Thirty-Five The Ess Noti

THIRTY-FIVE

The Ess Noti

MARY

I presume we are doing something my brother would not approve of," Benedict observed as we were swallowed by the crowd. He was shockingly close, the buttons of his coat a breath from my shoulder. "Are we seeking out the Ess Noti?"

"Yes," I affirmed. My instinct was to speak low, but the market was so loud that was both impossible and irrelevant. "Sam will not save himself, so we must try. Will you help me?"

The Magni shrugged and nudged me aside—none too gently— as a large man with a huge, slathering hound barged through. We were not the only ones to move, and for an instant a swath of open cobbles remained. I could see to the gates to the city proper, the second-oldest tier. Beyond its stretch of wood and slate tiles, the stone ramparts of the Old City rose—the heart of Ostchen, summer seat of the monarchy and headquarters for every power in Mere.

Including the Ess Noti.

Like a sigh, the crowd overflowed back into the space and the press resumed. I imagined the forest for an instant, the scent of earth and the feeling of blessed loneliness among the trees. I took a calming breath, caught a whiff of a passerby's pungent odor, and gagged.

"Whatever cure the Ess Noti have, I will not use it," Benedict warned as we started off again towards the gate.

"I don't expect—" I was cut off as we were forced to weave through the line for a vendor selling spiced, roast meats, and my stomach clenched in hunger.

Ben and I met up again on the other side and he passed me one of two skewers of meat.

"Did you just steal these?" I asked, startled and grudgingly impressed.

"Do you care?"

I stared at the skewer, thick with savory scents of fat and pepper and other spices. Hesitation fled, and I took a bite. Flavor burst over my tongue, and I resisted the urge to make an undignified, happy sound.

"Fine, don't use the cure," I said. Whether or not Benedict wanted to use it now, Sam needed help. Perhaps Ben could be convinced—or forced—at a later date. "We find the Ess Noti's headquarters and see what we can see, steal what we can steal."

Ben eyed me askance. "That is your plan?"

"Yes," I said stolidly. I snagged his sleeve and tugged him behind me as a stream of shrieking children passed. "Tane and I will go in alone, if need be."

"You intend to Otherwalk into the Ess Noti."

I shrugged, pretending to be far more nonchalant than I felt. "I walked into a prison to save you, and you were quite the task. Little more than dead weight for half the escape, I might add. Why shouldn't I be able to walk into the Ess Noti and steal a book or two?"

Ben considered me archly. "Dead weight? I remember saving your life."

"I saved yours at least twice."

"You have no idea what you are looking for or where to find it."

"I'll start in the infirmary. Tane can read Mereish and we move through walls. I have a good chance."

He simply grunted at that, though I was still left with the feeling I had lost the argument.

The gate to the inner city was open and unguarded. Beyond, humanity condensed even further. Inns and taverns crammed in beside tenements, constructed of both wood and stone and occasionally slate. There were more sailors, men and women alike marked out by their short coats, broad gaits, and black-rimmed eyes.

The gates to the Old City, however, were not so welcoming. The ancient walls were thick and high, and, beyond them, the towers and roof of official-looking stone buildings loomed. There were many gates, each one named in Mereish and leading, presumably, to various compounds. All were closed, guarded, or both.

No children played here. No one loitered, chatting in a brief wash of sunshine in the wide, circular road that surrounded the Old City, or lingered around the statues that graced its circumference. I saw a couple try to sit together on the edge of a fountain, only to be barked away by two passing soldiers.

We took a second to breathe as Ben finished eating a large, flat pastry that had appeared from nowhere and brushed off his hands.

I stared at one particularly grand spire, capped with a shrieking dittama weathervane.

"This may be harder than I expected," I murmured.

"Nonsense," Ben scoffed. Two soldiers strode past us, a man and a woman, and his chin drifted to one side. "Follow me."

* * *

I had made a mistake. That became quite clear to me as Ben and I saluted our way through the closest gate and entered the Old City, dressed in slightly mussed soldiers' uniforms.

In my mind, this endeavor had been simple: stay hidden in the crowds as we weaved through the streets until Tane noticed something that would identify the Ess Noti's headquarters, since I doubted there would be a sign.

But there were no crowds on these streets, no common folk with common concerns to conceal ourselves among. Almost everyone was a soldier, though their armament varied and their uniforms were diverse, from plum to grey to dark yellow. Some stood guard. Some patrolled. Some hastened on errands. Servants and clerks formed the remainder of the population, moving efficiently with their heads down. Lastly, we spied well-dressed men and women of ambiguous affiliation.

This way , Tane whispered in the quiet of my mind.

I nodded Benedict down a sidestreet and into an even denser region. The streets, alleys, stairs and bridges became positively labyrinthine, and we were forced to wait in line to pass over a narrow canal that stank like a flooded cellar.

Then, rising amid the towers, I spied a dome of stone in varying colors and patterns. Through Tane I felt a stir—the presence of other ghistings and a sense of the Other itself.

Down the street, a large but otherwise unremarkable set of double doors stood unguarded.

"We've found it," I murmured to Ben. "That must be the Ess Noti."

We situated ourselves in one of the many alleyways, and I took a few moments to calm my nerves, eyeing the walls and doors of the building I intended to enter. My nervous hands, fidgeting with my uniform, quickly discovered the woman I'd stolen it from had a fondness for sweets, which I grudgingly shared with Ben. I paced. He stood stolidly, less emotive than the walls all around us, but accepted a sweet and began to suck on it distractedly.

At last, Ben prompted, "Are you ready?"

I paused, a sweet lodged in my cheek. "Yes. Wait for me as long as you can. If all else fails, we reunite at the cathedral."

"Which cathedral?" a female voice asked.

"The one with—" I began to reply thoughtlessly, my tongue overridden by a wave of Magni magic.

A blonde woman strode towards us, dressed in fine but practical Mereish clothing. A man came behind her, dressed much the same and leveling a pistol as he did.

I had barely registered the pistol when, calm as doldrums under a clear sky, Inis Hae fired.

Benedict staggered. I stepped in front of him and threw out my hands defensively—why, I wasn't sure, my valiance spawned from shock and stupidity—only to see the woman level her own pistol. I saw the flash of a muzzle, a puff of gunsmoke against a backdrop of ancient stone.

The musket ball punched into my flesh—my thigh, I thought, though the pain was not immediate. The separation I felt from my magic was. Between one breath and the next I felt my winds depart, eddying away in confusion. Dizzy and panicked, I tried to find a note to hum, to wet my lips to whistle.

No music came. No magic pried through that barrier.

"Tane," I croaked aloud, the word compulsive, unintentional.

Her presence surged, soothing and strong. I had her, at least.

The blonde woman—Enisca Alamay, I supposed—approached. Hae came behind her, blocking Ben and I in the alleyway. I tried to retreat, to at least stand beside Ben as we faced our capture. But my leg would not move. He inched closer, his shadow falling onto the cobblestones beside my sagging one.

I looked back at him, pleading in my eyes. "Do something."

He dug his fingers into the bleeding hole in his already injured shoulder. Blood gushed, his lips peeled back in a snarl of pain. The image alone was so grotesque, so horrifying, I tasted bile on my tongue.

"Stop," the blonde woman demanded. It took me a breath to realize she was not speaking to Ben or me but to a dozen soldiers converging upon us. "Stay back."

"Lay down your arms and come forward," Hae said, reloading his pistol with efficiency. His expression was controlled, but he tracked Ben's movements with an eagle's focus. "Now."

Ben let out a cracking, whining roar. A lead ball hit the cobblestones and rolled into a divot, languid with blood and sounding far heavier than it should have.

Ben's power flared, and chaos erupted. Soldiers staggered in, creating a barrier between us and the Mereish mages before attacking them directly.

Hae dodged with preternatural speed—as if he knew where each shot would pass and each hand would grab. Enisca Alamay vanished into the chaos.

Ben grabbed my arm and shoved me forward. "Run!"

I toppled, hitting the stones hard. Pain did come then, so thick and blinding that I retched.

"I can't," I panted. It felt like a ridiculous thing to say—of course I could run. It was just a bullet, a little ball of lead. I hadn't lost my leg. It was still there, only with a little hole.

I felt Ben's hand on my arm again. He tried to pull me to my feet and only succeeded in nearly dislocating my shoulder.

"If you escape, find me aboard Hart ," he said, then dropped me like spoiled fish.

The next hand that touched me was Enisca's, gently tilting up my face. Magic came with her searching gaze, calming and settling me and easing my pain. Hae was gone. And where Ben's shadow had hovered over me, there was nothing but the rising walls and bands of clear blue sky.

"Carry her," the woman said, casting her voice over her shoulder even as she scrutinized my face. "The rest of you, make haste to support Mr. Hae. Keep me informed."

* * *

In the end, I was grateful I had been shot—in a pain-giddy, disconnected kind of way. Instead of being immediately imprisoned or tortured, I was brought right to the very person I had been seeking: a High Cleric of the Ess Noti.

The downside, of course, was that I had actually been shot and was in a great deal of pain, as Tane's innate ability to mitigate my wounds seemed stifled by the ensorcelled lead ball. Once the ball was removed from my thigh—a procedure I thankfully passed out for—my magic returned to me in a heady rush, but my jaw was locked in a Stormsinger's gag. I was now manacled to a narrow cot in a pool of murky sunlight, filtering through high, narrow windows. The place smelled of camphor and lemon and lye, with something chalky and dry behind it.

My restraints ensured that, as Enisca Alamay and the High Cleric conferred, I could not even begin to ask tactful questions or sneak glimpses at notes or assess the rows of books on the walls of the High Cleric's office, which I could see through an open door.

I realized just how idiotic my hope had been. And as much as I wanted to blame my stupidity on Benedict's influence, I couldn't excuse myself.

My desperation to help Samuel had made me a fool.

Tane, thankfully, was listening to Enisca and the Cleric, gathering information that eventually sifted into my bleary mind.

"Please keep the witch here as long as possible. Once she is in the cells, she will be out of my reach. For now, I must speak to Faucher directly," Enisca said. Her back was to us, and my vision was still unclear, but Tane could see her tension. "Tell him I will be waiting in his office, and summon a page to direct me there."

Faucher? I grasped at the name. Jessin Faucher was here and was some kind of official?

"That would be inappropriate," the High Cleric said. Their voice was light and their features pretty and androgynous. Their slight body was hidden in a long, belted robe of jade, and their age was hard to discern—much like Enisca's. They added something else in a lower voice, which I could not catch.

Who is Enisca, giving a High Cleric orders? I asked Tane, but she had no insight.

Enisca reached out of sight, and I heard a bell ring. Within a few moments a servant knocked at the door of the ward—empty other than myself—and presented himself with a bow.

"You may be waiting some time. Faucher will not return for at least half an hour," the High Cleric warned. I thought I caught a deeper meaning to their words, a layer that I couldn't quite identify. It was in their eyes too, cautioning and insightful.

Enisca cast them a lingering glance, and I saw her hand reach out, just at the bottom of my view, and clasp the Cleric's. Then they parted, and Enisca and the servant were gone and I was alone with the High Cleric.

I heard the rustle of papers and the closing of a drawer, then the clink of tea being poured.

Tane, can we escape through the Other? Out of these restraints? I was wearing little, I noticed with a horrible, twisting feeling of violation—just my stolen, thigh-length shirt, rumpled around my hips. It would be hard to evade notice dressed like that, but surely it was better than being here, at the mercy of the Ess Noti, while Ben was on the run and soldiers hunted for Sam and Charles at every cathedral in the city.

Perhaps. But you still need to be able to walk.

How soon, then?

My next conscious understanding was that someone was very, very close. I pried open my eyes, realizing I must have passed out, and saw a man standing over me.

Inis Hae.

I jerked against my restraints. Hae showed no sign of shock, but he did straighten and look back at an older man who I was sure I had never seen before, and yet was equally sure I recognized.

"Mary Firth of the Hart , I am Adamus Faucher," the older man said, watching me down the long nose he shared with Captain Jessin Faucher of The Red Tempest , who I devised must be his son or nephew. "I am the head of the Ess Noti, and I will be your primary caretaker in the coming days. This is Inis Hae, whom I understand you have led on a great chase."

I stared up at the two, feeling obscenely vulnerable in my cursory clothing. The mask was tight, and my nose felt clogged with unacknowledged tears.

"Hmm. This can come off," Faucher Senior said to Hae and gestured at my mask. Something swung from his hand—a thick, iron bracelet. "This will suffice. Enisca was foolish not to use it immediately. Where is that woman?"

"Lord Faucher." The light voice of the High Cleric drifted across the hall. "What an honor. Can I assist you?"

The two began to speak as Hae clamped the bracelet—the manacle—tight around my wrist. It had no keyhole, no obvious mechanism, and as soon as it was fixed I felt my magic die once more.

Dread assailed me. Did the manacle only suppress Stormsinging? The Ess Noti knew I was ghiseau , perhaps even that Tane was a Mother Ghisting. Would they have taken precautions against Otherwalking, or was that a skill only Tane and I had unraveled?

I raked in fresh air as the gag came off. A hundred questions hit the back of my teeth, and I barely stopped myself from asking them. What could I say without condemning myself or my friends?

And if Hae was here, had he lost or captured Ben, Sam and Charles?

"Where is the man I was with?" I asked, deciding that mentioning Ben could do no further harm.

A hand immediately covered my mouth. Hae, casually pressing my skull into the bed and squishing my cheeks grotesquely.

"Are you sure you wish to speak with her now, sir?" Hae asked. His hand tasted like sweat and metal and gunpowder. "Cleric, perhaps you could make her more amenable?"

I bit him. He jerked away and stared from me to his hand, aghast. Sadly, it was not bleeding.

The Cleric looked from Faucher to me, to Hae and his hand, which he was shaking vigorously. "Amenable?"

Hae's expression darkened, but it was Faucher who spoke: "Enisca was here, so where is she now?"

The High Cleric said, "A page escorted her to your office. She insisted on being able to speak with you personally."

"She is alone in my office?"

"Yes, sir."

Something passed through Faucher's expression, and his posture shifted, as if he were already halfway to the door. "It seems I am required elsewhere. Mr. Hae, please escort Ms. Firth to one of the apartments and ensure she remains there."

Hae went stiff. "Surely someone else could—"

"I trust no one else," Faucher cut him off. "Ensure she is secured."

Hae's jaw tightened. "My skills would be much more useful pursuing the Rosser twins."

Sam and Ben were still free? Relief enveloped me. But where did that leave Charles?

"We have their ship and their witch," Faucher broke in, heading for the door now. "Do not let her leave your sight."

Hae swallowed his indignance until his superior left the room, then descended into muttering curses. He began to unfasten my restraints, and my heart—already worn to tatters—began to hammer again. Did I dare try to Otherwalk? Right out those windows and… where? I had no idea how high up we were.

We have their ship and their witch.

I looked back to Hae. By the sounds of things, he knew where Hart was. Could I trick him into telling me? Or simply distract him? If he was here, watching me, he was not in the Other tracking Sam.

I could use this.

The Cleric considered Hae coldly. "You are aware that she is badly injured. She cannot walk. Or do you intend to carry her?"

"She's ghiseau ," he replied, tossing the last strap and grabbing my arm to haul me upright. "She will manage."

I gasped in pain and punched him, but he easily deflected the blow and grabbed me by the hair.

The Cleric watched with clear disapproval. "Where will you take her?"

"The apartments."

"I am aware of that. Which one?"

I lost track of their exchange as Hae dragged me upright, and, as soon as weight settled on my leg, my world cracked into blackness. I blinked back an instant later, still wavering on my feet, with Hae on one side of me and the Cleric on the other.

The Cleric eased away, searched my eyes for a moment, then nodded to Hae, who prodded me towards the door.

The realization that I might not see the Cleric again made me desperate.

"Can you heal a corrupted mage?" I asked, throwing aside all caution. "Please! Can you?"

Hae shoved my head forward with a brutal, open palm.

The Cleric's expression twitched in disapproval, but they gave a subtle nod.

Hae shoved me through the door of the infirmary and slammed it behind us, then prodded me into motion. "No more talking. No more questions."

"Questions are talking," I pointed out, and received another shove for my trouble. I grabbed the wall and barely kept my feet.

Mary , Tane warned.

Where I had expected tight, dark corridors and locked doors, the passageways of the Ess Noti were blessedly broad and frequently interrupted by archways to brightly lit chambers. Clean air flowed from cracked upper windows, cool and fresh with spring. Some chambers were empty, halls lined with books and cabinets and cases of astonishingly clear glass, behind which various treasures or weapons loomed. One chamber held human skeletons, all wired together in semblance of life and interspersed with desks where figures labored over ink and ledgers. Another room, small and circular, held a singular statue of stone—a figure with his arms crossed over his chest as if he lay in a coffin, and a crown about his throat like a noose. A memorial, perhaps? Still another chamber held the skeleton of some Otherborn beast, like the spidery squid Sam had once summoned from the Other.

Rather than a den of secrecy, the halls of the Ess Noti were open and unreserved. This was a powerful display of control, knowledge, and confidence, here in the seat of their power.

Soon, however, the windows grew less frequent, and several doors were closed. One I saw through for a short time, held open by a page who froze and ducked her head at the sight of Hae. I saw a man with impossibly tired eyes, working in a leather apron. He straightened slowly from a stone table laden with a tiny forge, rows of vials and bowls full of pellets of various metals that shone in the light from the window. A wall of tiny drawers was to one side, and bowls of coins—talismans—lay on the table.

A talisman maker. The back of my neck prickled, then Hae prodded me on and the stranger was left behind.