Kal Moonheart Trilogy: Dragon Killer, Roll the Bones & Sirensbane (23 page)

‘I love the city!’ he proclaimed out loud, standing up and spreading his arms before the frieze. A group of young farm hands walking past turned to look. One strapping lad mimicked the gesture and shouted, ‘And I love
you
!’ The patrol of guards looked back to see what the commotion was.

I honestly don’t know what Ben would have done without me there that night. Punched the stone until his fist bled, probably, and shouted and screamed until the guards dragged him off and threw him out into the Wild for the night. I never did register the point at which helping Ben avoid and escape trouble became a full-time job for me, but looking back, this may have been the night.

‘
Senator
,’ I addressed him in a mocking tone. ‘Did you think that there was a little creature that’s been sitting behind the door for five hundred years, listening out for someone to come along and say the magic words? Here, let me have a look. You go and get us some dinner at one of those stalls.’

Ben shuffled off, mumbling to himself, and I took the chance to examine the frieze without distraction. On one of the carved panels that Ben had been focusing on, a one-eyed giant—a cyclops—was towering over the legions; further along the frieze, the cyclops was on its back, and a triumphant soldier was holding up a bloody sword in one hand and the cyclops’ heart in the other; on the right hand side, the surviving legionnaires were depicted surrounded by monsters, making their last stand on a ridge, with the distant, unreachable city on the horizon.

Eye … Heart … Amaranthium.

I love the city.

I put my left hand on the cyclops’ eye, and stretched to put my right over its torn-out heart. I couldn’t reach the other side, so when Ben came back, holding two sausages in buns, I ordered him to go and put a hand on the small carving of the city. The very second he did so, there was a click and square panel of stone moved inwards a fraction of an inch. We both moved quickly in front of it, to cover it up from curious eyes, and for a while we stayed there, nonchalantly leaning against the stone, eating our greasy sausage supper.

‘You’re amazing, Kal,’ Ben said, wiping his mouth and licking his fingers. ‘Maybe I really
should
have asked you to marry me back there in the forest.’

‘You should have asked me when you were just a schoolteacher,’ I told him. ‘Powerful politicians are just not my type.’

That was the first and only time
that
subject ever came up.

* * *

It was almost dawn by the time we were able to enter the tunnel. Workers were heading out into the patchwork of farmland that surrounded the city, but the Field of Bones was deserted. Nobody was watching, so we carefully moved the square stone cover aside and entered the cramped space beyond.

Inside was a metal-runged ladder that dropped away into darkness. Ben had gone and bought a couple of lanterns earlier, so we were ready to go. I slotted the cover in place behind us—it clicked back into position—and we began our descent. The ladder led down perhaps twenty hundred yards, then a rough-hewn tunnel led off in the direction of the city. It was low and narrow, so we had to duck down and walk in single file. Our invasion of Amaranthium had begun.

‘This tunnel used to come out under the palace,’ Ben was saying as we walked, ‘but the Senate buildings occupy that part of the Hill these days, so I have no idea where exactly we’re going to end up. You know, if we’re really lucky, then the tunnel might pass through the Forgotten Tomb itself. Can you imagine, Kal—we could be moments away from stumbling across a royal fortune!’

Ben stopped dead in his tracks, and I crashed right into his back.

‘Hmmmm,’ he said, swinging his lantern about. ‘I wasn’t expecting this.’

We were standing at a crossroads.

The first tiny seeds of doubt and panic started to sprout roots in my mind. ‘Do you think we’re close to the way out?’ I asked.

‘No,’ Ben said. ‘I don’t think we’ve passed under the river yet, and Arcus Hill is on the other side of that. I’m not even sure exactly which way we’re facing right now.’ He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out half a crusty bun.

Ben explained: ‘Banos escaped the Labyrinth of Ice by dropping crumbs from a magic cake, baked for him by some girl who was madly in love with him.’

Was he serious?

‘Going by the taste of the one that I ate,’ I said, ‘I don’t think that these are magic buns.’

Ben gave me a withering look, then proceeded to walk down the left tunnel, dropping breadcrumbs as he went. I followed after him. What choice did I have? ‘This is just a waste of food, if you ask me,’ I said. ‘If we get lost and starve down here, then you’ve only got yourself to blame!’

We followed the new tunnel for a good couple of miles as it snaked about beneath the city. For all we knew, we were now back outside the city walls. Had we gone deeper underground, or were we nearing the surface? Who could tell? What would be worse? Coming to another crossroads, or coming to a—

‘Dead end!’ Ben said. He swore loudly several times.

He turned around, but then I noticed the keyhole …

It was a perfect square, about an inch wide, in the dead centre of the rockface. As I brought my lantern closer to look, I started to notice other details: there was a design carved into the stone. Brushing away the ancient dirt and dust, I uncovered an image that surrounded the square hole; a large symbol, about three feet across, that covered what appeared to be a solid stone door.

Ben was staring at the symbol open-mouthed. ‘Do you recognise this?’ I asked him. ‘What does it mean?’

‘It means,’ he said, ‘that
my
ancestors weren’t the only ones who knew about this tunnel. That’s the mark of Feron Firehand!’

At that moment, a strange guttural growl echoed down from somewhere down the passage we had just come down.

‘Popular place, this secret tunnel of yours,’ I murmured.

END OF PART TWO

PART THREE

THE TRAP

III.i

Triumph

Kal woke up tangled in red silk sheets. It wasn’t often that she started her day in an unfamiliar room, but even when she did, the first thing she did was roll off the bed, balance face-down on her toes and the palms of her hands, and—keeping her back as straight as a board—slowly lower her nose to the floor.

After ten repetitions, she heard the door open. Someone padded barefoot across the polished floorboards. Kal tried not to smile as a small cup of coffee was placed on the floor directly under her nose.

‘Thanks, Zeb,’ she said.

‘Come up to the roof for some lunch when you’re done,’ Zeb Zing said. ‘It’s the best place in the city to watch the procession. We may as well enjoy the view while I still own this house.’

Zeb left, and Kal managed to squeeze out twenty more push-ups before her arms dissolved beneath her. She picked up the tiny cup and knocked it back in one gulp. Zeb made her coffee thick and strong using some devilishly complicated apparatus that Kal didn’t fully understand. If luxury had a taste, though, then this was it. Everything in Zeb’s smart townhouse was exquisite.

Kal found a beautiful hand-printed dressing gown hanging on a hook on the back of the door. It fell to mid-thigh, and with a belt it could pass as a summer dress, so she improvised by borrowing a chain that held a velvet curtain in place. Kal had snapped the heels off her party shoes, so now she was more or less in a fit state to make it home across the city. She needed to change into some practical clothes and get her weapons, for today she was hoping to catch a killer.

But not on an empty stomach.

Zeb’s roof garden had one of the best views of any building in Amaranthium. Built high up on Arcus Hill, it overlooked the river and the urban sprawl over on the other side. Kal could just about make out the Field of Bones beyond the open East Gate. An army was massing its ranks outside the city. After a decade away at war, General Cassava was returning from the edge of the Wild.

Zeb was lounging in a deckchair, in the shade of palm trees that sprouted from large terracotta pots. She was riffling through a sheaf of documents while eating fruit from a bowl set beside her. She looked up as Kal approached. ‘Ben Godsword sent me a pile of paperwork to go through before my trial,’ she told Kal. ‘Felix Firehand didn’t waste any time in filing a suit against me on behalf of all my patrons who lost money the other night. He wants to take both the Pit and the house as recompense.’

Zeb sighed. ‘It’s not that I’m ungrateful that Ben’s taking my case, but Kal—he wants details about all my financial affairs: insurance and taxes, debts and assets. I can’t go into all that; it’s a tangled mess for a start … and not entirely legal. I’ll just get into even more trouble.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Kal said, taking a banana from the bowl. ‘As soon as I catch this killer, then you’re off the hook. Failing that, I’ll go after the King of Thieves himself and bring him to account. He said he had given all our money away, but I’ll make him go and steal it back off someone else if I have to.’

Zeb smiled at Kal’s confidence. ‘I know you will, Kal. After all, it takes a killer thief to catch both a killer
and
a thief.’ She looked Kal’s makeshift attire up and down. ‘I can find you some proper clothes, you know.’

‘No time,’ Kal said, tossing the banana skin and grabbing a peach. ‘I need to run home and grab some gear, then I’m going to head over to Raelo Redrake’s house and wait for him to return from the ceremony. What with his previous involvement with the Dragonites, that man is prime suspect number one at the moment.’

‘What number am I?’ Zeb asked bluntly.

‘Forty-two,’ Kal answered with a grin. ‘Don’t worry—I’ll get round to you eventually!’

She glanced about the nearby houses and mansions. A lot of people were up on the roofs, and more were lining balconies and hanging out of windows. They were mainly household staff and guards; the wealthy senators and merchants would all be gathering outside the Basilica, taking their seats in the podium that would afford them the best view of the climax of Cassava’s triumph.

‘Thank you for helping me, Kal,’ Zeb said. ‘You don’t have to do this, you know.’

Kal waved the thanks away. ‘It’s nothing,’ she said. ‘You’ve helped me more than I can possibly repay you. And
I’ve
helped Ben a fair bit too over the years, so him helping you out is just karma coming back around.

‘Although, to be honest, I’m sure Ben has his reasons, just like I have mine. In my case, those reasons are gold and shiny!’

Zeb beamed at Kal. ‘I wouldn’t expect anything less. Oh, I almost forgot—there was a letter for you in amongst all this stuff.’ She handed Kal an envelope.

Kal popped the peach into her mouth whole, and tore the letter open. It was from Ben. She read it out loud:

‘Kal—before you head out to stir up trouble, go and pay a visit to Doctor Phyn at the university. I’ve arranged for you to test some of the experimental equipment that they’re developing—Ben.’

She looked down from the roof; the university buildings were right at the bottom of Arcus Hill, on the west bank of the river. ‘It’s on my way,’ she shrugged. ‘I might as well drop in.’

Kal took a short run up and hurled herself off the edge of Zeb’s roof garden.

‘
Literally
,’ Zeb noted, staring at the lingering dust cloud that Kal had kicked up. Moments later, the still summer air was shattered by the blast of a hundred trumpets: on the opposite side of the city, General Cassava had entered Amaranthium.

* * *

Kal swung from the branch of a tall elm and dropped down onto the roof of the house to the rear of Zeb’s, six yards below. A group of people having a midday barbeque on a nearby balcony cheered her on as she negotiated her way down to street level in a series of controlled jumps. Kal darted down a narrow path between two buildings on the opposite side of the street, vaulted a fence and ran through someone’s garden. A man watering flowers looked up as Kal passed, but what was he going to do? Chase her? She scrambled up the university wall and hopped over to the dome of the observatory.

The large copper dome had a narrow gantry around its circumference. There was a great view over the river and Lover’s Bridge, but Kal didn’t expect that students would be allowed up here to watch the procession. When she was halfway around, though, she saw someone coming the other way: a tall man in knee-length trousers and an open-necked white shirt, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, short brown hair and a wide smile. He greeted her warmly.

‘Kal Moonheart! I’ve never seen you out and about in daylight before! I was beginning to think that you might be a vampire.’

Kal came to a halt in front of him. ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked him. Dressed down, without his mask, the King of Thieves came across as friendly and unthreatening.

‘I came to watch the triumphant general cross the bridge,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think that anyone else would be up here!’

He laughed when he caught Kal’s disbelieving stare. ‘Actually, I was heading on up the Hill to see what I could steal while everyone who’s anyone is out enjoying the parade.’

Kal shook her head. The man was nothing if not honest.

‘You should come,’ he said seriously. ‘There’s plenty of loot stashed away in those mansions. Too much for just one person to carry; we would make a great team.’

The worst thing was that Kal was actually tempted.
I could go
, she told herself,
if only just to get in with this guy … before I take him down
.

‘I’m busy,’ she said. ‘Maybe another time. Now that I know what you look like, I’ll be able to come and find you.’

‘There’s rarely any better time than the present,’ he said, but he stepped aside to let her pass. ‘If you ever want to find me, though, just ask around Crab Corner. Everyone knows me; my name’s Will Straightarrow.’