Bone Priestess, page 5
“Probably.” Cadence jerked him over and picked up the lantern. “But not definitely.”
Tillie didn’t dare follow outside the lantern’s glow. The deep abyssal darkness dared to swallow all three of them up. She didn’t think Cadence’s idea was wise, considering the events that had just happened and how terrifyingly dark and unfamiliar of a place they were in, but she knew better than to argue with the Bone Priestess.
“What do you see?” Tillie asked.
“It’s been cleared out,” Cadence told her. “Whatever was here before was cleared out. Thoroughly. I don’t think it was anything out of the ordinary, either. And there’s enough dust on the ground to suggest it happened quite some time ago.”
“Then why are we still looking if everything seems normal?” Dane asked. “This is a waste of time. I bet I need stitches!”
From over her shoulder Cadence shot him a glance. “The gall of you to speak like that in your position. Will you shut your mouth and let me investigate?”
Dane huffed and she yanked him in the direction of the overseer’s room. The light warped across the floor as the lantern swung with Cadence’s movements. The room had no door, just an open doorframe.
“I’m not going in there!” he whispered. “There’s definitely something hiding in there!”
Cadence paid him no mind. Inside, the lantern showed them a single trunk, nothing else. A very thin layer of dust graced the top.
“This is newer.” She touched a spot and rubbed her fingers. “I’ll bet it was brought into this place after everything was moved out. Maybe even as recent as a couple days ago.”
“There’s no lock.” Tillie came up behind her. “Are you going to open it?”
“Could be a trap on the inside.” Cadence knelt down in front of it and set the lantern on the ground. “Wouldn’t surprise me. This is getting more suspicious every second.” With her free hand, she felt along the sides, the top, the hinges, the edges. Apart from the inside, the only part she had left untouched was the bottom because it was too heavy to turn.
“Well, you have to open it!” Tillie whispered. “After all this trouble!”
“Miss Boyce, stay back. Mister Sheltier, stand behind me and shield yourself just in case.” Slowly, Cadence lifted the lid of the trunk. It creaked and creaked, and she listened carefully for the ticking of gears or mechanisms that could trigger a trap.
But there was nothing.
It was just a trunk.
She peered inside at dozens of books. Tillie and Dane’s disappointment was audible.
“We can go now, right?” Dane asked. “A bunch of books. The end. No glowing amulet, or daemonic mask, or—”
“Why are these books in a trunk, in a dusty old warehouse?” Cadence asked. “What reason could there be for that? These books were hidden here. For a reason.”
Dane shrugged with his free arm. “But is it for a relevant reason?”
She fought the urge to grumble and rummaged through the collection, dusting off a few covers. Most of the titles were in symbols she didn’t understand, but not all of them. The Secrets of Souls, vol I and The Descent of Magic.
“These are not wholesome books,” Cadence said. “These are relevant. I can find a connection. I know I can.”
“Is there a library stamp?” Tillie asked. “Sometimes on the inside cover or at the back there will be a stamp saying where the books are from. If they’re kept at a library, of course. Otherwise, if they’re from a personal collection, I doubt someone would write their name on books like—”
“Tano.” Cadence had one open in her hands and was staring down at the inside cover. “It says Tano. These books belong to the Tano family.” She clapped it shut and tossed it back in the trunk. “Damn. They just had to be involved…”
“What does that mean?” Tillie asked. “What are you saying?”
Cadence stood up straight and dusted herself off, then dusted off Dane, too. “These books are forbidden literature from the Tano family private library. They are not meant to be seen by the public! That is enough to get at least Master Tano locked up, if I can prove that these do belong to him beyond a scribbling on the inside. I’m not exactly sure what that means for my case yet, though. I need some sleep.”
“And I need medical attention!”
“Alright,” Cadence said. “I will take you to a Hesperan Hospice and then send word to the Sanctum to appoint a temporary grave warden in Riddenholm until we are through, because you are my detainee until I say otherwise.”
7
The sun climbed high over the horizon. Voices chattering on beside him tugged at Dane’s consciousness until he was awake. He blinked at the bright light coming in through the drawn curtains as it beamed over him. His head was absolutely throbbing.
Last night was not a dream.
He went to touch his stitches, but the rattling of linked chains startled him. He could not move his hand. Cadence had cuffed it to the bedpost.
“What the hell?”
Tillie stood with her at the other end of the room, waving. “Good morning, Mister Sheltier! How are you feeling?”
“Pissed off!” he said. “Can the crazy lady please let me go? I have to get back to Riddenholm and back to work!”
Cadence was back in her normal attire, holding her hands neatly behind her back. “Relax, Mister Sheltier. We are in Riddenholm.”
“We’re… what? But we were just in Beralin last night. When did we—”
“We commandeered a riverboat after you got your medical attention,” she said. “You don’t remember because they had you drugged up and you passed out as soon as we boarded. Currently, we are at the Alabaster Bobcat Inn in northern Riddenholm.”
“How’s your head?” Tillie asked. “It looked pretty bad last night. You have five stitches. Can you believe it?”
“Easily,” he grumbled. “And it hurts like hell. I need coffee and I need to get over to the cemetery. Bone Priestess, let me go.”
Cadence ignored him and gazed out the window instead. The inn room had another small bed and a cot. It was dusty, but otherwise clean. That was the state of everything in Central Siopenne during the summer.
“Tillie,” she started, “are you sure you want to continue this investigation with me?”
“Against better judgment, yes.” She smoothed out her pale blue skirts. “I feel bad about what happened at dinner last night. We could have gotten some answers like you had meant to if I hadn’t stalled so much. Rowan doesn’t have school for another couple days and is staying with his friend. I can help you until then and try to undo some of the damage I did.”
Cadence sighed. “Miss Boyce, I am sure your idea would have worked had it not been for the attack on The Plaid Bonnet. I place blame on the bandits and whomever hired them. I do not place it with you.”
“Hey, this is all wonderful news.” Dane gestured grandly with his free hand. “Meanwhile, I’m still filthy from getting kicked around, I’m hungry, I’m irritated, and I’m chained to a bedpost in the worst way.”
Cadence placed a key in Tillie’s hand. “This is for the manacles. I must investigate the Tano family next and I need someone to keep an eye on him. Otherwise I will have to place him in a jail cell till I’m finished and that would not be good for the new grave warden’s reputation.”
Tillie stared at it, then stared at Dane. “Hold on, I thought I was going to be helping you! I don’t want to babysit!”
“What do you know about the Tano family, Miss Boyce?”
Words caught in her throat. “Uh, w-well…”
“They are a dangerous brood.” Cadence picked up her holsters on the table and strapped them into place. “The Sanctum has been trying to bust them for practicing Forbidden Arts for years. Decades. We don’t have any hard evidence, though. Just hearsay. And it varies from daemons to necromancy to blood magic, and while those are all highly punishable offenses, the only one the Sanctum has any jurisdiction over is necromancy. I have to prove that offense to take them in.”
“Can’t the City Watch take them in for the other things?” Dane asked.
“That’ll never happen.” Cadence slipped on her silver ring. “Osprey Tutson who governs this damn town is too good of friends with Master Tano. Nothing will happen unless the Sanctum steps in.”
Tillie raised her voice. “I can help you investigate! I’m not afraid of them, or of what might happen!”
“Miss Boyce, you have a child to take care of. He’s lost his father. He cannot lose his mother, too. This family is dangerous. Keep Dane Sheltier detained and alive for me while I get into some trouble.”
“Wait.” Dane did his best to sit up in bed. “You said the family is dangerous and does all this dark forbidden stuff, right?”
Cadence’s expression flattened out as she waited for what she expected to be an argument. “Yes. And I suspect I can link them back to the reason I began this investigation in the first place.”
“Well, what are you going to do? If you try stalking around, and they catch you, and they’re in the clear for crime since they’re friends with the governor, can’t they just kill you and dump you in the river somewhere, and that’d be the end of it?”
“I suppose that would be the end of it.”
He scratched his head. “I haven’t learned a lot about the people in this town yet in the short time I’ve been here, but I think I’ve met one of them. The wife. Tarina Tano. Maybe work with her instead of Master Tano? I think she would kill you too, don’t misunderstand me, but she’s a surprisingly laid back woman. I don’t think she would suspect you as quickly as the others.”
“Tarina Tano.” Cadence rolled the name around in her mouth. “Do you know where I can find her?”
“Without fail I’ve seen her at the farmstand to the east side of the cemetery every morning. She spends at least an hour there, sometimes more. I don’t know what time it is right now, but you might be able to find her. You’ll know her when you see her. Her face looks sharp enough to cut a man, and she’s pregnant.”
“How pregnant?” Tillie asked. “Lady Clayton is pregnant, too. She’s very pregnant.”
Dane shrugged. “I don’t know. What does that even mean? How would I know how pregnant she is?”
“Well, is she hauling a kitten, or a baby goat under her dress?”
“What? I don’t know. A kitten, I guess.”
“Alright.” Tillie grinned and turned to Cadence. “Tarina Tano: a sharp-faced woman who is a little bit pregnant. You know, she had twins last time. I wonder if she’ll have them again!”
Cadence slipped on her tall hat, pushed it gently into place, and nodded. “Thank you Miss Boyce, Mister Sheltier. Please remain here at the Alabaster Bobcat until I return.”
When she left, Dane fell back into bed with a loud sigh. After that, the room was quiet. Tillie knew she should be watching him in case he tried to get out of the manacles, but she felt awkward staring, and shifted her eyes to the window instead. She could see Cadence in the street.
“Are you really going to keep me chained up in here like this?” Dane asked.
“I’m afraid you’ll pull a fast one on me and try to escape if I free your hand. And I can’t let Cadence down a second time.” She shrugged. “Sorry. I hope you understand. Personally, I think you’re innocent.”
“Innocent of what, exactly? I heard what she said, that she was investigating potential desecration, but what does that mean? What exactly is she trying to find out I did or didn’t do?”
She pitied him when she finally decided to lay her eyes back on him. There was dirt and grit caked all over his face and arms, and his clothes were stained with blood and grime.
“Illegally selling dead bodies.”
“Have I really been here long enough to do that?”
She shrugged. “How do we know how long you’ve really been here? The first day I saw you, it seemed like you had already been here for at least a little while. Just because I don’t know the exact timeline doesn’t mean you haven’t had time to do bad things!”
Dane scoffed. “Well I haven’t done any bad things. You two need to calm down.”
It was quiet again. Tillie sat down at the table, staring out the window with her chin on her palms, wondering what Rowan was doing. It was late in the morning, so he was probably helping his friend with chores before going to chase bugs by the river. Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by her stomach.
She hadn’t eaten since… she couldn’t even remember.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
“I thought I was going to have to eat my own arm.”
“No, no! There won’t be any of that.” Tillie took the key to the manacles out of her pocket and looked it over. “Can I trust you, Dane? It’s really important that you stick with us until Cadence says otherwise. But I would like you to get to wash up and have a meal at the very least. Will you cooperate?”
“What do you think happens to me if I don’t?” Dane asked her. “She’ll probably have me ran outta town, which means I lose my new job and I have to go back out on the road again. I’m tired of wandering. I like it here.”
“Look, can you just give me a straight answer?”
“Yes. I will cooperate. What’s your name, again?”
She smiled and came over with the key. “Miss Tillie Boyce. Please don’t be so formal like Cadence is. You can just call me Tillie.”
Dane scooted upright and watched her unlock the manacles, catching the scent of jasmine on her skin. “Tillie. What’s that short for?”
“Matilda,” she said. “Now, I don’t think there’s much that can be done about your clothes till we get all of this sorted out, but I can show you where the washrooms are. Cadence has a tab open here, so you can take all the time you need. It’s one silver star for fifteen minutes, though, so I’d try not to go over that if you can help it. She’s put up with so much from me already.”
“Haven’t you put up with a lot from her?” The cuff slipped off his wrist.
“Oh, no!” Tillie chuckled. “She keeps giving me opportunities to leave, but I won’t take them. She probably would have had an easier time of things if I had stayed home early on. But here I am. I need something like this. I think she knows that.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her and didn’t know why. Then, it hit him. He got out of bed and stretched.
“You were at the cemetery the other day. With your boy. Right?”
“Yes. That was me.”
“Parent? Grandparent?”
Tillie swallowed hard. “Husband.”
“Oh.” His eyes were wide. “Uh, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to be so nonchalant about that.”
She shook her head. “It’s alright. Here, let me show you the washrooms. I can wait outside the door for you and then we’ll get something to eat. Alabaster Bobcat serves food all day, so we’re in luck.”
The Alabaster Bobcat was not busy. A festival had passed weeks ago and most of the town’s visitors had cleared out. It was quiet as Tillie waited outside Dane’s washroom door. She secretly wished it had been loud and hectic instead. Just for those fifteen minutes. It made her heart race to hear the dripping of soapy water, and it took all of her willpower to keep from picturing the wet, bare torso that it trickled down.
You stop those thoughts right this second, she told herself. Do not let all this excitement get the best of you. Life would go back to normal any day now. She was sure of it. And then she would not have to stand outside the door while an attractive young man bathed himself and get carried away with her thoughts.
Before noon, both Dane and Tillie had a meal in front of them and were seated by a window, looking out at the town. Horses and mules pulled carriages down the streets, sometimes loaded with crates of goods and sometimes passengers. There was even a view of Tano Manor. Tillie loved Beralin, but she missed Riddenholm so much.
“Do we really have to stay here all day waiting for that crazy lady to come back?” Dane asked. “Who knows how long that could take?”
“We should do what she says. She wouldn’t purposely keep us waiting forever. She knows we have lives.”
“Does she?” Dane piled thick bacon on top of his biscuit and took a bite.
The way he constantly seemed to whine made her chuckle. “Yes! Of course. I’ve only known her for these days since the investigation, but I have her figured out.”
“Mm-hmm.” His grin was wry.
“She’s a little rough around the edges, but she’s very well-meaning and very proper. It would be downright out of character for her to leave us hanging.”
“Alright, if you say so.” He pointed to her plate. “You gonna eat anything?”
She looked down at her bowl of perfectly untouched oats and cream. Alabaster Bobcat even served them with a touch of molasses.
“I’m hungry, but every time think about eating, my insides get all twisted up over this. Guess I should just shut up and get it over with.”
“Hold that thought.” He stood up and patted her shoulder. “I know what you need.”
She watched him walk up to the bar with a swagger like he owned the place. Or had just suffered a serious head injury. Either way, he came back with a petite glass of something fragrant that was the color of honey.
“Been hearing about this place’s mead since I came into town. Here! Have some. Courtesy of the Bone Priestess.”
Tillie broke into laughter as he sat back down and handed it to her. “Thank you. This place has amazing mead. Can’t get anything like it in Beralin, unfortunately, unless I wanna pay double the price when a bottle comes in.”
“You live in Beralin?”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “It’s nice, but it’s not home. This is home.” She gazed back out the window, sipping on the sweet mead. “I moved away after my husband died. It just got too hard to see the way everyone looked at me and Rowan. Everyone always wants to tell you they’re sorry, or they want you to open up about it, or worse yet they clam up and have no idea what to say when you start to talk about it. I had to get away. Even still, sometimes it doesn’t feel far away enough.”
