Kal Moonheart Trilogy: Dragon Killer, Roll the Bones & Sirensbane (28 page)

‘That’s true,’ Will said. ‘We do try to keep tabs on what other criminal organisations are up to around Crab Corner, and we’ve heard some of the local crime bosses are getting a little nervous: Senator Viola Witchwood has been seen visiting the Bower.’

‘The Bower?’

‘The Peacock’s den. It’s not too much of a stretch to believe that Witchwood may have acquired her advantages in business and commerce by making deals with Amaranthium’s criminal elements. The Peacock is already involved in tax evasion, extortion and slave labour. If Witchwood becomes consul, then between them they would rule both legal and
illegal
sides of city; they could get away with anything, with … murder.’

Kal remembered Viola’s striking green eyes looking playfully at her during Ben’s meeting in the Forgotten Tomb. Was the rich, beautiful senator really conspiring with the head of the criminal underworld to take control of the city?

‘We should investigate,’ she said. ‘Together! If Witchwood and the Peacock are plotting, then we could take them both down. I know the Peacock is after you for that stunt you pulled at the Snake Pit. Zeb paid hundreds of crowns a week in protection money; so you weren’t just stealing off
her
, you were stealing off the city’s biggest crime lord too. The Peacock isn’t going to rest until you are caught and, well … you must know how thieves who try to go it alone are killed.’

‘Remind me,’ Will said with a lopsided smile, but Kal thought she detected a flicker of worry behind his brown eyes.

‘I heard about this one occasion where they let a man loose in the middle of the crowd at the Panathletic Games. That was after they had cut his ribs away from his spine and broken them so they stuck out of his back like wings—’

‘Alright, I get it,’ Will snapped. He took a deep breath. ‘Sounds like the kind of thing that the people who mutilated your friend Senator Grey might enjoy. You know, I’ve always been meaning to take on the real bad guys in this city—it’s just that stealing from rich, lazy folk was just too damn easy. Okay then: for now, we’re partners.’ He gave her hand a squeeze and led her across the common.

Kal should have been pleased, but Will seemed even more upbeat now than before. Had she really got him to help her, or had he somehow manoeuvred
her
into agreeing to help
him
? Either way, she had got in with him like she planned, so she guessed she may as well see it through.

‘We’ll stake out the Bower tonight then,’ Will suggested. Kal nodded. ‘But for now,’ he said, ‘here’s what I wanted to show you!’

* * *

They were standing on the edge of the common, staring up at a crumbling old ruin. The sinking sun cast long shadows amongst the broken stone columns and weather-worn statues. Kal noticed that there was wooden scaffolding around the stonework.

‘The old Thermalore,’ she said. ‘I remember hiding out here for a night a few years ago!’

‘Well, it’s in a somewhat nicer state now,’ Will said. ‘On the inside, at least—come on in!’ He bounded up the wide stone steps and took a key to the solid bronze doors. He and Kal then took a door each and heaved them open.

The vestibule was lit by high windows that were set just below a domed roof that was painted a bright, clean white. Apart from some workbenches, a pedal-driven lathe and some scattered tools, the space was fully restored and redecorated. Indoor plants and a mosaic, depicting Whalo and Firuze mixing water and fire, gave the room a splendour rarely seen in Crab Corner.

Will led the way through a door and into a long dressing room, where newly-cut stone benches lined the walls beneath a glimmering line of polished brass hooks. The decor was simple, but tasteful. When Kal followed Will through the door at the opposite end, she gasped.

The last time she had seen the main bath, it had been just an empty pit gouged into the earth, open to the sky. Now it was a perfect rectangle—a fifty-yard-long lead-lined pool beneath a new barrel-vaulted roof. The air between the pool and the roof hung with steam.

Kal couldn’t resist running to the edge, kneeling and plunging her hand in. ‘It’s hot!’ she exclaimed. ‘But who …’

‘I might have sent Dene ahead of us to light the furnace,’ Will admitted.

‘Oh really?’ Kal raised an eyebrow. ‘Do you have a special signal for that, whenever you’re thinking of bringing a girl here?’

‘Actually, this is the first time the furnace has been lit, and the first time I’ve ever brought anyone here, let alone a girl! I swim alone in the cold water most days.’ Will shrugged off his shirt and kicked away his short trousers. Kal watched wide-eyed as, step-by-step, he lowered his naked body into the water. He was slim and muscular; with a swimmer’s V-shaped body. Kal’s eyes were fixed on his abdominals as they shifted and rippled each time he twisted his torso. If he was going to be shameless in his nudity, then she would be shameless in her staring.

‘You’re bruised all over,’ was all she could say.

‘No thanks to you dropping me on a tree. Are you coming in or what? Nothing like a hot bath to relax you before a tough adventure.’

Kal stood and dropped off her belt, laying her knife and crossbow on the tiles. The dragonskin leather came off next, peeling easily off her body like it was silk. Kal walked over to the side where there were no steps, raised her arms, bent her knees and fired herself into the air. She broke the surface of the water cleanly.

Will watched her from the centre of the pool as she swam slow rings around him. ‘How did it come to this?’ she asked him. ‘I mean, how did your life lead you to the point where you find yourself planning an offensive against the city’s biggest crime lord?’

‘I guess it was when I made the mistake of robbing the Snake Pit in order to finance this little bit of luxury for the not-so-fortunate people of the city. I admit, it was probably a bit too audacious, even for me; a robbery too far.’

‘And what was it that drove you to do
that
?’ Kal persisted, treading water in front of Will.

‘My parents,’ he said. ‘Although I was born in Crab Corner, my parents worked hard and saved enough money to send me to the university. I studied politics, philosophy and economics … and soon came to the conclusion that to make a difference to the world, you have to operate
outside
the system. My parents were disappointed; I think they were hoping that I would find a respectable, and well-paid, job in the Senate.

He swam forward, closing in on Kal and putting a hand on her shoulder as they floated face-to-face. ‘
You
tell
me
how it feels to work for the Senate,’ he said. ‘Do you feel like you’re doing good in the world?’

‘I’m too selfish to think about doing good for others,’ Kal admitted. ‘It’s hard enough looking after number one. It’s a tough city; there are too few moments like this when you feel you’ve gotten away from it all, even if it’s only for a little while.’

Will smiled: his wide, unaffected smile that had stuck in Kal’s mind since the first moment that she saw it. ‘See?’ he said. ‘I told you this was a worthwhile enterprise. And I get
my
pleasure and satisfaction from seeing it in other people.’

They leaned in as one to kiss. The mineral water on their lips had a sharp, metallic taste.

‘Your parents would be proud if they could see you now,’ Kal joked as they broke off for air.

‘My father is really, I think. He’s a smith—he even helped fashion some of the metal trimmings here.’ As he talked, Will’s wet hand caressed Kal’s neck and shoulder. ‘My mother is worried about me, though. She wanted me to promise her that if I was going to rob and steal, then I had damn well better do it to help people, and not for personal gain.’

‘And did you promise?’ Kal asked, as she reached below the surface of the water to pull him even closer.

‘I did,’ Will said, as he moved one hand over Kal’s breast and slid the other between her legs. ‘I promised I’d be bad for good.’

III.vi

Spellbound

The midnight bell roused Kal from her doze. Its familiar muffled monotone knell sounded from above the dome of the Basilica and echoed around every corner of the city. The sound was dull and sombre, but it always gave Kal a thrill. For her, the hours after midnight held great potential for excitement and danger. If trouble didn’t find her, then she would find
it
.

She slipped out of bed and pulled on her leathers. A candle was still burning in Will’s small attic room above the Dead Dog. The King of Thieves himself was still asleep, sheets peeled back from his naked torso which was glistening with beads of sweat. Kal smiled at his defencelessness … then she got on with snooping around his room. Maybe he had some cash lying around that she could help herself to.

The room was almost bare, though. There was a chest overflowing with clothes (and it had no false bottom that Kal could find) and a simple wooden desk and chair. Will probably didn’t even keep any loose change for food, since people in Crab Corner seemed happy to feed him wherever he went.

Kal paused at the door. There was a narrow shelf built just above it, wedged between the rafters of the roof. She reached up and took down an oblong walnut box about six inches long. Inscribed in brass on the lid were two words:
Volvunt Ossa
.

She flipped the lid. Inside was a row of five intricately-carved bone dice. The face of each was carved like a skull, and the eyes and noses made the spots. Kal lifted one out to admire it, turning it in her fingers.

‘Family heirlooms,’ Will said from the bed. ‘There was a time when the men—and a fair few of the women—in my family were professional soldiers. They invented the game we played last night, Demon Dice. That particular set has been on campaign many times over the years.’

Kal put the box back on the shelf without a word. In situations where she was caught out, she always remembered an old maxim that Ben often resorted to:
Never apologise; never explain.

‘Those dice are weighted,’ was all she said.

Will smiled. ‘My family got very rich while sitting around camp waiting for marching orders. They managed to fritter it all away since though. What are you doing up, Kal? We’re not hitting the streets until three. Come back to bed.’

‘I need to go and pick up some stuff,’ she told him. ‘I’ll meet you at the Bower later.’

‘If you like. We’ll be on the roof of the Idole Rouge. It’s the nearest building to the Bower that isn’t owned or controlled by the Peacock. Buy a ticket for the last show, and look for the stairs behind the gallery.’

She nodded. ‘What shows are on at that time of night? Actually, don’t tell me; I think I can guess.’ The Bower was slap bang in the middle of the city’s red light district; streets that Kal usually tried to avoid.

‘Don’t have too much fun if you get there before me,’ she warned Will, kissing him before she stepped out of the room.

* * *

Kal pulled the bell cord outside the lab door. Nim answered almost straight away. ‘Kal!’ she exclaimed. ‘It’s one in the morning!’

‘I know,’ Kal said as she stepped into the basement. ‘You’re still up though. What crazy contraption are you working on now?’ In the centre of the floorspace, surrounded by tools and parts, was Nim’s two-wheeled frame with the leather seat and pedals.

‘It’s called a
velocipede
,’ Nim explained. ‘You could use it to get around the city in half the time you could in a horse and carriage.’

Kal looked at it doubtfully. ‘Good grief, Nim. You’d have to have legs
stronger
than a horse to get those wheels moving up Arcus Hill.’

‘No, no, no,’ Nim squealed excitedly. ‘You see, it all comes down to … gears!’

Kal shrugged and went and helped herself to some replacement knives from Nim’s workbench. She found some wire spools for the crossbow, and then picked up and examined a leather holster that contained a short length of flat L-shaped metal, and what looked like a tiny steel firearm, just three inches long. ‘Can I take these?’ she asked.

‘The snap gun? Sure. Anything I put out on that bench is good to go.’ With obvious pride, Nim watched Kal kitting herself out. ‘You know, I ought to give you a key so that you can come and pick up stuff when I’m not here.’

‘And when would that be, exactly?’ Kal joked.

The small girl laughed. ‘I do have a life outside the lab, you know,’ she said. ‘In fact, some of the students I tutor are having a big party tomorrow night.’ Nim played with her short blonde hair nervously. ‘You could come if you finish up whatever it is you’re up to by then.’

‘I’d love to,’ Kal said enthusiastically, before she could remember what went down at the last party she had been invited to. ‘But I won’t be much use to you if we’re sitting down to dinner discussing new innovations in engineering.’

‘Oh, no,’ Nim assured her. ‘The only engineering going on will be arranging the lifting of several beer kegs!’ Nim looked serious all of a sudden. ‘Who are you going after tonight, Kal?’

Kal stopped at the door on her way out. ‘Only the biggest villain in the city. This Peacock that Zeb was going on about might be in league with Viola Witchwood. It’s possible that they might be making a play for absolute power. And also … I think Captain Dogwood might be being bribed to fudge the murder investigation, too. The Senate will crumble against this level of corruption.’

‘Unless you stop it, hey Kal?’

‘Stopping the Peacock and Witchwood will help Will and Zeb. That’s all I care about. Then maybe when Will has the Peacock off his back, and Zeb doesn’t have a trial to worry about, then I can get them both to make up and be friends.’

Nim sniffed. ‘Well, be careful. You know what they say about Witchwood.’

‘No. What?’

Nim looked around, even though they were alone, and came closer to Kal. ‘They say she has powers. Last year, when you were away, she started a scandalous affair with this rich merchant ... but then apparently one night she bewitched him and—’ Nim paused for effect.