“Who reported it?” Jev asked.
“Lunis.”
Jev nodded, remembering how enthusiastically the young agent had reported on the criminal guilds the morning before. Her certainty that they were involved with the princes’ deaths made him doubt his hunch, but he’d learned over the years to trust his hunches. Besides, it wouldn’t take long to check on the elven embassy.
“I’ll let our agents know the rumor may be false.” Zenia sounded like she was being careful not to promise too much. “Thank you for letting us know. I don’t know if this ties into our case, but it could.”
“It could be something new too,” Rhi said. “Someone trying to get the Orders and the criminal guilds into a war with each other.”
“To detract attention from something else?” Zenia asked.
Rhi shrugged. “You’ll have to figure it out. You’re the brains. I just whack stuff with my bo.”
“Such as innocent zyndar feet?” Jev asked.
“I doubt your feet are that innocent.” Rhi considered their horses. “Where are you going now? Are you allowed to tell random passersby?”
Zenia looked up at Jev. Letting him decide?
Jev didn’t think it mattered if Rhi knew where they were going. By the time she could report the news to anyone, if she was so inclined, they would be done with the errand.
“The elven embassy,” he said, then on a whim added, “Want to come along?”
That would ensure she wouldn’t report back to the Water Order Temple until after they were done.
“With Zenia?” Rhi asked. “I’ve been forbidden to interact with her.”
Zenia didn’t point out the interaction they were currently engaged in.
“Come with me, then,” Jev said. “If you feel compelled, you can tell your superiors that we were the only ones interacting. No need for them to know Zenia was riding beside me.”
“Will this be lurid interacting? My superiors wouldn’t approve of that.”
“Because I was involved in the artifact incident or because you’re a celibate monk?” Jev kept his eyebrows from twitching. Barely.
“Both of those things, yes.”
Zenia swung back into her saddle. “It’ll be dark in a couple of hours. We better get going.”
Jev nudged his horse forward, setting a slow pace in case Rhi wanted to come with them.
She hesitated, then jogged to keep up. “I guess if you’re heading the same way I am, back into the city, then nobody can be irked if they see me with you.”
“Naturally not,” Jev said, then offered a hand in case she wanted to ride behind him.
She waved the offer away. “The city has eyes. We’d better not be too obvious about our interacting.”
Zenia’s lips pursed in concern, but she didn’t object to the company. By the time they reached the city gate, she and Rhi were trading their typical banter, making Jev glad he’d asked. He didn’t want to get Rhi kicked out of the temple, but he knew Zenia missed her friend.
Jev had never been to the part of the city that housed the elven embassy, but he spotted the tower from several blocks away. The ancient stones smothered in some broad-leafed vining plant appeared to have been there as long as the city, maybe longer. It had been constructed during a time when Korvann had been less insular, and elves and dwarves had frequently passed through for trade or simply come to live and work.
He wondered how many elves lived within the stone walls now. Perhaps only those sent on diplomatic assignments. The tower rose about eight stories tall, but it was not wide, and he couldn’t imagine more than a room or two on each floor.
As he and Zenia turned onto a narrow road that circled the tower, Jev realized walls surrounded the structure, sectioning off a full city block. The place had definitely been built in a time when land hadn’t been so coveted. More vining plants covered almost every inch of the courtyard walls, several varieties with leaves that ranged from green to crimson red and purple.
Jev guided his horse toward a hitching post in front of a brick tavern that faced the tower. Dishes clinked inside, and people laughed over meals, not overly concerned about their elven neighbors.
“No guards at the gate?” Zenia asked, tying her horse next to Jev’s.
She waved toward an open wrought-iron gate, the bars having a fluid, natural design reminiscent of branches with leaves on them. It appeared to be the only entrance to the courtyard.
“I’m sure they’re there,” Jev said.
Rhi came out of the long, late-afternoon shadows to join them. The sweat that had gleamed on her forehead earlier had evaporated. The pace must have been less taxing than the one she’d set up to the castle.
“Will they let us in?” Zenia asked.
“Let’s find out.”
Jev led the way with Zenia and Rhi walking behind him. A plaque mounted on the wall next to the gate, the vines trimmed free of it, said something in Elvish. At first, Jev thought it might be an invitation to visitors or a warning to enemies, but it turned out to be the street address.
When Jev stepped through the open gate into what he decided to call a park instead of a courtyard, the hair on his arms rose.
“There’s magic here,” Zenia murmured.
Jev nodded. “Could be defenses activating. Or alarms to let someone know visitors have arrived.”
The ground was covered with ferns, grass, and moss instead of the cobblestone of the street and walkways outside. Trees grew twenty or thirty feet high, and all manner of shrubbery filled in the ground between them. A few winding paths disappeared into the foliage, the branches trimmed back—or perhaps magically coerced not to grow over them.
Jev wasn’t surprised there wasn’t a direct route to the front door. He just hoped it wasn’t a maze requiring magic or a guide to reach the tower.
He, Zenia, and Rhi walked along what appeared to be the main path with fragrant flowers blooming alongside it.
“It’s beautiful in here,” Zenia said as they passed a bench made from thick vining plants that had been convinced to grow into the appropriate shape.
Rhi sneezed. “Damn pollen.”
Jev sensed someone watching them so he didn’t comment. The wooden door of the tower came into sight, but someone spoke from the foliage before they reached it.
“Human zyndar,” a feminine voice said. “What brings you into this respite?”
I was wondering if any of your people hired the two-faced troll who slipped infected water into the princes’ drinks, Jev thought.
Out loud, he said, “I’m seeking my friend Lornysh. He said he might be staying here now. Is he?”
He opted to speak in the king’s tongue. If the elves didn’t know he spoke their language, he might pick up some useful information, assuming more than one was about and they spoke to each other.
“I have seen Lornysh, but he is not here now.”
“Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“When he wishes.”
Jev thought about backtracking to sit on that bench and wait, but they didn’t have unlimited time. Even though he was proud of Targyon for arranging a reception so he could perhaps confront his cousins’ murderer, Jev felt he should know, or at least have a solid list of suspects, before the event. Ideally, he would find the person responsible without the need for a shindig, but so far, he and Zenia hadn’t made much progress.
“Is the elven ambassador here?” Jev asked.
“He is.”
The female didn’t volunteer anything extra, did she? He couldn’t even see her and didn’t know if there was an arrow pointed at his chest or not.
“We’d like to see him,” Jev said.
“You came seeking one elf but now seek another?”
“Actually, I wanted to see the ambassador all along,” Zenia spoke up. “Jev wanted to chat with his buddy while I did so.”
“I say we just walk up and knock on the door and stop talking to the trees,” Rhi muttered.
The speaker fell silent, and Jev sensed
more than heard her move to another spot in the garden. The better to take aim at them? No, the guards shouldn’t have orders to start a diplomatic incident by shooting a zyndar. Or anyone else.
Deciding the direct approach had merit, Jev walked to the door. As he lifted his hand to knock, a silver-haired elven woman stepped out from behind the adjacent trees. She barred the way with a strung bow. Arrows in a quiver poked over her shoulder, and she held one in her hand, ready to nock. She appeared no older than twenty, but Jev knew better.
Rhi stirred at the sight of the weapon, her fingers tightening around her bo. In the first shadows of twilight, Jev thought he glimpsed a faint glow escaping from between the buttons of Zenia’s blouse. She’d found a thong to temporarily use with the dragon tear and now wore it around her neck. Would it make the magical shield again if they got into a fight?
“Greetings.” Jev offered the elf woman his best charming smile in the hope of avoiding such trouble. “Are you going to keep us from going in?”
“The ambassador does not take meetings this late or without advance notice.” She did not appear charmed.
“But I—” Jev glimpsed a shadow moving—no, that was someone running through the brush behind her. “Who’s that?” he called.
Rhi burst into motion before Jev decided if they should interfere with someone leaving. Rapidly.
She sprinted back down the path and leaped into the undergrowth, trying to cut off the shadowy figure. Zenia ran after her.
Jev turned to follow, but the elf grabbed his arm.
“You will not harass those staying at the embassy,” she said loudly enough for the others to hear.
The rattling of foliage and snapping of branches answered her.
Jev twisted his arm free. She had speed and agility, but he had strength. He blocked her when she grabbed for him again and pushed her back toward the door. As she thudded against it, he sprang back down the path after the others.
He didn’t want to fight with the elves and worried there would be repercussions for this, but he also found it suspicious that someone felt compelled to sprint off when he and Zenia arrived.
More bushes rattled several meters from the path, and Rhi hollered.
Jev ran back toward the gate, thinking he would head off the fleeing person if he or she evaded the women. A flare of blue light came from the trees, and someone with a male voice yelped in surprise. Maybe pain.
The elven female raced after Jev. He reached the open gate leading to the street and whirled to face her and whoever else ran out of the trees.
The female sprinted toward him, now carrying a truncheon in addition to her bow. Without preamble, she sprang for Jev.
Not wanting to draw a weapon, he stepped forward to meet her, throwing his arm up to block. He targeted her wrist instead of the hard wood truncheon. He succeeded in knocking her arm aside but almost missed the punch she launched at his face with her other arm. She’d dropped her bow to make a fist.
He ducked, her knuckles brushing his hair, then turned his move into a head butt. When his skull struck padded flesh, he immediately felt like an ass for striking a woman in the boobs. But that didn’t keep him from following up. Before she could recover, he stepped in and launched a punch into her stomach. She twisted but didn’t fully evade him. His fist struck her side, and she stumbled away.
“Over the wall,” she yelled in elven. “We’ll keep them distracted.”
The gate clanged shut behind Jev, and she sprang for him again. He blocked her next attack but glanced left and right, afraid he would miss the running man—elf?—if he gave her his full attention.
More leaves rustled, and a cloaked and hooded figure rushed out of the trees, avoiding the paths. Jev would have thought it was Lornysh, but his friend had no reason to hide from him.
Once again, he blocked the truncheon as it whooshed toward his skull. This time, he turned his block into a grab. He caught his foe by the wrist and twisted. She yelped and dropped the truncheon.
He spun her and pulled her into his grip, wrapping an arm around her waist as he yanked his pistol from its holster with his free hand.
The hooded figure glanced his way but did not slow down. Jev glimpsed the angular features of a male elf. The elf sprang for the fifteen-foot wall, a height nobody should have been able to reach. But he caught the lip and pulled himself to the top.
Jev pointed his pistol and yelled, “Stop!”
His target did not.
Jev almost fired, but could he truly shoot an elf when he had no idea what crime he had committed? If any?
The cloaked elf flung himself over the wall and out of sight on the other side. Jev released the female elf and whirled to race into the street, but he found the gate locked.
He turned back to her, worried she would take advantage of his turned back and attack again. But she stood facing him, her hands open and down at her sides. Right, she didn’t have a reason to attack him now, did she? Not when she’d successfully provided a diversion so the other elf could escape.
Twigs snapped, and Rhi and Zenia appeared with another elven man between them. Dirt smeared their clothing, and leaves stuck out of their hair. Their prisoner’s shirt, one almost identical to the brown tunic the female wore, had been ripped, and an abrasion darkened his cheek. He glared surlily at Jev. As if Jev had been the one to attack him.
“Anyone want to tell me who that was?” Jev waved his pistol at the spot where the hooded elf had gone over the wall, then holstered it. The guards both looked like they were done fighting.
“Only saw him for a couple of seconds,” Rhi said. “Before I got close, Pretty Boy here leaped out and tackled me. Then Zenia tackled him. The other one got away.” She looked in the direction Jev had pointed and grimaced.
“Pretty Boy?” Jev eyed the elf’s scraped cheek and his ripped, dirt-covered clothing.
“He was prettier before we roughed him up,” Rhi said.
“I’m surprise you found time to notice.” Zenia also seemed to realize the fighting was over, for she released the elf and stepped away from him.
“I always notice the important things.” Rhi wasn’t so quick to release their prisoner. Her squint was more suspicious than lascivious.
“You will leave the land of the embassy,” the female said. “You are not welcome here.”
“I’ll leave after we see the ambassador,” Jev said. “We’re representatives for the king, his personally appointed Crown Agents. I’m positive the ambassador will want to see us.”
“He will not.” The female pointed her finger at the exit. The lock clicked, and the gate swung open. “Leave, now.”
Jev looked at Zenia and Rhi, half-tempted to force the issue. He thought they could best the two elves and tie them up somewhere in the garden, but would the ambassador deign to see them after they did that? Perhaps not. Jev feared there would already be a complaint filed with the king about this. Besides, he had a hunch the person he truly wished to speak with had just left.
“Who fled the tower just now?” Zenia walked slowly toward the elf female, commanding her attention. “And why did he run?”
Jev didn’t expect her to get any further with the elves than he had, but then he remembered her dragon tear. With the shadows deepening, he once again noticed its glow seeping through her blouse.
“Did he have something to hide?” Zenia stopped two paces from the elf female. “Was there a reason he didn’t want to talk to us?”
Jev did not think an inquisitor’s mind manipulation magic would work on an elf—he was fairly certain Lornysh had been immune when she’d been trying to manipulate Jev on the docks—but maybe he was wrong. The female didn’t answer promptly, but she did stare at Zenia with her mouth slack, her eyes glazed.
Zenia repeated her questions, finishing with a firm, “Tell me.”
“Yilnesh,” the woman whispered. “He didn’t give his last name. He simply said he needed refuge here, and the ambassador granted it.”
“Ho
w long ago was that?” Zenia asked, her eyes remaining locked to those of the elf.
“He came a month ago, then disappeared for a while, then returned. He’s staying in a room on the seventh floor.”
“Why would an elf need refuge here?” Jev asked. “Couldn’t he return to his homeland?”
The elf female frowned over at him, and some of the spell seemed to fade. Jev lifted an apologetic hand toward Zenia. He shouldn’t have interrupted her magic.
Zenia repeated the question, her dragon tear flaring a stronger blue, and the female focused on her again.
“The ambassador said he was cast out,” she whispered.
“Shylena,” the male elf said, stirring from what appeared to be a trance of his own. “You should not answer their questions. They are outsiders. Intruders. The ambassador will not appreciate—”
A clank-thunk came from somewhere in the garden, and both elves’ eyes widened.
“The zarl,” the male whispered. “We’ve displeased the ambassador.”
The female shook her head, throwing off the effects of Zenia’s magic. She threw a confused look at Zenia, but then a deep, ominous growl came from the trees, and she jumped. She and the male fled off the path in the opposite direction of the noise and disappeared, leaving only a few trembling leaves behind.
Another growl came from the trees, even deeper than the first. Deep and hungry.
“Can we go now?” Jev eyed the shadowy foliage.
“I’m done with my questioning,” Zenia said.
“You sure you don’t want to talk to that thing?” Rhi jerked her thumb in the direction of the growls. They were getting closer.
“Absolutely not.”
Jev waved them toward the gate, letting them exit first so he could guard their backs. The leaves stirred among the trees at the edge of the path, and he glimpsed something blacker than the twilight shadows. After Zenia and Rhi reached the street, Jev backed through the gate, pointing his pistol at the inky form.
It growled again, low and dangerous. A pair of yellow eyes appeared, staring straight at Jev.
“I’m hoping you have orders to stay in your yard,” Jev muttered, closing one side of the gate while he kept the pistol trained on whatever strange watchdog this was.