Old Man's Ghosts (42 page)

Enchei grunted. ‘Keep on living?’ He drew his daughter in close and embraced her as best he could. ‘That I could probably manage, though you two might be looking after me for a while. I tried death and it never sat right for me.’ He brightened. ‘Dov’ll need a sensible eye to watch over her in the years to come, though.’

‘And she shall have me to do so,’ Myken said firmly.

Enchei managed a weary grin. ‘Aye, mebbe I’ll teach Narin then – once I remember how to be a father. Can’t have been too hard, these two turned out okay.’

‘Keep talking, old man,’ Maiss grunted, ‘and you can walk the rest of the way unaided.’

‘See, they don’t suffer fools. Dov’ll need to learn that if she’s to spend any time around you.’

It was a week later and no one had died in between. The days passed slowly and the wounds began to heal. With the threat to their lives lifted, Kine and Dov moved with Narin to Kesh’s temporary boarding house – the jewellery from Kine’s former life sufficient to pay their way for many more weeks to come. There had been tears and angry words, delight and relief, between Kesh and her mother Teike upon their reunion, but at the sight of Dov, Teike’s anger had faded like the morning mist.

Enchei and his daughters had taken over the other house in the meantime, to recover and reacquaint at their own pace. Both Enchei and Maiss had been grievously injured – so Enay had told them on her one visit – carrying wounds that would have killed lesser mortals, but they were now healing fast.

The only incident had come four days after what was already being called the Night of Wolves in parts of the city, a night that had claimed more than a hundred innocents before they stopped it. A large dark-skinned woman with two armed attendants had appeared suddenly at the boarding house. It had been enough to make Kine cry out in alarm, fearing Lord Vanden had gone back on his word, and Kesh and Irato had drawn weapons before realising their mistake.

Only the magnitude of the error had prevented it escalating. The two attendants had drawn their guns before Kesh and Irato could do anything more, moving between their mistress and the onrushing pair but so confident of their superiority that they had no need to shoot. In the next moment Kesh had realised they were Astaren and dragged Irato to a halt. By the time Narin had appeared, both were kneeling before the high castes and making their apologies.

The interrogation had been remarkably brief, given the grilling they had received in the wake of the Moon’s Artifice affair. It was, in fact, a formality only – Lawbringer Rhe had given his account, as had Prince Kashte, and while it was never mentioned, they all knew about House Ghost’s bargain with House Dragon. The Astaren had seemed careful not to intrude too far on any subject there, painstakingly so to Narin’s mind. It was quite unlike the impression of Dragon’s rulers he had grown up with, but Narin knew they had a war brewing in the north and even the position of neutral Great Houses would be significant. Belligerent House Dragon might be, but they were neither ignorant nor foolish.

Inside half an hour the Astaren had announced the matter closed and stood to leave. She had hesitated a moment over Dov, making a point of congratulating Kine on her birth, and then they were gone – back out onto the frosty Harbour Warranty streets, leaving a warm sense of relief in the low castes they left behind.

In what seemed like no time, Narin’s suspension was over and he rose early to wash and have Kesh help re-bind the dressing on his shoulder. The bullet had broken a bone and his arm had to be strapped to his body to give it time to heal, but they all knew he couldn’t let that be an excuse to stay away. He was close to fainting with fatigue by the time he returned home that first day, but that melted away with the cold once he stepped through the threshold of the boarding house.

At the table, beside Dov’s wicker cradle, sat Enchei. One side of his face was yellowed with bruising and dotted with dark scabs, his left arm was in a sling and a cane leaned against the table. Kine and Irato were with him, peeling vegetables with short knives with varying degrees of success, while Kesh ducked her head out through the kitchen doorway briefly having heard the door.

‘How was your day at work, dear?’ the veteran called with a sly smile.

Narin grinned. ‘Long. Where’s my dinner?’

‘There’s some soup left over, Kesh’s dealing with it. As for supper – I’ve got something rather more impressive planned, but my helpers are slowing things up a tad.’

Narin made his way over to the table and Irato jerked a chair out for him to slump into. Narin ignored it at first and shuffled over to Kine, who was now making her way around the cradle. Her smile sent a flush of warmth through his body, the barest brush of her lips electric against his cheek.

‘How are you, my love?’ she breathed into his ear.

‘All the better for seeing you,’ he said. With Kine’s help he managed to extricate his one good arm from his coat and settle into a chair. ‘All’s well here?’

‘A happy home,’ Kine confirmed, ‘and Enchei tells us Maiss is recovering well.’

‘Aye, that she is,’ Enchei said. ‘My girl’s starting to claw at the walls today, though – bed-ridden doesn’t suit her any more’n it does me – but it won’t be long before she’s strong enough to leave it.’

‘And you?’

‘Pah – I’ve had worse.’

‘You shattered most of the bones in your hand and wrist, no?’

Enchei shrugged. ‘Bones are easy to heal if you’re like me. Not saying it’s a whole lot of fun, but broken bones are better’n the sliced sinew and ripped ligaments elsewhere. Just takes time, and the three of us are eating enough for ten in the meantime, but we’ll end up better’n you, most likely.’

‘And what then?’

Enchei gestured at the others in the room. ‘I was just telling the others. Winter’s got a way to go yet so we’ve all time to recover before travelling’s much fun. Once spring’s with us I’m thinking I’ll travel back with my girls – stay with them a season or two. Moving back to any part of the Ghost hegemony is foolish, even if House Clearlake’s lands are a long way from Ghost’s own, but a few months will give us time to work each other out a bit.’

‘I intend to persuade Myken to go as well,’ Kine said as she returned to her butchery of supper, domestic duties not coming easily to the former noblewoman. ‘Otherwise she’ll waste her life watching over me.’

‘Aye – she’ll do well there,’ Enchei added. ‘There’s a cachet to having Dragons and the like as overseers there. She could do nothing more than glare at the customers in their gambling house and within days she’d get others trying to tempt her away.’

‘No news from your old friend?’

Without meaning to, Narin had lowered his voice before remembering that they’d taken all the available rooms at the boarding house, using Kine’s jewellery to secure rooms elsewhere for the current guests. It afforded them some much-welcome privacy and allowed Kesh and Irato to spend every daylight hour working at their old house.

‘Eh? Oh, him. No, no word, which I’m assuming is a damn good sign. Enay did the Dragons a good turn burning half of Iron District with the lance – to any Astaren it’ll be as obvious as a dog checking the scent on trees. Makes it look to those who count like Dragon cleared up the mess themselves and neither they nor Ghost will correct that.’

‘We couldn’t have asked for more, really,’ Narin said, pleased. ‘And while he was as formal and stiff as you might expect, Lawbringer Rhe’s holding no grudge against me. At least he never cared about his own standing, unlike some Lawbringers, so my shame in the eyes of our colleagues means little.’

‘His legend didn’t do badly out of it,’ Enchei said. ‘It’d be cheap of the man to complain after all that.’

‘Maybe now life will quieten down for a while,’ Kesh announced, emerging from the kitchen carrying a clay pot topped with a flatbread. ‘I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m looking forward to watching this little one grow while absolutely no one’s trying to kill us.’

Enchei snorted. ‘I’ll drink to that.’

Kesh set the pot down in front of Narin and gave Enchei a hard look. ‘Be my guest, but you’re fetching the drink yourself.’

‘Irato—’

She reached over and cuffed Enchei around his head. ‘Irato, you stay where you are. The old sod can fetch his own drinks, one hand or not. It looks like Narin could do with a cup of something as well, Enchei, Kine too.’

‘That would be lovely,’ Kine said with a sudden radiant smile. Enchei burst out laughing at that and grudgingly nodded as he hauled himself up.

‘Move away,’ he hissed at Narin. ‘That one’ll be a bad influence.’

‘Oh, shut up and fetch the wine,’ Narin replied. ‘I spent the day with Rhe and wasn’t annoyed once by his damned noble attitude or any of the looks I got from the high castes – that deserves a celebration, I reckon.’

‘Your heroics continue to amaze us,’ Kine said in a level tone. ‘We all know how much you despise your betters.’

Narin hesitated a moment then leaned over the table to kiss her once on the cheek. ‘Lucky you’re servant caste then, eh?’

Kine raised an eyebrow at him. The dark-skinned woman brushed an errant trail of hair back and looked over towards Kesh. ‘You’re right, he’s already getting airs about it.’

‘Told you.’

‘Told her what?’ Narin demanded.

Kesh grinned at him and headed back towards the kitchen. ‘Oh, just a few things us servants know about the craftsman caste.’

‘And Kesh and I have agreed,’ Kine added, ‘that the imbalance must be corrected at once. It’s really the only way to stop you getting yourself into trouble.’

‘Eh?’

‘We’ll be getting married, the sooner the better.’

‘Married?’ Narin exclaimed, half in jest but feeling ambushed all the same. ‘Don’t I get a say?’

She frowned at him. ‘Why would we allow something like that?’

Narin couldn’t help the smile that broke across his face. He nodded and closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair with a gentle sigh. When Enchei slipped a cup of wine into his hand he raised it in silent toast to his friends. Dov shifted and snorted in her sleep, a sound that filled his body with a warmth he’d never known before. He felt hands slip gently over his shoulders and breathed in Kine’s faint scent as she hugged him close. Narin drank with a heart lighter than he’d ever known, the pain and fatigue in his body dwindling as that perfect moment stretched on and on.

HOUSE DRAGON

HOUSE WOLF

HOUSE EAGLE

HOUSE LEVIATHAN

HOUSE RAVEN

HOUSE REDEARTH

HOUSE MOON

HOUSE SALAMANDER

HOUSE IRON

HOUSE GHOST

(Specifying the order of Ascendancy throughout the year and mortal names of the lesser Gods)

Order of God-Emperor (winter)

General – Abeh Falcon

Huntsman – Besh Wolf

Navigator – Ganstal Leviathan

Artist – Sia Proudsail

Magistrate – Kest Diresong

Order of Knight (spring-summer)

Lawbringer – Toro Dragon

Sailor – Diss Leopard

Ranger – Hatarian Greycloud

Shield – Ehn Redhood

Pity – Kolobehn Glass

Order of Smith (autumn)

Farmer – Verghy Rattletail

Mason – Leam Greykeep

Executioner – Poleton Redearth

Wright – Sel Whitemountain

Scholar – Neyal Bone

Order of God-Empress (spring)

Healer – Deno Raven

Archer – Cheseirr Storm

Assassin – Baran Knife

Trickster – Miall Swallow

Thief – Dirugi Greenscale

Order of Shaman (summer)

Shapeshifter – Gerra Chimera

Piper – Teprell Salamander

Pilgrim – Forilend Iron

Acrobat – Im Condor

Monk – Kho Ghost

Order of Jester (autumn-winter)

Cripple – Holass Longtooth

Chance – Dov Moon

Spy – Holin Eagle

Dancer – Keel Ermine

Duellist – Kiro Raven