Emissary (The Dead God Series Book 3) - C.J. Pyrah

Emissary (The Dead God Series Book 3) by C.J. Pyrah

Book excerpt

The air of the Grand Bazaar was thick with the pungent, heady smells of spices, perfumes, and the dung of the passing beasts of burden that littered the surrounding streets, which were congested with a swirling mass of people bustling hither and thither, going about their business of buying and selling. It would be easy to get lost in those streets, whether by chance, accident, or the misfortune of simply being swept up by the crowd and dragged who knows where. Like being carried by a riptide out to sea.

Egberht was keenly aware that he did not want to find himself alone and stranded in this vibrant but unknown city, so he pressed himself as much as he could to the wall that he was leaning against, trying to make himself as small and inconspicuous as possible. Unlike the taller Shenesra, who leaned casually against the same wall, nonchalantly peeling and eating the segments of a large juicy orange, there was no chance that Egberht was going to be able to see anything of interest, let alone any signs of impending danger. His view was nothing but a forest of legs, some moving so briskly that they felt like little more than a blur. The incessant bustle of the passers-by and his truncated field of vision filled him with nervous energy which he channelled into his foot which rapped against the flagstones beneath impatiently.

Though she looked as if she were lounging without a care in the world, Egberht could see that out of the corner of her eye the Vittra was scrutinizing the passing masses with intense care, making sure that no one was paying as keen attention to the two of them as she was to the others scuttling to and fro.

Shenesra and Egberht had been waiting on that busy street corner since early that morning, and as the sun continued its progress up into the cloudless sky, the increasing heat had begun to make sweat bead across Egberht’s forehead, and his mouth was parched. They were waiting for Eleusia, who had left them before the sun had even emerged and had simply told them to wait for her on that street corner. Worryingly, she had stated that if she wasn’t with them by an hour after midday, that they should proceed as quickly as they could to a tavern where they would get more information from an old friend of hers concerning where she had gone and who she had gone to meet. Though she hadn’t specifically stated it, the contingency plan, Egberht had quickly realised, was in case that meeting with the unknown contact took a turn for the worst.

They had carried out this same act for days, ever since they had arrived in Wardeen with what remained of Shenesra Tador’s mercenary band, Pegasus Company. After they parted company with their companions, it had been a hard ride to the coast of the Kingdom of Dazscor & Aramore, with each one of their steps dogged by a pursuing party of riders and Lupines loyal to Aristotles. They had ridden their horses ragged and several of Pegasus Company had been lost, their horses too exhausted to carry on, collapsing, leaving their riders to be torn apart by their pursuers. In the whole of the desperate chase, they had had one stroke of luck: the weather changed. As they neared the coast, a storm rolled in, turning the plains of Dazscor into a mire that allowed the remnants of Pegasus Company to slip into a coastal town, whose name Egberht hadn’t even had time to learn. The storm did, however, give them enough time to find the only person with a boat big enough to carry them and who was insane enough to set sail in the middle of the maelstrom, though their pilot was not insane enough to depart without most of the gold they had been carrying and all of their horses paid to his family upfront.

All of them had been quick to praise the arrival of the rain when they had been riding, but they were all even quicker to curse it as they had pitched and rolled in that match box of a fishing boat, nets and lobster pots crashing around them as their deranged, but clearly highly talented skipper cut through the roiling sea. For two days, Egberht had sat on the deck of the ship, curled up into a ball around his books, cloak over his head, wishing for landfall or death, whichever would stop him feeling like he was about to vomit up his own spleen first. On the third they arrived, in record time, thanks to the surging wind of the storm, in the Great Harbour of Wardeen, the capital of the Republic of Castar.

Their arrival did not, however, bring the welcome relief that they all craved. No sooner had they set foot on solid ground, than Eleusia had chivvied and cajoled them into action, leading them to the Eagle tavern where they were holed up in a room that was far too small for all of them, making getting a proper rest nigh on impossible, not that Egberht nor Shenesra were able to try, as they were whisked away by Eleusia to act as look outs and scouts at a variety of locations across the city. Neither of them had been allowed to accompany Eleusia, and all she would say on the matter was that she was making contact with old friends, who she hoped would be able to help them track down their quarry, the Imperial Mage to the Court of Hastel I. So far, however, nearly a week had passed with no new information, and they were all getting more and more dejected by the minute.

Midday had come and gone and though neither Egberht nor Shenesra had said anything, they were clearly both getting worried. There was less than half an hour left until the deadline and as Egberht started to go over Eleusia’s further instructions in his head, an icy chill washed over the pit of his stomach as he realised that he couldn’t remember the name of the tavern where they were supposed to get the information on her last known whereabouts. He looked up sharply to Shenesra, mouth opening as he was about to ask if she had remembered all of the crucial details, but one look at her face made the gnome think better of it. Shenesra’s jaw was clenched tightly shut, her brow creased with worry and the fingers of her left hand were gripping the remains of her orange so hard that they had punched through the skin and flesh of the fruit.

Best not to worry her, I’m sure she knows what we have to do, Egberht thought to himself, closing his mouth, and averting his gaze back towards the crowd.

Though Egberht didn’t see her finally arrive, just as the bells of the city were chiming the hour, he knew that Eleusia had appeared, for Shenesra bolted from her position at the wall into the crowd, barely giving him time to register where she had gone and to give chase. Dashing after her, Egberht was able to slip through the wake Shenesra had made in the crowd, across the street to the entrance of an alleyway, where, once past the obscuring traffic, he could just about see Eleusia, looking visibly tired, whose person was mostly obscured by the expansive hug that Shenesra had enveloped her in.

‘Where were you? We were starting to think something terrible must have happened?’ Shenesra gasped, releasing Eleusia from the embrace and stepping back sheepishly when she became aware of Egberht’s arrival on the scene.

‘I’m sorry,’ Eleusia replied. ‘I didn’t realise how long I’d been gone. They walked me across half of Wardeen, most of that blindfolded so I couldn’t recall the way and we moved twice during the meeting. By the time I was out the other side it took me nearly an hour to work out where I was, let alone how to get back here!’