darkened blade_ A fallen blade novel - Kelly McCullough Page 0,109

enough to know that I must have stashed it near the city.

“Do you really think we’ll have any use for the thing?” I asked. “You saw Signet Toragana’s ring, and heard what she had to say about the changes in the system—how paranoid the Son of Heaven has become.” I didn’t pretend for a second that I believed he hadn’t been listening in on that conversation. “I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t have had all the wards rekeyed at the same time.”

That was a big part of why I hadn’t chosen to mention Nea’s finger to anyone else yet—I knew we’d have to try it, but I didn’t want to make anyone think we had an easy in and then disappoint them. Judging by the look on Faran’s face just then, I suspected that I might have made a mistake there, though she didn’t yet say anything about it.

“I can imagine it very easily,” said Kelos. “Think on what Toragana said about the way things have changed. The Son of Heaven banished all of his mages from the heart of the temple complex, replacing the sorcerer priests of the Hand who guarded him with hidden risen. I think the reason Toragana’s ring of office wasn’t a spell key, is exactly because the Son can’t control all of his wards now.”

Kelos began to pace. “He’s no mage, and he’s alienated himself from the vast majority of his followers who are. There are about a million and one warding structures inside the temple precinct. He simply won’t have had the resources to change them all after tossing out the bulk of his mages. I’m sure he’ll have ordered them to change the wards in the areas where he allows them entry, and he’s probably had some of the inner wards redone as well, especially around his quarters. It won’t help us at all with the outer defenses, but I think a lot of the inner temple may well remain vulnerable to the key provided by a Signet’s ring and finger.”

I found myself nodding. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way. All right, tomorrow night Triss and I will head off to fetch that finger—assuming it hasn’t rotted away. I’ll take Faran and Ssithra, and Kumi and Gryss to watch my back when I go.”

You didn’t even think to leave Faran behind, and you remembered that for now at least, that means Kumi as well. You’re learning.

I suppressed a snort. Hey, if you hit me in the head with a blunt object often enough, it eventually makes an impression. For that matter, since we’re going to be heading toward the area where we think the Son has concentrated his risen, I’ll need someone to cover my back. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have between me and a knife.

Maryam held up a hand, and I couldn’t help noticing that the look on her face pretty well matched the growing storm on Faran’s.

“Yes?”

“I only understood about half of that,” she said. “I know that Jax went to you to get help to break us free of the Hand of Heaven back at the abbey, and that Kelos gave you Signet Eilif’s ring with his magically preserved living finger still in it as a key to the temple precinct at that time.”

She knew all that because Jax knew it. We’d used the finger when we busted her and Roric and Javan out of the abbey prison that had cost them each an ear.

“But I thought that you’d left the finger behind when you marked up the Son’s face,” she said, and I heard a distinct note of angry suspicion. “That’s what the letter you sent Jax said, anyway.”

“That’s all true, as far as it goes.” I nodded. “But after the fight at the abbey when I killed Signet Nea, I took her finger and ring and half-assed myself a second key. It’s not nearly as well crafted as Kelos’s version, but I believe it will still have some life left in it yet.”

“You never told me you still had a key to the temple quarter!” Faran said coldly, finally breaking her angry silence. “Don’t you think that’s something somebody besides you ought to have known about?”

“I never told anyone about the key, though there’s a letter Captain Fei is supposed to give you in the event of my death, and another to be sent to Jax.”

Part of my reason for keeping the secret from everyone was that I didn’t want anybody else