The Crimson League (The Herezoth Trilogy) (33 page)

Ranler answered, “We’re looking for the visitor’s center.”

“You took a wrong turn two hallways back, should have gone left.”

Bendelof shoved her teacher. “I told
you the man at the entrance told me left! You were here five years ago, you remember better than he does?”

“Retrace your steps, take that left—well it’ll be a right now— and go up the stairs. The first door you’ll see is the mayor’s office, to your right. Go past it. What you want is around the corner.”

“Thank you,” said Kora. “Thank you very much.”

“Enjoy Fontferry,” said the bureaucrat, and made his way past. The Leaguesmen ran across two or three more people in the halls, but no one bothered to address them, and they found the stairs and mayoral office with no great difficulty.

“He’d better be in,” said Bendelof, glancing warily around. No one was in sight. Kora tried the office door to find that Mayor Peare was in indeed, provided the mayor was the portly, balding man of about fifty reading a report at the desk. He peered up with furrowed eyes at the three unknown youths. Kora hazarded to speak.

“Mr. Mayor?”

“What do you want?”

“This is Bendelof Esper and Ranler Voldrone. I’m….”

“You must be Porteg.”

Kora tensed at his stare, but she said, “Yes.”

“What is the Crimson League doing in my office?”

“We….” Kora stumbled over her tongue, unprepared for such a cold reception. “We came to warn you, sir. One of our spies discovered Zalski doesn’t like how you…. Zalski doesn’t think you’re above his laws, even if you might.”

Peare looked a bit uncomfortable, but just barely. He fiddled with the jacket that hung on the back of his chair. “He doesn’t sanction my autonomy? That’s not surprising. How did Zalski learn of it, that’s what I’d like to know. We aren’t exactly neighbors.”

“Someone in your administration,” Kora told him. Peare arched his eyebrows, and Kora racked her brain. She had heard the man’s name, Zalski mentioned it to Alten, R something. Rackspot, Rocksbarn….

“Roxburn. Judge Roxburn.” Peare was not impressed.

“Roxburn, you say? I doubt it.”

“I’m telling you, this matters! Zalski knows what you’ve been doing. What you haven’t been doing, the regulations you throw to the wayside….”

“Clearly he knows. He sent you to clean up my mess.”

The absurdity of his words stunned Kora speechless. Ire kept her in stasis, pulsing through her veins; she actually felt as though her blood thickened. Ranler, on the other hand, jumped forward. “Now see here!”

The mayor waved him back. “I wasn’t talking about you, I meant the sorceress. Tell me, wasn’t she the one to press the need for this visit?”

“That’s neither here nor there!” cried Bendelof. The mayor nodded smugly, and Bennie’s face turned as red as her hair. She demanded, “What are you driving at?” and Peare glared at Kora.

“I see through you. All Herezoth sees through you. Do you think I’m a simpleton? In Zalski your kind has power that for eons you’d only dreamed of, eons, since Hansrelto. How could someone like you resent the new regime?”

Bendelof stood gaping. Ranler looked ready to punch Peare in the jaw, but Kora, coming back to herself, threw an arm before the thief. “Someone like me? Like me, you say? My future, my friends, my family…. You slug! You slug
,
you have no idea what I’ve lost, what that man took from me.”

“Quite a mix-up, exposing your magic down in Podrar. You must have confused your dates when you gave Zalski information for that raid on the League’s cabin. You weren’t supposed to be there when he came, were you?”

Kora spoke through gritted teeth, every muscle in her body ready to snap. There would be no convincing this man to see the truth about her; she came straight to the point. “Zalski plans to assassinate you. At the Tricentennial. I don’t suppose you’d accept our protection?”

The mayor laughed. “You’d like that. You two,” he looked at Ranler and Bendelof, “I’d be wary of that one. Extremely wary, understand?”

Kora slammed her palms on the desk, leaning into Peare’s face. The top few pages of his report went flying. “I’m on. Your. Side. Which you’ll recognize about two seconds before they strike you down. Oh, we’ll try to save you. Our good name depends on it. But we need your help.”

Peare said, “The Crimson League has no good name as long as you’re a part of it.” Kora grabbed Bendelof’s hand so hard the poor girl winced. Ranler took Kora’s other. “How did you even get in here? You didn’t walk past the guards.”

“You’ll want to fit the back door with a new lock,” Kora told him. “Not that a lock would keep me out if I wanted to get to you. But again,
I’m on your side.
” She cast the transport spell and took a deep breath of country air outside Wheatfield, trying to slow her racing heart, to calm her nausea.

“Unbelievable,” said Bendelof. She massaged her fingers. “Unbelievable!”

Kora said, “I wasn’t prepared for that. But I should have been, I should have realized he might…. He had a point, you know. The League won’t
have a good name with me in it.”

“Don’t be an ass,” said Ranler.

“That’s the mayor’s job,” said Bennie.

The sorceress insisted, “Laskenay’s gone what, three years without her secret getting out? Three years. I didn’t last three months.”

“What choice did you have?” said Bennie. “Zalski showed up. You had to fight him. If Laskenay was at the Landfill then, she’d be the one people know about. As it is, anyone with half a brain doesn’t doubt where your heart lies.”

“Well, there are lots of brainless folks in Herezoth.”

“You got something there,” said Ranler. But Kora’s mind had backtracked.

“Why
don’t
people know about Laskenay?” she asked. “If I were Zalski I’d let out….”

Ranler narrowed his eyes. “You’d let out you let some woman thwart you for three straight years?”

“Well, maybe not. Are you ready to go back?”

“I think so,” said Bendelof. She shook her head. “Man alive!”

Kora cracked the merest trace of a smile at the girl’s indignation. “Give me your hand.”

“You’re not going ahead?”

“I don’t think so.” Kora had hoped breaking the trip up might be less tiring, but that morning had proved her wrong, and she found herself so frustrated she wanted to return with just one stop in the forest north of Yangerton, like in the past. “It’s a long ways,” she warned, “you might get winded. Here we go….”

“Well?” said Kansten. She and Lanokas had a map of Yangerton out, covered with various markings. “How’d it go?”

Bendelof said, “The usual. We wear ourselves out, put ourselves in danger….”

“And the guy kicks us in the ass,” Ranler finished.

“Actually, he kicked me in the ass,” said Kora. Kansten frowned at her.

“Not literally, I hope.”

“No, Kansten, not literally.”

Bennie described the mayor’s reception, to which Kansten replied, “Should have let Ranler sock him.”

“I could have socked him myself,” said Bendelof. Lanokas smiled. “What?” she demanded.

“I can’t imagine you attacking a single soul on Earth because of an insult.”

“Well, I could have spit on this guy easy.”

“What I hate,” said Kora, and everyone fell silent, “what I hate is that I can’t refute a thing that idiot said. Not a thing. I’ve met privately with Zalski. I really wasn’t
supposed to be in Podrar when, you know. I could have betrayed the location of the cabin. Has no one thought of that? And as for Peare, my word’s all we have that he’s in danger.”

“That word’s good enough,” said Lanokas. “You aren’t letting this stooge get to you? He isn’t worth it.”

“Man alive!” said Bendelof again.

Kora asked, “Can we drop it? Please?”

Ranler peered at the table where Kansten and Lanokas had been working. “We’re updating the map,” Lanokas told him. He pointed at the symbols. “The X’s are affiliates or safe houses they found out about.”

“Deaths,” said Kora.

“Not necessarily. But for the most part, yes.”

“How many have you added?” asked Ranler.

“Fourteen.”

“How long has it been since the map’s been pulled out?”

“A month.”

Ranler’s eyes bulged, but he said nothing. It was Bennie who commented, “That’s a bit above average, isn’t it?”

“You could say that.”

Kora stopped counting X’s when she reached twenty-five. The total reached double that. “What are the triangles?” she asked. There were twenty spread across the city, thirteen solid, seven a mere outline.

“Safehouses in operation. The solid ones have occupants.”

“And the circles?” Someone had drawn a cluster of circles around the center of Yangerton, though X’s obscured a good fifth of them.

“Galisan’s men.”

Kora stared at the map. Tallies were vital, but she could not help disliking how the League went about them. She thought of her family’s captivity at Auntie Mader’s: no slight to Auntie Mader herself, to whom Kora would always feel grateful. She pictured her mother’s fear and Zacry’s exasperation represented by a solid triangle on a map of Hogarane, or Sedder’s death reduced to a red X on a two-dimensional street plan of the capital. Her thoughts were disturbed when Laskenay and Neslan entered from the hall.

“You’re back,” said Laskenay, when Kora looked up. “Good. I need everyone’s attention.” Those gathered around the map turned curious or unsettled faces toward the League’s female head. “I’ve done some thinking, and the raid tonight may be our only chance to get to Zalski’s grain stores. If nothing else, it would be more complex the second time. More guards, all more alert. Better locks. We’d be lucky if that were all.”

Lanokas looked intrigued. “What are you saying?”

“That we need to make this raid count. Everyone’s going but me and Menikas. We have other things to tend to.”

Kora’s bones felt suddenly three times heavier as she realized the extent of her exhaustion. She let out an audible groan. Kansten stared at Laskenay.

“Everyone?” she repeated. “You mean the newbies? You really think they’re ready?”

“This should be a good first excursion for them. They’ll follow Ranler’s direction. Menikas trained them, and he says they’re mature enough for that.”

Kansten said, “They’re a lot of things. Mature’s not one of them.”

“My decision is final. Bidd’s better with a bow than you’ll ever be. You’ll want range protection.”

Kansten began, “We’ll have….”

Lanokas interrupted. “You think Ranler can keep lookout? He’s got to get us in the silos.”

Laskenay held the blonde woman’s eye. “I expect you not to display your doubts about the boys. They’ll need everyone’s encouragement, especially Hayden.” Now she spoke to the group at large. “This needs to be clear: Ranler heads this operation. He’s done the planning. He’s the one in charge.”

“We got you,” said Bendelof.

Laskenay turned to the veteran thief. “Is this all right?”

“I was planning to go it solo, but I can make it work. If it’s got to be done.”

“You can’t overestimate how badly.”

“Then it’ll be done, with the lot of us.”

“Good. Kora, follow me.”

445

CHAPTER THREE

Zacry’s Tale

Kora had barely shut the door to the room where the women slept when Laskenay asked, “Did she take the book?”

Kora was so preoccupied with Jonson Peare it took her a moment to remember what Laskenay was talking about. “She wasn’t happy about it, but she took it. Teena has the book. I know exactly where it’s hidden, and I promise you it’s safe.”

“That’s the most I can ask for. And the mayor? How did that turn out?”

“It didn’t,” said Kora. Laskenay frowned at her.

“You didn’t get in?”

“With Ranler and Bennie? Of course I got in. The man wouldn’t listen to a word I said. He’s convinced no sorcerer would ever oppose Zalski, thinks we all benefit from him.”

“I didn’t realize he was one of those. I wouldn’t have wasted your time.”

“It wasn’t a waste. It had to be done, but it did
wear me out, and I…. I don’t think I’m up for tonight. Is there any way you could go instead?”

“I wish I could, it’s a better alternative to what I have planned. I’ll be trying to convince Menikas that murdering Alten Grombach in the middle of the plaza will benefit no one. Alten’s a bit of a sore spot with him.”

“Can you blame him? Alten betrayed his military vows and the whole royal family. The whole kingdom.”

“The fact remains, unfortunately, that Menikas exacting vengeance would force Zalski to rework the assassination plot in ways we probably won’t suspect until the hit itself.”

Kora could not muster the energy to care. She felt like saying let the general and mayor both catch an arrow in the chest, but settled for something less polemic. “Menikas’ll put the good of the League first. He always does.”

Just then, without ceremony, Ranler stuck his head in the room. “Everyone’s here,” he said. “Can I steal Kora?”

“I’m finished with her,” said the elder sorceress, and Kora trooped back to join the rest of the League. They looked distracted or reluctant, all but Bidd and Hal, who wore obnoxious grins and had energy to spare. Hayden looked like he might vomit if he tried to speak.

Ranler said, “Wear black, and keep in mind the midnight curfew. We’ll be in position with fifteen minutes to burn. There are three silos, but the east-most one’s empty, so two currently hold wheat from last year’s harvest. I’ll get us into one of them, while Bennie takes the other.”

“Why not just the one?” asked Lanokas.

“We’ll be in and out quicker with two groups working. And the amount we take will be harder for them to figure out.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Ranler looked ready to pummel Lanokas if he interrupted again. “I’m glad you approve,” he said. “I’ve scouted the site, each silo’s guarded by two men. That’s four total. Kansten says you can freeze them, Kora?”

“If that’s what you want. But it’ll give away we’re the thieves.”

“I hadn’t thought of that, that’s no good. I’ll have to take one set with Neslan. Lanokas and Hal can handle the other.”

“All right!” cried Hal. Ranler stared him down.

“We’ll bind and gag them so they don’t interfere. Follow Lanokas’s lead and don’t try anything smart. I’m serious, kid.”

Hal answered, “So am I. I got it: listen to Lanokas, don’t be fancy.”

Ranler moved on. “There are two oaks mere feet from the silos. They should be scaleable. I want Kora and Hayden in one and Bidd with his bow in the second, to keep lookout. There shouldn’t be patrols around, but a park’s close enough that I’m
not taking chances. Listen hard, ‘cause
you won’t be seeing much.”

“We’ll be fine,” said Kora.

“Take positions once the guards are down. That’s all of you: Kansten, you’ll join me and Neslan and wait for me to get us in. Bennie, you’ll join Lanokas and Hal. The wheat should be stored in ten-pound sacks. Unload what you can and hightail it out of there.”

“Strike fast and move on,” said Hayden, who seemed more confident now.

Kansten said, “So we’re taking the wheat back here?”

“To Galisan, three blocks from where we’ll be. Each team will bring the lookouts their share of the load. Questions?”

There were none. Kora got up and returned to the bedroom to sleep, Bendelof following her.

* * *

“
Hoooooot. Hoot Hoot.”

Ranler’s imitation of a barn owl was soft, but Kora heard it easily in the dead of night, in the silence that followed the scuffle with the guards. The noise was her signal, and she sprinted the half-block to the oak she was supposed to scale. Hayden, not as light on his feet, sacrificed speed for stealth and lagged behind. Kora took the higher perch, reaching the first thick branches before he began his climb; her companion found a spot two feet below.

Ranler knew what he was saying when he advised them to rely on their hearing. A clouded sky made the night exceptionally dark, which gave the League good cover but complicated Kora’s duties. The silhouettes of the freestanding towers that were the silos dominated the scene, and Kora could make out little else; each direction offered the same conglomeration of twisting shadows. She tried to listen hard, to separate the wind and the pings of a light rain upon the leaves and cobblestones from other, more ominous noises. In about five minutes, she heard the squelch of footsteps as someone walked over from the silos: Lanokas, with three sacks of grain. He placed them in a dry spot at the foot of the oak and returned to the blackness. Kora looked to see how Hayden was holding up, to find his head angled downward, his face blocked. He was not shaking, and Kora would have heard him breathing hard, so he seemed to be all right.

The rain came down a little heavier. Those unloading the grain quickened their pace. They had to be nearly done….

The snap of a twig, from near the park. Kora stiffened, but not before nudging Hayden with her foot (she was hopeless at making calls). Another snap. Someone was running straight for the silos, someone still too far away to have heard what the League was up to. By the sound of things, he was being chased.

“Hooooot. Hoot Hoot.”

Hayden let out the same call Ranler had used before. From the lookouts it was a cry for help, as opposed to a shorter call that meant to scatter.

The thud of dropped sacks. The pounding of feet from two directions. The masses of shadow began to separate, to look like bodies hurtling through the darkness.

The first two shapes drew up to one another. Kora just recognized Neslan in a ray of moonlight that broke through the clouds; he almost attacked a mu
ch shorter figure, but desisted. That
person, a child it looked like, dove out of the way while Neslan grabbed a guard around the neck and spun him, sending his sword flying. Kora recognized the man’s blue uniform as he entered the ring of dull light. Ranler made short work of a second elite; one kick to the stomach and he doubled over. Kansten and then Bennie’s group ran up as the soldiers lifted their arms above their heads. Kora and Hayden kept silent in their tree.

“What do you want with the boy?” Neslan demanded.

“He’s under arrest. It’s the fourth time we’ve caught him out after curfew.”

The boy stood up from where he’d rolled away from Neslan, a pleading note in his voice. “I have nowhere to go. I told them that.”

“And we told you to get to the orphanage.”

The boy scoffed, growing bold. “The orphanage? Fat chance.”

“How old are you?” Neslan asked. The boy said he was twelve. Ranler stared down the guards, one of whom responded:

“We gave him time to find a roof. It’s time to force him under one.”

“The prison’s?” said Neslan. “I don’t think so.”

“Who are you people?” asked the boy. “Look, no one’s taking me anywhere!”

“Get out of here,” Lanokas told the guards. Both of them dropped their hands in defiance.

“Hand over the brat and we’ll be gone. Otherwise, we have a problem.”

An arrow came out of nowhere, soaring a foot above the head of the protesting soldier. Both he and his companion flinched.

“Don’t make us kill you in front of the child,” said Neslan. “You’re outnumbered. I suggest you leave, now.”

“Listen, kid,” growled the second guard, “if I catch you again….”

“Get out of here!”

Kora had never heard Neslan’s voice so harsh. The uniforms left, not rushing, but certainly not dawdling. Kora and Hayden jumped down from their tree.

“Who are you people?” the boy asked again.

“No time for that,” said Lanokas. Ranler started barking orders.

“We’re moving out. Grab what you dropped, that’s as much as we’re taking. Where the hell is Bidd?”

“Right here,” came Bidd’s voice. He too had left his post.

“What kind of stunt do you think you pulled?”

“Just because this is my first…. I overshot on purpose! To scare him! It worked, didn’t it? I knew where everyone was, I swear.”

Ranler ignored him. “Kora….”

The boy jumped. “Kora?”

“Take the kid to the apartment. I got your grain.”

Kora hardly understood instructions, her heart thumped so loudly in her ears. Everyone scattered, leaving her alone with the renegade twelve-year-old. She grabbed him by the ear. “What the hell are you doing in Yangerton?”

“I….”

“Not here,” Kora hissed. “Take my hand.”

Ten seconds later, they were standing in the center room of the League’s apartment. Laskenay had not returned; the door to the bedroom was still open, the way Kora
had
left it. The fire’s embers gave enough light for her to see the rips in Zacry’s clothing, the smudges on his face. Her brother was thinner than ever, not quite gaunt but something close. His arm was scratched and bleeding. He stared at his sister in shock.

“I didn’t think it was true. It can’t be true. You’re a sorceress?!”

“We’ll get to that later.”

“So those people, that was the League? It’s really you, this is fantastic! Was Sedder there?”

“Sedder died, Zac.”

Zacry’s eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. “No way. No.”

“Zalski killed him. He killed him himself. You think this is a game?” Zacry stumbled to a chair, dumbfounded by Kora’s news. “You’re lucky you’re alive yourself. How long have you been on the streets? Where’s Mother?”

“I don’t know. But I’m sure she’s fine, I’m sure of it. We only spent two weeks at Auntie Mader’s. Mother said if she had to leave home then she wanted to be useful, so we came here. We had a few scares, but we made it to Yangerton. She started working for the
Letter
.”

Kora raised a frightened hand to her mouth.

“She ran the press, that’s why they didn’t publish stories about you. Mother said they were bogus, there’s no way you have magic. She wouldn’t print lies. And she didn’t want to bring more attention to what you’re doing, because sorceress or not she knew who you were with. She never told anyone that, of course.”

“She was working for the
Letter
?” Kora dropped into a chair, her hand still blocking her face. Zacry realized why she looked so alarmed.

“They didn’t catch anyone who did technical stuff. They went after the writers. They didn’t get her.”

“Good God, I hope they didn’t!”

Zacry sighed. “It was fun while it lasted. They let me deliver for them.” The admission was enough to make Kora forget her mother, for the moment. Her torso launched forward, with enough violence to make her brother wince. “It was better for me to do it than someone older,” he protested. “No one suspects a kid, I could get in almost anywhere.”

“Even so….”

“I knew what I was doing,
Kora. Didn’t get in any scrapes ‘c
ept that one
, when some teenager grabbed my sack.
I guess he thought I had money or something. I punched him hard to get him to drop it, and he knocked the wind out of me and a guard came up, so the guy ran off. My sack was slit but I held it closed, and the guard didn’t look inside. He just asked if I was hurt…. You all right? Sis?”

“I think so.” Kora tried to settle in her seat. “How did you lose Mother?”

“She got scared when the
Letter
collapsed. We were staying with a woman she worked with, dull as anything. You’d think she’d be interesting, supporting the resistance, but she’d drone on for forty minutes about her garden. What had bloomed, what was dying, what should have come up a week ago but didn’t made it through the winter….”

“Mother, Zacry.”

“Right. Mother panicked. She didn’t want anything to happen to me if they found her. Not that they’d know I helped the Letter, but….”

Kora’s arm shook. “Being my brother put you in an interesting position.”

“Well, yeah. Mother’s friends told her if I went to the orphanage with a fake name, I was old enough that they’d set me up as an apprentice with someone. I never really wanted to be a smith or a leatherworker or anything like that. And I didn’t want to leave her alone. But I could tell nothing else would let her rest easy, and she’s been through a lot.”