Read Online Ghost in the Inferno (Ghost Exile #5) by Jonathan Moeller - Free Book Online Page B

“Do you recognize this weapon?”
    Agabyzus squinted at it. “I fear not.” He grimaced. “Ugly little thing. It looks…somewhat like the skinning knives the Teskilati torturers use in their work.”
    “Then it’s a Teskilati weapon?” said Caina, alarmed. She had eluded the Padishah’s secret police so far, but if the Teskilati had been watching her safe houses…
    “No,” said Agabyzus. “It’s much too small for that. Too fragile.” He scratched at his bearded chin. “I would say that it’s the sort of knife a physician would use for surgery, but…”
    “But those kind of knives are usually straight,” said Caina, remembering the collection of blades that her teacher Komnene had used for medical work. 
    “Where did you find it?” said Agabyzus. “It doesn’t look as if it has ever been used.” 
    “In the street outside one of our safe houses,” said Caina. “The one in the Old Quarter, a bit north of the Bazaar.”
    “Perhaps someone thought to send you a message,” said Agabyzus.
    “They should have left a damned note,” said Caina, shaking her head. “But a message from whom? If it was the Teskilati or the Kindred or the Umbarians, they wouldn’t play games like this. They would have just kicked down the door and killed me. Why leave a knife on the ground?” 
    “Maybe someone accidentally dropped it,” said Agabyzus.
    “Do you really believe that?” said Caina. 
    “No. Not under the circumstances,” said Agabyzus. “I shall have enquiries made among our friends in the Old Quarter. Maybe one of them know something. Perhaps it is just as well that you are leaving the city for a time. If someone is indeed following you, it would be easier to elude them in the open spaces of the steppes…”
    “Or to find and trap them,” said Caina. “Come. Let us speak to Moryzai. I would not want him to get impatient and leave while I brooded upon my fears.” 
    Agabyzus snorted. “I forgot you have not yet met Moryzai. I fear it would take more than impatience to make him leave his dinner.” They stood, Agabyzus tucking his letters away in a satchel. “I should warn you. His manners are rather…uncouth.” 
    “It takes more than uncouth manners to frighten me,” said Caina. Agabyzus nodded and led her to the corridor that opened into the Inn of the Crescent Moon’s private dining rooms. Merchants who wished to conduct their business in privacy typically rented them, and Caina had used them herself more than once. Agabyzus walked to the third door and pushed it open, and Caina followed him inside. The smell of spicy Istarish food filled her nostrils. A gleaming table dominated the room, its surface covered with dishes, and an enormous man sat at the far end, eating curried rice and lamb with vigorous enthusiasm. Standing up, he would not have been much taller than Caina, yet he had to weigh three hundred and fifty pounds. He wore a robe that could have served as a tent, and sweat trickled from beneath his turban. To judge from his lack of eyebrows and beard, the man was likely a eunuch. Denied one indulgence of the flesh, eunuchs sometimes turned to others, which explained the food piled upon the table. 
    “Moryzai,” said Agabyzus. 
    “Ah,” said the big man, looking up from his food. His voice was high and phlegmy and gurgled as he spoke. Despite that his Istarish was clear and formal, even stately. “So this is your mysterious employer? Am I am last to be granted the honor of an interview?”
    “She is,” said Agabyzus. “This is Moryzai, the finest forger in all of Istarinmul. He creates fake writs and proclamations so detailed that not even the Padishah’s own scribes can detect the forgery. I have employed his services for our business on your behalf many times.”
    “Bah,” said Moryzai, gesturing with his fork. “The Padishah’s own scribes are clumsy imbeciles. The great danger of my work is that I shall create a forgery so perfect that the lack of