Ghost Omens Read online

  “But why go to all the trouble?” I said. “The drugs, the dead Emperor...all of it?”

  Caina looked at me, at the stunned men, and back at me.

  And then, for some reason, she looked at the dust on the floor.

  “We can question the men when they wake up,” said Caina, “but Tonia was behind all this, and I think I know why.”

  “No,” said Levinius, who had been watching our discussion. “No. Tonia...Tonia is a good woman. She wouldn’t have done this, any of this…”

  “I’m sorry,” said Caina, “but she did. She came to Mors Septimus for the Emperor’s Helm Inn, for your inn. She married you just to get at it. And she’s trying to kill you so she’ll can claim the inn when you’re dead.”

  I saw him start to protest, saw the guilt and the shame spread over his face. He had been living in denial for too long...but now the truth had been shown to him, irrefutably.

  I knew what that felt like.

  “But why?” he said, hands knotted in his apron. “The Emperor’s Helm...it’s just an inn. It’s nothing special. It has been in my family for as long as anyone knows, true...but it’s just an inn. Why would she do this?”

  “I think I know why,” said Caina. “And I think I can prove it.”

  “How?” said Levinius.

  “We’re going to need to fake your death,” said Caina.

  ###

  An hour later I hid with Caina, Corvalis, Halfdan, and poor Levinius beneath the stairs, watching the deserted common room.

  The door swung open, and Mordecai strode inside, accompanied by two sergeants of Mors Septimus’s militia, soldiers with the rounded physiques of men more accustomed to comfortable living than violence. Tonia marched after them, her head held high.

  “How did he die?” said Tonia.

  “Badly, I fear,” said Mordecai. “Some men burst into the inn, claiming that the Emperor Septimus had sent them. They killed a merchant visiting from Malarae, and stabbed your husband to death.”

  “Yes, very tragic,” said Tonia. She looked unconcerned. “So I inherit all his property, yes? He had no children, no other relatives.”

  “That is so,” said Mordecai, frowning at her. “An official record must be made at the magistrates’ hall, and the necessary taxes must be paid, but his property shall be yours.”

  “Very well,” said Tonia with a wave of her hand. “I will pay whatever is necessary.”

  “Some wine to steady your nerves?” said Mordecai, waving at a glass and a skin of wine upon the bar. “I am sure your grief must be overpowering.”

  Tonia smirked. “It is my property now, is it not? I will do with it as I please.”

  She filled the cup and took a long drink, and I saw Caina smile.

  Caina straightened up and walked into the common room.

  “You,” said Tonia, frowning at her. “The merchant’s daughter, yes? Lucky you were not killed next to your father.”

  “Yes,” said Caina. “I wouldn’t drink that wine.”

  “Why not?” said Tonia, taking another sip.

  “Well,” said Caina, “some of the men who killed your husband, they put a peculiar powder into the wine.” She held up the leather pouch. “I wonder why. What is in the powder?”

  Tonia’s black eyes widened, and she spat out the wine with alarm. “What? Why didn’t you warn me?” She stepped back, sweat beading on her forehead. “Why...why did you…”

  “Wife!”

  Levinius straightened up from beneath the stairs, reaching for her, and Tonia screamed and stumbled against the bar.

  “Wife,” he said, smiling, “I know you didn’t mean it, I…”

  “I killed you!” she shrieked. “I had them kill you, you stupid, wretched old man! They killed you! This...this is just a vision, this is…”

  “Actually,” said Mordecai, “the wine wasn’t drugged, and your husband is quite well.” He looked at the militia sergeants. “I trust this is enough?”

  “It is,” said one of the sergeants. “Come along.”

  Tonia looked at them, back at her husband...and I saw the fury blossom over her face as she realized how badly she had been tricked.

  She screamed in rage, snatched a knife from her belt, and flew at Levinius. But the sergeants caught her and dragged her from the inn as she kicked and cursed. Levinius stared after her, his expression stricken.

  “I am sorry,” said Mordecai, putting a hand on his shoulder.

  “I thought,” whispered Levinius, “I thought she loved me.” He bowed his head. “I am an old fool.”

  “I think,” said Halfdan, “that you wanted to be fooled. But this will be sorted out, do not fear.”

  Levinius nodded and followed Halfdan and Mordecai from the inn, leaving me alone with Caina and Corvalis.

  “Certainly,” I said at last, “that was a lot of work merely to steal an inn.”

  “I don’t think,” said Caina, “that it was ever about the inn.” She pointed. “Get a lantern, and let’s pay the cellar a visit until Halfdan returns.”

  Corvalis found a lantern, and we descended to the cellar. To my surprise, it was built of the same rough stone as the foundations above, the vaulted ceiling supported by heavy pillars. The floor had once been covered in thick, heavy flagstones.

  Until they had been pulled away and the floor dug up.

  A corroded lead box, about the size of a small coffin, stood against the far wall, its sides caked by dirt.

  “Tonia might have been a fool, but she knew her history,” Caina said, picking her way over the uneven floor. “This wasn’t just part of the mortuary complex. It was a separate shrine. In the Second Empire, a dead Emperor’s body was interred in its mortuary temple, but his armor was usually entombed in its own shrine, away from the temple. And it looks like the armor…”

  She reached down and opened the box.

  “And it looks like the armor was still here,” said Caina.

  “Gods,” said Corvalis.

  A fortune of gold and gems gleamed beneath the lantern’s glow. Inside the box I saw the gilded ceremonial armor, helmet, and sword of an Emperor of the Second Empire, the sword and helmet adorned with dozens of glittering jewels.

  I laughed. “The Emperor’s Helm! Gods, the Emperor’s Helm. It was the inn’s name all along.”

  “And you figured it out,” said Corvalis, shaking his head. “Your wits half-scrambled from the drug, and you still figured it out.”

  “That my wits were only half-scrambled is thanks to Claudia,” said Caina, and she smiled at me. “If you hadn’t force-fed me that mustard, they would have had to tie me up in the corner until the fit passed.”

  I looked away and tried not to blush. “It...seemed like the thing to do at the time.”

  “Well, perhaps you should train to become a physician,” said Caina, looking at the helmet. “The right thing to do when someone starts raving is not always apparent.”

  I blinked. A physician. I had never considered that.

  It...seemed like a good idea.

  “What will we do with the armor?” said Corvalis.

  Caina shrugged. “We’ll let Levinius have it. It’s his Inn, it is it not? The armor is the whole reason Tonia wanted to kill him. And the poor man deserves some compensation for losing his wife.”

  THE END

  Thank you for reading GHOST OMENS. If you liked the story, please consider leaving a review at your ebook site of choice. To receive immediate notification of new releases, sign up for my newsletter, or watch for news on my Facebook page.

  Other books by the author

  The Frostborn Series

  Frostborn: The Gray Knight

  The Orc's Tale (Tales of the Frostborn short story)

  The Third Soul Series

  The Testing

  The Assassins

  The Blood Shaman

  The High Demon

  The Burning Child

  The Outlaw Adept

  The Black Paladin

&
nbsp; The Tomb of Baligant

  The Third Soul Omnibus One

  The Third Soul Omnibus Two

  Computer Beginner's Guides

  The Ubuntu Beginner's Guide

  The Windows Command Line Beginner's Guide

  The Linux Command Line Beginner's Guide

  The Ubuntu Desktop Beginner's Guide

  The Windows 8 Beginner's Guide

  The Linux Mint Beginner's Guide

  The Ghosts Series

  Child of the Ghosts

  Ghost in the Flames

  Ghost in the Blood

  Ghost in the Storm

  Ghost in the Stone

  Ghost in the Forge

  Ghost in the Ashes

  Ghost in the Mask

  Ghost Dagger (World of the Ghosts novella)

  Ghost Aria (World of the Ghosts short story)

  Ghost Claws (World of the Ghosts short story)

  The Fall of Kyrace (World of the Ghosts short story)

  Ghost Omens (World of the Ghosts short story)

  The Demonsouled Series

  Demonsouled

  Soul of Tyrants

  Soul of Serpents

  Soul of Dragons

  Soul of Sorcery

  Soul of Skulls

  Soul of Swords

  The Dragon's Shadow (World of the Demonsouled novella)

  The Wandering Knight (World of the Demonsouled short story)

  The Tournament Knight (World of the Demonsouled short story)

  The Tower of Endless Worlds Series

  The Tower of Endless Worlds

  A Knight of the Sacred Blade

  A Wizard of the White Council

  The Destroyer of Worlds

  Otherworlds

  The Devil's Agent

  The Mirrored Knight

  The King of Unnumbered Tears

  Sacrifices

  The Tournament of Thieves

  Threefold Gift

  Inexorable

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  About the Author

  Standing over six feet tall, Jonathan Moeller has the piercing blue eyes of a Conan of Cimmeria, the bronze-colored hair a Visigothic warrior-king, and the stern visage of a captain of men, none of which are useful in his career as a computer repairman, alas.

  He has written the DEMONSOULED series of sword-and-sorcery novels, and continues to write THE GHOSTS sequence about assassin and spy Caina Amalas, the COMPUTER BEGINNER'S GUIDE series of computer books, and numerous other works.

  Visit his website at:

  http://www.jonathanmoeller.com

  Visit his technology blog at:

  http://www.jonathanmoeller.com/screed

  Contact him at:

  [email protected]

  You can sign up for his email newsletter here, or watch for news on his Facebook page.

  Table of Contents

  Description

  Ghost Omens

  Other books by the author

  About the Author

  Table of Contents

  Description

  Ghost Omens

  Other books by the author

  About the Author