“I did say, if ya didn’t kill the old man in the village, ya could leave the guild for all I cared. Didn’t think ya’d do it, though.”
Siobhan didn’t like where this was going and stepped in, trying to head things off. “Karl, if you wouldn’t mind? I have someone waiting on us, you see.”
“Oh?” His black eyes were flint hard but he nodded amiably. “Sure, sure. Ya note said, ya want to know who it was that attacked a party coming toward the city? About a week ago?”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm, well, I looked into it a bit. There was two jobs then, and we took on both. One of them was a caravan comin’ from Teherani.”
She shook her head, indicating that wasn’t the one.
His eyes narrowed slightly. “The other was comin’ from Robarge. That one had an odd request to it, it did. We was to rough people up, bad, but not kill.”
Siobhan clenched her hand into a fist so tight her nails bit into her skin. So, she’d been right in that regard. “Can you tell me who requested the job?”
“Well, now, it’s bad business to talk about clients, ya know.”
Rune stepped in closer, body tense as if ready to explode into action at the barest hint of danger. “Knives. Lives depend on her knowi’n.”
The two men locked gazes for a long moment. The air became stifling, hard to breathe, under the tension.
“I wasn’t really sure it was ya, back when I got the message.” Knives cocked his head in a gesture of curiosity that seemed, for once, to be a genuine feeling. “It’s more than odd to see ya here like this, and bein’ protective of someone else. It looks like ya switched to another guild, Bloodless. Why?”
“She gave me a name,” he answered with quiet simplicity.
“Did she now.” Knives eyed Siobhan from head to toe and back again. “Well now. That’s interestin’.”
“A name, Knives,” Rune pressed.
“Can’t give ya one.” Knives shrugged, uncaring. “Don’t remember it. But it was a guild from Coravine, that I remember.”
Coravine? She blinked. “Coravine, Orin?”
“That’s the place.”
“Ì fregn soemd. Ella jarn eiga hqfdi,” Wolf rumbled in a low voice.
Siobhan’s Wynngaardal was limited to, “Hello”, “Thank you,” and “How much is this?” Anything after that went quickly over her head. But even she could hear the unspoken warning in his tone.
Knives held up both hands in a placating gesture. “De soemd lan risna.”
Oh? That phrase she recognized. Or at least the word soemd. So he was answering in all honor, eh? She looked first at Rune, then at Wolf, but both men seemed to believe the karl. Phew. “I thank you for the information,” she responded politely. “Rune mentioned to me that you have a fee for this information?”
“Rune?” he repeated before his eyes darted to the young assassin. “Ah, ya new name? I see. The fee is twenty kors.”
She couldn’t quite conceal a wince. That was half the purse Blackstone had given them! But it was her fault for not asking a price and bargaining before spitting out questions. Mentally kicking herself, she pulled her purse out of an inner coat pocket and started counting it out. Halfway through, she paused as a thought struck her. “What if I gave you information in return? Information that might save your life.”
Knives held his ground. “It’d have to be good, lady Guildmaster.”
“It is. Do you know who you attacked on the highway?”
He weighed her question for a taut moment before slowly shaking his head. “A group of sixteen from Robarge was all we was told.”
“It was an escort, actually, for Lirah Darrens.” When he gave her a blank look, she elaborated. “The daughter of Blackstone’s guildmaster.”
The blood just drained from Knives’ face. Attacking caravans or old village leaders, that he could do without a qualm. But attacking a large guild was a serious taboo. After all, a guild that influential and powerful could track down any dark guild and raze it to the ground without breaking a sweat. Worse, any good guild of the city would help them do so, because they didn’t want a dark guild in their territory to begin with. “…Daughter?” he repeated faintly.
Siobhan gave him a sweet, sympathetic smile. “How about this as a fee? I won’t say ‘Silent Order attacked your daughter and subordinates’ to Guildmaster Darrens. I’ll just leave it as ‘a dark guild of Sateren.’ I’ll also make sure to tell him it was a guild from Orin that hired you without telling you any specifics.”