The Heart of Alchemy by James Wisher (i like reading books txt) 📗

“I believe you know the rest,” the baron said. “Their three confederates are still in my barony, living in my castle.” His voice rose as he named each offense. “If word of their comrades’ failure reaches them, my family is as good as dead. Please, with your magic, surely you can save them.”

Saving them would be easy enough, the question was, did saving them serve him better than letting his enemies think the game was still on? He needed more information.

“I’ll consider your request. In the meantime, I want you to work with Hans, make a map of the castle, show me where your family is likely to be as well as the ones holding them hostage. I’ll need detailed descriptions as well.”

“I am at your service. Anything I can do, I will gladly do.”

Otto sensed no lie in the man’s words and he seemed genuinely concerned about his family. “Corina, do you want to come with me or stay with Hans?”

“Go with you,” she said at once.

“I assumed so. Hans, you know what to do. Have a plan ready for me by midmorning. After I finish with Jade, I’ll make my decision.”

Hans nodded. “Understood, my lord.”

Before Otto and Corina took their leave, he went upstairs. Jade would have had her own room, somewhere to plot and meet with Ahmed away from the servants. He wanted to take a look around. If Ahmed had alchemy to aid him in his mission, Jade might have as well.

They found the room easily enough; it was the only one with a woman’s clothes in the closet. “Check for anything magical.”

He and Corina spread out. Otto went right to a collection of bottles sitting on the dresser. He found nothing magical, just a collection of makeup and perfume. Completing the search took ten minutes and turned up nothing of interest. He pocketed an atomizer that smelled of the perfume she wore during their lunch meeting. He might be able to use it to help Wolfric feel less stupid and more angry.

Otto led the way downstairs and out the front door. As soon as they were outside Corina asked, “What are we going to do now?”

“Assuming Axel’s back with the assassin’s body, an autopsy.”

Back at the warehouse, there was no sign of Axel, but he had left the assassin’s body in a wagon that held two more corpses. Otto frowned as he considered the bonus bodies. They had the same bronze skin tone as Jade and Ahmed. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

Corina had her gaze locked on the bodies, but she didn’t seem especially troubled. That was a relief. She was toughening up nicely. Whether that was a good thing in the long run or not, he couldn’t say. All Otto knew for sure was that it was necessary.

“Lord Shenk.” Allen stepped out from behind one of the giant suits of armor. “Have I got a story to tell you. Oh, your brother dropped off a body for you and said he’d be at the barracks if you needed him.”

Otto nodded. “I assume you’re the source of the extra corpses?”

“Yeah, those two tried to kill Oskar and me in Blue Cove. Lucky I’m a light sleeper and your spy’s paranoid. Anyway, no one ever heard of Jade. I think she fed you a line of bullshit.”

“Indeed, I’ve recently come to that conclusion. Thank you for confirming it.” Otto saw no need to tell him the woman had nearly succeeded in killing the emperor. “Did you learn anything else from your would-be assassins?”

“Afraid not. Their pockets were empty and the weapons they used locally purchased. If there’s nothing else, I need to get back to the tavern before my serving girls quit.”

“There’s nothing at the moment. And well done. You’ve reminded me again why I kept you alive.”

Allen hurried off, leaving Otto and Corina alone with the bodies. The back of the wagon was as good a place as any to do his work. Otto climbed up and went first to Ahmed. His body had relaxed enough to be easily moved. Otto turned his clothes inside out and checked his skin for marks, but found little beyond a bunch of old scars. He’d seen plenty of battles, that was certain.

Otto yanked his dagger free of the man’s skull, grimaced, and tossed it in the wagon bed. He’d grab a new one from the armory, the blade was just ordinary steel, nothing special.

“We didn’t learn much,” Corina said.

“No, but I didn’t have especially high hopes. People in their line of work aren’t apt to carry incriminating information on their persons.”

“You don’t seem as upset as I imagined you’d be,” Corina said.

Otto considered that for a moment. He was certainly upset at this pointless interruption to his preparations, but he didn’t feel any emotion that strongly anymore. People and situations were now divided between things that advanced his plans and things that held them back. The former would be used and the latter removed. It was that simple.

“Anger has its uses, but it can also cloud your judgement. Wolfric will be angry enough for both of us. If I’m to resolve this crisis with the minimum of damage to the empire, I must keep a clear head. Let’s head back to the mansion. A few more hours’ sleep wouldn’t do me any harm, especially with an early morning interrogation to oversee. I’ll be trusting you to keep an eye on things until morning.”

She brightened at the prospect then frowned. “Are you expecting more trouble?”

“Until I’m sure Jade and Ahmed were on their own in the city, I don’t plan to relax my guard. I didn’t survive one assassin only to get overconfident and fall to a second.”

As Otto hoped, the night passed without incident. After lending Corina a guest room to sleep in, he left for his breakfast with Wolfric. The bitter air slashed at him as he made the short walk to the palace. The guards at