Page 145 of Play of Shadows

Who is that?I asked.

How should I know?Corbier replied.There’s something not right about him, though, something. . . troubling. . . and maybe. . . familiar.

The physician knelt down by my side. The sun was behind him, rendering his features nothing more than indiscernible shadow.

‘You lost,’ the man said. There wasn’t a trace of anger in his voice, nor compassion, nor anything else, really. His words were merely an expression of fact, although I thought I could hear the faintest hint of curiosity.

‘You were not meant to lose. Pierzi is your inferior with a blade, especially when you are angry. You let him kill you. Why?’

Corbier replied in two gasping exhalations, ‘Ill. Luck.’

The man posing as a physician didn’t laugh. ‘Giving Prince Pierzi this easy victory means his own army is not depleted as we intended. He will be too strong a ruler now. Our plans must be delayed.’

As one of Pierzi’s lieutenants approached, the strange man examined Corbier’s wound.

‘Can he be saved?’ the soldier asked. ‘The prince would—’

‘Alas, no,’ the imposter said, and his voice was deeper now, filled with weariness and sorrow. He would have madesuchan actor. ‘The wound is too deep for my meagre skills. May the gods curse me, I’ve not the talents to—’

The lieutenant patted him on the shoulder. ‘The prince will understand that you did all you could.’

After he left, the stranger resumed his earlier taciturn demeanour. ‘We will have to begin again,’ he said, ‘and as generations come and go, still our plans will unfold as they must.’ He grabbed Corbier’s jaw, not hard, but firm, and demanded, ‘How did you know? How could a fool like you cause us this setback?’

Corbier coughed as he tried to summon enough breath to utter some final insult, but it was me who spoke.

‘Can you see me?’ I asked with Corbier’s voice.

The man posing as a physician looked genuinely startled.

‘Because I see you,’ I told him.

‘What are you?’ the spy demanded, squeezing Corbier’s jaw harder.

I forced a smile onto Corbier’s lips. ‘No one of consequence. An insignificant rabbit, too small to factor into the intrigues you assemble from the fecklessness of your victims.’

‘Then you cannot stop—’

‘You will never think to look for me. That will be your mistake, for I will haunt your every step– and I am not alone. Look behind your back from time to time, Schemer, Intriguer. I am coming for you, Manipulator.’

If you keep soliloquising, he’ll figure out you’re an actor, Corbier warned,and an overly melodramatic one at that.

The man in black considered my words. ‘We are the Court of Flowers,’ he said at last, and glanced around before placing his hands around Corbier’s neck. He began to squeeze. ‘We reign in secret, naught but shadows to the once and future slaves of this land. Even your legendary Greatcoats cannot stop us.’

With the last dregs of Corbier’s fading strength, I defied the slender fingers crushing my throat. ‘Then I will form a new court,’ I whispered, ‘and we will put the shadows themselves on trial.’

EPILOGUE:

THE TROUPE

Where secrets are revealed,

and prices paid,

a stranger arrives,

and wounds are healed.

Chapter 75

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