Covenant's End - Ari Marmell Page 0,29
the only place it happened.”
The panic in the old man's eyes and the brief stammer before he could manage an indignant “I've never heard such nonsense!” were more than evidence enough.
“Thanks,” she called as she began to walk away. She'd covered perhaps three or four paces when he called out to her.
“Mademoiselle, wait!” Although tempted to ignore him, she stopped long enough for him to catch up. “Please,” he said, hoarse and quiet. “I've no idea how you found out, but you can't tell anyone! Everyone's scared and upset enough as it is. If word of this should spread…”
“How bad are things?” she asked. Then, at his baffled look, “I'm only just back in town.” She waved a hand at the new expansion. “Frankly, and no offense, but yours isn't a business I like to see thriving.”
It was his turn to sigh, that peculiar mix of exasperation and sorrow that only people old enough to speak seriously of the “good old days” could muster. “Crime's gotten awful, the Guard can't handle it, and the house soldiers ‘helping keep the peace’ are sparring with political rivals as much as anyone else. I've never seen the like. And that's not even counting…”
“Counting what?” she prodded when it became clear he had no plans to continue.
“Oh, the usual rumors. Sort you get every time there's civil unrest. Only, well, there's an awful lot of them this time.”
Teeth grinding in her impatience, she prodded again. “Rumors of?”
“Well, some folks are saying that there's something supernatural stalking the streets. Lot like it was last summer…”
Olgun gibbered something that even Shins found incomprehensible.
“Uh, thanks,” Shins said again to the groundskeeper, then broke into a steady jog, headed for the gate. She swiftly left the old man behind, shouting after her not to tell anyone.
“Yeah,” she muttered, “that's a good way to keep a secret.”
More frightened blather from her god.
“Oh, calm down! It's just another of Lisette's tricks. Taking advantage of something she knows frightens people. Vile, nasty frog of a woman. I should have killed her the first time.”
Quivering, almost childish uncertainty.
“Well, maybe it is. But even if she found a way to summon something, it still starts and ends with her. This is not going to be like Iru—like before.”
Olgun didn't sound—well, feel—convinced, but he let it drop. Instead, after Shins had cleared the gate and made an abrupt turn down a nearby road, he wafted a question across her mind.
“No!” She skidded to a halt, took a moment to catch her breath, which had abruptly grown sharp and ragged. “No,” she repeated, “we are not going anywhere near any of the flats. We already know what we're going to find there, and I can't…no. No place to sleep, and no time. You'll just have to keep me going until we're done.”
Perhaps she was being foolish, at that. Gods knew she could use some rest after the last couple of days, and while Lisette was no great threat one-on-one—Shins had full-well proven that once already—there was no telling how hard she might be to get to.
But Widdershins absolutely could not face the idea of returning to any of her boltholes. The thought of having to confront Gen or Julien, finding them in the same state as Alexandre…no. She'd had far, far too much. She was tired of death.
Well, except for one upcoming death in particular…
Widdershins sat on the wet rooftop, legs dangling off the side, and carefully cleaned the diluted blood from her rapier with a bit of torn cloth. Beneath her, in an alley ankle-deep in old rainwater and the “juice” of various garbage heaps, groaned and whimpered a trio of disreputable men who would all live—assuming none of their injuries grew too badly infected—but would probably never walk normally again.
She hadn't meant for it to go this way. Once night had again fallen and she'd succeeded in locating a roving gang she recognized as Finders, the plan had been for Widdershins to tail them, observe all she could about the new behaviors of the Guild, hopefully eavesdrop enough to learn some of what was going on in the halls of underground power.
Said plan had survived exactly as long as it took the robbers to find their first victims. When it became clear that the young couple's money was not all the gang was after, that they wouldn't be content without bloodshed or even worse, Shins hadn't been able to stand by.
The result, thanks to the element of surprise and Olgun's power, had been