Conspiracy (22 page)

Sarevic was nodding, so Amaranthe kept her
mouth shut.

“
Yes, yes,” Sarevic said,
“you’re right. Organization would be good.” She lifted the
blowtorch, propping it against her shoulder, and stuck out her free
hand. “We have a pact.”

Amaranthe clasped the woman’s forearm to
close the deal, and Sarevic demonstrated how to use the kerosene
torch. When she pointed out the pump used to pressurize the fuel in
the tank and explained the possible hazards, Amaranthe wondered if
the blasting sticks might actually be the less dangerous item to
tote around.

After Sarevic finished demonstrating her
goods, Amaranthe helped Books cart their supplies out of the
basement. She wasn’t surprised when Rockjaw followed them into the
alley.

He stopped in front of them, blocking the
way as he planted a hand on the brick wall and leaned against
it.

“
Are you certain you want
to impede a man carrying a box full of blasting sticks?” Books
asked.

Amaranthe simply waited to see what Rockjaw
wanted.

“
I’ve never seen anybody
talk Ms. Sarevic down a single ranmya, much less a thousand,” he
said. “Although I’d rather pay in solid gold than clean that
place.”

Amaranthe knew he hadn’t stopped them to
chat about her bargaining skills, so she kept her answer short. “I
like to have projects like that. It gives my hands something to do
while my head is worrying about things.”

And she knew her men
preferred it when she had something legitimate to clean instead of
trying to tidy
them
. Fortunately Books didn’t bring up underwear
again.

“
I see,” Rockjaw said.
“What are you worrying about now?” His gaze flickered to the boxes
Amaranthe and Books held.

“
Nothing I’d care to
share,” Amaranthe said.

“
Not even for the right
price?”

“
With my deal complete,
I’ve no need for extra coin right now.”

“
I was thinking of
information, not coin,” Rockjaw said. “I know something you’d like
to know.”

“
You sound
positive.”

“
Oh, I am. It involves your
men.”

A jackrabbit hopped around in Amaranthe’s
belly. Sicarius? Was he in trouble? It seemed unlikely—the only
time he’d gotten in trouble had been when he was trying to do a
favor for her. Somehow she doubted he had that in mind currently.
Of course, if he had gone off on Sespian’s behalf... Amaranthe had
no doubt that Sespian meant more to him than she did and that he
would risk much on his son’s behalf.

“
Is that so?” she asked,
trying to keep any sign of her thoughts off her face. “What’s the
price for this information?”

Rockjaw pushed away from the wall and
strolled closer. Though he had put his pipe away, the scent of
tobacco lingered about him. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re
doing with knockout gas, blasting sticks, and a torch that can cut
through metal?”

“
Sorry, but I need to keep
the details of our next mission to myself,” Amaranthe said. “I
don’t suppose you’d like me to clean and organize your hideout in
trade for your information?”

“
I don’t believe you’d care
to visit the bowels of my hideout.” Rockjaw smirked. “I’ve learned
enough about you to know you’d be horrified by the conditions for
my workers and...
guests
. A clean environment is not
their primary consideration.”

Books stirred at Amaranthe’s side. Though he
said nothing, she could imagine him wondering what he’d done in his
life to be condemned to standing in dark alleys, conversing with
such unsavory sorts.

“
Shouldn’t you cackle
maniacally after you say things like that?” Amaranthe asked
Rockjaw.

“
Do you want the
information or not, Lockdon? If you’re not going to tell me what
you’re up to, I need something else useful in trade.”

Amaranthe still had one of the rifle
cartridges in her pocket. She withdrew it and rolled it around in
her hand, debating whether to give it to Rockjaw and tell him about
the weapons. That the fancy firearms had been made in secrecy for
the army meant she probably shouldn’t spread the word, but that
proprietary design still made her wonder if there wasn’t something
fishy going on. At the moment, it was the only interesting
information she could part with.

She tossed Rockjaw the bullet and told him
about the farm and what was out there. At her side, Books shifted
uneasily as she shared the information, but he didn’t object at any
point.

“
Interesting.” Rockjaw
rubbed the cartridge between his fingers. “And worth the
information I have to offer you.”

Amaranthe suspected she’d given Rockjaw
something worth far more than what he was going to tell her, but
she managed a “Thank you” that wasn’t too dry.

“
Your boy, Akstyr, tried to
sell information on Sicarius’s whereabouts and secret weaknesses
today.”

Books sucked in a breath. He probably didn’t
care one way or another about Sicarius, but someone coming after
Sicarius might endanger the whole team.

“
I see.” Amaranthe was
disappointed, but not surprised that Akstyr had tried to betray
them. The part about “secret weaknesses” disconcerted her. Had
Akstyr figured out Sicarius’s relationship to Sespian? It seemed
impossible, but she couldn’t think of anything else that could be
used against Sicarius. “To whom?” she asked Rockjaw.

“
Khaalid the
Knife.”

“
That’s a bounty hunter,
isn’t it?”

“
Yes, but he refused the
offer,” Rockjaw said. “He made a point to tell me, knowing I
occasionally deal with you. I think he wouldn’t mind being on
Sicarius’s good side.”

“
Sicarius doesn’t
have
a good side,” Books
said.

“
Khaalid would like to not
be on his bad side then,” Rockjaw said. “Of course, this altruism
might be due to the fact that your boy wanted twenty-five-thousand
ranmyas for the information.”

“
What in the empire for?”
Books asked. “All he does is read and visit brothels.”

Amaranthe could guess—she’d ferreted most of
last summer’s scheme to kill Sicarius out of Basilard after he gave
it up, and she knew Akstyr wanted to leave the empire to pursue his
studies. She’d been trying to find him a local tutor, so he could
further his education without leaving the group, but maybe it’d be
better to let Akstyr go. He was her least reliable team member and
always had been. But then, his skills had come in useful at times.
She touched her belly, thinking of the scars beneath her clothing.
Maybe it was worth talking to him before making any decisions. With
Sicarius off doing who knew what, she could get Akstyr alone for a
frank conversation without worrying about stealthy assassins
overhearing.

“
Thank you, Rockjaw,”
Amaranthe said, more sincerely this time.

He gave her a mock military salute and
sauntered away.

“
Sicarius will kill Akstyr
over this,” Books whispered.

“
Not if I warn Akstyr and
tell him to get out of the city before Sicarius finds out.”
Amaranthe headed for the street. “Or if I can convince Akstyr that
he’s made a big mistake and it would be in his best interest to
stay loyal to us.”

Books fell into step beside her. “Are you
sure he’s worth the trouble?”

“
He’s young. It’d be nice
to give him a chance to grow up and become a decent human
being.”

“
Some people never grow out
of being selfish bastards who think only of themselves.”

“
And some people just need
encouragement to do so,” Amaranthe said.

“
How can you be so
optimistic?”

“
Because I’m not the one
holding a box full of blasting sticks.” Amaranthe managed a smile
and sidled away from him. “I do hope you’re watching your
steps.”

“
You’re a dreadful young
woman at times,” Books said.

“
I know.” Amaranthe drummed
her fingers on her thighs. “He wants the money to go to school, you
know that right?”

“
Real school or wizard
school?”

“
Now, now, outside of
Turgonia, the study of the mental sciences is considered just
as
real
and
respectable as the study of history or languages.”

“
I knew there was a reason
I didn’t travel,” Books said.

“
What if we paid for him to
leave the empire and get an education?”

Books missed a step, and the box of blasting
sticks lurched alarmingly. “What?”

“
I haven’t put any focus
into acquiring money, as is clear from my need to barter my
services to merchants, but given our group’s talents, we ought to
have no problem completing a wide variety of well-paying tasks. I
even have contacts amongst the up-and-coming business mavens in
Stumps, as I went to school with some of them.”

A young man and woman bicycled by, and Books
did not answer right away. They had left the dead streets of the
business district and were heading into the university
neighborhood, where numerous eating and drinking houses remained
open for the young clientele. Amaranthe tugged her hood up,
ostensibly against the chill of the frosty night, but more to hide
her face.

“
Just so I’m clear,” Books
said, “you’re proposing that the team finance the education of a
scruffy, self-centered youngster who has no loyalty to the team and
is, even as we speak, trying to arrange to have your beau
killed?”

It was Amaranthe’s turn to
stumble and nearly trip. “My
what
?”

“
I thought you would find
that description more apt than ‘your pet assassin’.”

“
He’s not either,”
Amaranthe said, watching the street and pretending to scan the
coming intersection for enforcers or bounty hunters instead of
meeting Books’s gaze. “And I’d find it apt if you called him by his
name. You’ve been working together for nine months.”

Her tone was sharper than she meant it to
be, but she didn’t apologize. His offhand remark had flustered her,
and she wasn’t sure exactly what he meant by it. Did he think she
and Sicarius were engaged in... more than they were? Or was he
simply letting her know that he knew she had feelings for him? He’d
figured that out a while ago and had made more than one subtle
suggestion to the effect that she should abandon them. But by
calling Sicarius her beau, Books seemed to be implying he thought
Sicarius might feel something for her. Maybe...

Stop it, girl, Amaranthe told herself. None
of that was important.

“
Yes,” she said, “to answer
your question. We have to finish with the emperor first, but after
that, maybe we can do something to help Akstyr on his way, so he
won’t feel he has to betray us for coin. A few lucrative
assignments could probably pay his way, especially if I could
convince the men to give up their share of the booty or take a
reduced percentage for a while.”

“
If anyone can, you can,”
Books said and fortunately didn’t mention beaus again.

He and Amaranthe were approaching the campus
when Maldynado and Basilard jogged around a corner and joined them.
Maldynado wore a new fur cap with a raccoon tail dangling onto his
shoulder. It might have looked like something out of the Northern
Frontier, except that some creative haberdasher had dyed the fur
pale blue. Only in the capital, Amaranthe thought.

In addition to the fur cap, Maldynado wore a
grin almost as big as his ego.

“
Success?” Amaranthe asked
when the men joined her and Books.

“
Oh, yes,” Maldynado
said.

The concerned expression furrowing
Basilard’s brow worried Amaranthe.

“
You arranged for a vehicle
suitable for carrying an emperor and that can make it over snowy
roads?” she asked.

Maldynado’s grin widened, and he repeated,
“Oh, yes.”

It flies
, Basilard signed.

Books halted so quickly he nearly dumped his
volatile cargo.

“
Uhm, what?” Amaranthe
asked.

Maldynado swatted Basilard. “I told you to
let me tell her.” Before Basilard could respond, Maldynado said,
“It’s a prototype, but Lady Buckingcrest has ridden in it and
assures me it has everything we need. We won’t have to worry about
snow-filled roads, not when we can fly right over them. The
mountains won’t be a problem at all. She said the flyer can reach
the pass in a day and a half instead of the three the train
takes.”

“
Are you aware of such
devices?” Amaranthe asked Books. She’d heard of hot-air balloons,
of course, and knew there were people experimenting with flight,
but she’d certainly never seen aircraft cruising over
Stumps.

“
That would be safe enough
to carry a box of blasting sticks?” Books scowled. “No.”

“
Lady Buckingcrest’s family
owns Experimental Aeronautics,” Maldynado said. “They haven’t gone
public and started selling their craft yet, but they have
lots
of
prototypes.”

“
And you’ve seen them?”
Amaranthe asked. “They
work
?”

Basilard shook his head.

Maldynado nodded. “I’ve seen the compound
where they’re manufactured. It’s big and important looking.”