Free Warhammer [Ignorant Armies] by epubBillie Page B

himself upright. "Show me what's under the scarf."
    "You don't know what you're asking."
    "Show me."
    "When I sing, Stefan, I do more than mouth a few words to a pretty tune. I give an audience mystery, myself an air of otherness." She touched the scarf gently. "This is my mystery."
    "Show me. That's the price of my help."
    She was silent a moment.
    "It may not be what you want to see."
    She unwound the scarf. Stefan's stomach curled in a tight fist as the last twist of cloth fell free.
    "Look."
    The arm was perfect and unblemished. Where the scarf had been, the skin was pale. Stefan reached out to touch it with his fingertips. It was warm and smooth.
    There was no relief; the tension burrowed deeper into his stomach. He did not understand why. He wanted to walk away and never see Katya Raine again and could not; he had made a bargain.
    "Make me a list of the things you need. I'll deliver them tomorrow."
    The Red Moon looked smaller in daylight. It smelled of stale wine and ash: the remains of last night's fire lay in the grate. An elderly woman had gone to tell Katya he was here.
    Stefan was tense and his head ached slightly; he had not slept well. He flinched when Katya entered the room. She was limping slightly.
    "I tripped over my drums in the dark last night," she said, gesturing at her leg. "It's bruised, but nothing a bit of comfrey won't cure."
    Stefan could not imagine Katya being clumsy.
    "I have everything you asked for." He placed a small sack on the table between them.
    "Thank you. How much do I owe?"
    "I don't want your money." Confusion made him abrupt. He did not want to touch anything which had been near her. But she was beautiful.
    "Thank you again." She paused. "Would you like a drink while you're here?"
    "No. I have to get out. I mean, I have to go."
    He retreated ungracefully.
    He walked slowly along Burgen Bahn, not wanting to go home. On the Ostgarten Weg, dwarfs were building a huge wooden platform overlooking the park. Graf Boris and his family would sit there tomorrow and watch the Carnival fireworks. The hammering and hoarse shouts as pieces of timber were lifted into place and fastened together were muffled and unreal. He turned left off the Garten Weg and down Grun Allee which ran along the southern edge of the Altmarkt. Here, he found what he wanted: noise and bright colours to push the fear he did not understand from his mind. He wandered there for hours.
    As the afternoon began to turn to evening, he found himself standing next to an old woman, watching a sleight-of-hand artist who had set up his table between a flower barrow and a beer seller. The man was pulling eggs and brightly coloured scarfs from his mouth and tossing them into the audience. There was scattered applause. He bowed, then took a cage from under his table. Inside, a snake hissed; its tongue lickered in and out. Stefan stirred uneasily.
    The old woman poked him in friendly fashion.
    "All done with misdirection," she said, nodding at the magician who was holding up the snake while displaying its empty cage, assuring the crowd that there was no hidden trapdoor or false base.
    "What?" Stefan said. He was poised on the edge of realization.
    "I said, it's all done with misdirection. While we're looking at that empty cage, he's..."
    Misdirection. Now he knew why there had been no relief at the sight of that unblemished arm. Oh, gods, misdirection.
    "Here, are you all right?" The woman's voice seemed miles away. "You're white as a bedsheet."
    He had been fooled. She had fooled everyone. He had to do something, tell someone.
    Janna Eberhauer stood silently by her fire, contemplating the flames. Her hair was loose and she was wearing her bed robe.
    "What are you suggesting?" she asked mildly.
    "That perhaps she is not all she seems," Stefan said carefully.
    "And you came to me."
    "I don't want anything to happen to her. But if she..." He swallowed. "Mutants are an abomination. You're the deputy High Wizard."
    The curtain screening the