Free The White Assassin by Hilary Wagner Page B

side to side, Billycan leaned back on his elbows, looking leisurely at the horde as he spoke. “The horde will do well, Montague.” He nodded at Stono. “With him and Thicket leading the way, along with our new snake killer, they’ll rip those rats apart. Nightshade is ours for the taking.”
    “Sir,” said Montague, trying to buy time, “tell me again about the Bloody Coup.”
    Cobweb walked stealthily behind Billycan. All he had to do was reach under Thicket’s cushion unseen, snatch a handful of the crushed plant, and make his way back to Carn.
    Taking a seat on Thicket’s empty cushion, Cobweb feigned interest in Billycan’s sermon on fighting and strategy, a history lesson of battles won.
    Carn listened. His neck bristled as Billycan reminisced about the Bloody Coup, bragging how he dismantled a Loyalist booby trap, easily slipping into the Catacombs, quickly launching the historic overthrow of Trilok and the Catacombs takeover. “Yes,” said Billycan, grinning, “the Loyalist rats were easily conquered.”
    The recollection made Carn shake, but not with fear—with fury. His stomach roiled with rage, his lungs felt as if they might burst inside his chest. It was that night in the Catacombs that Billycan had kidnapped him and destroyed his family.
    “Corn,” whispered Oleander, “Cobweb’s got the elephant ear, no need to worry now.”
    “I’m not worried,” said Carn sternly.
    “Then what is it? You look … strange. Are you all right?”
    “Never better,” said Carn, speaking at full volume in his normal tone.
    “Keep your voice down,” snapped Mannux. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
    Carn ignored him. He got to his feet, standing firmly, like a soldier, as the Kill Army majors had taught him. He scowled down at Billycan, who was still boasting about the Coup. Suddenly he said, “Were the Loyalists really overpowered so effortlessly? Is that truly how things went, High Collector—or do you prefer Commander Billycan? I was never sure.”
    “Covered in blood, I stole down a corridor—” Billycan stopped midsentence, his eyes wide, every hair on his body standing on end.
    “Was it really that easy,” asked Carn, “kidnapping me and slaughtering the entire Newcastle Clan—my clan?” Billycan did not twitch even a whisker. “Why, what could be the matter, High Collector? Is your mind racing, thinking of another quick and cowardly escape route? Not this time.”
    Thicket slowly approached Carn. “Corn, what’s got into you? Why you be talking like that?”
    “My name is not Corn,” he replied, glaring steadily at Billycan. “It’s Carn. I’m here for him. He is not just a killer of snakes, Thicket. He is a killer of his fellow rats.”
    Scratching her head, Thicket turned to Stono, who quickly joined his troubled mate. “Thicket, everything okay?”
    “What’s Corn talking ’bout?” asked Thicket, grabbing Stono’s arm. “Why he be saying such things?”
    “He tells the truth,” said Oleander, dropping her thick drawl. “Billycan, our leader, is no leader at all.” She called out to the horde. “He is only using us to get back to Nightshade, a city that does not belong to him as he claims. He is wicked. He killed Carn’s family. He killed many families. Billycan is using you and Stono because you’re strong and easy to control. Once he gets what he wants, he’ll have no use for you or any of us. He’ll kill us all.”
    “Oleander,” said Thicket. “Why you talking like Cobweb and Montague?”
    “I suppose because she is like Cobweb and Montague,” said Mannux, putting an arm around his daughter, “as am I. We didn’t want to frighten you. We are the same family that has always loved you, that will never change, but we are somehow different from the rest of the horde.”
    Slowly Billycan rose. He looked at Oleander, then at Mannux, not dullards at all. How did they trick him so easily? Mannux stared him down proudly. The old rat’s mouth curved