parts of it at least. Getting the Harlequins on your side will make every power-broker in the Land sit up and take notice, them and the preaching missionaries. That means they’re confident, either because they’re strong enough to survive on their own, or because what they’re up to doesn’t threaten anyone nearby.’
‘They’re not strong, even with the Jesters. The tribes that worship them aren’t an army and they aren’t here. They’re just a few Raylin, plus a bodyguard.’
‘But we’re the only ones who can hurt them,’ Nai said with a pointed look. ‘What if they don’t fear us - their Walls of Intercession are more than a shade akin to the memorials Lord Styrax has raised after every battle he’s won. If there is a purpose behind them, maybe it’s the same purpose.’
Amber leaned forward over the table and said in a hushed voice, ‘You think Lord Styrax is in league with the shadow?’
‘I’m not someone he confides in,’ Nai replied. ‘I don’t know if you are or not - I doubt even you really know - but the Lady of Luck’s dead and I don’t believe in coincidences.’
Amber looked bleak. ‘I don’t know all his secrets, but if you think Lord Styrax follows the order of any man, let alone some shadow, you’re the fool.’
‘So go and ask.’
‘Eh?’
‘That scarred bastard, Sergeant Kayel,’ Nai said brightly. ‘You think he’s one of Azaer’s disciples, and my money’s on you being right. Now I don’t know much about Azaer, but what I do know leads me to believe it isn’t one to advertise. To those in the know, all this preaching’s a lot of noise coming from a corner that’s normally quiet. They won’t believe all this has gone unnoticed by the man who’s just conquered this city, and still they don’t hide - so go and ask Kayel. No one draws attention to themselves while under Kastan Styrax’s thumb unless they’ve got nothing to hide.’
Amber nodded slowly. ‘Or they’ve got something to offer. You could be right there.’ He paused. ‘What’s your part in all this?’
Nai looked startled at the change of focus, immediately wary. ‘What do you mean?’
Amber was about to leap on the shift in the mage’s demeanour when he caught himself. He’s not just a mage, he told himself, he’s a necromancer; as a breed they don’t like scrutiny, and they don’t like questions, so this doesn’t tell me anything.
He changed tack slightly. ‘You heard me. What part are you playing in all this? You’ve sat in more than one camp, but exactly how many? One whole lot o’ things bugged me about Scree, and one of them was Zhia Vukotic not once showing any sign of sensing that abbot using the Crystal Skull they were all chasing.’
Nai’s brow crinkled in confusion. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Remember when we walked out into the Library of the Seasons, when it was a dead area for magic?’ Amber reminded him. ‘The change was clear as day on your face. There was no reason for Zhia to hide it if, during the course of a day, she’d sensed someone using a Crystal Skull, yet long before that Purn had detected it and contacted us. Purn’s house might have been closer than Zhia’s but she’s by far the stronger mage and she never seemed to notice.’
‘Zhia Vukotic is a politician,’ Nai argued, ‘and as gifted at it as her brother is with a sword. If she doesn’t want to give something away, she doesn’t.’
‘That’s crap - if she wants to hide something, she does, but that’s not the same as never giving nothing away - so why should she bother? She knew why I was in the city because Mikiss told her. And how she was around that lovesick boy from Narkang, that wasn’t an act either. So if she wasn’t hiding everything all the time, why would she have chosen something that didn’t matter? You better believe I was paying attention, and thinking of the debriefing I’d have to give if I survived.’
Amber took a deep breath. The flicker of suspicion at the back of his mind was growing with every moment. ‘If Zhia went looking for it, then sure, she’d find it - but why bother?’
Nai inclined his head to agree, but he didn’t speak, which only added to Amber’s certainty.
He continued, ‘And on the paranoia stakes, what sort of man could compete with one of the greatest heretics in history? A necromancer, maybe - but if Zhia Vukotic didn’t bother searching