20. Cain
20
CAIN
The Capital’s winter tended to turn strangely warm this time of year, and the docks were packed with pedestrians and carts alike, everyone trying to get as much work done as possible before it inevitably turned freezing again. Around sunset, Cain was sitting at the end of an alley on a discarded wooden crate, watching five children walk toward him. He put on his spectacles, which he’d taken off to avoid standing out, and took a few silver coins from his pouch.
“We’re here.”
It was the oldest girl, who was also the smartest. Her name was Ayana, and she looked about fourteen. There was a spiral scar on her left cheek, made with great care. Ayana had negotiated shrewdly with Cain on their pay, but Cain was even more impressed with her insistence that he pay the coins in multiples of five, so that she could divide equally among the children.
“How did it go?”
“The money first.”
Cain had already taken out half the promised amount from his pouch. He handed it to her.
“You’ll get the rest when you tell me how it went.”
“It’s only half,” said the boy next to her in a heartlander accent. The girl counted the coins.
“It’s all right,” said Ayana, “we’ll just tell him half, then.”
Cain raised his spectacles with his fingertip and said, “If there’s no trust in a transaction, the whole business becomes very tedious.” Cain sighed with slight smile. “Tell me, and you’ll have the rest.”
“You’re joking?” Ayana said with a cock of her eyebrow. “If there was trust, you would give us all the money. This isn’t your first time with us.”
She had a point. He handed her the rest. Ayana quickly counted it, put it in her pocket, and looked around her. Satisfied no one was listening, she said, “We did what you said and watched from a different place than last time.”
“You weren’t seen?”
Ayana shook her head. “It was easier this time, the scary one wasn’t there.”
He had put the children on surveilling Gladdis’s house by the docks for six days now. They learned that the man Devadas called Safani came and went from there as if it were his own home. Whenever the children reported that Safani was at the house, Cain had slipped into the run-down house to check on the Power generator hidden there. It had disappeared from the basement yesterday, as if it had never been there. Whatever was going to happen, Cain’s time was running out.
He had been preparing to infiltrate Gladdis’s house for almost twenty days, which flew by on account of his having had so much to do. He had to convince the local thieves that his suspicious-looking activities did not pose a threat to them. He had to make deals with the dockworkers and patrollers. Then there was the actual casing of the joint, for which he had enlisted the children’s help. It was the longest time and the most effort he had spent on a single job. Everything had to go right. He could not afford to be careless in any way; the stakes were too great.
During all that time, he spoke not a word to the three Ministry agents about the hidden Power generator or his suspicion of Gladdis’s plan to destroy the Capital. He rationalized his silence by telling himself that the information was not reliable, coming from a cadaver of a sorcerer, and that Arienne might get into even more trouble if he revealed how he came by it.
“And we saw something you might like.”
“What did you see?”
Ayana looked up at him and held out an empty palm.
Cain frowned. “I told you I’d give you more once the whole business is done. Unless you want to get some now and much less later.”
Ayana looked peeved.
“Well, an old woman with expensive clothes was there.”
Gladdis was finally in the city? That was somewhat reassuring. They wouldn’t blow up the city if Gladdis was in it. If that was what they were going to do…
“What did she ride in on?”
“Carriage.”
“Was it dusty?”
“Dust, dirt… A lot. And that cloth hanging on the side…” She mimed its shape, moving her hands up and down.
“The dust screen?”
“The dust screen was torn a little. It had the same emblem as the one on the house gates.”
“And the horses?”
“Covered in mud.”
Gladdis had come a long way, then. Maybe she just arrived from Lontaria. Which meant today was his perfect chance.
“What was she wearing?”
“A fluttering blue dress.” She mimed the motion again. It looked like dancing.
It reminded Cain of when he’d first come to the city. Not knowing the language, he had used every gesture he could muster. Even after Fienna had taught him the language, it took awhile for him to drop the habit of gesturing. He had a sudden memory of watching Fienna’s lips move as she taught him words.
“Was her dress ripped as well?”
“No, it was like new. Not dirty. Very pretty, and shiny.”
Cassian velvet. It didn’t stain or wrinkle.
“And shoes?”
“Shoes…” She turned to the others, who all shook their heads. “We didn’t see her shoes.”
Cain nodded. “It’s okay. Not important.”
Ayana continued to report on the security and the general feel of the place. There didn’t seem to be much change, even with Gladdis’s arrival. That was a good sign.
“Good. Well done. Come back here tomorrow and I’ll give you your prize.”
“Then we’re finished?”
“We are.”
Ayana looked a little disappointed. “Why tomorrow?”
“Because I need you all to not tell anyone until then.”
“How will you know if we told anyone or not?”
“Because if you do tell anyone, I’ll be dead before the sun comes up tomorrow.”
He couldn’t help feeling a little disgusted with himself for saying this, since it was a form of threat, an attempt to manipulate the children using the prospect of being responsible for his death. Ayana and the children had done well so far, and there was no sign of them having ever talked to anyone about him. But he needed to make sure this continued.
Ayana was solemn. “All right. We won’t tell anyone. And you won’t die.”
Cain quoted a Bachrian proverb: “Silence and care catch lions.”
Ayana made a big smile and replied, “While loose lips and inattention lose buffaloes.”
He dismissed them, and stood up from the crate. He took off his spectacles and put them away in their case again, and left the alleyway.
Cain went to the shop where he’d purchased the new clothes and pack for Arienne twenty days ago. He needed supplies of his own now. Cain knew the shop clerk had leaked his whereabouts to the agents after his last visit, but either he did not recognize Cain today or he simply did not understand the magnitude of what he had done to him. The man only smiled warmly and said “Your good benefit!” about the hooks and ropes he recommended to Cain.
Gladdis’s house had only two entrances: the front and the back. Both doors had guards. But there was a possible point of entry in the small gap between a toolshed and the outer wall. He could hide in the gap and cross the unlit yard to approach the side of the main building. Ayana had told him about it when she’d climbed to the top of a bell tower to peer into the property. The wall was high. It required ropes and hooks to scale, but thankfully it was by an alley that rarely saw passersby. If he went over that part of the wall quickly and silently, he would land behind the shed without being noticed.
As it was the season for the last of the year’s Dalosian olive oil to come in, the docks were busy day and night and the patrollers were mostly concentrated near the off-loading areas. As long as he was dressed like a dockworker, it would attract no suspicion to be holding a sack full of equipment.
It wasn’t as if he had never broken into a home in the middle of the night before. Before Fienna got him the job at the oil shop, Cain had committed almost every crime a child could possibly commit. He had also been lighter and faster than other children, which allowed him to become adept at breaking into homes on the second floor. Like Ayana, he had also done surveillance jobs for adult burglars. But all that was years ago. Could he scale this wall without getting caught? If the silent man Safani was inside, he could be watching this very gap on the other side for all Cain knew. Or the ex-legionary from the dark alley that night. Sneaking in was one thing, but he had never learned how to fight properly. There were so many ways this could go wrong, even after so many days of preparation.
But no one was there to do it for him. For Fienna…
Later that night, Cain approached the alleyway next to Gladdis’s house. He was dressed in dockworker’s clothes, with his new black coat over them to guard against the cold. On the limewashed outer wall, right at the bottom edge, was a mark Ayana had left with her sandal. This was where the shed would be when he climbed over the wall. Not even Ayana could determine what the security situation was like inside the main building itself, but crawling into a window should have the least chance of being discovered. No one would leave a window open in this cold, but he had a crowbar in his sack that, properly used, could quietly dismantle windows, in case it was not possible to simply open them.
He stuck a lead panel on the base of the streetlamp in the alley. The light blinked for a bit before going dark completely. Days of reconnaissance had established that this was a common enough occurrence in this part of the city.
He tied his sack to his shoulder and threw the grappling hook over the wall, which was about three times his height. It lodged firmly in the iron spikes on top. The clang of the hook was louder than he’d expected; he looked around him one more time and adjusted his spectacles so that they were secure on his face. He climbed the rope, almost bounding up the wall. At the top, he loosened the hook, and lowered himself over the side of the wall until he was hanging with his arms fully extended. He let go and landed on his feet against the dark ground. It was soft earth and weeds; he staggered a little, having expected a firmer surface.
The shed smelled of rot from its damp planks, thanks to the warmer weather melting the snow. Careful not to make any sound, he walked sideways through the gap. The yard was quiet. The three-story main building had no open windows, as expected. There was almost no light seeping from the windows on the upper floors. A lamp shone by the front door. From there, the guards’ shadows reached almost to Cain’s feet, stretching toward him like giants in the sliver of light. He could see at least two of them standing at the front door. There could be more patrolling the grounds.
Cain skittered across the yard until he was hugging the side wall of the house. He clenched and unclenched his freezing hands a few times to get his blood circulating, then skillfully climbed up the side of the house. Decorative divots in the brick wall served conveniently as hand- and footholds; with the high outer wall and guards, intruders weren’t expected to make it this far.
As he climbed, he thought over what he might encounter in a moment’s time. In a three-story house, the master bedroom was typically on the second floor. If the woman Ayana had seen that day was indeed Gladdis, that was where she would be at this hour.
He steadied himself against the wall, holding on to the windowsills. A gap in the drapes of one of the windows allowed him a glimpse into a corridor, though it was too dark to properly see anything. But that darkness also meant there was likely no one in this hallway. He pulled the crowbar from the sack on his back and carefully wedged it between the window and window frame. There were no bolts. Only a small creak announced his success.
Cain parted the curtains and slipped into the house.