They might have been hardened killers, but between the surprise of the spell and the sudden amputation, the Tooth and Claw recoiled in terror. Joran certainly knew how to make an entrance.
“I am Joran Vanderhelst, representative of Carcalla, master of the Latrocinium, and I have asked you a simple question. Where’s Gerzog?”
Hans was staring at his stump in horror as it squirted. Then he looked back up at Joran, surprisingly defiant. “Go fuck yourself, you?—”
Joran kicked Hans in the chest so hard, the big man went stumbling back. The window he crashed into, having just been cracked by theConcuss, broke around him, and Hans flipped end over end out into the night.
At the same time, one of the mercenaries downstairs must have risen and run into Staverton’s tripwire trap, because there was aboom,and the entire building shook.
“Must I raise my voice?Where is Gerzog the Marauder?”
We were badly outnumbered, but the mercenaries didn’t know that. The rest of us had come out from hiding, and if they’d not been cowed before, seeing us pointing weapons at them, with a blood-covered Squalo among us, took the fight right out of them.
“Gerzog left a couple hours ago,” a mercenary shouted. “Please have mercy.”
Joran gave that one a maniacal grin. “Do I look like the sort of man who gives a shit about the kindly whims of Saint Olga? The fat lady of mercy won’t save you from me. Only honesty can save you now. Vilko?”
“Yeah, Cutter?” the old gangster responded.
“Who’s the saint of honesty?”
“Not really sure. Honesty don’t get much worship in the Slumps. Though Sarda’s the Saint of Truth. I only know that cause that’s who the magistrates make you swear to when you have to go to court.”
“She’ll do.” Joran laid his sword up against one of the mercenary’s necks. That man’s flinch was enough for the blade to break skin. “You lot will swear by Saint Sarda and talk fast. For every lie you tell, I’ll take a life. Every truth you give me, I’ll spare one. Where’s Dathka Walker?”
“Who?”
With the flick of his wrist, Joran cut that man’s head clean off. Either that big cleaver was enchanted or that was the sharpest steel I’d ever seen. The rest of the mercenaries recoiled in terror. “The really pretty deadlander woman you took…who works for me.”
“Gerzog has her with him,” one of them quickly supplied. He must have figured the sooner he satisfied Joran’s demands, the greater his chance of survival. “Gerzog told us he got an offer for the treasure. He was gonna keep her around as insurance against you Latros ’til the deal was done, and afterwards, he’d probably sell her to the Tempus cult. Because they’re at odds with Carcalla, they’d surely pay a bunch of Obols for one of his children.”
Naming that dark bunch was enough to get the Latros to share an uneasy look. The Tempus Metum were fanatics who hid out in the undercity, plotting how to throw open the locked gate to the forbidden Realm of Time to destroy us all for reasons that only made sense in their demented mutant brains.
“Where?”
“Gerzog didn’t say! That’s the truth. That’s all I know, swear to Sarda!”
Joran stepped toward him and lifted his sword menacingly.
“You said if we spoke true, you’d spare us!”
“I did say that.” Joran lowered his sword. “Vilko, shoot this coward.”
The old gangster didn’t hesitate. All of a sudden, my ears were ringing, and when the grey smoke cleared, the Tooth and Claw was down another recruit.
One of the Latros returned, and I’d been so gripped by the show that I’d not even realized he’d ever left. “The other rooms are clear, Cutter. But lights are coming on in town. The locals have heard the noise.”
That meant watchmen would be coming to investigate soon, and the Core City Watch was not to be trifled with.
“The rest of you idiots listen and listen good. You have offended Master Carcalla. Your company ceased to exist the second you crossed him, but unemployment is preferable to death. Be thankful I lack the time to kill you all. If any of you talk to the watch about what transpired here, I’ll find out, then you and your entire family will die. Now fuck off.”
Thirty-One
We got out of the dock district fast as we could. This wasn’t the Latro’s territory, but the old man, Vilko, had done a lot of crime here in his youth, so he knew every back alley and side street to help us avoid witnesses and watchmen.
It was just me and the murderous Latros now. I didn’t even have Trax to watch my back. Even with a city that had dozens of different species living in it, Squalos stood out. Being so noteworthy, we’d had no choice but to separate, so after thinking to him that we’d meet back at the Tube, he’d dove into the bay and swam off.
After half an hour of walking in what felt like circles, we ended up in an unfamiliar part of town full of industrial buildings. I was thoroughly lost, but Joran seemed to have a destination in mind.
