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    The Jaguar Knights
    The Jaguar Knights
    The Jaguar Knights
    Ebook516 pages9 hours

    The Jaguar Knights

    By Dave Duncan

    4/5

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    • Adventure

    • Loyalty

    • Magic

    • Betrayal

    • Fantasy

    • Chosen One

    • Evil Overlord

    • Lancer

    • Mentor

    • Epic Quest

    • Fish Out of Water

    • Secret Identity

    • Reluctant Hero

    • Mentor Figure

    • Sacrifice

    • Power

    • Friendship

    • War

    • Fantasy Literature

    • Revenge

    About this ebook

    The realm's most feared swordsman, Sir Wolf has earned his name, the "King's Killer," well. Unlike many of his brother Blades, however, Wolf detests his sworn duty to do the bloody bidding of a liege he can never respect. But when an impregnable fortress is breached and a former royal mistress is abducted by brazen assailants, Wolf must leap into the fray.

    Burdened with the company of his disgraced brother, Sir Lynx—the only Blade ever to lose his ward and live—and shadowed by a mysterious Inquisitor with a secret agenda, Wolf must make his way across a landscape of nightmares vivid and terrible enough to chill any fearless heart. For somewhere in this dark, unfamiliar world, the fate of all Chivial hangs in the balance—and it is the destiny of one reluctant Blade to tip the scales to salvation . . . or doom.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061809774
    The Jaguar Knights
    Author

    Dave Duncan

    Dave Duncan (1933–2018) was born in Scotland, and received his diploma from Dundee High School and got his college education at the University of Saint Andrews. He moved to Canada in 1955, where he lived with his wife. Duncan spent thirty years as a petroleum geologist. He has had dozens of fantasy and science fiction novels published, among them A Rose-Red City, Magic Casement, and The Reaver Road, as well as a highly praised historical novel, Daughter of Troy, published, for commercial reasons, under the pseudonym Sarah B. Franklin. He also published the Longdirk series of novels, Demon Sword, Demon Knight, and Demon Rider, under the name Ken Hood.   In the fall of 2007, Duncan’s 2006 novel, Children of Chaos, published by Tor Books, was nominated for both the Prix Aurora Award and the Endeavour Award. In May 2013, Duncan, a 1989 founding member of SFCanada, was honored by election as a lifetime member by his fellow writers, editors, and academics. He passed away in 2018. Visit https://www.daveduncanauthor.com/ for more information on the author.

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    4/5

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    • 3/5
      A fairly juvenile look at the difficulties of being a king's bodyguard. The faintly anti-feminist tone is not easily perceived.
    • 2/5
      I had a hard time with this book. It did capture my attention and I was able to finish it, I am just not a big fan of fantasy novels. This reminded me of reading something that I cared nothing about in school, finishing it but bickering the entire time. This book might be more geared to people who liked the Lord of the Rings books.

    Book preview

    The Jaguar Knights - Dave Duncan

    I

    The Master First Lets Slip His Best Hounds

    1

    Something was up. The Royal Guard liked to think it knew all the news and heard it before anyone else did, but that day it had been shut out. The morning watch had been on duty for two hours already, but Commander Vicious had not arrived to hold the daily inspection and the graveyard shift had not yet been stood down. They were supposedly attending the King, who was meeting with senior advisors in the council chamber. Absurd! Even during the worst panics of the Thencaster Conspiracy, three years ago, Athelgar had never summoned his cabinet in the middle of the night.

    Deputy Commander Lyon must have some idea what was going on, but he refused to admit it. Infuriatingly, he just sat behind his desk in the guardroom, reading a book of poetry—Lyon not only read poetry, he wrote it too, yet he was a fine swordsman, subtle and unpredictable. The half-dozen Blades sustaining the permanent dice game under the window were doing so halfheartedly, grumbling more than gambling. Sir Wolf was polishing his boots in a corner—Wolf never read poetry, was never invited into the games, and cared not a fig what folly the King was pursuing this time.

    The park beyond the frost-spangled panes was all pen-and-ink, stark white-and-black, sun-bright snow and cadaver trees under a sky of anemic blue, for this was Secondmoon of 395, the coldest winter in memory. Nocare, with its high ceilings and huge windows, was a summer palace, impossible to heat in cold weather. The King had moved the court there on some inexplicable whim and could not return it to poky old Greymere as long as the roads were blocked by snowdrifts. Courtiers slunk around unhappily, huddled in furs and muttering under their smoky breath.

    Innumerable feet shuffled past the guardroom door: gentry, heralds, pages, porters, stewards, White Sisters, Household Yeomen. No one paid any heed until a rapid tattoo of heel taps raised every head. Blades knew the sound of Guard boots, and these were in a hurry.

    Wolf went on polishing his left one.

    In marched Sir Damon, still wearing his sash as officer in charge of the night watch. The kibitzers by the window exchanged shocked glances. The matter was much more than routine if Sir Vicious had sent a senior Blade as messenger, instead of a junior or just a page.

    Damon glanced around the room, then bent to whisper something to Lyon. Lyon turned to Wolf.

    Leader wants you.

    Wolf put foot in boot and stamped. Where?

    Damon said, Council Chamber. He’s still with the Pirate’s Son.

    At the dice table, eyebrows rose even higher. The Pirate’s Son was King Athelgar. It was common knowledge that Vicious preferred to keep Sir Wolf out of the King’s sight, so if Wolf was wanted now, it was because the King had called for him by name.

    Wolf was the King’s Killer.

    Ignoring the rabble’s surprise, Wolf strode across to the mirror and looked himself over with care. Like all Blades he was of middle height, slim and athletic, but he was invariably the best-turned-out man in the Guard—boots and sword belt gleaming like glass, not a wrinkle in his hose nor speck of dust marring his jerkin. He adjusted the feather in his bonnet an imperceptible amount and turned away. He did not examine his face. No one looked at that horror unless they must.

    Exchanging nods with a lip-chewing Lyon, he strode out into the corridor, and Damon fell into step beside him. Together they marched along marble corridors, past statuary and tapestries. Courtiers stared with interest at two senior members of the Royal Guard moving at an urgent clip. Word that the King had sent for the infamous Sir Wolf would spread like fire in dry grass.

    So what was up? The last time Wolf had been summoned to the royal presence, Athelgar had named him—over Leader’s objections—to lead the Elboro mission, which had required him to kill two brother Blades. It had not been the first such filthy job the Pirate’s Son had given him, either, and Wolf’s written report afterwards had let Athelgar Radgaring know exactly what he thought of his liege lord. Moreover, since Leader had not ordered him to rewrite it, it had warned His Majesty that others shared those opinions. The Guard had been shorthanded back then, else Wolf might have been thrown in a dungeon for some of the comments in that report. In the two years since, Vicious had kept him well away from the King.

    What had changed? Well, the Guard was up to strength now, so one possibility was that Athelgar was going to award him the Order of the Royal Boot. That was highly unlikely. Knowing how Wolf felt about him, Athelgar was more likely to keep the King’s Killer bound to absolute loyalty forever—safer that way.

    Another possibility was that the Pirate’s Son wanted someone murdered. Blades were bound by oath and conjuration to defend their ward from his enemies, not to commit crimes on royal whims, but defense could cover a multitude of nasty situations.

    Wolf saw anger in Damon’s tightly clenched jaw. Damon was a decent man, not one of those who carried grudges against the King’s Killer.

    Any hints, brother?

    Dunno anything. Huntley and Flint rode in about four hours ago.

    Ah! And Leader wakened the Pirate’s Son?

    "They’ve been in council ever since. No one’s allowed in or out except inquisitors. A plague of inquisitors!"

    That news merely deepened the mystery. Sir Flint and Sir Huntley were typical examples of Blades who failed to find a real life after being knighted and discharged from the Guard. Both men were in their fifties, idling away years at Ironhall, instructing boys in fencing and horseman-ship, yet still hankering after the sins of the city. Whenever Grand Master needed a dispatch taken to Court, men like Flint or Huntley would accept couriers’ wages, knowing that the skilled young pimps of the Guard would always find them some of what Ironhall lacked.

    So whatever had provoked this emergency had originated at, or near to, Ironhall. Although it was officially headquarters of the Loyal and Ancient Order of the King’s Blades, in practical terms it was only a school and orphanage, a factory for turning unwanted rebellious boys into the world’s finest swordsmen. Wolf could imagine nothing whatsoever that could happen there to provoke a middle-of-the-night meeting of the King in Council.

    He could guess why he had been summoned, though. When the weather was this bad near Grandon, it must be mean as belly worms up on Starkmoor. Grand Master would not have sent anyone on such a journey unless the matter was supremely urgent, and he had thought the trek perilous enough to send two of them. Most likely his despatch required an answer, and Athelgar had decided to give his least favorite Blade the putrid job of riding posthaste to Ironhall over snowbound roads in this appalling cold. That would be a typical piece of royal spite.

    There were Blades on duty even outside the anteroom, which was not usual. The rest of the graveyard shift was sprawled around on the chairs inside it, sulky and unshaven. They looked shocked when they saw the man Damon had fetched. Damon halted, Wolf kept going. Sir Sewald had the inner door; he tapped and opened it so the newcomer could march straight in without having to break stride.

    The Cabinet Chamber was large but gloomy, newly repaneled in wood like molasses and furnished with spindly chairs from some lady’s boudoir. Athelgar had terrible taste and his expensive renovations were methodically ruining every palace he owned.

    Since his summons had officially come from Commander Vicious, Wolf could go straight to him and ignore the King, always a pleasure. He stamped boots and tapped sword hilt in salute. Dark and menacing as one of the bronze memorials along Rose Parade in Grandon, the Commander was standing well inside the chamber, so he had been taking part in the talk, not just being an ornamental doorstop. Vicious was notoriously taciturn, but had not always been so. The facial scar that made speech physically painful for him was a memento of the Garbeald Affair, another of the King’s follies. His vitriolic hatred of inquisitors dated from that same disaster.

    Maps, papers, and dirty dishes littered the central table. Lord Chancellor Sparrow stood on one side of the crackling fire, the Earl Marshal sat bundled in his wheeled chair on the other, and Grand Inquisitor were by the window, being extra-inscrutable. Grand Inquisitor were twins, indistinguishable. All inquisitors seemed foreboding, with their black robes, sinister reputation, and unblinking stare, but to have two of them doing it at you was twice as bad. The Guard called them the Gruesome Twosome.

    Sparrow was a perky, beak-nosed little man, more of a pompous robin than a cheeky sparrow, but rated a better-than-average chancellor. He feared Athelgar not at all and often quashed his mad notions before they did too much harm. The Earl Marshal, old as the ocean and crippled with gout, was asleep. A spidery clerk crouched over a writing desk, busily wielding a quill.

    Flint and Huntley were slumped on chairs in a far corner. They looked exhausted and were probably chilled to the bone over there, too. They had earned some sleep, and keeping them from it was carrying security to absurd lengths.

    And the Pirate’s Son…as always, Athelgar was wandering, restless as a dog with fleas. He was not his usual splendid self. His hose were rumpled, he wore no jewelry, and his hair—dyed a respectable Chivian brown—was badly in need of brushing. Even his goatee, which he left its original Baelish red, looked somehow bedraggled. He had just turned twenty-five and was about to celebrate the fifth anniversary of his accession.

    Sir Wolf, sire, Vicious said.

    Wolf turned and performed the gymnastics of a full court bow.

    Ah, Wolf. Athelgar headed to the fire. We have bad news. Your brother has been seriously injured. We are distressed to impart such dire tidings.

    That could not explain the emergency. The King had no interest whatsoever in the well-being of an obscure private Blade, whom he had not seen for years, who was not even a member of his Guard.

    I know how you weep for him, Wolf did not say, since you’ve kept him locked him up on Whinmoor all these years. Your Majesty is kind. Injured by whom? Blades did not meet with accidents.

    The uninvited query made the King spin around and glare. That remains to be discovered. Three nights ago, Quondam was attacked by persons unknown. Sir Fell and Sir Mandeville are slain.

    Wolf gaped, shocked into silence. Lynx wounded, two other Blades dead—there should be a dozen corpses lying around as evidence, so why was the criminals’ identity in doubt? And Quondam? Quondam, on Whinmoor, was absolutely impregnable, a fortress that had never been taken by storm or siege. If this was not a bizarre joke, it must be the start of an invasion. Or armed rebellion. The emergency snapped into focus.

    Moreover, the King was scared. Wolf’s studied opinion, most people could lie to ears, but not to eyes. If you knew how to look, you could learn a man’s feelings more truly from the way he held his chin and moved his eyes than you ever could from his words. All really good swordsmen had some of this skill, even if they were unaware that they were reacting to the twitch of an eyelid flagging a lunge before their opponent’s foot began to move; it was why Ironhall discouraged dueling masks during training. Grand Inquisitor were unreadable, of course, but the Lord Chancellor was usually fairly legible and Athelgar displayed his feelings like heraldic banners. With shoulders hunched, wrists crossed low, and teeth set, he was proclaiming worry in fanfares. Sparrow was chewing his lip. Even Vicious was not standing with his hands confidently behind his back as usual, but looking rather as if he were poised to leap to his ward’s defense. If this tale was a hoax, the King and his most senior advisors were not in on it.

    A sizable force, Athelgar said. Gone already. Their tracks led to the beach.

    Raiders, sire? Baels?

    Not Baels! snapped the royal Bael. These were definitely not Baels!

    Wolf bowed and waited to hear why the King was so sure and who else could have pulled off such a feat.

    The King did not explain. Baron Dupend was seriously wounded. At least a score of his men were killed, and Grand Master thinks about as many of the attackers. The Baroness was abducted. He paused to stare out the window. That appears to have been the sole motive for the assault—to kidnap the lady.

    Wolf resisted an urge to tell his sovereign lord he was out of his mind. Why should anyone storm one of the most formidable strongholds in all Eurania to carry off a woman guarded by three Blades and a garrison of men-at-arms, knowing the loss of life this must entail? Even if Celeste’s stunning beauty had survived four years of imprisonment, that would be carrying rape to improbable extremes, and why else should anyone want that trollop? She had no land, no rich relatives, no importance. Nevertheless, the report had come from Grand Master, and for almost a year now Grand Master had been Durendal, Lord Roland. Any Blade would accept Durendal’s testimony if he said the sea was wine.

    My brother’s ward was kidnapped, yet he is still alive? That was truly incredible.

    I said so! Athelgar was staring at him very hard. Does this news surprise you?

    Wolf hastily adjusted to the idea that he had been summoned to answer a charge of treason. He looked to Vicious for support and saw suspicion there, too. His path and Celeste’s had crossed in the past; his brother shared her captivity at Quondam. He struggled to view the grotesque news through Athelgar’s snaky eyes.

    Fortunately he need only speak the truth. It amazes me. Your Majesty, I swear that I had no prior knowledge of any plan or plot to rescue Lady—he saw warning signs—"I mean abduct Lady Celeste. The news dumbfounds me. I do not know who could, or would want to, remove her from Quondam, nor who could achieve it. Surely Your Grace cannot question my loyalty? Even if my binding would allow me to engage in armed rebellion against your royal peace—which I do not believe it would—I should never involve my own brother in so dastardly a plot."

    The evidence is not yet clear, the King said narrowly. We are not certain who injured your brother, nor which side he was supporting.

    I swear I know nothing about this, sire!

    Grand Inquisitor?

    The one on the right said, The witness speaks the truth. They never hesitated and never spoke at the same time, but nobody knew how they did it. They did not just take turns.

    The weather in the chamber changed for the better.

    We are relieved to hear it, the King said, without looking much pleased. Then you will wish to hurry to your brother’s side, Sir Wolf, and we will have you investigate this crime for us.

    The shocks were coming too fast. Promoted in a blink from chief suspect to chief inspector, Wolf mumbled something about being honored.

    Your first destination must be Ironhall, Athelgar said. The casualties were taken there, for it has the nearest octogram where they might be healed. Grand Master thinks Sir Lynx will live.

    Not will make a complete recovery? Wolf nodded, distrusting himself to speak. Outlawed at twelve, imprisoned five years in Ironhall and four more at Quondam—his brother had never known freedom. Now this.

    And that is about all we know, Athelgar said, pacing again. "Everything else is hearsay. Go and find out the facts! The news must be kept secret, until we know who and what and why. Is that understood, Sir Wolf? Extreme secrecy! Premature disclosure will cause panic and talk of a foreign invasion. It may be a foreign invasion for all we presently know. The Commander recommends you as the best man to investigate. We know, he added sourly, that you can be discreet."

    And ruthless, but no doubt he was hinting that any other investigator might uncover secrets Wolf had known and kept for years. Those would make stale news now, no longer capable of raising the epic scandal they would have stirred up once, yet Athelgar would certainly prefer that his youthful follies remain unmentioned. Spirits knew he had enough others to satisfy anyone. Wolf bowed and murmured gratitude for the royal compliment.

    You will be granted all the powers you require. Go and see to your brother and then proceed to Quondam.

    Your Majesty does me honor. Wolf wondered if he was being appointed royal scapegoat for something. The King thought of him as a killer, but Vicious knew he did any job as thoroughly as possible, whether it involved killing or not.

    To expedite matters, Commander, Lord Sparrow said primly, pray advance Sir Wolf adequate funds from the Guard’s coffers and apply to Chancery for reimbursement. A representative of the Office of General Inquiry will accompany you, Sir Wolf.

    But I will be in charge? Wolf’s query created an angry pause. It should go without saying that a Blade would not and could not take orders from a Dark Chamber snoop. It also went without saying that the snoop would feel free to ignore, subvert, or misunderstand any orders from a brainless sword twirler like Wolf. Especially Wolf.

    You will report to the Lord Chancellor, the King decreed, and the inquisitor to Grand Inquisitor.

    Your Grace is setting up two inquiries?

    More glares.

    I do believe, sire, Sparrow twittered, that Sir Wolf should be given overall authority.

    Athelgar nodded grumpily.

    Wolf said, I will also need the help of a sniffer, my lord. This business reeked of conjuration.

    The nearest White Sisters’ priory, the Chancellor said, is in Lomouth. Your commission will give you all the authority you need. The Council expects frequent reports, Sir Wolf, but should you conclude that additional assaults are likely, you will issue a general alarm directly to the authorities concerned.

    Who keeps the King’s Peace on Whinmoor, my lord?

    Sparrow pursed lips. The sheriff is Baron Dupend himself, but you will speak with the King’s voice.

    How soon can you leave? the King barked.

    The moment I receive my writ and the funds, sire. Wolf looked to the Gruesome Twosome. And my assistant?

    Inquisitor Hogwood will meet you at the stable, Sir Wolf, said the one on the left.

    We will send your commission there also, said the Chancellor, peering over the clerk’s shoulder at what he was writing. Momentarily.

    By your leave, sire? Wolf bowed to the King and was dismissed.

    2

    Vicious stepped out to the anteroom with him. Wolf turned, expecting some sort of explanation, but the Commander just snapped, Move! and went back in again.

    So Wolf moved. Heads turned as he streaked along the endless marble floors of Nocare, skidding around corners. He paused at the guardroom door long enough to shout, Modred, pick me out a horse! and resumed running. He reached his quarters, dressed in two of everything topped off with a heavy fur robe, and was down at the Guard’s stable with a pack on his shoulder before the groom had finished saddling up under Sir Modred’s needle eye. The yard outside was heaped with dirty snow, and the horses’ breath was icing up their stalls.

    The haste was unseemly but necessary if he were to leave before Inquisitor Hogwood appeared, which is what Vicious had meant. Nobody liked the way inquisitors spied, lied, and pried, but the mutual dislike between the snoops and the Blades ran especially deep, and Vicious morbidly detested them. Wolf, moreover, was the Dark Chamber’s least favorite Blade.

    Modred had chosen well, a powerful bay Wolf knew of old, which seemed to know him also, snorting puffs of steam at him and stamping a roughshod hoof on the flags. Young Florian arrived, panting, with a weighty purse from Vicious. A few moments later a mousy clerk minced carefully across the yard to hand Wolf his warrant, signed and sealed. He read it through carefully, disentangling complex prose to establish that he was granted authority to go anywhere, requisition anything, question, detain, or conscript anyone, even suspend civil liberties. It was an astonishing delegation of power, but then he was the government’s first response to an act of war, either foreign or civil. Answering Modred’s frustrated glare with a smile of thanks, he swung into the saddle and adjusted his sword.

    As he rode across the yard, another horse emerged from an adjacent stable and moved alongside, its hooves making muffled thuds instead of the usual clatter. The rider was well wrapped in black fur, with little more than his eyes visible inside the hood of his cloak, but their glassy stare told Wolf his assistant had arrived.

    The snoop said, Trying to sneak away without me, Sir Wolf?

    The little of him that was visible suggested he was too young to be much help, even in a fight, but Wolf would prefer an incompetent rookie to an older man deliberately blocking him.

    I was tired of waiting for you, Inquisitor Hogwood.

    The boy held out a black glove. Your commission, please.

    Unable to think of a reason to refuse, Wolf fished out the scroll and handed it over. Junior unrolled it, rolled it up again, and returned it.

    I thought you wanted to read it.

    Fishy stare again. I did read it. Very curious, isn’t it?

    That was typical snoop talk, but he sounded even younger than he looked and Wolf clung tight to the remaining shreds of his temper. Curious in what way, boy? He put his horse into a saddle-high canyon cut through the drifts to the postern gate.

    In whom it names and whom it does not. The Privy Council is apprised of massacre, either armed insurrection or foreign invasion, and it reacts by sending a twenty-four-year-old swordsman of meager education and repellent reputation.

    It was a birthweek present for me.

    Prudence would suggest dispatching several senior Privy Councillors with an entourage of clerks and attorneys.

    Wolf could sneer too. In this weather, sonny? The poor dears wouldn’t last a league. Babyface had made a valid point, though. Wolf would be replaced the moment the roads were passable again.

    Looking to the Royal Guard for brains is still a questionable innovation.

    But I am spiritually bound to absolute loyalty. You are not. Who is not mentioned in the writ who should be?

    By then they were heading for the northern gatehouse, plodding along an avenue flanked by giant beeches, half a century old and barely adolescent.

    Lord Roland, of course. He sent the news. He has gone to Quondam to take charge. As Grand Master of the Blades, he holds one of the senior offices in the realm. He must have been sworn in as a member of the Privy Council before you were born, so why not just send a courier with a warrant to confirm his authority? Of course, young Smartypants added, Lord Roland is no longer bound and therefore the King may doubt his loyalty. He may see him as being no more trustworthy than an inquisitor.

    Fretting at being under Blade authority, no doubt, the kid was trying to make Wolf look like a dumb, pig-sticking swordsman. Doing quite well, too. Obviously he had been better briefed than Wolf had.

    I expect His Majesty wants a second opinion.

    A trained observer, more likely.

    No eyes are sharper than Blades’. Can you use that thing? Blades had only contempt for the sort of short sword Hogwood was wearing, a gentleman’s weapon.

    Not well by your standards, Sir Wolf, but better than most men. I may fare as well as you do against a pack of animals.

    The Yeomen at the gatehouse noticed Wolf’s cat’s-eye hilt and saluted them through. The Great West Road was only a faint trail in the snow. Flakes swirled in the air.

    Animals?

    Hogwood quirked very pretty eyebrows. The intruders used teeth, claws, and clubs. No swords, no axes. You were not told this?

    Athelgar had been certain the attackers had not been Baels. What sort of injuries had Lynx received? Animals do not use clubs. Wolf pulled his hood forward. I hope you can keep up, boy. I won’t wait for you.

    You won’t have to, Sir Wolf.

    No? He kicked in his heels and gave the bay its head.

    3

    In summer Wolf could ride to Ironhall in a single day, but he knew he would be lucky to do it in less than two in that snowy winter. Old Flint and Huntley had done very well to do it at all.

    Where there was a visible track, it was rarely wide enough for two horses abreast, so he was spared the need to make conversation. He had time to worry as he rode—worry about Lynx and his injuries, both physical and mental, and worry about the King’s motives. Blades notoriously went mad when their ward died by violence, but Wolf could recall no precedent for a ward being kidnapped while his Blade still lived. And why had Athelgar assigned this extraordinary commission to him, of all people? Lynx and he knew things about Celeste that might still embarrass the King if they came out. Now Celeste had vanished, Lynx was at death’s door, and the King had sent him to investigate the bizarre affair? It made no sense.

    The brief winter day was ending in a blood-red smear when the travelers crossed the Gran at Abshurst. With no one else crazy enough to be on the roads, the post house offered a wide choice of well-rested mounts. By law, a Blade could take his pick of the King’s horses and Hogwood knew enough to select the second-best. The only reason Wolf had not taken that one was the mean look in its eye.

    He would not dare go farther until the moon rose, so he led the way to the dining room, whose stench of bad beer and tallow candles would make a goat gasp. A few locals were drinking in front of the fire, but quickly relinquished that favored space to sword-bearing gentry. Waiters tossed down the usual dirty platters and piled them with winter fare: salted fish, beans, and pickled pigs’ feet. They added fresh loaves, hard cheese, and mugs of small ale.

    Hogwood was now revealed as a skinny youth of about Wolf’s height, looking no more than fourteen. The mystery thickened—why had the Dark Chamber sent a boy to investigate an act of war or rebellion? Did the assignment seem so hopeless or dangerous that no senior snoop would touch it? The King had been very sparing with information. Was this a suicide mission?

    Well, Inquisitor, Wolf said. "Tell me about yourself. You look very young to be…you…you’re a girl!"

    So my friends tell me. She smirked.

    So much for bragging about the sharp eyes of a Blade! She was tall, but that did not excuse Wolf’s folly. He would not knowingly have spoken to a woman so aggressively, and could not mend his manners now without seeming ridiculous.

    Male or female, she was absurdly young to be assigned a case of such importance. Nubile, though. Wolf fancied his women well bolstered, with a soft double chin to make them seem more feminine, but Hogwood as a girl was even more of a beanpole than Hogwood the boy. Her hair was as black as her robes, worn in a pageboy cut popular then among youths around court, somehow making her face seem small and boyishly bony, despite full lips and lashes like cortege plumes. In firelight, with winter roses blooming on her cheeks, she was childlike. She would be in grave peril if she ever came within groping range of Athelgar the Randy, who notoriously favored nymphets.

    Wolf pulled his wits together. Tell me about yourself.

    We are forbidden to talk about ourselves.

    Remember you are my subordinate, Inquisitor. How old are you?

    She shook her head, chewing and smirking down at her platter.

    "I said, ‘How old are you?’ "

    She looked up with a sultry glance that would have stopped a knight in a tilting yard. Old enough for anything you require, Sir Wolf.

    He was outmatched. Already he could feel old yearnings wakening. Buxom was not essential. What grade are you, then?

    She sucked on a bone and waved it in a vague gesture. Not allowed to tell.

    At least I’m entitled to know your abilities. I have worked with snoops often enough to know they come supplied with various tricks and skills. Some are conjuration, some come from long training, others are gadgets in your pockets.

    My skills will be at your disposal when needed.

    Had she been a boy, at that point Wolf would have leaned across the table and belted his ear hard enough to spin his head like a weathercock. When we set out today you questioned the Privy Council’s wisdom in sending a man of my age and background to investigate an act of war or armed rebellion. Tell me why Grand Inquisitor did not assign a senior agent to support me, instead of a flippant sixteen-year-old female apprentice? That guess could be out three years either way.

    Because I was the best-qualified inquisitor available. The gibe had amused her, which was a warning that the truth might surprise him.

    Qualified how, other than having shapely eyebrows?

    I am not permitted to answer.

    Wolf hurled a bone into the fire. This is ridiculous! He studied her for a moment. "I know this fodder would sicken a sewer rat, but it’s cold out there, so eat. That’s an order. You’re as frightened as the King was. What do you fear, Hogwood?"

    I am not afraid! Anger darkened the flush the fire had brought to her cheeks.

    Yes, you are. I know I have the ugliest face in Chivial and they call me the King’s Killer, but I rarely kill inquisitors, and never women or children, so you need fear nothing from me, girl. What else scares you? The journey?

    Nothing! She glared.

    You’re lying, he said and cut a hefty slice of cheese.

    Suddenly his assistant was wearing the blank, glassy mask of an inquisitor. Even the flush faded from her cheeks. This collaboration is not prospering. Start again. You tell me your background and I’ll tell you mine.

    It was a peace offering, he supposed. They had time to kill, a meal to eat. A job to do. They couldn’t fight all the time.

    My history is no secret. I was born Ed Attewell in Westerth.

    In Sheese, to be exact.

    A totally unimportant mining hamlet.

    Is it really?

    He ignored that dangerous invitation to tattle. My father died in a rock fall, and my mother found another breadwinner. When she died in childbirth, he found another bed mate. When he fell down a shaft…and so on. I lost count. They got worse. Worse, they got drunk, and often on money I’d earned in the pits. The last stepfather had given him the start of his face—the smashed nose, crumpled ears, gap teeth. I had one full brother, Alf. When the current house brute started in on him as well, I decided it was time for us to leave. Wolf had gone for him with a shovel, leaving himself no safe course except flight.

    Hogwood had switched expressions, to Dark Chamber Sympathetic Face Number One, perhaps. So what led you to choose Ironhall?

    He laughed and gulped down some ale. Crime, of course. Every kid in Ironhall brags of a criminal past. I remember one thirteen-year-old who boasted of being a serial rapist until Prime asked him to explain exactly what a rapist did.

    Hogwood did not smile. But he is one now, of course?

    He’s a Blade in the Royal Guard!

    The difference escapes me.

    Was this insubordination intended to be some sort of flirtation? Hogwood had a very kinky taste in men if she fancied Sir Wolf.

    The difference is that Blades seduce, he said. If I decided to give you a treat, darling, you would cooperate completely and thank me afterwards. Incredibly, that was true. The legend would overcome even his gargoyle face and macabre reputation if he set his mind to it. It had happened more than once, although he was not proud of the fact.

    Hogwood glanced around the dining room. This is rather public. I hope you will rent a bedroom for your demonstration, Sir Wolf. And explain to me how this legendary side effect of the Blades’ binding conjuration differs from a love potion, which is highly illegal.

    It’s more fun! he snapped. Blades were notorious womanizers, but he had never heard of one being accused of rape.

    Then I’m curious to know why you so seldom employ it. But do continue. How did your crimes lead you to Ironhall? Candlelight danced on the black agates of her eyes.

    Because we had to steal food to survive. They set dogs on us. Eventually we came galloping across Starkmoor, bareback on a stolen horse with a posse hot behind us. Looking back, Wolf could see that the pursuers had let their quarry escape to sanctuary rather than see them hanged.

    Two trembling kids were led up the narrow stairs to the stark and forbidding flea room. Sir Parsewood was Grand Master then—stooped and losing his teeth, but well respected. He got the true story out of two waifs easily enough, although he probably did not believe that Alf was thirteen, which is what Ed had told him to say. He talked with them separately, tested their agility by throwing coins for them to catch.

    I have room for one, he told Wolf. If I choose you, will you stay?"

    Not without Alf.

    And if I choose him, will he stay without you?

    If you’ll let me get away before he finds out.

    But Parsewood accepted both of them and ordered a skinny boy named Willow to take the horse out to the men waiting on the moor, tell them it had wandered in the gate, and ask if it was theirs. The juniors thought it wonderful to have two Brats to torment instead of one. Wolf they labeled Dog-face, soon shortened to Dog so that Alf could be Cat. Ed took the brunt of the hazing, trying to stand up for Alf as he had at home, but two weeks later another boy was admitted, so Ed and Alf Attewell were promoted to candidates, logically choosing the names of Wolf and Lynx.

    A simple tale, Inquisitor. Tell me yours. What sort of family lets a daughter become a Dark Chamber snoop?

    Hogwood paused in raising a crust to her mouth to give him a very long stare, not the glassy-eyed snoop stare, just a stare. He was annoyed to find himself discomfited by it.

    Then she said, Have you ever heard of Waltham House?

    There’s a Waltham House near the Bastion. It’s an orphanage endowed by Queen—

    Run and financed by HM Office of General Inquiry. That’s where inquisitors come from. That’s the only home I’ve ever known, Sir Wolf.

    All of them? He had never heard this.

    All of us.

    Spirits! No fathers, no mothers?

    Pleasure at shocking him flickered momentarily in her face. "Waifs left on the doorstep, or promising toddlers from other institutions obtained in exchange. The Dark Chamber is my family. I have been trained from birth for this work."

    He had never wondered where snoops came from. The idea of their black-coated forms emerging from some teeming ants’ nest made him squirm. Time to go. The moon will be up.

    She resumed her picky eating. The groom promised to tell me when it is.

    You can’t rely on kids like him.

    I can. He knew I was not a boy and he was not lying. Enough about background, let’s discuss qualifications. Why did the King choose you to lead this investigation, Sir Wolf?

    Hoping to shock her in turn, he said, Probably because he hates me.

    She nodded. Yes. That is curious. It is no secret that you and His Majesty detest each other, which is an absurd situation when you are spiritually bound to defend him to the death. How did this quarrel originate?

    The Dark Chamber must know. If it matters, why weren’t you briefed on it?

    She studied him again, licking her fingers. I thought we had agreed to cooperate?

    He thought subordinates were expected to be respectful to their superiors, but no doubt inquisitors kept prying from habit, just as Blades had to stay physically active. And the King’s motives might turn out to be very significant.

    It’s a stupid story. But it had begun in Ironhall, with no witnesses except Blades, so the Dark Chamber might have failed to dig out the facts. You won’t remember King Ambrose. He came to harvest Blades for the Guard only twice in my time at Ironhall—a sick, fat old man, barely able to walk. After that he let ripe seniors pile up like hay before assigning batches of them to courtiers and ministers.

    That royal error was later to turn the Thencaster Conspiracy into a Blade tragedy and give the King’s Killer his title.

    "We all hoped he would die soon, which he did, and one blustery spring day his daughter came riding over the moor with the Royal Guard at her back. It had been many years since a woman had performed the binding ritual, and we juniors noisily laid bets on how many seniors she would kill before she learned how to handle a sword. Fortunately Prime was Hereward, a lad of much more beef than imagination. Amid the chanting and flickering firelight he sat bare-chested on the anvil in the center of the octogram and barely flinched when she rammed his saber through his heart. After that the other bindings were routine.

    Malinda was a staunch woman. I think her husband had taught her fencing. He had certainly tutored their son. We were all puzzled to know why she took only six seniors when there were so many waiting in line. The answer appeared a week later in the form of Crown Prince Athelgar, aged eighteen and as red-haired a Bael in those days as ever earned a dying curse. He insisted on fencing with some of the candidates. I was chosen and made him look foolish. That’s all.

    Hogwood frowned. How foolish?

    Very foolish.

    Wolf was only a fuzzy, but a better fencer than most of the seniors. He would have been promoted months ago, had there not been some sad clodhoppers ahead of him. An hour after the Crown Prince arrived, Grand Master sent the current Brat to find him. Parsewood played favorites, and Wolf was one of them.

    His Royal Highness, he mumbled through his awful teeth, has expressed interest in fencing with some of the candidates.

    That would indeed be an honor, Grand Master.

    I’m glad you think so. You will go first. If you fail to make him look like a paralyzed palsied duck with dropsy, you will find yourself on quadruple stable duties every day until you leave here.

    The prospect forebodes, Grand Master.

    Also flogged raw every morning after breakfast.

    I do comprehend your position, Grand Master.

    Knew I could count on you, sonny.

    They grinned together, thinking it was funny, but it did not turn out funny. Give Athelgar his due—one rarely got the chance—he might just have wanted to reassure Prime and the other seniors that he could use a sword, but he was displaying a typical lack of tact by reminding everyone that his father, the current King of Baelmark, had trained at Ironhall. The Blades of the Royal Guard who had been sent along to look after him were especially furious, checking and rechecking foils and padding. The entire school flocked out to the quad to watch.

    When

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