"On first speaking to the man, his ingratiating smile, his flaxen hair, and his blue eyes would lead one to say, "What a pleasant, good-tempered fellow he seems!" yet during the next moment or two one would feel inclined to say nothing at all, and, during the third moment, only to say, "The devil alone knows what he is!"
―Nikolai Gogol
Janus was a slender man, wearing nothing but loose shorts and a bathrobe, and approaching his thirties in body more than mind. A mess of blond hair spiked from his head.
"Evening, Janus." Lin smiled and bobbed into a short bow. He seemed intoxicated. Stimulants more likely than alcohol, but those were difficult to find, so there must be some occasion. "Something happen?"
"Yelena's here." His mood fell like a brick. "Punk keeps asking me to sign off on murder. Murder. Me. I've killed five people in my life, and my hard limit is fifteen, so those ten have to be total douchebags."
Lin rolled her eyes. "And you're - "
"Okay, so I don't like Mara that much. But I really really don't like Yelena, she's so - frigid. I don't mean that in a mean way because I'm not mean, but she's just so - evil. I think she's evil, do you think she's evil?"
She watched Janus continue his tirade against Yelena with half-interest. Janus' pupils were dinner plates in his glittering eyes. "I think she's fine."
"Well of course you'd think that. You're a psychopath, you don't have feelings." Janus muttered, sinking to the floor. "I, however, am positively sane and charming."
Lin turned to Hadrian, a smirk on her face, and mouthed jackass. If Janus noticed, he didn't say anything. His arm flung itself across his eyes.
She sighed and leaned against a pillar, crossing her arms. "Thanks. What are you gonna tell her?"
"I don't know. Go away? Something witty."
"She'll make you say yes at some point. She'll blackmail you, threaten you, hunt down anyone you've ever loved, starve your colonies. It's par the course."
He shrugged. "Alright, what do you want me to do?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Lin blinked innocently, even as Janus stood up and stretched.
"You're the one they're sending, aren't you? Even a ditz like me can figure why. They want something that'll make a splash and send a message to anyone who's thinking of getting greedy." Janus swiped his hands over his unshaven face, then over his bathrobe. He blinked when his fingers encountered bare skin, as though he'd completely forgotten he wasn't wearing a shirt.
"Meaning you."
"Hm? Yes, probably," he said, "eventually. They really don't like me. Can't imagine why."
"Can't imagine."
"And the - " he waggled his finger in Hadrian's general direction, not looking away from a spot on the wall. "kid. Why do you have a kid? You're the worst person to be around a kid. You're the type of person to eat children for breakfast."
Lin rolled her eyes all the way over to Hadrian. "Hadrian. My apprentice."
Then, Janus did look at them. He narrowed his eyes at Hadrian, then at Lin. "How'd that happen?"
Lin shifted her weight. "Alekhine."
"Not that, I don't care about that. You changed your hair. It's shorter. And lighter."
"I had an incident."
"Involving fire and an unexpected visit to your mother, I assume."
"Exactly," she said, "I knew you'd understand."
"I don't like it."
"Then stop looking."
"And look at what, your breasts? Sorry to say this, but you don't have much in that department." Janus pulled his bathrobe closed over his chest, knotting the belt loosely. It still showed a considerable amount of his freckled skin.
"You're such a dick."
"Flirt."
Lin dragged her hand through her hair, hissing out a breath through her teeth. "Mind stalling?"
He sighed heavily. "Yes, I can get you three weeks."
"Three?"
"Four, but if I lose a finger, I'll be very cross."
She grinned and stepped forward, patting his cheek gently. "Thank you, Janus."
Lin hooked her arm in Hadrian's, guiding him back the way they came.
Behind them, Janus erupted into a surprisingly competent rendition of Dream a little dream of me. His tenor echoed along the hard pillars as Lin marched towards the mirror room.
Hadrian craned his head over his shoulder, watching Janus.
"What -"
"That's normal."
"But -"
"Don't ask."
Hadrian eyed her suspiciously.
"He'll help if you ask nicely," Lin said. "And I'm very nice when I ask."
He lifted his eyebrows. Tactfully, he remained silent.
The mirror room was easier to find the second time around. Hadrian stopped right in front of the door. At that point, Janus' singing had faded to near-inaudibility. "Why did we come here?"
Lin sighed, an irrational flare of irritation making her chest clench. "Yelena's dead set on me killing Mara. Janus can't hold out against her forever. We needed to agree on a timeframe."
Hadrian furrowed his brow back down the hall. Lin wondered if he knew how expressive his eyebrows were. "And you trust him. You're friends with him."
She snorted. "No. I like Janus. Wouldn't trust him as far as I can throw him."
"You could throw him pretty far, though."
"Ten feet, maybe. Not the point. I'm useful to him, he's useful to me. We find each other entertaining. Can we go now?"
She was being too snappy. Strangely, this didn't seem to bother Hadrian. If he noticed her tone, it didn't show. He nodded, eyes vacantly fixed on something over her shoulder. Thinking. What was there to think about?
Lin rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him through the door into the tangible smell of rose potpourri. He coughed and tried to pull away from her.
The mirror swallowed them. Lin's vision went dark for frightening moment, the protective layers on the other end rippling over her uncomfortably.
She stepped out into gold dust, shuddering slightly. It hadn't felt like that last time. Hadrian appeared a half-second after her.
He blinked up at her, unruffled. Lin levelled out her breathing and shook off the sensation. She hadn't imagined it, but magic was strange on the best of days.
"So you're staying?"
Lin jumped. "Oh, shit. Do you sit there all day?"
Zeke cocked a grin, leaning against the doorway. "No, I was just passing through when I saw you coming in. I thought you'd be the type to play hard to get."
"Emergency," Lin said. She wrapped her arm across Hadrian's shoulders and pulled him close. "This is Hadrian. I'm supposed to be taking care of him."
"Supposed to?" Zeke's grey eyes slid over Hadrian with a frown.
Lin frowned, lifted her finger to gesture at his face. "That wasn't me, by the by."
"I didn't say it was."
"Your face did."
Hadrian made a soft humming noise, fingers tugging at Lin's shirt.
"What?"
"'I'm very nice when I ask' you said."
Lin shrugged. Hadrian gave a soft huff of laughter before walking up to Zeke, holding out his hand.
"Pleasure."
Zeke raised his eyebrows, staring at the shorter boy. "Not really."
Hadrian gave him a genial smile, cheeks dimpling and his busted lip - which seemed less intense than it had before, somehow - barely moving. "I assume you're not the one Lin wants to bone."
Zeke's smile returned, and he pushed off the wall to grasp Hadrian's hand. "Nah, that's the boss. Everyone's got a little something for her. I'm Zeke, since your friend there didn't introduce us."
"She doesn't feel the need to communicate. Ever. It's sort of annoying."
Lin groaned loudly. Hadrian turned back to her with that impish smile of his, black eyes shining.
"Yeah, that's enough. I only take insults from exceptionally attractive people," Lin said.
Hadrian splayed his fingers over his chest, his smile unmoving. "I don't make the cut?"
She scoffed and hooked her arm over his shoulders again, drawing him away from Zeke. He followed her motions in that strange non-resisting way he did. Gold dust had already stirred up to Lin's calves. That would take a while to get rid of.
"He doesn't. Where's Shabina, I need to talk to her."
Zeke crossed his arms again, lifting an eyebrow. "Why would I tell you that?"
She wanted to kill him. Rip his arms off, bash his head into the wall until there was nothing to bash. Instead, she eyed the sword at his hip. "Tell me or lead me. The only other option is I take that sword and break your chest with it."
He blinked.
"We're not doing that," Hadrian said, placing himself between them with his fingers twined in Lin's sword hand. "We're not exactly following the Kings' orders right now, I just need to know if your boss is going to help us or not. I - I need somewhere to hide for a little bit."
Zeke seemed to relax at that, his attention wholly absorbed by Hadrian. He tapped his fingers on his crossed arms. His face softened completely when Hadrian bit his split lip. A small swell of pride lifted in Lin's chest when Zeke finally sighed and nodded. "She's a little busy, but I think she'll find some time for you. Come on."
As soon as Zeke turned and started walking down a gold-dusted hall, Lin pulled her face close to Hadrian's. "Holy shit, kid."
"I know." She couldn't see his face, but she had a fair idea of what he was thinking.
The Citadel was laid out in a grid formation. It took Lin a while to figure out why that bothered her so much. Islands were typically round. Generally. Approximately in a rounded shape would be accurate, but the layouts were always cyclical on a well-planned island.
The Citadel wasn't an island. Stone and steel met in a gloriously tall structure, laced with green plants whose roots split and reformed the foundations. The deepest parts of it sank into the red-grey sea, rot and death melding with the insufferable reek of people living there.
Lin hadn't been ready for the amount of people. The smell of cooking food hit her first, then the sweat.
Between the garden room where Lin had met Shabina and her entourage and the place Shabina supposedly was, were about five floors of people. The first floor had children crammed in long halls, reading and talking and playing. Teachers walked among them and animated lectures.
The lower floors seemed to be the most packed. Food and services causing dozens of humans to mill about and sit on carpets and tables. Lin pressed close to Hadrian and allowed Zeke to lead them through the crowds.
Most surprisingly, they knew him.
"Pat! How's the wife? Good? Awesome! See you tonight!"
"Hey, where's the fire? Get to class!"
"Save me a seat tonight, okay?" Zeke chirped greetings to people as they passed, rapid-fire pleasantries sending Lin spinning. There must have been at least two hundred people passing by them. He knew all of them. They all knew him.
None of them took a running go at him to punch him in the face. That was inexplicable.
And the stairs. Lin's legs were burning after the first two floors. The design forced them to walk up one flight, cross the sizable floor, then climb that flight of stairs. Repeat.
Hadrian managed to get in front of her as they walked, his hand still holding hers as though he were afraid to lose her. Or maybe it was the other way around. He was very small, Lin wouldn't be surprised if she lost him in a crowd.
"Where are the defenses?" Lin finally asked after the third floor. This one was quieter, with bedrolls laid out on the floor, punctuated by layers of hammocks. Most of it was deserted.
"We don't need any." Zeke spun on his heel to walk backwards. "The mirror room is isolated, we're impossible to get to by ship. It's a perfect location."
"What about witches?"
Hadrian's fingers loosened on hers.
"What about them?"
"An attack here would kill everyone. You don't have any hunters and there doesn't seem to be any exit strategy." Lin looked around. The stair layout would be their greatest weakness. They were narrow and only one per floor, making it impossible to beat a hasty retreat under any attack.
Zeke barked out a laugh, still walking backwards. "Witches don't attack here."
"Why not?" Hadrian cocked his head, a small frown marring his face.
"They just don't."
Zeke turned away from them, finished with the interrogation.
Hadrian let go of Lin's hand.
--
stronghold
1: a fortified place
2a: a place of security or survival
2b: a place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic