Guardian of the Night

9

Ilivno had rushed to the Watch House after the furore had begun. She knew where her talents lay and she also knew that Bilain would want everything organised for her return. As she had passed the Timid Fox, however, Bilain's husband had dragged her inside, cautioning silence and, together, they had watched as several men had ransacked the Watch House before leaving. Ranaie had, more than likely, saved the Kannai girl's life.

Now, Bilain moved among the debris of the Watch House, her eyes passing across everything. The broken furniture. The cells, doors ripped away and those few imprisoned freed. Except one. Old Janka, the drunk, who had, it appeared, slept through the entire affair. Papers and folders littered the floor, storage doors broken into and their contents tossed around. Weapons bent and broken.

Another coincidence? Bilain did not think so. One coincidence, the hiring of the Weather Mages to water fields that did not require it, was improbable, but unlikely. Another, where thugs had taken to ransacking the Watch House while the Watch investigated and mourned the loss of one of their own, felt more like an impossibility. Someone had organised this. Someone that had taken a life only to distract Bilain and her Watch.

Through the open door, Bilain could see the light inside the Timid Fox and knew Ranaie still watched from the window above the tavern. If not for him, Ilivno would have joined Ghusz upon the slab in the Pyre building. She would thank him later, and curse him for putting himself, and Amaini, in danger. Mostly she would embrace him.

Inside her office, she found her desk broken open, the coffer, where she had placed the Senatorial Seal, empty. She had put the splinter of wood in there, also, but though the raiders had unwrapped it, they had left it to fall upon the floor. That told her much. It was not the shadow figure that had orchestrated this. For some reason, she found a relief and comfort in that.

Her hand fell to the top of the desk and began to push the reports around that sat, in haphazard, tossed fashion, upon the surface. Reports of brawls, of thievery, of assaults and murders. Even the reports of the shadow figure's activities. What she could not find were the reports on the Senator's murder. She crouched, sifting through the documents that had fallen to the floor. Still no sign of those specific reports.

The sheet in her hand became crumpled as she found her anger rising once again. Whoever had instigated the Senator's death had sent these people to find and destroy anything about it. Yet, Bilain wondered how they could have possibly known about the Seal. Only Ghusz, Trenna and Ilivno, in the ranks of the Watch, knew about that Seal and she trusted all of them with her life. She doubted anyone could have forced Ghusz to talk, no matter how brutal his attackers had become.

There was, however, one other that knew about the Seal and as soon as Bilain thought about it, she knew she could believe that he would have said something. Asnarrus, the Senate Secretary, seemed personable, but something about the man irritated her, grated against her teeth. She could believe it of him, which meant that he had not only something to do with the Senator's murder, but with the death of Ghusz.

Rising to her feet, she booted her broken chair out of her way, smashing it even more against the nearby wall. At the door to her office, Bilain looked at those that had returned to the Watch House and ignored the fact that they pretended they hadn't heard her kick out at her chair. They dipped their heads, picking up the mess the thugs had caused, trying to find anything still of use.

Ilivno could work, she had the size but not the temperament. With her dog-like muzzle filled with those sharp teeth, she could intimidate anyone, if she tried, but she had not the demeanour. Of the others, she considered several, but none could perform this duty as well as Ghusz could. Whenever she had needed to intimidate anyone, Ghusz could turn legs to saplings in a storm.