Masquerades - Kate Novak [76]
After a few minutes, Alias released the boy, prepared to grab him again at the first sign of trouble.
The boy pulled the gag out of his mouth, but he made no trouble; he was too intent at staring, his eyes wide as saucers, at Alias's sword arm.
Alias followed his gaze. In his struggles the boy had pushed up her tunic sleeve, revealing the azure tattoo, which seemed to swirl of its own volition.
"You're her-that Alias witch," the boy gasped finally. "Oh, Cyric-on-a-stick, I'm really dead."
Alias shook her head, insisting, "You're not dead."
"You kill Night Masks," the boy said in a trembling voice. "Knost said you sliced up fifteen men last night." Behind his fear there was a hint of curiosity in his voice, as if he hoped she would confirm her bloody spree to him.
"Knost is a liar or a fool, probably both," Alias retorted.
"You're not going to kill me?" the boy asked in a small voice.
"I just saved your life," Alias pointed out. The boy shrugged as if that didn't mean much in his line of work.
"What's your name, child?" the swordswoman asked.
"I'm not a child," the boy insisted. When Alias did not respond, but waited patiently, he answered her question, full of bravado, "My name's Kel, like in Kelemvor the death god."
"As in Kelemvor the judge of the dead," Alias corrected. "He was a hero before he was a god. Anyway, you look like you were born before the Time of Troubles. You're too old to have been named for him. Where are your folks? Do they know you work for the Night Masks?"
"Mom took off when I was little. Don't remember her. Dad was a collector for the Masks 'til he got stuck with a dagger in the back by a poacher after his take. Knost gave me a job carrying, but said I was too small to collect-yet. You gonna let me go?" Kel asked.
Alias considered his request. She didn't think she could trust him to keep his mouth shut. He might start bragging that he'd escaped as soon as her back was turned. One-Eye might have Kel brought in and beaten into confessing he'd identified her. One-Eye would then know she'd been followed by the halfling and would warn whoever she was taking the extortion money to.
Then there was the question of the boy's condition. His left eye was swollen shut, and he was still spitting blood. No one was looking after him, and he needed looking after more than ever. When One-Eye found and released Knost and Marcus, they'd go looking for the boy.
"No, I'm not going to let you go," the swordswoman replied. "I'm going to have to take you into custody."
"Nay, ya can't. Ya got no proof I did nothin'. Not even old Durgoat'd hold me just for bein' beat up."
The boy's arrogant grasp of Westgate's justice system made Alias's hackles rise. "I didn't say I was turning you in to the watch," she retorted. "I said I was taking you into custody."
*****
When Alias arrived at Mintassan's, Jamal and Dragonbait were in the midst of a lively discussion. Jamal did most of the speaking, but the heavy table was littered with paper covered with Dragonbait's tiny script, indicating that he was keeping up his end of the conversation. Mintassan was sitting at the desk, counting and measuring the feathers of living pigeons he pulled from a cage.
When the sage finished with a bird, he recorded the numbers in a log, then let the bird loose. Freed birds fluttered around the back and front room of the shop until they found the open half of the front door and made their escape.
Kel, who'd boasted all the way to the sage's home that Alias would never be able to hold on to him, looked around dumbfounded at all the dead things cluttering Mintassan's workroom; the boy even looked a little nervous.
"What have we here?" Jamal asked.
"I brought Mintassan a specimen," the swordswoman explained. "Westgate human juvenile-descendant of the Night Masks." She smiled at the sage and asked him, "Think you could have him mounted for me, so he doesn't runoff?"
Mintassan grinned fiendishly. "Hanging or freestanding?" he asked.
"Freestanding,