On Blackened Wings Page 7

  “So you’re nothing but a go-between,” Binder said. “Talking to you will be a waste of my time. If I want the city under my control before my knights return, I need to deal with these merchant lords. Pity.”

  “Shall I dispose of him, Master?” Ling asked.

  “I suppose you might as well.”

  “Wait, please,” the mayor said. “I may not be in charge, but I know the council better than anyone. I assure you I can be of much use.”

  Binder raised a hand before Ling could send a chain through his chest. “How?”

  “I know where everyone lives, their defenses, strengths and weaknesses. Anything you want to know about the merchants, I can tell you.”

  That might indeed be useful. Perhaps he’d keep the weakling around for a little longer. But first to make sure he did nothing to make Binder’s work more difficult.

  “You will swear the oath?” Binder asked.

  “Any oath you wish, my lord.”

  Binder nodded. If he ordered the fat fool to stand on his head and sing a lullaby he would have agreed as long as it saved his neck. At Binder’s mental command a chain shot out from the throne and rested on the mayor’s head.

  “Do you swear to obey whoever sits on the throne?” Binder asked.

  “I do.”

  The throne’s compulsion settled into the mayor’s mind. He couldn’t betray Binder now if he wanted to. Not that the sad excuse for a human had the guts for such an act in the first place.

  “What happens now?” the mayor asked.

  “Now you’re going to introduce me to the merchants. We shall see if they’re as reasonable as you.”

  “I fear, my lord, that you are going to be disappointed,” the mayor said.

  “Heaven cast me out for my beliefs,” Binder said. “I assure you disappointment is something I am familiar with. Who shall we visit first?”

  “Shen Fell is the closest,” the mayor said. “He likes basking in the reflected glory of the palace. His mansion is only two blocks from the front gate.”

  “Perfect, lead on.”

  When Ling fell in behind them Binder turned and said, “Wait here. With the seal broken, looters might get ideas. I want nothing disturbed in my absence.”

  “You might be in danger if you go alone, Master,” Ling said.

  Binder nearly laughed. If he wished it he could destroy the entire city with a thought. He hardly expected any difficulty from a bunch of jumped-up greengrocers.

  “Your concern is appreciated, but I can manage. Bringing the merchants to heel shouldn’t take long.”

  Binder marched out behind the mayor, passed through the gates, and stepped out into the streets. The sun was just coloring the horizon a bright orange. It looked like a beautiful day was dawning.

  He suppressed a sigh. Every day in Heaven was beautiful, the air always clear and the light pure. No place equaled the perfection of Heaven, but he meant to turn this world into the next best thing, his vision of Heaven.

  People already stirred. Servants carried buckets down to the river to dump. That disgusting practice needed to end sooner rather than later. The stench coming from the water curled his nose.

  A pair of girls in tan smocks glanced up at him. Their eyes went wide and Binder remembered he hadn’t bothered to hide his wings. Well, everyone would know who he was soon enough. No sense bothering with the illusion anymore.

  The mayor stopped in front of a heavy iron gate. A ten-foot-high brick wall enclosed the grounds of a vast mansion. It certainly looked like the home of a wealthy merchant.

  No guards or servants manned the gate. Apparently the owner wasn’t interested in company. Too bad, it was a fine gate but Binder didn’t plan to let it slow him. He grabbed the iron bars and heaved. Iron twisted with a painful shriek and he ripped the hinges free of their moorings.

  He’d hoped to make a more subtle entrance, but too late now. The ruined gate crashed to the ground and Binder strode through the opening. Beyond the gate waited a perfectly manicured garden featuring a variety of topiary animals. He’d have to steal Fell’s gardeners and put them to work on the palace grounds.

  “Stay behind me if you wish to avoid injury,” Binder said.

  “What?” The mayor stared at him in confusion until a moment later twenty men in leather armor and carrying spears came running into the garden. They each wore a blue tabard marked with Fell’s sigil, a pair of black manacles. “May I attempt to speak with them?”

  Binder looked down at the craven human, surprised he’d make such a courageous offer. “If you wish.”

  “Gentlemen,” the mayor said. “I’m here to see Master Fell on a matter of great urgency. If you could stand aside, my companion and I are in a great hurry.”

  “Mayor Qang,” one of the guards said. Judging by the gold pin on his chest he was the commander of this group. “Master Fell left us strict instructions that he wasn’t to be disturbed for any reason. You know how he gets. I can arrange for a message when he’s available.”

  Qang looked up at Binder who shook his head.

  “I fear that won’t do at all,” Qang said. “While I have no wish to get you in trouble, we are on a schedule and can’t wait.”

  The guards all snapped their spears into attack position. “Then we have a problem,” the commander said.

  Qang scurried behind Binder. “If Fell gave them orders, they won’t be persuaded. I apologize for my failure.”

  “It was a fine effort. What happens next is on their heads, not yours. Stay here.”

  Binder strode forward, straight toward the points of the guards’ spears.

  “Stop!” the leader said. “If you come any closer we’ll be forced to run you through.”

  Binder ignored him and kept walking.

  Two guards separated from the group and lunged at him.

  The tips of their spears glanced off his chest without creasing the skin.

  They stumbled. Binder caught them by the head and squeezed. Their skulls popped like overripe melons.

  Two bodies hit the ground and he kept advancing. Nervous looks passed among the guards. Who did they fear more, their master or him?

  Hopefully him. He’d need every able-bodied soldier in the campaigns to come. Killing these men would be a horrible waste of resources.

  The leader motioned his men to lower their spears. “Please, we are only doing our jobs.”

  “And doing them well,” Binder said. “I will have need of men like you in the future. It was wise of you to surrender. Where can I find your master?”

  “Upstairs. He’s with his most recent purchase. Are you going to kill him?”

  Binder smiled. “Not if he’s as reasonable as you.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The dark silhouette of the Tower loomed directly ahead. The flight had taken Lidia and Imogen a little over an hour. It was a peaceful flight. She’d half feared they might encounter a patrol of enemy sorcerers, but that hadn’t come to pass. Hopefully because the cultists didn’t have enough sorcerers to go around.

  Of course that might have been wishful thinking. No one really knew how many followers the Binder had. The number far exceeded Lidia’s guesses. What did they even get out of worshiping the archangel? Only paladins gained power from angels, and even then no archangel ever took mortal followers, at least not so far as she knew.

  Lidia shook her head. It was a mystery, but one that didn’t really need solving. The cultists’ reasons didn’t matter, only their actions. Still, hopefully the scholar, Mariela, remained in residence. She knew more about the various cults than anyone in the kingdom. Lidia was eager to pick her brain.

  “Archmage?” Imogen gave her a concerned look.

  “Just thinking about how little we really know about what’s happening and why. I’m fine.”

  Imogen wisely chose not to press. Lidia put up with Damien’s worrying, but she didn’t need it from anyone else.

  The wall guards waved as they landed in the empty courtyard. The
grass had grown a little tall and sported the occasional scorched spot. Since she hadn’t wanted to risk alerting anyone to their travel plans, she hadn’t sent word ahead. Normally the headmaster would have come out to greet her himself.

  Lidia never cared overmuch about ceremony, it was one of the things she shared with Andrew. Probably part of the reason they got along as well as they did.

  A wave of her hand opened the heavy double doors and they marched inside turning right in the entry hall toward the administrative area. Thomas should be in his office by now and if he wasn’t someone would get him for her.

  The bench outside the headmaster’s office was empty this morning. Apparently no one had gotten into trouble yet. Lidia rapped once on the door and waited. A few seconds later the door opened and she stared down at Headmaster Thomas’s bald head.

  “Lidia! How good to see you again.” He grasped her hand and pumped it enthusiastically.

  He was wearing a deep-blue robe embroidered with stars that hung down to the floor. Dust bunnies were stuck to the hem, but he didn’t seem to notice. Thomas ushered Lidia and Imogen into his office and closed the door.

  “What brings two lovely ladies to my office so early in the morning?” Lidia sealed the office against eavesdropping and Thomas’s happy expression grew glum. “Business is it?”

  “Yes. How much do you know about what’s happening in the kingdom?”

  “Very little and I’m generally happy to keep it that way. Keeping my young charges on the proper path is hard enough without worrying about the rest of the world.”

  Looked like Lidia had to burst his bubble. She gave him the short version of the current crisis. When she finished she said, “I’m going to need somewhere to work for the rest of the day. Is Mariela still using the library?”

  “No, she left us a month ago to study some of the smaller demon cults. Her theory was that with the Horned One’s cult in tatters, the others would be growing more active. She didn’t say anything about where she planned to search though she might have sent a letter to King’s College. I can contact them if you like.”

  “Please do. Are there any Binder worshipers at the Tower?”

  Thomas shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. People’s religion isn’t something we concern ourselves with. As long as they don’t mess with demons and their soul force isn’t corrupt, we give them the same chance as everyone else.”

  Lidia hadn’t expected him to know and after her own failures with the Binder cult she was in no place to criticize. Hopefully this sort of thing wouldn’t grow into an even bigger issue later on. She had enough to worry about without poking her nose into people’s spiritual preferences.

  “You’re welcome to use the conference room for as long as you need,” Thomas said. “We don’t have any meetings planned for the rest of the week. I’ll get a message out to King’s College within the hour. I should have a reply for you before the end of the day.”

  “That’s fine, Thomas, thank you. Imogen and I have a lot of messages to write so if you’ll excuse us…”

  “Of course, of course. The door’s unlocked and there are plenty of supplies. If you need anything just ask.” He came out from behind his desk and escorted them out the door.

  The conference room waited a short walk from the headmaster’s office. It was just a rectangular room devoid of decorations and dominated by a big table surrounded by chairs. A chest of drawers held paper, quills, and other supplies. Imogen had been in the legion long enough that Lidia didn’t need to give her any instructions.

  They settled in to write half a dozen concise notes completely lacking in names or other identifying details. A single code word was included so her agents would know to send replies to the Tower. It took most of an hour to get the notes written and sent on their way.

  When they finished Lidia blew out a sigh. Hopefully her people would reply soon.

  “Do you think the headmaster is involved with the cult?” Imogen asked.

  Lidia nearly laughed. “Thomas? Not a chance. The Binder is all about discipline. Thomas is about as likely a recruit as your average squirrel.”

  “I suppose he is a bit distracted. So what do we do while we wait?”

  “Hit the library. I want to know everything we can about the Binder and his followers. We’ve been groping around in the dark for too long. It’s time to shed some light on our problems.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  In the end Binder never learned if Fell was a reasonable man or not. When they reached his bedroom the merchant lord was in the middle of abusing a little boy bound in silver chains. Binder guessed his age at around seven. One look at the skeletal old man putting his hands on that innocent boy and Binder struck.

  Much as he would have enjoyed making the filthy pervert suffer as his victims suffered, he was on a time crunch. A single conjured chain shot out and pierced Fell right between the eyes, turning his brain to pulp. He collapsed in a limp heap and the boy fainted. With any luck and a little memory modification, he wouldn’t remember anything that happened.

  Binder walked beside Qang downstairs and out the front door. The guards had decided discretion was the better part of valor and made themselves scarce. That suited Binder as he had no desire to waste any more of their lives.

  Two blocks from the mansion Qang finally spoke. “Are you going to kill the rest of them?”

  “Do you care?” Binder asked.

  “Not especially, but the merchant lords each control vast networks that will make administering the empire much easier. With Fell dead, his lieutenants will be at each other’s throats as they fight to see who takes over the business. The loss of one lord will be troublesome, but the loss of several will really cause chaos.”

  “More cursed waste.” Despite his complaint, Binder wouldn’t have done anything differently. His perfect world couldn’t exist with men like Fell in it. “Where are we going next?”

  “I thought Madam Sheng. She lives in an apartment that takes up the entire third floor of her most luxurious inn, The Golden Crane.”

  “Is she a pervert as well?”

  “I’m sure I don’t know, though she does control all the hospitality businesses in the city and many others throughout the empire.”

  “Hospitality?” Binder asked.

  “You know, inns, taverns, whorehouses.”

  “So madam is her occupation rather than a simple honorific.”

  “I suppose you could say that, though no one would be so foolish to tell her to her face.” Binder snorted at the idea that he feared to tell any mortal anything to her face. “Here we are.”

  The Golden Crane inn had three floors, a red tile roof, and rich wood siding. A sign featuring a crane with its wings spread made of solid gold hung over the steps leading up to the gilded doors. Everything about it spoke of wealth and privilege. Even at this time of day, Binder sensed many people inside.

  A single man in red silk livery stood beside the entrance. The doorman bowed to Qang and pulled the right-hand door open for them. He didn’t so much as give Binder’s wings a second look. Someone had trained the man well.

  Binder stepped into the common room, though there was nothing common about it. The hardwood floor was polished to a mirror shine. A dark wood bar ran along the far wall. Dozens of tables held scores of people, all of whom wore fine clothes, ate, drank, and laughed without a care in the world.

  He sensed no corruption, so this horrendous excess was an act of willful blindness to the suffering of the less fortunate rather than evil. That was something easily remedied, though not just now.

  On the left-hand side of the room, a wide staircase went up to the next floor. Binder and Qang slipped between tables and dodged waiters in red uniforms similar to that worn by the doorman. The scent of every delicacy imaginable filled the air. The combination twisted Binder’s stomach. The sooner he escaped this place the better, for everyone.

  At the top of the first flight of steps, two men in red livery and beari
ng curved swords waited to stop anyone from going up to the next level. Both men bowed to Qang.

  “Is she expecting you?” the right-hand guard said.

  “No, but this is a matter of considerable urgency. Making us wait could be disastrous.”

  Disastrous for anyone trying to stop them. Binder forced himself not to smile at the lord mayor’s clever tongue. He might have been a liar, coward, and sycophant, but at least he was amusing. Binder certainly needed all the levity he could find.

  “She’s with someone just now,” the guard said. “But if you give me a moment I’ll let her know you’re here.”

  Qang glanced up at Binder who nodded.

  “That will be fine.”

  The guard jogged up the steps and a moment later came the sound of knocking. A few seconds after that the guard shouted, “Come on up.”

  “That was quick,” Qang said. “Usually she makes me wait at least fifteen minutes.”

  They climbed the steps and marched straight through an open door. The apartment inside made the common room look like a slum house. Everywhere Binder looked gold glinted. Red silk covered all the furniture and red carpet silenced their footsteps as they crossed the threshold.

  Straight ahead, behind an ornate desk, sat a tiny old woman. Beside her waited a man in blue bearing Fell’s mark. He looked totally out of place, especially his sword.

  “Is that Sheng?” Binder asked.

  “It is. I believe she’s shrunk since I last visited.”

  Binder shot the man dressed in Fell’s uniform such a hard look that he flinched. Definitely one of the guards he’d seen earlier. “She had a spy in Fell’s household.”

  “Of course,” Qang said. “We all assume each merchant lord has at least one spy in our employ. It helps reduce the opportunities for costly betrayals.”

  “You make no effort to find them?”

  “Certainly we do. Any spy stupid enough to get smoked out deserves their fate.”

  Binder gave a despairing shake of his head. It was ever thus with humans. They couldn’t seem to help what was in their nature. Pity really. They could have accomplished so much if they redirected all that wasted energy.