Traitors' Fate: A Queen of Thieves Epic Fantasy Novel Read online

  Contents

  Part One: Master of the Night Guild

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Part Two: Assassin of Voramis

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Traitors’ Fate

  Foreword:

  If you have not yet read the Queen of Thieves trilogy, I strongly urge you to do so. While this story can stand on its own, it's intended as a follow-up to the events that occur in the Night Guild books. The characters of Ilanna, Ria, Kodyn, Errik, and all the others will come so much more to life once you read their adventures in Child of the Night Guild, Thief of the Night Guild, and Queen of the Night Guild.

  Sign Up for my Private Reader List to get exclusive short stories and previews in the Queen of Thieves and my other series.

  Part One: Master of the Night Guild

  Chapter One

  Ilanna peered over the roof's edge at the shadow-cloaked figures below. Three men, wearing the dull-colored, rough-spun clothing of commoners. Wary eyes and hard faces belied their nonchalance as they lounged before the door of what ought to be an empty, abandoned warehouse on the bank of the Stannar River.

  She tensed as a figure slid up beside her.

  "All is ready, Master Gold," whispered Errik, Master Serpent, his expression grim. "Everyone is in place."

  Ilanna drew in a deep breath. Eight years of serving as Master of the Night Guild hadn't diminished the excitement of creeping across the rooftops of Praamis, leaping, running, and flying over the Hawk's Highway. But what they did tonight had nothing to do with thieves' craft.

  A hand slipped into hers and squeezed. Ilanna turned to the figure on her left, a dark-skinned woman a few years younger than her. Ria's grip had a strength that reassured Ilanna without need for words.

  She nodded. "Give the signal. Move in."

  Errik, Master over the assassins of House Serpent, returned the nod and slithered away from the edge, disappearing into the night. A few moments later, a muted tap-tap echoed behind her.

  A score of large, heavily-muscled men with scarred knuckles and heavy maces boiled from the doorways across from the warehouse and the surrounding streets. The three guards cried out and reached for their own weapons.

  Ilanna didn't wait to watch the confrontation. When it came to ruthless ferocity, the strong-arms and heavy-handed enforcers of House Bloodbear had no match.

  She leapt to her feet and darted toward the edge of the rooftop, whipping a strip of greased canvas up and over the rope that stretched across the street. She sped through the air and dropped onto the warehouse roof, rolling with the impact. The thump of Ria sounded behind her.

  Ilanna didn't glance back—she had no need to worry about the dark-skinned woman—but sprinted across the rooftop toward the trapdoor that led into the warehouse's upper level. Figures wearing dark grey cloaks seemed to appear from the darkness. She nodded at the apprentices of House Hawk, the third-story thieves of the Night Guild, and reached for the door.

  "No!" hissed Tandril, a broad-shouldered youth with a patchy beard and long, dark hair. "I have express orders from Master Hawk not to let you take any unnecessary risks."

  Ilanna snorted. "Mother hen Bryden is worried for me, eh?"

  Tandril's eyes slid away. Everyone in the Night Guild knew Bryden, Master of House Hawk, had little love for his Guild Master.

  "Get that door open and get out of my way, Tandril," Ilanna commanded. "You and the other apprentices need to get back to the Aerie."

  Tandril bristled and opened his mouth, no doubt to protest that he wanted in on the action below.

  "Mouth shut, and follow orders, apprentice." Ilanna's tone left no room for argument. "The Hawks have done their job to satisfaction. Let the others do theirs."

  Tandril hesitated a moment, and Ilanna stepped forward. Swallowing, the Hawk apprentice bent and tugged the trapdoor open.

  A hand gripped Ilanna's arm and held her back.

  "Me first," Ria said, stepping in front of her and drawing her assegai, a spear with a forearm-length shaft that ended in a long leaf-shaped blade.

  Ilanna raised an eyebrow. "Don't for a minute think I'll let you order me around just because I'm sweet on you."

  Ria grinned. "I'm pretty sure you will." With a wink, she twirled the spear once and descended the steps into the warehouse.

  Ilanna followed a step behind, long, slim sword and dagger held at the ready.

  Darkness met her eyes, but the sounds of fighting echoed from the lower floors. Ria slipped through the empty halls with the grace of a desert greatcoat. Ilanna couldn't help admiring the lithe, willowy frame ahead of her.

  The sound of booted feet grew louder, and a heavy-set man raced around the corner, lantern jangling in his hand. He lurched to a halt as he caught sight of the two women.

  Ria danced forward, her short spear stabbing out like a viper's flicking tongue. The man gave a strangled cry and crumpled. Blood gushed from the puncture in his throat, mixing with the oil seeping from the shattered lamp beside him.

  Ilanna pushed past Ria and burst through the next door.

  A disheveled, sweat-soaked man leapt to his feet, fumbling in desperation at the breeches around his ankles. His eyes flew wide as Ilanna rested the tip of her rapier against the base of his throat.

  "Please!" The man's hands flew up, causing his trousers to drop. "Don't harm me. I-I'm just…"

  "I know exactly who you are, Lord Illiran," she snarled, her voice cold as the Frozen Sea.

  The nobleman's face turned an interesting shade of beet red, sickly green, and terrified white. "I-I…" he stammered.

  Ilanna's lip curled into a sneer. "Better you say nothing, my lord." She spat the words. "I've no mind to kill you, but one wrong word from your mouth could change that."

  Lord Illiran's mouth snapped shut.

  "Good. Now sit in that corner and don't move. If you're not here when I return, the Night Guild will be paying you a visit shortly. Do you understand?"

  The nobleman's head bobbed as he hastened to obey.

  Ilanna turned her attention to Ria. The dark-skinned girl hovered over the bed—if a pathetic pile of straw covered in a filthy sheet could be called such—that Lord Illiran had recently vacated. Its occupant was a girl that couldn't be older than thirteen or fourteen, with an emaciated face, filthy skin, and little more than rags for covering.

  "How bad is she?" Ilanna asked.

  "Bad." Ria pressed a finger to the girl's neck. "Pulse is weak, and her breath is weak."

  "Bonedust?"

  Ria nodded, her face grim.

  Ilanna swore and produced a corked phial from her pouch. "Will one dose suffice?"

  "I don't know." Ria's brow furrowed. "The way she's lying there, it looks like they've been over-dosing her for weeks. But I'm no Tyman."

  Tyman was not only Master of the poisoners and potion-makers of House Scorpion; he was also the Night Guild's preeminent healer. He had been the one to brew up the potion to counteract the hallucinogenic, paralytic, and addictive effects of Bonedust, the narcotic named for both its color and the way it caused rapid bone degeneration. Its effects simply slowed down the phys
ical decay, but couldn't fully stop it.

  Ilanna cursed again. "The moment we're done here, I'll make sure the Bloodbears transport her and any others in bad shape back to Tyman first."

  Ria nodded and bent over the girl again. "I think it might be too late for her, but we can hope."

  Anger swirled in Ilanna's gut, and it took all her self-control not to lash out at Lord Illiran. The thought of what he'd been doing to the girl, the same age as her own son and too drugged to resist, brought back memories of what had been done to her.

  The girl muttered something inaudible. Ria bent her ear to the girl's mouth.

  "What's she saying?" Ilanna asked.

  Ria shook her head. "It's too faint to—"

  "…ti-dote." The girl spoke louder.

  "Antidote?" Ria demanded.

  The girl nodded, a tiny movement of her chin. Ilanna waited with bated breath for her to say more, but the girl lay listless and silent, her lips blue, mouth hanging slack, only the whites of her eyes showing.

  Damn it.

  "Go," Ria said. "Do what you need to do. I'll stay with her." She hefted her assegai. "And keep an eye on him."

  Lord Illiran refused to meet her eyes as she stalked from the room.

  Ilanna stomped down the hall, through an empty room, and toward the descending staircase. One thug stumbled on her in his flight up the stairs. She cut him down with a savage chop that severed his upraised hand and bit into the side of his neck. A terrified face peeked through a crack in one door, but Ilanna ignored it. She had only one thought: kill every Keeper-damned pimp in the place.

  She was a thief, not an assassin, but she felt no guilt for these deaths. Not after what these brutes had done.

  By the time she reached the lower levels, she found no one left to kill. The few pimps still left alive lay face-down on the floor. A trio of scowling, slope-shouldered men wearing the red-trimmed robes of House Bloodbear stood over them. They nodded as she entered.

  "This all of them?" she demanded.

  "No, Master Gold," said one, a man named Bancer. "Just the ones up here."

  "And the rest?"

  Bancer pointed at the wooden floor. "Last I heard, Neyn and his lads were breaking down a door on the first floor."

  "Good." She scowled at the prostrate men. "They so much as move, Bancer…"

  Bancer grinned. "We know what to do, Master Gold." He demonstrated by driving a heavy boot into one man's ribs. "Bloody Hand scum."

  The Bloody Hand. The name had once brought fear to many in the Night Guild. A rival organization from the nearby city of Voramis, they had tried for decades to establish control over her city of Praamis. When their efforts to join forces with the Night Guild had failed, they'd opted for bribery, treachery, and ultimately an invasion of the criminal underworld. She had foiled their attempt, killed their henchmen, and driven the Bloody Hand out of their city.

  They had tried to return to Praamis over and over, but her position as Master of the Night Guild gave her all the men, resources, and power to stymie their efforts. First, every bounty-hunter, skip-tracer, and tracker in House Hound had hunted down all the thugs hiding throughout the city. The assassins of House Serpent left no corpses as witness. The two Houses had moved on to the Voramians' supporters, sympathizers, and investors among the populace. More than a few noblemen had died on her orders, the price they paid for aiding the Bloody Hand.

  For eight years, she had fought them. This raid was just the latest skirmish in the drawn-out war to save Praamis from their brand of greed, violence, and ruthlessness.

  Ilanna descended to the ground floor of the warehouse. Six bodies lay scattered across the floor—six Bloody Hand thugs. She let out a sigh she didn't know she'd been holding. None of her people had died.

  Close to thirty barely-clad, hollow-eyed girls huddled against the wall, trying in vain to cover themselves with little more than rags. Ten Bloodbears stood in a protective circle around them, but their looming presence only added to the girls' terror.

  She snapped her fingers. "Otis, get them some blankets."

  "Yes, Master Gold," a heavy-set Bloodbear said. He and another Journeyman set about tearing down the threadbare blankets hanging from the walls, the only thing in this hell-hole to offer some measure of privacy for the “clients”. No doubt the upstairs room had been the “luxury suite”.

  The girls, none older than twenty, looked up at the sound of her voice. A hint of hope shone through the fear staining their tear-streaked, pale faces.

  "You are safe," Ilanna said in a soothing tone. "If any of my men so much as lays a finger on you, they know the penalty." She held up the sword, showing its bloodstained edge.

  Only a few of the girls responded with a nod or a mumbled word. Most simply stared at her with vacant, Bonedust-clouded eyes.

  In the warehouse's basement, Ilanna found the rest of the Bloodbears standing over the lifeless corpses of four Voramians. One man lay in a daze, blood seeping from a broken nose and pulped lips.

  Ustin, a Bloodbear who towered a full head above most of his House, wiped crimson from his brass knuckledusters. "Took this one alive, Guild Master."

  "Thank you, Ustin." Ilanna nodded. "Between House Serpent and House Scorpion, they should have no trouble getting answers from him and the others."

  Ustin bowed, then motioned to the far end of the basement. "You'll want to see this."

  Ilanna moved past him to stand before the four wooden barrels lined against the wall. Atop the lids was painted a crude symbol: two red battle axes crossed over a black raven. It reminded her of a crude rendition of a coat-of-arms, but one she'd never seen before.

  She pried up one lid and held it out to one of the Bloodbears. "Get this back to Journeyman Darreth. Have him trace its origin."

  "Yes, Master Gold." The man bowed and hurried away.

  At her nod, Ustin popped the other three lids, revealing canvas-wrapped packages covered in an off-white powder. "Keeper's teeth." She whistled. "That's a bloody lot of Bonedust."

  "Aye," Ustin replied. "But it's what's in the other barrels that nearly made Aldsmor piss in his breeches."

  "I didn't—" Aldsmor's unruly beard and wild hair shook as he protested.

  Ilanna ignored the sputtered protest and studied the two barrels that stood apart from the four containing the Bonedust. In truth, they were rundlets, half the size of a typical beer barrel, but made of steel rather than wood. They also featured the same unusual mark as the wooden barrels, branded into the metal rather than painted. When Ilanna opened the lid, she hissed at the brightly-colored, viscous liquid within.

  "So I'm right?" Ustin asked. "It really is Serenii fire?"

  Ilanna's stomach tightened. The alchemical liquid known as Serenii fire produced a jade-green flame that burned hotter and brighter than any wood fire. Worse, it couldn't be put out with water or sand. It simply consumed everything in its path, burning out once it depleted its fuel source. The Bloody Hand had used it to burn Old Town Market to the ground. The blaze had taken her house with it, and nearly killed Ria and her son in the process. Thanks to Ria's quick thinking, the two of them had gotten out alive, but the girl still bore the scars.

  So what the hell is more of the damned stuff doing in Praamis?

  Two alchemists in the city had sold the liquid years earlier. A few polite visits from the Master of the Night Guild—accompanied by a few Serpents and Bloodbears—convinced them they were better off finding an alternate revenue source. If the Bloody Hand was bringing Serenii fire into the city, they were getting it from somewhere else.

  Perhaps the same place where they are getting the Bonedust.

  All her efforts had failed to uncover the origin of the narcotic. She knew it came from up the Stannar River, and that the Bloody Hand was smuggling it through secret warehouses like these. But that was all she had discovered.

  She stared at the dazed Voramian. He didn't look clever enough to find his arse with both hands and a full troop of scouts to guide the wa
y, much less manage this operation. Still, the Serpents and Scorpions would get answers from him. Not many, but the more information she had, the better.

  For now, she had the problem of the Bonedust and Serenii fire to deal with. A simple solution, this one.

  She turned to Ustin. "Get rid of it. All of it. Throw it in the river."

  Ustin's eyebrows shot up. "All due respect, Master Gold, but that seems like a bloody waste." He gestured to the wooden barrels. "That's at least a few thousand imperials in Bonedust, maybe more if we can sell it to the nobles of Praamis. Surely it wouldn't make sense to—"

  "Ustin," she said in a quiet voice, "I'm not in the habit of repeating myself. You have your orders."

  The big man hesitated. For a moment, he seemed about to argue. He studied her, as if weighing up her reputation and position as Master Gold against her size and the fact that she stood alone in a room filled with Bloodbears, all easily twice her weight.

  Ustin was one of the "old crew", a Bloodbear from the time before she became Guild Master. The House had hated her because she had killed Sabat, an apprentice. They didn't care that he had beaten her, broken her, and raped her. All that mattered was that she had killed him and gotten away with it, due to a lack of evidence. Those enmities didn't die easily.

  "I'm just saying," he said, his words slow, hesitant, "it's good money you're wasting."

  "I know." She spoke in a voice as hard and edged as her sword. "But money isn't all that matters. Come with me."

  Without waiting, she swept from the room and climbed the stairs. After a moment, she heard the creak as he followed.

  She led him into the main room and stopped in front of the huddled mass of girls. "Look at them," she commanded.

  Ustin complied, his expression grim.

  "Now," Ilanna snarled, "imagine that was your mother, your sister, your daughter."

  "Don't have no daughter," Ustin muttered, a weak attempt to argue.

  "But if you did, is that a fate you would want for her?" she snapped, her voice rising in anger. "Enslaved, mind ravaged by Bonedust, body sold to any man with a few copper bits?"