dripping ichor from her palm and crouched to allow the rats their share. At last she was satisfied. and looked down at Vellern. She placed her hand on the injured God’s chest and he vanished, leaving only an indentation in the earth and a few last spots of divine blood that the rats fought to lap up.
‘Tell your master,’ she croaked, looking up at Venn with the smile of a sated glutton, ‘I agree to his bargain.’
CHAPTER 23
The sweet scent of azaleas drifted in the breeze as Major Amber eased his leg up onto a stool and hooked an arm over the rail of the balcony so he could better look down at the tables below. It was early evening, but the terrace was full, every chair in use. He took another sip of wine before catching the eye of a woman with a yellow sash tied across her solid body. Amber raised his goblet and she nodded, moving swiftly to fetch him more wine.
This tavern dominated the northern edge of the Stepped Gardens, the three-tiered heart of Byora’s Breakale district. The tables below, which had long since spilled over onto the hedge-bordered grass of the middle tier, catered for a general clientele, but the upper room was for more exclusive guests.
This early in the evening his only companions in the room were a trio of Litse, two merchants, and the wife of the elder. All three were typical of their tribe: fine-boned and very pale-skinned, and Amber guessed them to be as wealthy as anyone in Breakale; no doubt voluminous sleeves and oversized collars were the height of fashion among the people of Byora, no matter how ridiculous they looked.
The younger, a man of some twenty summers, couldn’t hide his distaste at sharing a room with a Menin soldier, but Amber was determined to enjoy himself. Though his injuries had healed, he still felt fragile, and the last thing he wanted was start a barroom brawl, no matter he’d easily win.
Relief came in the form of Nai, former manservant of the necromancer Isherin Purn - and staunch opponent of footwear, however fashionable. The mage padded up to Amber’s table and sat without invitation. He had a preoccupied expression on his face, and if he even noticed the outrage from the Litse, he didn’t show it.
‘At least you’ve visited a tailor,’ Amber commented, looking Nai up and down. He lingered on the mage’s bare, odd-sized feet. ‘Did the cobbler laugh at you though?’
Nai’s expression soured further. ‘If you called me here to mock me, I’ll be leaving.’
‘It wasn’t the only reason,’ Amber protested, ‘just my preferred one.’
The woman in the yellow sash arrived before he could say anything more, and deposited a fresh carafe of wine and a second goblet before sweeping up the silver level Amber had left for her. Once she’d gone Amber poured Nai some wine and gestured at the bowls on the table. The mage selected a small stuffed pepper and sat back, his eyes fixed on Amber while he sucked out the filling. Amber grinned, his slightly malicious smile faltering slightly as the fiery spices appeared to have no effect on the mage.
‘I hear you’ve been busy,’ he said at last. ‘Running all over the city.’
Nai reached for another pepper. ‘I’m only doing what you ordered me to.’
‘And do you have anything to report?’
‘Nothing you couldn’t have found out yourself.’
Amber shifted forward in his seat. ‘Don’t get petulant. You’re in the Menin Army now, and there’s no place for it here.’
‘Funny sort of army,’ Nai retorted. He knocked back his wine in one gulp and eyed Amber suspiciously as he poured himself another. ‘For one thing, loads of soldiers marched away a while back and left us here.’
‘The term “army” encompasses many meanings,’ Amber said, a warning tone to his voice. ‘Perhaps you’d be good enough to tell me what you’ve learned?’
Nai grunted and began, ‘Not all that much, except Sergeant Kayel has good taste in whores and is paying a lot of attention to the various Walls of Intercession cropping up all over the city.’
‘Is that what they’re calling those walls covered in prayers to the child?’
‘Not just walls either, but that’s what they’re calling them, so the difference probably doesn’t mean much. The wall at the Ruby Tower compound’s as much a cenotaph to those who died in the assault, for example. Your friend the sergeant is showing his face at each one, turning up as soon as he hears of it ...