Eighty Three: An Assignment

Jordan hadn't been alone with Marick like this since he signed with the Devils.

He had decided he very much preferred it that way.

The Devil leader's style of intimidation was different from Arlen's. Arlen often played with a vicious-looking knife as he waited, somehow pinning his victim with both eyes, even the blind one. Marick's tactic was leaving someone to sweat in a chair while he pretended he'd forgotten them. Jordan had no idea how he made total disinterest so sinister. The man browsed a bookshelf in one corner of the upstairs study and let Jordan fidget and flinch at every noise from the Caelumese gathered downstairs. The anticipation was only compounded by the fear that Cael would lose patience and storm up here any moment. He could still taste blood in his mouth from the blow the Angel had dealt him.

"So."

Jordan jumped and twisted to face forwards again. Marick seated himself at the other side of a large polished desk, a little worse for wear but still grand. Jordan wondered if it was stolen, and then concluded it was a stupid thing to wonder. Of course it was stolen. Likely everything in the house was stolen, including the house itself.

"It seems Arlen has been sending you on some strange missions lately," Marick said. He flicked through the pages of a book as he spoke. "I already knew about your foray into Cael's rooms, but I am curious what you were doing sniffing about in Ethred's."

"You knew?" His heart sank like it was made of lead. This confrontation had been storing up for a while, then, and everything he had done since had just compounded it.

Marick chuckled, but his eyes remained humourless. "Of course I did, boy. I didn't get where I am by being ignorant of my members' movements." He tilted his head. "Well?"

Lying would just piss the man off if he knew about these plans for fact, and lying badly would just insult him further. Well, Jordan couldn't do any other kind of lying. But he could omit.

"Harkenn sent me to investigate Ethred's rooms," he said. "I asked Arlen for help with it."

"Harkenn expected you to break in?"

Tread carefully. "He told me to use whatever means were at my disposal, so I did. He didn't specify that I had to use the front door."

Marick's mouth twitched in what might have been a smirk. "Well, I can definitely tell you've been around Jesper and Akiva."

Jordan wasn't sure whether that was intended as a compliment or not. He certainly didn't take it as one.

"What did he want you to find?"

"Evidence that Ethred had been there recently," Jordan replied. "Anything that might reveal his plans."

"And did you find anything?"

"Lots of papers. Hidden weapons. No evidence that he'd been back."

Marick stared at him for so long that Jordan was sure he was fucked. If he'd had a chance to speak with that priest, he would know about the vial. But then Jordan would have to admit that Usk took it and probably still had it, and then on to potentially betraying Arlen and breaking his word. What price would the assassin exact from him for that?

"I have a job for you," Marick finally said.

Jordan stared at him. "A...job?"

"Mm." Marick steepled his fingers and peered at him over the top of them. "I'm sure you won't object to it, considering how much trouble it's caused you lately." Another silence. "Boy, I want you to get rid of Silas."

"Get rid of..." He was starting to feel stupid, sputtering and staring like this. "As in...?"

"Yes, Calder." Marick smiled and it chilled him. He'd never told Marick his guild name, and his use of it made the prospect feel somehow worse. "Yes, as in killing him. I don't expect to have to spell it out for you in future."

"But I thought he owed you..." Jordan trailed off as his voice rose to a pitch and broke. He had to stop talking before he gave his panic away, though he knew it was wasted effort. This was his punishment for disobedience, he was certain of it. He hated Silas and wished the boy would leave him alone, but not this much and not like this.

"He does," Marick replied, nodding. "And you're going to conclude the debt, and learn a few things in the process."

"I don't understand."

"Oh, don't bore me with cliches," the man drawled. "Yes you do. You understand very well. You just don't like it and you're hoping I'll change my mind if you act stupid enough. But I won't, boy. You're mine now. And you're going to do as I tell you, or we both know who's going to pay for it."

The Devil tattoo between his shoulders had weighed on him less when it had first been done. "You said I wouldn't have to kill anyone."

"Actually, I didn't. I said I didn't know what Arlen planned to teach you. And if you think very hard about it, I'm sure you'll find that at no point did Arlen ever pin himself to a promise like that, either. We're an assassins' guild first and foremost, Calder, and the rest of it is lucrative side business. If you can't fulfil the main order, you're just dead weight, and I like to keep my business efficient." He opened a drawer in his desk and casually flicked through it. "I had some hope for Silas, but he's proven himself a hindrance. He cannot let go of the disappointment that Arlen didn't choose him, and it causes him to be reckless and fail to follow basic orders. Ethred paid me well to take him, but..." he shrugged as if helpless to circumstance, "Ethred isn't here, and he has not claimed the boy. I have no further need of him. So you're going to kill him."

"So it wasn't you who broke Ethred out?" Jordan asked, grabbing onto some thread of the conversation that might distract while he tried to think his way out of this.

"I'm sure Arlen told you the vote failed." Marick didn't look happy about his line of questioning. "I don't take my guild's vote for granted, boy. No." His eyes narrowed. "Don't ask me who did. I won't tell you. My trust is earned." He finished rummaging in his desk and pulled out a thin blade. It was plain but gleaming, and unlike anything Jordan already owned. "This is your weapon."

His desperate attempts to puzzle out Marick's words as a distraction failed him. Breath sawed in his lungs. Though he knew Marick would have no respect for it, he begged anyway. "Please don't make me do this."

"I'm not making you do anything," was Marick's reply. "I'm simply assigning consequences to your choices."

Jordan almost laughed, more out of hysteria and disbelief than anything else. "But you're giving me no choice."

"There's always a choice," Marick said. The way he said it suggested he didn't just mean this job, but Jordan couldn't guess at this moment what else it was. "But again...consequences." As if that settled everything, the man got to his feet. "Apologies for your rough treatment this evening, Calder. I assure you it won't happen again. As for the items you found, do what you will with them. When you do that, just remember that your loyalties lie here. Or else. Come."

He strode across the room and opened the door. Jordan got up and stumbled after him, just so he wouldn't be left behind in this house with all the Caelumese and that...thing. He wondered if it was still down there. He had no headspace to wonder why Marick was so casual about his investigations; he genuinely didn't seem to care that they were on the cusp of foiling them, or that Arlen might have helped him do it. He knew, that much was clear. Equally clear was that he was on very familiar terms with Cael. It was all too confusing, and lost in the rush of dread at what Marick expected of him.

Kill Silas. He had to kill someone. He couldn't do it. He knew he couldn't do it. But if he didn't, then Grace's life was on the line again. He didn't think her relocation would fool Marick; he couldn't believe he'd thought it ever would. Marick knew things there seemed no plausible way for him to know, and things that were far more secret than Grace's location. Briefly he wondered if Marick already knew how Harkenn used him, but that thought was dangerous. It was like someone had reached in, grabbed a fistful of his guts, and squeezed.

"Where've they all come from?" he asked, when the hum of Caelumese conversation reached them again on the stairs. Marick smiled back up at him, somehow hearing it over the racket.

"You know the answer, Calder, if you really think about it."

He didn't, and Marick knew he didn't, but the Devil leader seemed content to let him stew. He led on mercilessly into the centre of the armoured crowd where Cael waited for them, impatience written all over his face. The walking cadaver, sword still bared, stood at the Angel's shoulder. Though it left him closer to the line of soldiers, Jordan hung back as Marick approached Cael. Over their shoulders he saw Gelert looking acutely uncomfortable between two soldiers.

"We're leaving," Marick announced. "We'll have no more part in this madness, Cael. It won't work."

"How would it not work?" The Angel turned a very indelicate red, impatience scaling to anger in a blink. He sneered. "A whole Caelumese battalion, Marick. The lord will be dead before the morning. We had a contract."

Marick shifted his stance into one that was defensive, and Jordan's gut turned to ice. "We did. And you decided that you did not need my expertise and acted alone, behind my back, and using my men with abandon. Finish it alone. See what a mistake you've made the hard way."

As he spoke he had backed towards Jordan.

"No," Cael said, "We've been talking down here, me and my men, on what to do from now on. You're going to see this through with me. We'll split the spoils. Evens. Can't say fairer than that."

"No," Marick's voice was final. One soldier on the opposite wall made his move too early and stepped forward, revealing their intention, and quick as a flash Marick turned. The soldier against the door cried out as the tiny throwing knife hit his eye, staggering away. Marick gave Jordan a hard shove. "Go, Calder."

"But Dela..."

"I'll see her out. Go."

He didn't wait. He had no compulsion to stay and guard Marick's back. His compulsion to go back for the girl was outweighed by his terror of everyone in that room. He put his head down and ran, bursting into the night and taking off at a sprint. He didn't know where he was or if he was going in the right direction. He just needed to get away, and when he stopped he could figure out where to go.

If he could stop.

He became aware that he had a pursuer two streets from Marick's home, and he knew instantly what was following him. It was remarkable, the stamina that pants-wetting terror for his life could give him. He dared not stop for a second to get his bearings, as the creature was only keeping pace with him. As he slowed, it would gain. So he could not stop for a moment, could not ascertain whether he was only growing more lost.

This far from it, he could signal Yddris, he realised. He tried for a restrained crackle and instead burst into a halo of flame. Likely everyone in the quarter could see it; he might as well have sent up a flare. Well, every little helped. As long as somebody found him before it caught him.

He tired quickly. Adrenaline could only take him so far. Tears streaked his face, from both speed and terror, and he became gradually aware that he was making incoherent noises as he ran. It was the only thing keeping his heart from leaping out instead. As he slowed he braced himself for that cold touch, that horrific plunge into disconnected darkness, and he was so focused on forward and away that he ploughed straight into Arlen as he was coming the other way.

"Get off me!" the assassin roared, and Jordan found himself plucked up by the collar of his cloak. He thrashed and choked, trying to keep moving. Arlen couldn't protect him from that thing. But Usk held him firm until he had to stop before he strangled.

"Let me go!" he yelled, and he wasn't proud of the shriek in his voice.

"Boy, calm down. Calm down. It's gone."

It wasn't Usk holding him. It was Yddris. The unexpectedness of it shut him up. It was definitely Arlen on the ground, cursing as he readjusted the straps of his false leg and groped for his stick. And behind him...

"What are you doing here?" he gasped.

"Coming to find you. I would have thought that was fairly self-evident." Yddris let him go. "Put that out, now. You're making everyone uncomfortable."

He was still on fire. Oh yeah. He let out a self-deprecating giggle that didn't sound like him at all. God, his face hurt. Gentle exploration found the blow to his cheek already causing swelling. "Ow."

He restrained his magic again, just relieved not to be pursued again despite the fact that Arlen looked furious with him. He could deal with that later. Something was pressing on him, something Cael had said...

"Are you hurt?" Yddris asked.

"A bit. I got hit. Listen, Yddris..."

"Who was it?" Arlen demanded. He had made it to his feet and now stood a few feet away, glaring. Usk stood at his shoulder and Akiva had just appeared from somewhere, his usual jaunty grin in place. He tipped an imaginary hat when he caught Jordan's eye.

"Cael," Jordan said. "Yddris..."

"Was Marick there?" Arlen interrupted.

"I'm going to hit you with that stick in a minute, Blackheart," Yddris growled. "What, boy?"

"Cael said they'd managed to get Harkenn to sign something. I don't..."

"Have you found him?" A woman's voice came from the shadows of a nearby alley and the shadows resolved themselves into Ashe's face. Jordan blinked.

"Aye," Usk called, when Arlen seemed too busy grinding his teeth and glaring at the Unspoken.

"Signed something?" Yddris asked, loudly and firmly. His irritation showed in the air around him. "Signed what?"

"I don't know. But he said...he said that Harkenn wouldn't see the morning. Is Nika still with him?"

A dead silence followed his statement. Then, in a hoarse voice, "No, boy. He took my place on the patrol so I could track Cael down. He's only got Nova with him. And whatever guard he hasn't sent out to find Ethred or contain the plague breakout. Fuck. Fuck. We've played right into their hands."

"You think..."

"They've left an assassin in the castle? Boy, there's a whole delegation nicely ensconced in the guest chambers down the hall! Of course they have. Of course they have..." He whirled on Arlen. "Will your employer have stationed anyone there?"

Jordan butted in before Arlen could respond. There would be hell to pay for the awkwardness of this whole encounter later, but in the fog that was descending on his thoughts he couldn't find it in him to worry. "I don't think Marick was behind this one." He looked at Arlen as he said it. "He and Cael had a falling-out. They were working together at one point, but Cael's been working behind Marick's back – he didn't even know they'd kidnapped me. He got me out of there. With about two dozen soldiers and..."

He trailed off at the conflict of emotions that ran across his tutor's face. Then, as if a blind had been drawn down, it went blank. "You left him alone there?"

"Gelert was there. Though...he didn't look like he was going to be a whole lot of use."

"What are you thinking, Arl?" Usk rumbled.

Yddris's hand clamped hard on Jordan's shoulder. "You've got a choice tonight, boy. You're coming with me and saving Harkenn's hide, or you're going with them to save Marick's. Or kill him, or whatever they have planned. What's it going to be, because I'm not hanging around here for you to agonise over it."

Jordan blinked at him. This night was going too fast for him to keep up with. A few months ago Yddris would have dumped him at his front door and left him there, claiming it was all too dangerous. Now he was given the choice of one dangerous task over another, and he wasn't sure how he felt about that elevation of trust.

"You did not get all that free service from me to let that rich fucker die," Arlen growled. "You go up there and make sure I didn't waste my time."

He stalked off without another word. Usk approached him, pressed the roll of paper and the vial they'd discovered in the temple into his hands, and followed. Akiva went with a smirk. Ashe slouched past with a fixed kind of look on her face and didn't even glance at him.

"He is going to kill me later," Jordan said. "And that's just for running into him."

"Worry about that when it happens." Yddris strode off and Jordan hurried to keep up, wincing at the stiffness in his legs. "Funny, he seems even more shitty and abrasive than I remember him."

"How the hell did you end up with him?"

"Saved him from a plagued fleshmonger. He's not happy about that, trust me." He paused. "Thinking on it, that was probably what made him shitty and abrasive."

Jordan shook his head. "No, he's always like that."

"I also threw piss on him."

"Okay, that'll definitely do it."

He didn't ask more questions. The atmosphere didn't allow for it. Yddris didn't slow for him, and by some miracle he managed to keep up as they near-jogged back through the dead quarter, taking the bridge at the base of the castle hill. He didn't think about what Marick had assigned him to do. Telling Yddris seemed too terrible a prospect, and he didn't want to see Arlen's reaction – less judgement but far more satisfaction, he would have guessed. He didn't want to see it. He was still certain he couldn't do it. He just had to find a way out.

Somehow.

By the time they reached the castle he was stumbling with exhaustion, the events of the night catching up with him. The streets were quiet, until they came to the wide stretch of cobbles that led up to the castle gate. These were filled with Caelumese soldiers, rank up on rank of them. Yddris grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him behind a nearby building before they were spotted.

"How in Kiel's name did they all get here?" Yddris muttered, poking his head back out to stare at them all. "With no one noticing?"

"Just really efficient and taking advantage of the plague breakout?" Jordan suggested, sinking down to sit on the building's front step and massage the cramp out of his legs.

"The watch points are still active on the gates," Yddris replied, "And somebody in the city would have seen a group that big and sent up an alarm. Failing that, an outlying settlement or Varthian tribe should have seen them on their way from Caelum. We got no warning at all. It's like they've just popped up out of nowhere."

Jordan slowed. Marick had said that he should be able to guess. But surely it wasn't... "Portals?"

Yddris looked sharply round. "What?"

"Marick said that I of all people should be able to guess how they got there." Jordan blinked at the ground in front of him in shock. After all this time...was it possible? "Yddris, the killers in the crypt with the guarded entrance...the army no one saw coming..."

"Kelian bodies taken from sealed tombs, killers traversing the Barrens alone," Yddris added. He sounded horrified.

"It fits." He swallowed. "And it's all happened since Grace and I got here."

They stared at each other for a moment in mute disbelief. Yddris was the first to stir back into motion. "That's not going to save Harkenn's life, impossible though it seems. We need to keep moving, boy. And it looks like we'll have to find another way in."

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Regards,

Elinor (S E Harrison)