Conspiracy (19 page)

“
Item number one,”
Maldynado said, “blasting sticks. Two, knockout gas. Three, smoke
grenades. Oh, good. Manly things.”

“
Blasting sticks?” Akstyr
asked. “What market has those?”

“
More importantly,” Books
said, “what are the blasting sticks
for
?”

“
My plan.” Amaranthe smiled
and glanced over her shoulder, wondering if Sicarius had joined
them yet. She needed the blasting sticks for her kidnapping scheme,
but she also hoped they could get enough of them to blow their way
into the collapsed mine and the remains of Tarok’s shamanic
workshop.

“
Will the details of that
plan be forthcoming soon?” Books asked.

“
Yes,” Amaranthe said. “As
some of you already know, the last train we can catch to reach
Forkingrust in time to intercept the emperor leaves at dawn. We
need to gather our supplies and be on it. Most of us,
anyway.”

“
Most?” Books
asked.

Wait
. Basilard pointed at Maldynado.
Shouldn’t you tell her about your brother first? Might that
knowledge not affect our plans?

Maldynado frowned. “I hope not.”

Amaranthe arched her eyebrows.
“Brother?”

“
Uhm, yes,” Maldynado
said.

Also, she needs to know who got those
weapons.

Amaranthe nodded. On the trip back to the
city, she’d been so busy scheming ways to get that thing out of
Sespian’s neck that she hadn’t thought much about what the other
half of the team had been doing.

Basilard seemed to be waiting for Maldynado
to start explaining, but when Maldynado merely sat there, shoulders
hunched, grimace frozen on his face, Basilard started signing. His
fingers flowed, explaining the details of their trip to the army
fort.

Chagrin blossomed within Amaranthe as she
“listened” to his words. The weapons had been for the military? Not
for some coup against the government or the city? She and Sicarius
had destroyed, or at least severely damaged, a weapons-making
facility that shipped orders to the army?

Amaranthe found herself by
the windowsill, wiping away the dust as her mind spun. Dear
ancestors, she’d been worried about the
kidnapping
getting her team in
trouble, but this would be a major blow if the authorities found
out what she had done. And she’d been foolish enough to amble up
and knock on that farmer lady’s door. As soon as someone questioned
that woman...

Ugh, just when she’d managed to convince
Deret Mancrest that her team was working for the good of the
empire... Just when they’d started to see favorable stories printed
in the newspapers...

“
But there might still be
some plot, right?” Akstyr asked.

Thoughts focused inward, Amaranthe had
stopped seeing Basilard’s hand signs, but Akstyr’s words made her
lift her head. “What?”

Akstyr looked from Maldynado—who was being
oddly silent—to Basilard who shrugged, then nodded, then shrugged
again. “On account of Maldynado’s brother not being stationed here
regularly and him being with that evil-looking fellow in black,”
Akstyr said.

At the mention of someone evil in black, all
heads turned toward the door. This time, Sicarius was there,
standing in the shadows, his face as frigid and unreadable as ever.
Out of all of her mistakes over the last two days, Amaranthe was
most regretting sharing their plans, however obliquely, with Yara.
Sicarius hadn’t said as much, but she had a feeling he saw it as a
betrayal of trust. She wasn’t sure he was wrong.

“
Evil fellow in black?”
Books asked.

“
He looked like someone
Sicarius would know,” Maldynado said, suddenly animated. Maybe he’d
rather talk about anyone except this brother? “Same entirely
unimaginative wardrobe, predilection for cruel weapons, and
humorless face.” Maldynado draped his elbow over the back of his
chair and considered Sicarius. “More scars though.”

“
Describe him,” Sicarius
said.

“
Didn’t I just do
that?”

He was an older,
white-haired man with a scar,
Basilard
signed, then drew a semi-circle beneath his eye.

“
A brand?” Sicarius
asked.

“
Yes,” Maldynado said at
the same time as Basilard nodded. “It looked like someone stamped
him with a hot iron, the way they brand sheep up in the
hills.”

“
Someone you know?”
Amaranthe asked Sicarius. She caught a hopeful tone in her voice.
She had to admit that she dearly wanted those weapons to be part of
some villainous scheme, so she could justify her team’s
interference.

“
Major Pike,” Sicarius
said.

“
An army officer?”
Amaranthe asked, though the lack of a “crest” name meant he wasn’t
warrior caste. Though rare, ordinary soldiers did sometimes earn
officer ranks through great deeds. Either way, it dashed her hopes
that this fellow’s presence signified a nefarious plot. If he was
an officer, he had a right to be there.

“
A former officer, yes,”
Sicarius said. “He was forced out of the service nearly thirty
years ago for excessive cruelty.”

Basilard’s eyebrows
flickered.
You can be discharged from the
Turgonian army for that? I thought it was a desirable
trait.

“
Easy, now,” Maldynado
said. “We’re not that bad.”

“
He was a rare case,”
Sicarius said. “As a young officer, he made his superiors uneasy
with his zealousness during interrogations. Later he tortured and
raped young recruits, using his rank to force them to remain
silent. When this was discovered, he was kicked out, and his family
disowned him.”

That’s
despicable
, Basilard signed.

“
Atrocious,” Books
said.

“
Agreed on both counts,”
Amaranthe said.

“
So, this fellow was one of
the Pikecrests?” Maldynado asked. “They’re an old and honorable
family. I can see why they’d want to disassociate themselves from
someone of that, uhm, caliber.”

“
After the incident,”
Sicarius said, “Hollowcrest recruited the major to be the emperor’s
Master Interrogator.”

Amaranthe snorted. “I shouldn’t be
surprised.”

“
I’m not.” Maldynado
smirked at Sicarius. “Is he the chap who taught you how to interact
with folks in such a friendly and affable manner?”

Sicarius sent a stony glare in his
direction.

Maldynado nodded. “Yes, like that.”

Amaranthe watched Sicarius, also wondering
under what circumstances he might have been associated with this
man. No, she supposed she needn’t wonder. Who better than a Master
Interrogator to help train the emperor’s personal assassin? If this
Pike had been forced out of the army thirty years earlier and
promptly gone to work for Hollowcrest, Sicarius might have been
young, less than ten years old, when they first met. Amaranthe had
seen Sicarius get answers out of people efficiently—though she had
a feeling she hadn’t seen the extremes he might go to if she were
not around to influence him—but she’d also seen him take horrible
wounds himself without flinching or acknowledging the pain. Somehow
she doubted that was a... talent one could learn without having
endured a lot of pain in one’s life. Though Sicarius spoke little
of his past, she remembered him once saying he’d learned to think
of other things when his mind had to be elsewhere.

Sicarius returned her gaze, and, not for the
first time, Amaranthe wondered if he ever wondered what she was
thinking.

“
Am I correct in assuming
he no longer works for the emperor?” she asked.

“
Sespian saw to his
dismissal shortly after Raumesys died,” Sicarius said.

“
Good for him.” Maldynado
pushed aside the tiles on the table and waved to the map. “Are we
going to plan the emperor’s rescue, or sit around squawking like
hens all day?”

Basilard pointed at the
scattered tiles.
You only did that because
you were losing
.

“
I have no idea what you’re
talking about.”

“
Your brother, I believe,”
Amaranthe said. “I’d like a few more details there, if you don’t
mind. Is he an officer at Fort Urgot? Does it make sense that he’d
be in charge of overseeing a delivery of weapons? Any idea what
he’s doing with this Major Pike?”

“
In no particular order, I
don’t know, I don’t know, and I don’t know,” Maldynado said. “I
haven’t seen him in years, and I haven’t talked to anyone in my
family since before I joined up with you.”

“
Can you tell us his name,
at least?”

“
I like to call him Lord
General Dungpile,” Maldynado said. “Technically it was Lord
Lieutenant Dungpile when I was a boy, but both have a nice
ring.”

“
Maldynado,” Amaranthe
said, “I can see there’s not a lot of love flowing between you and
your family, but I’d appreciate a little help here.”

“
Ravido,” Akstyr said.
“That was it, right? General Ravido something-crest.”

“
Thank you, Akstyr.”
Amaranthe frowned at Maldynado, and he squirmed under her gaze,
oozing discomfort. He was always so relaxed and unflappable that
she could only imagine that his family was a source of painful
memories. She wanted more details, but had a feeling she would have
to get him somewhere private to extract them. Like a private
shopping trip. “Maldynado, how would you like to help me purchase a
few items this evening?”

He winced, though he covered it quickly with
a smile. “With you? Why don’t you let me go on my own? You know I
get the best deals when I operate solo.”

He must
know
she wanted to pump him for
information. “Yes,” Amaranthe said, “something about you finding it
easier to convince female businesswomen and vendors that they have
a chance with you if there’s not a lady tagging along
behind.”

Books had pulled out his journal and a fresh
newspaper he’d picked up and seemed to be looking around for
suitable workspace, but he paused to snort at the conversation.

“
I need to go along to do
the special knock,” Amaranthe went on. “I’ve already put in the
order, but I’m concerned I won’t have enough funds to cover the fee
she quoted me. I thought you might be able to talk her down a
little. Any reason you can’t make it?”

“
None that I can think of,”
Maldynado muttered.

“
Good.” Amaranthe faced
Sicarius. “That farm lorry we... acquired—” truth though it may be,
she couldn’t bring herself to say stole, “—do you think it’s in
suitable shape to be driven up to the Scarlet Pass?”

“
There will be snow in the
mountains,” Sicarius said. “A storm could make the roads
impassable.”

“
Even to people with
blasting sticks?” Amaranthe asked.

The look Sicarius gave her suggested her
question did not deserve an answer.

Basilard signed,
Aren’t we taking a train across the
mountains?

“
Most of us are,” Amaranthe
said, “and we’ll infiltrate the emperor’s train at Forkingrust, but
for my plan to work, I’ll need a couple of people to go to the pass
separately, with a few blasting sticks, to create a slight
distraction that will force the engineer to stop.”

“
A distraction?” Books
frowned. “Such as a landslide?”

“
One that covers the
railway completely, yes,” Amaranthe said.

Books’s frown deepened. “You intend to
blockade one of the main supply lines to Stumps?”

“
Not permanently. We’ll
just drop a tiny bit of rubble across the tracks, so the soldiers
need to climb out and work on clearing it.”

Basilard signed,
While we pull the emperor out?

“
That’s the idea,”
Amaranthe said. “Once the train is delayed and we escape with the
emperor, the team can get away in the lorry.”

“
You’re going to ask the
emperor to ride in that dilapidated pumpkin hauler?” Maldynado
asked.

“
He’s the one who asked
mercenaries to kidnap him,” Amaranthe said. “He can’t expect us to
pick him up in a velvet-cushioned steam carriage.”

“
No, no. A clunker
purloined from a farm will never do for this mission,” Maldynado
said. “You need a reliable vehicle to get the blasting sticks into
the mountains, one with enough size and comfort to fit everyone in
afterward, including persons accustomed to fine things.”

“
Do you know where we could
get a more appropriate vehicle?” Amaranthe asked, wondering if she
would regret it.

“
Better, faster, you bet. I
have a friend, well, more than a friend in truth... Lady
Buckingcrest. She has all sorts of interesting conveyances. I’m
certain I could arrange for a suitable transport for our needs,
providing I’m not being tasked with the unchallenging task of
bartering for lower prices on blasting sticks.”

The blasting sticks weren’t going to be
inexpensive, and Amaranthe had a feeling Maldynado would be useful
in that negotiation, but his eyes were gleaming, and he seemed
quite pleased at the notion of talking to this Lady Buckingcrest.
Amaranthe wondered if he wasn’t simply looking for a way to avoid
spending time alone with her. Still, a better vehicle would be a
boon.