ISTARINMUL, FIND HER AND KILL HER. FIND HER AND KILL HER, AND YOU SHALL JOIN US AS WE KILL THIS WORLD.
Kalgri sneered. “Is that a command?”
THERE IS NO NEED TO COMMAND. YOU ARE LIKE US. YOU HAVE DESTROYED YOURSELF AND REMADE YOURSELF IN OUR IMAGE. YOU SHALL FIND AND KILL THE BALARIGAR BECAUSE IT IS YOUR NATURE TO DO SO.
The awful presence faded away, leaving the Voice gibbering in fear in Kalgri’s mind.
She rolled her shoulders, stretching her muscles. The lord of the nagataaru was right about one thing. Kalgri did want to kill Caina. She wanted that very badly…and it seemed that Kalgri’s instincts were correct. Caina would find a way to intervene in the Apotheosis.
And Kalgri knew just where Caina would go if she returned to Istarinmul.
She glided from the Court of Justice in silence, climbing up the wall like a spider as Callatas and Erghulan continued their argument. Once over the wall, she hurried over the rooftops of the Golden Palace and into the city proper.
It was possible, she knew, that Kotuluk Iblis was wrong. There seemed no way for Caina to escape Pyramid Isle, and it was possible that both the sovereign of the nagataaru and Kalgri’s instincts were wrong.
If not…
Kalgri smiled as she donned her mask of crimson steel, pulling up a cowl of a normal black cloak over her head since her shadow-cloak would block the Voice’s senses.
If not, if Caina returned to Istarinmul, then Kalgri would strike from the shadows and kill her.
How sweet that would be!
She hastened through the city, flowing from shadow to shadow as she made her way to the Cyrican Quarter. Once a group of thieves threatened Kalgri, but after she had killed four of them, the survivors reconsidered their course and fled. The Voice gorged itself on their deaths, feeding the stolen power into Kalgri to make her faster and stronger.
No one else challenged her, and at last Kalgri came to the House of Agabyzus.
The coffee house was silent, the shutters closed and the door locked and barred. Kalgri had spent several months working there, pretending to be a maid as she stalked Caina. The owner of the coffee house, a widow named Damla, was a Ghost, as was her brother, a cunning old spy named Agabyzus. Likely her sons were on their way to becoming Ghosts as well. When Caina returned to Istarinmul, she would go the House of Agabyzus at once.
Perhaps Kalgri could arrange for Caina to be greeted by the dismembered corpses of her friends.
She climbed the side of the House of Agabyzus, the Voice gripping the brick, and rolled onto the roof. As she did, she reached out with the senses the Voice granted her, seeking for the presence of living mortals within the House. She sensed only two – Damla’s sons, guarding the House while Damla and her brother did the little errands of the Ghosts.
Kalgri smiled behind her mask, thinking of Damla’s reaction when she found her dead children.
Well, Kalgri had threatened Caina with their deaths, and it was time to fulfill that promise. Perhaps Damla would blame Caina for the deaths of her sons, or perhaps Kalgri would kill Damla once she had seen her dead children.
She was looking forward to killing the world, but this would make for a splendid appetizer.
Kalgri picked the lock on the roof trapdoor and descended into the House in silence, making her way to the common room. As she did, she heard two low voices.
“Mother should not have gone with them,” said Bayram.
“Uncle Agabyzus was with her,” said Bahad. “He knows what he’s doing.”
“He did get captured by the Teskilati for two years,” said Bayram.
Kalgri paused at the top of the stairs, drawing a dagger from her belt in silence. She would slit their throats and leave their corpses against the front door. That would be a pleasant surprise for Damla and her brother.
“There aren’t any Teskilati,” said Bahad. “That crazy Umbarian killed them all. Anyway, Mother will be safe.”
Kalgri grinned behind her mask. She started to take a step forward, the dagger ready in her hand.
“True,” said Bayram. “Lord Kylon went with her.”
Kalgri froze.
Kylon was in the city?
“Do you think he is the same man as Kylon Shipbreaker?” said Bahad. “The one who destroyed the Imperial fleet?”
“Probably,” said Bayram. “Mother seems to think so, anyway.”
Kalgri considered what to do. She had known Kylon was with the rebel army. Come to think of it, his abilities as a stormdancer would let him get into Istarinmul