Sweep of the Blade (Innkeeper Chronicles #4) - Ilona Andrews Page 0,57
get out after all.”
Arland narrowed his eyes.
“No thanks to you.”
“I made you an offer.”
Yeah, there wasn’t a mother alive who would have taken him up on it. “You told me my daughter would fetch a good price on the slave market.”
“I was joking. Mostly. I heard you bagged yourself a pretty boy Marshal.”
The pretty boy Marshal went from annoyed to furious in an instant.
“The word is, you haven’t managed to seal the deal yet.” Renouard leaned forward. “Does he not do it for you? I could give him some lessons.”
Arland’s face went stone hard.
“I see the scar on your groin wants a twin,” she told him.
He bared his teeth and laughed.
“I have a job,” she said.
“I’m all ears.”
“I need cargo retrieved from two ships. They’ll be passing through the quadrant at the following coordinates.” She tagged the section of the quadrant near the Serak system and sent it to him. “Not a large volume, two crates off the first vessel, one off the second, less than three cubic meters and roughly one hundred and twenty kilos of mass.”
“Who is hauling this precious cargo?”
“The first ship is the Silver Talon.”
Renouard checked his screen. “House Krahr. So the rumors are right. You’re playing the Marshal. I always knew you had it in you.” He winked to make sure she got it.
Ugh. “Can this be done or not?”
“It can be done,” he said. “For the right price. I won’t do it, but I’ll act as an intermediary. What’s in the crates?”
“That’s not important.”
He smiled. “Second vessel?”
“Valiant Charger.”
“No.”
He hadn’t even bothered to check the screen this time.
“It’s a barge,” she said. “You can do it with your eyes closed.”
“I told you, that’s not my territory and my contact won’t go after that ship.”
“Get someone else.”
“There is nobody else. That playing field is a monopoly.”
“The deal’s off,” she said. “I’ll find someone else.”
She flicked the screen blank, severing the connection, and looked at Arland and Soren.
“House Serak is pirating that quadrant,” Arland said. “Independent pirates are too fragmented and too weak to monopolize a star system. Of course, they wouldn’t pirate their own traders.”
“And Kozor is in on it,” his uncle added. “Alone, neither House has sufficient resources to pirate and to hold the other at bay. They are evenly matched. If they were still at war and either Kozor or Serak devoted part of their fleet to piracy, the other would seize the opportunity to attack.”
“I wonder how long ago they formed an alliance,” Arland said.
“At least ten years,” Soren said. “That’s when they had their last serious battle. They bad-mouth each other at political gatherings in front of other Houses and they have small skirmishes from time to time, but nothing serious enough to really bloody each other’s noses.”
“Their combined fleet isn’t enough to get close to our nose, let alone bloody it,” Arland growled.
“So why House Krahr?” Maud asked. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to go for a smaller House?”
“They’re pirates,” Soren said, “and we are the richest prize.”
“If they’re going to expose themselves as pirates and allies, they want to reap the greatest benefits,” Arland said.
“How?” Maud asked. “There are only two hundred of them.”
“I don’t know,” Arland said. “But I will find out.”
“It’s a fun game they’re playing.” Soren bared his sharp fangs. “I welcome the challenge.”
Teeth. Running. Running so fast. Big ugly shape behind her. Footsteps stomping.
Dad stepping into her path, his innkeeper robe solid black, his eyes and the broom in his hand glowing with turquoise fire.
Teeth. Right behind her.
Maud opened her eyes. Another nightmare, the same one, muddled and odd, as if it were less a dream and more a memory.
This place is driving me crazy.
She turned to check on Helen.
Her daughter’s bed was empty.
Panic stabbed her. Maud bolted upright and saw the open door to the balcony. Sunlight sifted through the pale gauzy curtains, painting bright rectangles on the floor. As they parted, coaxed by the breeze, Maud glimpsed a small figure sitting on the stone rail.
Maud picked up a robe off the chair, pulled it on, and walked onto the balcony. It stretched along the entirety of their quarters, thirty feet at the widest part. On the right, a fountain protruded from the wall, shaped like a flower stalk with five delicate blossoms that reminded her of bell flowers. A man-made stream about a foot wide stretched from the fountain’s basin, meandered in gentle curves along the perimeter of the balcony and disappeared into the wall. Both the stream and the fountain had run dry.