Honor Among Thieves toss-1 Read online

  But the grate was already gone. Honor hoped thisindicated that Avidan had already gotten to the workroom and donehis part.

  She motioned for the others to hold for her signaland slipped past Delgar into the workroom. The plan was for her toscout and the others to await her signal. Behind her, fairy wingswhispered as Vishni rose to join them.

  Avidan was waiting for them.

  So, unfortunately, was Muldonny.

  Compulsion slammed into Honor’s mind like an angrywave. Her hand went to the hilt of her sword and she leaped towardthe plump, slack-faced man who gazed at her with shining wonder inhis eyes.

  Her sword thrust deep under the human’s ribs as ifit, too, was under some evil spell.

  The adept looked down at the sword, then at her, witha look of such incredulous betrayal that Honor wished she knew howto weep.

  She wrenched the sword free. The adept fell to hisknees. His gaze clung to her face as the life faded from hiseyes.

  Avidan spoke, but his words could not penetrate thedespair shrouding Honor’s thoughts.

  How did Rhendish know where they were, what they weredoing? Could he see through her eyes, hear what she heard?

  She went to one knee beside the man she’d been forcedto kill and caught him in her arms as he slumped. As she loweredhim gently to the floor, her gaze fell upon the ring on the adept’splump hand. A small cry escaped her.

  Only one type of crystal possessed that faintlyluminous, pale rose hue. The ring was fashioned of elven bone.

  And every instinct she possessed told her it was herown.

  Chapter Nine: A Daring Rescue

  The clang of an alarm rose from the fortress baileyas Fox poked his head into Muldonny’s workroom. Metallic footstepsclattered toward the workshop in numbers that suggested a dozenrunaway horses, or possibly a small rock slide.

  “Time to go!” he called as he reached for therope.

  Delgar seized him by the back of his shirt, hauledhim up into the room, and spun him toward the door. “Hold them offfor a few minutes. I know where the dagger is!”

  Fox ran to the door and kicked it shut. He droppedthe wooden bar and looked around for something to reinforce it. Along shaft of metal stood propped in one corner. He added that tothe bar.

  The first thunderous blow shook the room. Bottlesfell from shelves. A glass orb rolled across the floor.

  His gaze tracked its path back to a low woodenbarrel. A pile of glass spheres shivered under the secondimpact.

  “Avidan, over here!”

  The alchemist tore his gaze away from the dead adeptand hurried to the barrel. Fox snatched up a handful of thesolvent-filled spheres.

  “When the guards break through, hit them withthese.”

  The alchemist nodded and cocked back his arm, readyto hurl the first globe at the door.

  “Honor, you too,” Fox said.

  The elf turned toward him.

  Fox took an involuntary step back. Never had he seensuch murderous rage. His hatred of the adepts was a pale thing nextto what burned in her silver eyes.

  “Rhendish will die for this,” she said in a low,terrible voice. “This I swear by wind and word, song andstarlight.”

  She pulled a ring from the dead man’s hand and thrustit onto her forefinger. Then she rose, bloody sword in hand, andwaited.

  Fox felt a stab of pity for whatever came through thedoor.

  The wooden bar splintered, knocking the metal rodaside and sending the door flying inward.

  The elf held her ground while Fox and Avidan peltedthe clockwork knights with Muldonny’s solvent.

  The first fell in the doorway, half in and half outof the room. Acrid smoke rose from the ruin. Avidan took the nextknight out at the knees, sending it clattering backward down thestairs.

  The clockwork guards did not, as Fox hoped, go downlike a row of dominoes. More came, and still more, and finally twoof them broke into the room.

  Honor met them.

  Fox had no idea such fighting was possible.

  The clockwork knights came at her with two weaponseach, a sword the length of Fox’s arm and a short, stout knife. Sheslipped away from each attack like smoke and dealt two inreturn.

  It occurred to Fox that she showed considerably moreskill against these metal warriors than she did when her attackerswere two thugs in an alley. Later, he’d have to give that somethought.

  A thunderous crash rose above the clatter ofbattle.

  Fox glanced back over his shoulder. Daylight shonebehind what had been a solid stone wall. Delgar stood amid therubble, warhammer in hand. He caught Fox’s eye and beckoned himover.

  Since Honor had the clockwork guards well in hand,Fox hurried over to help the dwarf.

  The courtyard lay far below. It was surrounded bywalls on four sides, one of which was built upon a rocky cliff thatfell in a long, sheer drop to sea. The cliff continued beyond thecourtyard wall, curving inward and hugging a rock-strewn bay. Atthe tip of the cliff stood a tall tower. A narrow stone ledge ledout over the bay, more decoration than walkway, supported only bythin buttresses leading to the stronghold one side and the tower onthe other.

  Delgar pointed to the ledge, which connected to theworkroom’s outer wall about six feet from the new opening.

  “Find a plank, anything we can use as a bridge.”

  Before Fox could turn away, Vishni, framed by wingsthe color of a summer sky, burst from the tower’s highest window.She held a shining object in her hand and waved it triumphantly asshe flitted toward the workshop.

  A small storm of arrows rose to greet her.

  Fox screamed in denial as the fairy plummeted towardthe sea.

  One small, flailing hand found purchase on the stoneledge. Vishni tossed the dagger onto the walkway to free her otherhand. She clung to the edge and wailed. Arrows protruded from herside, her shoulder, her thigh. Her wings draped her like a torn andbloody cloak.

  Honor pushed past him and leaped through the openingin the wall. She landed on the ledge and and ran toward the fairy,as sure-footed as a bird on a limb.

  She left behind her a spatter trail of blood and ahorrified thief.

  He’d caught sight of the deep cut on her arm.

  And the clockwork gears beneath.

  Everything fell suddenly, horribly into place. Theonly adept who could possibly create a clockwork creature of suchsubtlety and complexity was Rhendish.

  Shock flared into fury, then firmed into resolve.

  “I’m going after Vishni,” Fox said.

  “The elf’s got her,” Delgar said. “Let her handlethis.”

  He shook his head. “She’s going after thedagger.”

  Delgar pointed toward the courtyard. Some signal hadalerted the human guards to the clockwork knights’ destruction.Armed men stormed into the inner bailey.

  “Make it fast.”

  Fox hurried to Muldoony’s worktable and heaved itover on its side. Delgar got the idea right away. He pulled a smallaxe from his belt and with a few quick blows reduced the table tolong wooden planks. He and Fox carried one to the shattered walland slid it through the opening to form a bridge to the stoneledge.

  “The sands are shifting,” Avidan said.

  Fox glanced back. The alchemist held up a smallhourglass to indicate how much time they had left. He’d alreadyadded something of his own to Muldonny’s solvent, an alchemicalbrew that would create an explosion big enough to seal off theworkroom.

  A disturbing thought leapt into Fox’s mind. “I addedmetal to that vat the last time we were here. Will that make adifference?”

  The alchemist’s eyes widened. It was more expressionthan Fox had seen on his face in four years.

  “You two go now,” Fox said, pointing to the shaft.“We’ll be right behind you.”

  He stepped out onto the board and teetereddangerously. The next step was better. When he got to the stoneledge he spread his arms out wide for balance and concentrated onputting one foot in front of the other.

  He was halfway th
ere when the explosion shook thefortress.

  Fragile rock crumbled under his feet. He saw Honorpitch forward. The dagger flew from her hand in a wide, shiningarc.

  Vishni was gone.

  Fox searched for the fairy as he plunged toward thesea, but saw no trace of her. He took a certain grim satisfactionin knowing that the dagger would either shatter or be lost in thewater. Either result was fine with him.

  He heard the splash as Honor hit the water.

  That was fine with him, too.

  Dark water closed over him with a roar that rivaledthe explosion. Fox felt the pain of impact in every fiber as hesank deep into the cold northern sea.

  Finally, his descent slowed. He blew out the scantremaining air in his lungs little by little as he clawed his waytoward the sun.

  He broke the surface and dragged in air with longpainful gasps. A wave broke over him, leaving him sputtering andcoughing. He knew he should swim, but his arms refused to obeyhim.

  “Hold on. Almost there,” a man shouted.

  A small fishing boat came toward him. Relief sweptthrough Fox and lent him the strength to reach for the line thefisherman threw him.

  His rescuer hauled in the line. As Fox neared theboat, he noticed a slash of paint over the place where the boat’sname was usually written. He lifted his gaze to the man in theboat. As he feared, the man had a long blond beard, a crooked scaron his forehead, and a nose that Fox had recently broken.

  The last thing Fox saw was the man’s scowl ofrecognition, and the oar he lifted high overhead.

  Chapter Ten: Sundered Stone

  Delgar stood at the mouth of the sea cave and watchedwith grim face and clenched jaw as the fairy, minus the illusion ofarrow wounds and tattered wings, landed lightly on the rocky shoreand ran to him like a child who expected to be caught up andtwirled.

  “I have the dagger!” she called, holding the shiningthing overhead.

  The dwarf snatched it from her hand and turned to thecave. He stalked toward the tunnel, the fairy trotting at hisheels.

  “You’re in a foul mood,” she said.

  “That happens when I watch two friends die becausesomeone decided to ‘improve the story’ with a daringrescue.”

  “Two friends?” she said. “Suddenly you like theelf?”

  “I admire courage and integrity.” He shot her a darklook. “And I like people who can think of something, anything,beyond the possibility that a stupid and dangerous game might befun.”

  Vishni flung the back of her hand against herforehead in a parody of a swoon. “So much drama, so little cause!Fox is fine. I saw a fisherman pick him up.”

  “What about the elf?”

  The fairy shrugged. “Ask Fox about her when hereturns to the den.”

  Avidan stood in the tunnel ahead, milling one arm ina circle to urge them to hurry. Delgar broke into a run.

  “The explosion did its job too well,” the alchemistsaid. “It took out half the wall and exposed much of the oublietteshaft. Muldonny’s men will be able to follow us into thetunnels.”

  Delgar surveyed the opening. The too-hurried mininghad stressed the stone, and the too-powerful explosion caused thewalls on either side of the opening into the shaft to crumble. Theresulting gap was too wide for him to seal using stoneshift.

  A shout of discovery echoed from the ruins above.

  “If you can close the tunnel, do it now,” Avidansaid.

  Delgar glanced at the dagger. It was smeared withHonor’s blood, yet the rose within remained closed and pale. If thedagger’s magic had been amplified by contact with a traitor’sblood, he would not dare awaken its power.

  He took a deep breath and pointed the Thorn at thesundered stone.

  Power sang through his blood and bones in a song ofstoneshifting beyond anything he’d ever imagined.

  Delgar joined the song, blending with it until he wasnot certain where his voice ended and the Thorn’s picked up. Neverhad he experienced anything like this joining-terrifying,wonderful, intoxicating.

  Boulders faded into mist and flowed to fill theopening. The tunnel wall slammed into place with a booming crash.Delgar instinctively knew that solid rock stretched to the far sideof the oubliette shaft, encasing bones and metal limbs like relicsof an ancient sea.

  And still the power came.

  Delgar sent it upward, melting stone and mortar untilthe mountain creaked and leaned to fill the gap. The men climbingdown into the shaft cursed and screamed as solid rock seized theirfeet and rose to encase their bodies.

  Their screams faded into silence. No pursuersremained; the tunnels were secure.

  But the fortress above remained-the fortress thathad played so important a role in the adepts’s control of Sevrin,and in the reign of Eldreath before them, and in the service of thewarlords who ruled before him. Delgar could bring it down.The song of destruction and renewal sang in his ears like a lustfulmermaid.

  In some distant part of his mind he felt Vishni’shand on his shoulder, heard her repeating a tale he’d first heardas a boy. A tale of an ancient evil, and the last remaining dwarfking, and the sons destined to travel the northlands in search ofsecrets that could mean the dwarves survival or ensure theirdestruction.

  For once, the fairy did not need to improve upon thetale.

  The familiar story slowly edged its way through themadness of power, bringing the dwarf back to where he stood, andwho he was, and what he was born to do.

  When he returned fully to himself, Delgar tucked theelven dagger into his belt and inclined his head to the fairy. “Youhave my most profound gratitude.”

  “Good,” she said. “Can I have the dagger, too?”

  The shadow of a smile touched the dwarf’s lips. “I’mnot that grateful.”

  Fox awoke in a bed with a straw-filled mattress andthick woolen blankets. This was, in his opinion, a greatimprovement over a pit filled with metal corpses.

  “So you’re not dead.”

  He squinted up at the forbidding visage of thescarred and bearded fisherman. “Do you plan to remedy thesituation?”

  The man huffed. “Ought to. First, though, I’d like tohear how Gorm’s copper coin turned into a silver ring and backagain.”

  Fox scoured his thoughts for an explanation the manmight believe, but he was too groggy and dazed for anything but thetruth.

  “Do you believe in fairies?”

  The fisherman made a sign of warding. “The girl withyou?”

  Fox nodded.

  “Thought there was something about her,” he said.“She stood and watched Gorm and me kick you six ways around thebend and smiled the whole time. Now, I’ve seen women get mad attheir men, mad enough that seeing them on the wrong side of a fightmight make them happy. Not this girl. She was just. .happy.”

  “Fights make for good stories,” Fox said. “She likesthose.”

  He propped himself up on his elbows and looked aroundthe cottage. All there was to it was one room. Other than the bed,furnishings consisted of a table, an iron pot sitting amid thecoals in the hearth, and a few pieces of men’s clothing hanging onhooks lined neatly along one wall. There was no evidence of thefisherman’s wife.

  “It seems you got the worse of the fairy’smischief.”

  The fisherman shrugged. “I’ve got a new worker,Gorm’s got a new woman. At the end of the day, I’d say he came outbehind on the deal.”

  Fox had nothing to add to that. “You pulled me out ofthe sea.”

  “If you’re gearing up for a thank-you, you might aswell hold your clockwork. I don’t want your thanks.”

  “You could have turned me in to Muldonny’s men.”

  “Don’t want anything from the adepts, either.” Theman paused for a grim smile. “I got a brother in Muldonny’s guard.He came by last night looking for work, seeing how Muldonny’s dead.One adept down, six more to go, is all I got to say.”

  The fisherman abruptly turned away. He took a woodenmug from the table and dipped up some soup from the kettle.

 
“Drink this,” he said as he thrust the mug into Fox’shands. “As soon as you think you can walk, start doing it.”

  The man strode from the cottage, letting the doorslam behind him.

  Fox drank the soup and tried standing. After the roomstopped spinning, he headed for the wooden chair near the hearth.His host had draped Fox’s clothes over the chair to dry. They werestill slightly damp. Fox found that reassuring. He couldn’t havebeen unconscious for more than a day.

  Dim morning light greeted him outside of the cottage.It took him to late afternoon to make his way to Rhendish Manor. Hepaid for passage on the Mule with a stolen coin and rode therope-drawn carriage to the summit of Crystal Mountain. He steppedout of the carriage and went in search of Rhendish.

  One adept dead. Six more to go.

  That was a point on which Fox and the fisherman couldagree. He didn’t expect to survive his encounter with Rhendish, butat the moment he didn’t much care.

  The adept had played him. Now his friends were dead,leaving Fox with the knowledge that his stupidity had killedthem.

  He went straight for the wall that separatedRhendish’s private quarters from the rest of the manor complex. Heclimbed it, ignoring the thorns amid the mixture of ivy androses.

  In the courtyard beyond, Rhendish was enjoying aleisurely stroll with his beautiful clockwork spy. A bandagedwrapped her wounded arm, and the Thorn hung from a loop on herbelt.

  The clockwork elf looked up and caught Fox’s eye.

  He expected her to sound the alarm. What he did notexpect was the silent entreaty in her eyes.

  She lifted one hand and ran her fingertips lightlyacross her chin. Fox had taught Avidan that signal in case theirforay into Muldonny’s fortress went awry.

  Return home. Friends are safe and waiting.

  The suicidal madness that possessed him flowed awaylike water from a broken skin. He slipped quietly down the wall andwalked out of Rhendish manor. A couple of the guards glanced hisway, their gazes lingering on his red hair. But no one seemed toconnect him to the thief they’d been hunting for years.

  It occurred to Fox that Rhendish probably thought hewas dead. No doubt he had Honor to thank for that.