A Fool of Sorts Read online

  Lilliana hit him playfully.

  Sal rubbed at his arm, then winked. “So, tell me, what did you have planned this evenfall?”

  “Something unexpected,” Lilliana said with a sly smile. “You recall what we spoke of that day in East Market? About the tariffs and what I’ve been doing.”

  “I do, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get any more information about the shipments. That contact I told you about didn’t know anything. Although, I did learn a good number of the free-trader shipments from all over Naidia are getting purchased by the monks of Knöldrus Abbey.”

  “The abbey?” Lilliana said in surprise. “And how is it you know this?”

  “I did some asking around. I even got to take a peek at the abbey quartermaster’s ledger. Seems the monks of Knöldrus are responsible for purchasing eight of every ten free-trader ships out of Shiikal.”

  “Eight of ten, truly?” Lilliana asked incredulous. “And you’re suggesting the abbey is supplying the trade of skeev and bliss?”

  Sal laughed. “I don’t see how you’ve made that connection.”

  “Simple really, we know the skeev and the bliss are coming in from Shiikal. You said the abbey is buying out the contracts on eight of every ten free-traders out of Naidia. Therefore, it would seem you have suggested Knöldrus Abbey is supplying the city’s drug trade.”

  Sal smiled his most patronizing smile. “I see. But I wouldn’t implicate the entire abbey, mayhap, a monk or two. Still, are you not forgetting the Trade Guilds and the Spicers? Free-traders make up one of every four ships running the Naidia route. And even if all of the skeev and bliss was coming in from the free-trade ships, would it not be more reasonable to suggest that two ships of every ten are carrying the drugs? I mean, they wouldn’t want everything so spread out. It would increase the chances that a shipment would be found.”

  Lilliana patted Sal on the head in a most patronizing fashion. “It actually makes sense if you think about it. Spreading the drugs between more ships might increase the chances of one being found out, yet if one small shipment is spotted, they wouldn’t lose everything in one go.”

  Sal shrugged. “I guess you’re right. Still, it will be difficult to implicate the entire abbey in a mass conspiracy without any names to start with. Why not look into whoever is buying out the most free-trader contracts, outside the abbey, and start there?”

  Lilliana flashed him a cocksure smile. “I’ve been to the harbor master’s offices already. It would factor that the abbey would not have shown up in the records, as they deal strictly within their own regulations, which puts them outside traditional harbor jurisdiction and under separate laws. Therefore, my perusal of the harbor master’s records revealed far different findings, and hopefully findings that will take us closer to the answers we’re looking for.”

  “Meaning?” Sal prompted.

  “Meaning, I’ve already found the next largest buyer of free-trader contracts making the routes to Naidia, and I want you to help me break into his home.”

  13

  Found Out

  INTERLUDE, SEVEN YEARS EARLIER

  Sal wished the bastard would have simply killed him outright, at least then the storm of questions raging inside his head would finally cease. A summons from Stefano Lorenzo, what could be worse?

  The little serving man stood before Sal, wringing his wrinkled old hands as he awaited an answer.

  “Now?” Sal asked. “Tell him I really don’t have the time. Might be I could reschedule for later in the week.”

  “It would be best if you did not try his patience, Master Salvatori,” Greggings said, a serious look in his eyes. “Come along now. I’ve brought the town coach.”

  Sal was sick to his stomach all the way up to High Hill. Questions plagued his thoughts. What did his uncle mean to do with him? How much did his uncle know?

  Greggings let Sal out of the coach before the door of Stefano’s home.

  Alone, he made his way through the heavy oaken doors, along the pale lavender tile of the foyer, and up the stairway to his uncle’s solar.

  Stefano awaited him in his usual high-backed armchair, a sour look on his face. Behind him, at left and right, stood his lackeys, Hamish Skein and Benitto Ricci. The Kirkundan, Hamish, was half the age of Benitto. He had a full head of curly, red locks and was built like some bronze statue of a God. Benitto, in contrast, was built like a mud toad, with a head of short, patchy hair and a face uglier than Sacrull’s hell.

  Stefano’s eyes burned with a fire that Sal had never before seen. The eyes that usually ignored him with a distinctly apathetic arrogance now bored into him with an intensity that burned his eyes to watering.

  “Do you have a death wish, boy?”

  Sal stopped dead in his tracks. He dared not approach any closer. His uncle knew. And he knew that his uncle knew.

  “Uncle—”

  “You dare call me that? After what you did. I ought to strike you down myself, boy. Have you any bloody idea what you’ve done?”

  Sal nearly collapsed. He was sick to his stomach. Uncle Stefano knew. Sal swallowed. What could he say? If Stefano knew it was Sal that had knocked over the Rusted Anchor’s card game, Sal was as good as dead already.

  “What will you do with me, Uncle?”

  “I’ll hear it from your own lips, boy.”

  “Yes, it was me. I did it, and I did it alone.” Sal lied. Best to keep Bartley’s name well out of it if he could.

  Stefano snarled. “Get to your room. Wait on my answer.”

  Head hanging, Sal turned, and wordlessly made for his old room.

  14

  Lord Garred Peaks

  “You what?” Sal said incredulously. “Hold on—you what?”

  “I want you to help me break into his home,” said Lilliana, as though she were asking Sal to pass the salt.

  “You can’t just break into someone’s home.”

  “Don’t play the fool with me,” Lilliana said, putting her hands on her hips. “I know what you do for a living, Salvatori Lorenzo, or did you think me the fool?”

  “No, I never—”

  “You are going to help me get inside. After that, you may be on your way, but no matter what, I am getting inside. I’m not going to take anything. I am only after information.”

  “I can’t, I mean, you can’t,” Sal sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, you can’t just go breaking into people’s houses. There is a long list of things that must be done before you even consider a break and enter. Scouting is essential and—”

  “I’ve done the scouting, and I know for a fact he will not be home tonight. He left at evenfall and is not expected to return home until late into the night.”

  “How could you possibly know this?”

  “Because our target is a member of the Open Council, and they are to meet this evening for the Biannual Co-Summit, a gathering between the Open Council, the High Council, and the duke’s advisors.”

  “Who is this person?” Sal asked.

  “Lord Garred Peaks.”

  “Lord Garred Peaks? I—Lilliana, I think you must be mistaken. Lord Garred is a master of the Dijvois Trade Guild and a member of the Open Council. He, of all people, would benefit the least from supporting the free-traders. In fact, it would hurt his own guild-sanctioned trade.”

  “Exactly,” said Lilliana. “It all adds up. Why would he be buying free-trader contracts when it directly conflicts with his business as a master of the Trade Guild? Unless, of course, there was some other benefit which is not immediately apparent.”

  “You’re suggesting that Lord Garred has been supporting the drug trade by buying the free-trader contracts and using them to bring bliss and skeev into the city?”

  “That is a theory and better than I’ve been able to come up with, but what I cannot reconcile is Lord Garred’s support of the Naidia tariffs. I have been asking Daddy to convince the Council to increase the tariffs in order to stop the drug trade. According to Daddy, Lord
Garred has been one of the most ardent supporters of the tariffs. Which was entirely unexpected, as Daddy had told me Lord Garred would undoubtedly be among the largest obstacles we would need to overcome. Why would Lord Garred support a tax that negatively affects his trade, then buy more of the affected shipments?”

  “I think I can help with that. When I spoke with the quartermaster of Knöldrus Abbey, he told me that the tariffs had increased his profit margin on shipments from Shiikal, Minnoa, and Dahuan.”

  “No,” said Lilliana mulishly. “That can’t be. If the tax of the goods is increased, the potential profit margins suffer. You can trust me, that is the way it works.”

  “I thought the same until the quartermaster explained. The higher tariffs have decreased competition because most of the traders assumed, just as we did, that profit margins would decrease as the tax increased. However, the decrease in interest for the shipment contracts and Shiikal goods has driven down the value of both. To top it off, the tax has had the opposite effect in the markets. A scarcity of goods coming from Naidia in the market has developed, which has significantly increased the value of anything from Shiikal, Minnoa, and Dahuan especially. With less competition for the free-trader contracts and the increased value of the goods in the markets, the monks have actually managed to turn a profit off the tariffs.”

  “So, you’re saying that if Lord Garred is supplying the drug trade, not only is he still able to bring in the drugs, but he has likely been profiting off the tariffs as well?”

  “Something like that,” Sal said. “Though, it might be Lord Garred has nothing to do with the drug trade. Might be Lord Garred is only capitalizing on a profitable opportunity provided by the new tariffs. Or, he has been behind all of it and was simply using the monks to his own benefit.”

  “That is precisely what I want to find out,” Lilliana said. “So, will you help me?”

  “Help you break into the home of one of the most influential men in Dijvois?” Sal asked, folding his arms.

  Lilliana smiled slyly, her hands on her hips, her chest leaning noticeably toward him.

  “No, I won’t do it.” Sal said. “You may have scouted the place, but you wouldn’t know what to look for to begin with. The risk is too high, and I won’t put either of us in such a situation.”

  Lilliana’s features darkened. “If you must know, it was not I, but Damor Nev that did the observing. I asked him to go with me to the estate, and he told me all of the ways he would get inside and when he would choose to do it.”

  “Damor Nev? What good is the opinion of a bodyguard?”

  “Before Damor accepted hire into Daddy’s service, he served as a night flower to the House of Norvos in Yardu.

  “The House of Norvos, Damor Nev?” Sal said incredulously. Tales of the Dahuaneze royal family and their hired assassins were so well known, they’d reached even as far west as Nelgand. Sal even knew of a made man who had once been one of the so-called night flowers. “Damor Nev, an assassin. I’d always taken the man for a soldier.”

  “Yes, well, even you can be wrong,” Lilliana said flatly.

  “So, why not ask Damor Nev to help you? The man is clearly more qualified than me. Unless,” Sal looked Lilliana in the eyes, and laughed at what they revealed. “You asked him already, and he’s refused you.”

  Lilliana glared. “I did not bother asking. I know Damor well enough to know there are limits to what he will do. He would say it was too dangerous and that I was not qualified for such a task.”

  “And he would be right. You’re not qualified, and this is a bad idea.”

  Lilliana began to look more dismayed than disgruntled. Perhaps realizing how badly she had misjudged the situation. “I think the bad idea was to ask for your help,” Lilliana said, lashing out. “I might have expected this from Damor, but not you, Salvatori Lorenzo. How else can we learn if Lord Garred is behind the drugs without breaking into his home?”

  “What good will it do?” Sal asked, beginning to grow frustrated. “What exactly are you planning to do once you’re in there, interrogate the man’s servants? I’m no inquisitor, Lilliana.”

  “I want to get a look at the shipping manifests for all free-trader contracts Lord Garred has purchased in the past fortnight,” Lilliana said, ignoring the clear sense of irony in Sal’s tone. “When I know which ships to target, I’ll have Daddy pull some strings with the Harbor Master and have Lord Garred’s ships seized and searched.”

  “Won’t that make him a tick suspicious when his ships have been seized and searched? I mean, what if it turns out you’re wrong, and Peaks is not the one bringing in the drugs? What if Lord Garred then traces back the threads and finds us at the end?”

  “He would have no way of finding out it was us. Besides, if he did trace back to the source, his trail would lead him right back to Daddy.” Lilliana smiled. “What could Garred Peaks possibly do to Daddy?”

  “I see your point, but I still think breaking into the estate sounds a dreadful idea.”

  “Yes, but I know you could get me in. I’ve seen what you can do.”

  The bluntness of the statement struck a chord. How much did she know? How honest could he be with her?

  “You’ve never seen me work. How would you know what I can do?”

  “I’ve not forgotten the night you saved my life.”

  “I did nothing, Lilliana.”

  “No? You must remember things differently than I. I seem to recall you did things I have only read of in storybooks. You did magic, Salvatori. Real magic.”

  “I’m no magicker, I only—I can’t do magic.”

  “You are a liar.”

  Sal felt his blood begin to boil. Suddenly, he felt like shouting, like breaking something, like breaking free of the flesh that imprisoned him.

  “You, Salvatori Lorenzo, are a thief, and you know magic. Do not tell me I do not know what I have seen with my own eyes.”

  Sal clenched his fists and let his fury escape him in a slow exhalation. “Call me a thief. I’ll not deny it, but don’t name me liar. What you saw that night, I can’t explain it. All I can say is that it didn’t come from me.”

  “Oh, sure, and that makes some kind of sense, does it?”

  “It makes more sense than this mad plan to break into an estate belonging to one of the most powerful men in the city on a hunch that he might be connected to something that might be happening.”

  “I see. So, you think I am just some damned fool of a noble girl? Some spoiled lord’s daughter that has no idea what she is getting herself into?”

  “I think you are the most beautiful woman in the world. I think I would do anything for you, unless it jeopardized your safety, because, while pleasing you is nearly all that matters, keeping you alive is more important than anything.”

  To his surprise, Lilliana began to laugh. There was nothing malicious about it, yet her laughter stung all the same. She must have seen something of how he felt because she stopped suddenly, her eyes filled with concern—beautiful blue eyes, like depthless wells of life-giving water.

  “How about this?” she said, closing the distance. She placed her hand on his upper leg, gently, yet suggestively. Her breath smelled sweet like mint leaf. Her very presence quickened his pulse. He wanted nothing more than to take her, right then and there.

  “How about we do what I want,” Lilliana whispered, her lips close enough to his ear to tickle when she spoke. “Then we do what you want.”

  “What are we waiting for?” Sal said, putting his hands on her hips.

  She slipped free of his hold slowly and seductively and made to leave the alley.

  “Lady’s sake,” Sal cursed. “I still think this is a bad idea.”

  “I told you, the moment I am inside, you can leave,” said Lilliana. “I know what I am looking for.”

  “I’m not going to just leave you there. I’ll see this through. I just want to be clear that it’s not a good idea.”

  “Yes, I believe you have made your p
oint abundantly clear. Now, shut up and help me climb this.”

  “Right, left foot there, dig your toes into the mortar there, and swing your right hand up to here. Good, you’ve got it.”

  “How are we going to get through that window?” Lilliana asked.

  “Worry about getting up this wall first, and hope old Lord Garred doesn’t have dogs.”

  “Oh, Damor said there were no dogs.”

  “Well, Damor Nev might not be so useless as he looks,” Sal said with a smile. “That’s it, left hand there, and grab hold of my—that’s it, now the other hand—and you’re up. Right, now don’t panic, but this next bit is going to be a tick more difficult.”

  Lilliana stood atop the wall, hands on hips, breathing hard.

  “You see that tree there, and that branch, the big thick one? We’re going to need to jump to that branch. Do you think you can do that?”

  Lilliana looked at the branch as though studying it. “You are certain it will hold our weight?”

  Sal shrugged. “I think we’d do best to go one at a time.”

  Lilliana scowled.

  “I’ll go first,” Sal said, readying himself for the jump.

  Lilliana put a hand on his chest, her eyes wide.

  “It’s not too late to turn back,” Sal said.

  She shook her head. “No, I have to do this.”

  Sal nodded, focused on his landing point, and leaped. He landed with both feet on the thick branch, hands scrambling for purchase. He managed to snag a willowy branch with his left and another more stable branch with his right. He caught his breath once he maintained his balance, having worried for an instant he was going to fall from the tree.

  “Go ahead,” he called back. “The branch will hold our weight, and I want to be here to catch you.”