Terrier

  I cursed him softly and left the house. Mayhap he would think better of what I had said once he’d cooled down. I prayed he would, for Tansy’s sake.

  I began to shake as my cold temper thawed. I’d come close to punching the second most powerful cove in the Lower City. I’d have to tell my Dogs. Please, Goddess, may they understand. Besides praying for Tansy and Herun, I need to pray Crookshank won’t take his revenge on Goodwin and Tunstall as well as on me.

  Goodwin snagged my arm as soon as my training class arrived for muster. She towed me over to a corner. “I’ve word from the pigeons, the new ones,” I told her in a whisper as we walked. “The poison they had came from the mage that was pretending to be Tansy Lofts’ maid, Vrinday Kayu. They didn’t know her name, but they knew the teardrop tattoos.”

  Goodwin nodded. “Now here’s a tidbit for you. A cage Dog was killed before dawn this morning, in front of his house,” she told me as we crossed the floor. “Knifed in the kidneys. We think he’s the one who killed Gunnar Espeksra in his cage last night.” She gave me a quick look. “You already heard about Gunnar, didn’t you? I should have guessed. So not only did we lose our Rat, we lost the cur Dog that killed him. And nobody knows who paid him to do it.”

  I thought curses to myself as we joined a knot of Dogs waiting for us in the corner. Tunstall was there, along with Jewel, Yoav, Otterkin, and a fistful of the best Dogs of the Evening Watch.

  “Right,” Otterkin said. “That Jens you’re looking for, the one you think guards the opal diggers? A cove of that name hires on at the slave markets oftentimes. He gets work through Inman Poundridge. And we all know Poundridge will work for them as work for Crookshank, on the side, like.”

  “We caged one of Poundridge’s helpers five months back,” Jewel said. “Dream rose smuggling. We could never pin it to Poundridge, never mind Crookshank himself.”

  “How many folk does Poundridge hire out of the slave markets?” one of the others asked.

  “‘Bout fifteen regular,” Jewel replied. “They’ve been scarce in sight of late.”

  “It’s stupid to have only three guards on eight or nine diggers all the time,” Tunstall said quietly. “You’d need folk you trust. Folk you used before. And you’d use them in shifts.”

  “There’s that mage mark, the one they put on the guards,” Goodwin pointed out. “They’d have showed the guards it works. They’d have killed someone in front of them.”

  “Kayu. The mage in Crookshank’s house,” I said, not thinking. They all stared at me.

  One of the Dogs said, “Puppies don’t yap ‘less they’re smacked.”

  “No, let Cooper talk.” That was Jewel, not one of my Dogs, though they nodded. “Cooper’s one smart Puppy.”

  “Go on, Cooper,” Goodwin said, giving me a sharp elbow. “Finish what you started.”

  I put my hand in my pocket and held my fire opal chunk as I made myself look at these veteran Dogs. “It’s that woman my Dogs think is a mage, Vrinday Kayu. I was at Crookshank’s today. Tansy Lofts, his granddaughter-in-law – she’s my friend. I saw her, Kayu, talking with Crookshank. They saw me, too. Anyway, I think her room is on the same floor as Tansy’s. She’s not in the attics like a maid. And she doesn’t dress like one.”

  Goodwin said, smooth as glass, “One of Cooper’s Birdies told her Kayu maybe did for these diggers. Eight more are dead, right, Cooper?”

  I nodded.

  None of them said a word at first. I began to feel like a great ducknob. I could hear them shift on their feet. Finally Goodwin spoke. “If we put in for permissions to sit on the mage, on Poundridge, and on Jens when he checks in with Poundridge, would you folk be good for it?”

  Yoav looked discomfited. “Mages…and one Crookshank hires? I like my skin stuck to my flesh, where it’s supposed to be.”

  Jewel jabbed her with an elbow. Was that where Goodwin learned it? Jewel was her senior partner when she’d been a Puppy. “Shut up, Yoav.” He looked at us. “What about Fulk?”

  “He’ll run straight to Crookshank,” Tunstall said, his voice firm. “If he’s alive, after helping with that raid on the Court of the Rogue last night. Remember our Birdie, the gem mage Berryman?”

  One of them whistled. “He’s a serious mage, for all he’s a looby.”

  “Berryman will help if it gets ugly,” Tunstall said. “If we just watch Kayu, how will she even know we’re there? We keep this to Evening Watch – we can’t trust Day Watch or Night Watch. We Dog Kayu. If she makes a foul move, we get Berryman. But we keep an eye on her, on Poundridge, then on Jens. We know the mage marks kill them if they talk. Maybe even if they’re hobbled. So we can’t touch any of our Rats until we know where they go and we’re ready to cage the whole foul nest.”

  Jewel nodded. “We’re in. Ain’t we, Yoav?”

  Yoav grumbled. “‘Specially you keep me away from that mage. I’m in.”

  The others voted to do it. I think Tunstall and Goodwin knew they would when they gathered them together. These were hard Dogs, them that took Lower City duty serious. I was honored to be asked to stand with them.

  I followed Goodwin and Tunstall over to the Sergeant’s desk. “Ahuda, we need papers,” Goodwin whispered. All eyes were on us.

  Ahuda scowled at her. “How many of you?”

  “Nine. Two Rats to watch right off, so two sets of papers,” Goodwin said.

  “Four pairs off patrol?” Ahuda demanded. “For how long?”

  Goodwin just looked at her.

  Ahuda cursed. “You couldn’t have picked a less crazy time? Don’t answer that. Muster up!” she yelled. “And clear the room! Dogs only!”

  All our onlookers left, with plenty of whining. We Dogs fell into our ranks.

  When the doors were closed and bolted and even the cage Dogs had gone, the room got quiet. “We’re in the cracked season, children,” Ahuda told us. “Master Fulk has been naughty. He’s being sought by the royal mages. Stay clear of him. If he has sense, he’s on a ship for Carthak right now.”

  She took a deep breath. “Kayfer Deerborn has sworn a complaint against Master Ammon Lofts. He says Master Lofts invaded the Court of the Rogue. Apparently it’s a meeting hall for craftsmen as live between Festive and Riverfront nowadays, which came as a great surprise to me – ” She didn’t even try to speak over the bellow of laughter from the Dogs. She simply waited it out. She looked at a paper on her desk. “Master Crookshank invaded the craftsmen’s meeting hall with a gang of toughs recruited from off-duty soldiers.” She tapped the paper. “That’s what it says. They wrecked the hall, including Kayfer’s personal quarters, stealing various items and destroying furniture. It was all in the name of finding Master Herun Lofts, who has been missing since last night. Day Watch is investigating that, by the by. Crookshank says a note came to the Lofts house from someone claiming to be the Shadow Snake, demanding ransom for Herun. The ransom is to be delivered a week from the day Herun was taken. Crookshank says Kayfer had the lad stolen. Not unreasonable. That’s why Crookshank and some, he says, ‘friends’ exercised ‘cityman’s privilege’ to search the Court of the Rogue.”

  “Cove wants to die,” someone called.

  “Plenty of people will.” My lord Gershom walked out of the Watch Commander’s office, the Watch Commander at his back. My lord went over to stand beside Ahuda’s desk. “Three of the off-duty soldiers that Crookshank hired were found in the river this mornin’. They had rawhide strings with a gold noble on them tied around their necks – Kayfer’s way of sayin’ this is what takin’ Crookshank’s gold gets you. Get out on the streets, all of you. Show your faces to the city. Put a stop to this. If the Rogue wants to kill anyone, let him kill Crookshank, and good riddance. But both of these men had best learn it’s not their city, but ours.”

  We answered him with growls.

  He nodded to us and left the kennel. The Watch Commander disappeared into his office again.

  “You heard my lord,” Ahuda said. “In the meantime, Birch and Vine
hall, here is Kayfer Deerborn’s complaint against Crookshank. You two take four of the cage Dogs and execute it on him.” She held up a parchment laden with seals. Grinning, Birch went to get it from her, Vinehall to call four cage Dogs. Crookshank would be out of the cages soon after he’d been tucked into one, but it was still worth it to tweak his tail.

  “Enough lollygagging,” Ahuda snapped. “Dismissed.” Goodwin went to the Sergeant’s desk as those of us who wanted to keep watch on Kayu and Jens waited. Ahuda sighed. “Were you listening? My lord wants you on the street, not working some special rig.”

  “We’ve got something, Ahuda,” Goodwin said. “Seventeen dead, and more to come. Our information’s good. We’ve been chasing our tails. Now we have two scents, but they’re tricky. One hops between jobs, the other’s a mage. Don’t make me call in your debts to me, gixie.”

  “You heard my lord,” Ahuda told her and us, her eyes glittering. “And you have debts to me, too, Clary. Seventeen dead? Why haven’t I heard about this?”

  “Because only the dead are talking, Ahuda,” Tunstall told her. “You know Cooper can hear them.” Ahuda glanced at me. I stiffened. How many people knew? And why didn’t I know they knew?

  “I can’t turn eight – nine – Dogs loose from patrol when times are like this,” Ahuda said. “You three, and you three alone. If you want to start tonight, go – I’ll have the papers for you at muster tomorrow.”

  “Just one pair and a Puppy?” I couldn’t tell who of us said it.

  “Ahuda – ” Jewel began.

  “That’s my last word.”

  They could tell she meant it. We all turned away. The others went outside. When we left the kennel, they were waiting.

  “We talked,” Jewel said. “Who are you three watching?”

  Goodwin and Tunstall traded looks. “Poundridge,” Goodwin said. “He’s got Jens reporting to him. Jens will take us back to the diggers. Right now, they’re looking to hire more. Once they have new folk, the mage will visit them, not the other way around.”

  Jewel nodded. “We agree. We’re all going to work it out, try to keep a watch on Crookshank’s and on that mage. Unofficial-like.” He winked at us. “Better than nothing.”

  Goodwin walked on out into the street. I think Ahuda telling her only the three of us could go had hit her hard. Tunstall clapped Jewel and a couple of the others on the shoulder in thanks. I followed him on the way after Goodwin. It made sense. Jens was a guard. Sooner or later he’d go to his master, Poundridge, for his pay. We could follow him back to those he watched over.

  Off we went to the Market of Sorrows. On the way Tunstall told me about Poundridge. From four until midnight, give or take, he supervised guards from a booth set between the pens and the market stage. From there he greeted folk who came to see the slaves waiting to be sold and bossed the guards. That made it easy for them that worked for him in other parts of the city to report to him for their pay or to get more work. And it made him easy for us to watch. An alley down and across the street gave us a place where we could see him do business without him seeing us.

  We’d been there long enough for me to get bored when Goodwin asked, “Cooper, what happened when you visited your friend Tansy? You looked skittish, talking about it.”

  “Not skittish. Angry. For you,” Tunstall said.

  I told them, keeping my voice low. When I was done, Pounce laid a dead mouse on my boot for some reason. “No, thank you,” I said. “You can keep it.”

  “I’m not sure you should have let on you knew about the opals. Not when he’s trying to keep them secret from the world,” Goodwin whispered.

  “I lost my head,” I said. In the cool summer night, with my temper in my grip, I felt shamed. “I’m afeared he won’t pay up and the Snake will kill Herun.”

  “Even Crookshank’s not that mad,” Goodwin replied, but she didn’t sound like she believed it.

  “Madder than a snakebit bull,” Tunstall said. Then he gave the softest of whistles. “Who have we here?”

  A party of eight nobles had come on horseback, with servants to help them. They drew up before Poundridge’s booth. Most of the nobles dismounted.

  A woman said loudly, “Are you joking? Is this the ‘diversion’ you spoke of?” We all knew that lady’s deep voice well.

  Someone laughed. A man said, “My dear Sabine, you aren’t a dreary reformist, demanding that we do away with slavery, are you? If it was good enough for our grandfathers – “

  “I’m not your dear anything, you louse! Slavery breeds vice – gods curse it, why do I even talk to you!” A horse turned out of the crowd. Lady Sabine looked very different in a dress. She didn’t look like the friend who’d fought and eaten with us wearing breeches. She looked like a great lady.

  “Stop gawping, Cooper,” Goodwin said. “She’s the nobility. They’re bad for you.”

  “I know I overreach myself,” Tunstall said. He scratched Pounce, seemingly not vexed a bit. “Pretending it’s Cooper you give advice to doesn’t fool Cooper and it doesn’t fool me. I wish Sabine wasn’t noble.”

  Goodwin rubbed her neck. “So do I, Mattes. But she is.”

  Thinking to stop a budding quarrel, I said quickly, “Mistress Noll wears a necklace the Shadow Snake took for ransom. The lily pendant. I think maybe Yates is the Snake.”

  They didn’t answer for a time. Tunstall finally said, “A crew of diggers weighs more than one kidnap victim, Cooper. We’ll have Ahuda put Yates Noll on the watch list, but we need to keep on the diggers before Crookshank hires – and douses – more of them. You know he will as well as we do.”

  Tunstall’s reasonable voice was like a hammer in the shadows. I knew he was right, but I had the taste of the Shadow Snake like blood in my mouth.

  And yet there were the ghosts, seventeen of them. How many more would come in the morning? Would it be poison again, or swords like the first time?

  It was a long, wearisome watch. The nobles left. Mumpers swarmed around their horses, whining for coins and grabbing at their stirrups. At one noble’s order, a servant threw a handful of coppers into the street. The mumpers scrambled for them as the nobles rode off. My heart burned to see mumpers treated like pigs in the street, but I had to say it was a good way to clear the road.

  Suppertime came. Goodwin and I left through the alley’s back exit to fetch some food. While we waited for the eating house to pack what we’d bought, Goodwin showed me the marks Tunstall would place on buildings. That way, if Poundridge left his booth, Tunstall could follow him, and we’d follow Tunstall. So far, though, all Poundridge had done was take a nap and entertain a doxie.

  Tunstall was still there when we returned. Some merchants came to look at slaves next. It was common entertainment for them that had coin to bribe the guards. More mumpers flocked in to wheedle this lot. Instead of giving a servant coins to throw, these folk either rode straight at the beggars or kicked them out of the way. Three ladies gave coins to the younger mumpers and got scolded by their men for softheartedness.

  That was the excitement for the rest of the watch. Pounce gave up and left. He still hadn’t come back when we went to the kennel to muster out.

  I feel as useless as I have ever done.

  Saturday, May 9, 246

  Writ at three in the afternoon, in the kitchen garden. More younger folk of the Court of the Rogue came to have a word with Rosto over breakfast. By “younger” I mean mots and coves from our age into their early thirties. Most brought food. Pounce, Laddybuck, and the kitten that Kora has named Fuzzball ate well. The pigeons did, too, though the seventeen ghost diggers are standoffish around others. Slapper perched on my head and pecked at me until he fell off. Then he left me alone. The thieves who saw it left me be, too. Mayhap they thought me cracked for talking to a pigeon like he knew what I said.

  Ersken and I drew back from Rosto’s guests. Them as waited for a word with him could talk with Aniki or Kora if they wished. They were here on Rogue business, even if it wasn’t Kayf
er’s. Ersken finally whispered he’d see me in training and took off. Kora noticed and made sure to kiss him goodbye. Rosto waved to him. I was grateful for that. These folk would notice that Rosto was friendly to Ersken, and they would be friendly to him in their turn.

  I waited till Aniki was free, then asked her, “You’ll clean up? I’ve things to do.”

  She grinned. “Go seek your Snake, Beka,” she said. “I’ll handle this. And when you’re ready to kill the Snake? I’ll help cut off its head.” She patted her dagger hilt.

  I raised my brows at her. “I won’t kill it unless I must,” I told her. “The Snake’ll stand his trial.”

  Aniki’s friend Reed Katie heard me. “What if he’s got a patron?” she asked in her sweet voice. “So many of them as gets away with everythin’ do. What if the Snake’s got a patron as buys ‘im out of the Magistrate’s Court, Beka?”

  “Then I’ll Dog him, and I’ll catch him, and I’ll cage him again,” I said. “And again, and again, and again, until his patron tires of him and the Snake tires of me.”

  “Or until he kills you,” someone else said.

  “Nobody’s killing Beka,” Rosto told them, his eyes turned to black stone.

  “Nobody,” Phelan said with a nod.

  “Nobody,” Aniki and Kora added.

  “If you folk don’t mind, I can protect myself.” I tried to say it loud. I felt a blush creep over my cheeks. “I’ve no mind to be doused by any Rat nor any Snake.”

  “It’s true.” Bold Brian toasted me with a flask of barley water. “You really are a terrier, ain’t you, Cooper? Get your teeth in and never let go.”

  I can’t say I ran, because I didn’t. I did shake my head and walk out of the yard fast. Didn’t these loobies know they might be the next Rats I got my teeth into? Were I in their shoes, I might admire the Dog with my prison shackles in her teeth a bit less.

  “Psst! Beka!” My landlady hung from her front window, waving to me with both arms. She gestured madly for me to come into the house. I went, my heart thumping. Had Pounce’s mysterious ways in and out admitted less-welcome guests, like four-legged rats? Did she object to our crooked tenants? Did she want me to move so she might have room for another rogue? I’d thought she’d rented to me for the safety of having a Dog in her house, but there was safety in having rogues and mages, too.