Hanner turned to see who Zallin was talking about, and saw the red-skirted woman. “Oh,” he said.
“I haven’t been paid,” she said, as Vond shouted something upstairs.
“I know,” Hanner said, glancing up the stairs. “This really isn’t a good time, though.”
“I can see that,” the streetwalker replied. “He sent a woman flying out the door a moment ago, and I can hear him yelling. Still, someone owes me five rounds.”
“Five rounds?”
“That’s what he promised me.”
Hanner looked at Zallin, but the other man offered no comment. He was too busy staring down the woman’s tunic. Hanner sighed. “What was your name?” he asked.
“Leth of Pawnbroker Lane.”
“Leth. Yes. This is really not a good time. If you could come back tomorrow, I’ll see to it you’re paid.”
She hesitated, glancing up the stairs, then said, “I’m not at all sure this place will still be standing tomorrow. He just announced that he’s going to go tell the overlord and the Wizards’ Guild that he’s angry with them.”
“He did?” Hanner looked up the stairs; Vond was shouting, but he could not make out the words.
“He said anyone who’s still in this house when he gets back is his property.”
Hanner closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. “Then you really don’t want to be here, do you?” he said. “Listen, I promise you’ll be paid, but this drunken idiot here is the one with the money, and he’s in no condition to deal with it right now. If you won’t come back here tomorrow, go to the overlord’s palace and tell the guards on the bridge that you need to see Lady Alris – the Lady of the Household. Tell her that her brother Hanner owes you five rounds.”
Leth stared at him. “The palace? And you think she’ll believe me?”
“Yes,” Hanner said. “I do. Tell her the whole story, if you need to. Now, I really need to get this man upstairs and talk to the emperor. Excuse me.”
He turned away, and had scarcely gotten Zallin up the first step when he heard the front door close. A quick glance assured him that Leth was indeed gone.
He boosted Zallin up one more step, and then was suddenly slammed against the wall, Zallin beside him. The front door burst open again, and Vond came swooping down the stairs, his black robe flapping, a second dark figure trailing in his wake. He paused in mid-air when he spotted Hanner.
At least, Hanner thought, he was decently dressed this time, and not glowing.
“Ah, it’s you!” Vond said. “You might want to know, it was a witch who sent me that dream.” He gestured toward the thing following him, and with a shock Hanner realized it was a woman’s body; the arms and head dangled limply. From her misshapen appearance Hanner concluded that she had been crushed, “She’s dead,” Vond said, unnecessarily. “I’m going to return her to the wizard who sent her.”
Getting a look at her face, Hanner belatedly recognized the dead woman as one of that evening’s arrivals, the one who had said she didn’t trust the tapestry. He swallowed, and tried not to let his horror show. “How do you know who sent her?” he asked.
“She told me before she died,” Vond said. “It was Ithinia of the Isle.”
“Guildmaster Ithinia? She’s the most powerful wizard in the city; why would she send a witch?”
“Because this witch had shared the Calling with a warlock,” Vond replied. “So she came to share it with me, and now I’m going to share the results with Ithinia.”
“Your Majesty, do you -”
“I don’t intend to discuss it with you,” Vond interrupted. “She may be the most powerful wizard in the city, but I’m the most powerful warlock who ever lived. I am going to explain to her that she should not antagonize me.”
“Of course, your Majesty,” Hanner said, managing as much of a bow as he could without letting Zallin fall.
“And I’m claiming this house as my own, Hanner. You can stay on as one of my retainers, or not, as you please. If you decide to leave, though, I’ll want you to show me this magical tapestry of yours before you go.”
“That woman Leth said something…”
“I’ve told everyone to choose sides. Anyone who stays in this house will be loyal to me, and me alone. I can be very good to those who help me. Those who defy me will die. Anyone who won’t accept that had better be out of this house by the time I get back.”
“I see,” Hanner said. He glanced at Zallin, who seemed to have sobered up considerably listening to this. He also looked up the stairs, and saw several faces peering over the railing, Rudhira’s among them. He was reassured to see that she was still alive and well.
“He stays,” Vond said, pointing at Zallin. “I like him. I’m going to keep him.”
Zallin’s mouth fell open, and he made a dull, strangled noise.
“As your Majesty says,” Hanner said quickly, to cover any other reaction Zallin might have made.
Then Vond flew out the open door, arcing up out of sight, the witch’s corpse following a few feet behind. He did not bother to close the door after himself.
Hanner stared out the open door at the dark street for a moment, then turned to look at Zallin.
“Oh, Hanner,” Zallin said. “I don’t want this. What I saw when he was touring the city – I was hoping the oushka would let me forget. That woman…” He shuddered, and his shoulders heaved as if he was trying not to vomit.
“Did he kill anyone else when you were out?” Hanner asked.
“I don’t…I don’t think so,” Zallin said. “But he hurt people. Threw them around. And he wants me to stay? What, as his pet?”
Hanner looked up the stairs. “Did he hurt anyone else up there?” he called.
There were murmurs he could not make out, and then Rudhira called down, “Not that we know of.”
“Did he say exactly what he was planning to do?”
Rudhira glanced around at the others, then replied, “No.”
Hanner bit his lip, looking up at Rudhira, then at the open door. He guided Zallin into a sitting position on the stairs, and released him. “I think I’d better go see what he’s up to,” Hanner called. Then he turned and trotted out the door. Unlike Vond, he did close it behind him, cutting off Rudhira’s cry of protest.
Once outside the gate on High Street Hanner looked up and down the street, and although the street lamps and the lit windows of neighboring houses provided adequate light, he saw no sign of Vond. He remembered to look up, as well, but saw only clouds, with a few stars and the lesser moon peeping through gaps between them.
Vond had said he was going to confront Ithinia, who lived on Lower Street, a few blocks to the east. Hanner turned east, then rounded the corner onto Coronet Street to get the one block north to Lower. He hurried down the hill, wishing he could fly – this was almost the first time he had really missed his magic.
Coronet did not quite reach Lower Street; the corner was cut off by a short stretch of Merchant Street. Hanner turned right, then fifty yards later he turned right again, onto Lower. He looked down Lower Street – and then up.
Vond was there, hanging in the sky a hundred feet up, glowing brightly. A gargoyle was also hanging in the air, about halfway between the warlock and the street; it was not moving, and appeared to be bound somehow.
The few pedestrians who were out at this hour of the night had all stopped in their tracks to stare up at this apparition. Hanner did not stop; he broke into a run, east on Lower Street.
“Ithinia!” Vond roared, his voice magically amplified to the level of thunder. It rolled through the streets and echoed from the rooftops. “I’ve brought back your witch!”
Hanner did not see the witch’s body anywhere at first, but as he hurried toward Ithinia’s house he could make out a dark lump on her doorstep.