She didn’t see. I almost didn’t. A man was walking slowly down the sidewalk, across the street. There was nothing remarkable about him, or the way he walked. He was just a man, perhaps a bit weary, holding his hat against a wind that still smelled of smoke.
But as he moved beneath a street lamp, he pulled back his hat and looked across the street.
It was Mills. His eyes were sunken and circled by mottled black rings. His skin was slack, going blue. The scarf wrapped around his ruined neck was stained an ugly brown in the front.
He nodded, lowered his hat, continued on.
“Dear, what is it?”
“Nothing. I remembered something. You stay here. I won’t be long.”
“Damn it. Damn it all, anyway.” She let go of me and hurried to the back. A cheery little bell tinkled as she closed the door.
I cussed a bit myself. Then I went out the door, gave the soldiers a glare, and hurried off after the dead man.
Mills set a good pace for a corpse. He went two blocks north and turned into an alley. I’d been keeping half a block behind, on the assumption the Corpsemaster wanted some privacy for our talk. I figured the alley was it.
In the alley, though, a plain Army tallboy waited. Its driver was either living or so freshly dead he still felt the need to sneeze. I nodded at him and clambered inside, and once I was seated he snapped his reins and off we went.
Mills sat across from me. There was no smell. No buzzing of flies. Nothing but a slouched figure in a bloody scarf.
“Captain.”
The voice wasn’t even that of Mills. It was the Corpsemaster’s own voice, or at least the voice she’d led me to believe was hers.
With her breed, one can never be too sure.
“Corpsemaster.” I didn’t salute. “Any news from upriver?”
“You refer to the
“I do.”
There was a small stirring of Mills’s dead limbs. “An ingenious stratagem. I had no idea Avalante had continued their research, after the War. I commend you, Captain. Your efforts were daring and bold.”
“But were they effective?”
Silence.
“That, Captain, I simply do not know.”
“With respect, Corpsemaster, might I inquire as to what you do know?”
She chuckled. “Very little, I’m afraid. A powerful charm has been laid on the land itself, north of Rannit. I suspect it required the full efforts of all three of our sorcerers, working in close concert. That is in itself troubling. Nearly as troubling as the extent to which it has rendered me blind and deaf.”
“That’s why the long-talker isn’t working anymore.”
“Yes. Also disabled are the other more conventional lines of arcane communication used by the House. Oh yes. I know of those. Long ago, Captain, I laid certain charms of my own, up and down the Brown. All those that lie north of here have fallen silent.”
“We’re blind, then.”
Mills nodded.
“I have reason to believe, though, that the invaders are also reduced to what they can see with their unaided eyes,” she said. “This can work to our advantage. An unexpected boon, granted by the Angel of Chance herself, perhaps.”
“I don’t follow.”
“They perhaps do not see the
“Is that what happened?”
“I have no way of knowing. I merely offer it as a possibility. It is also possible the
I nodded. We rolled on ahead, heading east, and not in any hurry.
“The reason for your visit?”
“If I should fall, finder, all those who serve me will fall as well. The few remaining sorcerers in Rannit may continue the defense of the city, or they may flee, or they may join the invaders. In any instance, there will be chaos. You will find no place of safety here, in the aftermath. Neither you, or those you love.”
“Is this one of those morale-building pep talks I remember? Because, with respect, if it is, it needs work.”
“Take those you care about. Go to my house. Find the lowest chambers. There is a door lined with silver at the end of a hall lined with lead. Open that door with this.”
A key appeared in my hand. She didn’t hand it to me. It was just there, cold to the touch.
“Why, Corpsemaster?”
She caused Mills to shrug.
“Because it amuses me. Because I would not leave this world knowing I was a villain to all. Because it is Tuesday and the whim stuck me-what does it matter?”
“Thank you.”
“I hear you’re getting married.”
That threw me. I gobbled air for a moment.
She laughed. “You did get the lady a proper ring, didn’t you? Not some dime-store trinket?”
“It’s not a real wedding. We’re at war, or about to be.”
“So?” Mills turned his head. “You can spend your life waiting for the right moment, Captain. You can spend a thousand lifetimes. A hundred thousand. Take it from me. I can make that statement, and mean it quite literally. Driver. Stop. The Captain will be leaving now.”
The tallboy rolled to the curb.
Mills hid his face with his hat.
“I would shake your hand, Captain, but I fear that would be less than pleasant for either of us. You have the key. Use it if all is lost.”
“We’re a long way from that, sir.”
“Optimism does not suit you, Captain. Fare thee well.”
“And you, sir.”
Mills turned away. I leaped to the pavement. The door slammed shut and the tallboy charged away.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Darla didn’t ask who I’d rushed out to meet.
She knew, though. She knew damned well.
We didn’t speak of it. Not speaking of it robbed us both of any words at all. Mary filled the silence with trivia about hair and make-up, and Darla did her best to make as if I hadn’t just rushed out to take a ride with a dead man.
We stayed there, at the shop, for most of the night. There wasn’t a damned thing else I could do. Mary and Martha sorted shelves and hung gowns and sparred over the displays and the pricing.
Darla pulled up a chair next to mine and we held hands and watched night swallow up the city.
The Corpsemaster’s key was tucked away safe in a pocket. It was just a big old-fashioned iron skeleton key,
