Dragon Bones (The Dragonwalker Book 1) Read online

  “You told me that he used you.”

  He sighed. “He used me. And worse.” And Azithan had saved him from it. Now he’d need to go back to him?

  “If you don’t want to do this—or can’t—I understand.”

  There was something more within what Azithan said. Fes might not need to take the assignment, but he would miss out on something more if he didn’t, something Azithan knew.

  “You promise to tell me what you know?”

  Azithan nodded. “I do. When you find him, just don’t tell him I sent you.”

  Chapter Five

  This part of the city was dark and more than a little dirty. After spending as much time as he had lately near the palace, working with Azithan, coming back to the slums and being exposed to the filth in the southwestern part of the city was somewhat jarring. It was home to thieves and worse, but there had been a time when Fes had called it home.

  When his parents had died, leaving him and his brother as orphans, this had been the only place he hadn’t been exiled from. The patrols pushed the strays out of the center of the city, sweeping them to the outskirts of Anuhr as if that solved the problem.

  And it was because of this part of the city that he’d lost his brother.

  Even after losing Benjan, he hadn’t been able to leave. Where would he have gone?

  Fes had vowed not to succumb to the darkness within the empire the same way his brother had, even if it meant working with the very thing that had killed Benjan. Surviving had turned him into something his parents would not have wanted, but at least he had the opportunity to use the rage that always seemed to boil beneath the surface.

  Fes paused while making his way along a darkened street and spun. “Are you going to keep following me, or are you going to show yourself?” A cloaked figure appeared out of the darkness, and Fes forced himself to smile. “Alison. It’s been a while.”

  She stalked around him, dressed all in black. It matched her straight hair, which was longer than when he’d seen her last. Had she lost weight? Maybe it was only that she had become leaner, more muscular over the previous year.

  She was smaller than him and quite compact, but there was a feisty strength to her that had appealed to him from the moment he’d met her when they were both kids prowling the streets. It still did. “Only because of you.”

  “You know why I left.”

  “You want to start this now, or should we wait?”

  He grunted. “Wait, preferably.” And never, if he had his way.

  She leaned toward him, inhaling deeply. “You smell like him.”

  “I’m not sure what that means,” Fes said.

  “A mixture of cinnamon. You smell like the palace.”

  “I can’t help that.”

  “Sure you can,” she said. “You don’t have to take those jobs.”

  “It brought me away from here.” And it brought him away from the man he was about to go see. Didn’t she understand that?

  She glared at him. “For how long? They’ll use you like they use everyone else. And then where will you be?”

  “I would have been worse off had I stayed.” She didn’t want to admit it, but it had been the truth. They both knew it, which was why Fes had taken the job Azithan offered. How could he not?

  Fes turned away from her, looking along the street. It was late enough that it was mostly empty, but if Alison was here, it was unlikely that she would be alone. It wasn’t that she was afraid to come here alone—she was far too capable with the sword she had buckled to her waist—but it was safer to come with others.

  “You don’t have to worry. No one followed me here.”

  “I doubt that,” he said.

  “You can doubt all you want. I’m not letting anyone follow me.”

  “Even if you weren’t aware that they were following you?”

  She jabbed him with her finger. “Do you think that I wouldn’t be so aware of people following me?”

  “I’ve snuck up on you more than once.”

  “It’s been a long time, Fezarn. Or do you go by something else now?”

  “Just Fes.”

  “That doesn’t change what you’ve done.”

  It didn’t, but Azithan hadn’t cared about any of Fes’s past transgressions, even if he knew about them. He had wanted Fes’s skill, and the time spent on the streets had made him skilled. Useful. If Fes had anything to do with it, those skills would make him wealthy, too.

  “Does he know?”

  Fes glared at her for a moment. “Does he know what?”

  “Does he know who you are? Does he know what you are?”

  “I’m not sure that it matters.”

  “It matters. Don’t try to convince yourself that it doesn’t.”

  “I haven’t convinced myself of anything. And it’s because of Horus that I became what I did.”

  She jabbed him in the chest again and circled around him. Fes should have expected to come across her when Azithan had him come for Horus, but he hadn’t thought to see her quite so soon.

  “You’ve convinced yourself that you’re better than the rest of us.”

  Fes shook his head. “Again. I haven’t convinced myself of anything.”

  She only glared at him. “You keep telling yourself that. Why have you come here today?”

  “Do I have to have a reason?”

  She shrugged. “It would help.”

  “I came for a job.”

  “He doesn’t have any opportunities for you.”

  “That’s not what I heard.”

  “You stink of the palace and think you can just return?”

  Fes stared at her a moment. “It was good to see you again, Alison.” He started off down the street, planning to move past her, but she butted up in front of him, blocking his way.

  “That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me?”

  “What else is there to say?”

  “You just left us here.”

  “I was offered an opportunity. Freedom.”

  “There is no freedom. Not within the empire.”

  “There is for me,” he said softly.

  She glared at him. “You left me here.”

  Fes met the anger in her eyes. It had been a year, and that anger still hadn’t faded. The way she looked at him made him wonder if it ever would fade. “I took an opportunity.”

  Alison looked as if she wanted to say something, but she bit it back. “Just go back to the palace and serve the empire like a good little dog.” She stepped off to the side and let him move past.

  He continued through the streets until he reached Horus’s building. Most buildings here were run down and dilapidated, but Horus managed to take pride in his holdings, making it almost appear stately. There was nothing conspicuous about his home, but then, Horus controlled enough power that he didn’t have to be conspicuous.

  When Fes knocked, a grizzled man with a peppered beard greeted him. He didn’t look any different than when Fes had seen him last. Maybe a little older. Harder, if that were possible. “Fes. I’m glad to see you here,” Horus said.

  There wasn’t any surprise on Horus’s face. The man was well connected, but how had he known Fes was coming?

  When the answer came to him, he almost laughed. Alison hadn’t been there to confront him. She had delayed him.

  Clever.

  “Rumor in my part of the city is that you might know how to find someone I’m looking for.” Let him have a reminder that Fes didn’t belong in the slums, not anymore.

  “And who might that be?”

  How direct should he be? “A priest.”

  Horus arched a brow at him, his gaze focused solely on Fes. Probably a half dozen others were standing behind him, watching as well. “There are many priests in the city.”

  “Many? That’s not likely.”

  “No? Do you believe the empire can control access to Anuhr so tightly?”

  “I think the priests would be careful about their presence. They
favor the dragons much more than the empire.”

  “You say that as if it’s a bad thing, Fezarn.”

  Fes liked it even less when Horus said his name than he did when Alison did. At least with Alison, there was an existing relationship between them, even if it had soured long ago. With Horus, Fes felt much the same as he did about the way that Azithan said his name. Both men had a similar way about them, a similar way of making him feel as if they thought they owned him. At least with Horus, he had managed to get away. Well, mostly away. With Azithan, Fes wasn’t sure that he would.

  “Why are you really here? I heard you had better employment opportunities,” Horus said.

  “What can I say? It pays well.” Let him think that the only reason, not that Fes had grown tired of the violence.

  “For how long? When will you be out of favor?”

  Fes didn’t know, but that was always the risk. Eventually, Azithan might grow tired of him. And then what would he do? Return here and take jobs that paid a fraction of what Azithan offered? It was why he saved everything he could. Eventually, those jobs would end, and he wanted to be free of both the empire and men like Horus. He’d already saved quite a bit and, in time, he thought he could be completely free—regardless of what happened with Azithan.

  “Do you know anything or not?”

  Horus studied him a long moment. “Why do you think I might? You have different connections now. Some would say better connections.”

  Azithan had warned him not to reveal that he’d sent him, but it wasn’t necessary to name him to find out what Horus might know. “They aren’t better. Different. And they aren’t helpful when it comes to what I’m looking for.”

  “Why do you want to find this priest?”

  “Because he has something of mine.”

  “Intriguing.” Horus paused before motioning for Fes to join him. He followed into a wide entry room. Wooden benches ran along each wall. A lantern glowed with a soft light. The thick carpet rolled across the floor was worth as much as two Azithan-paid jobs. “I would like to tell you that you would be out of luck, especially since you abandoned us here.”

  Fes glared at him for a moment. “You would like to tell me that, but it sounds as if you won’t.”

  “No. But before I help you, there’s something I will need from you.”

  “I’m not available for any jobs. Not again.”

  “Then I’m not available for information.”

  What would one job matter?

  A lot. Especially if they were the kind of jobs Horus had offered in the past. The kind that wanted to use Fes, to change him and turn him into something he wanted to avoid. “What’s the job?”

  “I have a contact who hired me to reclaim an item of value. Given your recent connections, it’s possible that you are the exact right person to take on this job.”

  “And why is that? Why can’t you go?”

  “My place is in the city, and there are certain items that I can’t get close to.”

  Fes didn’t like the sound of where this was going. “What sort of items are you looking for?” he asked carefully.

  “The kind of items that I can sell, of course.”

  “And what kind of items are those?” Fes looked at him for a moment, feeling a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. “I’m not going to break into the palace for you.”

  Horus waved his hand. “The palace? Why would I ever think to ask you to break into the palace?”

  “I have no idea what you might think to ask me,” he said. “But you’ve mentioned my recent connections, so it seems to me you think to use that.”

  “You’d be wrong,” Horus said, leaning toward him. His breath stunk of the bitter coffee that was preferred in this part of the city. “What my client is looking for is not in the city.”

  Fes looked around Horus’s room. It was decorated with items that Fes suspected were all forgeries; none of them could be true dragon relics, but they would be excellent replicas. “If it’s not in the city, then where is it?”

  “As I said, the job will take you out of the city with my client. There is a certain item that must be acquired.”

  The connection between Horus offering to help him find the priest and the need to leave the city couldn’t be a coincidence.

  Had Azithan known?

  Knowing what he did of the fire mage, Fes thought he had. The coincidence was too much to be otherwise.

  “What’s the item?”

  Horus shrugged. “Probably nothing, but my client thinks it could be valuable. He’s paying quite well, which means I will pay well.”

  “You’ve never paid well. Not me, at least.”

  “I’m hurt, Fezarn. Truly I am.”

  “You could offer Alison. You always favored her anyway.”

  “I think you might be better for what I need.”

  Fes stared at him, debating what he would say to Horus. He wanted to refuse, but there was the promise of what Azithan had said, and he did want to find his dagger. “Why wouldn’t I just go directly to the client?”

  Horus smiled widely. “That’s not how these things work, Fezarn. I arrange the deals. You take them. Or not.” He shrugged. “You could simply return to the palace and your new employer, but I suspect he’d be disappointed if you didn’t try to learn the details of the job.”

  Horus knew Azithan sent him. This had been arranged. All of it. It had to be.

  Why, though? What kind of game had he fallen into?

  “What’s the payment?”

  “I can offer thirty gold shils.”

  Fes’s breath caught. “Thirty? Now I know you’re not serious.”

  “This time, I am.”

  How long had he lived in the slums, hoping for a score like that? Most of the time it had been coppers, nothing more, just enough to keep him strung along, forced to take another job, and then another.

  Why would it change?

  The answer was obvious when it came to him. Because Horus knew he had another option. Which meant whatever he wanted Fes for was valuable.

  “You’ve never paid anything close that before, so what would make you inclined to pay it now?” It would take a half dozen jobs working for Azithan to come close to that amount, and who knew when the next job might come?

  “The client is quite eager to have this job done right. It’s fortuitous you showed up here tonight,” he said with a wide smile. “Without you, I would have had to hire two to three times as many people.”

  Fes thought fortuitous didn’t quite fit. Planned, more likely.

  But by who?

  “Who’s the client?”

  “Does that mean you’ll take the job?”

  “For thirty gold?” Horus nodded. “Then I’ll take it.” Thirty plus whatever Azithan paid when this was all played out. That was almost enough to excuse whatever else he might be asked to do.

  Horus departed. When he returned a few moments later, Fes wasn’t surprised that he brought the priest Fes had stolen the bone from. He had the same striped hat and the same wrinkled eyes. Which meant that he had Fes’s dagger. And it meant Azithan knew.

  Why go through all of this?

  The priest looked at Fes as if he didn’t recognize him, but that had to be an act, didn’t it? The priest had to recognize him, the same way that Fes recognized the priest.

  “What’s the job?” He asked it carefully, trying to feign ignorance when it came to the priest, not confident whether he had succeeded. The priest watched him, a serene expression on his face.

  “Talmund has requested an escort acquiring an item.”

  “Just an escort?” Horus nodded. “What’s the item?” Fes asked the priest.

  “We can discuss the particulars on the road,” Talmund said.

  Fes turned to Horus, hating that he had to ask the next question, but now that he had the priest in front of him, it probably didn’t matter. He could wait for him to leave Horus’s home and grab the dagger. Only… the gold gave him reason
to pause.

  “If all you needed was an escort, you have better people for the job.”

  “Perhaps, but you were requested.”

  “Requested?” He shifted his focus to the priest. Talmund watched him now, no longer hiding the look of recognition.

  “Do the job, and you may have your weapon back,” the priest said.

  Fes snorted. He’d had it wrong. This hadn’t been all Azithan’s doing at all. The priest had wanted him to know where to find him. “Quite the setup to get me here. Why me?”

  “Let’s say that I admired your particular skill.”

  “That skill isn’t available for hire,” he said, looking at Horus.

  The priest glanced from Horus to Fes. “Perhaps you misunderstand. I need the skill I encountered in the market.”

  Fes frowned. Did he know how Fes had a way with the discovery of dragon relics? That it was the reason Azithan had hired him in the first place? The way he looked at Fes suggested that he might.

  “And you’ll hold your end of the bargain?” he asked Horus.

  “I’ll pay twenty percent upfront. The rest will be paid when you return.”

  The priest watched him, and for a moment, there was a flicker of more than simple recognition, but then it was gone.

  Why him?

  It had to do with whatever the merchant had wanted the priest to do, but what was it? And how much would Azithan pay when he was done?

  “If I take this job, how long do you expect it to take?”

  “A month, maybe two.”

  “A month? For thirty gold? You’re not paying enough.”

  Horus watched him, and the irritated smile that he’d been wearing spread wider. “Fine. Forty gold. I can’t pay any more than that.”

  Fes glanced at the priest. Was he good for that much gold?

  Even if he weren’t, Azithan would pay for whatever he was after. Maybe not forty gold, but enough to make it worth his time. And with that kind of money, he could avoid taking another job for a while. A long while.

  Was it worth it to work for Horus again?

  It wouldn’t be working for Horus, though. It would be working for the priest.

  After pausing a moment, Fes nodded. “I’ll do it.”

  “Good,” Horus said, almost as if he had expected nothing else. “You will meet us in the morning.”