Old Man's Ghosts (5 page)

Kesh edged around the door jamb and peered into the dim dining room. Cold winter light slipped through the window shutters, cutting white through the shadows. The man faced away from her in front of the empty fire. She crept forward, sliding her body gently through the half-open doorway, and assessed the room between them. Her path was partly blocked by the heavy oak table, but its surface was clear, its chairs tucked neatly under.

I’ve got you now.

Kesh tightened her grip on the long knife and burst forward, two steps taking her to the table. She vaulted it with ease, right foot leading the way to kick the man into the fire mantel. Just as she reached him, the man twisted with improbable speed. One arm deflected her kick as he turned away from the blade that followed it.

The air was driven from her lungs by the punch that followed, a blow that sent her sprawling back and sliding back down the length of the table.

‘That’s how you want it?’ the man growled, drawing his own knives. ‘Fine with me.’

He stalked forward as Kesh scrambled over the far edge of the table, somehow managing to land on her feet and keep her grip on the weapon. She staggered back a step before catching her balance again and setting her feet. Shoulders hunched, knife held out before her, she slipped her free hand under her jacket and withdrew a wickedly curved hatchet.

The man hesitated. ‘Just happened to have that on you?’ he asked, not waiting for a reply before lurching forward on the attack.

His blows fell short and Kesh gave a step of ground, well clear of the slashing blades. Seeing an opportunity she darted forward, knife-tip surging towards the man’s arm. He turned and deflected it, then dodged the hatchet swing that followed. Before she could strike again the man pivoted and drove a heavy boot into her midriff.

The impact lifted her off her feet, throwing Kesh several yards back to slam into a sideboard. Stars burst before her eyes, her back screaming with pain, as her weapons were jerked from her hands. She forced herself to roll sideways in a bid to get away, but felt a hand close around her ankle. As she was hauled along the ground she twisted and kicked into the side of his knee with her free foot, slipping his grip and eliciting a grunt from her attacker.

Instead of fleeing she swung up on the offensive, using his arm to haul herself upright and slam her left hand into his face. A flash of light exploded from her palm and the man reeled, cursing, with hands to his face. Kesh scooped up her fallen knife and threw herself on him, driving the man back against a wall and putting the blade to his throat.

‘Yield?’ she snarled into his face.

Still pawing at his eyes and grimacing, the man nodded. ‘Ah, fuck – aye, I yield! Bastard spirits o’ the deep, when did you start carrying that around with you?’

Kesh released him and stepped back, sheathing her knife before fetching the hatchet.

‘These past few weeks now,’ she said, flexing her fingers. ‘Ever since it was clear one of my damn fool friends was likely to get me into a fight soon. That’s why we’re training, remember?’

There were leather loops around her middle and index fingers, a small pad laced with slippery grey threads hanging from them. Enchei had made it for her once the goshe scandal had died down, having cut the threads from the flesh of a goshe elite he’d killed. What they were made of she couldn’t tell, certainly not sinew but not metal either. Enchei had said the goshe’s mages had inserted a piece into the man’s hand and caused it to grow like a parasite under the flesh.

‘Call that training?’ he growled, ‘I can barely see now, but I can smell burned flesh. That spark-pad ain’t a fucking toy.’

‘You were hardly holding back, Irato,’ she snapped in response, her anger close to the surface, as it always was when they sparred. ‘What about the bloody kick? You do remember you’re stronger than natural men, right?’

‘I held back,’ he said casually. ‘Your ribs ain’t broken, are they?’

‘Cripple’s teeth,’ Kesh hissed, pressing a hand to her side. ‘You came damn close, just be more careful next time. You might be a soulless bastard, but you’re not careless.
I
was the one Enchei told to give it everything, remember?’

‘Merciful light of the divine!’ cried a third voice. Kesh turned to see the outraged face of her mother, Teike, at the doorway, a pair of empty baskets in her hands. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

Kesh’s heart sank as she realised another argument was brewing. ‘Training,’ she said with a wince. ‘We can’t be far off trouble coming our way and I mean to be better prepared this time.’

‘Training be damned, my girl! You do that in your own time and in your own space – you don’t do your best to demolish the dining room in the process. What if a guest had come in?’

‘No ships will have finished docking yet,’ she argued, ‘and our two guests are still abed on the far side of the house.’ She pointed past her mother to where the rear section of the guesthouse was situated, connected to this part by a corridor only. ‘This isn’t our old house, remember?’

She saw her mistake at once, the bristling anger she’d inherited from her mother once more appearing between them.

‘I hardly need reminding,’ Teike said, ‘given
that
man now lives here in your sister’s place – to say nothing of the fact he’s the reason our home burned down and your sister’s dead.’

‘Don’t start that again,’ Kesh replied hotly, ‘he pays his way and you know that.’
And this goshe training house might not have the views of our old one, but we’ve more rooms to earn off while our home’s being rebuilt. And you’ve got a labourer thrown in for free.

Her mother sniffed. ‘Payment like that I’ll live without. I don’t know what it is between you, but I’ve seen your training sessions. Most of the time I’m surprised they don’t end with one of you being killed. Don’t pretend this one was any different; you two are a hair’s breadth from stabbing each other when your blood’s up.’

Kesh took a long breath, knowing how close she was to getting into a screaming match. What made things worse was that Teike spoke only the truth. Half a year after Emari’s death, Irato could still kindle a rage inside her like little else. Pardoned by decree for his involvement in the Moon’s Artifice affair, they were all aware that neither woman would ever fully forgive him.

‘I’ll leave you two alone, Mistress Teike,’ Irato muttered, eyes downcast again now the violence was over. Brutal and thoughtless though he was with a knife in his hand, the effect of Moon’s Artifice on his mind was permanent and Irato remained subservient to both women the rest of the time. Only part of it was instinctive; Kesh knew he still felt guilt at crimes he couldn’t recall. Irato knew his part in their loss and his deference was some form of penance.

‘You stay there,’ Teike said, ‘I may not like it, but Kesh’s made it damn clear you’re some strange part of what family I’ve got left. Half my friends think the pair of you are sleeping together anyway,’ she added – Kesh’s widened eyes showed the barb had hit home – ‘but of course they haven’t seen the murder in Kesh’s eyes when she takes a knife to you. Sometimes I wonder if it isn’t true myself, but whatever’s going on – whether you play weapons-tutor or guard dog to Kesh – you’re here now. If there’s going to be an argument you’ll be part of it.’

Kesh sighed, knowing the burly fighter wouldn’t take part in any such thing. With his past erased by Moon’s Artifice, he rarely had an opinion to express on any subject and was frequently lost without direction from her. Guard dog was a better description than perhaps her mother realised.

‘What goes on when we train is my choice, not yours,’ Kesh said. ‘Gods, I’m sounding like a whining child now! But no, we’re not sleeping together. It’s nothing like that, and yes sometimes maybe I don’t hold anything back, but he can take it and it’s his choice.’

‘Is it now?’ Teike cocked her head at Irato. ‘The way you and your friends described it, his goshe poison made some things not about choice. Enchei was the one who described him as your guard dog first. Now, I might not like having him around, but I don’t like the sight of my daughter owning a slave and sometimes you come perilously close.’

‘Mistress,’ Irato broke in hesitantly, ‘a slave would want to leave. I choose to stay.’

‘You don’t choose bloody anything,’ Teike snapped, ‘that’s the problem!’

‘Yet I would be lost without Kesh.’ He paused, frowning as he tried to frame his thoughts. ‘I trust her – maybe not to avoid giving me a few extra scars, but when it’s important I trust her as I can’t trust myself.’

‘What the buggery is that meant to mean?’

‘Thief’s sticky fingers!’ Kesh exclaimed. ‘How many times do I need to explain it? The man’s only got half a soul left. He forgets to care about things, about how people are more important than rocks. Without me telling him he forgets what right and wrong are, he just does what others tell him to.’

‘There’s only one thing I’m sure of in this life,’ Irato said with rare assertiveness, ‘and that is that I was a murderer and a thief of souls, and I don’t wish to be that man again. I may not remember my crimes, but I know I could do more harm to the world without a guiding light I can trust.’

‘That’s another thing, young lady,’ Teike said, ignoring most of what they had said, ‘no more of this cursing when you’re under my roof. You used to be a pious girl, remember? Now you only mention the Gods when you’re cursing.’

Kesh scowled. ‘I wasn’t exactly won over when I met one, remember? These days I think I’d prefer to trust the demons that visit Irato more than any Ascendant god.’

‘Don’t even get me started on bloody demons possessing him any hour of the night,’ Teike said, pointing an accusing finger at Irato. ‘Dragging him out into the dark to do Gods know what. Do they follow your moral guidance too? Last month one came during dinner, remember? Soon it’ll start costing us paying customers!’

‘I will go and earn a wage if you would prefer me to keep clear of your guests,’ Irato joined, but then shrank back from the furious looks he received from both women.

‘I’m sure you could command a good fee yes, given how good you seem to be at killing folk,’ Teike snapped.

‘That’s really not helping! Irato,’ Kesh said, ‘get out, will you?’

This time her mother made no objection and the big man slunk outside, closing the door behind him.

‘How can you treat the man like a guard dog,’ Teike said as she watched the door shut, ‘and still keep him here out of some strange sympathy? Don’t you dare tell me the sight of him doesn’t sometimes sicken you, I see it in your face as clearly as I feel it in my heart. ’

‘It’s my memories that hurt, not the sight of him,’ Kesh said in a subdued voice. ‘Might be I’d remember Emari less without him around, but I’m not ready to leave go of her memory yet. I don’t know if this is forever, but it is what it is for the moment.’

Teike took her daughter’s hands in her own. ‘But it’s a burden you don’t need to take on. Oh my beautiful girl, you’ve always been strong, but that doesn’t mean you need to assume the burdens of others. I’m not talking about Irato here, either. I may like Narin and Enchei more than your guard dog, but they’re men who attract trouble. Without them, you wouldn’t need to practise knife work.’

To Teike’s surprise, Kesh gave a small laugh and hugged her. ‘Honestly, Mother, you disapprove of my friends? Can I not go out and play once I’ve done all my chores?’

‘You’re not so grown up I can’t put you over my knee, young lady,’ Teike replied, a sad smile on her face. ‘But seriously, Kesh – you’ve been through so much this last year. Not just losing a sister, but being beaten and almost killed several times, then those inquiries by the Imperial Court, interrogations from House Dragon. And all the work you did here. It hardly seems as though life has returned to normal, because when you’re not here working you’re over at the Crowsnest overseeing the rebuilding.’

‘What else can I do? It’s tiring, yes, but we need to get everything done.’ She gestured around at the house they stood in. ‘This Shure the Imperial inquiry loaned us was in no fit state to rent to anyone and winter’s only going to make it worse.’

‘Exactly, my girl! There’s more work to do than I can reasonably ask of you, but you make time to train at street-fighting with Irato and now you might be away from home for a few days?’

Kesh ducked her head in acknowledgement. ‘I know, but I can’t just pretend my friends don’t need my help. We’ve got money to hire in someone to help you here while I’m away. Spend it, please – labourers, a maid, whatever we need to keep the guests happy over winter.’

‘Away doing
what,
though?’ Teike insisted. ‘Why won’t you tell me that? “Enchei will be calling me away soon” isn’t much of an explanation!’

‘It’s best you don’t know any more. In case things get nasty. I don’t want you anywhere near it.’

‘Is that why you’re brawling with Irato these days? You’re getting ready for the nastiness to catch up with you?’

‘If it happens, I’m going to be ready for it, that’s all,’ Kesh said firmly. ‘I’m leaving the violence to others, I’m no fool, but if someone grabs me in the street like that bastard goshe did in the summer, I want to be ready for whatever gets thrown my way.’ She took a long breath and forced a smile. ‘You have to trust me, this isn’t like the summer. There’s no Empire-wide conspiracy, unnatural soldiers or demons involved – at least, not on their side! This is simply a friend in a jam and we’re taking no chances.’ She hesitated, her face falling. ‘Mother, I have to do this. Not just because Enchei or Narin asks it, but … well, it’s not just them involved.’

‘What do you mean?’

Kesh bit her lip before replying. ‘There’s a little girl whose life is also at stake – a little girl, younger than Emari, who’s caught up in all this. It might not make sense, but I can’t stand aside. I can’t avoid getting involved if I can help at all. It might be playing nursemaid’s all I’m needed for, but whatever needs to be done, I
must
do it.’

In her gut Kesh felt a bitter heat at the half-lie. It was told far more to explain the impossibility of her changing her mind than to sway her mother, but the voice of a cynic at the back of her mind chastised her for just that. She had no idea whether Kine would be giving birth to a boy or a girl, but in her heart she knew it didn’t matter.