Free The Two of Swords: Part 12 by K. J. Parker Page A

arrangements for this little beauty.”
    Musen took a deep breath. “Can I see it?” he said. “Just a quick look. Please.”
    Axeo shook his head. “Better not,” he said. “Kinder if you don’t, if you see what I mean. Right, I’d better hand this key in, and then I’ve got to meet this man. Corason’s out on the stoop if you want company.”
    Musen watched him go, then followed him back into the tea house and out on to the covered porch. There he saw Corason sitting alone at a small table, with a teapot and an empty plate.
    “There you are,” Corason said. “Sleep well?” Then he frowned. He’d caught sight of Musen’s left hand. “Been playing rough games, have you?”
    “I caught it in a door.”
    “Of course you did. I thought Axeo seemed bright and cheerful this morning, I should’ve guessed.” He nodded at a spare chair; Musen sat down. “He’s told you, I take it.”
    Musen inclined his head.
    “Job done,” Corason said. “Rasch Cuiber saved from annihilation, everyone breathes again. I watched him write it out; withdraw to the frontier by the shortest possible route, regroup and await further orders. I guess you could say we’ve won. Well, someone has, anyway.” He grinned. “Excuse me if I babble, this is the most amazing weight off my mind. I never thought we’d do it, it was such a bloody stupid idea.” He shivered, and pulled his heavy cloak up round his face. “To be honest with you, I never expected to survive this one. When you two showed up in that horrible shack, I said to myself, this is it, this is the end of the line. Ah well.” He grinned and sipped his tea. “I’ve got to hang around here a day or so, then I’m off to make sure Senza’s pulled out like he’s supposed to.” He put the teacup down. “Fancy a trip to Rasch? Two capital cities in one month, can’t be bad.”
    Musen stared at him. “What do you need me for?”
    “Absolutely nothing,” Corason replied. “But it occurred to me you might like a break from Axeo. Particularly since he appears to have taken a shine to you.” He waited for a moment or so, then clicked his tongue sharply. “Up to you entirely, you think about it, tell me what you want to do. Otherwise, I imagine, you two’ll be heading back to Central. Just you and him. What fun.”
    Musen stood up and walked away, not looking back.
    Axeo didn’t come back to the tea house that morning, or in the afternoon. Corason wasn’t worried to begin with – he had various theories about what Axeo might be up to – but around mid-afternoon he put on a heavy scarf and a thick hood and went out. He came back after dark, when Musen was eating in the dining room.
    “Well,” he said, “there’s been no couriers at all sent today, which is unusual in itself, but I think we can take that as meaning they haven’t got the missing card, at any rate. Nobody’s seen him anywhere.” He sat down at Musen’s table and lowered his voice. “Our man in the kettlehats reckons he’d know if Axeo had been brought in, and I believe him. Far as he’s aware, they haven’t even been looking. The idea was to keep both of you out of it, hence the last-minute change of plan, so there’s no reason to suppose they’ve got either of you linked to me. In which case, whatever’s happened to him, it’s not because of this business. My guess, based on knowing him most of my life, is that he’s either sleeping it off on a trash heap somewhere, or he ran into one of the hundreds of thousands of people who don’t like him. Ah well. Life goes on.”
    Musen looked at him. “What was the bad thing he did?” he asked. “When he was younger, in the army.”
    “Oh, that.” Corason looked down at his hands. “Let’s say he tells that story much better than I do, and leave it at that. Neither of us came out of it exactly smelling of roses.”
    Musen sat up in Axeo’s room all night, but he didn’t come back. Corason looked in just before dawn. “You’re