Shadowmage

CHAPTER 11

Hunched over the long table in the council chamber, Lucius flicked his gaze over to Ambrose, who sat straight, arms wrapped around himself as he shuddered. The veteran thief looked shaken to his core, and Lucius could not blame him, for the events of the evening weighed heavily on his mind.

It had been his operation, his plan. The thieves who had volunteered knew there were risks involved but that did not excuse what had happened. His big ideas had cost thirteen men their lives, unless by some miracle, a few had managed to evade those hideous creatures and were, even now, making their way back to the guildhouse. Lucius now had to explain himself to Magnus and tell him exactly why his operation had gone so tragically wrong. In part, he resented the deaths. Up to now, Lucius had never been responsible for anyone, and this was an excellent illustration as to why he had avoided it so long. He wondered how the Hands had managed to sucker him in, made him feel part of their guild and accept the accountability he now faced. At the same time, he knew it was a childish regret, that the lives of good men — thieves though they may be — was an order of magnitude above his own petty concerns. He had no idea what he would say to Magnus. He still did not understand what had happened.

Of the three who had survived boarding the ship, Lucius was to answer for the tragedy, as would Ambrose, being the only senior thief to emerge unscathed from the Voyager. The only other thief to make it out alive, Sandtrist, had been excused on account of his injuries; Lucius had already heard that he was likely to lose his foot, and what use would the Hands have for a one-footed thief? In his own way, Sandtrist had been lost that evening as well.

Footsteps sounded from outside the room, and Lucius braced himself for the confrontation, though he still had little idea of what he would say. Ambrose seemed not to have noticed the sound, and he did not look up when Magnus entered and stood, watching the two thieves.

Since he had known the guildmaster, Lucius had thought him wise, extremely competent and utterly benevolent to those in his charge. But as he looked at the man's face, he could see a terrible hardness in his eyes, an iron will he had always suspected must lie within Magnus, but had never seen. The guildmaster smouldered with barely contained rage, and Lucius swallowed, awaiting the onslaught.

'Would you like to tell me,' Magnus said, starting quietly but gradually allowing his anger to take control until he shouted the last words: 'Just why thirteen of my thieves are dead?'

'Ambush — ' Lucius began, but his voice was too quiet.

Striding over to the table, Magnus hammered a fist down, the sudden violent sound jerking Lucius back. It even seemed to rouse Ambrose.

'What?' Magnus said in a deafening tone that promised quick punishment to anyone who would chance a wrong answer.

Lucius cleared his throat and started again. 'We were ambushed, Magnus, there was no warning, I — '

Magnus' fist crashed down on the table again. 'What happened to your plans? Where were the sentries? Why did no one see them approach? Why are my men dead, Lucius?'

'They weren't human, Magnus.'

'Who weren't? What are you talking about?'

'They just swarmed all over the ship while we were unloading. I swear to you, we scouted the area, silenced the sentry, and only then started the haul. But they were on us in seconds, too many of them. They started killing…' Lucius broke off at that, seeing again in his mind's eye the terrible carnage on the deck of the ship.

'So who was it?' Magnus demanded.

'I… I think they came from the sea.'

Magnus looked utterly confused. 'As an excuse, this is a poor one, Lucius,' he said dangerously.

'He's telling the truth,' Ambrose said, and they both looked at him in surprise. 'On my mother's grave, Magnus, he's telling the truth.'

Magnus sighed and, drawing out a seat, sat down with them.

'You better tell me what happened, from start to finish. Leave nothing out,' he said.

So Lucius explained, with Ambrose adding comments where he could. He told Magnus how he had begun preparations for the operation, using the Hand's resources to learn about the ship and its cargo. He outlined the different teams involved, who was part of each, and what their expected roles were. He told how they had boarded the ship, located the silk, and then started offloading it.

Then he began telling Magnus of the appearance of the first creature, describing how it looked, its strength and deadly, murderous intent. Intentionally leaving out the use of his magical talents, he went on to tell of the slaughter that had followed, of the sheer number of the creatures that had boarded the ship after them, and how men had died. Their desperate escape from the Voyager followed, along with the pursuit across the docks and the final, terrifying assault on the platform as they fled the scene. When he finished, Lucius was shaking, the retelling of the events forcing him to relive them once more.

Magnus' anger had subsided, but he shook his head in disbelief.

'I have never heard of such things,' he said simply.

'On my mother's grave, Magnus,' Ambrose said again, and the seriousness of his expression seemed to give Magnus pause.

'You think they came from the sea?' he asked.

Lucius shrugged helplessly. 'They seemed… adapted to it,' he said, remembering the foul sea stench, the webbed claws and scaled skin. 'And they moved slower once they had been out of the water for a few minutes.'

'I noticed that,' Ambrose said.

'Well do you have any idea why they were there?' Magnus asked. 'Who sent them?'

They both shook their heads.

'I would dearly like to blame the Guild for this,' Lucius said. 'But I saw nothing to suggest their involvement.'

'Then there are three possibilities that come to mind,' Magnus said. 'First, the Guild has new allies. Second, we have inadvertently wandered into some dispute between the Allantians and these… sea demons.'

'And third?' Lucius prompted.

'Third, there is a new power in the city.' He raised a hand in a helpless gesture. 'But none of those seem very likely to me. What would sea demons want with a city on land? Why have we heard nothing about them before? None of this makes sense.'

He prompted Lucius to retell the story again, searching for any information that had been missed the first time, anything that could give him a clue as to what his thieves had faced that night. No matter how many times he quizzed Lucius over particular points, however, they seemed no closer to the truth. Magnus was about to ask Lucius to describe the attack on the Voyager again, when shouts and excited cries reached them from the open door. When someone shouted for the guildmaster, panic evident in his voice, they all started.

Leading the way, Magnus rushed from the meeting room and vaulted down the stairs, Lucius and Ambrose in tow, where another thief directed him to one of the rooms used as sleeping quarters. Trotting behind Magnus, Lucius entered the room and gasped.

Tiny though the room was a dozen thieves were gathered in a tightly packed mass that they had to push their way through, some only relinquishing their place when they saw it was Magnus who had entered. Lying on the bed, its sheets already soaked through with his blood, was Caradoc. Helmut, a thief from Vosburg who was versed in some of the arts of healing, was tending to him, fussing over a crossbow bolt that jutted from the lieutenant's shoulder. Writhing in pain, Caradoc looked up at Magnus as he entered.

'Caught me on Ring Street,' he gasped. 'Tried to kill me.'

'Would have done too, but for another three inches to the left,' Helmut muttered to no one in particular.

'Who?' Magnus said, leaning over the bed to catch Caradoc's words.

'Didn't see,' he said. 'Too dark. But… Guild. Has to be… the Guild. They've broken the truce.'

Magnus frowned at that, then laid a hand on Helmut's shoulder. 'Can you help him?'