Dhalthar realized, just as he had passed through it, that someone had been at the secret entrance to Helstaff's house. He sensed a strange human scent in the air in the chamber at the foot of the ladder. Actually there were several essences, two belonged to the male and the female whose nest he had just visited.
"Stupid-stupid!" he mentally cursed as he bit the tip of his tail. The spymaster had been discovered. It didn't take a mind as clever as Dhalthar's to guess who. He had two things left—male and female to kill.
Well, the man-things had saved him the trouble of tracking them down, for meddling in business that was not theirs would be his undoing.
He nodded to Bonebreaker, and with squeals conveyed his instructions. The ladder creaked under the weight of the rat troll, who climbed with the speed and agility of a monkey.
♦ ♦ ♦
Elysia shook her head. She was described to him as a young prodigy adventurer who had appeared under mysterious circumstances. There was a line dedicated to the recent event in the Riverheim sewers, and hastily penciled notes indicating that further investigation should be done.
Well, maybe there were worse things. Maybe I should show it to Frey. Maybe there was something about the dark hero in those files, too. She was about to take a look when she heard a door open downstairs.
"Damn" she thought as she closed the door of the room. "Frey will have to wait."
♦ ♦ ♦
Fritz Helstaff knew he was late, and he hoped the ratfolk was late too. He hated to give the wrong impression, even about such a brute. But Duke Emmanuel and his family were due to return home the next day, and he wanted even the smallest detail in the palace to be perfect.
He imagined the smile with which Emilia would reward his diligence, and he knew that all his efforts had been worth it, even if he had had to spend fifteen minutes punishing that young footman for his clumsiness in hanging the pictures. . The whipping he had inflicted on him had left the magistrate tired, sweaty, and in need of a bath.
He took a lantern from the house and lit it, whereupon he pushed back the darkness. Helstaff was about to call a servant to draw water when he remembered that he had given everyone the night off because he was expecting a visit from the ratfolk. He would have to save the pleasure of grooming for later, since the ratfolk news was more important.
Before leaving the night before, he had confided in her that his agents were about to uncover a major mutant plot, though Helstaff had to admit that he was more concerned with the assassination attempt on the sewer guards. He knew that Hef and Araña were dead, since his agents had informed him about the fire on Barata Street.
That had been excellent work, for he had taken down two traitors and a hundred local riffraff at the same time. On second thought, perhaps the wererat had inadvertently provided him with the solution to another problem. Perhaps he could have the entire New Quarter set on fire, as that would no doubt lessen the number of mutant-worshipping scum that dwelled there.
The thought of burning the dregs of society and removing them from his stinking dunghills of vice warmed the depths of her heart. He took the steps two at a time and ran down the hall toward the file room. However, his heart froze when he saw that the door had been forced, and anger flooded him. Someone had desecrated his sanctuary. After Emilia, the beloved archives were the most important thing in his life. If someone had damaged a single page of them… he opened the door and pushed it open with one foot; at that moment, a deaf lantern shed light on his face.
"Good evening, Mr. Fritz Helstaff" a conspicuously feminine voice greeted him. "I think you and I have business to discuss."
As the chief magistrate's eyes adjusted to the illumination, he recognized the face of the young woman he had seen at the entrance to the gatehouse a couple of nights ago.
"Who are you, kitty?"
"My name is Elysia, and I am the girl who is going to kill you."
♦ ♦ ♦
Rudi had never seen so much wine in his entire life. He was everywhere in that cellar: old bottles, covered by thick layers of dust and cobwebs, and more recent ones that had only a thin film. There was so much of it that he wondered how one man could drink it all. "Maybe you have a lot of guests." he guessed he.
What was that noise? Probably nothing. The best thing would be to think that there was nothing there.
Since they had found the ratman in the sewers, nothing had been right. He maybe he could hide, but there was nowhere he could slide his huge frame.
He should go back to the top of the ladder and take a look. He was sure he heard the steps creak. Yes, he should.
He swallowed hard and forced his body back into the hidden alcove; but his legs responded slowly. It was as if all the strength had been drained from him. His heart was pounding in her ears; the speed was such that it seemed that he had run two kilometers.
He realized that he had been holding his breath, and he let it out in a long breath, the sound of which seemed unusually powerful in the silence. He wished that Frey or even that conceited Elysia would come back. He didn't like being here alone, in the cellar of a powerful nobleman, whose fortune and influence he could barely imagine.
"It's ridiculous." He told himself. Nearly fifteen years of his life, as a man and as a boy, had been spent hunting monsters within the dark sewers. He shouldn't be scared. Ah, but before it was different! He was younger and in the company of friends and comrades: Gant and the brothers, and others who were already dead or gone.
The last few days had really shaken him up, and the solid foundation of his life had crumbled. He was alone, without a wife or children. His last remaining friends were gone or dead, and if Elysia was right, the order he had sworn to protect, the rulers of the city he had promised to defend against all enemies, were the enemy itself. Life no longer had feet or head.
Wait! He was sure that something had moved inside the alcove. Something heavy and stealthy had climbed over the edge of the stairwell. He was there, in the basement.
"Who's there?" Rudi asked, in a voice that seemed weak and strange to himself. It was the voice of a stranger. His soft footsteps drew closer to her.
The light from the dark lantern revealed the figure as it entered the hold. She was enormous, taller than he was by a head, and perhaps twice as heavy as he was. Impressive muscles bulged out of his reddish fur; long claws protruded from the capsules of his fingers, and he had a face that was a mixture of a rat and a wolf. A chilling, evil intelligence burned in those beady pink eyes.
Rudi raised his club to defend himself, but the being fell on top of him with a surprisingly quick leap for such a large creature. Horrible pain shot through Rudi's right arm as his huge claws dug into his wrist. He opened his mouth to scream. He looked into the rosy eyes of death and felt the monster's breath on him; he smelled of blood and fresh meat.
♦ ♦ ♦
"Don't be stupid, lass," said Fritz Helstaff. As he spoke, he put his hand to the hilt of the longsword. He felt confident, as he was a formidable swordsman and his opponent only had a short sword. "With a single shout I will have six knights here. They will give me your head!"
"Perhaps they are interested in the fact that you consort with the ratfolks and keep track of your dealings with them."
Elysia's words chilled Helstaff to the core. He didn't know if the Black Magician was already in the house or about to arrive. In that case, he couldn't risk calling the knights, for while they were reassuringly anti-mutant, his zeal extended to ratfolk-type beings as well.
"You don't know what you're talking about, lass!" the magistrate snapped, and the sword clinked out of its scabbard.
"I'm afraid I do know. You see, I saw you the other day in the sewers. I saw you with my own eyes, and I hardly believed what was in front of me when I saw you again in the guard office."
The young girl seemed sure of what she was saying. There was no way to reason with her, so he would have to die. Helstaff let the point of his sword point to the ground as he approached, his shoulders slumping in defeat.
"How did you know?"
"I am a sewer watcher."
"You can't be. Sewer Wardens aren't that smart, they don't have enough perception skills to… As he spoke those last words, a light came on in Helstaff's mind.