Chapter 3
MERI
M eri stood for a few seconds with her mouth open.
The stranger’s mother staggered upright, and Meri recovered enough to reach out to steady her.
The old woman’s headscarf had been torn from her head, revealing a bald scalp.
Her skin, dry and creased with wrinkles, clung so tightly to her face she resembled a bony skull covered in paper.
The eyes regarding Meri, however, were dark and very much alive.
She reached out and squeezed both of Meri’s cheeks, hard. “Such a beauty is my deliverer! What’s your name, child?”
“Meri, honored aunt.” The words of courtesy in Kushian spilled out of her mouth before she could help herself from speaking in her native tongue.
“Ah, you are from Kush, yes?” The elderly woman switched easily to Meri’s language. “A follower of the Three Prophets, then. Blessed be their names and deeds.”
She tottered away from Meri, pulling her veil back over her head, and made a beeline for Gallmau, enveloping him into a hug before her friend could react. “My other rescuer, so handsome and tall! What do they call you, sweet boy?”
“Gallmau, madame.” He tried to give the old woman a formal bow, but given she was squeezing his arms and remarking how muscular he was, he settled for a bob of his head. “We feared the worst when we saw you under the wreckage. Perhaps you should rest and have your son help you.”
Gallmau gave the man in question a beseeching glance as he tried to extricate himself from the woman’s grip, which only caused her to cling tighter and plant several kisses on his hands.
The woman’s son had not moved from his position to rush to his mother’s side, and his impassive expression held no sign of shock at her miraculous recovery. He raised one eyebrow in her direction and continued his silent observation of all of them.
Once again, Meri tried to judge whether his lack of reaction stemmed from the slaughter around them, or was something more ominous.
“The rest of our company are Tharin and Karabil, also from Kush.” Gallmau managed to wave at the twins, interrupting their assiduous search of the bodies for money or other valuables.
They both straightened, tucked a few choice finds into their pockets, and gave the woman deep and respectful bows. “What may we call you and your son?”
“Saints forgive me, I’ve not even told you who we are!
” The woman raised her hands in supplication to the heavens, and Gallmau wiggled free of her embrace.
“I am Naghwe—Mother Naghwe, they call me—you need not bother with fancy titles for a humble old woman such as myself. This is my son Sinan—he’s so handsome, isn’t he?
We’re from Iotape, in the east. His merchant travels take him west frequently, of course, but I came with him this time.
My hope was to pray at the shrine of the Lady of Shadows in Lutecia, but oh, such a calamity has befallen us! ”
She gestured at the death around them with more enthusiasm than seemed appropriate for the circumstances.
Gallmau, who had flushed pink when Naghwe had talked about how good-looking her son was, tried to take her arm and push her gently in Sinan’s direction. “It’s not a sight fit for a lady, I’m afraid.”
“Fit or not, it’s what we found.” Meri had recovered from her surprise that Naghwe was alive and decided the talkative old woman might as well chat about something useful. “Who attacked you, and why? Your son told us it was a woman.”
“A she-devil from the bowels of Hell itself.” Naghwe snarled out the words with particular venom. “She had two great beasts at her side, with glowing eyes and slavering jaws. Only the divine intercession of the Lady herself saved us.”
Meri had gathered by now that Naghwe was a follower of Gallmau’s religion, the Church of Saints, and this Lady of Shadows was a revered figure in her faith.
“Why would a necromancer with two Death Hounds come after a trader and a pilgrim?” She couldn’t make the pieces of this fit together, and her sense of unease was growing.
“The Hounds came after me when I rode along the road, and Gallmau and I had a hell of a time putting them down. Yet they somehow left your son alive, and now this Bone Lord you speak of is nowhere to be found.”
“An impressive feat, killing both of those beasts.” Sinan reacted, finally, to her last statement. “I believe the woman who directed them was from the Order of Katil.”
Meri licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry. The Order was more of a bogeyman than a reality to the common people, but the fear with which the elites viewed them was something she had seen with her own eyes. Even her Sultana’s royal vizier had spoken of them in hushed tones.
“You can identify a necromantic assassin on sight, yet you have no guesses why you were targeted?” Meri took a few steps closer to Sinan, her tone turning sharp.
“They go after kings, viziers, maybe even the high and mighty witches of the Noviodunam. Not merchants. And it’s expensive to purchase their services. ”
“Perhaps your group of Tomb Fighters were her true targets.” Sinan held his ground. Perhaps he had simply guessed their profession, or maybe he had recognized her and the others from the fanciful stories that ran in the Continental papers.
Either way, the term irked Meri, although she had used it herself in casual conversation when she had been the highest-ranked speed fighter on the Continent.
Her fellow elite fighters of the arena circuit, handsomely paid to put on choreographed battles for the enjoyment of large and well-paying audiences, tended to look down upon the messy business of killing monsters for money.
Meri didn’t care. Riches had been thrown at her before, and she had left those offers behind to fight creatures that attacked innocents with dark magic—be they beasts or men.
“You’re quite familiar with Bone Lords and those who hunt them, for a trader.” Meri placed a hand on her hip, her tone challenging but not overtly hostile. She wanted him to talk more, so she could judge if he was lying to them.
“Merchants need to be able to assess risk and weigh it against the chance of benefit.” Sinan surveyed the bodies around him, and his mouth tightened.
“My mother and I are in your debt for our rescue, and I didn’t intend to offend you.
I need to attend to funeral arrangements for those I hired for my protection and escort my mother to Lutecia before nightfall.
Allow me to compensate you for your service.
I have a fair sum of gold on hand. Please take it and go with our thanks. ”
“We couldn’t possibly accept your money.” Only Gallmau could deliver such an outlandish statement with such conviction.
Both of the twins tried to smother laughs with little success. Meri, who knew her friend well enough to understand he meant every word he said, didn’t argue.
Something wasn’t right about the handsome merchant and his pious mother. Maybe it was nothing more than a valid fear that a group of unsavory Tomb Fighters would choose to leave two more dead bodies in the woods and take off with whatever they could carry.
Maybe it was something else.
“Absolutely.” Meri could hear the twins’ snickers fade into sullen silence. “Take what coin and goods you can carry from the carriage and travel with us to Lutecia. We’ll see you safely to the capital and report this disturbing incident to the authorities.”
Gallmau gave her a grateful but surprised smile, while Sinan did little more than nod. Meri didn’t need to turn around to guess at the twins’ reaction to her refusing an offer of easy money.
The merchant’s mother, on the other hand, was thrilled.
“The Saints bless you all.” Naghwe spread her bony arms wide and beamed in Meri’s direction.
She had good teeth for an old woman, white and solid, with canines a little sharper than they should be.
“I’ll light candles for you all at the shrine of the Lady of Shadows and leave an offering at the House of the Three Prophets as well. ”
Sinan circled behind the carriage and bent over to retrieve something from the wreckage of the vehicle. Naghwe, for her part, took it upon herself to shower the twins with embraces and reverent declarations, all of which interrupted their attempts to pick up more valuables from the dead.
Gallmau came over to Meri and leaned in close. “You don’t look happy.”
“This all stinks of death magic.” Meri shook her head, angry at herself for not being on top of this situation. “None of this makes any sense, unless Sinan is the necromancer.”
“He can’t be a Bone Lord.” Gallmau eyed Sinan as the man pulled a traveling sack and a strongbox from the pile of shattered wood and glass. “Necromancers are all twisted and formed the wrong way from their curse, and he’s—got quite a nice shape to him, don’t you think?”
Gallmau and his dark-eyed boys. Meri shook her head.
“He’s gorgeous, and his mother’s quoting of your scripture is hardly what I’d expect from necromancers.
But why would an assassin from the Order of Katil with two Death Hounds be out here on the road to Lutecia, if Sinan is who he says he is?
The Order doesn’t send anyone out without a good amount of coin changing hands. ”
He grimaced. “I don’t know, but it’s another reason I need to talk to the Sorcier du Roi as soon as we arrive.”
She had to concede that the royal sorcerer of Soissons, with the entire Noviodunam behind him, would know more about dealing with necromantic assassin guilds than she did.
“Fine. I’ll walk with Sinan and try to get more out of him.
You should chat up the old lady. She seemed to like running her hands over your body. ”
Gallmau laughed. “Maybe that’s why she was traveling to the shrine of the Lady of Shadows in the capital. It’s an odd choice for a religious woman, that’s for sure.”