The Curse of the Winged Scorpion
False Faces

“Dalmundbe buggered,” Rashari muttered under his breath, sidling closer to Fantel as heeyed Andras with a look that seemed caught between surprise, suspicion andburgeoning annoyance. “I don’t bloody believe it.”

Fantelturned to him, but his eyes were fixed on Andras. The cleric stopped before them,still smiling. The heavy reek of incense clung to his floor length robes. Shenoticed a posy of dried herbs strung to his belt and the hint of a naked bigtoe peeking out from under the hem. Fantel waited for Rashari to launch intosome sham speech. He didn’t, his attention arrested by the sight of Andras’ toolong and slightly blackened toenail.

“Wewere told that you had beds,” Fantel said when it became clear that Rashari wasnot going to say anything.

“Ahh,”Andras raised his eyebrows, young skin bunching over his brow. Fantel wasstruck again by the contrast of his blue-green eyes and dusky skin. “Travellersare you? New to this fine city. Or,” Andras paused looking from Fantel toRashari in rapt interest. “perhaps you are believers?”

Rasharisnorted. “Not bloody likely.” Fantel elbowed him sharply in the side.

“Weare travellers, yes.” She conceded, as this was technically true. “We were toldyou offered free beds for those who need them.” She added a little pointedlywhen Andras continued to peer at them a little too intently.

“Ahh,of course,” Shaking himself Andras stepped back making an aborted gesturetowards the stairs before stopping and looking back at them with everyappearance of concern. “But perhaps you would like something to eat first? Wehave…”

“We’veeaten.” Rashari and Fantel said in unison, both stopping to look at the otherin surprise. Rashari smiled just slightly. “But if you happen to have a tinbath and some clean water I’d seriously consider making a generous charitable donationto whatever it is you do here.” He added, a little life coming back to him.

Andrassmiled back at him, and Fantel was struck by how very similar their two smileswere. It made Fantel wonder if Andras was far less sincere than he appeared.“I’m sure something could be arranged. Please, follow me. I’ll show you to thedormitory.”

“That’svery kind of you,” Rashari simpered back, mimicking Andras’ solicitous tone soperfectly Fantel was now convinced there was something going on between the twoof them. Therefore she was not too terribly surprised when Andras led them intoan upstairs room filled with beds, ushered them in, closed the door firmlybehind him, locked it and reached up to pull his fake beard away from his face.

“Well,well, look what the cat drug in,” He drawled, carefully cultivated Dushkuaccent sharpening into the harsher tones of someone from one of the Kitvikprovinces. The grin he turned on Rashari was far less solicitous and a greatdeal more predatory. “Fallen on hard times have we, mate? Come to beg a boonfrom the Seraphim? Cuz I gotta tell you, I’m not sure they give a hoot for asmug git like you.”

“Aeneas,”Rashari growled a scowl twisting his mouth. “I would ask what in blazes youthink you’re doing, but I’m quite sure I don’t want to know.”

Aeneasclucked his tongue. “Andras if youplease. I’ve an image to maintain, y’know.” His extraordinary eyes flicked overto Fantel and rooted on her. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”He asked smile taking on a lecherous edge as he looked her up and down. Fantelthrew Rashari a sharp look, one that demanded a swift and concise explanation.

Hesighed and flapped a hand between them. “Feel free to tear his throat out ifyou wish. No one will miss him.” Turning back to Aeneas he was all business.“Is the Banaborra sect really so desperate that they have you, of all people,impersonating a cleric? I’d heard Banaborra had been hit hard by the Maree-Noirlately – not to mention that little assassination kerfuffle with the Cardovaheiress – but this?” He shook his head. “This is low even for you. What’s thegame this time? Extorting donations from the poor and the stupid? Maybe the oldfalse oracle scam?”

“Youwound me mate, you really do.” Aeneas shook his head sadly. “You got a realcynical side to you, y’know that? S’not good for the soul that sort of thing.”

Rasharitwitched, barely perceptibly. Aeneas didn’t notice, but Fantel did. His scowldeepened. “I need to speak with the old man, can you arrange it, or should I justcommence ignoring you now?”

Aeneaschuckled. “He wants to see you too. That jumped up little snot in the patrol,Arundel, sent word you were in our neck of the wood. The old man put the wordout, right then, for you and your Chimera. Dunno what you’re into this time,mate, but whatever it is, it’s sure put a stitch in the old man’s britches.”

“Hmm,”an expression of concern briefly chased over his brow and his lips thinned. “Iassume you can arrange a meet?”

“I’lllet him know you’re here,” Aeneas nodded. “Although he probably knows already.You ain’t exactly what I’d call inconspicuous- especially with her in tow.” Aeneas jerked his head toward Fantel. “You lookdead on your feet though, and the old man likes to conduct business under coverof darkness – he’s old fashioned like that – so chances are it will betonight.”

Rasharijust nodded. “I still want that bath –and some anti-septic lotion and a roll offresh bandages.”

Aeneaswidened his eyes. “Gonna cost you.”

“Yourun a refuge for the destitute,” Rashari pointed out incredulously. “You can’tseriously expect me to believe you don’t keep medical supplies here.”

“Ohwe’ve got ‘em,” Aeneas nodded sagely. “They’re just gonna cost you.” Hegrinned. “You’re the one who mentioned extortion, after all.”

Rasharigrowled under his breath and turned to Fantel, hand outstretched toward thesatchel she had never given back to him.

“Uh-uh,”Aeneas clucked reprovingly. “You’re forgetting mate. I know what your coin is worth.” He shook his head, bright eyessparking with amusement. “Nah, I think I like the idea of you owing me afavour; one act of kindness for another and all that rot. What do y’say,mate?”

Rashariglanced over at Fantel and they shared a moment of perfect accord. Deftly shestepped up behind Aeneas and slipped her arm around his throat, dangling theclaws of her other hand under his nose. “One act of kindness for another,” Shepondered aloud, idly raking her claws through the fibres of his fake beard,which sat snugly under his chin like a small furry animal. “If you bring uswhat we ask, I shall be kind enough not to hurt you. Does that sound like afair deal?”

Aeneasappeared more startled than afraid. He watched her hand as if mesmerised. “Uh…”Fantel yanked the beard off him with one sharp tug. She tossed the beard ontothe floor, where it lay there like a dead rat. Lazily she brushed her clawpoints over his bobbing Adams apple. Aeneas swallowed hard and nodded.“Alright, alright; I’ll get you your stuff. Now give me my beard back.” Fantellet go of him, slipping smoothly away. She bent down and scooped up the beard,tossing it to him without breaking eye contact. She stepped back to standbeside Rashari.

“Figuresyou’d pick up a partner even crazier than you are, mate.” Aeneas muttereddarkly, fussing fretfully with his beard. He gave them both a dark look beforeturning and leaving the room. Immediately Fantel turned to Rashari, poised todemand answers, but for once he wasn’t in the mood to drag out the suspence.

“Heworks for the Banaborra raider sect. So does LePortail. The old man’s beenoperating a satellite operation from Aramant for a few years now –not sure why.I don’t know why Aeneas is here, and I certainly don’t know why he’simpersonating a cleric.”

“Andhow do you know all this. I thought you were part of the Veridree sect?” Fantelfrowned. Banaborra was one of the free cities of the Badlands. It was a raiderstronghold and its name was synonymous with lawlessness. “There was talk ofBanaborra in the Dha-hali enclave. They did not send a delegation to Einar’sauction.” Fantel blinked and turned sharp eyes on Rashari. “Tomah suspected youof being a Banaborra spy, before the attack.”

“Afair assumption, I suppose.” Rashari accepted equably.

“Isit accurate?” Fantel remembered that Remus had been a native of the Adran provinces.She hadn’t thought about it before, but it was strange that two Adran nativeswould give their loyalty to a Dushku based raider sect.

Rasharishrugged. “Not entirely. Banaborra likes to play both sides against the middle,that’s how they’ve survived so long. There are just as many Imperial spies inthe city as there are rebels. I fell in with Remus early, and he was Veridree.”Rashari met her eyes. “Veridree pays its Adran dissidents well. We’repolitically useful, especially as Nylous has his own connection to Dushku’semperor.”

Fantelabsorbed this information for later consideration; clearly the ways of raidersects were more complex and politically motivated than she had imagined. “Youseem to get along well with the Banaborra sect, all the same.” She pointed out,careful not to outright accuse him of being a double agent.

“Appearancescan be deceptive.” He flopped down onto one of the spare bunks. “Raiders make alot out of sectarian loyalty but the truth is we’re really only loyal to our ownagendas. Remus was Veridree because it suited him to be so. I was Veridreebecause I didn’t have a great deal of choice.” Carefully shrugging out of histravelling coat he started to bend down to pull off his right boot but stoppedwhen the motion jarred his shoulder. “I admit that I’ve – cultivated – goodrelations with certain people in the Banaborra sect. It’s been useful in thepast and I’m hoping will be again. LePortail is an information broker. Thereare few things he doesn’t know or can’t replace out.”

“Whatdo you want to know?” Fantel moved over to the opposite bunk, perching on theend.

“Agreat many things,” he muttered darkly, propping his foot on his other knee topull off his boots. “But the truth is I only used LePortail against Arundel tobuy us some time.” He glanced at Fantel as he twisted around and swung his legsup on the bed, back against the wall. He clasped his hands together in his lap.“Nothing has gone to plan since Remus shot Bashi.” Rashari stared down into hislap, fingers of his left hand drumming on the knuckles of his right. “I feellike I’m being out-manoeuvred at every turn; someone told Remus about thestone. Someone knew about my deal with the Suluman. I need to know who they areand what they want. LePortail might know something, but even if he doesn’t, hemight be persuaded to run interference against Tomah or anyone else Einar sendsafter us.”

“Whywould he help?”

“Becausethe leader of the Banaborra sect brokered the deal with the Suluman to stealthe stone; I have a feeling he’ll want to know what has happened.”

Fantelnarrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “What are you planning to do when we reachBattlan?” She had not asked until now because there had been too many otherthings to occupy her thoughts, but she had wondered. Battlan was vast and itwould be fairly easy to hide the stone out on the Steppes and be sure no onewould ever replace it, but it seemed unlikely that Rashari’s plan would be assimple as that. Nothing else about him had been simple after all.

Hemet Fantel’s eyes. “There is an abandoned Imperial research facility out on theSteppes. Years ago the DeLunde Institute conducted experiments into transmutingphantasma back into pure anima. The researchers built a machine capable ofrefining phantasma to a degree never before achieved. They were looking for asource of inexhaustible power, recycling the dead back into pure life energy.The experiment was…less than a success…and the project was terminated. Thefacility still stands however, and most of the equipment should still be there.I intend to use it to either destroy the Heart of Anoush or to free whatever isleft of the Seraph inside it.”

“Theseexperiments are the reason you know about deific energy? That’s what you mean,is it not? The inexhaustible power, is deific power?” Rashari nodded warily.Fantel frowned. “You said deific energy came from dead serephim. Are youplanning to kill the goddess Anoush?”

“Idon’t even know if she’s still alive to begin with,” Rashari pointed out, alittle stung. “Really, it’s not like I go around planning to kill people allthe time.”

“Youkilled a man when we first met.” Fantel replied, dryly. “A man you planned todouble cross. How do I know you don’t make a habit of it?”

Rashariopened his mouth, thought better of whatever he was going to say and sighed,shoulders slumping in defeat, “Fair point. Still, for the record I really don’tgo around engineering the death of everyone I meet. If I did the streets wouldbe piled high with corpses.” He shook his head. “I’m hoping the machines in thelab might be able to wake her up. After that,” He shrugged again. “I don’tknow. Maybe the seraph will have an idea for a good hiding place.”

Fantelstared at him. “You really have no plan at all, do you?”

Rasharisighed; a great heavy breath that lifted his shoulders and left him slumpedagainst the wall. “Not really, no. Improvisation is more my forte.”

Fantelstudied him in silence. Rashari played with his laced fingers, rolling histhumbs. “What do you want from me, truly?” She asked him. She’d been wondering all along. Why had hewanted her to come with him, what ulterior motive did he have, and why, of allthe people he might have passed on his travels, had he fixed on herspecifically? It couldn’t just be coincidence, could it? Rashari needed a guideto get him over the Steppes and Fantel just happened to be a captive at thetime he made his break for freedom, so he’d fixed on her because she was fromBattlan. It all seemed so random, and Fantel – child of the Chimeri – did notbelieve in random chance. Everything happened in accordance with the Mother’sgrand design. Fantel might have torn herself free of that weave, but that didnot mean fate could no longer lay hands on her destiny.

Rasharilooked up and smiled at her, unguarded and sweet. “I’m not sure. I saw youstanding in those woods, in shackles, being pushed around by Tomah, and yet,the look in your eyes.” He shook his head, grinning. “You were bored. Not scared, not even angry – youwere just bored.” He paused andlooked at her seriously. “I’m not sure what it was; I suppose I was intrigued,”he gestured aimlessly around the room, “Maybe I thought you might...be likeme.”

“Likeyou, how?” Fantel wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer, while at the sametime it was the only thing she really wanted to know.

Rasharimet her eyes. “Damaged, broken -missing some vital component. It takes a veryspecial sort of indifference toward life to be so uninterested in the prospectof a lifetime of slavery.”

Fantelsat back on the bunk. She felt suddenly exposed and did not like it. This wasnot the first time he’d implied they were the same inside. Fantel didn’t likeit now anymore than she had on board Vedeca. “You do not know anything aboutme.”

Rashariwatched her solemnly. She did not like the hint of sympathy in his eyes, or thesincerity. “I know that you do not want to be here, Madame, and believe me whenI say that I am sorry for that. But I am grateful. I have this feeling that youand I, we are cut from the same cloth, outside of the usual pattern, andirrespective of where this partnership leads us, I want you to know that I amtruly glad to have met you.”

Shewas at a loss for words. She wasn’t sure what to do with this sudden outpouringof sentiment she neither wanted nor completely approved of. She didn’t think hewas lying to manipulate her. What he said was at least consistent with hisactions. She just couldn’t quite fathom the sort of person who would trust acomplete stranger based on a random sense of fellow-feeling. Especially aperson as calculating, evasive and insincere as Rashari had shown himself tobe. Then again, he was also a dreadfully contrary person, so perhaps he wouldtrust a stranger simply to be difficult.

Shecould not meet his eyes. “If we are to meet with LePortail this evening weshould get some rest now.” She said fussy with the thin blanket folded at theend of the bunk. She didn’t look, but she could Rashari smiling at her.

“Alright; sleep well Madame Chimera.”