Doppelganger

8 Avalanche [Mirage]

Vilardi was a much smaller town than Breiano, and seemed an unlikely place to hold such an important series of meetings. But Breiano, perched on Insebrar’s coast a few days’ ride away, was the headquarters of the Silk Consortium, and as such was hardly neutral ground.

So they made do. Vilardi did not have enough inns to house everyone, but the shipping families didn’t care; they were accustomed to living in their wagons and tents, leaving the much pricier hotels for the silk men. Mirage and Eclipse, approaching the town from the west, encountered the perimeter of the tent city long before they reached Vilardi itself.

“Looks like most of the major overland shippers in the east,” Mirage said to Eclipse as they drew closer. The large wagons at the heart of the tent circles had sprouted poles from which an assortment of banners flapped. “What do you want to bet there are at least three Wind-blades in there?”

“Might be some other Silverfires, too,” he replied, scanning the area.

“Marell would’ve mentioned it if there were. Most of them are probably hiring bodyguard specialists.” That might very well be why the Silk Consortium had gone for Avalanche; Hunters were dedicated to their employers above their schools, but not everyone believed that. “Let’s go ask a few questions. Vilardi’s not large, but they could save us some searching.”

The perimeter guard eyed them suspiciously as they approached; Mirage belatedly wished that she had covered or dyed her hair. Then again, maybe that wasn’t what was putting him off. Neither of them was in uniform, but it didn’t take a genius to recognize Hunters, or to at least guess that they were dangerous. She relaxed her posture and held both hands out wide; beside her Eclipse did the same. The guard did not seem reassured by this indication of goodwill.

“What’re you after?” he muttered, flexing his hands on the grip of his pike. The man was thick around the middle, but he still looked like he meant business. “What business do you have here?”

“None in your camp,” Eclipse said. “We’re not trying to enter. We’re just looking for where your leaders are meeting with the Consortium’s men.”

Mirage knew it was the wrong thing to say the moment the words came out of his mouth. The guard’s eyes narrowed further, and he stretched the pike forward threateningly. “I’m not telling you that. Get gone, before I call more guards on you! And if you show your faces around here or near any of our people, it’ll be more than a warning!”

Swearing inwardly, Mirage nevertheless composed her face and bowed in her saddle. “We apologize for bothering you.”

“Get out of here!”

They wheeled their horses and left the camp’s entrance it a fast trot. Once they were a safe distance away, they pulled up and eyed each other wryly.

“Stupid of us,” Mirage said. “They’re so nervous they’re hiring bodyguards, and we ask them where they’re meeting?”

“Not the brightest idea we’ve had,” Eclipse agreed.

They veered south, giving the encampment a wide berth, and circled around to the eastern side of the town. Mirage fumed at the delay, and at their own foolishness, tat there was no help for it now. They’d just have to hope the shipping guards didn’t cause them any trouble in the town itself.

Inside Vilardi’s walls, the streets were packed. Not only had the Consortium and the shipping companies brought their people, others had flocked to the town in hopes of parting the visitors from their coin. The result was a madhouse.

“We’ll be lucky if we can find a room anywhere!” Eclipse called over his shoulder, his tone sour. Mirage silently agreed. She had forgotten how small Vilardi was. Had there been a Silverfire agent here, they might have had a hope, but the town wasn’t usually important enough to merit one.

The day had grown old and Mirage’s patience had fayed to the breaking point before they found a place to stay. Tiny, with only one bed to split, and with more than a fair share of vermin. Her lip curled, but she said nothing. We’re lucky we’ve got even this much. However little it is. You’ve slept in more disgusting places—that flop-wise in Liak, before you got the first commission and had enough coin for something better.

Her wrist tingled at the reminder. This assignment was definitely important enough to be worth enduring a few lice. Or even an army of lice.

A handful of men in the common room made lewd comments to her every time she walked through; she smiled and returned them in kind, although she had no intention of following through. It was the safest way to handle this type of thug; if she looked intimidated, or too defensive, she’d identify herself as an easy mark or a target in need of taking down. As it stood, they grinned, and winked, and left her alone.

As soon as their things were settled, with the bill paid in advance, of course, Mirage and Eclipse took to the streets once more. Their innkeeper had no more idea of where the Consortium and the shippers were meeting than how to spell his own name, so they’d have to search for it themselves.

A second tour of the town brought no more results than the first had; despite the cramped quarters, the leaders involved were doing a remarkable job keeping things secret. Mirage would have been impressed, had it not irritated her so much. I’m not here for their Void-damned meeting. I just want to find Avalanche, talk to him, and get on with this job.

The Warrior, it seemed, heard her prayers. When they turned onto a street they’d walked six times already, they found a procession coming from the other direction. Guards formed a thick wall, shoving the crowd back, keeping a protective space around the core of their ring. At the heart of it all was a palanquin, richly hung with embroidered silks. That was, no doubt, the leader of the Consortium. Mirage could have cared less about him, though; it was the riders that interested her. One of them, dressed to match the rest, was nevertheless recognizable.

“Follow him,” Eclipse said in her ear.

They tailed the procession discreetly; it went straight to the richest inn Vilardi boasted. The grounds were swarming with more guards, which didn’t surprise Mirage in the least. If they were to get Avalanche’s attention, they’d have to do it out here.

The two Hunters quickened their pace accordingly, working their way ahead of the slow-moving procession until they were as near the inn wall as they could safely get. Then, as the riders around the palanquin approached, Eclipse gave a piercing whistle.

It caught Avalanche’s attention, of course; he was watching everything, from the rooftops to the windows to the beggar children in the alleys. In a crowd like this, his nerves had to be hair-triggered. The whistle brought his head around with a snap. He spotted Mirage and Eclipse and gave them one curt nod. Then he was through the gates and into the courtyard.

Mirage and Eclipse settled down to wait.

Avalanche was quick; he was back outside before a quarter of an hour had passed. The three Hunters withdrew to a nook not quite as exposed to the watching eye.

“Make it fast,” he said, still scanning the crowd. “It’s supper soon, and I have to be there to taste everything.”

“The joys of bodyguarding,” Eclipse said wryly. “We need to talk with you, though. Can you come meet us? We’re in—What’s the place called?” he asked Mirage.

“The Barmaid’s Bosom,” she said, keeping her face bland.

Avalanche grimaced. “I wouldn’t visit you there even if I could. But I can’t leave him alone for that long anyway. You’ll have to come here; I’ll tell the guards. What do you need to talk about?”

“We’ve been blood-oathed to investigate Tari-nakana’s assassination,” Eclipse said.

The words made Avalanche go pale. Mirage would have been more subtle about it, but after all, Eclipse knew the other Hunter better than she did. “Do me a favor and don’t mention that too loudly around here,” Avalanche said. “It doesn’t look good if they know the last person I protected ended up dead.”

“So you were bodyguarding her,” Eclipse said.

“Yeah. And I don’t mind saying I feel like shit about what happened. Here I am, the only one she trusts to keep her safe, and I fail miserably at my job.” He sighed. “Come back at Low. I’ll be up; his lordship sir grand master high—and-mighty Consortium won’t. The guards will let you in, and we’ll talk.” His eyes slid to Mirage. “I can’t promise I’ve got answers for you, but I do have some things you’d probably like to know.”

Then he was gone, pausing only to speak with the captain of the guard. Mirage glanced at Eclipse, and they left silently, melting into the crowd.

“Sounds like Avalanche isn’t enjoying his job,” Mirage remarked later, in their room.

“I’m not surprised. I’ve heard about this Consortium leader. He’s a real bloodsucker; cares more for his money than pretty much anything else. And he’s used to having things done when he wants them, the way he wants them. He’s probably running Avalanche ragged.”

“Warrior’s teeth. He’s one of those who figures it’s the bodyguard’s job to protect him, and doesn’t do anything to make the process easier.”

Eclipse nodded ruefully. “I’ll wager you the palanquin and its curtains were there to shelter him from the noise and stench of the streets, and not rooftop archers. People like that hate to change their behavior just because of some vague, nebulous, maybe-there-maybe-not danger. They never believe they’re at risk.”

“Lucky for him he’s got a sensible adviser in there somewhere, or he’d probably not even have hired Avalanche.”

“Yeah. I just hope he’s paying well. I’d ask a hefty fee, to put up with that kind of shit.”

Outside, a bell tolled the third hour of Last. One more hour until they had to meet Avalanche. Mirage was glad she’d learned patience in Hunter training; a lot of her time was spent in waiting or monotonous riding. “Let’s go get some food.”

The common room was packed, even though it lacked just an hour to Low, but they employed intimidating looks to good effect and got a tiny spot to themselves along one wall. The table was none too steady—it looked to have been one end of something longer, before it was broken off—but it was theirs alone, a luxury they appreciated in the close quarters. Eclipse ordered food for them both, and they leaned against the wall to survey the crowd.

Men from the Consortium’s lower ranks were sitting cheek-by-jowl with locals, and there was a scattering of shippers throughout as well. The atmosphere, luckily, was amiable, if a bit too drunken to rely on. Mirage just hoped the good humor would hold until she and Eclipse got out of there. She’d been in more than one barroom brawl, and they were never much fun. Even with all of her training, brawls were so chaotic and unpredictable that she usually ended up taking a chair to the back of the head before it was all done. Not her idea of a pleasant way to spend the evening.

The serving girl arrived with some indefinable sludge on thick pottery plates and went away again to fetch them beers. The supposed dinner was disgusting; Mirage picked through it with the point of her knife, looking for edible bits. She left most of it on the plate. The last thing she wanted tonight was a sick stomach.

Actually, that goes for pretty much any night.

Then there was a commotion at the door, and Mirage realized heavily that there was indeed something she had wanted even less.

Trouble.

A knot of men-at-arms from the shipping companies stood in the doorway, scanning the room. Mirage held still and prayed that they were looking for someone else—a friend, maybe, or a prostitute, of which there were plenty in the room. But she had barely finished the thought when the lead guard’s eyes found her and narrowed in anger.

“Oh, Crone’s stick, no,” Eclipse muttered.

“You!” The guard advanced across the room, stabbing a finger at the two of them. Just my luck. It would be the one from this morning. “I told you to leave. I told you not to show your faces!”

“We’re just having a drink and a meal,” Eclipse said. “We’ll stay the night, and then we’ll be on our way and trouble you no more.”

The guardsman bent to put his unshaven face right in front of Eclipse. “You’ll leave tonight.”

“Funny,” Mirage drawled, pulling his eyes to her. “I don’t recall any edicts from Lord Ralni forbidding us to be in this town. Nor from the mayor, either. I’d say we have as much right to be here as you do. More, given that you’re disrupting the peace and we’re not.”

His scowl warned her. She seized his hands as they reached for the front of her shirt and twisted them around, bending them backward until he was in a reasonable amount of pain. “Don’t touch me,” she said softly. The action set the guardsman’s friends off. They stepped forward threateningly, hands going to the hilts of their knives. Mirage thanked the Warrior that wearing swords inside town walls was forbidden while the meetings were going on. Even so, their motion brought the Consortium men to their feet, which in turn sparked the other company men, which had the locals looking for a quick exit.

Then, unfortunately, a Consortium man chose to take Mirage’s part. “I suggest you leave the lady alone. Unless you really need to prove to the world that you’re uneducated, drunken boors not worth the effort to spit on.”

Mirage used her leverage on the man’s hands to throw him backward into his friends, buying herself time to get out of her chair as the room exploded. Eclipse rapped the one company guard who charged for her behind the ear, and he went down like a felled log. One less in the fray. But there’s plenty more where he came from.

The tension she’d felt earlier had snapped, creating a full-fledged brawl in the space of a heartbeat. Mirage jumped out of the way of a local bent on finding an escape, but in doing so put herself in the path of another Vilardi resident too drunk to care whose side he was on. She spun out of his path and found herself face-to-face with the guardsman who had started it all.

“Bitch,” he snarled.

Mirage smiled at him and kicked him in the knee.

He went down, but someone else’s elbow caught her in the head, full force.

Void-damned brawls! Mirage growled away the stars and turned on the owner of the offending elbow, slamming the palm of her hand into his nose and then kneeing him in the stomach where his too-small leather breastplate didn’t cover. A swift punch to his kidneys as she threw him behind her finished him off, for the moment at least, leaving her still in the middle of the very brawl she had not wanted to see.

The sound of a breaking chair brought her around swiftly, but it was only Eclipse taking down another guard. He grabbed her wrist; she went along with his pull and flew out of the path of another attacker’s down-swinging fist. Eclipse kicked him in the stomach, chest, and head, and then they were gone, pushing through until they reached a wall, and then sliding along it until they found their way to the back door and made it outside.

“I hate brawls,” Mirage growled, feeling the side of her head carefully. A noticeable lump was forming.

“They’re not my favorite, either. Come on—it’s almost time to meet Avalanche anyway. He won’t mind if we’re a few minutes early.”

The brawl was already attracting a crowd of spectators outside the inn. The two Hunters eased their way out of the growing ring and took to the shadows; neither wanted further trouble. They moved to the middle of the street before they reached the Consortium inn, though. Provoking the already jumpy guards would just start another fight, this one much more serious.

They endured an extended scrutiny, but were finally passed along inside. Guards were camped out all over the courtyard, and another pair flanked the door, while a score or so filled the common room with quiet talk. Mirage found the atmosphere a relief after the fun in the Barmaid’s Bosom.

“We’re here to talk with the leader’s bodyguard,” Eclipse said to the door guards.

One of them grunted; the other nodded. “Upstairs to the second floor. Third to last door on the right.”

Not an interior room. Mirage guessed that the Consortium leader was in the room just beyond. She could imagine Avalanche trying and failing to convince him to take a room without windows and a balcony. At least they were on the second floor, rather than the top or the ground; it lessened the risk of someone coming in from outside. Still, it wasn’t the kind of setup a bodyguard would pick.

Better Avalanche than me. I might have staged a fake assassination attempt just to prove to this idiot that he is vulnerable. But if he wanted to take the job, that was his business. They were here to ask him about Tari-nakana. And Mirage most especially wanted to know why Avalanche had glanced at her like that, earlier in the afternoon.

The upstairs hallway was quiet, and dimly lit with elegant lanterns. Everything was peaceful.

Mirage stopped Eclipse with a touch.

He glanced at her and raised his hands to sign. Trouble?

Maybe. Go quietly.

They crept along the hallway, carefully placing their boots to minimize the floor’s creak. The inn was well-built and well-maintained; the floor beneath the runner rug was solid enough not to make much noise. They flanked Avalanche’s door, and Mirage put her ear to it.

Silence inside. Then a faint noise.

Mirage kicked the door in.

For just an instant, she could see a figure silhouetted dimly against the night sky over Avalanche’s balcony. Then he was gone.

She was after him in a heartbeat.

There was just enough time, as Mirage vaulted the balcony railing, to realize that the inn’s retaining wall was within reach for a good jumper. She landed well enough on its top edge to keep her balance and her momentum; her boots thudded onto the cobblestones a moment later, and then she was off down the narrow alley beyond, pursuing the just-visible figure of the other Hunter.

This was a quieter part of town; there was no one on the street besides them. Mirage gritted her teeth and poured her energy into running. She was fast, but her quarry had long legs and a head start. She was gaining ground, but very slowly, and he was nearing the town wall.

He veered suddenly to the left. Mirage took the corner fast and made up ground. Just ahead she could see another low wall, with ivy growing along it. He began to claw his way up it. She made a tremendous leap as she neared the wall and seized hold of his torso.

The other Hunter tried to dislodge her without losing his grip on the ivy, which was already threatening to tear out. She tried to pull him loose; she also spared a moment to tug at his mask and head covering, but they wouldn’t come off easily. The straggle persisted for a few moments, during which neither made any real progress, and then the ivy rendered the situation moot by ripping loose.

The fight to put each other on the bottom as they fell ended in a draw; they landed together on their right sides and rolled apart. Both drew knives, which went flying a moment later as each chose to concentrate on disarming the other instead of holding on to the weapon in hand.

Mirage’s opponent snarled and came at her in a rash.

She ducked his double kick and then tried to sweep his legs out as he landed. The attempt failed. He threw a backhanded punch at her, which she blocked, slamming his elbow as she did so. He granted and pulled back, then came forward kicking once more. One foot caught Mirage in the ribs; a right punch clipped her head again, worsening the headache and disorientation from the brawl not long ago. She snarled away the pain and sweep kicked again, this time taking him to the ground. He rolled out of the way of her descending kick and vaulted to his feet again.

Mirage had anticipated that; he took a fist to the face that sent him reeling backward. He blocked her next two punches, though, and then pounded her braised ribs again.

Adrenaline kept the pain away. Mirage, turning to cushion the hit to her ribs, threw a left-handed blow that connected solidly with the side of his neck. Continuing with her momentum, she turned and delivered a hook kick, then a side kick from the other foot. The other Hunter reeled backward, hand dropping to his belt, and she knew she had the upper hand.

Then he threw a handful of ash in her face.

She leapt back, coughing, and tried to clear her eyes.

But in the moment that she was distracted, he struck—not to her head, but to her left knee. Pain shrieked up her leg. And by the time she could see, he was gone into Vilardi, and she didn’t have a hope of catching him again.

The trip back through the town was a slow one. Mirage had washed the ash out of her face at a well, but the adrenaline had long since faded, and she felt every hit she had taken. Her knee was throbbing with every step, her ribs twinged with every breath, and her head alternately ached and plagued her with fits of dizziness. She staggered like a drunk until her fury overcame the pain; then she clamped her jaw shut and walked as steadily as possible, through the unfamiliar streets, working her way back to the inn by vague memory and no small amount of guessing. She just hoped Eclipse was still at the Consortium’s inn; he hadn’t followed when she jumped out the window. And what had happened to Avalanche?

Movement in the shadows; her hand leapt for the dagger she had not retrieved and closed on air. But the figure melting out of the shadows was only Eclipse, and she relaxed as much as she could without falling over.

“Where’s Avalanche?” she asked as he approached, even though she could already guess the answer.

“Dead.” Eclipse’s face was a stone mask. “The killer?”

“Wolfstar, by the cut of his uniform. Gone, though. I caught up to him, but he blinded me with ash and kicked my knee out to stop me from following again.” The admission galled her, even though she knew Eclipse would never blame her for her failure.

“Can you ride?” he asked.

Mirage blinked. “Why?”

“The inn’s in an uproar, and men from both sides are all over this area of town, looking to cause even more trouble. If we don’t get out of here, we’re going to find ourselves blamed for Avalanche’s murder.”

Mirage considered it. She hurt like fury, and was still fighting dizziness. Oh well. I can always tie myself to the saddle. “I can ride.”

“Good. We get the horses, then, and get out of here.”