two men playing bones? Lookouts. Play it wrong and one whistle would have forty guards on you, quick as spit. Try coming down here without their leave—no exits, see? Trapped between them and what’s up ahead, which is a lot more guards. Pick you off with pistols and arrows from the roof. The guards protect their families as much or more than they do the Yelen.”
“But you can get in?”
“Perhaps. Rillen owns the guards, body and soul, if not mind. They do what he says, or else they’ll be dressed as a rack and hung on Oku’s wall with the rest. I’m a familiar face, so they’ll give me some leeway for my father’s sake, but we’ll still need to be crafty.”
Tallia stopped at a locked gate at the entrance to a small square. She motioned for Holden to wait in the shadows. At the far end of the square a dark hole opened, flanked by two vague men in Yelen guard uniforms. More shadowy figures lurked on the rooftops. No one seemed to be guarding the gate they stood at, until Tallia said something in a low voice. More guards, hard-faced and suspicious until they saw her. One nodded recognition and she spoke a few more words, ones that Holden couldn’t catch. Finally, Tallia waved him forward.
The guards looked him up and down, noted the fading bond-scar at his wrist and conferred for long minutes. Eventually one went off and returned with another, some sort of sergeant by the insignia. He crossed his arms over his not inconsiderable chest.
“Well then. I know you,” he nodded at Tallia, “and yet my orders are quite clear. I got no orders about this one though. A Remorian too. He doesn’t look mad, but then, it’s hard to tell.”
“Rillen wants Van Gast, doesn’t he? Well, this is Van Gast’s first mate. Ready to turn him over, for a share in ten thousand sharks. You going to deny Rillen that?”
The sergeant wiped a thoughtful finger over his top lip. “Now, as a rule, I wouldn’t want to cross Rillen, that’s true, and true again he’s after Van Gast something fierce. But there’s a big party on up at the palace. Big party, ambassadors and all sorts, and there’s already been one to-do. Haven’t heard the details yet, but there’s one man who won’t be seeing the outside of a cell again. Or not for long anyway.”
He chuckled at Holden’s puzzled look, then mimed a noose yanking at his neck. “They see the sun for about a minute before they don’t see anything ever again. Unless they get the nail. Then they see more sun than they want. Like I said, don’t know the details, but the name Van Gast has filtered down, oh yes. Of course—that’s news, that is, Van Gast getting himself caught. Over a piece of tail too, if rumor’s right. So now, if Rillen has him nice and trussed up in the cells, him and that Joshing Josie, why does he need you or Van Gast’s first mate?”
Tallia opened her mouth but couldn’t seem to find anything to say. Holden stepped in, the thought of Van Gast caught, and Josie now too, in the Yelen cells waiting a noose making his brain fizz with dread. The lie, when it came, was smooth as silk on his tongue. “Because I know where Van keeps all his money.”
“And you don’t want to keep it?” The sergeant raised a grizzled eyebrow. “Seems to me you got it made. You don’t need to turn him over, you got everything of Van Gast’s.”
Holden’s heart thudded furiously, pounding in his ears as he tried to come up with something glib. The burn of his blood was painful, terrifying—and glorious. Every nerve ending was alive, every drop of sweat tingled on his skin, every muted color in the courtyard suddenly vibrant. He felt so alive, he wanted to kiss the world. Is this how Van feels all the time?
The idea came, and was out of his mouth before he had the chance to think it through properly. “I’m part of his crew for one reason only, a scam. Josie. Van stole her from me and cut off my hand while he was at it.” He waved his scarred stump at them. “I want her back, and Rillen can take everything of Van’s. A share of ten thousand is more than that anyway. I just want to screw Van Gast as hard as I can, and I’d not taint