“It was my apprentice,” Durzo said.
Roth Ursuul—by the Night Angels, Ursuul?—raised an eyebrow.
“He doesn’t know what it is,” Durzo said. “I don’t know who sent him. He never does jobs without telling me.”
“Perhaps you should not be so sure of this?” Neph said.
“I’ll get the ka’kari for you. I just need some time.”
“Ka’kari?” Roth asked.
Roth had never used the word. It was a stupid mistake. Totally uncharacteristic. Durzo was falling apart.
“The Globe of Edges,” Durzo said.
“I’ve given you a chance to be honest with me, Durzo. So what I’m going to do is your own fault.” Roth motioned to one of the guards at the entrance to the hovel. “The girl.”
Several moments later, a little girl was carried in. She was drugged, whether chemically or magically, and the guard had some trouble carrying her limp body. She was maybe eleven years old, skinny and dirty, but not the skinny and dirty of a street rat—healthy skinny, healthy dirty. Her black hair was long and curly, and her face had the same angelic-demonic cast that her mother’s had had. She would be even prettier than Vonda, some day. She took her height from Durzo, but thank the gods, everything else from her mother. Uly was a damn fine-looking kid. It was the first time Durzo had seen his daughter.
It made him ache somewhere that was already sore.
“You’ve already chosen not to cooperate enthusiastically, Durzo,” Roth said. “So usually, I’d make an example of you. We both know I can’t do that. I need you too much, at least for the next few days. So maybe I should, say, cut off her hand as a warning, and let the little girl know that it’s because you won’t stop it. That you are choosing to hurt her. Perhaps something like that would help gain your cooperation?”
Durzo was frozen, just looking at his daughter. His daughter! How had he put her in the hands of this man? She had been the king’s leverage, and Roth had taken her right out from under the man’s nose.
“How about this?” Roth said. “We’ll cut off a hand or you cut off a finger.”
There was a way out. Even now, there was a way. One of his knives was poisoned. He’d put the asp poison it. For Kylar. It would be painless, especially for such a small person. She’d be dead in seconds. Maybe Roth would be surprised enough that Durzo could get away. Maybe.
He could kill his daughter and probably be killed himself, and Kylar would live. Or this Roth Ursuul would demand he kill Kylar and get the ka’kari. That would have been easy enough to fake, if Roth didn’t have a Vürdmeister.
Could he kill his own daughter? He’d be letting them kill Kylar if he didn’t.
“She didn’t do anything,” Durzo said.
“Spare me,” Roth said. “You’ve got too much blood on your hands to cry about the suffering of innocents.”
“Hurting her isn’t necessary.”
Roth smiled. “You know, from anyone else, I’d laugh. Do you remember what happened the last time you called an Ursuul’s bluff?” Durzo couldn’t keep his expression blank; grief flashed through him. “Who’d have thought,” Roth said. “My father takes the mother and I take the daughter. Have you learned your lesson, Durzo Blint? I think you have. My father will be pleased that I’m closing the circle. He tried to blackmail you for a false ka’kari and failed. I’ll blackmail you for a true ka’kari and succeed.” Neph’s eyes flashed when Roth said that. It was clear he didn’t appreciate the prince’s presumption, but Durzo was still reeling. He couldn’t see any way to take advantage of that tiny split between the men.
“Here’s how blackmail is going to work for you, Durzo Blint: if I think you’re resisting me, your daughter will die. And there are other, shall we say indignities, that she will suffer first. Let your imagination work on what those might be—I know I’ll let mine. She’ll be a husk by the time we’re finished. I will spend months eking out every drop of suffering from her mind and body before we kill her, and I enjoy such work. I am one of Khali’s most dedicated disciples. Do you understand me, Blint? Am I being clear?”
“Perfectly.” His jaw was tense. He couldn’t kill her. By the Night Angels. He just couldn’t do it. He’d think of something. He always had before. There was some way out of this. He would find it, and he would kill both of these men.
Roth smiled. “Now tell me everything about this apprentice of yours. And I mean everything.”
49
Kylar stepped out of the shadows of the Blue Boar’s office and grabbed Jarl around the throat with his arm, putting a hand over his mouth.
“Mmm mmmph!” Jarl protested against Kylar’s hand.
“Quiet, it’s me,” Kylar whispered in his ear. Wary of Jarl shouting, he released his friend slowly.
Jarl rubbed his throat. “Damn, Kylar. Take it easy. How did you get in here?”
“I need your help.”
“I’ll say. I was just going to come looking for you.”
“What?”
“Look in the top drawer. You can read it as fast as I could tell you,” Jarl said.
Kylar opened the drawer and read the note. Roth was Roth Ursuul, a Khalidoran prince. He’d just been elected Shinga. Kylar was a suspect in the prince’s murder. The king’s men were looking for him. Kylar tossed the note aside.
“I need your help, just one more time, Jarl.”
“Are you telling me you knew all that?”
“It doesn’t change anything. I need your help.”
“Is this going to get me killed?”
“I need to know where Momma K is hiding.”
Jarl’s eyes narrowed. “Do I need to ask why?”
“I’m going to kill her.”
“After all she’s done for you? You—”
“She betrayed me, Jarl, and you know it. She manipulated me into trying to kill Durzo Blint. She’s so good, I thought it was my own idea.”
“Maybe you should get her story before you kill her. Maybe murder shouldn’t be your first resort against the people who’ve helped you,” Jarl said.
“She convinced me that to save a friend, I had to kill Hu Gibbet, except that it wasn’t Hu. It was Durzo. She betrayed us. She made me ruin a friend and take away everything he loves.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”
“I’m not asking,” Kylar said.
“Are you going to beat it out of me?” Jarl asked.
“I’ll do what I have to.”
“She’s hiding out,” Jarl said, unafraid. “She had a terrible fight with Blint not long ago. I don’t know what it was about. But she’s helped me, and I won’t betray her.”
“You know she’d give you up in a second, Jarl.”
“I know,” Jarl said. “I might sell my body, Kylar, but I do what I can to keep the rest of me. I’ve only got a few shreds of dignity left. If you take those, you won’t just be killing Momma K.”
“It’s one thing to say you’ll keep a secret to the death. It’s quite another to go through with it,” Kylar said. “I’ve never tortured anyone, Jarl, but I know how.”
“If you were going to torture me, you’d already have started, my friend.”
They stared at each other until Kylar looked away, defeated.
“If you need help with anything else, I’ll do it, Kylar. I hope you know that.”
“I do.” Kylar sighed. “Just be ready, Jarl. Things are going to happen faster than anyone expects.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Yes?” Jarl asked.
A bodyguard poked his bald head in. “D—Durzo Blint to see you, sir.” He looked terrified.
Kylar tried to draw on his Talent to cloak himself in shadows the way he had done when he came into the Blue Boar.