Chapter 15 The Revenant #2
I wait until I can’t hear them before carefully peering out of my hiding spot.
The house is about twenty yards away, with very little cover between where I am and the steps that lead to the rear door.
With a brief murmur for the Founder to watch over me, I bolt across the last stretch of grass and press myself into the shadows along the house.
I inhale deeply through my nose and exhale quietly, listening for anyone raising an alarm.
There’s nothing but silence.
Cautiously, I climb the spiral steps to the second-floor patio outside Cosimo’s study and surreptitiously peer through the wood-and-glass–paned double doors.
Cosimo is seated at an ornately carved black desk on the far side of the room.
His head is tilted against the top of the wingback leather chair, lips slightly parted.
He’s asleep or already dead. Either works for me, though I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get to kill him myself.
I owe him a painful death. As quietly as possible, I press my palm against the lock and turn the brass handle, opening the door enough to squeeze through.
I expect the tingle of the magical ward and would be shocked if there hadn’t been one.
Just as they had at the Vault, the onyx inked runes on my armor and skin allow me to pass through unaffected.
The door silently closes behind me, and I slip further into the study.
Stopping behind the desk chair, I glance down at Cosimo.
A pulse beats in his neck, so he’s sleeping, utterly unaware of his imminent death.
I thought I’d feel more. I’ve been expecting rage, or glee, or something more intense than this empty nothingness as I look at his wrinkled, pale face.
I consider waking him, eviscerating him verbally and physically, with righteous indignation.
But it won’t bring Kas back, and it carries more risk than it’s worth.
Instead, I slip the glass vial from the inner pocket of my cloak, hands steady as ever as I uncork it and pour a few drops into his open mouth.
He begins to cough, and I walk around the desk to face him.
The coughing quickly becomes choking as my special blend of poisons begins to work.
Cosimo tries to sit up, fighting for air.
I drop the cloaking spell and pull off my hood.
His shock and confusion give me a brief moment of satisfaction that lingers as his old eyes grow wide with understanding.
“Good evening, Cosimo.” He tries to lift a hand, possibly to cast a spell or summon help, but his arm only trembles with the effort.
“As much as I’d love to drag this out and make you suffer for Kas’s death, we don’t have that kind of time.
” His lips turn blue as his lungs seize with the paralyzing effect of the belladonna.
“Don’t worry. The others will join you very soon.
” He tries to scream but no sound comes out as the abrin from the rosary pea causes his insides to boil into mush.
His larynx and vocal cords are too damaged now.
I allow myself a moment to savor the horror on his face.
His arms drop like leaden weights into his lap, and he slips sideways as his body shuts down.
When the last of the life spark drains from former Guild Master Cosimo Vitorio, a bit of the weight lifts from my heart.
There’s nothing more to do here, and the risk increases the longer I stay.
It’s time to lay low for a while and let what will surely be a panicked frenzy among Cosimo’s cronies, and the Onyx Guild, die down.
There haven’t been any shouts of alarm, and while sunrise is still hours away, only luck has kept the bodies of the guards from being discovered.
I pull up my hood, re-cast Cloaking, and scan the room.
There’s probably a translocation circle somewhere in the house, but I don’t have time to search for it.
I could go back out the doors I came through, but that’s a last resort.
There’s a door that leads into a formal sitting room and another that opens into a library.
But, at best, those would lead me to the front door, and right into the waiting arms of the guards.
There has to be another way out. In a guild master’s home, especially for the head of the Onyx Guild, it only makes sense to have an emergency escape from the place you spend most of your time.
I’m betting my life that there’s another way out of this study.
Carefully, knowing there may be devices that trigger any number of fatal defenses, I work my way around the room, casting a spell to detect both magical and mundane traps while searching for a release mechanism of some kind.
It takes longer than I’d like, but ultimately, I find what I’m looking for.
The floor to ceiling portrait of El Susurro tips me off.
Why have a portrait of something you can easily see with a glance out the window?
I run my fingers along the outside of the frame but find nothing.
Activating my sigil, I try again, pressing my fingertips under the edge of the frame one more time.
There’s a soft click, and the entire painting swings inward, revealing a small space between the walls.
I spare one last look at Cosimo’s pale corpse and catch movement outside.
Two figures are sprinting across the lawn toward the house, shouting the alarm.
So I step into the empty space and swing the painting into place.
I consider casting Light, but if this passageway empties out where I believe it does, it’ll leave me blind and at a disadvantage.
So I move down the narrow passage, keeping my hands to either side, feeling my way in the dark.
The tingle of my tattoos indicates when I pass through the ward again, giving me a bit of perspective on my current location.
My fingers graze over a line of evenly spaced runes set into the walls, which begin to give off a faint glow.
They light up several feet in front of me, indicating which way to go without compromising my vision.
I pick up the pace as the narrow path widens into a small tunnel.
The runes come to an end and fade away, leaving the faint outline of a small door set into the stone.
With no handle or visible way to open it, I set my palm against the rough surface, and my sigil flares to life.
There’s a soft snick, and the portal swings out slightly.
The lapping of the waves and the scent of lake water confirm my suspicions.
I peer through the gap at the retreating back of a guard as they walk further down the dock.
They must have been left to watch the ship while everyone else ran for the house.
Slipping through the opening, I catch up to them, hauling them against me with one arm as my other brings the blade of my dagger across their throat.
They gurgle as their knees hit the dock.
I nudge them sideways, and they slide into the water.
There’s no need to bother with stealth now.
I barrel down the dock, boots pounding against the wooden slats, practically tripping over the remaining guard who is hiding behind the ship.
Before they can register what’s happening, both of my blades cut through the guard’s armor and pierce their chest with little resistance.
Gasping, they drop to the dock like a sack of stones.
I drag them to the edge and place my boot on their chest, giving them a shove while holding tightly to my blades to keep them from following the body into the lake.
I rinse my knives in the water and run to El Susurro.
With no time to untie the mooring ropes, I slash one and pull the others free as I climb aboard, casting Force to shove the ship away from the dock.
There are shouts of alarm from the estate grounds, but I ignore them as the ship drifts.
Scrambling to set the foresail, I raise the sheet, and the canvas cracks open with a sharp snap as it fills with a blast of wind.
The cutter lurches forward, gathering speed as I guide the ship out into the lake, wishing I had the skills for weather spells so I could move more swiftly.
The iron gate at the dock screeches open and guards pour out, but luck is with me.
I unfurl the mainsail, and as if it heard my thoughts, the wind picks up, filling the black fabric, speeding the ship’s progress, and leaving the docks far behind.
Fireballs are lobbed my way, as one or two guards attempt to burn the ship with Witchfire, but the first volley misses.
By the time they try a second round, I’m out of range and formulating the next phase of my escape.
Our plan is for me to sail down the coast, and before dawn, scuttle the boat somewhere.
It’s a shame to sink such a lovely ship, but it’s too large to hide and an unmistakable clue to which way I’m running.
Once back on land, I’ll lay low until I’m sure no one is following me, and then I’ll acquire a horse and head south.
From there, it will only be a few days’ ride through the Maqrun Mountains and into the city of Oht. And Nico’s waiting arms.