He climbed up and dusted himself off, searching the room. The man was gone. Tamas gritted his teeth and looked out into the hallway. Olem was there, steadying himself up against the wall.
Tamas eyed him suspiciously. Not even a smirk. No one could play a joke that well.
“Fine. You see someone pass by here?”
Olem glanced at him, looking back and forth down the hallway. He reached down into the rubble at his feet and fished out a still-smoking cigarette. “No, sir.”
Tamas stepped back into the command post. There was a back door to the house, he was sure, but no one could have crossed the room with the ground shaking like that.
How hard did I hit my head?
Chapter 10
Adamat stopped by his home for his pistols. Five days since he’d hired SouSmith, and the cordon around the center of the city had left no opportunities for them to sneak into the Public Archives. That had changed with the quake. The whole city was a mess. Buildings were down, roads filled with the homeless. Adamat had taken the opportunity to scout the royalist positions for a way to get to the Archives. He’d had no such luck.
There had been rumors Tamas would bring his entire army into the city and push through the barricades, but it seemed he’d turned his soldiers and mercenaries alike to helping the citizens rather than taking the barricades. Once the fighting began in earnest, it would be very dangerous in Centestershire. Then there was the rumor that Tamas’s powder mages were still hunting a rogue Privileged through the streets of Adopest. Being out and about in the city was not for the faint of heart.
Every three days, Adamat received a messenger from Tamas. Every three days, he was forced to report he’d made no headway. It was frustrating having the field marshal breathing down his neck and not being able to report any kind of success.
Adamat stooped just inside the front door to pick up the post. At least Tamas kept that running. It was hard not to admire him for that. Adamat waited for SouSmith to come inside, then pushed the door closed with his foot. SouSmith tapped his shoulder.
The back door through the hallway and past the kitchen was ajar. He dropped the post on a side table and removed a cane from the holder near the door. SouSmith headed to the sitting room. Adamat came around the corner behind him, cane held high. He lowered it slowly.
“You saved me a trip,” he said.
Palagyi sat in Adamat’s favorite chair, next to the fireplace, hands folded in his lap. He had the same two goons with him as last time. The lockpick lounged on the sofa, boots on, and the big one with the coal-stained arms studied his family portrait above the mantle. A fourth man sat behind Adamat’s desk, hands folded serenely in his lap.
Palagyi’s eyes grew wide at the sight of SouSmith. “You were coming to see me?” he said.
“Yes, I just was.”
“I can’t imagine why. There’s no way you have the money you owe me.” Again, he eyed SouSmith nervously.
Adamat took a deep breath, gathered his composure. “No, but I have some of it. You said you’d leave me be until my time was up.”
“And I have,” Palagyi said.
Adamat looked around the room. “I’ve got well over a month left.”
“You gave me the wrong address for your family,” Palagyi said.
“I gave you my cousins’ address,” Adamat said.
“Your cousins are a family of brawlers?”
“Seven sons, all take after their father,” Adamat said. “Very successful prizefighters.”
“Yes,” Palagyi said, “Well, that may be, your family wasn’t there.”
“Really?”
“And when my boys pressed the question, they were forcibly removed from the town,” Palagyi said. “In tar and feathers.”
“I can’t imagine why,” Adamat said. He smiled inwardly but kept his expression flat.
Palagyi worked to control himself. “I’m willing to let this go.”
Adamat froze. Palagyi was up to something. “Why?” he said.
Palagyi examined his fingernails. “I want to introduce you to my new friend,” he said. He gestured to the man sitting at Adamat’s desk. “This is Lord Vetas. He’s a man of various talents. And he has powerful friends.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Adamat gave the man a curt nod and a quick inspection. He had the dusty, yellow skin of a full-blooded Rosvelean. He wore all-black clothes but for a scarlet vest and the gold chain of a pocket watch visible at