The Quarrygate Gambit, page 7
“You can’t be serious, Raych.”
More assertively, “What’s the job, Missus Holt?”
“There it is,” Josie said. “Like I said, motivation. Love to see it.”
“Just tell us what you want,” Raych said.
“I’m so glad you’ve seen things my way, is all.”
“The job,” Helene stressed.
Josie snapped her fingers, and Ia handed her an envelope. Josie pulled out sheets with charcoal sketches on them. “Have any of you been to the Druth History Museum?”
“I did not know there was such a thing,” Jhoqull said.
“North side of the city, near The Royal College of Maradaine. I’ve not gone, but I have heard good things.”
“What about the museum?” Raych asked.
“You want us to rob a museum?” Helene could not believe this sewage.
“Specifically, five paintings, all ninth century, painted by Maricon Noile.” Josie laid out the sketches. “Crude renderings, so you know what you need to look for. I don’t expect you to be art experts or anything.”
Helene glanced at the pictures: a battle on a river, a guy on a throne, a battle on a cliff, two old ladies, a bunch of men at a table. “The blazes is this?”
“I think it’s called the Noile Pentaptych, but I’m also not an expert. Ia, are you?”
“Not for old Druth paintings.”
“Yes, we don’t know. But there are interested parties who would want the complete set for their private collections. And all five are currently on display at the Druth History Museum.”
“The catch?” Raych asked.
“The catch would be that all five will be leaving the museum in five days, and returning to their individual homes in various museums in Vargox. The Pentaptych being together in one place is an incredible opportunity, which I’ll pass on to you.”
“Why?” Helene asked.
“Because when it comes down to it, while such a theft would be quite the plum for my reputation, I don’t need it. Not like you need my help. So that’s my price.”
“We could just knock down a goldsmith house, or, blazes, rob one of the other southside bosses, and . . .”
“I don’t want money, Helene,” Josie said firmly. “I want the paintings. You get me all five paintings, and I will bend my will toward returning all your men to you. Fair?”
“And if we fail?” Raych asked.
“Then I won’t. You’ll see no further consequences from me. Though I imagine such a failure would have its own consequences.”
“How do you expect me to do this?” Raych asked.
“Us,” Helene said. She put her hand on Raych’s shoulder. This was madness, but she’d at least put on a good front for the Old Lady.
“I mean, I imagine you do what Asti and Verci would do. Put together a crew, make a plan. I mean, they’re your family, right? You must know them.”
“Sure,” Raych said. “I’ve got my crew right here.”
“Absolutely. I mean, a crack shot like Helene? Can’t hurt. And every good job can use a carriage driver, which is just a slice of this one’s talents.” She pointed to Jhoqull. “Of course I know what you can do, you’re in my patch, I make it my business.”
“Fine,” Raych said.
“I’ll even lend you Ia if you need an extra set of strong arms.”
“Really?” Ia asked.
“If they need you, be cooperative,” Josie said. “But we’ll see what you come up with.”
“What do you really want?” Helene asked. This seemed like just a strange lark to the Old Lady.
“My father used to say, ‘with enough power, even the dog will dance.’ And after all the grief you and yours gave me . . . oh, I want to see you all dance. I honestly don’t expect you to succeed, ladies. But I do hope it will be entertaining to watch.”
* * *
“Steal paintings,” Raych said for the ninth time that night. After an afternoon of baking in an attempt to clear her head enough to think this through properly, she had given up and decided to take Helene’s advice and lose a bit of herself in a bottle of wine. “How in the name of every prophet are we supposed to do that?”
Helene, sprawled out on the floor of the Rynax family apartment, laughed drily. “I don’t think we’re supposed to at all. I think Josie just wanted to make us squirm.” She had started on the wine as soon as they had returned to the apartment above the Gadgeterium. She had, at least, brought several bottles, as well as an armful of meat and cheeses from her shop. Between that and the breads, cakes, and pastries Raych had prepared, they were, if nothing else, well-fortified for their misery.
“We are but as bait to her,” Jhoqull said. She sat at the table, taking it easy on the wine but devouring spiced cakes. “Our suffering is her joy.”
“Basically,” Helene said, “going to her was a mistake.”
“She was our only option,” Raych said.
“Which means this robbery is also our only option,” Jhoqull said. “I am game for the attempt, if it brings me closer to reuniting with Kennith. I imagine you feel the same.”
Helene said up. “You really want to try to steal these paintings?”
“I would think, we should at least understand what it might entail before we decide to fail from the outset.”
Raych slathered some delightfully pungent soft cheese on her bread. “Fine, so what would Asti and Verci do here? Make a plan?”
“Make a plan and tell us what to do,” Helene said.
“And put together a team,” Raych said.
“Crew,” Helene corrected her. “Asti is very particular about correct terms.”
“Of course he is.”
“We have a crew,” Jhoqull said. “Do we not?”
“What do we have?” Helene asked.
“Assets,” Raych said, forcing herself to think through the wine haze. “First off, we have you, Helene Kesser, crack shot with a crossbow. You can trim a man’s beard from three blocks away.”
“I do appreciate a good buttering,” Helene said.
“And Jhoqull-Ra. You can drive a wagon or carriage, and you can fix them too, and you can cast or shape whatever we might need in your forge.”
“And I am not useless in a brawl,” Jhoqull said.
“Unlike me,” Raych said. “I have ovens and know-how of all forms of bakery, and that’s about it.”
“You also have a dozen or so Verci Rynax gadgets at your disposal. The whole inventory of the Gadgeterium.”
“I don’t know what any of it does. Or at least most of it.”
“We can figure it out,” Helene said. “If nothing else there’s some good scopes for roof scouting. And I can roof scout. Any good job needs a roof scout.”
“See, that’s something I didn’t know. What else?”
“I mean,” Helene got up from the floor. “I never deal with this part.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been a part of it,” Raych said. “What else?”
“The whole scout. From the roof, from the ground, figure out what it is you need to steal, where it’s vulnerable, what the gaps in the security are, how to take advantage of that . . .”
“How do we do that?”
“I don’t know,” Helene said. “Asti and Verci were good at that, and I would do what they told me.”
“But they would talk about it in front of you,” Raych pressed.
“I honestly didn’t listen. They had this whole thing with cute names for ploys and stories about stuff they did years ago and I just tuned it out. The only one who paid attention was—oh.”
“What?” Raych asked, standing up a little too quickly.
“I don’t know how to plan something like this,” Helene said. “But I know who might.”
* * *
The fall semester at the University of Maradaine had been going perfectly well, at least from an academic standpoint. Mila Kendish was doing just fine in all of her classes, top marks all around. She found that she could easily do all her reading and coursework while still keeping her instincts sharp.
From a personal standpoint, it had been a bit more chaotic. Keeping her instincts sharp meant that most of her time in the woman’s college was spent keeping her fellow dormmates at a certain degree of distance. She knew all about them, more than they realized she knew, because she was constantly watching them, learning their comings and goings, figuring out their secrets, and keeping a tally of every bit of leverage she might need to use. Not that she planned to need leverage on any of them, but she’d rather have it and never need it over needing it and not having it.
There had been some excitement for the first few weeks helping Veranix in his fight against Fenmere, but that had cooled down since that terrible day last month. He wasn’t being the Thorn anymore, and he didn’t need a Rose by his side, at least on the streets. While their romantic moments hadn’t stopped since then, they had certainly taken on a different flavor. She was still enjoying it, but now she had a guard up around him that she didn’t before.
Her guard was constantly up. Mila Kendish, University Student was a mask she was wearing almost every waking moment, because no one here could really know Mila Kendish, West Maradaine Street Rat, also known as Miss Bessie, also known as Jendly Marskin, also known as the Rose. Pickpocket, thief, killer. No one here could handle it.
No one but Kaiana Nell.
Mila would hesitate to call Kaiana a friend, strictly speaking. When they first met, Kaiana had been nearly hostile. But they had settled into a reasonable rhythm when they were both helping Veranix, and since then they had found a certain degree of mutual kinship in shared experience.
Around Kaiana, Mila could drop the mask.
And in the past few weeks, they had found themselves meeting for lunch every other day. This was in part because now that Kaiana had her father living in her apartment, she needed someone she could drop her mask around as well.
The Crying Baby, an ironically quiet pub right off the west side of campus, was a perfect place where they could meet up, talk plainly, and not be seen by anyone they knew from school. For some reason, students almost never came to any of the restaurants out of the west gates. Something about how going west meant going lower class. But for a West Maradaine girl like Mila, and a half-Napolic girl like Kaiana, there was no problem.
Kaiana was already waiting with three ciders on the table when Mila got there. Three ciders, and someone else sitting there.
“Missus Rynax,” Mila said as she approached to the table. “What are you doing out here, and . . . you know Kaiana?”
“That whole business with the Brotherhood you missed,” Kaiana said. “We met after some cultists tried to take over her husband’s shop.”
“Quite unpleasant,” Raych Rynax said with a weak smile. “I came out here to look for you, and ran into Miss Nell on campus, she said she was coming to meet you for lunch, and . . . here we are.”
Mila sat down, curious but concerned. “All right, why are you looking for me?”
“Well . . .” Raych looked nervously at Kaiana.
“She knows everything,” Mila said. “Go on.”
“Asti and Verci have been arrested,” Raych said. “Along with Kennith, Almer, Julien, Pilsen, and . . . Pilsen’s friend, the pretty one.”
“Vellun,” Mila said, trying to take that in. Asti and Verci arrested? Did they screw up a job? They didn’t go down fighting? “What happened? What were they up to?”
“That’s just it, nothing,” Raych said. “It was a party at Kimber’s for Helene’s engagement—”
“Her what?”
“To Lieutenant Covrane.”
Mila picked up her cider and downed it. “I have clearly missed too much. We’ll come back to that. Having a party, constables bust in—”
“Archduchy Sheriffs, actually.”
That was unexpected, but Mila took it in. “And charged them with what?”
“They wouldn’t say. We haven’t really heard anything, but we think they’re all in Quarrygate.”
“Sorry, Kai,” Mila said, taking Kaiana’s cider and drinking it. Kaiana signaled for more to come to the table. “So, what’s next? Justice Advocate, trial? And then . . . are you just here to let me know?”
“No,” Raych said. “Helene and Jhoqull and I, we . . . we’ve been trying everything, and when none of our options worked out we . . .”
Mila could sense exactly where this was going. “You went to Josie Holt for help.”
“Right.”
“So what’s the catch?”
“The catch is, she . . .” Raych looked around the room again, and then leaned in and whispered. “She wants me to steal paintings from the Druth History Museum.”
“She what the where?” Mila asked.
“Miss,” Kaiana called out to the server. “Make that six more ciders.”
“How are you supposed to do that? You don’t know about—” Then the gears clicked. “That’s why you’re here.”
“I don’t even know where to start with this, and Jho and Helene, they . . . they’ve got skills but . . .”
“But I’m the one who actually learned this stuff.” Mila shook her head. “Kai, you don’t need to . . .”
“No magic or saint could get me from this table,” Kaiana said.
“Raych,” Mila said, taking her hand. “You know damn well I’m going to be there for those boys. If you need a plan to rob the . . . what?”
“The Druth History Museum,” Raych said.
“Saints above,” Mila said. “Certainly aiming big for this. All right, if that’s the target the Old Lady wants hit, so be it. I have class in an hour, but after that I’ll get to work.”
“We,” Kaiana said.
“Kai,” Mila said. “You don’t need to be a part of this.”
“I appreciate the gesture,” Raych said. “But you don’t need to get involved in our own troubles. This is personal for us.”
“I know,” Kaiana said calmly. “I want to help you because it isn’t personal for me. Missus Rynax, you’re in a state, I can tell by looking at you that you haven’t slept proper in days. Mila, the vein in your forehead is throbbing. And the other two you mentioned, I bet they’re just as invested.”
“It’s family for all of us,” Raych said.
“So you need someone who isn’t, who can have a little perspective. I know more than a bit about that, trust me.”
“We’ll come to the bakery tonight after a bit of legwork,” Mila said.
“The Gadgeterium,” Raych said. “That’s where we’re all . . . it’s just better protected . . .”
“Of course,” Mila said.
Raych got up, looking even more flustered. “I should check on the bakery, though, and my sister, and . . . thank you, Mila, and . . .”
“Hey,” Mila said, taking her hand again. “Like you said, this is family. I have you, all right? We’ll be there tonight.”
“Thank you,” Raych said with tears in her eyes.
“Now sit down and eat a meal made by someone else,” Mila said. “I will cover it.”
“Yes, thank you,” Raych said, taking her seat again.
“And we’re settled on this business with the museum. Job is driving forward,” Mila said. “So now, I want to hear all about Helene and this rutting constable.”
Chapter 7
RAYCH HAD SPENT THE REMAINDER of the afternoon working in her apartment over the Gadgeterium, splitting her time between cooking, cataloguing Verci’s devices, and briefly reading Asti’s journals. The last one, she had discovered when she dared to look through his rooms to see what he had on hand that might be of use. There had been a trunk under the bed, filled with handwritten notebooks, and curiosity compelled her to open them up.
As soon as she did, she felt she had committed an atrocious violation. They were filled with his personal observations, an almost daily practice, that included mentions of “the beast” and “Liora,” how loud or quiet they were, how much they wanted to compel him to do horrible things. She knew he was a troubled man, but she had no idea how truly shattered it was inside his mind, how much he faced a daily battle with his own demons.
That was a word they didn’t use here in Maradaine, but it was a recurring theme in the Acserian faith. Raych’s own practices of her faith had always been, at best, spurious. Her father had never been a believer, that was why they had left Damyar. But as children she and Lian had read the entire Acseram, mostly to please their grandmother, so she knew the principles of the faith well enough. Demons served the same function as the sinners did in the Druth church, a source of temptation and torment. Asti’s writing made it clear exactly how tormented he was, every single day, and she was in awe at how well he had been hiding it.
Raych put the books back in the trunk and slid them back under the bed, and returned to her other tasks. She did, though, take a belt with the pair of knives, the one that matched Verci’s bandolier of darts. Both had belonged to their father, and as much as the idea terrified her, she accepted that one day they both might go to Corsi. Not that she wished her son would have anything to do with the life his grandfather had raised Verci and Asti in. But he should still know his legacy, where he came from, and own the things that were his due.
Also, Raych wasn’t sure if she would need the weapons on this job. Not that she really knew how to use either, just like she really didn’t understand the collection of Verci’s inventions that she had laid out on the apartment floor. But she wanted a full sense of the assets she had on hand for this mad task.
Helene and Jhoqull arrived shortly before sunset, both bearing more food, and this time no wine. Raych had insisted on that point, they needed to have clear heads from here on out. Jhoqull had brought some type of Ch’omik chilled tea, which she confirmed had nothing fermented in it whatsoever.
As Raych finished laying food out on the table, there was a knock on the door. She checked the lenshole, just to be sure, but it was exactly as she had expected: Mila and Kaiana. Both of them were dressed like the lawyers at the Justice Advocate Office, and were carrying briefs filled with papers.
