a Green and getting away with it!”

She was silent for a moment with the memory until she noticed Garet's impatience. “Don't worry, I'll get to the point in a week or two! Now, let's see...oh yes! Marick and Dorict soon followed as part of her new family, but never a boyfriend or even a crush.” Two more fingers were pulled down. She looked at him thoughtfully, her smile disappearing. “I thought for a long time that she would measure every man against her Master and they'd come up short, because the only other measure she had was her drunkard of a father.” She poked the last finger held up into his chest for emphasis.

“I'm neither as good as the Master or as bad as her father,” Garet protested.

“No, but you argue with her. I mean, you stand up to her, but you don't bully her,” Vinir said. “You accept her for who she is. What else could she want, difficult as my friend can be?”

Garet nodded slowly. He remembered how she had slowly come to accept him and listen to him. With difficulty, he conjured an image of Salick as he had first seen her, an arrogant, sneering girl who had almost made him run away from his new life as a Bane. He shook his head. There was no sense looking back; he had been a different person too.

Vinir stood and put a hand on his shoulder. It was long-fingered and delicate, but traced with the thin, white lines of training scars.
A true Bane's hand
, he thought.

“Salick's happy,” she said. “Or at least as happy as she allows herself to be. So I'm happy too.” She kissed his forehead and left the infirmary.

Between visits and research, he took one more duty upon himself. With Dorict's help, he gathered paper, ink, and pen and finally wrote to his mother. The letter was long. He wrote of what he had done, of what he had learned, and of his hopes to see her and his sister Allia again one day. Dorict promised to send it with the next messenger to Bangt and so on to Three Roads. A burden whose true weight he had not known was lifted from his heart.

So occupied, he healed as quickly as he could, and after another week and a half of complaints, Banerict took away his crutches and begged him never to be injured again. Garet grinned and sincerely thanked the physician before limping happily out of the infirmary.

The two flights of stairs to his room made him less happy, and he stayed on the third floor for the rest of the day, reading a Gold text and enjoying the victory of at least sitting on his own bed. That evening, he told Salick that he intended to apprentice under Master Tarix, as soon as she recovered from the breaking and re-setting of her leg.

“Oh, I see,” Salick said, her voice becoming somewhat distant. “May I ask why you didn't choose Master Mandarack?”

Garet took a deep breath. He had known this conversation might be a difficult one. “Because Mandarack is your Master, Salick,” he told her.

She thought about it for a minute and nodded for him to continue.

“Well,” he said, “I think it's partly a matter of ah, rank. I don't mean to reject him! You know how much I respect him, and I know that you think of the Master as your father.” He rushed on before she could speak. “That's why you care for him so much, and I wouldn't want to intrude on that,” he said.

She shook her head, either in doubt or confusion, but did not say anything.

“And,” he said quietly, “if I apprentice to Master Mandarack, you'll always be my superior. We won't be equals.”

“I'll still outrank you either way,” she said. “And besides, I've been your superior since you got here.” Her voice was not as cold, but her eyes were still guarded.

“It's not the same if we look to different Masters, and you know it,” he argued. “Would you want to be ordering me around all the time?”

“Maybe I would,” she replied, smiling at him. “But I think I see what you mean. There could be times when I'd have to order you to do something dangerous, and I don't know if I could, after what happened to you at the Palace.” She leaned her head against his. “I was so afraid,” she said.

Garet relaxed. He had been worried that Salick would not understand his decision. There was another reason he had not given her. He knew himself now, enough to realize that it was his nature to question everything, including his Masters. Tarix knew that and still asked. But what if Mandarack was his Master? Salick was fiercely, perhaps even blindly, loyal to Mandarack. Any dispute between Garet and the Hallmaster would force her to choose between them. It was a risk he did not want to take. It was hard truth to face, but he was afraid that in such a competition, he would lose.

There was a tap on the door.

Garet sat up and put some distance between him and Salick. They had kissed earlier, a nervous, awkward event, and he had been thinking of improving on that first attempt. The tap sounded again.
Later
, Garet thought, happiness warming his chest now that ‘later' was once again assured. “Come in!” he called.

Dorict opened the door and entered, followed by a grumbling Marick.

“I don't see why we have to knock on our own door,” he complained.

Dorict ignored him and settled on his bed. Marick paced. “What's wrong?” Salick demanded.

The little Bane stopped pacing to answer. “There are calls out from six Wards that demons have been seen moving through the streets without spreading fear,” he told her. “Dorict here,” he added, pointing a disdainful finger at his friend, “thinks that it's just more false alarms.”

“Six different Wards?” Salick asked, getting to her feet.

“Six people seeing the tail of a stray dog or some such thing in six different Wards,” Dorict said. He shook his head. “I don't know if the watch system the King set up is doing more harm or good.”

Marick nodded. “Every time some tipsy citizen sees shadows through the bottom of a wine bottle, half the Hall is turned out.”

“Practically the whole Hall tonight!” Dorict said.

“Except us!” Marick replied, scowling.

“We're on special duty,” Dorict argued with his friend. “We can't go running out to chase every shadow!”

“Special duty!” Marick sniffed. “That's just the Master's way of keeping us out of the action. Salick,” he said, turning towards her, “you've got to ask Master Mandarack to let us go out on patrol again! I'm going to die of boredom if I have to stay here every night waiting for messages to deliver.” He flopped face-down on his bed, grinding his face into the blankets.

Used to his dramatics, his friends ignored him. Garet looked up at Salick, who had replaced Marick in pacing across the room.

“Six different sightings? They must be like Dorict says, false alarms,” he told her.

Salick shook her head. “I suppose.” She turned to Dorict. “How long ago did the reports come in?”

“Over the last hour,” Dorict replied. He cocked his head. “You don't think that many demons could be in the city at one time, do you?” he asked.

“We don't know what's possible or impossible these days,” she answered shortly.

Garet had been watching her pace, an absent expression on his face. He stood up. “Quickly, Dorict! Did the reports say what kind of demon was seen?”

“They were all sightings of Glider Demons,” he answered, looking wide-eyed at the two older Banes. “That's why I thought they must be mistakes. Gliders are so rare!”

“Gliders,” Salick muttered. “Well, they can be easy to lose, especially if there's no fear to track.”

“Could one Glider cover that much space in an hour?” Marick asked. He looked at Garet. “You've seen one fly.”

“I don't think so,” he replied. Absently fingering the edge of his new green sash, Garet looked over at Salick again as the Gold resumed her pacing. “They only sail like falling leaves or a sheet blown off the wash line.”

Salick shook her head and continued walking. For a long moment, no one spoke.

Dorict broke the silence. “In any case, the Wards that reported are on both sides of the river. How could even a Glider pass over the bridges without being tracked and killed?” he demanded, his usual calm replaced by a nervous energy that pulled him off his bed to put his hand on the training staff leaning against the wall.

Salick stopped dead and whirled to face the others. “There's something wrong with this!” she said. “It may be some new trick of this Caller Demon, or the King may be planning something and is trying to distract us for some reason.” She strode to the door, pulling it open. “I knew we couldn't trust him! Quickly, arm yourselves and follow me. Master Mandarack must be told.” She waited impatiently while Marick and Garet grabbed their weapons.

The upper Hall was quiet. Those Blues and Blacks who were not out serving as extra eyes for the patrols were asleep in their beds, exhausted by the stress of the increased efforts of the Hall. Salick hesitated, looking at the closed doors of potential allies.

Marick grabbed her sleeve and pulled her down the stairs. “No time, Salick,” he told her. “Besides, if something really is wrong, we can sound the alarm after we see the Master.”

Salick allowed herself to be pulled quickly down the stairs, and they soon reached the main floor. Garet was last, still limping slightly. Salick led them through the maze of small hallways until she reached her own room. In a moment, she emerged with the baton she had used against the Crawler Demon in the stockyards. “Vinir's gone,” she told them.

Garet stared at the three claw blades curving out from the weapon in Salick's hand and asked, “Your trident?”

Salick moved across the hall and knocked on the nearest door. “Too long to use in these passageways if the King's Guard attacks.” she explained as she moved to the next door and banged again.

Dorict, Marick, and Garet did likewise, trying each door along the hallway. No one answered their calls. The floor boards squeaked harshly in the unnatural silence of the normally busy corridors. The four moved with increasing speed and anxiety down the hallway. At the far end, Salick gathered them together.